Modern spiritism; its science and religion - SpiritArchive.org

Meeting of the Guild
I found myself in the evening in a large double
drawing-room in the south-western district of
London, some sixty or seventy of the Guild being
present, including some well-known Spiritists, and a
few others distinguished as pioneers in Psychic
Research and in Theosophy. I was at once asked
to open the discussion on the subject "Whether
the voices heard by mediums, or the messages
received through the various media of movements,
tappings, and automatic writing were subjective
the product conscious or unconscious of human
beings in the room or of some other force outside
themselves, and, therefore, objective."
I said that I should much prefer to hear the views
of experts in Spiritism first upon the subject, and
that, if they would kindly open the discussion, I
would speak later on. This was agreed to, and many
views were advanced; and by far the majority were
in favour of spirit communications being mainly
from some other spirit than the medium's, though
I was surprised to find the subjective view was also
in favour, and was ably supported. When I rose
to speak and looked round upon my audience, and
considered the Quest upon which they were embarked,
as old speakers used to say, "my spirit was
stirred within me," and I asked permission to make
a few general remarks before entering on the important
subject of the evening.
The Great Spirit
World
I said, in effect, that I felt sure we all agreed
that, in the abstract, Spiritism, or at any rate
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