Instantaneous Communication Between London and Calcutta
Sir,—It gives me great pleasure to be able to report the safe arrival of Mr. W. Eglinton. He reached this city on the 17th inst. in capital health and spirits, and has already given a few of our citizens pretty convincing proofs of Spirit power. I do not care to trouble your readers with an account of the ordinary manifestations that have taken place, as they are already familiar with such from other contributors to your paper, but I think the following account of what happened on the very first Sunday after his arrival may prove of interest. On Sunday evening, 20th November, Mr. Eglinton and myself had been to dine with Colonel and Mrs. Gordon, returning home about half-past ten. Before retiring to rest, Mr. Eglinton asked me to come and sit in the verandah with him, as he felt impressed that something was about to happen. After sitting together for a short time, Mr. Eglinton was entranced, and when in that condition asked me to bring him a book from the room behind me. I did so, taking the first that came to hand. Mr. Eglinton took the book from me and placed it on the chair beside him. He then took my two hands in his, gave two or three convulsive shudders, and then asked me to open the book and take what was in it Please note that with the exception of taking the book from my hand and placing it on the chair, Mr. Eglinton did nothing whatever with it. I opened the book, and inside the cover found a letter written that same afternoon in London. The letter was from a very intimate friend of mine, who is also a powerful medium, and with whom I have corresponded constantly since my return to India two years back. My friend’s handwriting is as familiar to me as my own, and the subject matter of the letter was such that it could not, by any possibility, have been written by any other person. In the first paragraph of the letter, my friend states that “Ernest,” Mr. Eglinton’s Spirit guide, was waiting for the letter, and would bring it to me direct. Thus a letter written in London on the evening of Sunday, the 20th November, 1881, was put into my hands, in Calcutta, nearly 8,000 miles off, at 11p.m. of the same day, so that, taking into account the difference of time between London and Calcutta, the transmission must have been wellnigh instantaneous.
Since this occurrence “Ernest” has told me that he will try and take a sheet of paper, previously marked by me for the purpose of identification, to London, and bring back the same piece of paper with a message in my friend’s handwriting. If this is successfully done I will advise you further.
Trusting that I may be able to chronicle the spread of truth in this part of the world,—I remain, yours truly,
Calcutta, November 26th, 1881.
Notes by the Way
The Journal of Science in its current number quotes the notice in “Light” of Miss Fancher’s case as illustrative of that of Mrs. Croad. In another Note, the same magazine says:—“One of the most curious phenomena of the age is the recrudescence of Asceticism, which seems to be forming an alliance with Spiritualism, as is but too plainly manifest in the organs of the latter. Thus Dr. G. Wyld in the Psychological Review, recommends ‘occasional reasonable (sic!) fasts.’” It has always been a dream of certain enthusiasts that innate psychic powers can be strengthened by rigid fasting, meditation, and seclusion; and I am far from denying that such is the case in a certain degree: though I believe the effect so produced is by no means identical in all cases. I have observed that the psychic powers of a physical medium are frequently intensified by food. When the bodily powers have been lately stimulated by what our American friends call “a square meal,” not unaccompanied by exhilarating adjuncts, the medium frequently displays a psychic activity quite in excess of what would be obtained under reverse conditions. But these are manifestations of a purely physical character. The higher Spiritual phenomena are, no doubt, favoured in development by a judicious “subduing of the flesh to the spirit.” But Spiritualists have by no means, as a body, made any ascetic alliance, nor do they, as a rule, seek for the higher developments of Spirit at the cost of personal sacrifice. It would be well if they would cultivate the religion of the body as the shrine of Spirit, and consider of what character the manifestations to which 1 have alluded are likely to be.
Messianic Pretenders
In the Medium and Daybreak of October 3rd, 1879,1 published an article on this subject, in which I referred to seven or eight “claimants” for the honour of Messiahship. That these claimants are all wilful impostors, I am not at all inclined to believe. To many, or perhaps most, minds the theory of “obsessing Spirits,” may present itself as the solution for these extraordinary delusions; and possibly this may be the right one. The history of the past has recorded the appearance of such people, but it has been only occasionally and at rare intervals; and as will result with the present competing list, so in the past they and their pretensions sank into the oblivion from which they emerged. I believe there are several in America, besides others of whom I have not the particulars, but, as under, I give three more. If there is any meaning in the phrase “signs of the times,” surely Buch a cluster of Messianic pretenders appearing at the present time is not without its significance.
In January of the present year “the New Dispensation” was formally inaugurated in Calcutta by the consecration of a flag—a crimson silken banner, mounted on a silver pole, fixed on the open space of marble pavement in front of the pulpit in the Church of the Brahmo Samaj. The ceremony was imposing in the highest degree, accompanied by music, flourish of trumpets, incense burning, lighted lamps, &c. Under the more modest claim of “an Apostle” there can be little doubt that a higher claim is intended, viz.: that of Avatarship, or Messiahship. This is by no less a personage than Keshub Chunder Sen, the present leader of the Brahmo Samaj (although disowned by some who have withdrawn from the movement under his direction, and who have formed different branches). The occasion seems to have been the anniversary of the Bramho Samaj, which was founded by the late Rajah Ram Mohun Roy, a Ravhee Brahmin, who died in England, 1833, and which Church or system was founded upon the broadest and most Catholic basis, and aimed at a reformation of the present caste and ecclesiastical systems of India It was a Theistic Church, closely allied to the principles of Unitarianism, acknowledging the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Many will remember the visit of Keshub Chunder Sen to this country some years ago, during which he preached on many occasions, chiefly in Unitarian pulpits. But I believe that Mr. Sen has lost the sympathy of the Unitarian body by reason of certain things connected with the marriage of his daughter to one of the native princes; and which it is not necessary to narrate in connection with the present article.
Keshub Chunder Sen unquestionably has completely altered and deviated from the teachings and ceremonials of the Brahmo Samaj, as originally instituted by its founder. In the anniversary services referred to, Mr. Sen, in words, protested against being taken as a prophet or mediator between God and man, yet at the same time he announced himself and certain of his associates as “The Apostles of a New Dispensation, chosen and commissioned to usher it on its conquering career and in speaking of the work he said: “I say it stands upon the same level with the Jewish Dispensation, the Christian Dispensation, and the Vaishnara Dispensation, through Chaitanya.” Again: “I say this Dispensation is equally divine with Christ’s Dispensation. Assuredly the Lord of Heaven has sent this New Gospel unto the world.” And again: “Here you see God’s special providence working out the redemption of the land through the instrumentality of a complete Dispensation, with its full complement of apostles, scripture, and inspiration.”
What will the Catholic Apostolic Church (the Irvingite Church) say to this, which Church was founded about 40 years ago by the election of 12 Apostles, chosen to seal 144,000 souls in Christendom, and which were to form the Church to whom the Lord Jesus Christ should come in person; and which event it was proclaimed should take place before all the Apostles should be called away by death? Eleven out of the twelve are dead, and the surviving one is a very feeble old man, who, except under extraordinary circumstances, cannot be expected to continue many more years. It is a strange fact, but nevertheless true, that this movement, inaugurated and developed in India by Keshub Chunder Sen, is almost a copy of that of the Catholic Apostolic Church; the rituals and ceremonials of each have a striking similarity.*
When in London a fortnight ago, I was going to Bow in a tramcar, and there came in a man with a large bundle of papers. Opening the same he handed a pamphlet sheet to each of us. He was a man of medium height, dark complexion, and with very long, flowing black hair hanging over his shoulders. The paper proved to be “The Watchman’s Warning to the House of Israel.” It was a continuous string of Bible texts from various parts, all tending to the one point, viz., that “the man with hair twenty inches long” was specially called and commissioned by God to warn Christendom in general, and England in particular, that God is only waiting a little while before pouring out the vials of His wrath upon the people. In italics is printed, “This is the Prophet the Jews are waiting for, a King, a Judge, and a Priest for ever—a Messiah." This Watchman, Prophet, and Messiah is a Mr. E. W. Mannooch, whose photograph can be had of G. Threadwell, photographer, 288, High-street, Stratford, London, E., so that the claimant himself is no myth.
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*For full details of this extraordinary work see the Theosophist, published in Bombay.
Editor's notes
Sources
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Light, v. 1, No. 51, December 24, 1881, p. 409
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Light, v. 1, No. 51, December 24, 1881, p. 408
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Light, v. 1, No. 51, December 24, 1881, pp. 411-12