Light V1 May 1881 - Iapsop.com

.., 7, 1881.) LIGHT. 139
be brought clearly to our understanding. We are apt to aaso· Do you aak how 7 Let us follow Dr.Slade from place to place.
ciate with wisdom an over-wrought refinement. True wisdom Wherever he appears the newsofhis "expoaure"has preceded him.
judgee all methoda-not evil ~ ae-by their ability to accompliah
ends. People are frequently ahocked by out~d Spirit large it is ample, and its influence with each individual not a
However absurd the pretence of that ''expoeure," for the world at
inanifeat.ations, little dreaming that the means employed correepond
moat admirably to the end sought to be accomplished. handicap tends to allay the excitement ; how it limits the result.
Spiritualist, must be overcome. It ia readily aeen ho~ this
A aublime law underlies all manifestation of Spirit, beside of Dr. Slade's work in large measure to the individuals he comes.
which the mere act of manifestation i1 insignificant. Its greatest directly in contact with. It was the more desirable to do this
force is in the direction of simplest form. It makes p~ because his converts were to be men of poeition and their
belt when it is allowed to proceed in a direct line, as a smgle influence, added to that of the doctor,_ except fo; the Muk,
shaft aimed at a Bingle object. The moment you seek to divide would have produced a tempest of excitement. .Aa it is the
the light-say, ~y t.aking in a friend-too personal "conditions" doctor was permitted to do a very quiet but most effective ,;ork,
moat be taken into account ; and as the other may present the excite!ll~nt due to the marvels wrought through him h8I!
antagonisms of which you little dr~, the result is that the been a mlJWilum, and the course of safeat progreaa-by individual
conversion-has been admirably maintained.
spiritual circuit is broken ; while the moment you seek widivided
individual communication, it is instantly re-established. You It is generally aaaumed by Spiritualists that the only pre·
cannot foru spiritual manifestations. You cannot dis~se them requisite to mediumahip ia an adapted organia&tion, and that the
oat of their order, except at your peril. A single medium and a qualities that constitute this adaptation are rare. Now I firmly
lingle aitter produce a maximum of direct spiritual force. It is believe that the organism, or material side of the caae, cuts a
-if anything i&--the " Open &.ame '' to communication. Two much s~aller figure than the " conditions," general and specific,
sitters generally divide the force, and frequently nullify that surround the wideveloped sensitive. Not one in a dozen of
it altogether. The presence of two mediums seldom results in those who are " mediumistic 11 is desired or choeen for active
any 1111.tiafactory manifestation, and by following this to a work. There are thousands who "see"a little, are "impreued"
"mediulllB' meeting" we enter the domain of Bedlam. now and then, or once in a while " controlled ; 11 but taken all
I eanuot encumber a paper of this aort with details. If my in all, their ability to communicate, when summed up, is only a
bearen are not prepared by aperie"ce to supply the argument source of annoyance, even to themselves. I take it that the
necemary to 1upport these generalisations, I doubt if any further word "development" has a much wider significance than is
elucidation would avail in bringing the subject into clearer li1?ht. related to the organism ; just as the "laws of control '' of which
Society is a most complex structure. The laws that widerlie Spirits tell us, mean something far beyond their 'dynamical
if.I development elude the keenest intellects. A science of the relations. In fine, J believe that the physical is, indeed, seldom
mind is as yet only a hope, hardly a prooµee. In comparative an obstruction to the 1piritual. The hindrances are nearly
psychology there are at best but a few tentative studies. As a alway& mental. The same ph88e1 of mediumahip, including
rule wrongs are still righted with the sword. It is only amongst materialisations, now observed, run down all along the line of
a few styled sentimentalists and impractical reformers that the historical record, and cease only because history is voiceleu.
potency of agitation receives due recognition. When mental Why these intermediate periods of spiritual silence, covering
forces are so little understood, is it matter for wonder that a centuries of time 7
mode of progrem, wisely adapted to man's myaterious self, should It seems essential to ultimate progress that now and then a
fail of recognition 7
veil should be drawn between the two worlds, that the human,
Al r. result of careful investigr.tion of the problems that per· or embodied, rnind may properly digest the alien pabulum.
plex moat inquirer&, I have become fully )>8rsuaded that a Periods of spiritual influx give birth and impetus to new lines
majority of so-called "exposures" of recognised mediums are of thought. But they are alao apt to foster 1uperatiti11n. When
ordained of the Spirit world ; and though they bring infinite the movement has received the force necessary to the aolution
1uJfering to mediums, deep chagrin to fond believers, and now of the problems with which it is freighted, the spiritual powers
and then a doubt, they are wise dispensations, as needed check. gradually withdraw, and the aggregate mind then paaaea through
and tafety-ttaltJU. The whole movement is at present centred certain now clearly recognised changes, in their order expressed
in medium.ship. Thia ii employed to further the cause, to hinder by scepticism, denial, pHBimism, nihilism.
it, to &hake it, to sift, to sort it, and, in fine, to make it precisely But the whirligig of time sets all things right. In the divine
whai it ia destined to be-and one cf the things it is NOT to be economy of the universe there is no 1uch word as " mistake."
for aome timt1 to come is " respectable."
Wherever there is a need there will be a supply-this not alwaya
Let us remember that in mediumahip the disease and the in a human, but a spiritual sense. Slowly, but surely, human
cure reaide in the same person. If the medium is the cause of passions, under Spint guidance, are turning into gentler thought·
a mental whirlwind, the medium alone may reatore the eq_uilibrium.
How 1 What has been done must be at least partially spirit of doubt shall have performed it.a appointed work, it will
lines, and .when in the wisdom of this beneficent over-eoul the
undone. Aa a rule, the friend& and admirers of a medium are be withdrawn from the stage, and rep1aoed by spiritual bl~
hi.a worst enemies. No sooner is mediumahip established than Progreaa knows no royal road. You cannot cheat it with
straightway the columns of all acceaaible publications are filled " short cuts." Freedom reaide'I not in constitutions engroued
with highly-coloured accounts of the marvels witneued. The on parchment, but in man'• development. The parchment ia
excitement is wrought to fever-beat; the faithful are jubilant ; but an expreaaion of development ; ancJ unleaa it be this, in
they are about to challenge the whole world, when, horrors ! natural order, it is only an instrument for mischief.
there is a collapse. The medium has been "expo&ed." It is ever an unthankful task to dispel illusions. The hope
Hence, I say, public mediums are martyrs. They expiate of a scientific Spiritualism has lured many into giving expression
our ignorance. Where we ahould defend we denounce ; wnere to their belief in the manifestations who would othe?WlBe have
we abould pity we execrate ; where we should love we hate. held their peace. Science is the bride of the nineteenth
llediuma may be said to absorb the wrath of the movement, and century. Over-much petting has made her fastidious, not to
hence are called upon to endure its suft'eri~. Over their sar conceited. The tributes laid at her feet she receives with a
bruised bodies the world is unwittingly marching to a higher mien bordering on the insolent. To-day this much-favoured beauty
civilisation. Somebody must suffer in a dispensation of this has only woida of acorn and contumely for the truth that
kind Shall it be the few or the many 1 Usually it is the Spiritualist "authorities" would force on her. By-and-bye ahe
multitude. They are blinded by excea1 of light, and rush will surely condescend to take an interest, and her baftled desire
madly to their doom. In this new dispensation it is wisely for dominion in this perplexing realm will be the victory of
ordered that the ma&&e11 shall make the transition utt~rly Eternal Spirit over Soulleaa Matter. ·
oblivious to the fact that the world is ~ing through a
revolution which, but for the " exposure' vent, would rend
SPIRIT IDBNTXTY.
aociety with vo 1 cauic fury. m •1- Bd' ,, "LI "
I desire now to call attention to an event with which all are "' 0 """ .tor 0 J GBT.
oonvenant. I refer to the so-called " expoaure " of Dr. Slade Sm,-If there is anything more likely to promote belief in
by Profeaaor Lankester and Dr. Donkin. In this case the Spiritualism than another, it is proofs of fpint Identity such u
tid · uall receded h · All d ffi are given in the excellent book of M.A. Oxon, and in the fifth
an ate virt Y P t e po1B0n. un ue e ecta were number of "LloBT." It is said that most interesting caaea of
neutrali&ed before produced. A single act was so wisely
ordered that it aerved an infinite variety of purpo&ef, and may tbe kind occur at private eeancea1 of which thoae interested in
do tervice during the medium's lifetime. In this case there was Spiritualism beyond those circles .know nothing. Why should
a work to do which could only- be done under certain that be ? It seems extremely exclusive and selfish where so
"conditions." H wu to be a world's work, yet under the lav;s many are eager for a gleam of light in the all but impenetrable
governing individual conversion. From any ordinary human darkneaa which invests Spiritualism. Could not such caae1 be
point of view we have here an irreconcilable paradoL
published without names, if that ahould be deaired, on their
Let us suppose Dr. Slade making the trip round the gloLe genuineneaa being vouched for by any well-known and reliable
wit.bout this handicap ; would not the excitement have paaaed Spiritualist, as the late Mr. Coleman cJid for an anonymous
all reuonable bounds 1 On the one hand the opposition, ever pamphlet upon Spiritualism published some years since 1 The
bitterand determined, would have taken a venomous tum, while utter untruthfulneaa and silly nature of the very great majority
Spiritualist.a, on the other, would have been correspondingly
of Spirit messages, as well as the falsification of namea, have to
active and bellicoa.}. Unchecked, spiritual propaganda would my ce~ain. knol!l~ge_induced many who were at one time verr.
have macJe way in directions most undesirable, and under con- enthus1aa~ic Spmtu~1sts now to rfgard i~ :with in~erence if
ditiona ovpoeed to the proceaa of individualisation. But that not. aversion. I b.eli.eve that cases of ~pint Identity are the
lingle •l exposure " brought all things into agreement. It !'ntidotes to Matenali~m and the uncertainty of a future 1tate ;
81tabliahed the natural law of progress. I if so, why are they withheld 1 SBNU.
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