The revelations of the spectroscope, and the investigations of some of the greatest scientific minds of the present day, have determined the existence of a higher scale of vibrations than those which fall within the ordinary range of human vision. All the objects and forms of life comprehended in that scale, although so closely blended and interwoven with the vibrations of our own plane of existence, are lost to our dull perceptions, unless, through some physical or mental condition, there is a quickening of our inner consciousness. When this comes, as it has again and again to many, we have revelations from the “spirit world,” which is, after all, but a finer material world, as real, as substantial, as objective, and as directly within the province of universal law, as that which we now inhabit. That we should be made sensibly aware of this higher life, under certain legitimate conditions, is perfectly natural. Indeed, it would be strange, with the uniformity of succession and development which pervades all things, if we were not. It is not a world that is possible, but actual, not one that might be, but is.
In this matter, intelligent Spiritualists range themselves side by side with those of whom Professor Tyndall has said, “You never hear the really philosophical defenders of the doctrine of uniformity speaking of impossibilities in nature. They best know that questions offer themselves to thought, which Science, as now prosecuted, has not even the tendency to solve. They keep such questions open, and will not tolerate any unlawful limitations of the horizon of their souls.” However weak and imperfect our spiritual vision may be at present, we shall use each and every opportunity of obtaining all the information that is possible, either from this world or the next. The report of the committee chosen by the London Dialectical Society, to investigate the subject of Spiritualism, “bears strong testimony in favor of the reality of the manifestations,” and is a step in the right direction. All we ask of our opponents, is fair treatment and an unprejudiced consideration of the facts and phenomena which Spiritualism presents. We do not fear as to the result.
But the objection which is most frequently urged against Spiritualism is, that “it is immoral in its tendencies.” In my anxiety to prove all things, I have also taken this matter into careful consideration, and diligently compared the annals of crime in the so-called Christian church with those of Spiritualism. For several years I have collected the items from the daily newspapers, that I might have them for future reference, and in due time come to a just and impartial conclusion. As I write, that record of ministerial delinquency, ecclesiastical abominations, and human frailty, lies before me. Where I have found one spiritual sheep that has gone astray, I have found ninety and nine of the Shepherds in Israel in great need of repentance. Let the church cleanse her own Augean stables before she utters one word in relation to the immoralities of Spiritualism. Casting stones and calling hard names will not profit either party. It is neither Christianity nor Spiritualism that is responsible for these immoralities, but poor human nature. The remedy lies not in creeds or forms of faith, but in the growth of Truth in the Understanding, and Love in the heart. Not as a Spiritualist, but as a child of humanity, do I hope that the entire world may yet have a moral standard, harmonious with the laws of God and Nature, and consistent with the highest good of the individual and society.
Having, from inclination and a sense of duty to my kindred in the faith, pursued the subject thus far, the “Spirit moves me” to present, in conclusion, a few quotations which require neither comment nor explanation.
“If we are wise we shall sit down upon the brink and content ourselves with saying what the spiritual world is not and cannot be. * * The soul must be entirely ignorant of the second body until it has ceased to use the first. * * The new organs, may be, all correspond in intention and effect to the present ones; but we say that they do not yet exist. They cannot exist; the ground is pre-occupied.”
John Weiss,
Unitarian Monthly Journal, May, 1866.
“Moreover, the satellites of Jupiter are invisible to the naked eye, and therefore can exercise no influence over the Earth, and therefore would be useless, and therefore do not exist.”
Francesco Sizzi, Times of Galileo.
“If the Spiritualists would secure the favor of sensible people they must let them see that they are not at war with good sense. * * It were better that very sacred and dear beliefs should go, than that this enemy of all rational belief should remain. Let us prefer to have no other world, than to have another world full of teasing, troublesome, meddlesome beings, who interfere with the rational order of the world we dwell in.”
O. B. Frothingham,
“The Index,” July 8, 1871.