The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1883-02-01
An ABLE ARTICLE.

the ADVANCE has free thought COL
umn. and that Il regular reader has tax.
Ell the editor to task for spiritualistic
utterances, are the reasons for the fol-
lowing enarks by still another regular
reader. They are net made with tic
thought of excelling those of the edit
or in the issue Of the 1lth inst, nor in
expectation that they will result in af-
feciing the views OF your sutspoken
critic, but with the hope that at least
! some of your readers may De led to CALI
didly entertain the question 1T the al
legged truths Of Spiritualism. and to ex-
anime into the subject, uniItiuenced
| by the prejudicpS OF others. How
many>Of the patrons of the ADVANCE
have given the matter even curSOry
| examination? Comparatively few.
How many have investigated it thor
| Oughly? Probably net one. And vet
50 perverse is human thought that has
been warped by old Theology, there
are scores, no doubt. who, like "a reg
ular reader,' are in the habit of crying
| fraud" and ''delusion" at the men.
tion Of Sp,ritualism. Having heard
that A.. B. and e., professed mediums,
have been exposed in practicing leger.
demain and calling it Spiritualism,
they forthwith conclude that there is
no such thing rs genuineness about the
whole subject. AS if the discovery
that a certain alleged bank bill was
counterfeit, proved that there were no
Fortunately for this and coming
| generations. many strong, rational
minds have, within tho past thirty
years. given the subject of modern
Spiritnalism much thought and pa
tient investigation, and the number is
| very great Of men and women more or
| less eminent in intellectual pursuits,
| who have brought to the task their
best powers, and few instances, if in
deed any, can he cited where the re.
searches led not to conviction Of the
truths of immortality and spirit CON-
munion, with all the momentous con-
sequences which these facts imply.
The following is a partial list, made
from memory, Of few such, who have
observed the Injunction, "Preve all
things" and have held fast to what
they found to I've true. The roll is
brief, when compared with what it
nig!,t>be made. but quite sufficient, it
wonld seem, to 1T least arrest the at
tention of such rs cry ''frsud" without
having first inquired into the matter
thus put under ban.
Your correspondent uses the follow
ing language:
When you get onto your hobby of
| Spiritualism, ''frse thought, :" and such
b"sl. you can crowd more concentrat-
| ed iiiOcy into tise square inch of type
| and paper than any man living. You
seem to have become Il lnOhOnlaniac on
that subject, and u church or 4 preach
er affects you jnst rs y red flag does u
mad hull. What on earth has made
suc!' wreck Of you?
Considering that the writer of the
foregoing seems t" have bent for the
use Of slang words and phrases. and is
grossly personal; considering that ln'
| d"n"unc-s free thought rs ''bosh,"
thus by circn,ty declaring that slavery
of mind is the expression Of sound
| sense. it is by no means certain that lie
has sufficient mental capacity and abil-
ity to consider any evidence falling
within the domains Of moral pi,iloso-
ply c2ndidly and nationally. Nrverthe-
less he and all others of your readers
| disposed to deny Spiritualisn, the day.,
star Of this age. are invited to \ con
s'derstien Of this list of Spiritualists:
Statesmen, Jurists and Political
| Economists. Salmon p. Chase, Chief
Just ce "f the U. 5. supreme court; J.
". Edmonds. Judge et the New York
supreme court; ". X. AeAllister,
Judge, Chicago; Judges Daily and
Cross, Of New York City, Carter,
of Cincinnati; Hon. Benz. F.. Wade;
George W. Julian; n. +. Talmadge,
Gov. OF Wisconsin,; Jns. L. O'Suliivan,
late U. 5. Minister at Naples; Rebt.
Dale Owen; Horace Greeley; Albert,
| Duke Of SAKE Csburg: Victoria, Queen
Of England; Abraham Lincoln; J. II.
PEBBLES, late q. s. Charge de Affairs at
Trebizond, Turkey in Asia; Hon. War;
rem Chase, ex-State Senator Of Wiscon.
sin and California.
! Men aud Women eminent in litera-
ture, education and reform.-Wm. aud
Mary Hewitt; Charles Carlteu Massey;
5. q. Hall; Prof. W. Stanton Moses,
England; Alice and Phebe Carry; Syl-
vanus Cobb, Jr.; Epes Sargent; Moses
gene Crowell; Prof. Henry kiddle, for
schools; Prof. Do Morgan, London
mathematician.
| Amateur investigators and persons
eminent in various fields of thought
Baron De Guldenstubbe, Ger; Count
de Bullet, Paris; Alexander Aksakof
and Boutleroff, Russia; Sergt. Cox,
England; Joseph Jefferson, actor; 5.
p. Kase, Philadelphia; Dr. f. K. Kane,
Arctic explorer; Peary Chal.d Mittra
aud Kerchub Chunder Sen, Of India.
Diviaes.-John Pierpsnt; Samuel
Watson; Pref. Eliakim Phelps, Of
And0ver University; the brilliant s. b.
Brittan and recently Joseph p. New
man, Washington. u. e..
And the following scientists savans,
philosophers and physicists.-C. F.
Varley, Electricians; Ksbt. Hare, Prof.
iu University of PENN; William Den
ton, Geoloyist; Alfred Il. Wallace, F.
K. s.; William Croskes. F: r. s.;
Profs. Weber. Feclner. Schribner and
Zollner, Of the University Of Leipsic,
Germany.
Of these nearly all are the uames Of
earnest Spiritualists. who make no a.
cret Of their principles and faith, if in
deed the word faith is descriptive Of
positive knowledge. The exceptions
are such as Greeley. Lincoln aud Phelps:
whe. for reasons which they deemed
on the subject.
Trustworthy sources shsw that the
Spiritualists of the world number not
less than l2,OOO, GOO. Their magazines
and other journals number about fifty.
while their literature includes more
than Eve hundred books, many Of them
OF profound learning and fxultless
composition. And all this has been
brought about within tho time inter-
veninR between March 3lst. 1846, the
date of the frst tiny raps At Hydes-
vile, n. Y, and now.
"A regular re2der' and thousands Of
others. well:meaning but specifically
thinking persons, suppOHe that about
all there 10 to Spiritualism 10 compro-
hended in little rapping and table
tipping, and tho alleged trance utter.
ances of people claiming t., b. controll.: ::
ed by spirits. all simulated, or at least
ovnlainoA in, annna ~,iso .,thnr tho.