“Now clearly understand, oh ye nations of the whole world! it was not God who was born out of the Virgin Mary, and who was crucified, but the before holy angel Christ—understand this, and the Holy Scriptures will be plain to your comprehension—Christians have erred greatly during so many generations, in like manner as the followers of Mahomet and of Buddah have erred—errors that were carelessly accepted by powerful rulers, evil and ignorant, and forced upon the priests and the people, generation after generation. The time is at hand, even knocking at the door, when your understanding shall be made clear, and neither the professing followers of Christ, nor of Buddah, nor of Mahomet, nor the unwise of other sects, will continue in their many errors.”—“Christ is Coming,” pp. 135-6.
“Yet to-day, if one dare question the value of Christianity, what a howl is raised from one end of Christendom to the other! We say so advisedly, for it is the howl of fear.... Though Christianity to-day declines and is losing power and vigour, yet in its day it hath done great and glorious good in the work of human redemption. It was an advance upon the religions which preceded it.”—“What of the Dead? An Address by Mr. J. J. Morse, in the Trance State,” p. 5. London: J. Burns. 1873.
[42] 2 St. Peter iii. 3, 4.
[43] “A Scientific View of Modern Spiritualism: a Paper read by Mr. T. Grant to the Maidstone and Mid-Kent Natural History and Philosophical Society on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 1872.” London: J. Burns.
[44] A remarkable example of this has been courteously given to me by Mr. Thomas Bosworth, of 198, High Holborn, as follows:—“Some seven or eight years ago there appeared in one of the newspapers a story to the following effect:—A commercial firm at Bolton, in Lancashire, had found that a considerable sum of money which had been sent to their bank by a confidential clerk, had not been placed to their credit. The clerk remembered the fact of taking the money, though not the particulars, but at the bank nothing was known of it. The clerk, feeling that he was liable to suspicion in the matter, and anxious to elucidate it, sought the help of spirit medium. The medium promised to do her best. Having heard the story, she presently passed into a kind of trance. Shortly after she said, ‘I see you on your way to the bank—I see you go into the bank—I see you go to such and such part of the bank—I see you hand some papers to a clerk—I see him put them in such and such a place under some other papers—and I see them there now.’ The clerk went to the bank, directed the cashier where to look for the money, and it was found; the cashier afterwards remembering that in the hurry of business he had there deposited it. A relation of mine saw this story in a newspaper at the time, and wrote to the firm in question, the name of which was given, asking whether the facts were as stated. He was told in reply that they were. That gentleman who was applied to, having corrected one or two unimportant details in the above narration, wrote on November 9, 1874:—‘Your account is a correct one. I have the answer of the firm to my enquiry at home now.’”
[45] The term “willer” and “necromancer” are used as identical by Easterns as well as by the aborigines of New Zealand.
[46] There have been published “Rules to be Observed for the Spirit Circle,” “framed under the Direction and Impression of Spirits,” by Emma Hardinge, from which the following points are gathered. Firstly, there is a definition, and it is stated that “the Spirit Circle is the assembling together of a given number of persons for the purpose of seeking communion with the spirits who have passed away from Earth into the higher world of souls.” A leading direction enjoins the inquiring votaries to “Avoid strong light, which by producing excessive motion in the atmosphere, disturbs the manifestations. A very subdued light is the most favourable for any manifestations of a magnetic character, especially for spiritual magnetism.” “Strongly positive persons of any kind” and “the dogmatical” should not be admitted. Furthermore, these “Rules” contain the following:—
“Spirit control is often deficient, and at first almost always imperfect. By often yielding to it, your organism becomes more flexible and the spirit more experienced; and practice in control is absolutely necessary for spirits as well as mortals. If dark and evil-disposed spirits manifest to you, never drive them away, but always strive to elevate them and treat them as you would mortals under similar circumstances. Do not always attribute falsehoods to ‘lying spirits,’ or deceiving mediums. Many mistakes occur in the communion of which you cannot always be aware. Strive for Truth, but rebuke Error gently, and do not always attribute it to design, but rather to mistake, in so difficult and experimental a stage of the communion as mortals at present enjoy with spirits.”
[47] The kind of communication made to those who first consult the spirits, is just of that nature calculated to allure the superficial, the frivolous, the uninformed, triflers, and seekers after novelties; and to lead them on to a more frequent intercourse and a deeper kind of communion.
[48] Dr. J. G. Davey, M.D., of Northwoods, Bristol, writes as follows:—“I have satisfied myself not only of the mere abstract truth of Spiritualism, but of its great and marvellous power for good, both on moral and religious grounds. The direct and positive communications vouchsafed to me from very many near and dear relatives and friends, said to be dead, have been of the most pleasing yet startling character.”—Report on Spiritualism, p. 232. London: Longmans, 1871.