The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-09-19

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 1871
spirituaIists i'm Counc;I.
PORTLAND.

SPiritualisfs in Council.
"The corporeal part of Spiritualsm" was il
session in Troy, N. Y, last week; and from
toleraby full report of of the proceedings in
the Tribune we make the following selec.
tiOns
The assemblage is mixed one. Few of
the great lights of the faith shine in the Con-
vention in the flesh. The general is too well
known to need description. Piteously out of
place, the venerable Mrs. Mott holds place
among the wrestling, unthinking thrOng.
| There are, however, none of the illustrious
names names that would serve TO redeem the
Convention from the most grotesque bur
lesque OF a rational assemblage. Spiritualsm
| is not as it seems, doctrine to impress the
| young. All here are gray. Boards or teyond
middle age. 1t is the credulity If age which
swells its ranks, supplemented by The mex
haustisle credulity OF women. Unhappily
Tor the enthusiasts of the faith, however, the
blood OF spirtualistic martyrs can never make
| much seed for the Spiritualist church. as its
disciples a.e in that sere time of lie when
cold blood anL dim eyes clog the ambitious
| efforts OF the most jealous disciples of the in
visible powers.
Meantime the agol,es of discussion and
| spiritual Interpolation have been going on
| brskly. First it is made known that the
|
| have awakened body of the myrmidons of
| Mormondom to cast out the gods of Brigham
and receive new birth into the spiritual
| fold. A vehement Outcry came upon the pro-
| ject-a delegate was moved through right
| eousness to deny the demand of the polygam-
| ic proseytes. The leader of them was one
Godbe, who demanded recognition for lis
iour wives IN the holy told OF SpirituGlism.
| That could never be. ga man or woman fol
lOuo6 10 habaSt nj tho xuicpcf and
spirits in seeking true affinity, but more than
one at time couldn't be tolerated." 1t came
to pass, too, that the applicants for recOgDi-
tion before the present Convention also IN
Guided as leaders. Messrs. Sherman and Har-
rison, "who were possessed of innumerable
wives, and, should they ever be countenanced,
they might be arrested tor oioamy in the very
portals OF the Temple" These people had
sent an address reciting the pains and penal
ties they heroically endured for the Spiritual
| istic cause, and glorifyng the faith raprurous-
ly. Already they had in Utah society OF
l6O members, paper advocating the cause
and tabernacle for worship, worth in the
| main $4,000. The money clause excited
great enthusiasm, and the matter was appar.
entity settled when Delegate Cooley sprung
the startling question of spiritual marriage on
the Assembly. The marriage ceremony, as
now celebrated, he cOntenIed, is no marriage
at all, ard the first duty of the Association is
to appoint regular officers, whose duty il
should be to soemnize spiritual unions be-
tween "affinities" in this world. There were
but few, even in the ranks of the faith, that
could perform that ceremony in accordance
with spirit dictates. "As thing stand now,
Spiritualists are married by men using such
senseless phrases as what God hath joined 10
gether let no man put asunder.'" just
said the indignant man, in immeasurable
scorn, "as though God had come down and
given Them authority to compel the woman
to promise to obey the man and the man to
love the woman until death did them part,
whether they could or not. When you order
the woman TO obey and love and the man to
cleave unto her always, you are ordering
them to do an unnatural thing"
Wbereupon unseemly warfare arose, not
upon this radical measure, which received the
tacIt approval OF all, but ON the Mormon ques-
ton which had been apparently settled. Peter
b. Good felt called upon to discuss the sub
ject from legal apprehension. "If we accept
these Mormons we become responsible for a
body of CRIMINALS" The subject was torn into
shreds by logical expounders, but light came
from a feminine casuist, Anna Hinman, who
laid down a new law in an impressive treble
Gan persons who believe in communication
of disembodied spirits with embodied spirits
are Spirituaists. 1t is none OF the business OF
spirits to inquire how mauy wives man has,
or what his previous beliefs were"
"sPIRIT OF HE'LL OR GOBLIN DAMNED"
| At this DR.. Gardner of Boston, filled with
| wrath, and impatient OF the darkness of his
less favored fellow mortals, broke in ~ would
| like to know what this address has to do with
Mormonism. would receive an address from
the lower depths of he'll! Applause. 1t you
| want to erect standard OF morality for Spir
| itaalists, whore are you going to begin?
don't care if man has thousand wives. It's
| none OF my business. Let him take the re-
| sponsiblity under the law. Let us make each
| our own standard and none other" Frantic
| demonstrations of approval followed this An
| acharsis Clootz, who persplringly retired, wag-
| ging sagacious insinuations from his oracular
head. The buzz of admiration over, the SEN
| timents bad scarcely subsided when the red
| dest radical of them all, one E. S. Wheeler,
| came upon tie scene breathing fire and fury
| against the established order of things. "Six
| or seven years ago." said this fearless man,
.'Spiritua'lsts had no moral sense; now the
light OF reason has dawned upon them. Ex-
pedieucy," continued the speaker, with cheer
full incoherence, sis morality. Show me that
| which is good for men and women, and will
| show you that which is moral. Ii you don't
like to say that expediency is morality, say
that morality is expedient. When L. S.
| Wheeler does wrong, E. S. Wheeler meets
him and gives him hell. Anything that hurts
IS wicked. l have got through paying the
/ slightest Difference TO the Legislatures and the
laws they make. shall never have a police
i mans hand righeeously laid upon me, because
shall never feel like offending against just
| law. Law-abiding men have cursed The earth
| and crushed the pulsations OF freemen. Down
| with law, down with institutions, down with
| governments, up with men and women and
down with men-made eLactments. We have
taken that stand, and the women who are not
ready are towards. We mean rebellion. We've
got nothing to do with Utah. Don't let us
throw stones at the Mormons when the win
| dOws OF almost every house in New England
are open. Jf Mr.. Good wants to make an
earnest protest let him turn his attention to
| Newark, in his own State, where men are
murdered. DR.. Gardner has said he would
receive an address from the lowest depths oil
hell. So would 1, and all the more readily il
the devil himself brought it," Indescribable
manifestations OF enthusiasm rewarded the
more revolutionary sentiments, and the ora
tor was regarded with admiring fervor by the
ringleted sisterhood welded to the cause
Another "invocation" of astounding imagery
followed, and the first session was adjourned.
THE LAST DAY.
The work of the last day was not unlike
that of the first. Much discussion by the pro-
gressive element, and much conservative la
mentation by the less revolutionary minds
The women are the Iconocasts, the men the
reactionaries. The Lyceum Committee re-
commend that Christian fiIe be fought with
spiritual fiie-that is. organize societies, as
the Christians do, and work Systematically
for the worlds redemption. The discussion
evoked was prolific in much wrath and heart
burning, the mild-manneied brother Cooley
feeling called upon 10 expose Brother Wheel
er as "a damnabe fool" A charge which
that amabe man bore with unmoved sereni-
ty. Brother Moses plead for the formation o
Spiritual Young Mems Associations" to
counteract the evils OF the Christian Young
Mems Associations and showed the effective
work that had been achieved in Baltimore by
this system. The marriage question moved
DR.. Haeck to show the absurdity of the
} present plan. "Haven't Spirtualists," said b,
, in fine scorn. "arrived at the place where the,