Universal spiritualism : spirit communion in all ages among all nations

Contents

CHAP.

Introduction ......

I. The Question of Spirit Identity

Introduction

In appearing once more before the public in a treatise undertaking to trace the history of human faith in immortality, and to present multiplied evidences which have led millions of intelligent people in all lands and ages to accept a spiritual philosophy of human existence, the writer is fully aware that much of the ground traversed in the following pages will be old to many but startlingly new to some. The present marvelous century is indubitably a period in which every religious doctrine and philosophical belief is being resolutely hunted to its source, and because such is the temper of the age there has arisen a numerous and influential cult among us, the members of which unhesitatingly claim that modern scientific students far from supporting materialistic conclusions such as Prof. Haeckel and other distinguished European " Monists " have reached, are hourly accumulating fresh proofs of the reality of our spiritual being and becoming increasingly assured that we are spiritual entities clothed for a brief while in mortal garments (or operating temporarily with material instruments) but destined ourselves to live on and work on through measureless ages of eternity, an ever widening vista of actualizable possibilities continuously opening before us.

In selecting the title for the present volume the author has been actuated by a twofold motive ; first, to give to the public a work which describes its nature on its titlepage. Second, to present as far as possible within necessarily limited space, the foundation upon which an edifice of rational philosophic Spiritualism can in these days be upr eared.

Much that passes for religion may be hypocrisy, much that is dignified with the name of science may be but transitory speculation, yet science and religion live, thrive and grow despite all mistakes and errors. Likewise does Spiritualism outlive and triumph over every outward attack and every inward weakness, so much so that though the very word has often been considered a reproach, not a year passes but a fresh list of noble and influential names have to be added to the illustrious company of Spiritualists.

There are in reality but three conceivable philosophies, viz . : Spiritualism, Materialism, Agnosticism. Concerning the latter, it may well be said in the words of the learned and thoughtful Prof. Felix Adler, of Ethical Culture fame, " Agnosticism is no finality. ' ' Materialism is practically dead in scientific circles, and it has never been able to claim such renowned philosophers as Herbert Spencer, Thos. Huxley or any others among the exceptionally brilliant men of science and of letters who made the 19th century illustrious.

Spiritualism, broadly interpreted and divested of all abnormal excrescences, is the only philosophy which has stood and still continues to stand the searching test of impartial scrutiny. Idle is it to point to the farces and follies perpetrated in its name, these, deplorable though they may be, detract nothing from the philosophy itself but only serve to exhibit the pitiable weaknesses of undeveloped types of human character. No sensible person rejects gold or any precious metal because it is taken out of the earth mixed with alloy. Even as gold is sifted from all which accompanies it before being transferred to the mint for coinage or employed in the manufacture of articles of worth and ti_ beauty, so must the grandest, noblest, most inspiring and consoling educative system of philosophy of which the human race has ever conceived, be stripped of all foreign matter that accompanies it before being transferred to its mint for coinage or employed in the manufacture of articles of mental worth and beauty, so must this grandest, noblest, most inspiring and educating system of philosophy of which the human race has ever conceived, be stripped of all accretions and unbeautiful surroundings and accepted only in so far as it commends itself to reason and to intuition, the two chief guides of humanity.

As the reader journeys in the following chapters from period to period, and from clime to clime, from ancient Egypt and India to modern Britain and America, one dominating conviction must lay hold upon the mind of every impartial student and that a conviction no less than the stupendous thought that the human race has sought and found convincing evidences of its immortality.

The great importance of the modern Spiritualistic movement, even though it be dated only from 1848, is too vast to be estimated, and it is beyond dispute that in consequence of marvelous and utterly unexpected occurrences at Hydesville in New York State and elsewhere in America during that memorable year, and in the momentous years which immediately followed, a complete revolution was started in the minds, not only of the American, but very shortly after, of European populations.

Liberal religious views were indeed prevalent in many distinguished circles before the world was thrilled by the audacious declaration that the gates were not only ajar, but in many instances wide open, between the two states of existence we are still accustomed to call two worlds.

io Introduction

This tremendous affirmation ought not to have surprised Bible students or professing Christians of any denomination, for nothing is more self-evident than that the Hebrew and Greek, 1 in common with all other venerated Scriptures, distinctly proclaim the constant fact of the intercommunion of earth with spirit-spheres. But every one who is the least acquainted with the sad tale of ecclesiastical bigotry and blindness knows that organized religious parties fought desperately against the new revelation, thereby greatly weakening their own hold upon the masses and laying the foundation for vigorous iconoclastic onslaughts upon creeds and churches and diverting the tide of inspiration very largely away from all recognized denominational institutions.

The early history of modern Spiritualism has been copiously recorded in the standard works of Emma Hardinge Britten and other faithful chroniclers of the trials, hardships, defeats and victories of the stalwart pioneers who often literally took their lives in their hands to proclaim the new gospel which was to them more precious than their earthly all. The work of the magnificently courageous men and women who stood in the front rank of the Spiritualistic propaganda during its earlier decades on both sides of the Atlantic and also at the Antipodes, can never be overestimated. Some of those zealous champions of spiritual free thought may have been at times over intrepid and occasionally indiscreet, but they did their work heroically, and the light they braved everything to kindle and to sustain will not easily be extinguished.

In later years other movements, not Spiritualistic in name, have attained and received much attention and have unquestionably succeeded to a large extent in enlisting the sympathy and arousing the interest of many intelligent persons to whom the name of Spiritualism was not attractive.

The Theosophical Society founded in New York in 1875 an d started by prominent Spiritualists, — for such Col. Olcott and Mme. Blavatsky undoubtedly were — drifted at one time into seeming antagonism to the central doctrine of Spirit communion, but has always been in reality an upholder of spiritual philosophy against materialism and is now, in the persons of its most representative leaders, throwing much light, through study and practice of clairvoyance in particular, upon the actual condition of the Spirit world which interpenetrates as well as encircles this material globe.

The popular New Thought movement, though not avowedly Spiritualistic in any pronounced degree, has always numbered among its leading exponents distinguished men and women whose public writings leave no doubt as to their knowledge of the main facts for which all Spiritualists are steadfastly contending. The chequered history of the Spiritualistic movement all over the world has presented many bright and more than a few dark features and it is not seemingly possible to unify all Spiritualists or to bring them into substantial accord any further than to acknowledge the one great essential of spiritual intercommunion.

It is not necessarily regrettable that no uniformity seems possible on anything like an extensive scale because it is the obvious mission of the great modern spiritual revelation to break the fetters of assumed authority and set the individual spirit free. The idiosyncrasies of many individuals and the dubious character of much alleged phenomena, together with the unsatisfactory nature of many purported spirit communications, continues to present a series of serious difficulties in the path of many conscientious enquirers and investigators, and with the rapidly spreading acknowledgment of limitless telepathy the old simple confidence in direct communion with our departed friends and kindred has been in many quarters greatly shaken.

The writings of the noted Prof. T. J. Hudson, whose name will always be associated with the "Two minds" theory, have been erroneously construed by many readers as undermining the fact of Spirit communion when in reality no evidences of telepathy can possibly do other than strengthen reasonable confidence therein. The enormous interest taken at present in what is termed Psychical Research is only interest in Spiritualism under a slightly different name, this every impartial student must admit, especially after perusing that monumental work by the famous F. W. H. Myers entitled "Human Personality — its survival of bodily death." A still more recent work by Prof. Hyslop of Columbia University, entitled " Science and a Future Life," and indeed a perfect host of volumes by more or less distinguished authors, written in many different languages and all testifying to the constantly accumulating proofs of spirit intercourse demonstrated in a great variety of ways and under a vast variety of conditions, but serve to further illustrate our main position.

Though the old theory of the Satanic origin of spirit communications is no longer preached as formerly, there are still those among us who see the devil in everything which seems supernormal that does not conform with antiquated, and indeed barbaric, notions of the unseen universe, and apart from old school theologians who continue to employ old-fashioned terminology there are quite a considerable number of modern writers who do not hesitate to descant upon the perils attending mediumship and the dangerous ground upon which all are treading who venture to seek to lift up the veil which divides mundane from supra-mundane existence.

Tennyson's warning in his beautiful lines entitled " The Angel Guest," a choice excerpt from "In Memoriam," are indeed applicable to all who would seek to peer behind the mystic curtain and commune with beings ordinarily invisible from the earthly standpoint. The poet truly sings :

11 How pure in heart and sound in head With what divine affections bold Should be the man whose thoughts would hold An hour's communion with the dead."

These stirring lines, and the three verses which follow, were sung at a great meeting in Brighton, England's most famous seaside resort, on the evening of May 24, 1874, when the writer of these pages, then an inquisitive child, was attracted to an "inspirational oration" delivered by Mrs. Cora L. V. Richmond (then Mrs. Tappan) at a time when Spiritualism was exciting great attention in Great Britain.

That wonderfully gifted speaker in some mysterious way, while addressing an audience of 1,500 people, was an instrument in the hands of the unseen for opening the floodgates of illumination for this curious child, who was immediately fascinated by the grace and dignity of the orator and deeply impressed with the mighty import of the inspired and inspiring message delivered so impressively in so unique a manner. Years have come and gone and the wondering child has grown to be a widely traveled lecturer and author, but never unmindful of the impetus received on that ever-to-be-remembered evening.

In the autobiographical narrative which the writer has been importuned to incorporate in this volume, personal experiences are necessarily introduced to illustrate the propositions which it is desired to elucidate and to unfold. It has been almost impossible to refer the reader in all cases to authorities which would further sustain the facts related in the successive chapters of this book, but moderation as well as accuracy of statement has been the author's constant aim, and though conscious of many defects in style and limitations in subject matter, it is confidently hoped, and indeed expected, that this comparatively humble contribution to the voluminous literature of Spiritualism will serve at least the useful purpose of providing at reasonable price, in not excessive compass, a textbook for enquirers and a work of ready reference for those who have neither time nor opportunity for searching massive records when desirous of taking a bird's-eye view of the spiritual conceptions and experiences of widely-scattered members of the human race.

Lights and shadows have alike been dealt with, but the tone of this work is avowedly and intentionally optimistic. To liberalize thought, to increase fraternal feeling, to relieve the depression which overhangs the thought of passing into the mysterious "unknown," and most of all to show how reasonable it is to have confidence in human immortality, have been among the prominent objects the author has held constantly in view.

W. J. Colville.

New York, igo6.

If I am to relate faithfully, even in barest outline, my experiences with " unseen helpers," I must go back to my very early childhood, when my * ' mediumship " originally declared itself. I was practically an orphan from birth. My mother passed to spirit life in my infancy and my father was called by important business to travel in lands remote from England, where I was left in charge of a guardian. My childhood was singularly unchildlike, as I was separated from children altogether, and compelled to associate exclusively with persons of thoroughly mature age.

How I first came to see my mother clairvoyantly I do not know, but I distinctly remember becoming vividly conscious at frequent intervals of the gentle, loving presence of a beautiful young woman, who invariably appeared to my vision gracefully attired in light garments of singular beauty. The head of this charming lady was adorned with golden ringlets ; her eyes were intensely blue ; she was tall and of rather slender build, and manifested many attributes of almost ideal womanhood. I cannot recall to mind any occasion when this lady spoke to me as one ordinary human being on earth converses with another, but I distinctly recollect that when I saw her most plainly and. felt her presence most distinctly, I was intensely conscious of information flowing into me. I can only liken my ex-

*5 i6 Autobiography of W. J. Colville

perience to some memorable statements of Swedenborg concerning influx of knowledge into the interiors of human understanding.

I should probably never in those early days have thought of such a problem as clairvoyance, had it not been for the surprising fact that what I saw perfectly other people did not see at all. I was first led to realize the unusual character of my vision when I mentioned the presence of the "beautiful lady in white " to two persons who were with me when I saw her very distinctly, and they declared that we three were the only occupants of the apartment. The mystery of the fourth inmate was for me greatly intensified when it appeared to me that the other two persons, besides her and myself, could pass through her and she through them, while they appeared completely unconscious of each other's presence. An elderly lady, with whom I was living, who was a devoted Church woman, summed up all my singular visions, when I related them to her, in the following words : " Well, I can't account for it, but it must be the work of either God or Satan." Though not many months over five years of age at the time to which I am now referring, I had already heard Satan called the " father of lies " and had also been taught that truth belonged to God and came from heaven ; so my youthful intellect was not perturbed with dread of any power of darkness, as I found that all the information which flowed into me when this beautiful spiritual being manifested to me was correct in every particular. I was, therefore, quite content to believe, with simple faith supported by reasoning, that my dear mother was watching over me as a guardian spirit. I often heard of guardian angels, and I was sometimes taken to a children's service in a church where a favorite hymn before the catechising began with the following invocation :

" Dear angel ever at my side !

How loving must thou be To leave thy home in heaven to guard A little child like me."

Instead of conjecturing angels as well-nigh incomprehensible beings belonging to an order in the creation entirely different from ourselves, I rested satisfied with the simple, reasonable conviction that the messenger from unseen spheres who watched over me most intimately, was the dear mother whose physical presence had been withdrawn from earth long before I had reached an age when I could have consciously appreciated it. I do not forget the strange shock I felt when some one said to me : " It is impossible that you should see your mother j you have no mother; she is dead." Such vulgar, brutal words made no other impression on me than to set me thinking along psychic lines, far more often pursued by little children than adults generally suppose.

It must be borne in mind that I was an isolated and often a lonely child, thrown very largely upon my resources for amusement and enjoyment. This circumstance may suffice to suggest instructive thoughts regarding conditions singularly favorable to mediumistic development. Is mediumship a gift or a natural endowment ? is a query often raised. To answer this inquiry it is surely necessary to recall the two distinct senses in which the word " gift " is commonly employed. We speak of natural gifts, of the universal gifts of God to humanity, as well as of particular bestowments vouchsafed to those who are sometimes segregated in our philosophy from the "common herd," and designated a " chosen few." Having used the term " clairvoyance" in connection with my own earliest spiritual experiences, I wish to define it in my own case as applying to extended vision of three distinctly different, though closely allied, varieties. The first evidence of my own clear vision, which came to me so spontaneously and unexpectedly that for a considerable season it caused me no astonishment whatever, related to beholding a form of real, consistent substantiality, existing, on another plane of being than the

. one usually termed terrestrial. . This form was completely and symmetrically human in every detail of outline, and was attired in artistic dress, not foreign to ordinary worldly

* convention, but vastly more beautiful and graceful than the customary mortal dress fashionable in the sixties of the nineteenth century, which included the crinoline and the chignon. The second evidence of clairvoyance did not refer to sight, even on the psychic or astral plane, as sight is ordinarily understood, but to mental enlightenment or intellectual illumination, and this, not only of a general but also of a particular character, as the knowledge which entered into my understanding related not only to topics of usual information, but went deeply and precisely into manifold details of private family history, and included many revelations which brought great consternation to the hearers when I reported my experiences, seeing that the people among whom I was being reared were very desirous of hiding from me many facts connected with my parents of which my spirit mother undoubtedly wished me to become aware. The third feature in my clairvoyance was the actual predicting of coming events, and I use the term coming " in the precisest possible manner for the very a

Autobiography of VV. J. Colville 19

events I was led to foretell had, in many instances, actually occurred in one sense, and were on their way to occurring in yet another. A single example will illustrate.

My grandmother's sister in Lincolnshire had decided to visit Sussex, but had not communicated her intention to any one, though her mind was fully made up. Though I had never seen my great-aunt, and had rarely heard her mentioned, I distinctly saw her in the house where I was then living, and accurately described her appearance, even to the strings of the cap which she actually wore a few weeks later when paying her sister a visit. Two questions naturally arise at this point : First, how is it that we can see people who may be thinking of us, or perhaps only of a place we are inhabiting, when they are not consciously or deliberately projecting their thought, or an astral likeness of themselves, to us ? Second, how is it that we see articles of wearing apparel which those persons may not be actually wearing at the time when we behold them ? The following reply may serve to elucidate, at least in part, the foregoing mystery. When Herbert Spencer many years ago criticised somewhat adversely the notion of clothing as pertaining to the spirit world, he evidently overlooked a very important consideration, to the effect that our clothing is all mentally designed before it can be physically confected. A new fashion in dress is impossible except as an outcome of a new mental concept of apparel. Not only Swedenborg, but Shakespeare also, clearly illustrates the close connection which must ever logically exist between the wearer and the garment worn ; and in no case do we find the suggestive doctrine more clearly taught by inference than in the play of " Hamlet," where the father of the Prince of Denmark appears in spirit, clad in armor, at the very time when he is seeking to inspire his son to make war against an uncle who has incurred the fierce displeasure of the discarnate king. Not only do we clothe ourselves physically in such raiment as becomes our immediate mental state, but we often unconsciously supply, gratuitously, portraits of ourselves doing things we intend to do, things, indeed, which we have spiritually already done, and which we shall certainly ultimate materially unless our plans are unexpectedly frustrated. It generally simplifies the mystery of prognostication if we do but consider that seership is a faculty which enables a seer or seeress to actually behold what exists on a plane of ultimation prior to the physical.

As I grew from childhood to rather riper age, and in the • meantime attended schools and became interested in many external pursuits and objects, my singularly spontaneous mediumship became less prominent, and with the exception of an occasional prophetic dream of rare lucidity, which always came as a needed warning, I gradually drifted into a more prosaic state of life, from which I was suddenly aroused by the presence of the world-renowned Cora L. V. Richmond (then Mrs. Tappan) in England during the seventies of the last century. When I was nearly fourteen years of age, and a member of a church choir, Mrs. Tappan greatly excited the population of Brighton, where I was then residing, by her marvelous discourses and poems, and singularly erudite replies to all kinds of questions, which she claimed were not due to her own erudition, of which she made no boast and to which she laid no claim, but to the action through her instrumentality of a band of guides who were ready to speak through her whenever their services were in demand. May 24th, 1874, was, indeed, an eventful day in my history, for though my public career as a lecturer and globe-trotter did not begin till nearly three years later, it was on the evening of that beautiful Whit-Sunday that I experienced the first thrill of consciousness that it was my principal lifework to travel nearly all over the earth, guided by unseen but not unknown inspirers, who would carry me safely over all tempestuous oceans and protect me from all dangers by land if I would but be faithful to the mission entrusted to me by wise and kindly helpers. I have always greatly disliked the word " control," and I dislike it still, for in my ears it savors of coercion, and I have never been coerced by my inspirers, who have ever proved themselves faithful teachers, counselors, and guides — veritable "invisible helpers," to use Leadbeater's felicitous expression, a title we may well apply to those numberless assistants who render multifold services to us of which we are often quite unconscious, but from which we derive inestimable benefit.

The record of my original introduction to the work of inspirational speaking is now an oft-told tale ; in brief, I may sum it up as follows : When I was walking home after greatly enjoying Mrs. Tappan's wonderful eloquence, I registered a vow that if any good and wise intelligences in the unseen state would inspire me as they were wont to inspire the marvelous lady who styled herself their " instrument," I would most gladly take service with them and go whithersoever their counsels led me. I earnestly desired and confidently expected that inspiration would come to me if it were genuine at all, and come it did that very evening and within an hour from the time when I invoked it. Had no obstacles been placed in my way, I should have darted forth rneteorically as a speaker before my fourteenth birth anniversary, but my legal guardian refused to grant permission until I was at least two years older, though she did not prevent my occasionally appearing at private gatherings, nor was she able to deprive me of some wonderful experiences of mesmeric or hypnotic character, which opened my eyes in my early teens to many of the marvels of psychology which are now demanding and receiving attention from distinguished savants the wide world over.

Hypnotism and its dangers, like Spiritualism and its dangers, is now being discussed at every turn, and I am often greatly interested to hear discussions on these recondite themes, when the debaters are people of experience, but whose experiences have been largely unlike my own. I do not presume to settle any question for my neighbors, I merely speak in the first person singular when I declare that I was never hypnotized against or even without the full consent of my own will ; and as spiritualistic literature abounds with references to the virtual identity of hypnotic influence with spirit control, I deem it advisable to bear personal testimony in this connection. Shortly after my discovery that I could speak inspirationally, and even be spoken through by an unseen intelligence, to whose words, uttered through my lips, I could attend as a quiet, interested listener, I made the acquaintance of a brilliant young nobleman who was both an operatic singer and a practicing psychologist. This young "star" was introduced to me as desiring to conduct some delicate mesmeric experiments for which he needed the services of a lucide, or natural clairvoyant ; or failing to discover any one who would entirely answer to the above description, he considered it highly probable that his experimentation would be successful if he could meet a sensitive young person who was thoroughly willing to yield to his suggestive influence. My first ejaculation when the subject was broached to me that I might serve for the experiments, was " I should be delighted, and feel sure they will be successful."

Though all the experiments were conducted in strict privacy, so far as the general public were concerned, many distinguished persons high in the learned professions took active part in many of the most satisfactory of them. It is not usually supposed, at least by the uninitiated into psychic mysteries, that the words passive and negative are quite as correctly qualified by the terms wilfully and willingly as are positive and active. We are frequently told that mediumship is impossible without passivity, and such is doubtless the case, but voluntary rather than involuntary passivity or negativity conduces to the most reliable results. Operator and subject are terms of double import, but such terms as sender and receiver or transmitter and recipient are clearly not open to valid objection, seeing that they in no way imply enforced surrender of one individual to another. During the nearly three years which intervened between my first insight into my capabilities as an inspired lecturer and my debut before a London audience, I had many opportunities for witnessing extraordinary phenomena, as I became well acquainted with many prominent Spiritualists, who treated me with great kindness and consideration and placed many exceptional advantages at my disposal for witnessing manifestations of all varieties. Some of these appealed strongly to me, others did not. I had many opportunities for sitting in circles with Williams, Heme, Monck, Eglinton, and other extraordinary mediums, who, at about that time, were either in the inception or at the zenith of their fame. Though I was told repeatedly that I was a physical medium, and though I sat in many seances where tables moved and furniture in general behaved grotesquely, I never knowingly officiated as a physical medium, though planchette has worked for me repeatedly and automatic writing has been often with me quite an every-day occurrence. During the greater part of 1877-8, I was privileged to investigate the evidences of phenomenal Spiritualism all over England. The most private gatherings were open to me, and I was times without number privileged to sit with the most distinguished mediums under thoroughly satisfactory test conditions ; but though I saw enough to convince me a thousand times over that some mysterious occult force was operating, and the spiritualistic hypothesis always seemed to me more reasonable than any other, I do not think, with my peculiar and naturally sceptical cast of mind, that I could ever have been completely convinced of the truth of spirit-communion had it not been for experiences of my own which absolutely forced me as a rational individual to accept the only sane conclusion.