The Portland daily press., 1875-12-21
MECHANICS, COURSE.
Lecture ON "SpirituaIssmn by M. A.
Blanchard, Esq.

Although the weather outside was such as
would incline people to stay At home, there
was good audience out at Mechanics Hall to
listen to the lecture of M. A. Blanchard, Esq,
of this City, on "Spiritualism," The lecture
opened with the statement that belief in the
power of disembodied spirits to communicate
with living beings has been common to all
times and all races. 1T is part of the teach
ing of the Christian Bible as of the Bibles of
nearly all other religions. Yet a majority of
those who firmly believe in the appearance of
spirits ia-thst far-away time, sneer at the mod
ern manifestations whose character is so SINH
liar, Notwithstanding the fact that the phenom
ena of to-day are open to investigation and
have been conceded to be genuine by many
scientific men, while those of historic fame
can never be proved to have happened at all.
Though the doctrine of antecedent probabili -
ties may be quoted against spirtualism by
some, it cannot be SO quoted by believers in the
legends of christianity, for acknowledgment of
ancient spiritualism compels them to concede
that the antecedent probabilities are in favor,
not against, the modern manifestation. Dr.
johnson refused to deny that the spirits of the
dead did appear to their friends, because the
concurrent testimony of all ages and all ma
tions'' was against the denial.
Since the belief in the temperance of the
spirits of the dead is worldwide belief, and
Spencer has declared that such belief may be
assumed to have foundation in truth, it may
also be assumed that Spirltualism has fOunda-
ton in truth. This assum ption is sufficiently
Unsuitable to warrant spiritualism in claiming
serious attention, not contemptuons pushing
aside as humbug. Certainty of the immor-
tally of the soul is the point at which spirit
ualism is aiming. Affirmation of this doctrine
lies at the base of christianity but it rests for
authority on the supernatural revelations from
Deity. Modern spiritualism, on the other hand,
rests not on miracle, but on law. 1t claims its
manifestations to be, not supernatural, in the
sense of being above law, but only as occurring
according to laws not yet known 1t history
is to be believed then there is strong re-
semblance between the ancient and the mod
ern manifestations; such similarity implies like
causes, and if the modern are to be be discred
tied the ancient must fall Into disrepute, and
thus will crumble away the very foundations of
christianity, leaving an infidel structure as the
stronghold of the world. "Here, however,
modern spiritualism comes in to check the
wide spreading acceptance Of materialistic
views so prevalent in our day."
The speaker here gave an outline of the his
tory of the modern manifestations from their
origin in 1848 in a small town near Rochester,
N. H., 10 the present udy, when In6lr DelleVerS
number from eight to eleven millions in this
country alone. The opinions of various investi
gaIors were given, among whom was Prof.
Wallace, "who shared With Darwin the repu-
tation of being the disc0verer of the doctrine
of evolution" Mr. Blanchard quotes Prof
Wallace as saying lin his defence of modern
spiritua!ism) in regard to the number of iutel-
ligent men who are believers in spirituaism in
these phenomena, "There is nothing parallel
to it in the history of human thought because
IAA
entity SO well founded conviction that phe-
romena of this kind never have happened and
never can happen"
Prof. Crookes of London, editor of the
Quarterly Journal of Science, who has been
carefully investigating this matter, says. in his
accoun4 of the manifestations which he had
witnessed through the mediumsh'p of Miss
Cook, who willingly submitted herself to aLy
tests which he chose to try, ITO imagine the
manifestations of the last three years to be the
result of imposture, does more violence to ones.
reason and common sense than to believe them
to be what they themselves appear"
The speaker based his argument largely on
the wonderful manifestations which are claimed
by the spirits, (whose claim, by the way, has
never been disproved) many of which pbenom-
ena are known to the public, and which our
space forbids us to enumerate. We will only
mention the fact that excellent photographs of
spirits. taken without human agency, have
been given to friends of the departed, and that
at one seance of Mrs. Mary Blake Thayer 40
flowers and plants, and at another 50, were
brought into the room by unseen hands, while
the doors and windows remained closed.
In the face of these wonderful facts, of which
we are constantly hearing and which are unde-
niably facts if we can at all trust the evidence
of our senses, the believers in them are as
sailed with cries of ''humbug, imposture, de-
ausion, &c." But it is noticeable that those
who are loudest in their denunciations are those
who know least of the matter.
r mill hp asked HWhat good will rasult If
the doctrine of spirtualism be true?" 1t for
ever sets at rest the longing of the soul for
Certainty that it shall live hereafter for not
withstanding the testimony of Revelations,
many a man is not assured of that for which
he hopes Moreover, as it is the province of
science to search everywhere that 1T may know
everything, and as spiritualism comes under
the domain CT science, there is the same in
centive to Investigate its laws as the laws of
heavenly bodies; To the utillarlan who asks,
"Will it payY' the answer will be, Eyes,
though probably not in dollars AMI cents. 1t
is claimed that the promises and consultations
of religion are of priceless value. not in money
but in hopes. Hopes that relate not SO much
to this life as to future lie, but OF which they
can give us only vague limitations, without
proof of what that life may be-; while here is
something that gives us knowledge in place of
hopes; that informs US of the life to come by
the evidence of those who have experienced
it."
1T will be we'll for the facts of spiritual man
Hesitation to be gatht red up, preserved, form
ulated and adjusted to our human necessities,
not as religion, for. such it is not, though re-
iating to future life and its conditions, not as
a question of the emotions, but of facts, and
only in the light of scientific research, and as a
Science. must they be interpreted, Then
science 10 tead of religion shall interpret the
longings of the soul, and the lecture room,
rather than the pulpit, point the way to eter-
nal life"
COLD WEATHER.-The weather in this city
Yesterday was the coolest of the season. Att
o'clock the thermometer varied from 15o to lS0
below. At noon the mercury was up to be-