The reality and evil of spiritualism; or, The identity of spirit and mind, and the distinction between spirit and soul ; a work in which spiritualism is discussed in the light of the Scriptures, the sciences and profane history

Front matter

GUPghtW.

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.

THE REALITY

CHAPTER I. The School of Natural Development

A knowledge of an Intermediate state as old as man himself — Monotheism man's first religion — Spiritualism one of the daughters of the Theory of Development — The Advent of Spiritualism one of the surest signs of National decline — The origin is alone explainable by the Theory of Development, or by the teachings of Divine Creation — The folly of attempting to confuse the teachings of these opposing schools — Darwin not a consistent evolutionist — We must either acknowledge a God or dispense with one entirely — Spiritualism a mixture of Scripture and Atheism — Haeckel's views of Matter — The most ancient ancestors of man and all other organisms — The monera — From the monera to speechless man — The "missing link" — Genuine men developed out of Ape-like men — Development of Articulate Language — Differentiation of the Larynx and the Brain — Science finds r.o evidence of the existence of speechless Man — The resemblance between the lowest wooly-haired men and the highest man-like Apes — Haeckel's description of Speechless man — The process of fertilization — The Evolutionist makes no distinction between mind and soul — Insists that man is simply a highly developed Ape and not capable of obtaining immortality — The Evolutionist regards religion as a worthless superstition — Sir John Lubbock's explanation of the origin of religion — The first great stages in Religious thought — Atheism — Fetichism — Nature Worship or Totemism — Shamanism — Idolatry or, Anthropomorphism — Monotheism.

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Chapter II. Page 24

The School of Divine Creation.

The Creation of the heaven and the earth — The earth without form and void — The introduction of light — The Day and the Night — The first day — The Firmament — The division of the Waters — The Firmament called heaven — The waters under the heaven gathered into one place — The dry land appears — The dry land called Earth — The gathered waters called Seas — The introduction of plant life — The lights in the firmament of heaven — The introduction of Animal life — The fish and the fowl — The introduction of the land animals — The Creation of man — Man given dominion over the earth and the animals — The Garden of Eden, etc.

Chapter III. Page 29

The Teachings of Spiritualism.

The teachings of Spiritualism as presented by A. J. Davis — Davis and the geologists of Europe — Davis' account of the formation of the universe — "Let us make man" — The Attributes of Wisdom — Use, Justice, Power, Beauty, Aspiration and Harmony — The Universe organized for the purpose of developing man — The unpopularity of the philosophy which accounts for man's existence upon principles of progressive development — The most repulsive feature of this philosophy is the proposition that man came from the animal creation — Nature a vast and powerful organization — The Ultimate use of nature is to individualize and immortalize the human spiritual principle — Nature a magnificent machine — The Divine Mind, the Omnipotent Artisan — The Development of the first form of Animal Life — The Radiata, etc. — Minerals and Vegetables unfolded the Fish Kingdom — Fish Kingdom unfolded the Saurian — The Saurian unfolded the Bird Kingdom — The Birds unfolded the Marsupial Kingdom — The Marsupial unfolded the Mammalia — The highest quadrumana and the lowest of the human type — The development of Man — Man's innate tendency onward toward perfection — Man a coronation of universal nature — The anatomical and physiological laws — The Diagram illustrates the true order of Nature's physical developments — The eternal mind — The principles of Association, Progression and Development — Spiritualism does not belong to either of the two schools of learning; nor is it a school of learning in itself.

CONTENTS. iii

CHAPTER IV. God and Nature

The high and superior state — The great sphere of knowledge — Mr. Davis derives no assistance from the reading of books — What is Mr. Davis' God — Mr. Davis undecided as to what he means by the term God — The Holy Artisan — The Divine Architect — Two great co-eternal principles mind and matter — No distinction between mind (or God) and matter (or Nature) — God is nature — Matter, is in all things and is all things — God, the Holy Artisan, etc., simply matter — Mr. Davis' failure to explain the origin of the universe without an intelligent Creator — Mr. Davis and Prof. Winchell's views of God compared — Diety proclaimed in the creation— Every effect implies intentionality — The universe an effect — The causal act implies Will — Will implies intelligence and sensibility — Will closes the circuit of causation — -Will and sensibility the attributes of a personal existence — Mechanical structures not the result of development; but the expression of intelligence controlling matter — Haeckel on the eternity of matter — Hudson Tuttle on the eternity of matter — Spiritualism based on materialism — Matter not eternal — Prof. Maxwell on the molecules of matter— We cannot flee from Deity — The world depends upon divine support — The atom floats in the breath of divine power — Science affirms the creative power — The Sciences sustain the Mosiac Record — What is a Creation and what formation.

Chapter V. Page 60

The Spiritualistic Theory as to the Origin of Minerals and Vegetables.

The universe the effect of certain laws governing matter — Atheists minutely explain the operation of their so-called laws — Spiritualists silent as to the operation of their laws of Association, Progression and Development — Similarity between LaPlace's Central Sun and Davis' Great Central Mind — The Nebular Hypothesis — Guyot on the Nebular Hypothesis — The Nebular Hypothesis opposed to the Sciences — Patterson on the Nebular Hypothesis — Ball on the Nebular Hypothesis — Proctor on the Nebular Hypotheis — LaPlace's "distrust" of the Nebular Hypothesis — Speculation and conjecture not science — The ether the vehicle of light — LaPlace's iv CONTENTS.

theory cannot explain this ether — LaPlace's gaseous rings — The sun never threw off this ether — Ether different in composition from the sun — Every Hypothesis is hound to explain the facts it proposes account for — LaPlace's central sun and Davis' great central mind opposed to the sciences and the scriptures — Davis' unequivical knowledge opposed to the teachings of the sciences and the Bible — Science disproves Mr. Davis' theory that the planets developed the minerals — The constituents of rocks are minerals — That the planets developed the minerals is opposed to the scriptures — Gunning on the minerals — The elements of plant life a part of the matter creation — Davis' explanation as to the origin of minerals and vegetables opposed to sciences, scripture, reason, etc.

Chapter VI. Page 84

The "Unfolding of the Animal Kingdom," or The Transmutation

of Species.

Davis' account of the origin of animal life — Vegetables and minerals are supposed to unite and form the fish kingdom— Davis unable to agree with himself as to what was the anticedents of the animals — The Sciences prove the fallacy of Davis' teaching that vegetables "lose" themselves in animal life — The vegetable and animal kingdoms the opposite parts of one system of life — Dana plainly demonstrates the impossibility of the vegetables developing into animals — Opposites can not spring one from the other — Minerals did not develop with vegetables — Minerals and vegetables did not develop the first form of animal life — How can life exist in inorganic matter — Davis not only attributes life to the minerals but they are actually engaged in generating many elements of life and vitality — This is opposed to all scientific research — Dawson on the flora of our globe — The first form of animal life made its appearance ages prior to the carboniferous period — The highest forms of vegetables, the fruit bearing trees, did not appear until long after the introduction of animal life — Fruit trees and land plants could not develop into the first form of animal life, water animals — The first form of animal life followed not the highest but lowest forms of vegetation and both appear in the archean period — Plant life and animal life identical— What distinguishes the animal from the plant — Animals are conscious of an outer world — Consciousness proof of the animal's possession of mind — Mind distinguishes the animal from the plant — School of Development cannot explain the origin of mind — The School of Creation alone

CONTENTS. v

explains the origin of mind — We deny the existence of the law of Association, Progression and Development — Science proves that the "lower kingdoms" did not develop into higher — Scientists are unable to discover transitional forms — Mivart on transmutation of species — Winchell on the transmutation of species — Patterson on the absence of transitional forms — The same evidence that "squashes" Darwin's theory of development squashes Davis' unfolding of kingdom — The geological record of life on our earth contradicts Davis' "unequivical knowledge" — Davis on the origin of man — Davis like all evolutionists teaches that the quadrumana developed into man — Science proves that there is not, nor never was, a quadrumana — This exploded theory taught in every school of today — Huxley on the quadrumana — The ape a biped — Impossibility of the quadruped developing into a biped — Man created in the image of God.

CHAPTER VII. Mind Common to Man and the Animals

The absurdity of supposing that animal intelligence due solely to instinct, and that man alone possesses mind — The mind of man and the mind of the animal differs only in degree — The intellectual and moral faculties of man and the animal can be traced in a similar manner — Love, Rage, Shame, Pride, Reason, etc., are all characteristics of the mind and are common to man and the animals — Hypnotism a mental process — The three schools of hypnotism — Animals can be hypnotised.

Chapter VIII. Page 135

Identity of Spirit and Mind.

Matter, Mind and Soul distinct substances — Modern theologians and spiritualists use the terms spirit, mind and soul synonymously — Soul and mind distinct — Soul and Spirit distinct — Spirit and Mind identical — The attributes of spirit and mind the same — Bible proof of the identity of spirit and mind, and the distinction between spirit or mind and soul — Pride, Humility, Sorrow, Faith, Anguish, etc., which are characteristics of the mind, are also characteristics of the spirit, and show the identity of spirit and mind.

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Chapter IX. Page 146

What is Soul, and is it Immortal?

Davis on the immortality of the soul — Three kinds of belief and their influences — Davis says the immortality of the soul rests upon the eternity of matter — The immortality of the soul in nowise depends upon the eternity of matter — The marriage between the cerebrum and cerebellum — There are children born among all races of men being defective in their mental structure, never reach the equinoctial line that separates the animal from the human — Davis a very erratic writer; he is peculiar in that he can not agree even with himself; does not consider himself bound by any previous statement — No materialist would attempt to evolve immortality from mere matter; this absurdity is left for the Spiritualistic evolutionist — Spiritualism demonstrates that the mind does not perish with the body — Spiritualism proves the falsity of materialism — The first man did not possess immortality — Some are born immortal, some may attain immortality; and some are wholly lacking — The absurdity of supposing that immortality depends upon a greater or less amount of intelligence — Tuttle on spirit — The basis of Tuttle's argument is wrong — Edmond's is nearer right — The soul a part of the substance of God — Immortality not inherent in the soul — The term immortal soul of spiritualistic origin — Immortality must be acquired — Man must seek eternal life — Bible proof that immortality can only be acquired by a life of righteousness — No scriptural support for the belief of the inherent immortality of the soul — The Bible disproves the spiritualistic teaching of soul development.

CHAPTER X. Man a Trinity

Davis says spirit and matter are the same identical substance — Davis regards soul, spirit and mind as unqualifiedly synonymous — Davis regards man as composed of only one substance, matter — Edmonds says man is a duality — Ambler says man is composed of two substances, but he shows that there is a third, which he terms that "internal soul of the spirit" — Spiritualists disagree among themselves as to whether man is composed of one or more substances — Spiritualists also disagree with all ancient philosophers and many of the moderns who regard man as a trinity — Carroll on the three creations — The Bible teaches that man is a trinity.

CONTENTS. vii

Chapter. XI. Page 171

Reproduction.

Edmonds on the reproduction of the spirit — Ambler on the reproduction of the spirit — The immortal germ — No power in the universe by which the spirit can be destroyed — The first introduction of the germ of the spirit — Beauty of the spirit depends upon this germ — The first element transmitted is the interior germ of the spirit — The information of the spirits not entirely correct — Carroll on the reproduction of "the three creations" — Ambler on death — The death of the body is the birth of the spirit — Davis on death —The soul will preserve its identity after death — There is no death — Davis' description of the birth of a spirit — There is a physical body and a spiritual body — The mind survives physical dissolution — Man possesses a trinity of lives.

Chapter XII. Page 196

The Intermediate State.

The spirit not immortal — Departed spirits not denizens of eternity — Nothing supernatural in the manifestations of departed spirits — Being mortal the spirit requires a natural home — The intermediate state known to the ancients — The Bible teaches the existence of an intermediate state — Ambler on the home of departed spirits — Edmonds on the condition and location of spirit-land — Davis on the spirit-land — Holcombe on the home of the spirits — The conflicting descriptions of spirit-land as given by Ambler, Edmonds, Davis and Holcombe — God created the intermediate state — Bible teaches the existence of an intermediate state — After His crucifiction Jesus went to this intermediate state — What Jesus did while in the intermediate state — Prison a place of detention, not hell — Paradise a part of spirit-land — Hades a part of spirit-land — Hell not a place of eternal punishment — Neither paradise nor hades will survive the end of time — Separate places of abode in spirit-land for good and evil spirits — Stephen's prayer — How Protestants lost a knowledge of the intermediate state — Catholics have a knowledge of the intermediate state — The intermediate state not a preparatory place — The earth the preparatory place — Holcombe's description of a judgment more nearly resembles a transformation — Spirits lose viii CONTENTS.

all knowledge of the earth and their associates; this is equivalent to annihilation — The place of departed spirits almost an infinite world — The mind or spirit will perish with all that is material — The Soul alone will stand forth before God to be judged — The warning given Adam could not mean physical or mental death — The Bible teaches that "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" — David realized that his soul could die — Soul's conditional immortality; it will merit either eternal life or death — Catholic, Protestant and Spiritualist make no distinction between mind, spirit and soul — Mind as mortal as the body it survives — The judgment as recorded in Revelation — The inherent immortality of the soul is an error — The doctrine of eternal punishment is an error — There is no place where eternal punishment is inflicted upon the wicked — The "lake of fire" is the result of the general conflagration described in Revelation — Revelation teaches all will be judged according to their works — All things material will perish; spirit-land, paradise, hell and even death — Nothing survive save God and those whose names are "written in the book of life" — Eternal death a punishment sufficient to satisfy even an outraged God.

Chapter XIII. Page 232

Contradictions.

i Spiritualists claim to derive their information from the "Fountain Head of All Knowledge" — There should be no disagreements in the teachings of spiritualists — Discord prevails in the teaching of spiritualists — Spiritualists contradict the Bible — Moses Hull's attempts to twist and distort the teachings of the Scriptures — Evidence of the attempt of Moses Hull to degrade the utterances . of inspired writers to the level of the teachings of the mediums of our day — Moses Hull a mere reader, not a student of the Bible — No discrepances in the Bible— The first chapter of Genesis a condensed account of creation — The second chapter of Genesis a more detailed account of creation — The elements of plant and animal life a part of the matter creation — Man's physical organism composed of matter — Man a living soul — A considerable period between the creation of man and that of woman — Man assigned to a fixed place of abode and a definite task — The Garden of Eden — The origin of domestic plants — Irrigation began in the Garden of Eden — The Bible sustained by the sciences- — Conflict between the sciences and the the-

CONTENTS. ix

ory of development — Lectures by two spirits supposed to be Bacon and Swedenborg, through the mediumship of Edmonds and Dr. Dexter, on the plan of creation — These lectures in opposition to the Bible — Davis on the revelations of the Bible — Biblical authority is overthrown by thousands of "equally good revelations daily made to us" — Davis gives nine reasons why spirit communications are unreliable — The chief cause of contradiction between spirits — Davis states the difference between his teachings and those of Jesus Christ — Proof of Davis' error — Such scientists as Professors Dana, Guyot, Dawson, Pierce, Sillman, and Maury all declare in favor of the Bible — Carroll compares the teachings of the Bible with those of ancient philosophers — Such statesmen as Buke, Pitt, Washington, the Adamses, Webster, Davis, Gladstone, etc., regarded the Bible as the highest authority — Such jurists as Grotins, Montesquien, Selden, Blackstone, Marshall, Somers, Story, Kent, etc., regarded the Bible as the court of ultimate appeal — Davis' charge that Jesus did not debate disproved — Edmonds himself annoyed by the conflicting statements of spirits — Mediums not certain of the source of their information— Proof that spirit communications are unreliable and contradictory — Spirit contradictions concerning Christ.

Chapter XIV. Page 262

Contradictions Continued.

Contradictions among spirits as to the existence of evil spirits and hell — Ambler's spirit informants say there are no "evil spirits" — Hull says, there are evil spirits — Davis' not "evil" but "misdirected" spirits — Edmond declares in favor of the existence of evil spirits and hell — Place of evil spirits far below the earth — Dark spirits do progress — Edmonds' hell a progressive hell — Holcombe's a retrogressive hell — Hell the heaven of evil spirits — There were no angels that fell from heaven and became devils — All angels and all devils once men or women — God the sole life of the universe; does not create life but gives it — Hell and heaven organic states of the soul — Love the life of heaven, hatred the life of hell — The miseries of hell — The new church — No times and spaces in the spiritual world — The doctrine of evil spirits as old as spiritualism itself — The Bible teaches that there are good and evil spirits.

x CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XV. Ancient India

No limit to the credulity of mankind — The mythologies or the fabulous histories of the gods of the heathens— In what have we displayed our superiority to the ancients — The deceptions practiced by spiritualistic leaders in attempting to explain the origin of things — But little excuse for the laity — Spiritualism not a religion —Death of the body is simply the birth of the spirit — To the spiritualist nothing beyond spirit-land — Should not mourn the death of our loved ones — Nothing to fear but much to love in the natural death — The misconceptions of the intermediate state — The mind survives the death of the body — Mental characteristics survive the death of the body — Mediums express the opinions of their spirit controls — Bible teaches the reality of spiritualism — Spiritualists regard Jesus Christ merely as a great medium — Christ never appealed to spirits for aid as spiritualists do, but relied on His heavenly Father — Bible treats spiritualism as a great evil — God forbade the practices of spiritualism in Israel — Evidence of God's abhorence of a medium or one having a familiar spirit — The penalty of death visited upon the mediums, etc. — The deceptiveness, worthlessness, and criminality of spiritualism — Why spiritualists deny a personal God — The spirit or mind will live until the end of time — The final death of the sprit or mind — The soul survives the death of the spirit or mind — Evidence that the spiritualists are dealing with the mind or spirit and not the soul — Animals in spirit-land — If the animal possessed articulate speech we could communicate with its departed spirit or mind — A talking animal would make as good a medium as a person — Tuttle on matter and spirit — Moses Hull on the growth of modern spiritualism — The facts contradict Moses Hull — The spiritualism of India — Hudson on the adepts of India — Hudson mistook the meaning of the adept — Jacolliot on the fakirs of India — Modern spiritualism has no schools of training, no ceremonies, no forms of evocation, etc.; its mediums the result of chance — Spiritualism in India has its schools of learning — Spiritualism in India almost a science — The Brahmin lord of all creation — Everything the world contains the Brahmin's — It is through the Brahmin's generosity that other men enjoy the goods of this world — The origin of the doctrine of divine right — For thousands of years the Brahmin's (priests) ruled without dispute — The kings or chiefs the agents of the Brahmin — The masses maintained the upper classes in idleness — The Brahmin's principal motive was the maintenance of their

CONTENTS. xi

temporal power — The chiefs with the aid of the people conquered the priests, and assumed the title of "lords of creation" — The chiefs said to the priests preach that we are the elect of God and we will give you all the wealth and privileges you desire — For twenty thousand years the people have never been able to break up that argument — Three degrees of initiation — The first degree included the Brahmins — The second degree included the exorcists, the soothsayers, the prophets, and the evocators of spirits — The Brahmins of the third degree had no direct relation with the people — Above the last degree was the supreme council under the presidency of the Brahmatma — The common people thought the Brahmatma immortal — The death of the Brahmatma — The ceremonies of initiation — The life and duties of the Brahmins — The Brahmatma ends his days in dissipation.

CHAPTER XVI. Manifestations

Mrs. Piper under "test" conditions — Wm. Hudson on spirit phenomena — Edward M. O'Connor on spirit phenomena — Dr. Rothermel's seance — Mrs. Julia A. Dawley on spirit phenomena — Judge Reed on spirit communications.

CHAPTER XVII. Manifestations Continued

The conditions under which the fakir produces phenomena — The moving of the vase without visible means — The water spout — The magic stick — Phenomena of elevation and knocking — The bamboo stool — The mysterious punkah — The stationary table — A shower of knocks — The little mill — Flying feathers — The harmonfiute — Sand drawing — The metor and the bucket of water — Mind reading — Reading in a closed book — The flying palm-leaf — Elevation of the fakir — Spontaneous vegetation — Apparitions.

CHAPTER XVIII. The Origin of Spiritualism

God revealed to Adam a knowledge of spiritualism — Adam transmitted his knowledge of spiritualism to his descendants — The xii CONTENTS.

antidiluvians possessed a knowledge of spiritualism — India not the cradle of spiritualism — Noah possessed a knowledge of spiritualism — Noah transmitted a knowledge of spiritualism to his descendants — The Hindoos led into spiritualism by their priesthood — The priests taught monotheism among themselves — The oath administered to the initiates — Fetichism, Shamanism, etc., spiritualism in its decay — Spiritualism practiced by all nations of antiquity — All the old civilizations developed under montheism; their ruins show the distructive influences of spiritualism — Monotheism the religion of Israel — God forbade the practice of spiritualism under penalty of death — The priests induce the Israelites to accept spiritualism — The Jewish cabala, its origin and practices, and its relation to the spiritualism of other countries — The cabalists brought upon Israel the punishment of God — Spiritualism stamped out of Israel — No trace of spiritualism in Jewish theology of today — Spiritualism destroyed the great nations of antiquity, and it will do the same for us.

CHAPTER I. The School of Natural Development

To intelligently discuss spiritualism, or any subject, it is necessary to inquire into the causes, the circumstances that produced it.

While we admit that a knowledge of an intermediate state is as. old as man himself yet, comparatively speaking, spiritualism, either as a religion or as a science, so called, is a thing of recent date. We are taught that in the beginning man was created a "little lower than the angels" and given as his religion monotheism, a belief in one God — the Creator of the universe ; but as man multiplied in numbers, he also increased in wickedness and lived in open violation of the laws of God, until his descendants finally became so depraved and corrupt as to renounce their God and their religion, monotheism, and accept in its place spiritualism, one of the daughters of the theory of Development.

One of the surest signs of national decline is the advent of spiritualism. For all history, both sacred and profane, of which we have any knowledge, teach that the great nations of antiquity attained their highest civilization and refinement under the wholesome, elevating influences of monotheism; and that under the pernicious influence of spiritualism they became utterly depraved, and that finally under the curse of God they either descended to barbarism and savagery, as in the case of the Hindoos, Persians, etc., or were utterly destroyed from the earth,, as in the case of the Chaldeans, etc. Thus as monotheism stands for all that is elevating and ennobling, so Spiritualism stands for all that is corrupt and depraved.

Two of the ablest and most radical thinkers of modern times, one an atheist, who stands for all that the theory of Development implies, the other a monotheist, who stands for Divine Creation and all that it implies, though representing the extremes of these opposing beliefs, are agreed that the origin of the universe is alone explainable by the Theory of Natural Development or by its antithesis, the Scriptural teaching of Divine Creation, and that there is no third course. Mr. Carroll, who advocates the Doctrine of Creation, and regarded by many as the most accomplished Bible scholar of the age, says :

"There are only two schools of learning which propose to explain the existence of the heavens and the earth with all their phenomena. These are (1) the Bible school of Divine Creation; (2) the Atheistic school of Evolution or Natural Development." (Tempter of Eve, p. 94.)

The distinguished German naturalist, Prof. Haeckel, who advocates the theory of Natural Development, in discussing the origin of animal life, says: "As is now very generally acknowledged, both by the adherents of and the opponents of the theory of descent, the choice, in the matter of the origin of the human race, lies between two radically different assumptions : We must either accustom ourselves to the idea that all the various species of animals and plants, man also included, originated independently of each other by the super-natural process of. a 'Divine Creation,' which, as such, is entirely removed from the sphere of scientific observation — or we are compelled to accept the theory of descent in its entirety, and trace the human race, equally with the various animal and plant species, from an entirely simple primeval parent form. Between these two assumptions there is no third course." (The Evolution of Man, Vol. ii., pp. 36, 37.)

This being true, it is folly to attempt to confuse the teachings of these opposing schools. In attempting to explain the origin of things, we cannot consistently attribute the origin of a part of the phenomena of the universe to the intervention of a God and a part to evolution. To be consistent, we must attribute the origin of all things either to Divine Creation or to the theory of Natural Development. We must either attribute the origin of life to Divine Creation or to Spontaneous Generation.

While Darwin is generally recognized as a leading authority on the theory of Natural Development, he really belongs to neither school ; he is not a consistent evolutionist. Too intelligent to attempt to account for the origin of organic life by spontaneous generation, he held that a few first forms owed their origin to Divine Creation, but insisted that evolution perfected them. That a man of Darwin's ability could so blunder and thus attempt to confuse the fundamental teachings of these opposing schools, seems incredible, but he did. When he needed a God, he had one; when he fancied he could dispense with one, he laid Him aside. Either "God * * * made heaven and earth and the sea, and all things that are therein," and Divine Creation is correct, or, He made nothing and Natural Development is correct. We must either acknowledge a God or' dispense with one entirely, there is no middle course. This necessarily applies to Spiritualism. As we will show in a following chapter, Spiritualism is very much like Darwinism, which at the same time has and has not a God. "O, consistency, thou art a jewel."