1. art and entertainment
2. music
3. music genres
4. soul music

0
U M A
N A T U R E :
N
% illontfjln Journal of goisftc Science.
I
D E C E M B E R , 1870.
THE
p h il o s o p h y
o f r e -i n c a r n a t i o n
.
No. N IY .
E the confusion of ideas th a t has hitherto prevailed in regard
to the facts of our complex nature, it seems to have been supposed that “ so u l” and “ s p ir it” were synonymous term s; and
that,1vhen we see a spirit who has p u t off its garm ent of flesh,
we see a “ soul.” B ut no “ soul ” can ever be seen, either by
itself or by other souls, because the Psychic or Soul element
does not possess the property of manifestation, w hich is the
property only of the M aterial elem ent; and Soul can therefore
only be brought w ithin reach of our perception through its
magnetically-effected conjunction w ith M atter, which furnishes
it with the m aterial form— fluidic or compact, as the case may
be—that becomes its externalised manifestation. The relation
between Soul and M atter may be roughly likened to th at
between meaning and the word, or sign, th at embodies and e x ­
presses i t ; w ith this difference, however, that, while the latter is
arbitrary and various, the former is necessary and absolute.
The Psychic or Soul element cannot be conceived of as exist­
ing, of itself and w ithout embodiment, in any sense compre­
hensible by u s; for, although declared to be substantial* it has
neither extension nor dimension, neither consciousness nor
motion, and is neither in Space nor in Time, all of which are
conditions of materialised existence; and therefore, if the Soul
element could exist apart from the Dynamic and Material
elements on which it depends for consciousness and manifesta­
tion its existence could only be a state of latency equivalent to
non-existence, and, as such, could not even be an object of
Vide Human Nature for March, 1870, p. 00.
Vol. IV.
35
b \A
the
PHILOSOPHY OF
J^^-1NCA11NATI0N.
thought for us. In lik e manner, if tlie Mater* 1
l>e separated from the Spiritual and Dynamic oimn ,
it is dependent for direction and impulsion, it woiiU* °UW
-hicl1
a state of inertia, w ithout movement, quality, or form rci*laillin
on the one hand, the phenomena of existence can only
as>
duced by the co-operation of the elements of Spirit L u r
Matter, and as, on the other hand, those elements/ p / /
n e c e s s a r ily an d e te r n a lly d istin c t, can only be brought into co­
o p era tio n b y th e D y n a m ic (or M agn etic) element which is the
s o le and n e c e ssa r y lin k b e tw e e n them , it follows that the play
o f u n iv ersa l life , in a ll its m odes, reigns, and spheres, is the
r e su lt o f th e c o -o p era tiv e in tera ctio n o f Spirit and Matter,
e ffe c te d b y th e a g e n c y o f th e D y n a m ic element, which, as the
im m e d ia te p ro d u ct o f th e C rea tiv e Im pulse, is the initiator of all
tlie m o v e m e n ts o f th e U n iv e r se . A n d it follows, still farther,
th a t, as a ll th e form s, or p h en o m en a , o f Life are the result of the
co m b in ed a ctio n o f th e th ree n ecessa ry elem ents of Universal
e x iste n c e , and as th o se e le m e n ts are them selves a derivation
from th e a ctio n o f th e C reative T hought, the endeavour to trace
back th o se form s and p h en o m en a to their origin necessarily
lead s us to th e id ea o f tlie D iv in e B e in g as at once the Originator
and th e P erp etu a l C on tin u ator o f th e M ovem ents that make up
th e to ta lity o f Life.
T he S o u l-elem en t, con sid ered in itself, is only a latent
p o ten tia lity , d ep en d en t for self-co n scio u sn ess and activity on the
co-operation of th e tw o other u n iv ersa l elements. but it is
brought, b y th e m agn etic forces, in to conjunction with the
M aterial elem en t, w h ich fu rn ish es it w ith a succession of pro­
g ressiv ely higher extern alisation s, or b o d ie s ; and these bodies,
being vitalised, as w ell as agglom erated, b y the magnetic forces,
react upon th e S ou l-elem en t, and rouse its dormant capacities
in to life, self-con sciou sn ess, and a ctiv ity , b y bringing it into
ddie dom ain of A ctu a lity , g iv in g to it “ a local habitation and a
n am e,” and w orking out th e d evelop m en t o f its affective, mental,
and m oral p ossib ilities, through the experiences of an endless
existen ce, to w hose successive and progressive phases those
bodies w ill correspond as E ffect corresponds to Cause. There­
fore, as “ S o u l” cannot exist, or even be conceived of, excepting
as conjoined w ith “ Body,” and as th e la tte r is always a result of
spiritually-directed m agnetic action upon the elements of
m ateriality, a “ spirit ” is alw ays, and under all possible circum­
stances, a com plex being ; consisting, as previously s ta te d * 1st,
ol a so u l, or inner principle of affection and intelligence, which
c o n stitu tes its enduring selfhood and id e n tity ; 2nd of a p4Hsp rit, or dynam ic continent of the soul w hich constitutes its
* V id e H u m a n N a t u r e fo r S e p te m b e r , 1 8 7 0 , p. 4 0 3
t iie p h il o s o p h y o f
R E -IN C A EN A TIO H .
535
, „r idiosyncrasy; 3rd, of a body, or external manifesteiflPel'a.n“en r of fluidic or compact M atter, by the magnetic
fdlOJb ^ n•’the perisprit, and constituting its personal in­
JttnrfMy of
is therefore th e constitutive and controlling
iliv^
which determines the form ation of bodies; and the
P
, ! 2 ic action, in its infinitcly-various modes and degrees, is
I sole agent through whose instrum entality the Spiritual
ninciple produces, from the M aterial element, all the bodies of
|l,e universe, whether inorganic or organic, whether in the
material or fluidic w orlds; and w hat we call “ vitality,” “ move­
ment,” “ affection,” “ thought,” &c., are not “ attrib u tes” of either
Soul, Matter, or Force, b u t are th e result of the action of Force
upon Soul and M atter, w hich action, rousing their latent correspondential potentialities into simultaneous activity, produces, as
the joint result of this triple co-operation, the various orders of
phenomena to which we give the names of “ existence ” and of
"life.”
It being impossible for a “ soul ” to exist without a “ body,”
what we see, when we see a “ spirit,” is, therefore, not the soul
itself, but only the soul’s fluidic body; the soul itself not being
an object of perception, and only being made manifest to the
perception of its fellows, as to its own consciousness, by means
0, 1 s. p01‘P°real externalisation, or body. The correspondence
0 i pint and M atter being absolute, eternal, universal, those two
universal elements are capable of attaining, for ever, to equivalent
degrees ol correspondential development and refinement; the
progressive etherealisation of M atter keeping pace, for ever, with
the progressive purification of Soul, and supplying the latter,
through the various degrees of the ubiquitous magnetic forces,
with the conditions of self-consciousness and a ctivity, of location,
objectivity, and the other concomitants of the life of Relation,
in harmony w ith its constantly-improving states. Thus the
Soul and its Body, through all the countless modifications of
endless duration, will be so exactly the correspondents and
counterparts of each other that they will always constitute, to
the consciousness of each soul, and to the perception of every
other soul, a single being. And however sublimated may be the
purity ( ic the° wisdom, unselfishness, and devotion to the
Creator expressed in loving service to I ts creatures) to which
pnnb onul w ill eventually attain, each soul will always find itself
i
1 1 fliroiwh its refined and perfected perisprit, into conjuncbrougnt,
? , Matter 0f a degree of ethereality correspondtl0M,W J l in e e of its psychic purity; and will therefore
mg to m e ;»vjde(p tij1X)„gh perispritic attraction, with a
always o° J -n harmony with its state, and constituting at
material b°l j .Qn 0p p s self-consciousness, and its agent of peronce the c° “ dbstation, and relation in the progressively higher
cepti011’ 111,1
536
T H E P H I L O S O P H Y O F llE -IN C A R X A T IO X .
r e g io n s o f refined and glorious e x i s t e n c e at w h ic h it successively
a r r iv e s .
E very soul, t h e r e f o r e , a t a ll s ta g e s o f its career, whether
h i g h o r l o w , i s alw ays p r o v i d e d w i t h i t s a p p r o p r ia te body; and
— w h e t h e r d i l i g e n t l y progressing towards the sp len d o u rs of the
S id e r e a l D e g r e e i n t h e n o r m a l r e a lm s of flu id ic education, or
p a i n f u l l y s t r u g g l i n g back to th o s e realms through th e hard, but
salutary discipline o f p u r g a to r ia l worlds like ours, and, in the
l a t t e r case, w h e t h e r incarnated, for its brief sojourns in flesh, or
during its much lo n g e r s o jo u r n s i n t h e s p ir it- z o n e o f th e planet
— e a c h s o u l is a l w a y s c l o t h e d u p o n w i t h a body, in close corres­
pondence w ith its d e g r e e o f m o r a l e l e v a t i o n or o f baseness,
s p o n t a n e o u s l y accreted, by its p e r i s p r i t , from the elements of
fluidic fla tte r d i s s e m i n a t e d t h r o u g h S p a c e , or from those of
Compact f l a t t e r a g g lo m e r a te d i n t h e p l a n e t s o f so la r system s.
I t b e in g i m p o s s i b l e fo r us, in our p r e s e n t phase of develop­
m ent, to know a n y t h i n g o f t h e intrinsic nature, or mode of
r e l a t i o n , of e i t h e r o f the t h r e e fa c to r s o f D erived Existence, we
can on ly represent to ourselves the relation between Matter
(constituted into form b y S p i r i t - d i r e c t i o n ) a n d Spirit (made
m anifest to t h o u g h t a n d perception by fla tte r ) as that of the
c o n ta in e r (o r continent) and th e t h i n g c o n ta in e d ; and we are
therefore com pelled to speak o f “ b od ies” as b e i n g accreted ‘ upon
or “around” the p s y c h i c elem ent w hich is their ‘'soul, as
“clothing" the “soul,7* and as being “pervaded by its action.
But it m ust be borne in m ind th at these expressions are only
figurative: and that we know as little o f the real nature oi the
relation between the soul and the body as w e do o f the real
nature of Spirit and Matter, and o f th e m agnetic action to when
are due the to ta lity o f universal phenom ena. B ut, whatever mar
be the real nature o f that relation w e see that every soul, at all
stage i o f its existence, is absolutely d e p e n d e n t , fo r it s conii c 10. . :
life, as w ell as for its m eans o f perception, manifestation, and
relation, on its external envelope or body; w hich body is no: only
the material correspondent, for the tim e being, o f th e mental and
moral state of its form ative soul, but also decides the charater,
for the tim e being, of the consciousness, perception, inaiikh?:.;tion. and action, o f that soul. In other words, such as the soul
is. at any period o f its existence, such w ill its body be: and such
as its body is. such w ill be the nature o f its seli-consciousneas,
o f its perceptions, and of its action.
The voluntary return o f the sp irit tow ards th e psychic status
: anim ality determ in ing, as we have seen,* the conespondential
su bstitution o f a bodv of Compact Matter in place o f its normal
fluidic
dv, th is s u b stitu tio n o f a new order o f corporeal envdcp e
repels it to a n ew mode o f consciousness perception and
Vide I f u ma n
0 37
TllE PHILOSOPHY OF KE-INCAENATION.
, tjiat the “fallen” spirit, during0 its conjunction w ith
tftn'U 0fsocom pact Matter, necessarily
s all rem em brance of
lKkIf i(lic life "and experiences of w hich it w ill only preserve a
* 'intuition, more or less confused according to the degree of
iSlation to which its im purity has brought it down, h u t
in losing its fluidic organisation, it loses also theself-concciousness (and, consequently, the memory) w hich was the result
it its union with that organisation, and was therefore dependent
frits persistence on the persistence of th a t union, it does not
Jose either the faculties of which its pre-personal elaboration had
developed the germs, or the farther developm ent of those facul­
ties that it may have acquired through the experiences of its
life in the fluidic world. A ll the gains th a t had been made by
the spirit before it incurred the penalty of exile from th a t world
vill remain inherent in its soul; b u t its consciousness of those
pirn, as veil as its consciousness of the faculties through whose
ae1e °P.nieut those gains were made, are necessarily reduced, by the
kg of its normal organisation and its conjunction w ith one of a
uikrent order, to a state of latency from which they w ill have
I -o w roused by the experiences of the new order of con scion svC"'f°] Perception, and of action, to which its activities are now
^ spirit who has erred but slightly will only “fa ll” to
° ■1y *ower sphere of existence, will only accrete a slightly
R enamed body, and will therefore only undergo u slight and
^rouding ot the acquirements it had previously made in
s. e uidic life - but a spirit who has wandered more widely b om
-1'- path of rectitude, and who therefore finds itself drawn down
a.Proportionally lower level of existence, will accrete a pro^ pOTuonailv more grossly-materialised body, and the clouding of
c faculties developed in connection w ith its formei fl li tic bo ly
'rnl be proportionally dense and complete1. For the soul, as we
y . e seen, is dependent on its bodily organs for its self-conpciousness and its perceptions; and when it has lost the fluidic
body in conjunction w ith which it has hitherto lived, can only
ually regain its consciousnes
itself, o f its fact
, and
°f its acquisitions, as it adapts itself to the conditions of its new
Order of existence, through the control which it gradually
S ta in s of the material organs th at are now its sole instrum ents
consciousness, perception, and action, -The gjadual advanceit of an incarnated spirit, as of the humanity of which it
is a part, although it appears to itself and to its fellowmis to be a process of learning, of discovery, is mail;, a pro)i reifiembering * a recovery of that of which it was formerly
d why it
it M
'
:tion
v ~ — T “o^f .the
r | 5j- 2 A « w “ iU u f e n w l . dtlw w fc. it tin; period of
tenant*. \1
■e iacamatioD, the various speci'-s of anu/i •i by vlii li it elopulent
nit£y i d i their fleshly envelope, a material
at tai iiod,
T H E P H IL O S O P H Y OF RE-IXOAllNATI.an*.
583
in QQDsdoos possession** It has b een said that “the rt
in t h e m in d o f th e sh ip -b oild er," as th e real stati
m in d o f th e artist, th e ’ ’ p e:ii in th-- l a h I
•]
p oet; and so it is. B u t, as w e can 'i'jl'_
' i ua 11
•r;^ ?
-1 •
s u p e r :. t t.) chat o f th e h «• v b - - _£'L
---t _ ........... .............
v.•..... ..
;
- "
'
' n .
- :• 1
•.
.
b e y o n d tL .it
o u t h.is :
i r e d a cheek- Y ou kn o w th a t huma*
s ti:u :e s a
: r. n : t r : - j r .:
t o t h e . . •.• o reo h .-on
»ns
s t tUU'l. .. t . t
7 • ; Ti,
b v t h e e x p erien ces
it
p ric e t r ie is -.nlv T'.xrtihi
m -.u rid ita iity is s till iuoo:
fo rm a l ion. o f a n ew p la n
p rin c ip le , c o n ta in e d in it,
u p in to th e p o w er o f e x e r
n u m e ra b le , destine* .i to ec
■»
^ t” ^
B
,
u_..
nr.: n u d i t y .
:
L’u
,uu _
O0 3
Vf tl *J*\- **. ^. Th
;
<-* i. m>ii -n
OtI 1111131 tl.
"1.11J:
, -r. *€ o »f
r Lrl **.h
. i hi : .U
n iii __h ,1 h .
r : ^3
ro u..
. ... *
A. . .
.i ili . <.
1 L5 ilk.
:r,;
“T* JL
V *»VnIT I.* i-h»
PtL& iUCUlldCli IB
' t in tn a l p m
in c f i j ry
il re
•-
-r * - - ... .
nit:-. Us ....
tL T
-~-. .« - ar
L5 » :-:n
.•/•I?,
r.h—
naj th-: jian
^ «•
■* H
imIT
*» * . ■»“• V
n t ru t-: . L - y a r d ..
tL
:t.
t.
m ay th erefo re, i f i t so pie;
t i e Lifbt-r realms wLi;L :: b de-tin:-: t;
w h ic h i t h i s been th r o w
r e d i n, . T he prow
th e- s'
- L e- t : . s t_.:-t^-':
nt
5-c. :: ess
r frit, in
. . .th e h u m a n s ir- *
n
__ .. . .. .---j. ________
___ :.
. - ■ _ ■............
.
■":■.'
. -. . . :
- • . • - .■
.ft. - - •
urn
b e : is, on th : eoc.tr2.r7-, the rousing .: a reason alren iy thru:: :. u --7 t —
..
m eatus a ln a ijr acM sed ^ a n d t k s t k a r e n o w t o b e h ro eg h t ie t o eetiae la t b
tfrmifi rTTt
_ . ill' .:. n : : th is rrurh * y a ■ . tn^nrissn w ith in th : :.
f ft:
t ;
a o a , w-r may say that spirit, r L i h >.-icr prepare*! the in i i r i .
s t::_.:.
t .•
• . " :
n f , ;;
• f . : . - ’■ ......
f . n a - : in the wan.:-,
an-1— -is- d—estiaed
becunae
aJfr ekibl..
The ^erm.
:...------- - --- -*• to
- '
-•
. / V o e ■tm
- ----------- e
- • '
" i' -v h*----*
—
*:hil
- ’i ----->_-----»-■ n ns m fnnhy
:
i a *i *is -V n : th
;i_n : attain,
a a" i- a- - i- a- -e. —a^ o :T l- a_—i' _T. n —e - t -■t*—o e- d
. - -A
. u— e
- «• toe' ' — “ *■
. I _t * I*. baa to
.1~ *. S.w. -ee bed
•r
.. _ ...- nut-. . t
. . i h : « tf;. h
:......
... .e . ..
of
inn
n '
s-. ; 1 1. . '' '
_• . n
. - - t u i h s. H ■ ' - - t . *
m x tt
-?
Lmrtt*mlaat e
aathers, Lis c a l___... _
lim b , I.hs n-sutn imccomes; h i
stet-e- cf her soo, ®a**wrto *
* The sutrre's
St.-mer pbaaea- of
Tttalhry. t^r.'eyTCems.
•■rr-j/i.r'.fc/zr
•chtcs
-fc*T-
ih ey i r o t f l k *
yimmSftHS _fe JB
w ith th e oiertraead
n e s » nx :r'.
mu !<.«*,
THE philosophy
V*y.y
of be -incarnatio :
I
u t b : Sphere of e o t li t i .... the i
thi-v were arrived at by our mind, already existed
i
of things, so we can only develops in the
S n a t i o n the
:ten in his books, and helps him back into the path of
Whoi previously acquired- As his recovery goes on, his
C’. •
:y _T.v;-
\ . \
, I...... .
HHrmbmig; and the better his heal
U mthus with thefallw
hose spiritualp
. . :.
...
:.V.
\1
. v. i v,Lo may, if he hi,
icfcjrve rapid progress in tbe work of re-awakening his ccnsci’c.-:, ;
acquirements, which will seem to him to be a prow.i* of Imndw;, until
• y ' .1: : ti - point at
:i . i .
i, without
to unroll it - .if Wore . . . .
. . .
B O T H R V I progress,
* ' :':• -
■
y. ' iii
. :
. •
tew idess, until he has got hack to the point of spiritual
at shieh he had already arrived when he “ fell ” into t
• - - Human incarnation is not a neeettU
<nt,
*1ready told yon; and chastisement cannot precede guilt A spirit Is
<sjy kmnauised, ss we have already explained, when his first b a it has rendered
— : • V\ ' • ••
:ii
.
\ .'
fjecceyijf taw subjectioncommon sense should suffice to shear ns that the preseienee o f
■ . T ” H m to foresee that, among the number of i :
hr f t * _yield to their weakness, who w ill allow themselves to be drawn
y
• •
........ . . - . :
■
.
■m^tod envy, and who will “ fall because they nrisn. •:
:-wHL But is
nwiwsbte to think that God, tbe perfect type of all perfection, Hie absolute
n eternal j ustice, creates fallible creatures for the exptrtn ‘pmrfum s f making
strength in the pain o f material trials,—that Ms creates them innocent
in i? *
iS *
vice* of the pvimitire hnman iimiastiiMH ? tk m that
to st ca r , have been implanted, purposely, in the creature as it lamed
{test them out? rough pebbles that the imnrturns fnrrmt iif ha— insad u s t i n i
|d h i then surf* r many am the
......... •
- . . . .
. ..
................' : . •
'• . *
;
■■ in gxrir.z
to
.•
t.
L
• - s con/iitioi of this
B that the spirit's free-will should ho suijaetud to a ansfena tew, r h , t t e la r
Mve subjected to the same fort
: *i.*: ■
in tbe i ah nf in u rrn rr and ^nsmsety d sd te te thespfofteshaeprf tnlsad
i
- - •.
. ..' ' :
v ...': ;«
o -t *.■
eavioni- and rebellkos, h u m i--* :
fr-e-v.., ir. - .j • *.
. -r. "
it,
inaoeanre. y ; «>/.o » s -mt, f >, • :.
■. H
---Li- :a
,t e S iu
m b e i t r w f their heart, it i . Con who hi* •» wfiled it;
'
with f r w t e of <^w .k a s ti
it
‘ ■ r7fc» tn n fo m ; they nximse th »
slmwt dw ay,
****
o of its free-will, wishfinw
It is t&ea that the *
540
THE PHILOSOPHY OF RE-INOARNATION.
respondents of ideas, at which we had arrived in \]
fluidic life, prior to the declension which constitutor!
from that higher life to the life of earth.
M l;i
The discipline of planetary existence, therefore, does not ,7™/,
“ fall” to tlieir level, and who will work out their own amelioration and no <
those worlds; and also to foresee, in like manner, that there will always bespi it*
whose steady and gradual progress in the fluidic life will furnish th-1 pornjiUion
of the fluidic worlds, appropriated to the intelligences who will inhabit them, and
in which they will continue to progress in the fluidic state.
Incarnation is a necessity for the spiritual principle during the pre-p'-i-onal
.stages of its elaboration; it is indispensable to its progress and development, and
to the progressive development of its self-consciousness; for it is only through the
union of the spiritual and material principles that intellectual development can
take place.
Incarnation is a necessity up to the moment when the spiritual-element, having
reached the proper point of intellectual development, is ready to receive the
precious but dangerous gift of free-will.
The point of departure is the same for all strife;—Primitive and rudimentary
formation of the spirit from the quintessence of the universal fluids, a substance
so subtle that no words can convey an adequate idea of its nature to your limited
intelligence; a quintessence that the Will of G od animates in order to give it
being, and which constitutes the spiritual principle (principle of intelligence),
destined to become, through continuous progression, an individualised and fullyformed spirit, i.e., an independent intelligence, possessed of free-will, of the
consciousness of its volition, of its faculties, and of its actions.
The incarnation, or, to speak more correctly, the materialisation of the .spiritual
essence, in enert llatter,—first in the mineral reign and in the intermediatespecks
which participate in the mineral and vegetable natures, and then in the vegetable
reign and in the species which participate in the vegetable and animal natures—
operates the preparatory development of that essence, and conducts it, through
continuous progression, to the threshold of conscious life.
Incarnation in the animal reigns, and then in the intermediate species which
participate, as regards their material envelope, in the animal and human natures,
operates the progressive development of the spirit’s consciousness of the life of
external activity and relation, and the intellectual development that leads the
spirit on from the pha.se of incipience to the threshold of the preparatory period
which precedes its reception o f the gift of free-will, of the moral, independent
responsible life that makes of it a thinking and reasoning soul. Arrived at this
point of intellectual development at which they re v; re the precious but danger­
ous gift of free-will, the individualised spirits, all equals, all in a state of inno­
cence and ignorance, are clothed upon with the perisprit which encloses the
independent intelligence; and all are then embodied through a fluidic incorpora­
tion which is constituted by the action of the perisprit, and which, from your
material point of view, should be called an envelr/pe.
All of them, pure in the state of innocence and ignorance, equally submitted
to the spirits charged to lead and to develope them, possess freedom of action, and
may thus advance in the fluidic world, and g.
, through successive and
continuous progress, arrive at the state of perfection; doing like the scholar who,
constantly docile and attentive to the voice, the counsels, and the lessons of his
masters, follows the regular course of the classes, an
ids in obtaining his
degrees. Or, the other hand, he may do like the * "
obedient, and rebellions, incurs the penalty of i
penitentiary-school where he will be eomj
under other conditions, the course of his (
later, in taking his degrees.
A great number of spirits “ fall,” for nearly all
. die to the higher spirits charged to lead sad ik
and gradually the path which is pointed out
a punishment which they need not have ij
avoid:.-1: thevare subjected to human inc
th e p h ilo s o p h y o f re -in c a r n a tio n .
ox*
faculties of the human, m ind , whose d e v e lo p m e n t
1i the gradual result of the preparation o f so u l-su b sta n ce,
in* the>countless
cycles of its pre-personal elaboration in th e
plug
.
aniss ot
mineral, vegetable,
and animal reigns;
and i e• v_e n>)
ot the
toe rmnerai,
.
~~
various
i' itfoimative elaboration c a n n o t p r o p e r ly b e c a ll e d a “ c r e a t i o n ,
j :il is only a gradual r o u sin g a n d t r a in in g o f t h e l a t e n t f a c ' d -
t,; uilieren; m
th e n a tu re o f t h e p s y c h ic e l e m e n t o f t h e
P 'h t0
S .j if a .'h it h “ r
everywhere in union
h
b
e te r n a lly d e v e lo p e d i n t o
S' ” *'
Th, ,
]’
U n i-
h ig h e r
and
« » ] f e x t e m a lis a t io n ,
■ r ,i k a i f e s "f th ?
,th '"'flIch lfc « a lw a y s a n d
fore, that unim aginable a H P , f t? d '< C r e a tio n ” i s > t h e r e '
u r n which | i v « t e S
t t
1 in s c r u t a b le L i r a s J i s S E f -
interactions of those f.w ° r /
10 e oments tram w h ich , b y th e
note and
T
anothei- ^ the in fin ite
evolved; and therefore—although
are g ra d u a lly
process, like that of the f S , f
- f 11^ of the C reativo
self-consciousness rrnr f r 1
^ hke th a t of our o w n
analysis—u-e Z d “ t e “
w ^r
0U t
« « * *
our
nature of that process th e r Cl v i / at^ ? r m a y b e the essen tial
tomthin/j out of notliinn Tm ,-t
^ r e a tio n > a s
m aking o f
as an evolution from tlw m if t
? aCe t 0 t h e id e a o f N a t i o n
ent Itealitv. T W lfl i i ^ W b l e P ° t e ^ i a l i t i e 8 o f *
x is tindividualised e x i s t e n c e - T f ^ f d 0 “f r.e a t lo n ” in t h e .s p h e r e o f
tjiw . a.
„ tttygt y t g i f r a r
fTOgrew, eithe/irfprirnitive*rdane™ F^R1 ff ° th**'■ /' '-f'- ®f «P«
We “fallen."
tiI .
*' ■“
inhabited by spirit* who
andto conduct them, do not fail i n \ h ? w h i V h § ““ **
? ,e&d
state. The spirit*
» < " » advancement by
there i« I*1'0.' »flcntially-nllott^l tasks in the grand unity o f the crea ion in
h m is reenrmity and sohdanty of all spirits, in view of the gem-*
is the d m tim d
r.int towards God, according to the general law s o f
progress, through wisdom, .science, and love*.
h
The spirits who fail, exert their activity and their intelligence in th" etste at
incarnation. They have not only to provide for their life and well-beiiur, thereby
ameliorating the material condition of the worlds they inhabit, which is the
:mof their mission; but they also have to work out their moral and
intellectual advancement, and, as they progress th . dves, to id
moral ar.d
intellectual
development
of
the
less
advanced
hum
nil
i
i
that
people
the
. |
* *•
"* mTtJ.....
1timX
glows.
.
.
To material incarnation ns a eh
ement necessary to expiation and br
succeed incarnations in nrogre dvely higher and higher worlds, and o f a
f
kis and lew material (for matter follows the progress of spirit), and '
fluidic; until the spirit (through the elevation it has acquired v 10re an<*
n'M*'1d from all contact with fh-sh) returns to the higher regions r,f
5 ^2 * through messasNs rtm lsat ail and ol n ... : . . turningon t l .. ,
r ^ i l j i j g on the other.
K oustaing.
Let Q uatrc E vam gilu.
.n
10* ‘vide U*m** Xature for March, 1 ~70, p. 07 et trquitur.
V'ol. V
V;:; '>
* h a ;“ f
* 1 p* j g
THE PHILOSOPHY OF PE-INCAKNATION.
5-12
vidualisation in the fluidic world, already contain* n-;n • •,
the germs of all the virtues and of «U tlm S d v h Z
'f
dieting tendencies will furnish it with the conditions^ T
choice between Good and Evil,* together with the rudiments
of all the affective and intellectual faculties that arc to li0
progressively educated and unfolded by the discipline of exist­
ence in the normal life of the fluidic realms. And the soul
of all “fallen” spirits, even of those whose psychic impurity
has sunk them to the lowest and most brutalised level of correspondential retribution (viz., that of the male and female founders
of human races,)-f* contains the germs of all talents and of
all virtues, with the possibilities of unlimited development
inherent in every faculty of the soul, and also whatever intel­
lectual or moral acquisitions it may have made during its longer
or shorter essay of individualised existence in the normal fluidic
life from which it has lapsed; but, the unconsciousness of itself
and of its past, to which a spirit is reduced by the process of
humanisation, being dense in proportion to the depth to which
it has fallen, the work of re-awakening its faculties and acquire­
ments, from the state of torpor to which they have been reduced
by the stultifying action of so gross an organisation, will be pro­
portionally painful, laborious, and slow.
The spirit’s departure from the line of simple rectitude entail­
ing upon it the necessity of undergoing a new course of discipline
in the material sphere, we have now to examine the nature ot
the incarnising process, and of the reformatory action exerted,
upon the wrong-going spirit, by this new contact with Matter in
the compact state.
The choice of the planet, race, country, family, sex, and of
the parental, physical, and social conditions in connexion with
which he will make liis next human experiment, having been
settled by his Spirit-guides, + with an acceptance or submission,
on his part, more or less voluntary in proportion to his higher or
lower degree of advancement, the spirit who is about to enter
the human sphere finds himself, from the moment of the fecunda­
tion of the germ from whicli his new body is to be built lip,
irresistibly held, by a double electric current (that exercised by
his perisprit u p o n the germ, and that exercised by the germ
upon his perisprit,) to the unwelcome, but necessary, task of
fashioning for his future use the instrument of bis next expia­
tory and disciplinary experience; but in all planets of our low
rank— in which alone the accretion of bodies so gross as ours is
possible § — when a spirit has consented, or been compelled, to*§
*
f
t
§
Vide
Vide
Vide
Vide
H um an N ature for May, 1870,
H um an N ature for July, 1870,
H um an N ature for November,
H um an Nature for November,
pp. 205, 200.
pp. 308, 304.
1870, p .’coo et sequitur
1870, p. 404, Note f
TirE PHILOSOPHY OF EE-IN CA RNA TIO N.
d id
VI infill
necessity of a new contact w itli M a tte r in
*llbinifc*act site, as the sole condition of fa rth e r progress, he
11m
if comP^ ecies 0f lethargy, or catalepsy, w hich renders hin
0'•s in!- ps3 of the
exerciseu hy
uy his
ju s p
punapnu
tlie magnetic action exercised
crisp rit in
ii
unco
in. of his new envelope of flesh, w ith w hich he is cona sort of magnetic cord, formed b y th e elongation of
tjie semi-material particles of his p crisp rit u n d er th e a ttra ctiv e
influence of tlie germ; the “ silver cord,” more or less lu m inous
according to the degree of moral purification already accom plished
jijr the spirit, which will only he “loosed” on the expiration of
I {beperiod of duration for w hich th e union of the pcrisp rit and
tlie material body lias heen originally calculated.*
hi proportion as the accretion of th e la tte r goes on, th ro u g h
the substitution of molecules of com pact m atter in place of th e
fluidic elements of his spirit-body, tlie lethargic clouding of his
consciousness becomes more and more dense, owing to th e su s­
pension of his normal perception of existence in tlie fluidic
world, and his subjection to the new order of influences w ith
winch he is being brought into relation by tlie new contact
iv noli is thus established between Iris pcrisprit and the w orld of
Matter in its grosser state.*]* W hen the formation of his new
adjunct of “clay” is completed, the latter is horn into the inacrml sphere of the planet, £ and becomes the in stru m en t hy
means ot which the re-incarnated spirit will gradually re-aw aken
oseli-consciousness in connexion w ith the new* order of corporeal
* , U1.CU°» 1111 u s u a l acceptation of that word, as signifying the voluntary
U IJIlne of the union between the soul and body, is therefore impossible; for
c soul which has endeavoured to destroy its fleshly envelope remains rivetted to
s decaying body, and is compelled, by its own rash act, to endure the percepion of the loathsome concomitants of corporeal dissolution in our planet, until
tlie arrival of the period originally fixed for tlie termination of its union w ith its
ilesidy envelope. Where sudden death is brought about by disease or accident,
independently of the will of the incarnate spirit, it always occurs in virtue of the
pre-ordinations that decide the circumstances and duration of an incarnation, and
is therefore followed hy the proper and normal separation of the soul from its
material body.
t The substitution of compact for fluidic Matter, w hich constitutes incarnation,
is always a slow process; whereas the substitution of fluidic for compact Matter,
which takes place on the separation of the soul from its fleshly body, appears to
lie accomplished almost instantaneously.
+ A special phenomenon, made known to us hy observation, always accompanies
«.,e incarnation of a spirit. From the first establishment of the fluidic link which
th
attaches him to the germ, a species of confusion takes possession of him. This
Confusion deepens as the union between the spirit and the germ becomes closer;
arm during the latter part of the period of gestation, lie entirely loses his con•
CSS of himself, so that he is never the conscious witness of lus birth into
sciousi) -■ i
p rom the moment when the infant draws its first breath,
the m ay , jiicp is p s soul) begins to recover the use of his faculties, which are
fhe spirit y
tionally with the formation and consolidation of the organs that
develop* ' I
manifestation. And herein is visible the Wisdom that
are to serve every part of the voi­le of Creation. A too-nctivo exertion of tlie
ovt
Pr-3-fVeafaonilties
would wear out, or break down, the delicate organs as yet exist
spirrit 0
511
T H E P H IL O SO P H Y OF RE-INCARNATION*
en velope to th e scope o f w hose organs his action is now V •
for, although th e m en tal and m oral sta tu t of this
lt*l
h is ed u cation is alw ays the result o f the p sveh h , i > '
q u a lity w h ich he has acquired in the previous ph
i
existen ce, h is new corporeal en velope is on ly core-.o
con n ected w ith h is past, and its organs of thought and of
are therefore “discretely" separated, as regards his ] w : <
sciousness, from th e exp erien ces of th at past. For it n.- —
he forgoten th at our flesh ly organs, w hich, w hile we co ­
in conjunction w ith th em , w e are apt to regard as the n
■
and o n ly in stru m en ts o f perception, are really lim itatioi^ of
p ercep tive fa cu lty o f th e soul; com p ellin g us to perceivth in k , to act, in certain narrow grooves, determ ined for v
h an d in v ie w o f th e sp ecia l ed u cation al ends intended to
su b served b y each n ew ph ase of our contact w ith the mated 1
sphere. W e sp eak lo o sely o f ‘"the sp irit-eye, “the spint-caiy
“ th e sp irit-to u ch /’ as th ou gh th e perceptions of si>ints v.
lim ited b y organs su ch as ours; forgettin g that the perceptive
pow er o f th e so u l pervades its en tire perisprit, causing it to
hear, and p erceive a ll over , and n ot m erely, as w e do, tinoug:
narrow apertures o f “ sense," m ere loop h oles in our prison-v.ils
o f M atter. B u t, e v en w h ile clo th ed u p on w ith flesh, we, m o n
usual state, feel all over; while magnetised subjects, in a state of
somnambulism, experience, as is well known, a eU-yeoeen--. ■t
well as an ejyetnsioti of their powers of perception, enaohag
them to see, hear, taste, etc., through various parts of their body,
as well as to regain the tem p orary use of various faculties and
acquirements—such as th e v is io n o f past or distant events, ot
distant places, of incarnate or d isin carn ate sp irits, th e knowledge
of various tongues, scien ces, arts, etc. — in h eren t in their spiritconsciousness, but u su a lly ca ta lep tieised , or la ten t, during then
conjunction with a material body.
n*
ing, so to say, only in o u tlin e : and therefore th e active energy of those fact
is proportioned to the force of resistance of th e organs w ith w hich they are noi
associated.
B ut, while the spirit thus recovers self-consciousness, he loses the rem^mcran
of his past existence, w ithout, however, losing the faculties, qualities, v ’
tudes he h ad previously acquired, and w hich, th o u g h reduced to ft state of latrn
d u rin g th e form ation of h is new corporeal envelope, w ill now, on recovering thactiv ity , enable th e sp irit to do m ore, an d b etter, th a n h e h as h ith erto done ;
th a t th is new phase of existence co n stitu tes for him th e starting-point of tn«
• o f th e pr-^gr-.ss he has yet to accom plish. _________
A nd
tested ti
Goodness of th e C reator: for the memory of h is pttftt, of
hurail
in 7, added to th e bitterness of thLs new existence. Slight
even im p
him , in th e accom plishm ent of the la tte r; an d he is thei
allowed
retain th e fa c u ltie s w hich are the result of his previo ;
becai
th ese w ill be u sefu l to him . If, in some -rttsmt. a n li
t preserv
vag
in tu itio n o f th e events or circum stances of his past, i t is
rem em bering of a dream : and th u s he is always, to ail practice
^kthe fugit
and p
p o s e .. w henever h e comes back in to the flesh, a new M an
Lis sp irit. A l l a s K a rd eo . L v O * * * . Pp. 229, 230. ’ l0WeT€r "* 1
.
tHE PHILOSOPHY
o f k e -i x c a e x a t i o x .
545
■ lv this tem porary lim ita tio n o f our v ario u s facilities
us durimr each of o u r successive in carn atio n s, to
through” an d o n ly th ro u g h , th e organs w hich, for
, d iii'C are our only in stru m e n ts an d ch an n els o f a c tiv ity
i - -jliiciUy effects th e in te g ra l ed u catio n an d p u rification
’ . -forni-atioig of th e sp irit w hose p e rv e rsity has necessi■ -jul caused, its subjection to th e reactio n s of th e re siste n t
• i mJ conditions of p la n e ta ry life. F o rm b ein g th e alU r
• iquality, and, in th e fluidic w orld, th e sp irit's spontaneously
•structed body and surroundings corresponding ex actly and
. --arily to his m ental an d m oral states,* it follows, as p rev istated, that, it it w ere possible for a w rong-going sp irit to
regain for ever in th e ab so lu te freedom of th e fluidic world, i t
| -.ffl i necessarily (through th e absence of all external check
u:, >n its evil propensities) go on “ fa llin g ” for ever in to deeper
yyses or wrong-doing and correspondential unhappiness. B u t
: th Fi\ ine Prescience has alw ays foreseen, and provided for, th e
declension ot the spirits w ho w ill m isuse th e ir free-w ill: an d th e
31..tei of the p lan etary w orlds of th e U niverse accordingly
corresponds, as we have seen,*f* in density, and consequently in
:-;5 i.ving^ and reactive power, to every possible decree of th e
I psychic im purity of th e spirits who, not having ‘ k ep t th eir first
■estate, ha\e been p recip itated into the horrors of hum anised
existence, and each of those spirits is inevitably draw n, b y th e
^universal lavr of correspondential m agnetic attraction, to the
■planet whose m aterial elem ents correspond,in density or ethereIjJity to its greater or less degree of psychic im purity. A nd as
the mental, moral, and social states of each p lan et cone?non.I to
Kits physical state, each sp irit finds, in the planet to w hich it is
coirespondentially drawn, the various reactions necessary to its
: education and purification.
^ Although the psychic elem ent is the controller of the evolu­
tion of Form in the m aterial as well as in the fluidic sphere, and
although the m aterial body accreted by a spirit is therefore the
correspondential result of its m ental and moral quality, yet. as
the inertia of com pact M atter renders it less directly and abso■fetely
amenable
m
atter to 1the
dvnamic
.XIVM*VV than fluidic
v
. .
- : tion of
VT l*11J.V/M
.
1
1
the jV-rbprit, the m aterial body accre ■I by a spirit— however
closely th a t body may correspond, according to the possibilities
of
Matter,
ornpact M
atter to its evil proclivities—is necessarily less
Of rcompact
the coi
correspondential expression of those procirwtie*
letely the
commlefce.lv
r
a.
fluidic
body
than a fluidic body would be; and therefore serves to the extent
of th a t incompleteness of correspondence, as a d o g npon the
■ g e r t e d activities of the spirit rncamalited in it. Moreover,
. v i !• Human K aiure tor Octoh’-r, 1S70, p. i'3',
f Vide H um an Hat arc for July, Is 70, p. 303.
;-i o
TJIE PH IL O SO P H Y OF liE -IV r ■-p v *.V
.JLi. JN
.c
resistant property of inertia, which
M atter less am enable than fluidic Matter to trie
of th e pririsprit, still farther subserves the 4 mk
re-form ation, by giving, to the more advanced* intelpjj
superintend th e process of incarnation, the mean ^ of
w ith in certain lim its, th e unconscious action of th?sp irit in the construction of its new set of bodilv orVn"!:
action th ey are able so far to control, through their kru I
of the nature o f fluids and the working of the dynamic ^1
as to cause th e in ca m isin g spirit to furnish itself vs
organic ap titu de for th e exercise of some latent f a c r \
spontaneous in citem en t to som e new pursuit, to the fch: '-.som e n ew lin e o f action, w ill help, by withdrawing its e.
from its habitual vices, and directing those energies :w . "
and u sefu l channels, to turn it from its vicious proclivhw
N everth eless, as it is necessary to th e building up of its w;;-g .7
autonom y th at each spirit should appoar to itself to be rw.
author and arbiter of th e re-formation whose accomplishmert ith e sole aim of its conjunction w ith flesh, th e body in which a
spirit is m ade to enter th e m aterial sphere must so far corre­
spond to its special viciou sness as to furnish it also with the
organic in citation s to the indulgence of its vicious propensities
(greed, pride, jealou sy, anger, cruelty, etc.) which, by ’..•ilngins
th ose laten t propensities in to act, w ill bring the spirit under the
lash of th e retributive and expiatory
j.
«/ suffering
—
' that is
# destined at
len gth to w ean it from those propensities b y enligntening its
ju d gm en t in regard to th eir e v il nature, as shown by the painproducing nature of their results. B ut in proportion as this
transform ation o f th e vitiated propensities o f the soul, and the
consequent m odification of its perispritic action, are accomplished
^ y the reformatory discipline of hum anised existence, the or­
ganic ten d en cy to tlio.se special m odes of wrong-doing is propor­
tio n a lly dim inished in each of th e m aterial bodies successively
accreted b y it; u n til, th e p sych ic and perispdritic purification
of tho soul being com pleted, its m aterial bodies are entirely
freed from all organic tend en cy to th e vices of its earlier phases.
Thus the m aterial body, w hose accretion is the correspondential
p u n ish m en t of a spirit’s departure from th e lin e of .simple recti­
tude, compels th e hum anised spirit to w ork out its ow n purifica­
tion, first, b y th e resistance w h ich th e inertia of its elements
opposes to th e indefinite developm ent of the activities of the
spirit incarnated in it, and w h ich th u s im poses a limitation, or
boundary, on its pow er of acting out, and thereby indefinitely
strengthening, its e v il p ro p en sities; n ext, through subjecting it
to th e enforced a ctivities and retributive sufferings of human
existen ce, and to the spontaneous in citem en ts to n ew lines of
th ou ght and of action w hich are furnished b y its organic
I- i I i S
Iii 0
•
-
.
tH E PHILOSOPHY OF
BE-IYCARYATIOX.
Oi I
. .,ud lastly, =till fa rth e r su b serv es th e ::.t j .
J L t as it advances u p o n th e p a t h o f croc
. . --.i activities of the so u l
- 1 correspondential re trib u tio n of in c a rn a tio n is th e re fo re,
. ,r3 and inevitably, cu rativ e. E v e n in th e case of a sp irit
I . hcions to be compelled, to a n y d ecid ed effort a t a m e n d m e n t
r :je reactions of its first m a te ria l bo d y , th a t b o d y w ill n e v e rpdcss have laid the basis of th e fu tu re re fo rm a tio n or its
formative spirit, because, in th e first place, th e sp irit, w h en in c a rtiie 1 in a material organisation, ca n o n ly ex e rt its a c tiv itie s
via in the limits of th a t o rg an isatio n w h ic h 'as th e in e rtia of
.compact Matter necessarily causes a flesh-body to ac t as a fe tte r
oe the energies of th e so u l su b jected to its action^ n ec essarily
constitutes a barrier ag ain st th e soul's fa rth e r d escen t on th e
downward ro a d ; a n d because, in th e second p lace— th tc u a h th e
body's organic incitem ents of th e soul to new m odes of a c tiv ity ,
a..^ its subjection of th e soul to th e com pulsions o f p h y sic al
necessities and conditions— each life in flesh, how ever low, ho*v€vr fault}, is m ade to teach th e in c a rn a te sp irit some lesson
.v,. v. ill be driven still m ore in tim a te ly hom e to its conscionsEc-s during the period of e rra tic ity w hich succeeds, an d com pktea, each of our successive lives in th e m a te ria l sphere. A n 1
l“uV'.V.’i sp n lt’s im p riso n m en t in flesh n o t o nly p recludes th e
po^iomty of its sm iting itse lf to an y low er lev el of degradation,
“Ul
compels it to m ake some advance, how ever slight, on
the upward road.
l..e return of th e fallen sp irit to th e fluidic existen ce from
which it has lapsed is accom plished partly* in th e m a terial
sphere, and p a rtly in th e fluidic zone, of the p la n e t in w h ich i t
is incarnated. The fluidic-zones of p lanets, as previously stated ,
form no p a rt of th e tru e “ F lu id ic W o rld ,’’ for, though c o n stitu t­
ing a realm of existence far less w idely rem oved from e th ereality
than the surface of planets, those zones are nevertheless far m ore
gross th an are th e various realm s of th e p u rely “ F lu id ic W o rld ,’
inhabited only b y spirits w ho have never lost, or w ho have re ­
gained, th e ir pristine innocence. As we all began o u r essay of
individualised existence in th a t higher mode of being, we have
all attained, a t some form er period of existence, to a higher p o in t
of developm ent th a n th a t at w hich we now find ourselves ; an d
therefore th e process of hum an developm ent, as already set forth,
is not, really, a process of learning, b u t is the re-learn ing, in con­
nexion w ith a new order of organisation, and u n d er new eon1Lions of lessons th a t have been already learned by us in
f 1 nnexion w ith an organisation, and under conditions, of an o th er
548
t h e p h il o s o p h y o f k e -incah natio v
X.
an d a h a p p ier order. B u t as th a t process, w h ile n - ■ •
is I
su b jected to it, appears to its co n scio u sn ess to {><■
^'
gradual an d p rogressive acq u irem en t, w e m ay, for r-0 I
;u
e m p lo y our u su a l p h raseology, and sp eak o f it as 8Uc]|l,V,'Ill(:rice
T h e sta y o f sp irits in th e flu id ic zon e o f th is planet i
from a few hou rs to m a n y th ou san d s o f years; but fl,^ ' V:iry
lv e r a ^
le n g th o f our p eriod s o f errraticity appears to be about^'t
h u n d red years, th e retu rn o f th e sp irit to th e earth-lift.
co in c id in g w ith “ th e th ird an d fourth gen era tio n s” on v!i !
accord in g to th e M o sa ic d eclaration , “ th e s i n s ” of forint*
gen eration s o f w ron g-d oers are “ v is it e d ” b y Providential rotr ib u tio n ; a m eth o d o f p u n ish m e n t w h ic h would be utterly
in co m p a tib le w ith ju stic e u n le ss th o se w h o are thus punished
w ere, as th e y are n o w declared to be, th e v e r y same spirits who
co m m itted “ t he .sin s” for w h ic h th e y are punished; “ the
fath ers ” o f p reced in g gen eration s co m in g back as “'the children”
of su cceed in g ones, and u n d ergoin g, in a su bseq u en t incarnation,
th e p e n a lty p rev io u sly incurred b y th e m in a former one. What
m a y be called th e norm al life o f th e h u m an ised spirit is, there­
fore, n ot its b rief d escen ts in to flesh, b u t its far longer sojourns
in th e flu id ic-zon e o f p la n eta ry e x is t e n c e ; y e t both are equally
im portant. E ach life in flesh is sp e c ia lly arranged for the pur­
p ose o f tea ch in g u s som e n e w lesso n , rule, or principle, which
w e stu d y m ore d eep ly, elu cid a te m ore clearly, and develope more
w id ely , in th e fo llo w in g p eriod o f e r r a tic ity ; and each new
earth -life should be b oth th e p ractical ap p lication of all the pro­
gress already re-m ade b y th e spirit, and th e re-acquisition of some
n ew id ea or ta len t th a t sh a ll en a b le it to m ak e a new step in
advance. A n d as, on th e one hand, th e resu lt of each of its
earth -lives determ ines th e am ount o f progress th at can he made
b y th e sp irit in th e fo llo w in g p eriod o f erraticity, w hile, on the
other hand, th e progress m ade in erra ticity determ ines, in its
turn, th e character and p o ssib ilities o f th e sp irit’s n ex t incarna­
tion , it follow s th a t every m en tal or m oral gain, how ever slight,
w h ich is m ade b y a sp irit in flesh, is tak en hack by it into
erraticity, and co n stitu tes for it a p rop ortion ally higher startingp oin t from w h ich to com m en ce its n e x t hum an experiment.
So th a t each life in flesh accom p lish es a greater or less amount
of im p rovem en t for th e sp irit; and th is im p rovem en t enables it,
on its return to th e fluidic zone o f th e p lan et, to m ake a farther
advance. T hat advance, in its turn, w ill cause th e spirit, on its
n e x t return to earth, to operate a b etter incarnation, and that
better incarnation w ill be follow ed b y a s till more fruitful period
o f erraticity. A n d through this alternation o f its experiences in
th e tw o realm s o f p lanetary ex isten ce, th e m ost perverted spirit
is gradually led to “ w o r k o u t its ow n s a l v a t i o n a task which it
w ill accom plish m ore or le ss rapidly, and w ith a greater or lew
the
PH ILO SO PH Y OF R E -IN C A R N A T IO N .
549
•epetilion of p ain fu l lessons, according to th e degree
int
of
re
nm°1
ich it v o lu n tarily p u ts fort]r for its ow n am en d m en t
°{r f 0lt every life of a sp irit in flesh, h o w ev er fau lty it m ay he
ft'!n' would be seen, could w e look in to th e sp irit’s p ast, to
I" !ufimprovement on th e prev io u s p h ases of its existence ; and,
fuM we look forward to its fu tu re, to he th e p relu d e to a still
2 y(, marked im provem ent in th e phases th a t are to follow it,
por the various experiences th ro u g h w hich, in th e flesh and in
erraticity, the hum anised sp irit is m ad e to suffer and to learn,
always tell upon it in th e long ru n ; th e stern ly -h en eficen t com ­
pulsions of hum anised existen ce— ste rn e r and m ore com pulsory
in proportion to th e im p u rity of th e sp irit subjected to th e ir
action,—gradually b reak in g dow n th e m o st o b stin ate propension
to evil, rousing an d correcting th e m ost sluggish or m ost p e r­
verted intellect, and, sooner or later, edu catin g th e m ost selfish in to
the enlightened devotion to u n iv e rsa l in terests w hich is th e sole
condition of indiv id u al happiness.
We see, therefore, how it is th a t th e in e rtia of com pact
Matter, w hich renders in c arn atio n so terrib le a p u n ish m e n t for
the wrong-going sp irit, becom es th e m eans of its reh ab ilitatio n
and happiness. T he reactio n s of th e m aterial sphere, w hich
gradually bring th e erring sp irit back in to th e rig h t road th ro u g h
the pain they cause it to undergo as th e resu lt of its aberrations,
conduce still farth er to its progress by th e increasing satisfac­
tions which th ey y ield to it w ith each new v icto ry achieved by
iL> activities over m aterial obstacles ; th e am ending sp irit being
rendered increasingly happy, in each new phase of its reascensional career, th ro u g h its attain m en t to broader outlooks
over the w orld of F orces around it, th ro u g h its consciousness of
increasing pow er to em ploy those Forces for th e accom plishment of larger an d nobler ends, through the expanding of its
affeetional relations w ith th e other sentient beings of th e
Lniverse, and through its progressively clearer vision of ik e
perfections of th e Creator, as revealed to it in the scope of those
Forces, and in th e value and beauty of those relations. A nd
thus, in th e adm irable ordering of th e Providential P lan, th e
same reactive property of com pact M atter by w hich th e psychic
elem ent is m ade to educate itself up to individuality through its
production of the low er “ re ig n s” of planetary life, and by w hich
every evil tendency of th e individualised spirit is first im peded,
then w eakened, and a t length destroyed, serves equally to
enlighten, encourage, and confirm the right-going tendencies
w hich are gradually made to tak e the place of those lower
im p u F ia ” following paper- we shall continue our exam ination of
, w.fnrmatorv action of incarnation, and consider the subject
of our successive lives in flesh from the point of view of observa30
Vol. iv.
550
CREATION—THE SYMBOLISM OF NATURE.
tion, reason, and common sense. W e shall then have to ex­
am ine the natnre of In sp ira tio n ; the teachings of Christ in reoarl
to re-incarnation, and the nature of his appearance anion^'lls
as explained by S pirit-teaching; and the modifications
th e gradual adoption of the views set forth in these papers may
be expected to introduce into the arrangements of human
society.
N ovem ber 7, I S 7 0 .
A n n a B lack
CEEATION.
TH E SYMBOLISM OF NATURE.—
(Continued.)
'
By J . TT. Jack so n , F .A .S.L .,
A u th o r of “ Ethnology and Phrenology, as an Aid to the Historian,”
“ E cstatics of G enius,” Ac., Ac., Ac.
O ut rem arks on the quadrupedal mammalia have necessarily
been general, and so w ithout reference to the peculiarities of
th eir several genera and species, although each is doubtless the
distinctive symbol of a m arked type of character, and an appro­
priate organ for some special function of the universal life. In
tru th , th e y constitute an ascending series, approximating to the
b ird type in the m arsupials and to the hum an in the anthropoid
apes. A nd the successive steps of this ascent are mirrored, not
m erely in the external form, b u t also in the interior structure of
th e ir organisation, and more especially, as we have said, in the
developm ent of the nervous system, enabling Professor Owen to
arrange them into the Lyencephala, or small brained; the Lissencephala, or smooth-brained; the Gyrencephala, or convoluted
b rain ; and the Archencephala, or ruling brain (anatomically
speaking, the much-convoluted), and of which, the opossum,
th e sloth, the lion, and the man, are respectively the examples.
This incipient endeavour to arrange the most important province
of sentient life according to cerebral development, is no doubt
th e germ of a great idea, which may ultim ately go far to modify,
if not to entirely revolutionise our present zoological arrange­
ments. W e have already said that the nervous system is the
principally, if not th e radically determining element of form and
function, and if so, then a due regard to its development must
en ter largely into every system propounded by the zoologists of
th e future.
U nder the head of Marsupials and elsewhere, we have already
spoken of transitional types, and pointed out their essentially
fugitive ^and m erely adaptive character. Now, of this fleeting
order, the Quadrumana are an eminent instance. Like quadru­
peds proper, they cover a rather large area of organisation. As
monkeys, they are merely brutes; as anthropoid apes, they are
CREATION—THE SYMBOLISM OF NATURE.
551
Their distinctive featu re is tlie lib e ra tio n of th e
^ost »iell,tiie tnm k of th e body, a n d th e conversion of th e ir
ii^ r'es from P ^ vs into approxim ative, or r a th e r ru d im e n ta ry
«*tienUtlA8 baboons, they have lo st th e ir ta il, th a t re m n a n t of th e
■nds. >v&
’
•
j-i------------ -T-
i‘5j’ ^ 0f humanity. H ere again w e m a y see N a tu re stooping
conquer. Inferior in m an y specialities to a w ell-p ro n o u n ced
! iulruped, like the lion, th e y also h a lt before reach in g th e p h y ll'il equipoise and moral m ajesty of th e tru e b ip ed al ty p e. T h u s
•na sense, they are neither beasts n o r m en, b u t a com prom ise
between the two. H ence, doubtless, th e ir m iserably w rin k led
and withered appearance, even in infancy, th e ir effeteness b ein g
obviously ethnic rather th a n individual, and prem onitory n o t so
much of death as extinction.
On the hypothesis of developm ent, th e quadrum ana are a
preparation for man, while, according to every system of zoology,
they are at least an approxim ation to him . A nd here a g reat
question presents itself for solution. U nder w hat influences,
through the more im m ediate presence of w hat plastic power, has
Nature evolved this preparatory type? AYas it in accordance
vatu a pre-arranged plan, whereto things have tended from th e
beginning? AVhy has the tailed monkey, of general quadrupedal
outline, and w ith a spine, almost parallel to th e earth, assum ed,
nevertheless, a semi-human face? In accordance w ith w hat cereual changes was this physiognomical modification effected ?
1 l
^iaS
Gauc^a^ appendage been absorbed in the baboon?
And why lias the aqie, both in liis osseous and m uscular struc­
ture, approached yet nearer to the form of man? Is there any­
thing m the lemurs to indicate that, through this especial family,
the quadruped wras about to assume bipedal, and so eventually,
moral and rational attributes ? As wre have said, this is a great
question, for on its solution and th at of similar cases of transi­
tional type, m ust depend the view we take, not merely of the
vegetable and animal kingdoms, but of the evolution and con­
stitution of the universe, whether as a whole or in reference to
any one of its many provinces. Has it been developed wholly
by forces from beneath, and simply in accordance w ith wliat we
may call the laws of nature, or are these forces tlie expression of
a will and these laws the manifestation of an intelligence above
and beyond tlie merely material plane, and of which the uni­
verse is an effect and nature the piocess?
The liand-like extremities of the quadrumana indicate that
intelligence has here ultimated itself in the organisation, though
^-fectly and without due specialisation. Their anterior
impel
q’re uot perfectly constituted as operative, nor their
mem c ^ jocomotive instrumentalities, arising more immediposteu ‘ ' h e foct tp.lt t]l0p. appropriate habitat is the tree, as
iitely nuui
552
C R E A T IO N
T H E SY M H O LISM
of
NATURE
their proper food is fruit,
nil , and th a t correspondent iolly i |H.„ , ■
clim bing rather than B\vulking animals. This is perfectly tmeof 1
the monkey, though somewhat less applicable to the ape win', ■
among his other approximations to humanity, descends lYoiu |,p 9
tree and occasionally takes tentative possession <d' tlie solid 1
earth.
Now, what is an anthropoid ape— shall we say the "orilh? h
M entally, he is still on the bestial, that is the merely impulsive I
and perceptive plane. He has strong desires, and even ardent
I
affections, but he has no moral principles to govern them. So
I
he has keen perceptions, but over the casual incidents of bis.
I
personal experience and the disconnected facts coming within
the range of his cognition, he never obtains that mastery which
results from a knowledge of the law of their occurrence, lie
never rises from the concrete to the abstract, from the indivi­
dual to the universal. A s in his desires, so in his perceptions,
he still remains on the plane of the senses. Neither is lie in
any measure creative, and therefore he is not educationally pro­
gressive. H e has no conception of any standard ol existence
superior to that of his daily life, w ith its animal wants and sen­
sual indulgences. In other words, he lives wholly on the brute
plane, devoid alike of imagination and aspiration.
We m ight come to these conclusions from his known habits.
W e are confirmed in them by his phrenological development and
physiognom ical expression. The contracted cranium, with its
th ick tables and enormous crests, is sim ply that of a powerful,
beast, wherewith the prognathous jaws, armed with formidable
tusks and furnished with huge molars, accurately correspond.
There is a feud, now of some years’ standing, between two of our
m ost em inent and justly respected comparative anatomists,
respecting the existence of the hippocampus minor in the brain
of the ape, and much valuable ink and paper, to say nothing ol
far more valuable; tim e, have been expended in the reiterated
affirmation and denial, of this important fact, w hile the larger
volum e and greater com plexity of the convolutions in the
hum an brain, by which it is so thoroughly differentiated from
that of any of the quad rum an a, have been unfortunately over­
looked in the beat of this controversy. W e fear, indeed, that
the burning zeal evinced on both sides in this high argument
reveals an oblivion of the great principle, that man is built up
out of hm teliood into hum anity, not by subtraction but addi­
tion. The sim ilarity in the basis of his brain to that of the ape
is of no significance in determ ining his relative position in the
scale of being, th is being dependent, so far as cerebral, develop­
m ent is concerned, on the m agnitude and power of the Iiciiuhpheres. Here, however, w e m ay see the N em esis which, sooner
or later, ever follow s the indulgence of groundless prejudice
CREATION- THE SYMBOLISM OF NATURE.
+***O
O
UO
,1 these eminent professors onty contemplated the gorilla’s
ilium through the medium of phrenology, they would have
, ii at a glance that, whatever might be its basilar resemblance
to that of man, its anterior and coronal diversity was enormous,
implying the utter absence of all those intellectual and moral
attributes, which are the especially distinctive characteristic of
the human as contradistinguished from the brute type of exist
mice.
And now, to bring this rather prolonged paper to a conclusion,
Wlmt is man, that sole being on the moral and rational plane,
to whom the earth has yet given birth? We have already, in a
previous article, defined his place as the positive and aerial, the
papilio and bird type of the mammalia, whereof the quadruped
piopei is the grub and caterpillar. And if so, are the quadrumana to be regarded as, in any sense, the chrysalis stage, through
winch brutehood passes during its transformation into humanity?
Hus is a much graver question than appears on the surface, for
it involves the great principle of congruity between character
i 0,8ailisation, together with their relative position as cause
and effect. If organic structure be simply spiritual force, ultiin.'itcd into form on the natural plane, what manner or degree
of this force was in operation for the production of an ape?
Does his quasi-human form indicate a proportionate approximation to human intelligence? Coming down yet lower in the
chain of causation, are wc to regard the ape type as the ape brain
effectually manifested through the osseous and muscular por­
tion's of the corporeal structure? Is the congruity as perfect, for
instance, in this case as in that of the lion or the alligator, and
if so, then what are we to say of man? Does his hand, even in
its most psychical form, fully express the artistic and poetic
power of a Phidias or a Itaphael, a Dante or a Shakespeare ?
Nay, is even the mechanical ingenuity of an Archimides or a
VVatt appropriately ultimated in the most dexterous fingers that
ever vet handled a tool? And, save in his lordly brow, what is
there in the face or form of a Bacon or a Newton to indicate the
P i e
ap p lica tio n o f its p rin cip les to the races and m d iv id u . rue a| I
[fwe
th ou m vorso as the di vine organism ,
a h tie s of nil • ,
j ok W on it as an instru m en tality develop ed
th e n w o m 11' ' j ,ld al,te([ to the uses o f the Suprem e. A n d
b y th e actio • ^
m u st p0 eq u a lly prepared to regard every
a d m ittin g
w hether of the cosm ic, telluric, vegetable, or
su b sid iary
jL sim j]al. manner the instrum entality o f a
ani mal typo. ‘ ,
1 j„ (ho process of its m anifestation on the
m en tal force, evuiv
a d d
554
CREATION—THE SYMBOLISM OF NATURE.
m a t e r ia l p la n e .
ISTow t h i s , t h e l o w e s t p la n e o f derivative bciii*
e x i s t s , a s a c o n s e c p ie n c e o f i t s c o m p a r a tiv e in feriority, pre-eimn e n t l y u n d e r t h e c o n d it io n s o f t im e a n d sjm ce, so th at its various
o r g a n ic fo r m s d e m a n d d u r a t io n fo r th e ir e ffe c tiv e evolution as
s p ir it u a l s y m b o ls a n d in s t r u m e n t a lit ie s .
T h e q u estion then here
p r e s e n t e d fo r o u r c o n s id e r a t io n is . W h e th e r m an has yet had
a d e q u a t e t im e fo r t h e f u l l a n d e ffe c t iv e e v o lu tio n o f his physical
s t r u c t u r e a s a n a p t in s t r u m e n t a lit y a n d ap p rop riate symbol of
h i s s p ir it u a l p o w e r ?
P e r h a p s in a ll i t s f u ln e s s a n d fo r c e , in it s com prehensive vast i t u d e a n d fa r -r e a c h in g c o n s e q u e n c e s , t h is g r e a t problem is yet
b e y o n d u s.
W e h a v e s c a r c e ly t h e a d e q u a te data on which to
b a s e o u r c o n c lu s io n s ; n e it h e r h a v e w e m a stered th e principles
b y w h i c h o u r r e a s o n in g s h o u ld b e g u id e d . W e can, at most,
th r o w o u t a f e w g u e s s e s .
T h e e v id e n c e o n th is subject is two­
fo ld ; first, t h a t d e r iv e d fr o m a c o m p a r iso n o f th e minds of
m e n w i t h t h o s e o f a n im a ls , a n d t h a t o f th e m in d o f superior
w it h t h e m in d o f in fe r io r ra c e s, a n d la s t ly , th e m in d o f superior
a n d g if t e d in d iv id u a ls w it h t h a t o f th e m a ss in a n y given type;
a n d s e c o n d ly , t h a t d e r iv e d fro m a co r r e sp o n d in g comparison
b e t w e e n t h e c o r p o r e a l s tr u c tu r e o f th e d iffe r e n t ty p e s of sentient
a n d c o n s c io u s e x is t e n c e , b lo w , g r a n tin g th a t i t requires time
fo r a n y s p e c ia lly c o n s titu te d a n d w e ll d efin ed ty p e o f psychic
c o n s t it u t io n to e ffe c tu a lly u ltim a te i t s e l f in a p erfectly apt and
a c c o r d a n t p h y s ic a l fra m e, t h e n w e m a y p r e s u m e th a t the earlier
a n d s im p le r t y p e s o f s e n t ie n t e x is t e n c e are m ore effectually ultim a te d th a n t h e la te r and m ore c o m p le x . W h ile , on the same
p r in c ip le , w e m u s t regard b ru tes as m o re e ffe c tu a lly ultimated
th a n m e n , a n d th e ru d er a n d ea rlier races o f th e latter as pos­
s e s s e d o f a p h y s ic a l t y p e m ore in a cco rd a n ce w it h th eir mental
c o n s titu tio n th a n th e la te r a n d m ore refin ed .
T h e p r in c ip le on w h ic h w e co m e to th e s e c o n c lu s io n s may ho
s im p ly s ta te d a n d ca n b e r e a d ily u n d ersto o d . I f th e nervous
s y s te m , a cc o r d in g to th e d eg ree o f it s d e v e lo p m e n t, be the prin­
c ip a lly d e te r m in in g e le m e n t o f form an d fu n c tio n throughout the
a n im a te sca le, a n d i f tlie d egree o f it s d e v e lo p m e n t be the best
in d e x w e p o s se s s o f tlie m e n ta l c o n s titu tio n o f an anim al or a
m a n ; th e n i t fo llo w s th a t a n y ch a n g e ta k in g p la ce in the
sp ir itu a l r e la tio n s an d p s y c h ic c o n d itio n o f an a n im a te type, will,
in im p in g in g on th e m a teria l p la n e, h a v e first to becom e mani­
fe s t in th e n erv o u s s y ste m , a n d th rou gh it a tta in to ultimation
in tlie o sseo u s an d m u scu la r p o rtio n s o f th e organism .
L et u s illu s tr a te our m e a n in g b y a fe w ex a m p les. I t is only
n e c e ssa r y to g la n c e a t a th orou gh -b red horse to sec th at “the
sp eed o f th o u g h t is in h is lim b s.” H e e x ists p rin cip a lly for
s w ift lo c o m o tio n on th e q u ad ru pedal p la n . "With a nervo-fibrous
tem p era m en t o f tlie h ig h e st order, and w ith a ll th a t splendid
/
CREATION—THE SYMBOLISM OF NATURE.
555
f muscle and delicacy of articulation which accomconducin'* to a beauty of contour that strikes the rudest
t oraceful creature, so ardent, .intelligent, and courageous,
'jj g0]|t[ hoofs for his extremities. In this direction he is
^ °closed up from direct contact with the external world than
?J?bear, the sloth, or even the ox. Now, one of the peculiar/ties of this case is, the geological record demonstrates that this
speciality of the horse is of comparatively recent attainment, as
if time had been required for swiftness, as a desire of the mind,
to ultimate itself in an efficient corporeal instrum entality for its
effectuation. In the existing species, not only are four out of
the five digits absorbed, the middle toe with its nail, represented
by the hoof, alone being left, but the ulna and radius, which in
man and most quadrupeds remain distinct, are fused together, a
similar solidification of the tibia and fibula of the hind leg being
also observable. Now, as we ascend through the fossil horse, the
liipparion and the hippatlierium to the miocene and eocene
geological periods, such specialities become less marked, until
these equine peculiarities are lost in the general characteristics
of quadrupedal organisation.
.
a. contrast to the horse we may cite the lion. Equally
high-spirited, and, if possible, yet more courageous, his preclominant purpose as king of the carnivora, is the destruction of
animal life, whereto swiftness is but an accessory and a means.
Hence his five-toed extremities, fully armed with their terrible
and retractile talons, which are however, after all, but instru­
ments for slaughter. They are solely his passions, and not in
any measure his intellect ultimated. He has merely the paws
of a beast, and not even by remote approximation the hands of
a man. His extremities are pre-eminently combative, not con­
structive instrumentalities. He is armed for the fight, not
equipped for cognition. He impinges on the outer world solely
as a destroyer, and not, even by the faintest promise, as a creator
—and hence, we may remark, his inevitable end is special anni­
hilation.
We suppose it is almost needless to say that in both of the
foregoing instances, it is the basilar portion of the brain which
has been more especially ultimated in the contour of the limbs
and the structure of the extremities. Let us now advance to a
type in which the anterior lobe, or seat of the intellectual facul­
ties is coining into manifestationj we allude to the qundrumona.
Here the extremities are truly prehensile, and although largely
used for locomotion, in accordance with the requirements imnosed by the arboreal environment of this type, they are, never­
theless not merely the agents of impulse, but also in an
Ivancin" measure the instruments of intelligence, principally,
h wover °on the perceptive plane, their predominantly directing
556
H IS T O R Y O F A S P IR IT U A L IS T .
in flu e n c e s b e in g c u n n in g an d cu rio sity . In conjunction with
th is , h o w ev er, th e y h a v e tw o oth er fu n ctio n s; th ey are the agents
o f a lim e n ta tio n an d affection . T h e m on k ey, as a frugivorous
a n im a l, p lu c k s th e fru its w h ic h are h is appropriate food, and
c o n v e y s th e m to h is m o u th w ith h is hands, an attribute which,
h o w e v er, h e shares in co m m o n w ith th e squirrel, although it may
be le s s em p h a sised in th e latter. W h ile h is female nurses her
y o u n g in h er arm s, an d in strict an atom ical accordance with
th is , th e m am m ae are s o le ly th oracic in position. This wide
sep a ra tio n o f th e organs o f la c te a tio n from those of reproduction,
is o f im m e n se im p o rta n ce as a sy m b o l o f grade in the scale of
b ein g . I t sh o w s th a t th e sphere o f affection is being separated,
as b y “ a d iscrete degree,” from th a t o f p assion and impulse.
S u ch an u ltim a te sep aration w as d ou b tless in volved in the fun­
d a m en ta l id ea o f a m am m alian ty p e, b u t it dem anded time and
m a n y su c c e ssiv e grad ation s o f organic d evelop m en t for its full
a n d effectiv e ev o lu tio n .
W e th u s see th a t th e quadrum ana, even w h en contemplated
sy m b o lic a lly , are, as th e sim p le st observer m igh t conjecture from
th e rude sem b la n ce o f th e ir form to th e hum an type, the faint
ad u m bration , th e d im prom ise o f m an, th e com ing event casting
its sh ad ow before. B u t, as m ig h t be exp ected , the shadow is
v e r y in ferior to th e su bstan ce. L et us, however, distinctly
u n d ersta n d th a t th e g u lp h w h ich n ow separates the bimana from
th e quad ru m an a is th e slo w ly attain ed resu lt o f countless milleniu m s o f sep aration al d evelop m en t. T h e lo w est m en, if not the
h ig h e s t apes, h a v e lo n g sin ce perished, and th e low er races are
s t ill p erish in g, th eir u ltim a te ex tin ctio n b ein g sim p ly a question
o f tim e. H a v in g , h ow ever, already sp oken o f th e place of man
in th e sca le o f bein g, as th e so le ly rational and on ly responsible
form o f con sciou s e x iste n c e y e t d evelop ed on th e earth plane, we
m a y w ith o u t farther preface, pass at once to th e symbolism of
h is form and fu n ction s.
HISTORY
r
OF
B
y
A
L
e o n
SPIRITUALIST.
F
a v r e
.
( C o n c lu d e d .)
After three years’ experience, I came to the conclusion that there
w as an in tellig en t power independent of us that could communicate
w ith u s. Its existen ce appeared satisfactorily proved to me by its
in telligen ce and its independent nature ; the former quality could
not be denied, since I had received inform ation on subjects which I
had never had the opportunity of becom ing acquainted with, and
w hich could not therefore have been furnished by m yself; while the
l a t t e r w as eq u ally established by the remarkable spontaneousness
o f th e com m unications, the seeing in the future, and the complete
HISTORY OF A SPIRITUALIST.
557
, fcion of my id e a s w h ic h u n t i l th e n h a d se e m e d to be fo u n d e d
, )r* truth. T h is in d e p e n d e n c e w a s a lso sh o w n in th e m o d e in
U£* h X was im p re s se d . I p u r p o s e ly a v o id e d th in k in g w h a t th e
answer to a q u e stio n m ig h t b e, th in k in g of a n o th e r m a tte r e n tire ly ,
Jvhen suddenly th e p h ra s e o lo g y a n d s u b je c t w o u ld be g iv e n m e .
lily hand w rote w ith a r a p id ity t h a t n o s lio rt-lia n d w r ite r co u ld
keep up w ith ; a n d in a ll th e lo n g p a g e s w ritte n , n e a r ly as q u ic k as
thought, th e re w as n e v e r a w o rd o r a p h r a s e to a lte r . S o m e tim e s
I could get n o th in g , n o tw ith s ta n d in g m y a r d e n t d e sire ; so m e tim e s
all impression su d d e n ly c e a se d in th e m id d le of a p h ra s e . T h is
.sudden d e p a rtu re of th e in flu e n c e , b o th a t th e ta b le a n d fro m th e
brain, is an e v e ry -d a y o c c u rre n c e , w h e n n e ith e r p r a y e r , c o n c e n tr a ­
tion of m ind, n o r m a g n e tic c h a in s a re of a n y a v a il. I t m a n ife s ts
itself when a n d h o w i t ch o o ses, n o r h a s one a n y p o w er to m a k e it
remain u n less it th in k s p ro p e r. A s a w ritin g m e d iu m , I w as its
tool, and m y w ill w as p o w e rle s s to c o n s tra in it.
After th re e y e a rs of m e d iu m s h ip , m y b r a in ceased to be im p r e s ­
sible, and m y a r m to feel th e m a g n e tic p o sse ssio n , a n d I ceased to
be a w ritin g m e d iu m ; m y im a g in a tio n , m y w ill, m y m a g n e tic
power, have n o t d im in is h e d ; a n d a lth o u g h m y fa ith is firm ly e s ta b ­
lished, I no lo n g e r feel a n y in flu e n c e — m y b r a in b elo n g s to m y se lf
alone, and m y a r m n e v e r m o v e s. I f th e im p re ssio n a b le n a tu r e of
my nervous sy ste m w as th is sole ca u se of th is p h e n o m e n o n , th e c o n ­
stant ten d en cy of m y m in d to in v e stig a te , w ith a g ro w in g co n v ic­
tion as to th e s p ir itu a l n a tu r e of th e se th in g s , one w o u ld th in k ,
would dispose m y fa c u ltie s to d ev elo p . B u t n o th in g of th e k in d .
How is th is ? T h e d iffe re n t e x p la n a tio n s g iv en b y th o se w ho d en y
the p o ssib ility of c o m m u n ic a tio n s w ith th e in v isib le w o rld a re c e r­
tainly m ore d ifficu lt to u n d e r s ta n d a n d m u c h less sim p le th a n th e
spiritual th e o ry .
I do n o t believe in m ira c le s . T h e p h e n o m e n a w h ich h a v e been
so called h a v e b e e n effected th ro u g h u n k n o w n law s ; th e m ira c le
■disappears as so o n as th e la w is u n d e rsto o d . T h ere is no su ch
thing as s u p e rn a tu ra l, th e re is o n ly th e u n k n o w n , w h ich it is o u r
business to d isco v er. I t w as c le a r to m e th a t th e law s th a t g o v ern ed
the p h e n o m e n a of th e ta b le w ere th e sam e th a t in flu en ced w ritin g
m edium s. T h e d e p riv a tio n of th e fa c u lty w hich I h a d p o ssessed
was a n in c o n tro v e rtib le p ro o f to m e th a t I had p o ssessed th is
faculty.
W h e n I cam e to P a ris I h a d a n o p p o rtu n ity of w itn e ssin g m a n i­
festatio n s of a n o th e r d escrip tio n — it w as th e ra p p in g ; h ith e rto , I
h ad only w itn essed th e tiltin g . T h e sy stem is now so co m m o n th a t
it is n eed less for m e to ex p lain it. I w ill o nly re m a rk t h a t it is
very cu rio u s a n d in te re s tin g to h e a r th e sp irits im ita te th e so u n d s
of th e saw a t w ork, th e ra ilro a d , d ru m s b ea tin g , &c. I h a v e n o t
been p re se n t a t th e D av e n p o rt seances, b u t I h av e w itn e sse d s im i­
la r m a n ife sta tio n s w hich led m e to believe in th e p o ssib ility of su c h
p h en o m en a as th e irs being g en u in e. I t m u s t be confessed th a t
th e y m e t w ith little fa ir p la y in F ra n c e , w h ere th e y w ere c o n ­
d e m n e d a t once as c h a rla ta n s, w ith o u t an y calm in v e s tig a tio n of
558
HISTORY OF A SPIRITUALIST.
tlieir claims to mediumship taking place. An old major of the l^irst
Empire, M. Dufare, was interested in Spiritualism. He found in
liis own house two children, the eldest of which was only ten years
old. They sat round a table of four feet square, without a drawer.
I tied their two hands together in such a manner that they could
not possibly undo them, and put them under the table with a light
cloth over them. I watched them attentively; neither of them
moved in the slightest degree. After about five minutes one of the
children exclaimed, in a soft voice, “ It is done,” and upon taking
off the cloth, I found all my knots undone. Then they were tied up
again (not with so many knots as I had made, but in such a way
that they could not move) by some invisible power. It was clear
to me that the children did not tie and untie themselves. What was,
then, the power that performed this phenomenon ? It seems to me
that neither imagination nor electricity would be capable of doing
it. It wms necessary to have recourse to an agent. This necessity
was proved to me by all the seances at which I had assisted, and
this agent must have had faculties similar to ours. Everything
showed that he was in the full enjoyment of free-will, independence,
and intelligence. But what is this power? Neither Ilardec, Pierart,
nor the Americans have given a solution of this problem, that expe­
rimental science can ratify. In my opinion, man can only receive
truth in proportion as he is able to receive it.
An important fact struck me; it was the contradictory nature of
mediumistic writings. Spirits signing the same name made asser­
tions entirely opposite. One would think that all the opinions,
passions, and extravagances of humanity were represented in these
confused extra tomb communications. It was utterly impossible
to extract from these contradictory teachings the elements of a
science, a doctrine, or a dogma. M. Kardec has endeavoured to con­
struct a formulary and place a chief corner-stone. But if he has
many followers in France and Italy he has almost the whole of
America and England against him. Thus we can come to no con­
clusion. But with all this general disagreement, there is one
affirmation which seems universally the same without exception.
All who speak by tilting, rapping, or writing, are unanimous in say­
ing, “ We are the souls of those who have lived.''' There is nothing
doubtful or contradictory about this; here there is a constant tes­
timony that has never varied for fifteen years, and which is to be
found in every part of the entire globe; and as a proof of its genuine­
ness, those powers have come of their own accord, and made the
mediums write in a hand unknown to them, purporting to be the
writing of a child or departed husband of some one present, speaking
of matters known to no one else. Such demonstrations as these, one
must admit, are well calculated to comfort a mourner for the loss of
a dear friend; for the great grief we feel at the loss of a beloved
one is in the fear of never meeting again.
jg
In short, it seems to be the earthly life, with all its interests, ca­
prices, and sentiments, which is still carried on invisibly around us,
being an exact counterpart of the visible side which appears to us. It
t h e
m a in s p r in g
o f
c r e a t io n
.
559
th a t s u c h a n u n a m i n i t y o f a f f ir m a tio n w ith r e g a r d
ra to me
When we
phenomena, o u g h t n o t to be d is r e g a r d e d b y u s
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to tbeseij-gfied o u rse lv e s, t h a t t h e h a l l u c i n a t i o n , c r e d u lity , a n d effects
,l!lVC filia tio n th e o ry , a d d u c e d b y s u p e rf ic ia l o r p a r t i a l o b s e rv e rs , is
d ila te d u n d e r th e p r e s s u r e o f a c o n s c ie n tio u s e x a m in a tio n —
en we adm it th e p r o b a b ility of t h e e x is te n c e o f a p o w e r liv in g
Vcl acting so m u c h lik e o u rs e lv e s a s to affo rd a p r o o f o f th e c o n ­
tinuance of life b e y o n d th e g r a v e — i t b e h o v e s u s , I th in k , to in q u ir e
whether at le a st a r e v e la tio n f r o m t h e o th e r w o rld is p o s s ib le .
0
THE M AINSPRING OF CREATION.
is L o v e? A s lo v e h a s a m y r ia d d iffe re n t fo rm s , n o d e fin itio n
thereof is lik ely to b e q u ite s a tis f a c to r y to a n y m i n d ; h u t a s lo v e ,
iu some shape o r o th e r, is th e m o tiv e p o w e r in e v e ry a c tio n , in its
analysis it w ill p r o b a b ly b e fo u n d to p o sse ss c e rta in c h a r a c te r is tic s
very generally r e c o g n is a b le .
In the p u re ly m a te r ia l w o rld , t h a t w h ic h a p p e a rs to b e th e so u rc e
of m ovem ent is th e m u t u a l a ttr a c tio n w h ic h b o d ies ex e rc ise u p o n
each other, w h e th e r th e y b e tw o d ro p s of w a te r, s e p a r a te d b y th e
one-thousandth p a r t of a n in c h , o r p la n e ta r y b o d ies m illio n s of
miles a su n d e r. T h e fo rc e of a t tr a c ti o n is ex e m p lifie d in a m o re
striking m a n n e r b y th e in flu e n c e o f th e m a g n e t, b e c a u se th is is a
less u n iv e rsa l fo rc e , a n d se e m s to b rin g u s one ste p n e a r e r to in d i­
vidual v o litio n .
P assing fro m th e m in e r a l to th e v e g e ta b le k in g d o m w e m e e t w ith
q Vi n e ty
f° rc e s in o p e ra tio n , w h ic h n e e d n o t be p a r tic u la r is e d ,
bumce it to n o tic e th e c u rio u s te n d e n c y of c e rta in p la n ts to seek
support fro m o th e rs , th e in s tin c t w h ic h m a k e s th e m is tle to e tw in e
around th e o ak , a n d th e c la m b e ro u s p in e to clasp w ith its te n d rils
the frie n d ly b r a n c h e s of th e elm . W e m a y o b serv e, to o , th e po w er
of choice w h ic h p la n ts d isp la y in fix in g o n su ita b le h a b ita ts , th e
sense of s a tis fa c tio n ev in ced by th e flow er w h en it ex p a n d s its p e ta ls
to th e g e n ia l r a in o r s u n s h in e , an d th e feelin g of re p u lsio n w ith w h ich
it closes th e m o n th e a p p ro a c h of fro st or p a rc h in g h e a t. I n th e se
p h en o m en a th e p rin c ip le of a ttra c tio n a p p e a rs to b e a r a fa in t
resem b lan ce or an a lo g y , a t a n y r a te , to th e a c tio n of in d iv id u a l
affection.
R isin g one step h ig h e r we arriv e a t th e a n im a l k in g d o m , se p a ­
ra te d fro m th e v eg etab le b y sc arcely p ercep tib le b o u n d arie s, th e
chief d istin ction b ein g th e pow er po ssessed by th e a n im a l of a s s im i­
la tin g food. The p rim e m o tiv e agency in th e a n im a te d c re a tio n is
a p p e t i t e in its v ario u s fo rm s, su ch as th e im p u lse to d estro y in o rd e r
t o s u p p o r t life, a n d th e in s tin c t of a ttra c tio n to w ard s a n o th e r of th e
« species, in o rd er to p a r t w ith ex u b e ra n ce of v ita l en erg y , a n d
”
o r p e t u a t e th e species.
Im m e d ia te ly re su ltin g fro m th e conju80T -s
parental in s tin c t, w hich im p els to th e p re se rv a tio n of
)Xqn g ; and h ere a n im a l in stin c t, p assio n , a n d affection m e lt
What
500
TH E M AINSPRING OF CREATION.
im perceptibly in to th at h ig h est attribute of hum anity— personal
ration al, self-sacrificing love.
The prim ary elem en t of the conjugal in stin ct in irrational animals
is undoubtedly sen su al gratification. Ih it it is not entirely made
up of th is; w itn ess the endearm ents and delighted companionship
of dom esticated anim als of opposite sexes, at seasons when tho
strictly sexu al in stin ct is either entirely dormant or quite in abey­
an ce. The parental in stin ct is, after a short tim e, accompanied
w ith very little sen su al gratification, but still it continues, though in
dim inished force.
To w hat, then, should we attribute the lo v e— wo reach this attri­
bute at la st— w hether of a skylark or a polar bear, for its mate and
offspring ? Chiefly, it w ould seem to be, the pleasurable sensation
attending the exercise of sym path etic em otions.
M oreover, the principle fu lly developed w ill bo found to account
for alm ost every form assum ed by hum an affection, from the mere
an im al passion to that so-called form of love w hich has been well
denom inated “ en th u siasm of h u m a n ity .”
The m ost m ysterious phase of hum an love, that existing between
th e sexes, is certainly of a very com plex nature. In the unculti­
vated, it approaches very closely the sexual instin ct of the brute
creation. In persons of h igh ly nervous organisation, however, it
not only attains the h igh est range of in tellectu al energy and delight,
but also contributes more than any other agency either to the ruin
or the perfection of the character. E xp lan ation s of a large x^ortion
of its m ysteries, its dcx>ravity, or refinem ent, is contained in that
sam e pleasurable em otion w hich is th e result of intellectual, moral,
or physical sym pathy ; and if a refined sym pathy is the source of
the high est joys of love, the sam e principle should be the corrective
and cure of low indulgences, of selfish passion. Sympathy should
b e so genuine and deex> as not to tolerate trifling with woman’s
nature to ile r grievous injury.
s . e . r>.
W e s h o u ld b e s o r ry , to r a is e h o p e s w h ic h , a f te r a ll, m a y not bo
r e a lis e d , b u t th e r e s e e m s to b e j u s t a p o s s ib ility t h a t th e D ev il is dead.
T h o N e w Y o r k J J e ra ld s a y s t h a t so m e w o rk m e n a t M o o resv ille, Indiana,
in m a k in g a n e x c a v a tio n , h a v e d u g u p a s k e le to n , w ell preserved,
c o r r e s p o n d in g to th e h u m a n s k e le to n in a ll its r e s p e c ts excej>t th a t tho
f o r e h e a d is v illa n o u s ly lo w , w ith tw o h o r n s c u rv e d b a c k w a rd s. Tho
a r m s a r e o f u n u s u a l le n g th , a n d th o s p in a l b o n e te r m in a te s in a tail,
o f w h ic h a b o u t a fo o t in le n g th s till r e m a in s .
I f th e D ev il is n o more,
a n d th is is h is s k e le to n , h e h a s b e e n tr e a te d w ith so m e in ju s tic e . H is
d e a th h a s c e r ta in ly n o t x>ut a n e n d to c rim e o n th is sid e o f th e A tla n tic ;
a n d e ith e r we h a v e a t tr i b u te d to o m u c h ev il to th e in stig a tio n of tho
d e c e a s e d , o r, x^crhafjs, o n ly th o A m e ric a n D e v il is d e a d . F o r , unless
a ll th e v iew s o f th e D e iv l w h ic h a re pox>ularly e n te r ta in e d a re devoid of
fo u n d a tio n , h e is n o t o n ly a liv e in E u r o p e a t th o p r e s e n t m o m e n t, but,
if x^ossible, r a t h e r m o re a c tiv e th a n u s u a l.
an
EXTRAORDINARY SPIRIT STORY.
5G1
AN EXTRAORDINARY SP.IRIT STORY OF T ill
FIFTEEN TH CENTURY
MICIlKLANOEIiO BUONARROTI A J;K U K V H Ii IN S P I R I T COMMUNICATION.
I t can bo no matter of doubt for the student of spiritual philosophy
that all truly great men have been and are inspired in the concep­
tion of the works that give them fame. Classic Greeco and Romo
showed their belief in this, by calling their bards prophets; whilst
all ages have ever distinguished their most famous artists, poets,
and writers with the epithet of inspired. And, indeed, from Homer
to Tennyson, from Praxiteles to Canova, and from Apelles to
Raphael—all men of great genius give evidence in their works of
the source whence their ideas flow. Dante’s “ Commedia,” from
beginning to end is nothing but inspirational Spiritualism, even to
the description of a seance, as in these lines (Canto ix. verse 2 8 ) : —
“ ’Tis true, aforetime I have gone this track.
By fell Ericlitho* conjured down below,
Who to their bodies! calls the spirits back.”
But most conspicuously does Dante show his intuitive Spiritualism,
by constantly representing the spirits in all spheres anxious for a
continuance of intercourse with their friends in the flesh. (See canto
vi. ver. 89 ; canto xv. ver. 119 ; and canto xxix. ver. 198.) Tasso’s
“ (J e r u s a le m ” is not less replote with spiritual philosophy. How
familiar to the spiritualist this explanation of the modus operandi of
the spirits to make themselves visible to us. Speaking of tho angel
messenger who appeared to Godfrey, the poet says :—
“ In form of air;/ members fair imbarred,
Ifis spirit pure was subject to his eight.”
although the above is far from a correct translation of the Italian,
the literal rendering of which would be—
“ Ho (the angel) surrounded his invisible form with air,
And rendered it subject to mortal sense,”
which is the well known theory, that the spirits take from the atmos­
phere all tho chemical elements necessary for the clothing of them ­
selves into visibility. Of Shakespeare and Milton not a word need
be said in England to show that they were innate spiritualists. B u t
apart from their works, the history of all great men amply proves
that they wero not, as a rule, disbelievers in tho immortality of
tho soul', or in the possibility of spirit communion. I t is only
tho mcdiocro scientists, physicists, and chemists, who, like JEsop’s
frogs, try to iuflato themselves into philosophers and thinkers, and
deride tho idea of immortality, making us spiritualists smile at th eir
half-hour’s investigation and boisterous denials.
Michelangelo Buonarroti, tho inspired mind, who excelled at tho
same time as a poet, a painter, a sculptor, and an architect, lor
whose quadruple manilcstation of genius was by his contemporaries
* Kriolitho, a Thessalian sorcerer, i.
a medium,
t To their bodies, or near to their dead bodies.
51V>
V ’ V * Ml
VBvTUXOBDlY.U'vY m \U T STORY.
sm un\n\ed“ the fou\*-so\\led man," undwhose work bears the hwpvo^
of spirit hands— Michelangelo could not \u\t do gifted vritli instinc
liv e t>\ur\nvalism. This is demonstrated by Ins behaviour ii\ a won­
derful spirit apparition, of wined, l\e happened to do cognisant, in
tdo year 1MH, when do was dut a youth. Ascauio Condivi, the
historian, gives an account of it in the diography of Michelangelo,vw ho was his intimate friend, and from whose dps he had the storv.
H ero is tdo narrative of Con&ivi, wliied I translate, regretting,
through my imperfect knowledge of your forcible idiom, my inabi­
lity to reproduce it in tdo terse and vigorous language of the
o rig in a l:—
“ There visited the house of Peter do Me dieis a certain man,
nam ed Oardiere, much liked by Lorenzo the Magnificent gather to
Peter'd on account of dis marvellous impromptu singing on the lyre.
This m an being a friend of Michelangelo related to him a vision lie
had had. and which was as follows—That Lorenzo de Medicis had
appeared to him clothed only in a black and torn robe over his naked
skin, and had commanded him to tell liis son Peter that lie would
shortly de driven from Florence never to return to it again. Peter
do Medicis was so insolent and overbearing, that neither the good­
ness of his brother the Cardinal John.! nor the courtesy and
humanity of dis other brother Julian, could counteract Ins many
vices, which made him hateful to the people. Michelangelo
strongly advised Oardiere to obey the commands of the spirit of
Lorenzo, and to inform Peter of this vision: but fearing the anger
of that violent prince, Oardiere dared not. A few days after
Michelangelo, being in the courtyard of the palace, beheld Cardiere coming to him terrified, who told him that Lorenzo had again
appeared to him the previous night, clothed as before : that lie
(Oardiere) was at the time wide awake ; and that the spirit had
given him a severe blow on the face because he lmd not related to
Peter the apparition, and given the message. Michelangelo then
spoke seriously to Oardiere, reproved him for his hesitation in de­
livering the spirit-message to the Prince, and said so much that
Oardiere took courage and started on foot to Careggi. a villa of the
De Medicis. about three miles distant from the city. But when lie
was nearly half way, he met Peter, who was coming to Florence.
He stopped the Prince, and recounted to him all he had seen and
heard. Peter ridiculed him, and, pointing him out io his minions,
they scorned and derided him : and the Prince’s chaplain, who was
afterwards Cardinal of Bibbiena. said to him, ‘ Tliou art a fool.
Who tliinkesfc thou that Lorenzo likes best—his son or thee:’ If his
son. would he not rather have appeared to him than any other per­
son?' Thus mocked and mortified. Cardiere was left on the road
by the party who galloped past laughing. I On his return to Fio* Rim. e lettere di Michelangelo Buonarroti. Firenze: C. Barberte. I860.
f Who became afterwards the celebrated Tope Leo X.
* And a luokv fellow was Cardiere for not having his head split open by the
•word of the Prince, or by the sword of the chaplain!—{«, Translator.)
a N EXTRAORDINARY SPIRIT
sto ry.
563
-luted to Michelangelo wliat had happened, and again
,,',1 0 '. *l0,Uu)i1atically of the vision that the latter believing it to
ir " ev" (Vox* he supported his companions) he was obliged to leave
por Bologna, where he met with the following adventure,
r;v>v existed in that city at the time of the Governorship of Messer
'joviumi Bentivogli, a law, exacting that whatever stranger came
•Vro should be compelled to have applied on his thumb nail a
liuge seal stamped in red wax. Michelangelo having inadver­
tently entered the city, without submitting to this formality, he
Tvns "conducted with his companions before the magistrates, who
condemned him to pay the fine of fifty Bolognese lires; but he not
having the means of paying this heavy fine, Messer Gianfrancesco
Aldovrandi. a Bolognese gentleman, and one of the sixteen magis­
trates. knowing him to be a promising sculptor, interposed, and he
and his companions were liberated. Messer Aldovrandi then in ­
vited him to his house, but Michelangelo thanking him, excused
himself, saying that he had two friends whom he could not leave,
and that he did not wish to intrude them on his hospitality. To
which the gentleman jocosely replied—‘ I will also go with you on
pleasure through the world, if you will defray my expenses.’ But
having persuaded Michelangelo to leave his companions, he com­
plied with
., his wish,
>
7^and ogiving
O them the little monev
%
l that remained,7
went to live with his generous friend. A few days later the news
arrived at Bologna that the house of Be Medicis, with all its p ar­
tisans, were driven from Florence, and shortly afterwards came for
retuge to Bologna, taking their abode not far from the house where
Michelangelo was staying. Thus Cardiere’s vision, or diabolical
delusion, or whatever it might be called, was verified—a truly m ar­
vellous thing, worthy of being written, and which I have narrated
exactly as 1 heard it from the lips of Michelangelo. From the
death of Lorenzo the Magnificent (1-19*2), to the expulsion of his
sons from Florence, about three years elapsed; and Michelangelo
was then between twenty and twenty-one years of age.-’
.
,
V?
o
'
This is the remarkable story, so instructive in every sense—in ­
structive especially in this, that had Michelangelo belonged to the
shallow-brained tribe of superior disbelievers, he would have called
Cardiere an idiot, ridiculed his marvellous vision, remained in
Florence, been most likely involved in the massacre (and many a
scoffer has thus suffered) which reddened Florence at the expulsion
of Peter de Medicis, and the world would never have possessed or
beheld those master works of art which render Buonarroti's name
imperishable. Such apparently slight things are they which rule
the world, and impress themselves indelibly on the meniorv of
thinking men.
G. D a m ia x i ,
Clifton, 15th October, 1870.
5G I
THE BENEFICENCE OF DEATH.
TH E BEN EFIC ENC E O F DEATH. :
B u t it is not for any of us to decide how or when we m a y be called
hence. Death can never he truly said to be untimely for it is a
natural event, dependent upon certain physiological condition?
The pulpit, indeed, solemnly admonishes all to be prepared for it •
but i: would be just as reasonable to talk of being prepared for seed­
tim e or harvest, for the rising and going down of the sun, or for
any other of the operations of Nature. No special preparation is
needed in the one case more than in the other. It has no moral or
religious significance whatever. It furnishes no motive to moral
restraint on the one hand, or moral obedience on the other. It is
not “ a mysterious dispensation of Divine Providence/’ in any in­
stance. It is not a change to be dreaded, or a calamity to be deplored,
but in itself is as merciful and beneficent, as natural and indispen­
sable as any other divinely ordered occurrence. It is not therefore
to be met with any special resignation; for that implies something
to be viewed as a hardship or an infliction, from which we would
save ourselves if we could, and is a direct impeachment of Divine
isdom and Love. “ The mountain falling cometh to nought, and
the rock is removed out of his place.” Whatever is mortal must be
subject to the laws of mortality. “ Can a man take fire into his
bosom, and not be burned'? ” Eet this suffice :
“ F ife is real, life is earnest,
And th e cnrave is not its cjroal:
*D u s t th o u art. to d u st retu rn est.'
"Was n o t spoken of the soul.”
Nor, turning to the scriptural record, was it spoken of the body as
a consequence of Adam’s transgression ; for it reads:— “ And un­
to Adam he said, ‘ In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread,
till thou return into the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” To say that the
dissolution of the body is the result of man's disobedience is as irra­
tional and illogical as to say that man's disobedience is the result
of the dissolution of the body. Some years ago a very good woman
g r a v e ly assured me that she should never die, because she had
attained to sinless perfection; but in due time she died neverthe­
less. Does not the Christian world affirm that Jesus w as sim
and impeccable ? Yet he yielded up the ghost more quickly than
either of the malefactors with whom he was crucified. For John
says, “ Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and
of the other which was crucified with him. B u t when they came to
Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs.”
B u t how could an immaculate being die, and die so easily, if death
is the consequence of sin ? Away, then, with all childish fears
and u n m an ly lamentations concerning what is purely natural!—
away with all priestly and clerical teaching as to its being either a
mysterious dispensation or an inherited curse! Away with all
doubts as to its imperative necessity and estimable advantage!•
• E x tr a c t from Wm. Lloyd Garrison's address at the funeral of Henry C. Wright
THE BENEFICENCE OF DEATH.
505
v witli all traditional and educational training whereby we are
n-iit to regard as a calamity that which is mercifully designed for
all mankind” and which includes all, as the heavens cover the earth
or the waters the sea ! Away with the monstrous dogma that this
earth-life, which is hut a span long, covers man’s entire probation
and determines his fate to all eternity! As if the dear God, who
causes His sun to shine on the evil and the good, and His rain to
fall on the just and the unjust, is any less merciful and long-suffering towards his erring children in another spiliere of existence than
this! As if there were the slightest change in the relations of the
departed to Him, or in His feelings towards them! Through divine
wisdom and infinite benevolence, there is a “ time to be born, and
a time to d ie; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which
is planted; and to everything there is a season, and a time to every
purpose under heaven. "Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever;
nothing can be put to it, and nothing taken from it. That which
hath been is now ; and that which is to be hath already been. All
go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but
the earth abideth forever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth
down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth to­
ward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about
continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the
place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. The
thing that hath been, it is that which shall b e ; and that which is
done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under
the sun.”
In presenting these views of the event which has brought us to­
gether, I am stating them not merely as my own, but as those
emphatically of the beloved friend who is not here, but risen. Less
tiianthis I could not refrain from saying : less than this he would
not desire me to sa y ; could he speak audibly to us on this occasion,
he would affirm with the poet—
“ There is no death : what seem s so is transition—
This life of mortal breath
Is but the suburb of th e life E ly sia n ,
W hose p o rtals we call d e a th .”
Looking at the universe, in all its sublime manifestations, he
could joyfully exclaim: “ Howmanifold are Thy works. 0 Lord! in
wisdom Thou has made them all. Let everything that hath breath
n r a is e th e Lord!" Come life, come death. His will be done!
^ I a m s u re t h a t his feelings respecting life and death are excel
lentlv d e lin e a te d in th e following graphic lines by Mrs. Barbauid of
England:—
“ Life ! we have been long together,
p leasan t and through cloudy w eather.
T is hard to p a rt w hen friends are d ear ;
P erh ap s ‘tw ill cost a sigh, a tear.
Through
YoLrr-
37
PO ETR Y .
-5 6 G
T hen, steal away, give little w arning ;
Choose thine own tim e ;
Say not, ‘ G ood-N ight’; b u t in some brighter clime
B id me *Good-Morning 1’ ”
N o , b e lo v e d frie n d , f a ith f u l c o la b o re r, tr a n s la te d s p irit, in accord­
an c e w itli th is in ju n c tio n a n d o n tin s o cc asio n , I w ill n o t say to thee
G o o d -b lig h t; n o , n o t G ood-blight-, b u t r a t h e r , b e c a u se th o u h ast
r is e n to a b r ig h te r d a y a n d a n o b le r n ig h t, 1 w ill e x u ltin g ly b id tlice
G o o d -M o rn in g ; c o n g r a tu la te th e e o n th y c h a n g e of sp h ere, and
c o m m e n d th e e to th e c o m p a n io n s h ip of a n g e ls a n d th e sp irits of
th e j u s t m a d e p e rfe c t. B u t w h e re v e r th o u a r t i n th e u n iv e rse ,
“ S till all th y song sh all be,
blearer, my God, to T hee,
blearer to T h ee I ”
A b^ G E L
P R O M I S E S .
BY M BS. EM M A SCABK EED SHA M .
O h w h e n t h e s u n s e t fu r ls h e r g o ld e n b a n n e r.
A nd d ay lig h t fades aw ay,
"When p la n eta ry h o sts rise on our vision,
"When flows th e m ilky w ay.
L ig h tin g th e h eav en s lik e a n a rc h of glory,
Come, love, to m e, I p ra y ;
A nd I w ill te ll th ee of a ra re existence
B ey o n d d eath ’s h eritag e,
A nd re a d to th ee w h a t T ru th h e rse lf h a th w ritte n
F ro m a celestial page,
A nd show th ee w onders y e t u n th o u g h t, u n d re a m e d of,
B v m o rtal b a rd or sage.
•s
O
W h en unobscured th y h ea v en -d irected v isio n
P ierce s th e w alls of space,
A nd u n re stra in e d th y soul w ith m ine m ay w an d er,
"W hat p ath w ay s w e w ill trac e.
L e a d in g to N a tu r e s b ea u tifu l recesses.
R e p le te w ith every grace.
T h e re w e w ill open N a tu re ’s m ig h ty volum e,
A n d I ’ll unfold to th e e
WTrate’er th o u co m preliendest n o t, oh, lo v ed one,
Of its im a g e ry ;
F o r it is fu ll of deep a n d h id d e n m ean in g ,
T o w h ich is found no k ey .
B u t w e e x p la in i t a s w e u n d e rs ta n d it,
(W h a t m ore can any do?)
"We a re im m o rta l te a c h e rs of th e m o rtal,
W h o se fleshly eyes b u t view
A p ig m y s a n d h ill w h ere w e see a m o u n ta in
I J p re a r its c re st of b lu e.
H e a v e n is w ith in y ou a n d a ro u n d you,
I t s a n g e ls h e a r you ca ll,
dearest,
POETRY.
567
J3ut w ell we know that from your spirit's eyesight
T he blinding scales m ust fall
Ere you can grasp at w ill the great creations,
Or the exceeding sm all.
B elieve us, you have but a faint conception
Of w hat yourself contains—
Or the great orb that holds you to its bosom
By strong material chains;
Or the dense atmosphere that surges round it,
And your control disdains.
The meanest weed your feet have crushed in passing
Along the dusty road.
The (to you) loathsome reptile which you start from,
The worm beneath the sod,
Have all of them enstamped upon their natures
The sacred seal of God.
We need not tell you this of birds and flowers
Whose beauty you adore,
We need not tell you this of stars and rainbows,
F or oft to them you soar,
And at your poet’s font of fervent feeling
Baptise them o’er and o’er.
These have developed to external glory
For us: we have no need
To bid you love them, and be glad in loving,
And yield them ample meed
Of praise ! then let us turn our gaze dispassioned,
To reptile, worm, and weed.
Even they, my love, were fair to thee in childhood,
Before thine infant eyes
Were taught by prejudice to loathe and shun them.
Ay, there the secret lies!
The teachings of the elder mould the younger—
Then should the first be wise!
Nature makes no distinction ’mong her children,
They all draw from her breast
The nourishment they need, and all in garments
Most suitable are drest;
Then why with hate, or fear, or scorn, should any
Look down upon the rest ?
Worlds within worlds, and worlds still worlds sustaining,
This is the golden rule
Of Nature everywhere; and still she urges:
No longer play the fool—
Be taught no more by Prejudice and Folly,
But go to Wisdom’s school!
F emale Students in the U niversity or M ichigan.—There arc now six­
teen ladies studying in the Medical Faculty of the University of Michigan,
twelve in the Arts Faculty, and one as a law student. One of the ladies
studying medicine there writes, “ We have lectures in the morning from nine
to twelve; then soon after one we goto the laboratory and work till four,
then a lecture till five, and study in the evening.”
5C8
A UNIVERSAL!ST MINISTER ON SPIRITUALISM
A UNIYERSALIST MINISTER ON SPIRITUALISM.
In the August inm beroi Mumford's llaga.zine, a IJnivcrsnlist journal, [fm,j
a discourse on Spiritualism, which I wish could bo read by all. Al'lor u
lengthy and sound argument on the fact of spirit-communion, this minister
says:—
“ But to the great truth of spiritual communion there is a practical bear­
ing of the highest importance. A momentous interest is given to our whole
earthly life by the thought that it is passed in the presence of the great
spiritual family. "With what fulness and emphasis do the words of the
apostle roll in upon the soul: ‘Seeing that we are compassed about by so
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set be­
fore us.’ The cloud of witnesses! Do they, iudeed, behold us ? Can wo
bear their inspection, and willingly remain unworthy of their esteem ? Can
we cherish the thought that they are with us, and yet harbour principles and
pursue habits from which they must turn with loathing and disgust? Our
friends who have gone from us, in the strength of their affection, could per­
haps see no fault in us. Our parents, it may be, were blind to our failings;
our children looked up to us with unmingled reverence, as if we had been
the incarnation of every virtue, but the scales have now dropped from their
eyes. They see no longer ‘ through a glass darkly.’ They know us as we
are. ‘Have we fallen in their esteem? Do they find us less worthy of their
love than they used to think us? Do they look upon us as less their com­
panions and fellow disciples than they were here?’ Can we bear the thought?
To realise it must instantly destroy our happiness, and disrobe life of all its
beauty. ‘Oh, let us then cut oil all sources of alienation and disappoint­
ment on their part; let us not break fellowship with them by so living in
negligence and sin, that they must often avert their eyes from our unprofit­
able lives to the eternal throne in pitying intercession for us.’ For if any­
thing can give our departed friends uneasiness, or awaken in them a pang,
it is not our sicknesses and necessary sufferings, but our follies and sins.
The possibility of spiritual communion, therefore, if properly entertained,
must have a sanctifying influence upon the whole tenor of life; for deep
conviction of lofty spiritual truth is a powerful incentive to duty, and lends
a vigorous impulse to religious effort.
“ We all need sympathy. We cannot live without it; and a profound
realisation of God in the soul, and of spiritual nearness and responsibility,
is calculated to quicken aspiration, and advance us onward to the attainment
of a true and pure life. To know that the dear God sympathises with us in
all our distresses, and throws around us the shield of his mercy, is a most
consoling, a most comforting thought; but to realise almost as intimate a
sympathy with our dear ones gone from us, sweetens—oh! how greatly—
the cup of sorrow, and peoples the seemingly vacant space with angels.
True, we seem to be alone, but we are not. As the prophet saw himself, so
are we guarded and garrisoned about with a heavenly host.
“ Do I address a bereaved parent? As you shiver and quail beneath the
blow that left you childless and in despair, can you not find consolation in
the conviction that those you mourn are not wholly taken from you—that
the path of return is not utterly cui; off?”
How different this to the harangues usually indulged in by pulpit orators!
How true it is! How sound its philosophy! No one realising the presence
of the dear departed, who are trying to aid them to live truer mid better
lives, can indulge in sin as before. I did not, however, quote this so much
to make a point on the moral tendency of Spiritualism as to show the ten­
dency of liberal minds, not only to look at the facts, but to investigate the
natural consequences of taking hold of them.—M oses i Iuli.— Present Aje.
testim ony.
TESTIM ONY.
Ymoan to say wluit Johnson said,
1
’-m tho course of some sis: thousand yours,
vil nations liavo believed Unit from the dead
A visitant at intervals appears.
Vnd what is strangest upon this strange head,
Ls. that, whatover bar the reason rears
’Gainst such belief, there’s something stronger still
In its behalf, let those deny who will. -liijrou.
That the dead are seen no m o r e l will not not undertake to m a in ta in
the concurrent testimony of all ages and all nations. Tliuro is no
neoplo, rude or unlearned, among whom apparitions of the dead are not
related and behoved. This opinion, which prevails as far ns hum an n a tu re
is diffused, could become universal only by its tr u th : those th a t n ev er
heard of one another would not have agreed in a talc; which nothing h u t
experience could make credible. T hat it is doubted by single cavillers can
very little weaken the general evidence; and some who deny it with th e ir
tongues confess it with their fears.— Samuel Johnson.
If the “ spiritual writing manifestations are a delusion, they are gelding to
be something more—something approaching a very ingenious, persistent and
unscrupulous attempt to palm an utter fraud upon the credulous, by mmi ol
rare power and genius, blither the manifestations are of flu; general n atu re
that they claim to bo, viz., those of other than incarnate intelligences, or
they are the result of a studied deception, and guilty collusion, um xjualled
in the world’s history.—Dr. Holland.
Mr Foster has had a most successful professional trip (as a “ m edium ’ )
to England. His portfolio is filled with letters from such persons of gonitis
as llulwcr, Tennyson and Dickens, and such persons of rank as the 1)uoh.ess
of Sutherland aud .Lady Mary of Cambridge. We have boon present a t
several of his sittings, aud have seen positive miracles of his doing, in the
way of moving furniture without putting a hand to it, and interpreting all
sorts of impossible riddles.—N. l \ Willis.
The doctrine of departed spirits returning to visit tho scone and beings
which were dear to them during the body’s existence, though it has boon
debased by the absurd superstitions of the vulgar, in itself is awfully
solemn and sublime. A belief of this kind would, 1 should think, ho a now
incentive to virtue, rendering us circumspect even in our most secret mo­
ments, from the idea that those wo once loved and honoured wore invisible
witnesses of all our actions.— Washini/ton I mini/.
g a in st
E m m a I I a u d i n u e a s a W o m a n . — In d e p e n d e n t o f h e r s p ir it m a s t e r s , o f
whom she speaks w ith duo h u m ility , w h ich fa lls lik e a g ra ce fu l m a n tle o v e r
the minds of the truly great, sho is an h on ou r to h er s e x , w h ile slm e x c e l s
thorn. Who of us that have crossed p a lm s w ith th is in e s t im a b le w o m a n
doos not feel
“ A per foot woman, nobly plann’d,
To warn, to comfort, ami command”—
who now, as in tho past, exten d s to the frien d less a h e lp in g h a n d , t h a t
mantle of chanty with which sh e so lo v in g ly en fo ld s poor e r r in g h u m a n it y ,
answering them in responsive, dignified sen tim en ts o f h er o w n , fro m o u t u
halo glory with w hich the an gels en viron h er? A ud w h ile J. p a y t h is
tribute to a noble woman, I will sa y , “ (rod b less E m m a 1fa r d in g e ! " W o
thank tho divine sources from w hich a ll b lessin g s How, for th a t r e s p o n s iv e
.channel provided in E m m a Ila rd in g e.— A S i s t e r , E iin h s t. — /I uicricu-u
570
PSYCHOLOGICAL PH EN O M ENA .
A RECENT WORK BY A. J. DAVIS.*
In th e co u rse o f th is volum e o f H u m a n N a tu r e w e h av e given several
artic les on th a t g re a t p h e n o m e n o n o f m o d e rn tim e s — A ndrew Jackson
D avis, cla irv o y a n t an d a u th o r.
T h is w e h a v e d o n e to illu stra te the
ca p ab ilitie s of th e h u m a n s p ir it, a n d in so m e d eg ree to in fo rm m an of
h is pow ers, m a n y of w h ich a re as y e t in a r u d e s ta te of development..
T h e w o rk to w hich we now re fe r is a re c o rd o f som e o f th e most
m em o rab le exp erien ces in th is w o n d erfu l m a n 's c a re e r. I t b eg in s with
his boyhood, an d p a sse s o v er m a n y y e a rs o f h is life in d ic a tin g the
developm ent of h is fa c u ltie s a t v a rio u s tim e s. I t is a v a lu a b le study
to th e se a rc h e r a fte r th e m o re o c c u lt fa c ts o f m a n ’s e x iste n c e , giving asit does m u ch v alu ab le m a te ria l o rd in a rily v e ry d iiticu lt o f attain m en t.
T h e volum e co n clu d es w ith a n a rra tiv e o f th e m o s t fa s c in a tin g descrip­
tio n , illu stra tin g th e p o w ers o f a n im a l m a g n e tism o v er th e hum an
o rg an isatio n , a n d th e in flu en ce o f o rg a n ic in lia rm o n y on th e m in d and
tem p er. T h ro u g h th e k in d n e ss of th e a u th o r, w e a re en a b led to
p re se n t th e re a d e rs o f Human Nature w ith a few d o zen copies as a
N ew Y e a r's m em o rial a t a n o m in a l p ric e . W e n e e d n o t o ccu p y space
in reco m m en d in g th is w o rk , as w e h a v e n o t a su fficie n t n u m b e r at
com m and to su p p ly all w ho w ill b e d e siro u s o f p o sse ssin g it.
P S Y C H O L O G IC A L P H E N O M E N A .
S P I R I T C O M M U N IC A T IO N S G IV E N B Y “ D I R E C T W R I T I N G .”
T h e s e m essages w ere
given a t v ario u s sean ces a t w h ich M rs. E v e iitt
was m edium .
T h e “ d ire c t w ritin g ” is o b ta in e d b y p la c in g p a p e r
an d p en cil on th e ta b le. T h e lig h t is e x tin g u ish e d , a n d in a few
seconds th e w ritin g is found on one o f th e p ieces of p a p e r. A p ec u ­
lia r tic k in g sou n d is h e a rd d u rin g th e tim e in w h ic h th e w ritin g is being
tra n sfe rre d to th e p a p e r. I t is u n d e rsto o d n o t to be w ritte n m e c h a n i­
cally w ith th e p en cil, b u t to be p re p a re d fro m e lectric p ro p e rtie s o f
p ap e r and pencil floating in th e a ir, an d th e n c e p h o to g ra p h e d o r electrodeposited on to th e p a p e r. C la irv o y a n ts h av e re p e a te d ly seen th is p ro ­
cess a t w ork, an d sp irits h av e , u n d e r o th e r c irc u m sta n c e s , given
ex p lan atio n s in ac co rd an ce w ith th e se view s.
A t a seance h eld a t M r. E v e r itt’s on S e p te m b e r 2 2 , 1 8 7 0 , th e s p irits
desired th e follow ing p o rtio n s of S c rip tu re s to be r e a d :— J o b iv. 1 4 to
1 7 ; E z e k ie l viii. 3 ; D a n ie l viii. 15 to 1 9 ; D a n ie l ix. 2 1 ; D an iel x.
5 to 19. T h e follow ing piece of d ire c t w ritin g , c o n ta in in g 3 1 3 w ords,
w as given in eig h t seco n d s, in th e p re se n c e of a b o u t a dozen p e rso n s:
“ N o th in g exists in th e m in d of m an, a n d n o th in g p ro ceed s, o r can
* Memoranda of Persons, Places, and E vents—embraces authentic Pacts,
Visions, Impressions, Discoveries in Magnetism, Clairvoyance, Spiritualism, also
Quotations from the Opposition. B y Andrew Jackson Davis. W ith an appen­
dix, containing Zscliokke’s'Great Story of “ H ortensia,” vivid ly pourtraying the
wide difference between the Ordinary State and that of Clairvoyance. Published
at 7s. Gd. Offered to the Purchasers of H um an N ature for this month at 3s. Gd. ;
post free, 3s. I Id.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA.
571
1 tbonco, but what is primarily derived from God, the universal
proceed
only a medium; it is allowed to him to seem to him1s 'though lie invented, but whatever ho invents is in real truth no
^ ^ than the extending by him into a material shape of some prinin°l'0 or prompting infused into his understanding from the spiritual
Ivoiid, or spirits around him. Hence are derived all the elegant de• na aml fabrics of the architect; all the exquisite products of mechan­
ical skill; all the ingenious contrivances which mitigate pain and
promote human solace and happiness. The benevolent and unceasing
activities of omnipotence are their divine, though hidden, genesis; for
God is not to be regarded as having merely made tho world, hut as
making it; not merely as a creator who was, but who is. Scientific and
mechanical inventions are put into men’s minds, just as all good desires
thoughts, and inventions, aro primarily received from God, through
Him to bright intelligences or spirits who are always around man—in
fact, are part and parcel of himself or yourselves; therefore your
thoughts, ideas, and inventions, appear to lie your own—are in reality
3'our own because they are a part of yourselves, inasmuch as you are
a medium for their influxes; just as your body is a medium for your
spirit to move and act in your material world. But it is only in your
probationary state of existence in the material world that you so require
their help and assistance. When you break the shell, throw off the
husk, you come forth a whole being, self-sustained, and then perform
the oflices tor other beings left in the natural world that have been
given to you; and by that means all live a life of uses hereafter.”
bhe following account of another seance is thus reported by a gentle­
man who was present:—
11 To tho E ditor.
Having witnessed some of the most striking manifestations
at a seance held at Mr. Town’s, 32 Lloyd’s Row, St. John’s Street
Road, on Sunday October 30, I feel it due to the cause of Spiritualism
that they should have publicity; and if you think them worthy of a
space in your journal, they are at your service.
“ Having received an invitation, my wife and I joined a party of
friends at the above address. There were seventeen persons present
six of them were my own personal friends. After the usual form of
opening the seance with reading, singing, and prayer, several mediums
were used. The principal medium was Mrs. Everitt, 2G Ponton Street,
Pentonville. The room was darkened at intervals, some of the mediums
saw spirit forms, but w'hat I considered the most striking and satisfac­
tory phenomena, were the star-like lights, visible to all, varying in
colour. For myself, I can attest it was no optical illusion. During,
the progress of the seance, the most delightful perfumes were wafted
through0the room. However wonderful this may appear in itself, it
bears°no comparison with what took place after. A blank sheet of
paper was placed upon the tablo, having been examined and initialled
by ono. The room was again darkened, and in about six seconds the
paper was covered with about fourteen or fifteen lines of closely-written
matter—a copy of which I enclose. It has been my privilege to witnessmany wonderful manifestations, but never have I received a more con“ S ir ,—
572
PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOM ENA.
elusive evidence of the presence of the spirit-world than on this occasion.
I am fully convinced there was no contact or collusion, and as a mark
o f good faith I enclose m y card.— I am , sir, jrours truly,
J. a .
“ G eorge In n Road, Novem ber l o t h / '
T h is is the m essage given in “ direct writing : ”—
“ R eligentem esse oportet religiosum n e fa s.”
“ M an is thought to be, by som e, more distinguished from the
anim al world by devotion than by reason— as several animals discover
in their actions som ething like a faint glim m ering of reason, though
thej' betray in no single circum stance of their behaviour anything that
bears the least affinity to devotion. It is certain the propensity of the
m ind to religious worship— the natural tendency of the soul to fly to
som e superior being for succour in dangers and distresses— the grati­
tude to an invisible superintendent which arises upon receiving ary
extraordinary and unexpected good fortune— the acts of that, and
adm iration with which the thoughts of man are so wonderfully trans­
ported in m editating upon the divine, plainly show that devotion, or
religious worship, m ust be the effect from som e lirst founder of mankind ;
and it m anifestly points to a superior being as the first author of it.”
T his writing contains 1 4 6 words. The m eaning of the Latin sen­
tence w ill be given further on. There was no person present who knew
anything of the L atin language.
We now pass on to record what took place at a seance at Mr.
E v eritt’s, on the evening of Novem ber 15tli, when the following com­
m unication was given, in the “ direct w riting,” in less than five
se c o n d s:—
“ Sim onides, being asked by D ionysius what God was, desired a
day's tim e to consider of it before he made his reply. W hen the day
w as expired, he desired two days ; and afterwards, instead of returning
h is answer, dem anded still double the tim e to consider of it. This
poet and philosopher, the more he contem plated the nature of the
D e ity , found that he wrnded but the more out of his depth, and that
he lo st h im self in the thought, instead of finding an end of it.
Another tim e, we w ill give you a paper on what we have been taught
in the spirit world on this great subject.
“ R eligentem esse portet religiosum nefas. You will find the mean­
in g in Incerti A utoris apud A ul. G ell.”
A gentlem an has given th e translation as, “ A man should be reli­
gio u s, bu t not su p e r stitio u s;” and saj's the sentence is from Aulus
G elliu s. P erhaps som e of our readers can trace the passage to its
proper connection.
A t the seance on October 30, a lady who had suffered much in her
health for a long tim e, was m esm erised by Mrs. E veritt while in the
trance, and the lady has been m uch improved ever since. She could
ca t no anim al food previous to this treatm ent ; now she can eat any
form of food w ith im punity. It may also be stated that a newly-cut
pencil was placed on the table, and, after the direct writing was pro­
duced, the pencil was found to be worn on one side of the point, which
fact seem s to indicate th at som e m echanical action with the pencil
took place.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA.
573
,jt
from Magnetic S ympathy.— O n p ag e 388 of o u r p re s e n t
w0 rffive an in sta n c e fro m th e n e w sp a p e rs o f a D r. in F ra n c o
Vi lost bis life by b re a th in g in to th e m o u th o f a young w om an w ho
* partially drow ned, a n d as sh e reco v ered ho becam e ex h au sted a n d
pod we gave it as o u r opinion th a t th e d o cto r d id n o t die from p h y sica l
Exhaustion, b u t from som e p e c u lia r fo rm of psychological rapport, w hich
had been established betw een h im se lf a n d h is p a tie n t. I n th e
imerican Spiritualist for O cto b er 8, wo find th e sam e case reco rd ed
Mth the following re m a rk s ap p en d ed by th e e d ito r:— “ F ro m all th e
peculiarities of th e case, wo th in k th e D r. cam e to his d e a th b y a c tu a l
loss of vitality, consocpient u p o n e x tra o rd in a ry m ag n etic im p a rtio n to
pis patient. T h e case w ould n a tu ra lly a ttra c t h is s y m p a th y ; h is p r o ­
tracted efforts an d exertio n of w ill-pow er w ould bo sufficient to co m ­
plete the p ro c e s s ; th u s h e, in all p ro b ab ility , lite ra lly gave h is life to
save his p a tie n t. W o c a n n o t be c e rta in in th is case, th e re m ay h av e
been other causes, b u t all th e circu m stan ces an d conditions in d ic a te
death from excessive m agnetic sy m p ath y . I t often h ap p en s in m in o r
operations in surgery, as well as in g raver cases, th a t from m ag n etic
demands m ade by th e sufferer on som e sy m p ath etic sp ectato r, th e
observing friend will fa in t, and even d eath lias supervened. S uch an
incident once took p lace in our experien ce.”
S i n g u l a r . —Mr. Alexander Nicoll, of Donald’s Land, Upper Pleasance,
writes to the Dundee Advertiser as follows:—One day lately I had occasion
to call at the house of a friend, and during our conversation I was told what
I considered a very curious and singular discovery of nature’s works. The
mistress of the house was cleaning a large cod-fish, when to her astonish­
ment she discovered an exact representation of a fisherman in the eye of the
fish. The rest of the inmates were soon attracted, and the)r all declared
it to be the greatest curiosity ever they had seen. It was a very distinct
miniature likeness of a fisherman, with his sou’-wester on, and fully
equipped, in the act of hauling the fish into the boat. The young man of
the house was so interested that lie carefully rolled it up in a piece of paper,
and took it away to let his shopmates see what had been discovered, but
after it got a little dried it was not so distinct.
A S p ir it F o l l o w e r . —The Leavenworth (Ind.) Independent says—Another
of those inexplicable mysteries which, so far, have defied the ingenuity of man
to solve, has just come to light in the former county-seat of Crawford
County—Fredonia. By request, we suppress the names of the parties con­
cerned, but the statements we shall make concerning this mysterious affair
were furnished us by a gentleman who is cognisant of all flic facts, and
whoso veracity we have no hesitancy in vouching for. For about ten years
past, a lady residing in the place mentioned above has had for a companion
a spirit-child, live or six years old, which attends her wherever she goes,
and has been seen by nearly every resident of Fredonia, at one time or
another, following close in the wake of the lady in question. It has become
a common expression, when the little form is seen following the one whom
it seemed destined to guard through life, that “There goes B—’s little girl.”
The lady who is constantly followed by this little phantom has become
accustomed to its presence, and exhibits no alarm or uneasiness when it is
observed near her. Frequent attempts have been made to capture the
mysterious little visitor, but when the hands would seem to be about coming
in contact with the form, it would suddenly melt away and become invisible.
Oniy once lias it been seen in any other place than following the lady
alluded to, and that was a short time after the close of the war. ' A gentle-
REVIEW.
5 I1
man had just returned irorn the army, and with his with and child w!W
occupying a room in the house ot the haunted lady, .they had rotivecl
A lighted lamp was burning on the stand near the bod. Looking in t]l0
direction ot the sound, he observed a little girl walking towards the stairwav. Naturallv supposing that it was his own child that had gotten out of
bed some wav. he sprang up and followed the form down the stairs, at tho
same time calling it to return. His wife, noticing his movements, asked him
what he was doing. He replied that their child was out of bed and goin.v
down stairs, and lie was trying to catch it and bring it back. The wife
responded that the child was still in hod. which the husband found true on
returning to the hod. He told his wife that he certainly saw a child going
down the steps. She replied that it must have been B ------s little girl, and
then told him the circumstances concerning this mysterious visitor. \
bright light was burning in the room at the time, and, as both husband and
wife were awake and talking when the child made its appearance, there can
be no doubt but the gentleman saw the apparition: at least lie is willing to
make oatli to tills effect.
REVIEW.
; or Scottish Prophetic Messenger for
1871, comprising Predictions of the Events, Weather, &c., that will
occur during the Year 1871; along with numerous Useful Tables,
and a variety of interesting matter. By Z u r i e l , Pres. S.M.A.M.
London: J. Burns, Progressive Library. Price Sixpence.
Z u r ie l's V o ic e
o f th e
S ta rs
months are indicated by poetical extracts, the most appropriate we
ever remember reading. The Almanac matter is very complete. An
excellent assortment of useful tables is given. We can say nothing of
the “ general predictions” as we are not of the “ sons of the prophets.”
There are articles on the “ Poet Dry den, an Astrologer ”— “ Prophecies
relating to the Present W ar”— “ Lunar Influences on Mind and Mat­
ter”— an “ Astro-Biographical Galler}*,” containing the nativities of
the Queen, and other members of the Royal Household ; also of William
King of Prussia, John King of Saxony, Louis Napoleon, Gladstone,
Christian IX. of Denmark, Alexander II. of Russia, Charles XV. of
Sweden, the Empress Eugenie, and the Emperor of Austria. “ Malific
Configurations” seem to predominate in the astral bearings of these
distinguished personages. Altogether this “ Voice of the Stars ” seems
as good as anything of the kind we have examined.
The
A rrival
of
E mma H ardinge .— On Tuesday, Nov. 15, Mrs. Emma
Hardinge arrived in London, from the United States, accompanied by
her husband, Mr. William Britten, to whom she has been recently
married. She was entertained at a public reception given by the
Spiritualists of London, iu the Cambridge Hall, Newman Street, Ox­
ford Street, London, on Tuesday evening, November 22. B. Coleman
occupied the chair, and resolutions of welcome and co-operation in the
work of Spiritualism were spoken to by J. Burns, Progressive Library,
N. E. Daw, C. W. Pearce, and others. At the close of the meeting a
subscription was opened to enable a committee to arrange meetings at
which Mrs. Hardinge would advocate Spiritualism in various parts of
tho Metropolis. The meeting was a very enthusiastic one.
MISOHTiTAN KiA.
u
575
I s CE L L A N E A .
ONLY A BOY.
Only a boy with bis noise ami tun,
The veriest mystery under the sun ;
As brimful of mischief, nml wit, and glee,
As ever a human frame can be,
And as hard to manage as wlnit?—ah me !
’Tis hard to 'tell,
Yet we love him well.
Only a boy with his fearful tread.
Who cannot be driven, must be led ;
AVho troubles the neighbours’ dogs and cats,
And tears more clothes, and spoils more hats,
Loses more kites, and tops, and bats,
Than would stock a store
For a year or more.
Only a hoy, with his wild, strange ways,
With his idle hours or his busy days;
With his queer remarks and his odd replies,
Som etim es foolish an d som etim es wise,
Often brilliant for one of his size,
As a meteor hurled
From the planet world.
Only a boy, who will bo a man,
If N a tu re goes on w ith h e r first g reat p lan ,
I f in tem perance, or some fa ta l snare,
C onspire not to rob us of th is our heir.
Our blessing, our trouble, our rest, our care,
Our torment, our jo y !
“ Only a boy!”
Hew many there are who arc standing afar off and looking on suspiciously
at the labors of those who are striving to roll up the stone along the hill of
progress. They give now and then a word of encouragement, and then ten
words of discouragement. But when the height shall be won, and the
victory gained, they will all be there, waving their arms in triumph, and
their shouts will rend tho heavens—“ iVe did i t ! We always knew it would
be a success.” Thus has it ever been that puny souls sneak in to receive
their penny at the eleventh hour, unmindful of the toil of those who have
“ borne the heat and burden of the day.”—Prof. Denton.
T he T eeegiuph .—The press despatches from Europe to New York dur­
ing the last four weeks numbered about 100,000 words. Here is a man
sitting in a darkened room at Heart’s Content. The ocean cable terminates
here. A fine wire attached thereto is made to surround two small cores of
soft iron. As the electric wave, produced by a few pieces of copper and zinc
at Valencia passes through the wire these cores become magnetic enough
to move the slightest object. A looking glass, half-an-inch in diameter, is
fixed on a bar of iron one-tenth of an inch square, and lialf-an-inch long.
On this tiny glass a lamp is made to glare so that its light is reflected on a
tablet on the wall. The language of the cable is denoted by the shifting of
this reflected light from side to side. Letter by letter is thus expressed in
this fitting idiom in utter silence on the wall. There is no record made bv
570
MISCELLANEA.
the machine except as the patient watcher calls out to a comrade the. trans­
lated Hashes as they come, and which he records. I t seems a miracle of
patience. There is something of awe creeps over us as we see the evidence
of a human touch 3000 miles away swaying that line of light by such a
delicate process as this.—American Paper.
T h e D ry E arth C ure .—Some remarkable cures of obstinate wounds by
the simple application of dry earth have been related (says the Melbourne
Argus). Amongst them is that of a gentleman at Mount Gambicr, Mr. James
Pratt, who about six years ago received a kick from a horse below the knee
of the right leg. The wound was healed partially, but after a time it broke
out again, and spread until the whole of the lower part of the leg was affected.
Mr. Pratt, having heard of the success of the earth treatment in other cases,
procured some virgin soil, taken from below the roots of the grass, ancl
applied it to the wound, which at the time was as large as his hand, and
caused the leg to be very much swollen. The result was that the swelling
was reduced in the girth measurement three inches upon the first applica­
tion. The treatment was continued for three weeks, at the end of which
time the wound was quite healed.
N ever D e s p a ir !— H a s y o u r life b e e n s ta in e d a n d b le m ish e d ? None
a re p e r f e c t; th e b e s t h a v e th e ir fa ilin g s . D e s p a ir n o t ; th e good of earth
a n d th e s a in te d in th e h e a v e n s , d e lig h t to a id th e a s p ira tio n a l. “ Come
u n to m e," s a id J e s u s . T h e a n g e ls echo th e song, C om e, “ come up higher."
L o o k n o t to th e p a s t w ith p a in fu l re g re ts .
I n a s c e n d in g a lad d er, the
w ise n e v e r lo o k do w n to th e b ro k e n ro u n d s.
E v e ry ste p th e prodigal
son took in th e o u tw a rd c o u rse fro m h is f a th e r ’s h o u se, w as, sp iritu ally ,
a ste p to w a rd s it. Husks h e lp e d to b rin g liim to “ himself." W h e n h im ­
self, h e w a s r ig h t, h u m a n n a tu r e b e in g in n a te ly good.
T h is p ro d ig a l’s
h itte r e x p e rie n c e s of h u n g e r, w a n t, su fferin g , p ro v e d e m in e n tly salv ato ry .
T h e good f a th e r lo v ed th e r e p e n ta n t son n o n e th e le s s fo r h is w an d erin g s.
G od, an g e ls, a ll good m e n , love th e e rrin g . A m o th e r’s p ra y e rs pierce
d u n g e o n b a rs. T h e p h ila n th r o p is t hopes fo r a ll, loves all, has fa ith in all.
N o oak, liftin g its h e a d , c a tc h in g a n d k is s in g the sunbeams, regrets that
i t w a s o nce a n a c o rn a n d fell— fe ll in to th e mud, to be buried, bruised,
c h ille d a n d fro ste d w ith snow s. P ro g re s s io n implies a lower condition to
p ro g re s s from . I t w as w isdom n o t to co m m en ce conscious life on the physi­
c a l sid e, perfect. T h o se fix ed s ta r s t h a t g ild measureless distances, shine
a n d s in g a ll th e s w e e te r from h a v in g b e e n nebulous fire mists, floating in
o c ean ic sp ace. So n o b le -p u rp o se d so u ls, tempted, falling like the child in
th e effort to w a lk , y e t ris in g , w ise r for th e pain, stronger in will-power,
tre a d in g th e w in e -p re s s of th e w o rld ’s w ra th alone to-day, stopping by the
w a y sid e to -m o rro w to h e lp th e m o re unfortunate, will find their path
u ltim a te ly w id e n in g , b rig h te n in g , a n d o p e n in g at last into the shining
p o r ta ls of im m o rta lity , w h e re p e a ls of v ic to ry shall blend with the grand
o ra to rio s of so u ls lo n g h o u se d in th e h e a v e n s .— J. M. Peebles.
EKD OF VOL. IV.