New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-10-11
THE REV. JOHN PTERPONT on SPIRIT
UILISM

;,s who nere.ale at Dodworth'. Hall, No. SIS
Broadway His appearance EXCITED much interest
not only among the rprtualis,s Themselves. but also
among lis many a:mir,rs aud friends He appears to
retain his strength remarkable for man now nearly IS
years old.
Tie Rev M PlERFoyr said that lie WAS not pro-
fessedly a Spiri;ualst He was not medium in any
form, speaking, writing, or by impression that he
knew Of. He never had spoken and he never ex-
pected to speak in trance. He had always endeav-
cred to speak with bis eyes open and to understand
what lie said They must not, therefore expect any.
thing superhuman from him, nothing OF direct revela-
ton. His first education had been for tie bar and he
learned in lis study of law that the best evidence that
could be Lad was demanced to prove anything lie
brought up il the traghtest sect of the orthodox
Wien he became Of age he took up the question Of
the Trinity and examined it he wond question OF
law. After some years Of Investigation, he
obliged to accept the doctrine Of the unity Of the in
finite alternating fpirit. He supposed tina, it would
! he very hard to shake that conviction now. Sill. bis
mind open upon that subject though he Thought he
could employ it better than in investigating it further.
1t had seemed becoming to him, interested in
spiritual subjects, to look into spritualism. He had
had rather abundant opportunities, and 50 far the re-
suit that his mind Was under strong persuasion
that this Spiritual movement Of God, and that il
formed part of the great system of progression of
| which the whole visible creation bore witness. lie
believed in progression. He could nowhere end that
| he did not believe that he had ceased to work in
| the moral creation Aud in arriving al these con-
| illusions he had never found himself in position
where he WAS obliged TO give up q single of his
| convictions es Unitarian Christian. Yet he sup
posed that when lie came there he shut himself out
Of tie churches of his denomination pre- acher.
| He did not why this should be. He was pretty
sure that In the late remarks able religious revival, az
the close of our-fiths of the meetings the good deacon
WHO closed the meeting with prayer prayed that God
might give his angels charge OF the sonls OF those
present while they slept Was tnot wonderful that the
moment you began to give that deacon evidence that
there were angels who really did watch over him. he
| would cay, 80, didn't mean That We'll, what
did yoq neaa irend Why have found some
ton you have to receiving evidence that
Gd angels do watch oyer you IN your sseP t1 ona
what il might come to; perhaps i might be
brought to believe in Spirituaisn.'' lie not
there to argue in defence Of Spritussm as sect but
be believed that oil had spiritual na;ure, and 1t
became all to cultivate IT, ii he was wrong tnis
was his misfortune, not his fault. II that shut him
out Of the pulpit where he had preached no had this
confort-that he old man and -honld not have
10 suffer long. Within few years there had been
series of phenomena of strange and as II seemed Ia
him, spiritual nature-phencmena whi.b, it seemed
10 him. the philosopher Of the world did not account
for We saw movements Of pondcrsble bodies Tor
which we could find nd. no adequate Ga, and y'.oS
Audible sounds TO our ears unaccountabe
by acoustics. WHAT produced them We had the
sumo testimony that they were real that we had that
snythng else realthe testimony Of our senses.
Tie phenomena were undeniable whence did they
come Whence, for instance, the rapping Mr..
Burr told from the swapping of the toc o the
medium. But even he hGd given that up now Others
told us that il was electricity, but the most delicate
electrometer failed to detect il. table which he had
previously examined So be sure that there was no ma
cLinery attached to IT, and room under II, not even
a cellar, moved, one touching it, he saw II move,
no one touching il no near It, He saw it thrown
over quicker than any three Of the circle could
have thrown it over one touching II all the WHILE
The question arose: What did this Electricity
There was 10 electric spark. electric explosion.
Galyansm There Was 10 galvanic battery.
very delicate electrometer showed no movement
Had II been electricity would have torh Tue cicero
nometer to fragments. Here were phenomena a. m
disputable a. the sunshine to-day-phenomena IL
which tens of thousands of intelligent men AMI women
were ready to give tneT testunony-the testimony ol
any two Of HON would send him or anybody else To
the gallows True, come people said this was not so
One Professor of Greek said that was stlpc nin
deuson. But il was a wel-rcttieo Piln, y, '
TINT positive evidence controlled negative ihc iun
mental dogma of Spritualisn was that SpiIits VINO
have lived in the flesh, do in their spiritual state
manifest themselves to Us; that the spirits o! uloSe
who had left us coud commune with Us IN some way
The Spirtualst held that they could snd did, the anti
Spirtnast that they could not and did moi, aud had
right to call upon the Spirtuslst to prove hs
position. Tie burden OF proof rested upon
the Spritualist The Spirita!st proved the
existence of thesn facts; he could not refer them
TO any other than splria ai one; II ahyoouy
else could they must. ii aDyOOuy uthc" tha' 'uo
cause was spiritual let them explain by some other,
or hold his peace. spiritual cause was adequate
none other had been found. They saw the creation
an infinite material result, and argued from IL nm ian
mite creator spirit And so, too, from these hnte ma
teralresults they argued by the same proce's te
existence If finite spiritual cause Ii an ihhnl'c
shirt could move Infinite universe W. c,u,u poi
finite spirit move a chain or table Indeed 10 ua
We move our own hands, except ~ our spirits lhey
had onl, to prove that the thing was dono, ho' now
was done No man could tell how anything
| was done: none Of us could ten no" oh1
! raised our arms. lie thought Spirtuallsm hAea
fact and that the world had got one Spiritual power,
e which il had had but little advantage thus fsr.
| The world was far too material Too nlnch gov
crned bv material calculations for material inter
! .sts The race must be advanced spiritually; the
! tirclom Of Heaven, for which We prayed, must
com. ON earth spiritual kingdom. Let no man or
woman be afraid 10 inv estigar spirituaLem thinking
tina; he or she m Int thereby lose sone other truth AL
truth was in harmony with al other truth. Let l1Vec
ou, fear Men mi !ht lose socially by adopting the
! belief Ii. remarked that when he gave up the
Trinity they old him. Why il viii shut you out Of
pipety-ninc cut Of every hundred pulpts in the cou
try" lie had only to answer them that ne conl not
believe il. He used to tell the rum sellers that as
org Or Re believed their business bad one he must
tell them so; and ,hey ga not want hun at ther
/ houses he must siey IL home. II they couil ho'
have both n b CHER and the lower NE, let thei iake
the higher. Ged would not see the righteous iotsaAsh
podwc,ti'. Hall was crowded morning aud evening
Yesterday ard so great the interest in
Mr.. Pierpouts dscourses that he WI remain 70! 40
other Sabbath.