The principles of nature, her divine revelations

Part First

Any theory, hypothesis, philosophy, sect, creed, or institution, that fears investigation, openly manifests its own error.

Part Second

Reason is a flower of the spirit, and its fragrance is liberty and knowledge.

Part Third

When distributive justice pervades the social world, virtue and morality will bloom with an immortal beauty ; while the Sun of Righteousness will arise in the horizon of universal industry, and shed its genial rays over all the fields of peace, plenty, and human happiness !

THIRD EDITION.

NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY S. S. LYON, AND WM. FISHBOUGH.

18 47.

N

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847,

By SILAS S. LYON, AND WILLIAM FISHBOUGH,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Southern District of New York.

STEREOTYPED BY REDFIELD & SAVAGE, 13 Chambers Street, N. Y.

SCRIBE'S INTRODUCTION.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR, AND HISTORY OP THE PRODUCTION OF THIS VOLUME.

A work of unprecedented character is here presented to the world. It consists of the consecutive reasonings and revelations of a spirit freed, by a certain physical process, the philosophy of which is explained, from the obstructing influence of the material organization, and exalted to a position which gave access to a knowledge of the structure and laws of the whole material and spiritual Universe. It treats upon subjects of the profoundest interest and of the most unspeakable importance to the human race ; and as its claims are confessedly of the most startling character, and its professed disclosures, with the phenomena attending them, are in some respects unparalleled in the history of psychology, it is certainly no more than just that the world should be furnished with a plain, concise, yet circumstantial account of the author of the book, with a histoid of its origin and production, and with the means of either verifying or refuting what is said concerning the source from which it sprang, and the means employed in its production. A few preliminary remarks, however, are deemed proper as introductory to the statements herein to be submitted.

It is obvious to every intelligent mind that the condition of the human race, socially, nationally, mentally, and spiritually, is continually changing. There is at present no civilized nation upon the globe which does not present a totally different aspect as to manners, customs, social structure, science, art, religion, and all the conventionalisms of life, from any nation existing upon the earth four thousand years ago. Every period of human history shows, upon the whole, a distinct progress in the condition of mankind beyond that of previous periods. Instances of apparent retrogression, as in the cases of the various catastrophes that have occurred at different periods during the geological history of the earth, only exhibit the apparent disorder incident to a transition from a lower to a higher state of development. In passing through the uncouth semi-barbarism of the early ages to the refinements and intellectual and artistic attainments of the nineteenth century, the race has of course passed through every intermediate stage of cultivation ; and a close observation and analysis will prove that every decided stage of human progress has been accompanied by new and distinct mental and social wants ; and in order that these might be duly supplied, new resources have been invariably opened, and new instrumentalities have been instituted.

IV INTRODUCTION.

It would require but little argument, therefore, aside from the fact that change is perpetual, to prove that the mental and social wants of the present differ essentially from those of any previous generation. Perhaps at no period in the world's history so little characterized by revolutionary violence, has the general mental and social condition of mankind undergone changes so marked and conspicuous as during the last century. In respect to all matters of science, particularly, has there been an immense unfolding ; and the mechanical and economic arts have been correspondingly improved. The seven seals of the great geological book have been broken, and its rocky leaves have disclosed the physical history of the earth for millions of years. Powerful telescopes have penetrated the abysses of space, and the grandeur and harmony of the Universe have been unfolded to an extent far transcending all previous conception : and the researches in the departments of chemistry, physiology, and comparative anatomy, are constantly proving more and more conspicuously that all things are but parts inseparably connected in one grand System. All these sublime results of science tend to expand the mind beyond the narrow circle of which self is the centre, and to unite the soul with those things which it beholds, contemplates, and admires. Man is thus made deeply sensible that he is a mere atom in infinite space, surrounded by beings and creations unspeakably more important than himself; and as he contemplates the wide-spread fields of creation, teeming with tokens of impartial favor, a flame of philanthropy is enkindled in his soul that consumes all narrow prejudices and selfish inclinations, and he sympathizes with universal Man as the great Body of which he is a mere organ.

Such are the moral and social tendencies of the science of the age, even considering the same in the more abstract point of view. But from the same source more important influences indirectly arise. From the materials of science the busy hand of mechanism is forming filaments to bind together the extremities of each nation, and is developing the resources, exchanging the commodities, and harmonizing the interests, of every clime. Iron steeds, nerved by the stimulus of the expanding vapor, are plunging through the ocean, measuring the distance between the two hemispheres by the lapse of a few days, or prancing to and fro in the earth, facilitating exchanges and promoting friendly intercourse between all communities and people. The imponderable elements have been laid under contribution, and, by the subtle agency of the electric fluid, man converses with his neighbor at the distance of a thousand miles with the same facility with which two would converse a few rods apart. The veins, and arteries, and nerves, of the great Body of humanity, are thus being developed, in the form of steamships, and railroads, and magnetic telegraphs, and its muscles and sinews are being unfolded in the form of labor-saving and productive machinery. And all science and art tend powerfully to extend the fibres and channels of communication thus being unfolded, throughout the whole earth, and thus to form of the whole race one harmonious Body, possessing one common spring of action, one common social and theological system, and bound together with one chain of sympathy running through all its diversified parts.

Such, we say, are the conspicuous and powerful tendencies of all the scientific and artistic attainments of the age. But to these tendencies there exist the most powerful obstructions, which have thus far defied all attempts of phi-

INTRODUCTION. V

lanthropists and reformers to remove. These obstructions consist in the local prejudices, and the social, national, commercial, and theological antagonisms, that prevail throughout the whole earth. All men and communities are anxious for the establishment of a more intimate unity in the race, but each desires that i his unity should be founded on the basis of his own peculiar system. The Caw, list would have the whole world form one harmonious brotherhood, possessing one faith, one hope, and one baptism, but then he would have them all Calvinists ; the Arminian desires the same union, but only on the basis of his own theological system. The Catholic desires that all should become Catholics, and only on this ground will he consent to a union with others. The Jews desire a unity of the race, but they desire first to be restored to the land of Palestine, and then that all Gentile nations should unite as their subordinates under the reign of their expected Messiah. The intelligent Mohammedan desires the establishment and perfection of the universal brotherhood, but he demands that every man should first devoutly exclaim, "Allah is God, and Mohammed is his prophet." And the same remarks might with equal propriety be extended to all parties, sects, denominations, and religionists, throughout the whole earth. All are equally sincere in their opinions, and equally zealous in their proclamation, each believing that his own system is sanctioned by the Deity ; though as the devotees of all social, national, and especially theological systems, derive their opinions from the fortuitous circumstances of birth and early education, it is impossible that more than one out of the thousand can be right, and the extreme probability is that all are wrong. And while the followers of each system pray fervently and labor diligently for the conversion of the whole world, all are mutually and purposely obstructing the efforts of each other ; and the obstruction creates impatience, jealousy, bigotry, fanaticism, and every species of hostility and persecution that now so unhappily distract the human race, and array brother against brother, and community against community, causing the truly philanthropic soul to weep in hopeless despondency.

It is clear to every mind that so long as these diversified antagonisms in society exist throughout the world, so long that universal peace, brotherly love, and social and national unity, so devoutly to be desired, can not possibly take place. The all-absorbing desire of the enlightened philanthropist, therefore, is that these antagonisms may be removed by the institution of some grand and universal System of thought and action, based upon the nature of things and the true relations of men to each other. This, therefore, should be considered as the true and great leading want of the human mind at the present more than at any previous age of the world ; and who shall judge a priori that in the unvarying laws of the All- Wise Being, provisions may not have been made to supply this as well as all real wants of the human race at all previous ages ? And when to the foregoing remarks is superadded the consideration that neither reason nor any previous revelation authorizes the belief that the channels of spiritual communication with this lower world have been permanently closed, may we not expect a respectful attention to the following statement and remarks, and also such a candid perusal of the volume herewith submitted, as may enable the reader properly to judge what relation (if any) the same bears to those very demands of the age which are of all others the most pressing? —

VI INTRODUCTION.

Andrew Jackson Davis, the youthful author of this book, is, while in his normal state, distinguished by no mental or physical peculiarities that would be likely to excite the particular attention of any merely superficial observer. He is of the ordinary stature, with a well-proportioned physical frame, posses*- sing a bilious- sanguine -nervous temperament. His features are prominent, and his head is of the medium size, and very smoothly developed, especially in the frontal and coronal regions. The base of the brain is small, except in the region of the perceptives, which are prominent. The head is covered with a profusion of jet-black hair. The expression of his countenance is mild, placid, and indicative of a peculiar degree of frankness and benevolence ; and from his eyes beams forth a peculiar radiance which we have never witnessed in any other person. This is especially the case in his moments of interior meditation and mental expansion. His inferior passions are only moderately developed, and are completely under the control of reason and the moral sentiments. During daily intercourse with him for eighteen months, we have never known him to manifest the least degree of anger or impatience, though we have known him to be severely tried. He is very fond of congenial society, though he is peculiarly sensitive to what are in his book called the "spheres" of certain individuals, or the influence or atmosphere emanating from them. Thus he is instinctively either attracted to or repelled from a man on first coming into his presence, and from the same cause he generally forms a judgment of human character at first sight, which, as to accuracy, we have seldom if ever known to fail.

This sensitiveness to spheres forms a striking trait in his character. He has a most ardent and devoted attachment to his friends. He recognises no enemies, though the presence of some persons, especially of those who are conceited, bigoted, or dogmatical, seems to give him pain ; and such he accordingly avoids. To congenial spirits he is inclined to be communicative ; and his address is natural and easy, though devoid of all artificiality. His disposition is characterized by an equanimity and cheerfulness which apparently no circumstance, however depressing, can disturb. His mind acts with vivacity, and he is rather strongly inclined to mirthfulness, though he informs us that this latter characteristic is often assumed in order to counteract a natural tendency of the mind to abstraction, which forms another marked trait in his character. His imaginative faculties are well developed, though not so as to form a prominent trait in his character. A supreme love of truth is the central point around which all his moral faculties revolve. Hence he holds himself entirely open to conviction from all sources of information, and is ever ready to abandon preconceived opinions, however ardently cherished, the moment he finds they are erroneous. It is from this cause that he manifests the utmost unconcern when his pretensions are attacked. His benevolence is very active and steadfast, and is not confined to friends, associates, party, or sect, but extends to all classes of mankind. He thus takes the utmost pleasure in relieving distress and in bestowing favors whenever opportunity affords, though his bestowments are always graduated by an acute discrimination of the capacities of the individuals to appreciate and profitably employ them. His perceptive and reflective faculties are well and evenly developed ; and the most prominent point in his intellectual character is an easy and instinctive comprehension of great general principles and laws that govern Nature and Mankind. His intellectual harmoniously blend with his moral fao

INTRODUCTION. Vll

ulties to form a perfectly-balanced character ; and as all his faculties are in a nearly equal state of development, he is remarkably free from exaggeration or "angular forms of thought," and is disposed to give to each subject which he comprehends, all the importance which really and naturally belongs to it, but no more. Hence his judgment is matured to a degree seldom witnessed in those of a more mature age ; and what, perhaps, is still more remarkable than all is, that all his leading mental operations and outward actions appear to be governed by a species of interior prompting. Upon the whole, therefore, he may be considered as a most amiable, simple-hearted, truth-loving, and unsophisticated, young man, being disconnected from all sects, parties, creeds, and denominations, and governed solely by his own intuitions.

Such is a description of his character while in his normal state, as it has appeared to us during daily intercourse with him for the last eighteen months. And it is owing to his peculiar physical and mental constitution that he has been enabled, by the assistance of magnetism, to abstract himself from the gross tangibilities of the outer world, and enter that state of exceeding spiritual exaltation and mental expansion that has enabled him to dictate the book now submitted to the world.

But the mind given mainly to sensuous processes of reasoning, in order to feel justified in reposing full confidence in the authenticity of this book, will require some account (such as he may either verify or refute) of Mr. Davis's past history, of his acquirements by ordinary processes of education and mental discipline, and of the origin and production of this book. This reasonable demand shall be gratified to the extent of our present ability; and the main facts shall be substantiated by the testimony of disinterested persons.

A singular instance, showing Mr. Davis's indifference to things of no practical importance, consists in the fact that he did not until recently know where he was born. At the earliest period to which his recollection extends, he resided with his parents in the township of Hyde Park, Dutchess county, New York ; and during two summers of his residence in that township, he was also employed by Mr. W. W. Woodworth in the capacity of a keeper of cattle.. But his father recently informed us that he was born in Bloominggrove, Orange county, New York, and that on the 11th of August, 1847, he will be twentyone years of age — according to which he must have been born on the 11th of August, 1826. From Hyde Park he removed, with his father, to Poughkeepsie, on the first of September, 1838, after which, for some eighteen months, he worked with his father at his trade. Immediately after this he was engaged in the grocery of Mr. Nicholas Lawrence, which store his father subsequently purchased, and in which he continued until the spring of 1841, when he bound himself as an apprentice to Mr. Ira Armstrong.

His father is a simple-hearted unsophisticated man, who follows the respectable occupation of a shoemaker ; and so far as this world's goods are concerned, he has always been very poor. His mother (long since deceased), we are informed, was one of those gentle beings whose supreme delight it is to mingle in scenes of sickness and sorrow, and to administer to the relief of suffering humanity. 'Neither father nor mother was particularly inclined to intellectual pursuits, and hence they felt no anxiety to bestow an education upon their son extending beyond the simplest rudiments that may be acquired in a common school. Owing to this fact, in connexion with the straitened financial rill INTRODUCTION.

circumstances of the parents, the boy's school tuition was confined to about five months, during which time he learned to read imperfectly, to write a fair hand, and to do simple sums in arithmetic. From early youth, therefore, until he entered on his clairvoyance career, he was mostly kept at such manual employments as were adapted to his age, during which time his little earnings and affectionate attentions contributed greatly to the support of his immediate family connexions. With these duties and responsibilities constantly pressing upon his mind, he had neither desire nor opportunity to study and inform himself even upon the simplest branches of science, history, or general literature. During the intervals between his hours of employment he was never known to frequent public libraries, and was seldom known to take up a book ; and his very limited reading was confined to a few juvenile productions, fugitive essays, and light romances, not, perhaps, comprising over four hundred or five hundred pages at most ; and even this little reading was pursued in the most desultory manner. The frankness, openness, and sincerity, which have characterized the boy from infancy to the present moment, and the probabilities arising from his youth and inexperience in the arts of the world, forbid entirely the suspicion that he could have been pursuing in secret any sinister designs upon the credulity of the world ; and the restrictions which poverty imposed upon his mental exertions, and the ten thousand incidentals connected with a daily and hourly intercourse of some one or more persons with him, absolutely forbid the possibility of his having in secret carried on a design of this kind, even had he been morally capable of a fraud so palpable.-

The foregoing facts are gathered from incidental and free conversations with different persons who were familiarly acquainted with the young man from early youth up to his forming a connexion with Dr. Lyon, and removing to New York, in August, 1845. To these statements we will add the following testimonies from respectable citizens, the first of Hyde Park, the next three of Poughkeepsie, and the last from Rev. A. R. Bartlett, now of Chicago: —

Hyde Park, January 2, 1847.

Dear Sir : In answer to yours of the 30th December last, asking some information respecting A. J. Davis, I can only say that he was born in this town* of poor but respectable parents. His father, during the period of his (A. J.'s) early youth, was in my employ some three or four years, during which time I saw the boy almost every day. There was nothing remarkable in him, unless it might have been an inquiring disposition, which, however, was not remarkable to a very great extent. He was of good moral character. His only facilities for obtaining an education were such as are afforded by a district school, which he was not much disposed to attend. As to his natural talents, there was nothing that I ever saw to induce the belief that they were either above or below mediocrity. In short, he was what might have been called an ordinary, civil, well-disposed boy.

Yours, respectfully, JOHN HINCHMAN.

Poughkeepsie, January 2, 1847.

Friend Wm. Fishbough: Thine of the 30th of last month is received, requesting of me to give thee what information I am in possession of in relation to the character, habits, &c, of A. J. Davis while a resident of our village.

The first I knew of him was when about sixteen years of age, while he was an apprentice to the shoemaking business; and from that time I saw him very frequently until he left the place, which was from two to three years after, I think. As to his character and habits, I always believed them to be good; and his opportunities of instruction, if he had any, were very limited. I believe him to be an uneducated young man, and of very humble parentage.

Very respectfully thy friend, E. C. SOUTHWICK.

* That is a mistake, according to the statement of his father, mentioned above.

INTRODUCTION. IX

Poughkeepsie, January 21, 1847.

Dear Sir : In complying with your request, to write you an account of what I know, whether favorable or otherwise, of the character, habits, education, &c, of Mr. A. J. Davis, permit me to express my satisfaction at being enabled to render you an account which is favorable. I have enjoyed a personal acquaintance of three years with Mr. Davis, under circumstances favorable to obtaining a correct knowledge of his character, &c. ; and so fully persuaded am I of his moral worth and integrity, that I would not hesitate to place implicit confidence in him under the most trying circumstances. From seeing and conversing with him almost daily during the first year of our acquaintance, and from the frequent subsequent intercourse we have had, I have the assurance to think I know him as well as any other person ; and such is the opinion I have formed of him. His honesty, his frankness, his veracity, his sensibility — in short, his virtue to the fullest extent in which this word can be understood, are worthy of all praise. Of his education (that which he obtained at school or from books, I mean), I am constrained to say it is of a very limited character, he having never received more than about five months' schooling, as he has often stated to me ; which statement is corroborated by the testimony of those who have known him from his childhood. His reading has also been limited, and of a character calculated to yield him no great benefit. It has served as a mere pastime — a mere gratification for the moment. Indeed, he seemed to have no higher end in it than amusement for the time being.

Yours, very respectfully, S. S. LAPHAM.

The following letter from Mr. Armstrong, to whom young Davis was an apprentice for about two years, is deserving of particular attention : —

Poughkeepsie, January 9, 1847.

Dear Sir : Your letter was received a few days ago, but I have lacked time to answer it before now. The world, you say, may yet ask, Who is A. J. Davis ? To this question, so far as I am able, it shall have a frank and truthful answer. With the early life of A. J. Davis I am altogether unacquainted, except from his own account of it, sustained by the testimony of others. His father was in exceedingly straitened circumstances ; so much so, that Jackson was in very early life, and long before I knew him, compelled to toil and watchfulness to aid in supporting his father's family. I have often thought that it was this circumstance more than any other which gave him habits of steadiness and sobriety far beyond his years. He was, I think, near fifteen when I first became acquainted with him. I had occasion for the services of a boy somewhat acquainted with the shoe-trade, and employed him for a fortnight to assist me. During this time, I was so much pleased with his good sense and industry, that, upon his own solicitation and the wish of his father, I took him as an apprentice. His education barely amounted to a knowledge of reading, writing, and the rudiments of arithmetic. His reading was exceedingly limited, and confined to that of a light and juvenile description. During his two years of apprenticeship, he established a character for faithfulness and integrity not to be surpassed, and which is seldom equalled. There was no probability that we should have parted before the conclusion of his apprenticeship, for we were mutually satisfied with each other. But Mesmerism stepped in between us ; and Jackson being thought a prodigy in prescribing for and. curing disease, we parted, with the understanding that our separation was to be but temporary. But circumstances have made it perpetual, so far as apprenticeship is concerned.

Yours, IRA ARMSTRONG.

Rev. A. R, Bartlett, now of Chicago, and author of the following letter,, was formerly a settled and esteemed pastor in Poughkeepsie : —

Chicago, March 31, 1847.

Mr. Fishbough : You ask me for a frank statement of what I know of the mental and moral character, opportunities, acquirements, &c, of A. J. Davis, during the period of my intercourse and acquaintance with him. In reply, permit me to say that I first became acquainted with A. J. Davis in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., early in the year 1842. At that time, and until his services were wholly absorbed by the mesmeric art, he was engaged in the business of shoemaking. He had no mother living; his father was very industrious, but poor. Hence, at a tender age, the subject of this sketch was thrown to a great extent, if not wholly, upon his own exertions for the means of support and progress. This, at least, was his condition when I formed hi*

X INTRODUCTION.

acquaintance. What his earliest opportunities may have been, I can not testify from personal knowledge. But at the date of our intimacy, no one could resist the conviction 1hat his advantages had not been sufficient to give him common proficiency in the simplest elements of the English language. Decided disadvantages were all around him, and so continued, so far as obtaining an education was concerned ; for during my acquaintance with him, which was most intimate from A. D. 1842 to 1845 (and continued by correspondence till recently), he had not an hour's schooling, nor could he have afforded it consistently with his circumstances. Yet he possessed an inquiring mind — loved books, especially controversial religious works, which he always preferred, whenever he could borrow them and obtain leisure for their perusal. Hence, he was indebted to his individual exertions for some creditable advances which he made in knowledge. He became a good thinker. Still, his natural method of communication at times tended to obscure his thoughts, through a misuse of words. His orthography and syntax were often faulty.

The singular powers claimed for Mr. Davis were first brought into public notice by the experimental assistance of Mr. William Levingston, by whom he continued to be mesmerized for many months. This was not far from October, 1843. In his natural appearance, deportment, or opportunities, no change was observable at this or any other period of my acquaintance with him. There was nothing in his general deportment or character that would attract the attention of those who were not his intimates, except it might be the fact that he had few associates of his own age, and preferred the society of more experienced men : though a few companions suited^ him better than many. He was always fond of asking questions, but had no power to conceal his object in proposing them ; very communicative to those whom he regarded as friends — moderately so to others. His veracity, so far as I have been able to observe—and I have criticised him closely — could be depended upon. I know that he would suffer much inconvenience rather than descend to untruthfulness. He was always cheerful and pleasant, and at times rather inclined to levity through the natural exuberance of his spirits. Over the latter, however, he held a strong control. He was rather devotional in his feelings, with very strong sympathies in behalf of the struggling and suffering ; an ardent temperance man ; and his moral character was worthy of general approbation. Indeed, I fully believe that he aimed to be governed by high and holy principles. That I am qualified to make the above statements you can easily judge, when I tell you that, as long as opportunity allowed, we were intimate almost without reserve, and the mutual confidan ts of each other.

A. R. BARTLETT.

Many more testimonies of like tenor with the above might be collected, but these are deemed sufficient, at least for the present.

We will now present a brief history of Mr. Davis's career in clairvoyance, including an account of the origin and production of this book.