The Spiritualist newspaper > No.107, September 11th 1874

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THE SPIRITUALIST.
Sept. 11, 1874,
had done; but not a few—who would not have sacri¬
ficed anything themselves for the sake of peace and
love under similar circumstances—then cried “ See how
quarrelsome these people are.” Having obtained the
ear of poor people, by means of a journal issued under
cost price at the public expense, Mr. Burns is now
using the power thus, gained against many of those,
like Messrs. Mylne, Martheze, and other members of
the Association, who gave and are giving it to him, by
announcing to his simple-minded readers that his
benefactors, the members of the National Association,
have started the Association to oppose him. This
many poor, uneducated people in the country, and
some of the members of the Marylebone Society firmly
believe, for he actually stands in relation to some of
these exactly the same as a Pope. Owing to the acci¬
dental circumstance of so much public capital having in
the past been thus unwisely, but kind-heartedly, thrown
without discrimination to a person who showed ability in
making a great outcry for it, a temporary power has
been raised which is now used in the attempt to sow
dissension wholesale throughout the Spiritual move¬
ment in the way described.
Of course it was open to the National Association
or its secretaries to deny his unfounded statements—
which they did—but his plan of action was then
exceedingly simple, namely, he refused to print their
letters, which were very brief ones, since it was
scarcely necessary to say more than that the statements
he published were the unfounded fabrications of whoever
invented them. Here is one of the letters which he
refused to print, and others will be found in the back
numbers of The Spiritualist:—
WHERE THE CAECASE IS, ETC., ETC.
To the Editor of “ The Medium."
Sir,'—I am instructed by the Council of this Association to
request you to publish their emphatic denial of the correctness
of the statements under the above heading in your last
number.1
The Association has never, collectively or individually,
practised or sanctioned any “ persecution or misrepresentation
of the Institution, or those connected with itnor are they
aware of any such persecution or misrepresentation having
been practised by any of their members. And further, they
have never deputed any one “ to negotiate an alliance ” with
you, or to make you any such offers as you state to have been
made to you by Mr. Hoskins.
(Signed) Emily Kislingbury, Hon. Sec.
British National Association of Spiritualists,
3rd March, 1874.
The clear-beaded and intelligent Spiritualists con¬
nected with the local societies, men who from their
capacity are unanimously elected by their brethren to
responsible offices like that of president or secretary,
are in nearly every case in favour of national union
instead of national dissension, because they have
informed themselves of all the facts of the case, which
some of the others have not. Among those in favour of
national friendly action are Mr. Blyton, the founder and
most active worker of the Dalston Society; the brothers
Hinde of the Darlington Society; Mr. Bowman of the
Glasgow Society; Mr. Everitt of the Bishop Auckland
Society; Mr. Pearce of the St. John’s Association;
Messrs. Wason, Lament, Chapman, and Shepherd of the
Liverpool Society; Mr. Cogman, of the East London
Society; Mr. Hunt of the Marylebone Society; Mr.
G. B.^Clark of the Edinburgh Society ; and so on. Mr.
Hare, one of the guiding powers of the Newcastle
Society, spoke to us very favourably of the National
Association, but we do not know whether he is a
member of it or not. The more intelligent members
of the local societies are now at meetings and elsewhere
enlightening their brethren who do not know the facts
of the case, and as all the “ bunkum” which has been
thrown to foment dissension and prevent union has not
the slightest trace of fact as its basis, in a month or two
all the evil will probably be cleared away. Pointing
out the facts through the press will greatly aid those
engaged in disseminating truth and goodwill, otherwise
it is not to our taste to issue an exceptional number of
The Spiritualist like the present one, dealing with
a temporary source of dissension in the Spiritual
movement, but the task is necessary, and we hope that
it will never have to be resumed. The National
Association is composed of some of the best Spiritualists
in this country so it can easily “ live down” misrepre¬
sentation ; it might wisely also meet objections in
a printed circular to the local societies, even the grossly
absurd one that the great friendly national step was
inaugurated by representatives of Spiritualists in all the
great towns of the United Kingdom, to oppose a solitary
honest man in his business. We shall have 20-ton
Nasmyth steam hammers made for cracking nuts next.
NOTES ON CHUECH OF ENGLAND DOCTBINES.*
No. IY.
BT ANONTMOT7S CKITICS.
We considered in our last writing the first assump¬
tion contained in the doctrine of the Atonement, viz.,
“ That sin having entered the world through the weak¬
ness of Adam, the justice of God demanded the punish¬
ment of the whole human race.” We showed you that
the record of the fall of man contained in the Mosaic
writings was so irrational as to be altogether unworthy
of credit or consideration. This conclusion, if it com¬
mands your assent, involves and disposes of the second
paragraph of this first assumption, viz., “ That the
justice of God demanded the punishment of the whole
human race.”
It is interesting to observe how all Christian theology
is founded upon this wondrous history of the “ fall of
man.” Countless generations have accepted the narra¬
tive as absolutely true, and in all their endeavours to
solve the great enigma of the relations between the
Almighty and His creatures have accepted these records
as “ axioms” true and infallible as those enunciated by
Euclid.
Had they commenced their investigations by laying
down as simple “ postulates,” “ That God made the
world, and all things in it, and that He is infinitely
loving, faithful, wise, and just,” and rejected all history,
whatever its source, that was plainly irreconcilable with
such self-evident conclusions, they would have started
with less “ revelation” doubtless, but they would have
had reasonable grounds for believing their premises to
be correct.
As it is, we can only liken mankind to a mathemati¬
cian who enters upon abstruse calculations with a pro¬
found conviction that “ twice two are five,” and wearies
his intellect in fruitless endeavours to arrive at the re¬
sult which he anticipated. Ere he succeed, he must
reconsider the starting, point of his calculations.
We assert that the internal evidence contained in
these records is sufficient to stamp them as the product
of an unenlightened age, and we would further point
* Given through the writing mediumship of a gentleman who does not
wish his name to he published.