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Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

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ArOLOGY FOR 1\IY CONVERSION. 125Can <strong>the</strong> voice <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> counti-y for whom he had Ijled,E'er sanction a murder so base,Or <strong>the</strong> tear-drops <strong>of</strong> millions, piously shed.The deep stain from our annals efface ?G5G. As soon as <strong>the</strong> last words in <strong>the</strong> preceding verses were recited^ 1was thrilled by <strong>the</strong> following effusion :657. My Friend : How my heart swells with grateful emotion, at hearingthat beautiful effusion from your lips !Yes, my friend, I strove while onearth, to carry out <strong>the</strong> impressions which were made on my mind by superiorintelligences, and if I failed, my countrymen will bear testimony.658. Your noble fa<strong>the</strong>r is a friend <strong>of</strong> mine, and I feel a love for youcommensurate with his worth. He is foremost in <strong>the</strong> ranks <strong>of</strong> <strong>spirit</strong>ualintelligences,and ready to act when duty calls.659. My friend, I sympathize with you in your arduous undertaking;but let me assure you that your reward will be greater than <strong>the</strong>sujBferingyou have endured. Yes, most nobly you have fought against error ; andyou will yet place <strong>the</strong> banner <strong>of</strong> freedom high upon <strong>the</strong> battlement <strong>of</strong>truth. Farewell, noble scion <strong>of</strong> a noble man !Geo. Washington.APOLOGY FOR MY CONVERSION.Apology for my change <strong>of</strong> opinion and helief in tlie existence and agency<strong>of</strong> Spirits.660. I do not conceive that in my change <strong>of</strong> opinion I have been involvedin any inconsistency <strong>of</strong> principle. It always appeared to me thatin explaining <strong>the</strong> planetary movements, after arriving at <strong>the</strong> Newtonianboundary made by momentum and gravitation, <strong>the</strong>re could be no alternativebetween appealing to <strong>the</strong> <strong>spirit</strong>ual power <strong>of</strong> God, or resorting to a<strong>the</strong>ism.An appeal to <strong>the</strong> power <strong>of</strong> God has always been my choice; never<strong>the</strong>lessholding that wondrous power to be <strong>of</strong> a nature wholly unintelligibleto finite man. (57 to 87.)661. Confining <strong>the</strong> range <strong>of</strong> my philosophy to <strong>the</strong> laws <strong>of</strong> motion, magnificentlyillustrated by <strong>the</strong> innumerable solar systems, but no less operativein every minute mechanical movement, I hold that I could only cometo <strong>the</strong> same conclusion as Faraday, that if tables iclien associated loith humanbeings moved, it must in some way be due to those beings, since,agreeably to all experience <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> laws <strong>of</strong> matter in <strong>the</strong> material world,inanimate bodies cannot originate motion. But as when <strong>the</strong> planetarymotions are considered, any hypo<strong>the</strong>sis fails which does not account for<strong>the</strong> rationality <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> result, and <strong>the</strong>refore involves <strong>the</strong> agency not only<strong>of</strong> a powerful but a rational cause ; so <strong>the</strong> <strong>manifestations</strong> <strong>of</strong> Spiritualism,

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