Flashes of light from the spirit-land : through the mediumship of Mrs. J.H. Conant

Front matter

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Preface

Many a reader of the following work may welcome a brief account of its source and history. The origin, object and influence of the

Banner of Light

were set forth at a public seance, September 4, 1871, by Spirit Theodore Parker, in the following

ADDRESS.

I have been requested to make a statement concerning the result of our labors as ministering spirits through the Banner of Light. In preface I would say, that we are entering upon the fifteenth year of our ministerial labor through that journal ; but it is nearly nineteen years since a band of far-seeing, energetic spirits resolved that they would be heard on earth through the press ; and as all the journals then extant were conservative, creed-bound, and, what is worse, money-bound, it became necessary for these spirits, if their theory or project was to be put in operation, to start a journal of their own.

This being determined upon in convention, agents were sent out to see who among the children of earth could be selected and adapted to the work. After months of searching they were found ; but they were in the rough. It then became necessary to employ artists to chisel them, and hammer and polish them. This was done by sickness, by losses, by sorrow,

4 FREFAQE.

by various trials which were imposed upon those persons, until, at last these artists announced to the assembly that the subjects were ready to be vitalized. They were then separately visited by a committee selected for the purpose, and were baptized with a holy ghost of aspiration, of spiritual desire, and were made ready to stand in front of the opposition incident to the introduction of a truth to the world.

It was well known by this band of spirits what dangers their mortal coadjutors would be obliged to meet if led in the path marked out ; well known that they would be assailed by pulpit and press, and that shots .would be fired at them from every avenue in life ; but they also knew that they should be able to sustain them ; for they understood of what elements they were composed, and knew that when once these mortal coadjutors put their hands to the spiritual plough, they would not ' turn back, for they were so largely inspired with faith in those who were leading them that they could not. And to-day the result of our labors is this : Our spiritual statistics show that we have brought seventy-two thousand seven hundred and forty-six into the spiritual fold here in this earth-life. We have enumerated only those who are sound, honest Spiritualists, leaving out all the nondescripts. And the number which has been added to the ranks of freedom — been liberated from the darkness of creeds, and from the various conditions of darkness that the spirit often carries with it from this world to the higher life — that number has been quadrupled, leaving out all those who are not firm and sound in the way of spiritual right.

This much, then, by the grace of Almighty God, we have been enabled to do ; and to-day our glorious Banner floats in every clime : it has been read by every race of human beings ; we have found it in the Esquimaux hut, and upon the throne ; it has gone forth with the God-speed of the angel world, and to-day it is stronger than it ever was before. It proposes to gather under its folds a larger multitude than are already there ; and although this band of spirits may not be able to reward their mortal coadjutors as they might wish, their rew T ard in the hereafter is sure, and they have nothing to fear, for they are so firmly grounded in truth and justice that the gates of hell cannot prevail against them.

Penalties of Mediumship.

Do kind spirits ever subject certain selected, sensitive mortals to prolonged, harsh and agonizing experiences, for the special purpose of making them obedient subordinates and facile instruments in beneficent philanthropic labors? The foregoing address implies that they do. Read the autobiography of the prophet Ezekiel, noting carefully the discipline to which he was subjected by " the spirit that entered into him," and so " took him away " that " he went in bitterness," and one will notice that humiliating and agonizing trials are not new instrumentalities for developing and supplizing mediumistic susceptibilities and subduing the powers of human selfdetermination. The world's most venerated seers and prophets, almost without exception, were men of sorrows, acquainted with grief, hardships and privations.

The common judgment of men often assumes that pure, kind and wise spirits can use no persons as mediums who are devoid of eminent moral worth. But no exceptional moral merit or demerit is apparent to the external observer of modern mediums, or to the reader of history, as belonging to those who have been, in every age, chiselled, polished and baptized to make them satisfactory instruments and coadjutors of spirits for disclosing marvels and truths to mortals. To show that the common assumption is unwarranted, and that mediumship is mainly the offspring of physical peculiarities, we quote part of a definition of mediumship by Parker, December 16, 1867. See page 106.

" A medium is simply a body that is sensitive to the od forces in the universe — forces which you do not thoroughly understand ; those that have not come within the sphere of human science ; those with which human science has not yet dealt. A medium possesses a peculiar quality of magnetism and electricity."

Q PREFACE.

A New Testament writer (Heb. xi.) defined Faith as " the evidence of things not seen," and used the word Faith to express precisely such trust in higher powers as our facile mediums often manifest, and, many centuries after the fall of Jericho, catalogued the harlot Rahab with Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, as worthy of remembrance for what they achieved by Faith — by " the evidence" they had " of things not seen." The principles on which mediums are selected are the same now as in the days of Joshua ; they involve chiefly physical fitness.

The Visible Banner-Bearers.

Selected, induced and aided by spirits, certain mortals, in 1857, unfurled the Banner of Light, started on a march, crept along the verge of bankruptcy for years, once toppled over the brink, and threw off a load of thirty thousand dollars' indebtedness, and yet have never failed on any subsequent week to give the Banner an airing. Loaded with the very heavy extraordinary expenses of the Message Department, the paper to-day, apart from the book publishing business of the proprietors, is not self-sustaining, and through every former year failed to reimburse its cost. Unflagging toil and financial anxieties have been constant experiences with these Banner-Bearers . Faith in the wisdom, power and justice of their invisible co-laborers has given them hope, strength and perseverance. Whether one credits the account above given of the establishment and supervision of the Banner or not, that paper has long outlived every kindred companion of its infancy, and is now in vigorous and efficient manhood.

The extreme sensitiveness and physical frailties of the chief medium have required daily visits by a paid physician, quiet, neat and airy apartments, and an invalid's many delicacies ; the cost of these, supplemented by the general needs of herself and her dependent husband, calls for more than three thousand dollars per annum ; and when we add to that sum the rent and care of the Circle Room, and fair compensation to a reporter magnetically, sympathetically, and in all other respects, fitted for the place and its duties, it will be obvious that the cost of the message department is very onerous.

The original band of visible workers, all consciously susceptible to spirit promptings, were William Berry, William White, Luther Colby and Mrs. Conant, the latter being the trusted channel of oracles. Isaac B. Rich and Charles H. Crowell, brother of Mrs. Conant, subsequently joined the Banner firm. Berry and Crowell have joined the pioneers in spirit-land, and are there helping to open pathways for and increase the efficiency of their associates and successors.

Luther Colby, now and from its commencement chief editor of the Banner, has long been making his mark and recording his own biography in its columns. Fretting resolutely, now and then, under the harrowings of conflicting influences from both around and above him ; suffering sorely, and almost frenzied by the tearings of the harrows, he yet perseveringly manifests his faith in and obedience to spirit instructions and impressions, blended with no small amount of personal independence and self-reliance in the management of his paper, and in his judgments as to the wisest and most efficient methods for advancing the cause of Spiritualism. In these labors he has long been efficiently aided by his calm and worthy assistant editor, L. B. Wilson. A future day will be early enough for an extended account of Colby's inspirations, labors and sufferings.

The public may expect an extended and authentic biography of Mrs. Conant some time in the present year ; therefore our notice of her may be very brief. She has been a medium from infancy. " Angels spoke through " her " lips," as they did through Swedenborg's, in early childhood, and have continued the use of them with uncommon persistency and method. It is said by those who know her well that she possesses no intellectual or literary abilities above or aside from the common average of females ; that her education is quite limited, and that in her normal state she is manifestly incompetent to such utterances as her organs put forth when used by spirits. This is much more than credible ; for, during several sessions of service in the legislature, beginning almost forty years ago and ending in 1852, covering a period when Massachusetts halls were daily familiar with the speeches of very eloquent and cultured men, we can recall but one or two of them who would not in extemporaneous debate frequently forget the grammar lessons of their youth, and utter sentences which would shame them if seen in print. But in this work are more than two hundred pages of impromptu answers, through Mrs. Conant, verbatim as they fell from her lips. And as such they are a prolonged miracle of correct grammar, of perspicuity and relevancy.

Occasionally very good versification, bordering at times upon good poetry, flows forth from her lips ; yet in her normal state nothing of the kind ever came from her tongue or pen.

Throughout many years she has endured much physical debility and suffering, enhanced by solicitude for and support of a husband in whom the light of reason is unsteady and waning, who must pass his years in seclusion from general society, away from his home. Rarely can any mortal say more truthfully than she, " My burden is greater than I can bear." Seemingly her spirit is held to the body mostly by the sympathy and aid of other spirits on the two sides of the separating veil. Thus frail, burdened and saddened is the instrument for clear, strong, forcible, and correct enunciations. Who wields the instrument? Frail Mrs. Conant alone? Let common sense make answer.

Origin op Questions and Answers.

The compiler, finding no department headed Questions and Answers in the earlier volumes of the Banner, and it being from under that heading alone that he was permitted to select, privately asked the editor when and why that department was introduced ; when and why the controlling spirits arranged to make themselves simply responders to inquiries put by inquisitive man.

At the public seance, April 1, 1872, Spirit Parker said, I may as well answer at this place as anywhere else a request that has been made. It is this : —

Give us the origin of the questions and answers making up a portion of the message department of the Banner of Light.

The inauguration of this special department originated with a public need — with a demand made upon the spirits controlling at this place by- audiences here convened. This demand at last became so urgent that it could no longer be resisted by the spirit-world ; and so, in answer to this prayer or demand, this special department was inaugurated, and it was determined that whatever spirit presided on any occasion should be the spirit who would receive and answer the questions propounded, and that that spirit, and that one alone, should be accountable for the answers. If it was a Theodore Parker and he told a lie, h'e should be accountable for it. If it was a Swedenborg and he told a lie, he should be accountable for it. If it was a Jesus Christ and he told a lie, he should be accountable for it. If it was a prostitute from North Street and she told a lie, she should be accountable for it.

The spirit- world was in ignorance for a long time as to the best methods of imparting what they knew to those who were in need of such knowledge here. For years information from the spirit-world came at random shots ; but, thanks be to the overruling Providence, these shots did their work. By and by bands were organized all throughout the various spiritrealms — some for one purpose and some another — to disseminate truth upon the earth, to sweep away those old conditions of darkness that had so long dragged the soul down, and made it drink the bitter waters of error.

The band organized to control at this place consisted of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Chairman, and General Committee. Under their supervision have come all things that were given at this place. And so far as they were able, these presiding spirits were to learn concerning the truthfulness or falsity of each returning spirit. They did so, and having satisfied themselves of the truthfulness of each one desiring to return, it then became their duty to assist them over this rainbow bridge of life that they might meet their loved ones here, whose hearts were unconsciously aching for the same truth which they could bring them.

The Seances.

Tri-weekly for many years a band of spirits have given impromptu answers to the world's promiscuous questions, through Mrs. J. H. Conaut, at the Banner of Light Circle Room, 158 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. The doors of that room, the walls of which are adorned with likenesses of many spirits and prominent Spiritualists, and with spiritdrawings, are gratuitously opened to all comers. Not less than a hundred to a hundred and twenty-five persons are usually present at a seance.

Promptly at the designated hour for meeting Mrs. Conant takes her seat upon a platform raised about two feet above the floor. The doors are then locked ; the medium soon passes under control, and the controlling spirit enunciates impressively and fervently a brief invocation to the supreme Intelligence. That ended, he or she calls for any questions the chairman may have. A question, if any have been sent or handed in, is read in the hearing of the whole assembly, and is forthwith replied to, — sometimes in a brief monosyllable, but generally by a discussion more or less extended. This course is followed till all the questions in the chairman's keeping have been answered. That point reached, permission is given to any person in the audience to make verbal inquiries relating either to what has been said or to any other subject, and questions thus propounded are promptly responded to. The dialogue over, the controlling spirit yields possession of the medium to some other invisible. Usually at each seance three, four or more spirits successively are allowed to enunciate their wishes or sentiments at this public resort, whence the words will be sent on their way to those for whom they are specially intended.

Enveloped letters addressed to particular spirits may be laid upon the medium's table by any persons as they enter the room. From fifteen to thirty visitors usually avail themselves of this privilege, and after the speaking is over, the medium, in the presence of the whole company, fingers these letters one after another, and rapidly writes a few words upon the unopened envelope of most of them. That work finished, the medium's haud is used to write the name of the spirit who has conducted that seance, and of the one who answered the letters. This slip the chairman (who is usually Mr. William White, one of the publishers of the Banner) reads to the whole assembly, and then announces that the exercises of the occasion are ended. While the assembly is passing out from the room, the letters, which are private property, are reclaimed and taken away by those severally who placed them upon the table. Such is a brief account of the circumstances amid which the questions and answers have their birth.

The Compiler's Work.

The compiler's connection with the Banner is solely that of temporary employee. When invited to assume his task he was informed that Theodore Parker desired that a compilation from the Banner questions and answers should be published in book form, and favored the employment of himself as the compiler.

Shortly after that he called upon Mrs. Conant at her lodgings, and had, through her, an interview with Parker. The main inquiry put to that spirit was whether the selections should be so arranged as to present in consecutive paragraphs the scattered and sometimes discrepant statements relative to particular topics, — such as atonement, forgiveness, immortality, &c, — or whether chronological order, as in the Banner, should be preserved.

The reply called for retention of the chronological sequence, — for selections from none but utterances subsequent to the commencement of verbatim reports (summer of 1867), and for preservation of the exact language of each communicator. The purport of the information then gained was, that the spirit controllers of the Banner circles desired that the compilation should be a fair and ample compendium of their teachings upon every subject of general interest which they had discussed at the seances within a given time.

The act of compilation, therefore, was not to impose any responsibility for the truth, wisdom or moral influences of the contents of the work ; discretionary power was limited to judgment as to what parts contained more and what less that would be novel, interesting or instructive to the reading world, and to the exclusion of the less important.

Personal approval or disapproval of the doctrines or sentiments communicated must be allowed no influence upon the compiling judgment ; and wherever diversity of opinion should be found among the spirit teachers, it would be duty to let the diversity reappear in the epitome. Even the most absolute incredibility and seeming absurdity of statements must favor their reappearance rather than their suppression. The reader's astronomical and geographical knowledge and science may stand aghast when he comes to what spirits say they know about the size of our globe, and its yet undiscovered continents and peoples ; but the compiler is not privileged to suppress any distinct utterances because they surpass the comprehension of us moles. He must comply with the instructions and restrictions of his engagement.

The files of the Banner from the autumn of 1867 down to January 1, 1872, contained " Questions and Answers" enough to constitute a volume of twelve hundred pages, while the book must be limited to about four hundred. The compiler's work required neither skill nor taste in literary composition and arrangement, but very much reading and re-reading, and great care to select in such ways that each controlling speaker, each topic of general interest, and each significant difference of statement or opinion, might appear in the Compendium, and that without any abridgment or change of language. But repeated and re-repeated clippings failed to bring the mass down to the desired compression, and a portion of the approved matter is held in reserve for constituting a part of another volume, to be issued in some future year.

Persons of all grades of intellect and culture, of various creeds, and from different motives, gather in the Circle Room, and promiscuously propound questions varying from the most profound to the most frivolous, from the most liberal to the most bigoted, from the most philanthropic to * the most selfish, from the most spiritual to the most temporal, all of which are kindly answered — are reported and printed in chronological order. Also, essentially the same questions occur over and over again, and there is no concordant conception of the meaning, or systematic application of the words soul, spirit, mind, intellect, &c, on the part of either the questioners or of those who give the responses. All these things conspire to make the repetition and re-repetition of many replies that are almost identical, necessary to a fair presentation of all that has been taught. The work is a medley — necessarily so ; and it is a truncated medley, cut squarely to date at each end. A satisfactory condensation was attempted, but has not been accomplished. The compiler's success falls far below his aim.

The Compiler's Reflections.

Many scores of bright intelligences, who carried with them some one and some another of the various and conflicting creeds of earth as talisman or panoply when they passed through the portals of death, are coming back, clad with the authority of personal observation and experience in spirit life, and unitedly teaching that all faiths in special creeds are now hinderances instead of helps to their happiness and progress, and that man's only useful and his all-sufficient religion is simply the keeping himself unspotted from the world, and doing justly by others, in the most plain and common sense way possible. They are teaching that all punishments and all rewards are natural results from universal and ever-acting forces. Protestants of various sects, Roman Catholics, Jews, Turks, Arabs, Chinamen, Indians, and many others, dwelling in |he life beyond, transiently reincarnate themselves, and, from amid the light of their experiences, respond to man's inquiries. And they all teach, substantially, that each man can read his own future destiny, his retribution beyond the grave, in the single fact, dissevered from all qualifying or smothering interpretations, that " whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he •also reap/' They teach that the reign of law is co-extensive with eternity and infinity. Such is the gospel revealed by these Flashes of Light from the Spirit Land, — an inspired gospel of plain, liberal common sense, come to grapple for victory or death with the mystical and cramping dogmas of Christendom, not with the essence, but with the perversions of Christianity.

When and where in the world's past history did man receive so methodical, prolonged and copious an efflux of illumination from beyond the veil, as this which is still streaming forth at the Banner circles? At what other spot have so many different disrobed intelligences promulgated here, knowledge gained by personal experiences, and unfoldments in the hereafter? What other set of human vocal organs than Mrs. Conant's ever felt the touch, responded to the call, and subserved the will of near ten thousand different spirits in their distinct utterance of messages back to man? Where else have the names and former residences of so many travellers backward bound, ever been registered as at the Banner Circle Room ?

This age does not see, need not see. probably cannot see the power and beneficence of the Banner band of spirits. The Banner is now a prophet in its own age and country. Both the legitimate action and the enchantments of distance and time are essential to just admeasurements of the importance and influence of truths. Future generations may trace the origin of . momentous reformations in the creeds, ceremo- . nials, habits, customs, moralities and governments of mankind to the doctrines, advice and aid which ascended spirits are now furnishing. The time will come — and it is not in the very far future — - when the world will have learned that the inspirations and "mighty works" now transpiring in our midst are as divine, as miraculous, as immediately the productions of the infinite Power, as those of any former age. Modern Spiritualism will make and mark a brilliant epoch in human history, and the Banner of Light will be one of the most extended and authentic records of its early evolvements. Has the compiler been standing on holy ground, and culling flashes of light from a u burning bush " ? Be that as it may, while his pen was recording the above meditations and prophetic gleams, a solemn sense of the possibility that many in the distant future may regard these cullings as oracles from above, use them as lights to illumine the darkness of earth, and disclose the paths of virtues whose fruits will be heavenly peace, — a solemn sense of such a possibility seemed to give him, through these pages, a possible connection with generations to come, and caused him to invoke from the Father of Light such illumination of the minds of his present and future children on the earth that they may at once discern and eschew whatever may be false or baneful, and discover and appropriate whatever may be true and healthful in these Flashes.

Allen Putnam.

NAMES OP THE SPEAKERS.

The Banner circles are under the charge of Theodore Parker, who is the most frequent speaker, yet often is relieved by some substitute. During the period within which the contents of the present volume were spoken, he was aided by the twenty-five spirits whose names, when in the earth life, were these, viz. : —

Ballou, Rev. Hosea, Beri, Rabbi Joshual, Channing, Rev. W. E., Cheverus, Cardinal, Davy, Sir Humphrey, Dayton, Prof. Edgar C, Dow, Rev. Lorenzo, Fairchild, Rev. Joy H., Fenwick, Bishop, Fitzjames, Father Henry, Fitzpatrick, Bishop, Fuller, Rev. Arthur, Ka-da Ab-dal,

Hare, Prof. Robert, Howard, Lewis, Hubbard, Prof. John, King, Rev. T. Starr, Kneeland, Abner, Lowenthal, Rabbi Joseph, Murray, Rev. John, Parker, Rev. Theodore, Paine, Thomas, Pierpont, Rev. John, Redman, Geo. A., medium, Stowe, Rev. Phineas, Ware, Rev. Henry.

Appendix To Pkeface

Request was made that a few Invocations in verse, uttered at the public circles, and some poetical effusions, through the same organism, at other places, should be included in this volume. They could have no fitting place among Questions and Answers, and are made an Appendix here.

INVOCATION.

Holy angels, guide these mortals

O'er the mystic waves of time ; Open wide the shining portals

Leading unto heights sublime ; Lift, O lift the veil that hides them

From their loved ones, gone before !

Show them but their shining faces,

Waiting on the other shore.

CHRISTMAS INVOCATION.

O Thou, whose mysterious presence

Fills the earth, the air and sea, We would chant undying praises,

We would worship only thee.

From the earth's unnumbered altars Human sighs and tears are born,

Praying for a glad hereafter — Weary watchers in the storm.

Let them hear the chime of voices —

Voices from the spirit-land — Waking all the slumbering echoes,

Strengthening heart and strengthening hand. 2 17

Let them see the star of promise That shall lead to brighter days,

Over all the plains of error,

Where the babe of Bethlehem lays.

Let them sing that holy anthem, Sung by angels long ago, —

" Peace on earth, good will from Heaven," Golden side of human woe.

Then the night shall grow to morning, Then the angels join the song,

For the day of peace is dawning; Lo ! the Son of Truth is born !

INVOCATION.

thou source of endless wisdom, Lord of earth and land Elysian, We would bathe our weary spirits In the fullness of thy love.

We would drink the healing waters Flowing from unnumbered altars, — Altars where no blood-stained offerings Fill the earth with woe.

We would rise redeemed, redeeming, Losing all our earthly seeming, In the holy words, forgiveness Of all earthly sin.

We would dwell with saints and sages, Whose great thoughts have thrilled past ages, Calling all men to adore thee, Lord of heaven and earth.

Hear our prayer, ye guardian angels ; Be to us as brighCevangels, Bearing our poor sin-stained message To the throne of love.

Appendix To Preface. 19

INVOCATION.

O God of all nations ! O light of our souls ! Whose loving hand guides us, whose wisdom controls, Through the weakness, and darkness, and sorrows of time, O lead these thy children to soul-heights sublime. Let us teach them to love thee and serve thee aright, Never fearing the darkness, yet loving the light ; Never doubting thy presence, ever trusting thy grace, To give to each soul its true portion and place.

And unto thee, God of our life, be the homage and honor of nations and individuals, forever. Amen.

INVOCATION.

O Thou, whose love prevaileth

Over all the ills of life, Whose mercy never faileth

When we are weary of the strife That comes of human weakness, —

By some called human sin, — Whose wisdom opens heaven's gates,

That all may enter in ; We would sing thee glad hosannas,

We would join the earth and air In their everlasting chorus,

And their one eternal prayer.

For all that life can give us,

For all that hath been given, For every tear of sorrow,

And every hope of heaven, We thank thee, O, our God.

INVOCATION.

O Spirit of mercy, of justice, and love, O'ershadow thy children with peace from above ; •Let the phantoms of fear, of doubt and despair, Be lost in the radiance of spiritual air ;

Let the songs of the angels be heard in the skies, Proclaiming the truth that the soul never dies ; That all things are carefully guarded by thee, But the soul in its beauty at death is set free.