The healing of the nations

Front matter

Class Book

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT m o u.s senator AUZ govebwob. OF WISCOITSW

THE

Introduction

The title of this book, " The Healing of the Nations," is dictated from the same spiritual source as the book itself. The writer, Charles Linton, is a native of Newtown Township, Bucks County, State of Pennsylvania, and is now about twenty-six years of age. He is a young man of good natural capacity, of limited education, having only had the advantages of a common district school in Pennsylvania, and that, too, at a time when the common schools of that State were not as far advanced as they now are. He had no opportunity of going beyond the common branches, and, as he has often said to me, " never did like to go to school/' At the age of sixteen he went to learn the blacksmith's trade, and worked at it till nearly twenty-two years of age. He then engaged as a clerk in a drygoods store in Philadelphia, and afterward as a bookkeeper of a firm of lumber commission merchants. Whilst thus engaged, he became developed as a writing medium, and most of his time since he has been thus employed. Some of the purest and most exalted communications which I have seen have come through him. His character for personal integrity and moral purity is unblemished.

About a year ago Mr. Linton was directed to write no more miscellaneous communications, but to give his attention to writing a book which would be dictated to him through spiritual influence. He procured, according to direction, a thick bound blank volume of the largest ruled letter sheet, and in that volume commenced writing. The volume itself is almost a miracle. The chirography is beautiful. His handwriting in this volume is totally different from his ordinary handwriting, and can be read as easily as print. He writes with a steel pen, and the original writing of this book is in the bound volume above mentioned. It is written with an accuracy and neatness which could not be surpassed by the most expert copyist. There are four hundred and thirty pages in the volume, and not a word of importance erased or interlined throughout the whole ; and any slight mistake, however immaterial, is entirely attributable to the inattention of the writer. A large portion of the book has been wTitten in my presence. I have, therefore, had the very best opportunity of judging of the manner of the writer. During the time I was with him he wrote from five to ten pages a clay. He wrote rapidly whilst the influence was on him, and when it left he would cease writing, and generally not resume it till the next day. I have frequently interrupted him in the middle of a sentence, and engaged him in conversation. As soon as the conversation ceased he would go on and finish the sentence without a moment's hesitation. Many literary and scientific gentlemen have examined the original volume, and pronounce portions of it beyond human conception. The style is simple and faultless, and adapted to every capacity. The most astute critic can not strike out a word in a single sentence, and substitute another which he can truthfully say will improve it in style or sentiment. Neither can he select a sentence that he can in like manner say does not embody or enforce some truth. I can, in no way, better describe the feelings, the impressions, and the influence under which this book has been written by Mr. Linton, than in his own language in the following communication to me :

When about to write in the book entitled " The Healing of the Nations," I felt descending upon me an influence whose holy sweetness words can never express.

Ere talcing my pen to write, my whole being entered a calm and tranquil state which was expressed to the Holy One in a devout praj'er — such as this :

INTRODUCTION

" Oh, Father, if it so please Thee, let Thy servant write only that which shall' glorify Thee."

And in answer I have written that which I felt to be truth, though at times my outward ignorance was much at a loss to substantiate the wisdom of that written.

I have never written without the influence of that unseen Power, for it has been my constant desire that I might never write one word of error, or of that which would not lead to man's highest good, and to the highest knowledge of God.

When writing I always preferred to be alone, though I have often written in the presence of my own family or friends, and sometimes in the presence of entire strangers.

The presence of other persons seemed to disturb the quiet calmness so very necessary to the flow of that which I do believe to have been from the highest spiritual source ; and for this reason it was thai I preferred to be alcne with the Power under whose dictation I wrote.

During the writing of the book I scarcely read any — in any book, or in any form — being conscious that I retained nothing at all of that which I attempted to read.

Strange as it may appear unto some readers, I never referred to any bock before the writing, during, or since having finished the writing of " The Healing of the Nations."

I never had any books by me save the one in which I wrote. How the contents of the book correspond with the contents of other books I do not know ; neither need I care, believing, as I firmly do, that there is nothing but truth in it.

It was always sufficient inducement for me to write to feel the sweet influence enveloping me as a flood of light in which was all that I could imagine as necessary unto heavenly happiness.

I have written in all kinds of circumstances without any apparent diminution of the control of my system had by the unseen Power. The one thing necessary for the obtaining of this feeling — this holy influence — was calm, quiet Prayer.

I know that prayers are answered ; how, is explained in the book.

I have felt and seen all that I wrote. I have experienced most holy joy, most serene happiness ; and again have felt the keen despair of the tortured spirit. I have viewed the operation of essences and principles, apparently seeing them as distinctly as any outward object. I have seen all the scenery as in the book described ; and., in short, all that is there written at the time wrote was felt by me as though it was then and there present.

I feel thankful unto God for the bestowal of so much happiness as I have experienced whilst writing, and since writing, " The Healing of the Nations."

It has truly healed my spirit, and I may add that one other spirit, as dear unto mine as its own existence, hath found in the words flowing from my pen a balm most healing. It has driven hereditary darkness from our path, and opened a channel unto the Fountain of Light, whose outward flowing waters have nourished our love until it is as the rock cf Eternal Truth.

Words can not tell how this high and pnre spiritual influence feels — else would I strive to detail all of my experience ; and sure am I that all who read of such happiness would strive to seek its pleasure.

The ideas seemed at times to enter my mind with a gleam of light, and were instantly before me waiting to be worded ; at other times I could not see one word ahead of that which I was writing, and have written on, one word at a time, that when the word was written it appeared disjointed and disconnected until the whole sentence was finished, and behold ! I saw a great truth, build - ed, as it were, almost without my knowledge.

I have at times been conscious of an entire vacancy of what I should term my own mind ; at other times my mind has been exercised violently on some outside subject, and still the writing would continue as though the mind were calm. This was after having commenced writing, as I never commenced except in the manner above described — calmly and quietly.

I have written from one half page to as high as ten or eleven pages daily. The book was commenced on the eleventh of the eleventh month, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, and ended fourth month ninth, eighteen hundred and fifty-four. (Commenced Nov. 11th, 1853; ended April 9th, 1854.) I lost one month in writing, being away from the book at the time.

There are four hundred and thirty (430) pages of manuscript, closely written, and scarcely containing one mistake. I can say positively, there is no mistake of any kind which did not arise from my own inattention during the writing ; the dictating Power being always right, so far as my comprehension goes.

I have never felt but one Presence and but one Power, which is to me as distinct as my own animal feelings. I know the instant it approaches, and can instantly tell when it leaves me, at which time I have ceased writing, and commenced exercising in the open air.

Some will naturally ask, " What is that Power ?" In answer to this question I must say, I do not positively know. I leave every reader to be his own judge; believing as I do in individual responsibility, I feel at liberty only to tell what I believe, namely, that it is from the highest spiritual source, leaving positive truths unto God, and all men to judge their own judgment. My belief concerning the source whence the book came can enly be my own belief, and I do not want that to be adopted by any man unthinkingly.

Would that I could give all mankind as much happiness as I have experienced whilst writing under this influence. I am certain, from its effect upon myself, that good unto them would result therefrom.

Would that all would endeavor sincerely to ascertain whether there is such a blessing as Inspiration numbered among the gifts of God unto man. Would that all would strive of themselves, with their own individual powers untrammclecl by any outward considerations or influences, to draw down from the Fountain of Wisdom that which giveth purest happiness — the love of God.

I had not the faintest idea, at the commencement of " The Healing of the Nations," what the course would be of that which was being written ; and I must say, that no person can be so much surprised as myself at the order and regularity of the course pursued both in regard to the subjects, and the reasoning elucidating them.

I never planned, or attempted to plan, any thing ahead in writing ; for beside of the Power dictating I felt truly as a little child in wisdom, and can now thank God that I was permitted to have a child's trustfulness — thus writing as dictated unto, unheeding the opinions of my own selfish nature.

I have frequently been asked, " Why do you reject the credit of composing ' The Healing of the Nations ?' " I answer all such inquiries thus : " Common honesty bids me do it."

I commenced the book unknowing that it was to ever be any thing save a few disconnected sentences, continued page after page, not knowing but that every sitting would finish that at which I seemed to be writing. Thus was I ignorant until the book was more than half finished, when the plan seemed to be dimly opened before me, and in all I had done I could now distinctly feel the hand of God working out his own glory, even as I had earnestly desired might be done.

This to me does not seem much like co?nposing the book !

The only credit I desire to have, and that which I feel to be my due, arises from the fact that I have desired humbly and sincerely to glorify a Loving Father and benefit man. Any man who honestly and openly reads " The Healing of the Nations*' will give me this credit, and surely I need not ask more. True it is, that let men say and do as they will concerning that which is written in the book, they can never reach that sweet place within my own spirit, wherein, morning and evening, and in the shady neon, I feel " Well done" vibrating to the Voice of Him whose servant I am proud to be.

I have felt more peaceful happiness in this inward communion with the unseen Power whose scribe 1 seemed to be, than the voice of all mankind could in praising give. Hence do I speak of my work as though it was not my work, and give credit unto whom credit is due.

From this communication it will be seen that the book has been written under an influence believed by Mr. Linton to be from the highest spiritual source. The beauty and simplicity of style, and the purity and sublimity of sentiment, may claim not only a spiritual, but the highest spiritual source. The chapters are divided into paragraphs, just as they were written — the numbers only have been added.

In presenting this book to the public, I do it on my own responsibility. Neither Mr. Linton nor any one else is accountable for the opinions expressed by me. In introducing it, therefore, to the reader, I deem it incumbent on me to give, briefly, the views I entertain of "Spiritual Manifestations." Those views are principally the result of my own personal observation and experience.

b INTEODUCTION.

When these manifestations were first announced to the public as the "Rochester Knockings," like most others, I paid no heed to them ; they were so incredible and so marvelous, and not having the support of names known to me, that I passed them by as a delusion, and had no inclination even to investigate them. This feeling with me continued till May, 1852, when I accidentally saw in a leading newspaper in the city of New York a communication of Judge Edmonds on this subject, copied from some other paper or periodical, and accompanied by the editor with remarks very severe and denunciatory of the Judge for the avowal of his belief in such an imposture and delusion. I had known Judge Edmonds intimately for more than thirty years — had practiced law with him in our highest courts — had been associated with him in both branches of the Legislature of the State of New York — and also as members of the Court for the Correction of Errors. After my election to the Senate of the United States, he was elected a Judge of the Supreme Court, and subsequently became a Judge of the Court of Appeals. I knew him as a man of finished, classical education, a profound lawyer, astute in his investigations and in analyzing testimony, unsurpassed in his legal opinions and in the discharge of his high judicial duties ; and above all, I knew him to be a man of unimpeachable personal integrity, and the last to be duped by an imposture or carried away by a delusion. Under these circumstances I felt that I should do great injustice to him and to those with whom my opinions might have weight, and still greater injustice to myself, if I should longer hesitate to investigate the subject.

I felt that however strange and improbable these manifestations might appear, I could not, as an honest man, after they were thus vouched for on the authority of a responsible name, any longer, even tacitly, unite in the denunciations of them. I felt that something was due to human testimony — that testimony on which our belief in all things is founded — that testimony on which the Sacred Scriptures themselves have been handed down to us through a long series of more than eighteen hundred years, and without which we should have no authentic evidence of their existence. I felt that I should despise myself, and that I ought to be despised by others, if, without investigation, I should presume to express opinions against these manifestations after such authority for their truth. This feeling has been corroborated by my own experience ; and I have looked on, " more in sorrow than in anger," at the thoughtless, flippant, and vapid assaults which have continued to be made, notwithstanding the manifestations have been piled up, " like Ossa upon Pelion," and backed by an array of names which would adorn the history of any science or of any cause. Under these impressions of duty I commenced my investigations, which resulted in a thorough conviction of the truth of spiritual intercourse, as will be more fully evinced in the course of these introductory remarks.

ISTo cause in the history of the world has made such rapid and unprecedented progress as "Spiritualism" since its first introduction. Unaided, and without an effort on the part of its friends and advocates, and with an opposition unparalleled for its perseverance and its bitterness, it has moved onward with a momentum as resistless as it is overwhelming. It already numbers in its ranks talent of the highest order in every department of science and the arts, the most distinguished of the legal profession, the most elevated of judicial functionaries, the most eminent of legislative bodies, the most enlightened of the press, and the most pious and learned of the pulpit ; and above all, it enrolls among its votaries the purest and most intellectual of the female sex, whose modesty and whose virtues would sanctify any cause, and whose advocacy, when openly proclaimed, will put to flight and to shame the unmanly attacks of ignorance and bigotry, and tear from the great " Mokanna" of hypocrisy the unhallowed vail which has so long concealed the horrid deformity of its features ! It already numbers more ably edited and better sustained newspapers and periodicals than any religious sect or denomination in the country; and it has presented to the public mmd specimens of " spiritual literature" unsurpassed in beauty of style and sentiment, and unequaled in profundity and sublimity of thought.*

Notwithstanding all this rapid progress and wide-spread belief in "Spiritual Manifestations," there is nevertheless a pervading ignorance on the subject amongst the masses hardly to be anticipated in this enlightened age. At the same time the fault is not theirs, but is chargeable to those whose duty it is, and whose position requires, that they should enlighten and instruct their fellows in what concerns their temporal and eternal welfare, namely, those who control those mighty engines for good or evil, the Pulpit and the Press.

As I have already said, there are high and honorable exceptions in both these departments. But the public press, as a whole, is without excuse for the manner in which it has treated this subject — a subject presenting phenomena the most extraordinary in the history of the world, and vouched for by names, whose testimony, if the facts were in issue on the trial of a man for his life, would convict and execute him. Yet with these facts staring them in the face, and with this testimony before them, they have in the most violent terms denounced not only the subject, but the

* The following remarks, from a recent publication against Spiritualism, prove the correctness of my statement. Its opponents will not contradict the evidence of their own witness.

" In the city of New York, to which circle our personal investigations have been confined, there are, at the least calculation, forty thousand sincere believers in spiritual rappings. We can not pretend to give the number of the disciples of this new spiritual doctrine scattered throughout all parts of the United States. It is sufficient to say that it is immense, and far greater than the public generally imagine. These believers arc to be found in every class of society, from the highest to the lowest, and among minds of every degree of capacity and cultivation, from the mosi accomplished scholar to the mest ignorant of the ignorant."

investigators. When called upon to publish the views of its friends upon which their comments have been made, they have not only refused, but have made that reasonable request the ground for renewed attack, and still more violent assault. Their readers have therefore remained in ignorance not only, but have been plunged into deeper darkness by reason of the one-sided and distorted views which have been presented by the boasted intelligence and the enlightened liberality of the American press ! Whatever may be the origin of these extraordinary phenomena, whether they be spiritual or philosophical, they are equally entitled to the consideration of every intelligent mind, and more especially of those minds that control and direct the public press, because to them the masses look for information on all subjects, whether spiritual, philosophical, or political.

In saying this I say it in all charity, and in a forgiving and Christian spirit. At the same time, charity, the brightest gem in the crown of Christianity, requires that the truth shall be told, let its crushing weight fall where it may. The following remarks of Lord Bacon to me and others are peculiarly applicable to all denouncers of " Spiritualism" without investigation, and were given by him whilst recommending charity toward those who did not, for want of information, believe.

a Let the dog bark, the cat mew, or the ass slavishly toil for mere animal existence, still nature will assert its just claims whether in man or brute. And to him who, without evidence of either right or wrong, can denounce that as untrue which he has not investigated, you may j ustly attribute the true prerogatives of his nature. He will bark dog-like to the compulsion of his brute-like organization, and he will toil like the ass to perpetuate the slavery of opinions to which he is bound by error and prejudice."

But a still more gentle rebuke, and a still higher sense of responsibility on the part of the conductors of the public press, will be found in the following extract from the book itself, which these remarks are intended to introduce :

God requireth no uncertain action. Thou must know, else write not, neither speak nor act. * * * The man who can govern a press, and that which flows from it, hath great chances to instruct almost numberless parts of this great sum — man. And let him take good notice of all that cometh from his great distributor of knowledge.

Let him watch every word and be sure that truth is therein, for his labor is filed in heaven, and if his deeds be not good he hath condemned himself

Would the managers of the press remember that there is an All- seeing eye, who knoweth not only every printed word their press utters, but the spirit and intention in which it was uttered, before whom their sheet is either pure and spotless, good intentions, or smeared with the dark ink of darker passions than ink can express, they would be less reckless of their individual responsibility.

The pmpit, too, has lent its aid to confirm this ignorance, instead of attempting to dissipate it by wise counsels and discreet conduct. Its denunciations have been hurled against the cause and its advocates, regardless alike whether they struck down friend or foe, and without reflecting that the rebound might injure much more the assailant than the assailed. Instead of attempting to enlighten the bigotry of the age, its efforts have only tended to sink it still lower in the scale of progressive intelligence, and to prevent its further advancement.

The believers in " Spiritual Manifestations" have been denounced as denying the truths of the Bible, and the manifestations themselves have been cited as confirmation of the truth of those denunciations. All this has been done against the protestations of the most distinguished advocates of " Spiritualism," and against their earnest assertions, that the manifestations prove the Bible, and that the Bible proves the manifestations. These protestations have been made after a patient and thorough investigation of the whole subject, whilst the denunciations have been uttered without investigation, and consequently without knowledge.

The Bev. Adin Ballou, who was one of the earliest and most thorough investigators, and who has written a most candid and satisfactory explanation of the phenomena, says :

Whatever of divine fundamental principle, absolute truth, and essential righteousness there is in the Bible, in the popular religion, and in the established churches, will stand. It can not be done away. On the contrary, it will be corroborated and fulfilled by spirit-manifestations. * * * * Our All-wise and benignant Father in Heaven has left no essential truth or righteousness dependent on the mere pretension or wncorroborated testimony either of departed or w/ideparted spirits. He has addressed his revealments of essential truth and duty to the moral reason of mankind, and authenticated them by every necessary attestation. Any attempt, therefore, to build up a religion or moral philosophy radically different from the genuine Christian Testament, on what is being disclosed to the world through dreamers, somnambulists, impressibles, clairvoyants, spirit-media, spirit-rappings, etc., is absurd, and must prove mischievous rather than beneficial to the human race. But fundamental truths and duties may be re-affirmed, clarified from error, demonstrated anew, and powerfully commended to the embrace of mankind by fresh spiritual communications. I am of opinion that this is really the case ; and the conversion of many long-confirmed atheists and deistical rejectors of the Christian revelation confirms me.

The Eev. Charles Beecher, at a regular meeting of " The Congregational Association of New York and Brooklyn," was appointed to investigate the " Spiritual Manifestations." It should be borne in mind that he is the pastor of a regular orthodox Church. In his elaborate report he assumes the hypothesis that " spirits can only obtain access through prepared odylic conditions ;" that this was the mode of communication by the ancient prophets, and to substitute, any other theory u cuts >up by the roots large portions of the prophetic Scriptures." And he adds, " Whenever odylic conditions are right , spirits can no more be repressed from communicating than water from jetting through the crevices of a dyke." Mr. Beecher concludes by saying :

Whatever physiological law accounts for odylic phenomena in all ages, will in the end inevitably carry itself through the Bible, where it deals with the phenomena of soul and body as mutually related, acting and reacting. A large portion of the Bible, its prophecies, ecstasies, visions, trances, theophanies, and angelophanies, are more or less tinged with odylic characteristics. The physiology, the anthropology of the Bible is highly odylic, and must be studied as such. As such it will be found to harmonize with the general principles of human experience in such matters in all ages. If a theory be adopted everywhere else but in the Bible, excluding spiritual intervention by odylic channels in toto, and accounting for everything physically, then will the covers of the Bible prove but pasteboard barriers. Such a theory will sweep its way through the Bible and its authority ; its plenary inspirations will be annihilated.

This is the conclusion to which the Eev. Mr. Beecher arrived after a long, careful, and patient investigation of this subject. How proudly do the views of these reverend gentlemen above quoted contrast with those reverends who have so bitterly denounced the manifestations as an imposture and delusion, and who, according to their own confession, have never investigated them, and of course know nothing about them !

I might quote many more of the clergy to the same effect. In this connection, however, I will only cite another able writer, and there leave this branch of the subject.

Howbeit we know that the Holy Spirit, from the " day of Pentecost" until now, has vouchsafed to communicate with man. Hence, the disembodied spirit, being of the same essence, can make known its wishes through the same channel ; for be it understood, there was a mode of intercourse established by Jesus Christ. This being conceded, then it follows that spirit would be able to use it, as all spiritual information contained in the Bible was imparted through the mortal being. Hence, we who believe in the Divine inspiration of the Scriptures, can not deny the possibility of these so-called spiritual manifestations.

Neither can those who deny such inspiration reject the divinity of Christ ; because if they do, what logic could such Spiritualists bring to prove that man, material, could communicate with spirit, spiritual ? It can only be demonstrated by these facts, namely, that man fell from his spiritual state ; that spirit, infinite in power, reunited the mortal to the spiritual — thus enabling it again to converse with spirit, as before man's fall. Rejecting these men cast off all hope or ability of proving that spirit does communicate with matter, or that it ever was able so to do. * * * Hence, man must first purge from his mind all prejudices against the Bible, before he is competent to examine the phenomena called spiritual manifestations. And, on the other hand, the Bible believer must likewise set aside all that would bias his mind to think adversely to what agrees with common sense.

These denunciations by the clergy are still more astonishing when we reflect that the writings of the old fathers of the Church, for four or five centuries after the time of