Jonnob/the-spiritualist-enriched huggingface dataset:
Do grindstones go to the spirit world? (Laughter). The grindstone consists of rock-particles, which at last crumble into dust. By many conditions extending over a long period of time, this dust gets into the soil, and rises into vegetable life. Then at last it is absorbed by man, and aids to form the spirit world in the way already stated. The houses in the spirit world are not the spirits of houses in this one? As the refined elements necessary for houses are in the spirit world, they are used. The houses are built by spirits with more extended knowledge and better appliances than you have here. Remember, all objective things are at first subjec tive. Before a house is built, the idea of it exists in the brain of the designer. Will you give us a little morc information about how spirits produce audible voices. There are many ways. Sometimes they form a tube out of the emanations from the medium, and in connection with the medium, and are able to speak through it. Sometimes, in the atmosphere of the medium, they are able to make themselves heard, and are quite unconscious how or why they are audible. It is necessary that the medium should be very passive, that the emanations may be given off in a steady uninterrupted flow. Do spirits ever produec audible voices by sticking lips on the front of the tube, and lungs and bellows behind, so as to make an automatic voice? TIEN SIEN TIE (with a smile).—No. Never that I know of Such a case never came under my observation. And now, my friends, I must draw my control of the medium to a close. Ere I meet you again a season of festivity will have come and gone. In many homes will be marked a vacant chair many a half-suppressed sigh will rise as they gaze in the vacant corner, and they will pass through life with the sad remembrance that one of the circle is gone. You are Spirit ualists, and you desire good for humanity, so tell them how to fill, once again, the vacant seat and the vacant corner. Stop the sigh of sadness, and turn sorrow to beaming joy and love, by giving them knowledge of the return of their friends. Good night.
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To Correspondents. All letters should be brief and to the point, as the amount of space available for correspondence is at present small. Communications intended for the Editor should be by letter only, addressed to the care of the Publisher, Mr. E. W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul's Church-yard, London. E.C. Until the Spiritual movement in England, together with this journal, have both grown considerably, time cannot be spared for personal interviews on subjects connected with the literary work of THE SPIRITUALIST, but all letters will meet with careful consideration. THE SPIRITUALIST is a periodical intended to give great freedom of expression to all the different shades of opinion to be found among Spiritualists. There will therefore be very little uniformity in the ideas promulgated in this journal, more especially in the correspondence columns. Under these circumstances every reader will find occasionally something in THE SPIRITUALIST which he or she does not like, but the right of reply remains. This freedom of thought given to others, the Editor claims for himself, and those who do not lihe the contents of leading articles, can write against them in the correspondence columns. This plan is thought better than that of reducing the contents of the journal to a pale weak mediocrity, by inserting only those contribution. which please everybody. The preceding remarks are not intended to imply that those who have crotchets which they cannot get printed anywhere else, can find an outlet for them here, for none but those letters which are considered worth publication will be inserted. Notices of Public Meetings in connection with Spiritualism should be sent to the office several days in advance.
The Spiritualist. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1869. THE NOMENCLATURE OF SPIRITUALISM. WHEN educated people first begin to witness the manifestations at spirit circles, an unfavourable im pression is sometimes produced, by the too frequent misapplication of scientific words having a definite meaning in English literature, to forces of an unknown nature. The abuse of the words “electricity” and “ magnetism” often grates on the ear, and spiritual “ethers," as well as other incomprehensibilities some times crop up. Electricity is the force which deflects the needle of the galvanometer, and which causes the gold-leaves of the electrometer to diverge. Magnetism is the power which enables a steel magnet to attract iron. The unknown forces employed by spirits are not magnetism, and are not electricity, nor has it yet been demonstrated that they are even analogous thereto. As the two words just mentioned have a clear, established, and definite meaning, it is manifest that if they gra dually get thoroughly into use among thousands on spiritualists, confusion will be the result, and eradica tion of the words will be more difficult than at present.
The first thing to be done is to define the nature of each force or union of forces employed by the spirits, producing distinct effects at spirit circles, and then to find names for each. For instance, sometimes at a par ticular circle, the entrance of one person will stop the table or voice manifestations ; shall we call this force his “spiritual atmosphere,” or what? Again, some persons by their will alone can make their influence felt by clairvoyant patients miles away. What name shall we find for this? If those who are experienced in the facts of spiritual manifestations like to enter into correspondence on this matter, we shall be glad to make room in this journal for as many as possible of the letters, provided they be brief. Then, when ever force or union of forces, is clearly defined, and a name chosen for the same, a dictionary of a few words with their accepted meanings might be printed along with the standing matter on the two last pages of the paper, and adopted for general use from that time forth, in What is the meaning of these pages at all events. “ biologise?" What is meant by “ psychologise," “mesmerise,” and “magnetise?” Have some of those words the same meaning? If so, why are not those which are superfluous abolished? Until we have sen sible names for spiritual forces, each name conveying a clear, distinct, and unmistakeable idea to the minds of all persons using the same, research into Spiritualism will be retarded, and attempts at explanation of pheno mena from public platforms will put the ideas of the listeners into a muddle. The misuse of the words “ electricity” and “magnetism" marred many of the splendid public addresses given by Mrs. Hardinge, not that the adoption of those particular words was in itself a great fault, but because it threw into confusion the ideas of most of listeners, many of the whom could not know what meaning she intended to convey, or what definition the words bore in her own mind. Perhaps also the use of the word “sceptic,” as applied to non spiritualists is injudicious, because it is so often hurled as an offensive term from pulpit and platform, at the heads of thoughtful people, who will not accept the statements of noisy orators as truth, without coolly and calmly testing the evidence supporting their assertions. People who will not accept anything as a fact without reasonable evidence, make the best Spiritualists, and those who believe everything which they are told by spirits in and out of the body, make the worst.
SCENERY IN THE SPIRIT WORLD. Lasr Friday evening, at eight o’clock, at a séance held at the Spiritual Library, 15, Southampton-row, Holborn, and reported in another column, the following communication was received through Mr. J. J. Morse, the trance medium : The first spirit who spoke through the medium said : My friends, it is very seldom that I come to use a medium, but perhaps I shall be able to do a little good this evening; I feel strange, almost awed, until I get calm again. It is now a little over five—no, let me see -a little over six years since I gave up the natural body in a little village a few miles out of London ; I will give you the address before I go away. When I re covered consciousness after the change, I found myself in what you would call a beautiful garden. I was lying on a bank by the side of a stream: the stream gave forth a gentle musical sound, and I think it was that which brought me to consciousness again. I recovered and felt as if I had awoke from a deep sleep, and had been dreaming very heavily and was dreaming still. It was a gentle sloping bank; on the top of the bank was a broad plain, and above me were flowers distri buted into beds; there was a broad path of dazzling whiteness that went right across the greensward to a house beyond. This house was enshrouded with trees. There was a terrace in frout of the house, with creeping vines over the balustrade, giving forth a blue and white flower about half as large as your hand, with fine leaves, blue at the edges and white at the centre. The leaf of the vine was nearly round, of a bright green tint. I had never seen a house like it before ; it was pure white, and I could see dimly through it shapes and forms moving about on the other side. I could not see clearly through it. In front of the house grew an immense tree; its branches spread out and seemed to shade the house from the light; the light was tempered by the shadow of the tree. On the lawn in front of the house were little bowers of the branches of a tree, with flowers much like your rose, but more beautiful ; the leaves were like silk in appearance, about a foot lon and about as broad as the palm of your hand. They pluck these leaves now and then and write on them; they will serve the purpose of books, for they dry and
* Last Monday we went to Orpington to inquire into the accuracy of this statement. No baker of the name of Willett lives there now or is known to have lived there within the last thirty years. A respectable baker of the name of Tillott has been in business there for more than twenty years; he was much surprised at the nature of the inquiries, having never heard of the strange subject of Spiritualism before, and he stated that his brother’s wife died at Orpington about six years ago in childbirth, but her name was Harriett. It is more difficult to signal proper names through some me diums, than ideas and words which can be placed in the thought of the medium, so this may be a case where a part of the message was spoilt in transmission, just as telegraphic messages from India have often been spoilt, and in a few cases have ruined great English commercial firms in conse quence. Or, it may be, that a Mary Tillett died at Orpington, whose hus band resided elsewhere. The records in the office of the local registrar will throw light on the subject, and further inquiries shall be made and pub lished, since the whole value of the communications made through the mediumship of Mr. Morse, depends upon their truthfulness.—ED.
Poetry. SPIRIT VERSES. Three or four years ago Mr. D. D. Home lectured at Willis’s Rooms London, on Spiritualism, and gave the following verses, which had been dictated to him, March 25, 1851, by a spirit who gave the name of “Robert Southey." The verses refer to Southey’s temporary loss of reason while in earth life. Night overtook me e’er my race was run, And mind—which is the chariot of the soul Whose wheels revolve in radiance like the sun And utter glorious music as they rol To the eternal goal  With sudden shock stood still. She heard the boom Of thunders. Many cataracts seemed to pour From the invisible mountains; through the gloon Flowed the great waters ; then I knew no more But this—that thought was o'er
EXTRACT FROM “THE MOURNING BRIDE." Almeria. It was a fancy’d noise; for all is hushed, Leonora. It bore the accent of a human voicc. Almeria. It was thy fear, or else some transient wind Whistling through hollows of this vaulted aisle : We'll listen  Leonora. Hark! Almeria. No, all is hushed, and still as death.—Tis dreadful! How reverend is the face of this tall pile; Whose ancient pillars rear their marble heads, To bear aloft its arched and ponderous roof, By its own weight made steadfast and immoveable  Looking tranquility! It strikes an awe And terror on my aching sight: the tombs And monumental caves of death look cold, And shoot a chillness to my trembling heart Give me thy hand, and let me hear thy voice: Nay, quickly speak to me, and let me hear Thy voice—my own affrights me with its echoes. Congreve.
NIGHT. Oh! sweet and beautiful is night, when the silver moon is high, And countless stars, like clustering gems, hang sparkling in the sky; When the balmy breath of the summer breeze, comes whispering down the glen. And one fond voice alone is heard—Oh, night is lovely then! But when that voice in feeble moans of sickness and of pain, But mocks the anxious ear that strives to catch its sounds in vain, When silently we watch the bed by the taper’s flickering light, And all we love is fading fast—how terrible is night! Ingoldsby.
without having actually seen any manifestations. All that Spiritualists should ask for is a fair hearing, and after that fair hearing has been accorded I think that some people who now set them down to be “knaves and fools," will ultimately confess themselves dreadfully mistaken. Dec. 14th, 1869 A COUNTRY JOURNALIST. P.S.—That remarkable account of the cure of Leon Favre Consul-General of France, which appeared in the Spiritual Magazine, ought to have been condensed and then printed on a separate slip and forwarded to every newspaper editor in England. Such testimony as is given by the Count in favour of Spiritualism should be circulated far and wide. [Several editors of standard London newspapers do know that Spiritual ism is true, but are afraid to say so. Did one of them print the truth, the pulpit and the public would say that it was an untruthful “infidel” paper, and its closest competitor would write articles to the effect that the editor of its rival had gone mad, and put his lunacy in print. Consequently the circulation of the honest journal would be injured. This all arises from the low state of education in Great Britain, for the general public prefer pre conceived notions, however foolish, to investigation after truth; therefore they are continually paying penalties for the sin of ignorance. Some edi tors, also, who know the facts of the case, may not desire to speak of them just as most of the London daily papers purposely suppress facts which political-economists know to deeply injure the nation, though they benefit the private material interests of a few. What does our correspondent do in his own journal? We know several country newspapers which could ruin themselves in three weeks by speaking the truth about Spiritualism.—ED.]
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. I. F. Y.—The lecturer deserves all you say, but we have no space to spare for strings of complimentary remarks. Some practical statistical information about Spiritualism in your town, with par ticulars as to the number of mediums, and what kind of manifes tations they get would be useful. J. M.—Clearly “coincidence.” One part of your friend’s story is certainly inaccurate; who can say on what particular day a tree dies, the process being so slow? NORWICH.—Your alphabet received. Shall have something to say about it at a future time. ISLE OF WIGHT.—Too late for this issue.
FACTS FOR NON-SPIRITUALISTS As this Journal will necessarily often come under the observation of those who are not Spiritualists, it has been thought judicious to reprint regularly on this and the next page the following condensed evidenee that spiri tualism deserves serious investigation. The phenomena witnessed in spiritual circles are so extraordinary, and so unlike those coming within the ordinary range of human experi ence, that it is quite right not to accept them on the testimony of others. Each individual should witness and test them personally, and believe nothing until the absolute knowledge gained that denial is impossible.
“ Awaiting a reply to this letter, and to the challenge with which it concludes, I am, gentlemen; your obedient servant. G. DAMIANI. “Clifton, Oct. 1, 1868. “P.S.—Letters addressed Sigr. Damiani, care of Manager of West of England and South Wales District Bank, Corn-street, Bristol,' will always reach the writer." In addition to the above evidence, there is the testimony of numbers that the modern spiritual manifestations are realities. Mr. Hepworth Dixon in his New America estimates the number of Spiri tualists in the United States at rather less than three millions, and this is about the lowest estimate that anybody has made. There are no accurate sta tistics, and different authorities vary in their esti mates from three to eleven millions. All these facts, together with those which follow, prove that Spiritualism deserves serious investigation. Not a few learned men have pri vately been examining the phenomena in order to “explode the imposture,” but these extinguishers soon catch fire themselves. In short, in the minds of most of the English public, Spiritualism has to pass through the following five stages : 1. The manifestations do not take place. 2. Spiritualism is a gross imposture. 3. It is a delusion. 4. It is the work of the Devil. 5. It is a great blessing, and we always said so. Experience shows that the feebler the intellect and the lower the standard of energy and educa tion, the sooner does the investigator break down at one of the first four out of the above five steps in the ladder of progress.
“FREDERICK ROWLAND YOUNG, “Minister of the Free Christian Church, Swindon There are very many healing mediums in the United States, who can do good only in certain diseases, or whose powers are so feeble that suc cessful results may with more probability of accu racy be put down to the imagination of the patient. A great use of Spiritualism is that it demon strates the immortality of the soul. But why ask, “Of what use is Spiritualism?” for here the thing is in our midst as much a part of nature as the trees, the clouds, and the flowers, and as it cannot be abolished there is no alternative but to subject it to investigation, or to look on in igno rance.
HOW TO FORM SPIRIT CIRCLES An experimental trial at home, among family friends and relatives, often gives the most satis factory evidence of the reality of spiritual pheno mena. At the same time, as no fully developed medium is present among those who have never obtained manifestations before, the probability is that there will be no results. Nevertheless, it is a very common thing for striking manifestations to be obtained in this way at the first sitting of a family circle; perhaps for every one successful new circle thus started without a medium, there are six or seven failures, but no accurate statistics on this point have yet been collected. When once manifestations have been obtained they will gradually increase in power and reliability at suc cessive sittings. The following is a good plan of action : 1. Let the room be of a comfortable temperature, but cool rather than warm—let arrangements be made that
sible to comply with his demand. Faraday also required an answer to the following questions, among others, before attending: “Would he [Mr. Home] be glad if their (the manifesta tion's] delusive character were established and exposed, and would he gladly help to expose it, or would he be annoyed and personally offended? [The italics in this sentence are not in the original.] "Does he consider tlie effects natural or supernatural? If natural, what are the laws which govern them? or does he think that they are not subject to laws? If supernatural, does he suppose them to be miracles, or the work of spirits? If the work of spirits, would an insult to the spirits be considered as an insult to himself?" Mr. Home took no notice of the above insults and, it is believed, never wrote Faraday in the first instance, or took any notice of him whatever. He never even saw his letters. Dr. John Tyndall, F.R.S., in a note dated May 8, 1868, commenting upon Faraday's letter just mentioned, wrote: "I hold myself in readiness to witness and investigate, in the spirit of the foregoing letter [of Faraday's], such phenomena as Mr Home may wish to reveal to me during the month of June." A few days previously Mr. Home had written in the Pall Mall Gazette: “It will give me pleasure to meet Professor Tyndall, and any two gentlemen he shall designate. On my side I shall have at least two gentlemen whose names and position place them above the suspicion of aiding ot abetting a fraud. I will meet Professor Tyndall and these gentlemen when and where they please, and under such circumstances as they may decide on. I must only crave their patience if nothing should occur at the first, or even the second, séance." From that day to this Dr. Tyndall has not accepted the above invitation A demand for a programme where no programme can be given, and the writing of supercilious letters in reply to civil invitations, amounts prac tically to a refusal to observe facts. Dr. Tyndall and men who act like him, are recommended to bear in mind the following words of Galileo: “Oh, my dear Kepler, how I wish that we could have our hearty laugh together. Here, at Padua, is the prin cipal professor of philosophy, whom I have repeatedly and urgently requested to look at the moon and planets through my glass, which he pertinaciously refuses to do. Why are you not here? What shouts of laughter we should have at this glorious folly ; to hear the Professor of Philosophy at Pisa, labouring before the Grand Duke with logical arguments, as if with magical incantations to charm the planets out of the sky!" A little society known as the Dialectical Society is now investigating Spiritualism. It numbers among its members many shrewd and intelligent men, belonging chiefly to the legal and medical professions. Spiritualists watch its proceeding with a moderate amount of interest; nothing that any man or body of men may say or do can alter the established phenomena and laws of nature.