Arcana of spiritualism; a manual of spiritual science and philosophy

Front matter

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Preface

FRAGMENTS OF MY PSYCHIC EXPERIENCE.

It has been suggested that this volume would be better understood if I gave my spiritual experience and method of writing. In complying, I exclude everything outside my psychic sensitiveness.

That I was born in what was then a wilderness en the southern shores of Lake Erie (Ohio, U. S. A.), and for the early years of my life to the time I began to write for the superior intelligences had exceedingly limited social and educational advantages, may be of interest to the readers as showing how the communications transcended my own capabilities, and the education which came with its inspiration.

No one can write of the vicissitudes, emotions, or thoughts of a medium as well as the medium himself. By the essential conditions of mediumship, he is sensitive and easily disturbed by antagonism. What to others would be a jest, to him becomes agonizing, and he is often disturbed by causes unknown by their subtlety. The voice of censure is unbearably harsh; a word of praise lifts his soul with unspeakable delight ; he is a bundle of nerves, tense, sensitive to a breath, responding to a touch. These conditions are not of his seeking, but are thrust upon him, and he cannot cast them off. Like all human capabilities, sensitiveness is susceptible of culture, of intensification, and of being lost by neglect or abuse; of yielding unspeakable delight or pain.

Hence, for the medium who has traversed this pathway tp clearly present the conflicting impressions he experiences is difficult, but important data for the Study of the phenomena may be thereby furnished.

At an age when the mind is usually absorbed in sports my thoughts turned to the great questions of theology and religion. This I refer to the fact that my parents were 'Unitarians in a community of Trinitarians. Their house was the headquarters for the itinerant preachers, both orthodox and heterodox, who, on circuits, carried their doctrines into the wilderness, and the atmosphere was burdened with dogmatic disputations, based on the literal text of the Bible, for the ''higher criticism" was then unknown and doctrinal sermons, hot with the fires of hell, and terrible threatenings of God's wrath met the popular demand. The result was that at an early age I became sceptical of the entire Church scheme. The gloom of doubt was cast over my young life. Annihilation was appalling, yet I saw no escape. They who professed to know the secrets, not only of life but of death, were in direct conflict on vital issues, and their light darkened understanding. Outside of their domain there was no assurance.

Man physically dies like the animal. Death in both is accompanied by the same phenomena, and after death the chemistry of change resolves the substance of each to the same elements. Why should we suppose the one to be immortal and the other not ? If immortality be doubted, all dependent dogmas share its fate. I was more infidel than Paine, for I doubted everything.

The beginning of my doubts may be dated to an accident which befell me, and my application of the prayer test. I had been brought up to pray every night before retiring, as a duty which must not be neglected. When I was near ten years old I was set to spreading hay after the mowers, and was given a steel fork, because I was not strong enough to use a wooden one. In those days such a fork was a treasure, and I was strictly charged to be careful of it. All went well, and I kept near the gleaming scythes. Then I fell behind, further and further. Suddenly a snake darted over the swarthe. Filled with that hereditary hatred which has been instilled for countless generations against the serpent, I struck at it with the fork. I gave it no harm, but one tine of the.fork snapped short. I was overwhelmed with fear. My father was stern and not inclined to " spare the rod," and I was hopeless. Then I thought of prayer. Father had repeatedly told me that prayer would bring the Almighty to our aid, and I had believed implicitly. I put the broken tine in place so nicely that I could not see where it was broken. Holding it there, that it might make the least possible trouble for God, I knelt down on the grass, and with the fervour of a fear-stricken wretch told God that I had been constantly praying to Him and being good, and now wanted His help in mending the broken fork. I had not the least doubt that the prayer would be answered. My dismay may be known when I removed my hand and the broken tine fell off ! I never knelt in prayer or offered supplication or invocation again. The fabric of my faith crumbled into dust. It was the first and last time I ever applied for divine aid. It was the turning point of a life, when it ceased to loe theological and became scientific in its methods of thought.

With my present knowledge, I can recognize at that early day the beginning of spirit influence. I often felt the exaltation of perception with corresponding depression, which I did not then understand, but now is clear to me.

Memory will ever retain the impressions of the first time I was conscious that my hand had written without control or consciousness of my mind. Wholly inexplicable, confusing and bewildering, I doubted my sanity, and was troubled with fear of the consequences. I was invited to attend a seance at the home of a retired Congregational minister. He had heard of the Rochester rappings, and called in a few friends to experiment. One bleak and blustering night in early March, I walked across the fields two miles or more to this seance, impelled by an irresistible impulse, yet ashamed of my interest in the subject. I was then in my sixteenth year.

At the circle were several acquaintances and some strangers, and I was ill at ease. After sitting for perhaps an hour I began to feel a calm restfulness, which I mistook for sleep, and strove against ; my arm and hand began to move unwilled, greatly to my annoyance, as it attracted attention. A pencil was placed in my hand, and paper on the table. After the awakening, this disturbance caused, had passed, I fell again into the semi-conscious state, and my hand began writing illegible scrawls at first, then here and there a word was readable, and soon whole sentences. Several names of spirits were written in full, and questions, testing identity, were correctly answered. At a late hour the seance adjourned, and I returned home in a half-conscious state, not sensing the manifestations through my hand.

The next day I realized that I had been in a state of which I had hitherto had no experience. A close analysis convinced me that I had been at least partially conscious of what my hand was writing. I was fearful that I had deceived, as well as been deceived. The members of the circle were convinced that the power was beyond myself, while I attempted to account for the manifestations by intensification of my mind, by which the thoughts of the circle were reflected. I was exceedingly miserable, and said I never would place myself again in a position to be imposed on, or of imposing on others.

It could not be spirits, for I did not believe in existence after death, yet I thrilled at the thought of the possibility of the continuity of life beyond the grave.

That evening, several of those present at the preceding seance, and many more who had heard the wondrous tale, called to satisfy their curiosity. At first I was firm in my decision not to sit again, but after long persuasion I yielded, and I may add that this yielding to the wishes of those desiring seances was a marked peculiarity, which I vainly struggled against. However firm my resolve, when strangers came and importuned, a higher and stronger influence was brought to bear on my will.

Simultaneously with my development in writing came that of rapping and tipping of the table. We always sat around a heavy walnut dining table, and it gave responses, answered questions, and spelled names of departed friends.

During the physical manifestations I was in semitrance, intensely sensitive and impressible. The least word, a jarring question, even when the intention was commendable, grated and rasped. Words convey an imperfect idea of this condition. It can only be compared with that physical state when a nerve is exposed.

In illustration, a gentleman called for a sitting, and for an hour we sat without the least sign. He then removed his hands, and the table tipped, spelling the name of his father. At this the gentleman seized the side of the table and began to rock it, saying : ' ' See, I can move it as well as anyone ! ' ' The implication, ordinarily, would have passed with a smile, for I had no desire to convince anyone; but in the condition I then was, it was like a blow, and I awoke with hot words of anger. I was unable to explain to him how or why he had offended me, for I did not understand myself; and when I recovered my normal state I was overwhelmed with shame that I had forgotten myself.

It was a long time before I recovered my former serenity or dared allow myself to fall into the same unguarded sensitive condition. As soon as I felt its approach I would involuntarily start back. This may appear a trifling cause to produce such a result. An imperceptible mote in the eye causes unbearable pain ; a grain of iron will deflect the magnetic needle.

In all instances the seances were free; my father and mother were strictly conscientious in their religious views. They had discarded the orthodox trinity for the heterodox unity, and had met the persecution of bigotry for the sake of what they regarded as the truth. They now received Spiritualism as a higher truth, and believed that as it was freely received it should be freely given. For years they had opposed a paid ministry, citing the disciples as examples.

In the two years or more, during which rarely an evening passed without our rooms being filled with anxious seekers, I did not receive a single penny of reward. I should have despised myself had I entertained a thought of degrading the high mission by receiving money as reward.

The same feeling has remained. That truth, in its expression of ideas, should be sold, like corn in the market, is most repulsive to me. It should be free, and he who has a truth, a thought, an idea, which can be of value to others, is duty bound to proclaim it. The experiences of those two years must remain unwritten, as I kept no record.

After I had been for some time under this influence, I became dissatisfied with the meager results. I received communications for those who came, and they wept for joy at the words from those they had not heard from since the long years they had parted from them at the bitter grave. When I came out of the ecstatic state, the cold, grey world met me, and I was in the shadows of the Valley of Despond. At that time a light broke through the clouds. My mother, to whom this trial was unknown, clairvoyantly saw a spirit, who told her of his deep interest in her son, and that I must now choose o£ two paths, one leading over a level pi ain, thronged with travellers, the other over difficult mountain summits, accessible only by severe labor and self-sacrifice. "If he chooses the last I go with him ; if the first, he passes to others, ' ' said this spirit.

When she told me this I recognized its application, and so perfectly did it accord with my state of mind that I believed that this kind spirit had interested himself in my welfare. If this be so, however rugged the path, however great the sacrifice I may be called to make, I will bear the burden of duty.

To the public circle I had been compelled to add one for myself. I retired to my room and wrote under the influence of one of those spirits who said they were specially near to me. It was a delight to me to sit by the hour and write the thoughts which came streaming through my mind. I was greatly surprised at their newness to me. When I doubted, my hand would be seized and write without my knowing a word that was written; yet I wrote usually by impression, and the thoughts which came were a source of constant instruction. The writers were my teachers. It was my only source of knowledge, for I had access to few books. I was in a farmhouse remote from town, and libraries were not accessible. I had attended school eleven months in all, six of which were at a district school, and five at a small academy.

My desire was to become cultured, and not a mere instrument in the hands of those who influenced me. Then they said to me that my desire indicated wisdom, and they would be my teachers, and as my part I must assist myself. And thus we entered into a compact, with promises on both sides, and I can say, after the long interval, that I have kept the compact to my utmost. They promised hard labor, physical and mental, trials, loss of friends, but with this an education. My gratitude has constantly increased at the renewed instances of their thoughtful care and wisdom.

The first article I ever published was on "Prayer," in the Spiritual Telegraph. I was delighted when it was accepted, for it was a needed encouragement.

At that time I often wrote and re-wrote several times before the influence would declare the result satisfactory.

I began writing a story founded on spirit-life. It was entitled "Scenes in the Spirit World." When it was completed there were no apparent means for its publication, but its authors said it would be issued in due time. Soon after, Datus Kelly, a retired business man, who had given his attention to the subject, called, and I read portions of the MS. to him. "You will publish the book?" he asked.

"The authors say it will be," I replied, "but I do not know how it is possible, for I have neither means nor influential friends."

"I will publish it myself," he replied.

It was accordingly issued, and had a large sale, and has been recently republished in England under the title of "Life in Two Spheres."

Finishing this, I began the "Arcana of Nature." I was then entering my eighteenth year. I had, as I supposed, completed it, when I received a message to destroy the MS., and also everything I had previously written, as too imperfect to be of any value. There was a surprising bulk, and reluctantly I gathered up my treasures and consigned them to the flames.

Then I began anew the "Arcana." I confess to a discouraged feeling when I thought, ' ' Perhaps when finished it may not please, and beside, if acceptable, how will it be published?" Yet I was impelled, in season and out of season, to write, and at length, by mental and physical sacrifice, the book was completed.

"Is it correct?" I asked anxiously. "It will not be re-written, but revised." Then I asked, "When will it be published?" "Not until we weed out the imperfections which have come through you. ' '

For two years the MS. lay on my table, and nearly every day some correction or addition would be made. Several timeslAvas on the eve of making arrangements for publication, but to my disappointment they would fail, and I was almost hopeless. At last the time arrived, the authors signified their satisfaction, and soon after the offer for its publication came.

Thus it will be seen how the Spirit-intelligences controlled events, and from the beginning wrought for a well-defined end which, perhaps wisely, was from me concealed.

This book was soon after translated into German.

I began to feel the assurance of strength. The spiritual side of my double life had gained ascendancy, and there was no longer doubt and uncertainty. I wrote continually, articles for the spiritual and secular press, and, in rapid succession, the second volume of the "Arcana," "Philosophy of the Spirit and the Spirit World," "Origin and Antiquity of Man," "Career of the God Idea," "Career of the Christ Idea," "Career of Religious Ideas," "Ethics of Spiritualism," "Arcana of Spiritualism," and "Studies in the Outlying Fields of Psychic Science," "Mediumship — Its Laws, Cultivation, etc." "The Career of Religious Ideas" and "The Ethics of Spiritualism" have been recently republished in one volume under the title of "Religion of Man and Ethics of Science." In the meantime many tracts and stories were written by different spirit-authors. Among these may be mentioned "Helloise : Was It Religion or Love?" "The People Who Are Damned," 1 ' The Secrets of the Convent, " " Heresy, " and " What Is Spiritualism?" which has sold over fifty thousand copies. The contributions to the periodical press far exceed in number of pages all these books.

Mine has been the task of an amanuensis, writing that which has been given to me. I claim no honor, except honestly and faithfully attempting to perform my part of the task. The field of inquiry is as vast as space and time, and often there are no words to describe the spiritual realities and relations which hitherto have not been unfolded to mortal understanding.

I have written in hours of pleasure and of pain, when life was a joy and when it was a weariness ; but I have ever been cheered and sustained by the consciousness of the presence of the inspiring writers, and although apparently alone, have never been companionless.

Introduction

What Is Spiritualism?

There are few who do not desire to believe and to know, that there is an existence beyond the grave, where the broken strands of this earthly life are united, and "the loved ones gone before" await our home-coming. Under the teaching of a remorseless materialistic science, reacting against the superstitious inculcations of the past, life after the death of the physical body has come to be regarded as "an iridescent dream;" yet there still remains in the hearts of mankind a hope, a desire for immortality, which is the voice of the Spirit, conscious of its high and eternal destiny.

Theological dogmatism, with its questionable methods, has disgusted those whose minds have been enlightened and broadened by scientific studies, and they demand evidence. To such, Spiritualism offers satisfactory demonstration, in place of the belief or faith which the creeds insist upon. Spiritualism comes to the scientist with a new science, while to the broken-hearted, mourning over the loss of loved ones, it comes with the blest assurance that beyond the grave is the grand reality of which this earthly life is but the shadow.

Spiritualism has no creed, for it cannot formulate a dogmatic system. It is the Science of Life, here and hereafter, and is founded on facts. It regards belief without evidence as valueless, and hence can fraternize with no church, sect, or clique, nor engage in proselytizing; and knowing that conviction can come only by demonstration, it furnishes the evidences and calmly awaits the result. It may harmonize with this or that church in some particulars ; find support in the sacred books of all ages and nations, yet it stands independent, receiving no authority from such incidental supports.

It is a distinct system, has its own methods of re- . search, and is not obliged to harmonize its views with conclusions drawn from other sources.

As a science, Spiritualism is the knowledge of the psychical, or spiritual, nature of man; and as Spirit is the moving force of the universe, its study is that of Creation, and is not complete until the unknown becomes known. In a narrower sense, as applied to the communion between Spiritual beings and Man, it embraces the facts, laws and conditions of such intercourse. It unitizes the psychical phenomena of all ages and races of mankind, by proving that they are governed by the same underlying laws.

Modern Spiritualism is distinguished from that of the past by its acceptance of the doctrine of law: That the spiritual realm is governed by laws as fixed and determinable as those which rule physical matter. The spiritual manifestations of the past were regarded as fortuitous, or dependent on the wishes of irresponsible agents, and varied in degree of presentation from the inspiration of the Universal Divine Spirit (or God) to the lowest forms of witchcraft, divination and voodoism. Modern Spiritualism unitizes all these varied and often conflicting manifestations by reference to common and fundamental principles and laws, thereby eliminating miracle, and furnishing data by which right judgment may be formed. From a vast number of observations made by competent and impartial investigators, which may be verified, it accepts the statement as fully demonstrated that the intelligences who control mediums are departed friends, as they claim ; spirits who once lived on earth, and who return because held by the strength of their love or desires.

The Methods of Communication vary, the physical manifestations being quite distinct from the psychical. In order to have such manifestations, a medium, or sensitive, has always been held necessary. Ill preceding ages the seer, priest, prophet, and magi stood between the spirit-world and man, and religious systems were based upon their utterances, or thereby supported. There is no evidence that the greatest of these surpassed the modern medium, but there is abundance to prove that the present phase, by its clear and comprehensive grasp of the whole, exceeds the past as much as Chemistry does Alchemy, or Astronomy, Astrology. A better understanding of these laws and conditions has yielded and will continue to yield a higher, better, and more trustworthy order of sensitives.

Mediumship is capable of culture along known lines ; is not a gift from a foreign source, but a faculty common to all ; varying in degree and methods of expression with each individual.

Spirit Communication.— If death makes no change except of condition, the individuality being perfectly preserved, communications must be like their source, and the psychological influence exerted upon mediums be good or bad according to the moral and intellectual status of the controlling spirit. But the law of affinity strictly holds, and a bad spirit can no more force a sensitive into wrong-doing than can a human companion. On the other hand, good spirits possess the talismanic qualities, charity, pity, love, which enable them to enter the sphere of the lowest and aid them to rise to higher conditions.

During the comparatively brief period that systematic communication with the spirit-world has been made possible, millions of people have been convinced that they have received messages from their departed friends, and although no creedal expression has ever been generally promulgated, the "consensus of the competent" has formulated a belief held in common, based on and demonstrated by the facts observed, and the communications received from spirits. The following statement of principles may be said to be endorsed by a majority so large among advanced Spiritualists, as to be practically unanimous.

Origin of Spiritual Beings.— Accepting the doctrine of evolution, the long line of advancement from the lowest and earliest form of living beings, to Man, has a purpose and a meaning, which is, through him to evolve a spiritual being, capable of retaining individuality after the death of the physical body. The origin and development of the spiritual body is correlated and contemporary with that of the t>hysical body.

Death is the separation of the spirit — the ego and its spiritual form — from the physical body, and does not in the least affect the attainments, feelings, emotions, or faculties. The next life is a continuation of this, death making no more change in the individual than does walking from one room to another or casting off a worn garment.

The Spirit holds the same relations to the Spirit-world that Man does to the Material. It has a body formed of ethereal substance, and a mind identical with that which it possessed on earth, except as changed by the process of mental growth.

There is no arbitrary decree, final judgment day, or atonement for wrong, or forgiveness, except through the reformation of the wrong-doer, by suffering and spiritual culture ; a growth, not a transformation.

Man is a spirit, flesh-clad, and as such walks the courts of Heaven, and stands in the presence of the Universal Spirit, in earth life, as much as he will after death. Hence the knowledge, attainments, and experience of that earth-life form his character for the future existence. As a spirit, the powers of spirit are his, incipient, but when he acquires the knowledge, capable of wonderful achievements.

A Future State of Award.— The spirit, in the physical body, or freed therefrom, must achieve its own salvation.

The doctrine of spirit evolution carries with it the following destructive and constructive propositions: (1) Man has not fallen from a state of perfection; has not been, and cannot be, ''lost from God." (2) The mediators between God and man are those mortal spirits or angels who bring knowlege. They are saviors one and all, equally essential in his reception of truth, and aspiration for the highest ideal excellence. (3) Evil is the imperfection of a lower state or condition conflicting with a higher, and as such will be outgrown. (4) Mortal life is not probationary, immortality is not bestowed on account of belief but is the natural heritage of humanity.

Brotherhood and Divinity of Man. —The individualized spirit is the reality and highest type of creative energy. It is divine, is endowed with infinite capabilities, and thereby all mankind are united in brotherhood with a common destiny.

The Object of Spiritualism.— The complete cultivation and development of man, physically, intellectually, morally, spiritually. The birthright of every human being is happiness, which will be gained by a perfect comprehension of the laws and conditions of physical and spiritual existence.

The Incentives of Spiritualism.— By presenting the most exalted motives it encourages the loftiest aspirations, prompts to highest endeavor, and inculcates se J f -reliance. It frees man from the bondage of authority of book or creed. Its only authority is Truth ; its interpreter Reason.

Results of an Intelligent Acceptance of Spiritualism.—Nobility, purity, and magnanimity of life; allembracing charity and philanthropy ; constant and earnest endeavor to actualize an ideal perfect life in this world as the best preparation for the next; living to live, not living to die ; and for the Religion of Pain, which has held mankind in thrall, the substitution of the Religion of Joy.

THE BALM IN GILEAD.

We all come at last to the shore of the sea of death, brooded over by darkness, without a star in the sky, or a beacon gleaming through the fog thickly settling down on the black waves. We have bowed with agonizedheartswhen they whom we loved best have passed into the cloud-shadows. We have watched by their couch of pain during the terrible struggle, and with trembling hand wiped away the dew of mortal agony. We have watched the coming change, the pallor, the fleeting breath, and vainly sought to catch a whisper from lips of clay. Then all the world grew dark, and it seemed a sin for the sun to shine in the heavens, for the birds to sing, or anyone to have joy in his heart.

Suffering heart by this dreary sea, is there no hope? Is there no light beyond the shadows? When night gathers on this life, will not the sun rise on the morrow? Cannot science, philosophy, or religion solve this question and remove all doubt ? Is there no balm in Gilead?— no staff, strong and true, on which to lean I

Invoke Philosophy, with her robes of snow, pretending to a knowledge of the world and infinite destiny. She will tell yon of the cycle of being, the snccession of generations, that life and death complement each other, and that all we can hope for is unceasing change as the abiding law, and he who grasps to hold will find but shadows in his hands.

"I speculate," says Philosophy, "and others may speculate. There have been speculations for these many thousand years, and this is the conclusion reached : 'Nothing is known except that nothing can ;.be known. If the sea before you is darkness, why complain. Is not the past equally dark? Of the present, even, what does anyone know?' "

Ask Natural Science, claiming to resolve the earth into its elements, weigh the stars of heaven, and calculate the pulsations of thought in the living brain. It replies with a sneer: "What is there beyond? Transformation, nothing more. What do you expect? Continued existence? Know, then, these clouds rest over oblivion — utter negation of being. Intelligence is of the body, and with it perishes. Life arises from co-ordination of conditions, and when they cease it no longer exists. Do you hear the music of the instrument after it has been reduced to ashes? No more should you expect intelligence after the brain which produces it is dead."

Ask Religion to Give Her Consolation.— If so, why do those most faithful, most zealous, mourn beside the grave uncomf orted ? They may bow beneath the rod of affliction and believe their loss is for the best, for some secret purpose of divine providence, but do they see more clearly through their blinding tears? Is there one, however filled with religious fervor, who would not gladly welcome assurance of the future life by the coming of an angel from the glory of heaven ? Religion has not staid the tide of doubt and her recommendation of faith is received by science with a sneer.