Year: 1871

to decide in the light ofthat evidence
and the rational inferences. oon.
cerning the reality and actual occur
ance of these material manifesto
tions we shall devote no thought for
if we were to deny that such things
take place we could 60 no further.
And, although many of Us have
failed in our attempts to test these
phenomena by our own experience,
yet we are assured by many that
they have both seen and heard them,
so putting aside all caVil arising
from our own failures, we assume as
necessary to consideration Of the


subject that tables are raped and


turned, that horns are blown, thai


llgnts are shown, and that words are


M Til'1eh, without human agency.


uese uluerent performances are said


70 1e the Communications of spirits,
and by spirits is intended the souls
OF what were once living mortals


How we have the distinct nronosi.
tion, upon the proof Of which de.
pends the validity of the theory of
objective phenomena, or, in other
words, all this latter class of spirit
ual manifestations,-that these ma
terial exhibitions are caused by di-
sembodied spirits for the purpose Of
communicating to embodied spirits.
However unintelligible these com
munications may be, it is certain
that they are made in the proper
form for comprehension by living
persons, that is, they are material
demonstrations and therefore cog
nizable by the mind through the
senses. But though we are con
scious Of these demonstrations, and
though we may be convinced that
they are not teaused by ourselves nor
our ijng fellows, are we entitled to
to declare or believe that they are
produced by the spirits of the dead2
Let US consider before we determine
the question. Death is the separa-
ton of matter and spirit. Upon that
separation the powers and qualities
of the spirit are either changed or
not changed. Aside from the reve-
lations of the medium theory, which
We have dismissed, there is no eVi-
dence whether it is changed or not
in its powers and attributes. But In
the first place we will proceed upon
the supposition that upon the event
of death the spirit is materially al
tered in its powers and qualities.
Then our immediate conviction is
that the change is caused by some
higher power and that power must
be spiritual one. We then must
admit Governing Spirit, Supreme
Being. Such an admission may be
distasteful to US but it must be made.
Now if this Supreme Being changes
the qualities and intrinsic relations
of human spirit, He does it for
His own purposes; it is under His
control and its location is assigned
by Him. We see that the change
is made on account Of the separation
of the spirit from the body, and we
can not doubt that the change tends
to separate it still more from the
body and material things; so that it
would be immerged in a totally diff
erent state of being and surround
ings, and would be far removed from
material relations and influences.
Hence it would be irrational to hold
that so incorporeal a substance as a
human spirit after being altered and
pepared for a less material existence
than it is now fitted for, could give
sound physical raps upon an earthly
board, or gleam by an earthly light
in dark room, or blow upon a horn
under the same circumstances of
darkness and mystery. Thus we
see that if the spirit is changed we
may regard it as refined spirit, one


rendered less susceptible to mater
ial inhuences-less earthly and IN
avoidable consequence is that it
would be loss capable Of producing
these material effects than if it were
: unchanged.


Again, we will suppose that the
spirit is not changed upon the event
t Of death, and, as we have before re-
marked, this is the general declara-


ton of Spiritualists and is said to
be generally believed by them, In
, this case, then, the powers and
| qualities of spirit after death are
identical with those it possessed be-
fore death. We have now to devote
our thoughts to one narrow question.
Can human spirit, as we know it,
by its own Volition, interfere with,
and control, the corporal objects up
on this gentleman the reply presents
itself as a conviction in the form of
an unequivocaI negative. For we
have seen that a spirit or mind can
not affect even another mind with
out the employment of the bodily
senses; and philosophically it is
equally impossible, and apparently
much more so, for the spirit to af-
feet matter without the same as
sistance. Hence if a spirit would af-
feet matter it must do it by material
means, that is, before it Is separated
from the physical frame. When it
relinquishes the grasp upon matter
which life gave it, it must forever
abide the disconnection; it can form
no voluntary relationship with mat
ter. The being of spirit and the be-
ing Of matter are essentially differ
ent and when once divided they can
never be joined except it be by the
mystic tie of life, and the author Of
life alone is able to make the union.
Therefore the disembodied spirit
can not thus operate upon inanimnte
matter; the ETHEREAL knuckles can
not rap it, nor can the incOrporal
form disturb it. Matter is insen-
; sible, unconscious, and not suscep-
tible to the acts of spirits such as
, ours; if it can be effected by any
. thing but physical power it is a spiri-


tual power of immeasurably higher


order than ours-it must be an in


finite spirit. No! we conclude that


at least a finite mind can not in1u-


ence or effect the material elements


that can be done only by the power


that created them. Something was


the sole Creator; something is the
/, sole Ruler We have finished our
examination, and our conclusion is


that, as a religion, Spiritualism is a
humbug.