§ © ® §3 --№ſſºſ 、 ¿¿. *… ºč: （ 3 ） ķ §§ º P R O P E R T Y O F geſt NTTTVEF, F2s 1 8 7 A R T E S D IS C. O U R S E S THROUGH THE MEDIUMSHIP OF MI R. S. C. O R. A. L. W. T A P PA. N. T H E N E W S C I E N C E. S PIR IT U A L E T H I C S. •-----sº LONDON: J AM ES BURNS, PROGRESSIVE LIBRARY AND SPIRITUAL INSTITUTION, 15, SO U T H A M PTO N R O W, W.C. isis, f ºf , * * A H #4% /2/4/3 iº *- This volume consists of a collection of orations delivered by Mrs. Tappan in London and the provinces during the two years of her sojourn in England. With the exception of the Series of discourses given at Cavendish Rooms, London, between October, 1874, and May, 1875, and miscellaneous addresses delivered in the provinces, the volume presents an unbroken record of Mrs. Tappan's labours in this country. Some apology is necessary for the form in which the work appears. The discourses were reported weekly in the MEDIUM, from which the type was re-arranged into pages, and preserved for future use. This method was adopted without any definite plan as to the ulterior form which the work would assume, or the extent of matter that might be embodied, for the Editor could not forecast the period through which Mrs. Tappan's ministrations might extend. The discourses are arranged into two distinct series, according to the nature of the matter. Those which follow the Introduction are entitled “The New Science,” embracing those lectures descrip- tive of facts concerning the spirit-world, and communion between it and the earth-plane. The second series is entitled “Spiritual Ethics,” and consists of teachings of a moral and spiritual kind. The third series, or latter portion of the volume, contains three orations on the passing away and experiences inspirit-life of “Judge Edmonds,” constituting a distinct section. This independence of each series must be duly regarded in consulting the Table of Contents, for the work is not paged consecutively throughout, but each section by itself, the numerals being placed at the foot of the pageS, iv PREFACE. In justice to Mrs. Tappan's guides it should also be stated, that though these orations were reported by the most competent hands, carefully printed, and corrected by Mrs. Tappan under spirit- influence, yet, in the pressure of journalistic business from week to week, errors may have crept in which subsequent revision might have eliminated had the matter not been stereotyped. The poems have been preserved and appended to the discourses after which they were given. Poems occasionally reported by themselves, and extracts from an unpublished oration, fill up spare pages. The whole is an honest and unvarnished record of what actually occurred at the meetings; and besides affording a vast fund of information on subjects connected with Spiritualism, the manner in which these orations were given furnishes an example of the phenomena worthy of the reader's notice. Many of the orations and most of the poems were given upon subjects selected by the audience after the speaker had taken her place on the platform. J. B. frogressive Library and Spiritual Institution, London, October, 1875. C O N T E N T S. -*- I.—INTRODUCTORY. PAGE, A Narrative of Mrs. Tappan's Experiences as a Medium, given by her Guides tº º º º º º e tº º • * tº Q Q & ix Extracts from Mrs. Tappan's early Mediumistic Compositions xxii Sunset in Autumn, 1852 © tº º . xxiii Quotations and Extracts, 1852–3 ... e - e. - - - tº º ve ... xxiii Incidents in Mrs. Tappan's Mediumship ... xxvii POEMS GIVEN WITH THIS SERIES. The Religion of the Future ... tº tº º xxi Song of the Stars to the Sun-God XXV II.—THE NEW SCIENCE. NUMERALS AT FOOT OF PAGE 1. Spiritualism as a Science, and Spiritualism as a Religion 1 2. The Realm of Spirit 13 3. There is no Death tº º º e tº º • - tº gº º e e e - 27 4. The Connecting Link between Spiritualism and Science 39 5. The Experiences of a Scientific Mind on Earth and in Spirit- Life, as told by himself © tº º e tº tº e e - ... 51 6. On the Connection between the various Mental Sciences and Spiritualism ... tº e e e tº tº e e - * * * tº e ſº • e. e. 63 7. Some of the Methods of producing Spiritual Manifestations 77 8. The Dual Apparition of the Embodied Human Spirit ... ... 91 9. Some further Suggestions concerning the Method of Spiritual Manifestations e - e. * * * º tº º e - © e ‘e tº * - - . 105 10. Resumé of the Series on Spiritualism and Science ... ... 115 11. Answers to Several important Questions concerning the Spiri- tual World ... tº tº º * tº e tº ſº tº - e > * * * tº º - ... 127 12. Further Consideration of the Methods of Spiritual Life . 139 13. The Spirit-World and its People ... tº e - tº º º • * * ... 151 14. The Origin, Constitution, and Destiny of the Human Soul . 163 15. The Soul of Man; what is it? © tº º ... ." ... 171 16. The Origin of Man ... tº tº º is tº º e - tº • e ºs * - tº . 179 Vi - CONTENTS. NUMERALS AT FOOT OF PAGE 17. Indisputable Evidence of Spirit-Communion with this World 191 18. Psycho-Dynamics; or, Spiritualism versus Science & © tº ... 201 POEMS GIVEN WITH THIS SERIES. Impromptu Poem: “The Old World was Dead” 11 The Beautiful Land ... s & • * e e - tº e is tº 25 “Oh Beautiful, White Mother, Death " ... 36 Prayer tº e º e tº º ſº tº º e - © & © tº tº º º © C. § © e - ... 61 Inspiration ... & 4 & * - c. & e º & tº * e º © tº º e - © ... 76 The Best Gifts - . 103 Invocation ... e - - • e e - e e s & e e e º & e e • e - ... 113 “Katey” & © tº e º - - - tº º º gº º º * @ ... 125 Truth ... © tº º e tº º e g tº ... ... e tº e e e e e - tº ... 126 º ... 137 Birth Pangs ... º e ∈ e e e - - - - G - tº e º * - e. º “One utter Spirit moves in the very heart of things” ... ... Spiritual Progression tº e º © e º Why is the Spiritual World Invisible 2 ... & e º - tº e. e - © tº e tº Cremation tº e e e e e e - e. e - tº tº º tº tº e • * * tº tº dº * @ & * - © tº º º Happiness ... º e e & ſº tº © tº º & © & tº $ tº tº º & tº º * Who is the Comforter P ... - C - --- tº e C & © tº ... º e & 150 160 176 ... 189 ... 212 214 EXTRACTS GIVEN WITH SERIES II. “Professor Mapes’” Reply to a Critic ... © º º © tº º tº ſº e ... 87 God and Evil Spirits tº º & • * * ... • e e e e - © e e - ... 104 Benefit of Spirit-Communion to Disembodied Spirits ... ... 162 Sympathy ... tº gº º e - ºt tº º º tº e e tº º º © tº º © Q @ ... 178 III.-SPIRITUAL ETHICS. 1. What great Teacher has produced the most Potent Effect upon Society, and Why? ... º º º e - © tº e e ... & © tº ... 1 2. The Spirit e - © e e e e - © e - e. tº e & tº tº Q e - e. ... 11 3. The Individual Human Spirit tº o tº e e tº © e - tº e - ... 25 4. Mediumship ... & O tº © º º º e º tº e e tº º º tº º º ... 39 5. Is Spiritualism. Witchcraft and Sorcery 2 ... e - © tº e - ... 53 6. Mystery and Meaning of the Number Three e - e. tº º º ... 69 7. The Nature and Occupations of Spiritual Existence 85 8. The Temple of the Soul ... ... ... 99 9. The Heavenly Home and Spiritual Kindred 115 10. The Eternal Progression of the Human Spirit 129 11. Cui Bono 2 tº º º ... © º º º º ºs e tº º & tº e ... 143 12. The Spiritual Outlook for the New Year ... ... ... . 155 13. Purity ... tº º, ø © º º •- - - - - e e º e e o 'º e e ... 169 14. The Need and Efficacy of Prayer ... tº º º tº e º ºs º º ... 181 ... 193 15. Spiritual Gifts ... ſº o ve © º O tº tº º e tº º tº tº º & © tº contRNTs. vii 25. 26. 27. 28. . Charity & tº e - - © & - e > tº e e . Some of the Historical Evidences of Spiritualism tº e º ... 221 . “And these Signs shall follow them that believe" tº º º ... 235 . The Origin of Evil, its introduction to the World, and the . An Address suggested by the Twenty-Sixth Anniversary of NUMERALS AT FOOT OF PAGE Remedy suggested by Spiritualism Q & e tº º e tº º tº ... 247 . The Signs of the Times & © º © tº º & © tº e ge tº º tº ... 259 . The “Many Mansions;” or, Different Conditions of Spiritual Life ... ... ... .. ... 271 . The Influences of the Present Life upon the Future ... ... 285 . The Celestial Arcana; or, the Realm wherein the Attributes of Spirit are known and understood ... e ‘º & tº e ... 301 Modern Spiritualism © - © tº tº º e e º e tº º tº e tº ... 315 A Sermon for the Season º “º º º º º tº º tº © tº º * @ e ... 331 An Answer to those who pronounce Spiritualism Satanic in its Origin ... tº º º Q & O tº º º º, º º © º º tº º º e e - ... 345 The Hope of the World © º - - e. e. & © e. tº tº º e tº e ... 357 Spiritualism : its Advantages to the Present and Future Life ... 369 29, Science v. Morality; or, the Causes of the Rise and Fall of Nations tº º º e - © & Cº º --- * † tº • • - tº e º ... 383 30. The Judgment Da e e - e e - e - © © & © º e Q ge e - ... 397 31. Social States in Spiritual Life tº C º tº º ... 411 32 2. The New Messiah; or, Who is the Comforter ? ... --- ... 423 PoEMS GIVEN WITH THIS SERIES. Angel Glory ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 23 Immortality ... tº e ſº º º, º º s & © e & e e - e. 24 “O Thou, who trod'st life's weary vale” “. ... ... ... 37 Bunyan tº º & * * * * - C & © tº * > * > © e > tº ſº tº tº e e ... 3 The Song of your Guardian Spirits tº º º tº º ºs tº e º •. • ... 51 “Ouina's”. Poem ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 65 Poem by “Robert Burns” .. “. ... ... ... ... ... 81 The Temple Of Light tº º º º e - e - tº -- © tº tº e & e e - • *- 111 Home in Heaven ... e e - © º º © º ºs © º º e e e tº º º ... 127 Waiting º e G * c → tº e & •- ... & © tº tº ſº º tº e & ... 140 The Boon © e. e. •-- •. --- e - tº • - - • * * 153 A Song for the New Year ... tº º º “. ... e Q tº tº tº e ... 167 Growth to Purity ... tº º tº • ‘º e e ‘e e --- e e e ... ... 178 The Garden of God ... e e º e - e. • Q º º e ºs & © tº to e - ... 179 The Answer to Prayer e e e tº º º e tº º º e & tº e e tº º º ... 192 The Death of Christ e tº dº tº º º © º º - © tº tº e e --- ... 205 The Three Messengers e e tº e e > º e º e - e. & G tº • * * ... 217 Perfect e tº º tº € tº & © tº • * * * * * • * e e e c e ∈ •. The Wonder Worker e e e tº e Q •ee tº gº tº • * * & © O ... 231 220 viii CONTENTS. TV UMERALS AT FOOT OF PAGE The Sepulchre of Life tº º tº e - º e º ºr tº º º & eº e - e. ... 244 Faith, Hope, and Love ... tº e º ºs e tº ... ... ... ... 257 Stars, Rocks, and Flowers ... tº º e tº e tº ... 269 | The King and the Beggar ... e - © tº e tº • e ... 283 The Mystical Vale ... tº º & tº º º tº ſº tº •º tº e. tº º º © º ſº ... 298 The Sign e is © tº º e • * * º º e e e tº e ... 300 The Three Angels ... • * > e - ſº Q e Q º, º º • * g. tº º º ... 312 Anniversary Poem ... tº tº e © e - tº tº º * e º ... 327 Easter Morn ... e tº Q tº º º e e - tº e Q • * > ... 342 Creation tº tº & tº e - º º ſº tº º º tº gº tº tº a o as tº º e tº º ... 343 Tokens of Angel Love e e > e - © tº º tº sº e e • * - e - e. ... 355 A Song of Life © tº tº e e - * - tº tº e > * & © tº a tº e ‘º e ... 367 Resurrection ... tº º ſº e e ∈ tº 6 º • * * * * * * @ Q tº tº . 381 The Future of Englan tº e º - © º * = & * - G ... 394 The Love of God ... gº º º tº º º • e tº © tº º * G - e 4 º' ... 408 Mon-a-do-Wah (the Bird Lover)... tº e > tº e e • e º ... 409 EXTRACTS GIVEN WITH SERIES III. Spiritualism, Electricity, and Psychic Force * & ºn tº 4 º' ... 84 The Characteristics of Spiritualism tº º tº © tº º * @ 9 tº @ ſº . 114 Unseen Influences ... tº tº º e tº º • e e e e - tº e º tº º e ... 234 The Work of Spiritualism ... e º 'º © tº tº © tº - ... 246 Spiritualism neither Clairvoyance nor Psychology .. ... 314 Theories advanced to explain Spiritualism ... tº º º e - e. ... 330 Importance of the Physical Phenomena tº e º * - e. ... 356 The Distinctive Feature of Clairvoyance tº º º tº º - º ... 368 IV.—THE “JUDGE EDMONDS” SERIES. NOT PAGED CONSECUTIVELY 1. Memorial Discourse on the Life and Works of “Judge Edmonds.” By “Theodore Parker” - e. e. 40 tº e tº e & e - e. • * * 2. Experiences in passing through the change called Death and in entering Spirit-Life ... tº e º º tº º tº tº º • e e 3 3. The Social and Political Government of Spiritual Life ... ... 3 POEMS GIVEN IN THIS SERIES. “When the full rich glories of the Summer Day” e 14 “Down through the vibrant spaces” ... º, e - * * * ... ... 13 “By the Tomb of the Prophet at Mecca’ MESSAGES FROM “OUINA.” TO Mr. L . To Mrs. S--. Series II. “ouina's” Song of Gladness “Ouina’s” Poem. Series III. To Miss T--. To Mr. T–– º e e tº e ſº ... 190 tº gº tº tº e e tº $ tº 214 * - © © tº º © e - 65 A NARRATIVE OF MRS, CORA. L. W. TAPPAN'S EXPERIENCES AS A MEDIUM.” Given by her Spirit-Guides, at St. George's IHall, London, December 29th, 1873. BEFORF commencing our narrative we will implore the blessing of the Divine Father upon all our words and thoughts, that we may speak the truth, that our minds may understand its meaning, that our hearts may be unfolded to receive it, that our lives may become elevated and enfranchised with it; that our souls, through the divine beneficence of the Infinite Spirit, may overflow with knowledge and wisdom from His hand. Spiritualism is the sublimest fact of the nineteenth century. It either belongs to that class of phenomena that for ever ennobles and elevates humanity, or it proves that the human mind itself is duped by the most sublime of farces. In either case it commands the at- tention of every inquiring mind, and every fact we can add to the aggregate of its experiences becomes available as the property of humanity. In this instance the guides of the speaker who is before you have determined to give the narrative of her experience, as a mesmerist would give the results of experiences with a subject, because Spiritualism differs from mesmerism only in the fact that the mesmeriser, the controlling mind, is a disembodied spirit, while the subject is a medium in human form. Some twenty-one years ago, a little child or young girl of some eleven summers was seated in an arbour in her father's garden, in one of the middle counties of Wisconsin, preparing to write a composition for school. As school-girls do not trust their first writings, she was preparing hers upon a slate previous to trans- cribing it for the inspection of the schoolmistress. While in this arbour she was thrown into a trance, and the slate was written over in an unfamiliar handwriting, and when she came out of this * Reprinted from the “Cora L. W. Tappan Number” of the MEDIUM, of January 2nd, 1874. X MRs. CORA. L. V. TAPPAN's state she found her slate covered with a letter from some one she knew not, but addressed to “My dear Sister.” Taking her slate to her mother, she said, “Some one has written my slate all over while I was asleep.” Her mother, reading it, found that it pur- ported to be a communication or message from her deceased sister, who had passed away into spirit-life when both of them were chil- dren, and who now addressed her in a familiar manner, recording the scenes of childhood, and signing her name. This, as you may be aware, produced a profound sensation in her mind. The mother carefully laid away the slate and said nothing to the child, who soon passed away to her playmates and forgot the whole occur- I'êIlC6, In a day or two after, she was thrown into another trance while sitting by her mother's side, and the latter, thinking it was a swoon, tried every kind of restorative; but, on seeing the hand 1nove, she remembered the writing and went and fetched a slate. It was soon covered with writing, and one message after another was written to the mother, saying : “We are the spirits of your departed friends; we will not harm your child; but we have found a method of holding converse with the earth.” Up to that time Spiritualism had been known only from rap- pings, whose vibrations, however, had even reached that outer- most region of the Far West, and every town and village had been made interested through the public prints in the “Rochester knockings,” where the Fox family—perhaps some of them are now in your midst—first came out as the mediums of communica- tion between the spirit-world and yours. Trance-mediumship, however, was then unknown; and although the parents of this. little child had heard of and had even heard the rappings, they had no knowledge whatever of the phenomena of entrancement, not knowing that any human being could be thrown under this influence and speak for departed friends. Up to that time the education and culture of this girl had been such as are received by country children in obscure districts, where the government of the TInited States of America has provided from the public funds for the maintenance of primal schools. Reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, a small portion of grammar—these were the first, last, and only instructions she ever had from that day until the present. Her subsequent culture has been entirely in the hands of those in- visible guides who, as we have stated to you, will relate what her experiences have been. uckle has said that people partake of the climate, altitude, and quality of the soil of the place where they were born. She was born in one of the southernmost tiers of counties of the State of New York, the Far West as it was then called, in the midst of high hills, cradled amidst storms, where the head-waters of rivers that flow in three different directions take their rise. There also were the hardy sons of pioneers who had settled in that portion IXRERIENCES AS A MEDIUM. x; of the country when it was a wilderness. She was descended from a strict Puritan stock, who are not given to too much belief in the marvellous, and who fled from native England that they might find freedom of worship. In these western wilds her parents settled. Her father was not of a religious turn of mind, having read of the free-thought and advanced notions that were then in the world. Her mother belonged to the church in early life; but she also afterwards became a free-thinker. We tell you these things that, you may know that her culture was such as is given to the children of parents, whose practical piety and daily life render anything like sophistry, wilful deception, and a desire for the mar- wellous utterly impossible. Passing in early life from the western part of New York State to Wisconsin, she was far removed from the centres of so-called civilisation, and from any thought of what was going on in the great world, which was then being agitated by new thoughts and notions. It is true that mesmerism was known to the scientific men of America, but she did not know of it. It is true that clair- yoyance had developed some of the powers of the mind ; she, however, did not know of it. It is true the “Rochester knock- ings" had been known for two or three years; but nothing of the wonderful import that they conveyed had even dawned upon her understanding. Previous to migrating to Wisconsin she was six months in Massachusetts, in a small community called Hopedale, whose founder, Adin Ballou, has since become a Spiritualist, and published a small work on Spiritualism, which you have doubtless perused. We refer to him because his son, then a young man of seventeen or eighteen, passed away from earth soon after and became among the first who influenced this medium—became, in fact, one of her guides and teachers. He was prepared by his father's liberality of opinion and by the social and religious teachings and practical Christianity that formed the basis of that community. Thus the young man was ready to enter upon a spiritual life of progres- sion. He had heard of this modern opinion; but when he entered spiritual existence he did not know of any of the methods of control. Soon after his departure he was made aware of this medium, then in Wisconsin. His own spirit-friends conducted him thither, and he became from that time—it was about the year 1852—the guiding spirit, or the mouthpiece to the circles of spiritual intel- ligences who control this medium. Her first form of mediumship was that of writing, as already stated. The neighbours and friends, rapidly hearing of this singular event, came thronging to the house evening after evening, and the rooms were often filled with those who were anxious to discover what this new thing might be. Her teacher, a woman of profound piety and earnest desire to know the truth, was so moved by this singular phenomenon, that, in the secrecy of her room, she knelt xii MRS. CORA. L. V. TAPPAN's and prayed that it might be made known to her whether the extraordinary gift possessed by her favourite pupil was of the angels, or not. In a few days she had a most singular answer to that prayer, by becoming one of the most powerful healing mediums. Her maiden name was Miss Mary Fulsom. She after- wards married a gentleman named Hayes, and her wonderful heal- ing powers were famed throughout the entire southern part of the State of Wisconsin. This direct answer to prayer proved that she also possessed a mediumistic organisation, though it had not previously been known. Meanwhile, Cora's guides entranced her, and became enabled to speak as well as write through her. They also developed her spiritual vision, so that she was able to describe to those who came their spirit-friends, telling each as they entered the room, what spirit-friend came with them, and describing them so accurately that those who came readily recognised some deceased child, friend, or parent. You must remember that this child had no knowledge of psychology or clairvoyance, whereby persons are enabled to read the minds of others, and that her parents were equally ignorant of these phenomena, and could only, as fact after fact accumulated before their vision, bow and receive in candour . sincerity that which had suddenly come to their fireside and OD16), - After a time the guides intimated that a German physician would control the medium, and would examine diseases, and pre- scribe for or treat them by the laying on of hands. This German physician never gave his name; but in the period of four years, during which time he was constantly with the medium, he pre- scribed for diseases, spoke the French, German, and Italian lan- guages, with which, of course, she was utterly unacquainted; and so far as physicians who were present, and who frequently employed his agency through this medium, could determine, was fully expe- rienced in every branch of the medical profession. In the village of Lake Mills, Wisconsin (where they then resided), the medium, attended by her father, would pass round from house to house, where she had been sent for—she in a profound state of trance—and the German physician, as though really there in person, would cause her to examine the case, give prescriptions, make suit- able magnetic passes, and then pass on to another house. One in- stance will serve to show the power of absolute control. A car- penter residing in the village, whose name can be had any time by applying to the medium, was using a plane when a splinter from a board was inserted under the nail of the third finger, which, as all physicians know, is exceedingly sensitive, because two nerves centre there. The finger rapidly swelled, and inflammation set in. He employed the usual physician, who, after several days of excruciat- ing pain and suffering, lanced the finger to the first joint. Some days after gangrene set in, and the carpenter begged of his wife, RXPERIENCES AS A MEDIUM. xiii who was not a believer in Spiritualism, but rather believed it to be of Satanic origin, to send for Cora and her father to come and ease him. She would not do so, and the physician would not listen to anything of the kind. In the middle of the night, however, after this gentleman had experienced nearly three weeks of suffering, Cora was aroused from slumber by the spirit-physician, who caused her to go to her father's bedside and bid him rise also and go to the suffering man. They did so. The wife was hanging over the man, who was in the utmost agony. The physician also was there, un- able to alleviate his pain, and telling #. his arm must be ampu- tated. He again begged of them to send for Cora, but they did not do so, and so the spirit sent them there. When Cora, under influence, entered the room, the spirit-physi- cian asked the surgeon for his case of instruments. He precipi- tately left the house, affirming he would not be responsible if the man was killed. He fortunately, however, forgot his case of in- struments. She then took—still in this state of trance—the proper instrument, unbound the hand and arm, and proceeded to cut out the gangrene from the finger. When this was effected, she bound up the wound, bandaged the hand and arm, made passes over the patient, and left him in a profound slumber. From that time she visited him each day until he was able to get about, which was in about two weeks. He never lost the use of the hand; the joint of the finger only remaining a little stiff. These facts can be attested to by persons living in that town. All persons she thus treated were not cured: you can imagine that could not be; but many were cured, many relieved, and all in a measure alleviated from suffering. Wherever she would go, crowds would gather to meet her, for it was a great marvel in those days. Whether she was really under the influence of spirits, or whether it was some unconscious action, the fact was most wonderful. During the time of healing, teaching would go on, and answers to questions, spiritual truths, and the laws governing spiritual influences would be expounded. In that same village of Lake Mills a circle was formed for re- ceiving instruction concerning spiritual life. In this circle “Mr. Ballou,” the young man who had departed from life, would give instructions concerning spiritual existence, telling them of the new life he had entered, of the control of spirits over mortals, and causing many of the members of the circle to be developed as mediums. In the second year of her mediumship she returned on a visit to her native place in New York State, where her teaching and heal- ing went on. It is a rural district, quite thickly populated, and for many months she rode from town to town, from village to village, and from farmhouse to farmhouse, accompanied by her friends and relatives, teaching the spiritual gospel—telling them of the new re- Velation that had come to man. In her thirteenth year she did this. At this time crowds would gather at her places of meeting, and xiv MIts. CORA. L. v. TAPPAN's there listen to these wonderful teachings. The whole people of the neighbourhood would assemble—farmers, and even doctors, and lawyers, and clergymen—to listen to this new wonder that had come into the world. But it was not all new to them : in various families mediums had already appeared, and many were prepared to welcome, with almost perfect vision, this new ray of light from the spiritual world. Many had anticipated it, and had seen, with clairvoyant vision, when spirits would hold converse with mortals. In the autumn they returned to Wisconsin. There her father prepared a small hall or large room in his own house, and the pub- lic were invited one evening in each week to come and listen to a discourse. What girl of thirteen years, in any community, and es- pecially of a rural district, unused to the precocity of city life, would venture to stand up before an audience and answer questions, and hold theological discussion and metaphysical controversy P We venture to say there are none. This was done, and through a child of thirteen years. These truths and spiritual questions were given publicly, openly, and all were invited to attend. The an- swers to questions were very similar to what they are now, making, of course, all due allowance for the facility her guides have acquired during years of control. But in order that her brain might not be overtaxed, and her physical system have time for growth and de- velopment, it was not deemed proper to press this matter of speak- ing too far, and so more difficult duties were left until after years. In her fourteenth year, her father passed away from earthly life. This was her first severe trial. How she was sustained in this trial may be understood from the fact that when by his dying bed her spiritual vision was opened, and she described to her mother and friends the process of the departure of the spirit from the body, each step of its progress being marked by her description, she at last saying, “Oh, father is not dead; for he stands there, and bids you not weep. He has never lost consciousness for one moment; for while the spiritual body was being formed, his own consciousness seemed to be active in aiding his spirit to shake off the shackles of the mortal body;” and he stood up in spirit triumphant, having, after very few hours of suffering, passed from earthly life. There were no mourners in that house. There could be no mourn- ing, since death did not come—since, really, the enfranchised had already appeared and spoken, and since, through the mouth of his own child, he had revealed that he was not dead, but a living soul. The remains were tenderly put away, but his presence abode for ever in the house, and in a few hours joined those who had deve- loped her as the means of his entire conversion to spiritual truths before leaving the body. Such is the advantage of knowing into what world you are going when you die; since, if you do not know, you go blindly and j. After two hours he had held open converse with spiritual beings. Already his child had told him of the spiritual life, so that he knew what kind of existence he was EXPERIENCES AS A MEDIUM. XV going to enter. There was no hesitation, no reluctance, but obedi- ence to the will of God, which will call you all home some day; and if you should know you are going to your friends, how much better than to stand trembling on the verge of the grave between doubt and fear. During the passage to and fro with her friends from east to west, she had to encounter many converts and persons who became in- terested in these manifestations, among others also citizens of Buffalo. Buffalo was become famous. Certain doctors of divinity, hearing of the Rochester knockings, caused the Fox girls to be brought to Buffalo, where they (the D.D.'s) were formed into a committee to investigate these knockings. After having subjected these girls to every possible test these gentlemen could think of—having seated them on glass, placed their hands on glass plates and their feet upon glass balls, and done everything else to ensure there being no elec- tricity—having examined their clothing, taken off their shoes and stockings, and thus awaited the results, these gentlemen pronounced to the expectant world the solemn verdict that the “Rochester knockings” were caused by snapping of the toe joints! No matter whether it occured on the wall twenty feet away, or in every part of the room, the gentlemen had arrived at this conclusion. Amidst an admiring world they retired to their original obscurity. The knockings went on and vibrated to the uttermost parts of the earth, bearing always the same message: “We are the spirits of your departed friends: we are not dead, but do live and can speak to you;” and many doubtless here present can testify to the mani- festations in the presence of at least one of these girls,” of whose genuineness there can be no possibility of doubt. However, it was in the year 1855 that Buffalo was destined to have its greatest epoch of excitement concerning Spiritualism. In that year were developed there the now notorious and famous Da- venport Brothers, Cora knew them as lads, sat with them in many circles in their father's house, and knew, from their obscure pa- rentage and common unpretending manners, that there was no pos- sibility of fraud and deception. These manifestations went on, and Buffalo became the centre not only of these brothers' manifestations, but a large society of Spiritualists employed as their speaker Thomas Gales Forster, who was known as the most eloquent advocate of Modern Spiritualism. Cora was only fifteen years of age. She was also employed by the same society as one of their speakers, and at the forenoon, afternoon, or evening service would preface the discourse of Mr. Forster by a prayer, a poem, or some remarks, under the influence of her guides. The afternoons were devoted to conferences. There she answered questions concerning spiritual existence, and in many instances delivered discourses of from a- half to three-quarters, or an hour's duration without preparation. * Mrs. Kate Fox-Jencken, now in London. xvi. MRS. Cora L. V. TAPPAN's Aside from this work she sat in what are now called seances, but which is not a term for a mode of conversazione; she sat there, and under influence submitted to the examination of many of the most intelligent men of that city, who questioned her while in the trance- state concerning spiritual life, concerning history, concerning science, concerning metaphysics—all those things people are wont to ask when they have unlimited licence. From the age of fifteen, the power of healing that had been be- stowed upon her was withdrawn to give place to speaking and teaching. At sixteen she went to New York. New York had then in its intellectual circles been made aware of Spiritualism. Some of the members of the Fox family had moved there. There were Judge Edmonds, Professor Mapes, Drs. Gray and R. T. Hallock, and others. Some of the most intellectual of New York society investigated these phenomena. Spiritualism had already begun to take hold of the minds of the people. She came there in this pre- paration, and spoke under the influence of different and higher powers than her immediate guides, and from that time to the pre- sent doubtless the public discourses that she has delivered would number 3,000 at least. These were entirely impromptu, without preparation, and for the first ten years on subjects selected by com- mittees chosen from the audience. In New York there would per- haps be an audience of about 3,000 people, who would choose a committee which would propose a subject, after she had taken her seat. There is no girl of sixteen, whatever her culture, who could possibly endeavour to stand before an audience in a city, the me- tropolis of the country, and challenge the clergy, men of science, professional men, to disprove her statements upon spiritual philo- sophy, moral and religious ethics, upon history, science, or upon any proposition that had been there given her. No one would dare to do this in mature years; and we ask you as men accus- tomed to debate, whatever your profession, if, entirely impromptu and unaided, you could upon your life-long subject speak for an hour if called upon in an emergency? But this was not done by one spirit. A circle of spirits who had seen her powers from her childhood, and had adapted and taken good care of these powers, were ready always and in attendance to give response; and whenever the subject was in the particular de- partment that they knew, the one who gave the lecture would be the one who had most knowledge upon that special subject. So you see spirits do not profess absolute and infinite knowledge; but wherever there is a channel of communication, those spirits who can influence that channel avail themselves of it, and discourse upon such subjects as they are familiar with. We give these facts as they were recorded in the journals of the #. and as they appeared to the outside world; for you must go behind the scenes to the spirits who impressed her, to get at the why and the cause of all this seeming ascendancy over the mind of EXPERIENCES AS A MI.DIUM. xvii the medium. In debates there would sometimes be as many as seven clergymen; and we need not say that it required no small amount of decision on the part of the chairman to keep these clergy- men, not from overwhelming the speaker, but from quarrelling among themselves. Oftentime the subjects selected by the committee— the committee having been chosen by the audience—were of such a nature as to require no small degree of ability, or rather a great exhibition of mental and intellectual gymnastics, merely to satisfy the whim of some one particular individual. In such cases the audience were the victims; because the spirits cannot be reponsible for the subjects given to the audience. But we may say, after the experience of many years, that committees, as a usual thing, do not choose the very best and most interesting subjects. We give it as our candid opinion that they do not choose well, that in the captious- ness of their inquiry they will go beyond the subject, forgetting they have an audience to please, and that the primal question is that of spiritual existence. However, we do them the justice to say, that, whenever a committee was called upon to give their opinion they invariably gave a fair verdict. When called upon to state whether there was collusion, they were always unanimous in declaring that, whatever cause might underlie these manifestations, there was no possibility of deception. The desire for a knowledge of spiritual truths increased, and one by one the scientific, political, and other subjects were dropped, the primal subject being the desire to know the laws that control and govern spiritual existence. As we have stated before, in the period of fifteen years doubtless 3,000 public discourses have been given, not including private ad- dresses, poems, and all those casual utterances which were given to ersonal friends. No professional speaker, who writes and prepares his lectures beforehand, ever delivers that number of lectures in a lifetime. One lecture serves a season; one discourse, with a little alteration, serves many times. There never has been, in her case, the repetition of a discourse. The same subject undoubtedly may have been treated many times, as the audience may have desired; but the language and form of delivery have been each time different; and by no manner possible of mental cerebration could the speaker con- jure up answers to the variety of subjects presented to her. By no possibility of unconscious action of the mind could facts in history, in philosophy, in science, answers to the various political and moral questions agitating the community, discourses on mind and matter, be conjured up in the brain of any human being at a moment's warning. This, however, has been the result. We leave it to those who have read any of the discourses to determine their quality the quantity is what we especially call your attention to, and the fact that they have been delivered without preparation on her part. Some four years ago, after this repeated lecturing, with very slight interruption, for many years, her spirit-guides gave a private series of discourses upon spiritual ethics. These have nº, as yet xviii MRS. CORA. L. v. TAPPAN's been published, but they were given in the presence of five persons when she was prostrated with illness, and unable to raise her hand. But from that time her spiritual vision was opened more deeply and profoundly than ever before; and though the laws of spirituallife had previously been talked of, they had not been revealed fully and wholly, and in a complete system, until then. This series of dis- courses will be given in due time; and meanwhile we refer—and we do it with hushed voice, and with hearts, we trust, that will meet with the fullest response—to one influence. We found, from her childhood, at times there came upon her an illumining of her face, an uplifting of the heart, an exalting of the whole being, and a hushing of all who were present. Seldom did she speak but her spirit-guides fell back when that influence came, and looked up also to that higher source, whence life and power of love come upon us. In this presence, and under this influence, the few words that she would sometimes speak would strike home to every heart, and * those present suffered with illness they would seem to be €8.1801. Upon this bed of sickness, above referred to, where she lay four years ago, these things came to her vision, and the light of a match- less Countenance, the glory of a surpassing Power, a face that alone can express the Divine Humanity, beamed upon her sight. She was promised restoration; she was promised also that the powers should be augmented that her spirit-guides had given. That promise has been fulfilled; that voice has not been silent; that pre- sence has kept most sacredly the words given to our medium. An epic was given under the inspiration of poets, that was pub- lished two years or more ago in America without any explanation of the manner of its production. It received from the literary critics the usual complement of praise or blame; but its history was that in the trance every word was dictated, every page was folded as dictated and laid away, and when the whole was given, it was arranged under direction and then published to the world. It was an epic poem concerning the history of America; but many have pronounced it equal to the best literary productions of this age; while she in her normal state has no knowledge of epic com- position, has not studied its methods, and knows nothing of its rhythmical and other regulations. These are simply facts; still, at the close of a discourse, in private, and at the suggestion—often- times on the spur of the moment—of friends, a poem or song is given, some specimens of which you may have heard. We now come to the last, and that is the restoration from illness brought on by nervous prostration two years ago. She was near the verge of the grave from exertions in physical ways, and labour and anxiety had brought on this disease. Her spirit-guides had striven to overcome it; but we cannot always even control our mediums, for when we are absent they have a will and an indivi- duality of their own, and will oftentimes do that which makes them IFXPERIENCES AS A MEDIUM. xix ill, and which we are obliged to undo. This illness was brought on by over-exertion. For eighteen months she was helpless and could not walk. Even her spirit-friends were doubtful of being able to cure her. She waited patiently, thinking it time to depart. We received from those who were higher than ourselves, even from the very Face and Voice referred to, assurance that she would not die, and at last, having prescribed for her utmost quiet and freedom from toil, we were enabled to restore her and bring her for the first time before an English audience last September. How rapid that recovery has been you all know who have witnessed her increased strength and power since that time. But no miracle more pro- found was ever performed in history than that; without the aid of medicines, indeed, without the aid of aught save the power of her spirit-guides, she was restored from that bed of illness; and that healing power was purely and wholly directed through her own lips and under the direction of her spirit-physician. We have given you but an epitome of an experience that would of course require volumes to give in detail. We have selected only certain instances, to bring out in bold relief the especial features of this individual history. We have given you only one instance, where there are in the world thousands equally as remarkable, equally as singular, equally as unusual, according to the standard of modern science and philosophy, as the one we have related. We have said to you that human science and knowledge are made up of the sum-total of individual experiences. No science ever brought to its aid such wonderful facts as perhaps there are a dozen in this room could give you to-night. No other science ever had such experience to prove its truth as that which comes to the aid of Modern Spiritualism. Here is a musician who, without warning, plays, under the inspiration of musical spirits, wonderful har- monies; there is a physician who, without the skill of the schools or culture, heals the sick and provides for their needs; somewhere in the room are clairvoyants, speakers, seers, or those endowed with some spiritual gift, whose lives have been made a succession of wonders through the influence of Spiritualism. The history we have given you is not exceptional—is not different from that of many thousands of people who are living in the world to-day. Many families have each their medium—some child, some daughter, Some son, or some member endowed with the gift of the Spirit, that gives wonder and power to their family circles. Millions of people to-day testify to these things as occurring by the fire-side; and can the world of science, with these facts before them, rise up and say: “It is not true P” What is not true? The mouth speaks, the thoughts come, words are uttered, the sick are healed, spirits are seen, clairvoyant powers are developed, sounds and sights are everywhere in your midst, wonderful, things are going on in the world! What is it that is not true? Spiritualism Then the sun does not shine; the world does not move ; the t YX MRS, CORA L. V. TAPPAN's seasons do not come and go ; the springtime is not, nor the harvest. It has been referred to by your chairman to-night that a member of the Royal Society has boldly avowed his belief in the genuine- ness of Spiritualism, and we are glad of it. It is better late than never. The scientific world have been tardy; professors and fellows of Royal and other Societies have not been in a hurry to give to Spiritualism a candid hearing ; they have made haste slowly, but we trust surely. The testimony of one living member of a scientific body, who has given the subject his candid considera- tion, is doubtless worth, in the opinion of the world, many hundred casual witnesses, who may or may not be misled by their indi- vidual prejudices and opinions. But the wonder of Spiritualism is, not that so many believe it, nor that so many accept of it, but that so few, knowing that it is in the world, and that its investiga- tion is gospel to all, turn from it as very unimportant and not worth their hearing. The wonder is, not that this speaker is received by many, but that all speakers and all mediums are not more fully and absolutely sustained by those who have certainly as much interest in the investigation of Spiritualism as they have in any other subject that interests humanity. The broad truths and facts of Spiritualism, the simple founda- tion and proposition of the proof of the existence of the soul beyond the grave, are in the world to-day. That being so, the spirit- world must convey to every living mind some message. That fact being in the world proves something to everybody that reads, that writes, that thinks, that breathes. It is in confirmation of this that we have spoken these utterances to-night, to show you that, marvellous as it may appear, an uneducated girl can, at thirty- three, be said to have been educated by her spirit-guides; that all the knowledge she possesses has been given in this way; that every form of inspiration has been through her intuition, and not through external culture; that every power and facility in the use of language and methods of construction of thought have been imparted by these means. We say the marvel is that, with so many of these instances in existence, the world is so dumb and motionless. But it is not always to be so. It is but twenty-five years since the first rapping was heard, and already in your midst there are many hundreds of thousands—in the world many millions—tha have heard of Spiritualism. It must be the stepping-stone to that new era when, out of the meshes of materialism, away from the thraldom of infidelity and atheism, in which too many have wandered, there comes a voice crying, even as of old in the wilderness, to lead the people from the slavery and bondage of the material senses; and it must be that such instances as these have been reared up to prove to man anew the lesson of his immortal life, and to reveal that Spiritualism is a grand science to unite both worlds, to connect, as With a subtle link of thought, the seen with the unseen, and to EXPERIENCES AS A MEDIUM. xxi bind your hearts to your invisible friends by the renewed chords of affection and interest. On the conclusion of her narrative, Mrs. Tappan said that if Someone would suggest a subject, a gº would be given as a ter- mination to the proceedings. Mr. S. C. Hall proposed the theme “Temperance,” Mr. Huskisson “Love,” and Mr. Tebb “The Reli- gion of the Future.” The latter gained the vote of the audience; whereupon Mrs. Tappan gave the following lines:– What time on earth God's seers have taught His words and works to man, What time the prophets have foreseen The wonders of his plan, Lo then with burning tongue of flame, With radiant, beaming eye, The love of God has eer revealed His power to prophesy. For every age has felt this need, All peoples sorely tried Have bowed their souls, have sown truth's Seed, And God's voice has replied. No age in darkness has remained, No world without His word; Like sword of might its point has cleft, And sparkling like the sword. Both right and left with wondrous might, His voice of Love was heard. Nay, when the Master's weary feet Upon the earth once trod, And when with loving accents sweet He led the way to God Through deeds of charity, 'twas not That slighted and alone He should through death and darkness drear Man's faults and sins atone; But 'twas that through one supreme law, All other laws to bind, He should combine God's word with works— Reveal th’ Eternal mind In one sublime and perfect word, Pronounced and known above, More mighty than the pen or sword— The simple word of Love. Oh, if in hatred ye abide, And if in sorrow sore, Remember that his piercéd side A deeper anguish bore! e xxii MRs. CoRA L. v. TAPPAN's Was it not through this voice, made faint With human suffering, That ye are led to hope and faith, That you these off'rings bring, Wherein truth maketh pale and poor All base and paltry things, And proves that God's love doth abide To him who truly clings? The future—why, 'tis here, ’tis now- This Spirit in your midst Has set its seal upon each brow, With love each forehead kiss'd. And by that same bright subtle ray That o'er your world is cast, Grows brighter all the starry way; The future as the past Reveals the same soft-spoken word, Down-brooding like a dove, Vibrant its silvery voice is heard, 'Tis still the word of Love. Mr. Benjamin Coleman then said he agreed with all Mrs. Tappan had uttered, and proposed a vote of thanks to her for her lecture. He desired that it should be carried by acclamation, the audience standing. Mr. W. P. Adshead, Belper, on behalf of provincial Spiritualists, briefly seconded the motion, which was carried as heartily as could be wished, the audience standing en masse and cheering for some time. EXTRACTS FROM MRS. TAPPAN'S EARLY MEDIUMISTIC COMPOSITIONS. The foregoing personal narrative would not be complete without some specimens of Mrs. Tappan's literary mediumship during her early development. We are happy in being able to furnish this important department of evidence. Fortunately Mrs. Tappan has with her certain record-books, written at the dates of the occasions to which they refer, and from these we have been privileged to make selections. Our difficulty has been to know what to omit, the whole is so interesting. The first extract which we offer is a very choice fragment, as all will admit. A composition written at the age of twelve, which was rejected Thy her teacher because he did not believe it original. She explained that she was aided by her spirit-guides, when he turned pale, and ºrd a prayer, as if afraid. Those were the last of her days in SCI10OI, - EARLY MEDIUMISTIC COMPOSITIONS. xxiii SUNSET IN AUTUMN. 1852. The last rays of the setting sun linger lovingly among the trees, and gild the domes of the distant mountains; then swiftly change, leaving the western sky aglow with a flame of splendour. The birds warble their vesper songs, then quietly seek their nests. The breezes sigh for a moment amid the leaves and grasses, then die away, murmuring faintly, “Rest, rest.” The lake, in whose placid bosom is mirrored each tint of the sky, slumbers quietly in its bed of forest trees, whose gorgeous foliage sweeps gracefully along the shore like the folds of a crimson curtain. All nature seems hushed to sweet repose, save when the whip-poor-will breaks the calm stillness with his melodious complaining. Man alone pauses not; filled with unrest and mad pursuits of ambition, he struggles on. Yet in such an hour as this, how is the mind invited to regions of higher thought The earth and heaven seem blent together, and on the wings of the twilight fair forms appear, soft voices seem to whisper of peace. We seem to be near the abodes of the angels, and to blend our hearts with theirs in solemn songs of praise. The earth and lake and sky, the birds and fields and forests, the stars and voiceless depths of space, seem pervaded by a solemn presence encompassing and o'erruling all. QUOTATIONS AND ExTRACTs From addresses given in the Hall of Reform and Progress, Lake Mills, Wis., in the house of Mr. Scott (Mrs. Tappan's father), who acted as amanuensis or reporter. 1852-3. February 15th. After some manifestations by test-mediums who were present, Cora was again entranced, and spoke as follows, in a plain, distinct, and im- passioned manner:— By “Mr. Ballou.” Thinking that this assemblage is fully satisfied of the existence of spirits, I shall now endeavour to explaim to you in what manner they exist after they leave the earth. I know of three spheres in the spirit- land, one terrestrial, one super-terrestrial, another celestial. Each sphere has seven circles, and these in turn are divided into seven societies. Each of these spheres, circles, and societies represents a degree of development, those in the terrestrial corresponding to the develop- ment of the earth's inhabitants. For instance, any person on earth whose development would correspond to, or fit him for, the first circle of the terrestrial sphere, would enter that circle on leaving the earthly form. But a person on earth can only ascend to the sixth circle, because, should that person attain the development of the seventh, he or she could not remain upon earth nor in the terrestrial sphere, that circle representing the transition from the first to the second sphere; and the Spirit then throws off its lower body and takes on a more celestial form, no pain or sickness accompanying such a change in our world, You perceive by these remarks that progression is the law governing all spirits, whether embodied or disembodied. There is no retrogression. . . xxiv. MRs. Cora L. V. TAPPAN's The spheres or circles referred to are states or conditions of mind. The darkness which now pervades earthly minds concerning life in the spiritual world will soon be swept away by this open communion. Instead of fear in your worship of God you will know only love, for love and truth are the attributes of God. . . . . (About 300 persons present.) February 23rd, 1853. We rejoice to welcome so many here assembled for the purpose of hearing from the spirit-land. We doubt not you have come with a sincere desire for instruction. . . . . This is a glorious age in which you live; an age long sought by minds of earth—long foretold by seer and sage. Greatest—because between your world and the spirit-land a means of communication has been revealed. A most glorious thought ! One which makes the sad heart throb with joy. We come to tell you of the happiness that this com- munion gives your departed friends. . . . . We come to tell you that your bodies shall go back to the dust whence they came, but the spirits shall ascend to the “mansions not made with hands.” . . . . There is happiness for all. Not perfect, nor immediate, but each one, according to his deeds and condition, shall be happy. IEveryone shall have such happiness as he is fitted to enjoy and com- rehend. . . . . p We come to tell you that love shall conquer hatred, and these com- munings shall never cease. . . . . You are requested calmly and candidly to consider the subject. It has proofs for every sincere mind. . . . . Ignorance alone enslaves the world and bars the door of Truth. But there is promised to all this blessed boon : “The light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” . . . . The first step being taken (in Spiritualism), i.e., to open communica- tion with the inhabitants of earth; the next will be to tell of the con- ditions of spirit existence. . . . Love, Purity, Truth are en graven on the arches of the soul's temple. February 26th. The medium was entranced, and administered a scathing reproof to some persons who had come in under the influence of intoxicating drinks to disturb the meeting, and she refused to go on until they were removed or repented their folly. It was ascertained afterwards that quite a number had come from a public-house opposite, with a view of disturbing the meeting. But as they had made no sign when the spirit spoke, they were much abashed and surprised to find their intentions had been read and frustrated by the spirits. Some remained to pray when they had come to scoff. One gentleman rose and commended purity of body and mind as necessary if we would commune with spirits, Dr. J. related his experience as a member of the private circle then assembling weekly, under “Mr. Ballou's" instructions, having been cured of one pernicious habit after another, all of which he had willingly abandoned, by the aid of spirits, and spoke of the plain and God-like reproof they had just received, hoping they would all profit by it. FAIRLY MEDIUMISTIC COMPOSITIONS. XXV The mother of the medium (Mrs. Scott) gave an interesting account of the spiritual influences connected with Cora's development, after which the medium (Cora) was again entranced and pronounced a benediction. By “Mr. Ballou.” March 9th. When we look upon you, your faces beaming with hope and expect- ancy, we can but rejoice that we have the privilege of communicating with you. I would serve to elevate your thoughts to communion with your spirit-guides. - The laws of nature are fixed and inviolable; the laws of the spirit- world are also natural and equally binding. These laws are the laws of God. You are constantly transgressing, often ignorantly, the laws of your outward being; sickness, suffering, and death ensue. So the laws of the spirit are not known, and doubt, fear, and misery exist where there should be harmony and peace. . . . . Ultimately we trust the world will be governed by love. SONG OF THE STARS TO THE SUN-GOD. Poem given at the age of fifteen, in Buffalo, N.Y., 1855. God of the stars! great central light Of this grand universe, whose might And power are like the thoughts so bright Of angel gods above, To Thee we sing, for Thou art king; Thy throne the sun, and then we bring All lowliness; and on the wing Of light whisper of love. Soul of this harp, whose golden chords Are touched by Thee as love's sweet words Touch earthly hearts, or as bright birds Warble their º notes, So from thy heart we catch the strain, And echoes float until again It louder peals, and almost pain Is felt whene'er it floats. Apollo, thou Hyperian god, Ruling thy kingdom with the rod Of golden light, at whose slight nod The worlds in rev'rence bow; Thy throne, thy crown, thy citadel, Thy theme of song, thy magic spell, Thy palace halls, within which dwell The thoughts we sing of now— All, all are thoughts of human souls, Whose spray high tossed and thundering rolls Like countless oceans o'er the shoals Of everlasting life; xxvi MRS. CORA. L. V. TAPPAN's Them back, receding from the shore, The distant murmur of the roar Is lulled to rest, and never more Is heard the sound of strife. Hark! hark the melody of spheres Reverberates through endless years, Until are blended hopes and fears In universal joy. To thee, God-sun, this song is given; To thee, the king of solar heaven, And to thy harp, whose strings thrice seven Time never shall destroy. Given in her sixteenth year. |BVIDENCEs of IMMORTALITY. Before the planet Neptune was discovered the astronomers in the Old World were saying: “To make this plan complete, this geometric ratio certain, there must be another star yonder, beyond the reach of our telescopic range of vision.” The eye of mathematical faith had seen it there—the student had beheld it glimmering through the midnight lamp when he drew the circles of the solar system and measured their geometrical relation to it. Sure enough, when, within the last century, the most powerful telescope was brought to bear on that portion of the heavens, there was the remote star glimmering away, as though it had been discovered countlessages ago as it undoubtedly was created. So with the eye of faith, the eye of spiritual science, the eye of absolute certainty, minds of the past have said: “Somewhere in all this range of spiritual truth, there must be a means of communion between the two worlds. The gateway of death must be unbarred and there will be discovered a mental telescope whereby we can see the fixed star of immortality gleaming, and know that it is there.” The telescope of modern science, whose premonitory symbols were mesmerism and psychology, has at last been pointed in the right direc- tion. It has swept around and around the circle of cause and effect— around and around the circle of religion and science, until at last it has pointed its lens directly in range of the star that reveals with certainty the future circumstances of the human soul. It gives three-fold evidence —physical proof, mental proof, spiritual proof. The last is greatest, since the spirit alone can judge of spiritual things, and thus opens the wide vista of knowledge so positively, so undeniably, that those who have traversed it can tell of its truthfulness. But of this proof we can only say, pursue it even as the astronomer pursues his science, the chemist his, the geologist his. In one night, in a single hour, you cannot be made familiar with all the evidences. We can only say, study your souls as you do your bodies, pursue the science as you do any other. Make the lamp of the human spirit the subject of your inquiries and investigations, and, like the happy astronomer who triumphed in the exercise of mathematical faith, you too shall triumph in the certainty of spiritual knowledge, - EARLY MEDIUMISIIIP, xxvii Greatest and best of all, the divinest evidence is that which comes to the human spirit in its hours of exaltation, in its moments of intuition and inspiration, when it is brought directly in contact with the upper world. There is no questioning, no setting aside, no pushing away. The senses may cry deception, the intellect may say it is false, but the spirit, calm in the majesty of its own intuition and certainty, rests upon the mountain-top of truth and says: “We know whereof we testify. It is not blind faith, it is not fictitious logic. It is the certainty of absolute knowledge that causes every human spirit to shrink away from error, darkness, oppression, and bigotry. INCIDENTS, &c., IN MRS. TAPPAN'S MEDIUMSHIP. A gentleman who was travelling in America during the first years of the war of the Rebellion, chanced to be in Chicago when Mrs. Tappan delivered some remarkable discourses, showing that spirits retain their identity and opinions after the change called death. The Sunday-morning lecture was delivered by Mrs. Tappan under the influence of what purported to be the spirit of John C. Calhoun (the father of “States' rights” and secession); the views were delivered with accuracy, cogency, and truthfulness to history, causing great rejoicing among those in the audience who partially sympathised with the Southern States. The argument in favour of secession was deemed conclusive. In the evening, through the same lips, and with different manner, voice, and intonation, an address was delivered, purporting to come from “Thomas Jefferson,” on the side of the Union, and against secession and slavery. This lecture was equally characteristic and convincing, and refuted the arguments of the morning lecture in a masterly manner. The audience being Northern, and mostly Unionists, were of course more enthusiastic over the latter discourse; but considered the Imorning lecture as equally able, and as a marvellous proof of spirit-control. Another instance of personal identity in Mrs. Tappan's experiences has come to our knowledge. A committee of gentlemen—prominent citizens of Chicago— invited Mrs. Tappan to lecture in that city, and hearing that some- times different spirits controlled her to speak, requested that their fellow-townsman, the late Stephen A. Douglas, might address them. The guides of Mrs. Tappan consented, and to an overflowing audience (numbering from 1,000 to 1,500 people) the “little giant” addressed his former constituents, and, as additiona proof of his personal identity, answered questions at the close. The audience were enthusiastic, and gave three cheers for the speaker. But the effort, or rather the unusual control, being less spiritual than that of her usual guides, produced severe illness, compelling her guardian Spirits to decline any similar efforts afterwards. xxviii - “OUINA” “OUINA.” The name given above is that of the spirit of an Indian maiden, whose earthly history is given in full in Mrs. Tappan's peom, “Hesperia.” Familiarly called “Shannie,” an abbreviation of her tribal name (Shenandoah), she has, since Mrs. Tappan's earliest mediumship, been one of her attendant spirits. Joyous, happy, elevated, buoyant, it seems to be her mission to ward off the physical ills, and minister to the brain when overtaxed, by applying the healing balm of hope. With greatest simplicity, she combines philosophy and poesy, and always brings from the spirit-world some message of song and beauty, improvising symbolic poetic addresses to individuals who may chance to be present. Her poems are peculiarly her own, and would alone make a volume if collected. The following is a specimen of “Ouina’s” gifts; many in London have received similar offerings:— S E A L OF LO W E . TO MRS. N. A. C. M. As on each star the magic word is traced, And then within its orb the world is placed To shine for ever bright; As on each flower the perfume bloom reveals, That which its growth and form conceals, The wonder of Love's might ! So in thy heart, heaven-written is the truth, Which ever tells of endless, fadeless youth In worlds above! A hidden mine, a secret fount of bliss, A germ immortal; for thy name is this: “The Seal of Love?” STAR FLOWER. To MRS. L. Q. B–-- (wASHINGTON). Not in the radiance of earthly bowers, Where bloom the gorgeous tinted ſlowers, Is its breath found— Nor where the tropic sun's bright gold The orange buds with sweets doth fold, And maidens their bright blossoms hold With myrtle bound,- But in those hidden, secret hills, Where bloom the fabled asphodels Of mystic fame; There, in thy soul, its petals rare Expand, like thoughts so bright and fair, Exhaling music on the air— Star Flower's thy name. THE NEW SCIENCE. SPIRITUALISM AS A SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGION, An Inspirational Oration given under spirit influence by Mrs. ConA L. V. TAPPAN, in St. George's Hall, Langham Place, Regent Street, London, on Sunday Evening, September 21st, 1873. While Mrs. TAPPAN spoke this Oration (her first in London) she was almost totally uncon- scious of physical existence, and the matter was unpremeditated. INVOCATION. Our Father, infinite Spirit of light and of love, whose name wo call God, but whose wondrous power, whose ineffable spirit, filleth every atom of the universe : thou wonderful, thou immortal source of light and love, we praise Thee No other purpose hath our utterance than to give songs of praise to Thee for life. We praise Thee, O Spirit of Life, for every form of being : for the light and for the darkness; for the morning and for the evening; for the spring's refreshing shower and the winter's icy snow; for the harvest with its rich sheaves and the glory of the earth abounding with plenty. We praise Thee for all gifts of nature: for the rapt voices of solitude that give forth songs unto Thee ; for the wilderness teeming with life that praises Thee with its myriad voices; for the songs of wild birds that go up to Thee in rejoicing; for the streamlets that dance and babble in bright sunlight; for the everlasting mountains which reach their hoary heads to the skies in praise of Thee ; for the ocean—broad and boundless—which is ever bearing us over its mighty bosom to the infinite; for all the sights and sounds of nature, and for the 1 4 - THE NEW SCIENCE, immortal voices of the lone stars. We praise Thee for the living soul of man, filling earth with the influence of intelligence and art—the products of that thought with which Thou hast endowed him; for science with her rich treasures of knowledge; for art with her manifold industries; for the institutions and governments of men, that, when war is not, bring happiness and peace to the earth—for the governments, reared upon the principles of truth and justice, which Thou hast caused thy children to form, are true forerunners of those diviner governments which are to come. We praise Thee for the thoughts of the living that vivify all time and space, and for those who, living above all worldly motives, seek only Thee and thy loving spirit; for that breathing presence which fills every atom in this room, and far and wide in space fills every living soul with the divine spark of life; for all these do we praise Thee. We praise Thee that this inextinguishable fire, this living Spark, can never die, but mounts upwards and onwards through worlds and systems living and developing for ever, instinct with immortality. If loved ones are here whose friends have been Snatched away, and whom they have buried as with loving faith, may they here understand those truths that shall bring them the dear ones that are not lost; may they listen until the clouds of despair and the grave are rent in twain, and the life that is immortal opens to their glad vision. O blessed immortals throng- ing around us here, receive our praises, and let them ascend through circle upon circle of angel ones until, vibrated to the distant orbs, the whole of the glad world of angels join in th praise of our Father, SPIRITUALISM As A SCIENCE. 5 DISCOURSE. In the light of modern science all thought, whether that which relates to the philosophy of spirit or mind, or whether that which belongs to mundane or material science, is attributed as the result of organisation,-organisation alone being held responsible for, and organisation alone producing, the wonderful results of human thought, human philosophy, and human religion. For many years science has been at war with religion, and there has been discovered no general solvent that will bring them together. Chemists have found solvents to bring together antagonistic principles of the material world, and through that wonderful system of material science already mentioned the first agents or what we may be allowed to call the spirit of matter have been arrived at ; but between mind and matter no one has been able to find a solvent which shall blend the two. Hitherto there has been no super-science— no science beyond matter. It is true that Baron Reichenbach carried on a series of experiments in this sphere of inquiry; and in America Hare and others have investigated the secrets of mind and matter; Professor Faraday investigated Spiritualism until he found it was the result of a nervous force, od force, as it was called, a force similiar to what one of your chemists has found to be odylic force. But we must bear in mind that the scientist is under a disadvantage in the investigation of Spiritualism. The formulae of science are learned in the schools of direct experiment, and if any one wishes to investigate he must first learn the established formula. But in this science of Spiritualism there is no formula; it has no alphabet: how therefore is the scientist to proceed to investigate it? Spiritualists must not be too hasty in blaming scientific men. What is needed is that some scientific man should establish a formula; some one learned in modern thought must take upon himself its investigation. We will give him the first lesson, and that is that for every material substance there is a super-material: you are accustomed to call it supernatural; but everything is natural—even to Deity. But super-material and super-mundane substances are governed by their own laws. Now, some of the laws which control material substances are known; whereas the laws which control the super-material and Super-mundane are not known. To find out these laws, to investi- gate, these and establish a formula, will give a key whereby every manifestation that is known and the form and material of spiritual manifestations can be found out. Everything in nature—wood, metal, &c.—has an aura surrounding it. Clairvoyants have dis- covered this fact, and if scientists would acknowledge it they would have the key to this phenomenon. When clairvoyance first came into notice it was scouted by all; and when mesmeñº CàIIMO '6 THE NEW SCIENCE. up clairvoyance was used to explain it; then in its turn psychology was attempted to be explained by mesmerism, and now scientists would fain explain Spiritualism by psychology. ... But the super- atmosphere they attempted to explain Spiritualism by did not reach far enough ; it only went so far as the laws of mind, that is, embodied mind, were known. There are two sources of human thought; one is mind embodied in material form, and the other is disembodied mind. Now, whenever a mind embodied in human form acts upon organism it is through volition, or through in- voluntary action. Thus it is that the mesmeriser or the spirits control another mind. Psychology reveals the involuntary action of mind on mind. Thus you are involuntarily acted upon by thought; but there is always an embodied source for such a thought. Now it only needs that you take one step farther, that disembodied mind acts upon embodied mind, and even in the light of modern science you will see that the spiritual manifesta- tions have only to be called super-mundane, and the science super- science, to make out a formula in the phraseology of the schools, and establish a general term—and by general term we mean something all scientists will understand—whereby any person wishing to investigate will have the key in his possession. Now this super-science seems to have laws antagonistic to mundane laws. There is said to be a law of gravitation, discovered by Newton, whereby things tend to the centre of the earth; and according to the scientists things cannot be raised from the earth without some mechanical force adequate to counterbalance this physical law. But Spiritualism shows that without any known mechanical force materials are lifted some distance from the surface of the earth. “But that cannot be,” says the scientific man; “for it is in opposition to the law of gravitation.” But did it never occur to you that there might be some law in opposition to this law, just as the centripital acts in opposition to the centri- fugal force P And did it never occur to you that by ascertaining what this other law is, or by attempting to find out whether there is another law, the first step is taken in the investigation of the science of Spiritualism * Then again; things are lifted and floated in the atmosphere without any apparent mechanical maintainin cause. “That cannot be,” says the scientist; “even if I saw it should know it to be a delusion, because I know there can be no movement of objects without cause.” But the super-mundane cause steps in. Don't you know that electricity, the finest of your material substances, often controverts and contradicts your estab- lished science P and did it never occur to you that in the realms of space there may be another and more subtle element than electricity, whereon mind may act and produce mechanical results? Here super-science steps in and explains that there is another agency which produces the transportation of bodies through the *. By its influence persons are moved to write and SPIRITUALISM AS A SCIENCE. 7 speak, the organs of the body are controlled and swayed without the agency of individual volition. “But all this is biology,” says the scientist. But does biology act involuntarily P and if not, has it been taught in the schools how the subject can transcend the thought of the biologiser, giving the thought of the presence of departed friends when he, the biologiser, has no such thought P If so, would it not be well for scientists to learn a few things they never learned in their schools, and, by means of these experiments, transcend the schools in which they have been instructed P We have sometimes gone back to the German school of meta- physicians, in which Kant and others tried to disprove the immor- tality of the soul from a materialistic stand-point, and their philo- sophy had just the opposite effect to what was intended. Then we were indebted to Galland Spurzheim for showing by the organisation of the brain the development of individual mind. By these labours they took us too much into materialism. But wenote another reaction has now begun. Whatever services these men did to science they failed to account for all the manifestations of mind. Dut for all effects there must be a cause ; and presuming there is a cause other than that taught, and by so presuming—because there can be no expression of thought or manifestation of matter without a sus- taining mind—we are insensibly led towards the operating cause. By presuming such a cause the scientist will have arrived at the solid and sure process of spiritual science. But if material science is inadequate to solve this problem, then it must be presumed there are other means whereby it can be solved. Twenty-five years ago, Robert Hare, of Philadelphia, assumed that he could explain Spiritualism by natural causes, and so set to work with all the in- telligence of the school of which he was a member, determined to find out in what this mystery lay concealed. And in order that no deception or trickery could be practised, he constructed a piece of mechanism whereby it would be utterly impossible for the medium to deceive him in any way. He persisted in his object with all the nonchalance of a man of Science, determined to overturn this strange delusion. The result was that instead of finding anything in his own science to explain it, he was forced to adopt the super- science to explain these manifestations. They purported—and that was maintained—that they came from departed friends: names were given, writings were created, all forms of tests were tried, and Professor Hare became a Spiritualist. When, some years ago, William Howitt became a Spiritualist, it was said: “Oh, he is becoming old, and has no longer the brightness of intellect he once possessed.” And when Robert Owen, in his old age, became con- vinced of its truth, men said: “Oh, he was always taking up with some new-fangled and absurd notion.” And again, when Robert Dale Owen announced his belief in it, it was said he was doubtless insane. So also, when Judge Edmonds, one of the brightest ornaments of the American bar, said he found nothing in physical * to ex- 8 THE NEW SCIENCE, plain it, he was said to be in his dotage. But all this does not affect the one basis to which we wish to call your attention. Before you can wish to investigate any science, you must know there is a scientific basis. You have only then to consider that besides the elements already named in science, and the laws and forces of material matter, there are many thousands of forces which scientists do not claim to have discovered, and which they are still seeking to understand. Chemistry has discovered some sixty odd rimates in nature; yet the science of chemistry is still in its infancy, and we may expect it to go on until it solves the mystery of the atomic world, and thus through its instrumentality lead to this super-science, and discover the one general solvent of nature which we have been seeking. But until that day has arrived scientists must be patient, and the world must be patient, and Spiritualists must be patient. Where there is no scientific basis there can be no continuance of investigation until it is so established. It is only an alphabet with Spiritualists. You ask them how these manifestations are produced, and they will say, “I do not know; I only know it requires some particular conditions, and when these conditions are not favourable, no manifestations can take place; but when they are favourable, the manifestations occur.” “What are these conditions?” asks the scientific man, “and then I will sit in my laboratory and produce the manifestations.” If a man in America makes a discovery in chemistry, he at once transmits it to London and Paris, and his formula gives the scientists there the key to his discovery. Or if a new star is seen in the heavens, the astronomers of Washington and Greenwich, from the formula given, are able to turn their telescopes to the constellation in which it is to be found. But here is a science which defies the schools: tables are moved, forms are raised in the air, people are made to write and act, and there is no science for it. Yet a man sits down in his laboratory, sits down without any preparation, and says, “I can find no spirits.” Remember, that the mechanism of the spirit is far more delicate than the rays of light transmitted through the atmosphere, and upon this delicate fabric mind must act. This subtle element cannot be discovered by the chemist; it cannot be analysed in his laboratory; there is no experimentum crucis which can tell him the nature of thought or its power in the human mind. He has tried in vain; and though he may discover the formation of the brain and the forces brought to bear upon it, he cannot tell you the substance of which thought is formed, for it is through its subtle power that these words are at this moment proclaimed to your mind. But no chemist, however subtle his skill, can explain it, much less the laws which govern this mysterious principle. But as we have already stated, patience, a distinct desire to ascertain these truths, and to establish a formula which shall answer all inquiring minds and all longings—such are the first SPIRITUALISM AS A SCIENCE, 49. conditions for the investigation of spiritual science. In this light it will bear every test; under these conditions there are all forms of manifestation to satisfy the inquiring mind; and if one form fails there is always another at hand; for mind is always active, and the forms of its manifestation are infinite. Thus a new era is being inaugurated in the world of thought, and subtle forms of investigation are being made known. And though Herbert Spencer says that these inquiries will always lie in the region of the unknowable, we would like to ask him if he knows what the unknowable region is, and whether the line has been drawn for him between the known and the unknown. The causes of the formation of the rainbow were once said to be unknowable, and it was whispered that anyone who had anything to do with these forces was in league with his Satanic majesty. The same was said with reference to those who dug into the ground for fossils, or who delved the earth to find out its geological formation. But the region of the knowable continues to expand, and as we go on step by step it grows more and more remote, and it may possibly one day be revealed to the men of science and philosophy that there is no limit to the power of the human mind when properly guided and honestly seeking for the truth. It may probably occur that this region beyond matter and above mundane influences is just as tangible a realm, governed by laws capable of being known and understood, and that for every thought of the human mind there is an adequate cause, and that for every inspiration there is an adequate law and source of law; and it may possibly dawn upon scientific men that to limit the powers of the human mind is to limit Deity; that God Himself, the Infinite Spirit of boundless Nature, devised the universe, and that, if there is a law hidden, it is only hidden by our ignorance and prejudice. But we build around us little fortresses, and construct #. grooves of philosophy in which we are willing to run without seeing great cycles which are rolling on beyond us. Professor Huxley thinks it is not worth while to listen to the spirit-world. One would not like to live in the post-office and listen to the subjects of all the letters that pass through it, though each has no doubt an interest to someone. But did it never occur to him that any truth that has for its foundation the greatest question that can affect humanity is not too insignificant for the consideration of so accomplished a ºl. He may not wish to read your letters, and he might not like to listen to all communications from the spirit-world, but letters can be written, and human beings can exchange thoughts and loving intercourse with one another when distant; and it would doubtless be a great deprivation to the distinguished gentleman himself if he were prohibited from writing; and if he were dead, would it not be gratifying to have a telegraph wire that this world might be favoured with communications from so shining a light P and does he not know that the question which affects º heart 10 THE NEw scIENCE. and soul of humanity the most of all is, Do my friends live, and can they speak to me? and that upon the answer to this question is hinged the happiness now and hereafter of the human family. Say what you will of science, it affords means for material life and usefulness; but when death comes—the great living terror of the world, before which even sages pale, and before which science has no answer to give—when death comes knocking, then professor and sage ask themselves the question, Do the dead live P is there any proof that beyond this change there is another life, and that sentient immortal souls will meet me and commune with me there? And if there is an answer to this question brought to the world, is it not indeed worth all the deductions of science to know it P. He would like a letter from his daughter or son in Italy or America. But if gone farther, and hidden out of sight beyond the veil, does he have no longing to know whither they are gone, and if in that unseen but near world they still live and love P Oh, death no longer is a mystery. It is a sweet and silent messenger of change—the utting off of the outer and the recreation of the inner soul! o longer a terror, but evident to the senses, made tangible to the human ear and sight and understanding, there comes the proof that another, an outside intelligence, known by name and calling those they loved, can come and speak to us. Is not this of more value to us than all science P And if it is not worth anything to the scientist, and if he has not time to listen to it, let him not scoff at those who think it worth their while to know of the other life. If he has not time to leave his fossils and insects, to cease his delving in the earth for dead stones, or to relinquish his fine-spun theories of philosophy, let him not carp at those who have had time to listen to the intelligences who come with word of mouth and can give positive testimony to the world—who can prove as the result of their investigations that it is true our friends live—that there is a science and philosophy born of their investi- gations and earnest thoughts, which has made death a myth and deprived it of its sting, by pointing out another life, the con- tinuance of this, where all thought and feeling and humanity still abides. . This is the super-science. - Is Spiritualism a religion P says one. It is not a theology. If religion has to do with the human soul; if religion has to do with the spiritual of man's nature; if, indeed, it lifts, elevates, and strengthens, then it has to do with religion; but it has no creed. It has no institution where theology is taught. It has no altars, no shrines, no priests—save the altar of the fireside, the shrine of the human heart, the priest that prattles through the lips of the young babe on its mother's knee, or the grey-haired man moved to utterance, or the young man and maiden made to rophesy. It has not institutions, but it enters all institutions. t walks up to the priest in his stole, and in the voice of a child 8 SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGION, 11 makes him tell his astonished hearers that the lost are not dead, but living, and can participate in our good words and works. But, says he to his auditors, this is not Modern Spiritualism I am telling you. It goes to the laboratory of the scientist, and it makes him move to its wonderful voice; it says, There is another life and a higher; this is but a stepping-stone to another sphere, but the entrance to the temple of life. He pauses, and says it is wondrous strange. Is it a religion P. It inspires the pure and holy, no matter what creed he belongs to, so that the worshipper may bow under any form of service, it matters not so long as the conscience is satisfied. Seers have seen through its living light; poets have seen and have described in living rhythm the beauties of the spirit-land. Is it a religion ? It makes known its voice whenever death comes; and those long schooled in the darkness of the past, when they thought there was no hope and no life, now liſt up their voices and see there is life and there is hope. Is it a religion ? The All-Father, whose ways we are now somewhat finding out, bendeth in loving care over his children, and by these various means, and through these various forms of inspiration, He speaks to the nations of the earth, and what does He say? That no age is without its revelation, and no nation without its divine and distinct inspiration; that all ages and nations have had prophets, and seers, and Saviours, reared by the divine mind, the instruments of his divine messengers. , Does it speak to-day in the churches P. Yes; wherever its voice may be heard; but if forms instead of life be there, then it does not speak; it speaks to the devout in their homes, and reveals to them the wonders of the other life. Has it ever been heard before, and why does it net come to us? Oh, ask you why? Sepulchres and tombs do not possess the living spirit; outward forms and ceremonies do not invite the divine; but wheresoever the true spirit is found, wheresoever the honest worshipper bends the knee, there is the light and life of the spirit-world. Will it then overturn our sacred and revered institutions? Sacred and revered institutions cannot be overturned. God Himself hath fashioned them; they are his. Destructive changes may come by the hand of man. Truth alone is eternal, God's hand hath planted the true living life. The things of man may pass away, and be abolished, but the truth remains the same in all ages, and in all climes, and the voice of its awakening is near. It is the fatherhood of God over all the nations of the earth; the brotherhood of man beneath every clime and sky, and of every tongue and colour; it is the immortality of the soul. The religion of Spiritualism has for its assistants bards and seers, prophets and sages. It has for its mouthpiece those who are the humblest in their labours, and those who are the most exalted: the king may be inspired; the cottager may hear voices; the babe on its mother's knee may see the spirit and give utterance to its voice; the * in lºs THE NEW SCIENCE, priestly raiment, if his soul be humble, may see and behold and question. It is indeed the solvent of all religions. It unites the past and the present. What before was in the dark is explained now. The long warfare between religion and science is at an end; for where science leaves us and merges into this spiritual life, there does Spiritualism begin' It unites as with the key-stone of the arch the two conditions of mankind; on one side is materialism, bound and shackled to the senses, receiving only that which sense can give; on the other side is religion or theology, receiving only that which comes alone from divine revelation and divine prophecy. You remember the French Academy three or four years ago proclaimed the discovery of a new sense. There were five, and now there is a sixth--that sixth is intuition. It needed another sense to account for many of the phenomena in the world; and if you leave the French Academy and the scien- tists alone they will doubtless find another. We hope so. This sixth sense comes nearly to the centre of the arch. The broad base rests on the material sciences; then come mesmerism, psychology, and clairvoyance; and finally intuition, with its fine spiritual light ard unaccountable laws, steps in to aid the French Academy to sclve the problem of the nineteenth century. On the other side is theology. It has age and all the respectability that antiquity can give. It has existed throughout all ages. In some instances, the spirit has been crushed out for the letter; but the spirit still lives and is abroad in the world., We know there are no end of sects; but they are every one of them true, because each one answers the purpose of some hungry soul. They are only barges to take spirits to the other world, and it does not matter much in which you em- bark, so long as you have the harbour in view. You know the Church of Rome claims pre-eminence, by reason of its power and antiquity; but then the Jews were before it, and before the Jews had produced their holy books, other inspired peoples had brought forth their Zend-Avesta, their Shasters, the Vedas of the Indians, and the sacred books of the Chinese. Every nation has had its holy book, and every one was inspired; for God has left no age uninspired, and those theologies which were before the Jewish and before the Christian era, even those possessed a kernel of truth. The Koran of the Mohapmmedans was an inspired work, and Protestantism was in itself a divine inspiration. Well, it is upon this basis that the theology of the day has been reared. The Christian Church answers the purpose of disseminating far and wide its truths and inspirations. One simple truth it teaches, and so long as it inculcates that it does not matter under what name it is given, and under what church spire it is delivered: it is the truth of God's love to man; if is the truth of the brotherhood of man; it is that mankind shall love one another. This is the lesson of Jesus in his lowly SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGION. 13 life, and his wonderful words of inspired love. He lived the spiritual life. When this life is attained, when the other side of the arch is reached, where sense leaves off, and the life of the spirit begins, there the eyes are opened, and we have the sight of the spirit, and we can see with it. And we can behold that broadcast and as with a flame of fire angels are lighting the torches on many an ancient altar, and the Promethean fire kindles and burns again as of old in the hearts of men; it is no longer a myth and a fable. Sinai is repeated, and the Sermon on the Mount is brought home to many hearts by angel-messengers. It is no longer merely a hope, for we leave the grave behind, and the mount of transfiguration is before; the glorious light of immor- tality is spread out above us as with a flame, the truth is revealed to man by ministering spirits, the angels ascend and descend as of old, and once more the teacher is in your midst, and blesses you through the mouths of little children. After the oration Mrs. Tappan again rose and recited the following impromptu poem:— The old world was dead, with his face Lying downward and silent, a space, Dound in error's dark night; Swathed and bound in the irons of wrong. That the ages have forged and made strong, Moaning, fainting for one ray of light. Hungry world, that has famish'd for bread, Ye have given them stones, husks instead ; No radiance pierced the dean gloom, Save where, lighting history's ge, Immortal sang poet and sage Of the life that surviveth the tomb. One famine hung o'er the fair ºrth, Ilike a wolf that devoureth era oirth, Grim and gory with direful despair; One wild longing—a pent-up, sad strain That came forth with a sobbing refrain, Like the pitiful patience of prayer. Do they live? Do the dead live when wound In their shrouds, when the cold clammy ground Doth conceal and engulph those we love? Does the soul, the immortal glad soul, Spring to new life and mount to its goal, Like a wandering, homeward-bound dove 2 It will come, the bright day of the world, Ilike a beautiful banner unfurl’d, By seer and prophet foretold: They saw, and their fatters were riven, And martyrs sprang, heavenward driven By flames, changed to chariots of gold 1 14 THE NEW SCIENCE, It will come: for the ages have wrung From the earth bitter tears; they are strung Round the brow of old Time, and he wears Them for gems: they will evermore live; All things else being dead they survive, And the angels account them as prayers. It will come; for the prophecy woke The past ages; they, echoing, spoke Of the mystical, wonderful plan That hath given the truth from God's home— For Jesus hath said, “It shall come "— The Elder Best Brother of man | It is here. Even now doth its voice Did the sorrowing earth to rejoice. For the lone weeping mother hath heard How her babe, her beloved is near— Is not dead, but doth speak; she can hear Each glad murmur, each low-spoken word. Yes 'tis here; o'er the mountains of time Ilawns the day, wakes the anthem sublime, Reaching even the lowliest home; Not with trumpets nor splendour of gold, But hushed voices, the story is told, The bright day-dawn of Truth. It has come! THE REALM OF SPIRIT. This Oration was delivered in the Royal Music Hall, 242, Holborn, London, on Sunday evening, October 5th, 1873, before a crowded audience. On taking the chair, Mr. Thomas Slater put it to the meeting whether a committee should be appointed to select a subject on which Mrs. TAPPAN should speak, or whether the spirits might be allowed to give such a discourse as seemed to them most appropriate. The latter course had the greatest number of votes, and Mrs. TAPPAN delivered the following Oration. On this occasion a calm exultation seemed to pervade the tone of the speaker; there was more “ring” in the voice than had been observed on previous evenings, and her coun- tenance was lighted up with a radiant light, as of transfiguration, giving her a wonderful and powerful hold on the feelings of her auditors. INVOCATION. Our Father, infinite Source of life and light, supremest Spirit, before whom all nations bow; on bended knee and with many a prayer the nations of the earth worship Thee before shrines and altars. Myriads of temples, reared to thy name under various images of worship, do call upon Thee, O God!—Not because men praise Thee, nor that this day is set apart amongst the Christian nations to worship Thee. But wherever we may be, there is thy temple; wherever the heart uplifts itself in thought to Thee in thanksgiving, there is thy shrine; wherever arching skies bend above the children of the earth, there is thine own temple; and wheresoever those of the spirit seeking Thee cry “Our Father,” there art Thou. O Soul of all life we praise Thee for the atmo- sphere, that is fraught with thy breath: even as the sounds that have vibrated on the senses go outward and upward in waves of harmony, so let us feel the tremulous throb of life and love from Thee, like the golden waves of the immortal harmony reaching us on the farthermost shores of time. Father, we praise Thee for 13 4 THE NEw scIENCE. every form of life; for the manifold evidences of thy power; for the loving purposes of thy spirit, outwrought in nature; for the testimony of the earth and the stars that there is purpose and design in their creation; for the testimony of the soul, that leaps beyond time and sense, penetrating even into the dim mysteries of the spirit; and upon its altar, with hushed voice and seeking souls, we would worship Thee. O God, from every lowliest place in life, from all forms of woe and crime that the outward life has thrown upon thy children, this one sweet awakening voice, this one guerdon of hope, this one life and love, that they are thy children, inspires the lowliest souls. O Spirit of all souls' may all those who have grown pure and strong through suffering, and in the world of immortal light sing thy praise in deeds and words of lovingkindness, may all these souls bend above thy children, and, with glad songs of thanksgiving and utterances of truth, teach them the ways of knowledge, the pathways of wisdom, and the glorious loveliness of thy truth. Father, to Thee shall be all our praise: whether in song, or whether in deeds of lovingkindness to our fellow-men, we will still praise Thee with thanksgiving for eWere THE REALM OF SPIRITs 5. DISCOURSE. For many centuries the earth's surface has been the scene of constant explorations and voyages. From the north to the south i. from the extreme east to the extreme western Indies, there ave been voyages from all civilised countries to discover what unknown lands lay beyond the regions heretofore known, and supposed to be inhabited by man. Formerly the earth's surface was confined, or supposed to be confined, to Asia and the Hellenic nations bordering upon the Mediterranean; and it was believed that beyond the pillars of Hercules was a vast unknown sea, inhabited by all kinds of evils and demons of terror, and when at last the British Islands and eastern Europe were discovered, it was regarded as a wonderful instance of man's invention: he had simply found what had always been in existence 1 But the most daring dis- covery of all was that of the entire western continent—which, to all the nations of the east, had been a sealed book—an unknown land for thousands of years. But daring voyagers, inspired by the thought that the world being round there must be some balancing continent on its opposite surface, commenced their explorations; and while Americus Vespucius gets credit for the discovery, he died without knowing that the land he had discovered belonged to another continent, believing that he had found Asia by traversing the globe; but Columbus knew that he had reached another world, peopled by a strange race, where a new and strong generation should one day spring up. All explorers to distant lands go out laden with prayers from their human habitations, and the least word from them is looked forward to with the greatest anxiety; and the whole scientific world is on the qui vive to know what they will discover. The late expedition of Mr. Hall is only one of the numerous evidences of the interest attached to these expeditions. Now, it is claimed that beyond the sea of death, beyond the Gorgon-heads of terror and darkness which have shrouded the other world, beyond the tomb, there is a realm—real, tangible, positive; inhabited, not by strangers, not by an unknown race of beings, not by barbarians and cannibals, in whom the world takes such a startling interest because of their novelty; but inhabited by your own friends, those that plunged into the sea of death and were Swallowed up and lost to sight, and of whose existence you could have no evidence save through the eye of faith. It has been declared that, in the light of modern Spiritualism, there is a tangible world; that those friends inhabit a real realm of the Spirit, that is, indeed, their home; and that voyagers to and fro are constantly passing with messages from you to them, and from them to you, One would think that an announcement so startling, a proposition so astounding, would at once command the attention of the whole *"ghtened portion of humanity. But it so happens that, when 15 6 THE NEW SCIENCE, grief is worn away and sorrow has accustomed you to forget the external presence of your friends, the spiritual longing is quenched, and the material satisfies, and satisfies fully and wholly; though there is still a yearning, still alonging, still a desire to know if, in some distant undiscovered country, they can know and com- prehend what is passing on earth. The realm of the Spirit has been heretofore a mystical, dreamy, transcendental region, or one so utterly materialistic as to repel all inquiring minds into the nature of its existence. The ancients be- lieved in a material form of re-incarnation, wherein the soul might become immortal by passing into other forms of the material world; and Pythagoras taught the transmigration of souls into other forms, claiming that he once inhabited a material form and taught on earth. In this way, according to the ancients, the soul's immortality could be perpetuated. But among the revealed religions, that of the Hebrews is very indistinct with reference to immortality, except the immortality to be given to the children of Israel in the new Jerusalem, and except the immortality specially bequeathed by the Divine Mind to those who inherit His trans- cendent favour. Christians have an idea of the spiritual realm: the kingdom of heaven is a city; its snowy temples built of alabaster, or some other material substance, and its streets paved with gold, undoubtedly form attractive elements to most of earth's inhabitants. It has diamonds and rubies and other precious stones emblazoning all its gateways and temples. Diamonds and rubies and precious stones are valuable in the eyes of men. Then its streets are flowing with milk and honey, delightful to the taste and sense of man, but rather unsuitable for the spiritual suste- nance of the immortal soul. But this localised, material paradise, wherein are gathered together the elect of God and the angels, constitutes the heaven of the enthusiast of immortal life. Un- doubtedly there are plains lying beyond this great city, and various trees and landscapes teeming with beauty and loveliness; and in the gardens of God the children of his salvation shall be gathered together beneath the eye of the infinite Spirit, and Christ the Saviour shall bless it with the glory of his countenance. But this heaven is far too small for mankind; it is far too exclusive for all the children of God. For, remember, the children of God are of all the nations of the earth, of all conditions of people. The heaven of the Mohammedan is wonderful in the voluptuous- ness of its physical delights. The male alone is immortal. The female Mohammedan cannot become immortal unless she pray to be trans- formed into a male soul at death: if this prayer be granted, she is immortal. The paradise of the Mohammedan possesses far more physical attractions than that of the Christian. This region of infinite blessedness is one wherein every sense is preserved, where the taste is never satiated, where the eye never grows weary -- team, º renewed delights, where the houris, not of earth, but of THE IREALM OF SPIRIT. 7 heaven, are created for the especial delight of the blessed, and never fade and grow old; where the land teems with all luxu- riousness—flowers, fruits, and beauteous foliage; and wher', beneath the eye of Allah, are gathered together all the elect, the followers of Mohammed the Prophet. We could picture the delights of this region, but they are of such a material nature, and so revolting to every idea of spiritual existence, that they could only have had their origin in the super-sensuous nature of the man who invented the Mohammedan religion. - But the realm of the Spirit is far different from this. The world of spirit, as it is called, is not limited to any time, nor space, nor locality; and yet the actual habitation of the disembodied spirit is as tangible to the spiritual sense as your earth is to your sense. But do not mistake us in what we are about to say: remem- ber, you must always separate the spiritual from the material sense. There might be ten thousand spiritual worlds, yet you could never See them with the material eye. There might be myriads of spirits around you, without your being able to perceive them with the physical sight. The region of the spirit is directly opposite, in its substance and formation, to the senses. The material world is objective, as you term it. That which appeals to your physical sense has an existence, and unless some one of the senses is grati- fied you do not consider that there is a world about you. The spiritual world, on the other hand, is what you term subjective; but bear in mind that that which is subjective to the sense becomes objective to the spirit, and that matter is only mutable and perish- able while mind is immortal and eternal, consequently there is no material substance, in the usual acceptance of that term, in the spiritual realm; that this room, these appointments, all splen- dours of the world, or the beauty that appeals to the eye, is of no importance to the soul sense; that rocks, mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and all material substances—all these are not of the nature of spiritual existence. The spiritual sense is the one sense alone which the soul possesses, and that is perception, for want of a better name. You call the spirit to testify from within your bodies to the sense of sight, the sense of hearing, the sense of touch, and all the senses that delight you; but these are only avenues through which external nature impresses itself upon the spirit, and through which the spirit reaches material life. hen rid of your material bodies, you require but one absolute sense, even as the ray of light is, white and pure until it is broken into fragments by the prism. The ray of white light starting from the sun is clear and puré; but when it is broken by refraction through some prismatic substance it becomes red, blue, yellow, &c. So the soul, white and pure in its original temple, within the embodied form is broken into rays, and, to the outer sense, manifests the variety of colours you call senses, but which are only the doors whereby the soul looks out into the material world and manifests its presence. You are C 7. 8 | THE NEW SCIENCE, accustomed to say such a one has large intelligence, and another one great virtue; and this one is possessed of Christian kindliness, while as for that one, he is debased. It is not true: these distinc- tions are only modified expressions of the spirit. If soul could speak to soul, there would be but white light responding to white light. But material organs, imperfectly-developed surroundings and circumstances, so clothe upon the spirit as to make one soul dark and another light, one red and another yellow; but all gathered in the spectrum of God's eye are white—only white. The spiritual realm of our planet is that portion of the atmo- sphere beyond the material atmosphere, which may express the spiritual zone surrounding that planet. As the aura surrounding distant planets is visible to you, so another aura, invisible to you, is around every planet, forming its spiritual atmosphere. This is, }.} speaking, the spiritual law of every planet. There is eyond this realm a higher degree of spiritual existence, where the planets merge their spheres together, where the more advanced souls experience what has been called the higher degrees of spiritual life, and where, in some measure, the ties which bound them to earth have been broken, and they associate with spirits from other worlds than their own. Now the spirit-world that your friends inhabit is a realm just outside the limits of the prescribed atmo- sphere belonging to the earth's surface and incident on its motion. hey are not confined to that habitation, but have there chosen to abide because of their desire to be near you; and between you and these spiritual beings there is an inter-atmosphere that forms their means of communication, and through which they pass to and fro. This inter-atmosphere is that which is employed by spirits to control mediums to manifest their presence; to clothe and render themselves tangible, when they require to do so, in order to reach your material sense. Do not, any one of you, if you have seen a spiritual form in a seance, imagine a spirit has touched you, because it is not a real spiritual form you see: it is only a form created or clothed upon i. the spirit from this inter-atmosphere, whereby they make themselves tangible in order to reach your senses. Do not think, because spirits come knocking and thump- ing, that they are material and gross. You must bear in mind that the spirits have adapted themselves to your conditions. If a friend raps at the door in order to come in, he does not stop at the door and continue knocking, but you open the door and hear what he has to say. But when the spiritual world inhabiting this realm came knocking around your earth's temples, you said: Why this is too revolting; I cannot believe our dear friends would come knocking and thumping in this ridiculous manner. Did it never occur to you that music is produced from an instrument made of wood with wires stretched across, and that upon an instrument of this simple construction the most ravishing melodies are played P That * makes use of the quill of a goose with which to THE REALM OF SPIRIT. 9 write down his most rapturous strains, and that the artist does not cavil at the implement he has to use P. This inter-atmosphere, that forms the means of communication between the two worlds, is a spiritual and not a material atmosphere. It has not been analysed by any scientific man on earth; there is no subtle chem- istry that can discover it. It belongs to the realm of mind, and the spirit is clothed upon by it; and when it enters your atmo- sphere it becomes the power whereby spirits manifest their presence. Clairvoulance, or clear-willing, is a property of the spirit; the will, divinest will, is supreme over matter. Understanding all the requirements necessary to act upon material substance and force, the spirit wills to lift matter, and matter becomes mobile and pliable in its hands, just as the form you inhabit is rendered pliable through your voluntary action. You will to raise your hand, and do so. The disembodied spirit, with the force it can bring to bear, wills to raise a table, and straightway it is done; wills to raise a body in the atmosphere, and it is done,—of course under certain conditions. The more advanced a spirit is, the more perfect is its control over imponderable bodies or matter. Electricity, od force —whatever be the name you have given to those subtle elements you do not understand—form the means of communication between the spiritual world and yours. Thought forms the food of the disembodied mind in the spiritual world, as best suited for its sustenance, since mind has made all. Mind is imponderable to anything except mind. Mind can control matter; but matter, except to narrow it down in your physical bodies, cannot control or govern mind. Hence the spiritual world is either objective or subjective. . According to your standard it is subjective; to the eye of the spirit, however, it is objective, since that alone is tangible to the spirit. Have the spirits forms? you ask. Yes; the human form on earth in its highest state of development is the epitome and the representation of the spiritual form. It is not the form that shapes the Spirit, but the spirit that shapes the form; and justin proportion as the spirit is advanced when freed from its earthly body, so is the spiritual form harmonious and complete. The human form repre- sents matter and spirit combined; the spiritual form represents spirit only; the likeness, fashioned of light, is the outgrowth of the mind or the spirit, as clothed upon by whatsoever deeds it has done, or thoughts it has conceived on earth. Has the spirit senses * We have said it has one sense, and that is perception. It takes in all knowledge through this one sense. It does not depend upon hearing, sight, outward touch, but upon presence— upon that faculty which allies man to the infinite. Is the land which the spirit inhabits tangible? Yes; tangible to the spirit, We say. How is it fashioned? It is composed of the substance 9f, the thought the spirit has made. The habitation of each individual here is being builded now. Whatever there is in your 19 IO | THE NEW SCIENCE. earthly life, that has a spirit; and whatever thought or deed you perform, that becomes your spiritual habitation. But kings—are they rulers P and are there paupers in the spiritual realm ? There are kings, but they belong to the kingdom of thought ; there are R. but they often belong to those who were great on earth. No retinue, no slaves in livery, no gilded thrones or sceptre around the disembodied earthly monarch ; but whatsoever deeds of charity he has done, or whatsoever acts of kindness performed, these rise and form the substance of his spiritual home. Then there be those who on earth were lowly who have grander habitations than they. Ah, truly 1 They who walk humbly and do their duty to their fellow-men—they who every day think a good thought or do a kindly deed, not for praise of men, but for the love of goodness— these are building stronger habitations than the man who sits behind a fortress, or in a gilded palace, and selfishly slays the world. The spiritual realm is composed of just such thoughts and feelings as are daily going out from your midst; and oh, in that realm how many cares and sorrows find their shadowy resting-place | We have seen the man of splendour and power on earth, who lived in gorgeous palaces and had minions at his hand robed in purple—we have seen him enter the world of souls alone, clothed in a few rags of sack-cloth and ashes, vainly trying to conceal from the Infinite the deformity of his spiritual body. Then perchance a poor beggar whom he had benefited on earth comes with a flower of charity, and says: This is my offering ; will this help you ? Or some soul he had dropped a tear for brings a bright gem for his spiritual habitation. But the humility that begets compassion enters the heart of the fallen monarch, and he sees, as only the eye of the spirit can see, that the loving soul is supreme in the realm of spirit. Here is a pauper, perhaps fallen by the hand of man into the lowest depths of sin; maybe he has died a drunkard's death; but he has, however, never refused alms to the suffering, and has wept when others have wept; but he is the victim of an unfortu- nate organisation, and he goes out into the world of souls, and there are pitying angels around, who come to him and give him flowers, like the blossoms of the deeds of charity he has performed ; and instead of ruin, want, and shame, he sees a temple fashioned of his early deeds of human kindness, and in his humility he thanks Ged fer his home. Oh, the loving hands that are weaving garlands for you! Oh, the shining temples for those bright theights that are not to be corrupted and bartered by man Gil, the bright and glorious beauty of that home fashioned of simplicity and love Not for the ostentation of charity; not for those who give that it may resound in the ears of men; but the kindly deeds that spring from the love of the human family; the generous act that would disenthral the lowliest child of earth; the pitying tear dropped when no one is nigh—these help to build the spiritual temple. Martyrs, saints, sages—the earth has stoned them, crucified them, 20 THE REALM OF SPIRIT. 11. burned them ; but there they come into their shining abodes' through flames, persecution, and dungeon walls, and angels guard the gateways of their future home. * Do they require food in the spirit-land P. The food of the spirit is thought. Whatsoever nourishes mind, that is food. Do they wear garments, and what are they like P The garments they wear are dark or light, according as the spirit has bright thoughts, or thoughts which are shadows. As the lily clothes itself from within, taking the rays of sunlight which belong to its whiteness, and unfolds petal after petal to the clear light of heaven, so does spirit bask in the sunlight of God's presence, and dress itself in the garments of purity. Some are dressed as the roses are—in the red of human kindness; some are golden, like the tropical lily; some are purple, like the shady violet, and modest in their humility; but all are clothed upon by the light of that love which is supreme. How then shall we know our friends when we meet them P Oh, the eye of love sees with the spirit that the face and form all wear the comeliness and the expression of kindliness you love, only transfigured and made beautiful in the light of their heavenly habitations. And are there evil spirits in the spiritual realm ? you ask. There are just such spirits as you are sending daily from your midst. Thousands go out from the earth with every instant of time. Who receives them P who cares for them P into what realm do they go? you ask. “In my Father's house are many mansions.” They go into abodes they have fashioned, or that have been fashioned for them from their own thoughts. There is a place, there is room for all; and the spiritual land is thronged with those beings, light or dark, half-way light or half-way dark, that you are sending daily and hourly from your midst; but they are all somebody's loved ones, and that chain of love, howsoever dim and soiled by outward circumstances or crime, is kept alive by an angel-mother, or some friend that loved them; and they are thus drawn to their spiritual home, and it is at last made brighter and happier for them. The earthly mother never forgets her child; though crime and degradation may soil, though prison- cell may enchain, she sits waiting, waiting, asking that her child may be there. The spirit-mother does not lose that love. Link by link the spiritual chain is drawn out. At the other end of the chain there is ever an angel waiting to draw you upwards; and through the knowledge and progress that comes from suffering, that angel-mother will teach there as here, and draw you to the light. Then do the evil spirits sometimes come and lead us astray ? There is a law in chemistry that is known as chemical affinity, Whereby certain substances attract other substances that are simi- lar, or maybe opposite but have similar tendencies. There is a law in nature called gravitation, whereby certain objects are attracted to others. There is a law of spirit, more subtle than this, but more powerful, whereby you attract such spirits as are 21 12 THE NEW SCIENCE, like yourself, and if you are in danger of being troubled by unde- veloped spirits you know what it implies. Those who are pure, and free, and enlightened, fear no class of evil spirits; and we assure you there is no class of spirits in the spiritual world any worse than those that are upon your earth, and we have never seen one upon your earth that had not a spark of lovingkindness beneath the coatings of crime ; for the criminal in his dungeon-cell will weep when you speak to him about his mother, and the poor mag- dalen in the street will shed tears when reminded of her child- hood's home. There is no soul so dark that you need fear it, if you only keep the truth in sight and the clear white light of heaven in your view. How do spirits employ their time, you ask, in the spiritual realm ? Are there material occupations, agricultural, mechanical, as there are here P Every occupation on earth has its prototype in spiritual life, but it is of the spirit and not of matter. No invention ever reaches humanity that is not first known by some spirit in the world of light; the cause, being nearer the spirit-realm than this, every invention lying in the world of causes is therefore understood there before it reaches the mind that is prepared for it here. Every inventor is inspired; every discovery of a new truth only reveals through inspiration that which is known to spiritual existence. Then why do we not have some invention or discovery for such and such a purpose P says one. The world moves by stages and not by sudden leaps. You cannot mount from the first stair to the top of the flight at a bound; you must go up step by step: so the spiritual world cannot flood your world with things you cannot understand; but as soon as there is a demand for a new invention it always comes. What new motor is wanted to-day P you shall have it. What new fuel is required P there lies abun- dance of carbon ready for your use, to be mingled with oxygen and hydrogen, and when it is needed it will come. What new labour- saving machine is wanted P it is already invented. As fast as the hands of toil are ready, and need uplifting from their labours, some new employment is invented, and some new adaptation of an old principle is discovered. But, you ask, why is it not known that it is the result of inspiration ? It does not matter whence truth comes. If the inventor is not the origin of these thoughts, it is stupid to cavil whence they come. Are there physicists in the spirit-land P Yes; Humboldt still inquires into the system and laws of nature; and he sees with the eye of the spirit and understands with the comprehension of the soul those vast inner elements of nature that were hidden mysteries before. Herschel in the spiritual world still discerns new planets The poet sings his songs; but they are woven of deeds of charity to fellow- beings. The artist still sees in the grand pictures of spiritual life the revelation of his genius; but he paints them, not with brushes upon * but upon the hearts of men, that they may ad THE REALM of SPIRIT. 13 live and become realities to the soul. Itaphael still dreams his inspired vision of the Madonna; but they are of the Madonna, the mother of humanity, who shall give birth to the saviour truth; and these pictures are imaged on the mind of every brother artist he can reach. Beethoven still dreams his paeans of living melody, but they reach your earth in deeds of love. Here the patriot and sage still picture to themselves the perfection of enfranchised governments; and those known in history as leaders and liberators of nations stand in solemn council around the altars of their spiri- tual temples, and found future governments that are yet to be born on earth, that the earth is waiting and longing for, and that shall come by-and-bye; when the world is old enough and mankind have thoughts free enough, these new laws shall come. The Spar- tan Lycurgus, who enfranchised his people and then expatriated himself, is the first of those around the altar watching over the nations of the earth, over which, with others, he sits in council, waiting for the day of their enfranchisement. Whatever nation has a prophet, he is inspired. Is there a leader among you, he is led by that voice and hears from those higher councils above the nations of the earth P. Not one nation, not one country, not a small patriotism is theirs; but the nationality of mankind, the country of the globe; the whole principality of souls, with the laws that deity has enstamped thereon—these are the subjects of their meditations. What do they do? Can you conceive a world filled with count- less myriads of souls with nothing to do? Can you conceive that those who have never failed to have the care of their loved oneg on earth would fail in having something to do in the higher region of usefulness of the spiritual world?" Here are children to be taught, grown-up children to educate in the mysteries of spiritual existence. Here are all the laws of all the worlds that these teachers receive from higher spheres—these are to be imparted, The employment of those in the spiritual life—and this is their sole employment—is to receive knowledge and to impart know- ledge. Room enough here for all the toil of all the brains and all the spirit-hands that can be found; for here is somebody's babe that is dead; who in spirit-life shall take that tender bud and rear it up? There are gardens in which God transplants these buds, and they are watered by the tears of angels; and these attendants take charge of the children and rear them in the light of the spiritual life. Then, with buds and blossoms of truth, they return to scatter them around your careworn and weary way; and some- times, as you brush away the dust from your eyes, you think you see the cherub, faces, and the cool flutter of leaves comes upon your brow. , Oh, it was not a dream, but a reality, for they are there: Work to do! Why the mills of heaven are busily engaged in grinding out the truths of ages, and God's handmaidens are holding back the doors of the temple of truth to the still plodding 23 I4 THE NEW SCIENCE. souls of time to make room for humanity to come in. Oh, there is work enough ! It is not to delve alone in matter; it is not to adorn and beautify the earth alone, though this is given you to do; but it is that, side by side with the material temple that you rear, you shall also erect a spiritual habitation. You shall consider the importance of the spiritual; and, when you adorn your outward forms, remember that the inner adornment is that which the angels see, and that the enlargement of the spirit counts for more then all the gems you may wear. “But,” says one, “this is too transcendental; I cannot under- stand this.” Do not expect to understand it with the material sense, you might as well expect to see your own thoughts, or to hear the throbbing of your own innermost spirit. “I cannot see this realm,” says the astronomer; “I turn my telescope to the heavens in vain.” Ah, but your spiritual telescope is reversed. You expect to see God with the material eye—to solve the spiritual world in your crucibles of science. Take the other telescope with which heaven has endowed you—the eye of spiritual intuition; point it there, and then you will see with faith and hope and love and charity—those rich lenses through which you can discern the realm of the spirit. It is kindness, pure thoughts, intuitive prayers, that make the frame of the telescope, but the spirit must point it heavenward in order to find this realm. Andrew Jackson Davis, a distinguished seer of America, who has founded the Harmonial Philosophy, has seen portions of the Summer-land in the far-off region of the Milky Way, where he says the disenthralled and disembodied spirits first assemble. This is to a certain extent true of all those spirits who are not attached to, or have broken off their allegiance to, particular planets. Into this sphere they enter, attracted thither by the universal aim and object of gaining knowledge. They do not belong alone to your life, but are also of other planets, and find there the atmosphere most favourable to them. For spirits are in degrees according to their attractions, according to the quality and nature of their highest loves and aspirations, just as on earth we are distinguished by our different affections. In some it is love of country, in some love of parents, in some love of humanity, &c.; so the more advanced regions of thought are those where families or groups of spirits are gathered together by other laws than you know on earth, but still all governed by law, each intent upon benefiting the mass of other souls that are in existence. But this realm, as boundless and illimitable as it is, has its direct links, its cables of thought, binding all souls together; not one cable alone binding your earth to the spiritual realm. There is a link wherever hearts have loved and have supposed they have lost; there is a tie wherever there is aspiration and interest in the benefit of human kind. There is, even though unconsciously, a silent ºrd that binds you, and uplifts you all, and sustains you 4 w THE REALM OF SPIRIT. 15 even in your hours of sorest trial and adversity. You could no more live without this spiritual presence than you could live without the atmosphere you breathe. You are not aware of it, but it is the atmosphere your spirits inhale; it is that which keeps your souls alive; it is the direct flame from the altar of God's infinite sunlight, whereby your thoughts do not stagnate, and your souls do not become wholly immured in material life. The one divine spark which lives in the human spirit is kept alive by this steady constant flame, and the world of spirits lends their atmosphere which extends your heritage to the spirit-world. Oh, it is not far, it is near ! It is not away, but by your side l and they, the loving ones, are for ever ready to bear messages to and fro. The one great message that they bring, the one sole science, the one religion, is that of your immortality, of the love of God for you, of the love of angels for one another and for their fellow-beings. The following poem, recited at the close of the discourse, was given impromptu by Mrs. Tappan, under inspiration, about three years ago at Washington. A professor from the Smithsonian Institution was asked for a subject for a lecture. He gave “The Nature of the Spiritual World and its Employments,” and at the close asked for a poem on the same theme. - THE BEAUTIFUL LAND. There's a beautiful country, not far away, With its shores of emerald green; Where rise the beautiful hills of day, From meadows of amber-hued sheen: There beautiful flowers for ever blow, With beautiful names that ye do not know. There are beautiful walks, star-paven and bright, That lead up to beautiful homes; . And beautiful temples, all carved in white, Crown'd with golden and sapphire domes: And beautiful gates that swing so slow To beautiful symbols ye do not know. There are beautiful valleys and mountains high, With rivers, and forests, and hills; And beautiful fountains leap up to the sky, Then descend in murmuring rills. There beautiful life-trees for ever grow, With beautiful names that ye do not know. There is beautiful music borne on the air From rare birds with flashing wings; And beautiful odours float everywhere, Which an unseen censer flings: And a beautiful stream near that land doth flow, With a beautiful name that ye do not know. 16 THE BEAUTIFUL LAND. Across this beautiful, mystical stream Flash rare scintillations bright; And many a witching, mysterious dream, Is borne on the pinions of night; ..And the stream is spanned by a beautiful bow, With a beautiful name that ye do not know. And beautiful gondolas, formed of pearl, Come laden with wonderful stores; While beautiful banners their folds unfurl To the dipping of musical oars; And beautiful beings cross to and fro, With beautiful names ye do not know. Would ye know the name of that beautiful land Where the emerald waters roll In gentle waves on a beautiful strandf It is called the Land of the Soul; And the beautiful flowers that ever blow Are the beautiful thoughts ye have below. And the beautiful pathways are your life deeds Which fashion your future homes, And the temples grand are the world's great needs While your saviours have reared the domes; And the beautiful gates which swing so slow Are the beautiful truths ye have learn'd below. The beautiful valleys are formed of thought, Of all that the world has been, And the beautiful mountains are tears outwrought Thro' immortal sunlight seen; And the beautiful life-trees that ever grow Are the beautiful hopes ye have cherished below. All the beautiful melody is prayer, That is echoed in music's powers; And the beautiful perfumes floating there Are the spirits of all earth's flowers; And the beautiful stream that divides you so Is the beautiful river named Death, below. The beautiful flashes across the stream Are your inspirations grand, While the beautiful meaning of every dream Is the real in this fair land; And the beautiful million-coloured bow Is formed of your tears for each other's woe. The beautiful barges are all the years That bear you away from pain, And the beautiful banners, transformed from fears, Are returning to bless you again; And the beautiful forms crossing to and fro Are the beautiful ones ye have loved below. 26 THERE IS NO DE ATII. The following Oration was delivered in the Royal Music Hall, 242, Holborn, London, on Sunday evening, October 12th, 1873. The pro- ceedings were opened by Mr. Slater asking the audience if they would choose a committee to select the subject of the evening's discourse, or whether they would prefer to leave it to the lady's controlling spirits. The latter course was decided upon. After the singing of a hymn Mrs. TAPPAN rose and gave utterance to the following inspiration :- INVOCATION. Our Father and our Mother God! Thou infinite Source of every blessing, of all life, of all knowledge ' Thou one central Spirit of light, from whom all souls emanate, and who dost illumine every remotest spirit with thine own radiancel O Soul of Love, by whatsoever name we call Thee on earth, or wherever on bended knee, the thoughts of mortals praise Thee ; we would re- member that thy light fills every atom of the universe, that thy spirit is within every soul, and that Thou speakest to every child, if they will only listen to thy voice. We would praise Thee, our Father, even as the voices of nature praise Thee. The spring-time, with its bursting buds and flowers, gives forth, in its wondrous way, the utterance of prayer; the sweet incense that goes up from the morning altars of the earth are like the songs of happy children, or the mingled voices of solemn praise. We would praise Thee as the stream and the ocean praise Thee; as the mountain in its solemn grandeur, or the deep darkened caves of the shore. These give back for ever the eloquent voices of solitude, and praise Thee with a solemnness that is all their own. The stars in their orbits praise Thee as they perform their revolutions in harmony with the law of light Thou hast given them as their guidance; keeping time to the bidding of thy will, they march on and on through vast spaces, for ever held in the circle that Thou gavest % be the 4 THE NEW SCIENCE. law of their being. Oh, let us, small atoms in the great sea of souls, be thus held to thy great spirit by the one subtle chain of love that binds us to Thee! O Father, let every heart praise Thee in song or word, in glad offering or thought, or even in the silent tear: so that it be from the heart Thou wilt be mindful of it. Let us praise Thee for that life that is beyond death—that better land, that larger range of vision, that higher and more glorified city, where the soul of man, no longer in fetters, no longer bound down to the material sense, basks in the bright sun- light of thy truth. Oh, let thy blessed angels and ministering spirits bend down to thy children to-night; let them feel the gentle touch and hear the soft voices of the spirits of those who are not dead; let them know that chain upon chain, and link upon link, is the endless chain outwrought which binds them with the Infinite, and that no angel is so high in heaven that it will not bend to earth and drop a tear over the sorrowing ones below. Father, Spirit of Life, we bless Thee! Our praises may not re- sound in words, but for ever on the altar of thy spirit we lay the offerings of our souls' devotion, and would, in deeds and words, and lovingkindness, praise Thee evermore. THERE IS NO DEATII. 6 IDISCOURSE. “And there shall be no more death.” When John upon the isle of Patmos beheld the vision of the new Jerusalem, and the glories that should come when that happy time arrived, and the earth was free from sin and sickness and pain, among the other promises that vision foretold was the one just quoted—that in the new Jerusalem there should be no more death. To-day in that one respect the vision is fulfilled. “Why, death is in the world,” you say; “sin and wickedness abound ; disease and sickness are abroad; crime flaunts in the face of day; and the world is full of corruption.” Ah! let us see. In the light of ancient science everything died. Matter itself was destructible; and it was con- ſidently predicted and evidently believed that there would be a time when the whole earth would be consumed. Everything on the earth's surface is changeable and evanescent. “Do not the flowers die in autumn-time P. Does not every form of loveliness fade away and perish when the frosts of winter come P Is there not death and destruction in every department of the material world P’you ask. Let us see. It is true that fire consumes, and that wherever volcanic eruptions break out, with fire and seething smoke, there destruction of the particular form of life on the earth's surface that is within its destroying influence at once takes place. It is also true that every time a change of the season betokens the passage of the year, certain forms of vegetable life on the globe change and pass away. It is also true, as geology testifies, that various forms of existence have sprung into being and then have passed away, leaving only the impress of their existence upon rock and stone and soil, or depositing their skeletons for future exhumers or discoverers. It is also true that the proudest nations that have appeared on the earth have risen, reached the zenith of their power, and then have passed away; that ancient cities have been overthrown by the destructive hand of time; and that even now scholastic lore is busily engaged in exhuming the sites of those cities and deciphering their monuments for the purpose of perfecting the chain of ancient history. It is true that to the external vision every material form passes, changes, perishes—that life is as the grass, that to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven. But in the light of modern science alone, what is it we find P That matter is composed of certain elementary particles—atomic particles, which are indestructible; that however minute and infinitesimal these atomic particles may be, they can never be destroyed in their essence; they can only change and pass into other forms. Geology tells us that no form of life, except in its outward construction, has perished; but that every form has left * deposit on the earth's surface which, in its turn, has become the foundation for new orders of existence, and that new beings have Sprung up on the death of the old ones. Science el, us that 29 6 THE NEW SCIENCE, during the many thousands of years that the earth has been in process of construction, small insects have deposited their remains along the ocean's borders and in the depths of the sea, and that after centuries land has been the result of this deposit, forming the coral reefs which seem as solid as the foundations of the earth. Science tells us that no fire can burn up nor subtle agent destroy the elemental substances of Nature; that the inherent primates are coeval with God; that the forms of life may change and pass; but that that which goes up in smoke or vapour, is again returned to the earth in soft showers of rain; that the food you eat and the atmosphere you breathe pass from the body in the form of carbonic- acid gas, and help to form the various conditions of life; that all the varied materials of which the earth's surface is composed are unchanged and eternal, and that only the divers phases of their manifestation change and pass away. The gases you are to-night inhaling, that form the substance of your breath, have been many million times absorbed and thrown off by other organic forms. The tree that decays and passes from your sight helps to enrich the soil, that again gives forth new shades and forms of life, and not one germ is lost. The dew that appears to go up in vapour, and seems to be lost in the sun's burning rays, drops again in showers to enrich the earth. No part or portion of Nature is lost. You may go to the most remote regions, and you will find evidences of life organised and reorganised. The limestone that helps to make the phosphates of the human system has once been trodden under- foot by generations passed away. This lime passes through various changes until it enters the human body; and when it is thrown off from the body it re-enters the soil, and helps to form other sub- stances, so that there is no waste in Nature. All her resources are conserved—all her forces made available. Every form and impulse at the beginning was needed, and no one can tell the beginning. All space is filled with life. Every earth and world proclaim the existence c, a connected, intelligent purpose and design; and wherever life abides, there is evidence of mind, of in- telligence, of a continuous form of being that helps to make the chain of existence that prepared the way for the habitation of man. Do the flowers fade P Then a hundred germs are ready to spring up when the winter has passed. Do the forests pass away before the encroaching hand of man? Then other elements mingle with and vitalise the soil for the newer products that man has intro- duced. Does'the animal kingdom lºſiº and do various species and generic forms change and vanish P. Each atom of life is again restored to some animate substance, and new organisms take the place of the old. If there are no longer gigantic monsters on the earth, such as could only live in an urdeveloped condition of the atmosphere, the geologist tells us that their forms have enriched the soil and given way to the more modern and useful animals you See º Have nations perished and passed from sight? History THERE IS NO DEATH, 7 shows that many nations have lived, attained power and greatness. and have then declined and fallen, though not without leaving their influence on the world; besides, their bodies have refined the earth's surface and made it the fit habitation for nations yet to spring into being. - * Chemistry (from the word fire) signifies to fuse or to melt; and it is to that subtle agent in modern science that we owe the theory of the atomic structure of matter; and it is that wonderful discovery that gave rise to another—the continuity of , all forces in animated nature. It is geological science which reveals that the earth bears the impress of the many and varied forms through which life has gone. Other, and affiliated sciences step in and prove the continuous chain of being. It is astronomy which investigates the laws which direct the move- ments of the remotest worlds. By-and-bye there will be a science to show you that these other planets are inhabited, and that they have passed through various changes of organic life, and that, at last, a high and distinct order of beings have taken their abode therein. There is no limit to the reach of the intellect save igno- rance; there is no boundary to human knowledge save bigotry and superstition; there is no stint to the scientific stores which may be evolved from the storehouses of Nature whenever you rap at the door and ask admission. There is, to-day, no supernatural—only spiritual. To-day you are made aware that there is no such thing as death, no actual destruction of life; that life changes, but does not pass away; that the form and expression may vary, but that the sacred flame of life in the great heart of the mother Earth is still kept alive, and burns for ever unquenchable. Wonderful as are the developments of Science, she paused at man. When the savans have reached the acme of physical development—what they claim to be the climax of material life—there their science ceases. It is true Science says the substances of which humanity is composed do not pass, do not die, but change their form of being; but of that substance in which man is most interested, of that which constitutes human life, of that which is the sole evidence of human existence—mind, Science can say nothing. Man alone dies, according to the standard of the Materialist: every other form of being is kindly cared for. Material science proves that each subtle atom and each wandering waif of existence shall be gathered again into earth's storehouse, and that nature Pºiº that every force shall be utilised, and every primal aw fulfilled. . She finds a way whereby the germ can renew its life in the spring-time; she finds a way whereby animal existence can be perpetuated, and its species continued, developed, and unfolded. But when science reaches the crowning glory of the earth—when she reaches the intelligence, the thought, the aspiration, the wonderful power of the human intellect—then she is dumb and silent, and decrees that man must die. yº know 8 THE • NEW SCIENCE, that the body must perish; but if every primal substance is saved, and every atom in the material universe is carefully garnered for future use, what shall become of that intelligence, that mind, which so distinguishes humanity as to show that it is the primal essence, and therefore indestructible P If Science has no answer, we must leave the realm of reason, as it is termed, and pass to another realm—that of intuition. - Religion, the revealed religion of every nation, has pictured some form of continued existence for humanity; and the revealed religion of to-day, that which is accepted by the Christian world, announces a future state, howsoever unsatisfactory it has been made under the hands of the theologian. It lievertheless forms the only hope of the world; even in the dim bitterness of scientific scepticism and doubt, it has been the saving hand that has uplifted the world from despair. But another science steps in, which proves that mind passes through sense to a loftier range of life, to higher scope and power; and that this power belongs to that existence where science has never dared to penetrate, and where the Materialist may not enter without first putting off the dusty sandals from his feet and bowing his head in reverence before the Divine spirit. “Ah,” replies the Materialist, “I do believe that mind exists, but it is as a subtle essence—an impalpable some- thing that at death goes into reservoirs of mind, and then passes into other forms of life.” The distinguishing feature of mind is consciousness; the distinguishing feature of consciousness is identity, individuality; and if the human mind is swallowed up in a reservoir of mind, or is absorbed in some great primary essence, then it is not mind; you must get some other name for it. For mind is so active and so alert, it possesses all conscious- mess, all power, all sensation; and without it you have not one atom of sensation in your physical being, We will begin at the other end of creation. Mind alone is positive —spirit alone is elemental, indestructible, primal. That which is combined can be destroyed; that which is an aggregation of atoms and substances can change its form; but mind is the one sole pri- mate that is never combined, that is not destructible, that does not change its form, that does not pass away. Ancient as God, coeval with His spirit, born of His breath, living in His life—the soul of every individual is eternal. It does not have its birth on earth; it is not the result of physical organism; it is not the result of combi- nations of matter favourable to the production of the essence called mind. A distinguished German philosopher once said, “There is no such thing as mind; it is merely a little effervescence like that of champagne, or like the globule in the bottle, and as such it passes away and is no more.” Without mind being a primal essence, there could no more be a human form than there can be a rose without the germ of the rose. Plant a stone in the earth, º will not have a rose-tree; plant a thistle, and you THERE IS NO DEATH. 9 will not have golden corn; plant nothing, and you will not have a human soul. The germ of the soul, existent from God, attracts to itself the outward substances that make the human body, avails itself of the time, conditions, circumstances of organisation, and then, even as the flower unfolds from within, so does the body clothe the spirit, and is shaped by that spirit into its outward form, There are laws of material form that may modify and affect it; but there are no laws that can crush it, or cause it to cease to exist. Someone might ask, “Then why is there such discrepancy between human beings? and why are not all equally intelligent, equally good, equally virtuous, equally advanced * Why are there idiots, why lunatics, why criminals?” The reason is that the soul sometimes lights on stony places, sometimes on barren ways, but wherever the image of the human form abides, there is the embryo soul, which only awaits favourable opportunities for its unfoldment. It will find the right surroundings somewhere if not here; for in the great realm of space God has provided ways and means for its unfoldment. But be sure there is a germ of light, and that there are means of developing these germs, though all may not be reached in the same manner. It has been exemplified that even those in the most abject state of idiocy have the glimmerings of consciousness, which, if brought to the surface, reveal the powers and affections of the human mind. In Boston, America, Dr. Howe has given his attention to the improvement of idiots, and his efforts have resulted in developing into consciousness those who were considered beyond the reach of human intelligence. This has been effected by various means. Sometimes it is music: it seems to penetrate beyond the outer covering, and the tear, as it courses down the cheek, gives token of sensibility; and through that chord of music alone many devoid of intelligence have been reached. Sometimes it is light, and through the one organ of sight that reveals the physical sense, the soul breaks out into external consciousness. Sometimes it is through affection, and there are those who, without seemingly having intelligence, will cling with the utmost tenacity to those who are kind, and display such wonderful power and fidelity of affection as leave it beyond doubt that they have this germ of intelligence. If they have the human form divine, be sure there is a germ of spirit, of soul, within, even though the sense cannot reach without. The body is not built first and then the soul thrust into it afterwards; but little by little, as the form unfolds, so does the spirit within shape its tenement as best it may. You are endowed with external forms that answer the purpose of the living Spirit, and seemingly have intelligence, vigour, health; but remem- ber how many chambers therein are still void and desolate; how many tombs and sepulchres there may be in this tenement; how many corners given over to mould and dust and ruin. Look what a habitation is this! Here be lofty chambers of thought wherein the D 33 10 THE NEW SCIENCE. soul can abide and even have its mirror of the universe. How do you inhabit this temple? Some crouch down behind barriers of fear, and with bandaged eyes go out into the world to see in life no God. Some are clothed upon with the dark mists of envy and malice; these do not find in their earthly tenement all the Divinity intended. Then diseases creep in, and all forms of earthly appetite that obscure the divine vision; but even then the human form remains the fitting temple for the divine if it can be purged of its external impurities. Behold how much light it can contain—how much knowledge it can grasp; how it aspires beyond matter and time and sense, even unto the realm of the spirit, and through the one subtle sense—intuition, claims alliance with the Infinite Being. It is upon this sense that the basis of immortal life rests and has been kept alive in an age of materialism and darkness. It is upon this fiery chain that the soul leaps out beyond time and sense and basks in the sunshine of its immortal being. It is by the law of life—that life which, though it fade, yet does not perish—that the soul claims allegiance with the divine mind, claims that its dead are not dead, claims eternal life. For when the body of your loved one perishes—when that which you call death enters your home and touches the lip and the brow and the form—you know that your friend is not there. Every chemical element is there—the same forces, the same subtle gases, the same elemental substances; but the casket is empty, the bird has flown. Now, by what law will the Materialist account for the instant change from intelligence to nothingness, from life to consuming death, from mind, and thought, and action, and responsiveness to your every wish and thought, to an inanimate decaying substance? Where is that mind? we ask of the Materialist. He has no answer. Where is the spirit you loved? He cannot tell you. No analysis of the atmosphere can give him the answer, and no subtle vision of his eye can detect the presence of that mind. The eye of the mind alone can see, and that tells you that the form was not your friend, that it was only the habitation of the one you loved; that the spirit—that which you loved, that which was intelligent, that which had force and power, that which gave life, and vigour, and animation, that which kindled the eye, and gave colour to the cheek, and elasticity to the form, that which loved and that which responded to love—is still alive in the subtle being of spiritual existence. . That form is perfect, that eye is bright, that cheek is enkindled, that frame all aglow with supernal light, that if you only have eyes you may see, and if you only have ears you may hear the strains of that newly enfranchised spirit. Oh, when the Materialist stands by the grave, when above the dear one that has gone before, he seeks for the subtle law which links him to the object of his care, he finds the nothingness of that science that excludes from itself that portion of man which makes humanity, and he stands in his solemn grandeur and pride - 4 * THERE IS NO DEATH, 11. of intellect in the cold intellectual temple which he has reared, all alone—no light, no soul, no mind, no God. But it is revealed to the consciousness of man that even this link is not broken in the chain of being; that man, the epitome of material creation, is also the expression on earth of the spiritual creation; and that where material science pauses and refuses to go farther, there the spiritual begins, with its wonderful wealth of love, its knowledge of all past and of all future things, its revelations that transcend the senses, bearing you beyond the plane of more external regions to one of spiritual consciousness, where every law of life is made plain and clear, and where the continued chain of being is kept up even to the boundless regions of space. Spiritual science has revealed this; it has brought to the human consciousness that no link is lost in the chain of being; that the mind, the spirit, takes up its thread of existence when it passes beyond the earth just where it left off; that you leave one room for another— pass from one form of being to another. There mind lives in the world of cause ; is the primal essence, and possesses the quintessence of all knowledge, only waiting for time and changes to come that shall bring man face to face with the i. of truth. There is no death. That law that provides for the changes in material substances also provides for the garnering up of every thought. Thought never perishes, abides for ever, builds the temples of the future, erects your homes, clothes your spirits, and paves the way to higher stages of existence of which you have no knowledge. The science of spiritual life is brought home to your consciousness. Instead of the dim grovelling of the outward senses, you have the illumined scroll of the spirit held down to your view, in which you behold, with the eye of vision mentioned in the Apocalypse, the wonderful Jerusalem that is to come. It is not a temporal city; it is not an external power; it is not simply a building up to the outward senses; but it is a new condition of mind and life on earth. It shall not revel alone in the external, but shall build in the eternal and clothe your souls for the habitation of the future world. This is the day when there is no death. Your friend hidden from sight is only caught up into the atmosphere. You do not see him, but you may perceive him with the spiritual vision. The mother mourns her child as dead, and looks into the grave for the object of her care, and builds up a Snowy monument over the body there. But she must not think the child is there. The spirit, like a white dove, hovers around her; and the spirit of the child is waiting at the doors that you all may enter. There is no death. Mother earth consumes the body, and that which you bury this year will bloom into flowers in spring; but the buds of your spirits are transplanted there, and blossom in the midst of eternal life, and the little feet trip among the Asphodels in the green meadows of the spirit-land. This is the lost chain of light; this is the golden stone that philº have 12 - THE NEW SCIENCE, sought for in vain in times past; this is the nectar, the nepenthe, that ancient sorcerers sought that life might be for ever prolonged. You cast away your bodies as you would a worn out or imperfect garment. There are new raiments waiting for you ; there is a new habitation ready for you. Your feet will not rest upon strange soil, but friends will gather around you. It is as clear to the eye of the spirit as are the names of the constellations to the astronomer; and though you dwell in the garments of the flesh, you still see beyond, and perceive how in all the great world of matter and spirit there is no room for death to abide; for he has gone out utterly with ignorance, and darkness, and the prejudices of the past, and life, only life, remains as your inheritance. On terminating the above discourse, Mrs. Tappan stood for a moment or two in silence, and then gave off the following poem:— O beautiful white mother, Death ! Thou unseen and shadowy soul— Thou mystical, magical soul— IIow soothing and cooling thy breath ! Dre the morning stars sang in their spheres, Thou didst dwell in the spirit of things, Brooding there with thy wonderful wings, Incubating the germs of the years. Coeval with Time and with Space, Thy sisters are Silence and Sleep— Three sisters, Death, Silence, and Sleep. How strange and how still is thy face In the marriage of Matter and Soul, Thou wert wedded to young, fiery Time— The now hoary and snowy-haired Time— And with him hast shared earth's control. O beautiful Spirit of Death! Thy brothers are Winter and Night— Stern Winter and shadowy Night; They bear thy still likeness and breath. Summer buds fall asleep in thy arms, 'Neath the fleecy and soft-footed snow.— The silent, pure, beautiful snow.— And the earth their new life-being warms. All the world is endowed with thy breath, Summer splendours and purple of vine, Flow out of this magic of thine, O beautiful Angel of Death ! What wonders in Silence we see : The lily grows pale in thy sight; The rose, through the long summer night, Sighs its life out in fragrance to thee. 36 THERE IS NO DEATH. 13 O beautiful Angel of Death! The beloved are thine—all are thine! They have drunk the nepenthe divine They have felt the full flow of thy breath. Out into thy realm they are gone, Like the incense that greeteth the morn; On the wings of thy might they’re upborne, As bright birds to thy paradise flown. They are folded and safe in thy sight; Through thy portals they've passed from earth's rison ; From the cold clod of clay they have risen, To dwell in thy temple of light. O beautiful Angel of Life : Germs feel thee and burst into bloom; Souls see thee and rise from the tomb; With rapture and loveliness rife. On earth thou art naméd cold Death— Dim, dark, dismal, dire, dreadful Death, But in heaven thou art Angel of Life! We are one with thy spirit, O Death ! We spring to thine arms unafraid; One with thee are our glad spirits made. We are born when we breathe thy full breath, O Mother of Life, lovely Death ! Another hymn having been sung, Mrs. Tappan closed the meet- ing with the following benediction:- May the peace of the living Spirit of the Heavenly Father and His angels abide with you, and the life that knows no death bear you on to the immortal world. 37 The following Seven Discourses—the first delivered in Westbourne Ball, the remaining six in Lawson's Rooms, Gower Street—form a connected series on SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE, and require to be studied in consecutive order. 38 THE CONNECTING LINK BETWEEN SPIRI- TUALISM AND SCIENCE, On Thursday evening, October 23rd, 1873, in Westbourne Hall, Westbourne Grove, London, Mrs. Cora L. V. Tappan delivered the first of a series of discourses explanatory of the connecting link between Spiritualism and Science, to a very select and appreciative audience. The proceedings commenced at eight o'clock. In presenting the lecturer, Mr. Slater, the chairman, said that there had been a very generally expressed desire on the part of those who had attended Mrs. Tappan's Sunday evening services, that a series of lectures should be given by that lady on week-day evenings on the subject which had called them together that evening. He had long known that there were many truths con- nected with Spiritualism that science failed to explain; and having himself a smattering knowledge of the sciences of astronomy, optics, pneumatics, hydrostatics, chemistry, acoustics, electricity, magnet- ism, &c., he found, from personal experience, that all these failed by any recognised law to explain to him the phenomena he had from time to time witnessed. #. thought the time had come when scien- tific men could no longer ignore these facts, and it behoved them, as pioneers in the world, to come forward with the battle-axe and wield it; and if they could prove that there is any other law than that of Spiritualism to explain the phenomena called spiritual, they would indeed, confer a boom upon humanity. It was with this view—with the desire that Spiritualism, with its facts and phenomena, should be thoroughly sifted and explained to the world at large—that the present course had been inaugurated. On rising, Mrs. Tappan was received with marked enthusiasm. Then, in accordance with her usual custom, she prefaced her discourse with a short and impressive prayer or invocation, of which the following is a literal transcript:- O thou infinite Spirit, whose life prevades the universe, at all times and on all occasions, whatever may be the theme of our meditations, we would aspire to Thee! Thou art the Spirit of all life From thy being emanate all worlds and all systems; from 39 4 THE NEW SCIENCE. Thee all law and all knowledge come; and to Thee all nature turns as the source of being. We praise Thee for the life which abounds everywhere, for that beauty and harmony which abide in all the universe. Matter itself is but an expression of thy being; and whatever knowledge we may gain is acquired through that intelli- gence which is derived from Thee, Thou Source of all intelligenceſ O divine Spirit, let us light our torch of knowledge upon the altar of thy being ! Let us kindle anew the flames of inspiration, that they may light us in those pathways that lie beyond the range of reason, and at last guide us to those realms where the golden sun of truth illumines the mind for ever ! THE CONNECTING LINK BETWEEN SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE, 5 DISCOURSE. Ever since Baron von Reichenbach discovered that there are more elements in matter than those that appeal merely to the senses—that all substances have an aura invisible to common mortals, but discernible by those that have the spiritual sense, or the minuter perception—the world of science has been awake and alive to the fact that there are certain inner principles underlying all the sciences that no form of modern investigation can reach. It has been the favourite theory with many advanced minds, and is so to-day, that some subtle agent unites and binds together every system and known science; that there is a philosophy somewhere in the realm of investigation that would explain many things which seem incongruous and unfathomable to the mere external senses. When we remember how exceedingly modern all science is, when we remember that every form of present investigation is almost new, it cannot be surprising that every fact, however occult it may be, demands a careful and minute consideration. You will all recollect that the present system of astronomy is not that of the ancients, and that until Copernicus discovered the wonderful prin- ciple of the solar system, and explained its arrangements and revo- lutions upon known mathematical laws, there was an entire absence of all absolute knowledge concerning the heavenly bodies. Galileo died with perjury on his lips—was persecuted because he dared to declare the discovery of the earth's revolution. And when we remember that no science has taken its place in the world without this same persecution, that every advanced mind or discoverer of a new truth has been persecuted or put to death, it behoves us all to be careful how we denounce any new discovery or hesitate to receive its confirmation, because there may be underlying it a truth that will at last prove itseli to the comprehension of man- kind. Every science was once a theory—a speculation; every system of modern science existed first as speculations in the minds of those who discovered them. At first there was a glimmering possibility that the dawning science might be true, gaining confirmation by each new fact, until at length, by steady investigation, by those processes which intuition only knows, the mind became conscious of the wonderful truths that exist to-day in modern science. Of course, mathematics is an old and well-established science: we might call it the key- stone to all external sciences, and of course no new principle can ever be revealed in simple mathematics. Mathematics is only valuable as an exponent of other sciences; and all these forms of Science depend, not upon mathematics for their discovery, but merely for their solution and representation to the world in a tan- gible form. Indeed, the science of astronomy teems with wonder and beauty. By direct calculation, certainty takes the place of speculation; and mathematics, with its wand of golden power, 6 THE NEW SCIENCE. opens up the broad area of heaven to the exploring mind of man. This was not so in olden times. Then astrology held the place of astronomy, and superstition took the place of absolute science and experiment. Geology is still young in modern science: it was only the other day that it dared to take its place as an established sys- tem, while it still receives the ban and proscription of many canonical minds. But as a science it is unquestionably proven; nevertheless, how many geologists are still lost in the region of speculation' and how few scientific men agree on the general piinciples of the science It is yet in its infancy. Chemistry, delived from the ancient systems of alchemy, has made gigantic advances, and has perfected itself into a tangible form ; and yet even it is still in the infancy of its existence Many of those forces which were formerly supposed to be primal, have been found to be composite, and patient investigation into the nature of things will bring us into the realm of still more subtle agencies. But it is not of any of the established sciences as such, nor of any of the systems you can learn in the schools of science, that we wish to speak to-night. It is of the connecting link of the under- lying chain of causes, that all scientific men have sought for, and have failed to arrive at by their external investigations. Humboldt believed in a chain uniting all matter into one great cosmical prin- ciple; and various leading minds have earnestly and fully believed in one underlying subtle force that, uniting all forms of science, will ultimately bring them together as one grand science. Of course, such minds are rare; they are the result of centuries of prepara- tion in human thought, and when one dawns upon the world it is like the bursting forth of a new planet in the constellation of mind. But these truths are abroad—the truths of spiritual science; and it is firmly believed, confidently known by those who have investigated the subject longest and most closely, that here is the underlying principle of all science, the connecting link between mind and matter that science has failed to discover. It is believed that clairvoyance, mesmerism, psychology, and various other approaches to it, were but the indicators, the stepping- stones to this spiritual solvent that will finally unlock the doors of temples heretofore closed to modern science. Suppose, as Von Reichenbach asserts, that every substance is surrounded by an aura of its own, not appreciable by the senses—that is, by physical sense—this accounts for that mysterious law of gravitation in the attraction of particles of matter to each other; this solves the repulsions in chemistry, and sets the mind at work in an unknown region of investigation. And suppose, as clairvoyance has revealed, that every individual human soul, as well as all substances in nature, is surrounded with a similar aura—an atmosphere like that which surrounds the planets—that will explain the attractions and repulsions, experienced by human beings, their likes and dislikes, the diseases of a contagious nature to which they are 2 THE CONNECTING LINK BETWEEN SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE. 7 subject, and the various forces that are antagonistic to human well-being. This being the case, it will behove all investigators of sanitary science to find out whether two contending mag- wetisms do not produce sickness. We know that crowded cities are not conducive to health. Thus the philanthropist may be led to see the necessity of benefiting mankind by removing them farther from each other. Magnetism proved the existence of mind independent of matter. Here, then, is a step beyond all arallel in the annals of science; for no science, however it may ave admitted the existence of mind, has ever been able to show to the men of understanding in the scientific world that mind can exist without the organic form of material life. This is a valuable discovery; the magnetiser throwing his will upon the brain of the subject produces the trance-condition, and the subject goes away from under his influence into the independent world of mind, to discover new orders of being and new substances that he (the magnetiser) has no knowledge of. This was proven long before Spiritualism was known, and before psychology had revealed the wonderful powers of mind acting upon mind. If, then, it be true, as we have stated, that these discoveries have been made under the circumstances named, what is to preclude the possibility of still greater truths being won by the same means from the realm of scientific discovery and invention ? For if clairvoyance be true, what may it not do in the way of the discovery of new forces, and the investigation of subjects that lie beyond the ken of material sense P No telescope has yet been made to penetrate to the objects on the surface of the moon. If there were one the object-glass of which were five feet in diameter, undoubtedly it would discover most of the objects on the moon; and if the moon were inhabited, as scientists declare it is not, still your scientific methods could not proceed further. Clairvoyants have asserted that the moon is inhabited, not, indeed, by a high order of beings, but by beings in an embryotic and transitory state, who will, however, eventually become developed. You are not able to determine whether other planets are peopled; but psychometry and Spiritualism say those planets are inhabited; and the more advanced spirits say that they have been able to communicate with the beings of other planets; that the in- habitants of some of those planets are far in advance of yourselves in relation to all science and to spiritual truths; that many live in an atmosphere which to you would seem to be like Paradise, so transcendent in its lightness and in the perception of the beauties of the spirit. Indeed, you would seem to some of those inhabi- tants as beings of a lower order of creation and life. Now it is possible that at some future time, astronomy, or astronomical instruments, may discover that there are beings in some of the planets; but it is certainly worthy of your candid consideration to bear in mind that these things have been foretold, so that 43 8 THE NEW SCIENCE, should science ever make such an announcement, she shall not carry off the palm and say, We have made this discovery first. Andrew Jackson Davis, in his “Nature's Divine Revelations,” anticipated the discovery of the eighth and ninth planets long before astronomers detected them in the heavens; and many mediums have given specific ideas of substances not known before. An horticultural chemist, Professor Mapes, pursued for years a system of investigation, under the direction of spirits, whereby he attained the most wonderful results, and his farm in New Jersey became quite a model one. But it was not revealed by the learned professor that he received his ideas from the spirits, be- cause that would have destroyed the usefulness of his work; still he never disguised from his friends the fact that he was an investigator of those spiritual laws. Many of his discoveries were published in the scientific journals of the day, but the source whence they came was unknown. Many of the inventions, by means of which labour has been uplifted, have resulted from direct inspira- tion; they have come through mediums, and yet no one has as et credited them with it. The system of telegraphy known as Hughes's system, in which the letters are communicated by sounds, and the recipient, conscious of the sounds, translates them into words, was a direct spirit invention. Many of the sewing machines, those wonderful little instruments that have lightened the toil of the poor sempstress, have been direct inspirations by spiritual influences. Those spirits who revealed them to the world tºº earthly mediums are recipients of intelligence from higher 211?&S. #. true that this science will not answer your bidding, that it will not manifest its power at the call of penuriousness and selfishness, that it will not answer individual wants and wishes, for instance, as to how to arrive at a certain object. It is most stubborn. It will give to the world an idea of machinery to elevate the toiling masses, but it will not reveal to you the way to make diamonds and precious stones. If there were any great need in the world for diamonds, if they would add to the happi- ness of the toiling masses, or aid in elevating the great world of humanity, undoubtedly there exist in the spiritual world minds that could tell you how to make diamonds. But who is to be benefited by such a discovery? The gold flows for the most part into individual coffers, and diamonds are the subject of wrangling and contention. Truth is of more value than these things; and the great solvent of humanity possesses potency to uplift men, especially those who are desirous of solving these problems. You ask why some great truth is not revealed that will throw new light on these questions. It is not time for some great revelation that would overthrow existing forms and methods. Besides, it is imperative that the human mind should toil, and when, with strife and effort, it reaches almost just upon the discovery, this is the 44 THE CONNECTING LINK BETWEEN SPIRITUALISMI AND SCIENCE. 9 hour when the guardian spirit steps in, producing the certainty of investigation. Newton struggled for years trying to make the wonderful solution as to why things were attracted to the earth's surface instead of from it. At last, in the very moment when he seemed to be weary, and his brain had become exhausted by the investigation of the wonders he could not solve, there came the thought of this mysterious law that he named gravitation, and which, for the time being, has satisfied the world. But do you suppose there are not other laws underlying this one P. The system we have revealed would entirely supersede it. Franklin, the great electrician, he who first brought electricity within the range of scientific experiment, accounted for the separa- tion of particles and atoms of matter in the universe by what he called the film of resistance. Ah, here is a wonderful story con- nected with this speculation of Franklin's; because this film of resist- ance may be the very same aura or atmosphere the clairvoyant has discovered that surrounds atoms. The smallest substances—the most infinitesimal particles of matter—are separated by small spaces, so that there is really no contact between atoms of matter; and if you could have a microscope sufficiently powerful to examine these ulti- mate particles, they would all appear severed, and each one inde- pendent of the other. There are no atoms in nature that are not thus separated by spaces, and the intermediate atmosphere consti- tutes the one element by means of which mind and spirit can pro- ducemotion and life. Science has never discovered to you what light is, although spectrum analysis has decomposed it and shown you the different rays by which it is formed, together with some of their qualities; and although photography has turned light to the uses of man, no one has yet told us what light is. No, varied as are the theories upon this subject, there is nothing that clearly explains the essential nature of solar light. With this incipiency in science, is it wonderful that the human. mind grasps at anything that promises even a little light upon the subjects that are now in darkness? Is it strange that the human mind is never satisfied when such wonders are spread out before the world and there is no answer given P Be sure that for every question that the intellect can frame, there is some- where in nature a satisfactory answer. She has not sealed up the store-houses of her knowledge. There is no mysterious principle abiding that the human soul may not understand. Between God and you the various gradations of life are marked, and where hatter leaves off and mind begins, spirit asserts its wonderful power. The laws of mind are as tangible, and may be as clearly under- stood and demonstrated, as the mathematical problems of Euclid. There is no mystery in mind. It is only because the mind has not been considered that it is a mystery to you. You leave it as a realm that may not be explored, and then you expect by some divine process to be transported to the region where mind abides, 45 10 THE NEW SCIENCE. and yet you do not choose to investigate what that region may be, or what is the mind that dwells within you. Spiritual science declares that there is some connecting link between the mind and the nervous force which uplifts your arm and moves your frame. Now, the force which enables you to lift your arm will also enable the disembodied mind to move a table or any other object. That occult force is contained in the aura which surrounds all things. It is the force which acts between God and man, between mind and mind, and between man and disembodied mind. It is upon this element that spirits— so called in the science of Spiritualism—direct their influence when they wish to control mediums. It is upon this sub- stance they act when they desire to give expression to their will through tangible bodies. It is , upon this substance they act when they materialise themselves—show themselves in the physical form. It is into the mysteries of this force they would initiate you—that force which explains so many phe- nomena. It is that power which would enable you to overcome all forces and all laws—the law of gravitation, if you would. The same seer in America, Andrew Jackson Davis, said, years ago, that a time would come when the inhabitants of the earth would navigate the air in large ships, instead of traversing the seas and land as they now do; that these air-ships are in a manner antici- pated by your present system of balloons, but that this system will have to undergo a wonderful series of transformations before it becomes a regular means of navigation. It is nevertheless true that there is coming a time when the human mind, taught by investigation and research, will lift you above the earth, and that, instead of lowly grovelling upon it, you will be able to traverse the heavens, as you now traverse the land and sea; and this would be no more wonderful, were it to occur in fifty or one hundred years, than your present system of steam navigation was considered fifty years ago. For your forefathers would have scouted the idea of a steam-engine; and the American Congress pronounced it impossible thus to carry heavyweights when a train was actually speeding along the lines at the time bearing thousands of tons. The scientific world should be ready for any new discovery or system of thought that might lead to new light being thrown upon an old science, or impart a new science altogether; for certainly, in the true scientific mind, no avenue of knowledge is closed. It is, indeed, the boast of science that it is ever ready for the reception of new truths—that there is nothing final in science; and yet we are sorry to say that scientific men have been the first to denounce, and the most bigoted in their opposition to, Spiritualism. They have nothing either to gain or lose in the discovery of a new truth; in the revealing of a great imposition. If it be true that millions of minds are labouring under the delusion of Spiritualism, and that there is no spiritual THE conMECTING LINK BETWEEN SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE. 11 world, no mental life, and no spiritual phenomena, why the im- pulses of philanthropy, of charity alone, would lead the scientific world to discover what this delusion is, and expose it. Many years ago the Harvard University appointed a committee to investigate the alleged facts of Spiritualism. Among the num- ber were several scientific men and professors. They were to sift and find out if this were a delusion, and to publish the results to the world in the form of a report. But the report never appeared. The public waited patiently year after year, frequently asking the committee for the result of their labours; but they were not ready. The public waited another half-dozen years. Meanwhile some of the professors died, and, manifesting themselves through mediums, sa.d they were now ready. But their coadjutors were not ; and the report was never published. The minority—those who have passed away—have arrived at a conclusion, but the living majority are still pursuing their inquiries at Harvard, and they are not yet ready. Your own Dialectical Society decided to investigate the subject, and has given the result of its investigations in a report altogether worthy of the society; indeed, no body pretending to investigate the subject has done so much for the scientific aspect of the question since the advent of Modern Spiritualism. Yet they must not pause there; a vast field of inquiry still remains; mediums exist in abundance; facilities are afforded in almost every city in your country; and the human mind will never weary of investigating a subject that has such an all-important bearing upon man. We would simply state, in conclusion, that this is a preliminary discourse, or address, upon the general principles of Science and their relevancy to Spiritualism. In accordance with a desire expressed by the lecturer, several gentlemen put questions, some of which, not being relevant to the subject under consideration, did not elicit an answer. In answer to a question with reference to the passing of solid bodies through walls, &c., Mrs. Tappan, or rather her control, said that it had been stated in the course of the preceding lecture that no matter is solid, but that if sufficient power could be brought to bear, the entire substance of the building they were in might be compressed into a space, no larger than the end of your finger. Wherever there is sufficient power that can be done. Crystals are formed in that way in the heart of the earth by a process known to Nature. Mind possesses that power when disembodied; and when you are conversant with those cecult forces of Nature you will be able so to separate particles as to enable them to pass through those interstices that permeate all matter. That is the reason why seemingly-solid bodies pass through other bodies; and that is why in thus passing through other substances a body receives no injury, provided the particles are ºved to 12 THE NEW SCIENCE. come together again before the law of attraction has entirely lost its hold. Were a person to cut his hand and then quickly unite the parts, the blood would continue to flow in its accustomed channels; so, if an instant separation of particles took place, fol- lowed by immediate reunion before any atmosphere could inter- vene, the attraction by which they were held together would not be completely severed, but they would come together again on the force which separated them being withdrawn. The removal of a coat, without passing over the arms in the usual way, seems to be a miracle. But clothes are made of fibres; and if they could be separated and instantaneously reunited, it would be just the same as if no separation had taken place. It is effected by rapidity of motion—a power which has not been acquired in any form of external knowledge. If one were to take a stick lighted at one end and pass it rapidly before the vision, it would seem to be a circle of fire, caused by the rapidity of motion. It requires the sixtieth part of a second for an object to impress itself on the eye, and were it to pass in less than the sixtieth part of a second the eye could not see it. Anything, therefore, which occurs more rapidly than that is invisible to the eye; the eye witnesses the result, but is unconscious of the process. It is by this rapidity of motion that physical manifestations take place. Arfbther gentleman wished to know how it is that one atom passes through another, seeing that there is a law in nature called impenetrability. The reply was that it had not been said that atom passes through atom; what had been stated was that no atoms are joined together in substances with which we are familiar, and that when one body passes through another it is simply the atoms which are separated, allowing other atoms to pass by, not through them. All substances are like a sponge: water passes through it, but it does not pass through its particles. Replying to question 3, as to whether the spiritual power spoken of is an emanation of God the Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, the control said they did not know; there are some things that even spirits do not know, and that is one of them. Certainly, they believed it emanates from the Divine Mind: all spirits derive their powers and their sources of life from his spirit, whatever the instrumentality may be. They only know that in spiritual life these powers are conveyed to them from higher spheres, just as they convey them to us, and that the origin is the Infinite Mind they have no doubt. In reference to question 4, regarding the functions of the brain, and its relation to the mind, the control said that the question is large enough in itself to form the theme of a lecture. Brain is the nerve-centre of the entire system, and that every affliction, every pleasure of the human body, is communicated to the brain , through the nervous system. This system is composed of minute fibres, and communicates with the brain by means of rapid vibra- 48 THE CONNECTING LINK BETWEEN SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE. 13 tions, which produce sensation. Whenever a certain part of the body is affected, a corresponding part of the brain immediately responds; and it has been revealed by a system of electrical treatment that by placing one pole of a battery on the brain the diseased part can be discovered. The brain is simply the instrument of the mind—the temple of the spirit. The frontal brain is the seat of intelligence, the top brain of the religious faculties, while the lower order of propensities have their seat about and near the spinal column. Every faculty of the brain is an independent force, but without the vitalising influence of the spirit there can be no mind. The brain is the means whereby the spirit is enabled to communicate with external matter and receive external impressions. In answer to question 5, as to how mind could act upon mind at great distances, the lecturer said that there is a force emanating from the mind which does not belong to the external body, and wherever there is another mind subject to, or in sympathy with, that mind, the latter could act upon the former, even at the remotest distances. A chain of sympathy is established, whereby the one mind acts upon the other. Thus a Mesmerist or mag- netiser might be in one place, and the subject in another. There is no space and no time to the spirit in the material sense: it is in its nature infinite. In reply to a question (No. 6), as to the possibility of disébvering a means of passing one body through another, it was said that the question resolved itself into one of rapidly effecting a separation of the particles and then re-uniting them. Possibly, machinery might be invented to effect this operation, but all would depend on the rapidity of its motion. Question 7 had reference to the influence of the planets on indi- viduals and nations. The control said: Sir Isaac Newton was not the first to believe that the planets had an influence on human beings and nations; the ancients had had a regular system of astro- logy, nor do we see any reason to disbelieve such an influence, since every atom exercises some influence over other atoms, and every mind is related to every other mind. Since every planet is related to every other planet that forms part of the same sys- tem; and since light and heat—those marvels of solar existence— are transmitted to you from such immense distances, there must be, according to the laws of the existence of the solar system, a corresponding vibration on the nations of the earth; and we believe that not only every nation, but every individual, is more or less affected by planetary influence. In answer to a further remark, the lecturer said that with regard to the Pleiades it is taught by spiritual science that they are the source of the inspiration of poets and the abode of the muses. . It may be a poetic fancy, but at least it is a sweet one. It would be noticed that whenever Mars was in the * E 14 THE NEW SCIENCE, dant there were always the most rapine and bloodshed. In fact the ancients named the planets according to the influence they exerted. In reply to question 8, with reference to the connection between the phenomenon of the mirage and images projected into the spiritual atmosphere, it was answered that undoubtedly the phenomenon known as the mirage is the result of an artificial emanation from the earth in the form of a spiritual substance, whereby the rays of light are refracted. It is true that the same force or the same law that produces the mirage is also undoubt- edly connected with the power manifested in the presence of mediums to make spirit-forms visible to the naked eye. __On the exhaustion of the questions desired to be answered, Mrs. Tappan offered up a short benedictory prayer; when Mr. Luxmore rose and proposed a vote of thanks to the lecturer. He said it had never been his good fortune to hear an inspirational speaker speak so much to the point as Mrs. Tappan. Her discourse had been most excellent—full of good, sound, logical reasoning. The vote of thanks was seconded by Mr. Morse and carried with acclamation; whereupon the evening's proceedings terminated. TIIE EXPERIENCES OF A SCIENTIFIC MIND ON EARTH AND IN SPIRIT-LIFE. As ToID BY HIMSELF. A LECTURE DELIVERED UNDER SPIRIT-INFLUENCE, BY MRS. CoRA. L. V. TAPPAN, IN LAwson's Rooms, Gower STREET, NovexiBER 12TH, 1873. After a few words of introduction from Mr. Enmore Jones, who did the honours of the chair on the occasion, Mrs. TAPPAN rose, and, in accordance with her invariable custom, delivered the following INVOCATION. Infinite Spirit ! in all our deliberations and counsels we seek light and guidance from Thee. Thou art the source, Thou the beginning, Thou the light, Thou the ending—all things are known to Thee? By communion with Thee and thy universe we may find out those laws whereby Thou dost guide all things; by searching, every hidden mystery may be revealed. By thought and science we may scan the material universe; by intuition and knowledge the spiritual realms are unfolded to our vision. Let us search earnestly for truth; let us penetrate behind the mysterious veil that divides the outer from the inner mind, until we are as one with the Spirit of that life whose name is Love for evermore. DISCOURSE. Friends, to-night we are to give you a discourse, or rather the second of a series of discourses, upon Spiritualism and Science, wherein the connecting link between mind and matter, and the methods of reaching the realm of mind through material science, are to be discussed and considered. It is well known that if Spiritualism has a foundation in reality, and the manifestations known as spiritual occur tangibly to the senses, they must have some bearing upon or relation to material science. It is well 4 THE NEW SCIENCE. known that these manifestations do occur; that the senses of sight and hearing—every physical sense is reached by some occult and unknown power; that that power manifests intelligence, and that that intelligence claims to be the spirits of departed friends. Now, the methods whereby spirit so controls matter, and whereby tangible forms are made apparent without any known laws of nature, are worthy of the investigation of scientific men; and still it is very true, as has been suggested by some minds, that Spiri- tualism deals with spiritual truths. It is also true that the methods whereby the spirit reaches the external understanding of man are within the pale and belong strictly to the realm of physical science and phenomena, though the physical sciences do not recognise them. Anything, therefore, which can throw light upon these subjects, either by discussion, inquiry, hint, or suggestion, is within the range and scope of Modern Spiritualism. Spirits are not so far removed from material sense and understanding as not to know that that department of science wherein the mind influences and governs the material and tangible body belongs first exclu- sively to the realm of spirit. Investigation in that department belongs here, because so long as human beings inhabit tangible bodies, the laws which control those bodies must be compre- hended by the spirit, and hence the spirit-world must act upon your material senses to make these manifestations. So there must be a science whereby they can do so, and it belongs to the realm of legitimate scientific investigation. There is a spirit present personally unknown to you on earth, but who in earth-life was a scientific man, and who devoted twenty years of his life to the study of Spiritualism from a scientific point of view. It was “Professor Mapes,” who will give you the results of his investigation from the scientific standpoint. Remember that he is now brought to utter his ideas, and comes to give them to you in as clear and concise words as possible. The lecturer here paused a moment while the control was being changed, when, resuming the discourse, she said: I'riends, I am called upon to give you the results of experiments in connection with so-called Modern Spiritualism during the period of twenty years previous to leaving the mortal form. I may begin by saying that, although unknown to most of you, some of you may have heard of me in connection with horticultural chemistry. I was interested in all scientific pursuits, and may say was a materialist in my youth and manhood. As a materialist I could see no animating principle of Deity connected with matter; I could see no mind separate from organism. I regarded the human mind as exclusively the result of human organisation, and the underlying forces of nature. Consequently, when I was called upon to investigate Spiritualism as a new science, it occurred to me that it was very likely one of those mysterious, occult forces which we were accustomed to investigate under the EXPERIENCES OF A SCIENTIFIC MIND. 5 the title of clairvoyance, and that it had some relevance to electricity. Having, then, to do with chemistry as connected with agriculture, though not a chemist, this idea struck me as peculiar. The theory of atoms had not then become the popular theory among chemists, but rather force. However, I soon re- butted the idea of simple elements, and saw that every element must have an atomic structure; consequently, that ultimate atoms of matter could never be destroyed. If ultimate atoms could not be destroyed, I then saw my way to an immortality of matter. It soon came to my consciousness that there was a onesidedness in the works of creation, if matter, being indestructible, was to go on for ever organised, while man, that could analyse and deter- mine the purposes of matter, was to be destroyed. So, when Spiritualism came, it seemed to me it would throw some light on the mysterious realm of mind. I always denominated myself an investigator. I pursued the discovery that certain tangible bodies were moved without any human contact, that the bodies thus moved seemed to be endowed with intelligence, and I tested in various ways that this intelligence did not proceed from my own mind, nor of any person present, because circumstances, thoughts, and facts were related beyond the knowledge of any person in the room. I then discovered that persons were made to do things involuntarily. We all know that the system has many involuntary functions, as, for instance, respiration, the circulation of the blood; the action of the brain is also involun- tary. But when a violent seizure of the hand takes place, and a communication is given beyond the intelligence of the writer, it is evidence of a wonderful involuntary action beyond that mani- fested in the above instances. Little by little I was led to investigate these manifestations, and there came to me a positive revelation in my scientific pursuits. I was then interested in investigating various kinds of soils, and their peculiar properties as adapted to fruit-growing. I said, “If this is true, I may get some idea with reference to the nature of the subject I am investigating.” Still the controlling intelligences of all mediums said, “We do not come to aid you in your individual sciences, because we wish to sharpen your own mind to work; but if you will take the first step, we will aid you to take the Second.” I discovered that chalk and marble are of the same chemical constituency. I said, “Will you explain to me the difference between the physical construction of the marble and the construction of the chalk, which makes them so different to the sense and to the understanding, though they are chemically the same?” The spirits answered, “Organisation imparts properties different from those that matter previously possessed. Whenever the primitive element in nature passes through an organism, it, by virtue of that organisation, becomes advanced.” They then gave me a new step. “Iime,” they said, “as found in the bones of 3ºz. - ºº: , , 6 THE NEW SCIENCE. animals, is chemically the same as limestone in the soil; but the latter does not fertilise, the former does.” Hence I created a phos- phate of lime which, when applied to certain soils lacking those elements, produced nutrition. "Now, you may analyse them, and you will find that chemistry does not discover why the particle of lime in the human bone is more advanced than a particle of lime in the soil. Here is progression, when one form of atom derives from organisation an advanced function. That function was the point the spirit desired me to understand. Through the combination of atomic elements a third power is outwrought, and the phosphate of lime never comes back again to the original crude lime we find in the mineral kingdom. Hence all nature is progressive. There came the thought then to my material understanding: If it be true that lime and every compound in nature derives an especial function from organisation, may it not be also true that out of all these combinations other functions may be outwrought, and that the living spirit is one of those P. That was my material vision; and I j until the day of my death that spirit was the advanced function of the organised properties of the human form. I believed that the primates composing the human body had aggregated and segregated from various forms of animal life; from the vegetable and mineral kingdom thereby to be outwrought advanced states of development, and that thence the advance beyond matter was evolved, so that the spirit could take one more step and live in the disembodied state. The spirits sought in vain to undo my reasoning, because as a materialist I had no conscious intuitive faculty. My wife had, and she often said to me, “James, you are mistaken; spirit is an element of itself.” But I never was enabled to discover that while holding my material organisation. In the course of these investigations, there came to my knowledge various mental evolutions, to use a Darwinian phrase, that I knew were not the result of any known organic function of the brain that created them. Among others, persons of my family and house- hold were impelled to discourse on subjects they had no knowledge of by instruction. This, I reasoned, could not be evolved from the organisation; it must come from a spiritual source. Little by little, as evidence accumulated, I saw that there was another world as full of tangible elements and powers as our world; but I believed it, then to be composed of the advanced atoms of physical life, just as I then believed mind to be composed of the advanced function of the material organism. I had a fine structure reared up on this foundation of material science; and I assure you it was the one ray of hope that crept into my various material speculations. I then thought mind could gain sufficient elasticity from the material body, to spread out beyond the grave; but these speculations were unsatisfactory, and offered not one real solution of all the problems which appeared for my apprehension. I asked the spirits to determine for me this one point with reference to the j4. - IEXPERIENCES OF A SCIENTIFIC MIND. 7 progression of atoms until they become spiritualised ultimate particles. They invariably answered, “Atoms can never become spiritualised; matter is never anything but matter. Soul is a substance—an element by itself. It acts upon and through matter, but is not subject to material analysis.” As I told you, it was beyond the comprehension of my material brain to understand that there could be an element in the universe that is not material; and until the day that I passed from earth the problem was never solved to my mind. Of the spiritual facts and phenomena, how- ever, I was fully and absolutely convinced. Not only did my daughter's hand write involuntarily on subjects she had never studied respecting physical sciences, and on those laws which lie beyond the range of a lady's education, she taught me of spiritual things I have since found to be true. Another member of my family was taught to paint. Every flower, fruit, and spray that surrounded our home or could be brought from a distance was brought for her to copy; but the most singular feature of the performance was that, if a leaf of any plant was brought to her, she not only painted the outline, but the whole stalk of the plant as if she knew the generic nature of the plant. This, thought I, must come from an outside source. That was another fact. Then a young man, with whom I sat fre- quently, manifested all the powers of mind of the most learned and scientific professor. He was untutored and unskilled, a humble member of a Mechanics' Institution with which I was connected, but having no literary acquirements beyond his business. He entered with me upon the discussion of the occult sciences, together with astronomy, chemistry, and geology; and his knowledge so far transcended my own learning—the result of years of study—that I had no doubt I was conversing with a superior and enlightened man that had passed from earth. Yet, as I have already told you, I could not discover but what all these revelations were the result of the embodiment while in earth-life of the existent or life prin- ciple then addressing me from the spirit-world, and from which the spirit derived its motor power. When I passed from earth, which I did in the full belief in the continued existence of mind—a belief that I had builded up for myself upon this foundation of material science; an existence which, as I told you, resulted, as I believed, from organisation and function—I thought that the human brain derived from progressed atoms their spiritual quality. When I awoke in spiritual life, my first thought was to discover whether this were true. I found my- self very similar in form and appearance, in all that constituted any external symbol of my other self. I seemed to be fire and life alone. There was no need of the body—no interference with motion. . There was neither space nor time; and every faculty with which I had been accustomed to measure material things seemed to be now concentrated in one faculty of comprehensive influence. I said, “Ilow am I to pursue science if I dº.” know {} 8. THE NEW SCIENCE. time and space; if there is no matter here; if this is all a mentality ?” I was brought in connection with those advanced in spiritual existence. They said, “The methods here are new ; you have no knowledge or other faculty obtained with earthly methods. Supposing,” say they, “it requires in scientific calculations several hundred years for the specific position of a star to be determined, and several thousands of years for the rays of light from that star to reach earth, as described by mathematical calculations, the spirit possesses knowledge and volition—and, by the way, volition is the specific quality of the disembodied spirit that enables it to overcome time and space and matter: by this power of will, or voulance, the spirit can at an instant's notice become aware either of the appearance of a new planet or disappearance of an old one, when it would require thousands of years for a ray of light from that planet to reach the earth, or for the disappearance of that ray to be known upon the earth. It is the advantage of the spirit to have this power of will to project itself to the particular point where that star is known to be in the heavens, and at once deter- mine its precise condition. Now on earth I knew mathematics was the key to all physical sciences, and it never occurred to me even as a dream that mathematics could be superseded by any shorter road to knowledge. But I find it can be. I find will is more potent than numbers; that thought travels with infinite rapidity, while light is comparatively slow. I found that no elements of the physical body make or evolve the mind; but that the brain, within which thought is constructed, is evolved from mind—naturally the very reverse of what I thought, soul being the primal element and the outside body the structure. I found to my utter amazement that a grain of wheat, the seed of a flower, every organised substance in nature, has an individual soul-life; and that, when, under certain circumstances, that seed is developed or that flower unfolded, it is the spirit that speaks in and through that flower, and not the external germ that produces the life. I found also that every external substance called an atom by science is but the skeleton or covering of the infinitesimal globule of spirit that works through that atom into all the varied forms of exist- ence that fill your earth. I found but one substance in nature, instead of the sixty-five as I believed there were on earth; I found one primal substance only, and that is spirit. I found that spirit not only pervades all so-called organised substances, that all space is filled with globules of spirit, and that the identified human soul is the epitome of spiritual expression, just as the identified human body is the epitome of material expression; I found also that my incapacity to comprehend the spiritual or intuitive part of man arose from organism, from the outside structure, from the absence of that particular brain quality whereby my spirit could evolve the consciousness of intuition. But, strikingly enough, on awaking in spiritual life, I did not find myself a babe in intuition. I had 56 EXPERIENCES OF A SCIENTIFIC MIND. 9 intuition all the time; but it was buried beneath this structure of intellectualism that I had reared for myself, and that I thought constituted the individual. The intellect was nothing, to my amazement; the spiritual was everything. Convictions that I deemed visionary and transitory were everything, while those on which I placed great importance were nothing. I found also that these experiments in spiritual manifestations, that I had attributed to the functions of elementary matter, were really the result of the will-power that the disembodied spirit possesses more directly over matter than the embodied spirit; that whereas you are subject to your organisation, hereditary disease, to the proclivities inherited from parents, the disembodied spirit is not so conditioned, but is only limited by knowledge, and that knowledge comes by wishing and willing, and is consequently illimitable to those who aspire. I did not believe in prayer except as a soothing agency; but I found that prayer is the will of the spirit, and by its exercise we accustom ourselves to the receiving of knowledge from the divine mind; and the channels whereby this may be received are open to all spirits. Hence it is the lack of will, lack of volition, or lack of aspiration, that causes undeveloped spirits, or spirits that are in a º of darkness, vibrating between the two conditions of spiritual 116. - - Now, I have pursued my investigations from this standpoint. I was readily taught in the world I had entered the new methods of Scientific pursuit, and instead of mathematical tables and geome- trical formula, I was made aware of more rapid methods of thought. When I had the desire to investigate any particular topic or study, be it planetary or elementary, the exercise of my will to do so has enabled me to come en rapport with the aura of that planet. If there is any planet that the spirit desires to visit, he may do so by the assistance of a spirit more advanced than him- self. There are three states of spiritual existence to which I have been initiated. One is that state immediately surrounding the earth, where spirits are more or less under the influence of earthly elements. They are what you call material spirits, but often sub- servient to high intelligences who employ them to perform physical manifestations. The process of these manifestations has been the most interesting study I have had. I have been present wherever I could be; I have found, contrary to my thought when upon the Sarth that they were connected with electricity, that they are not so connected; that the atomic theory, and that alone, will explain the physical manifestations; that it is a legitimate subject for chemical inquiry, and that it belongs to that department of science wherein 1e vibrations of atoms are considered with reference to light and sound. For you know that the spectrum, by analysing the different rays of light, has proved that colour is formed by the different number of vibrations of light upon the atmosphere, and that the spirit can produce light of any colour by making a certain number 10 THE NEW scIENCE. of rapid vibration.s; also, that the laws of sound explain that the rappings and various other sounds heard in physical seances are the result of atoms vibrating a certain number of times at a certain intensity; the sound being produced by the invisible vibration of particles so infinitesimal that there is no instrument in science suf- ficiently minute to detect them in the atmosphere. The power of the spirit—the will-power—can produce this vibration at a moment's notice. There is no element, no subtle electrical force, no odylic force—there is nothing but the absolute atoms which exist in the atmosphere which the spirit controls. These atoms, after passing through the human organism, become more and more refined; the oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, and various other pro- perties and elements passing through the human body, when again exhaled, are finer in quality; just, as I have previously stated, lime is finer after having passed through animal bodies. Consequently, upon this final element—this atom that has passed from the human body and organisation of the medium—the spirit is enabled by its will-power to act and set in motion all the various atoms, which will account for all the phenomena that occur in Spiritualism at and through physical seances. You know if you take a number of tiles and set them up in a long row and then hit one at the end, the one at the other end will be moved. You know that the wire at one end of an electric battery vibrates almost immediately when the other end is touched, and a similar motion occurs or similar sensations are produced. It is not that the electricity passes the whole length of the wire; it is the vibration of the particles pro- ducing at the other end the same effect that the motion upon the first i. So the spirit, acting upon the intermediate atmosphere etween itself and you, produces a vibration, and the atom which is next the table sounds: hence all rappings and various other sounds are produced. Of course I could illustrate these manifestations at some length, and show how the spirit is enabled to act upon these various substances, if you had the sight to penetrate to atomic struc- tures. But you cannot see the atom itself—only by progressive cal- culation have you arrived at atomic existence, much more the ele- ment of which I speak—spirit. I find the only limit to human investigation in spirit-life is ignorance, the only bond is lack of will, the only power that checks the advance towards knowledge is where the mind cannot rise from earthly surroundings and darkness. The second state of spiritual existence (as I said, there were three) is the interstellar or intermediate atmosphere between your planet and the other planets. Spirits that are not bound and attracted solely to earth, but have aspirations, desires for know- ledge, and wish for further investigation, pass into this interstellar state to dwell, and by their gifts are enabled to communicate with other worlds and planets, not only to gain knowledge of the structure of other regions, but also of their spiritual and mental EXPERIENCES OF A SCIENTIFIC MINIO, 11 * tates. The third and celestial heaven is beyond my province to de- cribe; but it belongs to the realm where the entire functions of the soul are spiritual, wholly of the Spirit, belonging to the world of mind, and the inhabitants of which never communicate with earth except through the intermediate or interstellar intelligences. I, of course, have many things that could be given, if I knew of the manner to bring them to your mind; but if you wish to ask me questions, I shall be glad to answer now anything that will lead to knowledge upon this subject of investigation. The following questions were then answered. Q. 1.-Is there any difference between soul and spirit?—A. There has been a difference in time past. The soul was supposed to be the embodied mind of the spirit, and the spirit the substance. There is a discrimination made in modern spiritual science that the soul is innermost, that the spirit is the manifestation of that Soul in spiritual or outer life, and that the mind is the most external of all, or structure rather through which the soul expresses itself. For myself, I make no distinction; I consider Soul and spirit synonymous terms. Q. 2–What do you mean by saying there is only one element in nature—spirit? Do you mean that matter and spirit are synonymous?—A. No; I mean one primal element—an element that is not compound, that is not the result of any combination of two or more elements. I find spirit to be indivisible—a primal principle. I find matter capable of analysis—resolvable into other principles. There is no tracing matter back to nothing, or to spirit. It is rather an expression or outgrowth of it, while spirit itself remains uncombined. Q. 3.−When a spirit comes into the world, as, for instance, in the case of an infant, is that spirit new, or whence is it derived P- A. It is not new; it is derived from the source of spirit. I have said to you that the whole universe is filled with spirit. There is no new creation of spirit; but the spirit is attracted to earth, and the germ of physical existence is then organised. It is, how- ever, not then created. Q. 4.—It is, then, the first time the spirit has assumed the living form, the same as the spirit in an atom; it enters into the atom, and becomes a substance P−A. Well, you do not know, because atoms do not begin their life at the time you commence to investigate them. Atoms have always existed in some form of life. So God, the Spirit, has always existed, and the spirit that comes into the finité form has always existed, and we believe has always existed in some form of life-different from your life, but still a form of life, because spirit must for ever work, even as atoms work; and God expresses himself in every world and every sphere, so that spirit may not have inhabited the human organisa- tion before, but still has been advancing, or perhaps coming down from the Infinite Mind, and fitting itself for the habitation of earth. Q. 5-Has the human spirit existed in any other organised 59 12 - THE NEW SCIENCE, form before it enters the human body, as, for instance, in a flower, a grain of wheat, &c. P−A. The human spirit could not occupy a flower, or grain of wheat, but always must have been of the same nature that it now is. If it had previously been a flower, or grain of wheat, it must again become a flower, or grain of wheat, and not spirit. The spirit that is in the flower, or grain of wheat, has always been in a flower, or grain of wheat, or in some form corresponding. The spirit of man cannot have been there, else it would have been different from what it is—would have been a combination, and therefore destructible. Q. 0.--Do I understand you to say that matter is simply organised spirit?—A. You understand me simply to say that the elements of matter have not been found, but that I have found in my investigations one element, and that is spirit. I do not, therefore, say that matter is spirit, but that the primal ele- ments of matter have not been found. Q. 7.-Is matter essential to the expression of spirit P Can spirit express to spirit?—A. It is certainly essential to the expression of spirit in the material form. No spirit can express itself to you without the agency of matter. While you are embodied there is meed of matter. - Q. 8.-Can there be an individualised spirit without matter P- A. Most assuredly; i. e., as you understand matter. Q. 9–Is not the material organisation that surrounds the spirit and is developed from the material body, that which renders the spirit individualised ?–A. By no means. In that case, when the body died there would be no individualisation. That was my belief on earth; but I see now that the reverse is true: that the spiritual is not an emanation of the external body which makes the individual; it is an entity from eternity, but expresses its indi- viduality in the human form, Q. 10.—I have heard other mediums say that the human body is of a triune organisation; that when it leaves this earth, it is of dual form, and that it is the body which it has cast off that renders it individualised, and by which it expresses itself—A. When it goes into another sphere, since the spiritual body is of no use while it remains in the atmosphere surrounding the earth, it has to take on a form adapted thereto, but that form is not immortal. It is only the spirit in its identity which is immortal. Q. 11.-Can you tell the object of life P-A. Can you tell the object of the whole creation P. It is not for us to tell the object of existence. We find it: that is all. Q. 12.-It seems to me, from what has been said, that there are several degrees of spirits in the spirit-world—those which are some- what material, and those which are spiritual.-A. That is quite true; and thus you must consider, when spirits come here into your atmosphere, they assume in a degree the material form. I do not mean, now, those that are made palpable in a physical sense; but at all times, when the spirit enters your atmosphere, it takes on suf- 60 - EXPERIENCES OF A SCIENTIFIC MIND. 13 £cient of the emanations of earth to make it somewhat like your- selves; and those spirits that inhabit the immediate spiritual world surrounding your earth have a permanent spiritual body, that corresponds to yours, only a finer structure. The higest spirits have not that same body, but have another elemental body, that is composed of the nature of the sphere they inhabit; and so on, until you come to the realm of pure spirit, which does not require a body for its manifestation. Q. 13.—You are able to visit the other planets in the solar system. Can you tell me whether the inhabitants of those planets transcend those on this earth P-A. The inhabitants of some of the planets transcend yours. Those within my range of knowledge, especially Venus, have an intelligence and spirituality that far transcend anything on your earth; so much so that were you presented to the inhabitants they would take you for lower forms of beings If you had an instrument sufficiently powerful, you could discover that they are already aware of the approaching transit of Venus, and have erected strong light-towers in order to attract the attention of the scientific men of earth; and if you had a sufficiently power- ful telescope these lights would be visible to you, and a system of interchanging lights and signals could be carried on between you ind that planet. This may seem like the vague shadow of a dream, yet it will prove to be correct. Make you a telescope suffi- ciently powerful to discern an object such as a city, and you will find these towers and elemental lights already prepared for you to see; for they know you are struggling yet in rather an Egyptian darkness. ~ At the close of the question the controlling spirit asked the audience for a subject for a poem, when the following was given:- PRAYER. Like the incense of sweet flowers Bising up to greet the morning; Like the pure surpassing powers, All the vernal hills adorning ... When summer's breath is nigh. Like the warbling of the birds, Rapturous token of their life; Like the lowing of the herds, Far from ev’ry sound of strife. Like the sounding of the sea, Breaking mildly on the shore, In its deep-toned minstrelsy, Sounding praise for evermor To the God who dwells on high. 61 14 THE NEW SCIENCE. Like the mountains' towering forms, With their snowy brows so white, Leaning still, and pale, and calm, Against the dome of night; Like all sights that greet the day, Like all forms of earth and air, Each proclaiming in its way The true spirit of its prayer. Like the stars that sweep and burn In their orbits of pure flame, Where God kindled in the urn Of their life His holy name; Like the suns with points like swords, Flashing up the steep of space, Leading armies without words, By the light from God's own face, Each world filling its own sphere, Each star keeping perfect time To the mandate written there, On the scrolls of heaven sublimes To the planets ye may turn, As they flash and toil and shine: For a lesson ye may learn To employ each gift divine. Ev'ry human soul is blessed With an aspiration grand, That arises in true praise For the Father's guiding hand. One heart like the lowly flower, One like yonder mountain tall, One with brilliant star-like power— The great Spirit works thro' all. The true voice of earnest prayer Is the earnest work ye do, For each spirit has a place, Reeping truth ever in view. Pray with spirit, mind, and heart, Pray with hands and feet and will, That in striving thro' the dark You may pray and labour still, Pray, and every hour and day You will His bright presence prove For upon the shining way - Ye shall find the light of Love. ON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE WARIOUS MENTAL SCIENCES AND SPIRITUALISM. AN: ORATION DELIVERED BY MRs. ConA L. V. TAPPAN, when UNDER SPIRIT-INFLUENCE, IN LAwson's Rooms, Gowel. STREET, LONDON, NovKMBER 19th, 1873. . INVOCATION. Infinite Spirit! Thou life of all being ! we seek to praise Thee We seek to know thy knowledge and thy truth ! Wherever we may be, whatever the theme of our meditations and thoughts, what- ever our conversation may be, still would we know that thy divine mind dictates, thy strength overrules, thy law guides, and every atom is amenable to the spirit of thy divine being. O life ineffable ! O divine source of being ! let us through nature look to Thee as the source of nature's life, and through the finite mind gather some glimpses of that infinite that is veiled from our know- ledge, but revealed to usin many signs and tokens. DISCOURSE. Friends, the circle of scientific minds which are to address you this evening choose to give some general suggestions upon certain phases and manifestations in science, or rather in mental Science, connected with Spiritualism, and show wherein mind in the body possesses similar attributes to the disembodied mind, and in what manner these two effect and control their action upon material substances. It is well known that magnetism, mesmerism, clair- voyance, and even psychology belong to what is known as the realm of the natural sciences; yet it is also well known that these sciences are as yet in their infancy, and that the laws which govern them are of so occult a nature that as yet no complete system has been developed whereby certain results may be legitimºy and 4 THE NEW SCIENCE. distinctly foretold from known causes. Everything that belongs to the realm of mind in connection with these sciences is as mysterious as before they made their appearance upon the surface of human thought. Yet the methods whereby one mind can govern and con- trol another may be just as clearly determined as the method whereby one atom may govern, communicate, or sympathise with another; or the sun, the centre of the solar system, govern and control the planets. But as life itself is not known and understood, how can we suppose that mind, that most subtle of all existing substances, can be known P. It has been supposed that electricity, ether, or one of the multitude of forces in nature, may have some connection with this mental science. But recent discoveries in electricity are specifically of a scientific nature. The electricity of the lecture-room is one thing; the electricity that the actual operator generates in his laboratory is another. That electricity that is brought to bear for the illustration of splendid effects, that to your senses is most peculiar and striking, is very different from the electrical force that can be weighed and measured and calcu- lated in its various bearings and changes of temperature, and fully understood and under the control of man. Any one experienced in electricity will know that it has not the slightest relation to mag- netism, mesmerism, or any of the mental phenomena that occur in the world; that it also has no relation whatever to the manifesta- tions known as spiritual; that, while some of its manifestations are similar to some of the possible effects of electrical experiment, they do not partake of the same nature, are not produced by the same laws, have not their origin in any similar source. Electricity is a known and palpable substance, whose vibrations occur in response to certain known and absolute conditions, and these known and absolute conditions can be created when and where the electrician chooses. The manifestations of Spiritualism, on the contrary, occur under circumstances precluding the possibility of electrical vibrations, precluding the possibility of electrical experiments ; and hence whatever substance it is which sur- rounds the medium that enables spirits to move tables and other objects, or to lift the body of the medium himself, it is not electrical in its nature. Having separated, therefore, entirely the manifestations of mind from those of simple matter, we proceed to the analysis of those various phases of mind as mani- fested through the sciences to which we have referred. Animal magnetism, as it is called, is that peculiar force that ema- nates from one human body and has its influence over another human body. All substances are surrounded by magnetic properties peculiarly their own. The human body is surrounded by a magnetic element peculiarly its own. This element has nothing to do with the will, volition, desire, or other mental attribute of the person: it is purely a physical magnetism; it acts, re-acts, and otherwise *ious, and whoever possesses the most of this WA}}{OUS MENTAL SCIENCES AND SPIRITUALISM, 5 arº'a or magnetism has the most physical power and influence; and when it is accompanied by corresponding mental vigour, it produces what is known as mesmerism. Mesmerism is the result of this same magnetism under the control of an individual, distinct, and absolute will-power. When a person wishes to mesmerise another, he avails himself of this magnetic aura that surrounds himself; and it is always the person possessing the strongest magnetic aura that can by his will-power control another who has less positive will- power. The other may have as much magnetism, but not having the will-power to direct it, he cannot resist the superior force of the mesmerist. Now this mesmeric control is governed by absolute distinctive laws under the influence of mind; and it is known that certain portions of the human body are magnetic poles, upon which the mesmerist touching the subject can operate at will. These magnetic poles form the nerve-centres where the forces of the phy- sical system concentrate, and are thereby made amenable to the will of the operator. This mesmeric power is never exercised un- consciously to the operator. No person can mesmerise another unless he will to do so; no person can throw another into a mesmeric sleep unless he wish to do so and know how to do so. There is a distinct power necessary to establish the chain between the operator and his subject. He must make certain evolutions and go through certain operations having reference to these magnetic centres or poles in order to place the subject under his control. This chain of sympathy being once established, the mesmerist can act upon the subject even at a distance by the mere power of will; for the chain is not easily broken. Psychology and biology are other phases of mental control, oftentimes without any physical symptoms of mes- meric sleep, but by the swaying of mind. The mental particles going out or vibrating from one positive mind into a room, sways, moves, or displaces the individuality of persons; and oftentimes many persons live for years under the biological control of another mind. Without having any consciousness of it they are swayed and moved. Their thoughts, feelings, emotions, and beliefs exclusively represent those of some superior—not superior in mind necessarily, but superior in will-power. The great secret of all mental control in the world of great minds is biology, or the mental vibration that °ºrresponds to the physical vibration of magnetism, but is not allied to mesmerism. Mesmerism displaces the will and directs the Physical body through the sleep, or through the suspension of its natural functions, withdrawing the mind within by a process that *y be similar to the endosmose action of physical absorption, Wherein certain forces are drawn inward and the mind thus re- lieved from outward contact. Now clairvoyance is developed in *meric states, and the mesmerist often finds upon his hands a subject whom he cannot follow into all the regions that the mind traverses. Having placed his subject in the mesmeric sleep, it was left for clairvoyance to develop itself independent of the mºists 6 THE NEW SCIENCE. power. For though clairvoyance was first discovered through mes- merism, soon the clairvoyant travelled beyond the will-power of the operator, the body alone remaining subservient to the mesmerist's touch, while the mind investigated remote regions, transcending the thought and far beyond the will of the known mesmeriser. This is clairvoyance. There are independent clairvoyants, who pass into the mesmeric state as they suppose without any operator, and who in this state investigate not only scenes upon earth, but spiritual scenes and places of which they have externally no knowledge. In such cases the supposed independent clairvoyant is mesmerised not- withstanding, but it is by a disembodied spirit, and hence he does not always see the mesmerist; nor does he know that the mes- merist stands beside him placing him in this clairvoyant state. There is no such thing as a person being self-mesmerised—it is a mistake in terms. You cannot at once be positive and negative. You cannot throw yourself into the state, and be at the same time the controlling power and the power controlled. It has been thought that spiritual influences might be explained by self- mesmerism. You ask a mesmerist to mesmerise himself: he will tell you it is impossible; he says that the very nature of being Fº to another mind renders it impossible that his own shall e positive to itself; and the spirit must be more positive than yourself not only in mental power, but in the pure mesmeric ele- ment, in order to control or throw you into the mesmeric state- Psychometry is a different form of clairvoyance from that de- veloped by mesmerism. Psychometry is peculiarly a state of mental sympathy, wherein every object that comes in contact with the mind, or with the touch of the psychometrist, conveys to that touch and that mind, through sympathy, its whole history—its past vibrations, its past surroundings; everything through which that object has passed becomes enstamped upon the psychometrist's mind. Psychomachist is a better word than psychometrist. The lº possesses the gift of mental or spiritual sympathy. t is well known, or it is believed, that every vibration in nature makes an indelible impress somewhere; that every object, and the motion of every object, has somewhere left its stamp; that every scene through which you, as individuals, pass, and every phase or atmosphere through which your bodies pass, receives some impression. Every time that you come in contact with a person, hold converse with him, take him by the hand, or communicate with him, in any way whatever, you receive from him (or her) some spiritual or magnetic substance, and also give to him some spiritual or magnetic substance. This being true, the psycho- machist takes into his or her hand a letter, at once beginning with the very latest influence that has surrounded that letter, what- ever it may have been ; he traces it back through its various phases, every hand through which it may have passed, until he reaches the writer; and the innermost secret of that letter—the 66 WAIRIO US MENTAL SCIENCES AND SPIRITUALISM, 7 thoughts that were in the mind of the writer when penning it, and everything associated with it. In taking a piece of metal or stone, the psychometrist traces it back through the various stages of its history; knows of the particular stratum or rock it may be found in. If the psychometrist is sufficiently scientific in his knowledge, he will do this in proper scientific terms; if not, he will have to describe it as best he can, without scientific terms. In either case he can trace its career, can see the formation of the rock or soil that surrounded this piece of stone or metal, can tell of what materials it is composed, and finally give its whole history. We knew an instance where a lady sat down to a table about the size of this one (table about 3 feet by 2), and resting her forehead upon her hand, proceeded to say that she saw first a shipwreck, and something floating about upon the surface of the water. It was then rescued by some one and carried into a boat. “It is a piece of wood,” she said; “I see it further back, in a dungeon. O ! I see some one trying to write upon it. I see the prisoner stoops; I see that he is condemned for some particular offence.” She then went on telling every phase of thought that had been left impressed upon it while the prisoner was writing. It was quite correct. The table had been saved from a French ship, previously having been in the hands of one who was imprisoned because of his participation in the revolution, but who escaped the penalty that was passed upon him, and was afterwards shipwrecked, when the table was pre- served and taken to America. The psychomachist had no knowledge of the table, had never been in the house before, and knew nothing of its history. Many other instances could be adduced where parchments, locks of hair, and various articles have been psycho- metrised, an infinitesimal record being left upon each object by the particles aggregated to it in its passage through the world. This is one of the independent functions of the human spirit embodied and disembodied. It may not be developed because of the lack of Suitable organisations on earth, but all spirits are in a degree psychometrical, and many persons possess this gift without know- ing of spiritual influences, or of the distinct control of individual intelligences that have passed beyond earth-life. These are par- ticularly interesting subjects of discussion, since to them has been attributed many of the mental manifestations of Spiritualism; but, as We say to you, mesmerism, magnetism, biology, clairvoyance, Psychometry, all belong to a distinct department of their own; and though they may intertwine their elements together, and many of their forces be similar, and many of their manifestations be mis- fºliºn for one another, still they possess a distinct sphere of science in themselves. The only difference between spiritual manifesta- tions, as acting upon human mind, and these various forms of inental expression upon earth, is that spirits, being disembodied, are obliged, wherever a physical atmosphere is required, as in the case of magnetism and mesmerism, to obtain that atmosphere from 8 . THE NEW SCIENCE, the medium. That medium, in mind and person, being subject to the will of the spirit, these magnetic properties form the medium of control; hence all those phases of developing mediums, sympa- thetic mediums, and other forms, originate with spirits who control for the purpose of influencing others. Every embodied mind possesses in embryo every germ and power that is possessed by the disembodied mind, and the disembodied mind possesses every power that is possessed by the embodied mind, with this difference, they have not a physical organism of their own like yourselves, and are obliged to act upon physical organisations here in order to work out the manifestations of their presence and intelligence. They have the advantage of possessing greater elasticity of will, of acting upon more minute particles of matter than you can govern, because your actions in connection with matter must be directed exclusively by the motions of your physical body. The spirit, on the other hand, has a more subtle will, and being constrained by no physical body, can act upon more nearly ultimated particles of matter, and thereby produce effects which defy physical science, and which scientific men fail to understand. They do not under- stand, for instance, how the spirit can move a table. They say, “It is impossible, for we may will until we are blue; we cannot move the table.” By will? no; because your will is limited in the exercise of its function to the particular range of its physical attributes and properties that are encased in your individual bodies, and to the particular range of mental qualities that you cannot dispense to others. But the disembodied spirit has greater volition, being less trammelled, and operates upon, not the table with its hands in making the raps with its individual fingers, but upon the aura, or infinitesimal particles that surround your bodies, over which you have no control, but which, when set in motion and concentrated, form as potent and pliable an element as one would wish to have. There is no difficulty in comprehending this. You do not understand how your will controls your individual bodies: you only know it does so. You do not see the infinitesi- mal globules or molecules that work and tug away in response to your will every time you raise your hand. You do not see that there is a constant vibration through every part of your system in response to your thought—an absolute, material vibration, by which every nerve communicates with the brain, and the brain itselfis acted upon by the voluntary will of the spirit. These infinitesimal mole- cules or particles, that form the brain substance, that communicate with the brain substance, are surrounded by a fluid that corre- sponds with the fluid that the spirit employs when he raps on the table, or produces vibrations of the atmosphere. The infinitesimal molecules that are thus employed might be called vacuums, if it were not that nature abhorred vacuums, or nearly vacuums, as it does possess several; and in this minute globule, surrounded by the atmosphere from the medium, resides the power not only of VARIOUS MENTAL SCIENCES AND SIPIRITUALISM, 9 communication, but to lift tables and project bodies through the atmosphere. As we have stated, this is the power of the spiritual will, and is effected by subtle forces occult to you. The spirit sees the aura around your physical bodies that to your gaze is entirely hidden. The spirit sees the action of the nervous fluids, and knows from its sight that these nervous fluids are formed of infinitesimal globules, each one responding to its particular function, and that when it does not respond, paralysis then ensues. The spirit sees the vibration of your thought, and, when in sympathy, does not require you to speak as you do to one another; but upon that vibration of thought alone traces what you would say, and the developed mind can receive a response from the spirit in turn. It is a system of mental telegraphy—a spiritual telegraphy—whereby on chains, or individual vibrations of thought, the spirit is brought into sympathy with your own mind. There is more than sympathy connected with the wish of your spirit-friends when they desire you to think of them often. By thinking of them you make a vibration towards them, by which they can reach your mind. By refusing or refraining to think of them, your mind vibrates in other directions, and the spirit cannot approach. It is often said of Spiritualism that it only gives the response to the thought of the investigator. If it did, it would be nothing against it. For the spirit must have some chain, or some link, upon which to act, and the only link is the human mind, and the aura that surrounds the human body, and the atmosphere. Whenever you desire the presence of any particular spirit, the amount of thought, or rather the intensity of your thought, in the direction of that spirit, will more surely bring it than any other method. As the sun is not judged by its simple flame, but also by its intensity, so the thought may be very magnificent in quantity, but if it have not the subtle quality of intensity, it does not reach the required spirit. And Dersons having this intensity of thought, even though existing on earth, often influence one another and communicate sympatheti- cally, though at a very great distance apart, and Spiritualism is developed to many advanced mediums to such a degree that letter- Writing and the slow process of telegraphy are not useful; that is, after they are superseded by the more rapid method of mental telegraphy, which, when perfected, may form the basis of a new System of communication between individuals, societies, and Perhaps nations. The material world scoffs at the idea of bringing about any- thing by prayer. Intensity of thought in a given direction, if Properly guided, may bring about almost anything; and that form of mental aspiration, which especially asks a certain favour if it be not in contravention of natural laws—will certainly *ing about that favour, provided your guardian spirits can reach that thought, the intensity of your thought being sufficient to reach them. A challenge has been issued from the scientific world that 10 THE NEW SCIENCE. a certain ward of a hospital be set apart as a subject of prayer. If they would let us do and pray incur own way, it would certainly bring about very favourable results. If the said prayer come from sincere desire, and is the expression of a multitude of people, for an object that is not in contravention of any law or wish of the divine will, it will surely affect a body of spirits, and that body of spirits, acting together, will surely bring about a desirable result. But, mind, prayer can only so act, not in response to a challenge of the material mind, but in response to the spontaneous and earnest desire that never calls in question the ability of the responding intelligence. The actual condition of prayer is destroyed by saying: “Now, angels, God, or Divine Spirit, see if you can do this.” The very condition of mental and spiritual supplication is lost. Make conditions for spiritual gifts as positive as the scientist demands for his investigations, and the response will be just as accurate. IIe de- mands certain laboratories, certain dark places, certain forces, certain chemicals: we demand certain conditions also ; give us these, and the answer will come. It has been said that there can be no positive method of arriving at a criterion of spiritual results when conditions are so diversified and so unknown. But they may be known. No man can go into his closet and ask his guardian-spirit to do something for him if he is to say how it shall be done. No one can ask the Divine Mind to bring about a blessing on earth if he is to dictate the method in which that blessing is to appear. The laws that govern spiritual manifestations are just as possible and capable of being known, and must be held as inviolable, as the delicate laws that control the vibration of the electric telegraph, or the still more delicate laws that control the vibration that determines the quantity or quality of sound. No professor will allow you to interfere with his experi- ments, neither can we allow you as investigators to interfere with the methods of our experiments. There are several absolute con- ditions that must be invariably fulfilled in order to produce satis- factory results, and when investigators cavil at the numerous con- ditions, they must remember that every scientific result has also been outwrought under conditions, and thousands and hundreds of thousands of times has the student pored over the midnight lamp and the crucible, trying to produce a certain chemical result, which has not been obtained until the very last time because conditions were not favourable. So a hundred thousand times you may seek for a certain manifestation of spiritual presence, and at the last it is gained. Do not consider the others were failures, but rather that they pro- duced the perfect conditions for the result. The human eye—that most subtle and delicate of all mathematical and mechanical con- structions—requires the sixtieth part of a second to perceive an object. When you take the vibrations of the human mind—and remember that these are many hundred thousand times more rapid than this—the delicate structure of the human mind is such, that VARIOUS MENTAL SCIENCES AND SPIRITUALISM. 11 the slightest vibration—a vibration that could not be measured by proximate figures—causes a disturbance of the requisite condi- tions. Modern science has revealed that the accustomed musical ear can discover a variation as 1,000 is to 1,001 of a musical sound. This has been so perfected by artificial means that there can be discovered a difference as between 4,000 and 4,001. But mind is a hundred thousand times more delicate than this; and the numberless variations arising from change of atmosphere, thought, &c., may disorganise the conditions for spiritual manifesta- tions. The only wonder is that they have succeeded at all. The marvel is that so many well-authenticated facts have been evolved and taken their place in the world. The marvel is that any circle can find sufficient of the proper mental atmosphere to allow or permit of one vibration of the spiritual substance; but that it is so is proof that thousands of intelligent minds, thoroughly understand- ing their business, knowing what they are about, are directing these movements upon earth; proves that spirits disembodied are the instruments of an intelligent and consecutive plan whereby these manifestations may be revealed to mortals. And if it take—why it has only been twenty-five years—a hundred or even two hundred years for the exact conditions to be known under which the very best expressions of spiritual presence can occur, it will not be much. Astronomy was longer than that ; and every science has been longer in perfecting its methods and systems. It is therefore an impatient world that calls for every experience to be infallible and correct within the first quarter of a century of the existence of a science; and yet so great and correct have many of these manifestations been, that they form to-day a record of facts unparalleled in the history of any other science, and which, if collected and collated, would form the basis of an indisputable system, and their testimony would go unquestioned. . Now every point—we mean on this subject— happens to be without the pale of regularly-established science, without the pale of regularly-established religions; so that it has to fight in both directions, to make its pathway as best it can in the midst of these conflicting and contending influences. In some sub- sequent lecture we shall give you what we conceive to be the pre- cise, and absolute conditions requisite for the best fulfilment of Spiritual manifestations and requirements; but it does not belong to the immediate subject of this evening's discourse. We only desired to show you that the various sciences belonging to the mind, tha have finally been required to account for Spiritualism, do not do so in any way, but only form the basic part of a grand system of Imental philosophy, which Spiritualism rounds and makes full, for it extends the powers of the mind beyond death and beyond the physical body, to the living, conscious, sentient spirit, endowed With the attributes of will, of power, of thought, of controlling the properties of mind and matter, and of so mniºting * pre- 12 THE NEW SCIENCE. sence as to become an absolute living reality in a world that is made up of change and dissolution. The true key to spiritual investigation is sincerity, candour, a willingness to receive the truth; no simple probing or penetrating inquisitiveness will answer, no curiosity that seeks for mere mental sensation, nothing that seeks to augment the individual opinion upon any particular subject. You should go about this investiga- tion with the mind free from opinion concerning it. Let it be as free as the air, as clear as water, as transparent also as light and life; and then each minute vibration of the spiritual world may reach you; whether it be upon your own mind or upon the mind of another, you will be able distinctly and positively to determine. There is another difficulty. “How am I to know,” I hear someone say, “whether the received impression be the result of my own imagination or from the spirits?” It is the most simple thing imaginable. Your own thoughts pass through a series of evolutions that are conscious to yourself; and you will find on reflection that whenever you have a thought suddenly, you have passed through the various stages of that thought, and then all at once it develops into the mind as a complete voluntary thought. On the other hand, the spiritual impression is like this: your own mind asking a question; and if you are well disciplined and understand all the operations of our own mind, you know that you refuse to give an answer; }. there comes a distinct mental vibration, not by the process of thinking out the answer or wondering whatit may be, but an absolute answer, perhaps not to your ears, but so consciously to your own mind that you feel as if some one had spoken it in your thoughts. When such a vibration reaches your mind, be sure it is a spiritual impression; but you must be self-disciplined and self-schooled to understand it, and you must not be self-deceived. You must not get an imaginary thought and say, “This may or may not be the answer,” for the answer comes distinctly, so that there is no mis- taking it any more than the voice now addressing you. These are amongst the most subtle of the laws of spiritual control. Spiri- tualism has proved that where there was absolute control thought was instantaneous, that the guiding principle of Spiritualism arises from the fact of its not being the work of the volition of the one truly inspired, that the very essential condition of inspiration is that the mind shall be pure and white, and free from preconceived notions on the subject, and that then the thought is as surely inspiration as that the writing upon a white sheet of paper is not evolved from the paper itself. We have only been able to give rather a cursory glance at the important subjects on the theme chosen; but we think more special and distinct details may be elicited by your questions. You are therefore requested to ask questions upon the subject of the lecture. The following questions were then asked, and answered:— Q. 1.--Do we understand that it is meant that all true and 72 VARIOUS MENTAL SCIENCES AND SPIRITUALISM, 13 earnest prayer produces, or puts in operation, forces in the spiri- tual world as certainly as fire converts water into steam P−A. You do; all prayer puts in operation forces in the spiritual world just as fire will make steam of water. The concentration of a dozen minds will have more effect, more assuredly, because a dozen minds will reach more spiritual influences than one. Q. 2–If I have been correctly informed, spirits have been known to drink a glass of beer at seances; is this so P-A. It is very possible that spirits may absorb the beer into the atmosphere as a manifestation. Q. 3–Can you explain an immaterial being consuming material substances?—A. We do not say that the spirit consumed it, but that a spirit might absorb the beer into the atmosphere, even as we learn that water was changed into wine in the olden time. The atmosphere is material, though not so material as your physical bodies, and a sufficient quantity of atmosphere could absorb a glass of beer so that it would not be palpable to your SèIłSé, Q. 4.—You said that sometimes prayer would reach the guardian spirit if intense enough; are not guardian spirits always present, but sometimes far away P-A. We did not say that prayer would reach the guardian spirit, but the spirit for whom it was intended, if you thought of a spirit personally, as there is a way to reach them so as to influence them. Guardian spirits are present with you at all times; but there is a difference between spiritual j and material presence. A mother can carry the thought of er child about with her while at her work, all the time mindful that the child is playing, yet all the time consciously employed in other ways; so the guardian spirit is always mindful of the child of its care, and if there is danger around, the sympathy is so great that it is instantly with you. Q. 5.-In referring to psychology and biology did we under- stand you to say that when once an individual had brought another under influence, and that afterwards when he had gone to a distance, say to Australia, the person in England would still have the same power over him P. Is there not a time when the link is broken Pi—A. We did not say that invariably, and at all times, when one person influences another, that that person can at all times and at all places, even at a distance, maintain that influence. We said it is possible, when one person has fully established a mental control over another, that that person can control another at a distance, and it has been clearly established by well-authenticated cases under mesmeric and psychological *ontrol that the operator may be a hundred or a thousand miles away, and yet at a given hour throw his subject under control. Of course, this is always provided no other interveniſ, power 14 THE NEW SCIENCE. breaks off this power of control. But one case is sufficient to prove that it may be done. Q. 6.—Repeatedly I have had persons come to me, and write to me, saying that they were aware of voices being heard in their ears purporting in some cases to come from spirits, in others from persons in the flesh: can you afford any information as to the source and nature of such persecution, as they consider it *— A. When the sound is not the result of disease—which is some- times the case, the nerves connected with the organ of hearing being so diseased that it may pervert external sounds to the similitude of voices—but is genuine and absolute, it is simply the result of a mental sympathy between the person so afflicted and the party from whom the voice is supposed to come; and it oftentimes is the result of an involuntary act whereby the spirit, having simply vibrated the atmosphere, may reach the sense of hearing, as you know sound and hearing are but the consequences of vibrations. But the spirit may vibrate the atmosphere without the intention of afflicting the sense of hearing, and yet may reach the consciousness of the individual; so that the voice they are afflicted with is but a mental vibration, oftentimes the result of a physical atmospheric influence that the sprit brings to bear. When it is of a person on earth, it is simply a mental sympathy that, in its turn, affects the brain and produces the same effect as Sound. Q. 7.--Do you recommend the study of Spiritualism seriously, or as an amusement P−A. I think the gen, leman cannot have been present any other evening. It has always been stated that as an entertainment merely we advise every one to stay away from it. It is not of the nature of those influences that people may employ simply for hº It is of the nature of science and spiritual ethics—a religion, if you will, though no religion can originate but from within the individual spirit, but it may form the avenue for expressing your religion, and as a science and system of ethics it requires the most careful and serious consideration. Q. 8-We have authentic instances where mediums have received communications from perfect strangers who are yet in the flesh, these communications being received by hearing voices speak distinctly; they have afterwards been visited by the party from whom the messages came, who has recognised them. Can you de- scribe how the communication was received in the first instance 2– A. We have stated in the course of the evening's remarks that every embodied spirit possesses in embryo the powers of the disembodied spirit. Frequently this projection of one's self from the material body occurs. It has been known as double-sight, double-self, and by various other terms, whereby the spirit still inhabiting the material body has been seen and heard at a distance. It is the result of some peculiar sympathy, although unknown to the 74 VARIOUS MENTAL SCIENCIES AND SPIRITUALISM, 15 person to whom the experience comes; for the spirit is sometimes strongly sympathetic, and projects itself towards a future acquain- tance of the body; so that, when you see a person, you say, “Why, it seems as though I had seen you before.” The spirit is more rapid than the body; it is as a child that runs on in advance of its parents, in order to see what is ahead : thus the spirit goes forward, so that when you see a person to whom you are attracted, it always seems as if you had known that person before. The spirit is often the messenger that goes in advance. Q. 9.—Is the spirit-voice we hear at dark seances that of the medium or of the spirit 2–A. It is neither the voice of the medium nor the voice of the spirit, but it is a voice produced by the spirit upon the atmosphere, the result of the aura surrounding the medium. It is not the voice of the spirit, because the spirit has no physical organ that can produce sound on your atmosphere. It is not the medium's, we know ; because sometimes his mouth has been closed, so that no sound could emanate. It is a vibration produced on the atmosphere by the creation of a thorax and other organs of sound. You know the glottis and the epiglottis are of very simple construction, and the spirits can make semblances of them under certain conditions; and by this artificial glottis and epiglottis cause the spirit-voice, and when the circle goes away, these go with it. - Q. 10.—Can the spirit of a departed friend act upon the mind without being actually present?—A. We do not know what you mean by being present. You are not present when five feet away, the spirit is not away when the thought is in sympathy, because distance makes no difference. A thousand miles is the same as a foot; and the spirit may only be a foot away and notwithstanding have no sympathy. A thousand miles is nothing, when there is sympathy; the distance is nothing to the spirit. Mental presence is one thing, and so-called bodily presence another thing. Q. 11.--When I see a spirit-face I see small figures passing across the face, which I do not understand. Lecturer: Figures of human beings? Questioner: Yes.—A. There are various forms of spiritual vision. That might not really be a spirit-face, but some- thing presented to your mind as such ; for you can only see the spirit- face with the absolute eye of the spirit. But oftentimes there are faces presented to you by the spirit acting on your mind, and the other figures are thoughts they may wish you to take notice of as forms, but all are different phases of some kind of spiritual sight. Q. 12.-Is it absolutely necessary that everyone should have a guardian spirit?—A. We consider things that are in existence are necessary, and every human being has an attendant spirit. Now, that may ºr may not be necessary. It simply is so. And this guardian that has assisted them from the hour of their birth may also have others under its guardian care, but is capable of *; what 16 THE NEW SCIENCE, each one is doing and having the supervision of them. It is quite important that everyone that enters the world should have a guardian spirit. That being a law of nature, we have never questioned the necessity that you shall have spiritual parents or guardians who give to you their influence, their directing care, their guiding control in relation to your spiritual needs. I N S P I R A TI O N. All life is but the breath of the great soul That works in space; through His divine control Each atom is outwrought, and every sphere Rolls on throughout eternity's vast year. Without this breath, behold, as chaos, dark And motionless the spaces still and stark Remain; while down the depths of time The vast refrain of death doth sadly chime. But lo! when this bright Being breathes its breath Divine around, the air is vocal—free from death; All sound and sense vibrate to its control. See, man this is the life of thy great soul! I’ven as the atom doth receive from space The burning link that binds it to its place, So does the spirit from that life receive All thought and substance; you may well believe That, were it utterly dropped out of sight, And into chaos and to blackest night That soul supreme were sunk, no spark divine Of truth were lost from that eternal mind. No! even as the morn looks toward the day, When, sun-illumined and with splendid power, The sun-god bursts with fiery, golden ray Above the eastern sky, that morning hour Is filled with God's bright breath, so ev'ry thought Your souls receive is His. In death you're caught On matchless wings of mystical delight Toward the one Supreme, Eternal Light. Each moment is this presence felt and known; IEach power of mind, each thought that, upward flown, Becomes the messenger of peace and love, But links your soul to the great Mind above. 'Tis breath, 'tis life, ’tis spirit, it is God; And all the angels by that path have trod— Up, up the heights, where, bathed in ilving day, They drink the endless breath of love alway. SOME OF THE METIIODS OF PRODUCING SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS AN ORATION DELIvrºn BD DY MIRs. Cora L. V. TAPPAN, when UNDER SPIRIT-INFLUENCE, IN LAWSON's Rooms, Gower STREET, LONDON, NovEMBER 26TH, 1873. INVOCATION. Infinite Spirit ! Thou who art and ever will be the source of all knowledge | Thou unfathomable, Thou omnipotent Mind l as much only of thy goodness and mercy as is manifested in thy grace can We understand; but, far beyond our grasp, it seems to be boundless and limitless as thy power I Vast and wonderful the treasures which Thou hast stored up for the human mind! Feeble and faint as are its vibrations on earth, still more advanced as are its expres- sions in spiritual existence, we know that neither man nor spirits nor angels can encompass Thee. Thou art all pervading and won- derful; thy life unites the atom with the sun—unites the minute 'molecule with the ever-living universe—unites the thought of man with Thee, who art infinite in thought. O wonderful Soul! sub- lime Spirit ! we find Thee in the minutest rays of light; we know Thou art the source of life; truth alone is possessed by Thee; goodness is wholly thine; and that love, that is supreme, that casteth out all fear, envy, and hatred, leaving only the harmony of celestial love, is thine for ever. - DISCOURSE. To-night, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, we shall call Your attention to some facts, or supposed facts, connected with spiritual manifestations, commencing first at those which are characterised as material, and endeavour to describe to }} as far. 4 THE NEW SCIENCE. as your scientific vocabulary will allow, the process by which the spirit controls material substances and manifests a tangible presence. Whatever strictures may be affirmed concerning the connection of Spiritualism with science, and however much scientific men may claim that spirits should not tamper with material science, it is quite impossible to comprehend how the spirit is to avoid material investigation and some knowledge of material science when re- quired by investigators to produce material manifestations. How can the spirit—supposed, of course, to be immaterial—manifest its presence in a tangible material form, without some conscious con- necting link between the spirit's mind and the material substance that is so governed P Investigators would do well if they would pause and consider that science is yet in its infancy, and that the greatest scientific minds are thcse which have confessed that they know the least. It is true that Spiritualism as a science is wholly in its infancy, and it is also true that, while there are known to be conditions, yet what these conditions are no one pretends to know; and it remains either for spirits who are disembodied, or mortals who are em- bodied, to point out what are the best conditions under which those manifestations may occur. In a previous lecture in this room it was said that spiritual manifestations did not occur through the agency of electricity. This has been proven and tested in various ways by certain eminent Spiritualists in America, perhaps in this country also. Hudson Tuttle, whose mediumship is of a high intellectual order, and who confines his investigations to material science, has demonstrated that the substance through which spirits act in the manifesta- tions known as physical is not electricity. It may resemble electricity in some of its properties, but the resemblance is not of a character to determine that it is of the same material. Various manifestations also have occurred under conditions precluding the possibility of electricity being the active agency. For instance, if it were an electrical aura, it could not pass through glass. Now mediums' hands and feet have been placed upon glass plates, the seat on which they sat has been placed on glass, and still the rappings have occurred, and other manifestations have gone on in the usual way. That this aura or substance is of somewhat similar nature to electricity, and that it enables certain vibrations to take place, is quite true; but then these vibrations occur in connection with other elements and their properties. For instance, the oxygen which the human system imbibes, not only through the lungs, but through the pores of the skin, by a process of endosmose action, is then thrown off by an exosmose action in the form of carbonic acid gas. Now this gas is poisonous if returned again to the human system, but under the manipulation of the spirit there is *ins this carbonic acid gas a certain force or power 8 soME METHODS OF PRODUCING SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 5 which, for the lack of a better term, we will denominate nerve- aura. It is a similar force that vibrates along the nervous system of the human body, and it is upon this substance that the spirit 'acts to produce a sound. Nitrogen is the most subtle of all ele- mental properties of the atmosphere. Carbonic acid gas, mingled with nitrogen in atomic proportions, becomes the material, whereby spirit-lights and vibrations are produced. These vibrations occur in direct connection with certain conditions known to the spirits, but which you do not know because you have not the subtle instru- ments necessary for the analysis of these powers. When the medium is confined in a room where carbonic acid gas abounds, the manifestations occur, but the medium's health suffers because of the insufficiency of oxygen. Oxygen destroys the conditions whereby spirits can operate freely in producing physical manifes- tations; but, on the other hand, oxygen is a very important element in sustaining the human body and producing mental activity; hence the seances, so called, where the greatest physical manifestations are found, are often, so far as the material atmosphere is concerned, of the foulest kind, because the very atmosphere that sustains your bodies is not the atmosphere that the spirit employs to produce the most violent and forcible manifestations. Objections have been made, and with very great justice, to seances that occur in darkness; and when these objections have been put to the spirits, they have answered (spirits more or less enlightened) that there is something about the light that destroys their power of manifesting. Some persons have supposed it to be the positiveness of the minds present, which, in the light, can see and anticipate what is going on. Such is not the case. The spectrum analysis will show to you three primal colours and their gradations—red, yellow, and blue. The red and yellow rays are the most antagonistic to vege- tation, animal life, and to the production of spiritual manifestations. If you were to have a room constructed so that none but the blue and violet rays could be admitted, you would not be obliged to have dark Seances. The blue and violet rays constitute the great proportion of that elongated light as represented through the prism. It is also the typical light of space. The atmosphere, the heavens, all space, is blue to the eye in appearance. This violet ray, containing none of the antagonistic properties of the yellow or red, would not impede the action of the spirit, as do the red and yellow rays. Let your room be lighted only by the violet ray, and your seances can be carried forward without dark- ness, Any person who chooses to try this experiment, and has in the family or circle a physical medium, will find the force augmented just in proportion as the rays of yellow and red light are excluded. In photography a proportion of the red light is necessary; the blue light would not be sufficient. This does not refer to spirit-photography however. But certain forms of spirit- 6 THE NEW SCIENCE, manifestations can be produced in the violet light, under the proper directions of those spirits who control and guide them. If the objection be urged that physical manifestations can be produced in the light, we reply that although many do obtain them —it is true, under hazardous circumstances and with great fatigue to the medium—it behoves the investigator to try those experi- ments that least exhaust the intensity and power of the mani- festations. Of course, in all scientific investigations there must be a long period between the first demonstration of a thought and its ultimate, or its proximate, perſection into any general system whereby it may be taught and communicated. Mediums are so varied in their forms of expression—individual characteristics are so different; the emanations from each human being differ in essential character or property, in intensity and power—that spirits often labour for years before they can produce the faintest evidence of their presence upon physical organisations about you. There- fore whatever can aid the spirit-world in more fully expressing themselves to you, that you should readily and consciously adopt. The various vibrations of light, and their effects upon the different forms of organisation, belong to the sphere of scientific investiga- tion; that, of course, we do not venture to enter upon. All we desire to make known to you is, the fact that between your world and the spirit-world certain elemental properties exist that may be made available for intercommunion; that if mind embodied acts upon material substances, disembodied mind can also do the same, not only by influencing your minds, as is claimed by some eminent mesmerists and psychologists, but by influencing the atmosphere that surrounds you; and upon the condition of this atmosphere, and upon there being no lack or defect in the harmony of its vibrations that may affect the nervous fluid of the medium, depend the success of your investigation. Sometimes you may hear a positive person say, “The spirits are never able to perform in my presence.” Very likely—very likely, indeed! But it should be no boast. If it is a fact, it is almost a disgraceful one. The fact that any human beings can take with them an element of such positiveness, a scepticism of such power, that it may overcome the influence of a mind disem- bodied, is certainly not to the credit of the individual. The only way to go into a seance is to leave that element behind. “But,” they say, “if spirits are independent, how can it affect them P’’ A positive mind entering a circle or seance for the investigation of Spiritualism is like introducing a ray of light into the dark com- partment of the photographer when not wanted; or like taking up a seed from under the ground to see if it be growing; or like any other violent intervention in the processes of nature. Undoubtedly you can go into the garden in spring-time, and in spite of all the remonstrances of your gardener you may prevent every seed from growing, Would that be a matter of boast P You can go into the # SOME METHODS OF PRODUCING SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 7 eaperimentum crucis of science and by interfering with certain substances that the chemist places in the crucible, you can prevent any demonstration of his power. You could destroy every picture in the city of London if the photographer would permit you to do so. In the same manner you could destroy the conditions whereby the spirits operate. But it is not necessary to go into this investi- gation like the knights of old, prepared to meet devils and Gorgon- headed dragons. You are not to prepare to put on armour unless there be sufficient cause. You are not obliged to defend yourself in any way except with your individual qualities of mind. You should simply be prepared to receive and analyse the truth. The very appearance of a positive mind in a room is sufficient to destroy the conditions of a seance. The medium, who is sensitive, does not require that that person shall speak to feel his angularities. It is like the entrance of Jack Frost; you feel it—your lungs feel it, even before the cutaneous surface is aware of it. This positiveness, this scepticism, entering thus and penetrating the atmosphere, prevents the aura from accumulating; all exosmose action ceases, and the consequence is, there is no atmosphere out of which the spirit can produce manifestations. This is a simple solution—one that might commend itself to every candid enquirer; and yet inves- tigators arm themselves to fight, robing their minds in a sort of armour, and go out to investigate Spiritualism as they would go to battle. This is not the way in which they enter upon the in- vestigation of any other department of science. Again, any slight interruption either of the process or of the formation of the seance causes a variation from the conditions re- quired to produce manifestations. The change of one individual, substituting one person for another, often destroys these conditions. If you have a series of seances for the investigation of spiritual phenomena, be sure, if you have the same individuals during a suc- cessive period of time, your manifestations will be better, the re- sults will be more satisfactory, you can be taken on step by step by those who guide you; and of course, guarding against all possible imposition and against possibility of being self-deceived, there is no necessity for considering mediums as escaped convicts, nor for Suspecting any one of petty larceny. When a friend comes to your house to dine, you do not ask the servants to watch him, to see that he does not take anything; so, if you ask a friend to your house to investigate Spiritualism, you need not suspect him of practising deception when he (or she) possesses common honesty in the ordinary walks of life. It is not supposed that men and women in Society will descend to the petty tricks of the conjurer to de- ceive their neighbours; and it is only reasonable that every per- son shall give another credit for common honesty. If this were not so, you might suppose the very companions of your hearts guilty of imposition, or suspect your friends in every department of life. These are the conditions most antagonistic to the pºwer G. - 8 THE NEW SCIENCE, ment of spiritual manifestations. The simple wonder is, after all the barbarities to which mediums have been subjected under the investigation of captious minds, that they should have been able to Fº any manifestations at all. The wonder is, that there could ave been any production of the physical manifestations outside the family circle of mediums. And when they have occurred in spite of these various antagonistic conditions, it proves the wonder- ful power that must at last command the attention of the scientific world. Undoubtedly, Dr. Carpenter considers that his theory of uncon- scious cerebration explains the phenomena of table-tipping, table- rapping, &c.; but any one who attempts to account for the manifes- tations of Spiritualism by so shallow a subterfuge as this, must remember that ninety-nine out of a hundred manifestations take place where there is no physical contact, and where there could be no unconscious cerebral action. It was long ago the method re- sorted to by Dr. John Bovee Dods, of the United States—this back- brain theory, or the unconscious cerebral action in table-tipping; but Dr. Dods was compelled to confess his error when he saw things fly through the air that were not within several feet of the medium. We defy Dr. Carpenter or any other scientific man to produce an effect of unconscious cerebration upon an object that is not in contact with any person. These are the shallow explanations that serve the scientific world when they do not care to take the time to carry out a thorough investigation, but they do not satisfy those thinking minds who acknowledge the ability of these gentle- men in their various departments of Science, knowing there are some things in heaven and earth not dreamed of in their philo- sophies. *. are some of the conditions: for every form of mental or involuntary manifestation or expression of intelligence the requisite condition is, primarily, passiveness, and what is meant by passive- ness is that the individual desiring to receive a mental impression, or desiring to receive a written or verbal communication, shall not have any prejudgment whatever—shall not try to think what will be the nature of the communication, but shall only solicit the pre- sence of his guides, and ask—prayerfully always—for the best and highest influences; having secured this, he shall not attempt in any way to consider what will be the answer to the question pro- posed, nor in any way attempt to solve the problems presented to the spirit. If you wish to write, and have confidence that you are a writing medium, take a pencil in your hand—it will be the best—and then allow your mind to be as nearly passive as possible, always away from the subject of communication, but always aspiring and prayer- ful. This mood is known to be possessed by those who are accus- tomed to religious meditation, who absent themselves from all conflicting thoughts or deeds of a material nature. Whatever * 82 SOME METHODS OF PRODUCING SPIIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 9 * enlightens or sustains the mind, that is a fit subject for the person waiting for the manifestation of the spirit-presence to contemplate; but it is always best to let the mind be without any positive thought upon any subject. When there comes a mental vibration, it will seem to you at first as though a cool breath were blowing over you or along the nervous system. There will be something resembling a chill or the shock of an electric battery. This is the first evidence of the presence of your spirit-friends. By acting upon the atmosphere around you, they produce this consciousness of a chill or of an electro-magnetic shock. Then you may know that there is demonstrated spirit-presence. When that shock is sufficiently tangible and plain to produce a mental vibration, even though your hand is not moved automatically to write the thought coming first to your mind, you will often find that that thought is disconnected wholly from the theme of your meditation, and that it is the exact thought your friend would communicate. If the writing is automatic, let your hand move at will; do not read the letters or words as you go on, but if a distinct subject requires you to ask questions, do so, though it is best not to ask questions during the time that the spirit is communicating. If, however, the writing is by impression, as we have said, then you must watch closely that your own thoughts do not anticipate the writing of the spirit. "... are the more subtle, yet they are the higher forms of spi- ritual inspiration; and when the mind so inspired becomes accus- tomed to discriminate between its own voluntary thought and that presented by the spirit, you can as readily hold converse with them as with one another, because these mental vibrations are capable of being produced as tangibly as sound; in fact, they often take the form of sounds. But in the latter case it is not a vibration upon the organ of hearing, nor upon the outside atmosphere, but a similar sensation produced in the brain by the nervous force which enters your mind with the organ of hearing, and thus seems like Sound. When trance mediumship occurs, it is a mesmeric sleep without any visible operator. It is quite impossible for a person to be self-mesmerised. You cannot at once be the psychologist and the subject; you cannot at once be asleep and awake; no person is self- mesmerised. If an individual go into an unconscious state, and in that condition manifest intelligence, it proves that some other mind is controlling the organs of the brain more or less perfectly. Every mental vibration produces a corresponding capacity in the brain to repeat that vibration; but the spirit may transcend the natural or external culture of the medium, in thus far that the disembodied spirit is more accustomed to deal with the subtle elements that control the brain, and therefore can produce an advanced state of vibration. But no spirit can transcend in the trance, throºgh any medium, the thought that would be natural to that rºun if 10 THE NEW SCIENCE, 3. better cultivated. You cannot make a pint pot hold a quart of water; you cannot make an organism express more than it would naturally express in the highest state of cultivation; but you may go to the utmost limit of that organism, for the disembodied spirit can play upon the finer organs and subtler elements of the brain far better oftentimes than the spirit that inhabits that body, because it may not have been trained to do so; just as the skilled musician can draw from an instrument the most ravishing sounds, while the unskilful one can produce only very common chords: but no musician can transcend the capacity of the instrument he employs; he cannot make a piano give forth the sound of the bass drum, nor cause the clarionet to produce the wonderful expres- sion of the harp. These are all laws of mediumship that it would be well for you to consider, and when a medium expresses thoughts transcending his own normal ability, it is always because the spirit finds an organism upon which to play; and if spirits do not express the same thoughts that they did while upon earth, you must bear in mind through whom their ideas come. First, the medium may not be trained in the direction they speak, and secondly, the spirits may change their opinions; for spirits do not always maintain the same opinions they possessed on earth. They are continually be- coming more and more enlightened, and besides they may be expressing their thought through an imperfect instrument. These things should be borne in mind. The important particular to be considered in the communication of a trance-speaker, is that an intelligence outside of the power of the medium, and outside of the power of any person present in the room, gives the utterance. It then, of course, becomes a point of individual interest. When you can do so in your family circle, Solicit the presence of your family friends; but it belongs not to the general subject of investigation to ascertain in how far it is true that certain learned spirits control the expressions of mediums. Of course, Benjamin Franklin has had to father many ideas to which he never gave thought. Of course, many learned spirits have been quoted, and may permit their quotations when not present; but it is not so much whether it is the spirit of Franklin, or the spirit of your bootmaker, so that it is some intelligence—some indi- vidualised intelligence outside the human body. Of course, in the congregation of society and the attraction of spirits to you, there is a law just as rigorous and positive as any law of Ilature, and you will always draw to you those spirits analagous to yourself—like you in degree of spirit-culture. It may be that you like spirits that you cannot attract, and it may be there are spirits that are entire strangers to you, who are drawn by certain similarities of thought. In spirit-life there are no arbitrary laws and regulations for the foundation and guidance of society. The ties of consanguinity remain the same; but it often happens that the members of one family are not the most united, and would not be attracted to one some METHODs of PRODUCING SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 11 another if the laws of society and the laws of consanguinity were not taken into account. When they pass into spiritual life, the cruel father, the antagonistic son, the inharmonious mother or sister, are not obliged to remain in companionship if they are not drawn together by ties of affection; they seek associates like themselves, and spiritual families or fraternities are composed of those who are similar in mind. So you are often surprised at receiving commu- nications from spirits whom you did not know on earth. Why not P Some quality of mind, some aspiration of heart, draws that spirit to you; and many times your guardian-spirits are those you have not known or thought of on earth. In reading books of cer- tain authors you find certain sentiments or thoughts that seem to strike you with particular force, and you instinctively say, “I should like to know that man,” “I should like to know that writer.” The laws of the spirit are such that if you aspire to the association of any mind, and possess the properties to attract that mind, it will unquestionably be your associate. You should not be the spiritual sponges of these. There are such persons. There are spirits drawn to people who receive nothing in return. They have something that absorbs all that is assimilable, but give nothing off in return. Their methods of absorption are something like that of the sponge, and require external pressure in order to be induced to give anything forth. These belong to the class of spirits who do not assimilate with the highest minds. Be careful when you seek to associate with any mind—a spirit or an embodied mind, that there shall also be something in yourself that shall reciprocate and give back the quality that they like, as well as you take the quality you like from them. Spirits cannot minister to the self-gratification of your request that they shall be present. There must be something they can do, some good that can be reciprocal, or the spirit-world would become paupers by ministering to earth's inhabitants if they did not receive some intelligence or thoughts of goodness. But it belongs to their mission to give their knowledge, and you should impart this knowledge to others, and thus keep up the general equilibrium of nature. You must all impart in order to receive light and knowledge. We think that you may gain valuable and varied information on this subject and others connected with it by asking questions, since there must have occurred to individual minds, some points concerning which they wish to ask questions. The following questions were then asked:— Q. 1.-Supposing a spirit is able to materialise itself and be visible to everyone, walking about the room, as I have seen it, and supposing that spirit speaks just like one of us, would that be the real spirit-voice P-A. By no means; it would simply be a created voice; because the form that is seen is not really the spirit-form— it is the form that the spirit creates from the atmosphere in the room, consequently the voice must relate to that form, an also be 5 12 - THE NEW SCIENCE, created. The spirit voice would not be audible to your external Sën S6), Q. 2.-What would be the most practical means of producing the violet rays during a seance 2–A. We should judge that a room with a petroleum lamp shining through violet-coloured glass would answer, very well; but it would be still better if the violet ray could be thrown into the room through the prism ; the con- dition would thus be more absolute. Of course that would involve a great outlay of expense and trouble. The other system would be the more simple. The shade of blue that borders from the violet to the indigo would be the best, for with that colour in the atmosphere there is no external vibration antagonistic to the spiritual vibration. Q. 3.−Would not the ordinary rays of daylight, treated in the same manner, do as well ?–A. Yes; but persons do not often hold seances in the daylight, and then there is some difficulty in de- stroying the action of the sun's rays, that cannot be excluded for some time after the sun has set. Then is the time most favourable for ghosts to visit the scenes of their life, for there is greater falicity for the production and manifestation of the form of the spirit. Immediately after the sun's rays have ceased to act upon the atmosphere, though they do not actually cease, is the most favourable time, and artificial light would therefore be better. Q. 8.-Would it be conducive to health to have our windows glazed with violet glass.-A. We did not propose that you should take the violet ray into your everyday life; but it is experimentally proven that vegetation develops very well under violet-coloured glass. It might be worth while to try the experiment on human beings. Q. 9.—Some have alluded to the violet rays of the spectrum. Now I have experimented considerably with spectrum analysis. The blue rays of the spectrum are absolutely necessary in taking our photographs. For instance, I have made a lense of such deep blue as almost to approach indigo—so deep, so intense, that in focussing it to the object I was compelled to put an intense light to the object I was focussing. I focussed this intensely blue lense, and, to my surprise and delight, I found I had a spirit-photograph as well as the gentleman seen in the chair. I then asked our spirit-friends: “Is it absolutely necessary that I have this blue light P” They replied: “It is necessary to you, for the blue light causes your researches to bring about the conviction to your mind that the actinic rays and the smaller rays are such as affect the decomposition and recomposition chemically that it necessary.” But Mrs. Tappan's guides have made a statement to-night as to the red rays of the spectrum being so influential in this decom- osition. I know that we differ, not because we differ in reality, ut * we do not understand each other; and I have no doubt PROFESSOR MAPEs’ REPLY To A CRITIC. 13 our good friends the spirits will put me right respecting photo- graphy and chemical āction, that the red rays are not essential in chemical decomposition, but only where heat is required.—A. We simply say that in the ordinary processes of photography the red light is essential, but not in taking spirit-photographs, since the spirit comes more directly through the violet ray and that which possesses the more subtle power in decomposing the element that spirit acts upon. We only referred to the red ray as being a proximate, not an absolute statement, simply connected with the art of photography. The violet ray only is essential to spirit- photography. - Mrs. Tappan now desired that no more questions be put, as there was a spirit present who had a few remarks to make. There º then a visible change in the control, and “Professor Mapes” S8,1{i : — Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen,_I had the pleasure two weeks ago of addressing the audience then present on some of my experiences, both on earth and in the spirit-world, connected with Spiritualism. Of course, gentlemen, I experience some difficulty in controlling a medium at all, and much difficulty in expressing my ideas; though if there is any medium I can control, or any brain through which I can express myself, it is this one; because for ten years in earthly life I was her friend, and I received my first concise philosophical ideas of Spiritualism through her, I promised myself that when in spiritual life I would control her. I found her spiritual, intuitive qualities more developed than mine; I found her less material; consequently I may not be able to give my material philosophy quite perfectly through her. But on the occasion referred to I only made one misstatement. It was not a misstatement of thought, but merely a verbal error. I used the words: “There is no chemical difference between lime and marble;” I should have said “between chalk and marble;” but limestone being in my mind already in connection with what followed on the phosphate of lime, I used that word by mistake. The proof was presented to me for correction, and I corrected that word, so that it went out to the world “chalk and marble,” as I had intended. Now it seems that there is a certain class of people in the world —for want of a better term we will call them the genus scribilio —who consider that the spirit-world, as well as your world, is a suitable victim for criticism; and when I was in the earth-life this class of animal existed to a very great extent, and they strutted about with their shafts, falling, not only upon individuals in private life, but upon whoever did not choose to agree with their personal opinions, and with what they thought ought to be enter- tained. It has been stated that spirits should not interfere with, and indeed should not attempt to express themselves upon scien- tific subjects, because they always make palpable blunder; would 14 THE NEW SCIENCE, reply that blunders are not confined to the spirits. During the whole portion of my earthly life I was unlearning one year the things I had learned the previous year; and I believe that to be the experience of every mind. Now, we have no finalities in spiritual life. We do not claim to possess the truth, but an ap- proximation to the truth; and I would say to the genus referred to, that every statement which I have made, excepting the one I have here corrected, is true. If it be not true, it remains for the member of the genus as a scientific man, to prove the contrary. Now I was called upon to state my experience, and I here again say that I stated nothing beyond my experience; but because I made some statements with reference to the planet Venus, I am taken severely to task. It does not matter in the present state of science among the earth's inhabitants whether Venus is inhabited or no; nor might it be considered as occupying the time most profitably to discuss the question; but if a spirit choose to express himself of that opinion, is it any greater absurdity than for Darwin, or Professor Agassiz, or Dr. Carpenter to give expression to an opinion? Is an absurdity something new, to be condemned simply because a spirit chooses to express it? Then again, this same member of the genus referred to has said clairvoyants are not reliable with reference to scientific sub- jects. I do not take upon myself to correct the utterances of other spirits, or the incongruities of any other mind, or I might apologise for the gentlemen referred to, but I do not. All I wish to say is that clairvoyants express what they see, that spirits express what they see. Now, this editor has said that other clairvoyants—for instance, Andrew Jackson Davis—has said that the inhabitants of Venus are far lower than those of earth : I said they are far higher. Now, suppose some spirit from Venus were investigating the condition of earth's inhabitants, and his spirit guides were to take him to Africa, he would there see Mr. Dar- win's ancestors. Would he consider that the inhabitants of earth were in a very high state of culture? Supposing another spirit were to visit the supreme centre of civilisation—England—and should light on the very sanctum sanctorum of this editor, would he not go back to Venus with the glowing account that the earth is inhabited by celestial beings, who have arrived at the ultimate of human knowledge, and who do not seek any further information from the inhabitants of the spiritual world P. Now, these two accounts, though true, would differ; and some editor—captious, no doubt, upon the planet Venus—would say, “These cannot be true; because they differ,” when you and I know that both would be correct. Now, it just happens to be barely possible, indeed it is quite true, that there are diversities of spirits on the planet Venus. Those I spoke of are not those Mr. Davis saw. But then it did not enter the mind of this editor that there might be two classes of PROFESSOR MAPES’ REPLY TO A CRITIC. 15 spirits there, but that the diverse statements must be gauged by his individual opinion. . Again, I did not say that the inhabitants of Venus are erecting high towers for astronomical observations. But this gentleman goes into a minute account to show that towers prevent accurate observation, and in order to prove that he is acquainted with the system of mathematical observation followed at Greenwich, he says the instruments are fastened down most securely. I said strong lights had been erected upon towers, and it is not for him to judge of the atmosphere and of the condition of light in the planet Venus: he cannot judge it by the state of the earth's atmosphere; and, consequently, what I have said, though there is no method of testing it to-day, may ultimately prove to be true. Then, again, it seems to be the preconceived notion of this mem- ber of the genus referred to that spirits should not pretend to know anything about physics, and should confine themselves to spiritual and ethical subjects, thereby benefiting the world by moral essays and eloquent discourses about spirits in the celestial paradise. Having to deal with earthly minds, and at times having to present physical manifestations, we have necessarily to deal with physics. I may be mistaken, but I think no spirit can act in this room without acting upon the atmosphere of the room. If so, there is a connection between Spiritualism and science. If we are to sit at the feet of your professors and learn our know- ledge exclusively from them, where shall we go? Dr. Carpenter says no spiritual manifestations are produced. Shall I sit there and learn from him that which I know to be false P Professor Agassiz does not believe in the theory of evolution. Shall I learn that of him P Mr. Darwin does not believe in the glacial theory. Shall I sit at Mr. Darwin's feet to learn this? When doctors differ, shall I sit behind this editor's chair and ask of him the supreme knowledge that pretends to dictate the limits of the power of departed spirits P Ladies and gentlemen, it may be deemed an insignificant matter, but it has gone forth to the world that many blunders of a scien- tific nature were uttered in this course of lectures. One error was pointed out, with the expression that it was contrary to the teachings of phrenology. It was not attempted to explain phreno- logy; it was simply in answer to a question with reference to the action of the mind on the brain, and not the action of the brain according to that learned gentleman. But the devices are many of getting into print. It is a good method to adopt, when you cannot get into the newspaper in any other way, to begin pull- ing other people to pieces. te Then, with reference to a question, in answering which it was said that a palpable blunder was committed. We said that the mirage is caused by certain emanations in the earthly atºpher, I6 THE NEW science. that produce a refraction of the rays of light. . Now, in philo- sophy this phenomenon is defined as the result of the unequal re- fraction of the rays of light producing an appearance in the atmo- sphere of substances inverted where there are no such forms. I have known the mirage, representing no earthly scene, to appear to persons; I have known an instance in which a dozen witnesses saw the mirage of a white city, leaning down towards the earth, and reflected in a lake, when there is no such city in the world. These are the result of refracted rays of light often mirroring things at a great distance on the earth. They are also often pro- duced by the refraction of the rays of light on the atmosphere under circumstances where spirits can produce like effects; and until science has taught that there is nothing more to learn, we shall retain our opinion. There is no finality in science. He said also in this critique—if I may dignify it by that name— “Undoubtedly the nebulous theory of the formation of the planets is true.” I leave it to the intelligence of the scientific world of to-day whether there is not about as equally divided an opinion on that subject as on many others; and whatever may be the opinion of the gentleman referred to, I have a right to my own opinion as to the formation of the planets. Of course, anything that comes within the range of absolute scientific knowledge I accede to. But scientific men have not pretended to settle this among other questions finally. If so, there would be no Darwinism, and there would be no two theories concerning the Flood. If so, there would be no two opinions as to the uplifting of the mountains and the erosion of the valleys—no two theories concerning the method of creation itself; everybody would know whether the nebulous theory or the opposite is true or false. I do not object to honest and fair criticism ; but I do desire to be stated accurately. This same gentleman said I promised to be present every evening. I said: “Some other evening, the intelli- gence favouring, I hope to be with you.” A gentleman who de- sires such perfect accuracy in others should also maintain perfect accuracy in reporting what others say. I shall be only too glad to i. the result of my investigations, but I claim at all times a fair earing—the same that would be vouchsafed to me on earth. It is related that once in conversation someone said to Mr. Dar- win's son Frank, that Professor Agassiz does not believe in evolu- tion. “And my father does not believe in the glacial theory,” was the prompt reply. So if scientific men on earth agree to differ, and if, as I had always an independent opinion on earth, I may still have one on subjects connected with scientific investigation, I claim that liberty of opinion when expressing myself here. I feel, how- ever, I have taken sufficient time on this very unimportant matter; but there is such a thing as clearing away the rubbish before pro- re ceeding to the investigation of subjects. 9 THE DUAL APPARITION OF THE EMBODIED HUMAN SPIRIT. AN INSPIRATIONAL ORATION DELIVERED UNDER SPIRIT- INFLUENCE, By MRs. ConA L. W. TAPPAN, IN LAWSON'S Rooms, Gower STREET, LONDON, DECEMBER 3RD, 1873. INVOCATION. Infinite Spirit ! Thou who art the source of all life and know- ledge | Thou whose power is everywhere made manifest | Thou whose thought doth pervade immensity | Thou whose mind hath enkindled all intelligence, to whom we must turn as the only abso- lute source of being, the only perfect, the only divine, the only wise—we seek on all occasions thy presence and power, that up- lifteth our thoughts, far transcending each material aim and object, to the divine gift of thy Spirit. We seek only the truth; we ask only for knowledge. Striving and seeking for these, the human mind may for ever attain these gifts, since nothing is withheld by Thee, since no power is concealed; and there isnomystery that man may not sometime fathom by the depth of knowledge that is shaped of peace, thankſulness, and the aspirations of the Spirit. We praise Thee now and for evermore. . DISCOURSE. We propose, at the request of a friend, who is not, however, Bresent, to give a discourse to-night upon the subject of the dual apparition of the embodied human spirit, or what is known by some as the “Double,” whereby some forms of spiritual manifestations have been confounded with these apparitions of the forms of embodied spirits. We also propose giving the relation between these double manifestations o emº mind 4 TEIE NEW SCIENCE, and the visible body of a spirit produced from the atmosphere of a seance. It is thought by some minds, and indeed it has been maintained for many ages of the world, that there is a dual human nature—a body distinctively, and a spiritual body that inhabits the physical body. Certain apparitions, not only of the present century and generation, but of many past ages, tend to prove the existence of this spiritual body, even while you are still incarcerated in the human form. Among the Persian magicians there was the faculty of rendering this double, or this other self, visible at great distances; and while it unquestionably originated from genuine mediumship or spiritual power, the laws were not then understood. There was also possessed by the Persian magicians the power of rendering the physical body invisible. This is the reverse law of the double apparition, and is simply the result of surrounding the physical body with a certain dense aura by the rapidity of motion and gesticulations which is common to the workers of wonders among those ancient people. These manipulations or gestures correspond to those that are sometimes now used by mediums, and were "unquestionably connected with the subtle laws of this spiritual aura that surrounds every human being. When we trace the history of these apparitions, or what is called the double existence of persons still embodied, we find that often. times persons who were thinking of a friend saw that friend. For instance, A comes into the office of B, and sees him actually sitting at his desk. “Why,” says A, “I saw you a minute ago in such a street.” B replies, “I was not there; but I was just thinking that as soon as I got this letter finished I would go to so and so,” which would take him through that very street that A supposed he saw him in. So decided was the thought, that to the mind of the friend he was actually there, showing that a spiritual substance had really projected itself momentarily in advance of his body. Occurrences of this kind have been very frequent, and in Scotland, where this gift of second-sight is very prevalent, there were fre- quent visitations of persons who were supposed to be distant several hundred miles; and their appearance would be similar to that of the outward body, but when surprised they would manifest no audible voice. The person seeing them, however, had a certain consciousness as though there was something dissimilar between the spirit-projection and those of whom the appearance came. Still more subtle are the manifestations that oftentimes occur, wherein a spirit which is really embodied visits a distant place, is seen by clairvoyants, holds converse with them, and tells them distinctly ; º not dead, but only momentarily away from the material OCl V, Now, it has been observed in many seances for physical mani- festations, that the form produced to represent the spirit resembles in the ;" provoking manner the form of the medium. It has DUAL APPARITION OF THE EMBODIED HUMAN SPIRIT. 5 led oftentimes to the supposition of fraud—to the idea that the medium had in some manner been released from the chains and cords that had bound him, and thus it is that suspicions have arisen as to the genuineness of the manifestations. For instance, i. a dark seance certain physical manifestations have occurred, and on the light having been suddenly sprung in one corner there has been seen what was supposed to be the medium, and in another, sitting where he had actually been bound, would be the medium in reality —two apparitions resembling the medium being distinctly seen at the same time. Of course the sceptic would only see the one in the other part of the room, not observing the other in the chair, in the confusion of the moment. This has oftentimes led to the suspicion of fraud. But it may very easily occur, without sup- posing it to be either the spirit of the medium or a fraudulent manifestation. Suppose the spirit desires to materialise a form whereby to make itself visible and produce a tangible touch, the most natural form that would appear would be that resembling the medium, because from every part of the medium's body goes out an emanation. That emanation, when it takes shape, will naturally resemble the form of the person from whom it arises, just as your shadow, thrown upon the ground by the rays of light, resembles your body. It could not be otherwise, since the rays of light reflect the same proportions, the same form, the same outline; and thus it, the spiritual body, would indeed represent the same figure. You know if there is a scar upon the human body, that, although the atoms change—and it is said that the human body does not contain, after seven years, any one of the elements or particles it previously contained—each succeeding atom, or atoms, assume the form of that scar, and thus replace one another. So when the spirit, acting upon the atomic elements that emanate from the medium's body, desires to produce a form, the most natural form that the atoms assume is the form which they have just been united with ; because it requires sometime for them (the atoms) to forget (if we may so express ourselves) the latest form under which they were placed, but will still naturally be attracted into something like a similar form. Hence the spirit, at the first, or second, or third, or fifth, or even twentieth experiment, may reasonably be expected to produce a form resembling that of the medium. As the power grows stronger and more independent of the direct personal aura of the medium, this resemblance becomes less and less; and we doubt not there are persons present who have witnessed a series of represen- tations where first, second, and perhaps the fifth or tenth appari- tions have been like the medium, but less and less so each time, until finally the representation becomes a distinct individual. This is, of course, in consonance with natural laws, and it does not necessarily follow that the medium's spirit is outside the body, and is the form or model, so to speak, upon which the spirit drapes this covering. It may be so in some instances, but it & 6 THE NEW SCIENCE, does not follow. It may be the result of the atoms striving, in the assumption of the desired form, to forget the form they have lately occupied. This belongs to the province of special investigation; and when the double is seen, either at a seance or in your indi- vidual and private pursuits, a distinction should be made between the spirit that projects itself from the physical body and is seen only by the friend, and that form that is presented in the spiritual circle and seen by all present. You are naturally more sensitive to the impression of those minds that are in sympathy with you. How often, in passing along the street, you meet a friend and say: “O, I was just thinking of you,” as though your thought had gone out in advance to meet him; so if you had the gift of seeing as well as of impress- ability, you could have seen the spirit of that person coming out in advance. For between spirit and spirit there is much less space than between body and body; and the nearer you come to the human spirit, the sooner you are with your individual friend. It often occurs that the spirit which is but lately deceased—but recently released from the physical body—will go to some person at a distance, showing that the spiritual form is already perfected, already made for the spirit to occupy; that it, in reality, had existed within the physical form. Such an instance would necessarily suggest that the spirit thus seen was ready to pass away from the body, and only waiting for the dissolution of the last thread that linked it to the decaying frame to manifest its presence to the distant friend. In fact, many times when the body is in a state of coma, the spirit has left it, the vital spark only remaining. This appearance is not different from that of the double VISIO11, It is possible to satisfy yourself on the existence of the double while in the possession of your faculties. If you intently think of a distant person, and at the same time figure his appear- ance to your imagination, so concentrating your mind from all sur- rounding objects and influences as to be aware of no distracting thoughts, to a certain extent your spirit is in reality there; and that friend, were he a sensitive and impressionable person, could detect your presence in the atmosphere. Of course, the chain that connects you with your bodies is not broken as in death; and in entrancing a person you would throw your mind forward and concentrate your thoughts so intently upon him that you are really there, space, time, distance not influencing the spirit in its conscious flight, but only affecting the body you inhabit. When, however, the spirit wishes to make a form in a seance, you must remember that the form which is most directly connected with the manifestations desired to be produced would usually (as we say) be the Inodel upon which it would be constructed: hence so many differences of opinion concerning the spiritual form that is thus * as to whether it is really a spirit-form, or whether it is DUAL APPARITION of THE EMBODIED HUMAN SPIRIT. 7 the result of an influence in the atmosphere. We will now answer the question. Every form that is seen by any person, or any num- ber of persons, with the natural eye, is of necessity too material to be actually a spirit-form; it is, therefore, the result of the elements that the spirit finds surrounding the medium and the circle; and when the seance is dissolved, that form necessarily dissolves with it. The real form does not so dissolve. It is not often made the product upon which thisexternal form is constructed; although it may even be only the drapery covering the spirit-form. The spirit may be here, and the form projected there; but it is all made of the atmosphere or aura that surrounds the medium and the friends of the medium. When, however, one individual alone sees a spirit, it is not easy to deter- mine whetheritis with the spiritual or the natural eye; because one individual may sometimes see the spirit through the natural eye with the spiritual vision. Understand us: While the natural eye is still open, your spiritual vision may be so active that you cannot in reality determine whether you saw the spirit with the eye of the spirit, or whether it manifested itself in the tangible form. You can only tell where two or more are assembled together, and each one compares with the other the results of the vision. If they agree that it presented certain features to each, then it was a physi- cal form. If they do not so agree, and only one has a distinct im- pression of it, then it may have been a spiritual vision. These discriminations are very necessary; since, in the one instance, it is a case of absolute spiritual vision, it is spiritual sight, but in the other it is simply a manifestation of the physical presence of spirits. Both these kinds of vision exist in the world to-day, and form the subject of the most searching scrutiny in those seances where spirit forms and faces are made manifest. Then, again, you should not expect, nor is it readily to be sup- posed, that the spirits so presenting the form can represent the erfect lineaments—the exact features they wore in earthly life. f a person passed away at an advanced age, the spirit does not therefore look old. There is no wrinkle on the face of the spirit; there are no furrows on its brow. The spirit is in the prime of manhood or womanhood. If such spirits wish to manifest their resence, it is the most difficult thing in the world—although it as sometimes been done—to pourtray the form of an aged per- son, because the elements of which they have to construct the form have to be drawn from the circle and the aura of the medium. If these, the frill of the cap, and the wrinkles upon the face, and the familiar glasses are presented, it is only for the purpose of identification; and is in itself a remarkable manifestation of the power of spirits over material substances to so simulate age and decay, when in spirit-life there is neither age nor decay. Again, if a child is presented, you must be aware that, though there are infants in spiritual existence, they are not acquainted with the modes of producing spirit-forms; hence these projections must be performed by someone else—it may be by a not very gº;Aust– 8 - THE NEW SCIENCE, and the features may be presented in an unsatisfactory manner; but any form or any face so presented is of itself an evidence of an outside power, since there is no possible manner whereby any twenty or thirty individuals can simultaneously conjure up an imaginary figure out of the vacant air. These form collateral proofs, strong in themselves, of the power of spirits over material substances. They form the foundation of that science which unquestionably will one day be so perfected that you shall yourselves, with the aid of spiritual influences, be able to project your presence to distant friends. Of course, this method of communion or of telegraphy would supersede present methods of communication, and much of the fatigue of ordinary travel would be lessened if you could quietly sit in your drawing-room or by your own fireside, and hold communication directly with a distant friend. It is only requisite that the means of spirit- control shall be so adapted as to be made amenable to your own minds, and then you will be so enabled to do. Many persons are enabled thus to communicate together to-day. There are persons in such direct sympathy of mind that they can communicate with one another at a great distance. The medium who now addresses you, and her mother who is now a spirit, when the latter was still in this life, frequently thus held communion; and their letters were but a repetition some days after- wards of conversations that they really had had in spirit. One letter would say, “I knew you were doing such and such a thing, because I saw you;” and the reply would be, “I was aware of your doing so and so, because I felt you were with me.” These, however, are only exceptional cases, where the spiritual faculties have been cul- tivated and used through the influence of spirits. But in time these faculties may become as customary with you as they are now excep- tional; and it will not be strange if you hold converse with distant friends, and it will not be strange to hold converse with spirits. We have said in a previous lecture that every spirit in the body pos- sesses every faculty and attribute and power in an embryotic state, that is possessed by any spirit out of the body. It only requires culture, enlightenment, knowledge, also for the disembodied spirit to possess every faculty and power of the embodied mind, except only the physical organisation which you so imperfectly understand. Now the only difference between mind acting upon mind in the body and the spirit acting upon mind is, that in the former case you sway each other usually by actual presence—by sight, touch, or any other auxiliary organ. If, instead of using these auxiliaries, you simply made use of mental powers, and could think one another's thoughts and read one another's minds (those with whom you are in sympathy), you would have an exact representation of the spirit power of communion. , You often determine across a room what a person is thinking of by glancing at him. So two persons 96 - - DUAL APPARITION OF THE EMBODIED HUMAN SPIRIT. 9 in conversation will simultaneously start to utter the same sentence, and you say, “I was just about to make that remark,” show- ing that there is a subtle sympathy between your minds, and which if it were fully established an actual vibration would take place without the ordinary process of conversation, and without the usual bungling methods of external sound and expression. These are the methods of the spirit. When they employ other means, it is to reach your senses. If a voice is heard, or a form created, or a sound produced, or an apparition appears, it is to reach your external senses. The thought of the spirit is to hold converse with your thought, not to augment miraculous things, not to build up wonders, not to work magic, but simply to open a channel whereby they may reach your minds. Just as soon as that is attained the wonder- working ceases. Because when a friend is admitted to your house and can hold converse with you, he certainly ceases to knock at your door; so when the spirit can hold direct communion with your mind, having by repeated visitations become familiar with you, unquestionably these outward and lesser manifestations must cease. There are many persons who hold this direct spiritual communion, the vibration of the brain alone being employed to convey thought and produce mental impressions. All forms of inspiration possessed by the prophets and seers of the world were unquestionably of this kind, whereby the spirits spoke to their understanding, not with the audible voice, but with the voice of the mind that the inspired one can fully comprehend and un- derstand. You all have sometimes experienced this inward voice that does not come from your own consciousness, but is rather startling from its suddenness, and often from its lack of connection with the subject of your thoughts. . A most singular instance is on record where a spirit, by the audible voice, saved the life of a person sentenced—or who would have been sentenced—to death as guilty of committing murder. Three times did the voice say to the individual (an artist) to whom this experience occurred: “The ferryman waits The ferryman waits?" And so impressed was this person with the voice that he went to the ferry where he had been accustomed to go on journey- ings for artistic sketches, and found, to his surprise, although the time was several hours earlier than usual, that the ferryman appeared to be waiting for him. Not wishing to embarrass him, the artist assumed an air of confidence, as though he had really sent him a message. Passing over the ferry, he went towards a city distant some ten miles, without the slightest idea why he was going thither. On entering an hotel for some refreshment, the waiter told him that a young man was being tried for murder, Forcing his way with the crowd into the court, he heard the judge ask the young man if he had anything to say why sentence should not be pronounced upon him. He replied that he had *ins td. H. 10 - THE NEW SCIENCE, say, although he was innocent. The person who had been so summoned recognised the voice as having something peculiar about it, and tried to recall where he had heard it. It suddenly came back to him that, being out sketching at a certain place the very day of the alleged murder, the carpenter—for the man accused of murder was a carpenter—was at work in the very house where he had taken his dinner; and he said to the court: “I know that man is innocent, because he was on that day at such a place.” On being asked for his proof, he replied: “There is only one proof: I know him by his voice: I know by the fact he said he had broken a saw which he required to complete his work.” The evidence confirmed his statement, for upon the carpenter's person, on being arrested, was found a broken saw ; and upon this testimony he was released. This, of course, could not have been but by the spirit- voice summoning this man in the dead hours of the night to go out to the ferryman, who waited for him. Many persons—although without so singular and startling a result as this—have been summoned to go to a distant place by the sudden appearance of danger, or the information that the home was on fire. In fact, it is related that the late Dr. Guthrie— eminent divine that he was—was employed visiting at a certain time one of the poorest members of his parish, an elderly lady, who was an invalid and helpless, and that meeting a friend on the way they stopped to converse. After a time he distinctly felt some- one tugging away at his coat. Turning round, he was surprised to see no one. The friend also felt someone pulling at his coat. Finally it came so strongly that he felt he must go on, and so dropped the interesting conversation he was engaged in. On arriving at the house he found the invalid enveloped in flames and smoke. A piece of coal had fallen from the fire and had ignited, so that the poor helpless widow must have perished had he not thus been summoned. This is in the experience of one who, from theological views, could not have entertained what is called Modern Spiritualism; yet it is as strong an evidence of spiritual presence as could be adduced by a believer, or one acquainted with spiritual manifestitions. - Such visitations are made to-day, illustrating the power and in- fluence of mind to impress mind. Sometimes it takes the tangible form of the actual spirit-presence. Sometimes, as Shakspeare has pictured in the play of “Hamlet,” it appears in the form of a wraith or apparition that has been foully dealt with. Haunted houses are said always to be the result of some secret and unknown crime, that the spirit thus sent out of life is anxious to reveal; and it has been left to Spiritualism to discover the real cause of certain sounds and visions occurring at midnight in unknown places and obscure deserted dells. All these things are no longer mysterious. They no longer belong to the world that no one dare enter. They are the * acts of investigation, and may be classified as among the I}UAL APPARITION OF THE EMBODIED HUMAN SPIRIT. 11 phenomena that connect the spiritual world with yours. The reason is apparent. Unhappy spirits dwell in the places where they have been foully dealt with ; and as we see men who are persecuted on earth strive to ferret out the cause of their perse- cution and punish those who afflict them, so spirits are somewhat the same. When one has passed away, it is very natural that it should brood and hover near, trying to attract attention, and in some manner strive to gain reparation for a wrong. Oftentimes there are unseen ghosts that disturb you so that you dare not enter a door, though you may not know the cause of this disturbed feeling. You have frequently visited places where some singular sensation has taken possession of you—gone into houses where you were full of unrest—been in the presence of persons who did not impart to you a feeling of repose. There is some law or subtle element to account for this influence. It may not be crime, or wrong, or injustice; there is simply a spiritual antagon- ism—something incompatible with your spiritual needs. There are many more persons killed with uncongenial atmo- spheres than are killed by any other cause. There are sensitive beings who are oppressed with the antagonisms of outward life, who die because of the fragility of their organisation; and you are apt to suppose it is the result of physical debility, since you do not understand the laws that govern your spiritual natures. You would think it an unpardonable offence if anyone were to crowd upon your person—if anyone interfered with your private individual life. Yet, spiritually, you often do this: you are constantly tread- ing upon one another's toes, and encroaching in other ways; you are continually sending out shafts of spiritual animosity, that pro- duce much harm. All these things when understood will certainly conduce much to your happiness. The laws and customs of ancient times were very barbarous; no society and no individual was protected as to-day: so, in spiritual matters, when you under- stand these various and diverse laws, you will find every spirit and mind has its rights as well as every individual body and every class of society. You will find each mind is encased in a castle of its own, has its own atmosphere, its own surroundings, preroga- tives, privileges; and you may no more enter the domains of that mind without permission, than you may enter your neighbour's dwelling, or than you may encroach upon his person. You con- sider it an offence if an individual addresses to you some insulting remark about your personal appearance. But persons are not so circumspect with reference to your mental or spiritual attributes, and feel quite privileged to enter the domains of any individual mind and call it to strict account for any supposed shortcoming or infirmity. The laws of politeness will be extended in the spiritual world, and in comprehending the laws that govern men and spirits, you will much less frequently encroach upon one another. There will be less unhappiness when this is the case. For mº, subtle 12 THE NEW SCIENCE, nervous influences, whereby we act injuriously upon one another, will be avoided; and society itself j understand that there are subtle laws of mind, as well as actual forces of body, that tend to produce discord, dissimilarity, and make various friends. But this, of course, goes far into a range of thought that cannot now be discussed. We only desired to point out the connection between these occult forces of your own organisation and similar forces in spiritual existence, and to show that the two are not so unlike and separated as you imagine; that your minds and powers are simi- lar, that the difference is in the disrobing or throwing-off of the outward clothing, and that the atmosphere is peopled by beings hav- ing thoughts, emotions, and feelings similar to your own, which they manifest whenever opportunity favours, and often govern and direct your lives when you are not aware of it. To be fore- warned is to be forearmed. Is it best to cultivate this spiritual control, if we may not know with whom we talk? some may ask. Whether you cultivate it or no, you are under that control. Fire is a most dangerous element unless you understand its control, and electricity certainly does less harm when conveying messages than when striking down tall trees. This is the most subtle means of power in existence; you are under its influence whether you will or no; by knowing it you may ward off that which is injurious; by ignorance you may oftentimes be under the influence of that which is not beneficial to you. Seeing that the knowledge of any law of nature cannot lessen the happiness of humanity, the know- ledge of any force which is lying around you, of any power that is unemployed now instead of being used, and ultimately, when properly understood and guided, therefore this knowledge will aid as much in human progress as any of the elements that have been trained by the hand of man to do his work on earth. It is the vast mental power, the vast spiritual atmosphere, the vast presence that shapes and guides and interblends with your lives, laying hands upon each, throwing the influence of the spirit upon all, until at last all are interblended and governed by the supreme law of mind that controls every living soul. On the conclusion of the lecture, the following questions were asked and answers given:— Q. 1.—I have been present at seances where the spirit has mate- rialised itself. When these manifestations have taken place, we have had strict injunctions not to grasp the hand of the spirit. What would have been the effect on the circle or medium if this injunction had been neglected P−A. It might have been fatal. The possibility is that the sympathy between the medium and this con- structed body would be so great, that by interfering with it you might strike a vital part of the medium's body. Certainly illness would ensue; for every fibre and atom of that spiritual body is in direct sympathy with the medium's nervous system, and nothing is so Pº as the nervous system to affect and overthrow life and DUAL APPARITION OF THE EMBODIED HUMAN SPIRIT. 13 reason. Hence you are requested not to interfere; because an direct magnetism from your bodies to that of the spirit so organised, which is infinitely more sensitive than the finest vibrations of sense you know of, would produce most disastrous results upon the medium, perhaps upon yourself. Q. 2.-In very many cases, the materialised body or body formed, on coming into the room, solicits the touch, and the hand of the spirit is often held and taken by some of the visitors. Does that affect the medium injuriously?—A. It does not; because it is by special preparation. A certain preparation by the spirit is always necessary when the body of the materialised spirit may be touched. The medium is shielded, so that there may not any wrong done. When the engineer intends his engine to go straight ahead, he sets it in motion in that direction; if any ob- stacle comes in the way, it produces a collision which is disastrous. A spiritual motion or spiritual form is each for a certain purpose, for a certain range of manifestations, and if it is set to work in that direction the spirit desires that intention to be fulfilled. If any- thing comes in contact with it, disastrous results ensue. If the spirit arranges beforehand, it is like the engineer, always ready to reverse his engine. Q. 3.−I believe solid bodies pass through solid bodies. Now, why do they manifest that power P It does not appear to be a sº one.—A. At another place we have answered the question. e will repeat the answer. That all seemingly solid bodies are not solid, you are aware. There is between every atom of every solid substance and every other atom a certain amount of space, and there is also a difference in the construction of so-called solid bodies. The human body and the piece of wood are both considered solid substances; yet #: are not equally solid, nor are they absolutely solid. The fibres of which the wood is composed are capable of being separated, as you are aware if you apply a wedge and hammer. Now, a sufficiently rapid separation of these atoms, and a sufficiently rapid rejoining of them, produces the same effect as though there had been no separation; so that if the human body can be passed through the wall, and if the separation and reunition of that wall take place before the atoms have had time to lose their mutual attraction, it is as if no separation had occurred. If you cut your hand and instantly reunite the flesh before the atoms have forgotten their vital attraction, the parts immediately join again. So the spirit can dismember the fibres of a coat, for instance, and remove it from the arms of a medium by instantaneously joining the fibres. It is equivalent to no separation having taken place. Of course no two atoms of solid matter can occupy the same place at the same time; one or other must give way. But the mani- festation named can be done by the subtle element of spiritual control so rapidly and ingeniously that you cannot see the opera- tion, you only see the result. - 101 14 THE NEW SCIENCE, Q. 4.—You have said that when the spirit-form is visible it is in consequence of being clothed with the atomic aura. Now this aura is invisible to the material eye. Will you tell us how it is that it is visible when made into the form of a spirit P−A. An ultimate particle or atom is invisible when alone, but when there is a number they are visible. It perhaps takes an infinite number of atoms to make a speck large enough for the eye to see. There is no atmosphere visible to you in this room; if, however, you admit a ray of sunlight, you will see an infinite number of little molecules floating about in the air that before were invisible. Now the spirit condenses these molecules and makes them visible to the eye. Q. 5.-Some persons say that when sitting in the spirit-circle they can control the movements of a table, so as to give forth any answer they please. Does the spirit controlling the manifestations allow itself to be influenced by him, or would you consider this to be the result of the sitter's mind, or is he mistaken P-A. We would like to have the person prove that he can do so. We have never discovered a person who can so control the manifestations. If so, he must be in direct sympathy with the controlling spirit, and therefore anticipate the answers the spirit would give. But we have yet to learn that any person can so control the answers. Q. 6.-A lady tells me that some twelve years ago she lost her grandmother, who had been, as it were, her parent. The day she lost her grandma she saw her crossing a field, though she had not seen her for some days. She called attention to the fact to a companion, but who saw nothing. She noted the hour, and found that the old lady had passed away at that time. It is equally singular that every Christmas-eve since she has seen her grandma. Being a nervous woman, she invariably loses her con- sciousness for a certain time. Last Christmas-eve she explained this to a friend she was staying with, and it was agreed to take every precaution to prevent the occurrence. It is equally singular that at a certain º: of the evening this lady turned round to go into a room, and the moment she lost sight of her friend the grandma touched her. She immediately fell back unconscious, causing considerable confusion. Does Mrs. Tappan think she is a medium ? and what is the law that governs this circumstance?— A. The young lady is unquestionably a medium, and if she were to give her grandma a little more cordial reception—since undoubtedly that departed spirit desires to hold converse with her grandchild— if she were to receive her at other times, the unpleasantness of the . visitation would go away. Sometimes grandmothers in spirit-life are as persistent as in earth-life. Q. 7–Would it do the lady good to attend a seance 2–A. It would be quite advisable for her and her friends to sit in circle together, and thus avoid any unpleasant occurrence growing out of a sudden control. Q. *10. have observed—whether rightly or wrongly I do not DUAL APPARITION | OF THE EMBODIED HUMAN SPIRIT. 15 know—that the similarity of the spirit to the medium depends in a very great measure upon the construëtion of the circle. We admit no sceptics. We have sometimes a more congenial atmo- sphere and more congenial sitters; on such occasions the similarity is not so marked P−A. We stated in explanation that when condi- tions are favourable, or when the manifestations occur after the second or third time, the appearance does resemble the medium. But as the spirit gains power, the similarity is less. So if you would avoid changing the members of the circle, but always keep the same persons for a long time, you would find that resemblance decrease. Of course the more favourable the conditions the less the spirit has to depend upon the model upon which the spiritual body has to be constructed. It would be well for all investigators to have as nearly the same persons each successive evening; because it naturally follows that in such a delicate and subtle experience your minds become harmonious, and the introduction of a new element destroys these conditions, and you have to begin anew each time. In answer to a request, the following poem was given:— T H E B E S T G IFTS. Seek for the highest gifts. The Master taught That soul and spirit of God are divine; And all the paths of life are therefore fraught With borrowed lustre from that sacred shrine. Wherever perfect gift in man is blest, Or perfect beauty hovers round his way, 'Tis always striving for the very best— 'Tis always aiming at the lightest ray. 'Tis true the senses claim your constant care, And cold and frost and hunger you must meet, Ye needs must clothe the body, and full fair And bright adorn your way for earthly feet. But that which feeds the mind and clothes the soul, And lifts the spirit from this clod of sense, Surely exerts a higher, blest control, And gives a grander, loftier recompense. Search for these gifts, that lift your spirit oft On wings of inspiration and of prayer, The breathings of the spirit sweet and soft, That come in answer through the trembling air. While vibrant every tongue and heart control, Seeking for truth and that alone below, You will find the pathway opened to your soul, You will find the answer coming sweet and low. Search earnestly for the best gifts, for God Has so endowed the spirit with his breath 5. That ye may mount through knowledge from this clod. - That ye may compass with His life the power of death, (108; 16 . THE NEW SCIENCE, GOOD AND EVIL SPIRITS. At the close of a discourse, in which Professor Mapes controlled Mrs. Tappan, the following questions from the audience were answered. Q. 14,-How do you distinguish between good and bad spirits? —A. On your earth I always trusted to my wife's intuition. I had no intuition and did not know, but now that faculty has become developed I trust to that, and it is an unfailing guide. Because, just as dark objects impress the eye with darkness, and light ones impress it with light; just as some peculiar orders of beings have bristles, and by these thingsare determined; so individual spirits have their own atmosphere of light or darkness, and when it reaches you your intuition is aware of it. But, to my utter amazement, I did not find any spirits so bad as I thought, and I did not find myself as good as I supposed. It is a strange fact in human nature that there is no way of drawing the line, because there is no one quite bad, nor anyone wholly good; and in the spirit-world I have not found it very different. The real unfortunate ones may come to you sometimes, but it is rather for their improvement than to do you harm. Q. 15.-Is the intelligence of the inhabitants of the planets go- verned at all by their relative distance from the central sun ?—A. No, it depends on the age of the planets; although the nearness of the sun and the accelerated motion augment the development of the planet. Your earth is undergoing a change which will give lace for a higher order of beings; not that you will be destroyed, É. that there will be gradually eliminated higher organisms; and the spirits that inhabit those bodies will be much more fortunate than you are, as you are more fortunate than the cephalopods that came thousands of years ago. Q. 16.-I think you said that every organism maintains that same organism for ever?—A. We did not say that every organism retained its organism. The organism is changed, but the spirit is the same. Your spirit may not be like your body, because your spirit is quite a different thing. It is the expression of the spirit. n a higher state you are developed into something quite different, but as you advance you still bear a resemblance, and there is the same innate inner spirit that never changes. 104 SOME FURTHER SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING THE METHODS OF SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. AN INSPIRATIONAL ORATION DELIVERED UNDER SPIRIT- INFLUENCE, BY MRs. CoR.A. L. W. TAPPAN, IN LAWSON's Rooms, Gower STREET, LoNDoN, DECEMBER 10TH, 1873. INVOCATION, Infinite Spirit ! Thou Source of all light and all love! Thou Being above all comprehension, to whom we turn every hour for strength and sustenance, who art our guide in all things, who dost for ever extend to us a helping hand! When we search through nature, we find thy laws, life. O loving Spirit 1 let us for ever seek those still more subtle secrets of being that bind us to Thee and to all souls; and when transfigured and set above earthly cares and earthly knowledge, let us behold with what vastness Thou hast extended the field of research, until eternity fails to exhaust the fountains of thy knowledge. O loving Spirit ! O Light and Guide I Divine Beneficence 1 we ask for thy guiding hand, thy sustaining power, thine uplifting voice l DISCOURSE. Those who have followed the successive lectures here on Wed- nesday evenings will remember that we have endeavoured to give, in a somewhat scientific manner, the methods whereby disembodied spirits influence and act upon your minds, your bodies, and the atmosphere which surrounds you. Of course in any series of lectures it is not possible to illustrate a form of existence so different from yours, and concerning which you have taken but the initiatory steps to knowledge; because whatever may be the objective forms of spiritual existence, yours are evidently more material, tangible, and external. You reason from opposite premises; you use opposite principles; you are therefore allied to a series ºfºught 4 THE NEW SCIENCE. and feelings that do not belong emphatically to spiritual existence. Yet, as there is a link between your spirits, the body you inhabit, and the atmosphere you inhale, so there is a link between your atmosphere and disembodied spirits, whereby they can make their presence manifest. We will to-night give some further suggestions concerning the methods by which spirits are enabled to produce certain manifestations of their presence, always bearing in mind that you must consider these as only the proximate results of investigation into final truths. It is true, as we have already said, that electricity does not usually form the means whereby spirits produce sounds. In all external manifestations there are three causes of the phenomena produced. One of these is electrical, in the manifestation of which the spirit employs the electrical forces constantly being given of from the body. It is asserted by the scientific men of the day that the human body generates electricity of a finer quality than that employed in the usual electrical manifestations, or in the magnetic telegraph. That this element is electricity is proven by the fact that it affects metallic substances, and produces ignition of susceptible gases. For instance, the gas in this room can be ignited by the electricity of the human body. You can at any time try the experiment in your own sitting or drawing room by walking up and down to generate the electricity in your body, and asking a friend to turn on the gas for you. By rubbing your feet, upon which you have india-rubber soles, on the carpet, a larger quantity of electricity will be produced. After pacing round the room half-a-dozen or a dozen times, touch the gas, and it will probably ignite. You will find many persons possessing this power, and who can light the ſº every time. This is one of the occult forces of the human body. - Now this, when employed by the spiritual powers, will produce certain sounds; but they are also produced by the presence of nitrogen and carbonic acid, and the compression of the atmosphere— an effect brought about by the combination of these two gases. You have all heard of drops of water falling on the faces of per- sons present at seances. These drops are the result of the con- densation of the atmosphere, which is produced by hydrogen and ** Oxygen. #. second form is by atomic evolution, whereby the atoms are made to revolve with great rapidity, and, by producing a vacuum, cause a concussion. This atomic evolution you cannot see, because you cannot see infinitesimal particles. But the presence of a spirit can affect these atoms so as to make them revolye very rapidly, and produce the forms that are sometimes seen by every person present at a seance. Then there is a third element, which we have not referred to in previous lectures, but which constitutes a principal power in ºrial manifestations—phosphorus. It is well known that all 06 ConCERNING METHODS OF SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONs, 5 bodies in a high state of organisation possess this ingredient. It exists in nearly all combinations of matter—not specifically in the mineral kingdom, but in the vegetable and animal; and wherever decay is occurring, phosphoric emanations are going off. Now, in order to produce these manifestations phosphorus is necessary; so that wherever these manifestations occur, phosphorus must be present. It is this element, phosphorus, which causes that phe- nomenon so dreaded by superstitious people—the ignis fatwus. It is the result of the light from decaying vegetation. Certain l;inds of wood decomposing in the forest produce this light. You have often, perhaps, in traversing the forest towards nightfall, seen a thin pale flame arising from the fallen trunk or branch of a tree. This is a phosphorescent light to a great extent. This or a similar appearance is frequently seen upon the surface of the sea—the result of myriads of infinitesimally small insects. Sometimes it appears in vast beds; sometimes like a sheet of flame. t is believed by modern savans that phosphorus constitutes the absolute nourishment of the human brain, and that all those nervous forces and fluids which form the avenue for the evolution of thought are sustained and fed by phosphoric substances, Thus certain kinds of fish, which contain a large proportion of this element, are considered to be highly useful as a food for man; for instance, those fishes that have the greatest rapidity of motion, those that live in fresh water in which is found vegetation instead of alkalies and mineral substances. The trout, among others, possesses this substance in a great amount. The salmon is also said to possess a vast amount of this element, which constitutes the principal substance of the brain. , Minute and subtle analysis has shown that the ganglia from which brain-force is generated pro- duce this force in proportion as there is phosphorus in the human system. It will one day become a study of the medical world, whether the human brain may be restored to its original strength and power by the proper administration of nerve-force in a refined and advanced state. The fact that the human organism and the organisms of various animals possess, in a high degree, this element, that it is essential to the production of nervous force, goes very far to prove that in a high state of human culture you will eat no food that does not supply some of the requisite chemical constituents of the body. The perfect analysis of the blood would discover, to a certainty, all the chemical elements you require for the sustenance of the system, and demonstrate the .# for absolute science instead of an experimental materia $716tltCd. The phosphate that is taken on and generated in the brain is the combination of that element with another, which in its nature is so uniformly connected with thought that it is scarcely possible to separate them. Of course you cannot see thought; but phosphorescent effects can be seen, ". inter- d f 6 THE NEw scIENCE. mediate product, which is the result of phosphates and of the nervous force of the brain, produces a certain amount of power, and volition that in themselves constitute mind. This is the subtle element upon which the spirits oftentimes act. Certain persons give out electricity, while certain others give out phos- phoric lights or phosphorus. These the spirits can control, and, under proper conditions, produce phosphoric or electric lights. You can always distinguish between the one flame and the other. The electrical lights produce sound, while the phosphoric lights are accompanied by no sounds, and are tranquil in their appear- ance. Sometimes the phosphoric lights appear of various colours, and frequently give to objects a bluish or roseate hue. They appear in the presence of those persons who are continually in a phosphoric atmosphere. In a proper and well-regulated seance these things will be taken into consideration, and the spirits will give directions for the placing of persons, so that the electrical and phosphoric elements may be placed in such a relation to one another as not to destroy each other's influence. If one medium ºr. the phosphoric, and another the electrical force, they estroy each other's power. Someone then wonders why, with two such powerful mediums, no manifestations are gained. The fact is, the two forces destroy each other, and the spirit has nothing whereon to act. If you knew of what your bodies were composed, you could oftentimes organise spirit circles in such a manner as to produce very strong manifestations. This will in course of time be known, and a full system for developing mediums will be introduced, just as perfect as any other system of knowledge in the world. If the presence of carbonic acid gas is too strong, there is one element that can be introduced with little trouble, that does not destroy the conditions like raw oxygen. This element is ozone, and it may be produced by the three following elements, peroride of manganese, permanganate of potash, and oralic acid, in about equal Mºjº Combine these: then if you take two table- spoonfuls of the mixture, and pour over it, every two hours, about one spoonful of water, it will throw off enough ozone to make the atmosphere quite pure. It would not have been a bad idea to have had some here. }. the sick-room, where too much ozone would induce coughing, the above quantity would be just sufficient to purify the atmosphere without producing evil results; and in a Seance, for the sake of supplying the lungs with pure air, you might introduce ozone thus made, with little trouble and at a very trifling expenS6. his element of ozone, as we have stated, is different from the raw oxygen of the atmosphere, and is so toned down that it does not irritate as oxygen does. Still metallic substances must be removed, except gold and platinum, otherwise they will become oxydised. If you #" this suggestion due consideration, it will prove to you conceRNING METHODs of SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONs, 7 that a series of investigations are being carried on by the spirit- world with the view of facilitating your intercourse with them; and that to make these elements that compose your own bodies, and all those objects with which you are so intimately connected, the subject of study, would conduce not only to your own health and to the production of the highest thought in your own minds, but also to the production of the finest spiritual manifestations. Unquestionably, when your minds are sufficiently sustained and nourished, and you have well-regulated bodies, it adds largely to the power of the disembodied spirits to hold converse with you. It has been said that persons suffering from ill-health make the best mediums. It may be that in certain forms of sickness the brain may be much more active, and the person so afflicted may have a transcendent state of spiritual culture; but undoubtedly the highest form of spiritual manifestations will come to the earth when perfect health and perfect spirituality exist hand-in- hand. Oftentimes the disease of your bodies and the lassitude of your nervous systems are the effect of impure air; and when you remember that you often produce an atmosphere that it is almost impossible for a spiritual being to act upon, and when you con- sider that from your bodies an emanation is constantly coming off proportionate to the food you eat and the drink you imbibe, and that an emanation is also always proceeding from your brain in proportion to your thoughts, you will understand the spiritual atmosphere is as dense as the physical atmosphere to-night. This being the case, how impossible it is that spirits approach you with anything like a palpable presence. Then, when you consider the still more subtle and sensitive element of which thought is com- posed, and of which your spirits must be formed, you will almost wonder that there is any intercommunion at all, and indeed that there is even any communion between you here. Your bodies are so afflicted, your brains so confused, and the infirmities of the flesh weigh so heavily upon you, that you do not present to your friends a fair face. These are untoward conditions; but by studying these laws you can remedy them. So by knowing other spiritual laws you can invite and facilitate the conditions whereby spirits manifest their presence. We know there are great objections to the dark seance. The soul enjoys the light. But by using the violet ray all this can be obviated, and the usual repugnance to sitting in the dark overcome. Still, if you are to have lights, you are obliged to have the dark room to see them in, else the spirits may show their wonderful pyrotechnical powers and you not know it. There is no other way than to see them in the dark. If they are not interesting to you, you can always have the light through the violet glass, or in the manner previously jºi - ſº Then there are the conditions which must effect the electricity of the body to be taken into consideration. High allius, yºu." 8 . THE NEW SCIENCE, strong manifestations of the electric powers of the human body. A recent party of explorers, in the United States of America, visited a very high mountain. They were geographical explorers, and the mountain they ascended was 1,992 feet above the level of the sea. On the summit of this mountain the electrical atmosphere was so strong that the hair of their heads manifested the actual presence of the electrical particles; and so great was the shock to one person, that it almost threw him to the ground. By experiments of this kind you would facilitate your usual electrical studies; but such experiments are not always and at all times desirable. Of course the electricity in the human system is required for its proper sustenance, and should not be relinquished without something else being gained. For experiments with a person of electrical tem- perament, you will find the manifestations much more vigorous at high altitudes. But if your manifestations are of the phosphoric kind, low altitudes, and places bordering upon fresh-water streams, where carbonic acid gas is being thrown off, would facilitate your experiments. There are individuals of such peculiar constitutions that they prefer always to inhabit some place near a slimy pool; and they are always in the best health when in the vicinity of woods and marshes, and among the deepest vegetation, under just those con- ditions which generally produce disastrous effects upon the human system. For these constitutions, however, it is necessary to have the phosphoric effect of decaying vegetation, and they always prefer the damp, moist atmosphere, to the dry one full of oxygen. These belong to your physical welfare, as well as to the presence and manifestation of spirits. The chief element, however, under which it always can and must come to you, is the element of mind itself, that being the connecting link between your world and the spirits'—the only similar link that binds you together. Their bodies—formed of finer elements you know not of cannot assimilate with your material bodies. Their thoughts and amenities of life being so different and so far removed to your outward understanding, they can only appeal to your mind through those forms that you associate with spiritual beings. Hence upon the mind itself—its tranquillity, its reservation, its equal development, its equilibrium—depends argely the power of spiritual manifestations; and in a room where there is an abundance of mind-power—and by mind-power we do not mean jagged points of will, we do not mean that mind-power which shapes itself into every angular thought—we mean the mental power, the tranquillity that is ready to receive any thought and investigate any truth, no matter how much they are at variance with any preconceived opinion. This power of mental reception, this power that keeps you, as it were, within the bounds and pale of reason, enlarged and cultivated by truth, is the surest way spirits can act. If you destroy the connection, if you CoNCERNING METHODS OF SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 9 are in any way discordant with yourself, it is not a fitting time to seek for communion; for more than half the time is then occupied in tranquilising your mind. Music is always suggested at seances for the very reason that the harmonious vibration of sound on the ear and nerves of the brain aids to produce that very tranquillity that you should always covet; and if you have not music in your souls, how can you expect to be harmonious, and invite the spirits of the other world to be present P Their thoughts are rounded now; they have attained a harmonious- ness of thought far transcending your thoughts. Each thought is a note, every aspiration a tone in the variety of harmonious sounds that makes up their existence. How, then, without great power of will, can they come to you in the midst of your tumult and your nervous antagonism P. See to it always, in pursuing these investi- gations, that you have tranquil minds—the body as far as possible removed from those physical conditions that produce inharmony, but in accord with those laws of health which you have discovered. You can imagine, from the delight it gives you to have a harmo- nious and well-organised seance, to find that the communion flows along pleasantly and fluently, with every peace, like the melodious strains of a great master. Contrast them with those seances where there is jargon, and discord, and accusations of imposture. You can readily understand the great difficulties under which your spirit-friends labour in producing any satisfactory manifestations at all. In your hands rest the power and ability not only to make every seance satisfactory, but to remove every possibility of suspecting the direct honesty of purpose of every person present. Undue sus- picion destroys the atmosphere as much as undue credulity; and, therefore, you should always form your seances of persons whose integrity you cannot doubt, and then accept whatever comes. It is as necessary to comply with the conditions of spiritual manifestations, as it is to conform to the laws and regulations of a corporate body or any scientific society on earth. If you wish to investigate any subject, you have to do so under the conditions in which it is presented to you. If you wish to travel by rail to any place, you have to comply with the rules of the railway company. In the investigation of Spiritualism there are subtle conditions—a variety of laws that are necessary to be known before you can come to any satisfactory result; and in the pursuit you should not fail and falter by the wayside simply because of the difficulties pre- sented to your mind. If you cannot, in the pursuit of your material affairs, overcome some difficulty in the way, you strive, and strive, and strive again. If you are pursuing some temporal object, you never weary in your efforts; but when carrying on some investigation with your spirit-friends, how often, if the first or second time is not satisfactory, the savan of the earth turns away and says he has investigated the subject, and gives no more atten- tion to it. Once at a séance, he says he tried to hold * with 10 THE NEW SCIENCE, spirits, but it was not satisfactory. Is that all the investigation you have given to the matter? and is that enough P Yes, it is enough for them; and thus those who spend their lives in ferret- ing out certain things about matter are satisfied with one feeble experiment that is connected with eternity. Surely consistency is a jewel. In the pursuit of your individual aims and ambitions, you know what sacrifices you are continually making—how you undergo fatigue and every kind of discomfort for the purpose of gaining something you think of transcendent importance. There can be no higher object than the proving of the existence beyond death of the presence and communion of departed spirits. Whatever gives you knowledge on that subject, that opens to your minds the laws whereby these things are possible in this day of wonders, is of itself a theme of undoubted interest. Surely so vast a science, that not only opens up the spiritual realm, but that underlies all mental effort in your organisation, is worthy of spending time, energy, and pains; and not one, but many tests—not one, but many efforts of thought and application should be given for the purpose of investigating and finding out the subtle and wondrous laws connected therewith. It is indeed a science that, like the keystone of the arch, unites all sciences in the grand scheme of spiritual life; it is indeed like the very solvent of nature sought for by ancient philosophers, wherein all other substances can be melted and merged in the one crucible of thought; it is the philosopher's stone into which you may look with charmed vision, and see there the truth you have long been waiting to find; but it is also that wonderful elixir of life that was sought by ancient sages for the purpose of perpetuating physical existence by the discovery of the immutable principles of life. The element of eternal youth is found in the thought that inspires your brain, in the mind that inhabits your body, in the spirit that does not decay nor grow old, but, despite the wrinkles upon the brow, and despite the feeble and decrepit form, really lives and is youthful always. This element and this power would give vigour where there now is weakness and lassitude, would give strength where there is disease, would give light where the eyes are feeble, would give an impetus to the life that is now so often found lacking a purpose. If you have built for time, it is one thing: your structure must be narrow and low and material; you must grovel in the senses, and bow down to the god that says there is nothing beyond this life. If you build for eternity, it is another thing: you may lay the foundation upon the earth, but the structure of your very existence and being must go out and up into the very eternity itself. The cares, amenities, every distinct aspiration of the spirit, become important parts in the vast temple that is for eternity. But if you build for time, selfishness, materialism, pride, ambition, that which contributes to your material happiness, become the 112 - CONCERNING METHODS OF PHYSICAL MANIFESTATION. 11 natural results. How often the effort of the science of the day is to raise up the elements of material power and folly that often times the next generation will demolish. But if you build spiritually for the structure that underlies your outward existence, then it is formed of thoughts that are to endure. Then in the beginning, when teaching the alphabet to your children, you find that it is not merely for time—to go out among men and apply through the weary years of earthly eare, but that it is for the eternal structure of the soul—for the actual, real, tangible existence that lies beyond the shadowy veil of uncertain life. These are some of the considerations—the further expression of the reasons why, in pursuing these investigations, you should seek the best and highest conditions. True science is never at variance with true religion. True science is always of the Spirit, for there is, underlying every principle in nature and every atom in matter, the pre-eminent Spirit whose life shapes the atom and causes it to evolve throughout the centuries forms of beauty and life. Spirit is everything, , Matter is the shape, the external form, the clothing, the servant of the soul; while, boundless in its capacity and infinite in its power, the spirit is allied to the infinite God! INWOCATION. Oliving Spirit, steadfast flame! That doth with every nation dwell; All reverence to thy sacred name ! Thy glory none can tell! Behold in what past wond’rous stores Thy power has ever dwelt! Behold what mercy at thy doors Where every being knelt To ask for peace and love from thee. In many a mystic, awful name, Mortals have traced thy breath, Have read thee in life's holy flame, Have pictured thee in death. For, wedded to the ancient spheres, Men called thee Father, God . With man, O Spirit of all years, Thou ever hast abode. Behold Thy wondrous life and light! Osiris was thine eye The records of Egyptian lore Picture thy presence nigh! Thy prophets came with purest grace On bended knee to heaven; Thou dost abide in every place Where mortal thought is given : ** II.3 THE NEW SCIENCE, Jehovah, thou didst speak to those In Moses' prophecy; Who did the golden scroll unclose That binds them all to thee. O God, upon mount Calvary Thy voice to man was heard, In soft and loving tones of peace, In every gentle word. And thou, with angel tones, hast made Thy power and presence known In every land, beneath all skies, In every clime and zone. O Spirit, thou dost linger here! Thy presence, like a voice, Uplifts our hearts, strengthens us here, Bids every one rejoice. And angels, with their snowy brows, Revealthy love divine; And man repeats the sacred vows That bind his heart to thine. O earnest love! O rapturous soul : We bow our souls to thee; We know that thou art God for aye, Throughout eternity 114 RÉSUME OF THE SERIES ON SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE, AN INSPIRATIONAL ORATION DELIVERED UNDER SPIRIT- INFLUENCE, BY MRs. CorA L. V. TAPPAN, IN LAwson's Rooms, Gower STREET, LONDoN, DECEMBER 17th, 1873. INVOCATION. Infinite Spirit ! Thou light and Thou life I Thou strength and support when we falter by the wayside 1 Thou Source of all know- ledge 1 we praise Thee and bless Thee wherever we may be. On all occasions we would remember that Thou art the source of knowledge, that thy wisdom prevails, that thy laws are universal. Thou hast given us knowledge; Thou hast endowed the human soul with understanding. From that understanding we may know of Thee and thy laws. Let us search earnestly for the highest truths; let us seek in spirit an alliance with Thee; let us find wheresoever we may be that thy law prevails, that the atom as well as the sut- is responsive to thy breath, that the human soul, fraught with powers of immortal life and endowed with understanding, can comprehend these laws that Thou hast made, can investigate those truths that seemed to be veiled and mysterious, and learn of Thee and of thy love. DISCOURSE. We wish to-night, friends, to give you a brief résumé of the various points that we have endeavoured to establish during this series of lectures. The connection between the spirit of man and the physical substances by which he is surrounded, whether he be embodied in the human form or disembodied and in the spiritual form, must for ever be a theme of discussion and investigation. Spirit acts upon matter, controls it, imparts the life ‘ī; it pos- 4 THE NEW SCIENCE, sesses, gives it will, organisation, being, -in fact, is the life of mat- ter. The laws whereby the Divine Mind controls and governs the forms of the earth are alike subtle and mysterious until you are led into the knowledge by degrees, and until, by close investigation and scrutiny, you find one cause after another producing certain results; for the Divine Mind, through a succession of laws and occult forces, controls the vast forces of matter and makes it sub- servient to those laws, and thus works out the result from atom to world, from world to sun, from sun to system, and finally through the vast constellations of being comes immortality, all performing their work in response to His life. Surely some of the laws whereby He does this may be known to the human understanding. One of those laws has been already revealed in the form of gravitation. Motion is the sublime principle of law, the result of this physical fact being apparent in the starry firmament and the outward world. Without motion there can be no life, and without life, as the result of motion, there can be none of the or- ganised forms of being that exist in the universe. The human spirit as compared to the infinite, is like a drop of water as compared to the ocean. You may see mirrored in the ocean the sky and the starry heavens and all the broad expanse of space. You may see mirrored in a drop of water the same broad expanse, but in an infinitesimally small degree. The human mind is finite; God is infinite. . Yet the mind is large enough to possess a resem- blance to the infinite º and the same laws whereby the infi- nite acts upon universal matter, enable the finite mind to act upon finite matter. Your spirits control your bodies. The life that animates your bodies—whether voluntary or involuntary, as you term it—is in reality the result of the existence of your spirits. Every molecule, every susceptible atom, each substance attracted to your bodies, is under the direct control of your spiritual natures. I}o not mistake this for will; for this is not under the control of your volition. Do not mistake it for intellect. The intellect is subtle in its operations; but the spiritual mature is still more subtle, and that it is which, voluntarily or involuntarily, controls every atom of your physical existence. It attracts to you each substance that is necessary to make up your bodies, rejecting such as are not consistent with the form thereof, and determines the nature of your physical bodies in a great degree. * - The laws whereby your spirits are enabled to act are subtle and minute. Some of those laws may be known to you; for instance, by the rapidity of the motion called the circulation of the blood, by the various nervous commotions causing the blood to congeal when great agitation ensues. Fear is a most powerful instrumen- tality in controlling your physical bodies; and you have doubtless known people under the influence of fear become absolutely frigid. Love, jealousy, hatred, malice, envy—all these produce various physical conditions that betray themselves upon the countenance, SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE—RECAPITULATION. 6 and oftentimes so poison the blood that for days you do not recover from its consuming fire. This is the subtle power—the influence of the spirit. This spirit you cannot see—it may not be analysed. But it has oftentimes, upon the field of battle, the power that, in spite of hysical weariness and exhaustion, dares the soldier on to victory; it draws him on for hours when, without this control, he would have sunk. You know how much the mind can influence and control your bodies—how many imaginary illnesses you have, and how imagination will produce death. You have probably heard of the person who was sentenced to death dying from the effects of imagination. He was placed in the hands of physicians who desired to try an experiment relative to the effects of imagination. They caused his arm to be bared and then made a small puncture in the skin without drawing blood. They then poured a trickling stream of water upon his arm of the temperature of the blood. The man grew faint and pale and finally expired, purely from the effects of imagination, no drop of his blood having been shed. Such is the power of the spirit over the body. Sometimes persons prolong their lives by the mere exercise of will. They are determined not to die, and so live on long after their bodies are worn out, sometimes survive the secret wishes of their friends. This stubbornness is that which imparts life to your bodies. Certainly there are outside and subtle causes—hereditary causes, accidents (so-called), contagious diseases—that in them- selves cause death; but all this is the result of some subtle action also upon the vital force that connects the spirit with the body; and when it has suddenly suspended its influence the mind has not power to act—all the nervous forces are suddenly and effectually destroyed and cut of. But, as we have stated, this intimate force is conveyed by the nervous system, wherein the brain partakes actually of the vital state, and intelligence, the power of mind, manifests itself through that most subtle of all processes of mechanism—the human brain. This force is known and understood but dimly; but it forms not only the connecting link between your minds and bodies, but also the connecting link between your minds and the spiritual world. That this is a palpable potent agent is evident; for whenever the hand is paralysed, or death j down the physical body, the mind cannot control that diseased or dead member; and frequently }. carry about with you a decayed hand or limb because the rain cannot act upon the nervous forces, they having been shut or stricken off by vital disease. When paralysis ensues, it is because this nerve aura has been destroyed. Many persons' lives are thus destroyed which might be useful, because they have overstepped the bounds of nature. Nature's resources are very conservative. You only expend one- third of the respiratory power of your lungs in ordinary # thing. 6 THE NEW SCIENCE, But if you start on the run you are obliged to expend two-thirds, and sometimes more, usually resulting in shortness of breath. If you were always to run to business and back again your fellow- beings would consider you lunatics, because you would exhaust the reserve forces of the lungs. Yet this you are always doing with your brain or nerve-force. You draw upon the capital, which is not a business-like operation. You never find, in stocks or banks, that men draw upon their reserve funds; they keep them for an emer- gency. But you are constantly drawing upon the reserve forces of your system—making nervous drains upon this vital aura—thus consuming and weakening day by day your strength. There are more persons that die from prostration of the nervous forces than from actual disease. It is the vital seat of all disease. It is con- nected with every work of the mind. All over-exhaustion of the mind, therefore, by-and-bye tells upon the constitution, and of course death must ensue. - Upon these subtle forces whereby your brain is controlled by your spirit, disembodied spirits also are able to act; stimulating those atoms, those molecules of nervous fluid, that pass from the brain to every minute portion of the human body, thus causing impressions of the mind or physical vibrations of the body, conveying intelligence that does not come from your own mind, and manifesting their presence and power. This is why you should be perfectly passive at a spiritual seance. You know that in a state of excitement there can be no passivity of mind. If any strong impulse moves you—any impulse of love, malice, hatred, jealousy, or any other disturbing element—it cannot produce nervous tran- quillity. Now, as the nervous force is that which is employed by spirits in reaching your mind, quiet and harmony are always invoked by your spirit-guides. The first word on greeting you is “harmony;” the last word is “harmony;” and every word be- tween means harmony, because much time is often lost in producing this quiet and harmony. And herein lies one of the reasons why so little intelligence can be transported to your minds. In the first place, in all seances composed of ambiguous and promiscuous persons, there is always some excitability—some person not in a proper state of mind and body—and the general solvent must be produced ; there must be a uniform atmosphere—an aura that the Spirit may employ. Hence you are requested to sing, or join in any kind of innocent conversation, to produce a similarity of thought upon which the spirit may act; because incongruous ele- ments, and those violent emotions of the mind that produce vibrations of nerve aura similar to the whirlwind, are not con- ducive to spiritual manifestations. Could you see the spiritual aura as it emanates from your minds, you would see these little whirlwinds exist all over the atmosphere ; and spirits find it very difficult to approach, and are caught 11; in these semi-whirlwinds; again and again they try, SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE—RECAPITULATION, 7. and again and again they fail. Be harmonious, therefore; be passive. We cannot come unless you are. If you sit by yourself, directly this feeling of passivity of mind will come over you if you desire communion. If your mind, however, goes off on business, or is occupied by some inconceivable absurdity, that takes away the aura and diverts the power of the spirit. When a seance is required for producing physical manifestations, of course the con- ditions must be very correct and very exact, and the least variation will produce a divergence in the form of manifestation, or divert it altogether; sometimes prevent it, and sometimes, we fear, tempt unscrupulous persons to perform the manifestations themselves. These are all conditions of human life you must accept. It is in your world, and you must deal with men as you find them. You do not trust the man on exchange in dealing with stocks. It is sometimes the same in spiritual seances; you meet spirits with that idea on your minds. You do not get away from this atmo- sphere of distrust and deception. You are so accustomed to wear masks by day, that you forget spirits cannot be deceived by them, and you bear into this atmosphere the very spirit that you wear among your fellow-beings each day and hour. Then physical conditions have much to do with it. This atmo- sphere, wherein various persons emit magnetic, electric, and phos- phoric emanations, have to do with the form of spiritual manifes- tations. Of course the primal element is nervous and mental, but the auxiliaries are in the atmosphere, and the medium, the principal source of the emanations, must of course not only be in a har- monious condition of mind, but also every avenue by which the nervous force is thrown off from the body must be in a harmonious condition. When anything occurs to interrupt this condition sick- ness oftentimes ensues, sometimes even death. As we have already stated, any violation of the known laws whereby these manifesta- tions are produced is extremely prejudicial, and endangers the health of the medium, and every sensitive person present. Those elements—magnetic, electrical, or phosphoric elements— accompanying each person, as before mentioned, assist, but do not roduce the manifestations. The strength that is thus given is imparted to the medium, and to the spirits striving to present themselves; and in the case of physical embodiment this is sometimes made so palpable a form—made to simulate so nearly the physical form—that it is almost the same as flesh and blood; yet could you analyse it, as sometimes has been done by clairvoyants, you would see that instead of flesh and blood, there is only the external surroundings—the semblance of these—and that the body is merely clothed upon the spiritual body, in order to aid the more tangible form of your material vision; but that it has not vital life, vital functions, nor vital blood and nervous power: hence whatever power it does possess is drawn from those persons who compose the seance and the medium, and it is § when 8 - THE NEW SCIENCE, § those conditions enjoined are strictly observed that the manifesta- tions act according to their purity and perfection. When they do they form the subject of keen investigation, and the completest proof of the power of spirits to materialise themselves in the atmosphere. We have referred to various stages of vision—spiritual vision and material vision. All embodied spirits have not the spiritual vision. The vision of the seer is very distinct and separate from that which is seen in the materialisation of spirit-forms. The vision of the seer is either the vision of the absolute spiritual form, or the result of symbolical impression produced on the mind of the seer by a guardian spirit. And when such a seer witnesses the spirit-form, and others do not see it with the natural eye, you may determine then that it is spiritual vision—real vision, but of the spirit. Sometimes when figures, grotesque and peculiar, appear before the human mental vision, it is the result of psychological or symbolical impression, whereby the spirit, acting upon the various organs of the brain, desires to effect some impres- sion or to give some thought or subtle analysis. . These gradations of sight are known among Spiritualists; but it is not spiritual vision which gives you the power to see the materialised spirit- form. It is simply external vision taking cognisance of the form that, although more subtle and finer than your bodies, is still materialised enough for your eyes to see and to have the appearance of the absolute material body. Of course vapour and air condensed might produce such a form without the effect of those mechanical conditions to which we have referred. It only requires you to know the dense atmosphere you have been inhaling and the actual presence of mineral substances in that atmosphere, to be aware that a certain portion of it would produce, a very palpable form. The air decomposed is easily materialised, and where it is so the spirit can, with little difficulty, congregate the atoms and elements to produce this materialised body. In that case it is not spiritual vision; but it is the vision of spirit materialised, betokening always the presence of the spirit, its power over matter, and the influence that the spirits have over your minds. Many times these visions assume forms that do not represent the resent condition of the spirit, but are given for the purpose of identification, to show them as they appeared on earth. These are, of course, actual materialisations, but are given for the express purpose of identity: in that case you do not see the transfigured form of the spirit, but such a presentation as will represent the friend you have lost. It is not necessary to recapitulate here the substances that the spirits employ to reach your external senses. But enough has been said to show you that the forces of the atm sphere, almost impalpable to you, when separated and condensed, §I'ê wººl. to spirits, and under their more immediate con- SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE—RECAPITULATION, 9 trol; that by the aid of these elements, this fura, and the agitation of the nervous forces, the very atoms that are more material are set in motion, thereby producing physical manifestations. . There is, of course, constantly going out from every body—every organised body—a fluid or aura, the result of its atomic life. In human beings, this aura takes on the higher or vitalised form; indeed, we might almost say that this aura (could you per- ceive it) would form a luminous condensed atmosphere visible to your spiritual vision. Each person possesses a different mental and physical aura; and that which is purely physical is not, of course, the fine aura upon which the spirit acts; but that which is mental and spiritual combines properties whereby spirits produce mental and physical impressions. This aura varies in density, power, per- tinacity, and in absolute quality, according to the condition of the €I'SOI), p Thought itself is a substance; but you have no analysis whereby to discover it. Some persons have peculiar thoughts, not globular, nor rounded, but sharp and atomic, like a point or minute spear. Some persons have thoughts that revolve round them like a spiri- tual foam or cloud aura, that exists without producing an impression. Other spirits have thoughts, not only pointed, but probing and producing general laceration. Sometimes this laceration is not by any means gentle. Sometimes persons' thoughts are full and bold, and are like a cannon-ball, or some sub- stance that affects you like the shock of a battery. Othors' thoughts are wiry and thin and exceedingly sharp, and they make their way into your minds without your feeling their full effects at once; but when there they begin to wriggle and twist, and like serpents they produce their effects. Others again have voluminous thoughts, that produce no special power; but these thoughts impose with great effect upon the majority, and make the impression that the original has a large mind; but it is simply because of the vapour. Then there are other people whose thoughts are so intense and crystallised that you cannot arrive at them, except by the process of hammering and pounding; and, when in Society, you have the greatest difficulty in finding out what they do think. Their brains and physical bodies furnish an outward covering to their minds; lout their thoughts are crystallised and fine, if you could get at them, though very difficult to find. These persons sometimes, from necessity, waste their powers in society; i. great events bring forth the hidden treasures of their minds, and astonish the world like a diamond that has been unburied. Sometimes persons have thoughts like comets, and are governed at times by laws the most difficult, so that they are those the least understood. These are the ones who are eternally riding new hobbies. These hobbies strike them in some religious, ethical, or scientific direction, and for the time being they are absorbed in them, until another thing comes along and takes them and the comet also with it. 10 M THE NEW SCIENCE. These sufficiently illustrate the variety of minds that are palpable to spiritual vision; and though each one of you may possess not exactly any of the types we have presented, you possess an approxi- mate to these types, and these varieties of thought affect the atmo- sphere in a most peculiar manner; and could you allow the sunlight of spiritual vision to shine upon them, they would appear very similar to the condition of air that arises in your room when you admit a ray of light. You would see a multitude of infinitesimal molecules that assume various shapes—spears, and darts, and points, and Ser- pentine forms. So to let in the spiritual sunlight upon your rather material beings, spiritually, would oftentimes show these serpen- time forms, and the variety of wonderful vibrations that your thoughts take in the course of even an instant's time. This being the case, how wonderful the philosophy that can resolve these into harmony, and show the causes by which these subtle thoughts give forth their ultimate and appointed purpose, whereby every spiritually appointed nature can of itself revolve in the great firmament of atomic souls, governed by the same law, controlled by the same mind, fulfilling the same destiny, and working out for ever the same problem of existence 1 The legturer having then invited questions, the following queries and answers were given : In response to a desire for further information, Mrs. Tappan said—A. If the gentleman has understood us to say that the spirit takes on substance, or becomes materialised, he is mistaken. What we have stated is that when persons see these materialised forms, they see the form created from the atmosphere for the occasion. Of course the term “materialised spirit” is a very convenient one, and is used by all spirits as differing from the spirit that is not materialised. You are all materialised spirits while occupying the material form; so, during a seance, the spirit that takes on a materialised form is for that period a materialised spirit; and we hope no confusion has arisen in the mind of the gentleman con- cerning this. Q–A man passing along the road saw and spoke to what he con- ceived to be his cousin, but on going to his house, some miles distant, found he had been killed about that time in a mine in which he worked. I should like to know the modus operandi whereby this was brought about P-A. We have said that there are several kinds kinds of spiritual visions. This is the vision of the spirit produced 'by psychological influence, and the other a vision of the spiritual form. There is no proof that the body he saw was really a materialised form. It may have appeared so to his vision, but there Was no other witness. He may have supposed it to be a physical form. It in reality was the spiritual form, or the power of his disembodied cousin to produce that effect upon his brain psychologically. All these * are not the materialisation of their forms, but more Q sº SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE—RECAPITULATION. 11 truly the sympathy or vision of their relatives who saw them, upon which they can produce this spiritual vision. Q.—Mrs. Tappan, in replying to the question as to whether it was the spiritualised form, I believe said it was the disembodied spirit of the miner only seen through the spiritual vision of the cousin. We can all of us understand the material form of flesh and blood; but how is it when the recognition applies to the clothing as well as the form of the individual P−A. A spirit sufficiently powerful to produce the physical appearance psychologically could not have much difficulty in reproducing the clothing. He could clothe the mind also with the garments he wore. The mesmerist makes his subject see anything he chooses from a star to a monkey in a jungle, because of the power of his mind over him. He makes him drink water and think it is wine, to eat dry bread and think it the richest viand. So a spirit sufficiently powerful to produce an actual vision of his presence, could certainly make one see his clothing in order to recognise him. We simply say that is one of the ways. Perhaps the miner who saw his cousin was a medium; sometimes the effect is produced in one way and sometimes ano- ther. There is no proof that such a manifestation was material unless another saw the body of the deceased cousin. Q.—Ishould be glad of any further suggestions respecting the use of violet light at seances.—A. If the phosphoric influence prevails, and the medium only gives off phosphorescent emanations, they cannot of course have anything but darkness. If they are electrical, other lights are advantageous. But in most manifestations where there are atomic as well as electrical, the violet is favourable as preventing the disintegration of the atoms used by spirits. But these could only be directed by some spirits who understand what the peculiar requirements are. No general directions will serve, except as a general rule the violet will be the most conducive, not only to nervous passivity of the mind of the sitter, but also to the manifestations themselves. You will of course be obliged to con- sult with the spirits that direct the manifestations of the particular medium employed as to what light they prefer, as they can best judge what their individual manifestations can be pro- duced in. Q.—Do spirits only live in the space around our planets, or are they everywhere in the whole universe?—A. The spirits of your planet inhabit the region just outside the actual physical atmosphere of the earth, where a finer aura exists. The spirits of other planets occupy a similar position with reference to those planets. Then there are interstellar spaces where the aura is still finer and the souls still more advanced, and there the highest spirits from every planet congregate and make their abodes. Spirits may not remain permanently in your earthly atmosphere, because it would detract from their spiritual advancement. Space itself is a rela- tive term. 123 12 THE NEW SCIENCE. Q.—A great deal has been written by advanced Spiritualists upon a spiritual condition they term “the inner breath,” or “internal respiration.” I cannot understand whether this can be defined, or whether it ought to be understood spiritually, or whether the con- trolling influence can explain the difference between inner breathing and internal respiration.—A. There is a state of breathing that is purely a physical matter, analogous to the different stages of the mediumistic trance. It is an old saying of nurses that a child is never fast asleep until the third sigh. That denotes that certain phases of nervous action have taken place, and if you could observe sufficiently, but upon others, you would see they are never fast asleep until this profound respiration has taken place. This is the internal respiration. It is the effort of the lungs to expel the car- bonic acid gas that is not required during sleep. Some never have this third respiration, and hence have not the utmost repose that sound sleep can give. This is quite a different thing, however, from the breathing of the spirit. If a person stand overyour head and blows upon you, a warm vapour comes from the mouth ; if he changes his position, a cold vapour comes: each depends upon the position of the person. Now the inner breathing of the spirit refers to the warmth that comes over the mind; the conscious illumination of the spiritual powers, whereby the mind is enabled to see spiritual things. Thus the two are not synonymous terms. Q.—The spirit-guides of Mrs. Tappan appear to separate mind from thought. She has used the words: “Thoughts wriggle into the mind.” To my mind thought and mind are synonymous terms.- A. Mind is a general term for combined thoughts. A thought is one of the particular atoms taken from the mind, and thrown off. You mº have a thought; but it does not take away your whole mind. The entirety of thought is mind. - Q.—Are not spirit-forms vitalised ? Am I to understand, when I see a spirit-form—say that of “John King” or “Katey’—that that particular form is for the time being vitalised ?–A. What you mean by vital life is organic structure and the functions that pertain to the physical body, which “John King ” and “Katey" certainly do not have. They have simply atoms that are galvanised for the occasion, but not vitalised. They have not the vitality which you have, but the galvanised life, which is only a condition produced for the time being. Q–Has music any effect upon disembodied spirits, and, if so, in what way?—A. Generally musical sounds affect disembodied spirits by the sympathy they have with your minds, by the harmony they produce upon your mind. The music of the spheres is simply the musical rhythm, the perfect thought, since thought is more har- monious than any possible sound or vibration of the external * 4 - SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE—RECAPITULATION. 18 The following poem was then given, the subject suggested by Prince Wittgenstein being “Katey’:— :- 'Tis but the shadow of beauty you see, When the form is revealed to your sight, Disappearing in thin transparency - Of glowing and brilliant white. It hath no form like the earthly mould; But a mortal shape it wears; It hath no heart with pulses untold; But a living soul it bears. Oh, be sure that beneath every earthly form, Though lifeless and heartless they seem, There still is a spark that is pure and warm, And will unfold in heaven's bright beam. } The “Katey" you saw was not the fair sprite Whose eyes like the stars gleam forth In the brilliant beauty of spiritual light, But only a beautiful wraith, Shaped and fashioned to sight of the sense, To the dull material clay, That will not find yet the recompense, And search the highest way. Put through that form look up to the soul Folded close to the infinite love, Ennobled and blest with its sacred control, And you will meet “Katey's" spirit above. • * 1. THE NEW SCIENCE. TRUTH. What star both beacon o'er the night of Time, With wondrous radiance? risen sublime; Within the depths of space its light is set, Like rarest jewel in a coronet. Mankind have wandered far through weary years, In darkness and in woe—obscured by tears— For want of some supernal light, whose ray Might beam from heaven on earth's shadow’d way. “What star shall rise?” asked the hoary sage, “I’ve sought through history's entangled page, IFor one fair hope to gladden with its chime, The dreary marchings of the tread of Time. “Lo, I have delved deep in science's lore, Striving to solve those problems deep, and o'er The midnight lamp have sought to find How worlds revolve, and planets still may bind “Their motions to their spheres, those orbits vast, One grandeur o'er the universe have cast; But through the moving years I seek to know One light supreme to guide my path below.” “What star both beacon?” cries the patriot pale, “The nations perish—empires fade and fail; The world recalls the longing, aching hours * When struggling Freedom sought for blessed powers, Hath wrought in patience for sweet Liberty.”— - O, star of perfect Truth, we seek for thee. Sit like a sun, a-near the throne of God— What time mankind nearer to Thee have trod; Now shall its rays illumine all our ways, Make glorious with grace and love our days. Shed bright the way to Him, who taught the plan Of God's best Love and purposes to man,— And lo! the stars shine now above your world, Its beauteous banners ever are unfurled. Seek ye its light, and ye shall surely find. For Truth dwells in God's eternal mind, 126 ANSWERS TO SEWERAL IMPORTANT OUESTIONS 00NGERNING THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, AN INSPIRATIONAL DIscourse, DELIVERED BY MRs. ConA L. V. TAPPAN, AT CLEVELAND HALL, LONDON, ON SUNDAY EVEN- ING, APRIL 19th, 1874. INVOCATION. Our Father, who art in heaven Thou spirit of life and love! Thou perfect and beautiful soul, to whom all spirits turn with thanksgiving and praise! Thou that from the past to the future eternity art the same, to whom time, and death, and space, and all things of the senses are as naught, but who dost live for ever in the perfect beauty of thought, transcendent and supreme, encom- passing all, knowing all, pervading all, we praise Thee! The spirit that is like unto Thee, endowed with Thine attributes, would praise and bless Thee for those qualities; would approach nearer to the comprehension of Thy divine mind; would know of the spiritual world, and judge of its vast and comprehensive beauties We know that the firmament is spread out before the gaze of man, filled with the light and splendour of those laws wherewith Thou dost control and govern matter. We know the stars revolve in their orbits in response to law. We know that every atom fills its destiny and life in accordance with Thy being. But the spiritual universe—that vast realm that lies beyond matter, that Thy children know nothing of-they strive in vain with the senses to understand it. Vainly do they pierce space with their thoughts of materialism. O, let them gaze with the eye of the spirit—let us turn the understanding and the thought to the soul, and find whereof its substances are made ; allied to Thee, en- dowed with Thy perfection, born of Thy immortality, fººd by 4. THE NEW SCIENCE. the beneficent charity and kindliness of Thy loving soul, fraught with the immortal breath of being. O let us penetrate to that vast kingdom of thought and knowledge wherein every deed and word becomes a new beauty or a deformity, and each thought of the mind lives for ever, imperishable, incorruptible. We praise Thee for those glimpses of that realm of light that have been revealed to Thy children | We praise Thee that knowledge—transcending knowledge—is being added to the powers of the mind! We praise Thee that even now, with other senses than those of matter, we can perceive the presence of light and soul; they crowd within our hearts, as closely to our being as is breath, as is life; that Thou dost fill every atom of this room; that Thou dost fill all space; that Thou dost bear us up on the wings of aspiration and prayer to where the souls of angels perform Thy deeds of lovingkindness, and sing for ever Thy praise in the melody of the spirit-land. We praise Thee evermore. We would aspire to Thy truth; we would enjoy all Thy knowledge; we would seek Thy wisdom; we would 'build up on earth an expression of the temple of Thy spiritual kingdoml - 128 QUESTIONS ANSWERED CONCERNING THE SPIRIT-WOIRLD. 5 DISCOURSE. A writerin one of the spiritual newspapers has propounded several lºº inquiries concerning the manner of existence in the spiritual ife;" and it is for the purpose of answering those queries that we shall give an address this evening touching the absolute nature of the spiritual existence, and in what manner it corresponds to the temporal or earthly life. Notwithstanding Spiritualism has been in the world a quarter of a century, and notwithstanding the writings of Swedenborg and others who have been inspired of the spirit, there seems to be, not only among those who are new in spiritual investigation, but also among Spiritualists, such varieties of opinion and such perplexities concerning the substance and nature of spiritual substance, that we consider no authoritative expression has yet been given by which the mind can judge of this existence, al- though there have been innumerable lessons. The chief difficulty, however, rests with the investigator himself. When the spirits state to you that the spiritual world is as tangible as your world, straight- way the investigator concludes that it is therefore a material world. The difference between tangibility and materiality is very distinct. That may be tangible to the spirit which would be in no wise material to your senses; and the substance of which spiritual existence is composed cannot be measured nor judged by the laws that control materialised substances on earth. With these pre- mises the investigator starts fairly; but when the spirit affirms that spiritual existence is really quite as tangible as earthly life, the man of science straightway believes that he can judge of that materiality by the same standard that he gives to the gross forms of matter around him, and judges that the shore of spiritual existence is made of grains of sand that can be weighed and measured by the ordinary methods of science; also, that the mountains and valleys must be made of the varied kinds of rock and soil that are found upon earth; also, that the rivers must be of the same kind of water; and, altogether, makes spiritual life an exact representation of earthly life. The queries to which we refer propound first: Is the scenery of spiritual life an exact counterpart of earth P. If it be not, what is the substance of which the spirit-land is composed? Now it is known by all men of science that there are an infinite variety of substances imperceptible to the touch of man, yet which are nevertheless material. It is known by all men of science that the most subtle substances are those very refined qualities that cannot be analysed unless they are specifically acting upon much grosser substances, like electricity, magnetism, and the other subtle powers and forces of nature. Now the substance of which thought is composed no scientist has yet professed to analyse; yet so palpable is it to the spirit that, upon entering this room, one endowed with * See “J. G. S.” in the MED1UM, No. 211, page 247. * 129 6 THE NEW SCIENCE. the gift of the spirit, or a spiritual being, perceives the quality of your thoughts just as readily as you perceive the quality of one another's garments. This may, of course, Sound strange, but in spiritual science it is an actual reality. When therefore you consider that thought is in itself one of the grossest of spiritual substances, you will have some data whereby to judge of the other substances which surround and compose spiri- tual existence. All those elements that exist within the atmo- sphere of life, that are not perceptible to your material sense, and that form the avenue or agency of mind conversing with mind, are the elements which make up the spiritual life. Swedenborg has enunciated the doctrine of correspondence, whereby heaflirms that every earthly form has its corresponding shape in spiritual life. But he does not therefore say that every spiritual form is a literally transcribed form from material existence: hence he does not therefore say that every house, building, and valley has its exact prototype in the spiritual state. He also may not affirm that there is something in spiritual existence that for spiri- tual purposes answers to flowers, trees, birds, substances, land- scapes, mountains, valleys; but that is his meaning. The substances are, as we have stated, not only within the atmosphere of the earth, but the more exalted of them are lying beyond the pale of earth's material atmosphere in that which is known as space. When you judge of a material object here upon earth, you judge of it as something outside of yourself, and the man of science and the metaphysician concludes that any object which is independent of your will, and has a form of its own, and laws of its own, is not to be controlled by your especial mind. But in the spirit-life all this is reversed; that which is objective to you becomes shadowy and vague to the spirit. This room, apparently solidified and tan- gible, is to the spirit almost as vapour, and forms no impediment whatsoever to the approach or departure of spiritual beings. The substances that you consider the most formidable and least to be moved are to spirits almost as vapour seems to you; while the thought or the essences of those substances that are to you intan- gible are to spirits reality. Hence where it is said by spirits that there are scenes and landscapes, mountains and valleys, rivers and flowers, birds and all things corresponding to your earthly life, they enunciate a spiritual paradox, unless they also affirm that those substances are spiritual in their nature; that the spirit enters just such a sphere in spirit-life as the quality of his or her thought and the power of his or her will can create and draw around them spiritually; and that vastnumbers of spirits go either on plains that are shrouded by darkness, or among valleys, or mountains that lift their heads up to the light, and are shrouded only by thought, just in proportion to the combination of their will and the power of their minds to control those atoms of matter. You know in science of such a law as chemical affinity. The 13 QUESTIONS ANSWERED CONCERNING THE SPIRIT-WORLD. 7 substances the mind draws around itself in spiritual life correspond to this law upon earth, and the spirit is clothed upon, is draped, is surrounded by those qualities of atmosphere or atmospheric sub- stances that he or she has the power to attract. Be those sub- stances light and beautiful; be they formed in the shape of moun- tain or valley; be they of level plain or of lofty and towering heights, it depends upon the nature of the mind that there is the centre of life and of influence. Upon this earth matter has its own stubborn laws—its own unyielding, unintelligent laws. The blind forces of nature seemingly work out their way, resisting man's aggression for ever. In spirit-life this is the reverse. Matter is not objective; it is not resistive; it does not impede; it does not prevent the passage of spirits—of those forms that spirits possess; and the scenery that they are surrounded by may be changed at the will of one or more individual spirits. The geography of the spirit-world—if we may say so—is not a fixed and immovable thing like the geography of earth, except so far as it relates to the planets and worlds themselves, but that inter-stellar space that composes the vast realm of spiritualised existence is filled with a kind of substance that spirits govern and control at will; and therefore the scenery which abounds there is of the kind that spirits them- selves can fashion. Lofty souls endowed with consciousness and knowledge surpassing your understanding may so govern the atoms of spiritual substances in that light as to make vast pictures—plains, temples, valleys, mountains, and living things—in response to the thought or desire that it shall be so. You read in ancient times the spirit of God descended in the form of a dove. There have been at various seances and other places where spirits have manifested themselves, flowers, birds, symbols of variºus kinds witnessed by many persons, and the ques: tion has naturally arisen, Are these realities P , They are spiritual realities. The spiritual form is such that if a spirit desires to repre- sent to you a flower, it only requires the thought to do so, and a knowledge of the laws that govern the direction of atoms to produce that flower to your vision; and in spiritual life it only requires that those substances of which spiritual flowers are fashioned shall be gathered together to surround the spirit with whatever form he or she may choose to require. Understand us. All these things are governed by law; but they are not the laws that govern your material substances. They are spiritual laws, having their origin and seat in the will or volition of the spirit itself, and thence reach- ing out and controlling and governing matter. You know what rapid strides science has made in the control of the elements of earth by humanity. You know how much force and power the will and mind of man has even over the clod of clay you call your material bodies. In spiritual life, when these sub- stances become subject to the spirit instead of aggressive to it, you can readily perceive that all the functions of the spirit ºut. \ 8 THE NEW SCIENCE, and positive, and not as they are here, negative and obedient to the laws of matter largely. t - Another mistake that investigators make is this: that they do not sufficiently remove themselves from the usual custom of inea- suring all things by the standards of earthly knowledge and earthly science. Spiritual science has its own laws; spiritual existence has its laws; spiritual beings have their laws; and it is an utter, an absolute mistake to suppose that because spirits sometimes do and are permitted to materialise themselves in a gross form for your earthly vision, that they therefore are always compelled to occupy gross forms. It is a mistake to suppose also that the gifts of the spirit will tend towards the constant reproduction of those physical forms of life here. They will not. Spiritual existence only expresses itself through your earthly forms because that is the only way it can reach you. But in spiritual life souls are so amen- able to the power of the spirit, that it is a realm in which thought is supreme, in which mind abides, in which all leading graces and virtues, all goodness, all aspirations, take tangible, actual form. The thought goes out from your mind and is lost amid the waves of materiality that surround you, and you have not power to follow it; you do not realise it after it escapes from your lips. But in spirit-life the thought goes out, and it reaches the mind for whom it is intended—is a substance, and has a literal, actual vibration corresponding to sound. The person who proposes these questions also desires to know if the spirit is dependent upon vocal utterance and upon hearing for the transmission of thought. We are sure the man, if he had measured the meaning of the word spirit, would not have asked this question. Thought is the power of expression of the spirit, and instead of the employment of words, which are mere vibra- tions upon the external atmosphere for the purpose of reaching the material sense, the mind that is advanced converses with mind through will. You know it is oftentimes the case upon earth that two minds who are very similar and in perfect sympathy can almost read one another's thoughts. You know oftentimes, when sitting with a friend, some sentence is uttered, and you say, “Why, I was just thinking of that same thing !”. You come to speak of a person, and say, “That person was just in my mind,” showing the power one mind has to influence another. In spiritual life where would be the necessity of language when thought expresses itself directly to thought P. Those spirits, therefore, that are most ad- vanced have least need of the materialised expression; and when they do express themselves in physical language, it is only in the grosser forms of spirit-life that are nearest to your earth. But this person also says that there is a language of the spirit corresponding somewhat to the ancient Hebrew. There are several languages employed by spirits in their intercourse with mortals, sometimes corresponding to your earthly language, sometimes 132 QUESTIONS ANSWERED conCERNING THE SPIRIT-WORLD. 9 symbolic; but there is no necessity for vocal or written messages between spirits in spirit-life. The thought itself is sufficient to reach the mind of whomsoever is in sympathy with the persons ex- pressing the thought; and where would be the need of physical expression when there is no necessity for hearing, or for any of the material senses? Then, says this person, do we require a material form P. It is said that the spiritual form actually resembles the human form, only it is more perfected, more etherealised, more spiritual. We answer, the functions of the spirit-form are spiritual, expressing the highest form of thought that the spirit itself has attained. Angels, spirits, all forms of departed beings, are represented as having forms like those possessed on earth, only more beautified and more ethereal. Now, says the questioner, if there be no necessity for voice or hearing, or any of the senses that we possess upon earth, why does the spirit possess an exact prototype of the human form P. We answer: each feature, every expression of countenance, every lineament of the human form or face, represents also a spiri- tual quality. Soul possesses not any of the senses you term mate- rial, but one supreme sense; with the spirit, however, it is one concentrated sense, perception. - You are aware that when a person is blind the sense of touch is unusually intense; when a person is deaf, the sense of sight is un- usually acute; when mute, the sense of hearing is exceedingly active; showing that the soul's sense is but one, and that those are the varied expression of the soul's sense upon which you are depen- dent in the physical body. The spiritual body represents the sense of the spirit only, and that is perception. There is no better name for it. "We therefore give it that name for your understanding. If you can read the thoughts of your friend, shall you, therefore, speak words that are, at best, too feeble to convey your mind if you can fully sense the power of that thought instead of the vibration and the dull sense P and if you were to live on the elements con- tained in the air and atmosphere, where would be the necessity for those forms of nourishment and nutrition you usually make use of P Does the spirit hunger and thirst? We answer: Yes; but the spiritual food, we have said before, is spiritual, not material. hose elements that form the substance of the spiritual body are in the atmosphere of the spiritual life. The spirit sustains that º body by the constant attraction and rejection of atoms that correspond to it, and are required by it. There is hunger and thirst, but not the grosser forms of your physical wants: you are aware that they can be much modified by attention to the laws of health and materiality; and it may be in some distant time, when the atmosphere is more and more refined, that you shall not require the gross forms of nourishment that you now require. There is no reason to suppose that this is a finality; because your present com- prehension of spiritual life illustrates the fact that tºpitul 10 THE NEW SCIENCE. * form can be sustained and resupplied with life, vitality, and nourish- ment from the elements that surround it. By the material mind accustomed to judge literally of every expression that emanates from spiritual life we have no hope that these words will be understood. But by those minds that are accustomed to judge of spiritual things from the standpoint of spirit, we know that they will also be understood. You can imagine, indeed you may have experienced, periods of exaltation and of unusual occupation, when hunger and thirst and all bodily require- ments seemed secondary, and only those substances were taken that were actually required to sustain life. There have been several instances on record of persons under high spiritual exaltation who have lived a month or two, subsisting entirely upon the atmosphere; and there is one or two instances of persons now upon earth who, it is said, have not taken physical nourishment for several years; showing that in a refined state of physical body you all, or earth's inhabitants, will be enabled to attract from the atmosphere those particular elements that are required to sustain the physical body. Of course this must be many centuries hence; but the fact that this has been done measurably proves it may be done wholly in the future; and the fact, that it has been done measurably will serve to indicate something of the manner how spirit-beings subsist. We have said the food of the spirit is thought. We mean by this, that whatever the spiritual body requires, that, without any particular care other than volition, the spirit is enabled to absorb to itself, and that it creates its own physical form, and sustains its own physical life without any of the dull processes by which your spirits are worn down and overweighed upon earth, . Its garments are also similarly composed of the elements of spiritual life, and whatsoever atom of matter is requisite to adorn the spirit the soul can attract to itself in proportion to its purity and knowledge, in which we have said the soul arrays itself. Consider the lilies how they grow. From within the germs unfold, absorbing little by little the substance from the soil, im- alpable to your sense. The lily unfolds its leaves, and then its i. s, and then its petals; and all the while the rays of the sun, the dew and the elements of earth have been silently obeying the summons of that simple power that is within the germ of the flower. Transcendently above this is the power of the soul of man to clothe himself, to adorn his spirit, to grace his spiritual life with the substances and qualities that correspond to his development; and not more perfect is this white Snowy flower than the thought and mind and clothing of the man whose spirit is advanced and erfect; and not more noisome is the weed in the slimy pool than is the spiritual existence of him whose thoughts are cramped and low and unspiritual. You drape yourselves, you clothe yourselves, you feed yourselves QUESTIONS ANSWERED concI:RNING THE SPIRIT-world. 11 tº: with the substance of spiritual life, just in proportion to the power of thought, knowledge, and goodness that you possess. Men do not inherit their spiritual habitations. There are no large tracts of land you can become possessed of by inheritance. There are no mountains, valleys, buildings that are yours by the law of pri- mogeniture. You possess nothing that you have not º created. In that spiritual life that the lowest and most undeve- loped souls inhabit there is a dearth, a seeming void, a waste, a pronounced shapelessness without form, except shadows have form ; without beauty, except deformity is beauty; and only by the culture of the highest and the noblest attributes can the spirit even imagine what the life and power and purpose of spiritual existence may be. The questioner also wishes to know if spirits are dependent upon walking for locomotion, or if they can move about from place to place at will, showing again that he commences most externally to reason towards the spiritual world, instead of first considering spirit and then spiritual laws. The power of the spirit is will, mind, volition. Just in proportion to the elevation or knowledge of the soul is its power to move from one place to another. You think of New York, and straightway you are there in mind; you think towards China; if you have been there, your thought does not stop and traverse all the intermediate stages of that journey, but straightway you are there. You think of your home, of your own little room, of all those that there are attracted to you: these walls form no impediment, there is no necessity for you to walk there; and if you have will through power and knowledge of the spirit, you are there without the encumbrance of your physical bodies. As soon as you east off these physical bodies of yours, the spirit is wheresover it wills to be—the desire forming the power by which the spirit moves. Flight is not a proper term, since there are not the fabulous wings. It is simply the power of floating or motion, and it depends wholly upon the strength of the spirit in spiritual knowledge whether its flight be rapid or slow, whether it be in- stantly transported or go by degrees, or whether it do not go at all. There are souls that cannot lift themselves; they remain attached to the clod of clay they have left behind, so little spiri- tuality have they. Haunted houses, graveyards, those unresting spirits that torment the sensitive ones of earth—these are of that nature. Sometimes they cannot move from one place because their spirits are held there by the chains and shackles of their past deeds. But the power of spirits that are free from these misfortunes is pure will, and then their rapidity of transition from one place to another is swifter than lightning, since that takes up time that may be measured by your chronometer. For thought there is no such divi- sion of time. It takes time, but of so slight a nature that you can- not measure it by any method of calculation upon earth. Instantly §§ loved one is by your side if the will, the prayer, the volition e there. tº ºr 135 12 - THE NEw screncI. You therefore will understand by these answers to questions that the whole subject of spiritual life, of its methods, of the forms of existence there, of the nature and quality of the soul, of the land that spirits inhabit, of their occupations and employment, their abodes in the realm they inhabit, is such an unknown subject to earthly minds that you must, forsooth, pause first to learn the alphabet ere you can know the language of spiritual life and its importance; because that with which you are accustomed to judge of time, of sense, of material things, of space and form and occupation here is directly the reverse of spiritual form, spiritual life, spiritual occupation, and spiritual sensation. That which you term reality is to the spirit the veriest shadow. The mountains that you consider impassable are vapour to the spirit. The substances that you value so highly as gold, silver, and precious gtone are dross; and the most delightful of earthly habitations is but a feeble, vain representation compared to the habitation of the spirit that is woven of the very meshes of your own thoughts and deeds. . We will picture to you the abode of a spirit whose earthly life and whose spiritual life are made perfect by knowledge. Each thought and aspiration here of goodness becomes an imme- diate reality, and rises to the sphere of spiritual life, which will await that soul when freed from earthly form. It assumes some shape of harmony—bird, flower, or tree; some colour of light—the rainbow hues that perfectly represent the shining light of heaven. The aisles, the corridors, the domes, the entrances, are all shaped in accordance with the deeds and thoughts of earthly life. Every- thing is symbolised. You will find not one thread of the fabric of your minds lost. The whole is there, woven in the fine tissues of the substances that make up your spiritual forms; and, instead of the trees and gross forms that we call here the earth, you will find the interstices of these spiritual mansions filled with images that you have thought upon earth. Sometimes unwelcome thoughts will look out from some corner of your abode in spiritual life; some thought of envy and malice; perhaps a little demon of discord, lurking in some closet you knew not of... But chiefly, if your aspi- rations are good and high, the walls will be the greatest grandeur of the edifice; its loftiness, its power, its beauty, its art— all will be made subservient to the soul that is within you, that has wrought its divine progression; and if there be images of loveliness on earth, how far shall these transcend them that are born of the graces of good deeds, of kindly charities, of the exalted mind! Each loving deed becomes an angel that straightway sinks upon a pedestal of lowly love, and immediately you enter he salutes you with songs and thanksgiving. Each deed of your life that has been done becomes a living embodiment there, and in the shape of an angel or bird proclaims the praise that is due for these good deeds. Each aspiration and prayer becomes a white-winged bird, or a lovely flower that adorns the way of that life you shall enter. gº &A QUESTIONS ANSWERED CONCERNING THE SPIRIT-World. 13 But chiefest of all, those kindly charities with which you graced the lives of your fellow-beings, behold they blossom out like white lilies around the greenness of your new abode ; and, tran- scendent and above all, that supreme and perfect love that forms the entire empire of the soul, that transcends all knowledge and all strife, all love, creates the shining dome; and the stars that sparkle there are the thoughts and deeds and words of your loving heart here. This is no dream picture. It is so much reality that the angels in their abodes and the spirits of those whom you love are even now helping to fashion the walls and arches of this temple that shall greet your vision; that even now the thoughts that fill your minds rise like white clouds on wings of aspiration, and float to that realm that will one day meet you as you enter; and the very thought you have here to-night will start out to greet you from its hiding-place there; and if it be of praise it will be white as a lily, and if of scorn it will not seem beauteous to you. These are the realities of the spiritual kingdom; these are the substances of which souls are made; these are the powers that govern and rule in spiritual life; these are the elements that ma help to adorn and beautify your earth, take you away from the meaningless forms of clay that you idolise now to the realities of the living soul, the life, the power, the spirit that is within you." The proceedings were concluded by the following impromptu poem : BIRTH PANGS. From the sowing of the seed To the bursting of the shoot And the beautiful rare bud, That receiveth from the root The mourishment of life, One pain must be endured, One pang must pierce the seed, And separate its life From the life that is indeed ; For the seed must surely die. From the bursting of the bud To the opening of the flower, One pang must pierce the shoot, One subtle potent power Must burst that bond in twain, And divide it ere again The life of the lovely flower Shall reach its highest dower; For the bud must surely die. * The last of the queries by “J. G. S.” will be answered at some future time.< Controlling Spirit. 137 14 THE NEW SCIENCE. And from the full-blown flower To the ripening of the fruit, When the golden chalice holds All the life from stem and root And branch and bud and flower, Behold another dower of death is given. One pang must pierce and part The flower through and through, Each petal must be riven Iºre the golden fruit can lie On the grass all bathed with dew; For the ſlower must surely die. From the bursting of the chain That binds your thought to God, Whereby ye seek to gain - The path your souls have trod, One subtle shaft must give One pang.and pain of death, To show your highest home, And why ye here have breath. When man is born and dies the earth encases him; The soul that,is of God, all that is ever him Must be burst and rent in twain By the subtle shaft of death— Then only he breathes again: When man is born and dies, When man is dead and he is born. FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE METTIODS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE, AN INSPIRATIONAL DIscourse, DELIVERED BY MRs. Coſt A L. V. TAPPAN, AT CLEVELAND IIALL, LONDON, ON SUNDAY EVEN- ING, MAY 3RD, 1874. INVOCATION. Our Father, Thou infinite Source of life 1 Thou divine Bene- ficence | Thou everlasting Father I Thou perfect Truth ! Thou eternal and final Soul | All spirits bask in the light of Thy presence; all space is fraught with the majesty of Thy law; all atoms are governed by the wonderful purpose of Thy life. Majestic and immovable, Thou seemest to sit in space while worlds and systems perform their wondrous evolutions; calm in the midst of Thine infinite contemplation The universe is fraught with change and fiery orbs, and living forms of beauty pass and re-appear again; but Thou art always the same. Unchanging because infinite; potent and all-powerful because fraught with the essence of all life. O Thou loving Soul, we praise Thee Not more glorious and divine are the songs of the angels than are our aspirations to know more of Thee. Not more fraught with beauty and excellence are the loving deeds and words of exalted souls than are our thoughts and prayers, as we seek to find and know more of Thee. Truth is Thine, love is Thine, all goodness and beauty are Thine. We are seeking for these. In the earth and in the heavens, in every form of beauty which exists, and in every creature that abides, we know there is some mystery—some link of life that binds them unto Thee. We would find that life; we would seek that perfection; we would uplift our souls on the wings of prayer; we would penetrate beyond time i. Space, 4 THE NEW SCIENCE. § beyond death, beyond all things finite and mortal, even to the infinite, where Thou dost sit enthroned, calm as Thy worlds. O Thou loving presence 1 near unto us is Thy Spirit even as our hearts strive to find Thee. Thou dost beckon us; Thou dost win us with Thy lovingkindness; Thou dost overshadow us with Thy wings that we may not be afraid; even as our hearts aspire to Thee, even as we seek to know all truth and would strive to pene- trate to the origin of life. O Thou loving soul, let us find the blessings Thou hast given We ask not for life: that is ours. We ask not for riches: they already adorn and beautify the earth. We ask for naught but the attributes of Thy wondrous love- liness and the blessings Thou hast already given. Do we seek for knowledge P. Behold Thou hast shown the way. Do we ask for truth? Behold it is there like a bright and shining star, set in -the midst of space for us to follow. Do we strive for love P Behold Thou hast implanted it in us, and for evermore it struggles to make itself manifest. Do we seek to know beyond death P Behold the ministering angels and spirits of Thy care are for ever near whispering words of peace and love. Let us strive to know of them—of their loving life, of the wants of our fellow-creatures that are made in the image of Thy spirit, those that are allied to Thee through Infinitude. God! Spirit ! Life we drink Thy breath; we are filled with Thy glory; we are fraught anew with the divine harmony of Thy love! We see the angels that stand upon the verge of time and are not afraid; for behold the vistas of eternity open out before us, and there are loving hands waiting to welcome us. God! our Fatherſ let us be near to Thee every hour ! Let those whom Thou hast appointed the ministering spirits of life so stand close behind Thy children that they may walk in the ways of darkness and not be afraid; that they may grow strong in temptation, and in the conflict of material life, grow in Thy sight and power, and we will praise Thee for ever- more! 140 TIIE METHODS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE, 5 DISCOURSE. The lesson read was Psalm civ. It will be remembered that two weeks ago we gave an address answering some questions concerning the nature of spiritual exist- ence, the substance of which spirit-forms is made, and the qualities and powers of spiritual life as differing from those of material life. To-night we shall consider, first, spirit itself, its form of expression, its action upon material life. It is usually customary to begin with earthly existence, and to measure therefrom all other forms of life. But the astronomer knows that he cannot calculate any of the forms, distances, or offices of the planets by making the earth the central point. He is obliged, mathematically, to place himself upon the sun, and from that central point measure all distances, making that, as it really is, the central point of his investigations. With man spiritually he is accustomed to make the individual, the soul, the individual mind here upon earth the central point instead of the soul of Deity, or the central Sun of spiritual existence. The immeasurable barriers that lie between the human under- standing and the solution of spiritual problems may be overcome if, in the beginning, and as the central point, the Deity be made the starting point of creation. Matter diffused throughout space, arranged in planets and worlds, constituting various strata of exis- tence, and forming the habitations you inhabit, can no more become the central starting point for spirit than can the earth, or moon, or any of the satellites of the planets be the starting point of the great system of astronomy that prevails in the world to-day. The zentral abode of spiritual power must be the Infinite; from that the soul may predicate its existence; may develop into an im- mortal being immeasurable in its strides to infinite progress; may mark out its greater aim, discover the laws that govern it, and measure the absolute heights it may reach—immeasurable to the material but not to the spiritual sense. We have been asked many times if spirit originates with the material body on earth, and at the time of the formation of the body. We answer, No. Spirit must be infinite in its origin, or it is not immortal in its destiny. It must have had no beginning, or it cannot be without ending. The substance of which your mind is composed, and the exact expression of that mind in your present form, may constitute with you what you call yourself to-day; but the essence of that soul, the secret source of that life, the power of that infinite progression, must belong to the Infinite Mind. You cannot start a line here and expect it to continue for ever; for wherever there is a starting point there must be an ending point. Mathematics presents you no power to judge of the beginning without judging of the end. The soul of man is immortal only by being allied to the infinite. existence, not by being alſº to and 6 THE NEW SCIENCE, connected with matter. If, as a sentient spirit, a comprehensive individual identity, you expect to have future existence, so also must you expect that the substance of that existence, or the soul, has lived for ever. Someone has wished to know if souls are born, therefore, in spiritual life. We answer, They are not born at all. Spirit takes on the various forms of its existence in the past and in the future according to the growth of matter, and according to its own requirements; and the phase of life that you now call human existence is no more a measure of man's spiritual life than is a single cutting from a tree a measure of the full crop, than is a small leaf of its entire foliage, the full measure of its branches. You break a fragment in this way from life, and call it yourselves. You make of yourselves the grosser being that is to-day immured in a temporal instead of an immortal and infinite form, that only wears this casket for a time. There are some truths connected with spiritual existence it would be well to explain. Any spirit that enters earthly existence has spiritual parents, or what might be termed sponsors, who receive that spirit as their charge, they being the guarding and attendant angels of that soul during its earthly pilgrimage. They have received it from its preceding state of existence—a state which you, with your material consciousness, can no more under- stand than the leaf of the tree can comprehend the forces and laws that have governed its existence. Previously to the state of physical life it must have been, or that spiritual life could not continue after the body is dissolved. The materialist begins his fabric with the earthly structure; the Spiritualist begins the fabric with the spiritual life itself. When you enter again into spiritual life, you will of necessity know more of your past spiritual exist- ence than you know to-day, because of your present form of being. You look through the faculties, through the organs, through the senses of the material body, and you cannot possibly measure more with that brain and thought and mind and eye than its capacity will permit you to measure. But there are thoughts within you, there are spiritual powers and attributes that you know not, which, when the will is free from its earthly form, will burst out anew into power and loveliness. Unexpressed here, they will there find utter- ance. Scarcely known or considered here, there they will become pre-eminent; and the germs of knowledge that are here considered to be intimately connected with matter, will be found to be wholly connected with spirit, with the life that is spiritual, with the soul- Serº Sé. We have been asked many times, If the spirit-form so nearly resembles the physical form, and if there be no need of physical sight in the spiritual world, where is the necessity of the organ of sight? We answer, the spiritual form expresses something that the sensual form does not. You may be aware that there are other offices ń the eye than sight. They may give expression to 14 THE METHODS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. 7 thought; for oftentimes persons who are in sympathy, by looking at one another, may read the thought expressed in the eye or upon the countenance. The eye is an expression of mind, as well as an organ of receptivity; and when you merge your present existence into spiritual life, the perception of the spirit is enhanced in spiri- tual life, just as the perception of the body is enhanced here; but it is enhanced from within, not so much from what is received from without, and it expresses every attribute of the soul. Where there is harmony of thought, culture of spirit, grace and adornment of mind, the spiritual form in its outline, its lineaments, its concord and harmony, expresses that. Hence the form is the outgrowth of the soul, as the shape of the flower is the natural outgrowth of the germ that is within it. Furthermore, the spiritual senses being concentrated in one, which, for want of a better name, we have termed Perception, it does not therefore follow that it would not have divisions. The rays of light that you perceive in the primal colours, when con- centrated, make one pure ray of white light: so the senses, when concentrated in spirit, become as one, but may be divided into various shades that you term light and colour, or that you term sensation, by the power or wish of the Spirit. Hence, sensation to the spirit is what thought is to you. The power of one mind to reach another mind is only limited by the medium of communica- tion, or the will of the spirit desiring so to express itself. The means of communication between your minds are very gross. First, thought itself has no distinct form; secondly, you are dependent upon arbitrary sounds for utterance that oftentimes convey an en- tirely different meaning; thirdly, you are dependent upon the con- ception and comprehension of your hearer, who must rely upon the sense of hearing and upon his power to comprehend before your thought can reach. Take away the gross form that encases you and make a perfect expression of thought, and it does not therefore follow that the spirit may not express thought through language; but it is not in the form of earthly language; it is not the shape of human speech; it is the power of thought that goes out like a wave of harmony which you hear but do not perceive. If, however, you had the spiritual state, you could also see that sound. Spirits have these refined senses, these blossoms of physical sense, these frui- tions of earthly life, and they are embodied in the various sensa- tions of spiritual existence. It has been asked also, If spirits do not partake of nutriment, if they are not nourished in the usual manner of physical beings, wherefore then do they possess forms of organisation at all? But you must remember that the nourishment that human beings require, and that which they partake of, differs very widely; that the spirit in its spiritual habitation takes such sustenance only as is requisite, while mortals in their material habitations make gods of their physical requirements. You must remember that ſº actual 8 - THE NEW SCIENCE. necessities of your life are so small that if you only partook of the necessary food to sustain your bodies, you would not expend one- eighth—one twentieth part of the time you now do for their nourishment; and if your minds were not fully and actually under the control of other portions of your bodies, you would require so much finer sustenance than you now do, that it would almost seem like not partaking of food at all. In spiritual life the body is under the control of the mind; it partakes of the atmosphere, of the substances that surround it, only as they are required for nourish- ment; and when the mind is so far advanced that its spiritual body is composed of such substances as you have no name for, it would seem like subsisting upon thought and upon every idea that now you have no comprehension of. We say all these subjects must be judged from the standpoint of the spirit, and not from the standpoint of the senses. Consider this, that you cannot judge of any position, or any attribute, or any power of any other human being, without striving to place yourself in the position of that person; so you cannot judge of your spiritual nature without first placing yourself to comprehend that there is a spiritual nature, and that it must have laws as clearly and as well-defined as yours. What are the means spirits have of influencing one another ? How do they reach one another in their abodes? and what may be their methods and forms of instruction ? If, as you say, there be no verbal utterance, no vocal expression or speech, how is it that one mind can convey to another that is not in their own sphere of thought their wishes and instructions P You must remember that the loftier the mind, the more potent the will, and that will or power of clear thinking determines the power and influence of one spirit over another. Those who are the least developed and unholy have vague, shadowy thoughts, while those who are high in develop- ment have thoughts and minds that are large and that influence others. And here we will pause to show why you need have no great fear of evil or undeveloped spirits. The potency of the undeveloped mind is very small. The thoughts are not sufficiently well formed and shaped. They do not have weight and control in the world of mind, and it is only upon material senses or material organisations that such spirits can work, while the more exalted of soul or enlarged of mind exerts a more potent and powerful influence, as it has will. Else God could not be omnipotent; else the power of goodness could not prevail over all other powers in the universe; else all mind must yield to the influence of matter, since matter alone obscures the Infinite, since the material form alone obscures the soul. Spirits, therefore, who are higher in development than yourself are more potent and powerful than you, while those who are lower than yourself have not so much potency, and therefore cannot con- trol you. It is only the weak will, only the understanding that is 144 THE METHODS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE, 9 enfeebled, only the mind that has become crippled and dwarfed by material surroundings, only the undeveloped spirit, that is suscep- tible to undeveloped influences; while, if your own will, volition, and mental power be clear and accurate and precise, there is no mind in the universe, except it be a greater mind than your own, that can sway or control you in the least degree. The laws of nature illustrate this. The power of one atom over another, the power of chemical forces, the laws that control the movements of the finite bodies, all prove there must be to overcome one force a greater power and a more positive force. So in the world of mind: the loftiest spirits instruct those that are beneath them by the power of will; and, in the influence of spirits over mortals, they also control you by the power of will; and those minds have the greatest influence over human destinies that are more advanced than human minds, that are greater than yourselves, that have achieved more spiritual knowledge, that have gained vaster spiri- tual conquests, that in the spiritual world are most potent and powerful, and that therefore have a right to govern, control, and direct you. There come spirits to you sometimes to aid and some- times to give you instruction; but you may sway and move only those minds that are less than yours; you cannot sway and move those that are greater than yours; but you will be their subjects, and they will reach you. r It has been asked whether the manifestations of mesmerism, magnetism, or what has been termed psychology, are analogous to spiritual control. We answer: these may be termed, in some degree, the stepping-stones to a knowledge of spiritual control. But we would not have you confuse terms. Mesmerism is simply the name applied to the discovery of the principle of one mind in the human body controlling and governing another mind in the human body, and that which is termed animal magnetism has nothing to do with mind: it is simply the aura or expression of the physical body that you inhabit, though it may be employed by the mind to perform the functions of magnetism, and to aid in mesmerising a subject. But spirits have no such magnetism. It is an involuntary aura that surrounds your physical bodies, and that even without your will acts upon other bodies with whom you come in contact. If you are in the presence of another, it takes from or adds to their vitality. If you have a vacuum, directly you remove the impediment the atmospheric air will rush to fill it up. The magnetism that surrounds you is or is not beneficial to your fellow-beings, just in proportion as that magnetism does or does not supply a need in their physical organisms. If you are weak and your neighbour is strong, you will take from his strength. If you are ill and your friend is strong, he will take on somewhat of your illness. You have felt an exhaustion from sitting with Cne friend; you visit another, and you immediately feel completely restored. These are laws of physical life. You injure or benefit 10 TILE NEW SCIENCE. one another, or you are interesting or indifferent to one another, according to the physical aura you give forth ; and whenever those laws are understood you will have a stepping-stone to the compre- hension of this subject. But remember, this magnetism you are accustomed to speak of vaguely as the medium of spiritual control has nothing whatever to do with the world of mind or spirit, or with that which spirits employ to influence your minds. Mes- merism is also thought to be a part of spiritual science. It is so only in this degree, that one mind, say the mesmerist's, in- fluences another mind, say the subject, through the power of the will and through this physical aura that surrounds the two bodies, the power of will in this case employing that aura for that control. Now, the spirit-control is quite different, as we shall presently proceed to show. Mr. Serjeant Cox and Professor Crookes have given some popularity to the name of “psychic force.” If this force is intended to apply, as its derivation would show, to the power of the soul, it is a most admirable term, and should be adopted by Spiritualists in their vocabulary to express the particu- lar kind of force that spirits do employ when they act upon mortals. Finer than magnetism, finer than the nerve force, for which psychic force may be mistaken, finer than any fluid that has yet been dis- covered even in the light of mental science—if you will so employ the term psychic force, applied to that particular mental atmo- sphere that spirits employ when they approach you, it will then be a most fitting term in the most suitable place. But it it were to be applied to any more physical force than that, then it is not a fitting term. It should not be applied to that force by which i. move tables, or any physical and tangible object, but only to that force that spirits employ when they move minds. Every mind has its aura just as every body has, and the quality of that aura determines the power of the spirit. If that aura be potent and powerful, if the mind that generates that aura be clear and distinct, you will perceive that it will work upon all other minds within the radius of its influence. A person might enter this room with very commanding, physical presence; but if he had not also a certain amount of mental power, he could not claim your attention. Another person, with insignificant physical presence, might enter this room, and by speech and look command silent attention; this is the power of mind employing psychic force. No force is in itself intelligent unless employed by intelligence, and it does not do away with the difficulty that the scientific mind encounters in endeavouring to explain Spiritualism by removing it from one unintelligent agency to another; for it is known that the forces of nature unguided have no intelligence. Psychic force is not an exception to this rule; but it happens to be a force that originates in mind itself, and mind guiding that force directs its influence only upon mind. Therefore, when a spirit controls an earthly mind or a mind embodied in earthly form, it is not by 146 THE METHODS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. II magnetism, it is not by mesmerism, it is not by psychology in the usual acceptation of that term, but it is by a direct expres- sion of soul force. Entrancement, exaltation, inspiration, the powers that are represented by various spiritual gifts, are all forms of this control, and it would be well if investigators would remove their thoughts from the mere material methods and forms of expression to those that are more spiritual and that apply more specifically to the soul itself. The power of emotion, of human sympathy, of gladness, of sorrow, of great rejoicing, are illustrations of how waves of thought may pass over multitudes of people; great thanksgiving, great glee, trans- ports of rejoicing and of sorrow, are governed by those subtle laws that control these mental and spiritual forces that spirits employ; and when in the history of the church, or in the records of saints and seers, you read that those who were in attendance were struck down as with the will or power or the presence of the spirits of glory, it was only the force and power of that spiritual atmosphere of which we speak, that does not in any degree correspond to your material atmosphere, but is of the soul and spirit utterly. The rays go out from the mind according to the thoughts of the mind. I'very thought that you think has greater or less vibration upon the mental atmosphere that surrounds you; and you cannot think an envious or unkind thought that does not in some degree disturb this mental atmosphere, and reach the one of whom it is thought ; and a lind feeling, a kind and gracious thought, these do in their vibrations also reach the object for whom they were meant, even though that object may be far away. So subtle and potent are the powers of sympathy, so positive is the force of mind, that with a thought, even, human beings have been struck down. When you sit in melancholy it may oftentimes be caused by the disturbed waves of some suffering soul that reach out to you for comfort. In the solemn hours of your solitude, in the silent moments of meditation, there comes sometimes a sadness so pro- found that you wonder what great evil hangs upon you. Oh, could you but know of the laws that govern this spiritual and this unseen world, you would see that somewhere on the earth, or somewhere in the world of Souls, a spirit was asking for sympathy, and the great waves of that anguish roll out to you. When that sadness \º you, remember and give sympathy in return, for be sure it is needed somewhere. How often has the traveller, in the lone solitude of the desert, or in the deep wilderness, far away from home, with deep yearning sent his thoughts homewards; and how often the dear ones at the fireside send out their thoughts far across the ocean to him—the absent one; and how often do these thoughts thus journeying, midway, perchance, find greeting, and the heart of the wanderer is cheered by the wave of sympathy that silently has gone out from his firesidel You do not think these things are proºf How 12 THE NEW SCIENCE, is it, then, that when a mother's son is slain upon the battle-field she sometimes is pierced with the very pain of the bullet that has sent his life out P. At the instant, at the moment, without any other warning than her own soul, she is aware that he is slain. How is it, then, that souls passing suddenly from earthly life visit a kindred soul, that may be thousands of miles away, with a sudden pang and thought that the loved one is dead? So potent and so still is this force! more potent than the lightning shaft, more subtle than the lightning's breath, because it is life, soul, mind, power; and the heart that is most nearly allied to yourself, the spirit that is nearest in sympathy with you, feels at last every vibration of your mind, every intense thought and feeling of your soul. - In the world of souls there is no need for touch. In that wonder- ful world, removed from the bondage of the flesh, there is no need for the dull hearing that we now depend upon for thought. We say there is more potency in a single thought than in the combined mechanical forces of the world; for your thought reaches the source for which it is intended—fails not, falters not, until it fills its abso- lute and ultimate purpose, while the mechanism of time fades, wears away, rusts, becomes obscured, and does not fill the highest purpose, because it does not rise. We say to you that one evil thought is more potent and powerful to harm than all the unthink- ing deeds that men call crime; for the thought is a reality, while the careless deeds of men vanish like a dream. He who thinks murder, though he does it not, is a thousand times more a murderer in spirit than the one who, in a moment of impulse, takes away human life. Beware of your thoughts; they are subtle shafts, that go out from your minds, you fancy, into nothingness. Like an arrow that is sent forth at full speed, you may find it, perhaps, in the heart of a friend. Take heed of your thoughts that they be good ones. With winged and potent power they go out from the spirit, and rise somewhere in the world of souls. If they be bad, how shall they sting ! If they be unkind, how shall they hurt? If they be ill, how shall they demean you in the eyes of your own spirit, when you meet them as realities, and face to faee, in the world of souls l - We say to you that mind is all-powerful, not matter; that spirit is the controlling force of the universe; that all other laws and forces are but the agencies by which mind works in and through matter, and fills the ultimate purposes of life. God, the great essential soul, even as a shining shaft, even as a potent sword, cleaves in twain the dull dross of matter, and gives to every atom its potent breath, and to every flower its living form of loveliness. That mind makes the crystal that you cleave beneath the rock, giving its many points and glittering flame, and its exact lines and proportions; that mind shapes the leaf, the tree, and the flowers. You have no existence without mind, the one bright point cleaving all space. ***, *º J 148 THE METHODS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. 13 How, then, shall it be with the soul, that representative in a small degree of that which God is in the infinite P How, then, shall it be with the soul when it stands free and disenthralled, even when it is encumbered with the flesh P Is it not a giant? Does not man really govern the seas P Does he not delve the very heart of the earth and find out its secrets? Does he not hold with a single thought the potent power of many nations? And when higher knowledge shall have taken the place of the present igno- rance, when loftier purposes and loftier pursuits shall have removed the present state of degradation, shall he not sit like a god en- throned in the midst of matter and space, perchance searching and finding out the very subtle essences and laws whereby worlds, systems, and suns move in their places? How know you but what giant men that go out from the earth and have solved so many known problems, shall sit, like the fabled Jupiter, and with the will, with the very might and power of their foreheads, control the lightning, govern the waves, make the fields red with their breath, and move souls by the majesty of their power and will? How know you but what the battle-fields, the dungeon-cells, the great revolutions of the earth itself are governed by those mighty minds that see the end and aim of the infinite purpose P And there is no limit to this power; there is no boun- dary to the soul. There is only God, who controls all, encircles all worlds with the majesty of his infinite power—those purposes of which human souls, as lesser lights, form suns and planets and atoms in space. Thus one feeble thought is greater than all worlds; one power of soul is more majestic than Suns and systems, and the least of those enshrouded and complaining minds that fill the earth with groans and sufferings is greater than the proudest orb that gleams in space, if it but possesses all the thoughts, we have pictured and painted. Study, then, the soul. Let its attributes be the entire theme of your thought; let matter become its handmaiden merely; let these misshapen and deformed bodies and the misshapen and de- formed power of the soul express more fully and entirely the radiant outlines, the full form of the spirit itself; let deeds and thoughts so array and adorn your spirits that the atmosphere upon which the angels approach shall not be dim and filled with discord as it now is, but radiant with welcome lights, fraught round with harmony, filled with lovely sounds and the rejoicings of souls that stretch out their hands even from your earth to reach the utter soul of God who lives for ever, 140 14 * . THE NEW SCIENCE. The service concluded by Mrs. Tappan reciting the following inspirational POEM. One utter spirit moves in the very heart of things; One being for ever broods with voiceless and silent wings; One power alone—even God—from Him all power springs. One soul is the central light round which all souls revolve; One pure and absolute mind doth your thoughts absolve In the power of that great life, that all other life doth dissolve. One heart beats in the flower and throbs in the brightest sum, Giveth the mind its power and beckoneth for ever on The footsteps of the world—even to the Infinite One. And the great sea of life floweth on through the utter seas of space, And the worlds above are moved each one in its perfect place; And God with his heart of love doth illumine all with his face. That heart whose pulses beat in the great deep form of time, Hear ye not the mighty tone, how its throbbings all sublime Surge up with the sea of soul and break on the shores of time? O God, Thou Spirit of love, Thou moveless and voiceless soul, Brood Thou like tenderest dove and all our wishes control, Even that we all may be, as Thou art, complete and whole 150 THE SPIRIT-WORLD AND ITS PEOPLE, AN INSPIRATIONAL DISCOURSE, DELIVERED BY MRs. ConA L. V. TAPPAN, AT MILTON HALL, LONDON, ON TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 28TH, 1874. The evening's proceedings were opened by Mr. J. T. Hoskins, who occupied the chair, proposing to the audience to suggest a subject for the discourse of the evening. Several themes were proposed, all of which were successively put to the vote. The above subject carried the majority. Mrs. TAPPAN then rose and commenced with the following INVOCATION. We implore the presence of the Divine Spirit whose light fills all space, whose soul is the origin of all life, whose power uplifts and sustains us, whose mind strengthens, whose life pervades us, whose thought fills immensity, even time and space and eternity. DISCOURSE. All that is known of the inhabitants of any world must be derived either from the explorations of minds of this world, or from the visitations of minds from that other world. You know nothing of distant countries save that which travellers have reported, or which inhabitants of those countries have conveyed to you by visiting yours. All knowledge is obtained from one of two sources—knowledge that is innate within the human mind and expresses itself in the form of intuition, or the knowledge that is obtained from outside sources and expresses itself in the form of reason and judgment. The intuitive knowledge of the human race concerning another world has been blunted by two causes: the materialism of the physical body, and the absence of continued and uninterrupted communion between the two worlds. Consequently mankind have depended upon the second source for all the knowledge that they possess concerning the spirit-world: plenary inspiration as recorded. in the Bible, and upon absolute testimony as recorded * 4 THE NEW SCIENCE. in the evidences of modern Spiritualism. Those who inhabit this world and have not a knowledge or belief in plenary inspiration generally have no belief in the future state or in the spirit-world; while those who believe in the plenary inspiration of the Bible have such varieties of thought concerning the spirit-life and its inhabitants, that it sometimes forms a most perplexing study in the midst of theological discussion to discover whether that spirit-life or spirit-world really has an existence or no. - According to the law of evidence there is only one proof of the existence of the spirit-world, and that is in the fact that the inhabitants of that world have, at various periods of the world's history, visited this earth, spoken to mortals, revealed themselves in the actual form of the spirit, and men have conversed with them. In modern times these facts have been systematised to form a philosophy and a science, and it is declared that there are certain laws whereby the inhabitants of your earth can hold con- verse with the inhabitants of the spirit-world; and it has been revealed through this science that the spiritual world is composed of subtle elements or substances as tangible to the spirit as your earth is to you; that it is a region existing in conformity to the laws of nature, and corresponding to the earthly sphere just in proportion to the advanced state of spirit-life; that that world is not so far removed as to be beyond your knowledge or ken, but that it may be in the atmosphere you now breathe; that it may even be in the aura that surrounds your earth; that it pervades space, and fills all the interstices between the planets. “But,” you say, “we do not see that spirit-world;” nor do you see the air you breathe. Neither do you see electricity unless it come in contact with grosser materials; nor do you see the grosser materials of the air. This room is filled with numberless substances that you have not the capacity to see; and yet if they were removed your physical death would ensue. The spiritual world is all that realm of existence in which spirit lives, thinks, moves, and has its being. Consequently you are in the spirit-world. But you are also in the material world. Your spiritual world is encased and clothed upon with the material body. You inhabit material forms; but the mind, that is yourself—the soul, that is yourself—the innermost essence of your being, is in the spirit-world; for you cannot escape from the presence of God's Spirit, which is everywhere, and wherever that Spirit abides there is the spirit-world. The usual appellation of spirit-world, how- ever, applies to that region or condition that spirits inhabit when removed from the material body after death; and that region is only open to your comprehension through revelation, through the intuition of the mind, or through the actual demonstration of spiritual beings that are permitted to come into your presence and talk and think and reveal themselves to you. That spiritual world, it is said y clairvoyants, lyseers, by those who are endowed with 15 THE SPIRIT-WORLD AND ITS PEOPLE, 5. the gift of perceiving the spirit, lies just beyond the atmosphere of your earth; that there arises from your earth an aura or spiritual substance that forms the abode of those spirits that have dwelt upon the earth; that that spiritual world is of more transcendent and finer material than any substance that you know the name of on earth; but that it is a constant and tangible world that the spirit inhabits. You are also informed that it is all arranged in forms of life and beauty, or in forms of darkness and shadowy vapour, according to the development or knowledge and goodness of the spirit that inhabits it; and that just in proportion to the knowledge, the goodness, the spiritual culture of the spirit in this life, so will be its degree of habitation in the next world. This spiritual system of philosophy makes of death not a blotting out of the existence of the soul, but a mere gateway, a door through which the spirit is admitted into this other and more spiritual world. The spiritual philosophy reveals that after death the mind continues to think, has the same identity, has the same affections; that the individual carries with him or herself every individual attribute and property that distinguished them while here; that after your father or mother passes through the change called death, they are still living, still kind, still endowed with the faculties and thoughts that made them dear to you while they walked in your midst in their physical bodies; that after your children pass the portal of death they are not therefore blotted out, or admitted to a spiritual state independent of their develop- ment here; in other words, that the spiritual world is but the next step in the great economy of life; that through death you all pass into that other world, and that it is not the fearful and eternal horror that men have made it to be, but is merely another step in the pathway of life. Even as now the spring-time renews the buds and flowers that you thought were dead in the autumn, so through death the soul renews its life and puts on the garment of eternity. Death is really the birth of the soul, freeing it oftentimes from many pains, from sin and suffering and fleshly evils, and the cares and sorrows that surround you here; and the spiritual world that each spirit enters upon is a stage of advancement. Step by step the soul mounts up the pathway of knowledge, not taking one leap into eternal splendours, but by gradual and ascending paths of knowledge the soul develops from one goodness to a brighter, from one know- ledge to a higher knowledge. All these thoughts are the result not of human speculation, not cf conjecture, not simply of what men suppose, but the testimony of those spirits that claim to inhabit the spiritual world, that have passed through death, that really abide in that world, and are conscious, living, sentient beings. These philosophies are the result not of human invention and speculation, but of the absolute testimony of those who know, who are entitled to credence. The voyager returning from northward or southward, or *:: utter- 6. TELE NEW SCIENCE. most east or the west, receives at the hands of his countrymen or fellow-travellers the recognition of his services; and if he states he has seen certain peoples, and that their laws are of such and such a nature, and that their customs are widely different from yours, you do not question his statements. You set down his testimony as that of an individual traveller who has explored that country. There are people on earth who in visions and in com- munings with spirits have seen the inhabitants of the spiritual world, have held converse with them, have received from them testimony as to the nature of the world that they inhabit. They affirm that the spiritual world is of the kind we have described; that its inhabitants do live and think and move and have actual being; that they do advance in knowledge and progress in wisdom; that they do unfold gradually under the eye of God's love, even as flowers unfold beneath the sunlight; and that the life into which they are admitted is so far removed from time and sense that they do not feel pain or physical suffering, but that they only suffer when they see their friends on earth pining and languishing; that they suffer when they try to approach their friends in the material form and are refused admittance; that they suffer when you suffer and do not recognise their sympathising presence; that they suffer from their own shortcomings. But by knowledge and wisdom and patience and the striving after truth, they gradually overcome those earthly shortcomings, and receive heavenly knowledge and wisdom instead. More than this: it is revealed that there are stages and planes of spiritual life exactly º to every form of mind that passes from earth. If a human being boimmured in darkness and ignor- ance, the mere change of death will not set him free at once. The mere covering of the casket of the body with earth will not make the soul strong in knowledge and wisdom. The spirit enters a stage of spiritual life that is dim and vague and shadowy, wherein he feels the darkness and shame of his own shortcomings. Into the presence of higher angels he could not be admitted while these earthly shadows still cling to his soul. With another advance, or step higher, he enters a state of spiritual existence exactly corre- sponding, where there is a little more of light, a little more of knowledge and wisdom, but yet not that knowledge and wisdom that all souls should covet. Finally, the just and enlightened man, or the man that lives his highest life º highest thoughts, enters a state of spiritual beatitude exactly corresponding to his course and conduct in life. There is no material and temporal standard by which the souls of men are judged; but the spirit is weighed, and the thoughts, feelings, emotions, and actions of life make up the wealth or poverty of the individual soul; and when the spirit enters the spirit-world, be he king or be he pauper, he passes there for what he is spiritually worth. If his soul be draped in charities, *# goodness, robed in humility, he is crowned among the THE SPIRIT-WORLD AND ITS PEOPLE. 7. kings of the spiritual world; but if his soul be filled with selfish- ness and pride and folly, he is poor in spirit, though he may have ruled over empires on earth. The spiritual philosophy teaches, also, that the laws of growth and development in the spirit-world are natural and spontaneous, that the Infinite Mind has provided for the gradual uplifting and development of the spirit, and that every ...i that enters spiritual existence is placed under the influence of higher spirits who teach them; that sometimes they are immured in darkness for years and ages, because of their clinging to earthly remembrances, ignorance, or folly; but that a ray of light from the loving soul of the Infinite, passing down through angels and ministering spirits, at last reaches even these, and gradually they are uplifted to the pathways of pro- gress, and knowledge, and elevation. You must be aware that the spiritual world is limitless, that the heaven of heavens far tran- scends aught that is in the first state of spiritual being, and that the various grades of spiritual life, for the lack of a better term, may be named spheres. There are probably more than three heavens; but those spirits that are in converse with mortals desig- nate three—the terrestrial, the interstellar, and the celestial. The terrestrial sphere is the place of abode of those spirits who have most recently passed; the interstellar, of those that are re- moved a degree from any particular planet or world, and in which spirits that are more advanced perform their deeds and words of mercy; and the celestial heaven, which stretches far away be- yond the planets and beyond the solar system, where the angels abide. These do not often approach earth's inhabitants, because of the darkness that immures the minds of earth. Still, sometimes, through seer or prophet or answering-angel of prayer, there comes a messenger from the celestial heaven to speak to mortals—not often, but sometimes. All these thoughts are the result of the actual investigations of mind into the realm of spirit; and there remains more and still more to be revealed through the conscious- ness of man, when at last the human mind shall be ready to receive those truths. That the spirit-world is divided and subdivided into these grades and divisions you can well imagine, since for every state of man alive there must be a corresponding spiritual state, into which they must enter on leaving the earth. tº; there are as many separate grades there as separate forms here; and every human being finds in spiritual life some particular dwelling-place or temporal abode, until higher knowledge and loftier wisdom shall enable them to reach a higher sphere of their new-found existence. Of the inhabitants or people of the spirit-world, we have only to tell you that it must be composed of just such souls as have been assing continually from your earth.. Myriads upon myriads—count- ess numbers of living, active, sentient souls passing out from the earth, for ages of time must have peopled all space withºitual 8 THE NEw scIENCE. beings of all grades, of all conditions of spiritual and mental cul- ture, of all classes and kinds—the alien and the outcast, the pauper and the criminal, the man of God and the man of sin—all, in fact, who have lived upon earth. Thus the spaces of the spiritual world are filled with thinking, active, intelligent minds. “Myriads un- seen walk the earth,” the poet says. Myriads unseen fill the air; and beyond the air, beyond the light, myriads unseen fill the degrees of spiritual space. The inhabitants of the spiritual world are human in the sense that they have lived upon the earth. They transcend humanity in only one particular—that they have passed through the change called death. But many are spiritually in bondage, spiritually in prison, still clothed in ignorance, still robed in unfortunate thoughts and draped in the earth existence. Many excel and transcend the loftiest thought the tongue could portray. There are souls whose greatness on earth consisted in their lowly thoughts and loving charities, and whose kindly deeds wove a halo of goodness around them. The substances of the spiritual life are of the fine tissue of which thought is made. The garments that the soul must wear are composed of the deeds and thoughts of earthly life. “Consider the lilies how they grow; ” they array themselves in the splendour of the sun's white ray. The soul of man weaves within himself the garments of his spiritual drapery. If it be of selfishness, of folly, of earthly pride, it is shady, and dim, and grey, and dark. If it be of charity and lovingkindness, it becomes as the white raiment that the angels wear. If you would array your souls in beauty, in the garment of whiteness that the angels possess, it must be from the pure workings of your own thoughts; it must be from the greatest spiritual culture; it must be from the adorn- ment of the mind; it must be from the transcendent powers of spiritual life. You cannot drape yourselves with the garments of the flesh; you cannot bear with you the purple and fine linen of the earth; you cannot take your gorgeous temples and abodes; but you must build your abodes from living charities to your fellow-men, from all those virtues that adorn, exalt, and beautify the soul. So are angels clad; and you can judge what manner of drapery and what manner of abodes are fitted for the majority of earth's inhabitants; since, alas! all are somewhat shrouded; since all are tethered and bound by some selfishness or folly; since each has some lurking, hidden, or unknown darkness. But so also has every spirit its brighter side; and no soul is so immured in dark- ness that some prayer of mother, or some love of living child, or some word of charity does not reach that spirit, and out of that weaves a portion of the brighter raiment for the spirit that is in l'ISO11, p Consider, if you please, that these truths are born of spiritual life; that souls who go out from your midst, and can speak to you, say: “ º I wish I had spent more time in the culture of the THE SPIRIT-WORLD AND ITS PEOPLE. 9 spirit, since I find that neither gold, nor house, nor lands, nor precious stones, nor any of the adornments of earth can be taken into spiritual life, but only pure thoughts, only high aspirations, only lofty deeds, only merciful prayers and grand actions. These are immortal; these alone are eternal; these are the inheritance and the heritage of the spirit.” These are its treasures that you lay up in heaven, and that meet you when you enter spiritual life. Every thought and deed of daily existence just as surely rises into spiritual life, and in some form of beauty or of deformity will meet you there, as that you think and breathe at all. You will find there the unkind word; you will find there the shapeless envy, the shadowy distrust, the unworthy suspicion, and the falsity towards your friend and neighbour. You will also find there the tear of charity changed into a pearl or gem of brightness that shall adorn your brow, the gracious thought and loving deed; and the same impulse of kindness that has prompted you in the hurry and bustle of life will come out before you in spiritual existence, transcendent and beautiful. Such is the spirit-world, and the deeds and thoughts and adornments of the mind. You build for eternity when you are not aware of it. You clothe yourself for spiritual life all un- consciously. You weave the thin fibre and tissue of spiritual raiment in your daily deeds and lives; and when you go out into spiritual life it is not the form you possessed on earth that you are known by, but the shape and form of your deeds. Tran- scendent or shadowy, beautiful or imperfect, you stand in the presence of angels and of kindred souls, and they behold you as you are, not as you have seemed to be. This surpassing truth—this transcendent thought, should it seize possession of the earthly mind, would so shape the lives of young and old, would so fasten itself upon thought and action, that you would be aware that every deed and every thought is already known and registered in your spiritual abode; and that those souls that are in sympathy with you, those loving and kindly beings that attend upon you, those angels that keep guard while mortals sleep, are saddened never so much as when you think an unworthy thought. The building of human ambition, the mere pride of human intellect and knowledge, are nought compared with the culture of that spirit that is arrayed in its own brightness, and adorned with its own transcendent powers and love- liness. The questioner would say, But all these are seemingly intangible things—all these belong to a realm beyond the thought of earth. But we say it is not true; there is nothing intangible in that which is real; and nothing is more real than that the thoughts of human beings control one another, that thought shapes your actions, thought guides you in every department of life; and if this thought has the power to so move you that you perform deeds of kindness or unkindness, to so move you that 3. * good '10 w THE NEW SCIENCE. or evil to your fellow man, so is it sufficiently tangible to shape and form the life of the spirit, and make the habitation and abode of the soul when it enters upon that spiritual existence. “But are there occupations in spiritual life?” you will ask; “and do angels and spirits have work to do? and what is its nature P” We answer: The occupation of the spirit is of the mind, it is true; but it is of just such a nature as the desire and wish and thought of the spirit may require. If upon the earth you are intent upon the pursuit of knowledge, upon finding out the laws that control the movements of the planets, and delving into the mysteries of the earth, when you enter spirit-life there is nothing to prevent you from pursuing that knowledge still. The laws by which worlds are moved, and the influences of suns and systems, may be studied in the sublime abodes of spiritual existence. The painter and sculptor intent upon sketching the symbols of divinest art may pursue their callings still; but they will sketch not upon dull canvas, nor chisel cold marble, but the ample canvas and struc- ture of the human mind. They willimprint the picture of their varied imaginings on the souls of humanity. Have they anything to do? On them devolves the duty of imparting the great mass of knowledge and of science which far outleaps and transcends the thoughts of earth. No sublime invention, no thought ever reaches the earth or ever descends upon poet, prophet, or sage, that has not first been known to the advanced minds of the spirit- world. Nay, the inventor himself is inspired; and when he least expects the solution of the mystery that puzzled him, it drops in upon his unconscious mind like a sound of melody. There is no invention but is of the spirit-life—no discovery but is known there. There is no thought but what has its origin in the world of souls; and men receive continually from the world that is invisible to their senses, but tangible to their minds and thoughts. And then they have other things to do. Those that are lofty in thought and constantly gaining knowledge instruct the less fortunate. The world is made up in spirit of teachers and pupils. You are all babes in knowledge compared with those souls that have perchance for centuries been searching in the mines of truth for the treasures of life. You are babes in comparison with some of the giant minds of earth. How then shall it be with those souls that have for ages been pursuing thoughts of wisdom and knowledge in the world of souls? These give instructions to those less advanced, and so on through all the spheres of spiritual life. All are teachers or are taught; and the babes that go out from your earth, or the friends that have departed from you, are not only among the pupils, but among the teachers in spiritual life. Each soul is selected as well as a teacher as a pupil, and all receive the knowledge that they require in proportion as they strive for that knowledge. 158 THE SPIRIT-WORLD AND ITS PEOPLE. II. Then see what there is to do upon earth! Are angels occupied? Are spirits employed P. In prison-cell and dungeon pine the souls of men immured in sin and crime. Some angel mother, some guardian spirit must weep there, as upon earth, when she beholds her child thus in bondage. Oh, how she watches, night and day and day and night, for some silent moment of prayer, when upon the wings of thought she can reach even that lowly one, and liſt him up to her life There are orphans and those that are crying in the streets of cold and hunger, and the pitying angels on the wings of mercy bend above your crowded cities, and strive to penetrate the midnight horrors, and to uplift you from sorrow. Then there are those—some white-winged angel or spiritual being—who strive to ward away danger and shield you from temptation; some loving hand outstretched to save you, lest you fall into trouble and sin. If you did not feel their presence or were not aware of the outstretched hand, how would you even be rescued from despair P Now, you do sometimes feel it; for in some moment of your lives, when tempted to do some deed that may lead to misery, you feel as though some hand held you back, and you have been perchance saved from suffering. More and more shall the world listen to these voices; more and more shall they be your constant and abiding guides; more and more ward you from danger and darkness. More and more the gateways of that º world be opened, and the two worlds be blended in one. More and more shall your ways be shaped and your pathways governed by the laws that govern the spirit, instead of those grosser laws that control the body. You shall build, not for time, not for the fame of mortals, or for the decoration of earthly habitations; but for the spirit that outlasteth time, for the soul that lives beyond the tenement of flesh, for the world that does not perish and pass, but endures for ever. That is the world of your mind, the world of your thought, the world of your existence. The two are united—you and the spiritual life. As with a great stride of science distant continents have been united by the subtle wires that convey the electric fluid; as iron steeds that convey the merchandise of nations have penetrated the wilderness; as lofty thoughts that men utter are scattered broad- cast by the printing-press: even so by the cable of spiritual thought and communion, the great gulf that materialism had caused between you and the world of souls has been spanned by its delicate fibres, and its vibrations are now being heard by mortals. More and more will these vibrations reach your shore and reach your senses, until at last it will no longer be strange, but common and usual and natural for you to receive a messenger of spiritual life, even as you receive the daily messengers that bring you know- ledge of earthly things. The white-winged bird that cleaves space and carries messages from nation to nation is no longer the solitary dove, but is the many-fingered, the many-pinioned, tººls {D 12 THE NEW SCIENCE. bird of steam; so between your world and the next, it will no longer be the solitary vision of seer or sage, the solitary uplifting of a single thought through revelation; but every home, and every fireside, and every place, and every mind will become the recipient of visitants from the world of souls. And glad thanksgivings and benedictions will be yours from the world of spirits; and the mother's voice will no longer be hushed and solitary in the far-off grave, but near, speaking to her child, and guarding it from danger. The loved ones that you have buried in oblivion, that you suppose are dead, will be restored to the spirit, and you will feel and know that these are all ministering spirits, sent you by the laws of life and of God's love to uplift you, to save you from thraldom, to release you from bondage of the senses and of materialism. In this age of materialism and infidelity, spiritual life and spiri- tual communion are the only palpable proofs that open to you the way to eternal and absolute existence. The only proof that the man of science, the man of reason, the man of inspiration, the man of thought can bring that is palpable, absolute, unquestioned. Be- lievers have past records, but unbelievers have that which lives to- day; and the spiritual world no longer becomes a dream, a chimera, a vision of the imagination and of hope, but is a reality, as perfect and abiding, as absolute and undying, as any of the laws that God has made ; while that love, that happiness, the endless and abso- lute progression of the soul, is revealed to every living being, and all become aware of its presence, its power, and its perfection. The proceedings were brought to a close with the following impromptu poem:— SPIRITUAL PROGRESSION. Within the dark and slimy pool Behold a little germ is found, Immured in darkness, shrouded round With cold clay, and the waters cool Over it flow, and all around No light can come where it lies bound. But soon a cumning shaft is prest, Piercing the tiny tendrils through, And silently as though a prayer Had gone forth from its secret cell, The lowly germ unfolds to view, Until into the upper air Its leaves spread broad and green and fair Upon the silent waters' breast. Then one by one the petals pure, Of purest white, with the bright ray Which from the sun is caught astray, Open the chalice, filled with dew And sunlight that has glimmered through, Receives the breath of life anew. 160 THE SPIRIT-WORLD AND ITS PEOPLE, 13 Rºven so the soul of man, immured, Hedged around with darkness and with pain, Doth strive his heritage to gain : - - The tendrils of his love and prayer Reach upward to the heavenly air. Slowly his thoughts burst through the cell In which he for a while must dwell; And them at last all pure and free He rises in the majesty º Of God's love, clothed as the lily white In the pure garment of delight, Clothed round with purity and peace, That from earth's thraldom find release ; Gradually, and by the paths of constant change, Wherein spirit, thought, and mind must range, To gain that high estate. And God, all grand and uncreate, Sits in the silent splendour of his love, Brooding above mankind, even like a dove, And says unto the germ in every soul: “Come thou and blossom whitely; here's thy goal, Upon the breast of heaven,” even with God; The soul shall gain the path by angels trod. 16i THE following questions were answered by Mrs. Tappan at the close of one of her London orations:— Q. Can you give us some idea of the benefit to disembodied spirits of communion with embodied ones P-A. Oftentimes per- sons pass from your earth, as you are aware, in infancy, youth, un- developed; and many persons have reached mature age but little removed from childhood in knowledge, so that it is quite natural that they should return not only to gain accumulated experience of material life, but also to acquire knowledge of the subtler powers of the human mind that they cannot get by simple con- tact with spirits. The chief benefit, however, is that the spirit is almost always enabled to do some good, and if you will try the ex- periment you will find that one is chiefly benefited by doing good to others. Q. Can you explain the method whereby mediums can be caused to speak foreign languages unknown to them in their normal state P-A. If the spirit understood the language while on earth, and the medium whom it controls has fully developed what the phrenologist terms the organ of language, which contributes to the production of speech, the spirit will have no difficulty in expressing itself in the language of earth, even though the medium may not know it; because the acquaintance with any language is a formal process. It is quite a common thing, and not at all surprising, when you consider that language itself is an arbitrary way of expressing ideas. Q. Can you give me some idea of the means of control P Does the spirit enter the body, or does it merely impress the medium ?—A. No, it is not necessary to enter the body. The power of mind is precipitated upon the nervous organism of the medium; and although the thoughts of the spirit are there, yetthe spirit does not really enter and take up its abode in the organism of the medium. That would be crowding the medium out of his own tenement; but for the time being the will of the medium is Subservient to the will of the spirit; and it sometimes does occur that the medium's mind, being very active, does not remain in a state of unconsciousness, but is an independent, active listener, pro- jecting itself from its body, while the other spirit manifests its presence. But it is not really that the spirit takes on the body as clothing, only governs it from a distance corresponding to its power. If it has not much power, it must be near; if it has great power, it may be far away; for distance is nothing to the potency of the min 162 THE ORIGIN, CONSTITUTION, AND DESTINY OF THE HUMAN SOUL, AN INSPIRATIONAL DISCOURSE, DELIVERED BY MRs. Cor A L. V. TAPPAN, AT THE TEMPERANCE HALL, GROSVENOR STREET, MANCHESTER, ON TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 18th, 1874, THE SUBJECT WAS CHOSEN BY THE AUDIENCE. There can be no adequate method of judging of the soul of man save in one of two ways—the usual methods of judging of any subject, termed the intellectual or reasoning method, and the intuitive or religious method. It is well known that, according to human reason and judgment, the Soul of man has not been admitted to have a distinctive existence. It is a disputed point between the two schools of intellectual theology as to whether there be a soul, or whether that which manifests itself in the shape of the human mind and intelligence is simply the result of organisation. We consider that the scientific methods of treating this subject are very fallacious. We consider that the realm of science belongs to all that special realm of though? of which the human senses take cognizance; and that all that realm of thought which does not belong specifically to the material creation cannot come within the range of what is called scientific scrutiny. You are aware that within the last half century there has sprung up a feeling in the scientific world that the entire subject of man's religious, spiritual nature, and of the existence of the Deity, belongs to a region impossible to explore, and that the great “Unknowable” is now the phrase adopted by science when treating of these subjects. But it seems to us a fallacy to suppose that there can be anything so powerful in its action in the universe, so connected with human life and functions, and yet not capable of being discerned; and if the methods of science have proved inadequate to the discovery of the subtle elements of which the mind and soul may be composed, then it is due to humanity that some other method be adopted; and there happens to be another method suggested by the creation and Creator Himself. The speculations of science—from the Greek and Roman philo- sophers, or the German metaphysicians, to the present day- 4 THE NEW SCIENCE, concerning the soul of man have been based on one of two hypotheses: either that the soul of man is an ultimate element in the universe, and therefore independent of organisation for its existence; or that it is a mere expression of the force of matter, and has no real existence. To the latter belongs, perhaps, the majority of the scientific thinkers of to-day; and so rapidly is this thought gaining ground, that most intelligent young minds of this generation prefer to consider human intelligence as the result of exquisite and properly-arranged physical laws, rather than that there is any absolute element called “soul” in the universe. But Rant, the distinguished German philosopher, who, in attempting to disprove the existence of mind really proved it, said that if mind have any existence at all, it must be a subtle and distinctive element within itself, and therefore not a subject of organisation in any manner whatever. - - We must now trace, for the purposes of argument, a few of the scientific methods of arriving at the fact that thought is merely the result of organisation, and therefore that mind and soul are the same. It is contended by science that every form of life—begin- ning with the atom, combining the molecule from different atoms, and ending in the highest form of vertebrated or animal existence —is the result of so many distinctive atomic impulses, and that these impulses are in themselves the result of inherent laws and properties existing in matter; that the various combinations, from the molecule up to man, are simply so many differentiations of forms of life, and that whatever added function may exist in any higher order of life is the result of superior organisation. They thus commence to build up the structure of man from the outside germ or atom, and make it absolutely dependent not only upon the atoms and molecules, but upon their association and combination as to the amount, quality, and effect of any intelligence that a human being or animal may possess. Then the scientific method goes on to prove that, according to the minute structure of certain orders of animals, as corresponding with humanity, there is expressed in the highest order of animal creation an intelligence corresponding in quality, if not in degree, to that which humanity expresses. . For instance, the horse, the dog, the elephant, the fox, say the scientific savans, express, in proportion to their organic structure, the same kind of intelligence that exists in man, therefore it only differs in quantity, but not in quality; and inasmuch as this intelligence seems to be the result of certain organic functions, human intelligence must also be the result of organic functions. The various stages of science on this subject have gone on to endeavour to demonstrate that the existence of mind within the human body is the result of certain formations that have taken place within the brain and nervous structure, and that the minute cells and ganglia from which the nervous force is thrown out, and in which§ is deposited, form the seat and vital power of thought. l - - - ... 1 . . . *-- oRIGIN, CONSTITUTION, AND DESTINY OF THE soul, 5 --- It is even claimed that the precise location of the generation of this thought has been determined. But Dr. Carpenter, as he imagined in aid of materialistic science, but really in aid of a superior science, has demonstrated that there is no location within the human brain for this thought, nor any centre for it in the human organisation. It has been demonstrated by other men of science that the existence of mind itself, although acting upon the brain, is not a force that the brain generates, but that the brain is stimulated by it; that the minute particles of nervous force do not generate themselves, but are the result of something superior to science, and which Professor Wallace admits belongs to a realm not recognised by scientific scrutiny. The French Academy, in its endeavour to solve these problems, has admitted that the human senses, as defined by science, do not explain all the phenomena of the human mind; and that there must be either another sense created, or science fails to penetrate into the region that constitutes the structure and nature of mind. While chemical analysis can discover the minute fabric and quality of the brain itself; while it can discover the various processes of nervous circulation through physiological analysis, it remains for another science or class of sciences to reveal the precise nature of mind itself. Into this realm of the higher class of science the world of students have been admitted through what have been known as clairvoyance, biology, psychometry, mesmerism, and various other stepping-stones to the external expression of spiritual science. Baron von Reichenbach discovered, through the aid of clairvoyance, that every substance in creation that is constituted of particles has a distinctive aura surrounding it, which aura ean be discovered by a sensitive person when under magnetic influence; that iron imparts a certain kind of magnetism, brass another kind, copper another; all which facts are confirmed now by the system of magnetic currents. We know that metals contain these magnetic and electric properties, and that they are sufficiently forcible to cross the ocean in the subtle and unseen power of the magnetic telegraph. If the lightning, thus held in abeyance and impalpable to your usual senses, is a distinctive force, then beyond this force may lie still other forces not yet dis- cerned by the human understanding. Professor Buchanan of Cin- tinnati, Ohio, thirty years ago revealed a science that he deno- minated psychometry, or soul-reading. . By well-attested facts he added to the discovery of Reichenbach by proving that human beings and thought itself gave off an aura that could be perceived by sensitive persons. He proceeded in his experiments in this wise: He placed a letter, received from some person unknown; upon the forehead of a psychometric subject, who was affected with the leading traits of character and frame of mind of the writer of the letter; sometimes even the name of the writer was given. This is difierent from clairvoyance. One stiliº 6 THE NEW SCIENCE, was given by five psychometric subjects with a letter of General Jackson's, and the descriptions were exactly in accordance with the character of the writer, proving that thought itself conveys minute particles or substances that may be read or perceived by a sensitive person. In many instances Professor Buchanan did not himself know the contents of the letters or the names of the writers, thus placing it beyond the possibility of being the result of mesmeric control. Another instance was the psychometric reading of the history of a table, and even the thought of the man who wrote upon it during the French Revolution. These cannot be termed coincidences, because a sufficient number of these facts have occurred to establish the truth of the science; nor can they be termed imaginary, since they relate to actual occur- rences. Professor Buchanan therefore arrived at the conclusion that there is a system of soul-reading, or power of mental trans- mission, and that mind itself may be composed of certain ultimate particles which science has no power as yet to analyse. This brings us a little nearer to the sphere of the analysis of mind and thought, but still not to it directly. Serjeant Cox has thought to account for certain mental and spiritual phenomena existing to- day, under the name of “psychic force.” Now, the name itself is an admirable one: it expresses distinctly what undoubtedly is meant— soul force; but no one knows better than Serjeant Cox that there is no force in the universe that is capable of acting without guidance, and that if psychic force will account for the phenomena that evince absolute intelligence, then it is only another name for soul or Deity, and all the laws that govern the universe. We come now to the other method, which we shall term super- scientific, or super-mundane. In all ages there have been proofs that, while science is one method of arriving at truth, there is another method that arrives at precisely the same truth, but by a shorter route—we mean the intuitive method. Under this head come all forms of religious inspiration, and which science rejects from inability to comprehend the nature of the operation. Herbert Spencer, Professor Tyndall, Professor Huxley, and Dr. Carpenter are perfectly right in saying that it is not within the usual province of scientific inquiry to discover the elements of the soul. If they would pause there we should admire their judgment; but they go further, and state that it is not possible for there to be any method whereby the soul may be discovered. They there make a grand mistake, since, until they know all the methods that are in the universe, they cannot possibly be qualified to judge as to whether there be any such method or not. In ignoring the testimony of the intuitive minds of all ages, they ignore sufficient proofto tear down any of the systems of Science which they have set up. The intui- tive method is this—that the soul or the mind arrives, by an instan- taneous process, at a truth which it has taken ages to establish as a truth * usual methods of reasoning. We would illustrate it 166 ORIGIN, constitution, AND DESTINY of THE soul. 7 familiarly in this way: It is known, from an absolute impulse of the human mind, that it is better to do good than to do evil; yet it required all the philosophy of the schools for thousands of years to state that truth in a proper intellectual formula. It is known to a child that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and, regardless of intervening obstacles, the child proceeds to walk in that straight line; but it has required the mathematical skill of ages to state this problem in a distinctive intellectual method that the child intuitively knows. It requires for certain minds twenty to fifty years of application and culture to acquire a mathe- matical knowledge of the science of harmonious sounds; but Mozart, at the age of three years, instinctively placed his hands upon the thirds and fifths of the instrument, making harmonious melody. The process that a man requires thirty years of culture to attain, he, by intuition, knows without any culture. Now, this shorter process is that by which all moral principles and religious truths have been given to the world. The didactic systems of learning may have evolved the same moral laws, as the result of human experience, but the primal laws of all nations morally are the same as those which are finally evolved by the highest intellectual culture. We will further illustrate familiarly the intuitions of that portion of humanity that are not blinded by the methods of reason. For instance, women are naturally more intuitive than men, simply because the method of their lives leads them to greater retirement, and to greater reliance upon the intuitive method. A man of business says to his wife, “I am about to complete such and such an arrangement with such a man.” “I would not do it.” “But why?” “I cannot tell why, but I feel that it will not be fortu- nate.” “You cannot give me a reason; his securities are good, and everything is satisfactory.” “But I would not do it.” You generally obey the reason which tells you the securities are good, but in nine cases out of ten the intuition which you have not trusted is right. This is what we mean by the absolute expression of soul, without the usual avenues of human culture and reason; and this is what, more than reason, and more than all the methods of intellectual processes, has led the world in the direction of spiritual truth. But because there has been an attempt to resolve this method into the usual routine of intellectual analysis, and a failure to do so, there is, therefore, a denial of the process itself. Now, in our opinion the simple relation of the soul to the human body is the relation of a force or element to an instrument—the relation of a primal element to an expression or organised form—and that primal element expresses itself more or less perfectly according to the arrangement and development of the instrument. And the soul itself, of which human thought is but the expression in broken fragments, must be an ultimate principle in the universe, or it is nothing at all. If the organisation of man be superior to the thought, then we have that which all scientific inquiºiº-e 8 - THE NEW SCIENCE. result greater than its cause. If we deny that the soul is primal in its elements, then we have the singular phenomenon in nature of an expression of life-force greater than its creator. , You know of no parallel to this. No human thought in its expression ever equalled its conception. St. Peter's in Rome falls short of the divine con- ception of Michael Angelo; and the artist looks in despair upon the work of his hand, because it does not equal the vision of his mind. If there be no soul, why does not the artist stand amazed that he has done so well, and worship his own picture instead of the mental image that far transcends it P. If the soul be not superior to its expression, why do musicians ever fail, leaving their sweetest songs unsung P Why did Raphael, Dante, Correggio—all the artists and poets of antiquity—despair of giving utterance to their diviner thoughts P If thought be not superior to its expression, why does not the world to-day rest satisfied with the results of its hand, and not aspire to that which is loftier and better? The soul for ever transcends its expression. The thought for ever seeks expression while the external form fails to realise it, because it is not like the soul. Therefore in this element and attribute of Deity we recog- nise the existence of the soul—the consciousness of every human mind that the thought within is better than the expression of it— that there is something than that which the body will allow to be uttered. No man, however good his life, but what says, “I can think better thoughts than I can live.” We have no belief that the soul has any connection with matter excepting as a force or prin- ciple acting upon matter. We do not consider that soul ever mingles with matter, or in any way loses its ultimate essence in contact with matter. But matter divides its expression; and even as the prism divides the ray of white light, and breaks it to your senses in the form of red, yellow, and blue rays, so the outward organisation breaks to your feeble senses the various attributes of mind that you call “soul;” but these are only the fragments of the white light, which is invisible to your senses, though it must ever be the primal source of all your actions. It is said that the mind consists of various attributes. Now, all these numberless attributes can be conveyed to one single point or quality. For instance, benevolence, chality, kindness, gene- rosity, justice, are attributes of man's soul, and therefore attributes of Deity; but converge all these qualities to one central point, and you have the pure white beam ...'. that will express the whole, for it means the same, and these are but the shattered expressions. Converge all the intellectual qualities of which you are proud— comparison, memory, &c.—and you have the pure white ray of Thought in the mind, namely, Truth, of which these are but the broken fragments. So, that the soul is a primal element, shining through the various windows of life that you call thought and qualities of mind, and of which the brain is but the outward ex- pºsiº d; function; and as a church is not worship, but only the oRIGIN, constrTUTION, AND DESTINY OF THE soul. 9 means of expressing it, so the mind is simply the temple or outward structure, more or less perfect, within which the principle or ele- ment of life sits enthroned, and in its own whiteness is like the God from whence it sprung. We are asked the origin of soul. As science shows that no ulti- mate atom of matter can be destroyed, but only the expression and organisation of that matter—for it has been repeatedly demon- strated that though atoms may change their form from solid to fluid, or from fluid to vapour, still the ultimate atom is imperish- able, so we claim that the primary element, the ultimate principle of thought, which is soul, is indestructible, unchangeable, and cannot perish; that it is in a finite degree what God is in the infi- nite, namely, spirit, the primal source of life. Now, that the spirit is like Deity is just as demonstrable to the spiritual consciousness as that one drop of water is like the ocean from whence it is taken; and there can be no doubt that these spiritual globules or substances have existed coeval with Deity. As an organisation, it expresses itself in human form; but as a principle it is of God, eternal, and upon the basis of this truth rests the proof of man's immortality. If it be not a primal element, and coeval with God, then there may come a time when it shall be destroyed. If it be a primal element, and like God in its essence and quality, it cannot be destroyed, but only changes its method of external expression. That which belongs to the intrinsic property of soul, whatever be the form of its organised expression, its ultimate destiny is still the same—that of , an eternal soul. The form in which the soul expresses itself here may not be the final form of its expression throughout eternity. As the external form changes from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood, and from manhood to old age, and as we are told that every seven years the entire human structure is atomically changed, so the form in which spirits and angels appear may not be the final form of the soul itself; but as the spirit advances or withdraws from its external state and sur- roundings and expressions, so the soul takes on finer substances, more subtle and minute particles of matter; and it is of these fine substances that the spiritual body is made, and of still finer sub- stances that the angelic body is composed, and of still finer substances that those beings are made whose dazzling whiteness the spiritual vision of prophet and seer could not gaze upon ; and that even is not the innermost substance itself, for no man can see that, but only perceive it with the soul itself. As the destiny of each existing form of life is toward its source, so the destiny of the soul, for ever evolving and expressing its thought in new and finer sub- stances of matter, is still towards the ultimate; but being finite, it never reaches the infinite, but only develops all that is possible in the finite germ. Swedenborg has stated in his visions of the angelic world that even the angels never attain to the knowledge of the Infinite, because there must always be between the ratiºn the 10 THE NEW SCIENCE, whole universe, as between a drop of water and the ocean, that wide interval of omnipotence that now divides you from the Infinite. In quality the thought and soul can be near to God, but in quantity it can never grasp or reach to the Infinite Perfection. e are asked to tell its destiny—that means, of course, the un- foldment, of which eternity alone can give the solution. It is now demonstrated as a part of human knowledge that the soul does not perish by the external death of the body. It is now demonstrable by the presence and communion of spirits and angelic beings, as it has been in all ages, that there is a life beyond this external life. It is demonstrable also that that life continues through ages of time, and it is reasoned from analogy that it will continue through untold ages. It is thought that the soul, being eternal in the past, is etermal in its destiny. But it is not in the power of human imagination to picture what the eternal destiny of the spirit may be; this power does not belong even to the angels in heaven, who do the will of the Father, and who see with spiritual complete- ness the vision of perfection within the soul. The knowledge that is to be added in an eternity of experience cannot be stated. It is the sublime and perfect finality that is a prophecy within the soul which constitutes the hope of the salvation and uplifting of the world, by the working out of all the problems of life to the end, that the next step in life may be taken, namely, the spiritual life. To humanity the ultimate destiny of the soul, if revealed, would mean nothing; it would be like striving to think for ever in a straight line, or endeavouring to grasp the universe with a single effort of the will; it would be like all those abstract questions that mean nothing to the outward understanding, but that the soul holds as a sublime prophecy and certainty within itself. The unfolding to outward consciousness of these prophecies within the soul forms the delight and pleasure of existence. When a new hope is attained or a new knowledge realised, it is not because it is new to the soul, but it is because the soul, being aware of it beforehand, is delighted to see its expression in outward form, and cries, “I could have told you so had I only had the power.” The recognition of every sublime truth in the world is like this, and the fulfilment of every hope of humanity in the future life is comprehended in precisely the same way; with each development it is like the creation or expression of a thought in poesy, art, science, or religion; it does not make it more true, but it is beautiful to see that it can be ex- pressed. Every painter has his picture in his mind; every poet has the germ of the poetic truth he would express; every musician hears the harmony that he would depict in sounds of melody; and when the conception is fulfilled to the outward understanding, it is the soul that rejoices in this process of creation, in which the mind of man resembles Deity, repeating in a lesser degree the wonderful structures of creative power. As the child mimics the mother in playing, ; housekeeping, or as the boy imitates his father in his oRIGIN, constitution, AND DESTINY OF THE SouL. 11 trade, so the child called man would repeat upon feebler instru- ments the great harmonies that are played upon the harp of creation by Deity Himself. This is what existence means; and throughout eternity the pleasure of the unfoldment and develop- ment of these inmate thoughts and germs of harmony will consti- tute the delight of the spirit... It is impossible to picture to the outward mind and understanding these glowing attributes that lie silent and slumbering now for want of development and culture. How many of you have said, “If only removed from the dull necessity of gaining daily bread, I would devote my thought and powers to wonderful themes”? but so latent are these aspirations with many that they would be utterly at a loss what to do but for the very necessities which you deplore; the qualities that you think would be exercised might still remain dormant, because of the lack of that necessity for their development. Matter itself forms the one great necessity for the expression of soul; having no Soul in itself, it needs every function, attribute, quality, power, and urpose of mind to evolve the expression of soul from it. And that is the highest duty and destiny of man below, to give to matter and to the material form which he inhabits the highest perfection pos- sible, that in the next stage of existence the spirit shall grapple with the new elements of life, and make the spiritual state as per- fect in proportion as the physical has been here; and so on through all the stages of eternity, which it is not given us to know or paint, but which, with the eye of sublime spiritual faith and knowledge, the intuition of man has opened for his everlasting comprehension. THE SOUL OF MAN: WHAT IS IT? AN INSPIRATIONAL DISCOURSE, DELIVERED BY MRs. ConA L. W. TAPPAN, AT BOROUGH HALL, STOCKTON-ON-TEES, ON MoRDAY, JULY 27TH, 1874. Subject chosen by the audience: “The soul of man, what is it? In what part of the body is it situated during life, and what becomes of it P. Describe its progress on leaving the body of a good man, the place of its abode after, and its occupation through intermediate ages awaiting the resurrection of the body.” Mrs. Tappan rose and said:— The gentleman who wrote that subject must have supposed it E. to give in an hour's discourse the epitome of all theological nowledge, since it embraces nearly everything that can possibly relate to the human soul, But if we fail to discuss ºnly 12 THE NEW SCIENCE, such a subject, you must bear in mind that, for as many thou- sand years as the earth has been in existence, the most learned and the most inspired men of the earth have been engaged on the subject, and as yet the problem is not finally solved, and as yet there is a great diversity of opinion on the subject and its bearings. But we shall endeavour to present, as concisely as possible, that which we consider to be the highest knowledge known in the world, and perhaps beyond it, concerning the human soul. Un- questionably, anthropology and physiology do not deal with spiritual matters; undoubtedly chemistry and other sciences have not as yet reached that perfection that shall deal with the analysis of the mind. With all the knowledge that is possessed in the world concerning man's physical organisation, concerning all that belongs to the wonderful region of anthropological discovery, there exists no consistent data on which to build up the knowledge of the human spirit, much less the soul which is the basis of all human life. Science has gone so far as to show what the nervous system is, and what is nervous action in the cells called ganglia within the brain. It is even known of what substances the brain is com- posed, and it is thought it is known by what process of evolution the mind is produced; but of the substance of soul, no one has pre- tended to state as a possibility in science that it has been even approximately discovered. It is true that the metaphysician and the scientific mind, with the skill of much thought and long prac- tice, endeavour to show that the distinctive locality of the region of thought is in that portion of the brain which divides the higher. from the lower portion, and which perhaps may be in its measure- ment only one-eighth or sixteenth part of an inch, and that here is centred the whole substance of human thought, and this substance from its resemblance to phosphorescent light is thought to be the seat of the soul. Undoubtedly, this statement of science is accurate so far as it goes, and unquestionably the structure of the brain and the anatomy of the fibres of the nervous system is as stated. But no one has analysed the living brain; no one can tell how thought traverses those parts; no one has been able to determine this from con- tact with the brain of a living human being. It is only with inferior animals the experiment has been tried, and never with the brain of a human being in a proper state of activity. After describing the nature of the soul in nearly the same terms as in the preceding oration, the control said:— We are asked to point out the progress of this spirit separate from the body. We will state—having shown that the soul in itself is an essence, and so produced by the divine essence—that it is not possible for us to suppose that the soul dies, and the spiritual organisation which it uses, for it is this spiritual body which the º #|alia after the change called death, THE soul, of MAN; what Is IT? 13 When the body dies, the physical life ceases to perform its functions, and apparently there is no more life there. But, if ou remember, that that which you have loved in the human § the mind or spirit, and that the nerves and fluid through which the spirit outwardly manifested itself were all invisible, you will be ready to know that the body only takes with it into death that which belongs to itself, the physical atoms it has borrowed from the earth. But the spirit takes with it the atoms of its spiritual existence. Hence, upon leaving the material body the soul becomes the inhabitant of the spiritual body. It is so stated by St. Paul, when he says, “It is sown a natural or animal body: it is raised a spiritual body;” the natural and the spiritual being distinctly stated, for “there Is,” says Paul, “a natural body and a spiritual body.” The word “it" in the first paragraph is some- what ambiguous. The ambiguity will, however, be dispelled if attention be given to what follows, since Paul afterwards tells us “there is a natural body and a SPIRITUAL body.” The ambiguity arises entirely from the translation of this word “it,” for it undoubtedly refers to that part which rises spiritually, and which is the ethereal or finer essence, not incorporated in the meaning physical or natural, and the essential properties of the spiritual body must be composed of spiritual substances. We are asked to describe the soul after death, previous to the resurrection of the material body. The gentleman has stated some things which it may be well for us here to notice. He states, at the close of the subject he has given, “awaiting the resurrection of the material body,” concerning which, of course, there is among Christians no unanimity of belief, and which of itself forms the belief of only a portion of the Christian world, and we shall not be thought to interfere with the individual opinions of others if we state our own. But he has instanced a good man. Any spirit would do as well. Understand he says, “the progress of a good man after death awaiting the resurrection of the material body.” It seems illogical, if the spirit can exist without the body 100 or 1,000 years, that it should afterwards require that body to build up its spiritual existence. The nature of the spiritual body, in our opinion, is different from the sub- stance of the material body, and that the spirit does not at any time require the body again for its existence. The meaning of resurrection must, therefore, be the separation of the spiritual body from the earthly body. The good man, if he carry with him his identity, takes with him into spiritual life every thought, feeling, emotion, wish, prayer, desire, that made up his excellence on earth, since none of those remain with the material body... You cannot find a sign of recognition there. . There is no light in the eye, no glow on the cheek, and if you look for the good man there you do not find him. In whatever consisted his goodness, his kind- ness, his intelligence, these must exist in his spiritual nº or not 14 THE NEw scIENCE. at all; and the necessary conclusion is, that if they exist in the spiritual nature they cannot remain with the body that possesses not the soul. In other words, the process called death is simply the separation of the spiritual body from the physical—the sepa- rating of the grosser from the finer parts of man's nature. What- ever constitutes the surroundings of his spiritual life is palpable. For instance, if he has followed on earth a line of exalted conduct, having upright, lofty thoughts and noble impulses, he must have arrayed himself in the fibre and tissue of those thoughts. It is these which constitute the spiritual existence, and if they be lovely the soul is arrayed in loveliness, if dark and sordid the soul is arrayed in shadow and darkness, And if the soul leaves the external body, it is still clothed with the thoughts of its earthly life, and every aspiration of prayer, of holy desire, are interwoven into his spiritual being; and the angels and souls disenthralled from the material body see him, not as you do on earth, but as he is in his spiritual nature, adored, exalted, uplifted and crowned by the deeds and words of his earthly life, and his habitation in spiritual life is composed of just such thoughts as those as his life on earth has vouchsafed him to feel. Christ says, “In my Father's house are many mansions,” or rather abodes; “if not, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you;” thus showing that those who were linked together, as were his disciples with himself, he thought would have a special habitation of their own. The conclusion is, there is a habitation in spiritual life adapted for each soul. This habitation is thought by many to be one of two degrees of existence: absolute happiness or absolute woe. But if you recall to mind the different degrees of character in human life, you will see that every spirit called good cannot enter either of these conditions of spiritual life, but a condition for which they have prepared themselves. The deeds and words and thoughts of human life are so far sub- stantial to the spirit that they make up its happiness or unhappi- ness, its heaven or its hell, its kingdom of light or darkness. The spirit does not escape from itself by going into the other world, but is more and more conscious of its own defects and appetites. The good man carries with him into spiritual life, not those things Yelonging to the external—days of pain and suffering—but the life of a good existence; the standard of his goodness being that wherein he was most benevolent to mankind, that which most nearly resembled the fulfilling of the golden rule. He who has woven for himself such a spiritual thought, and such a spiritual habitation, goes on in that state of life, increasing his knowledge and power, and aggregating the spiritual particles that make up the divine perfection of his spiritual body. You ought to remem- ber that the substance of which spiritual existence is composed must be infinitely finer than any that you have of external matter, finer *; electricity, finer than anything the imagination can THF soul of MAN; what Is IT P 15 picture, and that it takes shape in spiritual life, not here as on earth, subjectively, but objectively, and what you call material and tangible is changing and fleeting to the soul. You are told by science that matter is the only permanent thing. Spiritualism teaches that spirit is the only thing which is enduring. The eternal hills will fade away before the approaching hand of time, for, when the earthquake yawns beneath, the mountain and the city are alike dissolved. The rocks, which are strong, and seem so permanent, are composed but of atoms that to the eye of the spirit are as far apart as the spongy fibres are to you; and these are capable of being dissolved by heat, and consigned by vapour no one knows where. Matter changes; spirit builds up. Its foundation is from the Infinite Spirit, and the substance of which it is made takes shape and form, and becomes the external expression, its outward body i. ºitation, and it is in the body of spirit that spirit is itself a Ody. It is true there are many grades of spirit-life. It has been believed by many religious people there were separate orders. Part of the Christian community of modern times believe in two, heaven and hell. There were three among the ancients. Among the Brahmins there were three, whilst the Pythagorian theory gives various stages. But the Christian heaven and the Christian hell constitute two distinctive places of abode. With Sweden- borg there are various grades of spiritual existence; and, judging from Swedenborg's experiences, spiritual and otherwise, it is true that the spiritual states or spheres may be without number. But there are three distinctive states comprehended by human beings— (1) The terrestrial heavens, or the atmosphere surrounding the earth, the abode of the lower order of spirits. (2) The interstellar heavens, or those heavens removed from the distinctive atmosphere of the earth, and inhabited by spirits who approach the earth and hold converse with human beings. Into this state Swedenborg has undoubtedly been admitted. (3) Beyond these the celestial spheres, in which exist those celestial angels, beings of love, some who never have perhaps lived on earth, and some who have risen from it with great radiancy and lory. - § What lies beyond these only those know who have absolute contact with the Divine Mind, and whose vibrations would be lost in contact with the material universe. The good man goes where he can give light, and receive light from others. - - This happiness belongs to all good souls. The beggar in the street, if he lead a good life, is equal, if not greater, in the kingdom of heaven than the king upon the throne. Excellence of spirit is known only there, and we believe that he who possesses it passes on from advancement to advancement throughout “º and 16 - THE NEW SCIENCE, the friend who suggested the subject would call the spirit from a higher to a lower state, if he brought him back to the body. This idea of the spirit coming back to the earthly body is a mistaken one on the part of portions of the religious community. The Jews are waiting now for the New Jerusalem, for the day when the dead shall rise from their graves. They have forgotten, or do not recog- nise the spiritual kingdom of Jesus. ... They do not recognise the resurrection in the form of spiritual life. They do not recognise the teachings of Paul, the Transfiguration on the Mount, or the angel which appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos. Thus spiritual beings have appeared from time to time with men, confirming the idea that they do exist in a spiritual state of existence. Thought cannot be linked for ever with the substance of which the earth is composed. We now leave this good man, passing on from stage to stage of spiritual enlightenment and culture, from stage to stage of know- ledge, achieving new conquests daily in the realm of mind, and adding each hour and each moment to the wonderful possessions of his soul, and those are limitless, since the power of the Infinite is without bound, and aids the angels and archangels, all of whom are types of that prophecy which whispers to the human soul that its inheritance is not of earth but of heaven. We have endeavoured to keep as precisely as possible to the subject given to us. We may have done so very imperfectly. Undoubtedly there are many points we have failed to clear up, and some, perhaps, not touched upon at all; and if those gentlemen who composed the subject will kindly ask any other question touching the points we have failed to answer, we shall be glad to reply to them. WHY IS THE SPIRITUAL WORLD INVISIBILE 2 (Subject chosen by the audience, Sunday afternoon, Aug. 9th, at Bolton.) The eye of man, fashion'd by thought divine, Expresses in its highest form the light That is intended for God's perfect plan, To guide mankind upon the earth aright; But only forms made visible by line, shape, and light Come within range of outward human sight. The air you breathe, the force of winds and waves, Moved on by subtle purpose, th' breath that laves Your being, and the touch of vibrant sound, Alike cannot be seen; that which around, Above, beneath most moves you, mamely, thought, Cannot by any magic power be brought Within the range of vision. 176 THE soul, of MAN ; what Is IT P 17 Shall that world, Finer than substances of which the air is made, More subtle than the lightning's breath ere 'tis unfurled With fiery power—that life that doth pervade, That which makes pale death glorious, sublime, and free, Be prison'd in the dull and marrow masonry Of human vision ? 'tis the realm of mind; Its substances are of such things as thoughts are made. With vibrant wings of thought you mount through space And find that you—bodily—remain apace, Gazing after the thought, mentally blind. There are those who from infancy have gift Of spiritual vision; to uplift The eye beyond the grosser sense of time and space, And gaze awhile where angels in their place Perform their holy deeds and live their lives. This power of vision all things else survives; But 'tis impalpable to outward ken, And all the grovelling thoughts of toiling men Would mar the glorious fabric there upreared. There are eyes that have seen, ears that have heard The glorious beauties of that higher day; But they cannot be captured in the ray Of man's material vision. Other sense And other thought awhile the recompense Must take, and human beings must be brought To higher range of vision, with life fraught. When the veil falls—the mist that you call death— When life is but a chain of living breath, Outwrought from earth to heaven—lo! the eyes Now blinded shall be opened with surprise, And shall behold the higher, brighter day; The light obscured shall gleam with rarest ray, Not on the outward sight; its blest control Shall light the glorious vision of the soul. SYMPATHY. A social meeting was held at the Spiritual Centre, superintended by Mr. George Wilson, at 33, Russell Street, Liverpool, on Friday evening, June 11, 1875. Mrs. Tappan made an address of welcome to Mr. J. Burns, of the Spiritual Institution, London (who was present), in the course of which she said : To the pioneers of this cause, more than perhaps all others, should be given due appreciation, for sympathy is the solvent among Spiritualists. It is sympathy that sustains the mediums through whom the spirit-world communicates with you; and mediums are as in- dispensable to Modern Spiritualism as language is to the expression of thought; and if you do not surround those who are mediums and those who are workers, the chain of communication is broken, the wire is cut, and the spirit-world is left to invent other methods to reach those who are encased in other forms. It was said by one of the guides of this medium, who, we believe, was a physician in earth-life, that sympathy should always be extended to those who are workers in any cause. Sympathise with one another; sympathise with the influences that sur- round each and every individual, bearing in mind that there is no human soul but what has a burden, and that if you add to those burdens you oppress them and become their persecutors; bearing in mind that what- ever sympathy you have for them is so much towards lightening the burden. And when you add that sympathy, it makes such a force, and forms such an element of light, that no power on earth can withstand it; for so strong is truth, that it makes these—a small handful of de- voted followers—stronger than thousands of men in arms, or the whole forces of the world of law that has its origin in might and not in right. Hence, we say, cultivate this strong solvent of sympathy; let it become to the spiritual world what the daylight is to the natural world—the only absolute indispensable element upon which minds here and minds in spirit-life can co-operate and work together, to the end of breaking asunder the chains of materialism and theology that now, on the one hand and on the other, fetter the human spirit, and make it pause on * * of despair, whether there be or not an immortal life beyond eat 178 THE ORIGIN OF MAN, AN INSPIRATIONAL ORATION, DELIVERED BY MRs. CoRA L. V. TAPPAN, AT GRAND ConcERT HALL, BRIGHTon, ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4TH, 1874. THE SUBJECT was chosFN BY THE AUDIENCE, INVOCATION. Our Father Thou infinite source of life and light ! Thou divine and perfect soul, to whom we turn for all life and light ! Thou great, eternal Spirit, the source of all being ! Thou who art God for evermore! . In whatever temples men may praise Thee, before whatever shrine the human feet may tread, still Thou art the divine presence, and Thy Spirit pervades the innermost heart which is Thy shrine and sanctuary. Upon that altar we lay the offerings of our devotion; within that temple we offer up our praise, whether it be the solemn anthem of the silent ovation of the soul's sanctities. O Thou Spirit that searchest the innermost hearts, be Thy presence within this room and near to each soul, so that all may feel Thee, even as they feel the beatings of their own hearts. Be Thou the exalting presence, the pervading light, the soul that strengthens the heart, that pervades the mind, that exalts. If there be those who are weak and faltering, may they turn to Thee for strength; if there be those who are in sorrow, may they turn to Thee for comfort and joy; if there be those from whom the hand of death has taken dearly loved ones—and those know not life beyond—oh may they know that Thy ministering spirits and Thine angels have spoken to men of these, and that death is but the gateway of life; may they feel that they are encompassed about by a cloud of witnesses, the souls of those that are disenthralled from time and sense. O God, we would praise Thee in Thy great temple which is the universe, before Thy shrine which is the human heart. Thy children would bow down and praise. Thee for every good and perfect gift of life, for all there is of being, for every form of beauty that the earth and the heavens know, for every thought that the human soul contains. Oh, let us know that greater than suns and worlds and systems is#; soul of THE NEW SCIENCE. man. It outlives countless powers, it survives the ages, it shall struggle with thought and life when time shall be no more, O God, Spirit of all life, we praise Thee for ever. ORATION. There are two distinctive opinions in the world concerning man's origin. One is the religious or theologic opinion which is enter- tained in Christendom concerning the creation of man, and is found in the Book of Genesis, in the Old Testament of your Scriptures. But as Christendom does not embody the entire human family, and as those professing belief in Christianity and in the Old Testament are scarcely a quarter—perhaps one-fifth—of the entire population of the globe, it behoves us to consider well before we attach our faith to the distinctive idea of the theological nature referred to. You are all familiar with the account in the Book of Genesis, and you are all aware that this forms the basis of theological and religious belief in the world to-day—in the Christian world. You' are also aware, however, that among the nations of the East, and especially in the Indies, the antiquity of their religion predicates man's advent into the earth many thousands, yea, many hundreds of thousands of years before the creation mentioned in the Book of Genesis commenced. You are aware that the Shastras of the Indians and Hindoos, the Zend-avesta of the Medes and Persians, the Koran of the Mohammedans, all contained other distinctive accounts of the manner of the creation. You are aware that among the Brahmins there is a belief in the great antiquity of the human race, and that it had its origin in Brahma himself, who came in the form and personality of man, and that the reformed Brahmins believe even now that Buddha is the representative of Brahma on earth. You are aware also that the Book of Genesis, although the authori- tative account of the Hebrews, and adopted by Christians as the evi- dence of the creation of man, is by no means an undisputed authority. In making this statement, we do not do so without careful con- sideration. You are aware that within the Church itself there are differences of opinion as to whether this account shall be considered literal, or whether it is to be taken in a symbolic or spiritual sense. You are aware that Bishop Colenso considers that the Book of Genesis itself is the compilation of two different authors, and that the account of the creation is not complete, because the Book of Genesis is not by one authority. You are aware also that outside the pale of the Church the strong scientific tendencies of the day are, and have been for a half-century, against the literal account contained in the Book of Genesis of the origin of man. And you are also aware that more than two centuries ago this distinctive account was disputed, and that even in the earlier ages of the Christian religion it was subject to the severest scrutiny. The flººsal account makes man the latest creation after a THE ORIGIN OF MAN, w 3 period of six days, makes the distinctive and specific function of man the crowning act of the material creation, makes him the especial and distinctive outworking of the mind of Deity, makes one man and one woman the distinctive parents of the entire human family, and resolves the creation of the earth, of the heavens, of all the stars and planets and sun, into this period of six days and nights, and, as you are also aware, makes the creation of man (homo) and woman the distinctive, absolute, legitimate and direct act of the Deity Himself. On the other hand, the world of science disputes the literalness of this account, makes the crea- tion extend not only over six days and nights but ages, causes geologic periods of perhaps a million of years to intervene between one creation and another, makes man the expression and epitome of a succession of created beings, each one of which is a link in the great chain of existence. Science declares that human beings have been found at an age of the earth which must have antedated the Mosaic or Adamic period; and finally, that the world of science and the world of theology have been growing apart with reference to this subject until it has been considered in modern thought an impossible thing to reconcile the literal account of the creation of man with the revelations of geologic science. . For this controversy we are not in any way responsible; we are obliged to state it, and to state it as fairly, concisely, and distinctly as possible. In the worfd of science there are two distinctive and separate forms of thought upon this subject; and without premising that the theologic account can be considered in this connection, we will state what these two scientifie theories are. The latest expression of thought upon this subject is what is usually known as the Darwinian theory, which gives to the process of creation, by natural selection, all forms of development upon the earth's surface, which makes man the result of a long series of gradual developments and evolutions from the lower kingdoms, which makes nature express, in the highest types of her existence, those forms which she desires to perpetuate, and which leaves all the specialities belonging to those types to what is known in Herbert Spencer's philosophy as differentiation, or the gradual development of a higher from a lower form of existence. In other words, the Darwinian theory of creation makes man, not a special and distinct act of the Deity, but the result of a long series of laws, of a succession of developments in these laws of which man is the completion and fulfilment. This theory, while it contains within itself many things that are distinctly plausible, and while it sup- plies in the world of science, perhaps, that missing link in the chain of existence, is fallacious in many points and particulars. But before we point out these fallacies, we must refer to the other opinion of the scientific world, which is to the effect, that although the account contained in the Book cf Genº, is not 4 THE NEW SCIENCE. literally true, yet it has some relation to truth, and that while man represents the highest development of nature, it is by a special act of the Divine mind, through creative impulses, that man exists; that he is not as the Darwinian theory claims, an advanced type of which the bushman is the lowest, and developed from the gorilla, the ape, or lower orders of being, but a distinctive result of creation itself; and that this result is as natural and spon- taneous, according to the laws of nature, as any other forms of existence upon the earth's surface. That while development goes on from the lower to the higher grades, this party contend that there has never been an intermingling of the types of existence, and that each distinctive type is the distinct outworking of the laws of nature; so that two phases of scientific thought state two opposite opinions concerning man's creation, both of which have, in our opinion, some fallacy. In fact, the weak points in the Darwinian theory are easily found out by the student of science or natural philosophy. One is, that he makes the doctrine of the theory of selection and evolution account for the existence of distinctive types. In our opinion, this is most erroneous; there is no such process going on in nature; there has never been know. to be such a process in nature as the one type of existence ever becoming merged into or becoming another type. There is no change going on in the lower orders that are said to resemble man by which it is possible that they may become future men. The gorilla and the ape, though resembling man in appearance, fail to resemble him in any distinctive qualities of expressed intelligence, and there has never been known in the history of the world a specific change from the lower to the higher degree of existence. Besides, that which is said to be the organic and continuous property of evolution applies not to the change and transition from one type to another of existence, but to the perfection and development of the type already formed; so that if nature does select her types, it does not and has not been shown that she has ever confused those types, interblent them or in any way lost them, but persistently, Sacredly preserved the germs of every specific type in existence up to the present time. The other theory, which is our own, and that entertained, perhaps, by the majority of the learned and scientific minds of the day, is more correct, though failing, perhaps, in the largeness and grasp of the Darwinian theory. It is that each especial type is the result of a special impulse of creative power in nature, and that when these types have fulfilled their use they give place to other types that are in their turn the impulse of this creative power. Now, remember both these parties decline to give any source for this power; both are content with stating the laws of nature without asserting the cause of these laws; both these parties consider that, in a scientific sense, it is their province to deal with results, and not with causes, and in this respect, no doubt, they are quite correct. It is not the province of science, say THE ORIGIN OF MAN. 5 they, to deal with the absolute, and the ultimate, and the infinite, and the omnipotent; but what science deals with is the panorama of nature spread out before the human vision. And science de- clares that the process of creation has gone on not for 6,000, but for 600,000,000,000 years, and that this process of creation has been in epochs or cycles of geologic existence, each cycle represent- ing an expression of advancement over the one that preceded it. But, as we stated, if we are to trace man's origin we must con- sider him in his complete nature, and not merely in his physical nature. It is sufficiently easy—a process of the greatest facility—to trace, with the scientific data that are in the world, the results of natural law up to the development of man—the monad, or distinctive particle which exists by itself; the duad, which means two monads added together, makes another stage, &c., &c. These atoms in their sixfold nature, constantly changing and developing, are fully and absolutely empowered by the law of existence to develop all phases of physical life that are known. But atoms are not intelligent; monads, duads, triads, are not intelligent; molecules are not intelli- gent. No atom or atomic structure contains within itself that which is the final source and cause of organisation; and when the physical scientist declares that he has discovered the process of creation, he omits the one power of creation that alone is capable of solving the mystery. The scientific world floats around upon a sea of facts, and it is quite easy to trace the resemblance between the man, the monkey, and the gorilla; but when you consider the mental attributes, and that which makes up the man, the resemblance ceases. The wasp is more intelligent than the gorilla, and the honey-bee is more intelligent than the bushman, and these are not shaped like man. There is no form of animal existence that has a government so much resembling human government as an ant-hill, and yet these infinitesimal insects bear no possible resemblance to humanity. Those who say that organic structure and the process of evolution make up the creative power and intelligence of man would do well to consider those other orders of being that have no human nerves, no ganglia, no mental or cerebral tissues whatever, while there is a manifest, a distinctive, and a specific form of will; and if man were an advanced type of ape or monkey, and these were all intended for and expressive of the possibilities of man, why is it that these types, possessing faculties so much nearer resembling human intelligence do not also much nearer resemble man P. The wasp has no secret sources of intelligence, of that deposit which is known as the nerve or brain aura. Every fibre of its existence is made up of substances scarcely known to the human structure; yet they have order, form, mental intelligence, make their habita- tions, produced in direct geometrical ratio, and are giants of thought among the forms of life in which they are found. We refer therefore to intelligence as constituting the ºil- 6 THE NEw scIENCE. ing trait and type of human existence. Yet we must remember that the elephant has sagacity, that the horse has fine sensitiveness and power of penetration, that the dog has fidelity and trust, that the cat has faithfulness commingled with the greatest art and shrewdness, that the fox is noted for his cunning, that all types of animal life have specific intelligence proportioned alike to their requirements. Yet no type is ever lost in another type; and so careful and jealous is nature of preserving those types, that she makes it impossible, though they live side by side, that they shall ever become interbred or merged together without distinction. Man must, therefore, either be—and the entire structure of creation —a gigantic system, the development of nothing, that nothing being known as chance; or else the great secret and source of man's creation must be found in the mind that governs the universe in the spirit that embues each atom with life, in the power that governs, directs and guides the atoms. We consider that science states one-half truth, but that that half-truth is so perverted that it almost amounts to a falsehood; since science makes the physical man the cause as well as the effect, instead of making the spiritual man primal and the source of being. We must refer, therefore, in our statement of the origin of man, once more to the religious or theological theory. We believe that in this half-truth which science has stated, it has for- gotten to state that there is another half-truth that it knows nothing about. We believe that Darwin, Professor Huxley, Dr. Tyndall, and Mr. Herbert Spencer, all forgot, in stating their dis- tinctive and special ideas, that there is or may be another half, and that half, the soul of the body which they are so anxious to present in the form of science. We believe that that half constitutes the vitality of science, and that the expression of a system without a soul is like a whited sepulchre, or like a body without a spirit—of no value. Science would do well to remem- ber that if every expression and arrangement which she has dis- covered is precisely as she declares, there is still the vast other ortion which has not been thought of nor considered by science. t is not for science to say that it is in the region of the unknow- able, that it is not possible to know what belongs to the spirit, that it is impossible to divine anything concerning the hereafter or con- cerning the soul of man except through his organism and the outward functions of his body. But the French Academy have declared that in order to account for the various faculties that mankind possess, there must be admitted another sense, in addition to the physical senses, five, that have controlled humanity, namely the sense of intuition. This other sense means the other half of man's existence, it means that spiritual nature which, acting upon the atom, and the molecule, and other various forms of existence between man and the atom, produces the final result of humanity. We must refer to the theological or religious opinion to see that 184 THE ORIGIN OF MAN, 7 it is barely possible that in the transmission of this thought from remote ages the spiritual germ and meaning may have been lost, theologians knowing only the exterior form of its expression, while in reality there was a distinctive truth behind it. We mean that instead of the evolution of science, or the natural selection of Darwin, or the express and gradual development of a scientific theory, it is just possible that each of these days of creation may mean the grand geological epochs of the earth's development, and that in the exact order in which they are stated they would corre- spond to the exact developments and interpretations of science; and that humanity, or the man Adam (homo), may refer, and does undoubtedly refer, not simply to the single man and the single woman, but to an epoch of time when it became possible, by an impulse of divine and creative power, for man to exist upon the earth. You must remember that clay, of which man's body was composed, possesses within itself all possible atoms of life; you must remember that the breath of life breathed by the Infinite, means spirit, or fire, or fervour, and that wheresoever clay and spirit meet there is life, and where they meet in their highest and grandest sense there is man; that the Adam and the Eve of Paradise referred distinctly to the epoch in the earth's history when it became possible for a primal race of man to exist, and that every separate epoch, and every separate type of existence that the world has ever known, are results of distinctive impulse, of divine, con- scious, creative power. If this be not so, then the world is a mistake, the earth a chance, the creation of man an accident, and the whole system of philosophy a sublime failure. This must be so if it be not true that intelligence planned, executed, and has developed in various and distinctive ages or epochs of time just the life upon earth that was required according to the age, and that each period known to geology—the Carboniferous, the Upper and Lower sandstone, and the Silurian—all represent distinctive epochs of creative power, wherein the impulse of Divine Mind acting through matter, and upon every atom in the earth, causes the types of existence to be formed, and that each type has been sacredly, distinctly, and absolutely preserved for its own use and age, and that every succeeding age has made it possible for a higher order of existence to be caused to come forth; and that these orders of existence, as well as the variety and number, are specific creations, as are also the types in existence. In order to evade this difficulty of no type being merged into another, those who enter- tain the Darwinian theory say, “Oh, it is possible that in the creation there might have been a few distinctive types created.” But if a few, why not many P if half a dozen, why not a million 2 since none of these half-dozen ever developed into the million, and since each millionth type is as sacredly preserved as any of the malf-dozen. # We contend, as we stated, that the physical body of * the 8 • THE NEW SCIENCE. direct—and by “direct” we mean direct—was the direct creation of Divine Intelligence from the laws that He had made, and that wherever creation takes place there is not only a conscious, but a distinctive purpose of the Divine Mind in that creation, and that from the beginning of the earth's foundation from the atomic state in which the world first was found to the present, and from the present to the future time, when human beings shall be more and more perfect, there is an ultimate and palpable design running through every form of creative life which produces the various geometrical lines in the diamond—which makes the properties of the crystal—which has fashioned the blade of grass and the leaves of the rose—which makes it possible for all the varieties of exist- ence in nature to express the variety and oneness of thought in the Infinite Mind; and that man physical was not the accident nor evo- lution of the previous orders beneath him, but a direct and palpable impulse of the Divine Mind breathing upon matter in the latest epoch of geological development; and that every existing type of bird, fish, and beast belonging to the orders of life found on the earth to-day are the result of the same impulse of creative power; that prior and primal to these the soul of all life is spirit; that no atom combines with a kindred atom without a spiritual impulse and power; that no life unfolds, and no blade of grass is formed without a distinctive thought in that formation; that the world which will greet you to-morrow morning, when the sun bursts in upon you, is a new creation as fresh from the hands of Deity as “when the morning stars first sung together”; that God not only made the laws, but keeps them in motion; per- forms the great work by his almighty presence and power of spirit; and that no particle of matter can change its form by merging into another, or change the conformation of its existence without a specific effort of mind in that direction; that man's spirit emanates from this Deity, and that, coming in contact with matter at the exact moment of time when the earth was prepared, the human soul became a living form. But in the types of the primal races of man, and wherever the earth was ready, there was Adam created; so that all possibility of tracing those to any dis- tinctive, intermediate, or lower order of existence is a perversion of the divine plan and economy of the universe, which makes the spirit breathe upon all substances, and makes law, intelligence, harmony and order, the primal and moving causes that the primal races of men represented the possibilities of humanity; all that humanity to-day expresses was contained in those primal races. No intelligence, art, science, culture, religion is to be found to-day of which the germs were not in the original type of humanity; no function has been added, no new powers or qualities to the human soul, but the type of humanity is distinguishable from the fact of the intelligence and existence of its soul. From the Infinite, the soul of man, a pure and distinctive globule of life, came forth; it 186 THE or IGIN of MAN. 9 embedded itselfin material substance by the direct process of law; and when the earth, having been prepared by ages of development, was ready, dust sprang to meet the living spirit, and the heavens and the earth were made one in humanity. We consider that this type of man, the expression of God's intel- ligence, the perfect and legitimate result of the soul, is but, per- haps, the form of that existence that shall become more and more perfected until all possibilities of human thought shall be realised even upon earth, until this human being that now dreams of per- fection, that now pictures to itself attributes that are within itself, shall express through outward form all those attributes, and matter shall become fully and absolutely subservient to spirit. You read of the golden age; you picture to yourself the garden of Eden, and the Adam and Eve of Paradise. It is but the Adam and Eve of all nations, and of every household. Each race has its Adam and its Eve; each primal order of humanity has its Adam and Eve; every society has its Adam and Eve, in the expression of the distinctive first good qualities of God in man. Then that which men call the “fall of man" from this primordial state is but matter gaining the victory temporarily over the spirit, with which the spirit continually struggles, and over which it will at last gain an entire victory. But man's creation is not yet complete; it is still going on, as is the creation of the earth itself. Everything that makes the man more . perfect and develops more fully in the outward form that which the spirit primarily expresses, everything that allows the soul to govern and to control material substances—is a process of creation. Consider, if you please, those nations that you term barbaric and savage. It is said that they are lower types of existence. This is not the case. Every nation is distinctly a type of humanity; none are lower and none are higher. But those which are in pro- cess of the highest stage of development and culture represent more perfectly the original intention of Deity, and we look not to the past, but to the future, for the perfect fulfilment of the law of destiny. It is said, or is known by science, that there was a time upon the earth's surface when it would not only have been impossible for human beings to exist, but when the trilobites and all the lower orders of existence could not see six inches from their position, and could by no means possess or distinguish any form of life or intelligence beyond those six inches. Now, it is barely possible that with reference to the future Adam the human beings of to- day may be in the position spiritually and morally of those ancient animals. It is barely possible that in measuring this subject of creation human beings are only able to see backward for six inches or forward for six inches, while the grand prospect of creation and its divine panorama roll by unheeded. As the human race more and more develops from within, as the spirit, nature 8 10 THE NEW SCIENCE, more and more asserts itself, the external Adam becomes subject to the spirit, behold you see, not only the earth and its pro- ductions and laws, but the spirit and the thought which created it—the divine purpose, the whole prospect of the soul spread out before you. That which makes man the epitome of life is not his hysical body, but the soul that expresses itself through that ody. He is not so fleet as the deer, he is not so strong as the lion, he is not so sagacious as the elephant, he is not so powerful as the horse, he is unclad and without instincts, as they are called; but the soul that makes him supreme has conquered, by force of mind and spirit, the winds and waves, the earth and air, making him the king of all those things that seem to be his peers. Is this organisation P is this outward function P is this expression of physical force only P then man should be a giant and the elephant a dwarf; man should physically out-weigh and out-measure all forms of life that are beneath him. But this is not the case. The soul only seeks a habitation. All-comprehending and all- owerful, the spirit of man is an ultimate germ, a soul, and comes in contact with matter, producing the organism that is called man, and shaping the destinies of nations and of the earth itself to the beating of the high purpose of the spirit. That science, or cosmic philosophy, which includes man's spiritual with his physical nature, will trace, if you please, the atoms of his existence through all the stages of life that have preceded it, but will also trace the atom of his spiritual nature to that divine source from whence alone spirit can emanate—the Eternal Soul that fills the universe, the ultimate and absolute soul; and this Being, indivisible, indestructible, unchangeable in his essence, can change the form of nature in the atom of life to this body. You are not the same person you were seven years ago; no part of your physical structure is the same; there is not one atom or particle of nerve, or tissue, or fibre, or any portion of your body that was there; yet your soul and mind remaining and retaining those par- ticles together, act as the central force, and you retain the sem- blance of your former being. That which you will be seven years from now will not be the same physical body, if you trusted to the organisation and that alone; you would forget everything— you would be a different person; and, like the mocking-bird in the southern islands, you would have to learn a new song every €8.T., But the soul remains while the body changes. You are re- created every seven years; your body dies, but the soul lives on, and retains the vital and organic structure together. When death ensues, you say you cease to be. It is only that the outward body, disintegrated because no longer held together, resumes its wonted place; the particles go back to earth, while the soul, living in that other and diviner creation, retains the celestial garb of man in a more glorious and divine state. Ay, man did originate with 188 THE ORIGIN OF MAN. 11 earth; but it is the body that he wears that is clay, while the soul is of God, imperishable, passing down through hosts of angels, cherubim, Seraphim, archangels, until at last, immured in human clay, it works its way back again to the divine and perfect soul with the new-found pinions of thought. This is our view of “the origin of man.” CREMATION. (Subject chosen by the audience.) Outside of the gates of Jerusalem There was a pit in the olden time— Gehenna—wherein the wicked were burnt, Their bodies consumed by the flame, And they lived not—none heard of their name. The prophets of old said the time must come When the earth with a fearful fire Shall be consumed, when no earthly home Shall escape, and God’s dreadful ire Shall kindle the flame, destroy with the flood Of his wrath so dreadful and dire. The Christian must bury the body, Because at the Judgment-day, The forms are to rise and appear again In beautiful angel array. But the fires outside of the city's gate Are said for the souls of men to wait; And so, instead of the body's control, The fire that now burns shall consume the soul. Perhaps as the ages go round, And God's love through the spirit of truth Comes again, that the word of past youth And its meaning shall soon be found, And its prophecies made more plain; And if it shall be that the spirit of love Shall finally save all the souls, We may well be content That the bodies shall burn ; So that God's love the spirit controls. So let the time come that outside the gates Of each city all filth is consumed By the fire Prometheus stole once from heaven, So that souls may at last have resumed Their perfect and wonted and holier place Within God's great temple beneath his kind "..., 8 MESSAGES FROM “OUINA.” To M.R. L–– For thee is a piercing sword, Like an arrow bright and keen, Cleaving the air like a word Of Truth, and diving between The rocks of error and wrong; We would weave it a wreath of song. It is not a sword of Might, But of peace and of gentleness; Yet its power is in the Right, And it evermore doth press With its point of flame to the heart, All its generous gifts to impart. Take thou this gift of the soul, And wield it with potent power; Its purpose shall thee control, And give thee thy spirit's dower Of hope, and of love, and youth, For its name is the Sword of Truth. * MRs. S- I give thee an humble gift, Of a flower that lowly grows, But its meaning is full of grace, And its beautiful petals unclose With the colour of the sky, Or the light of a loving eye. It is twined in a simple wreath, By the hands thou lov'st the best,- Whom ye name the dead—but who live In a land of purest rest; And they gather these flowers so bright In the gardens of God—in His light. On the earth thou wilt sow the seed Of much usefulness and good; And full many a gentle deed, And full many a law understood, Will by thee be never forgot- For I give thee Forget-me-not. 190 INDISPUTABLE EVIDENCE O SPIRIT-COMMUNION WITH THIS WORLD, A DIscourse. By MRs. CoRA L. W. TAPPAN AT LIVERPool, AUG. 26, 1874, on SUBJECT CHOSEN BY THE AUDIENCE. The word indisputable seems to be especially emphasised. It would call for two conditions. First, an j source of knowledge or evidence which would be an infinite source, and an indisputable receptacle of knowledge which would be also an in- finite intelligence. Anything short of the infinite may be disputed, because anything less is included in time and space, and therefore is separated from the distinctive particles that make up human in- telligence by time and space. If the whole human family could be gathered together in one place, at one time, and witness one single proof, with precisely the same capacity for judging of that § that would be indisputable, that might represent the possibility of answering the question; but even then the separate conditions of each individual mind to receive that evidence would constitute a barrier. Therefore, we have to consider the various relative proofs of Spiritualism, leaving for each individual mind to decide that which is indisputable. You are aware, doubtless, of the historical evidences afforded by what is termed Revelation ; that in all time, and among all classes or nations of people, there have been comparative evidences of spiritual power; that these comparative evidences have taken the place of absolute authority, and that this authority is compiled in the various works called the Bibles of the different nations; that these works express the highest epitome of human knowledge concerning spiritual things; that in the form of the Vedas of the ancients, in the form of the Zend-avesta among the Medes and Persians, in the form of the various Bibles of the different Asiatic nations, in the form of the Koran of the Mohammedans, in the form of the Scriptures of the Hebrews, which in the Old Testa- ment makes a portion of the Christian Bible, and is embodied with the later records in the New Testament—in all these works are contained evidences to humanity as a body concerning the communication between the Divine mind, his celestial beings, and humanity; and these express in their various forms the different thoughts and the different emotions of the Divine mind as con- nected with man, and the laws for his moral guidance. The 191 4 THE NEW SCIENCE. authority in Christendom upon this subject is to be found chiefly in the Old and New Testaments, and there are especial evidences of a communion between man and angelic beings—instruments of the Divine mind for the presentation of spiritual truths to man, Thé Olden Testament is valuable chiefly from the communion of angels—the appearances of angels as men talking and conversing with men; and the prophecies and gifts of the spirit there re- corded, as pertaining to the Children of Israel, valuable from the fact that these visitations at divers times, and under divers circumstances, are recorded sometimes as the visitations of angels, sometimes as men appearing, and at all times as messengers of the Lord, showing that men, angels, and messengers were synonymous terms, and that the appearance of an angelic being in human form sufficiently proved that the two lives, angelic and earthly, resemble one another, and these continuous appearances through all the history and wanderings of the Hebrew race, to their prophets, and foretelling future events, show a distinctive natural process or method of communion between the two worlds. When these, however, culminated in the history and life of Christ, it was supposed that the epoch of the Christian era completed the revelations of God to man, and that angelic beings were no more ermitted to minister to humanity. Hence the records contained in the New Testament, and the accounts of ministering angels and spirits—the appearance of Christ's spirit to Paul of Tarsus, the appearance of the angels upon the Isle of Patmos, and the angel of the Lord speaking to John—are supposed to complete the history of God's communion through angelic beings with mortals; yet it is recorded in the early history of the Christian Church that these visitations continued, and it is still maintained by devout Christians that the very spirit of Christ is with them when their hearts change from the carnal to the spiritual man. So that, if the visitation ºf spiritual beings terminated with the vision of John upon the Isle of Patmos (when they revealed themselves to him in person as angels, and upon which he would have fallen down and worshipped them, but they told him not to do so, as the angel appearing was a fellow-servant, a prophet); and although that angelic visitation seems to have culminated all visible communication, yet, wherever Christ's spirit is said to abide to-day, and wherever, in any con- version to the Christian religion, his spirit makes itself manifest apparently as a spiritual manifestation. Besides, the long line of saints in the calendar of the Church illustrates most decisively a continuation of spiritual gifts, and the communion with saints is one of the recognised canons of the Roman Catholic Church. Therefore, it not only belongs to the Christian era itself, and to the especial time and advent of Christ, but to all succeeding generations that believed in Christ and have experienced these spiritual changes. - 192 INDISPUTABLE EVIDENCE OF SPIRIT-COMMUNION. 6 But as the scientific and secular mind of to-day is prone to dis- pute everything that is recorded in history, and especially every- thing recorded in sacred history attributed to the early Christians, to the ancient Hebrews, to the Egyptians, to the Medes and Persians, and to the Indians as traditions, and as all sacred records and revelations are pronounced by the modern scientific mind as so many evidences of past superstition, and as this word superstition seems to be a conspicuous bugbear in the scientific world, the history of contemporaneous writers not termed sacred would form a valuable testimony in this direction. We are not without these records. Fortunately the name of Socrates is as much and more revered in the scientific and literary world than many of the Christian and so-called sacred writers; and fortunately Socrates testifies, in the midst of all his wisdom and learning, to the continued presence of his Daemon or guardian angel, who warns him of danger, pre- dicts to him events that are coming, reveals to him the state of the future life, and makes the gateway of death one of glory and grandeur. We are not without evidence in the writings of that almost Christian moralist, who, though a heathen, has uttered many sentiments that even Christian philosophers have been com- pelled to admit were beautiful and perfect; and when he pictures the gateway of death, it is not as a final closing of life, but only as a pathway through which beings pass on to a future existence. Pythagoras and Plato, Aristotle and Confucius con- firm these records of the Christian writers, of the Hebrew prophets. And then, what shall we say of the founders of the Reformation themselves? Of Luther, who, though not visited with an especial kind of angelic being, nevertheless saw a spiritual being in his presence P, Of Wesley, who distinctly avows and records certain manifestations and phenomena in the presence of his family that could be ascribable to none other than spiritual sources P. Of Swedenborg, whose whole life and closing years was composed almost wholly of visitations, revelations, and promptings from the world of spirits; and of an infinite number of poets, philosophers, and sages of every age that have given their testimony in favour of the presence and communion of spiritual beings P Of the blind poet Milton, who, while giving to the world the most perfect system of Christian theology in the form of verse, has, nevertheless, declared that millions of spiritual beings walk the earth unseen— a sentiment borrowed from the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, who affirmed it thousands of years before. Therefore, when the tes- timony of the sacred writers is rejected by the modern scientific mind, we have the testimony of profane writers or contempo- raneous writers; and if the visitation of ghosts, and the various scenes and sights in Scotland, throughout Germany and Europe, among the nations of North America and the aborigines of every country may be ſairly ascribed to superstition, surely the * O 93 6 THE NEW SCIENCE, of enlightened philosophical minds, that upon every other subject are considered authorities, cannot be set down simply as supersti- tion because it relates to man's spiritual nature. But if we come to what is considered as indisputable proof, it must refer to one of two methods—that proof which it is possible for every human being to have demonstrated through the usual avenues of the senses, or that proof which it is possible for every human being to have demonstrated through intuition. In either case the proof is equally valuable to the person receiving it; but in the case where it is demonstrated by the senses it is valuable, not only to the one receiving it, but to all to whom the testimony of this one is valuable, and to all who are endowed with similar senses. Now, while it may be considered as a matter of imagination, speculation, superstition, or a proneness in mankind to believe in the marvellous, that in every history of the world, and among all classes of people, there have been visitations from spiritual and angelic beings; and while the testimony upon this subject would form a greater proof than that which now forms the proof of any living science, still if this testimony is rejected by modern thought, then is the whole spiritual world—Deity Himself—blotted out in the midst of the too literal and materialistic tendencies of the nine- teenth century. It is not sufficient that God has created the earth, and that every atom, and every globule, and every form of life manifests a distinctive evidence of intelligence; it is not sufficient that there are distinctive proofs of intelligence in the leaves of the flower; but God demonstrates his presence and power continually, not only by setting the world in motion, and causing the world and its systems to perform their functions through laws, but by each special and separate existence that is daily being awakened. No matter whether it be the result of pre-existing law, or the con- tinued action of the Divine mind, every morning that dawns upon the earth is equally a manifestation of the Divine presence. But that does not satisfy the materialist; and although it is believed even by the scientific mind and materialist, that in some subtle way, and through some process of natural law, there is a great and infinite soul, he sums the matter up, and pronounces the origin of it unknowable; but if he has not explored all possible regions of human science, here and hereafter, how can he determine that which is unknowable P With reference to spiritual intelligences, therefore, and their capability of conversing with men, and manifesting indisputable roof of their presence, we must remark that the only things con- sidered indisputable in the nineteenth century, and in this age of utilitarianism, are those things, first, that can be proven to the senses of man, and secondly, that can be made available to the exter- nal uses of man; while all that region of thought, intelligence, inspiration, and intuition considered as so valuable in time past, 194 - INDISPUTABLE EVIDENCE OF SPIRIT-COMMUNION. 7 is not regarded as testimony to-day. If we, therefore, require proofs of spiritual presence, those proofs must not come to the inspired poet, philosopher, seer, or sage. That is only considered a criterion of inspiration which appeals in the least uninspired man- ner to the most uninspired portion of human life, namely, the senses. That is proof of spiritual life, or considered as such, that represents the spirit, not in its spiritual state to the spirit of man, as Christ represented himself to Saul, as the angel appeared upon the Isle of Patmos, as the angel of the Lord upon Sinai; but that is considered indisputable which makes the spiritual being conform to the laws of material senses, and proves by its materiality that it is present with you. This is modern proof. Fortunately, however, this proof is not lacking. Fortunately the strict requirements of this material age, and the loud clamouring for occult proofs of spiritual communion, have led to a succession of subtle sciences that have finally resolved themselves into materialised expressions of spiritual presence and power. These materialised expressions are found within the last twenty- seven years in the records of the manifestations of Modern Spiritual- ism. The first sound, produced near Rochester, New York, indi- cating intelligence and the presence of an outside power, was a demonstration indisputably of the proof of Spiritualism, since sound occurred without any visible external method of producing it; since there was no instrument, scientific or otherwise, that could have produced it; and since this sound, when questioned, and when distinctly and palpably communicated with by preconcerted sig- mals, proclaimed that it was caused by the presence of a departed spirit. Here was a sound capable of being proven by one of the human senses. Here was an expression of intelligence capable of being tested by the mind; and this intelligence manifested its in- dependence of all surrounding minds by declaring itself to be a spirit that had passed from earth. Now it might require, perhaps, a greater length of time than we are willing to employ, to give the various expressions of scepticism that have accrued as the result of that simple sound. To give the various denials, the various scien- tific processes by which it has been thought it might be accounted for, and finally to give that scepticism its due weight that exists in the mind of the world when a statement of this kind is first made, since mankind are prone to deny everything that they have not seen, heard, felt, tasted themselves, and since mankind, even to seeing, feeling, and hearing any new manifestation in the universe, are liable to consider it impossible, and that their senses are de- ceived. And had this occurrence only taken place once, and only in the presence of an isolated family, and only under such circum- stances as might be considered doubtful and ambiguous, then of course it would be questionable; but the fact is that it continued to occur, continues to occur to this day, not only in that family, 195 8 THE NEW SCIENCE. but in the presence of millions of people; and the evidence of those millions of people, upon any other subject connected with human thought or intelligence, would be considered as indisputable testi- mony; but upon this one subject it is not considered indisputable, merely because it is unusual. You are aware that even so great a philosopher as Lord Bacon has said that upon questions of unusual occurrence, the testimony of one man is not considered sufficient; but when the occurrence shall take place repeatedly and consecu- tively, and more than one mind—a score of intelligent minds— attest to its accuracy, it were folly to deny it merely because it is unusual. - You are perhaps aware that Professor Tyndall has said that there are moments when the human judgment must be suspended, and that upon testimony concerning incidents of an extraordinary character, the entire judgment must be reserved until the testi- mony is complete. It is customary, he adds, for men of science, in their pursuits, to suspend judgment in this way; but it is not cus- tomary for men usually to suspend judgment upon an unusual occurrence. They either at once pronounce it false or impossible, and so bar the door to the reception of further evidence. The question of Modern Spiritualism, as you are aware, is yet in its infancy; and yet during the last twenty-five years, the aug- mented proofs of the facts alone would form a sufficient number of volumes to fill this room. These proofs are not theories, are not speculations, are not statements of men's opinions, but are the care- ful result of collective facts witnessed in the presence of intelligent and competent people, and testified to by them. This collection of facts is more than sufficient to make or unmake any existing science in the world. This collection of facts is more than sufficient to rove or disprove any other process of human thought. This col- ection of facts, if added to astronomy, chemistry, or geology, would make the position of any theory as invulnerable as steel and adamant. If it could belong to the theory of Darwin, or belong to the theory of a Spencer, or Huxley, or Dr. Carpenter, their various theories would be absolutely impregnable. It forms a compilation of facts connected with actual occurrences in the presence, not of dead people, but of living witnesses, to whom you can have access daily, and whose words and works can be transmitted to you, not by historical interpretation, not by interpolation, not by catechisms and commentaries, not by creeds and statutes, but by living individuals. - If a man were accused of murder, and there should come ten people from this room simultaneously, and declare that they had seen that man commit the act, there is no court of justice in all England but would condemn him. From this room there might be ten, twenty, or one hundred witnesses who will declare that they have seen under precise circumstances, some proof of the pre- 196 INDISPUTABLE EvidENCE of SPIRIT-com MUNION. 9 sence of a departed spirit; that they have either heard the sound, witnessed movements of tangible bodies, witnessed the presence or rson of a spirit in materialised form, heard the voice or received istinctive, sure testimony through one of the five senses, of the presence of a spiritual being. There could be found, doubtless, in this town alone, thousands of persons who would testify that they daily hold converse with spiritual beings as intelligently, as you hold converse with one another, either by seeing them, by hearing their voices, or by written communications, or by signals that are as intelligible as the signals of the telegraph operator. Upon any subject connected with daily pursuits and business, º the mag- netic telegraph itself, upon the method of writing by letter, and conversing with friends, or meeting them casually in the street and receiving a message from them, or in the still more secluded communion with your individual friends or family by the fireside, there is no one of you who professes to have a doubt. You do not doubt that you can go from here to London by rail, or that you can go across the ocean in ships propelled by steam, or that it is pos- sible for you to hold intelligent communion with your friends more than a thousand miles away by the simple click of the magnetic machine. You do not doubt that every day you each hold con- verse, not only with one another, but with friends that you do not see; and you no more think of disputing with a man if he tells you he has met a friend, and has had such and such a conversation with him, than you think of knocking him down; and yet when we say that there are thousands of persons in this city alone that have received communications, as palpable as those you are daily receiving, from their invisible departed friends, you who have not seen it set yourselves to work to dispute it; and you require not only the testimony of a thousand competent witnesses, of ten thousand competent witnesses, of twenty-four millions of competent witnesses (which there are in , the world), but of the entire population of the world itself, including your own individual ego, and say that this is the only indisputable proof that you can have. This, fortunately, is accessible to you. Although it is not possible for every man to be an astronomer, although it is not possible for every man to follow chemistry and become proficient in it, although it is not possible for each man to be a geologist, still it is possible that every human being can be a Spiritualist, in the sense of having ocular and palpable demonstra- tion of the presence of spirits; and this process is so simple that we wonder there should be a man within the radius of intelligent literature of to-day who could even dispute its possiblity. Though it may not have been convenient to avail himself of a stated method of attaining this communion, and although it may not have been convenient to visit the mediums through whom these evidences come, still we wonder that, in the midst of º testi- 197 10 - THE NEW SCIENCE. . mony we have referred to, any intelligent man can doubt the roofs. - p There is a difference between saying you have not yourself wit- nessed the proofs and denying they are possible. That only is dis- putable which can be successfully refuted, and we say that the burden of proof is on the other side, since the testimony of a suffi- cient number of intelligent human beings that the facts do occur is already in the world; the burden of proof rests with those who dispute it to do so successfully, and refute the statement that those things do take place. In the presence of the proofs that Mr. Črookes and others have given to the world of the actual materialisa- tion of the spirit-form under circumstances precluding the possi- bility of deception and fraud, and of that spirit-form presenting itself palpably to the human touch and sight and the hearing, and of presenting clear evidences of materiality, we say that it rests with Professor Tyndall to disprove this fact before he denies the existence of a disembodied spirit. In the presence of those who say that they hold daily communion with spiritual beings, giving intelligent proofs of that communion, we say it rests with the unbeliever to show that this is the result of some aberration of intellect or of mind, and to show that any disease of that kind ever simultaneously and in all parts of the world broke out at once, attacking high and low, the learned and unlearned, the scien- tific and ignorant, the minister in his pulpit and the child by its mother's knee—that there ever was such an intellectual miasma as to cause twenty-four millions of people living upon the earth at the same time, without any previous communication, to declare that they could hold converse with departed spirits. Such a dis- covery and phenomenon in the mental world would be more won- derful in itself than the admission of the fact, since the judge upon the bench would go on with the ordinary processes of law, and at the same time be attacked by this singular and subtle disease; since the man in his laboratory, intent upon discovery, would be attacked by the same disease ; since , the child upon its mother's knee would be made to prattle far beyond its years, and declare itself to be under the influence of a disembodied spirit; and since the grey-headed seer, approaching the grave tremblingly, would look up rejoicing, and declare that death has no longer an existence in the world. The only wonder to us is that there can be found an intelligent mind to dispute the possibility of the occurrence of these things. Remember, we make a difference between those individual experiences and those who have not experienced these things individually, but if you only receive that as i. which you yourselves experience, the amount of human knowledge is exceedingly limited. If you only receive that as indisputable which your own senses have confirmed, that you only know that to be true which you have seen, felt, heard, 198 INDISPUTABLE, EVIDENCE OF SPIRIT-COMMUNION, 11 and handled yourself with your five senses, and if this constitutes indisputable proof, then all mankind are fools, since the great proportion of human knowledge consists in the testimony of what you believe others are qualified to give you, and since knowledge in everything connected with science, literature, theology, astronomy, and every branch of human learning, is one succession of authority after another, and that which a man individually knows is limited to the small radius of his individual sphere in life, which is quite as limited as that of the atom itself when compared to the whole of the universe. We do not consider that, aside from these proofs we have stated of actual occult manifestations of Modern Spiritualism, there is no other indisputable proof in the world. We believe that there is an intuition in every enlightened mind prompting it towards a spiritual state, and we believe also that intuition is infinitely superior to any testimony of the human senses. The eyes may err. There is no such thing as absolute sight. That which you see is only relative, and you can discover that by simply com- paring the different visions of two or a dozen or one hundred different people. The ears are liable to err, and that which the outward sense confirms by hearing is liable to an infinite number of misinterpretations. It is the thought alone that ap- proves correctly, the nature of proof, and the thought alone that in communication with thought becomes the most final and absolute proof in the universe. It has required ages to solve the simple mathematical problem, or to point out the methods of its proof, that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line; but the child without any method of instruction starts in- tuitively to the point it desires to reach in a straight line, even forgetting the obstacles in the way, and, it may be, falling down in the attempt; and this intuition shows that intelligence is far superior in its intuitive state to all the processes of the schools, since they required ages for its elaboration. The human intellect that requires the spirit to descend to an earthly state, and take upon it the form of matter and make it acceptable to the human eye, is certainly a materialised mind indeed. The intelligence that, rejecting the proofs and innate consciousness of the human spirit—rejecting the intuition and inspiration of the soul, and all loftier and sublime evidences—requires that the spirit shall make itself palpable to one of the five senses that only serve for material existence, is indeed an individual, and that age which requires it is indeed an age, that needs some outpouring of the Divine Spirit, or of the spirit-world upon it; and because these things do take place, and because the spirit is thus capable of expressing, then the wise philosopher aud the profound critic at once say, “Why should the spirits bemean themselves, and lower themselves, to rap upon tables, or toss furniture about, or make thºse SO 12 - THE NEW SCIENCE, material?” Do you know why, now? The material mind of the nineteenth century will have no other proof. And one fact, that an intelligence separated from human organisation has been able to express itself through rapping and tapping on tables, moving furniture, or materialising to itself a form, entirely overthrows the whole theory of Spencer, Tyndall, Huxley, Carpenter, and all the material philosophers who contend that it is impossible. That which is well attested as having occurred once is sufficient proof to overthrow the claims to impossibility, and this communication not only occurring once but simultaneously, repeatedly, con- tinuously, and attested to by minds as scientific and discriminating as their own, becomes as a matter of fact indisputable, for what- ever is attested to in the world of science, as being shown and proven by half a dozen or a dozen scientific minds, there is no mind in the world that has the hardihood to deny it. As we have stated, how- ever, these proofs are available to all minds. Like the magnetic telegraph, like the communication by letter, like the voyage across the ocean, if you avail yourselves of the method you can soon have personal indisputable evidence. It only requires that in the family circle, by the family altar, you shall arrange yourselves in three, or five, or seven, or any given number, and earnestly desire that some testimony of the presence of spirits may be made mani- fest to you, and if you pursue it carefully as you would any other pursuit—as carefully as you would the investigation of the science of astronomy, of geology, of chemistry, or any other subject— ou will assuredly have the evidences in your own family. There is no family without a medium or mediums. There is no family where these manifestations may not be produced with less trouble than you would take to get a galvanic battery, and without any of these external appliances whatever. All you require is unani- mity, punctuality, and a desire for the truth. Seek the proofs in this way, and, in less time than it would require for you to become proficient in any occult science, you will have not only an internal #..."; only the proof and the testimony of twenty-four mil- ions of living beings—but proof at your own fireside, and by our own hearthstones, and that is proof considered sufficiently indisputable to answer the most cavilling minds of the nineteenth century, 200 PSYCHO-DYNAMICS; OR, SPIRITUALISM versus SCIENCE, AN ORATION DELIVERED BY MRs. Cora L. V. TAPPAN, UNDER THE INSPIRATION of “BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,” AT THE CON- CERT HALL, LoRD NELson STREET, LIVERPool, ON SATUR- DAY EVENING, JUNE 12, 1875, WILLIAM HITCHMAN, M.D., F.R.S., &c., &c., in the Chair. ADDRESS, Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen,-The subject which is to engage your attention this evening is denominated “Spiritualism versus Science:” since in the world of science whatever is con- nected with mind has not yet undergone investigation, and since in the world of matter that is denominated science which pertains solely to the evidences of the human senses. But were we to give you a distinctive term, and were your present speaker to analyse that which is to be expressed by the word “Spiritualism,” we would say that it is the embodiment of science, since it deals not only with all laws that are known to the world, but with all that undiscovered realm of laws as yet unknown and unexplored in the world of matter. The devotee at the shrine of materialism and material science makes this mistake when he declares that any knowledge of the spirit is impossible. No man with any preten- sions to scientific knowledge will dare affirm that he is acquainted with all the laws of nature. Between the human and material substances that make up earthly matter and organisation and the infinitude of a Divine mind, there is an infinite realm of cause and effect, the outermost laws of which have been discovered by material science, and the innermost of which have not been dreamed by any mind upon earth. Whosoever declares, therefore, that the world of mind and spirit is an unknowable world, and that certain manifestations in connection with psycho-dynamical force are im- possible according to the laws of nature, declares a palpable un- truth, since he cannot be in a position to know what is possible in the universe, and he can only judge by his own experience. There are two sides to the universe—that side which is palpable to the external senses of man, which undergoes the external ob- servation of the senses and is amenable to the control 3. human 4 THE NEW scIENCE. powers externally applied; and that vast other side which is not amenable to human control, and which, controlling the earth of matter and man himself, is by far the greater portion of the universe of cause and effect. To that side, heretofore unexplored and unknown, we invite your attention to-night. To that region, heretofore supposed to be hidden, and from which man, groping in the blindness of external senses, has been unable to draw any knowledge or any information, we invite your contemplation and our just and sincere appreciation, bearing in mind that it has †. said, not only in ancient days, but by Montaigne himself, that “Whosoever judges without knowledge displays, therefore, his own ignorance, and whosoever, having knowledge, judges for others, displays his own folly.” He who assumes to pronounce judgment, therefore, upon that realm of which he confessedly j nothing, places himself in the category of those who are blind and will not see, and having ears will not hear. The truth lies in all that realm of investigation which to the human mind and intellect is possible, and wherever that possibility extends, whether it be to the outer or inner circles of the mind, there willing thought and an honourable purpose shall extend. The inner investigation of that which belongs to man's control of matter has not been till within the last half century a subject of supposed human science, and Psychology is so new a science or theme in the world of human investigation that it has not yet been classified in its appropriate place. It is only within the last six months that a Psychological Society has been formed in Great Britain for the purpose of investigating phenomena of mind by the world of science. Psychological societies in con- nection with spiritual manifestations have existed, but the great body of savans in the world of science have ignored the phe- nomena of mind as being beyond the usually accepted plane of scientific investigation. But facts become stubborn things, and when a series of facts that a quarter of a century and more of in- telligent analysis have failed to disprove are piled up at the door of science asking for admission, there is no body of men in the world that can withstand their testimony, especially when accom- panied by absolute proof of the individual integrity, and personal reliability of those who have investigated them. From a century, therefore, of observation on either side of that plane of existence which you now occupy, I shall ask you to con- sider the spiritual side of the universe, its blending with the outer world, and the possibility of approximating knowledge of spiritual forces, even while you are in contact with matter. It is stated broadly by the world of science that a physical sub- stance cannot be moved without known external contact. The substance of which the human body is composed is material; it moves in obedience to the human will; no scientific analysis, save 202 SPIRITUALISM 7). SCIENCE. 5 that which has been revealed by psycho-spiritual intelligence, has ever unfolded to the world how the spirit of man governs the material body, and causes it to move in defiance of the propositions of science. It is said that spirit cannot, without proper and adequate mechanical contrivances, applied externally and according to known laws, move any external substance at variance with the known laws of gravitation. It has been proven by psycho-spiritual science that substances can be moved in contravention of the sup- posed laws of gravitation without any adequate physical forces observable to the human senses or detectable from any human standpoint. From the spiritual standpoint this is easily explained. The same law which enables the human spirit, when embodied, to control by a series of psycho-dynamical effects upon the nervous system, the nerve aura, and the entire structure of the human body, enables a disembodied spirit by the same process, infinitely elaborated, to move external substances through known and pal- pable laws. The last century has revealed certain distinct and absolute advancements in the external phenomena of science; the next century, if I mistake not, will reveal an incalculable advance- ment in the world of spiritual science. The first proposition that I have to lay down to you to-night is the polarity of the atoms that constitute not only the physical and organic structure of the earth, but the physical and organic struc- ture of the human system, to the extent that where electricity is thrown off at right angles during the night, so this electric force is thrown off from the human system in precisely the same manner, with all due allowance for the different positions and varied con- ditions of the human body. Hence that every human being is either magnetic or electric at alternate periods of day and night; and whenever the human being is magnetic or electric, that force which is denominated magnetism or electricity is the force by which the mind of man governs the body, causes contact with out- ward creation, and produces physical effect. This force, extended to all the infinitesimal atoms of matter that lie between man's outer organism and the world which is denominated the world of mind, is uniform in its action, governed by the same laws, amen- able to the same forces, and capable of development in the produc- tion of power. Hence, when it is discovered that the atoms con- stituting the earth's atmosphere are more or less charged with this force of positive or negative electricity, and a contravening force intervenes to destroy that effect, it proves that beyond the usual causes and currents of electricity or magnetic life is another and superior power. For the sake of convenience, I denominate that higher force the psycho-spiritual force; and it belongs not only to disembodied mind, but to all embodied minds; and who- soever has been brought to this room to-night by inclination, will- power, curiosity, reason, judgment, or aspiration, has bº,* 6 THE NEW SCIENCE. by a process of his or her individual mind acting through this psychological power upon the nervous system, being brought in this way, and showing your independence of the outward at- mosphere and the laws of organic external life. A disembodied spirit is here by the same process; and if it be possible for you, in defiance of the usual laws of inertia that control solid substances, to bring your physical organisms constructed with any amount of external matter and solid substance, into this room in obedience to this psycho-dynamic power, then it is possible also for a mind disembodied—or any number of them—to assemble in this room through the same law, and upon the atoms of the same atmosphere surrounding you, by the same process, move upon your minds, give utterance to these words, and in various ways reach the organisms of your outward bodies, and thereby reach your spirits. But the process of spiritual control of the organic structure of the spiritual atmosphere, I must define before I pro- ceed. As I have stated, the external atmosphere is composed of polarised atoms, each one of which obeys the laws of magnetic or electric control. The spiritual atmosphere, in precisely the same manner, but with an infinitesimally finer structure, and composed of infinitely finer substances, obeys the laws of spiritual magnetic or electric control; and upon this finer atmosphere, and in obedience to this rarer law, the minds of all intelligent human beings act, whether embodied or disembodied; and it is no more a miracle that a spirit disembodied may move upon a human brain to speak to you to-night than that a spirit embodied can do so, since the same F. enables both to perform the same result; and when my onourable friend, the Chairman, speaks to you and moves you to a comprehension of his thought—he being an embodied spirit— it is no more impossible for me, being a disembodied soul, to move upon an external brain that is alive with these particles of electric force producing the same mechanical action upon the vocal organs, the same vibrations on the mental structure, the same process of stimulus to the nervous ganglia, thereby speaking the thoughts, wishes, properties, and powers that belong to the world of spirits. Between the two worlds the connecting link is not so far re- moved, nor so impossible of analysis, as the world of science will have you believe. For every ultimate physical atom I can show you a correlative spiritual force; for every ultimate physical result I can show you a correlative spiritual cause; for every manifesta- tion in the world of matter, defined by science and comparatively understood, I can show you a manifestation or a cause in the world of spirits not defined by science, but capable of being as well un- derstood. The atoms that compose the atmosphere of this room are invisible to every one of you. Decimal particles which make up all the vitality which you at present inhale are impalpable, yet little by little they contribute to the building up of the physical 204 + - SPIRITUALISM 2), SCIENCE. 7 structure, and without them you were a dead mass of clay. The spiritual atoms which lie behind these are as invaluable and as necessary to your spiritual and physical life as are physical atoms; and if your body requires oxygen in a high state of refinement in the atmosphere to sustain physical life, so do your minds require thought in a high state of refinement, or there is death to your mental and spiritual structure. This mental and spiritual structure, and the elements which feed it we call the oxygen of the soul, belongs to the very sphere of psychological investigation which at present is being revealed to man, and constitutes as great an epoch in the world of science as when, one hundred years ago, Dr. Priestley was persecuted, when, discovering the element of oxygen in the external atmo- sphere, he found also that other element of spiritual freedom, the latter being the chief cause of his persecution. To-day we announce the oxygen of the spiritual atmosphere, which is the same psycho-dynamic force that is destined to bear as important a part in the world of scientific investigation in the future as oxygen with its various combinations bears to-day. Whatever vitality of outward structure is made up through the combinations known in chemical science, the same vitality of spiritual structure is composed of combinations known in the world of spiritual science. This world of spiritual science from gradation to grada- tion meets your outer world more than half way, and moves upon the atmosphere that surrounds your minds, producing vibrations, impressions, thoughts, aspirations, prayers, emotions, and the up- lifting of all that enables man to rise above the mere brute functions of existence in life; and without this vibration which commences from the Innermost Spirit of the Universe, and through successive circles of outward gradation rules the mortal mind, man, with all his pride and intellect and gigantic physical power, would have no aspiration beyond the material functions which express his external life, and would die as the brute dies—unconscious of immortality. It is upon the wings of this subtle power, and in direct gradations of absolute thought, that the spirit-world rules the mortal world to-day; and the blending of the two states of being are as intimate and constant as the blending of your lives with the external atmosphere, or the rays of light with that which constitutes your being. As it has been recently discovered that light has a power of force as well as the power of atomic vibration, so it may be discovered in the course of scientific investigation that thought has power of force as it has the power of vibration or impression; and when it comes to be known as a fact that although electric force is as yet inapplicable to the great mechanical purposes, still it has been discovered to be appropriate as the message-bearer of the world, so light itself, appropriate to the illumination and distri: bution of all the vital forces in nature, having greater §uial t) 8 * THE NEW SCIENCE. power than any other force in existence, may be discovered to contain the very elements of the new motor power for which the earth is at present longing; and if the power, revealed in Modern Spiritualism by the uplifting of heavy bodies, by the creation and condensation of appearances in the atmosphere, by gathering together the forces and vital elements of nature in absolute forms, becomes utilised and common in the world of human purposes, then it will be found that the psycho-dynamic power is greater than all other forces combined, since it not only governs the visible universe, but all that universe that lies between you and the ulti- mate cause of all effects—the Godhead himself. We have dis- covered, therefore, that this power belonging innately to the sphere of mind is the immediate cause of all external effects of man's contact with matter. We have discovered that every vibration of human thought is more important in the world of dynamical results than the revolutions of all the planets in the solar system. We have discovered that there is more force in a single aspiration of the human mind (I mean perpetually and eternally) than in all the mechanical contrivances which the world possesses to-day. We have discovered that a well-directed aim not only governs one generation of minds and one succession of events from generation to generation, but governs centuries of time and millions of human beings and hundreds of generations by its results. I have seen that a single thought propelled from a gigantic mind even in the direction of hatred or of ambition has power to sway multitudes of beings, and that these have power to govern the earth and make it amenable to their purpose; and from the seas of bloodshed on earth to the highest song or prayer that vibrates throughout the seraphic regions, the power of thought remains alone supreme. It is thought that controls the motor power of earth to-day ; it is thought that causes the transmission of messages by the galvanic or electric battery; it is thought that ploughs the seas with myriads of ships constructed by human invention and amenable to the hand of man; it is thought that sways and governs the destiny of empires and nations to the end of making the wilder- ness and the desert blossom as the rose, and building up thickly- peopled cities where concentrate intelligence, science, power, and learning; and if those so-called primal and ancient elements of the earth sometimes baffle the skill of modern science, it is only because science is as yet in its infancy, and the winds and the tides and the great sweeping and controlling forces of the universe are alike governed by thought, beyond the comprehension of man, and allied to the Deity himself. If these results can be outwrought by man within the province of human history and within the records of many minds now living, what may not be the results outwrought, when, added to the sphere of present, visible, and ac- knowledged science, there comes the actual process of mind itself 206 - SPIRITUALISM 7), SCIENCE, 9 and the laws that govern the vast kingdom that lies beyond the external world but is palpable and real? I venture, therefore, to affirm that there is no discovery of human science and no invention of outward conquest over matter but what is passed in direct gradations from the world of spiritual causes to the world of mind incarcerated in human form. Iventure to affirm that no Galileo ever dreamed of the wonderful processes of earth's revolution without that thought, on the wings of a seraph, having been handed down through successive spheres of intelligent life. I venture to affirm that no new principle or motor power has been revealed to man that has not been known to innumerable ages in the world of mind above matter, and these are revealed as fast as the slow and grovelling stages of man's outward life will admit. You stone your prophets; you persecute the advancement of science; you sneer at and decry the discoverers of new principles; in a few centuries of time you erect statues to their memories, and emblazon their names upon the pages of history. I was laughed to scorn in the years of my mortal career because I ventured to affirm that the element of electricity in its positive and negative phases would yet govern the world of man. To-day you are depending upon this as your message-boy; and that thought scorned by the world of science becomes to-day the up- lifting of thousands and millions of hearts from despair and anguish. I can positively predict that the cord of communication or the means of communication between the spiritual and material worlds, will, in a century of time be as frequently acknowledged and resorted to as the electric-magnetic telegraph of to-day; and that the force which is now scorned and decried, but which we hasten with ready wings as message-bearers to the earth, will be- come the prevailing force, not only of communication between the world of spirits and the world of matter, but of communication between mind and mind; so that a thought in Liverpool or London, with suitable and accompanying will-power, will reach a mind in New York or Japan upon the very process of dynamic vibration before referred to. And if this seems improbable and wild, it is only the same seeming that made it seem improbable for the light- ning to do the bidding of man, or for the earth to revolve upon a centre of its own creation. This spiritual and dynamical process the world of spirits is em- ploying to-day, ruling minds upon earth wherever it is practicable, and proving that there is more force in an intelligent and well- directed thought than in all the mechanism employed for the building of pyramids, or which causes the transportation of your merchandise from one country to another. This power of thought we introduce to you; we make it possible for you to direct and govern it; we make it also a new science, and a discovery in phi: losophy, that through this psycho-dynamic power the uniº itself 10 THE NEw scIENCE. is moved by a succession of spiritual causes, each one having an in- telligent and well-directed source. I have no complaint to wage against the method of science; it professes to deal with results and not causes; it is slow-footed necessarily because of experiment and observation; it must deal with those results which are again and again proven, before they can be stated to the world. But beyond this it is pretence to state that because science has not discovered a principle, it therefore ig not in existence; beyond this let the voice of science remain silent while that of intuition moves for ever, swift-footed and with pro- phetic vision, announcing ages in advance that which science afterwards is compelled to admit as true. I have no war to wage with the prevailing thoughts in the world that are slow to adopt a new principle, and slow to recognise the existence of a newly-dis- covered force. But I wage war for ever with that inevitable igno- rance and folly which declares that because the individual has not seen, therefore a thing cannot be, or because humanity has not dis- covered this principle, therefore it cannot act. When Herschel, with the prophetic vision of mathematical science, declared that there was anothèr planet and another central sun beyond the solar system, beyond the reach of the lenses then in vogue, it was only that prophecy of all truly accurate science which forestalls the senses and provides improved telescopes for the vision of man. When Herschel's telescope was erected, there, in the very part of the heavens where his prophecy had revealed it, was the planet that made up the complement of the solar system. We offer you a spiritual telescope; that which, added to your outward senses and intuition, enables you to discover that realm lying beyond the plane of external causes, which has been foretold by prophet, seer, and sage, and without which man upon earth were the veriest beggar pleading at the doors of nature for immortality, and receiv- ing a stone instead of bread; without which all aspirations of science were as a bauble and a dream; and Humboldt, with his magnificent theories and analyses, and Plato, with his divine Kosmos, were as baubles in the sight of the Infinite God. I ask of you to consider the existence of these instruments of spiritual force and power that are placed under proper conditions at your dis- posal, and that make the spiritual world as much a world of causes as the external world that causes it to come within the range of mental analysis and human vision, and reveal the peopled spaces filled with intelligent and active minds, each one intent upon their mission of knowledge and mercy, and distributing their gifts as well they may. Albeit, if the minds upon this planet— which is the third in the solar system—are but feebly advanced and slow, there may be other worlds of minds with loftier powers and more spiritual advancement, that fly where you now grope; that leap where you now stumble; that cleave the air of spiritual space 208 SPIRITUALISM 2), SCIENCE. II with the wings of thought where you now droop to the earth, trailing your wings in the mire of dogmatism and materialism. “Oh let there be light !” was not alone the theme of the dying Goethe; but from the very beginning of creation the mind of man immured in clay asks for additional instruments of sight and knowledge that he may span all that intermediate space that lies between him and the wonderful worlds that, like lamps, illumine the heavens. As science abhors a vacuum, so does nature abhor space; and between you and these worlds are intermediate palpable spheres of existence, each one peopled by beings from your and other planets; each one having intentions, thoughts, purposes, emotions, intelligence, and powers in a lower or higher degree of culture; and these, from the lowermost to the highest, governed by a succession of spiri- tual laws, of which the feeblest and outermost are seen and known by human science, but of which the innermost and the greatest be- long to those gigantic minds that, seeing through and penetrating beyond the mists of outward life, govern, control, guide, direct atoms upon their winged errands of thought and vision, move you with the majesty of their power and motion. This is the world that lies beyond you; this is the power that, behind matter, up- lifts and governs like innumerable pillars the structure and edifice of the universe. This spiritual and underlying element, with- out which gold were dross, and matter a mere name, and the thoughts of man, piled mountain high, not having that source, and not being sustained by it, were as shining bubbles in the empty air. Oh! believe me, science as yet is in her swaddling-clothes: the infancy of the human race is here, and all that wonderful region, and all those subtle elements that here and there manifest their presence and their power are yet to be known, grappled with, and conquered by man. If man has conquered the wilderness and the wild beasts of the forest, he also has a greater realm to conquer in the spiritual causes and forces of nature. Human passions— hatred and fear, malignant envy, scorn, and ignorance—are the wild beasts in the wilderness of human life. From the world of human causes these are to be expunged; and man has to vanquish first himself, and then he will see that this realm supposed to be peopled with ghosts and hobgoblins, with all kinds of gorgon-headed demons, with fiends of terror, is a world of intelligent beings rising grada- tion upon gradation, governed by laws, directed by purposes, moving upon and moved upon by the world of mind until all are linked in one gigantic whole to the Infinite purpose and the Infinite Spirit. *Hººtofºrº men have started in search of religion like the knights of old, prepared to encounter all kinds of terrors; prepared, too, to gaze down upon a burning, seething Gehenna; but when these evils are abrogated, and man finds that he has no greater enemy than that which is within himself, he may start on his j º of P 209 12 THE NEW screNCE, religion well assured that between him and the Deity there is no intervening power possible if he direct his compass heavenward, and point his thoughts with the true magnetic pilot to the polar star of safety—Truth. Heretofore men have started in pursuit of science with a Sneer upon their lips and scepticism in their hearts, prepared to ignore all revelation as prejudice and ignorance, and prepared, too, that at the end annihilation shall come, and man shall sleep with the brutes. Between these two extremes, and above them, is presented the philosophical solution of the great questions of the universe; and it becomes the important part of Modern Spiritualism, as revealed now and to be revealed through your investigation, to bridge over that wide chasm, that gulf which has separated religion from science, and make them both the handmaidens of the human spirit. It was my fortune to know intimately a man of gigantic intel- lect, who was called an infidel; it is my fortune to know intimately many of gigantic spirituality who are sceptical upon science. I say that between the world of science and religion there is no warfare; between actual science and actual spirituality there is a gradual sliding scale, that, like the spiral waves of harmony, or the spiral gradations of light, extend from the inner to the outer, from divinity to man, from spirit to matter, and continue in one uninterrupted chain of harmony. Ascertain truly any law of nature, and you have religion; as- certain truly any law of the spirit, and you have absolute science. Between the golden rule and mathematics is no incomprehensible void. All is spanned over and bridged by the arch of spiritual science, comprehensible, simple, plain and perfect, so that he who runs may read, and the child at its mother's knee, breathing a prayer of fear but of love, shall know that the winged butterfly and the storm that terrifies are alike governed by undeviating and beneficent laws. No longer before the shrine of a blind and soulless nature must men worship, but before the shrine of an intelligent and active cause, whose citadel is the universe, whose temple is the human spirit, whose outer vestibule is the human form and Nature herself, connected by gigantic links of intermediate thought, each one of which embodies a system, and all governing and controlling the souls of men, spirits, angels, and archangels, even up to Deity. From the innermost of this spirit-shrine, with one impulse of pure thought and knowledge, spirits cleave the space that divides you from the comprehension of their world, and ask you to behold with what innumerable circles of light, with what gradations of matter, even the atom and the molecule perform their work and function; and how beautifully the winged butterfly and the star reveal the purposes and harmony of the thought of the universe ! From # innermost of this shrine the spirit-world presents to you 210 , ºf . - SPIRITUALISM v. SCIENCE, - 13 facts, not for the love of outward jargon nor for the pleasure of mingling with external sensuality and corruption, but only that by so doing they may batter down the walls of materialism in which the human soul is incarcerated, and from the other side of existence leave a winged power that shall uplift the earth from despair. Be sure that it is no especial pleasure either to bear the sneers and scoffs of man or to revel in their external methods, or in their external sciences; but it is a pleasure which no immortal soul, whether on earth or in heaven, can possibly deny himself to reveal a truth, to speak a word of revelation, promise, and hope to man. Bearing that message with its swift-freighted pinions, and assuring you that in the world of visible and external causes it is and will be made amply manifest; I speak to you to-night not from the love of contact with external nature, but from the love of truth, which would impel me, even from the highest heaven, to burst the walls and barriers that I might bear the mes- sage to the lowest upon earth, “You have an immortal soul; you shall live for ever !” The new epoch that is dawning upon the human earth, the time that is now in its infancy, is an epoch of the revelation of spiritual causes through a systematic and direct process of human science and knowledge, arranged so that the infant in the school may learn, and the grey-haired sire may see, the pathway plain before him. The new epoch that is dawning is one that uplifts man from the mere standard of an external didactic reason to a reason inspired by hope, prophecy, immortality, and the certainty of a continued individual existence. Whatever may have been heretofore only the favoured and isolated in the world of humanity have been certain of this; whatever may have been heretofore only prophets, seers, and saviours could reveal this to the world. There is now an infinite number of messengers waiting upon the wings of thought for an avenue or open door, or psycho-dynamic medium, whereby they can hold converse with human beings; and the only message they bear on the freighted burden of their thoughts and on the pinions of their mind is that in mind, as in matter, there is no death; in the world of spirit, as in the world of external force, there is no anni- hilation; that every ultimate principle and every ultimate atom in the universe is immortal; and that the soul of man is not alone a mockery in creation. The only and the uplifting message which they bear is that from the highest sphere which spirits have know- ledge of to the lowest child of earth there is a connecting link of inspiration and control which even in dungeon-cell, and even in chains of perjury and vice, give hope to that soul, uplifting it from the slough of despond to the region of hope and promise and love. And I assure you that but for breaking this silence, but for reveal- ing the methods whereby this might be attained, I would not wend my way through the spheres that are still contamiº with 14 THE NEW SCIENCE, earthly passion, through the vapours and mists that rise, spiritual even more than physical, from your earth, through the doubt and dissonance and gloom that to an enlightened spirit seem to hang with a pall over the earth. But for this I would wing my way to some happier star, where, on the wings of the sun's light, and in obedience to the magic of the thought of the human soul, every atom is radiant and every form transparent with the light of the Spirit, where flowers abound that do not wither, and where the voices that are heard are those of harmony and not of discord; where Seraphs abide, each one a winged flame of light. Having won advancement and power by the knowledge of the soul itself to bear this message, I state to you from more than a century of experience in time and in spirit that there is palpable, continuous, and uninterrupted communion between all worlds, and that the new epoch of time shall be when thought, and not the outward senses, shall govern humanity; when aspiration, and not appetite, shall be the controlling power; when spirituality, and not materialism, shall be the dominant force; and when the abiding and controlling prayer of the spirit shall express itself in words and deeds of holiness; when matter itself shall be amenable to man's constant control, and a breath of thought or aspiration truly up- lifted shall reach the winged Seraphs that guard the throne of Truth night and day, and 'twixt you and that infinite Soul shall be uninterrupted and palpable communion now and for evermore. IMPROMPTU POEM. It was suggested by the speaker that the subject for the poem should be selected by a member of the press, whereupon a reporter present submitted “Happiness,” which, being accepted, Mrs. Tap- pan gave as follows:-- HAPPINESS, For ever fleeting, for ever flitting, The vision of Happiness flies on before you, With ravishing pinion, with thought so uplifting, Calling and calling the whole way timplore you, For ever the breath of its magical pinions Allures the spirit to hope and despair; For ever inviting to lovely dominions, For ever vanishing when you are there. Happiness' ignis fatuus ever, Leading you onward still but to destroy; He who seeketh with utmost endeavour, 12 Findeth you never, oh, false, ſickle joy! 212 SPIRITUALISM v. SCIENCE, 15 What you pursue most you never attain to, If you pursue it with selfish cold aim ; What you seek not, that is yours ere you ask it, If it is kindled with Love's holy flame; What you most give, that most you possess still— Happiness given to others endures; f you pursue it by seeking it not, 'twill Ever be yours, 'twill ever be yours. Strive to attain it by giving to others— Joy still increases when shared with the world; Sorrow disperses when you share each other's, And happiness still is before you unfurled. They who have found it know not by what pathway They gain the blest boom which all mortals must prize, But martyrs and saints, driven heavenward in fire, And those that went out with most sorrowful eyes— They are the ones that true happiness gather, By helping each other you strive thus to win Not joy, but the pleasure of working together, And lifting the world from its darkness and sin. Behold 1 o'er the martyr's brow rises the glory; Behold ! the rough pathway is strewn now with love; Ye seek not, but find it for ever before you, And happiness God giveth each soul abovel 918 At the close of a private seance with Mrs. Tappan, the medium was controlled by a cheerful and talented Indian spirit. “Now,” said “Ouina,” “in conclusion I will give you “A song all woven of gladness, You may sing it the whole day long, It will drown every thought of sadness, As its numbers float joyous and strong. “'Twill be woven of meshes of light, Of the sunbeams that flash from the spirit, We bind them around the dark night, And their glories all souls shall inherit. “For all are but born of the Father, The great central sunlight of love, Who moves every soul to his working; He makes every spirit to prove How divine and how perfect is gladness That is born of the true soul of love. “I will weave you a song of the spirit, Of the blossoms that bloom in your souls; Their buds are the hopes you inherit, Their incense your life-work controls; “They are water'd with tears, for when sorrow Comes trailing her sad robes along, She tokens the dawn of the morrow, She giveth the spirit its song. “For gladness is born out of sorrow, As winter gives birth to the spring, Or as the night heralds the morrow, Or the egg giveth promise of wing; And this is the song of my spirit, The song that my soul loves to sing.” 214 SPIRITUAL ETHIC S. WHAT GREAT TEACHER HAS PRODUCED THE MOST POTENT EFFECT UPON SOCIETY, AND WHY? - This Oration was delivered in St. George's Hall, on Sunday evening, September 28th, 1873. Before Mrs. TAPPAN entered the hall, the Chair- man, Mr. Thomas Slater, stated that, agreeable to announcement, Mrs. TAPPAN would speak on a subject selected by the audience, and that a Committee should be chosen for that purpose. Doctors Sexton and Clark (Spiritualists), and Messrs. Watt, Goalen, and Cooper (non-Spiri- tualists), were accordingly duly elected to prepare a subject on which Mrs. TAPPAN should speak. During the early part of the service the Committee retired, and, on returning, Dr. Sexton announced that the question proposed by a non-Spiritualist and decided upon was that given at the top of this page. A hymn having been sung, Mrs. Tappan proceeded with her address. INVOCATION. Our Father, which art in heaven, infinite Spirit of love and of life, thou divine and supreme Source of all intelligence, we praise Thee. Thy children would lay upon the altar of thy love their offerings of devotion. Some come to Thee laden with worldly cares, bowed down and oppressed with the manifold tumults of outward life, O, let them turn within and behold that, howsoever vast may be thy material workings, thy Spirit is infinite, and the treasures of knowledge are vast and boundless | Some may come to Thee laden with sorrow, mourning for the dead and seeing no light above the tomb. O, above the grave, beyond the pall, may they behold the brightening glory of immortal life may they see their loved ones in light and beauty around ! Some come laden with joy, and these lay their offerings upon thy shrine, as ºth the 4 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, sun lay his full rich offerings upon the shrine of the morning, shedding radiance within upon the spiritual loveliness that gives light and kindles a flame of living beauty. But, whatsoever offerings thy children bring, Thou, infinite Spirit, wilt receive them. Thou alone dost understand the secrets of the human heart; Thou alone hast provided for its needs; and thy soul is in our midst, even though the clouds of materialism hide thy wondrous face. O living Love! O surpassing Spirit, glorious and full of all loveliness! let our words be of truth; let our minds be awakened to under- stand; let our spirits strive to know Thee, and then we shall have all knowledge. To thy name, O loving Father, will thy children for ever sing praise; and unto Thee must we for ever bring all our offerings of love. THE GREATEST TEACHERs 5 DISCOURSE. * WHAT GREAT TEACHER HAS PRODUCED THE MOST POTENT BFFECT UPon SocIETY, AND WHY?” We believe we state the subject correctly. Undoubtedly your Committee do not expect us to go back into those ages of human history the records of which are lost, since, undoubtedly, existing society cannot be affected by those periods of civilisation that are either wholly obscured in darkness, or have only just emerged from their obscurity through the investigating hand of modern science. Past ages, of which we know nothing except through the investi- gating hand of modern scientists, cannot have had much influence on the present condition of human society. But in what consists human society P It is customary to believe among Christian nations so-called that the enlightened portion of the earth's surface —that is, the most civilised of the nations of the earth—consists of those that have adopted and believe in what is termed the Christian religion. A large proportion of the earth's inhabitants do not accept, have not adopted, and are entirely ignorant of the enlighten- ment and civilisation accompanying Christianity. The first influence, or the most remote influence of which history gives us any account, is the civilisation that existed amongst the ancient Egyptians, although the Chinese claim still greater anti- quity. But we must determine that the highest point of civilisation in ancient times was reached among the Egyptians. Their worship, however, differed essentially from that of the modern worshipper. The veiled Osiris—the mysterious god, who had no external repre- sentation, but who was hidden behind his works—we may presume, represented the spirit of the universe, or creation. Isis, the mother Earth, was supposed to be the revelation of deity, or the immediate intercessor between Osiris and his children. The Egyptians, how- ever, were not satisfied with this simple form of worship, but framed images of created things and established ceremonials. Amongst their various objects of worship was Apis, or the sacred ox. Then there was the worship of the bird Ibis, and of other beasts and reptiles, all of which were supposed to represent deity. The Serpent, amongst the Egyptians, symbolised wisdom; not, as amongst you, evil. And every form in nature which the Egyptians lºº was supposed to contain some element of deity. But the whole of this system of religion has been lost to the world, owing to the destruction of the Alexandrian library. The more subtle element of it, however, had already been lost—namely, the spiritual meaning of these forms; for, of a certainty, no nation ever ossessed a form of religion that did not originate in some spiritual inspiration in the beginning, and however material the commence- ment, the first inception of their worship was from ths, Divine 6 SPIRITUAL ETHICs. mind. Among the nations of the East, embracing India and China, of all the forms of worship—excepting the Mohammedan, which has latterly extended widely over the Eastern world—the most rominent are the Brahmin and the Buddhist. The Brahmin is an ideal worship. Its ideas of divinity are inverse from the senses. All forms of speculative spiritual theories, every abstract thought of divinity, rests with the Brahmin. He has no sympathy with the senses, although his system has its expressions; he dwells in the realm of transcendentalism. Brahma is concealed and veiled, but is represented by the three great powers or principles of nature. These principles are the Past, the Present, and the Future: the Creater, the Preserver, and the Destroyer of the universe. In these guises or forms sometimes he worships the past, sometimes bows in homage to the present, and sometimes wanders far into the regions of the future. The Buddhist, on the contrary, believes in an outward expression of divinity, wherein God, at certain and stated periods of time, manifests himself through Buddha, comes to the earth, and teaches the children of men. Buddhas have been numerous, and the last was about 200 or 300 years before the Christian era. This Buddha is supposed to come, at certain stated intervals, as the representative of the Divine mind. In the teachings of Buddha great prominence is given to the external forms of worship and practical charity and kindliness to our fellow-men. The Buddhist, contrary to the Brahmin, believes in the practical expression of religion, that human life should be governed by it, and that it should form its diviner part. We have the worshippers in the far East of various material elements, such as fire, air, and water; and, indeed, the Persian fire-worshippers form no small part of the wonderful systems of religion which hold sway in the world. The Indians, as you know, have their bibles, such as their Vedas and other sacred books. Zoroaster developed the principles of the religion of the ancient Persians in the Zend-Avesta, and many of its teachings compare favourably with those of more recent books, and in fact are the origin of the teachings of more modern religions. Among the Chinese the sacred books consist of the writings of Confucius. He represents the more modern and more concentrated thought of their ancient religions. The teachings of Confucius embrace the inspiration, and were the reproduction of the philosophy of ancient times, when the seers and prophets were truly inspired; he represents the embodiment and handing down to posterity of the inspirations of all previous ages. Thus there have been at all times, outside the realm of inspiration of ancient days, certain leading minds which almost take the position of seers and prophets. The works of Confucius exhibit so perfect a code of spiritual ethics, as to constitute it one of the systems of the present day; and yet they are but the embodiment of the thoughts of the most inspired minds of his and previous times. For remember, all inspired THE GREATEST TEACHER, 7 works of Deity are not comprised in the so-called bibles of nations; and there have been prophets and sages reared up outside of established churches, and their inspirations have ever redounded to the benefit of humanity. The religion and theology of all nations represent the highest thought of their inspired writers united. Unquestionably the Bible of the Hebrew nation, said to be the progenitor of the Christian religion, is the embodiment or compendium of the writings of the Hebrew prophets and seers. But there have been superior minds, as we have said, like Socrates, Confucius, and Aristotle, who have concentrated and embodied the teachings of inspired men; and these con- centrations, afterwards disentombed, have been found to bear the most searching light and criticism of inspired thought. The Hebrews were especially an inspired race. Hence we know they held their first communings with the Spirit of Jehovah— Je-ho-vah meaning Spirit of the Past, the Present, and the Future —the one God, than whom there was no other, and before whom all other gods must bow. This was in contradistinction to the many gods of the other Eastern nations, while the Hebraic nation in their original simplicity believed but in the one divine godhead. Their seers and prophets looked forward to a time on the earth when Jehovah should manifest himself in person, and come to rule on the earth as their king, Consequently all the songs of praise, the prophets, and inspirations of the Old Testament deplored the materialism of the age in which the writers lived, and looked forward to the great day when the very Spirit of God should dwell in the midst of the nations of the earth. This Hebrew nation, however, was rather exclusive; and if Deity had never spoken to the earth before, nor in any other manner, he surely has not spoken according to the Hebrews since; for, although they expected a Messiah, and looked forward to his coming, when at last it was supposed he had come, the Hebrews would not accept him, and they are yet waiting for their king who shall restore them to the New Jerusalem ; and so firm is this conviction that they have preserved their temples and their ancient customs, and around their shrines gather only the children of the downcast nation of Israel. Spread abroad throughout the countries of the earth, they are building up material prosperity, awaiting their Saviour who is yet to come, as they contend. Meanwhile there came a voice in the East, simple, like that of a child. There dawned a star, there beamed a day, and the wise men saw that the Christ they had so long expected had come. Now it does not matter, in our opinion, whether, as the infidel believes, this birth of Jesus is a tradition, or whether, as the Christian believes, it is a reality; the influence of that supposed birth upon the world is precisely the same: and whether you take it from the standpoint of the secularist or the standpoint of the religionist, it does not matter. The point we have to cºde: 1S, 8 SPIRITUAL ETHICs. what effect this theory has had upon the world. Born in obscurity, raised in humbleness, and, at last, promulgated throughout the most advanced and civilised nations of the earth !—what effect has this had upon humanity? The religions of preceding ages—all religions antecedent to this of Jesus—accepted and believed in material worship. ... Temples were built, places were set apart, symbols of the Godhead were formed, and every religion became an idolatry on the face of the earth. . The Spirit of God departed from the Egyptian, from the Brahmin, from the Buddhist, from the Persian form of worship, because they came to construct idols of wood and stone, and to build magnificent temples wherein no spirit could be found. Even the Hebrews, because of their materialism, were banished from their sacred Jerusalem, and their gorgeous temple was overthrown because they would not listen to the voice of the Spirit. Christ's lesson from first to last, then and now, whether in the words recorded, or in the influences left upon his immediate disciples, was this: Past religions have believed that there were intermediate gods, and that the Most High God was entirely out of the reach of mortals. Christ taught that between the human soul and the Father there is no intercessor but love; and the divinest feature of his teaching was that it left the individual in the hands of deity, instead of in the hands of an outside god who might or might not listen to prayer. More than this, instead of offerings of bloodshed and burnt-offerings and sacrifices, he taught that the only offerings were those of the human spirit, that the only sacrifice was the sacrifice of the senses, and that to the spiritually-minded there is no need of an intercessor, for God is there and will listen. Could anything be more at variance with the materialism of the past than this? Could anything be more surprising to the existing forms of worship then upon the earth than this simple teacher, without retinue, without shrine or altar or priests, rising up in the midst of his fellow-people and declaring that God is not in any shrine or temple, but in the human heart alone? It was the advent of the Spirit as against matter, of the spiritual nature of man as against the mate- rial nature, the advent of the true form of worship as against idolatry; and, whatsoever man may have done in the name of Christianity and religion, the teachings of Christ remain the same— clear, transparent, everlasting protests against all outward forms and ceremonies that are not born of the living spirit of inspiration. Christ's life and example represent the possibility of man as a teacher, as an elder brother. Why, the Roman Catholic Church even claims that he represents that to which all may become heirs by their spiritual gifts; and this may be said of the Roman Catholic Church, in spite of its idolatry, temples, and ceremonials, that it invariably preserves the spiritual gifts wherever they are authenti- cated, and places them upon the records of the Church as instances that the spirit is still alive, however much the matter that surrounds THE GREATEST TEACHER. 9 them may kill the spirit. But it is recorded that Christ taught that those who believed should perform even greater things than he had done. He gave his disciples the gifts of the Spirit—the gift of tongues, of prophecy, of the interpretation of tongues, and of healing. All these gifts he gave, and his disciples became possessed of them. May we ask where they are now P And do the believing possess the Spirit as they ought P Christ's teachings were those of lovingkindness and direct and perfect charity, that casts out all complaining and bitterness, and brings humanity closer and closer to the Father in the bonds of love. We do not criticise the Christian world to-day; we do not criticise the warfare, the bloodshed, and crimes that are incident to humanity. In spite of these the truth is abroad, and notwithstand- ing these the spirit of Christ is struggling in your midst to-day. It has been said that Christianity has been the cause of more bloodshed than all other religions put together. What can ou say of Mohammedanism, that, with the sword in one and, and the IGoran in the other, devastates the whole of the empires of the East P , Knocking at the doors of estab- lished customs and of ancient religions, it demanded instant acceptance or death. Mohammedanism had some inception of religion, but when its promulgation is accompanied by devasta- tion and ruin, we can have no word for it but condemnation. But these nations have sunk into degradation, while the ancient religions have been quenched. It is true war has followed in the wake of Christianity; but it is not true that this is attributable to the spirit of Christianity. If men make war upon their fellow-men, shall we blame that religion which advocates love and human kind- ness? Rather say that it is the undeveloped state of mankind; that, notwithstanding this light, human selfishness, cupidity, and ignorance seek to make a cloak and shield of religion to slay mankind. Shall we say that it is Christianity that has brought about all the revolutions of the last eighteen hundred years? War was known before. Cupidity and ignorance prevail; and if under the guise of religion man slays his brother, it is not because of religion, but in spite of it that he does so. Christ's teachings in their simplicity would lead only to peace. Christ's Sermon on the Mount, whatever sermons may be spoken or written, will never be transcended; it remains the one shining utterance on the page of all history that reconciles man to the Infinite. Christ's com- mandment: “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another,” transcends the whole of the Mosaic law, since it brings humanity into close brotherhood and makes them one with the Father. Christ's prayer to the Deity, recognising the Father “our Father,” makes every child of the earth one with the Infinite, and establishes the bond between humanity and God. Immor- tality, that was before a vague hope, an uncertain speculation that had no share and part in the ancient religions, except in some form 10 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, of transmigration, reincarnation, or some other method, was made clear and plain; and instead of mysticism and fable, it was brought to the understanding of everyone. “In my Father's house are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you,” says Jesus to his loving followers. What more could you have of the future state P Then, when predicting his final change, he saw the glory of the life which should eventually follow; and when he said he should come again, it was literally fulfilled in his presenting himself to his disciples; and when he said, “If I go away, I will send you a comforter, even the Spirit of Truth,” has it not been proven that all who seek find it P. We say nothing to the different inter- pretations of Christ's teachings; we say nothing of the various creeds and theologies that have been built upon them, though all have their uses; we make no war with them even though they war with one another; but we say that if the foundation of the Christian religion be Christ's teaching, and the foundation of Chris- tian society Christ's example, the world can never possess a higher standard; for it is better, if we fall short of the mark, aiming high, than if we only aim at the rocks beneath our feet. The golden rule should be inscribed on every altar and shrine, so that everyone who strives therefor may have the consciousness of striving; and Jesus taught that those who strive, even though they fail, have some of the rewards of the spirit of God's love. We know that there is a very strong argument against the originality of Christ's teachings, and that materialists and infidels have searched history and found a parallel between the teachings of Christianity and those of other religions; that there was something similar in the writings of Confucius, and that other teachers taught the golden rule; but Christ was the first teacher who embodied his teachings in the loving works of his life and hands. Christ was the first teacher to awaken the consciousness that spirit is superior to matter, and that the soul transcends the casket in which God has placed it. And we know of nothing better to-day than in the fulness of the human understanding to know that these lessons, however perverted and abused among men, form the chief aim and inspiration of the loftiest minds in human society. Even when they do not know it, and when materialism enthralls the senses, the unconscious leaning is towards that high standard of moral excellence and spiritual worship; and though they are humble in thought, they shun the more external forms of creed and ceremonial, and seek this true and living spirit within it. The greatest thought of the Christian world is for the peace and advancement of humanity. Whatever kings may do, or selfish demagogues may demand, we know that Church and State are alike united with the greatest and highest powers of the earth to bring about “peace on earth and goodwill to men;” that the British nation as a government has set its face 8 THE GREATEST TEACHER, 11 towards the “golden rule,” in striving towards that arbitrament that shall cause the sword to be set aside and the understanding of humanity to be used in its stead. When such a thought is in the minds of your rulers, we certainly do not despair; and when the greatest minds, moved by the impetus of human fellowship and love, look kindly and joyously towards the era when goodwill shall prevail, and when the nations of the earth shall be gathered together beneath the eye of God, and when human governments shall try the mild sway of the Christian, we cannot condemn, but on the contrary say that spirit is abroad in all the lands; that it forms the basis and foundation upon which the superstructure of human society is built; that the spirit will kill the letter, as the letter has sometimes killed the spirit; is unquestionably true, and that in an age not far distant, without the eye of prophecy, the religionist and statesman can say there will be an entire end of wars and bloodshed and governments of force, and that the supreme law of all the land will be this law of peace. No other teaching could have wrought this work. It matters not, as we say, whether it be a clever creation of the early teachers of the Chris- tian Church, or whether, as we believe, Christ was indeed an in- spired teacher. It matters not : the influence upon society is still the same, and the great culmination of moral and spiritual thought was in the birth and life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Having finished her discourse, the lecturess offered to answer any question by the committee bearing upon the subject treated. Mr. Cooper rose, and, in the name of the committee, thanked Mrs. Tappan for her eloquent address, and said he only spoke the senti- ments of all when he said they had all been delighted with what they had heard. ... He only wished such a sermon might be heard every Sunday in all the churches of the metropolis. Mrs. Tappan then offering to answer any question put to her by the audience, a gentleman asked, “Do you regard Christ as really God, or merely as a human teacher?” To which the lecturess answered, “We were not asked for our theological views; we were only requested to state what great teacher had had the greatest influence on human society.” . Another gentleman considered the speaker had not fully answered the question embodied in the subject of the discourse. She had shown that Christ had had the greatest in- fluence on human society, but had not pointed out why. He should have expected, and no doubt the gentleman who had asked the last question had expected the answer—Because he was God. Mr. Tappan replied that “For ourselves, we believe that all truth is of God, and Christ embodied in his form as much of deity as the truth he expressed; that he was the Son of God, and that he represented the possible of man, inasmuch as he promised the same gifts to others that he himself possessed. But we certainly decline entering into any discussion ºn the Tl2 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. creed of the Trinitarian or Unitarian, or any form of theological controversy. Christ's words when he says: “I and my Father are one,” did not mean he was God; if he and his Father were one, it simply signified they were one in spirit; and the promise given to earth's children, the same as to Christ, is, that Christ could not have been a greater embodiment of deity than the divine and perfect humanity he represented.” Another gentleman having understood the speaker to eulogise the connection of Church and State, the answer was given: “We do not eulogise the connection of Church and State unless the Church and State are so reformed as to have neither Church nor State.” And to a further remark: “We believe all churches and religions should have free action in every land beneath the sun.” A gentleman in the gallery, while speaking in high terms of the discourse as a whole, questioned the speaker's conclusions with reference to Buddhism. If she meant that Christ's teaching had exercised the greatest influence on Christian society, then he granted she was right; but if she meant human society, or the human race as a whole, then he begged to differ with her, for there were from three to four hundred millions of the human race who were believers in Buddhism, while only a small minority were Christians. Then again, he believed the speaker had been wrong in her estimate of Buddhism, in represent- ing its central doctrine as the periodical incarnation of deity; the researches of modern science had led men to doubt very much whether the whole system was not an atheism. In her reply, Mrs. Tappan said that numbers were no criterion of excellence; it had been indicated that the Christian portion of the world was in a minority, yet in human society the Christian portion represented the most advanced state of modern civilisation. It had been said that human society might fairly be called that portion of the human race which was in the most advanced state of enlighten- ment, and that portion was represented by the Christian nations. With reference to the second point, they must be allowed to have their opinion. They did not claim infallibility, and were open to conviction; they had been asked to give their opinion, and had given it. THE SPIRIT. An Inspirational Discourse, delivered by Mrs. CorA L. V. TAPPAN in the Royal Music Hall, Holborn, London, Sunday evening, October 19th, 1873. INVOCATION. Our Father, thou living Spirit, Thou surpassing glory, Thou perfect life, Thou all-pervading light, Thou source of love, and truth, and goodness; we praise Thee / The soul wells up with thankfulness; the hearts of thy children, grateful for the bounties of thy hand, would uplift their voices in praise. We do not ask thee, O heavenly Father, for blessings! Every blessing that the infinite mind can bestow Thou hast already given. We only ask that our eyes may be opened, our senses quickened, our spirits vivified, until we know Thou hast bestowed all blessings. O God, from thy life and light all forms of being have their breath; all law emanates from Thee, and from thy central Mind spring those sources of existence that are hidden from mortal vision. We know that the atom trembles with the breath of thy being, and that the brightest sunlight is radiant in the glow of the laws Thou hast made. We know that earth, teeming with thy bounty and abundance, is only as a mote in the realms of infinite space, filled throughout with matter and life, which is pervaded by Thee. We know that the human spirit, pulsating with thought and respondent to the breath of thy infinite Spirit, is but as a spark in the great flame of eternal love, wherein Thou art the centre, circumference, and the whole Being. O Father—Spirit ! the souls that are immured in time, bowed down with the weight of the senses, would still praise Thee. Some glimmering of thy trans- cendent loveliness, some spark of thy love and light, kindles the flame on the altar of their being; and though buried from sight and hidden from external gaze, there is ever a tºmbing thought 4 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, that points them unto Thee. We would praise Thee for that link, for that golden chord of love that unites them to thy Spirit. Oh, for the spirits in bondage, we would pray ! for those that are chained and fettered to the external senses alone ! for those that walk in the darkness, seeing not the glory of thy light, and beholding not thy beauty mirrored in every twinkling star that gems the nocturnal heavens! Oh, let these hear the voice of the Spirit that proclaims thy presence in every living thing ! For those that are enchained in error—in the darkness of prejudice, we would pray, seeing that they may burst their fetters, and that the angel of light and truth may one day roll away the stone from the door of their spirits' sepulchre; for those that walk on the shores of time with weary plodding feet, and hearts heavy and bowed down with anguish—who see no light beyond the grave, and have no hope of immortality: for all these we pray. Let them behold all around the evidences of thy care; let them know Thou art as near as the throbbings of their own hearts, if they will but hear thy voice. If there appears to be death, and sorrow in consequence thereof, let them know there is really no death—that it is only a change of life, the stepping from the outer to the inner temple, the doorway that opens to immortal life; and that their loved ones are not dead. For the spirits in prison, we pray; for those who have passed beyond the bourne of time, but are still bound by the fleshly bonds which held them enthralled on earth; for those that were steeped in crime and wickedness, the result of untoward circumstances and unfortunate parentage, and have not yet come into the midst of thy glory, where angels for ever sing thy praise; for the spirits in prison that Jesus taught, we pray. Let some light come from prayers, and offerings, and mothers' tears, and all sweet things that spring up from the human heart and are sanctified in thy sight. We praise Thee, O living Spirit, for the truth that does not perish with time; for that inspiration that grows brighter and brighter as the ages roll on ; for every word that has been spoken by thy prophets and sages in all past time; for the living effort of thy ever-present love, that speaks to every spirit and bids all follow Thee and thy truth. O abiding Soul, Oliving Spirit ! we would praise Thee for ever in the lowly ways of life, in meek- ness, charity, lovingkindness, in aspirations for truth, and in our thoughts, that take unto themselves wings, fly heavenwards, and find *jº Thee, eternal God! THE SPIRIT, 5 DISCOURSE. Friends, we shall give you as our subject to-night some of the letters of the spiritual alphabet, beginning with A. It is a mistaken idea with some minds unacquainted with the truths and phenomena of modern Spiritualism, that it claims to reveal any essentially new spiritual principle. It does not. The spirit that is in the universe, that fills all space, that is the begim- ning and ending of all things, has ever manifested its presence in various forms to the senses of man : sometimes in prophets reared up especially as the chosen mouthpiece of the Divine Mind; some- times in seers and sages, who, though unconscious of their inspira- tion, have still spoken the words of the infinite Spirit. The pri- mal law of being is spirit; the primal power and force of the universe is spirit: otherwise there could be no life. The Materialist is accustomed to begin with matter, and, struggling through the various phases of scientific inquiry, pauses at the very threshold of spiritual truth, saying, “We cannot enter here; we have no power given us.” On the other hand, we begin with spirit. Without this there is no alphabet of the spirit, no language of mind, no communion of Soul, and all past history is a delusion—an igmis fatuus. There is no being on earth, unless we begin with spirit. Now, this law of the spirit, as distinguished from material- ism, is the avowed and express object of Spiritualism to–day. It is not a new theology—something distinct from any of the ancient theologies—but the revivification of an old faith. All the old systems have had too much of form and too little of the spirit; for gradually, as power and wealth augment, as civilisation and the science of government advance, religion, or theological views, assume a material form, and the spirit is less than the letter of worship, the soul is buried under the form, and the vitality goes out of the ancient forms of worship. But upon God's most ancient altars, in the primal beginning, at the earliest dawn of human history, this alphabet of the spirit is made manifest. God, or whatever else may be the name of this Spirit, speaks with one voice; his nature is one; his mind and purpose are one; the grand unitary Soul of the universe. Multitudinous in the ex- pression of his life, infinite in the variety of forms that ultimately express Him, his spirit is the all-pervading element. Spiritualism has not added anything to this manifestation. It has not even come to that, because spiritual manifestations of to-day represent nothing new between you and the Divine Mind, but simply an augmented interest between souls embodied and souls disembodied. We know that the thought is abroad in the world, and that a Materialist German theologian and others have tried to prove the non-existence of the ºl. For years it has been debated whether there is a God. J: 6 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. It is not a matter for the human intellect to investigate whether God exists or does not exist. It is not a point the human mind may dare to consider. If there is not throughout the whole uni- verse a revelation of the Divine Mind so palpable as to make the Materialist and Intellectualist stand in awe before its presence, it is not for us to argue the point with him. There is a revelation of God in every human spirit. There is an innermost voice that tells you of this supreme Existence; and if you have not this voice, and if you have no consciousness of this Presence, no power of the human intellect can give it. No mere intellectualism can establish it; it is not to be argued by thesis or antithesis. It is a positive certainty, or there is nothing in existence; and intellect itself falls into fragments. This Divine Spirit, as we have said, has spoken in all ages, and did not wait for the nineteenth century to give its manifestations, and potency, and power. God speaks in all ages, to all nations of the earth. He has given to each tongue a prophet; and every nation has had its messiah to establish the connecting link between the Divine Mind and humanity; and those to whom Christianity has been the revealed religion have but ac- cepted and intellectually established that which the most ancient rophets had already affirmed. Spirit is affirmative; it expresses itself by positive statements, by intuition, and not by argument. There is no appeal to the human intellect in this expression, but only to the human spirit. You cannot find out God by any scien- tific experiment, can discover Him by no astronomical instrument, can determine Him by no mathematical formula; it is not within the scope of the human reason to establish his exist- ence; but by the law of the human spirit, by its intuition, by its very existence, is God present with every human heart, and in every atom of life. His law made you. You may as well endeavour to reverse the order of nature, and walk upon your hand or head; or suppose that the law of gravitation might be inverted, and have all things flying off from the common centre instead of towards it, as to endeavour to solve this pro- blem intellectually. The law of spirit is supreme—these positions are not from any logician's standpoint. They do not present any point for logical deduction—there is no system of reasoning equal to it. It is a system of divine economy manifested to those who are inspired, that receives the sanction of the whole human race, that has been proclaimed by prophets, that every heart and mind feels to be true when reading the words of inspiration, or when be- meath the subtleness of God's presence; it is manifest to the indi- vidual consciousness. We would not—whether there be Materialists, Atheists, or Intellectualists present, or not—we would not attempt to establish the existence of this system. Without its existence there could be no being, no life whatsoever. Turn your thoughts within: take away all intellectualism, all material and sophistical reasoning, that with which you have been accustomed to discuss THE SPIRIT, 7 all other subjects, and remember that you are endowed with the one perception of the spirit, whereby you may discern not only the spirit of God, but the spirit of individual souls. This discern- ment and its expression was known in the time of Jesus as “spiritual gifts,” and expresses itself in various forms and phases. Thus amongst the disciples and followers of Jesus, and in all pre- vious times, there were spiritual gifts, the possessors of which the Divine Mind visited. These spiritual gifts do not occur in accord- ance with any system of material science. They belong to the region of mind, to the domain of spirit. They are the result of faith, and prayer, and earnest work, not of outward, superficial, and external knowledge, Scholars cannot acquire them, they cannot be taught in the schools. They are matters of spiritual discernment; and those whose minds and spirits are the most exalted, possess the most of these spiritual gifts; while those who grovel in the senses are dependent upon material and intellectual channels for any perception whatever, and do not understand save the dim glimmer the world gives even of the most outward matters. It has therefore been determined by Materialists that the realm of the spirit and the alphabet of the angels may not be known among mortals; that the spiritual world may have no voice or hearing in your midst; and all theologies have been cast aside because Materialists say that theology and religion come from the dark ages. “To-day,” says the Materialist, “science has appeared in the world, and we have distinctly proven that there can be nothing that does not spring from matter.” These same men say, “Look not upon the past, the dead past.” We, however, say, The past is your mother; bury her form reverently, but forget not her virtues; all that is great and good to-day has been hers. Every inspiration that may be spoken for all time has been uttered in past times. Every great truth, every elevated expression or aspiration of the human soul, has had winged utterance and tongue of flame among the ancient prophets and seers. Yes, bury her form piously; but remember that the living spirit of truth is not content with one time and one gene- ration, but abides in all time, and speaks to all generations; that the language of the ages is hers—the language of all nations and all tongues. You may determine the first letter of the spiritual alphabet, for you have learned it by your own consciousness of the existence of the Divine Mind. If you have not this conscious- ness; if it does not intuitively spring into your mind; if there is not in your hearts an earnest living flame, kept alive by the consciousness of spiritual being, of the Divine Mind, then you have not the first letter of the spiritual alphabet. If you would approach it by any of the external channels of sense or investiga- tion; if you would arrive at spiritual knowledge by any of the outward means, either through curiosity, through a desire to satisfy the intellect merely, or the sensuous nature, tº: needs 8 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. positive physical tests before it acknowledges the spiritual; if you desire this, then you have not made the first step towards learning the letters of the spiritual alphabet. No, it is won only when, with hushed voice and reverent lips, we enter into the very inner- most communion with the Spirit. You must turn your thoughts within, and if the spirit of God has not touched your heart, if you are not alive with the consciousness of that living presence, then you cannot go farther—you must wait. For though you might believe in miracles, accept theology, bow the knee before any shrine, outwardly profess to be a Spiritualist, you have, never- theless, the first letter of the spiritual alphabet to learn. Sometimes the little child upon its mother's knee is wiser than the grey-haired sire, for it learned the first lesson of life from the I)ivine Mind. Sometimes the Materialist or Intellectualist is startled from his scientific musings by the words of a child that professes to know of the Divine presence and confers with angels. Listen to these voices. You are accustomed to suppress them; and if the child asks a question about the Deity you say, “Wait, child, you are not old enough to understand yet.” Old enough ! How can you judge of the age of the spirit that has just come from the hands of the Deity ? Old enough Time does not make age, but wisdom; and the very intelligence that prompts that question evidences the very spirit of age in knowledge and wisdom. If a child says, “O mother, I dreamed last night of my little angel-brother, and I thought we were playing together in a garden full of beautiful flowers,” you say, “Your brother is dead; we cannot see him, only in God's time we shall go to heaven and find him there.” But suppose the spirit of the child has really met in dream, when the outward senses were shut in sleep, this little angel-brother. Is there any law of the Divine Mind that prohibits guardian angels? And is it not one of the oldest beliefs that each mortal has his guardian angel? Do not curb these promptings of the spiritual growth; do not say, “My child, you must go to school,” or “You must mend your frock,” or tell them to do something else as soon as you hear them speak of that which is beyond your customary knowledge. . No family is without these visitations, and yet they are all quenched. The intuitive prompt- ings of your mind for many years may have led you in the direction of spiritual knowledge: you have visions, premonitions, dreams— the croppings out of the spiritual alphabet—and yet you do not heed them. You prefer to study the external forms of learning that men have reared, while here is the royal road to that know- ledge of which they are deprived. How many an earnest-seeking soul, bent in prayer, is conscious that somehow the air is made lighter and the forms of angels seem to hover about when the mind is in a prayerful and exalted mood And in the silent hour of reverie and meditation, when you put the world far from you, you are aware of this Divine presence, But you do not speak of THE SPIRIT, 9 it: you go out among your fellow-beings with a mask on your face, You are allowed to take in no knowledge but that which is of the senses. You are not permitted to say you feel the presence of the Divine, and that angels are about you, because the discipline of the schools has called it imagination and superstition. What is imagination? The very flight of the spirit. Without it, how dull would all become ! Imagination is the very wings upon which the soul mounts to the spiritual realm. Poets—they that dwell in the airy regions of imagination—are permitted to speak of guardian angels. That, you say, is poetical licence; but if ordinary mortals were to broach the subject of guardian angels, the answer would immediately come: “Oh, that is imagination' that is all super- stition and idolatry.” . The atmosphere that the poet breathesis the native element of the human mind. The atmosphere that indues you with spiritual life is the air upon which your soul subsists. Again, this first letter of the spiritual alphabet connects you with all remotest ages. It takes you back to the primal evidence of all religions, and proves that those religions were based upon spiritual foundations; that of all forms of worship the original inspiration was of the Divine Mind; that it speaks the tongue of whatever country the prophet or seer inhabits, and that the same primal law, the same spirit of light, the same Divine image is resident in all. The first letter of the alphabet also means your own spiritual existence as distinguished from your physical existence; it means that that part of you which is immured in clay—that the form you see, the senses you are conscious of is not the living spirit; it means that the element of the spirit is ancient as God, primal with his being, and clothed upon with his breath. These are all masks you bear, garments, outward coverings of the soul, in which you take up your habitation for a time; and the first letter of the alphabet, when it shall come to be known, shall take you upward and forward into spiritual existence far beyond your highest imaginings. What do you know of the life of God? What do you know of the endless, immortal life P. The intellect falters; there is no method whereby science can fathom it. It is only with the eye of the spirit that you can discern your own immor- tality. The spiritual world teaches immortality; but it is by no means proven by what is called modern spiritual manifesta- tions; it is only proven by analogy. It is true Spiritualism teaches immortality, but it is with immortality as with the consciousness of Deity; and if you are not aware of your immortality, no spirit can tell you of it—no Spiritualism can reveal it to you. It is a mistake to suppose Spiritualism teaches that men live for ever. It only proves to you that they exist after they have left this body; but, as for immortality, you must look for proofs of that within your own consciousness. Every individual identified spirit says to itself: “I have consciousness, I have life, I hº * ; O. * , 10 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, whence came I? whither am I bound P’’ and then there comes to the intuitive mind the consciousness: “My spirit is as old as Deity; there is no limit to the future; mind cannot perish ; thought cannot become extinct;” and at once the wisest and best and most advanced of all minds believe intuitively in immortality. If it were not so it could never be proven; if there is nothing in you that responds to this immortal life, nothing can impart it to you. It is something coeval with God—mind. But Spiritualism takes you one step from Materialism towards another and higher phase of life, into which the spirit is transported after it leaves the physical body; and this is what Spiritualism does: it removes the fear of death, it takes away the dread and horror that belong to that change of life. Indeed, it often does by analogy prove immortality; but, as we said before, immortality cannot be proven; it is not a subject for the human intellect to grasp ; it is only known as all things connected with the spirit are known—by intuition. It is what the German philosophers call & priori know- ledge; it is inherent in the human spirit. That which the schools teach is à posteriori reasoning; but immortality is not thus proven. The spiritual revelations of to-day, called Modern Spiritualism, tell you that there is another form of life beyond this earth, in which the existence of your friends is continued, and that forms a stepping-stone by which to bolster up your courage, and gives you an external corroboration of immortality; only the proof must come from within, for how can you know that they do not live for a time and then pass away ? It is only by beginning at the foundation of spiritual truth that you can build up the vast superstructure of spiritual existence. You must begin with spiritual life. You must begin with no manifestations, however convincing to the senses; you cannot rely upon them, but only upon the truly spiritual. But, you say, many Materialists have been made aware of spiritual life through Spiritualism. They knew it before, only they were so immured in Materialism that they would not admit of it; and when Spiritualism came with its occult manifestations, the pride of the intellect was fain to admit that there must be some power where there was so much force; and so the Materialist would admit there was a Deity. We do not believe that there is a mind in the world that is not aware in its innermost consciousness of the existence of the Supreme Mind and of its own immortality. We do not believe there is any intellect, however vast, that is not within itself subtly and instinctively con- scious of its own immortal destiny, of its alliance to Deity, and of the fact that for the spirit there is no death. Then among the lowly, among those not endowed with intellect, nor gifted with culture, we see such promptings of the spirit as transcend the highest flights of genius and the noblest evolutions of the scientific mind. See what wonders have been wrought by the gift the Spirit among the lowly See how Jesus taught THE SPIRITs 11 among those who were not of the schools, and how the gifts of those who received his teaching were beyond all that had been acquired by natural or material lessons ! See how the history of the church is filled with seers and with those who have spoken with many tongues, or written upon the pages of history in the pouring-out of their lives, and by the inflowing of the Spirit. These same gifts are abroad in the world to-day; not only among scientific minds, not only in the accredited and exclusive churches, not only in the lands where established theologies take the place of all other religions, but among people that are not gifted with intel- lect, that do not belong to any denominational religion, but look to the Spirit, and the gift comes to them. Many times the churches have been endued with these gifts, and they have been hushed up. IProtestantism was in itself a spiritual manifestation. Luther had the visitation of angels, and Calvin was possessed of the gift of inspiration; but these gifts became lost in the exclusive dogmatism of modern theology. The Roman Catholic Church has been kept alive by many well-accredited cases of spiritual gifts. There are many priests who are continually endued with the gift of healing, and who use it for the amelioration of suffering. Imagination, you say. Was it not faith that in the Master's hand cured those that were the most sick? If, therefore, faith and imagination are one, let us have it, since it affords an avenue for doing good. Give us all imagination, that we may uplift ourselves from the cold and plodding clay, The gifts of the Spirit are various. Sometimes it is prophecy, sometimes the gift of tongues, sometimes the interpretation of tongues, sometimes healing, sometimes the discerning of spirits. How simple ! and yet these gifts may be possessed by all ! Guardian powers ally themselves to you, and thus you are supplied with the materials you would use. “Do I possess the gift of É. ?” I hear somebody say. The gift of prophecy is only the istening to the Spirit that transcends time. Just think of it; to the mind there is no space, no time. You are not limited by these four walls, you can go a thousand miles as well as one; and if this is true, you can foretell future events, as well as the barometer prognosticates the changes of the weather, as well as science foretells the discovery of a new planet, or the reappearance of comets. Spirit is endowed with prophecy, but it comes not of reason or material sense; you cannot cultivate it. You say, “Premonitions are old women's whims, and we do not have know- ledge of the future.” There never comes an important epoch in human life but it is shadowed in the spirit-atmosphere just as surely as clouds lº. a storm. So, whenever a change is about to come in your life, there is due warning given to your spirit; and if you only know the language of the Spirit, you can interpret it. Sometimes it comes like an oppressive feeling of dread: be sure then that misfortune is coming, and that your guardiºl is 12 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. warning you of it. Sometimes it comes in dreams; but whatever way it comes, be sure you heed the warning, for all these pre- monitions are permitted, and if you did not have them you would break down utterly when the day of affliction came. It is the kind permission of Heaven that however much you may be im- mured in external form, there is something that enables the spirit to give you strength. “Do many possess the power of healing in the work! ?” I hear some ask. Yes; many a student of Materia Medica finds that the touch of the hand or the sound of the voice does far more for the alleviation of the patient than all the nostrums he can bring, and that because he is endowed with the gift of healing. Many physicians have found that if they send their patients physic it does them no good, but if they take it it benefits them. Many a nurse too finds that she has this gift of soothing and alleviating the sufferings of the afflicted, and she is thus able to do more for the patient than the physician can. Then it may be cultivated. If you find that by putting your hand on the aching head of your friend }. soothe his pain, or that you can put a moaning child to sleep, e sure you have healing power latent. Many possess this gift and exercise it during their §. lives without being aware of it. It is true you cannot heal all persons; but every individual possesses this power of healing in some degree, and it can be cultivated by touching with the hand those who suffer. By exercise, the healing power will come to your fingers, and by-and-by it will take the place of poisonous drugs. Thousands and thousands of well- attested cases prove that this has been effected by the visitation of angels. Mesmerism revealed it somewhat, but still not fully; indeed, it is made known by the spiritual sense; it is the absolute gift of the Spirit. Then there is the gift of tongues. Many persons speak in lan- guages they do not know; and the interpretation of tongues, many being able to interpret unknown languages. But the discerning of the Spirit is the most subtle gift, since it enables you—not by any word, not by any external utterance, not even by the subtleties of the intellect: they are fallacious and deceitful; but by the very power to read the soul, to measure humanity. There is no mask that can be worn to cover up the measure of the Spirit; no deceit- fulness that may be couched in honeyed words; no rancouring envy be hidden by a smiling face, nor worldliness be veiled by external representations of piety: the Spirit only is revealed to the Spirit. It was this that ſhade Christ, when the woman was brought to him whom the world condemned, say, as he looked upon those who clamoured, “Let him amongst you that is without sin cast the first stone;” and he stooped and wrote upon the sand. It is recorded—but not in the present accepted religion—that when he wrote upon the sand he revealed to each one of those clamourers his hidden weaknesses. And which of all the mortals in the world THE SPIRIT. 13 could stand before the discerning eye of the Master and then cast a stone at his fallen brother or sister? If a weak one is brought before you, and if any of you discerning the Spirit can then upbraid, then you are stronger than was he who was sent to the lowly. “But the greatest of all gifts,” as the result of Christ's teaching, “is charity.” Though you speak with tongues, have the gift of prophecy, are endowed with all eloquence, and though you have the healing of the sick, if you have not charity, the highest and noblest gift—that forgiving spirit, that lovingkindness, that loving power of uplifting those less fortunate than yourself—then you are without the highest revelation of the spirit in all ages. Would you speak with the tongue of the angels? Then have charity. Would you have the gift of rophecy P. Then know that all humanity may be gathered into the fold of knowledge and wisdom. Would you heal the sick? Then also should you have the desire to cure spiritual infirmities. You have institutions for the deaf and blind; you have all forms of hospitals, witnessing to the great benevolence of this wonderful land; but where are your asylums for the morally blind, for those who, through physical defect or parental ignorance, are born into sin P. Have you hospitals for these—schools, asylums, where they, with patient kindness, may be taught to aspire to the elevation of spiritual love P Do you have raised letters—all kinds of instru- ments to teach the morally blind—-splendid inventions whereby they may learn to read God's word P. Have you hospitals and surgeons for the morally infirm—for those that cannot walk alone, who need a crutch here and a staff there P They are thrust into your world with all these infirmities upon them; they look for assistance. They fill your gaols and penitentiaries; they swell the great record of crime in your land. . Where are the asylums for these ? Oh, that the discerning of the Spirit may lead you to see the means of bringing light, to these stricken children'ſ may induce you to try to speak to them that they in the prison and charnel-house may be treated not as criminals, but as patients, and morally healed of their infirmities. Show but this gift of the Spirit, and in all your Christian land you shall speak to these and say: “Ye are healed !”. If there is a battle between monarchs, and thousands are slain, straightway the sanitary movements appeal to the benevolent in all lands, and stores are sent out, and . nurses volunteer, and the poor wounded are made as whole as with mangled limbs and dying bodies they can be made. But on the battlefield of life, in the conflict of ages between man and man in society, where be the nurses, the hospitals, the sanitary stores, in order that yonder fallen brother or sister maybe brought in and cared for P. Oh, you have moneywherewith to build temples and hospitals; you have material wealth with which you seek by endowing institutions to pave the pathway to heaven: but there is no coin current in heaven save kindness. You cannot bribe the angels with your coin unless you give your heart to Jesus, yºu'er 14 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. You cannot make God believe, with all your temples, that you accept the first letter of this alphabet, unless your heart cleaves also, even to the least of these erring ones. See to it. If you know the voice of the Spirit, all envy and scorn and malice are swept away from your hearts, and they are become clear and bright, so that angels might come and not be afraid. See to it. If you would call your loved ones from their angel-homes, if you would make a habitation for them in your midst, then pray for those that are fallen, in deeds and words of love: for be sure that the highest archangel in heaven has no loftier pursuit than to administer to some unfortunate soul; be sure your loved ones employ every moment of their time in ministering to the wants of those less fortunate; be sure that with all the gifts and graces with which God has endued your earth, with all its bloom, and abundance, and plenty, that you cannot enter into communion with the lofty and high until the doors of your spirit have been opened for charity and loving- kindness to enter. Then you may sit around the fireside, and gathering close to the family altar, with hymns of praise and prayer, ask your angel-child to come, and not be afraid. Then you may solicit the presence of your angel-mother, and ask for advice and counsel in your works of love. Then you may ask for the gift of healing, that you may go abroad to minister health to body and mind. Then you may ask for prophecy, for then there will be no harm. But in whatsoever form the Spirit may come, wherever it may abide, whatever lesson it may teach, be sure the first lesson of the alphabet is to examine the individual soul. Turn within, and then, when you have swept the vestibule clean and pure, go then and see if the altar is made pure and holy for the visitation of angels. Whatever outward expression of truth shall come to you through the spiritual sense, whatever revelation may be given you by your departed friends, be sure that that alone will not suffice. The loving spirit, the earnest prayer and desire to benefit others, these are the gifts of the Spirit that are immortal and imperishable. These pave the pathway to immortal life; these form the pearls on the brows of angels; these are the golden harps on which they play; these are the white lilies they bear in their hands; these are the living and perfect anthem of the angel- choir in heaven! BENEDICTION. May the angels of mercy and of charity abide with you; may your guardian angels accompany you to your homes; may your spirits drink the deep draught of love that falls from the Father God, until all the world is bathed in his love! 22 THE SPIRIT, 15 ANGEL-GLORY. If out of the utter sea of space God's hand had suddenly cleft in twain The clouds that obscure His glowing face, And revealed it unto the earth again; If from the pearl-inlaid dome of heaven New stars had suddenly burst apace, And unto mortals a light was given, Unlike all others in that bright place; If among the brightest stars that shine In th’ vast eternal space above, One star to the earth had descended anew, And breathed of the spirit of living love; If out of the grave your loved had arisen, With one accord, and a vibrant song, And from each lowly, sad, earthly prison Had floated in triumph that way along; If every shackle of human thought Had suddenly burst and been rent in twain By the light and power that is ever caught From God's own hand, all free from pain,_- All these could not picture the glorified place Wherein the spirit when disenthralled Beholds the light of God's loving face, And stands there all free and unappalled. Grown grand and strong from suffering sore, Grown mighty through treading the paths of time, Risen glorified, free for evermore, In the light of God's love supreme, sublimel 23 IMMORTALITY. By THE GUIDEs of MRs. TAPPAN. (Subject chosen by the audience at Bolton, Sunday evening, August 9th, 1874.) All things seem to die; The flower fades upon its stem, The petals trembling, wither'd lie, And from out Nature's diadem The shining drop seems lost. The dew perishes 'neath the sun; The mountain and the plain Dissolve beneath the earthquake's breath; The volcano in pain Sends forth the mighty stream of death, All nature to defy. The forest tree by slow degrees Crumbles to earth once more, And on the altar of dark Death All nature seems to pour The dread libations of her grief. Even man seems doomed to die, And all the edicts of his plan Mould'ring and scattered lie. But spring renews her vernal life; The atoms of the flower By subtle processes and strife Renew their wonted power. No drop is lost: the dew, Absorbed by the pure sun's ray, Descends in showers upon the plain, And lives again alway. The forest tree beneath decays, Seems thus to disappear, TJpon its mould'ring form there rise The beauties of another year. Man seems to die; but from the form That crumbles in the ground The spiritual atoms burst, With new-born life enwound. And round the central source of Light, Even as the butterfly That rises from the lowly worm, The soul of man leaps forth to life, Anew its torch to burn, . And with the Iris wings of thought, The sun of life's control, The body 'neath the ground must fade- God's sunlight decks the soul, 24 THE INDIVIDUAL HUMAN SPIRIT, An Oration delivered by Mrs. CoRA L. V. TAPPAN, at the Royal Music Hall, Holborn, London, on Sunday evening, October 26th, 1873; Mr. Thomas Slater in the chair. The audience voted that the subject should be left to the controlling spirits. INVOCATION. Our loving Father, Thou infinite Spirit of life and love! Thou divine and perfect Soul! we praise Thee. We lay upon the altar of thy infinite being all our offerings of devotion. Dim though our vision be, although clouded as is the mortal vision in material clay, still would we praise and bless Thee, because of thine infinite love. O our Father, Thou art the light, Thou the source, Thou the beginning and ending of all things; and whatsoever may encompass the spirit in darkness, or in misery, thy life and thy love enfold, sustain, and uplift us. O Thou lasting flame ! O Thou shining light in the midst of darkness! Thy strong hand ever extended to save, be Thou in our midst. We know that wherever we may be there is thy light; whatever our weakness may be, Thou art our strength; whatever our infirmity or mis- fortune, Thou dost sustain us. Even as the eagle that pushes forth her young from the nest that they may learn to fly alone, yet ever dives beneath to catch them lest they fall, so dost thy loving spirit force us out from thy infinite love, that we may try our pinions, and learn to fly upward to Thee; yet we know that thy infinite love and thy boundless mercy are ever extended beneath us, lest we fall upon the rocks of darkness. So do we trust in Thee, and striving ever to fly forward, we will endeavour to find thy love and thy promised safety. Oh, let us not shrink from striving to know the truth! The past has revealed the evidences of thy power; let us know that in the living present Thou dost abide, and that thy soul has marked out tºway 4 SPIRITUAL ETHICs. to the immortal life, beautified and glorified with the love of immortal being. Pilgrims on the earthly strand, we still may touch with our brows the immortal world; angels will come to meet those that falter on the way, and thy spirit of light and tº of loveliness will sustain, strengthen, and bless us all for ever- II].OT3e THE INDIVIDUAL HUMAN SPIRITs B DISCOURSE. THE INDIVIDUAL HUMAN SPIRIT : the Second letter of the spiritual alphabet. Last Sunday we gave as our subject the first letter of the spiritual alphabet, wherein the Divine Spirit, its existence, its power over mortals, and the relation of the human spirit to the divine, were portrayed. That was the first letter of the alphabet. To-night we come to the second letter, which is the individual human spirit, embodied and disembodied, and the relation of the disembodied to the embodied spirit. As we stated last Sunday evening, there is no intellectual proof of immortality. It is not a question of the human intellect; it does not belong to the sphere of human reason: there are none of the appliances of the mind when it speculates upon external subjects that belong to the realm of spirit—either dis- embodied or embodied mind. It is solely and absolutely a question of spiritual investigation. Therefore, when the atheist, the infidel, and the materialist come and say: “Where are the proofs of immortality ?” we say: “There are no proofs for the intellect; but the proofs to spirit are abundant and many.” This evidence is the consciousness of the human spirit itself: this alone satisfies; this alone is evidence—the absolute, undeniable, positive, longing aspiration for the certainty of immortal life. It is not anything that can come from knowledge; but must be innate. It is not anything that is the result of work, labour, or intellectual struggle: it is innate. For we believe that the true interpretation of the scriptural account of creation, that God made man in his own image, means the spiritual part of man; that the image of God is within the human spirit; and that is what gives it immortality, and that is what binds it to the eternal mind. Now, as we have stated, spiritual science reveals, not immor- tality, but a continued form of existence for the disembodied spirit. When the mind that is now encased in the physical body ceases to inhabit that body, spiritual science reveals that it passes to another state of existence, compatible with the spirit, and in just as ad- vanced a state as it leaves the earth—no more, no less; that it is not plunged instantaneously into an abyss of darkness, for no human spirit is wholly dark; nor at once transplanted into realms of absolute light and knowledge, for no spirit is wholly free from earthly stains; that, as Jesus said to his disciples when about to leave them, “In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you:” showing that, in his concep- tion of the future state, he readily understood that all could not occupy the same position, and that the “many mansions” inhabited by those who had entered the spirit-life were adapted to their condition. Spiritualism, as it is termed to-day, has revealed to the outward consciousness the methods whereby embodied and disembodied mind can converse together. This idiºnuman 6 ; : SPIRITUAL ETHICs. spirit of yours is a sentient, conscious, unitary, primal substance. It cannot be composite; if so, it would at some time be dissolved. It cannot be composed of mind and matter, for if so, there would come a term when its component parts must be dissolved, then the spirit would be decomposed. It cannot be formed of any mental process, or the result of development of organisation; if so, when the organism perished, the spirit also would perish. It is in itself a #. , absolute, self-existent principle, or existent from the Divine Mind; consequently immortal in its substance and nature, possess- ing none of the attributes of matter, not being related to matter ex- cept by its power to govern and control it; hence when mind in- habits the material body it gives that body form, shape, colour, sensa- tion—all the attributes of being; without it you might make a man of brass or clay, and callit a human being. It has even been dared to be entertained by scientific men that there will come a time when an exact semblance of the human organism may be formed, and the breath of life artificially breathed into it: such a creation, however, would not be a human being. Spirit must precede form, just as the germ precedes the wheat or the fruit of the harvest- time: if you have not the seed to sow, the germ to plant, you may expect no fruition; so if there were not a spirit inhabiting each one of your bodies, you could not understand one word we say; our utterance would fall upon stone or marble, and there would be no response within your mind. This spirit is that which gives your minds intelligence; it is that which causes the brain to perform its functions; and if you take away from the human brain —the human organism—this one spark of divine life, you have nothing left but lifeless muscles, bones, and sinews, that go back to the earth from whence they came, and again become the com- ponent parts of other material organisms, But the spirit—that which responds to our utterance; that which inhabits the body, and clothes it either with grace or deformity; that which causes the mind either to be adorned with intelligence or to grope in ignorance—that is the living, immortal part—the second letter of the spiritual alphabet. Therefore, when this immortal part ceases to inhabit the material body, it is dead; then it ceases to think, and breathe, and act, and live, and love, as it now does. And despite all religious revelation which we say unfolds im- mortal life—despite material science—the world has fallen into inertia and infidelity, doubt and scepticism, on the one point of its identified existence beyond the grave. Those who see with the eye of faith, and look forward to the dawn of the resurrection to meet their loved ones, have something to bridge over the chasm of death. But those who have not this consolation comprise the majority even in Christian countries, because the majority of the inhabitants of any nation are not church members, do not believe the revelations of any Church, do not attach them- selves § any established creed, and are drifting out upon the THE INDIVIDUAL HUMAN SPIRIT, 7 great sea of infidelity. They doubt the existence of a future state, and say, if spoken to on the subject: “We do not trouble ourselves with these things; we leave the other world to take care of itself- we have enough to do in this.” . The most pernicious of modern religious ideas is that form of religion that ignores the spiritual part of man—ignores the desire for inspiration and communion with spiritual beings, and advises that humanity devote itself absolutely and exclusively to that which belongs to its material welfare, because it is the most soulless. Give us rather the idolatry of the Brahmin, give us rather any form of worship than the soulless, intellectual, refined worship of the material clamourer of to-day, who, claiming to be liberal, has room for every- thing else upon his platform except the spirituality of the human being ! These are termed Radicals and Freethinkers, and their forms of thought liberal religion: they, no doubt, have their work in the world; but while they strangle the spiritual nature and spin out fine essays on the intellectual culture of man, the spirit stands pale and aghast, asking for some token of life that may point it to the Infinite Being. Let us have the blind idolatry of the Catholic worship, that takes the words of the priest as infallible, that bows down before a simple, senseless shrine, believing everything, because in believing everything you are sure to find something true; rather give us the fettered worship that takes blindly upon faith alone any belief in the soul', divine origin, than this subtle intellectualism that inverts the spiritual process, and makes man the self-conscious agent of materialism in this world. Such is the tendency of modern thought; hence the majority of liberal Christians are drifting out into the sea that borders upon absolute doubt and uncertainty; nay, we have heard it said from the pulpit that there was a “hope of man's immortality.” Ah, but there is a perfect certainty 1 and without this certainty all external forms of expression between mind and mind are a mockery; you wear a mask to one another; you are mere walking automata, endued, it is true, with intelli- gence, but with an intelligence the first puff of breath may blow away; so that when death comes you have nothing to show for all your splendour. This spirit, this divine intelligence, this latent spark demands something more than fine intellec- tualism; it demands a living, breathing, actual life; it demands that between man and man here on earth there shall be some- thing more than this refinement of intellectual culture—that there shall be a consciousness of the spirit, so that you need not meet one another as strangers and pass coldly by, but as brothers, each having a spark of the Divine within your minds. Ralph Waldo Emerson, once in a discourse on immortality, said that, of the masses, it would take a thousand such lives to make an immortal soul. , Who gave him the power to decide? . The immortal spark is there. Jesus selected from among . lowly 8 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, those that were to be his followers; and among all the inhabitants of the earth there is not one—not even the least of these little ones—that does not belong to the heavenly Father's kingdom. No ; intellect does not make the immortal soul; and when your friends go out from your side be sure, however humble they were in the sphere of greatness and intellectual culture, that the love that bound them to you and the thought that made them yours, as well as the aspiration that lifts them upwards—this is their immortality, this the evidence of their continued existence. The Materialist says: “We can get along very well without your spirits. What if they do exist?” If you were to shut out the atmosphere from your room, if no fresh oxygen were admitted, presently the room would become filled with carbonic-acid gas, and in less than five minutes your bodies would cease to breathe; so if you shut out the spiritual atmosphere from the earth, and allow no communion, and no aspiration, and no prayer, and no consciousness of the Divine, you become spiritually dead. Nay, if it were not for the very presence and guardianship of those who are permitted to be God's messengers to you, your º existence would appear all dark and vapoury, and you could not breathe in mind or spirit; for you are dependent upon this spiritual atmosphere for your mental life, your spiritual life, and your constant and daily aspirations, just as you are º the external atmosphere for physical breath. Doubt it who will; but if you have watched your whole lives the course of your individual mind, you know that without the sustaining strength—the conscious power coming from the Divine and through the divine messengers to you—you could not live; you would at once sink into the slough of despond; you would feel that there was no hope, and no life, and no immortality. Now, as we have stated, modern spiritual science reveals the connecting link between the identified human spirit that inhabits the body, and the identified human spirits that have passed beyond. In this it claims to be a science: in the methods of communion, but not in the fact of communion. Still, the methods of com- munion are not new ; it is a mistake to suppose that they are wholly and absolutely new to the human mind; for you must know that in all ages these messengers or inhabitants of the spiritual world have been employed communicating messages to earth's inhabitants. It is more than once revealed in the ancient Scrip- tures that angels appeared and bore messages. It is also revealed in the New Testament frequently; and when Christ was upon the mount of temptation, the angels appeared to him; as likewise when John was on the Isle of Patmos, and saw the spirits that came to him, he would have fallen down and worshipped them, but they said, “See that thou do it not; for we are your fellow- brethren, the prophets;” and these and other instances lead all believers in the Christian Bible to accept all these ancient visita- tions. sºBut,” say they, “these visitations have now ceased.” Not THE INDIVIDUAL HUMAN SPIRIT, 9 so; in the Roman Catholic Church, every saint that is canonised is supposed to have been instrumental to angelic visitation; and it is because of that that the power of the Catholic Church has not faded. The Protestant Church also was the means of angelic visitation: Calvin did not hesitate to receive spiritual inspirations, and Luther privately received the visits of angels—some bright, and another quite otherwise, at whom he threw his ink-pot. He supposed it to be his Satanic Majesty, but it might have been a human being veiled in darkness. So, throughout the history of the Protestant Church, there have been various denominations, or offshoots of the Protestant Church, that have incorporated into their beliefs the guardianship of angels; and many of the good old hymns absolutely and distinctly state the belief in the presence of these angelic beings. It is true they differ as to these beings, but they are all ministering spirits. Now Spiritualism steps in, not to the believer, but to the unbeliever. As soon as there are admitted to be a vast majority of unbelievers in Christendom who question the existence of the soul, and doubt their own immortality, Spiritualism has brought to their consciousness the fact that their souls are immortal; that the spirits they supposed to be dead are not dead, but living; that they can, under certain circumstances, hold communion with them; that those friends are their ministering and attendant guides, and that ofttimes in hours of adversity and danger these ills are warded off by the intervention of guardian spirits, and that always, if you will listen to their voices, they will advise and counsel you, though they do not compel you. Be sure that the spirits do not claim infallibility; be sure that no individual spirit possesses infinite knowledge. It is not given to the mortal as soon as he lays off the robes of outward flesh to become at once infinite in knowledge. Be sure they do not claim this, but only that additional degree of knowledge that is given them by having passed through what is called death; larger range ºvision, loftier scope, higher opportunities, freedom perhaps from temptation—all these things have they; but no human spirit is instantly transported to absolute, infinite, and omnipotent knowledge. When, therefore, you seek the communion of spirits, bear in mind that you do not thereby deprive yourself of that nearer and higher communion with the Divine Mind. It has nothing to do with this; do not suppose, therefore, that the guardian spirit or angelic messenger is to take the place of your own conscience and individual reason. On the contrary, every wise spirit distinctly disclaims absolute knowledge, but says, “We have only such opportunities as are afforded us by our limited vision;” for even in spirit-life vision is limited by knowledge; and if they have not the knowledge—if it is not given them—how can they teach you on those mysterious subjects that lie fartherand farther beyond P Your mother and father, to whom you were accustomed to go for advice and counsel on earth, still are permiº to be 10 . SPIRITUAL ETHICS, near you—perhaps are your guardian spirits, though not always— still permitted to visit you; and if you seek for their advice and counsel, they give their advice and counsel as parents would. But they are not, of course, infallible; their advice is only the judgment of the disembodied spirit, free from the trammels of external time and sense, and in some degree initiated into the wonderful regions of spirit, of mind, and of thought. Though your child has left your side, and you have deposited the remains in the carefully guarded urn, be sure that the same love which linked you together was not of the body, but of the spirit, and that if you seek for a way of communication, a sweet and gentle presence will respond, and that presence will tell you many things you did not know. Still it does not claim to know all that lies in the region of the great hereafter; for there be angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim; these—older are they than time !—these could teach you lessons of infinite depth and wisdom, but you are not ready for them yet. The individual spirit and its ability to converse with its loved ones constitutes the second letter of the spiritual alphabet; but when you have entered upon its investigation, it opens at once a broad and limitless field for thought. You cannot take it lightly, not as the pastime of an hour, nor simply from curiosity in order to please a friend; but if from an inward conviction you desire to know more and more of that which belongs to the spirit, be sure in doing so you take up a burden you cannot lightly bear, for it demands your closest investigation and thought, your careful scrutiny, your constant prayer and endeavour to find the truth, since the difficulties that beset the discerning of the spirit are multitudinous. For though spirits have an organism shaped similar to your own, it is formed of a different substance, and is not tangible and material like your own, so that between the communing spirit and your own mind there must be some avenue, some channel by which it can reach your intelligence. When your friends are away on another continent, or in a distant land, you avail yourselves of the means afforded you of writing letters, and in cases of emergency you take the lightning for your errand-boy, and send a message flashing across the wire. Now, spiritual mediums are simply the mail- carriers for the spiritual world, and sometimes your letters may get miscarried, and sometimes you are liable to be deceived. Then, again, it is very likely there may come misleading messages, for there are spirits who send false communications. Try the spirits, that is your only way. Test them with every avenue of your minds, every faculty of your intellect; and if the message appeals to your heart and spirit, be not too captious as to its wording; for if Franklin wishes to send a message to your earth, and he gets hold of a suitable medium, it is not likely he can change the medium's orthography just for the sake of his belles lettres—you could not expect that. If the mº appeals to your consciousness, but most of all to your THE INDIVIDUAL HUMAN SPIRIT, 11 spirit, be sure it is from the right source, even though it may not be in the elegant chirography of your departed friend, for, remember, the instruments of the spirits are oftentimes illiterate, obscure. You may exclaim, Why is this? Why cannot they choose their mediums from our Church, or from among our friends P. It was said in olden times Christ could not perform many miracles among his own people because of their unbelief. This may apply here; for institutions and churches are certainly closed against the communion of spirits; so that the spirits are compelled to seek such avenues of communication as are open to them. Oftentimes they are obliged to go to the obscure i. far away from the centres of civilisation, in order to find a medium of com- munication. “But why do they need mediums ?” ask some; “Why do they not come directly to us?” If you were to place yourself in a dull house, shut all the doors and windows, carefully lock them, bar the blinds, and then ask why your friends do not come to see you, would you be surprised if they did not come P , There would be no surprise among the people of the earth that they did not come. Now, many persons have closed their minds—have shut every possible avenue; and sometimes too there is a little hardness of organisation that cannot be overcome—that is not a matter of will and volition, but simply of external organisation that you cannot yourself govern and control. Now the spirits require some person that is negative to them, in order to be adapted to their control. It is the result of organism and may not be cultured in the Schools; it must be amenable to spiritual control; and when the spirit, desires to make its presence tangible—as, for instance, to produce physical sounds—the medium must have a certain organisation that gives off an aura or atmosphere sufficiently tangible for the spirit to employ, and that has nothing to do either with culture, moral status, religious views, or anything except physical organisation. Now, whenever the spirit can find such a one and is desirous of communicating, it will do so; and if you do not like the instrument, it cannot be avoided. All persons, however, possess the gift of mediumship. With some it is an undefined conscious knowledge of the presence of spirits; with others it is the gift of seeing spirits; º many children declare that they see spirits, but that knowledge and that vision comes gradually; communion gives them strength. Ignore the faculty and never make any use of it, and it becomes deadened. It is like placing a person in the dark and then expecting his eyes to be strong. If in infancy a child is placed in a dark room and never allowed to see the sunlight, its sight will probably be very weak; but if its eyes are gradually accustomed to the light, good vision is the result. So if anyone has spiritual sight in childhood, and looks up in a wonderful kind of way as children sometimes do, be sure you do not close the door of life and scout the idea, but encourage the faculty. Be sure, however, you do not give freedom to the child'sºrgia. ID % 12 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. tion; but question it as to what it really does see, and presently the spiritual vision will reveal to your gaze the guardian of the child and your friends. Some persons may become very strong mediums for writing or speaking, but these gifts cannot be developed all at once. A person accustomed to a sedentary employment cannot at once take a black- smith's hammer and wield it with force: so you who have not cultivated your spiritual gift cannot begin to use it at once; it must come gradually, by culture and encouragement, save where, in some exceptional cases, persons are born with peculiarly adapted organi- sations. Then, indeed, as in the case of many of the mediums among you, as in the case of the medium before you, they are reared up from childhood under the care and guidance of guardian angels to give the communications and addresses of departed spirits. But you may all gather round your altars and firesides, and each one possessing some gift may hold communion with those invisible to your sight, but present to your spirits. Sometimes your hand would be moved to write; a strange coldness would seize it. Let it go; it may not make words at once, but by-and-bye words will be written that have not their origin in your mind; then intelligent converse will be established, and you will plainly and distinctly perceive the presence of the communing spirit. In many ways, the powers of the spirit are employed to benefit mankind. Thus, in the way of healing the sick; for many persons without any knowledge of materia medica, or the science of the schools, are made to treat sicknesses in the most skilful and suc- cessful manner. These are denominated quacks by the regular practitioner; but we do not forget that quackery does not exist merely outside the limits of materia medica, nor do we forget that every new system has been denounced by the one which preceded it. The way to make mediumship fashionable is to develop some new truth. It is now regarded as nothing; but if beyond Spiri- tualism you found out a new truth, then mediumship would be recognised as true. In the days of mesmerism it was accounted for by magnetism; and when clairvoyance came, “Oh,” said the world, “it is clearly mesmerism.” So, when Spiritualism came, the very same people were ready to believe clairvoy- ance and to find in it an explanation of Spiritualism. Bring out something else, and it will be Spiritualism that will account for everything. Now, these spiritual gifts and this communion between the other world and yours is not merely transitory. “But,” it is often asked, “suppose it is true, what good does it do P of what benefit to mankind is it?” It is not given for human beings to determine what good it is for the sun to shine, the air to exist, or why all the other palpable and so-called self- existent truths are in the world; and it seems to us that the fair way of scientific investigation is to ask: Does it exist? Is it a fact? The good that it shall do you depends entirely upon the manner in THE INDIVIDUAL HUMAN SPIRIT, 13 which you receive it. The sun shines: if you do not choose to avail yourself of its light, the sun and its author are not responsible. Now, there are millions of human beings to whom the boon of converse with spirits would be an inestimable blessing. It might not add to the popular, to the scientific mind; but it would be a comfort and blessing—a constant source of delight. We have known many hearts to go down absolutely into despair, and sink into a state of profoundest melancholy, because of the deaths of loved friends. It teaches that there is no death, and if this is not the greatest boon that could be bestowed upon humanity, we should like you to point out a greater. As the world exists to-day it has existed for many thousands of years: the one great gigantic mon- ster is death; the grave is the end of earthly expectation; hopes all fade, and fall, and falter, and perish at the tomb; the king turns ale, the grey-haired sire trembles as his feet approach the grave. ts only point of relief is faith and inspiration; and even these sometimes do not satisfy, for they falter when the feet near the narrow home, and when the dear one is laid away. It requires a long line of faith to stretch to that far-off heaven and that distant time when the loved one shall be restored. But if the bridge is not so narrow—if the gorge to be spanned is not so broad, if the chasm is not so deep and wide as it has been presented, if the line of life is not broken off, but continued—this is surely the greatest blessing. No more terror, no more shrinking back, no more pallor and trembling ! The grave loses its power; death is deprived of its sting by the very evidence that the departed are just there through the open doorway, only a step removed, nay, in your very midst, if you will but hear and see them. We do not know what those persons think who ask what good Spiritualism has done or can do; but we do know that it has paved the way to the presence of angels in many an unexpected place, and at many an unexpected time. We know that the minister from his pulpit, more frequently now than formerly, in response to the breath that seems to be in the very air, says: “Your friend is not dead; he has only gone out of sight, into another room, and even now may be permitted to hear your con- versation:” and this not from a professed advocate of Spiritualism. It is entering your literature; it charges it all with the element of the presence of guardian angels. Your poets have described its beauties; your own Laureate has pictured, in his “In Memoriam,” the presence of guardian angels. So, in the various forms of literature, it has lent a new charm to the verses of the poet, and to the prose of the inspired writer. It has stalked through the various laboratories of learning, and challenged the scientific man before his eagerimenta crucis to discover, if he can, the germ by what other subtle force than spirit these manifestations can be produced. Nay, it has done more than this; it has rekindled and renewed the faith in man of the living presence of the Father; 14 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, the far-off, distant, cold Deity would not satisfy; but when His love is brought nearer and nearer in the presence of those that commune with angels, it forms another chain of golden light binding you to the Infinite. It is the blessing of Spiritualism that it is yet in its infancy; it is a great blessing, because many of the crudities of its forms of manifestation, many things that are uttered by its professed advocates, may become rounded off and worn away with time. Every new truth must come into the world like a two-edged sword: it must cut both ways—out into the wilderness of exploration, and into the darkness of prejudice. It must have point and sharp angles in order that it may gain a hearing. But when it takes its place in the world, and is recognised as proper and respectable, then these angles become rounded and worn off. It is in every way a blessing existing at the fireside. It is true that many of the theories and many of the philosophies advanced are entirely at variance with those taught in the world and accepted by the majority of religious and scientific people; and it is a great blessing to modern enlighten- ment that there is no longer an Inquisition—that there are no longer persons crucified for opinion, except upon the altar of public opinion, though this means of torture is sometimes most trying. Still, there is no literal Inquisition; there is no stake waiting for anyone who dares to advance a new truth. Galileo in his dungeon, Socrates in his cell, foretold the truths the world now upholds. So the bold, brave man who dares to explore the realm of spiritual truth, and penetrates beyond the grave and death, fearlessly holds counsel of the spirits of great and wise and good men, he may not be stoned and crucified, but he is pursued with the shafts and arrows of envy and malignancy. Thanks, however, to the enlightenment of the present generation, these may not be put to death. If, therefore, a kind message or a loving word greet your ears from some unknown source and some far-off voice, do not put it aside because you have not heard it before; but listen and see if it do not bring you a message of love—a voice from beyond that tomb that has been so dark and cold and dreadful to you. And when the chain of individual life is made complete—when it really is established and understood among mortals that there is no breaking of this chain, it will be as common for you to hold communion with departed friends as to send a letter or message to someone that is absent; nay, it will be quite common for you to see them walk by your side, and you will hold a pleasant conversation with some guardian spirit even in the very midst of humanity. Faces will appear, forms will walk by your side, a new atmosphere will surround the earth, and, as of old, angels will ascend and descend, and there will be no more fear. You will not be afraid: the faces will not be strange, but familiar; the hands will be loving hands, and the forms will be those you have clºis; They will be by your altars and firesides, abide in your - 6 THE INDIVIDUAL HUMAN SPIRIT, 15 councils, aid in the great work of carrying forward the earth's governments to the time of peace. They that are great and wise and good, seated now in the councils of love and immortal life, far above your vision, will then come nearer, and your rulers will be guided, your statesmen inspired, your leaders taught, the people moved to the great purposes of human government and human law, without the dread arbitrement of the sword. All angels' voices will be more potent than the voice of favour; right will take the place of might; and the law of kindness and of love, taught by justice, will become at last the abiding and crowning glory of your earth ! After a pause of a few seconds, the speaker gave off, with slow, solemn intonation, the following lines:— O Thou, who trod'st life's weary vale, With humble brow and face all pale, Bend Thou from regions of bright day, And lead our spirits up to Thee. Thou did'st the little ones of old Visit and bless with soothing power, Oh, once again let it be told That Thou in this sweet quiet hour Dost bend above thy earthly ones. Thou, Brother, Teacher, Friend and Guide, Teach us thy ways, thy path to tread, And let thy love with us abide. Where on the Mount of Olives poured Thy strains of love and eloquence; Anew let that bright word be heard, Let us reveal its glad portents. Thou that beside Gethsemane Did'st bitter tears of pity weep IFor earth; upon the bended knee Of sorrow many a child of earth Weeps now with burdens grievous sore, Par greater than they seem to bear; Oh, let thy loving spirit pour A comfort and a blessing there ! Thou who did'st beal the sick and raise The dead from out the tomb, Oh, heal the nations while they seek Thy guiding from their gloom To the bright glory of thy day. O Spirit, full of life and love, We follow where Thou dost but lead, And soft descending like a dove, God's spirit answers to our need. After the singing of another hymn, the exercises of the evening were brought to a conclusion by the following benediction :- We commend you to the guardian care of the angels, to the ministering spirits that attend you, to the footsteps and example of the meek and lowly Jesus, to the Father's endless love that abides with you for ever. 37 IB U NY A. N. (Given by request of the audience at Newcastle-on-Tyne, July 23, 1874.) Pilgrim of heaven, whose journey on the earth Hath led mankind to higher ways of truth, Thou who found resp te and sweetest relief, Refreshment and renewal of thy youth In realms of spiritual life and love, Severing from the darkened night of time (Which binds man to the mere material law, And can but half of Nature's purpose prove) Thy ways, and linking them to worlds above, To method of high heaven without flaw. Thou who hast traced the longing ways Of the aspiring Christian through the days Of weary doubt and dark temptation's night, Even to the mountains of celestial light. O thou who tun'st thy song of beauteous praise Along the corridors of treaven, until thy lays Echo beyond, above, and all the air ls made melodious by the music rare, And reft with song-shafts beautiful and fair— Praise to thy name since it cannot depart From earth, but is enshrined within the heart Of all who love the beautiful and good, The glorious purposes when understood, Whereby the true Christ-life is pictured well, Whereby their anthem soaring still doth swell O'er all the earth. Receive thou our high praise. Let the same spirit that inspired thy lays— That led the Pilgrim through the thorny path Of dreariness, temptation and dark death, (Of doubts and fears that ever round earth press)— That led to glorious ways of peace and rest, And tº the mountains so supremely blest— Delectable and High, let that spirit descend, IJntil its life with this our song shall blend (And all our lives to one rare purpose lend) Made like that lie glorious with the dead. Thou Pilgrim of eternity, that in another sphere Windest thy ways of song, pause thou and hear The anthem that swells out from earth to-night Towards the Golden City of Delight, Wherein thy raptured spirit now doth dwell— O, hear us; bending downward, bid us tell - How from the ways of wrong conquests of earth Mankind may reach the path of higher worth, And earth bo nd souls those rare heights may regain, Those mountains of delight—heaven's lovely plain! MEDIUMSHIP. An Oration delivered by Mrs. CoRA. L. V. TAPPAN, under spirit influence, at the Royal Music Hall, 242, Holborn, London, on Sunday evening, November 2nd, 1873. INvoCATION. Our Father and our Mother, God! Thou infinite Spirit ! Thou life, Thou source of being ! Thou ineffable delight ! Thou light amid the darkness of time ! Thou perfect good, above all human error | Thou transcendent power, surpassing wonderful, even in the midst of human weakness thy strength doth abide | Thou that, from all eternity into the future eternity, art the only unchangeable power Thou that hast seen neither beginning nor ending, but only life for ever! how can the finite mind grasp thy being P how can the finite essay to understand thy vastness? O God, we may only praise! Upon the altar of thy being we may bring our offerings, our infirmities, our shortcomings, our weaknesses, our imperfections, and thy great perfectness will enfold the whole. O Father, we would come to Thee as children to a kindly and indulgent parent, seeking thy counsel when we are at a loss, to ask for wisdom in our varied strivings for the good and for the truth amidst the errors and falsities of the finite mind, pressing beyond the sophisms of sense and intellect to the one true spirit that never misleads. O Rather, each spirit has its own burden to bring Thee; every heart has its own cares and sorrows. Some are bowed with anguish, with the misfortunes of life; and there be those that walk in the great darkness, struggling with poverty, and striving in the midst of their sorrow to find Thee. Oh, let some guardian angel of light bid them look above, beyond the earth, beyond physical suffering and sorrow, and find comfort and rest and peace. Some there be that look with fear and shuddering upon death. Let these know that life is endless—that the being born of Thee, the liviº Spirit, 4 |SPIRITUAL, ETHICS. cannot perish, but is immortal, even as Thou art. Some there be that revel in luxury, and go blindly on through earthly life imagin- ing that all of pleasure lies in the senses and in the splendours of material power. O Father, open the avenues of their souls let them behold the brother or the sister that is in want; let them see the misery that is often by their very firesides, and at the very doorways of their dwellings; and let them know that Thou hast said through the lips of thy inspired one, “Even as ye do it unto the least of these, so also is it done to me.” O Light and Life, let us look beyond and above to find the strength that comes from Thee. Let us aspire to all truth; let us search earnestly for the loest gifts of the spirit; let us strive to understand the mysteries that have been veiled and shrouded in human ignorance; and Oh, let us all remember that in thy sight there is no preference: all are as one with Thee, and every child of earth is a child of thy care. Let mankind be bound together by ties of love, of kindness, of affection, of charity, until they may feel that they are allied to the angel-world, and clasp hands with those that sing thy praise for evermore. Amen. 40 MEDIUMSHIP, DISCOURSE. The third letter of the spiritual alphabet—mediumship. For the two previous Sunday evenings we have given the first and the second letters—namely, the Divine Spirit, and the individual human spirit, embodied and disembodied ; to-night we wish to speak upon mediumship—a question which more intimately connects you, indeed more than any other, with the philosophy of Modern Spiritualism. As the existence of the Divine Mind has been conceded by all religions in every age of the world, varying only in the outward form and expression, so also has the existence of the human spirit been conceded in the various forms of revelation and religious belief. Mediumship is that distinguishing phase of modern Spiritualism that divides this belief from the past religious movements of the world, and reduces the spiritual philosophy to a science. Understand us; we do not say that mediumship has not always existed; we do not say that there have not always been instruments, not only for the Divine Mind, but for disembodied individual minds; but it is only to-day that the term “medium,” as applied to individuals who are chosen as the instruments of communication between two worlds, has been discovered. For instance, of course you know that between any two elements there must be a means of conveyance. Between your sense of hearing and the voice that vibrates upon the . atmosphere, there must be an intermediate atmosphere; this is called the medium of conveying the sound. A letter is the medium of conveying ideas. Human language is in itself a medium; and whomsoever you may employ to bear a message to a friend is a medium. You have the atmosphere as the great medium not only of sound, but of light—and, indeed, of all the essential properties of life upon the earth's surface. You know sound itself is the medium of conveying intelligence, whereby one mind, through the voice and organism, expresses its thoughts to another mind. Now a medium, in the modern acceptation of that term, is that person chosen by organisation or by gifts, to be the instrument of communication between your J.; and the spiritual world. Because it must occur to every intelligent mind that beings of a different order from yourselves—organised differently, inhabiting a different atmosphere, and having no physical bodies, wherewith to transmit their intelligence—must employ some instrumentality whereby they may reach your minds. Now this instrumentality is, first, the spiritual atmosphere which they inhabit and which surrounds them; secondly, certain properties and elements of your own atmosphere, finer than electricity, more subtle than magnetism, different from Od force, and different from that psychic force which has lately been discovered—or supposed to have been discovered—but an element of such a nature that they can operate upon it and produce pal- 41 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. pable results. Then the next means of inspiration or mediumship is your own physical organisation. Certain persons are endowed by nature with a physical organi- sation that permits them to be used as mediums between the two worlds. Now, the varieties of mediumship are as great in number as the individuals that exist in the world; and when we make the general statement that all persons are mediums, do not be astonished because you have never had any tables moved about your house, or witnessed any of those startling manifestations which distinguish modern spiritual phenomena, for your mediumship may not be of that kind. Sometimes mediumship is wholly of the mind, belong- ing to what we term “impressional” or “inspirational” mediumship. Of this character were the ancient seers and prophets, bards and sages, who were especially endowed with the gift of inspiration, having a higher sense than that which pertains merely to physical organisation, and who received by intuition the words of the Divine Mind, and spoke the utterances of angels through their own tongues. There are other forms of mediumship that are also not confined to modern days; and when Paul enumerated the “spiritual gifts,” as he termed them, he nearly completed a list of the phases of gifts that belong to the mind, or spiritual powers of mind. Aside from these—all of which we shall consider presently —there are physical phases of mediumship: certain persons possess , the organisation of which we have spoken, that is, they have around them a peculiar atmosphere, or aura, whereby spirits are enabled to approach them and produce sounds, to lift tangible substances, to move the hand automatically to write, and by which they are enabled to employ the gifts of healing, and to use their powers for other purposes. Now, these various phases or forms of mediumship are reduced, or may be reduced, to an absolute science: they form the key to unlock the more inner and intricate mysteries of the phenomena of Modern Spiritualism. Of course, in entering upon this discussion and these investigations, you must be aware that it requires not only that you become initiated into the mysteries, and as far as possible understand the laws that govern and control mediumship, but that you do so with all candour and sincerity, guarding ever against imposition, but always ready to receive additional testimony in favour of truth. True mediumship is just as capable of being tested as the ray of light is capable of being analysed, or as the atom is capable of being investigated. Of course you must subject yourself to the conditions required; for no scientific investigation can take place without certain requirements; and these must be of such a nature as to guard the mind against any external imagination, or against any imposture by dishonest persons. Mediumship is so well established, is so well attested a fact, so many thousands of your fellow-beings are possessed of it and have witnessed its effects, that we will not insult your intelli- gence by presuming you do not recognise its existence, 42 MOEDIUMSHIP, 7 We will pass to other phases of mediumship that constitute the expression and voice between the spiritual world and yours. By the employment of this channel or means of communication, the spiri- tual world are enabled to express their ideas; but remember, in the present imperfect state of human development, surrounded, as all mediums and all human beings necessarily are, with the external atmosphere, conflicting influences, divers temptations, &c., it is not to be supposed that spirits have absolute control of any human being; nor is it to be supposed that one can enter upon the career of mediumship carelessly, for it is one of the most important steps ”that any human being can be called upon to take. Those who take this step lightly; those who solicit, for themselves or others, develop- ment as mediums; those who ask that they themselves may be developed for the manifestation of spirit-life, would do well to con- sider what they ask for. For be sure that when once this gift is bestowed upon you, or when once it is unfolded from your nature, it is no light matter. It is not a trifling thing—a something to be solicited as the pastime of an hour, and then cast aside; it is for the advancement and development of one of the most important lº that has been given to the human mind. If true, it em- odies all that pertains to immortality; if false, it enfolds the whole world in materialism. See to it that you do not covet spiri- tual gifts lightly, or in a trifling manner. The most external form of mediumship, as it is called, that which appeals to the senses, and through the senses to the intellect, and finally, to the spirit of man, is that which produces these rappings and this uplifting of material bodies, occurring in the presence of certain persons. It is not always with these persons, nor is it true that they can draw it to themselves, although they may cultivate the gift. It does not come when a person asks for it; but it is found on experiment that certain persons possess this power, the cultiva- tion and guidance of which is the first step in the scientific investi- gation of Modern Spiritualism. It therefore behoves all those who have this gift, to inquire carefully into the conditions that are best to surround the medium. It is claimed by scientists that electricity must be the agency employed, because electricity is the most subtle element of which the human mind knows anything. But it is not true that electricity is the agency employed; on the contrary, the manifestations occur under circumstances that altogether preclude the possibility of their being produced by electricity. The emana- tion from the medium's body that the spirit employs to produce the rappings or other physical manifestations, is not of the nature of electricity: it is more subtle. Take an instance: Some mediums have produced these rappings, when isolated from table and chair and room, by glass plates. You know electricity will not penetrate glass, and that it is impossible for it to be generated in a table, or chair when isolated by glass balls or plates; yet, notwithstanding this isolation of the medium, the sounds have been hº COIlS0- 8 SPIRITUAL ETHICs. quently it cannot be electricity which produces them; hence you must look to a more subtle element, and an agency more universal than electricity, for an explanation of the phenomena—one that does not require such circumstances for its creation, but is produced from the human organisation, and is therefore amenable to the spirits for them to direct their force by. Sometimes one person alone cannot produce sounds, but two persons sitting together, or three, or more, will receive the sounds—not one is the medium, but all when united form the medium of communication between the spirit-world and yours. Now there is no name known in the scientific vocabulary that we can give to this substance or element, that is an emanation from the form of the medium; but be sure, as science advances, it will acquaint you with a term whereby you can designate this force beyond psychic force, and different from any term that has yet been given to it. Spirits employ this power, or this element, to produce those ex- ternal manifestations, and if any one of you is desirous of becoming a medium, or rather of developing whatever powers of medium- ship he may possess, it is well to form a circle in your own family, when by placing your hands upon the table or any other convenient object, you will soon discover whether any member of the family or circle possesses the power of mediumship. But, as we have said, it is not to be courted lightly: it is not to be sought simply as a means of passing the time. Although oftentimes in hours of glad- ness and mirth these manifestations may be noticed, it is not the purpose of the spiritual world merely to contribute to your enter- tainment: but every sound, every rapping that has been heard, carries with it some lesson of the existence of mind beyond matter. If in forming these circles you meet at regular intervals and develop some member of your family, be sure it is not just for trivial purposes, or from mere curiosity, but that a serious spirit of investigation has taken possession of your mind. Guard vigilantly against imagination; but when facts occur, do not disguise or con- ceal them. Perhaps some member of the circle or family may be moved to write: in such case the hand is seemingly cold and pal- sied, and an extraneous force takes possession of it and often produces violent motion; at last this motion gradually calms down, and the pencil is made to move rapidly or slowly, but always dis- connected with any volition on the part of the medium. That is another phase. Then, as we have stated, there are persons in the world around whom this atmosphere or element is so powerful that material substances—pianos, tables, chairs, and other articles—can be moved through their influence; and oftentimes these persons, possessing, such wonderful power, are required to produce these manifestations at improper times and on improper occasions. There should always be a proper time, a fitting occasion, a most serious and earnest spirit of investigation. i. is the case that very few persons exist in the world that have been carried through tº 44 MEDIUMSHIP, t 9 the air by the power of disembodied spirits; but you would do well of course to investigate every such case with the utmost power of human scrutiny, so that you may not be deceived, and at the same time that every well-authenticated case may be a matter of human consciousness and human science. The spiritual gifts to which we have referred are only the stepping-stones to spiritual science. Rappings are produced, tables are moved, bodies are borne through the air—not, as we have stated, for your amusement but to convey to you the idea— at variance with scientific knowledge—that substances can be moved without any known contact, that bodies can be made to overcome your law of gravitation without any human appliance, and that these invisible forces are employed by imperceptible means to effect one purpose. The great burden of these is not merely to teach that the tables move or the sounds are produced; but in every instance, and in every quarter of the world where these things have occurred, the same message has invariably been given. . Whether spelled out by the aid of the alphabet, or written by the hand of the medium, or whether communicated by means of the table tilting upon its legs, the same message has come : “We are the spirits of your departed friends.” That was the one small voice in the one small town of America twenty-five years ago; and wherever these manifestations have been heard since, the same intelligence has claimed to guide them. Now, it would be quite a source of investigation to the scientific man, who claims that these things are the result of human imagi- nation and that they proceed from some law in nature, to find out whence the intelligence proceeds that directs the motions of these tables and chairs, and these rappings. If it be the will-power of those present, why should it claim to be a disembodied spirit when, as is almost universally the case, those very persons did not even know that spirits could communicate in the incipiency of this science? But simultaneously with these manifestations there appeared other forms. Young children were thrown into a state of unconsciousness, and then spoke far beyond their years. Persons unlettered in the sciences or in the languages were made to speak other tongues than their own, and in philosophy and science transcended any possible knowledge or education. Direct indi- vidual intelligences controlled numbers of persons—they are now counted by the thousand—who spoke words during these states far transcending their ordinary culture, beyond any knowledge they had gained in Schools; and in every instance these utterances claimed to be dictated by the spirit of some departed soul. There is another fact for the scientific man to explain away: if it were possible for magnetism and clairvoyance to produce these com- munications, where is the mind of the magnetiser from whence they emanate, and why is it so persistently claimed, “We are the spirits of those who once lived upon the earth.” Bºº these 10 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, utterances, many are endowed with the gift of healing. This gift is of course a natural gift; but it is unfolded and developed under the guidance of spirits, who have better opportunities for investigating the laws controlling the human organism than you have through the ordinary systems of medicine. It is alleged by spiritual control that the healing power that they are enabled to bring through cer- tain human organisms can, when properly employed, cure every curable case of human sickness and relieve those that are past cure. It cannot build up a new body and re-make decayed mem- bers, cannot create that which does not exist, but can relieve pain and, under proper circumstances, can cure that which has seemed to baffle the skill of the entire medical fraternity. In every instance where a medium has made such cure, it claims to be under the guidance of some departed spirit. There are other phases of mediumship. Not only are spirits made visible, under proper cir- cumstances, in a form that resembles your own, to the outward senses, but there are many endowed with the gift of spiritual vision, who see forms you cannot see, and describe the forms that have passed from your sight as they see them in spiritual life; and this sight is so palpable to the vision that you may be enabled to recognise the appearance of your departed friends by the descrip- tion the medium gives. Oftentimes they transcend in loveliness their physical forms; oftentimes the grey-haired sire looks more youthful, because the mind never grows old; but the resemblance is so perfect, and the description corresponds so well with your remembrance of your departed friends, that you are enabled to recognise those dear ones that have passed from your side, . Many persons possess this power who are not aware of it, and ofttimes in dreams and imagination this sight comes; but the palpable spiri- tual vision is as plain a fact as sight to the senses, and far less delusive, because it is of the mind and not of the body. Now, as we have stated, every person is endowed with some phase of mediumship: what that phase may be you must deter- mine by cultivation, by paying attention to it, by giving your time, { »ur thoughts, and your earnest efforts to its investigation; and it ehoves you to determine whether you can do so and do justice to your lives; whether, instead of building up wholly in the material world, instead of devoting your time to the cultivation of the senses, you will devote some time and cultivation to the spiritual. Mediumship is not confined to the present day, although the word “medium,” which has been employed to designate those endowed with the gift of communion with the spiritual world, is new. In the time of Christ these same gifts were spoken of, and Jesus promised to his followers, and all those who believed in him, that they should do greater things than he had done. Now these gifts of the spirit must have been ignored, or they could not have been lost sight of in the Christian Church. If they become cultivated; if, through belief and investigation, and aspiration and prayer, you 46 MEDIUMSHIP, 11 again seek, is not the same power in existence now that granted to Jesus these gifts P. Even in heathen countries, we are told that Jamblicus, one of the heathen writers, distinctly portrays the entrancement by the spirits. He calls them the gods, and says many persons are so under the influence of the gods that they speak far beyond their senses and in a state of ecstasy; and he even uses the word “obsession” as a distinct expression of spirit- control. This brings us to that phase of mediumship wherein a person is thrown into an unconscious state, and another indi- viduality takes possession of the mind for the time being; he is not the person you suppose him to be, but different, distinct, another person, claiming always to be some disembodied spirit. Under the influence of this control, which we call obsession,--not remembering anything, since, when the spirit which takes posses- sion enters, it is the control of another mind other than his own, —the person manifests all the characteristics, uses the various forms of language, and exhibits the peculiarities of manner that the one claiming to speak through him did on earth. This is a E. of the subject that opens up a vast range of thought, ecause there are many persons in your world that are the victims of obsession, who are not aware of it. Sometimes this is what fills your insane asylums; sometimes this causes those singular forms of mental disease that have baffled the treatment of medical SCIED Cé. A thorough investigation of the laws of spiritual control would lead everyone to know that mediums are sensitive, susceptible, and oftentimes extremely delicate, pº, external organisations that cannot resist, especially if not aware of it, an untoward influence. Now, entirely disconnected from Spiritualism, there are many cases in your insane asylums that could be treated by spiritual magnetic healing, because it is the control of some disembodied spirit who does not know the fearful power that it can employ over mortals. We say this especially as a warning, because those of you who want mediumship should take very great care that you seek earnestly for the best gifts, and in seeking for the best gifts, that you seek also for the best influences, and that such influences as you sometimes have about you be not of a nature to attract spirits who are undeveloped, and who do not understand the delicate laws of controlling another human mind, by which means many ersons are driven to insanity. We say this, not because cases of insanity are common among mediums, but because cases of insanity outside of Spiritualism may frequently be explained by this same subtle law. You seek to become the instruments of the spirit; but there are three conditions you must guard against. You must seek, first, to have full knowledge of the laws that govern spirit- control; then see that your material surroundings and your associates are of an aspiring nature, for if not, they cannot draw to you spirits of an aspiring nature. Then, when your º COI!" 12 SPIRITUAL ETHICs. trols you, or a guide leads you into spirit-life, your first questions should be: “Are they advanced P Do they know the power they Bre using ? Can they use it to my benefit and the advancement of others?” Having an answer to these questions—and by their fruits you must know them—try the spirits and see what manner they are of. Then, under the influence of harmony, of privacy, of the seclusion of the fireside, of every circumstance that is f...vourable, and of no circumstance that is unfavourable, then you may prayer- fully give yourself up to their control, seeking ever the highest, But be sure that it is a most dangerous power in unskilful and undeveloped hands; be sure that it ever brings unhappiness on those who are not aware of its wonderful and potent mysteries; be sure you may not lightly enter the lists and covet the gifts of the spirit as the instrument for the means of other communications; and be sure also that you cannot adapt it to any unworthy purpose—any merely material or physical desire; but be sure that, in that respect, it ...} not satisfy you, bringing you, if you use it for that purpose, rather misery than happiness. But, if the spirits that are around you partake of your own nature, if you attract such spirits as those that would naturally associate with you, then you must be satisfied, for the spiritual world is made up of just such beings as are going out from your midst daily. If you aspire to the just, high, noble, and lofty, just as surely as one atom attracts another, or one chemical property attracts another that has an affinity for it, so surely will you attract spirits that are like yourself or your sur- roundings. Guard always against those physical depressions arising from more immediate surroundings that oftentimes draw unde- veloped spirits. You stand somewhat appalled on entering upon the investigation of a subject where undeveloped spirits are to be considered; but you must remember there are undeveloped spirits in your world, that humanity is a vast sea of undeveloped souls, but that far beyond any merely temporal or external influence there is the Divine Mind; and there be angelic ministers that may not be dragged down to any service of merely worldly entertainment. So search earnestly, investigate carefully. If the medium be of a very sensitive, nervous, and . organisation, let him be sur- rounded by influences of family and friends that will be conducive to his culture. If any individuals consent to become the mouthpieces of spiritual intelligences, it does not therefore follow that their own individuality is lost; by no means—you are only under the influ- ence of teachers, friends, or guardian spirits who are drawn about you, and these, with your own earnest wish for truth, will lead you in the paths of knowledge. When you once have found your position, when you once know your platform, when you are once aware of the powers you possess, then you may be guided and directed for the use of mankind; for it is no light gift to be the means of conveying messages from one world to another; it is no trifling ºte: that the tongue may speak and the eye may see the MEDIUMSHIP, 13 thoughts of those regions that lie beyond the realm of mortal vision You will not be afraid of the influences of father and mother, of child and friend; and there is no human being who goes out into the spirit- world that is not somebody's child, and all are amenable to the influences of kindness and charity. So when there come voices of discord, overcome them with gentleness; when there come spiritsin prison, perchance yours may be the voice and yours the hand to release them ; for it was said of Jesus that, after his crucifixion, he was absent and visited the spirits in prison—those who were disobedient in the days of Noah. Consider what spirits go out from your earthly prisons in spiritual darkness. Perchance some member of your own family—for every fireside has its sorrow, and every house has its skeleton—some member fallen from the fold and wandered from the flock; and you, as the earthly father or mother, brother or sister, have wept and prayed for that one, and there has come to you from theology the thought that that loved one may have gone down, down into endless perdition ; and it has sent a thrill of horror through your hearts and firesides. Be sure, however, that is not so; the God of infinite love is infinita in love, and your prayers, and tears, and aspirations can reach that spirit in prison and draw it up to light. Oh, there are more things in this philosophy than ye wot of ! Yet ye go on in your usual way, and the wounds that death and care have made are healed up; but remember that many a restless and perturbed spirit is wandering, asking for admission to your hearths, and seeking for a ray of light to lead it to higher realms of spiritual guidance. Yes, when you remember that the spirits in prison ask for and come that you may give them forgiveness; if any souls have injured you, and have gone out into the other world unforgiven, see to it that you do not harbour resentment against them—not even if they remain here; for the spirit is often impeded in its upward flight by the remembrance of some one that remains on earth, some injury that has been done, some evil unforgiven. Let them all be forgiven. Sometimes the spirit comes to your fireside asking for this forgiveness; your daughter may be the medium for manifes- tations; if, therefore, the name of your enemy be given to you from the world of Souls, see ye cherish no hatred. If the Most High Christ, in the supreme hour of life and death, could say: “Father, forgive them,” meaning those who reviled, those who condemned, and those who crucified him; if he could do this, how little is it for you to forgive your petty foes ' If the mother has followed her erring child, even to the ignominious death on the scaffold, be sure that her love forms the very chain that binds that soul to the Infinite, and bridges over the great chasm of despair that otherwise might divide them. - Spirits are thronging around you; the air is full of their breath; your lives are largely made up of their influences: they impel you in one way, they impel you in another; seek, therefore, the good IE 14 SPIRITUAL ETIIICS. influences—the soft voice of angelic ministration. You are often angry: anger attracts undeveloped souls. You are often envious: envy does not belong to the higher influences—it does not draw the brighter spirits. Mete out to others that which you would have them do to you. The soul must be made free and pure and garnished; seek the best light—the holiest influences; then you may benefit others and lead them also to the light. The gift of mediumship, as we have stated, belongs to each one of you, more or less. Each day and hour, strange beings walk by your side : one withdraws you from the danger, another impels you towards it. The guardian of your lives—the appointed spirit that has been by your side from infancy finally prevails, for the light is greater than the darkness: it always conquers; for love is more supreme than hatred; for God is love; and error shrinks away before the light of his divine countenance. Ye are mediums: between your lives and the spiritual world is an intricate and an absolute stream of thought interwoven; it rests with you to culti- vate it, to make it subserve the highest and loftiest purposes. Oh, if you remain wilfully blind, it goes on, even as some of those blind elements in nature, unguided and unresisted, doing its work in silence. What power has there been in the lightning since it was made your errand-boy! what destruction when it is uncontrolled ! Fire is the element that of all influences the most adds to your comfort; yet what ravages does it perform when not checked by human intelligence 1 The great breath of spiritual power is breathed upon you: under an enlightened system of cultivation it becomes the channel of communication between your souls and the spiritual world, between your life and others; unguided, unaided, unknown, it forms the subtle power that often works out human destruction, and fills your asylums, your penitentiaries and jails, with no worse criminals than those who are walking abroad. But if this secret power shall be unfolded to your knowledge, then will it account for most of those mysteries and problems that form the great source of human discontent; then will it reveal to your inmost spirits that you have been all the time, consciously or unconsciously, the instruments of disembodied minds; then will it lead you to examine for yourselves, and to find out that even in your own lives the Divine has been seeking to overcome that which otherwise would have dragged you down, and that beyond all spirits, and above all angels, and higher than arch-angels, the one Supreme Intelligence works in and through them all, finally working out his own divine results, * 50 MEDIUMSHIP. 15 THE SONG OF YOUR GUARDIAN SPIRITS, Mortal, e'en from thine hour of birth An angel has guided thy way, IFollowing every falt'ring step, Seeking thy hands and feet to stay. Wherever dark temptation lurked, One gentle voice a warning spoke; Whenever sorrow's falling tear Was yours, the tender accents broke In words of soothing comfort there; Wherever danger did abide, Lo! on the wings of swiftest prayer Your angel hover'd by your side : If falling in temptation sore, Down, down to darkness you have strayed. Lo! there the shining angel waits To welcome you : be not afraid! For in the lowest, darkest place, There is one ray of light supreme: You'll see that guardian angel's face, You'll see it in your direst dream. If doubt and fear beset your way, And agony on either side, There, shining like a glorious day, That angel ever doth abide. There comes a longing in your heart— A wish some mystery to solve; Lo! downward, trembling through the dark, A voice—a presence full of love. “Beloved,” says this gentle voice, “Never alone thy feet have strayed. Whether of good or evil choice, God hath this one appointment made: That through the light or through the dark, In pathways dim or bright, with love This angel hovers by your side— That Supreme Power ever to prove!” Turn you and listen to its voice: It says:—“Be gentle, true, and kind; Seek always for the highest joys, Strive with the best your souls to bind. Whate'er betides—sorrow must come- Remember, ever by your side, A guardian angel leads you on— To where life's portals open wide. 5] 16 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, On, on, towards the shining way, Where angels stand in light arrayed; Behold the vision opens there, And you all free and undismayed Can see that God's great hand of love Has caught you even in the dark, And that his power like a dove Descends upon you—hark, oh, harkſ You'll hear the sounds of heavenly life, Music borne there on unseen wings!— A voice without a sound of strife, Your guardian angel ever brings.” IS SPIRITUALISM WITCHCRAFT AND SORCERY? An Inspirational Oration delivered by Mrs. CoRA. L. V. TAPPAN, in the Royal Music Hall, 242, Holborn, London, on Sunday evening, Novem- ber 9th, 1873. INVOCATION. O Thou eternal Spirit! Thou that fillestimmensity with thy life and love, Thou whose light illumines all the void and barren wastes of space, Thou whose law vivifies every atom of the material uni- verse, Thou whose mind inspires every soul and up-guides its way, Thou living soul, we praise Thee! Not on shrines erected by man, not before altars where idolatrous knees bow down to the external sounds of praise, not in temples reared by human hands and set apart to the worship of thy great name, but upon the altar of thy living spirit, in the temple of the human heart, before the shrine of the pure and lowly, we praise Thee, O God! The manifold tongues of the earth may not tell thy name, though no voice of prayer and thanksgiving falls short of reaching thine ear. The sincere spirit, the heart bowed down in humility, the soul that aspires to know Thee, the spirit that loves Thee, these may reach thy listening ear, these may receive the benedictions of thy presence, O God, let us make an altar, let us rear a shrine, let us build a temple to Thee I Be that altar our own pure hearts, divested of all earthly stain, freed from all envy and scorn and pride, wherein neither hatred normalice can be found, but only the abiding spirit of thy love. Let thy altar be the human heart 1 let our aspirations be for the truth ! let us on reverent knees seek for truth, for itself alonel let us seek only for its hidden treasures 1 Let us make a temple! be it the temple of the human soul, wherein all good deeds and actions find a place. Let it be engraven with words of human kindness, with deeds of holy love and charity. Let its corner-stones be purity and truth and goodness. Let its 4 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. halls and corridors be made of our thoughts. Let the multitudes of pictures adorning its walls be our heart's prayers. Let its won- derful voice of praise be our deeds and words of love. Let us, O God, build this temple eternal in the heavens to Thee! Father, Spirit, Life, we praise Thee! The flowers of spring are not more fragrant with their incense offerings than are our songs when volu- ble with thy love. The choristers in many groves sing their songs of love and joy; but the spirit of man exulteth because of his sense of immortal life, whereby he may fly towards Thee. The many sounds of nature are redolent with thy praise; but the living spirit is conscious of Thee, and can outsing the stars. The spheres may roll up, and Time himself may fade away, but the living spirit lives for ever. God, we praise Thee l Let our songs and lips bear upwards for ever the offerings of our praise. Let our voices join with the songs of angels, with the sweet lisps of little children, with the voice of spirits that are attuned to thy praise in their deeds and words of lovingkindness. Father, let us syllable our songs in every deed and word of life, until, all joining with the angels that sing thy praise for evermore, one grand song go outwards and up- wards to Thee, full of the living spirit of humanity, laden with prayer and blessing and praise! Thou art our God for evermore! Is SPIRITUALISM WITCHCRAFT AND SORCERY P 5 DISCOURSE. We pause, friends, after having given you three letters of the spiritual alphabet, in answer to a desire that has reached us to give Some new light upon old subjects. There are many persons deterred from the investigation of the spiritual manifestations of to-day because they believe it to be forbidden by the Scriptures. They think it belongs to the nature of sorcery, witchcraft, and such things as the familiar spirits spoken of in the olden time. “So,” they say, “we cannot even enter upon this investigation until we are sure that it is not forbidden by our revelations.” Of course, along with spiritual manifestations there must come some teachings. Your friends do not come from the other world simply to say they love you and to tell you they are not dead; but they also tell you of the nature of their life, of the new light that has entered their minds since they passed beyond the grave, and many of the ways of God. Their guardian spirits are permitted to tell what was meant in ancient times by the various forms of spiritual manifestations then existing. Indeed, except through the light of spiritual manifestations, your Bible is a sealed book, and Christi- anity itself was long in finding out that it was based upon the manifestations of the Spirit. Now among the ancients there were various kinds of sorcerers, corresponding to your modern conjurers, whose manifestations were tricks, and were known to be such. These, however, oftentimes also possessed certain gifts of the spirit; and heathen mythology is full of evidence of spiritual manifestations that you get in the form of conjuring and tricks. The ancient Persians possessed many arts of the spirit and many 'gifts of spiritual manifestation, which, however, were not known in the catalogue of assistant revelation. When Moses or Rameses was educated in his childhood and youth, it was among a people Kºº. of a knowledge of these arts. It is believed that the £gyptians and Phoenicians borrowed this knowledge from the Bersians, and that among these were the gifts of sorcery, and that Moses, while young and ardent, was skilled therein. But he knew these were not the gifts of the spirit; hence, when the law of inspiration was given to the Hebrews, they were cautioned against the exercise of this sorcery in the name of spiritual gifts; just as, we hope, modern mediums are cautioned against exercising mere sleight-of-hand as genuine mediumship. This was all that was meant by the ancient edict against sorcery. Then as to the com- munication with familiar spirits, it was under ban among the Hebrews, because, in the first instance, they, as a nation, must recognise only one source of inspiration and instruction; and in the second, because persons who counselled with familiar spirits, who were not supposed to be wise and good, it was thought, would wander from the authority of the church. But we must remember that the lawful things of any time were not always tººd t) 6 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. things; we must remember that the law-givers had their special foibles; and we must recollect that it is not many hundreds of years ago since, these very utterances would have been denomi- nated witchcraft and sorcery, and the speaker put to death. Everything, therefore, that has come under the ban of the Church has not therefore been evil. We know that the Puritan Fathers, landing in America, put to death the so-called Salem witches for no other offence save that of being endued with the gifts of the Spirit. You must remember that the Roman Catholic Church to-day puts its veto upon every manifestation of spiritual gifts outside the pale of the Church. If you lived in a Roman Catholic country, you would not be allowed to assemble here; and at one time, the leaders of such a movement would have been put to death. You must remember that things that once went under the designation of sorcery and witchcraft, were genuine manifestations of the Spirit, but that they had not then come within the pale of the established law of the Church, and were therefore uncanonised. Many times these mysteries were performed in caves; many times oracles were concealed in mysterious places, so that among the heathen nations so-called the gifts of the spirit might not be wholly lost. In the caves of Mythros, the divine Spirit spoke to the scholars, who in their turn were the leaders of the people, and received far more spiritual inspiration than they dared speak of. The oracles of Delphos were for long years the source of innumerable pilgrimages and journeyings to seek advice from the priestesses, who were doubtless the recipients of spirit-influences. And wherever spirit- lips were heard, for fear lest those possessing these gifts should be put to death, it was necessary to surround them with mysteries and religious rites and ceremonies. Many of the revelations of modern science were even regarded as sacred, and held in a religious light, because of the tables, the parallel lines, and the various mathe- matical figures and symbols not being understood by the masses. Hence, the priests were obliged to conceal their knowledge for fear of being slain; so also they were compelled to conceal the places where their oracles abode, that they might not be destroyed. . You must remember that the laws of Moses, despite their inspira- tion, were nevertheless founded upon similar laws that had existed among a more ancient people, and that by them the Hebrews were especially enjoined to worship the one God. From time to time, however, there arose, among them a return to idolatry, and to the symbols of the heathen people among whom they dwelt. If, therefore, sorcery, witchcraft, magic, and various forbidden things sprang into existence among them as evidence of spiritual power, it must not be supposed that they were all forbidden, and all out. side the pale of the authorised inspirations of those days. On the contrary, the visitation of angels as messengers of the Divine Mind occur almost through every chapter in the wanderings and history of the ancient Jews, and, indeed, upon these divine mes 56 Is SPIRITUALISM WITCHCRAFT AND sorce RY P 7 sengers and ministrations hinged the larger share of their daily life; so that they looked especially to angels and messengers of Deity to comfort them in trouble and misfortune. But, as we have stated, the simulation of inspiration was forbidden; and under this category came witchcraft, sorcery, and various other manifestations that might be known to the conjurers, but were not genuine mani- festations of the spirit. “But,” says the believer of to-day, who is afraid of being led astray, “we are warned that in the latter days there will be evil spirits that shall deceive the very elect.” You are also warned that your young men and maidens shall speak prophecy and dream dreams. Of the nature of these manifestations you are called upon to decide. You are endowed with reason; you are endowed with the attributes of intuition and intelligence; and it is one of the privileges of the Protestant religion that the individual judgment shall assist in confirming or establishing the divine revelation. So that to-day, as has been foretold by its ancient prophets, when there are manifestations of the spirit in the land, yours is the province, yours the intelligence, and yours the gift to determine whether they be the spirits of the departed, or whether they be the tricks of the sorcerer, the conjurer, or of witchcraft. Do you not understand this? Besides, you are not living to-day in the times of Moses. You are not a people who must be swayed and governed by an arbitrary church. The law of Moses is not the one established law of your church: the law of Jesus rather. Still we do not say the law of Moses is altogether obliterated from your actions, but that you have superseded it. These gifts have existed in every age; but in some countries and under some laws they have been denominated witchcraft and made unlawful, while among other people and in other times they have been venerated and upheld. But there has always been some power by which mankind could determine that which was divine from that which was an imposition and a fraud. Now, that there are even to-day spirits or mysterious attendants who make their appearance, no one will pretend to deny. Since, therefore, that world is full of people from your world, it is but reasonable to suppose that there are those who are not wise, and who, in influencing mediums, cannot influence them in the right way. But you have intuition to determine those things, and when Spiritualism presents a genuine manifestation it is given for you to decide by the Christian law— the law of your established church—and by your own individual consciousness that which is wise from that which is unwise, that which is good from that which is evil, that which will lead to knowledge instead of to error and ignorance. But the questioner hesitates still, and feels compelled to obey the literal letter of the Scripture, forgetting the later letter that comes to all believers— the gifts of the Spirit; for if witchcraft was condemned, and if the inspired ones did not believe in sorcery, nor in the various tricks 57 8 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. purporting to be of the spirit, they still acknowledged the gifts; and even Paul, with his régle and discipline and formal establish- ment of the church theology, acknowledges the gifts of the spirit, and holds them all up for all believers to cultivate and follow, so that no one can go astray, even though they do follow the gifts of the spirit, since ministering angels were thus permitted to dwell on the earth with men in order to guide them. So now, all believers may be sure that spirits are still permitted to come and minister to their good. But the inquirer says, further, that it is said in the Book of Reve- lation no one is permitted to add to or take from that book. We answer, that that has reference exclusively to the vision of the Apo- calypse. It has nothing to do with the revelation of history. The Apocalypse is a revelation of itself, requiring inspiration to estab- lish its foundation on the earth. But with that book alone we do not propose to interfere. It is only with the general law of spirit- communion, as it now exists and always has existed, that we have now to do. It has been established since the early ages of human history; was revealed through various forms of manifestation to the ancients; was understood and demonstrated by the oracles of heathen times; and in the revealed religion of the Hebrews was understood to have an abiding-place and an established existence; while in the Christian religion it really formed the base and corner- stone of its foundation. . But you must remember that the powers of the spirit have oftentimes been veiled and shrouded by human ignorance, and that, however much the light of the past may have been thrown upon the subject, you are compelled to adopt the inter- pretation of many tongues. Your books come to you from many languages and from many minds, so that you may not always have the very letter and spirit as were given to the inspired ones. Un- questionably, these records contain the essential revelation of the past, but then you should distinguish between the spirit and the letter. The fact that you do not abide by every letter con- tained therein is a proof that it is impossible for the human spirit to do so, since in Christendom there are many hundreds of sects, each interpreting the records, according to its own peculiar ideas, and among those sects many individual minds place their own construction on the letter. If the letter gave clearly and unequi- vocally the meaning of the spirit, where the need of all the commen- taries and interpretations that have been given to you? It is the letter that killeth: the spirit alone giveth life. Now, no one can read the spirit of the book aright unless he be inspired; and no one can tell the meaning of the gifts of the spirit unless he or she also has the spirit; and it is not to be presumed that every man who has turned over those pages and commented upon them for the enlightenment of mankind, has been inspired. Some are slaves to the intellect; some read simply in many languages without knowing of the living spirit; while others fail to see the spirit wholly, and - 58 Is SPIRITUALISM WITCHCRAFT AND SORCERY P 9 are lost in the great sea of doubt and infidelity. Reading the Bible in many tongues has made many infidels; but the spirit was not with the reader—only the j, intellect that dared to pronounce upon the living spirit because the letter seemed to be inconsistent. Now, any one possessing the spirit of the nineteenth century knows quite well that there is no form of religious belief to-day that accepts in its entirety the letter of the modern Protestant Bible. Every reader knows that the text contained within the covers of his Bible was decided upon by a convention of men, many of whom might have been inspired; but the one who gave the casting vote, Constantine, could never have been inspired, since bloody deeds and cruel actions formed the epitome of his life. In the councils of Trent and Nice were gathered together the learned men who were appointed to decide upon the text of the Bible; but although it is acknowledged that you owe to these men that which gave you the Christian Bible, Constantine gave the deciding vote on the text that now makes your inspired book. Now, we say, that notwithstanding the slaughtering hand that gave it, notwith- standing the bloody deeds that have followed in the wake of so- called Christianity—for Christianity did not do it; notwithstand- ing the impositions of Church and State that have been perpetrated in the name of religion; notwithstanding the blood and wars that have caused the whole course of modern civilisation to be traced in blood; the true believer, the truly-inspired mind, finds in this record the history of God's dealings with the race which he selected to lead through tribulation and fire and slavery and bondage to the light and knowledge of the one God. It also contains the revelations, teachings, inspirations, works, and prophecies of Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples, to be given for all time as the highest and best expression of human life and human sacrifice. What matters it through what instrumentality it came P What matters it through what seas of blood it has been left to mankind P. The one living spirit, the communion with angels, the voice of the heavenly Father, the deeds and words of the life of Jesus, show out distinctly and purely above all that night of bloodshed and war and wrong. And among the things that have been preserved, among the gifts that have not been lost, the gift of the living spirit remains the same; and although Church and State combined, politicians, demagogues, and tyrants, have oftentimes made religion the cloak for their own ambition, and made the Church subserve the interests of the State, we still know that in many secret hearts and sacred places the gifts of the spirit have been maintained and cultivated; we know many a saint, un- regarded and unknown, has passed on to the world of spirits filled with fire and inspiration from the altar of God; we know that many uncanonised—not placed upon the records of the Roman Catholic Church—have still exercised gifts of the spirit, and still 59 1() SPIRITUAL ETHICS, lead the multitudes on to peace. We know also that in the Protestant Church, the very spirit of the Reformation, the very power that gave it birth and life, was that it rejected the letter while it maintained the spirit of revelation. Now, again, there comes a voice from heaven; now, again, doors are opened and flood-gates are lifted upon humanity; and now, again, you are called from your old literal worship to the worship of the Spirit; now, again, you are asked to forsake the letter, to forsake the golden altars you have erected, to forsake the monuments—the spiritually-bare monuments—you have reared, and dwell again in the simplicity of the spirit. If there be no need of these things among mankind, if there is no infidelity, no materialism, no scepticism, in your midst, it surely will fall harmless. If it be a loving voice, if there be a new word, shut not your doors nor your hearts to its ad- mission. For, be sure, though evil may be permitted to come, good also will come—for your benefit and enlightenment, and there is no danger while the angels abide with you. Then, you must all remember that in the light of modern thought and modern science, many ancient laws and ancient customs were not founded in human justice nor in human reason, that the putting to death of those who had gifts of the spirit, or exercised even the forbidden gifts, was not in accordance and is not in accordance with the dic- tates of the highest humanity; and it has been left for Christians to see that even in an enlightened age, at an advanced period of time, they could also practise the cruelties of the darker days of the Inquisition, and that for opinion's sake persons might be crucified, burned, and put to death. The history of the witchcraft of America is in itself the most familiar instance. From the records that exist, we know that if one or two persons decided that another individual gave them pain, and walking by that person's side some spirit-form that they saw they in their ignorance supposed to be Satan, that individual enjoying and exercising such power was put to death on the testimony of one or two witnesses. . Now, someone may enter a room, and two or three may see a spirit: it would be condemned as characteristic of an age of barbarism if such person were to be put to death by your judges; and yet such was the case within a less period of time than you would be willing to ac- knowledge. Now, it must also be clearly understood that the perse- cution in your midst of the Puritans and Quakers was not in itself in accordance with the highest spirit of Christianity; and we need not go from the history of England to see that every war has been caused by some religious prejudice, some warring of religious opinion, by persecution for opinion's sake. This is contrary to the very spirit of that religion which you claim forms the foundation of your civilisation; this, indeed, is at variance with the very power of the voice of Christ, who proclaimed peace on earth and good- will to men. And what would you † to-day if those persons who do not believe in mesmerism, clairvoyance, Spiritualism, were 60 Is SPIRITUALISM witchCRAFT AND SORCERY P II. to go to the judges and say, “Here, here are a class of persons exercising the unhallowed gifts of witchcraft and sorcery among us; these people must be put to death”? It is not 200 years since they would have been put to death. If bigotry had its way to-day, perhaps not ten, not one person would be found here now : many would be put to death. }. universal voice of humanity, the enlightenment of to-day, forbids persecution for opinion's sake, and claims the openest investigation for all subjects. Time was when the electric telegraph, the steam-engine, experiments in chemistry, were actually forbidden, as being of Satanic origin. Time was when the printing-press was regarded as the engine for his Satanic majesty: it is not always inspired by the most exalted spirits, but it forms the avenue for human civilisation, diffuses light and knowledge and goodness, and is the great engine of modern thought and culture. Time was when every improve- ment in science was considered to be a direct invasion upon the absolute Word of God. To-day, however, Science and Religion may walk hand in hand; the chasm that existed between them bridged over, as we confidently believe, by the uniting voice of spiritual science and philosophy. To-day religion is no longer obliged to wear the garb of persecution for opinion's sake, but may say that the Voice of God speaks to all people with tongues many and voices many, but with the one living spirit. Time was, and that within the history of your own country, when no one dared avow his disbelief in Bible authority without the guillotine or the scaffold. Nor has Protestantism been behind in its persecutions; we all remember the wars that have been waged in its name. We all remember the evils that have grown out of man's selfishness and ambition; but these are not religion; these do not form the basis of its foundation; these are not the utterances of its voice and spirit. It comes in far different guise; it speaks in different tones; its many utterances all belong to the living Spirit. Nor have inspired ones always been recognised authorities when existing outside the pages of so-called sacred literature. There are many evidences of inspiration in times past, and every age and nation has had its inspired writers—even its Bibles and sacred books given to it. It is true that the followers of these ancient religions, like the Hebrews—and, may we say, like the Christians?—have fallen from the ancient worship and followed after idols, and after the letter instead of the spirit. It is also true that in many of their utterances they do not conform to that which you know to be the divine and living gifts of God. Still, Socrates conversing with his spiritual guide, Plato walking in his grove communing with the Divine Mind—these are evidences of inspired voices that have not been recognised, yet still abide in the hearts of men, and have their sway and influence over them. No greater proof of immor- tality can be found than Socrates conversing with his friends, wherein he describes the familiar spirit that attends him as guide, 1 12 - SPIRITUAL ETHICS. his demon, so called—not demon in the sense of evil spirit, but merely in the sense of attendant guardian-angel—and where this guardian points out to him that death is not a thing of terror, but the pathway leading to the abode of the immortals. Nothing can be more inspired than Plato's divine dream of heavenly guardian- ship. Nothing can be more inspiring, thought Seneca, than holding an hour's communion with the dead. “Nothing can be more inspiring,” says another heathen writer, “than the communion with the gods, who are always with us, and who teach us not to fear death.” To-day these teachings and writings are joined to your spiritual experiences and utterances. To-day the voice of the spirit is in your midst, not to overthrow, tear down, or take from anything of the established divine utterances, but simply to throw light where there has been darkness. All these manifestations have been permitted to man to confirm the belief in the spiritual manifestations of the past by those of to-day. . It has been truly said that many infidels who did not believe in the inspired contents of the Bible, who had no knowledge of Christ's teachings, nor of the spiritual experience of his people, now read that book with the knowledge of the spirit, because they have themselves witnessed the manifestations and been permitted to know that the spirit is at resent among mankind. If you ask how you are prevented from eing led astray, how these familiar spirits are to be known from evil spirits, we can only answer that you have all your faculties of mind with which to determine, that you have all your powers of intellect, and that you also have the gifts of the spirit, that if you will cultivate them you may discern and understand and know which are evil, as you call them, and which are good. These can only come with study, with experience, with prayerfulness, with the earnest desire for that which is best and highest. And we have to-night deviated from the usual course of the lectures that these trembling and fearful ones may now meet this question face to face in the light of past inspiration and in the light of present truth. You live to-day in a world that is filled with new dis- coveries and ideas. That which religion fails to tell you, science will surely reveal to you; and if you stand hesitating by the threshold of the door of the spiritual temple, then science will open it wide for you, and you will be obliged to enter whether you will or not. The march of thought is outward and onward. You are being drifted unconsciously away from your old fastenings, and if you have not your anchor in the spirit instead of the letter, you will be floated out on the great sea of popular doubt. For what shall become of those who look upon the Pope as the head of the Church if there shall be no Pope after awhile P And what shall become of those who look upon outward institutions and outward theologies as being everything if there shall (one day) be no outward institutions, but only the living Spirit dwelling in your midst P It behoves you to fasten your spirits where they may rest. 62 Is SPIRITUALISM WITCHCRAFT AND SORCERY P 13 and they cannot rest upon human institutions. It is only when the spirit is well grounded—is confirmed in its idea of immortal life and conscious existence—that it can surely be said to be at rest. The knowledge of the external mind is relative, and expands from day to day: it takes away that which was yesterday a truth, and puts another in its place. The rainbow, which was formerly a miracle, is now the broken rays of light refracted by the falling water from the clouds. That which was supposed to be an express visitation of the Divine Spirit is now but the manifestation of the laws of God. When it was believed that the earth was flat and the stars were held up by glass tubes in which they revolved, and that the earth was the centre of the solar system, it was considered impious for man to discover a new system. But the new system took its place among the established things, and the old religion perished because it was not in the truth. So to-day, if you would ground your belief in knowledge, deny not any fact that may appear to your senses, Be sure there is always behind every cause a law, and behind that law the Divine Mind to maintain and uphold it for ever; and although it may be said in the letter of your Church that you cannot hold communion with spirits, when they come to communicate at your doors or at your hearts, and give you proofs of their presence, you cannot refuse them admission. Rather bind them, that the light of their countenance may illumine the dark mists in which you have travelled. Then the grave and sepulchre will no longer be places of gloom—charnel-houses in the world. Rather bind them, that the places filled with want and crime and sin may perceive the light and presence of the living spirit; for if it be true that angels can come as of old, and if it be true that they have rolled away the stones of the sepulchres of those you loved, be sure they are mindful of every gaol and prison, every place of darkness, and they call you to account as to how you have interpreted the teachings of the meek and lowly Jesus, and still have not instructed these erring ones. The gifts and voice of the Spirit to-day mean something more than the mere formal declaration of immortality, mean some- thing more than that the lips of love have been unsealed and may speak to you again—mean something more than these; they mean that the old religion shall be made new ; that the form shall perish, but the Spirit shall live; that the letter shall not govern, but only the breath of the living God; that there may be leaders many, and creeds many, and temples many, but that there shall be but one living Spirit. It means more than this: it means that that inspiration or voice that uplifts humanity, and that has no word of condemnation or bitterness, is the religion that shall govern all the world—priests, kings, rulers, institutions, all to the contrary. The voice of to-day that is abroad in the land, that speaks with every utterance of inspired wisdom, that will be heard in State council and Church council, is, that humanity is the child of 63 14 SPIRITUAL ETHICs. God, that every soul is the object of his care, that all must receive the benefits of his instruction and counsel. The spirit-world come to-day to tell you this, to imbue the letter with a new spirit, to create new fire on the desolate altars, to kindle a new flame in your hearts, to make way for charity and love and kindness, and to do away with envy, malice, and hatred. It is not the work of a single breath, hour, or day; but it is that this loving presence is everywhere about, that it must and will work its way into your hearts, that it must exalt and elevate the good and noble, and put down that which is low and debased. There shall be some that will cry out, “Wonder- ful! The blind man cannot see the light, the lame man cannot get up and walk.” Now understand us: If there be those who have been blind in spirit—who are desolate, do not wonder; if there be many that stagger beneath the light of the new life, do not be sur- prised. Remember, in time these things all establish their equili- brium, that the forces of nature are always equal, that God sends the Spirit and also the power to bear it, and if you will heed its utterances and give voice and make room for it, your house will expand, your courts grow broad enough, your churches large enough for the Spirit to dwell in. For you know that step by step has the Church adopted each new improvement; step by step have music and art and science taken their appointed places in the world; step by step has culture gone on under the lead and guidance of reason; and religion itself becomes the handmaiden of science, but it shall not be so: Science shall be the handmaiden of religion; the natural powers of man shall be subservient to the spiritual; the body shall obey the soul; and there shall not be Materialism even in the ranks of professed believers. Too much has it been said that religion shall be subservient to human reason, that the Spirit shall bow down while science decides. Too much has intellect been made the god of modern worship, and reason—that human reason that is so deceitful, instead of that intuition which is always reliable—been made the unerring guide. The gifts of the Spirit shall reveal man to himself: he shall know that the intellect is but the handmaiden of soul, that the human form and body are but attendant upon the spirit to do its bidding, that the voice of reason gropes blindly, while the voice of the Spirit is absolute. When reason herself says she cannot go farther, when science de- clares that it has no explanation for these gifts, when intellect is baffled, then supreme and calm by the doorway of the spirit, stands intuition, saying: “I have been here, but ye heeded me not; now I dwell with you for ever.” And when this voice shall abide; when spirits shall be with you always; when you shall know that the ancient altars have again resumed their wonted fire; when every voice of inspiration in the past shall be awakened again with new fervour; when you shall read the sacred utterances in the light of the new-found faith and hope—how the world will grow brighter I how those that are chained will become disenthralled ! how the spirit, 64 Is SPIRITUALISM witcIICRAFT or soft CERY P I5 waking up in the glad morning of that day, will hold its powers, its attributes, and its gifts as from the Divine ! You know—the best of you—how blind and groping the world is to-day ; you know how far short the senses fall of understanding the Spirit; you know what it is to be baffled in your search for truth by the very feebleness of the human intellect ; you know what it is—many of you—to get into despair and sink into despon- dency because you cannot probe questions that lie beyond the realm of the senses. Be sure that the gifts of the spirit will reveal them unto you ; be sure that with these shall come new-born faculties and higher hopes : be sure that you shall not grope in darkness, but come gradually to the light through inspiration, through prophecy, through prayer, through the sustaining power of the Divine Mind. “OU IN A 'S' POE, M. Mrs. Tappan said the spirit “Ouina,” who was present, would give a poem after the concluding hymn had been sung, if the audience would kindly remain seated. The following is a literal transcript of the verses recited:— If you ask me why I come here, Why I leave my home above To attend your earthly council, I will say I come in love. From this pale-faced * gentlewoman I have borrowed speech and tone, That my words may sound quite human But the thoughts are all my own. Far across the big sea-water With my people once I dwelt ; I was but a forest maiden, And at nature's shrine I knelt. All the Westland was our home then, In our wigwams t made of skin, Sheltered from the cruel north wind, Dwelt our people and their kin. We had corn and meat in plenty; We had neither gold nor wine; And the breath of the Great Spirit Dade us never to repine. All the chiefs and sachems : gathered Round the nation's council fires; And the laws made for our people Were there spoken by the sires. * White people. f Dwellings. I Wise men. F * 16 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, The Great Spirit never told us Not in war to slay our foes: If he had, we would have heeded; I3ut then came our darkest woes. Far across the big sea-water Came your ships, like many birds, Bringing there the pale-faced warrior, I}ringing there his flocks and herds. He brought gifts of beads and wanpum;” He brought corn, and gold, and wine; . He brought fire-arrowst to slay us, Saying “’twas his right divine.” He brought words of peace and good-will From the meek and lowly one. He brought deeds of discord, hatred To the red-man and his son. One by one my race have perished Far toward the setting sun : They are driven—killed and driven— And their race is nearly run. When the red-man dies, they bury With him all his bended bows, . All his arrows, dogs, and horses, Lest he meet in death his foes. And they lay his face to eastward, That the loving eye of day May light up his lonely journey To his soul-land far away. Then they bring him food and water For three days, lest he may fail On his journey to his Father, And at last grow weary, pale. I am told that your great Father Has revealed here long ago That you must not kill your brother: But you kill him still—you know. I am told that the bright angels Taught the pale-face of His love, And asked him to do us justice: How did you the justice prove? I am told the lowly Jesus Came on earth with feet all sore, Tried to teach you truth and goodness, And for you his life did pour. * Money. t Firearms. * * * \ \ º, Is SPIRITUALISM WITCHCRAFT AND SORCERY 8 17 I am but a simple maiden; But if he had come—I know— To my people and thus taught us, We would not deny him so. I am told the pale-faced women Carry arrows in each tongue— Shafts of malice and of envy— And that sometimes drops are hung, Laden with the shafts of slander; And with baneful, biting dart, They slay not the body surely But they kill the bleeding heart. I am told your sons and sires Strive some place of power to buy With the spirit of a falsehood, With the bribing of a lie. I am told that you oft gather Wampum that is not your own; While your orphans die of hunger In the streets, and there they moan, Up in heaven, where I come from, There is neither rich nor poor; The Great Father loves each spirit: We are welcome to his door. I am told your ships go westward, Taking there your gold and wine, Taking fire-arrows for killing, All poor people such as mine. I am told your ships go eastward, Seeking ores, and wine, and gold; That you take fire-arrows—cannon, Causing sorrows all-untold. Could I speak unto your nation: In their councils I would say:— What will you say when Christ sees you On that dread and awful day? When your spirit comes up heav'nward, When you meet him face to face: Can you bring these slain ones to him P Can you ask of him a place? But I bring you beads and wanpum, I bring you gold and silver fine; But the gold is the Great Spirit, Silver is hi- browth divine. 67 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, I bring a feather of the bright bird You call bird of paradise; You will wear it in your spirits If in peace and love you rise. I bring you now some buds and flowers From the hunting fields above; They were gathered by your loved ones You call dead, but who still love. Send your white ships eastward, westward, Bid them bear these words of peace; But send no death-arrows with them; Bid the warring nations cease. Send your printed slips of paper, With these words of peace and love; Send “Ouina's" message, will you? Then I'll seek my home above. There my white Ganoe is waiting; It will take me where I dwell. Shall I take some message with me To your loved ones? Fare-ye-well: 53 MYSTERY AND MEANING OF THE NUMBER THREE. An Inspirational Oration delivered by Mrs. CoRA L. V. TAPPAN, at the Royal Music Hall, Holborn, London, on Sunday, November 16th, 1873. INVOCATION. Our Father, Spirit of life and love! Thou named Jehovah, the spirit of all past, the future, eternity' Thou that dost abide in the living present; Thou that seest all mind and life; Thou that art to one thing, but all things: for with Thee there is neither begin- ning nor ending, only immensity; God, we praise Thee! Our tongues feebly express the love for Thee that is within our spirits. Our hearts are all too prone to weakness, and human folly sits en- throned in the mind; but above all earthly weakness, and beyond all foibles of mind and brain, the life of thy spirit shines out supreme and full and wonderful. O Thou that hast kindled the stars, set the worlds in their places, and made the laws whereby the suns shine and the constellations move; Thou also that doth sit enthroned in the human spirit, with vast contemplation, with wonderful power, with supreme beneficence, bending thine ear even to the faintest throbbing of the human heart; O living soul, be Thou in our midst. Whatever light or glory may be thine, whatsoever mind that transcends our imaginings, we know that Thou art still as near to us as the throbbings of life, that every pul- sation of the living principle is fraught with thy being, that every aspiration of the soul is illumined by thy breath, that all life and knowledge and prayer are the result of thy being. O God, make us one with Thee! Let us feel thy presence vibrating in our 69 4 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, hearts; even as the sound that has just ceased vibrates upward and outward through the atmosphere, so let us see wave upon wave of thy breath kindling the fire of love in our hearts. Let us hear the exultant song of spirits disenthralled, of angels made glad and strong through knowledge and love, of souls that have grown free and unafraid in the light of thy loving smile. Let us join our song with theirs; let us unite our deeds of love and kindness with their loving praise. Let us minister, thereby sounding thy praise in deeds and words of love, even as the lowly one did who walked the earth in thy name. To Thee shall be all praise, all songs of rejoicing, all uplifting of the spirit, now and evermoro, MYSTEIRY AND MEANING OF THE NUMBER, TIXREE. 5 DISCOUTSE. On the three Sunday evenings previous to the last we gave three discourses on the first letters of the spiritual alphabet. These were, the Divine Spirit; the individualised human spirit, embodied and disembodied; and thirdly, mediumship. To-night we give you the mystic meaning of these three letters; in other words, the mystery of the number three as connected with ancient and modern spiritual manifestations. It seems that in all ages there have been various associations and symbols that connect the Divine Mind with earth, and wherever this divine manifestation has occurred it has generally assumed a threefold character. The ancient gods of pagan nations were many times threefold in their functions, and the first worshippers of earth had three elements— earth, air, and water. Among the Persians fire was the sacred symbol of the deity, and the fire-worshippers superseded the more ancient ones of elemental worship. The Brahmin has a threefold deity—Brahma, Vishnu, Chiva, or Siva, as some have it—the creator, the preserver, and destroyer of life. This threefold divinity is manifested in their various deities and forms of wor- ship; and although Buddha did not teach a threefold deity, still among Buddhists there is a threefold form of worship—a perver- sion of the original oneness of his revelation. The Jehovah of the ancient Hebrews was undoubtedly an interpolation of the ancient Egyptian deity Osiris, who dwelt in the sun, but through every new idea the one God was manfested. At last another— Isis, the earth—was worshipped, and deified as the mother of creation; and finally, three powers made a threefold divinity or deity in the ancient Egyptian worship. At that time also there crept into religion somewhat of natural science; and every person familiar with that age, or the history of that age, is aware that the symbols of deity were represented by the triangle, which it was believed had been discovered to be of divine origin, and was the only symbol that would correctly inter- pret Deity. The symbol of the circle or sphere had long been known. The symbol of a single point had long been known mathe- matically. The triangle was the first figure emblem that pene- trated this circle of the infinite, and revealed it to the understand- ing of man. Unquestionably the ancient scholars and priests, who knew this symbol, knew also it was a geometrical figure; but in order to preserve it from the invasion of the ignorant, they were obliged to symbolise it as a form of Deity. Hence the triangle became one of the expressions or symbols of the Divine Mind. The Pyramids erected on this plan fully represent the acquaintance of the Egyptian with the fact that it was a mathematical figure as well as a symbol of the Divine Mind, . But in those days all forms of worship were adopted as daily and hourly devotions, and no act of life was performed that was not given to some expression of Deity. Hence, when these symbols were given forth by # SC18H1- * 6 SPIRITUAL ETHICs. tific men of those days, they were obliged to surround them with the mystery of worship; and the triangle—the sacred three —became the emblem of the Divine Mind, or rather of his mani- festation to mortals, the sphere being still the symbol of the divine existence. Every freemason knows that the All-seeing Eye, de- scribed in that order, is synonymous with the ancient worship of the sun, or the eye of day among the Egyptians. Undoubtedly Solomon, who is supposed to have founded the order of free- masonry, borrowed this symbol from the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians, and made it the insignia of that order when first established. These threefold powers or functions in divinity were then taken up by the ancient Hebrews: Jehovah, or Ye-ho-vah, representing the Future, the Present, and the Past, is unquestion- ably the same idea that the East Indians possess in the Brahmin religion. But that the people might not know that this symbol had been borrowed, and might not believe that the Hebrew religion was founded upon other theories, the Hebrews were forbidden to pro- nounce the name of Jehovah, lest the people eventually might know the secret meaning of the term; but, as now understood, it sym- bolises the same elements of creation, preservation, and destruction that were known to the most ancient nations. From that idea of Tivinity unquestionably also originated the present modern three- fold conception of God, whether correct or no. The triangle is the only mathematical figure that will make one of three and three of one; and as the origin of this mathematical possibility rests purely with geometry, and not with the spiritual element of the one Divine Mind, it behoves all inquirers to discover whether it be really not borrowed as a j from the ancients, and whether to-day in the threefold form of worship we are not giving homage to that rather mysterious expression of the Divine Mind. Still, it must be confessed that in all nature there is a mystery about the number three. Whether the materialist acknowledges an intelli- gent deity or no, in every manifestation of matter there is evidence beyond that expressing itself in geometrical forms. Thirds, fifths, and their multiples form the expressions of nature's manifesta- tions. The unit, one; the dual, two; and the threefold expres- sions of nature's life, are everywhere manifested around you. The leaf of clover is threefold; the blade of grass is single; the leaves upon many trees and shrubs are dual, and always come in pairs; hence there must either be an intelligent source understanding geometrical rules, or else this wonderful thing called chance is very nearly like intelligence. There can be no origin for life save the intelligent source of mind, and the laws of creation prove that mostly in threefold ratios the germs and crystals and the life of the earth are outwrought. If this be true—and it is strikingly developed by science—then it behoves the man who is studying material nature to also learn the º from whence these geometrical calculations—always MYSTERY AND MEANING OF THE NUMBER THREE, 7 unerring, always infallible, always in exact proportion and order and arrangement—it behoves the intellectual mind, we say, to en- deavour if possible otherwise to account for this intelligence in nature, if it be not the intelligent and divine source of law. There can be no law without a law-maker. There can be no expression of numbers without a thinking mind. There can be no mathe- matical ratio without a central intelligence directing and govern- ing its methods. And when to-day science and the testimony of all revelation show that there is a symbolic number representing the expression of the Divine to man, it behoves the inquirer to pause and question. We see that the threefold manifestation of Deity to man has always existed, not that God Himself is threefold, but single, absolute, a sphere complete, universal, entire, but that the human mind cannot understand the infinite circle; therefore, that circle must be broken to your gaze, and the three forms of expres- sion of Divinity have in all time, and will in all time, be sym- bolised to man. You cannot comprehend the Past; you cannot comprehend all there is in the Present; you may not measure the Future; but by having this broken to your understanding in the fragments that are represented by the trinity, or triangle, you may understand them relatively, and thereby place yourself within the comprehension of the circle of the Divine Mind. The soul itself is like Deity—a unit; but it is broken in various parts by its contact with matter, and man is expressed not simply as man, but as body and mind and spirit, or, still more interiorly, as mind and spirit and soul. ... And when you speak of man, it is not simply of one of these attributes, but all; it is not simply of the body, which is the form of the mind which is the thinking and acting principle, or of the soul that is the innermost or life; but of the entire mind, the actual individual spirit, like God in its completeness and fulness. You are told of the various attributes of Deity. The human mind cannot comprehend the attributes of Deity; but they come to you tempered by your understanding under the names of goodness and love and justice and charity; whereas, unquestionably, the Divine Mind is a single power, absolute, for which you have no name. It is said that charity, and kindness, and virtue, and goodness form the attributes of the human Soul. Resolve these all into the one simple element of love, and you have the unit, the only principle that can fairly and fully represent the Deity. But love is broken to your gaze through the varied qualities of outward understand- ing, and you see not the absolutely clear light of the Divine Spirit, but only its broken fragments. Just as the ray of white light is broken into red and yellow and blue by the prism, so through the prism of outward life—matter, God breaks the clear light of his intelligence, which is white and pure and complete, that it may come to your understanding in a better form, more adapted to your outward gaze. - The mystery of the third and fifth notes in music i.gºld 8 SPIRITUAL ETHICs. with this same divine ratio of expression, and all harmonies are there typified. For instance, although the individual unit may express Deity and may express soul, there is nothing in its form as a circle that enables you to grasp it. Although the dual expression of mind and matter will reach your understanding, there is nothing in it to give you a fresh conception; but when from this dual note the third is expressed, you see at once that spirit and matter combined may produce all the wonders that exist in the earth, in the heavens, and in the broad universe unknown and unexplored by the human mind. With this mysterious number and the elemental powers of pure mathematics, there is no need for the inspired mind to go further, because the Deity always adapts Himself to the comprehension of the mind; and if you cannot see the absolute Divinity, you can see the expression of T]ivinity, which is thought equivalent. Now, we know of no better way of proving, as an intellectual record, the existence of the Divine Mind, than to point to the nature and history of this number as representing Deity, and the mathematical principle that where two things are known the third may be known. Mind and matter are known; the third is resumed from that knowledge, and the third leads you to Deity, W. have said there are no intellectual proofs of immortality, of the existence of God absolutely. We say so still; and there may be those who cavil at this, and say they have not in their minds an innate consciousness of immortality; but we reply that you do not know what you have in your soul until it is developed and unfolded. There are many dormant faculties, many mysterious thoughts that have never been reached, many thoughts that will eventually launch you forth upon this absolute sea of knowledge; but if the longing be with you, if the desire be there, if a thought of it exist, that in itself forms the basis of the prophecy, and at last is seen the three sides of the triangle that will enable you to comprehend the Divinity. , Suppose, for instance, the human mind could understand that it exists, and could understand that it longs for immortality, these two things being understood, the third is evident. There is but one conso- lation, and that is that the mind being in existence, and the mind contemplating immortality is immortal. Or take it in another form. Suppose you have an innate absolute consciousness of the divine principle; suppose you have an innate and absolute longing that your soul shall exist for ever: from that consciousness of the divine unite, and from that longing for existence for ever, comes the third proof of immortal existence. We only give this as a sample of the various forms of illustrative knowledge, which the mind of itself, free and untrammelled, may use to investigate the life of the spirit. But, of course, no mathematical formula means anything, as the methods of the spirit differ from those of the mind. Ahºy are only required to reach the mind, and perfect the MYSTERY AND MEANING OF THE NUMBER THIREE, 9 outward existence in those methods of thought that are familiar to the earth. But as to the immortal spirit it requires no number with which to understand its alliance to Deity; it requires no mathematical figure to illustrate its belonging to the Infinite; that tie is established and unbroken. There is a stamp placed upon the spirit, a symbol of the living soul, an absolute proof of its alliance to the Divine Mind. To-day, however, this threefold form of deity takes this ex- pression—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. In ancient days it was God, the earth, and the atmosphere. In still more recent days, preceding the present form of religion, it was life and death and immortality. So to-day we will not cavil with those who take this threefold expression of the Divine Mind, always understanding that his light and knowledge are simply broken to your gaze as you can bear it; and if you will say that the Father represents the Infinite Spirit, that the Son represents the divine humanity, and the Holy Spirit communion with his mind, then we can go with you as far as you please, always know- ing that trinity is finally absorbed in the one infinite mind. Jesus himself taught that he represented the possible of man, and if that attainment which he possessed be within your gras also, then you are the divine humanity—God the Father, an the Holy Spirit his breath, which is all the time breath- ing life and power upon you. We see in this symbol the taking away of the confines of the outward understanding and establishing more firmly the Living Spirit in your midst. We see in this the breaking away from the mere letter and formality of the letter, and the abiding in the spirit. There should be no difference of opinion between Unitarians and Trini- tarians, for God cannot be three unless He be also one, and He cannot be one unless He express Himself in a threefold, perhaps in a manifold, manner to earth's children. The threefold manner, as we see, is the chosen number, and whereas the one unitary point may be in the divine and living Spirit, it is not given to the human comprehension to follow that to its infinite source; so, it may be given to the human compre- hension to worship the divine humanity. We do not care: it is only that the highest good and the greatest truth that God has given to man in every age shall not be ignored, but always revered and always sustained. To-day the expressions of Deity to man are threefold, as they have always been: through Nature and her laws —this expression belongs to the world of science and material investigation; through the human spirit, or mind rather, and its laws—this belongs to the sphere of induction and reasoning; through the human soul and its laws—this belongs to the sphere of intuition and spiritual revelation. Not one of these avenues has been closed; not one is closed to-day, But the same Spirit that has taught in the threefold manner, and has taught and * 10 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, himself in various tongues and in many nations, speaks this language to-day , speaks through the voice of Nature, and you discover there that from the mountain's dome to the very brightest sun and world the power of mind is manifested; speaks in the leaf and in the blade of grass, in the ripening fruit and golden grain, giving to each the proper interpretation of the power of mind, and proving that with each abides the living and identified presence of the divine power; speaks in the law of induction and reason, whereby man may combine these various elements of earth, and from things that are known pass on to the unknown, from things that are visible consider the invisible, from things capable of being analysed to those that are not capable of analysis by the senses, from that which is measurable to that which is immeasurable, from that which is within his vision to that which is far beyond his vision (the eye of mathematics computes the worlds outside the range of his material vision). Surely this is one of the phases of Deity this giant arm of intellect—this won- derful power of mathematical solution—this invention that brings within the grasp of the human mind worlds upon worlds and infinite space It is this threefold function, that is all around you and within you, that tells you of other powers; for, except through intuition, what do you know of the love of your fellow-being P except through this attribute of the infinite, how can you measure the human understanding P except for this intuition, how would you be different from the rock and tree and stone that your senses may analyse P and except for this absolute presence of Deity, and this third threefold innermost consciousness of the living Spirit, how would you feel that all nations are linked together by one tie, and that a divine something leads you up to a divine Creator? This spirit, innermost and most subtle, not capable of being analysed by the senses, having no rudiments of mathematics by which it may be judged, having nothing but the third and mysterious side of this wonderful triangle to establish it, this unknown yet absolute realm, this divine yet imperceptible power, forms the sole motor power of life, is the underlying force of the brain, is the power that nerves the sinew and gives to the force of the body its life and breath. No chemist with subtle analysis can detect its presence in the atmosphere; no one can tell how and of what substance it is composed: it is not soluble in any of the elements or crucibles of Science... But, as a fire, a flame, as a breath, a power, it works in your midst; it is the motive force of nations; it is that which strengthens Society, binds humanity together, gives voice and potency to government, and makes human beings something more than clay. And yet we are told by science that the human mind is no such power, or, if it is, that it is not within the range of human knowledge to discover. Then, why not? A power cer- tainly must have a source; and the source may be known if it manifests itself. Although the human soul may never know by MYSTERY AND MEANING OF THE NUMBER THREE. 11 material agencies of what substance it is composed, it will always know that it is soul, and that it is related to the divine and omni- potent Spirit of the universe. This past history, this revelation of mystical numbers, this inti- mate association of Science and religion, has thrown the world into somewhat of a chaos in times past as to what was science and what religion; and in modern days, so jealous has the scientific world been of any encroachment upon its province, that it has steadily and absolutely separated itself from all inspiration of the past, whilst making its basis purely, absolutely, unqualifiedly material and mathematical. This is just as it should be, for science no more represents the spirit of the universe than the body of man represents his soul fully. Science can no more deal with the nature of the Living Spirit than could your finger touch a thought, or your eye see the nature of the impulse or the sentiments of love. It is well; for science, when separated from religion, becomes the actual and direct guide to physical laws and experi- ments. Teligion, when fully separated from science, becomes the actual and absolute guide of human society in spiritual directions; and in this way science and religion can walk hand-in-hand, and in this way only. It might be well to have a little more science in religion, and to have a little more religion in science, to temper it and make it more of the nature of the mind. But however this may be, there is an underlying force in society which will not consent that the innermost and absolute shall be overruled by that which is external and merely temporal. The absolute nature of the soul, the transitory nature of all its sur- roundings, is the one lesson of the spiritual world in every age. That which mathematics can solve is variable; that which the soul can understand is absolute and unchangeable ; that which is within the range of possible scientific analysis may be destroyed or changed in form or substance; that which is not within the range of scientific analysis is unchangeable, and therefore im- mortal. The best proof of immortality is that science has not found it but ; had it done so, you might think it a myth. The best proof of divine inspiration is that science does not recog- nise it; had it done so, you might have found it amenable to those variable forces that constitute the destructive power of nature. If there could be any known beginning of the human soul, or its divine origin, there might also be an ending. Science has not found it, therefore we know that it cannot be touched. Spiritualism is the fragment of a grand system of spiritual ethics, born in all ages, preserved in all ages, extended to all ages that are yet to come. It is a portion of the infinite circle broken to your gaze that you may understand that it is of the Divine Mind. But even as the mathematician can, by measuring the fragments of a circle, tell you what the whole circle would be, i. one glimpse of spiritual existence, you may then cºnd ... ** 12 SPIRITUAL ETHICs. in some degree what the whole grand cycle of that existence is. You, immersed in human form, plodding the earth, governed by science, measuring everything by intellect and time and space, have only faint glimpses of what this immortal nature may be. The spiritual world have another and greater glimpse, a little further range of vision, and, higher up the mountain, can look over in the distant vales and see where the sun is brightly shining. But even this is also but a glimpse. There be souls advanced, you must know, beyond the range of earthly ken of vision, who can gaze back into unknown vistas of time of which you know nothing. There are souls, you must believe, that can look forward far beyond any pos- sible computation of the finite mind, and see what worlds and suns and systems will become in advanced stages of human develop- ment. Loubt you this really P. Then can you tell us where is the possible limit of the human soul? Can you measure the capacities and powers of the human spirit, allied to Deity, possessing his attributes, partaking of his nature ? It is said that a scientific man, by being shown the scale of a fish, the bark of a tree, &c., can tell you to what species it belongs; so the spirit, by being shown a glimpse of its immortal nature, readily, consciously determines that it be- longs to the nature of immortal life, that its powers are not fet- tered, that its functions are not limited, that it is only bound here by time and space; but time and space do not bind your thoughts. At will you can traverse distant lands; at will mount to the stars and call them by their names; at will penetrate to the innermost recesses of the earth, and if you have clairvoyant power, determine what is treasured up there. Your mind is free and unfettered; you are trammelled only by ignorance; but when free and un- trammelled, there is no limit to the soul. Can you say that it shall not live for ever P. Can you say that it has not lived with the Infinite for ever? And if this be true, all prophecy belongs to the Spirit, all reminiscence belongs to the Spirit; and the Eye of God, the loving soul of life unites all with the common centre, and these are as worlds and suns and systems that revolve around Him. By the mystery of this threefold life, that which binds you to the Suns, that which unites you to intelligence, and that which binds you to the Spirit, all possible knowledge, all phases of being, come within the range and perception of the mind. Of Spiritualism proper, that particular phase or manifestation of spiritual life that is in your world to-day, we shall speak here- after; but of its force in the world there is enough to say that it forms the basis of the only superstructure upon which science and religion can stand together, because it distinctly shows the con- necting link between mind and matter, distinctly shows that there is a point where the mind consciously exerts its power and force over material substance, and that the only limit to the power of the mind is ignorance, lack of knowledge, and unfavourable oisºn in material life—that the only limit of its powers Z8 MYSTERY AND MEANING OF THE NUMBER THREE, 13 in spiritual existence is ignorance, lack of knowledge, and perhaps, a too close sympathy with material life, but that its advanced stages of thought in that world are clear prophecy, and even some of them are fulfilment of the divine powers of the spirit when disenthralled and free from time and space and sense. Something of this immortal power, and something of this divine element, is manifested to the world to-day. The power of soul-seeing, whereby the spirit may, upon a mere chain of sympathy and thought, visit distant places, traverse land and sea, ferret out the most hidden secrets of the mind, belongs to the realm of the spirit. That power called psychometry, whereby a person coming in contact with an object—say anything, a lock of hair, a table, &c.—can tell its past history, and perceive through what various changes and vicissitudes it has come, belongs to one of the divisions of spiritual gifts. The disembodied spirit is en- dowed with absolute psychometry: it not only perceives what you are to-day, but what you have been ; for every thought makes its impress upon that portion of your being that forms your spiritual body, and that spiritual body being the epitome of your thoughts and expressions, there is no disguise in spirit; there is no such thing as concealing your thoughts from this soul-reading power; the Divine penetrates through the outward covering as easily as you penetrate the mask that divides you from your friend, and beholds there every thought of the spirit; every expression, every deed of your lives, every word, is made plain and clear. That form of existence that is next to yours, the next step into which you pass as you go out from this world, is therefore an epitome of what your thoughts and feelings have been here; and it only requires soul to meet with soul, and they know, not simply your present state and form of being, but all that you have been. It is clear before their vision. The spirit is unveiled, stands absolute and free and plain before the vision of those with whom you come in contact. This same spirit can look through your outward covering and penetrate your material bodies. You are not disguised to those that love you; your spirit-friends know your thoughts; your guar- dian angels penetrate your innermost soul: there is nothing veiled nor hidden. The outside garb which is so convenient for covering your thoughts and motives to your fellow-men is no longer success- ful, because the eye of the soul, endued by the living spirit, like the free breath of God, penetrates this covering. It is true that the utmost charity prevails; for there can be no great knowledge without great charity, and it is not in anger, nor is it in blame, nor in reproach, but simply the knowledge is theirs, and the causes of all the actions of your lives are laid bare and plain to the spiritual vision. º How futile, then, are those external attempts at building up falsehood and superficial show ! How futile all the bare and barren devices with which you surround yourself in is—sº what 14 SPIRITUAL ETHIC3, you are not? The clear eye of the living spirit sees, knows, and understands; and there is no spirit on the earth, or in spirit-world, but what is understood by the angels of light; and they know whereof all error and weakness come. Someone has said that there should be more charity upon the earth. We think it very likely, but charity comes with love, and at present there is a famine of love in the world. Hatred is here in plenty, envy and reproach, and laws that partake more of the Mosaic dispensation of justice. But wherewith shall we feed that tender flame of charity, unless we have also a knowledge of love—that great living power that casts out all fear and all reproach P Behold now a picture: Aspirit passes from earth-life who has been most powerful, surrounded with every honour that wealth and splendour and fame could give—gilded over with intelligence and with that potency that belongs to worldly fame—those germs of falsehood and deceit, and unknown nameless things whereof the angels have been silent. To the spirit-world passes this man of power, who may have beenaking. Millions may have knelt at his feet—have trembled before his very eye. But without retinue, unknown and unheralded, he enters the world of souls. There be no minions fawning at his feet; there, no splendid gilded trappings, no royal robes, no crown, no sceptre, none of those things that surrounded him on earth. Silent and alone he enters the world of souls. He is clothed only in his thoughts. The deeds of his life envelop him about, all barren and meagre, with no haven wherein to hide himself, exposed to the gaze of the palpable eye of the Spirit. Sometimes a spirit that he has assisted comes with a thought of kindness, and a whispering angel like his mother's love breathes near him. Can you imagine a greater punishment for any possible wrong than for the soul to stand naked and aghast before the searching eye of the angels, wherefrom he cannot shroud himself, but is only conscious of his deformity ? This is all the hell there is. The most abject can even sense its punishment enough. Now, how bare and barren are all his earthly splendours before the eye of the Spirit who reads the living soul! Pity; yes, there be angels that come near and look on with pity. His eyes are opened and penitence overtakes him. Yes, they look on with charity; no j. no word comes from them, but only the reproach of a self-conscious spirit that is there all alone in the presence of the Infinite. Then come pitying angels and robe him round with their garments of charity, sustain, uplift, teach, and strengthen him; and that soul, a very babe in spiritual life, begins its lessons anew. Some of those lessons may come home to each of you, because in all there is some imperfection; the best are not wholly good, the bad are not wholly depraved. The angels see with clear eye, and they whom you condemn may be pitied by the angels. This is the charity that comes of knowledge. Beyond the outside covering, beyond the intellect that robes you here and gives you 80 MYSTERY ANT MEANING OF THE NUMBER THIREE, I5 splendour of thought, beyond that which enshrouds you and makes you walk among your fellow beings as a mask, the innermost spirit is revealed under the penetrating eye, and they that bear you up with their pinions, they that surround you with their counsels and ad- vice, they that are just one step removed from you, learn this les- son of knowledge and charity from the higher angels. Your lesson of spiritual life begins there, your lesson of spiritual gifts is there also; for the individual spirit individualises every possible germ of immortal life and knowledge. All graces and gifts, all divine charity and beneficent knowledge, all that uplifts and elevates and exalts, all that enshrines and makes you one with the angels, will begin here. Study earnestly, care- fully, prayerfully that spirit that is immured in the casket of clay you call yourself. If a brother seem in fault, look to your own eyes, and see that they may not be clouded. If there be error here, look within, that there may not be something wrong; for the utmost charity looks through the error, beyond the crime, down to the very divinity of every living soul, knowing that the germs of infinite truth and love abide there. The threefold powers of the soul belong to you : within your grasp is the whole realm of spiri- tual truth ; and little by little is this augmented to your outward sense; drop by drop the heavenly dew descends and waters the sterile places of life, making them blossom as with roses in the wilderness of time. All these flowers shall blossom in your hearts, all these gifts adorn your way, all that lies beyond the reach of your mortal vision now shall, with those searching and seeking and striving, become plain to your senses, and the divine and living Spirit shall walk in your midst, shall talk with you as of old, and God the Father shall bless his divine humanity, and his spirit shall be with you always. The service concluded by Mrs. Tappan, still under spirit-in- fluence, reciting the following PO E. M. Fu’mony a time has the day dawn burst Lake a bonfire frae out the sea, Fu' mony a time has the burnie kiss’t The lip o' the flower on the lea; And mory a winter's frost and snaw, Hae whitened the gowan and glen Since I trod the earth wi' a beating heart Fu'o' love for my fellow-men. I was mae friend to the crowned king, For I knew that his sceptr'd power Was the price of the poor man's labour and life, While he had but a scanty dower; 81 G. 16 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. I was nae friend to the gowned priest, |For I thought that the Father's love Was for a the world, both the great and sma', And I find it is so above. But I was a friend to the lowly poor, For the heart I was sure to find, Tho' covered with unco' rags, was still Kith and kin to the heavenly mind. I am mindfu'o' a' the joys I had When my lassie and I togither Wandered amang the bracken fine, 'Neath the hawthorn shade, 'mid the heather. An' mindfu' am I o' the bonny bright days When I and my Mary fair Sang of love and praise the whole day lang JBy the flowery banks o' the Ayr. O, 'twas death that stole my lassie frae me, And the sun it was bright nae mair, The flowers ne'er bloomed nor the birdies sang, For my heart was so weary and sair. To a' that hae loved ones dead, I come To tell that the silent river Flows ne'er sae far frae your earthly hame As ye think, that your dear ones never Are caught up in death to a distant place Where ye never mair may behold them, But the cantie light o' each loving face Is around ye if ye will enfold them. The hame that is ours beyond the grave Lies close to the hearts I ween That love us, for God never treasures gave To take ere their worth is seen. They are yours if the tie that unites ye here Is true, and o' muckle worth, It will outlast death; ye maun never fear That its glory is spent on earth. O the bircken tree is fair and fine, And the birds sing sae sweetly, I know, The drowsy bee and the lowing kine Fill the simmer air below. But I could tell ye a finer tale O' the glens and the gowans I see, O' the scented blooms and haughs so fair That brighten for Mary and me. There the morning ever holds bless'd control In the land o' light where I come from, It is fu'o' the fire o' God's great soul, An' the breath o' His loving welcome. 82 MYSTERY AND MEANING OF THE NUMBER THREE. 17 Nae love is destroyed there, nae blight can come, IFor the lowly and humble in spirit A find a place in this hame o' light, And its beauties all souls may inherit. I mind me fu' well o' the burdens ye bear, That your feet are sae sair and sae weary; Be sure that a loving hand reaches up there, To lighten that pathway sae dreary. I am mindful now as the parting hour comes Ye finish your sangs and your speakin', There's a lesson I fain ye would take to your hames, That is better than a' your preachin': It is that the love o’ the Spirit that binds The hearts o' the nations togither; If ye strive the help o' His goodness to find, Ye will have it by helping each ither. Though happy above, my spirit in love For mortal weal still yearns, In my heavenly hame I've another name, On the earth I was called Rabbie Burns. ar’ SPIRITUALISM, ELECTRICITY, AND PSYCHIC FORCE. (Extract from an oration delivered at Manchester). But even electricity was not believed in until a very short time ago, and it required the application of it as your message-boy before you could really believe that it was so palpable and potent a thing. Mr. Crookes, Mr. Varley, and other scientific men have proved, by actual experiment, that no spark or vibration of elec- tricity exists where these manifestations occur, though by means of instruments they could actually test the existence of even the millioneth part of an electric vibration. Yet tables and chairs and other physical objects have been moved under such strict test conditions, thus proving that the motion and sounds were not due to electricity. Then Sergeant Cox, who was also trying to find out what it was, invented the term “psychic force,” only that word happened to have been invented twenty-five years ago, in America, by Dr. John Bovee Dods, who attempted to show that psychic or od force, acting upon the back brain, went down through the fingers and finally moved the tables and chairs. But when the fingers were removed, the tables moved just the same; and when the people withdrew many feet, still they moved; so the psychic, od, or back-brain theory fell to the ground. Serjeant Cox thought that this º: force could take effect upon objects at a distance from the person exercising the force; but he forgets that psychic force, unaided and uncontrolled by intelligence, can do nothing whatsoever; and it would require a great stretch of imagination to suppose that any such force could . emanate from a human being, take control of a table, and spell out the name of a departed friend. Moreover, the term “psychic force” expresses what Spiritualism claims to be—soul force; and it would puzzle Serjeant Cox and Dr. Carpenter to explain how soul force can be exercised unconnected with intelli- gence; while, if connected with intelligence, and the intelligence does not emanate from any person in the room, then it must emanate from a spiritual presence, which is unperceived by any other method of demonstration. Science has gone further than this, for while Sergeant Cox rests satisfied with his psychic force, Mr. Varley and Mr. Crookes have not been content to rest there, and they are even now perfecting experiments, not only to show that there is no electric force, that there is no mesmeric or psychologic force, but that psychic force itself is but the agent that disembodied intelligences employ to perform these wonderful manifestations. So much for the Scientific phase of the subject. 84- THE NATURE AND OCCUPATIONS OF SPIRITUAL EXISTENCE, An Inspirational Oration delivered by Mrs. Cora L. W. TAPPAN, at the Royal Music Hall, 242, Holborn, London, on Sunday evening, Novem- ber 23rd, 1873. INVOCATION. Infinite Spirit ! Thou living light ! Thou divine and perfect love | Thou who hast known the most ancient of ages! Thou who hast manifested thy power in all time and to all people ! Thou who hast seen the stars flash forth in response to thy life and thy laws, and hast counted as beads upon the brow of heaven the myriads of worlds that shine in space | Thou who hast filled that which seemed to be chaos and void with the breath of thy infinite intel- ligence, until every atom has responded and every world vibrated to the power of thy intelligent life Thou who hast set in their places the suns in all their splendour ! Thou who hast made the planets with wonderful light shine out in space | Thou who hast made all forms of being fraught with intelligence, and hast with thine own power of mind seen the whole, and encompassed it with thy Being ! O Spirit of life, Thou that dost abide in the human soul! Thou that hast given forth intelligence where with the mind of man may strive to know Thee—that winged steed of fire that strives to mount upward and outward to Thee! O divine Source of Being, with what wondrous power hast Thou endowed the human spirit ! How like unto Thee, that it feels thy life and thy breath, and is fraught with thine infinite Mind! Spirit, Father, Deity, Life We know that Thou art with us; we know thy presence doth abide here; that it even fills each atom of this room, and far out into space thy presence still is found. We ºw that {} 4 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. Thou art in our hearts; that every breath finds response in Thee; that every aspiration towards Thee has found an answer so distinct and palpable as to be known to the human spirit. O, let this short struggle in darkness behold thy light ! Let the victims of human folly and hatred behold thy truth and love; let them see thy hand extended in the darkness; let them hear thy voice calling them nearer and nearer; let them know that even in adversity and sorrow Thou art with them still the same, and dost abide as a loving and perfect Spirit for ever. We would aspire to all truth; we would call for all knowledge; we would encompass time and space, and measure the entire thread of the Spirit; we would pass beyond the grave and behold the chains of love that bind soul with soul and thought with thought, even into the immortal world. We would light thy children who are in sorrow and despair, from whom the hand of death may have snatched the dearest idol of affection. Oh, let them know that life is eternalſ that death is not in thy universe, but everywhere only life, and love, and beauty, and order, and harmony | Let them see that true affection survives the tomb. Let them behold the myriads of angels that ascend and descend, bearing the messages from their bright abodes, and laden with the flower of eternal truth and love. We shall ever aspire to know Thee: we shall ever seek thy glory: we shall ever bask in the sunlight of thy wisdom: we shall ever live in thy love. 86 NATURE AND OCCUPATIONS OF SPIRITUAL EXISTENCE, 5 DISCOUTSE. Of course it is not presumable that during a period of twenty-five years persons can have been in communication with the inhabitants of the spiritual world and not have asked questions and received answers concerning the manner of life in the future state; and whether this does or does not agree with preconceived motions on that subject, has nothing to do with the nature of the revelations, because, while the ancient inhabitants of the earth believed certain things with reference to lands that lay beyond the reach of their tnowledge, when explorers really visited those lands and brought back facts concerning them, then there was no more necessity for the previous speculations, and the notions that had been entertained could no longer prevail. So with the inhabitants of the spiritual world: you have become acquainted with the true nature of their existence, differing from that which you had previously supposed. This cannot, however, affect the facts of the case, since one fact is of more value than all the theories and speculations in the world, and since the inhabitants of the other world must know better than any speculative human imagination what the nature of their existence and abode is. Hence, almost the first question that the inquirer puts to the disembodied spirit is, “Are you happy?” Of course the sum total of human life is a strife for happiness. Knowledge and wisdom, and the things that fit us for our higher destinies, are as nothing compared with happi- ness; we fight for, and often sink in the blind pursuit of happiness. Men strive after it like the knights of old. They are prepared to encounter the dread Gorgon's head—prepared to cross the very verge of Hades, provided they may find happiness; they are prepared to crush the higher elements of their nature—are prepared to trample truth and goodness under foot in order to secure happi- mess. So the human question put to the disembodied spirit is, “Are you happy?” . To many of these spirits it is the first time they have thought of it since they were disembodied; because the nature of spiritual existence is such that it is not an all-pervading, omnipotent, absolute question, ever present to the individual mind that he must individually be happy. The supreme selfish- ness of the individual animal man is that he or she may, through some process or other, avoid any unhappiness, and consequently the shortest road to happiness is, as Said, , a question of solemn import on earth. The disembodied spirit, therefore, in answering the question, , is sometimes definite and sometimes not; for happiness is a relative term in spiritual existence. Quite a perfect state of happiness would be such an absolute beatific state, far trans&nding the conception of man; that it is very doubtful whether he could even comprehend it, or whether any spirit so constituted could hold converse with mor- tals; because the very fact of holding converse with mory would 6 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. militate against a supreme state of happiness; and if the spirit sympathised with earthly suffering, as the remembrance of any former individual error would compel it to do, there must of course be a relative degree of unhappiness. Consequently, spirits say sometimes, “Yes,” and sometimes “No ;” sometimes they qualify it by explaining the nature of their existence. Jesus described to his disciples that there were many mansions in the Father's house; and this is eminently true, according to the revelations of spirits, concerning their state. But all cannot comprehend this. How- ever much your favourite friends—however much your mother or father, in your estimation, deserves an absolute condition of happi- ness, you cannot overlook the fact that happiness in spiritual life depends utterly and entirely upon the condition of the spirit, and that in proportion to the knowledge and culture of the spirit, not as measured by human standards wholly, but as measured by the spiritual consciousness, so is there happiness or misery. But it seldom occurs to the employed and occupied spirit to ask itself whether or no it is happy. The mind is too busy, too fraught with the new issues of the existence that presses upon it, too wholly and completely absorbed in giving forth from its life that which it receives to question whether it is or is not happy. But if the question comes to the consciousness, we can always answer you with safety, “Measurably happy,” because whosoever does his or her duty in spirit-life according to the very best of his or her ability, enjoys a state of happiness that seldom comes to the part of mortals. And whoever in earthly life has performed his or her allotted task according to the best of his or her ability, is the most happy of mortals. Now, spiritual existence in its very nature is what you have been accustomed to term subjective. All the objective things of spiritual life are mental; all the objective things of your life are physical and tangible: hence the things that to you are merely subjective, of the imagination and dreams, speculation and spiri- tuality, with the spirit are material; consequently all the forms of thought that you are accustomed to consider as secondary are, in spiritual existence, primary. For instance, your shelter, the clothing of your bodies, and the food you eat, make up the sum total of most of your principal activities in life. You devote one day out of seven to so-called worship, sometimes a few hours of other days to intellectual pursuits, and there is a vast class of people who devote many hours a day to it; but the most of your time is occupied with the food, clothing, and the shelter of the physical body. When the body is left behind, the anxiety is then transferred to the spirit. In what condition would you find your- selves if to-day you were not required to shelter your bodies, to clothe nor feed them P A vast number of people would be left without employment—would be shaking and trembling because Out ºf heir real element. When that necessity is for a day NATURE AND OCCUPATIONS OF SPIRITUAL EXISTENCE. 7 suspended you find people hanging about the corners of the streets with nothing to do, and actually miserable because they have nothing to do. When the spirit is disembodied, if not accustomed to individual, mental, and spiritual effort, it is left somewhat in that condition, until it can become accustomed to its new life; and there are vast myriads of spirits vibrating, or rather hovering, near the earth's atmosphere at a loss what to do, since they have no more money to get, and no more bodies to feed and clothe. This may seem to you a strange statement, but it is nevertheless true; and if you consider for one instant the quality and nature of the mind there, going out from the earth-life so suddenly, you must see that it must be so, that the spirit for the instant is not prepared to take up the threads of its new life, and weave the pattern of this newly-found existence. But as their requirements are, so is there always a supply of teachers, spiritual instructors, and guides, who, having been long in spiritual life, take it upon themselves, or are appointed to guide these newly-enfranchised souls into the paths of spiritual knowledge. Still it takes some time to progress in this manner, and there are spirits to whom the new existence presents nothing of employment or activity for long periods of time. These retain their earthly remembrances, and very nearly their former habits, haunted by the memory of some previous deed, and wishing still to impress those that are left behind, they cannot tear themselves away from the earth's atmo- sphere. But there is always a way provided, if the individual spirit desires to rise. When that will is lacking, when the volition is not there, then they must wait until the time comes that it is there. It is also incomprehensible to you that they should not explain to you immediately and at once the various theological problems connected with the future life. “Have you seen God? and is there a material hell and heaven? Have you seen that other—the opposite person to Deity P, and do you know the occupation and nature of angels?” All these questions you put with the utmost confidence that they will be answered satisfactorily, forgetting that you might propound the same questions to any number of people on earth and get no satisfactory or decisive answer at all. The fact of persons being dead does not at once make them into deities; the fact that they have thrown off their external garments does not at once give them all knowledge : they are not at once possessed of the secrets of the Divine Mind; they are not at once admitted into all the labyrinths of the temple of the Infinite; they do not know every part of the spiritual land, nor all the facts of its geography. They have not investigated all the seas and spaces, and they are not prepared to say as to the personality of his Satanic Majesty. This sounds as startling at the first instance as the other proposition: “because,” you say, “if they are dead, then they must know all things.” But they do not; and it is a fact tº: many 8 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, have not yet ascertained that they are dead. So different is the life into which they have entered from anything they had imagined, so real is the spiritual land, so absolute their surroundings, that for the instant they imagine themselves still inhabiting the earth ; and sometimes it is long ages before they awaken to the conscious- ness that they cannot really act and walk and live and breathe as mortals do. But, as we have said, their theological knowledge comes not immediately on transition; and those who are sufficiently active in mind and penetrating in thought to understand the nature of the change they have passed through, are still finite in their knowledge of spiritual life, and must, by slow degrees—by actual uprising of the spirit, and visitations from the different parts of the spiritual heavens—comprehend the nature of their existence. During, as we have said, the last twenty-five years, there have been a great variety of answers given to questions concerning death and the future state. Some spirits tell you it is a real, tangible, absolute world, just as material as yours, and that the bodies they inhabit seem just as material as yours also. Some tell you there are houses and workshops, horses and dogs, mountains, rivers, valleys, and all varieties of scenery. Some, on the contrary, tell you it is not a material world in the sense that your world is, but that the matter of which the spiritual world is composed is finer and more ethereal; that it is subjective, and not objective; that the spirit has whatever it desires, and forms out of the spiritual atmosphere such objects and substances as it requires in its new existence; that it lives upon thought—dwells in an atmosphere where thought is supreme. True, they are not mountains and valleys as you consider them, but that all things are rather objec- tive to the workings of the individual mind. “Now,” says the investigator, “how am I to decide between these two P” Both are true. Supposing some inhabitant of another star were to come to your earth, and were to chance to light upon this small island. He would return and forthwith describe the earth according to the appearance of your country, describing your houses, your habits— everything connected with you. Another inhabitant from the Same star would light upon the ocean, perhaps witness a large ship at sea, and proceed to tell the inhabitants of its planet that the earth was entirely covered with water, that the inhabitants dwelt in ships with white sails like wings, and that they were often lost and heard of no more. Another would light upon the eastern con- tinent in the midst of jungles, and would describe the inhabitants of the earth as being bushmen, with no intelligence, no conscious- ness of immortality, and crawling around from tree to tree like beasts or monkeys. All this would be correct. The spiritual world is composed of every conceivable variety of existence, far transcend- ing your imagination, since the spirit has his or her condition fully and absolutely answered. There is a state and there is a place in the spiritual land, inhabited by a class of beings, which seems 90 NATURE AND OCCUPATIONS OF SPIRITUAL EXISTENCE, 9 as real, as tangible, and as material as yours; where, coming in contact with the earth's atmosphere and its emanations as seen by Swedenborg—his land of correspondences—they have, in reality, representations of all the forms and varieties of life that exist with you. Then there is another and still more material class of spirits that sees the forms of earthly life in certain forms of thought and atmosphere. These beings walk the earth, inhabit your dwellings, visit their companions, and are almost as material as yourselves, excepting the actual embodiment of vitalised life.) To these, of course, the spiritual world is really the earth's surface. They see it through a half opaque atmosphere. They are not themselves embodied, but disembodied spirits, and yet they cannot rise to the loftier realms of spiritual habitation. Then there is another degree, wherein the material substance is so refined and so subtle that you could not behold it with the physical eye, and yet it would be tangible to the spirit. That portion of the spiritual land is an aura from the earth's atmosphere, and exists just beyond the pale of the influence of the earth's atmosphere. These spirits inhabit a realm that has every variety of scenery— mountains, valleys, streams, and springs; all kinds of foliage and leaves are there represented—the prototype of things upon earth. To them it is a satisfactory state, because they are not far removed from earth, nor so near to it as to break in upon and wear the garb of the more materialised spirits. Beyond these are still those that inhabit the interstellar spaces, where the progressed and advanced spirits from all worlds unite in a pure state of spiritual existence. To these a thought of materiality does not enter. They dwell in a sphere of mind. Their bodies are the outgrowth of their minds, and would seem to you like flames of white light, having no tangibility, yet really tangible enough for their purpose. The aura that surrounds them is the aura or emanation of their spiritual growth; and their condition, as far as material element is con- cerned, is that of a motor or moving principle rather than an exter- nal being. They act upon the minds beneath them; they investi- gate vast subjects of knowledge, and impart it to those who are your guardian spirits, and by this means communicate from the celestial heavens truths concerning their inhabitants. Now, two seers or mediums under the control of these two or three classes of spirits would of course give entirely different pictures of spiritual existence, and yet neither intend to falsify, nor would either be incorrect. The many mansions of the Father's house are adapted to the various degrees of spiritual existence, just as they go out of your earth, and you each have a prepared abode that you bear with you to the other world, and take up your habitation in that sphere or condition corresponding to your development. This development may or may not correspond with your external intellect, but it must always correspond with your spiritual growth and ºlition. 10 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, Some are babes in the spirit-world. Some are giants in intellect. These intellectual giants and monsters have an abode of their own, but it is cold and icy. Its mountains remind you of glaciers; its temples are cold as marble; and as for life and warmth, they are not to be found there. They dwell in intellectual sophisms. They have builded up a future state full of intellectual splendours, and into this realm they have transported their godless and soulless existence. And this is in the immortal realm of spirits! If you could imagine a vast plain diversified with beautiful scenery, and mountains rising to the heavens, all of the colour of sparkling ice; if you could imagine hills upon which no blade of grass and no tree seem to find an existence; splendid monuments, and obelisks, and towers all glittering like the frost-king's temple beneath the living spirit—you could imagine this land, cold, void, and icy; you would have an image of pure intellectualism in spiritual life. Into such a realm as this go materialists that have no thought of Divinity. Into such a realm go those who build everything on the Sophisms of reason. Into such a realm are transported all those who find in the infinitesimal laws of nature no divine and guiding spirit. These build the fine tissues of their intellectual fabric, and yet before the eye of the spirit they are dead and lifeless. These rear gigantic monuments of their intellectual attainments, and they sit there like statues, lifeless as marble. No flowers' no childhood no founts of kindness run out from this realm of glittering intellec- tualism; but only finely-spun sophisms of other times, only the hair-splitting theories of their life. Their sole thought is cold self! This is intellectualism. Materialism of a grosser kind also has its abode in spiritual life. Those who have builded up their sensuous bodies alone; those who have lived for material enjoy- ment; those who have made the body their idol—the flesh their temple of worship; those who have encouraged and pampered the appetites of their physical natures: these find an abode ready made for them in spiritual life—an abode of dimness and darkness, and wherein grim forms that seem like serpents and scorpions come out from behind the rank vegetation to greet them—the children of their own tastes and appetites. Those who may have grieved their God find there the representation in the swarms of deformed beings that greet them. (Those who have made sensuality their idol there find, jeering and ſeering, the children of their ownfancy. Thus with the thoughts of their earthly existence, and clothed with the rem- nants of this earthly life, they go into that abode naked and aghast, and trembling continually under their covering of rags because they have no ray of spiritual life. Doubt you this? How many immured in earthly life have no thought beyond physical gratification 1 Every hour of the day it is, ‘i Let us feast, drink, and be merry, that the hours may go on "while the vast temple of intellect"and the higher dome of the spirit are utterly and absolutely forgotten. In the many mansions of the Father's house dwell those beings that l Yº- NATURE AND OCCUPATIONS OF SPIRITUAL, EXISTENCE. 11 go out from the earth-life in this condition.{ They are not lost, excepting while they are in that stateſ. They are not utterly, absolutely, irrevocably lost; but while the light is obscured, while the senses still retain hold of them, while they bear the effects of their earthly existence, while they linger and loiter about the physical habitation, they do thus enter spiritual existence. Oh, you would turn away from these pursuits of mere bodily pleasure could you but see the mass of spirits that go out from your midst steeped and Saturated with the blind intoxication of the senses. Talk of Hades, talk of ancient places of eternal torment, talk of the fires of hell! surely there is no more unquenchable fire than that of the human passions when licensed and unbridled by spiritual thought ! Surely there can be no worse hell in spiritual existence than even now open their doors at every corner for the inducement of the young P(surely the serpent of intoxication must have been the true serpent of the Garden of Eden that tempted the first Adam l Think’ of it! Every intemperate gratification is a serpent, Every unhallowed yielding to appetite is in itself a scorpion. These slimy things coil themselves round your spirits; and in this way, clothed with mad desires, the soul rushes out into eternity. And were it not that the angels of peace and love are ever ready; were it not that you have some mother, sister, father, friend, to aid you; were it not that humanity is not utterly and absolutely de- graded, a picture of the spiritual condition of these undeveloped earthly ones would answer the description of ancient Hades. Then these beings are going out into spiritual life every day; some the victims of human degradation, some the wreck of human folly; and the spirits above in higher regions look with weeping eyes and bleeding hearts at those dark and gloomy abodes, almost of de- spair, wherein some of the finest flowers of humanity are trans- ported for a time, Oh, in an age of enlightenment and reason, it is a sad commentary upon human justice, human religion, and human society, that these things exist in your midst and are not stopped. Of the other phases of spiritual life—those that are pleasanter, those, perchance, that gratify the individual feelings, more, and those that please human vanity—there is enough to be said. The dark side is not .. dark; the bright is by far the greater part. But the truth must be told; and if you are haunted by evil spirits, if there come o you uſdevelopéd souts, you must not blame the economy of Deity, nor the law that permits them so to return. Blame that human state and condition that have created them, or made it possible for souls to germinate on earth and go out into spirit-life in such a condition. Every form of human life we see has its prototype. . The more advanced spirits are those who have not yielded wholly to material gratification, and even those who have so yielded after a time emerge therefrom. Theºdoſiy 12 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. of spirits that pass from earthly life neither go into a dread- ful state nor pass at once into the interstellar, or higher spiritual spheres; they have an intermediate condition, or place adapted to their development, where they still may advance and progress; where they still may return and give you the result of their spiritual life. This is a happy abode—not a miserable one. There is no suffering, except the remembrance of folly; and there is no punishment except the consciousness of the spirit's imperfec- tion. This is sufficient punishment for every soul when made aware of its own deformity. By an inverse spiritual vision you see your evil and are punished accordingly, these little offences of life—offences we often find possessed by the most exalted natures. Sometimes a fault returns to the consciousness of the spirit with all that he felt before he perfºrmed it, and he outlives it by his very repentance and conscience. }. goodness is not the result of the lack of knowledge, but rather the result of knowledge attained through suffering, and through triumph over the evils that beset your pathway.J. No fault of your lives when measured by the spirit of justice, būt what in your spiritual lives comes back to you, and your own conscience is your own punishment. There is a judge for your thoughts. There is a spirit that sees and knows, and judges accordingly. The spirits of these advanced stages give you just such knowledge as accords with their investigations; so if they cannot tell you con- cerning the Most High, or if they may not have knelt at the feet of the Master, Jesus, whom they served on earth, remember it is not because these beings do not live, but because their particular condi- tion of spiritual life has not elevated them to supreme communion. The Father does not withhold himself from any spirit, but is present in proportion to the consciousness and the spiritual culture. But of that divine locality called heaven, the spirit can tell you but little other than of its heaven, its kingdom, its mansion in the Father's house. The spirits, as a body, do not profess to solve the questions of theological discussion; they do not profess to know the mysteries of the Divine Mind, nor why humanity was created; they only tell you they live in another life, a little removed from this, a little further in advance; that they have not therefore their physical bodies, but that they have bodies according with their spiritual conditions; that they are clothed upon by the atmosphere they inhabit; that their raiment is fashioned, and grows even as the leaves of the flower unfold from within; that the garb of the spirit corresponds in colour and fashion to its advancement. Those spirits that are in a lower state of progress are immured in grey and shadowed garb: spirits more advanced merge into brighter hues; finally, you will see the advanced spirits always represent the blue colour, or light that corresponds to the heavenly distance; while the celestial spirits are clothed in dazzling white—the pure light of tºward Soul. This, of course, is no chimera; it is not a NATURE AND OCCUPATIONS OF SPIRITUAL EXISTENCE. # speculation; they tell you absolutely and unequivocally what their experiences are. There is an abundance of occupation. It might seem strange to the finite mind immured in material cares to believe that spirits can have occupation where there is neither delving nor digging, nor building nor tearing down, no eating nor drinking, no weaving nor stitching together. Lost to sight, you do not think the flower toils; but in the silent hours of night, and beneath the soil, the little germ that exists there is quickening its petals to meet the rays of light; then as day sheds its beams abroad, you will see the leaves come forth one by one, and at last the flower; and if you could only see the minute shuttles of chemical life working and weaving these meshes of wondrous beauty, it would surprise and astonish you. The little looms go on slowly but palpably, and before you are aware of it there is a flower—a snowy lily or a red rose. The mind of man —the germ in its spiritual life—it may not delve in soil, nor cut down forest trees, nor build gigantic temples, but there is always enough to occupy the mind—the work of ferreting out the mysteries of spiritual life, finding out the spirituality of the germs of existence, understanding the nature of the realms it inhabits; and gradually this vast evolution of mind attracts to the spirit all the elements of the world which it inhabits, and there unfolds from within, by the silent mechanism of this invisible weaver, the drapery of the spirit. s to the form of the spirit, you are weaving these forms now. It is said that death is ever busy in a silent room of every house, weaving the shroud with his nimble shuttle; but the Master of life is ever busy within the loom of your own spirits, weaving the form, the garb—and giving it shade and colour—that shall adorn you when you step out into the world of spirits. You clothe yourselves with fine splendour; you drape your bodies in costly raiment; east and west are ransacked for the choice treasures of the loom ; no silks are too fine, no cashmeres too costly, no gold too dazzling, no diamonds too splendid for its adornment. Mean- while, the spirit is weaving its robes. If you starve the soul for the aggrandisement of the body, then you will go out into the world of spirits without this fine raiment; for you will weave orhatever robes your thoughts are. So on the morrow, when tumoved from earthly life through death, you find in your spiri- wal habitation just what you have fashioned for yourselves. Have you woven robes of charity and love, and deeds of thought and intelligence, you will wear them on that morrow. Have you woven discord and hatred, they shall adorn you, or present you with their deformity in spirit-life. Spirits are ever active; they are searching for new thoughts, striving after new truths, building up new habitations of spiritual existence, fashioned not for time, but for eternity; not temples of gold, or brass, or marble, or stone, but temples of living thought, in which their spirits may º find 14 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. a glorious habitation. They are not founded upon earth; their splendours are not carven in marble; they have no gorgeous dome, nor glittering stars of gold; but all noble deeds, or thoughts of love, all grand aspirations help to build up this existence, this edifice. Your earthly mother, your spirit-child, wear the robes that their souls have woven. Let us see. You saw the mother laid away in the casket, and you remember her cares, and kindly charities, deeds of love, and her watchful tenderness, and you knew the angels of light werewaiting to take her. Then, could you have fol- lowed, you would have seen when the spirit left the earthly tenement, the soul draped in these loving deeds, light and blue, like the violet, and looking also fair and meek, like the modest violet in its colour and habitation. The face, no longer furrowed with care, nor pale with sickness, but transfigured, wearing an expression of thought, and love, and knowledge, and youthful light—not the youthfulness of youth, but a youth with knowledge, and attain- ments, and experience, and power, and still the same guardian care, and still the same light in the beaming eye. Oh, the spirit-form is lovely when the soul that inherits it has been clothed in charity and lovel And what of the child? Like the bud of promise, like the sweet flower gathered too soon, trans- planted to heaven, behold it droops down from above like the bud of the white lily—like the sweet germ of the rose unfolding its petals by your side—not enough of the earth to draw the spirit down, not enough of its crimes and sin, nor yet of its hereditary stain to make it dark. We believe there are no children in the dark abodes, but “of such is the kingdom of heaven.” What would you not give for that life and love and knowledge that shall make you as the best of these are P What would you not sacrifice of material attainments to gain the power, the loveliness, and the beauty of these heavenly beings P. Yet that power, that loveliness, that beauty, that light, must be attained by the culture of your spirits, by striving for the best, by searching for knowledge, by building for eternity and not for time; and those who think there is nothing to do in spiritual life would do well to bear in mind that not only are earth's inhabitants under the charge of spirits, who strive to impart the knowledge they have gained in spiritual life, but that all those mortals or souls of a lesser degree of culture inhabiting the shadowy regions or darkened abodes, that these have to be instructed and elevated, and those spirits in prison that go out with chains and gyves upon their souls. You have prisons on earth, but the external ones are not half so dreary as those prisons you may foster in the spirit. See to it, that there be no prisons in your souls, and every avenue of knowledge and light and life be opened to receive the celestial vision. See to it, that the vast chambers of thought do not remain cold and vacant. See to it, that your spirits be not dwarfed through lack of kind- ness *; love while you go on augmenting your physical gran- 6 # NATURE AND occupations of SPIRITUAL ExISTENCE. 15 deur. See to it, that your spirits are growing out from thraldom of external sense. Give your time to extending light to waste places and barren wildernesses—all are amenable to the light of the spirit. Every soul from the other world does so to you. Every spirit that confers with you says: “Cultivate the spirit; let your minds aspire to spiritual gifts; think less of your bodily needs; think less of material life.” The world is a grand prison, wherein are incarcerated God's children in the temples that Mammon has reared. Few rays of the divine light penetrate therein; but when they do, there is a voice of one crying in the wilderness, for surely it is a wilderness to-day. Yours is the gift, yours the hand, yours the mind, yours the power to lift the veil from your. own natures. Whatever of falsehood, whatever of envy or malice may abide with you, whatever of grovelling desire for mere earthly things, these enchain, and shackle the spirit...You should not neglect the temple that is given to you to inhabit; but let it not be your idol, your God; rather make it the chosen home of the spirit; beautify it, adorn it with simplicity and meek- ness, and let the mind beam forth in intelligence and charity. Spirits have enough to do forcing all these prison doors open—those that are in your midst, those that are in your hearts. They come knocking at one door, and fear repels them; they come knocking at , another, and bigotry drives them back; they come to the intellect, and materialism bids them begone; but when they rap at the heart's affections, when they speak with the loving thought, when they f. you a kindly voice, you may not resist them any longer. Then, when they speak to the soul, when they uplift, elevate, strengthen, encourage; when they tell you of their spiritual habitation adorned with the beauties and graces of immortal life, then, Surely, ou can no longer withhold. Nay, there are pursuits of the mind H. so wonderful that you could not grasp them, so vast that you could not now understand: the knowledge of the spirit—the know- ledge of things past and to come; minute inquiries concerning the nature of the soul or imparting that knowledge to others; and all that interests and ennobles and elevates mankind. Not busy Why, there be all the orphans that come out from your world, robbed of the care of the mother's love, life here and all its experiences—and these tender buds must be reared in the new-found land; these must blossom in the land of summer hope and light. . And there are tender guardian angels—the mothers of celestial life—who take charge of these little waifs of spiritual life and strife, to instruct and educate them. Think of the myriads who go out daily. They ask us what the occupations of spirits may be. The universe is full of thought; the whole world is full of thought; question, and the answer will come. When you strive earnestly to know, you may measure the vast glory of their supreme beauty. Then can wº * EI 16 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, to you the habitations of those that have resisted all earthly evils, that have conquered all earthly sense; that live in the light of their pure º made strong and glad and free by the knowledge of immortal life. Ah, the eye is dazzled, the mind refuses to ..i. and thoughts sink into insignificance before the splendours of the glorified spirits that stand revealed to the eye of faith. Oh, there be these shining angels that have conquered all hatred and envy, whose life is love, whose abode is fraught with the light of their loving spirits—the light that is given them from the central Mind—in shining raiment, with glowing faces, alight with wondrous rapture—these breathe down through the silent air the voice of their love and inspiration. Lo, their white breath is upon you ! Lo, their arms encircle you! They wreathe their flowers of loving thought about you, and lift you upward and onward to their serene abodes, THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. An Inspirational Oration delivered by Mrs. CoRA L. V. TAPPAN, at the Royal Music Hall, 242, Holborn, London, on Sunday evening, Novem- ber 30th, 1873. INVOCATION. Our Father, which art in heaven l Thou infinite source of all light and life 1 Thou surpassing Spirit! Thou infinite love! Thou omniscient Mind | Thou perfect law we praise Thee. We lay upon the shrine of thine infinite mercy all our offerings. In the weakness of finite mind we come to Thee for infinite truth. In the failure of earthly life give us all of knowledge we seek from Thee, as the spiritual source of knowledge. While the human form falters, and the mind trembles before the problems of infinitude, the soul itself would strive to know Thee, and seek to grasp some- thing of thy divine power. Oliving Hand, amid the darkness of time, Thou art stretched out to save O loving Heart, amid the sadness and discord of earthly existence, Thou givest to them supreme lovel O wise and beneficent Guide, when the weary feet falter and are torn upon the rocks and thorns of earthly life, Thou dost for ever sustain and uphold; and thy voice in the dark vibrates down like sweet waves of harmony, saying, “My child, here am I.” Oliving Spirit, let us feel that Thou art in our midst, not alone in temples consecrated to thy worship, not alone where human hands have fashioned wonderful forms of devotion, not alone where sacred shrine and altar pour out their incense offerings to Thee; but in that sacred temple of the human heart, the shrine of the living spirit, thy presence is for ever found, and Thou dost abide with us. Inspire us, protect us: lead us up to Thee through the wondrous paths of human experience. Oh, let us be reconciled to those ways that seem mysterious and dark, yet wº leed 4 SPIRITUAL ETHICS. notwithstanding to thy light; for the paths of life are those of sorrow. Let men learn to lean on Thee in their afflictions, and praise Thee for that sorrow which brings reconciliation, and charity and patience and long suffering. We praise Thee for the lessons of life, fraught as they are sometimes with terrible experience; for we know that those lessons bring for ever some knowledge of Thy goodness, some unfoldment of thy power, that man may understand Thee. We praise Thee for life, with its magical breath and power and beauty; and for that higher life that men have miscalled death, wherein the soul is disenthralled from time and space, and learns of spiritual existence. Let us soar above life to that high state of being wherein the spirits that are free have grown stronger and nearer thy love. Let us praise Thee in thought, in deed, in words of lovingkindness. Let us build for Thee an altar in our souls. Let us rear to Thee a temple—even a divine and perfect humanity, that shall be founded on charity and goodness and truth, and crowned with the dome of living love, whose central splendour Thou art, whose glory Thou art for evermore - THE TEMPLE OF THE SOULe 5 DISCOURSE. The perfect world by Adam trod, Was the first temple built by God; His fiat laid the corner-stone, And heaved the pillars one by one. The poet thus describes the material temple founded by the laws of the Divine Mind. But ever since human worship began, indeed in the very foundation of human history, we find an infallible record of the progress and history of nations. What- ever may be the diversity of the written Bibles of various nations,. however interpretation and interpolation may have misrepresented the words of the Divine Mind, the conception that different peoples have had of the Deity, and all the phases of human worship as connecting the mind of man with Deity, is conveyed in the in- fallible record of the architecture of nations. The various relics and remains that have survived the lapse of ages, warfare, and the destructive hand of time, convey unmistakably to the human understanding of to-day what was the impression of former nation- alities and peoples concerning the Divine Mind; and much of their religion, also, is so contained in pillared granite or marble, in lofty dome, or in those splendid pyramids and monuments of the now long extinct period of civilisation. It is a wonderful history, and conveys to the human mind something of the permanence and solidity of religious ideas, when we consider that many deserted temples of ancient worship remain as the only evidence that the people existed of whom these are the monuments. It is a singular chain that link by link unfolds itself to the eye of the modern student, when, in deciphering the mysteries and hieroglyphs of these ancient monuments, he discovers that there is an intricate link of spiritual thought and inspiration, binding the present with the past, through these mute symbols and lifeless forms. As we say, the written books of different nations undergo many forms of interpretation on account of the diversities of language and nation- ality, and the histories that have been written of the world are de- pendent upon the mind of the historian for their accuracy or parti- ality; but these silent historians tell no falsehoods, these monu- ments make no mistakes; they are the simple, mute evidences of past periods of civilisation, the sole and only records oftentimes that are left of the wonderful peoples that have passed away from the earth. : It is unquestionably true that the first forms of life of the present epoch of the earth's history were nomadic, and that people wan- dered in tribes, somewhat similar to those of the North American Indians, or of the now almost extinct Arab tribes, some of whom are of too wild a nature to congregate together in towns and cities. These nomadic peoples worshipped a form of deity through the elements or forces of Nature, and it is unquestionably ‘ī; that te- 6 SPIRITUAL ETHICs. day the Nature worshippers, or those who worship the elements instead of any representative form of deity through inspiration, number hundreds and thousands of people. As far back as we can trace civilisation we perceive that the inhabitants of ancient India, what is now known as China and Japan, were people of an enlight- ened and advanced class, who, after having tried the nomadic form of life, congregated together in cities, and built temples of worship. Many a remnant still remains; and one stupendous evidence of their advancement yet exists in the great wall of China, which is a singular monument of ancient civilisation. But the primitive wor- ship of these people degenerated, and that which was once philo- sophical became the mere expression of external forms and symbols. It is, however, unquestionably true that by observation of the heavens and study of the stars and constellations, thoughts of wor- ship began to associate themselves with these stars, and the stellar spaces were peopled with deities, each one of which is a record of the actual life of those nations; it is especially true of those who were pastoral in their habits, and possessed large flocks and herds. By watching the constellations, they soon discovered that certain ones made their appearance with certain seasons of the year, and upon these seasons were bestowed special names and forms of worship. The present names of the zodiac were known to them, and in fact were those adopted by these people as indicative of the time when Nature would manifest her renewed life. The Egyptians combined the highest civilisation of the more ancient peoples; and as Silesia was the centre of ancient worship and of ancient culture, unquestionably the Egyptians borrowed from the Phoenicians and other people many of their forms of wor- ship. But they also possessed a definite and special theology, which was not, however, spiritual in its type, like that of the Brahmins, and not like the ancient Persian worship of fire; but it was instead an actual worship of the Divine Presence under every form of physical life, while Osiris represented that form which was supposed to be too remote for human comprehension and speculation; and in various forms of natural objects the worship of Isis was found. But whatever form of worship we may trace to its original foundation, we know the sun, the stars, especially the planets, and the various elements formed the especial objects of adoration; while winter and darkness and night formed the especial objects of sacrifice,— that the deities who had control of this darkness and clouds and floods, and other elements antagonistic to human life, might be propitiated. Various offerings were fashioned and various sacrifices made by the ancients that these unbenign deities might not overthrow human power. It is seemingly true that in the ancient Egyptian culture that constellation known as the Dragon presided at the winter Solstice when the floods accumulated in the distant mountains, overflowed the valleys, and caused disastrous results. In orº,jº propitiate this Dragon, various sacrifices were phade, THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 7 first of animals, but afterwards of human beings, when the race had degenerated; and various temples were erected as well to the propitious as to the unpropitious deities. Egypt was distinguished for one temple whose splendour is said to have been far beyond that of any other on record—the Temple of the Sun in Rhé or On (Heliopolis), wherein all offerings were made to the god of light, day, spring-time, progression—all that was favour- able to man, in short. In this city and in this temple congregated all those learned priests and all the leading elders who presided at the various offerings and other forms of worship, leading the people to believe in the existence of a deity whose habitation on earth was in that great temple. Memphis was the city of their civil government; it was not the home of religion. This life- giving power, which was laid up in the City of the Sun, was believed to contain all the glory and happiness that could be vouchsafed to human kind. Within this temple also were brought and gathered together every form of science that could advance or in any degree throw light upon the wonderful subject the Sun, and its influence over humanity and the earth itself. And doubtless there originated the mystery of the threefold division of the sun's rays; there rose also the figure of the triangle, and various other mathematical figures that were not, until many years later, intro- duced into the table of known sciences. The temples that exist to-day in China are undoubtedly remnants of those ancient temples dedicated to the seasons; and there is a singular resemblance 'between the forms of worship of these opposite countries, for while the Egyptians needed the more material forms of worship, un- doubtedly the most ancient Brahmin religion was full of faith in one supreme power; but it degenerated into the mere temporal worship, and the various gods of the different seasons were wor- shipped according as they were supposed to have an influence for good or evil. At last, when the power of the Egyptians waned, and the Hebrews, seeking to invade them, were taken into captivity, there came the new element of ancient worship to their degenerate forms. Tor the Hebrews, being a pastoral people, had preserved the idea of the Divine Spirit, the Father, who was supposed to be, according to their patriarchal views, the parent of the human family; and this patriarchal religion constituted the one element that ingrafted itself upon the Egyptian idolatry, and made it something more than a merely temporal worship. Now, the Hebrews, in their captivity, never lost the faith of their fathers—the faith of the Father King, who was to lead them out of bondage. Rameses or Moses, however, being educated in the laws and customs of the Egyptians, unquestionably borrowed many of their idolatrous forms: he did not leave the ancient religion wholly free from that interpolation. However that may be, the Hebrews, on returning to Jerusalem, built temples with something of the *** 8 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, of those of Egypt, and they learned there the external magnificence which indues human worship with something of material power and influence. It was supposed to be necessary; and though it did not belong to the ancient worship of the Egyptians to propitiate Deity by offerings and sacrifices, which was entirely at variance with the more ancient patriarchal custom, this became an adopted rite among the Hebrews, and the temple was transformed into a place of offerings and traffickings of blood, and various beasts and birds were ever in demand for the propitiation of the Divine mind. To get an idea of the splendour of these temples you have only to refer to the Bible of the Hebrews; but of the Temple of the Sun you can have no conception. It was formed of the most dazzling gold, and the most precious stones were brought to embellish it, each one possessing the divine power of inviting the presence of the Most High. Gradually this belief in temples of worship, or in special places to be set apart to invite the presence of the Divine Mind, pre- vailed; and even in the history of the Grecian and Roman civilisa- tion, those periods of more modern culture and enlightenment to which every student turns with most longing eyes, even there the deities were made the especial object of consecrated temples, that they might be invited to take up their abode among men. Jupiter, Jove, all the powers of light and darkness represented by the Greek mythology, were supposed to be specially invited by the dedication of temples to their use; and even pleasure and various kinds of sensual debauchery were consecrated by these materialistic minds in their forms of worship. The splendour that existed among the Greeks and Romans was unquestionably borrowed from the ancient Egyptians; but without borrowing the especial fer- vour of their worship, or that charm which betokens strength, there was an enlightenment, a refinement, and, we may add, among the Greeks, a truthfulness and delicacy which far trans- cended the Egyptians. Those singular monuments of the Egyptians, which are said to have been the burial-places of the kings, unquestionably represent the strength and power of a most mighty nation. We refer to the Pyramids, the form in which they are builded, the substance of which they are composed, the various chambers which have been explored—all betoken a degree of permanence that is sublime to contemplate, especially when we think of the transitoriness of human things. We do not think they were made for places of burial, but rather as storehouses for securing treasures. When the Nile overflowed in consequence of the melting of the snow in the distant mountains, or when other dangers threatened, in order that the people might, have some secure place for these treasures, as well as for the burial of kings, these Pyramids were builded. When further explorations shall give a more minute account of the inner *** it will undoubtedly be discovered that they were THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 9 intended as storehouses of all that was valuable among the people, as well as of superabundant food, so that the people might not Starve. In those days, temporal and spiritual things went hand in hand, and nearly every action of life and every attribute of the body was in conformity with some rite or ceremony. For every pleasure there was a prayer, for every offering of devotion a corre- sponding physical gratification; and each and all the elements of earth and air were represented among these people by deific names. When we come, as we have once before referred, to the Greek and Roman period of earth's history, we find the architecture varying according to the enlightenment and culture of the people: the lightness, grace, and artistie beauty of the Greeks; the intricate method of the Romans, combining barbaric splendour with Greek and IEgyptian culture—these all betoken the various advances of civilisation. Into each of these temples the various deities of the different nations have been invited to take up their abode; in every one of these the various forms of worship have been carried for- ward, whereby any different names of deity were supposed to indicate different attributes. Not only in the direct history of the Hebrew nation, but also in all contemporaneous history, we find that the Hebrews possess no architecture of much splendour, until after their Egyptian captivity. Then commenced the wonderful building of the temple that they supposed would outlast the decay of time, but it did not; for even the splendour of Jerusalem was destined to fall, in consequence of the idolatrous worship there introduced. - - But Christianity, that was to introduce a brighter period, was inaugurated during the time of the Greeks and Romans; it also degenerated, and introduced a new period in architecture; and to-day, while Christianity has no typical form of architecture, except that which exists, among each nationality, it is distinctly expressed and typified in the various temples of worship in Christian countries. From St. Peter's at Rome to the smallest chapel, we find the prevailing thought or idea among the inhabi- tants of the land, that God must take up His abode in these temples. . It is a part of worship that He be invited to come there, and that there shall be consecrated a worship to His name. Whatever may have been the case with the ancient deities that presided over other nations, it seems a strange and amazing feature of the religion that has its exclusive foundation in the spiritual nature of man, that there have arisen in the course of nine- teen hundred years so many temples set apart especially for the worship of the Divine Mind. And it behoves the student to dis- cover whether, in this setting apart of special temples, there is not something of the ancient barbaric splendour, something of the pagan thought that the Divine Mind requires such especial habita- tion, th there is not something of amoral degeneracy to the letter {} 10 - - SPIRITUAL ETHICS, instead of the spirit of true worship. For what with St. Peter's at at Rome, and with buildings in every city and town in the vast christendom of the world rising up to proclaim the presence of deity, is there not still abroad in all these lands a cry that goes out asking for the spirit of that deity, the Jehovah, the God, the Father, the very spirit of Christ, who made no temple on earth, only the temple of the living spirit P The Romans, borrowing something, as we say, from the splendour of the ancient Egyptians, must needs make a city of God and build a temple wherein He alone should be worshipped; and to-day, beneath the very shadow of St. Peter's, creep the starving children of that degenerate race. Beneath the very shadows of your temples are the outcasts and criminals and paupers of your civilisation. There is a strange contrast between the light that falls from these temples and the darkness of the streets of your crowded cities. The temple alone that Christ consecrated, purified, exalted, elevated, was the temple of the liuman body, and that building degraded, becomes the pauper, the criminal, and all that is dark in the very shadow of these temples. It is a problem we would have the enlightenment of this Christian century to consider, whether God dwells more in St. Peter's than He does in the hovel of the lowly, and whether it be not borrowing from the ancient idolatries something of their material worship to thus set. apart a consecrated and splendid temple, while myriads of human. beings are starving for bread. What a monument of art St. Peters' may be, it matters not so long as the Divine Mind, the Represen- tative Spirit, does not need it as a dwelling place. What matters it if the Gothic shall prevail, or any other form of architecture in this house of worship, so long as Deity requires only a contrite spirit, and so long as Christ taught beneath the dome of heaven? We do, not believe that it has ever seriously occurred to the thought of the nineteenth century that the erection of these various temples. is a kind of idolatry. We do not believe it has ever come home) to the understanding of the worshipper that all this splendour is not essential to the invitation of the Divine Spirit; that stained windows, the figures of saints, &c., are not essential to the invitation of the Divine Light; and that the Christian religion of all others, wherein Christ, who embodied the spiritual and represented the gifts of the mind, who came to the lowly, who taught in the streets, who built no temples, who enjoined upon them no form of worship, should not thus be typified and represented. Then consider, each type of religious temple corresponds with the type of the nation. In Italy it is a temple approaching the ancient forms of barbaric splendour; in Spain there is not so much splendour, butits style is borrowed from Rome; in France allis light- ness and airiness, and the style of architecture corresponds with the peculiarities of the people; in England it is substantial—every church * do for a fortress, or might be used as a warehouse for THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL, 11 merchandise. Indeed, it is said there are some churches the base- ment of which is used for the unhallowed purpose of storing spirits of a very dark nature, while the upper portion is devoted to the worship of the nineteenth century. It is a singular characteristic of the country wherein we are addressing these words, that every- thing can be utilised for one thing or another. The warehouse may be changed into a church, the church into a warehouse; but it is a singular commentary on the existence of a state of public mind that will permit a temple of worship to be thus employed. In other countries that are newer, as America, the architecture corresponds with the newness, lightness and colouring of a people not yet matured. Whereas we should think, if Deity required an especial temple, it would behove the students of art and the pro- fessors of architecture to rear temples of beauteous forms and of every splendid image, just as the ancients did; for if you desire to invite the Deity to a physical abode, let it be such a one as will command your own respect. But we think the days of idolatry are numbered; we believe the temples and shrines of worship are to be transfigured; we think another temple, another shrine was intended by the founder of the Christian worship. We believe that temple has a loftier dome, a greater sweep, more beauteous images and forms than those graven on any temple of human worship to-day. We believe the temple of Christ is fashioned of humanity; that its broad dome is the dome of heaven; that its many pillars are the various nations of the earth; that its adornments are spiritual gifts; that its forms of worship are the thoughts that spring spontaneously to the human heart and human lips; and that not exclusively in temples opened merely on one day in the week to the devotion of Deity, but in every home, by every fireside, any place made glad and free from discord by the sound of the voices of sweet children, any house of instruction, any house where the poor are invited to come, there shall be a pouring out of the Spiritl When famishing and cold, how can any child of adversity and sin rest beneath the shadow of St. Paul's, and believe in the lowly One P Cast out from its charm, cast out from its varied forms of worship, how do the masses go on blindly to other temples of pleasure and passion, while the houses of God are closed If they be indeed temples of the spirit, wherein God dwells, let them be opened all days; let every hour and day receive into their sacred paths and aisles some child of God who needs to worship there; let them be extended into every street; let all your complaints, be made into praise, shops into temples; and let there be an invitation to enter there and be made free and whole and pure. , Oh, different from these is the temple of the spirit—the soul whose chief teacher and sublime instructor was the lowly Jesus: it was fashioned by the Divine Mind. Its vast powers, its wondrous labyrinths, its immeasurable comprehensiveness, are **wa. 12 - SPIRITUAL ETHICS, Humanity is the temple of the true Christ. The pillars of his Church are charity, and love and kindness are the offerings of devo- tion there. Build temples of art if you will; let them be conse- crated to all beauties, graces, and virtues, but let the chief altar and shrine be the human spirit, wherein Christ discovered the symbol of the divine, and wherein every act and deed and word of life were inscribed in ineffaceable characters. Nay, each thought of your minds, each deed or word, becomes a portion of that living temple wherein Christ dwelt, and to which his love was transferred when death came. Here is a temple of finer fabric—here a place made joyous and sacred by the very presence of the spirit that God has given you. See to it that this temple is made free and pure, and garnished. Howbeit, if you do not understand its laws—if you do not comprehend the various intricacies and different forms that are required for its production and sustenance—you cannot have a 8. temple, a habitation for the soul. The great spirit of modern hristianity should be to make this humanity stronger; to make the spirit in the temple of the human body more perfect and more like its teacher; to make the great human family more like the great church of the living spirit; to make the soul respond through all the thoughts and feelings of the mind to the higher lessons Christ taught. How shall you have a temple of God when outside the door the starving wait for food P. How can you have a temple when one in tatters and rags asks for alms ? How can you have a ºften humanity is throbbing and pulsating with pain and anguisn't The voice of the Spirit calls through the living temple of the soul: Ye build temples for time, but the temple of the spirit is fashioned for eternity. See to it that ye build this also ; for while pyramids may crumble to dust, while St. Peter's shall surely fall, while all your churches shall be swept away by time and the war- fare of the elements, the temple of the spirit alone shall survive —that shall be fashioned as ye make it. If you form it of beau- tiful thoughts and loving deeds and lofty aspirations, so the temple will be presented to the eye of the divine Spirit. If it be formed of darkness, of thoughts low and deceitful, of human passion and human want and misery, how shall the eye of God look upon it * and how shall angels be near you when there is no temple of light for them to enter P. The music, the prayers, the stained windows, with the light falling gently, the glad incense that rises up, and the sweet response of those that do not suffer, make no vibration. The infinite ear cannot be reached ; the infinite compassion cannot be touched; the Saviour's light and love cannot be known because of the crying of babes in the streets, and the shrieking of those that are wanting, and human passions drown , the sound of praise. Oh, pray with your hands ! Pray with your minds in compassion Pray with your Jaearts 'lºw with your spirits! Build up strong aspirations ! THE TEMPLE of THE soul. 13 Then there shall arise up a temple from the earth—we see it now in the mind's eye—that shall be far brighter than the most gorgeous temples of the East, far more vast than the dome of St. Peter's, far more beauteous than any form of architecture that rises in your midst. It shall be fashioned of all the nations of the earth. The corner-stones shall be Justice, and Love, and Purity, and Truth. Its walls shall be the o'er-arching realms of space, the mountains, and the cloud-capped domes of distant ranges. Every nation beneath, the sun shall form its pillars. Every law shall be fashioned of justice, and each government shall be formed according to the divine command of love and equity. There shall be no paupers nor criminals, no gaols nor places of imprisonment, for crime shall not be known. There will be no need of crime, for all shall be fed and clothed. The corn-fields shall yield in abundance, and there shall be neither rich nor poor, but all alike in the eye of God. This temple shall have its foundations builded upon all those aspirations, and charities, and graces, wherein all the nations of the earth that have given up war shall learn peace and good-will. There shall be no disease, for the spirit shall descend and cast out all forms of suffering, and when there is no sickness, it will be because there is no crime; and knowledge will take the place of ignorance, and charity the place of envy and malice, and love shall show its light where want abode. Its walls shall have various inscriptions of the words and deeds and lovingkindness that each nation and individual perform to their fellow men. Behold it shall be strong with the strength of great minds! Behold it shall be bright with the luminousness of good deeds and charities 1 There shall be graceful forms there, and there shall be all of light and beauty; for the tracery of children's hands will be there, forming flowers like bright groups of stars, with which to adorn this temple of humanity. Then there shall be a grand dome. This dome shall be constituted with stars brighter than the constellations of the heavens, more glorious and Tasting than the vast worlds that people space. This dome shall be the mind of the Infinite, whose stars shine out like points of light and love upon humanity, guiding you, directing you, inspiring you, and uplifting you. Its foundation may be here, but its walls will reach even to the spiritual realms, and there, with angels and spirits and glorified souls, shall appear the inscription also of their deeds of loving- kindness, of their lofty thoughts and aspirations. Not for time alone, but for eternity l Not for human history, but the history of all spirits! Not for the occupation of man, but for the occu- pation of the soul shall this temple be reared; and then you will see it will not fade and perish. No ruthless hand shall destroy it, no time nor space make it less, but it will grow stronger and stronger in the light of all beauties and the glory of all divine perfections. Perhaps you despair of that happy home. Do you i. it will 14 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, never come P You are each helping to fashion it; something of the work of this temple are you doing. It may be you are making a shadow; it may be making a pillar of light; perhaps carving a form of loveliness in your own quiet pathway of life. It will help to form this temple. Perhaps your deeds of charity and loving thoughts all unheeded go out into the world, there helping to build this temple; perhaps your aspirations fall back upon your spirit, and you are faint and weary in well-doing because there is no one to encourage; but they help to form this temple. Each step— every one single step—is farther and nearer to this bright and glowing temple. You may soon outgrow the clothes that you wore in childhood, soon put away the external toys that attracted you, soon put away the forms and symbols; but the spirit of light and glory will remain, Human governments pass away, human laws also and human institutions are changeable, but the same supreme spirit of justice builds always, and builds for eternity; and every living soul within the sound of this voice—nay, every soul you do not see, for these souls are within reach of our absorbing thoughts out in the world of souls—each of these is helping to build this temple of eternity. And when you know this, how small will be your outward belongings, how frail and intangible the house you inhabit; and the things you think of so much im- portance here, how insignificant The sound of the church will go away from you, and the Spiritual Church shall be set up in its stead in your house. The voices of children shall not be heard in lamentation any more, but only in joy; and beautiful temples, where flowers of light abound, shall take the place of darksome vaults of human sin. , You can each add a stone to this temple, each can add something to its adornment; and under the eye of the Infinite it goes on beautifully towards its perfection. Stone after stone, pillar after pillar, is outwrought; delicate tracery and beautiful ornament, all fashioned of human thought, all created of the living spirit, all made of time, and change, and death—all belong to the world where there is no time, nor change, nor death, but life always. To bring this temple within your comprehension, to make you know what it means, to make your spirits responsive to its voice, to make your hearts vibrate to its life, is our purpose to-night. Something more than the outward life, something deeper than the external temple, something more profound than a symbol and form of worship—the soul demands a living fountain; the soul requires to be fed from the constant source of life; the human heart needs for ever, not to be starved upon the letter, nor fed upon the husks, but always the pure grains of the spirit, always the living light from the temple of God's own spirit. Give them this, give this to humanity, and life then becomes clothed anew, and the temples in which human folly and human shame abound become imbued with tºirs spirit and the life and breath of Deity. - 10 THE , TEMPLE OF THE SOULe 15 Oh, martyrs have passed out and gone tºº. to their place in this divine temple ! Oh, inspired writers and workers have passed out, and have ascended through persecution and flame and the dungeon to the light of the immortal life " Oh, quiet souls and humble lives have passed unconsciously, have floated out to their homes as a silent snowy flower, and have gone quietly to the full enjoyment of this delightful abode 1 You may have it with you ; its pillars may be around you; its glory above you; its vast- ness may be yours if you will behold it. Its spirit is there: it is love, it is prayer, it is charity, it is divine aspiration. Ye shall possess this spark, this flame; if you will, the refulgent beam of this light shall descend upon you and be yours, ever yours. Fill all your souls from the fountain of all life and souls. Make you a temple to ...? Let your human bodies be the pure and fitting representatives of the human spirit. Let your deeds and thoughts and words be so shaped and fashioned, that not for time but for eternity shall they be reared. , Let your souls aspire to this thought. Let each one of you belong to the great army of workers —the millions of workers—the many millions of workers that are helping to carve out for humanity this wonderful temple of perfect life and perfect love, wherein there shall dwell no spirit but the divine humanity. Having concluded the oration, Mrs. Tappan recited the following O8E1.1 :— - p THE TEMPLE OF LIGHT. Have ye heard of the wonderful temple of light That o'erarches the shadows of space, Of such wonderful towers of dazzling height With the glory from God's shining face? Far northward its corridors glitter and shine, Where the pole-star flashes and burns; - Far south, where the Southern Cross, beaming divine, Lights up those most magical urns. Far away where the belt of Orion doth gleam Like the mild light of some loving soul, Behold, there its panoplies for ever beam : Behold there its magic control! It lies just across the dark river of death; It is built in the land of delight; 'Tis fashioned of thought and of each loving breath That has ever held place in earth's night. There the amethyst light doth for ever enshrine Its portals so grand and so high : There are rubies that flash, and em'ralds that shine, Formed of light from God's own living eye. There are pillars of wonderful, intricate thought, Fashioned, carved by the masters of old: Each beauty of life has been rapturously caught, * And made in a mystical mould. - lll 16 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, There are long ways illumined by truth and by love, O'erframed with the pathway of tears, Whereby every trial of truth doth but prove More glorious through endless years. There are rooms made sacred by hallowed prayer, Wherein every thought of your lives, Transfigured, is set in that temple so fair, For evermore there to arise. Nay, each loving thought and each deed of pure worth Is engraven, enstamped there by God; Every soul is a builder, and God's master-mind Controls all the ways ye have trod. Many millions of workers, with chisels of thought, Are carving and delving away; Each intricate figure is deftly outwrought, And the whole forms some group that will stay. Ye will find them all placed in that temple of light: 'Tis a mansion not builded with hands; But your thoughts that are pure, your deeds that are white, Help fashion its glorious bands. Nay, there lovely groups of your loved ones you'll find Shining whiter than marble so pure; There are stars that flash out from the soul's deepest mind, Made of purity that shall endure. There beryl and amber slopes shimmer and gleam Like the sun on the glittering sea; - There are the thoughts gathered all like a rapturous dream Of beauty for eternity. O this wonderful temple that millions of hands Are toiling to build every hour, Unites and connects all the souls of all lands, And uprears its most wonderful power. Behold how it gleams how it shines there in space: How it stretches out far and anear ! How the light of its life is God's own shining face! How its shadows reach you even here! Behold, there is music there sweet as the voice Of the loved one, grown tender and dear! Behold, there the flowers and offerings you gave On the grave where you dropped sorrow's tear ! Behold, there are hopes that, like bright birds, once flown, Come fluttering back to your brows; And the friends ye have lost, and the deeds ye have done, Are gathered with all holy vows; And they make up your bliss in this temple of light: Your shrine and your altar is there; And the loved one of your soul sittest there, clad in white— Made white by the spirit of prayer, 112 THE TEMPLE OF THE SOUL. 17 Behold, ye shall see this grand temple of light! When ye toil up the rough steeps of time, It shall beam on you glorious with dazzling white, Ye shall see that its vastness sublime Filleth space, filleth time, and encompasseth all, For the Father's house, not made with hands, Is a home and a shrine, and a temple for all, And all souls shall obey love's commands. Ye shall see it by faith, and by prayer, and by love; Ye shall walk up those heights so sublime, And God, the great Father, his presence will prove— Ye shall know it when dead is old Time. Pray ever, the white and pure spirits of peace Shall descend with their branches of love, And angels shall bear you with loving release To the temple of light far above, 113 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUALISM. (Extract from a speech by Mrs. Tappan, on the occasion of the twenty-seventh anniversary of Spiritualism.) Spiritualism may be considered the only movement of modern times, or in the world, that has no movers, the only one without a head, without leaders, without distinguished individuals who especially make it their cause. It has been a work that has moved men, not been moved by them ; which has chosen its own instru- ments, not been chosen by men. It has reared up its teachers, or appointed them from among the usual avocations of life. It con- siders no place too high for its entrance, none too lowly. It gives the title of humanity to all who are engaged in it. It takes from all classes that which can serve, and binds the world together, and this world to the world of spirits, making of them one. Its great primal creed is that the soul lives beyond the grave. Its great primal fact is, that that has been proved by the communion of the two worlds. Whosoever have helped to prove the one and advance the other have been its founders. It is an epoch in the modern history of science. Its philosophy is that it claims nothing it cannot prove; that it proves that which gives to the world— freedom from the fear of death. Things ripen faster in these days than in times of old—faster than when Galileo was imprisoned. We are not now obliged to wait several centuries, for, behold, the harvest ripens quickly, and the angels wait to reap the golden sheaves of man's deeds and thoughts. Should we look to the past, the present, and the future, what has Spiritualism done, and what is it doing P. One thing : It has revealed within the province of palpable scientific demonstration certain proof of the existence and communion of spirits with mortals on the earth. What has it done for the advancement of humanity ? This : That whatso- ever releases man from the thraldom of the deadly fear, places him centuries in advance even in an instant. The primary fear of the world has been death. What are its institutions and claims, and theories P. It has none : the only institution it builds up is that of the knowledge of the spirit. The only things that it seeks to establish are the palpable evidences of man's spiritual existence here and hereafter. All other forms are but auxiliary. And other movements do but serve this one purpose. This movement from the world of spirits has its own institutions and its own announcements. Men cannot control the laws that govern thr sun's rays, nor those of the tides, nor of the worlds in space, bu must adapt themselves to these primary elements. The spiritual forces of the universe are also governed by laws. The business of Spiritualism is to make known those laws. The business of mankind is to adapt himself to them. It is not that you should hº the idea and elaborate it after your fashion, but adopt its 8|Sill.011, - 114 THE HEAVENLY HOME AND SPIRITUAL KINDRED, An Oration delivered under spiritual influence by Mrs. Cora L. V TAPPAN, in the Royal Music Hall, 242, Holborn, London, on Sunday evening, December 7th, 1873. INVOCATION. Our Father who art in Heaven Thou light within a light! Thou joy ensphered in joy! Thou good and only perfect soul! the spirit fails to know Thee utterly. Yet we behold thy life in all the works of thy mind and spirit. The human mind cannot en- compass Thee ; but Thou dost surround us everywhere with the evidences of thy power. We are made one with Thee by the en- rapturing consciousness of the soul, by the earnest longings of the spirit, by the strivings and struggles of the mind. O God, we praise Thee! For in all the universe of space and matter we behold the wondrous workings of thy laws. We find no flaw—no imperfection can exist in thy mind. Our dim vision may fail to understand; but Thou dost understand. We may fail to penetrate those mysterious depths of knowledge that transcend the outward understanding; but Thou, O living Spirit, hast all knowledge, and with Thee there is no mystery, only absolute truth. We turn to Thee for guidance, for wheresoever thy mind abides there is per- fection. We turn to Thee for love, for we know that in the midst of imperfections and discords, thy love supreme transcends all earthly strife, and every soul is dear to Thee, and allied to Thee by the links of infinite love. We turn to Thee for strength, for be- hold Thou art all strength, and thy power encompasses the uni- verse. We turn to Thee for truth, for there is with Thee absolute truth, while we stumble in the darkness of material error, and strive dimly to know all knowledge. We turn to Thee for sup- 115 4 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, port, for we know that thy hand reaches down through darkness, and for ever sustains the weak and faltering soul. O loving Spirit ! O steadfast Light! O abiding Life let us feel thy power and presence within our spirits' The human heart is thy shrine—the human soul is the altar of thy devotion 1 O God, let us worship there ! Let us believe that Thou art there ! Let us know that Thou art there, and in the divine humanity made perſect by thy love and thy teaching and thy power. Let us seize the prophecy wherein all peoples and all the children of earth may be gathered to the light and truth. Oh, let thy ministering angels abide with thy children. Let those attendant spirits who have found thy life and love hover ever near the wants of sympathy. Let the glad concord of harmonious thought reach outward and upward to Thee, until all souls are bathed in the light of thy loving spirit. Amen. 118 THE HEAVENLY HOME AND SPIRITUAL RINDIRED, 5 I)ISCOURSE. Undoubtedly, the blossom of philosophy is the ideal earthly home. Undoubtedly, modern society in its highest estate represents in some degree the ideal type of the kingdom of heaven. We do not mean that society that simply represents the pleasures of life, nor a society that represents any especial class: but the average society of Christendom is the crystalisation of the highest thought of Christendom. The home is the central gem in that constellation of brightness. To this home, whether humble or lofty, the man of mature years ever reverts with tenderness and affection. To this home he inevitably traces the beginning of his usefulness, or of his lack of usefulness, To that home in old age he reverts inevitably as the ideal and type of what composes the heavenly home of the Christian, disrobed of all material strife and the imperſections that accrue to material surroundings. Unquestionably the greatest men in history have been those in whom the amenities of social life and the tender ties of kindred spirits, develop the emotions of exalted social virtues. Unques- tionably the leading politician, the commanding statesman, the pulpit orator, the great literary leader of men, is the one in whom these social virtues form the substratum of his character and the underlying principle of his power; and we always detect, in those minds where these underlying principles are wanting, the same lack in their works, however brilliant they may be. However delightsome in intellectual feelings, if there is not this subtle element of sympathy, if there is not the predicate to the earthly home, at least there is not the foundation for the perfect man. Many, alas! in human society have no home. Too many have a place simply that is called home, wherein if poverty and want do not abide, something of inharmony and discord have entered; and we do not mean by the word home these distressing conditions of outward life, wherein penury robs of the greatest of all joys—the delights of affection—and crime takes away and embitters the noble sentiments of mankind. But the average voice of humanity represents a high type of the spiritual state, and everyone clothes the humble cot or the lowliest hovel with something of the hues of this brilliant and delightful anticipation that does, that will exist in the heavenly home. The home of the Christian heaven—if I may at least venture to say so much—has been far too isolated and cold; and (if it be not obtruding upon subjects that are foreign to this discussion) the home in heaven that severs the ties of intimate associations and affections, that takes mother from child, father from son, and friend from friend, may be a theological epitome of happiness, but it is not the state of happiness to which humanity aspires. And how- ever brilliant and gorgeous may be the streets of that fabled city, however delightful the strains from golden harps, it * be º 6 SPIRITUAL ETHICS, the home of the one who has stored up the love, the affection, and the highest aspirations of the mind, and transplanted them in thought to the home of the future. Mohammed pictures a paradise of the physical senses—robs humanity of its divinest feature in order to satisfy the cravings of the material body. Not less cold is that heaven that takes away from mankind each aspiration and subtle link of mind, refuses to associate spiritual existence with the ties, amenities, and aspirations of earthly life. . Much more consistent is the poor farmer's ideal of heaven, who said that he had a dream, and he dreamed that he went to heaven, and that God's house was a very large farmhouse, and that the lace that God dwelt in was a very finely cultivated farm, and that e saw God out in the cool of the day attending his flocks and herds. Poor man' this was his loftiest idea of heaven and happi- ness, and no doubt represented faithfully that which he thought would contribute to his own unlimited joy could he but possess it. So the ideal heaven of Christianity is made gorgeous with gold and precious gems, with all splendours that appeal to the senses, with ravishing strains of celestial music, and the snowy white splendour of the very throne of God. But of that love that builds up the inner temple, and that joy that fills all things with the light of lovingkindness, that divine tie that links kindred souls together, there is very little said—too little, alas ! to satisfy humanity. Now that you are let into the secrets of that future state, that spirits do come and talk to you, and give you knowledge of their abode, the first question that springs to your lips is: “Shall I meet my loved ones there P’ And this question proves that, with all the subtle chain of worship, you have not had it solved before; it proves that the longing hungry desire of humanity is for the per- petuation of something that resembles humanity; it proves that a heaven that so far transcends the perfections and aspirations of the mind as to be utterly and absolutely cold and void, does not satisfy, and is the least necessary of any. The question then comes: “Shall I meet my loved ones in the spirit-home P Shall we be associated together, and what are the manners and associations in spirit-life? What are the laws that govern them P and what are the methods of these spiritual societies?” Oh, 'tis an unlimited question! Far more in its significance than the surrounding, or the material form of the spirit; far more important than whether they live in build- ings like yours, or have some transparent material with which to construct their habitations. Thought becomes objective in spirit-life, and that life which is suppressed here and makes but a secondary part of your existence, becomes there a shining light, aglow with transcendent glory, the only actual and real impetus of existence. Home in the lower life too often means four square walls, a few goods and chattles, and the pºrnº, people together. Spiritual mind—thought—forms its t THE HEAVENLY HOME AND SPIRITUAL KINDRED. 7 spiritual kingdom according to its attractions, according to its aspirations and desires; and that subtle chain of sympathy that links you with your loved ones constitutes oftentimes the only longing for immortality—the only wish for a future state—that you may meet them there. Surely what a mockery would be a perpetual exist- ence, if that which makes existence desirable—human love, human affections, human thoughts and aspirations—were wrested suddenly from you by the hand of death. Into what new purposes of life could you suddenly transpose your thoughts? Into what new labyrinths of existence could you transplant your affections and the owers of your mind, if you do not meet there the kindred spirit? }. what special joys and compassions could you be tempted if you could not exchange with kindred minds the aspirations and feelings of your own minds P Spiritual associations—the society of the spiritual world—is the epitome of this grand desire upon earth. Society is limited here by the bonds of material wealth, by time, sense, and space, by birth, and all the forms of external and arbitrary rules and usages, the necessities for combination in trade, the necessities for combination in labour, the necessity for isolation in the splendours of hereditary titles—all these belong to earthly communities and associations. Not so in spiritual life. The lineage of the spirit is the lineage of its soul-life, not its physical life; and the spirit whom you revere most is the parent, the ideal parent, of your earthly life; the same will be your soul's parent. Often- times the ties of blood are broken on earth by discord and jargon. Oftentimes selfishness steps in and robs the sun of the father's care. Oftentimes brother is set against brother, in consequence of material wealth and ambition; and the history of earthly civilisa- tion and society has been oftentimes one of strife, and bickering, and contention; but, as we have said, in the centre of all this is the flower of human civilisation, the blossom of human society, the aspiration of the human spirit—the ideal home. When you enter spiritual existence, all those to whom you have been linked by ties of affection and similarity of thought, if they have passed on before you, these come thronging around you to admit you to their associations. The mother, having for long years wept and mourned the absence of her child, follows in imagination that child to its new abode, and wonders what celestial being shall take charge of it, and if the child, grown strong in its new existence, has forgotten the earthly mother. There is a stronger tie in love than in all the powers of external life and surroundings, and that child, grown up perchance in spiritual existence, still remembers the mother on earth, and is the first to welcome her. So when friend is parted from friend, the tie that binds kindred spirits out- lasts and outlives the grave, and every thought and feeling that you send upward to his abode becomes another link in the chain that will bind you both in spiritual life. Remember, hº that 8 - SPIRITUAL ETHICS, there are no incongruities. Every spirit is associated with those to whom it is attracted, and there cannot be the bickerings and dis- cord that are often found in earthly existence, because spirits are removed from one another that are unlike, and the atmosphere that surrounds them prevents the quarrelling and contention that are here. - We have found that if people were removed farther from one another, if not obliged to occupy the same house, oftentimes the same room, they would be much better friends, because the mate- rial surroundings, and the difficulty of attempting to be friends under diverse material circumstances, often warps the spirit, and many really affectionate souls manifest nothing of their better qualities because of the untoward influences about them. In spi- ritual existence this is not so. If connected with someone you do not like or are not attracted to by similarity of taste, you are not forced to quarrel out your existence, each one striving to gain the supremacy, but there are classes of beings similar to yourself having tastes and thoughts and advancement like yours. To these you will be drawn and attracted. If they are of your own kindred whom you have loved best and nearest, they will again be the nearest. If not of your own kindred, as sometimes happens, then they will not be the nearest to you by earthly consanguinity, but by spiritual kinship. You have oftentimes wondered, if you have investigated Spiri- tualism, why your relatives do not come. Sometimes they are not attracted to you. Sometimes you have not loved them. Sometimes they are not the nearest to your spirits; but some spirit who is attracted to and is like you will be the one appointed to minister and to converse with you. Wherever the tie that binds you is of genuine spiritual origin; wherever your love is something more than external affection or temporal policy; wherever it has its roots in the very nature of your existence: then it outlives and outlasts the grave. Oſtentimes you find with the physical removal of friends that you really loved them better than you knew. You remember with pain all the unkind deeds and words, the daily petty strifes and angularities and contentions; you remem- ber this with pain and regret: for with the removal of the physical body you find there was a tie binding you to their spirits, and So when you pass out of the earthly existence, you will find them Smiling and ready to meet you with the outstretched hands of sym- pathy and love. Oftentimes the very enmity that makes men bitter is but the result of physical circumstances, and not of their souls. Indeed, very much of the controversy and quarrellings of the world is of this kind... People do not understand each other. There is nowa in which their spirits may communicate together; they say a word, and that word is interpreted wrongly; another is spoken, and intºthe men coming together with an understanding, they THE HEAVENLY HOME AND SPIRITUAL KINDIRED, 9 are thrown off; and individuals and nations go to battle upon these trivial things. But in spirit it is not so; the meaning of the spirit is read by the one who is in sympathy with you, and you cannot make any such mistakes and blunders. If you are kind, it will be known; if you are loving, it will manifest itself; if you mean friendship, friendship only will be spoken, and not a deception and mockery, as oftentimes occurs here. Human beings are better than they seem to be. The great mass of mankind appear at their very worst. Here, for instance, is a poor beggar in rags, and there a violent man in passion; over there is another who seems to be penurious, and hoards up his wealth ; and yonder is one tempted to murder: these are the physical expressions of souls that may many times have striven with the highest and best aspirations. The angels do not count the failures, but only the aspirations and thoughts of humanity. Christ said: “Whosoever sinneth in thought, he therefore hath sinned.” Good deeds are very cheap; they are bought with policy. A man may wear an homestface, and do all good deeds in the sight of his fellow-man, and yet desire many things that to the eye of the Master would have been sinful. So the man whom you stamp as criminal and wrong, has aspirations that would ennoble many a hypocritical soul. He that is condemned oftentimes has striven and struggled, and striven again, and each aspiration has been set down by his guardian angel as a g od deed; for if you think good thoughts—even if you fail to fulfil them—these good aspirations count as deeds in the world of spirits. So if you think unworthy thoughts, if your deeds be apparently of kindness, and humanity applauds, the angels see the motive, and behind the shining deed behold the hypocrisy; it goes for naught —you cannot pave your way to heaven with gold, you cannot bribe God to receive your outward actions merely, but the inward soul must be true. Love is not simulated in real life. There is no mask of outward love to hide the shaft of selfishness. There is no outward symbol of amenity whereby men can cover up their bitter- ness and hatred. It is a real life, where soul meets soul face to face, to determine whether your love be genuine or no; and when you come into spirit-life you will meet those souls to whom you have been true in thought, and the loving sympathy that for ever ac- companies it. These are the things that make up spiritual Society. There is an old rendering of the golden rule that we almost think is better than “Do unto others as you would that others should do unto you,” for doing is the literal fulfilment of the letter. It is this: “Feel towards all men as ye would that they should feel towards you;” transcends the action with the actual state of being, with the living breath, with the fervid fire, with the touch that cannot be mistaken; for the lily grows white without an endeavour or action, and the rose unfolds in its fragrance without striving to blossom. They simply are. So, if you are loving, truthful, Fº your TO SPIRITUAL ETHICS, lives cannot other than express it; while many who are not so may drape themselves with the outward garb of light to hide their thoughts, and hope thereby to deceive the angels into recognition. This cannot be. There you meet your friends soul to soul, thought with thought; and if you have harboured to them unjust thoughts, if you have wrongfully believed them guilty of any unkindness to you, it will be seen and known ; it cannot be concealed. So, if you have entertained towards them kindnesses that they have not returned, if your spirits have been visited by tender feelings and aspirations, they in turn will be humiliated when they behold these flowers you have nourished in your hearts for them. The confraternities of spiritual existence are oftentimes made of diverse nationalities and different families. Associations of spirits are oftentimes composed of those who did not know each other in earthly life, but who, being similar, and having thoughts and aspi- rations similar, meet in the course of time and are bound together by a more subtle chain; while those who have rallied about them in earthly life, their kindred and friends, form, as it were, in the centre of this kingdom of heaven, or this heavenly home, a shining star, grouped around with the various friends that make their home and their society delightful; and thus each in turn gather to themselves minds that are like themselves; and so on, until the vast associations of spiritual existence are composed of those who, like the various stars and constellations, differ from one another in glory, yet are all arranged according to the laws of harmonious spiritual life. For instance, a philanthropist in earth life some- times meets with cold looks and lack of encouragement, even at his own fireside, and struggles away in his endeavour for humanity under these very antagonistic circumstances. In spiritual life he enters the associations of philanthropic spirits, drawn there by the natural ties of affection, and his dear ones gather round him if they sympathise with him, and he forms the central light—the shining planet of the race of souls that strive to do good. The poet who has thoughts of heaven far transcending his earthly life—there, as here, groups around him those that were near and dear—always the innermost circle were the dearest. Thus the objects of his affection assemble, and then outside these are those who are like him in taste, in thought, feeling, and aspiration, forming a home that even Olympus cannot rival, and where the gods of highest poesy become inspired in deeds and words of kindness. Those, too, that pursue any great scheme 9r problem for the benefit of man- kind, first have their inner group—their own group, their kindred souls, their dearest and nearest, their mother and friends; and beyond these are those who sympathise with the lofty pursuits of their minds. These stretch out with them into the worlds of space to gather the principles of mind and of power. You can imagine now what would be your highest earthly home, if, instead of the material necessities that oftentimes cramp and 122 T HE HEAVENLY HOME AND SPIRITUAL RINDIRED, 11 dwarf your powers, you could build from your thoughts, erect a habitation suitable for the gathering together of all your friends. You could pursue each taste and inclination of the mind, without being chained or dragged down by the stern necessities of material life. In such an ideal atmosphere you could gather together poets, philosophers, friends, and, in sweet and solemn discourse, consider those various themes without the necessity of physical care. Sup- pose your house could be extended at will—made narrow to accom- modate yourself in privacy, made broad to accommodate your friends. Suppose, instead of eating and drinking, there was no necessity for these material conditions, but only the food of thought, only the drink of knowledge. Suppose, instead of so much time to adorn the body, that the thoughts which embellish the mind were the only ineffable adornment of the spirit, and that you need not always be running hither or thither to give orders, or toil with your hands. You see at once you would be admitted into a new state of existence. That which was laborious becomes pleasurable, drudgery becomes freedom, the pleasures of society— the demands merely of the sense—become in the spirit-communion exchange of thought, divine beneficence, charities, and all the graces that really do adorn your spirits, but have no opportunity of ex- pressing themselves because of these harassing cares. Oh, the soul is too often chained in its material body Too often you are slaves to the very senses that should serve you ! Too often you make the external surroundings necessary instead of the spirit 1 Into your highest typical society there are now admitted all those graces, amenities, and refinements that belong to the typical society of the spirit; but instead of a form of expression, instead of any subject of interest to humanity and im- portance to the world, instead of those lofty themes of discourse that frequently form the subject of your meditations when alone, you are engaged in trivial conversation, in petty cares, with what transcends all polite investigation—your neighbour's business; and So the time is divided between eating and drinking and discussing the most trivial of subjects. Remove that, and extend this society into the world of thought; make it fashionable to tell what you think; make it fashionable to discourse with your neighbour upon those thoughts, or hold intercourse on topics that occupy your own meditations; make it fashionable to talk about spiritual things and the culture of the mind; make it fashionable to engage in studies and earnest inquiries as to the poets and their highest state; make it fashionable that all that belongs to literature, art, and science, and religion shall be represented in society; then do away with these material demands, and you have the typical society of spirit- life. Only it is not customary that you talk of religion. It is not customary with you, if you have spiritual aspirations, to speak of it. You may talk of your neighbours, of your gold and silver, your house and horses, your garments and gems, but of º mind, <