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vol. title: vol. period: 1882 pages in vol.: 231 |
< Notes by the Way (continued from page 12-55) >
as a record of fact given by an unimpeachable witness. In the corner of the seance-room, before the lights were put out, Mr. Weldon had himself placed a “very large musical box; a large, heavy box, requiring some effort to transfer it to its appointed place.” After the incident above quoted “John King” appeared, and the following occurred. Mr. Weldon had been conversing with “John King,” when, “to my surprise, the big, heavy musical box, which I myself put into the farthest corner of the room, was carried up into the air, and went circling all about our heads, and then it suddenly fell with a bang on the table. There it remained for a minute or two, while the sound of small bells was heard ringing in perfect harmony and with the most pleasing effect. Then a lady present—not a Spirit—wound up the musical box, and it was instantly carried into the air again, the tune going on all the time. Whilst this concert was being performed between the bells and the box no voices of any kind were heard. That any human hand ever touched that box when lying in the corner I am unable to believe. The medium did not do it, for Sir----and I held him fast bound. There was no other gentleman present, and as to two of the ladies I held the hand of one, and Sir— — — held the hand of the other. They did not move from their seats; and of the two other ladies one was an elderly lady very delicate and feeble, and the other a young girl who, if she tried, could not carry the musical box across the room without the utmost possible difficulty.”
Now these are facts! Let us leave the Spirit-theology alone, for the moment. Surely there is nothing diabolic in what Mr. Weldon saw, though there may well be that which is divine; for truth, of whatever kind, is a gift from above, though man, when it is new to him, has been singularly consistent in attributing it to the devil. It is time that that unworthy expedient were discarded, and that men learned at length that this bogie is of human manufacture. As Epes Sargent nobly said, “Every fact is a Divine disclosure,” a better Gospel, I make bold to say, and a nobler creed, than this evangel of an ubiquitous devil.
Origin of the First Man
Sir, – I have been much interested by the perusal of Dr. Wyld’s comparison of Buddhism and Christianity in your last number, with the general tenor of which I am disposed to agree, though not prepared to admit to the full extent his disparaging estimate of the former. Especially after reading the able comments by “M. A. (Oxon.)” on Mr. Lillie’s work on Buddhism, in the September and October numbers of the Psychological Review, I think we ought to suspend our judgment until we have more “Light.”
There is, moreover, one paragraph in Dr. Wyld’s paper against which I must enter a protest.
In discussing the Darwinian doctrine of evolution, lie says that “the idea that man first arrived on this planet as a materialised angel, and afterwards fell into various degradations is the generally received opinion.” If by this lie means that this is the case with the numerical majority of professed Christians, we can only say, “Tis true, and pity ’tis, ’tis true.”
But among those really capable of forming an unbiassed opinion apart from creed and formularies, and excluding, of course, the majority of clergymen, I feel confident that nearly all educated men of the present day reject this doctrine, founded as it is on a myth, and which, besides being contradictory and irrational in itself, conveys an impression altogether incompatible with our ideas of the justice, to say nothing of the goodness of God.
The first and most obvious objection to the doctrine of the first man being a materialised angel is the statement in the legend that he “was without the knowledge of good and evil”— in other words, that he was without conscience or moral sense— in fact, little, if at all, superior to the brutes, and anything but an angel. Another conclusion, always lost sight of by the orthodox, is that a creature thus constituted was totally irresponsible and incapable of sin.
I may add that many writers of note—among others the Duke of Argyll and the Bishop of Manchester, who cannot be suspected of heterodoxy-—have lately admitted that this legend is not to be admitted as historically true.—I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
Any truth, faithfully faced, is strength in itself.
Formative Power of Spirit Imagination and Will
Sir, – In “Light,” 24th December, I have a brief letter on this subject, in which I declare my conviction that some individuals in the flesh can project their souls or spirits as visible objective doubles, and act in all respects as Spirits emancipated finally from the flesh.
In “Light,” 14th January, “M.A. (Oxon.)” attempts to shew that my views cannot be demonstrated.
In reply I would ask: If man be a Spirit, hampered by the flesh, why should that Spirit, when it escapes, for a time, from the flesh, not act as if it were an ultimately freed Spirit?
I admit that the Spirit, freed only for a time, is held to the body by a magnetic chain; and as a child held by leading strings, no doubt its actions are so far restrained, but no more. It is new to the work, and does it feebly, as is always the case with Spirits on first being finally freed from the body, but, in other respects, I assert that the appearance, action, and power of the double are exactly analogous to those of the Spirits of the departed or the ghosts of the dead.
In illustration I will give one instance which seems to demonstrate the truth of my belief.
Miss J. and her mother were for fifteen years my most intimate friends; they were ladies of the highest intelligence and perfectly truthful, and their story was confirmed by one of the servants; the other servant I could not trace.
Miss J., some years before I made her acquaintance, occupied much of her time in visiting the poor, when one day as she walked homewards she felt cold and tired and longed to be at home warming herself at the kitchen fire.
At or about the minute corresponding to this wish, the two servants being in the kitchen, the door handle was seen to turn, the door opened, and in walked Miss J., and going up to the fire she held out her hands and warmed herself, and the servants saw she had a pair of green kid gloves on her hands.
She suddenly disappeared before their eyes and the two servants in great alarm went upstairs and told the mother what they had seen, including the green kid gloves.
The mother feared something was wrong, but she attempted to quiet the servants by reminding them that Miss J. always wore black and never green gloves, and that therefore the ghost could not have been that of her daughter.
In about half an hour the veritable Miss J. entered the house and going to the kitchen warmed herself by the fire, and she had on a pair of green kid gloves which she had bought on her way home, not being able to get a suitable black pair!
This one instance of the double seems to me to demonstrate my proposition; that in reverie, or what is most significantly called absence of mind, the spirit may pass out of the body and operate as if it were a Spirit finally emancipated from the flesh.
This double turned the handle of the kitchen door, and opened the door, and by its imagination caused its form, clothes, and even the green kid gloves to become visible.
The question is often asked: How can clothes have ghosts! and the questioner thinks himself very clever.
Swedenborg says: “The man in the Spirit-world appears in every particular as he appeared on earth, because he surrounds himself with all the forms of his affections, or his prejudices, or his thoughts.”
Harris expresses the same idea when he says: —
“In Spirit every thought takes form, |
And Bishop Berkeley’s philosophy is the same when he says: “The external world is only in the thoughts of man;” and this philosophy, although unsubstantial in this world, is true in the world of Spirit, where the kingdoms of Heaven and of Hell are within you, according to your mind.
In the above case, the imagination and will of the spirit of Miss J. created her form and her clothes, including the green gloves, as visible to the two servants.
Believing this to be a true philosophy of Spirit, I find no a priori difficulty in believing in the spiritual powers of those trained psychics of the caste called Adepts.
<Untitled> (Dr. J. M. Peebles commenced...)
Dr. J. M. Peebles commenced in the Great West, Denver, Colorado, for December 17th, a series of articles to be continued during the year, entitled “Peebles’ Pilgrimages,” giving an account of his travels around the world.
Editor's notes
- ↑ Origin of the First Man by unknown author (signed as B), Light, v. 2, No. 55, January 21, 1882, p. 26
- ↑ Formative Power of Spirit Imagination and Will by M.D., Wild, George, Light, v. 2, No. 55, January 21, 1882, p. 26
- ↑ Dr. J. M. Peebles commenced... by unknown author, Light, v. 2, No. 55, January 21, 1882, p. 26
Sources
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Light, v. 2, No. 55, January 21, 1882, p. 26