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

396 RELIGIOUS ERRORS OF MR. MAHAN.1923. The question is put by the Kev. IMr. Mahan, why the odic force,existing in nature, may not be productive of the results ascribed to disembodiedspirits? He overlooks the fact that no inanimate imponderableprinciple can be, per se, a moving power; that inanimate matter doesnot move itself Then, as I understand, agreeably to another phase, heinquires why may it not become an instrument to the minds of the mortalsconcerned ?1924. In the first place, there are facts within my experience whichcannot be explained by any possible exertion of any mundane mind, werethose concerned to concur in striving to accomplish the result. Thus, howwould it be possible for Mrs. Gourlay and myself to have brought aboutthe result of which an account has been given in the supplemental prefaceof this work, and upon which remarks have been made in other pages ?It is utterly impossible that, by any imaginable process, Mrs. Gourlay,having no previous hint, could have become the instrument of my volitionat the distance of nearly a hundred miles from Philadelphia, and when, atthe time, she was intently engaged in receiving, as she alleges, a communicationfrom her spirit mother to her brother, who was her visitor fromhis abode in Maine.1925. Again, it cannot be imagined that things would be communicatedby my spirit father and others, of which I was ignorant when theywere made. The same may be said of Mrs. Gourlay, as she knew nothing ofthe facts communicated to her, for me. Then, when the narrative of thosefacts was read over to the spirit, there were often things to be explained andviews to be justified, in opposition to my previous impressions. Conversingfrequently with Mrs. Gourlay, I know that she had none of the importantimpressions respecting the spheres, which were conveyed throughher for my edification.RELIGIOUS ERRORS OF MR. MAHAN.Proposition of Mr. Malian.1926. ^'Evidence that the Scriptures are given by inspiration of theSpirit of God, as contrasted with the evidence, that the spirit manifestationsare from the spirits of men.^'1927. The Rev. Mr. Mahan, not satisfied with endeavouring to refuteSpiritualism directly, devotes some pages of his work to the object of bearingit down by the weight of Scriptural superiority, both as to the evidence,and its moral tendencies. This renders the expediency of the strictureswhich I have made, or may make, on the other side of the question, unquestionable.