New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-08-23

ual literature I have read, l have found NO
statement of q spirit describing winged
angels or golden harps," or the "throne OF
God"-to which the humblest orthodox
Christian thinks he will be introduced it he
goes to heaven at all. There is no more
startling and radical opposition to be found
between the most adverse religious creeds
than that between the beliefs in which the
majority of mediums have been brought up
and the doctrines as to a future life that are
delivered through them; there is nothing
more marvellous in the history OF the HUI
mar mind than the fact that, whether
in the backwOods of America. or IN
men and women, having. almost
all been brought up in the usual
sectarian notions of heaven and hell,
should, the moment they become seized by
the strange power of ~mediumship, give
forth teachings on this subject which are
philosophical rather than religious, and
which differ wholly from what had been 80
deeply ingrained into their minds. And
this statement is not affected by the fact
that communications purport to come from
Catholic or Protestant, M~Ohammedan or
HindOO spirits. Because, while such com
muricatiOns maintain special dOgmas and
doctrines, yet they confirm the very facts
which really constitute the spiritual theory.
and which in themselves contradict the
theory of sectarian spirits. The Roman
Catholic spirit, for instance, does not de-
scribe himself as being in either the Ortho-
dox purgatory, heaven, or hell; the evan.
gelical Dissenter who died in the firm
conv;ctien that he should certainly Ego
to Jesus" never describes himself as being
with Christ, or as ever having seen him,
and SO OF throughout. Nothing is more
common than for religious people at seances
to ask questions about God and Christ. In
reply they never get more than opinions,
or more frequently that they 1.-THE splrIts)
have No more actual knowledge OF these
subjects than they had while on earth. So
that the facts are all harmonious; and the
very circumstance of their being sectarian
spirits bears witness in two ways to the
truth Of the spiritual t%heory-it shows that
the mind, with its ingrained beliefs, is not
suddenly changed at death; and it shows
that the communications are not the refec-
ton OF the mind of the medium, who is
often of the same religion as the commu-
nicating spirit, and because he does not
get his own ideas confirmed is obliged to
call in the aid of a satanic influence" to
account for the anomaly.
The doctrine of a future state and of the
proper preparation for it as here developed,
is to be found in the works of all Spiritu-
alists, in the utterances of all trance speak
ers, in the communications through all
mediums; and this could be proved, did
space permit, by cOpiOus quotations. But
it varies in form and detail in each; and
Just as the historian arrives at the opinions
or beliefs Of any age or nation by collating
the individual opinions of it's best and most
popular writers, so do Sniritualists cOllate
the various statements on this subject.
They know we'll that absolute dependence
is to be placed on no individual comMunl-
cation. They know that these are re-
csived by a complex physical and mental
process, both communication and recipient
influencing the result, and they accept
the teachings as to the future state OF
man only SO far as they, are repeatedly
confirmed in substance Though they may
differ in detail) by communications OBJ
tanned under the most vivid circumstances
through mediums of the most different
characters and acquirements, at different
times and in different place. Fresh con-
verts are apt to think that once satisfied
the communications come from their de-
ceased friends, they may implicitly trust to
them, and apply them universally, as it the
vast spiritual world was all moulded to one
pattern, instead of being, as it almost GER
tainly is, q thousand times more varied
than human society on the earth is, OF ever
has been. The fact that the communica-
lions do not agree as to the condition, Oc-
equations, pleasures and capacities Of in
dividual spirits, 80 tar from being a diff
Guilty, as has. been absurdly supposed, is
what ought to have been expected, while
the agreement on the essential features of
what We have stated to be the spiritual
theory Of a future state of existence is all
the more s.ricking, and tends to establish
that theory as a fundamental truth.
1.-THE assertion so often made that Spirit
ualism is the survival or revival OF old
superstitiOns is so utterly ~unfOunded as to
be hardly worth notice. A science OF hui
man nature, which is founded on observed
facts; which appeals only to facts and ex-
periments; which takes no beliefs on trust:
which inculcates investigation and self
reliance as the first duty of intelligent
beings; which teaches that happiness in a
future life can be secured by cultivating
and developing to the utmost the higher
faculties of our intellectual and moral ma
ture, and by no other Methods and must
be the natural enemy of superstition.
Spiritualism is an experimental science,
and affords the only true foundation for a
true philosophy and a pure religion. 1t
abolishes the terms Supernatural and
miracle by an extension of the sphere of
law and the realm Of nature; and, in doing
SO. it takes up and explains whatever is
true in the superstitiOns n so.called
miracles of all ages. It, and it alone, is
able to harmonic conflicting creeds; and it
must ultimately lead to concord among
mankind in the matter of religion, which
has, for so many ages, been the source of
unceasing discord and uncalculable evil; and
it will be able to do this because it appeals
to evidence instead of faith, and substi-
tutes facts for opinions; and is thus able to
demonstrate the source of much of the
teaching that men have so often held to be
divine.
sit will thus be seen that those who can
form no higher conception of the uses of
~spiritualism, even if true,' than to detect
crime or to name in advance the winner of
the Derby, not only prove their own igno-
rance of the whole subject, but exhibit IN a
marked degree that partial mental paraly-
sis, the result of u century of materialistic
thought. which renders so many men un-
able seriously to conceive the possibility of
a natural continuation Of human life after
also. that sp~iritualism is no mere 'physio-
curiosity, no mere indication of
hitherto unknown law of nature;'
but that it is a science of vast extent,
having the widest, the most important and
the most practical issues, and as such
should enlist the ~sympathies alike of NOR
allsts, philosophers and politicians, and of
all who have at heart the improvement of
society and the permanent elevation of
human nature"
Mr.. Wallace ends his very curious and
interesting articles by addressing the fol- |
remarks to the readers of the Fort
nightly Repiev::
~ would earnestly beg them not to salts.
fy themselves with the minute criticism of |
facts, the evidence of which, in my |
brief survey, may be imperfect, but to |
weigh carefully the mass of evidence 1 have |
considering its wide range and va |
1ous bearings. 1 would ask them to look |
rather at the results produced by the evil
dence than at the evidence itself as i'm !