New-York tribune., 1920-04-04


hundreds of famous names could
be quoted who have subscribed to
the same statement, and whose sup
port would dignity any cause upon
earth. They are the higher peaks
who have been the first to catch the
light, but the dawn will spread until
none is too lowly to share it. Let us
turn, therefore, and inspect this
movement which is most certainly
designed to revolutionize human
thought and action as none other has
done within the Christian era. We
shall look at it both in its strength
and its weakness, for where one is
dealing with what one knows to be
true one can fearlessly insist upon
the whole of the truth.
''The movement, which is destined
to bring vitality to the dead and
cold religions, has been called mod
ern spiritualism.' The modern is
good, since the thing itself, in one
form nr another, is as old as history
and has always, however obscured
by forms, been the red central glow
in the depths Of ali religious ideas,
permeatlng the Bible from end to
end. But the word 'spiritualism' has
been SO befouled by wicked charla-
tans and so cheapened by many a
sad incident that one could almost
wish some such term as psychic
religion would clear the subject Of
old prejudices, just as mesmerism,
after many years Of obloquy, was
rapidly accepted when it's name was
changed to hypnotism.
The Pioneers of Spiritualism
"On the other hand, one remem-
bers the sturdy pioneers who have
fought under this banner and who
were prepared to risk their careers.
their professional success and even
their reputation for sanity by pub
licly asserting what they knew to be
the truth. Their brave, unselfish
devotion must do something TO
cleanse the name for which they
! fought and suffered. 1t was they
who nursed the system which prom
lses to be not a new religion-it is
far too big for that-but part of
the common heritage Of knowledge
shared by the whole human race.
Perfected spiritualism, however, will
probably bear about the same rela.
tlon to the spiritualism of 1850 as a
modern locomotive to the bubbling
little kettle which heralded the era
of steam. 1t will end by being
rather the proof and basis of all re.
liglons than religion in itself. We
have already too many religions
but too few proofs.
"Those first manifestations At
Hydesville varied in no wav from
many of which we have record in
the past, but the result arising from
them differed very much, because.
for the first time, it occurred to a
human being not merely to listen to
lnexpllcable sounds and to fear them
or marvel at them, but to establish
communication with them. John
Wesley's father might have done the
same more than a century before
had the thought occurred to him
when he was witness of the mani
festations at Epworth in 1925. It
was only when the young Fox girl
struck her hands together and cried.
DO as l do that there was instant
compliance and consequent proof Of
the presence Of an intelligent, in
visible force, thus differing from all
other forces of which we know. The
circumstances were humble and even
rather sordid upon both sides of the
veil, human and spirit, yet it was.
as time will more and more clearly
show, one Of the turning points Of
the worlds history, greater far than
CIAC 4d1l VI tllTOQoS or the TOut of
arnieA
Theme for an Artist
Some artist of the future will
draw the scene-the sitting room Of
the wooden, shacklike house, the
circle of half-awed and half-critical
neighbors, the child clapping her
hands with upturned, laughing face,
the dark corner shadows where these
strange new forces seem to lurk-
forces often apparent, and now
come to stay and to effect the COM
plete revolution of human thought.
We may we'll ask why should such
great results arise from such petty
sources? So argued the highbrowed
philosophers Of Greece and Rome
when the outspoken Paul, with the
fisherman Peter and his half-edu-
Gated disciples, traversed all their
learned theories and with the help
Of women slaves and schismatic
Jews subverted their ancient creeds.