'Twixt two worlds : a narrative of the life and work of William Eglinton

Twixt Two Worlds.
about eighteen months after the advent of "Joey Sandy." His sober common-sense, intelligence,
and kindness, have made him respected by all, and too high a tribute cannot be paid to so good
and noble a spirit.
Apropos of the estimation in which this co-worker of Mr. Eglinton was held, even in
1876, when he first :— began to manifest strongly, a writer in the Rcligio-Philosophical Journal
thus speaks of him "
'
When Ernest ' gives us some of his calm, well-expressed advice,
delivered in words of earnest feeling, or when he tenderly commits us to the care of guardian
angels, invoking blessings upon us, the voice causes our very hearts to swell in soft responsive
affection ; and it would be impossible to ascribe a voice so full of the human feeling gained
through a long life of experience, and such vicissitudes as human existence always brings, to an
elementary. No ; we feel it is a man before us, a spirit rich in the love of humanity, longsuffering,
patient, calm above human weakness by self-conquest, and a very angel of mercy and
beneficence to mortals."
To this many a heart comforted through his ministry will say " Amen." Only those who
have come into these intimate relations, born of mutual confidence and trust, can conceive the
weight of the evidence so ungrudgingly given in favour of the survival of the soul after death.
Critical acumen is of immense service in psychical research, but to pass beyond even the
threshold of the inquiry one needs something more, hence the failure of many investigators.
But to those who unite with a critical eye the sympathetic mind, all the things of the spirit are
possible, and no trouble is too great, no proof too much to ask of the invisible workers. I
acknowledge with deep gratitude my personal indebtedness to Mr. Eglinton's guides, and hope
that placing on record my firm conviction of the cause of so much failure may open up the right
path to others.
A variety of phases of mediumship were subsequently developed—trance, healing, and clairvoyance—and
finally materialisations were obtained ; not with a cabinet or darkened room, but in
the moonlight, while all sat round the table. At these times Mr. Eglinton was invariably conscious,
and the figure of his mother generally appeared, radiant, and transcendently beautiful, "and looking,"
he says, "more as we imagine spirits to be than any I have since seen, and they are not a few.
I was induced to sit in the dark for manifestations by a friend of mine, who had been to a seance
with a professional medium, and who gave a wonderful account of what had taken place. After I
did this the really spiritual seances we had been having seemed to leave us, and in their stead we
obtained the rough physical phenomena so common to all dark seances."
It is a matter for deep regret that these dark cabinet seances have played so important a part
in the history of Spiritualism. Why they were introduced at all seems a mystery, as no more
potent source of error or perplexity could possibly have been devised. Happily at the present
time they relate to a state of things, let us hope, passed away for ever. More rational and
sounder methods now obtain, to the advantage of all concerned. Fortunately, Mr. Eglinton steadily
set his face against them, and though, in deference to the wishes of others, and the exigences of
circumstances, he has occasionally sat in this way, yet it was always distasteful to him, and his
best results have ever been obtained under the auspices of better conditions.