Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-03-02

We are ghosts of the departed,
Souls of those who once were with you.
From the realms of Chibiabos
Hither have We come to try you,
Hither have we come to warn you.
rLoNGFELLow.
/ Editor Rltand Herald Il discover by
C3ndor's last article that he declines the
task of reforming the Spiritualists. /
doubt not it seemed too formidable an m
dertaking, as notwithstanding the abund-
! ance of words he uses, he does not allude
to a single fact, which 1 placed before
him through your columns in my last
communication, but he starts out now
upon his creed.
If were to assert that I could prove
from Christian writers that Christians did
not believe in Immortality, most people
would doubt the assertion, yet it can be
proven from the writings of Elder Miles
Grant, professor and popular Christian
minister, that he and many in sympathy
with him believe that the soul dies with
the body. An extract from his writings
to prove this, would as well represent the
great body of christians in that particular,
as do the quotations of Candor from the
writings of Spiritualists represent any of
their commonly accepted ideas
He gives an extract from some paper
which he says is published by a society of
Free Love Spiritualists at Berlin flights,
Ohio Now that society was started some
fifteen years or more before the first spirit
raps were heard in Rochester, and entire
ly upon the Bible as a basis. Whether
the title of Spiritualist has been assumed
by them, or whether it is a name given
them by others, know not, whichever
it may be, they no more represent the
body of Spiritualists, than does the we'll
known society of Free Love Christians at
Oneida, N. Y, represent Christians gem
orally.
4. J. Davis is not, or ever has been, ac-
cepted as authority among Us more than
any other man of equal talent, honesty
and charity. His ideas of spirit inter-
course are common with US, his specula-
tive and theoretical writings he alone is
responsible for. AS am personally un-
acquainted with the man, and have read
but a small proportion of his works, 1
shall not plead guilty to the charge of
kneeling at his feet. think, however if
Candor would emulate honest benevo-
lence, the pure unassuming morality, with
which he is credited by all who know
him, his spiritual vision might be opened
to clearer perception of truth.
The fact is, the Spiritualists are great
multitude holding to one common funda-
mental principle, based upon fact, viz
That our friends who have passed out Of
the mortal form, oaR come to, and oommu-
nieate with us, and the universal result !
Of this belief is, purer morals and better
life. But the theological status of these
persons is as varied as the sources from |
whence they have come many still re-
naming in their respective churches, but
most all have left some religious denomi.
nations, generally retaining more or less
of their old peculiarities of faith. Many
atheists have been convinced of the fact
of Immortality through its means, while
they accept nothing from theology. I
think, however, that by far the greater
portion take the same view of the Bible
and Jesus of Nazareth, as the Unitsrians,
Hicksites, Quakers, and many others of
that peculiarly intellectual and spiritual
stamp.
From this great variety of active intel
iIgence one may select little portions, here
and there, to prove almost any absuraity
without in any wise fairly presenting a
single commonly accepted idea-as, it is
well known, one may, by selecting isolat-
ed texts from the Bible, prove almost any
doctrine he chooses. Now the great bur.
then upon Candor's mind seems to be this,
we do not all accept his Interpretation Of
The Scriptures, as infalliable. And because
We do not all see with his eyes, hear with
his ears, and understand with his aoant of
understanding, we are to be ostracized