< Spiritualism and Modern Culture (continued from page 5-42) >
A brave old man was he, |
More of this chivalric spirit is needed in these milk-and-water enervating times, and needed too in women as well as in men. Where now can one find any Flora Macdonald to give heart and hand in support of that which she believes to be true, rather than to ignobly sail with the vulgar tide? There may be a few, hut few indeed are they.
Lastly, religious culture demands attention, and in this I think that we are advancing in more rapid strides than the rest of the world. A final creed absolutely prohibits growth; it says to its devotees:—“Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther; outside these limits you must neither think nor speak.” Thus is growth prohibited, except among those whose minds have developed in spite of external pressure, until they are obliged to burst the chains of unhallowed authority; they then fly to the other extreme, become scientific materialists or secularists, and adopt the demoralizing system of living only for the body and for this life. Such men often lead good lives, but they do it in spite of their creed. The scientific materialist is somewhat akin in his nature to a Spiritualist. He searches the field of nature, reverently exhumes truths which in their ultimates are beyond his reach, outgrows the narrow cramping creeds of the time, but, having nothing much better to put in their place, treats them with partial respect, yet in times of severe trial sends up a wail, a supplication, to the Unknown God. Such are not far from Spiritualism. Little of the persecuting influence comes from them, although false ideas about them have been established by a few inferior individuals in their ranks. The secularists are of another order. They are a religious sect, fighting for a dogma, possessing no knowledge of the nature of “matter” so far as it is revealed by the experiments of Clerk Maxwell, Thomson, and others, but clinging to fancies of their own with which they have encrusted the word. Culture would not necessarily flourish under their rule any more than under the control of the Puritans; they are a ponderous, matter-off-act body, deficient—as Mr. Markley has well pointed out—in the poetical sentiment. They are among those already mentioned who would make short work with Westminster Abbey, and who could never say within its walls or cloisters,
A feeling sad came o’er me as I trod the sacred ground,
Where Tudors and Plantagenets were lying all around;
I stepped with noiseless foot as though the sound of mortal tread,
Might burst the bands of the dreamless sleep that wraps the mighty
dead.
They understand beefsteaks and dollars, but with few exceptions they appreciate poetry as much as they do the hieroglyphics of the prehistoric Mexicans.
As regards the religious influence of Spiritualism, already have the phenomena proved the fact of human immortality; the fear of death has been abolished; the proof given that miracle is no test of the truth of a doctrine; much of the philosophy of revelation has been laid bare, and the social and other forces which influence the growth of religions have been presented in action for study.
To sum up. Let it be ours to build even with the necessary admixture of a little error, rather than to pull down. Let us encourage culture of every kind in our midst, and take care that that which is of home growth shall contrast favourably with culture of the same order outside Spiritualism. Let us spend more time inworking than in singing and preaching; let us have peace at home, and avoid that contention with the outside world which necessarily results from trying to drag in antagonistic disbelievers by the necks and heels; rather than this, let us so improve ourselves that they shall come knocking at our doors asking for admittance. Finally, let us survey the whole human race with an undying love, even though we be misunderstood in our time, and forced by the errors of men to yield the body to the grave, and the spirit to God who gave it.
On Sunday next, February 24th, at 7 p.m., Mr. J. J. Morse will deliver a trance address in the Athenteam, Temple-street, Birmingham; subject—“Spiritualism as found in the New Testament.”
Intellectual Spiritism
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Editor's notes
- ↑ Intellectual Spiritism by Markley, J. T.