The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-09-01
OF
RELIGION
Evidence of PsychicaI
Research.
MIRACLES Do HAPPEN
Renewal ofthe Ritualistic Controversy
in the Church Of England
and its Effects.

the opinion of some religious thinkers,
has been opened UP by the results al
ready obtained through psychical re-
search While most of the well-known
psychical investigators, such as Profess
Mr.. f. w. II. Myers, and Professor Wal
lace, have been disbelievers in orthodox
it is noteworthy that a bold
claim is made for the value of psychical
research to Christian apologetics by
writer in Inc Living Church prot
distinctly High Church in it's sympathies.
The writer (the Rev. Edwin Macomb Duff
makes two claims: first. that the facts
disclosed by psychic research tend to
strengthen the doctrine of the Incarna-
ticn; second, that they show mans es-
whose articles upon the same subject in
The Church Eclectic February. March)
have attracted some attention, argues
that If these have been accepted as safe
and sound by the conservative editor of
that magazine, this fact should have
some weight in overcoming the initial
Christians feel toward all modern forms
of the occult. He says:
Without any remarks " On what psy-
chical, research is, under that auspices
1t has been conducted since 1882, what
strictly scientific methods it has pursued.
what particular claims of psychic phe
nomena it has brought to lis e, 1 think it
will suffice to refer the re; der for spe-
cific evidence to the thirteen published
Of IiV,oc 20
the two volumes 'Phantasms of the Liv
ing, by Messrs. Quincy. Podmore and
Myers, and to the book of Mr.. Frank
Pcdmore which presents the evidence in
summarized form, 'Apparitions and
Thought Transference.' 1t may not be
amiss also to point TO the Bishop of Car
Isle and to the Bishop of Ripon as two
prominent members of the Psychcal Re-
search Society
Now the facts brought to light by psy-
chical research. summary stated, come
to this: The human mind in a certain
condition of passivity, sometimes in hyp-
nosis, and sometimes in a state superb
cially indistinguishable from normal
wakefulness, manifests certain faculties
and powers which are supersensory, and
supernormal; and at the same time mani
tests singular limitations and weakness,
in that it becomes the slave of the sug-
gestion. The bearings of these facts up
on Christian evidence are, 1t seems to me-
in part self-evident: and, for the rest, ap-
parent upon little reflection. The first
self-evident conclusion derivable. from
the facts is, / think, this: The existence
of superphysical, or of a supersensory
becomes a fact resting upon scientific
demonstration. This OF course, is fatal
to skepticism of the material.tic order.
From the middle of the nineteenth CEN
fury materialism has challenged Chris
tan thought to produce proof of the ex-
istence Of anything that is not referable
to a physical explanation; to prove, for
instance, that thought itself is not a
mere secretion of brain as bile is secre-
ton of the liver; to prove that the soul is
OF a mere resultant of ganglionic cellular
activity. Philosophic idealism has come
forward with answers; but they have all
been speculative and priori. not to say
painfully abstruse, in their character.
But now we are in possession of cCnclu-
sive proof that there are facts which are
not referable to a physical explanation.
II is no longer speculatively but scientifi-
cally certain that the materialistic n.y.
pothesis is inadequate to account for all
the facts that are known. This, submit,
Is alone an immense gain for Christian
apologetics, and its value can not be ov-
eremphasized.
81 must now state an observed fact
falling under the generalization stated
above from which another very impor-
tant conclusion is derivable. viz, psychic
research has found that the supersensory
manifestations of the human mind are
highest when the cerebral and other phys
zeal functions of the subject are lowest.
From this fact probability becon rs so
high as to be almost a certainty that
when the physical functions of the body
cease altogether, the supersensory facul-
ties and powers win attain to their nor
NAL functional perfection. Thomson j.
Hudson. LID, in his Scientific Demon
strations OF the Future Life develops
this thought briefly as follows: % 1t is
an axiom of science that nature never
produces functions, faculties, or powers
for which there is not some normal use
in some sphere of existence. (2) The ex-
ercise of the slipersensory faculties and
.powers of the human mind in the physi-
cal plane of existence is abnormal. All
their deliveranc~s require sensory verifi-
cation before they can be trusted. CD We
are therefore compelled, by hypothesis.
TO predicate a future and superphysical
state of existence in which to look for a
normal exercise of these functions. facul-
ties and powers. A future life thus be-
comes demonstrable by strict scientific
induction which reasons from the known
to the unknown.
Inc next cOllcluSlOn Is negative III ilS
character, viz, that inasmuch as all these
supersensory manifestations are referable
to the mind of human agent, therefore
the agency of disembodied splits is ex-
ciuded. Psychic research thus becomes
the logical graveyard of that lamentable
superstition. Spiritualism.
Another important inference to be de-
duced from these facts is. thinks the
writer, that if the immortal part of man
is thus limited and circumscribed so as
10 become the prey of vicious sugges-
tons man Stands in need of a Savior.
But Mr.. Duff's most important deduction
deals with the very basis of traditional
Christianity itself, namely. the credibiiity
of the New Testament miracles. His
proposition is that 'if superphysical phe-
nomena happen now, they might nave
happened in New Testament times. lie
writes:
There is much more to be said under
this proposition than our present limits
permit US to say First of all, so-called
railroads.&c. critics of the New Tesla
ment have built their superstrueture up
on the supposed and assumed non-exist-
ence of the superphysical in the earthly
plane of existence. We are all familiar
with the Robert Elsmerean proposition