The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-01-05
SPIRITUALISM.
Cincinnati News Journal.


 In every stage of mans development, rom savage to civilized life his progress nas been due to his aocumalating eape- nence and study of the natural phenom- eua by which he has been surrounded. The ideas he has formed of his own sig r,hcance and position in the universe, .nd his relations to some great invisible and ineomprehensible being to whose ,ower all must be referred. has consti- .u:ed his religion. IL Is his idea of the
 universe. moided by the imagination into forms and systems growing more in,elli- gent and ineligible as he progresses IT snowledge oi art and science. In this rarely intellectual view of the subject,
 each religion is equally entitled to d re
 speeitul hearing rom every other, espe
 .ally when II Is remembered that every
 ,ellgion makes the same claim to divine
 -eyelation. and each considers every other as erroneous. In treating of spiritualism
 therefore, Il would be unjust and unwise 10 permit the cd un and ridicule which ignorance and bigotry attaches 10 all inno- ,ation to influence our Judgment. l. may Dc well 10 remember also that no religion has suffered more from intolerance and superstition than Christianity, and II the lessons of time and history are worth anything. we should have learned by this ame that divine truth IS not 3 local mat ieF. devised for the benefit 0! few select persons Tn some particular spot, but IS absolutely omnipotent and omnipresen,, and IS adapted to every possible require ment of every phase of humanity. IL aas existed long before creeds or bibles. and has never been withheld from man : oa the contrary, from the childhood oi :ae race to it's manhood, all who sough,
 :; found 1t, and to whoever knocked 1t Sas opened. But human ignorance and oeneet are more obdufate than divine truth, and are, of course. found alway arrayed against any proposition tha, hap
 pens 10 be ou, of their sphere of knowi- edge. The world IS becoming very dem ouaiic. and is beginning to regard some
 what doubtingly that kind of faith which
 $ in the habit of plaeidly assuring three !ourths of the human race that utter and endless damnation is the only alternative .o its belief, conSgning all of mankind, si,h few insign' ticant exceptions, to the
 worm that never dies and "the fire that
 never quenched;" in a word, passing :hem by ordained to dishonor and wrath, !" and in this harsh and unkindly interpre- ia,ion of Gods ways with man, t IS but 'usi 10 say that Christians and Mahomet- ans enjoy almost monopoly. Il is also believed by wise and good men tha, it IS 70 this spiri, tha. Christendom IS chiefly indebted for the innumerab'e intdelisms, 'acluding spiritualism, that have arisen throughout the world and threaten 10 en- gulf the sublime truths of Christianity Tn confusion and unbelief Relgion of some kind IS an inherent nee .ssi,y 0. our organiz alton, and if one seems irrational, .nhuman. or inefficient we seek some other that promises different or better methods. Christianity asserts the inn mortality Of the soul. bui the fact and the manner ot Il have been left 10 the fancy imagination, and conjecture of theologi- ans who have no; been able 10 demon strate either, and as science only knows nan as collection ot material germ cells Niiaiized by some mysterious force, whose aature 1t is incompetent 10 analyle. the question of future life rested upon something that was intangible and un certain. Ii IS not, therefore, surprising Ina, proposition 10 solve the most .m- fortaRt of all human problems. = Ii man die shall he live again 7" should aase attracted the curiosity and senous investigation of men, or that those who became convinced of the genuine char a-ter of the phenomena by which the problem was illustrated should cast aside al creeds. ritu1ls, and theologies, and eiing to the demonstration of immortal fly as alone of any worth, and to clothe ,helr knowledge with the dignity of re- lgion and philosophy. That the class ot persons who hrHly believe tha, the phenomena are produced by spiri, intel hgence have spread all over the world during the past thirty years, and are now numbered by millions, including ali grades of society, indicates an onsin which their knowledge of natural laws aas been unable to explain. Bu; suppose he phenomena prove beyond reasonable aoub; an existence after death. which II true they certainly would do, mere Snowledge oi the fact would alone be in- sufficient to constitute religion, or even philosophy, for Christian theology IS founded upon ar undemons,rable faith in the souls immortality. Le, us exam me the nature of the phenomena and the deductions of spiri,ualism from them. Not to 20 into detail of the almos, in- numerable varieties of mediumship, le, us be content to take an instance familiar and accessible 10 all in Cincinnati. We mean Henry B. Allen, of 2o5 George street, known as ~ physical medium. This young man, as his appearance lndi- eases, is country born and bred, and claims to have been the medium for these manifestations since the age of fve. and notwithstanding he has exhib- ited under all manner of critical tests before all classes of persons none have been able to detec, fraud or collision, and none have explained the manifestations by any methods more clear than the spiritual ore claimed for :hem. In order to test the character of his mediumship Mir. A. vas invited to meet selected party of ten persons in a private parlor. Ameng them were a well known military oslcer, tkree of our mos, intelligent physicians