The Spiritualist newspaper > No.318, September 27th 1878

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THE SPIRITUALIST.
Sept. 27, 1878.
OPENING OF THE NEW SPIRITUALISTIC HALL IN
LIVERPOOL.
In accordance with the announcement made in The Spiritualist,
the Liverpool Psychological Society, formally opened their new place of
meeting, the Perth-street Hall, on Sunday last, when Mr. J. J. Morse
delivered one trance inspirational lecture at 11 a.m., and another at
6.30 p.m. Both lectures were well received by appreciative audiences,
principally composed of Spiritualists. The new hall is a simple struc¬
ture, intended for temporary use previous to the building of a more sub¬
stantial edifice by the society. The appointments are unpretending,
intended more for use than ornament. At the east end of the hall is
the platform, which is movable, and can be enlarged for entertainment
purposes when not required for lecturing. On Sunday it was covered
with a green carpet, and had on it a small stand, upon which was placed
a handsome bouquet of flowers; green damask curtains filled up the back¬
ground. The hall is well lighted with four skylights, six windows, and two
six-light gaseliers, hanging from the roof, and two gas pendants, one on
each side of the platform. The sitting accommodation is provided for
in the shape of 200 substantial wooden chairs. To the right of the
entrance to the hall is a large, heavy cupboard, containing the society’s
library ; in front of this stands the bookstall, well provided with books,
pamphlets, and the periodicals of the movement, also with some works
on vegetarianism and anti-vaccination. The library and bookstall are,
I understand, the society’s property, and its interests are well looked
after by the society’s librarian, Mr. Scott. Everything has a fresh and
clean look, suggestive of a new departure. For the hall the society is
indebted to the single-handed energy of Mr. John Chapman, whose
name has been so long connected with the movement in Liverpool.
THE ONEIDA COMMUNITY. j
Some agitation has been occasioned among American Spiritualists in j)
consequence of some members and friends of the Oneida community \ j
having connected themselves with Spiritualism, so the following par- ! j
ticulars about the community, given by The Chicago Times, may be
of interest:— j
The little band at Oneida, with its practical communism, again comes
into public view through reports that it is about to be dissolved volun- i)
tarily. The members are free to admit that internecine dissensions have [ ]
disturbed the harmony that was wont to prevail in the community, but j |
claim that they were never so prosperous, and never more intent on j j
pursuing the line of life they have marked out. Scepticism has crept | (
into their councils, and some, comparatively few, withdrawals have (
occurred, but otherwise the community flourishes. )
The peculiar sect, founded upon interpretations of the Bible, which is j
susceptible of so many constructions by men of different minds, call j
their little community the kingdom of heaven. Following the teachings )
of the primitive church, they hold their goods in common. Marriages
are prohibited, but in a community numbering three hundred and sixty j
souls there are sixty children. Where celibacy is the rule, and no ex¬
ceptions are admitted, even to prove it, whence come the little ones ?
Marriage in f6rm only is prohibited. A system of stirpiculture prevails,
and it is designed to rear the human family on the principles which j
govern the breeding of fancy stock. Parents have been selected, not j
with a view to union for life, but for the purpose of raising a superior j j
race of men and women. The experiment has not been rigidly tried, |
for the physician of the community admits that little further has been j
attempted than “ laying a veto on combinations for parentage which were j
obviously unfit.” Statistics of results, it is claimed, are favourable to ij
the experiment. Of fifty-five children born in the community in nine I j
years five died at birth. The rest have lived entirely free from serious j |
illness, and have not been assailed by measles, whooping-cough, and j j
such other contagious diseases as are supposed to be the common lot of j
childhood. The five deaths are attributed to imperfect selections for |) |
parentage. |
The community is increasing and multiplying its worldly store. i
Commencing their peculiar life under disadvantageous circumstances, j j
the Oneidas are now proprietors and employers. They own a section of < j
land upon which they reside, and obtain large profits for horse and cattle ) \
raising and butter-making. They have a silk factory, a steel-trap !
factory, and, as any patron of a grocery store must know, can fruits and j j
vegetables extensively. The value of the property is estimated at half j
a million, and every member of the community is assured a comfortable i
livelihood. If any member, urged by the possessory principle which i
leads to personal accumulation, or by a desire to see and mix with the j
world, wishes to leave the community, he may withdraw any capital he I
brought it; if he brought nothing, he is presented his clothing and one !
hundred dollars in money. j j
All the neighbourhood objection to the community, which once was | j
rife and threatened its expulsion, has died away. It is peaceful and well !) |
disposed, offending in nothing but its method of propagating the species; [ i
and it gives considerable employment, with the reputation of being a j j j
generous taskmaster. The people of the county in which it is located j) j
no longer think of disturbing it. While they condemn one peculiarity j)!
of the system glaringly at variance with common practice and belief, j ] j
they acknowledge that its ways are the ways of gentleness, and all its ;)!
paths are peace. If it expire, the fatal blow will probably come from j |j
within; and it is questioned whether it will survive the death of John j \ \
Humphrey Noyes, the present leader, who interprets the Scriptures for i (j
the community, and, while disavowing chieftaincy, gives the little | i
community laws. j j
Me. W. J. Colville will leave Liverpool for Boston, United States, I (i
on the 10th October next. ill
The Baroness von Yay writes that she and some friends have
established a temporary hospital for twelve wounded soldiers, and that
they are fully employed in tending the sick, making bandages, and
s upplying other necessaries.
Demons Accokding to Spieitism.—According to Spiritist doctrine,
neither “ angels ” nor “ devils ” are beings apart from the rest of the
creation ; all the intelligent beings of the universe are of one and the
same nature. United to material bodies, they constitute the human
race which peoples the earth and the other inhabited worlds of the
universe ; freed from those bodies, they constitute the spirit-world, or
the spirits who people space. God has created them perfectible; He
has given them an aim, viz., the attainment of perfection and of the
happiness which is the consequence of perfection; but He has not given
them perfection; He has willed that they should owe it to their own
personal efforts, so that they might have all the merit of its acquisition.
From the first moment of their creation, they progress incessantly,
either in the state of incarnation, or in the life of the spirit-world;
arrived at the culminating point of their purification they become pure
spirits, or angels, according to the common expression; so that, from
the embryo of the intelligent being to the angel, there is an uninterrupted
chain, each link of which marks a degree in the scale of progress. It
follows, therefore, that there are spirits at every degree of moral and
intellectual advancement, according as they are at the top, the bottom,
or the middle, of the ladder ; and that, consequently, there are, among
them, spirits of every degree of knowledge and of ignorance, of good¬
ness and of badness. In the lower ranks of spirits there are some who
are still deeply imbued with the love of evil, and who take pleasure in
doing wrong ; spirits who may perfectly well be called demons, for they
are capable of all the misdeeds attributed to the latter. If Spiritism
abstains from giving them that name, it is because the world has
attached to it the idea of beings distinct from the human
race, of a nature essentially bad, doomed to evil for all eternity,
and incapable of progressing in goodness. According to the
doctrine of the Church, the demons were created good, and have
become bad through their disobedience; they are “ fallen
angelsthey were placed by God at the top of the ladder, and they
have fallen from that elevation. According to Spiritism, they are
imperfect spirits who will grow better in course of time; they are still
at the foot of the ladder, but they will reach the top sooner or later.
Those who, through their carelessness, their obstinacy, or their per¬
versity, remain longer in the lower ranks, incur the penalty of their
persistence in evil, for the habit of wrong doing renders their return to
goodness all the more difficult; but there comes a time when they grow
weary of the misery of such an existence and of the sufferings which are
its consequence; they begin to compare their own existence with that
of the good spirits, they understand that it is for their own interest to
return to the path of rectitude, and they endeavour to become better;
but this they do of their own free will, and without being constrained to
do so. They are placed under the law of progress by the fact of their
being capable of progressing, but they are not compelled to progress in spite
of themselves, God furnishes them, incessantly, with the means of pro¬
gressing ; but they are free to use, or not to use, the means thus
furnished. If progress were obligatory, there would be no merit in
progressing, and God wills that each should have the merit of his action;
He does not place any one of them in the front rank as a matter of
privilege, but that highest rank is open to all, and no one reaches it
otherwise than through his own efforts. The highest angels have won
their grade, like all others, and have travelled up to their present eleva¬
tion by the same road.—Hardee's “ Heaven and Hell," Blackwell's
translation.
Price Two Shillings. Post Free. Cloth. Red Edges,
SPIRITUALISM.
By P. P. Alexander, M.A. ;
Author of Mill and Garlyle, Moral Causation, etc.
This work contains among other items of interest a record of phenomena
observed at seances hj the author, and a close criticism of some of the writings
of Professor Tyndall about Spiritualism.
“ Mr. Alexander is unquestionably a very clever writer.”—Saturday Review,
The Spiritualist Newspaper Branch Office, Bloomsbury, London.
Price Five Shillings. Post Free. Cloth. Crown 8vo.
ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SOMNAMBULISM.
By Edwin Lee, M.D.,
Corresponding member of the Medical Academies of Paris, Berlin, Munich,
Brussels, Madrid, Turin, and Florence. Author of the Prize Essay on
“Mesmerism and Therapeutics,” awarded by the Milan Society for the
Promotion of Science, Arts, and Letters.
The Spiritualist Newspaper Branch Office, Bloomsbury, London.
Price 3s. 6d. Post Free. Illustrated. Demy 8vo, 407 pp.
STUDIEN UBER DIE GEISTERWELT,
By the. Baroness Adelma yon Yay (Countess Wurmbrand).
Also, by the same Authoress, price 2s. 6d., post free (Illustrated with diagrams),
GEIST, KRAFT, STOFF.
The Spiritualist Newspaper Branch Office, Bloomsbury, London.
Price Five Shillings. Post Free. Cloth.
A LYRIC OF THE GOLDEN AGE.
Given through the inspirational mediumship of Thomas Lake Harris. These
poems, given while Mr. Harris was in a state of trance, are of rare literary
excellence.
The Spiritualist Newspaper Branch Office, Bloomsbury, London.