The Spiritualist > No.4, December 31st 1869

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THE SPIRITUALIST.
Dec. 31, 1869.
EYIDENCES OF SPIRITUALISM.
In Plato’s Divine and moral works, subject, “ Theages”
or “ Wisdom,” Socrates tells Theages—“ I have had by
the favour of God, ever since I was born, a genius that
always accompanies and governs me. This genius is a
voice which, whenever it speaks to me, always diverts
me from what I have a mind to do,” and much more to
the same effect. Socrates boldly told the truth, and for
exposing the superstition of the day was killed, but not
until he had demonstrated, on the morning of his exe¬
cution, the immortality of the soul.
Joan of Arc, who led the French successfully against
our soldiers, was burnt to death, not because the English
were beaten, but because she declared that she was in¬
structed by a voice from an unseen intelligence which
she called “ God,” and as her conscience would not
allow her to recant she was burnt, and as the flames
approached her she exclaimed, “ Yes, my voices were
from God! ”
Galileo, who taught that the earth rotated on its
axis and revolved around the sun, only saved his life by
going down on his knees and recanting.
These are sufficient warnings of the state of public
opinion respecting those who have the courage to avow
a knowledge of facts, dissonant with popular prejudices.
Wesley, the founder of a religion bearing his name,
was a witness of the spiritual phenomena called raps,
which occurred in a marked manner in his own family,
one or more of whom were rapping media. All the
details are perfectly authenticated by documents written
and signed upon the spot, and many of the facts will be
found in Southey’s Life of Wesley. Swedenborg, again,
a scientific writer of no small power, had most remark¬
able experiences as a conscious clairvoyant.
In the case of the Seeress of Prevorst many instances
are given, attested by declarations of medical men and
state functionaries, of remarkable phenomena similar to
many I have personally witnessed. Dale Owen’s list of
cases in his Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World
are well worth perusal.
The Indian Government, some years since, caused an
official inquiry to be made into the reality of certain
mesmeric phenomena among the natives, and the result
of the inquiry confirmed the truth of the facts of mes¬
merism. Notwithstanding all these and many other
existing records of unusually well-authenticated cases,
it is surprising how few people in this country have at¬
tempted to inquire into or know anything about the
subject. I know many medical men who, when the
study-door is locked, freely and earnestly discuss these
matters, and tell their own experiences, but at the same
time confess that they dare not open their mouths to
others, fearing the fate of Dr. Elliotson, who lost a
practice of thousands a year for telling the truth.—
Farley.
Agassi/ on Education.—At the close of the exercises of
the Association of Science, which held its convention at
Salem, U.S., recently, a compliment having been paid by
one of the speakers to Mr. George Peabody, as the founder
and patron of the Academy of Science which bears his
name, Professor Agassiz rose and delivered himself of some
remarks on the general subject of scientific education and
its tendencies, which deserve to be repeated in their tenor in
this place. He told the people of Salem that.they scarcely
realised what embryo they were trying to rear in their
academy, nor what was to be the result of its final intel¬
lectual growth. Its influence over the community, he said,
could not fail to be wide. In regard to the plan of in¬
struction which had been adopted, he thought he could de¬
tect in it something which would dispel from the minds of
the community certain obstructions to the truth concerniug
matters in which we are all Interested — our future eternal
life—but of which he said we now scarcely dared to speak,
because what we should have to say might go contrary to
certain established doctrines and to certain long-cherished
convictions with which the community was imbued, holding
them as sacred, when well informed men knew better.
And he further said, what intelligent Spiritualists have long
held, that the teaching which scientific institutions were to
furnish, would tend to bring about anew era in that system
of popular education of which they were all so proud, but
which at present was merely a system of routine teaching,
in comparison to that rational study of Nature which ele¬
mentary education might become. It is a timely admission
and from the foremost of our scientific men.—Banner of Light
The Royal Institution.—The Royal Institution session
began last Tuesday afternoon, when Dr. John Tyndall, F.R.S.,
delivered the first of a course of six lectures upon “ Light,”
adapted to a juvenile auditory. The theatre of the Institution
was full to overflowing, so that many were unable to obtain
seats. Among the lectures to be delivered this session, con¬
nected with man and his development, are six by Professor
Humphry, M.D., F.R.S., on “ The Architecture of the Human
Body ; ” Tuesdays January 18th to February 22nd. Two lec¬
tures on “ Plant Life as Contrasted with that of Animals,” by
Dr. Masters, F.L.S.; Tuesdays March 1st and 8th. Four
lectures by Professor Rolleston, M.D., F.R.S., on “ Deductions
from the Comparative Anatomy of the Nervous System,”
Tuesdays March 15th to April 5th. Four lectures on “The
Science of Religion,” by Professor Max Muller, M.A., LL.D.,
Saturdays February 19th to March 12th. Four , lectures on
“ The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy,” by Pro¬
fessor Blackie, Tuesdays April 26th to May 17th. Among the
lectures delivered during past sessions at the Royal Institution,
there were two in which the subject of Spiritualism was
largely introduced. One of these lectures was by Mr. E. B.
Tylor, on “ The Survival of Savage Thought in Modern Civi¬
lisation,” and the other was by Dr. Carpenter, Vice-President
of the Royal Society, on “ The Unconscious Action of the
Brain.” The president of the Royal Institution is Sir Henry
Holland, Bart., F.R.S.
Ifteprts of JEmings.
[When reports of the speeches of spirits are printed in this Journal, non-
Spiritualists should understand that spirits out of the body are wise or
foolish, truthful or untruthful, just the same as spirits in the body. More¬
over, they are but individuals, so do not know everything. The statements of
a spirit are but the assertions of an individual; but by comparing the state¬
ments of many spirits, it may in time be possible to discover in what points
they agree, and to sift out the unreliable communications. Many spirits
cannot see each other, any more than we can see them, and as some of them
are thus in different states of life, it does not follow that contradictory
messages are therefore untruthful. Spirits are of different religions, conse-
sequentiy their teachings do not altogether agree; there is no more uniformity
in the next world than in this one. It is the business of this journal to report
facts, so we are in no way responsible for the religions, scientific, or any other
teachings given by individual spirits,]
SEANCES AT THE SPIRITUAL LIBRARY.
SHEISra MEDIUMSHIP—ME. CLEGrGr OP YOBK—SOMNAMBULISM—DISTURBING
INPLUBNOES AT OIROLKS—PURGATORY—BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT—PRO¬
GRESSION IN THE ANIMAL WORLD — SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATIONS — AN
EARTH-BOUND SPIRIT—EARTHLY IMPEDIMENTS TO DEVELOPMENT—THE
FORMATION OP THE SPIRIT WORLDS—GRINDSTONES—AUDIBLE SPIRIT
VOICES—DEPARTED FRIENDS.'
On Friday evening, December 17th, at eight o’clock, the
ordinary weekly seance was held at the Spiritual Library, 15,
Southampton-row, High Holborn, W.C., under the medium-
ship of Mr. J. J. Morse. Rather more than twenty ladies and
gentlemen were present.
Mr. Mouse, who at times is a seeing medium, suddenly
became fixed and rigid, and said that he saw a rough and
angry sea, with a steamer coming towards him, which all at
once tilted up, and went down. No explanation of the cir¬
cumstance was given, and the medium said that the sight had
made him feel nervous.
A spirit then attempted to obtain control of the medium in
order to speak, but failed, and then by writing mediumship
said that she was Mrs. E. Farnham.
Another spirit then obtained control of the medium, who
with great gravity and deliberation began rubbing his knees
and legs with his hands. He said that when in earth-life he
was troubled with rheumatics, and felt them very badly when
thus coming back through a medium ; the pains would sub¬
side presently, and then he would speak.
Mr. Burns—Why don’t you take a Turkish bath? Accord¬
ing to some people you ought to hare plenty of heat to prepare
one, in your world. (Laughter).
The spirit said that those who thought so had the heat in
their own brains; he knew that many people believed that
there was plenty of heat in the regions fie came from, and as
he himself held the same opinions while on the earth, the
stone thrown at random by Mr. Burns had hit rather fiard.
Still, he always thought that he should not go to the hot regions
himself, because he had been purified by suffering; now he
felt all his pains coming back again, fiecause being in an
earthly body again brought back his old ideas, and the thought
of the spirit acts upon the instrument it uses. It is on enter¬
ing and leaving the medium that the pains are always worst,
but he had been told by old hands at speaking through
mediums, that in time such effects would wear off ; he had
been in attendance, like many other spirits, at previous
stances, anxious to come before public, and this was the first
opportunity he had had of doing so ; not that he got anything
himself for speaking to them, but fie came for the purpose of
doing good to those present. He said that when he first woke
up after passing through the dying process he found himself
neither in heaven, hell, earth, or anywhere else, but passing
through space witfi great velocity, with two spirit gentlemen,
one on each side of him, supporting him by tfie arms. He
was very much startled, but directly afterwards felt “Oh,
I’m all right. It’ll be all right presently,” so waited pa¬
tiently to see what would be the end of it. Soon they came
in sight of a very beautiful island, with the ocean breaking
against its rocks, and taking him to a large house near the
shore, they told fiim that he would have to stop there till his
mind became all right. “ Oh !” said he in reply, “then I
don’t care how long my mind takes to get right.” But when'
left to himself he began to think differently, and to remember
very clearly some awkward little acts in earth-life which he
had committed “ on the quiet,” for nobody took any notice Of
what the “rheumaticky old man” said or did. He found
that these thoughts gave him great pain, and made him very
uncomfortable. Then one of the gentlemen—his teacher and
guardian spirit—asked him to come with him to revisit the
earth once more. He replied that he would rather stop where
he was, “ besides, you know, my mind’s not right yet.” His
teacher told him that that was precisely why it was
necessary for him to return to earth, and added that he could
bring his present residence with him. He laughed, and
said that “ he must be pretty strong to be able to do that,”
but strange to say, he found the assertion true, and that fie
brought his residence with him in his mind.* However, he
returned with a party of spirits, and found that some of tfiem
began to work hard at influencing the minds of individuals
upon earth who harboured bad feelings, and in this way they
in time undid the evil they themselves had committed. But
it is slow and tiresome work—very much against the grain.
Although he did not wish it, he felt that fie must do the
same. He met a friend he had injured, andhad to trace out how
far the injury extended ; it was astonishing how many people,
in addition to the one who directly receives the injury, suffer
from it; a bad act is like a stone dropped into the water, for
it throws out circles in all directions, and very hard and slow
work it is for spirits to undo the evil they have committed.
They cannot feel at ease till it is done. The rheumatics
were so bad he could not stand it any longer, so must leave
the medium. His name was Walter Arthur Clegg.
What was your occupation, and where did you lire ?
Mr. Clegg—He wants to know the occupation of the
rheumaticky old man 1 (Laughter.) Well, I was a carter at
York, and died about nine years ago.
Mr. Mouse then woke up, and complained of feeling pains
all over his body.
The next spirit gave the name of Catherine Plunkett, and
said that she died about five years ago, at Lee, in Kent. Her
narrative is printed on another page.
Tien Sien Tie, the guardian spirit of Mr. Morse, took pos¬
session of the medium while the company were speaking
about the possibility of somnambulic phenomena being ade¬
quate to explain away the spiritual origin of the manifesta¬
tions. Tien then said that by putting leading questions to
somnambulists it is possible to lead them on, and to make
them bring out things which are in the mind of the ques¬
tioner, but that where there is an external intelligence at
work the plan will fail, although w ith a weak, imperfectly de-
* Some German and English metaphysicians have recently raised the
question “ Is there an external world ?” and have tried to prove that what
are supposed to he external phenomena, are merely mental impressions.—
Ed.
veloped medium it might be difficult at times to tell the dif¬
ference between spiritual and somnambulic control.
Mr. Burns—Once I made a journey of twelve miles to a
stance in Yorkshire, thinking upon one subject all the way,
and when 1 reached the circle the medium., a young man, ut¬
tered all my previous thoughts, and then carried on the subject
much further. How do you explain that ?
Tien Sien Tie said that the mind of Mr. Burns might have
been influenced by a spirit, who afterwards gave out the
thoughts through the medium, and then pursued the subject
further. In this case the mind of the medium was probably
negative to the mind of Mr. Burns, and the thoughts of the
latter might to some extent, have spoilt the integrity of the
remarks by the communicating spirit.
Mr. Burns—Once I entered a room where a circle was
sitting, so quietly that those present neither saw nor heard me,
yet at once distinctly felt my presence. How was that ?
Tien Sien Tie said that “ the sphere ” had probably been
formed round the circle by the spirits, and Mr. Burns being
positive to members of the circle, they all felt his influence
when he entered. Had he been negative, probably only one
or two of the greatest sensitives present would have felt his
entrance. In all circles where weak physical manifestations
are obtained, the presence of persons of a sceptical or positive
nature often Overpowers the control of the presiding intelli¬
gence.
Mr. Burns -I hare heard of circles where one of the persons
present could, by his will, cause the table tn move.
Tien Sien Tie said that that could only be where the pre¬
siding spirit had not had sufficient experience in his work,
and because of this want of knowledge the will of the person
in the body acted upon the link formed by the presiding in¬
telligence.
How do you know that you, and the spirits with you, are not
in an intermediate state of life, a/waiting the final judgment?
Tien Sien Tie said that he could see notfiing in his sphere
of life to warrant such an opinion. He saw around him
Christians of all denominations, as well as people of other re¬
ligions, and countries, and planets. He found that, in their
present state of existence, they were all improving in wisdom
and love, and growing in goodness and happiness. There
would be no use in being permitted to increase thus in love
and wisdom were they simply waiting for hell and the judg¬
ment day.
What is the difference between the soul, the spirit, and the
body ?
Tien Sien Tie said that the soul is the garment of tbespirit,
and the spirit cannot lose its soul, which is its outer conscious¬
ness. The persons in the room had each of them a physical
organisation, and permeating the whole of it was a “ life prin¬
ciple,” which continuously draws around it and spiritualises
what it requires from tfie physical nature. At death, the
physical body is no longer required, but the spiritualised par¬
ticles within ascend upwards in a bright golden shower; a
principle of elective affinity runs through these particles, so
that each one goes to its proper place, and a new body is
formed, finer and rarer than fiis hearers could comprehend.
This body is the soul, and it is animated by the spirit of the
Deity.
Is the spirit body composed of carbon, phosphorus, iron, and
such-like substances ?
Tien Sien Tie said that all chemical substances contain
within them an essential life, which is spirit, and is always
subject to sublimation, the lower continually giving birth to
something of a higher order. Those particles containing the
essential life, form the spirit body. The spirit world is a
natural world—as natural as the one on wfiich his hearers
lived.
Bo stones and minerals grow ?
Yes. All things improve and live, and clairvoyant sensitives
are often affected by the action going on in minerals and
stones.
Boes thought of a departed friend reach and influence that
friend in the spirit world ?
Yes.
Can you tell us the nature of animal life ?
Tien Sien Tie said that the development of all forms of life
is progressive. The formation of the brain of animals is not
so complete as in man, and when the change comes the
animal dies, and gives out its as yet unindividualised spirit
which floats out into the ocean of spirit. Men breathe the
unseen spirit life of material essences. The body of the dying
animal helped to give birth to a higher form of vegetable life
which, again, eliminated a higher form of animal life. When
the ultimate of materiality was reached, the spirit gained
power, and became master of matter, so as to be afile to control
it progressively. Step by step the brain was elaborated. The
first men were not individualised spirits, but were animals,
their brain being so small. In the slow course of time, spirit
gained [complete mastery over matter, and man became a
living soul—the breath of life was breathed into him, and he
became a living soul for ever. Self-control only begins when
development has reached a certain point.
A re you spirits now communicating with earth according to
a settled plan arranged among yourselves, or are the communi¬
cations given by individual spirits without any settled system ?
Tien Sien Tie—We are acting by a settled plan known to
very high spirits, but, as in earth life, we often obey laws
without knowing the existence of those laws, or whence they
come.
How far are you from the medium ?
Tien Sien Tie—I am six feet above the roof of the house in
which you meet, and am acting upon the brain of the medium,
who gives forth my thoughts, clothed in his own words. The
spirit then exhorted those present to improve their minds, to
grow in wisdom, and to study nature, the Divine book of the
Deity. Let them take the simplest flower that grows in the
garden and ask themselves “ Am I not a flower ? Have I not
successively developed, step by step, as this flower has done ?
Do not I also contain a spirit, and may I not become a brighter
and a better being than I am now?” He desired them to
think over these things, and when they felt the happiness
which such thoughts would be certain to bring them, they
should spread that happiness among their friends. He con¬
cluded by saying, “Farewell. Peace be with you.”
On Friday, December 24th, the usual weekly seance was
held at the Spiritual Library, but, it being Christmas eve, only
nine visitors were present. Mr. Morse went into the trance
state, and the first spirit, who gave the name of “ Mary
Willett,” delivered an address, which is printed in another
column.
The next one who came was a plain business man, who
seemed dissatisfied with his state, and gave a very poor
account of himself. His life, he Said, had been orthodox
enough, but, “on reaching the other side, the bank dis¬
honoured the note, when it was presented for payment.” He