,,the ,,new ,,revelation ,,by ,,arthur ,,conan ,,doyle ,dedication ,to all the brave men and women1 humble or learned1 who have the moral courage during seventy years to face ridicule or worldly disadvantage in order to testify to an all-important truth4 ,march1 #aiah ,,preface ,many more philosophic minds than mine have thought over the religious side of this subject and many more scientific brains have turned their attention to its phenomenal aspect4 ,so far as ,i know1 however1 there has been no former attempt to show the exact relation of the one to the other4 ,i feel that if ,i should succeed in making this a little more clear ,i shall have helped in what ,i regard as far the most important question with which the human race is concerned4 ,a celebrated ,psychic1 ,mrs4 ,piper1 uttered1 in the year #ahii words which were recorded by ,dr4 ,hodgson at the time4 ,she was speaking in trance upon the future of spiritual religion1 and she said3 ,in the next century this will be astonishingly perceptible to the minds of men4 ,i will also make a statement which you will surely see verified4 ,before the clear revelation of spirit communication there will be a terrible war in different parts of the world4 ,the entire world must be purified and cleansed before mortal can see1 through his spiritual vision1 his friends on this side and it will take just this line of action to bring about a state of perfection4 ,friend1 kindly think of this4 ,we have had the terrible war in different parts of the world4 ,the second half remains to be fulfilled4 ,a4 ,c4 ,d4 #aiah4 ,,contents ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,search ,,ii ,,the ,,revelation ,,iii ,,the ,,coming ,,life ,,iv ,,problems ,,and ,,limitations ,,supplementary ,,documents ,i ,,the ,,next ,,phase ,,of ,,life ,,ii ,,automatic ,,writing ,,iii ,,the ,,cheriton ,,dugout ,,the ,,new ,,revelation ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,search ,the subject of psychical research is one upon which ,i have thought more and about which ,i have been slower to form my opinion1 than upon any other subject whatever4 ,every now and then as one jogs along through life some small incident happens which very forcibly brings home the fact that time passes and that first youth and then middle age are slipping away4 ,such a one occurred the other day4 ,there is a column in that excellent little paper1 ,light1 which is devoted to what was recorded on the corresponding date a generation--that is thirty years--ago4 ,as ,i read over this column recently ,i had quite a start as ,i saw my own name1 and read the reprint of a letter which ,i had written in #ahhg1 detailing some interesting spiritual experience which had occurred in a seance4 ,thus it is manifest that my interest in the subject is of some standing1 and also1 since it is only within the last year or two that ,i have finally declared myself to be satisfied with the evidence1 that ,i have not been hasty in forming my opinion4 ,if ,i set down some of my experiences and difficulties my readers will not1 ,i hope1 think it egotistical upon my part1 but will realise that it is the most graphic way in which to sketch out the points which are likely to occur to any other inquirer4 ,when ,i have passed over this ground1 it will be possible to get on to something more general and impersonal in its nature4 ,when ,i had finished my medical education in #ahhb1 ,i found myself1 like many young medical men1 a convinced materialist as regards our personal destiny4 ,i had never ceased to be an earnest theist1 because it seemed to me that ,napoleon's question to the atheistic professors on the starry night as he voyaged to ,egypt3 ,who was it1 gentlemen1 who made these stars8 has never been answered4 ,to say that the ,universe was made by immutable laws only put the question one degree further back as to who made the laws4 ,i did not1 of course1 believe in an anthropomorphic ,god1 but ,i believed then1 as ,i believe now1 in an intelligent ,force behind all the operations of ,nature--a force so infinitely complex and great that my finite brain could get no further than its existence4 ,right and wrong ,i saw also as great obvious facts which needed no divine revelation4 ,but when it came to a question of our little personalities surviving death1 it seemed to me that the whole analogy of ,nature was against it4 ,when the candle burns out the light disappears4 ,when the electric cell is shattered the current stops4 ,when the body dissolves there is an end of the matter4 ,each man in his egotism may feel that he ought to survive1 but let him look1 we will say1 at the average loafer--of high or low degree--would anyone contend that there was any obvious reason why ,,that personality should carry on8 ,it seemed to be a delusion1 and ,i was convinced that death did indeed end all1 though ,i saw no reason why that should affect our duty towards humanity during our transitory existence4 ,this was my frame of mind when ,spiritual phenomena first came before my notice4 ,i had always regarded the subject as the greatest nonsense upon earth1 and ,i had read of the conviction of fraudulent mediums and wondered how any sane man could believe such things4 ,i met some friends1 however1 who were interested in the matter1 and ,i sat with them at some table-moving seances4 ,we got connected messages4 ,i am afraid the only result that they had on my mind was that ,i regarded these friends with some suspicion4 ,they were long messages very often1 spelled out by tilts1 and it was quite impossible that they came by chance4 ,someone then1 was moving the table4 ,i thought it was they4 ,they probably thought that ,i did it4 ,i was puzzled and worried over it1 for they were not people whom ,i could imagine as cheating--and yet ,i could not see how the messages could come except by conscious pressure4 ,about this time--it would be in #ahhf--;,i came across a book called ,the ,reminiscences of ,judge ,edmunds4 ,he was a judge of the ,u4,s4 ,high ,courts and a man of high standing4 ,the book gave an account of how his wife had died1 and how he had been able for many years to keep in touch with her4 ,all sorts of details were given4 ,i read the book with interest1 and absolute scepticism4 ,it seemed to me an example of how a hard practical man might have a weak side to his brain1 a sort of reaction1 as it were1 against those plain facts of life with which he had to deal4 ,where was this spirit of which he talked8 ,suppose a man had an accident and cracked his skull2 his whole character would change1 and a high nature might become a low one4 ,with alcohol or opium or many other drugs one could apparently quite change a man's spirit4 ,the spirit then depended upon matter4 ,these were the arguments which ,i used in those days4 ,i did not realise that it was not the spirit that was changed in such cases1 but the body through which the spirit worked1 just as it would be no argument against the existence of a musician if you tampered with his violin so that only discordant notes could come through4 ,i was sufficiently interested to continue to read such literature as came in my way4 ,i was amazed to find what a number of great men--men whose names were to the fore in science--thoroughly believed that spirit was independent of matter and could survive it4 ,when ,i regarded ,spiritualism as a vulgar delusion of the uneducated1 ,i could afford to look down upon it2 but when it was endorsed by men like ,crookes1 whom ,i knew to be the most rising ,british chemist1 by ,wallace1 who was the rival of ,darwin1 and by ,flammarion1 the best known of astronomers1 ,i could not afford to dismiss it4 ,it was all very well to throw down the books of these men which contained their mature conclusions and careful investigations1 and to say ,well1 he has one weak spot in his brain1 but a man has to be very self-satisfied if the day does not come when he wonders if the weak spot is not in his own brain4 ,for some time ,i was sustained in my scepticism by the consideration that many famous men1 such as ,darwin himself1 ,huxley1 ,tyndall and ,herbert ,spencer1 derided this new branch of knowledge2 but when ,i learned that their derision had reached such a point that they would not even examine it1 and that ,spencer had declared in so many words that he had decided against it on a priori grounds1 while ,huxley had said that it did not interest him1 ,i was bound to admit that1 however great1 they were in science1 their action in this respect was most unscientific and dogmatic1 while the action of those who studied the phenomena and tried to find out the laws that governed them1 was following the true path which has given us all human advance and knowledge4 ,so far ,i had got in my reasoning1 so my sceptical position was not so solid as before4 ,it was somewhat reinforced1 however1 by my own experiences4 ,it is to be remembered that ,i was working without a medium1 which is like an astronomer working without a telescope4 ,i have no psychical powers myself1 and those who worked with me had little more4 ,among us we could just muster enough of the magnetic force1 or whatever you will call it1 to get the table movements with their suspicious and often stupid messages4 ,i still have notes of those sittings and copies of some1 at least1 of the messages4 ,they were not always absolutely stupid4 ,for example1 ,i find that on one occasion1 on my asking some test question1 such as how many coins ,i had in my pocket1 the table spelt out3 ,we are here to educate and to elevate1 not to guess riddles4 ,and then3 ,the religious frame of mind1 not the critical1 is what we wish to inculcate4 ,now1 no one could say that that was a puerile message4 ,on the other hand1 ,i was always haunted by the fear of involuntary pressure from the hands of the sitters4 ,then there came an incident which puzzled and disgusted me very much4 ,we had very good conditions one evening1 and an amount of movement which seemed quite independent of our pressure4 ,long and detailed messages came through1 which purported to be from a spirit who gave his name and said he was a commercial traveller who bad lost his life in a recent fire at a theatre at ,exeter4 ,all the details were exact1 and he implored us to write to his family1 who lived1 he said1 at a place called ,slattenmere1 in ,cumberland4 ,i did so1 but my letter came back1 appropriately enough1 through the dead letter office4 ,to this day ,i do not know whether we were deceived1 or whether there was some mistake in the name of the place2 but there are the facts1 and ,i was so disgusted that for some time my interest in the whole subject waned4 ,it was one thing to study a subject1 but when the subject began to play elaborate practical jokes it seemed time to call a halt4 ,if there is such a place as ,slattenmere in the world ,i should even now be glad to know it4 ,i was in practice in ,southsea at this time1 and dwelling there was ,general ,drayson1 a man of very remarkable character1 and one of the pioneers of ,spiritualism in this country4 ,to him ,i went with my difficulties1 and he listened to them very patiently4 ,he made light of my criticism of the foolish nature of many of these messages1 and of the absolute falseness of some4 ,you have not got the fundamental truth into your head1 said he4 ,that truth is1 that every spirit in the flesh passes over to the next world exactly as it is1 with no change whatever4 ,this world is full of weak or foolish people4 ,so is the next4 ,you need not mix with them1 any more than you do in this world4 ,one chooses one's companions4 ,but suppose a man in this world1 who had lived in his house alone and never mixed with his fellows1 was at last to put his head out of the window to see what sort of place it was1 what would happen8 ,some naughty boy would probably say something rude4 ,anyhow1 he would see nothing of the wisdom or greatness of the world4 ,he would draw his head in thinking it was a very poor place4 ,that is just what you have done4 ,in a mixed seance1 with no definite aim1 you have thrust your head into the next world and you have met some naughty boys4 ,go forward and try to reach something better4 ,that was ,general ,drayson's explanation1 and though it did not satisfy me at the time1 ,i think now that it was a rough approximation to the truth4 ,these were my first steps in ,spiritualism4 ,i was still a sceptic1 but at least ,i was an inquirer1 and when ,i heard some old-fashioned critic saying that there was nothing to explain1 and that it was all fraud1 or that a conjuror was needed to show it up1 ,i knew at least that that was all nonsense4 ,it is true that my own evidence up to then was not enough to convince me1 but my reading1 which was continuous1 showed me how deeply other men had gone into it1 and ,i recognised that the testimony was so strong that no other religious movement in the world could put forward anything to compare with it4 ,that did not prove it to be true1 but at least it proved that it must be treated with respect and could not be brushed aside4 ,take a single incident of what ,wallace has truly called a modern miracle4 ,i choose it because it is the most incredible4 ,i allude to the assertion that ,d4 ,d4 ,home--who1 by the way1 was not1 as is usually supposed1 a paid adventurer1 but was the nephew of the ,earl of ,home--the assertion1 ,i say1 that he floated out of one window and into another at the height of seventy feet above the ground4 ,i could not believe it4 ,and yet1 when ,i knew that the fact was attested by three eye-witnesses1 who were ,lord ,dunraven1 ,lord ,lindsay1 and ,captain ,wynne1 all men of honour and repute1 who were willing afterwards to take their oath upon it1 ,i could not but admit that the evidence for this was more direct than for any of those far-off events which the whole world has agreed to accept as true4 ,i still continued during these years to hold table seances1 which sometimes gave no results1 sometimes trivial ones1 and sometimes rather surprising ones4 ,i have still the notes of these sittings1 and ,i extract here the results of one which were definite1 and which were so unlike any conceptions which ,i held of life beyond the grave that they amused rather than edified me at the time4 ,i find now1 however1 that they agree very closely1 with the revelations in ,raymond and in other later accounts1 so that ,i view them with different eyes4 ,i am aware that all these accounts of life beyond the grave differ in detail--,i suppose any of our accounts of the present life would differ in detail--but in the main there is a very great resemblance1 which in this instance was very far from the conception either of myself or of either of the two ladies who made up the circle4 ,two communicators sent messages1 the first of whom spelt out as a name ,dorothy ,postlethwaite1 a name unknown to any of us4 ,she said she died at ,melbourne five years before1 at the age of sixteen1 that she was now happy1 that she had work to do1 and that she had been at the same school as one of the ladies4 ,on my asking that lady to raise her hands and give a succession of names1 the table tilted at the correct name of the head mistress of the school4 ,this seemed in the nature of a test4 ,she went on to say that the sphere she inhabited was all round the earth2 that she knew about the planets2 that ,mars was inhabited by a race more advanced than us1 and that the canals were artificial2 there was no bodily pain in her sphere1 but there could be mental anxiety2 they were governed2 they took nourishment2 she had been a ,catholic and was still a ,catholic1 but had not fared better than the ,protestants2 there were ,buddhists and ,mohammedans in her sphere1 but all fared alike2 she had never seen ,christ and knew no more about ,him than on earth1 but believed in ,his influence2 spirits prayed and they died in their new sphere before entering another2 they had pleasures--music was among them4 ,it was a place of light and of laughter4 ,she added that they had no rich or poor1 and that the general conditions were far happier than on earth4 ,this lady bade us good-night1 and immediately the table was seized by a much more robust influence1 which dashed it about very violently4 ,in answer to my questions it claimed to be the spirit of one whom ,i will call ,dodd1 who was a famous cricketer1 and with whom ,i had some serious conversation in ,cairo before he went up the ,nile1 where he met his death in the ,dongolese ,expedition4 ,we have now1 ,i may remark1 come to the year #ahif in my experiences4 ,dodd was not known to either lady4 ,i began to ask him questions exactly as if he were seated before me1 and he sent his answers back with great speed and decision4 ,the answers were often quite opposed to what ,i expected1 so that ,i could not believe that ,i was influencing them4 ,he said that he was happy1 that he did not wish to return to earth4 ,he had been a free-thinker1 but had not suffered in the next life for that reason4 ,prayer1 however1 was a good thing1 as keeping us in touch with the spiritual world4 ,if he had prayed more he would have been higher in the spirit world4 ,this1 ,i may remark1 seemed rather in conflict with his assertion that he had not suffered through being a free-thinker1 and yet1 of course1 many men neglect prayer who are not free-thinkers4 ,his death was painless4 ,he remembered the death of ,polwhele1 a young officer who died before him4 ,when he 7,dodd7 died he had found people to welcome him1 but ,polwhele had not been among them4 ,he had work to do4 ,he was aware of the ,fall of ,dongola1 but had not been present in spirit at the banquet at ,cairo afterwards4 ,he knew more than he did in life4 ,he remembered our conversation in ,cairo4 ,duration of life in the next sphere was shorter than on earth4 ,he had not seen ,general ,gordon1 nor any other famous spirit4 ,spirits lived in families and in communities4 ,married people did not necessarily meet again1 but those who loved each other did meet again4 ,i have given this synopsis of a communication to show the kind of thing we got--though this was a very favourable specimen1 both for length and for coherence4 ,it shows that it is not just to say1 as many critics say1 that nothing but folly comes through4 ,there was no folly here unless we call everything folly which does not agree with preconceived ideas4 ,on the other hand1 what proof was there that these statements were true8 ,i could see no such proof1 and they simply left me bewildered4 ,now1 with a larger experience1 in which ,i find that the same sort of information has come to very1 many people independently in many lands1 ,i think that the agreement of the witnesses does1 as in all cases of evidence1 constitute some argument for their truth4 ,at the time ,i could not fit such a conception of the future world into my own scheme of philosophy1 and ,i merely noted it and passed on4 ,i continued to read many books upon the subject and to appreciate more and more what a cloud of witnesses existed1 and how careful their observations had been4 ,this impressed my mind very much more than the limited phenomena which came within the reach of our circle4 ,then or afterwards ,i read a book by ,monsieur ,jacolliot upon occult phenomena in ,india4 ,jacolliot was ,chief ,judge of the ,french ,colony of ,crandenagur1 with a very judicial mind1 but rather biassedsic against spiritualism4 ,he conducted a series of experiments with native fakirs1 who gave him their confidence because he was a sympathetic man and spoke their language4 ,he describes the pains he took to eliminate fraud4 ,to cut a long story short he found among them every phenomenon of advanced ,european mediumship1 everything which ,home1 for example1 had ever done4 ,he got levitation of the body1 the handling of fire1 movement of articles at a distance1 rapid growth of plants1 raising of tables4 ,their explanation of these phenomena was that they were done by the ,pitris or spirits1 and their only difference in procedure from ours seemed to be that they made more use of direct evocation4 ,they claimed that these powers were handed down from time immemorial and traced back to the ,chaldees4 ,all this impressed me very much1 as here1 independently1 we had exactly the same results1 without any question of ,american frauds1 or modern vulgarity1 which were so often raised against similar phenomena in ,europe4 ,my mind was also influenced about this time by the report of the ,dialectical ,society1 although this ,report had been presented as far back as #ahfi4 ,it is a very cogent paper1 and though it was received with a chorus of ridicule by the ignorant and materialistic papers of those days1 it was a document of great value4 ,the ,society was formed by a number of people of good standing and open mind to enquire into the physical phenomena of ,spiritualism4 ,a full account of their experiences and of their elaborate precautions against fraud are given4 ,after reading the evidence1 one fails to see how they could have come to any other conclusion than the one attained1 namely1 that the phenomena were undoubtedly genuine1 and that they pointed to laws and forces which had not been explored by ,science4 ,it is a most singular fact that if the verdict had been against spiritualism1 it would certainly have been hailed as the death blow of the movement1 whereas being an endorsement of the phenomena it met with nothing by ridicule4 ,this has been the fate of a number of inquiries since those conducted locally at ,hydesville in #ahdh1 or that which followed when ,professor ,hare of ,philadelphia1 like ,saint ,paul1 started forth to oppose but was forced to yield to the truth4 ,about #ahia1 ,i had joined the ,psychical ,research ,society and had the advantage of reading all their reports4 ,the world owes a great deal to the unwearied diligence of the ,society1 and to its sobriety of statement1 though ,i will admit that the latter makes one impatient at times1 and one feels that in their desire to avoid sensationalism they discourage the world from knowing and using the splendid work which they are doing4 ,their semi-scientific terminology also chokes off the ordinary reader1 and one might say sometimes after reading their articles what an ,american trapper in the ,rocky ,mountains said to me about some ,university man whom he had been escorting for the season4 ,he was that clever1 he said1 that you could not understand what he said4 ,but in spite of these little peculiarities all of us who have wanted light in the darkness have found it by the methodical1 never-tiring work of the ,society4 ,its influence was one of the powers which now helped me to shape my thoughts4 ,there was another1 however1 which made a deep impression upon me4 ,up to now ,i had read all the wonderful experiences of great experimenters1 but ,i had never come across any effort upon their part to build up some system which would cover and contain them all4 ,now ,i read that monumental book1 ,myers' ,human ,personality1 a great root book from which a whole tree of knowledge will grow4 ,in this book ,myers was unable to get any formula which covered all the phenomena called spiritual1 but in discussing that action of mind upon mind which he has himself called telepathy he completely proved his point1 and he worked it out so thoroughly with so many examples1 that1 save for those who were wilfully blind to the evidence1 it took its place henceforth as a scientific fact4 ,but this was an enormous advance4 ,if mind could act upon mind at a distance1 then there were some human powers which were quite different to matter as we had always understood it4 ,the ground was cut from under the feet of the materialist1 and my old position had been destroyed4 ,i had said that the flame could not exist when the candle was gone4 ,but here was the flame a long way off the candle1 acting upon its own4 ,the analogy was clearly a false analogy4 ,if the mind1 the spirit1 the intelligence of man could operate at a distance from the body1 then it was a thing to that extent separate from the body4 ,why then should it not exist on its own when the body was destroyed8 ,not only did impressions come from a distance in the case of those who were just dead1 but the same evidence proved that actual appearances of the dead person came with them1 showing that the impressions were carried by something which was exactly like the body1 and yet acted independently and survived the death of the body4 ,the chain of evidence between the simplest cases of thought-reading at one end1 and the actual manifestation of the spirit independently of the body at the other1 was one unbroken chain1 each phase leading to the other1 and this fact seemed to me to bring the first signs of systematic science and order into what had been a mere collection of bewildering and more or less unrelated facts4 ,about this time ,i had an interesting experience1 for ,i was one of three delegates sent by the ,psychical ,society to sit up in a haunted house4 ,it was one of these poltergeist cases1 where noises and foolish tricks had gone on for some years1 very much like the classical case of ,john ,wesley's family at ,epworth in #agbf1 or the case of the ,fox family at ,hydesville near ,rochester in #ahdh1 which was the starting-point of modern spiritualism4 ,nothing sensational came of our journey1 and yet it was not entirely barren4 ,on the first night nothing occurred4 ,on the second1 there were tremendous noises1 sounds like someone beating a table with a stick4 ,we had1 of course1 taken every precaution1 and we could not explain the noises2 but at the same time we could not swear that some ingenious practical joke had not been played upon us4 ,there the matter ended for the time4 ,some years afterwards1 however1 ,i met a member of the family who occupied the house1 and he told me that after our visit the bones of a child1 evidently long buried1 had been dug up in the garden4 ,you must admit that this was very remarkable4 ,haunted houses are rare1 and houses with buried human beings in their gardens are also1 we will hope1 rare4 ,that they should have both united in one house is surely some argument for the truth of the phenomena4 ,it is interesting to remember that in the case of the ,fox family there was also some word of human bones and evidence of murder being found in the cellar1 though an actual crime was never established4 ,i have little doubt that if the ,wesley family could have got upon speaking terms with their persecutor1 they would also have come upon some motive for the persecution4 ,it almost seems as if a life cut suddenly and violently short had some store of unspent vitality which could still manifest itself in a strange1 mischievous fashion4 ,later ,i had another singular personal experience of this sort which ,i may describe at the end of this argument4#a #a ,vide ,appendix ,,iii4 ,from this period until the time of the ,war ,i continued in the leisure hours of a very busy life to devote attention to this subject4 ,i had experience of one series of seances with very amazing results1 including several materializations seen in dim light4 ,as the medium was detected in trickery shortly afterwards ,i wiped these off entirely as evidence4 ,at the same time ,i think that the presumption is very clear1 that in the case of some mediums like ,eusapia ,palladino they may be guilty of trickery when their powers fail them1 and yet at other times have very genuine gifts4 ,mediumship in its lowest forms is a purely physical gift with no relation to morality and in many cases it is intermittent and cannot be controlled at will4 ,eusapia was at least twice convicted of very clumsy and foolish fraud1 whereas she several times sustained long examinations under every possible test condition at the hands of scientific committees which contained some of the best names of ,france1 ,italy1 and ,england4 ,however1 ,i personally prefer to cut my experience with a discredited medium out of my record1 and ,i think that all physical phenomena produced in the dark must necessarily lose much of their value1 unless they are accompanied by evidential messages as well4 ,it is the custom of our critics to assume that if you cut out the mediums who got into trouble you would have to cut out nearly all your evidence4 ,that is not so at all4 ,up to the time of this incident ,i had never sat with a professional medium at all1 and yet ,i had certainly accumulated some evidence4 ,the greatest medium of all1 ,mr4 ,d4 ,d4 ,home1 showed his phenomena in broad daylight1 and was ready to submit to every test and no charge of trickery was ever substantiated against him4 ,so it was with many others4 ,it is only fair to state in addition that when a public medium is a fair mark for notoriety hunters1 for amateur detectives and for sensational reporters1 and when he is dealing with obscure elusive phenomena and has to defend himself before juries and judges who1 as a rule1 know nothing about the conditions which influence the phenomena1 it would be wonderful if a man could get through without an occasional scandal4 ,at the same time the whole system of paying by results1 which is practically the present system1 since if a medium never gets results he would soon get no payments1 is a vicious one4 ,it is only when the professional medium can be guaranteed an annuity which will be independent of results1 that we can eliminate the strong temptation1 to substitute pretended phenomena when the real ones are wanting4 ,i have now traced my own evolution of thought up to the time of the ,war4 ,i can claim1 ,i hope1 that it was deliberate and showed no traces of that credulity with which our opponents charge us4 ,it was too deliberate1 for ,i was culpably slow in throwing any small influence ,i may possess into the scale of truth4 ,i might have drifted on for my whole life as a psychical ,researcher1 showing a sympathetic1 but more or less dilettante attitude towards the whole subject1 as if we were arguing about some impersonal thing such as the existence of ,atlantis or the ,baconian controversy4 ,but the ,war came1 and when the ,war came it brought earnestness into all our souls and made us look more closely at our own beliefs and reassess their values4 ,in the presence of an agonized world1 hearing every day of the deaths of the flower of our race in the first promise of their unfulfilled youth1 seeing around one the wives and mothers who had no clear conception whither their loved ones had gone to1 ,i seemed suddenly to see that this subject with which ,i had so long dallied was not merely a study of a force outside the rules of science1 but that it was really something tremendous1 a breaking down of the walls between two worlds1 a direct undeniable message from beyond1 a call of hope and of guidance to the human race at the time of its deepest affliction4 ,the objective side of it ceased to interest for having made up one's mind that it was true there was an end of the matter4 ,the religious side of it was clearly of infinitely greater importance4 ,the telephone bell is in itself a very childish affair1 but it may be the signal for a very vital message4 ,it seemed that all these phenomena1 large and small1 had been the telephone bells which1 senseless in themselves1 had signalled to the human race3 ,rouse yourselves6 ,stand by6 ,be at attention6 ,here are signs for you4 ,they will lead up to the message which ,god wishes to send4 ,it was the message not the signs which really counted4 ,a new revelation seemed to be in the course of delivery to the human race1 though how far it was still in what may be called the ,john-the-,baptist stage1 and how far some greater fulness and clearness might be expected hereafter1 was more than any man can say4 ,my point is1 that the physical phenomena which have been proved up to the hilt for all who care to examine the evidence1 are really of no account1 and that their real value consists in the fact that they support and give objective reality to an immense body of knowledge which must deeply modify our previous religious views1 and must1 when properly understood and digested1 make religion a very real thing1 no longer a matter of faith1 but a matter of actual experience and fact4 ,it is to this side of the question that ,i will now turn1 but ,i must add to my previous remarks about personal experience that1 since the ,war1 ,i have had some very exceptional opportunities of confirming all the views which ,i had already formed as to the truth of the general facts upon which my views are founded4 ,these opportunities came through the fact that a lady who lived with us1 a ,miss ,l4 ,s41 developed the power of automatic writing4 ,of all forms of mediumship1 this seems to me to be the one which should be tested most rigidly1 as it lends itself very easily not so much to deception as to self-deception1 which is a more subtle and dangerous thing4 ,is the lady herself writing1 or is there1 as she avers1 a power that controls her1 even as the chronicler of the ,jews in the ,bible averred that he was controlled8 ,in the case of ,l4 ,s4 there is no denying that some messages proved to be not true--especially in the matter of time they were quite unreliable4 ,but on the other hand1 the numbers which did come true were far beyond what any guessing or coincidence could account for4 ,thus1 when the ,lusitania was sunk and the morning papers here announced that so far as known there was no loss of life1 the medium at once wrote3 ,it is terrible1 terrible--and will have a great influence on the war4 ,since it was the first strong impulse which turned ,america towards the war1 the message was true in both respects4 ,again1 she foretold the arrival of an important telegram upon a certain day1 and even gave the name of the deliverer of it--a most unlikely person4 ,altogether1 no one could doubt the reality of her inspiration1 though the lapses were notable4 ,it was like getting a good message through a very imperfect telephone4 ,one other incident of the early war days stands out in my memory4 ,a lady in whom ,i was interested had died in a provincial town4 ,she was a chronic invalid and morphia was found by her bedside4 ,there was an inquest with an open verdict4 ,eight days later ,i went to have a sitting with ,mr4 ,vout ,peters4 ,after giving me a good deal which was vague and irrelevant1 he suddenly said3 ,there is a lady here4 ,she is leaning upon an older woman4 ,she keeps saying ',morphia4' ,three times she has said it4 ,her mind was clouded4 ,she did not mean it4 ,morphia6 ,those were almost his exact words4 ,telepathy was out of the question1 for ,i had entirely other thoughts in my mind at the time and was expecting no such message4 ,apart from personal experiences1 this movement must gain great additional solidity from the wonderful literature which has sprung up around it during the last few years4 ,if no other spiritual books were in existence than five which have appeared in the last year or so--,i allude to ,professor ,lodge's ,raymond1 ,arthur ,hill's ,psychical ,investigations1 ,professor ,crawford's ,reality of ,psychical ,phenomena1 ,professor ,barrett's ,threshold of the ,unseen1 and ,gerald ,balfour's ,ear of ,dionysius--those five alone would1 in my opinion1 be sufficient to establish the facts for any reasonable enquirer4 ,before going into this question of a new religious revelation1 how it is reached1 and what it consists of1 ,i would say a word upon one other subject4 ,there have always been two lines of attack by our opponents4 ,the one is that our facts are not true4 ,this ,i have dealt with4 ,the other is that we are upon forbidden ground and should come off it and leave it alone4 ,as ,i started from a position of comparative materialism1 this objection has never had any meaning for me1 but to others ,i would submit one or two considerations4 ,the chief is that ,god has given us no power at all which is under no circumstances to be used4 ,the fact that we possess it is in itself proof that it is our bounden duty to study and to develop it4 ,it is true that this1 like every other power1 may be abused if we lose our general sense of proportion and of reason4 ,but ,i repeat that its mere possession is a strong reason why it is lawful and binding that it be used4 ,it must also be remembered that this cry of illicit knowledge1 backed by more or less appropriate texts1 has been used against every advance of human knowledge4 ,it was used against the new astronomy1 and ,galileo had actually to recant4 ,it was used against ,galvani and electricity4 ,it was used against ,darwin1 who would certainly have been burned had he lived a few centuries before4 ,it was even used against ,simpson's use of chloroform in child-birth1 on the ground that the ,bible declared in pain shall ye bring them forth4 ,surely a plea which has been made so often1 and so often abandoned1 cannot be regarded very seriously4 ,to those1 however1 to whom the theological aspect is still a stumbling block1 ,i would recommend the reading of two short books1 each of them by clergymen4 ,the one is the ,rev4 ,fielding ,ould's ,is ,spiritualism of the ,devil1 purchasable for twopence2 the other is the ,rev4 ,arthur ,chambers' ,our ,self ,after ,death4 ,i can also recommend the ,rev4 ,charles ,tweedale's writings upon the subject4 ,i may add that when ,i first began to make public my own views1 one of the first letters of sympathy which ,i received was from the late ,archdeacon ,wilberforce4 ,there are some theologians who are not only opposed to such a cult1 but who go the length of saying that the phenomena and messages come from fiends who personate our dead1 or pretend to be heavenly teachers4 ,it is difficult to think that those who hold this view have ever had any personal experience of the consoling and uplifting effect of such communications upon the recipient4 ,ruskin has left it on record that his conviction of a future life came from ,spiritualism1 though he somewhat ungratefully and illogically added that having got that1 he wished to have no more to do with it4 ,there are many1 however--quorum pars parva su--who without any reserve can declare that they were turned from materialism to a belief in future life1 with all that that implies1 by the study of this subject4 ,if this be the devil's work one can only say that the devil seems to be a very bungling workman and to get results very far from what he might be expected to desire4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,revelation ,i can now turn with some relief to a more impersonal view of this great subject4 ,allusion has been made to a body of fresh doctrine4 ,whence does this come8 ,it comes in the main through automatic writing where the hand of the human medium is controlled1 either by an alleged dead human being1 as in the case of ,miss ,julia ,ames1 or by an alleged higher teacher1 as in that of ,mr4 ,stainton ,moses4 ,these written communications are supplemented by a vast number of trance utterances1 and by the verbal messages of spirits1 given through the lips of mediums4 ,sometimes it has even come by direct voices1 as in the numerous cases detailed by ,admiral ,usborne ,moore in his book ,the ,voices4 ,occasionally it has come through the family circle and table-tilting1 as1 for example1 in the two cases ,i have previously detailed within my own experience4 ,sometimes1 as in a case recorded by ,mrs4 de ,morgan1 it has come through the hand of a child4 ,now1 of course1 we are at once confronted with the obvious objection--how do we know that these messages are really from beyond8 ,how do we know that the medium is not consciously writing1 or if that be improbable1 that he or she is unconsciously writing them by his or her own higher self8 ,this is a perfectly just criticism1 and it is one which we must rigorously apply in every case1 since if the whole world is to become full of minor prophets1 each of them stating their own views of the religious state with no proof save their own assertion1 we should1 indeed1 be back in the dark ages of implicit faith4 ,the answer must be that we require signs which we can test before we accept assertions which we cannot test4 ,in old days they demanded a sign from a prophet1 and it was a perfectly reasonable request1 and still holds good4 ,if a person comes to me with an account of life in some further world1 and has no credentials save his own assertion1 ,i would rather have it in my waste-paperbasket than on my study table4 ,life is too short to weigh the merits of such productions4 ,but if1 as in the case of ,stainton ,moses1 with his ,spirit ,teachings1 the doctrines which are said to come from beyond are accompanied with a great number of abnormal gifts--and ,stainton ,moses was one of the greatest mediums in all ways that ,england has ever produced--then ,i look upon the matter in a more serious light4 ,again1 if ,miss ,julia ,ames can tell ,mr4 ,stead things in her own earth life of which he could not have cognisance1 and if those things are shown1 when tested1 to be true1 then one is more inclined to think that those things which cannot be tested are true also4 ,or once again1 if ,raymond can tell us of a photograph no copy of which had reached ,england1 and which proved to be exactly as he described it1 and if he can give us1 through the lips of strangers1 all sorts of details of his home life1 which his own relatives had to verify before they found them to be true1 is it unreasonable to suppose that he is fairly accurate in his description of his own experiences and state of life at the very moment at which he is communicating8 ,or when ,mr4 ,arthur ,hill receives messages from folk of whom he never heard1 and afterwards verifies that they are true in every detail1 is it not a fair inference that they are speaking truths also when they give any light upon their present condition8 ,the cases are manifold1 and ,i mention only a few of them1 but my point is that the whole of this system1 from the lowest physical phenomenon of a table-rap up to the most inspired utterance of a prophet1 is one complete whole1 each attached to the next one1 and that when the humbler end of that chain was placed in the hand of humanity1 it was in order that they might1 by diligence and reason1 feel their way up it until they reached the revelation which waited in the end4 ,do not sneer at the humble beginnings1 the heaving table or the flying tambourine1 however much such phenomena may have been abused or simulated1 but remember that a falling apple taught us gravity1 a boiling kettle brought us the steam engine1 and the twitching leg of a frog opened up the train of thought and experiment which gave us electricity4 ,so the lowly manifestations of ,hydesville have ripened into results which have engaged the finest group of intellects in this country during the last twenty years1 and which are destined1 in my opinion1 to bring about far the greatest development of human experience which the world has ever seen4 ,it has been asserted by men for whose opinion ,i have a deep regard--notably by ,sir ,william ,barratt--that psychical research is quite distinct from religion4 ,certainly it is so1 in the sense that a man might be a very good psychical researcher but a very bad man4 ,but the results of psychical research1 the deductions which we may draw1 and the lessons we may learn1 teach us of the continued life of the soul1 of the nature of that life1 and of how it is influenced by our conduct here4 ,if this is distinct from religion1 ,i must confess that ,i do not understand the distinction4 ,to me it ,,is religion--the very essence of it4 ,but that does not mean that it will necessarily crystallise into a new religion4 ,personally ,i trust that it will not do so4 ,surely we are disunited enough already8 ,rather would ,i see it the great unifying force1 the one provable thing connected with every religion1 ,christian or non-,christian1 forming the common solid basis upon which each raises1 if it must needs raise1 that separate system which appeals to the varied types of mind4 ,the ,southern races will always demand what is less austere than the ,north1 the ,west will always be more critical than the ,east4 ,one cannot shape all to a level conformity4 ,but if the broad premises which are guaranteed by this teaching from beyond are accepted1 then the human race has made a great stride towards religious peace and unity4 ,the question which faces us1 then1 is how will this influence bear upon the older organised religions and philosophies which have influenced the actions of men4 ,the answer is1 that to only one of these religions or philosophies is this new revelation absolutely fatal4 ,that is to ,materialism4 ,i do not say this in any spirit of hostility to ,materialists1 who1 so far as they are an organized body1 are1 ,i think1 as earnest and moral as any other class4 ,but the fact is manifest that if spirit can live without matter1 then the foundation of ,materialism is gone1 and the whole scheme of thought crashes to the ground4 ,as to other creeds1 it must be admitted that an acceptance of the teaching brought to us from beyond would deeply modify conventional ,christianity4 ,but these modifications would be rather in the direction of explanation and development than of contradiction4 ,it would set right grave misunderstandings which have always offended the reason of every thoughtful man1 but it would also confirm and make absolutely certain the fact of life after death1 the base of all religion4 ,it would confirm the unhappy results of sin1 though it would show that those results are never absolutely permanent4 ,it would confirm the existence of higher beings1 whom we have called angels1 and of an ever-ascending hierarchy above us1 in which the ,christ spirit finds its place1 culminating in heights of the infinite with which we associate the idea of all-power or of ,god4 ,it would confirm the idea of heaven and of a temporary penal state which corresponds to purgatory rather than to hell4 ,thus this new revelation1 on some of the most vital points1 is ,,not destructive of the beliefs1 and it should be hailed by really earnest men of all creeds as a most powerful ally rather than a dangerous devil-begotten enemy4 ,on the other hand1 let us turn to the points in which ,christianity must be modified by this new revelation4 ,first of all ,i would say this1 which must be obvious to many1 however much they deplore it3 ,christianity must change or must perish4 ,that is the law of life--that things must adapt themselves or perish4 ,christianity has deferred the change very long1 she has deferred it until her churches are half empty1 until women are her chief supporters1 and until both the learned part of the community on one side1 and the poorest class on the other1 both in town and country1 are largely alienated from her4 ,let us try and trace the reason for this4 ,it is apparent in all sects1 and comes1 therefore1 from some deep common cause4 ,people are alienated because they frankly do not believe the facts as presented to them to be true4 ,their reason and their sense of justice are equally offended4 ,one can see no justice in a vicarious sacrifice1 nor in the ,god who could be placated by such means4 ,above all1 many cannot understand such expressions as the redemption from sin1 cleansed by the blood of the ,lamb1 and so forth4 ,so long as there was any question of the fall of man there was at least some sort of explanation of such phrases2 but when it became certain that man had never fallen--when with ever fuller knowledge we could trace our ancestral course down through the cave-man and the drift-man1 back to that shadowy and far-off time when the man-like ape slowly evolved into the apelike man--looking back on all this vast succession of life1 we knew that it had always been rising from step to step4 ,never was there any evidence of a fall4 ,but if there were no fall1 then what became of the atonement1 of the redemption1 of original sin1 of a large part of ,christian mystical philosophy8 ,even if it were as reasonable in itself as it is actually unreasonable1 it would still be quite divorced from the facts4 ,again1 too much seemed to be made of ,christ's death4 ,it is no uncommon thing to die for an idea4 ,every religion has equally had its martyrs4 ,men die continually for their convictions4 ,thousands of our lads are doing it at this instant in ,france4 ,therefore the death of ,christ1 beautiful as it is in the ,gospel narrative1 has seemed to assume an undue importance1 as though it were an isolated phenomenon for a man to die in pursuit of a reform4 ,in my opinion1 far too much stress has been laid upon ,christ's death1 and far too little upon ,his life4 ,that was where the true grandeur and the true lesson lay4 ,it was a life which even in those limited records shows us no trait which is not beautiful--a life full of easy tolerance for others1 of kindly charity1 of broad-minded moderation1 of gentle courage1 always progressive and open to new ideas1 and yet never bitter to those ideas which ,he was really supplanting1 though ,he did occasionally lose ,his temper with their more bigoted and narrow supporters4 ,especially one loves ,his readiness to get at the spirit of religion1 sweeping aside the texts and the forms4 ,never had anyone such a robust common sense1 or such a sympathy for weakness4 ,it was this most wonderful and uncommon life1 and not his death1 which is the true centre of the ,christian religion4 ,now1 let us look at the light which we get from the spirit guides upon this question of ,christianity4 ,opinion is not absolutely uniform yonder1 any more than it is here2 but reading a number of messages upon this subject1 they amount to this3 ,there are many higher spirits with our departed4 ,they vary in degree4 ,call them angels1 and you are in touch with old religious thought4 ,high above all these is the greatest spirit of whom they have cognizance--not ,god1 since ,god is so infinite that ,he is not within their ken--but one who is nearer ,god and to that extent represents ,god4 ,this is the ,christ ,spirit4 ,his special care is the earth4 ,he came down upon it at a time of great earthly depravity--a time when the world was almost as wicked as it is now1 in order to give the people the lesson of an ideal life4 ,then he returned to his own high station1 having left an example which is still occasionally followed4 ,that is the story of ,christ as spirits have described it4 ,there is nothing here of ,atonement or ,redemption4 ,but there is a perfectly feasible and reasonable scheme1 which ,i1 for one1 could readily believe4 ,if such a view of ,christianity were generally accepted1 and if it were enforced by assurance and demonstration from the ,new ,revelation which is coming to us from the other side1 then we should have a creed which might unite the churches1 which might be reconciled to science1 which might defy all attacks1 and which might carry the ,christian ,faith on for an indefinite period4 ,reason and ,faith would at last be reconciled1 a nightmare would be lifted from our minds1 and spiritual peace would prevail4 ,i do not see such results coming as a sudden conquest or a violent revolution4 ,rather will it come as a peaceful penetration1 as some crude ideas1 such as the ,eternal ,hell idea1 have already gently faded away within our own lifetime4 ,it is1 however1 when the human soul is ploughed and harrowed by suffering that the seeds of truth may be planted1 and so some future spiritual harvest will surely rise from the days in which we live4 ,when ,i read the ,new ,testament with the knowledge which ,i have of ,spiritualism1 ,i am left with a deep conviction that the teaching of ,christ was in many most important respects lost by the early ,church1 and has not come down to us4 ,all these allusions to a conquest over death have1 as it seems to me1 little meaning in the present ,christian philosophy1 whereas for those who have seen1 however dimly1 through the veil1 and touched1 however slightly1 the outstretched hands beyond1 death has indeed been conquered4 ,when we read so many references to the phenomena with which we are familiar1 the levitations1 the tongues of fire1 the rushing wind1 the spiritual gifts1 the working of wonders1 we feel that the central fact of all1 the continuity of life and the communication with the dead1 was most certainly known4 ,our attention is arrested by such a saying as3 ,here he worked no wonders because the people were wanting in faith4 ,is this not absolutely in accordance with psychic law as we know it8 ,or when ,christ1 on being touched by the sick woman1 said3 ,who has touched me8 ,much virtue has passed out of me4 ,could ,he say more clearly what a healing medium would say now1 save that ,he would use the word ,power instead of virtue2 or when we read3 ,try the spirits whether they be of ,god1 is it not the very1 advice which would now be given to a novice approaching a seance8 ,it is too large a question for me to do more than indicate1 but ,i believe that this subject1 which the more rigid ,christian churches now attack so bitterly1 is really the central teaching of ,christianity itself4 ,to those who would read more upon this line of thought1 ,i strongly recommend ,dr4 ,abraham ,wallace's ,jesus of ,nazareth1 if this valuable little work is not out of print4 ,he demonstrates in it most convincingly that ,christ's miracles were all within the powers of psychic law as we now understand it1 and were on the exact lines of such law even in small details4 ,two examples have already been given4 ,many are worked out in that pamphlet4 ,one which convinced me as a truth was the thesis that the story of the materialization of the two prophets upon the mountain was extraordinarily accurate when judged by psychic law4 ,there is the fact that ,peter1 ,james and ,john 7who formed the psychic circle when the dead was restored to life1 and were presumably the most helpful of the group7 were taken4 ,then there is the choice of the high pure air of the mountain1 the drowsiness of the attendant mediums1 the transfiguring1 the shining robes1 the cloud1 the words3 ,let us make three tabernacles1 with its alternate reading3 ,let us make three booths or cabinets 7the ideal way of condensing power and producing materializations7--all these make a very consistent theory of the nature of the proceedings4 ,for the rest1 the list of gifts which ,st4 ,paul gives as being necessary for the ,christian ,disciple1 is simply the list of gifts of a very powerful medium1 including prophecy1 healing1 causing miracles 7or physical phenomena71 clairvoyance1 and other powers 7,i ,corinth1 xii1 #h1 #aa74 ,the early ,christian ,church was saturated with spiritualism1 and they seem to have paid no attention to those ,old ,testament prohibitions which were meant to keep these powers only for the use and profit of the priesthood4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,coming ,,life ,now1 leaving this large and possibly contentious subject of the modifications which such new revelations must produce in ,christianity1 let us try to follow what occurs to man after death4 ,the evidence on this point is fairly full and consistent4 ,messages from the dead have been received in many lands at various times1 mixed up with a good deal about this world1 which we could verify4 ,when messages come thus1 it is only fair1 ,i think1 to suppose that if what we can test is true1 then what we cannot test is true also4 ,when in addition we find a very great uniformity in the messages and an agreement as to details which are not at all in accordance with any pre-existing scheme of thought1 then ,i think the presumption of truth is very strong4 ,it is difficult to think that some fifteen or twenty messages from various sources of which ,i have personal notes1 all agree1 and yet are all wrong1 nor is it easy to suppose that spirits can tell the truth about our world but untruth about their own4 ,i received lately1 in the same week1 two accounts of life in the next world1 one received through the hand of the near relative of a high dignitary of the ,church1 while the other came through the wife of a working mechanician in ,scotland4 ,neither could have been aware of the existence of the other1 and yet the two accounts are so alike as to be practically the same4#b #b ,vide ,appendix ,,ii4 ,the message upon these points seems to me to be infinitely reassuring1 whether we regard our own fate or that of our friends4 ,the departed all agree that passing is usually both easy and painless1 and followed by an enormous reaction of peace and ease4 ,the individual finds himself in a spirit body1 which is the exact counterpart of his old one1 save that all disease1 weakness1 or deformity has passed from it4 ,this body is standing or floating beside the old body1 and conscious both of it and of the surrounding people4 ,at this moment the dead man is nearer to matter than he will ever be again1 and hence it is that at that moment the greater part of those cases occur where1 his thoughts having turned to someone in the distance1 the spirit body went with the thoughts and was manifest to the person4 ,out of some #bej cases carefully examined by ,mr4 ,gurney1 #acd of such apparitions were actually at this moment of dissolution1 when one could imagine that the new spirit body was possibly so far material as to be more visible to a sympathetic human eye than it would later become4 ,these cases1 however1 are very rare in comparison with the total number of deaths4 ,in most cases ,i imagine that the dead man is too preoccupied with his own amazing experience to have much thought for others4 ,he soon finds1 to his surprise1 that though he endeavours to communicate with those whom he sees1 his ethereal voice and his ethereal touch are equally unable to make any impression upon those human organs which are only attuned to coarser stimuli4 ,it is a fair subject for speculation1 whether a fuller knowledge of those light rays which we know to exist on either side of the spectrum1 or of those sounds which we can prove by the vibrations of a diaphragm to exist1 although they are too high for mortal ear1 may not bring us some further psychical knowledge4 ,setting that aside1 however1 let us follow the fortunes of the departing spirit4 ,he is presently aware that there are others in the room besides those who were there in life1 and among these others1 who seem to him as substantial as the living1 there appear familiar faces1 and he finds his hand grasped or his lips kissed by those whom he had loved and lost4 ,then in their company1 and with the help and guidance of some more radiant being who has stood by and waited for the newcomer1 he drifts to his own surprise through all solid obstacles and out upon his new life4 ,this is a definite statement1 and this is the story told by one after the other with a consistency which impels belief4 ,it is already very different from any old theology4 ,the ,spirit is not a glorified angel or goblin damned1 but it is simply the person himself1 containing all his strength and weakness1 his wisdom and his folly1 exactly as he has retained his personal appearance4 ,we can well believe that the most frivolous and foolish would be awed into decency by so tremendous an experience1 but impressions soon become blunted1 the old nature may soon reassert itself in new surroundings1 and the frivolous still survive1 as our seance rooms can testify4 ,and now1 before entering upon his new life1 the new ,spirit has a period of sleep which varies in its length1 sometimes hardly existing at all1 at others extending for weeks or months4 ,raymond said that his lasted for six days4 ,that was the period also in a case of which ,i had some personal evidence4 ,mr4 ,myers1 on the other hand1 said that he had a very prolonged period of unconsciousness4 ,i could imagine that the length is regulated by the amount of trouble or mental preoccupation of this life1 the longer rest giving the better means of wiping this out4 ,probably the little child would need no such interval at all4 ,this1 of course1 is pure speculation1 but there is a considerable consensus of opinion as to the existence of a period of oblivion after the first impression of the new life and before entering upon its duties4 ,having wakened from this sleep1 the spirit is weak1 as the child is weak after earth birth4 ,soon1 however1 strength returns and the new life begins4 ,this leads us to the consideration of heaven and hell4 ,hell1 ,i may say1 drops out altogether1 as it has long dropped out of the thoughts of every reasonable man4 ,this odious conception1 so blasphemous in its view of the ,creator1 arose from the exaggerations of ,oriental phrases1 and may perhaps have been of service in a coarse age where men were frightened by fires1 as wild beasts are seared by the travellers4 ,hell as a permanent place does not exist4 ,but the idea of punishment1 of purifying chastisement1 in fact of ,purgatory1 is justified by the reports from the other side4 ,without such punishment there could be no justice in the ,universe1 for how impossible it would be to imagine that the fate of a ,rasputin is the same as that of a ,father ,damien4 ,the punishment is very certain and very serious1 though in its less severe forms it only consists in the fact that the grosser souls are in lower spheres with a knowledge that their own deeds have placed them there1 but also with the hope that expiation and the help of those above them will educate them and bring them level with the others4 ,in this saving process the higher spirits find part of their employment4 ,miss ,julia ,ames in her beautiful posthumous book1 says in memorable words3 ,the greatest joy of ,heaven is emptying ,hell4 ,setting aside those probationary spheres1 which should perhaps rather be looked upon as a hospital for weakly souls than as a penal community1 the reports from the other world are all agreed as to the pleasant conditions of life in the beyond4 ,they agree that like goes to like1 that all who love or who have interests in common are united1 that life is full of interest and of occupation1 and that they would by no means desire to return4 ,all of this is surely tidings of great joy1 and ,i repeat that it is not a vague faith or hope1 but that it is supported by all the laws of evidence which agree that where many independent witnesses give a similar account1 that account has a claim to be considered a true one4 ,if it were an account of glorified souls purged instantly from all human weakness and of a constant ecstasy of adoration round the throne of the all powerful1 it might well be suspected as being the mere reflection of that popular theology which all the mediums had equally received in their youth4 ,it is1 however1 very different to any preexisting system4 ,it is also supported1 as ,i have already pointed out1 not merely by the consistency of the accounts1 but by the fact that the accounts are the ultimate product of a long series of phenomena1 all of which have been attested as true by those who have carefully examined them4 ,in connection with the general subject of life after death1 people may say we have got this knowledge already through faith4 ,but faith1 however beautiful in the individual1 has always in collective bodies been a very two-edged quality4 ,all would be well if every faith were alike and the intuitions of the human race were constant4 ,we know that it is not so4 ,faith means to say that you entirely believe a thing which you cannot prove4 ,one man says3 ,my faith is ,,this4 ,another says3 ,my faith is ,,that4 ,neither can prove it1 so they wrangle for ever1 either mentally or in the old days physically4 ,if one is stronger than the other1 he is inclined to persecute him just to twist him round to the true faith4 ,because ,philip the ,second's faith was strong and clear he1 quite logically1 killed a hundred thousand ,lowlanders in the hope that their fellow countrymen would be turned to the all-important truth4 ,now1 if it were recognised that it is by no means virtuous to claim what you could not prove1 we should then be driven to observe facts1 to reason from them1 and perhaps reach common agreement4 ,that is why this psychical movement appears so valuable4 ,its feet are on something more solid than texts or traditions or intuitions4 ,it is religion from the double point of view of both worlds up to date1 instead of the ancient traditions of one world4 ,we cannot look upon this coming world as a tidy ,dutch garden of a place which is so exact that it can easily be described4 ,it is probable that those messengers who come back to us are all1 more or less1 in one state of development and represent the same wave of life as it recedes from our shores4 ,communications usually come from those who have not long passed over1 and tend to grow fainter1 as one would expect4 ,it is instructive in this respect to notice that ,christ's reappearances to his disciples or to ,paul1 are said to have been within a very few years of his death1 and that there is no claim among the early ,christians to have seen him later4 ,the cases of spirits who give good proof of authenticity and yet have passed some time are not common4 ,there is1 in ,mr4 ,dawson ,roger's life1 a very good case of a spirit who called himself ,manton1 and claimed to have been born at ,lawrence ,lydiard and buried at ,stoke ,newington in #afgg4 ,it was clearly shown afterwards that there was such a man1 and that he was ,oliver ,cromwell's chaplain4 ,so far as my own reading goes1 this is the oldest spirit who is on record as returning1 and generally they are quite recent4 ,hence1 one gets all one's views from the one generation1 as it were1 and we cannot take them as final1 but only as partial4 ,how spirits may see things in a different light as they progress in the other world is shown by ,miss ,julia ,ames1 who was deeply impressed at first by the necessity of forming a bureau of communication1 but admitted1 after fifteen years1 that not one spirit in a million among the main body upon the further side ever wanted to communicate with us at all since their own loved ones had come over4 ,she had been misled by the fact that when she first passed over everyone she met was newly arrived like herself4 ,thus the account we give may be partial1 but still such as it is it is very consistent and of extraordinary interest1 since it refers to our own destiny and that of those we love4 ,all agree that life beyond is for a limited period1 after which they pass on to yet other phases1 but apparently there is more communication between these phases than there is between us and ,spiritland4 ,the lower cannot ascend1 but the higher can descend at will4 ,the life has a close analogy to that of this world at it its best4 ,it is pre-eminently a life of the mind1 as this is of the body4 ,preoccupations of food1 money1 lust1 pain1 etc41 are of the body and are gone4 ,music1 the ,arts1 intellectual and spiritual knowledge1 and progress have increased4 ,the people are clothed1 as one would expect1 since there is no reason why modesty should disappear with our new forms4 ,these new forms are the absolute reproduction of the old ones at their best1 the young growing up and the old reverting until all come to the normal4 ,people live in communities1 as one would expect if like attracts like1 and the male spirit still finds his true mate though there is no sexuality in the grosser sense and no childbirth4 ,since connections still endure1 and those in the same state of development keep abreast1 one would expect that nations are still roughly divided from each other1 though language is no longer a bar1 since thought has become a medium of conversation4 ,how close is the connection between kindred souls over there is shown by the way in which ,myers1 ,gurney and ,roden ,noel1 all friends and co-workers on earth1 sent messages together through ,mrs4 ,holland1 who knew none of them1 each message being characteristic to those who knew the men in life--or the way in which ,professor ,verrall and ,professor ,butcher1 both famous ,greek scholars1 collaborated to produce the ,greek problem which has been analysed by ,mr4 ,gerald ,balfour in ,the ,ear of ,dionysius1 with the result that that excellent authority testified that the effect ,,could have been attained by no other entities1 save only ,verrall and ,butcher4 ,it may be remarked in passing that these and other examples show clearly either that the spirits have the use of an excellent reference library or else that they have memories which produce something like omniscience4 ,no human memory could possibly carry all the exact quotations which occur in such communications as ,the ,ear of ,dionysius4 ,these1 roughly speaking1 are the lines of the life beyond in its simplest expression1 for it is not all simple1 and we catch dim glimpses of endless circles below descending into gloom and endless circles above1 ascending into glory1 all improving1 all purposeful1 all intensely alive4 ,all are agreed that no religion upon earth has any advantage over another1 but that character and refinement are everything4 ,at the same time1 all are also in agreement that all religions which inculcate prayer1 and an upward glance rather than eyes for ever on the level1 are good4 ,in this sense1 and in no other--as a help to spiritual life--every form may have a purpose for somebody4 ,if to twirl a brass cylinder forces the ,thibetan to admit that there is something higher than his mountains1 and more precious than his yaks1 then to that extent it is good4 ,we must not be censorious in such matters4 ,there is one point which may be mentioned here which is at first startling and yet must commend itself to our reason when we reflect upon it4 ,this is the constant assertion from the other side that the newly passed do not know that they are dead1 and that it is a long time1 sometimes a very long time1 before they can be made to understand it4 ,all of them agree that this state of bewilderment is harmful and retarding to the spirit1 and that some knowledge of the actual truth upon this side is the only way to make sure of not being dazed upon the other4 ,finding conditions entirely different from anything for which either scientific or religious teaching had prepared them1 it is no wonder that they look upon their new sensations as some strange dream1 and the more rigidly orthodox have been their views1 the more impossible do they find it to accept these new surroundings with all that they imply4 ,for this reason1 as well as for many others1 this new revelation is a very needful thing for mankind4 ,a smaller point of practical importance is that the aged should realise that it is still worth while to improve their minds1 for though they have no time to use their fresh knowledge in this world it will remain as part of their mental outfit in the next4 ,as to the smaller details of this life beyond1 it is better perhaps not to treat them1 for the very good reason that they are small details4 ,we will learn them all soon for ourselves1 and it is only vain curiosity which leads us to ask for them now4 ,one thing is clear3 there are higher intelligences over yonder to whom synthetic chemistry1 which not only makes the substance but moulds the form1 is a matter of absolute ease4 ,we see them at work in the coarser media1 perceptible to our material senses1 in the seance room4 ,if they can build up simulacra in the seance room1 how much may we expect them to do when they are working upon ethereal objects in that ether which is their own medium4 ,it may be said generally that they can make something which is analogous to anything which exists upon earth4 ,how they do it may well be a matter of guess and speculation among the less advanced spirits1 as the phenomena of modern science are a matter of guess and speculation to us4 ,if one of us were suddenly called up by the denizen of some sub-human world1 and were asked to explain exactly what gravity is1 or what magnetism is1 how helpless we should be6 ,we may put ourselves in the position1 then1 of a young engineer soldier like ,raymond ,lodge1 who tries to give some theory of matter in the beyond--a theory which is very likely contradicted by some other spirit who is also guessing at things above him4 ,he may be right1 or he may be wrong1 but he is doing his best to say what he thinks1 as we should do in similar case4 ,he believes that his transcendental chemists can make anything1 and that even such unspiritual matter as alcohol or tobacco could come within their powers and could still be craved for by unregenerate spirits4 ,this has tickled the critics to such an extent that one would really think to read the comments that it was the only statement in a book which contains #djj closely-printed pages4 ,raymond may be right or wrong1 but the only thing which the incident proves to me is the unflinching courage and honesty of the man who chronicled it1 knowing well the handle that he was giving to his enemies4 ,there are many who protest that this world which is described to us is too material for their liking4 ,it is not as they would desire it4 ,well1 there are many things in this world which seem different from what we desire1 but they exist none the less4 ,but when we come to examine this charge of materialism and try to construct some sort of system which would satisfy the idealists1 it becomes a very difficult task4 ,are we to be mere wisps of gaseous happiness floating about in the air8 ,that seems to be the idea4 ,but if there is no body like our own1 and if there is no character like our own1 then say what you will1 ,,we have become extinct4 ,what is it to a mother if some impersonal glorified entity is shown to her8 ,she will say1 that is not the son ,i lost--,i want his yellow hair1 his quick smile1 his little moods that ,i know so well4 ,that is what she wants2 that1 ,i believe1 is what she will have2 but she will not have them by any system which cuts us away from all that reminds us of matter and takes us to a vague region of floating emotions4 ,there is an opposite school of critics which rather finds the difficulty in picturing a life which has keen perceptions1 robust emotions1 and a solid surrounding all constructed in so diaphanous a material4 ,let us remember that everything depends upon its comparison with the things around it4 ,if we could conceive of a world a thousand times denser1 heavier and duller than this world1 we can clearly see that to its inmates it would seem much the same as this1 since their strength and texture would be in proportion4 ,if1 however1 these inmates came in contact with us1 they would look upon us as extraordinarily airy beings living in a strange1 light1 spiritual atmosphere4 ,they would not remember that we also1 since our beings and our surroundings are in harmony and in proportion to each other1 feel and act exactly as they do4 ,we have now to consider the case of yet another stratum of life1 which is as much above us as the leaden community would be below us4 ,to us also it seems as if these people1 these spirits1 as we call them1 live the lives of vapour and of shadows4 ,we do not recollect that there also everything is in proportion and in harmony so that the spirit scene or the spirit dwelling1 which might seem a mere dream thing to us1 is as actual to the spirit as are our own scenes or our own dwellings1 and that the spirit body is as real and tangible to another spirit as ours to our friends4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,problems ,,and ,,limitations ,leaving for a moment the larger argument as to the lines of this revelation and the broad proofs of its validity1 there are some smaller points which have forced themselves upon my attention during the consideration of the subject4 ,this home of our dead seems to be very near to us--so near that we continually1 as they tell us1 visit them in our sleep4 ,much of that quiet resignation which we have all observed in people who have lost those whom they loved--people who would in our previous opinion have been driven mad by such loss--is due to the fact that they have seen their dead1 and that although the switch-off is complete and they can recall nothing whatever of the spirit experience in sleep1 the soothing result of it is still carried on by the subconscious self4 ,the switch-off is1 as ,i say1 complete1 but sometimes for some reason it is hung up for a fraction of a second1 and it is at such moments that the dreamer comes back from his dream trailing clouds of glory4 ,from this also come all those prophetic dreams many of which are well attested4 ,i have had a recent personal experience of one which has not yet perhaps entirely justified itself but is even now remarkable4 ,upon ,april #dth of last year1 #aiag1 ,i awoke with a feeling that some communication had been made to me of which ,i had only carried back one word which was ringing in my head4 ,that word was ,piave4 ,to the best of my belief ,i had never heard the word before4 ,as it sounded like the name of a place ,i went into my study the moment ,i had dressed and ,i looked up the index of my ,atlas4 ,there was ,piave sure enough1 and ,i noted that it was a river in ,italy some forty miles behind the front line1 which at that time was victoriously advancing4 ,i could imagine few more unlikely things than that the war should roll back to the ,piave1 and ,i could not think how any military event of consequence could arise there1 but none the less ,i was so impressed that ,i drew up a statement that some such event would occur there1 and ,i had it signed by my secretary and witnessed by my wife with the date1 ,april #dth1 attached4 ,it is a matter of history how six months later the whole ,italian line fell back1 how it abandoned successive positions upon rivers1 and how it stuck upon this stream which was said by military critics to be strategically almost untenable4 ,if nothing more should occur 7,i write upon ,february #bjth1 #aiah71 the reference to the name has been fully justified1 presuming that some friend in the beyond was forecasting the coming events of the war4 ,i have still a hope1 however1 that more was meant1 and that some crowning victory of the ,allies at this spot may justify still further the strange way in which the name was conveyed to my mind4 ,people may well cry out against this theory of sleep on the grounds that all the grotesque1 monstrous and objectionable dreams which plague us cannot possibly come from a high source4 ,on this point ,i have a very definite theory1 which may perhaps be worthy of discussion4 ,i consider that there are two forms of dreams1 and only two1 the experiences of the released spirit1 and the confused action of the lower faculties which remain in the body when the spirit is absent4 ,the former is rare and beautiful1 for the memory of it fails us4 ,the latter are common and varied1 but usually fantastic or ignoble4 ,by noting what is absent in the lower dreams one can tell what the missing qualities are1 and so judge what part of us goes to make up the spirit4 ,thus in these dreams humour is wanting1 since we see things which strike us afterwards as ludicrous1 and are not amused4 ,the sense of proportion and of judgment and of aspiration is all gone4 ,in short1 the higher is palpably gone1 and the lower1 the sense of fear1 of sensual impression1 of self-preservation1 is functioning all the more vividly because it is relieved from the higher control4 ,the limitations of the powers of spirits is a subject which is brought home to one in these studies4 ,people say1 ,if they exist why don't they do this or that6 ,the answer usually is that they can't4 ,they appear to have very fixed limitations like our own4 ,this seemed to be very clearly brought out in the cross-correspondence experiments where several writing mediums were operating at a distance quite independently of each other1 and the object was to get agreement which was beyond the reach of coincidence4 ,the spirits seem to know exactly what they impress upon the minds of the living1 but they do not know how far they carry their instruction out4 ,their touch with us is intermittent4 ,thus1 in the cross-correspondence experiments we continually have them asking1 ,did you get that8 or ,was it all right8 ,sometimes they have partial cognisance of what is done1 as where ,myers says3 ,i saw the circle1 but was not sure about the triangle4 ,it is everywhere apparent that their spirits1 even the spirits of those who1 like ,myers and ,hodgson1 were in specially close touch with psychic subjects1 and knew all that could be done1 were in difficulties when they desired to get cognisance of a material thing1 such as a written document4 ,only1 ,i should imagine1 by partly materialising themselves could they do so1 and they may not have had the power of self-materialization4 ,this consideration throws some light upon the famous case1 so often used by our opponents1 where ,myers failed to give some word or phrase which had been left behind in a sealed box4 ,apparently he could not see this document from his present position1 and if his memory failed him he would be very likely to go wrong about it4 ,many mistakes may1 ,i think1 be explained in this fashion4 ,it has been asserted from the other side1 and the assertion seems to me reasonable1 that when they speak of their own conditions they are speaking of what they know and can readily and surely discuss2 but that when we insist 7as we must sometimes insist7 upon earthly tests1 it drags them back to another plane of things1 and puts them in a position which is far more difficult1 and liable to error4 ,another point which is capable of being used against us is this3 ,the spirits have the greatest difficulty in getting names through to us1 and it is this which makes many of their communications so vague and unsatisfactory4 ,they will talk all round a thing1 and yet never get the name which would clinch the matter4 ,there is an example of the point in a recent communication in ,light1 which describes how a young officer1 recently dead1 endeavoured to get a message through the direct voice method of ,mrs4 ,susannah ,harris to his father4 ,he could not get his name through4 ,he was able1 however1 to make it clear that his father was a member of the ,kildare ,street ,club in ,dublin4 ,inquiry found the father1 and it was then learned that the father had already received an independent message in ,dublin to say that an inquiry was coming through from ,london4 ,i do not know if the earth name is a merely ephemeral thing1 quite disconnected from the personality1 and perhaps the very first thing to be thrown aside4 ,that is1 of course1 possible4 ,or it may be that some law regulates our intercourse from the other side by which it shall not be too direct1 and shall leave something to our own intelligence4 ,this idea1 that there is some law which makes an indirect speech more easy than a direct one1 is greatly borne out by the cross-correspondences1 where circumlocution continually takes the place of assertion4 ,thus1 in the ,st4 ,paul correspondence1 which is treated in the ,july pamphlet of the ,s4,p4,r41 the idea of ,st4 ,paul was to be conveyed from one automatic writer to two others1 both of whom were at a distance1 one of them in ,india4 ,dr4 ,hodgson was the spirit who professed to preside over this experiment4 ,you would think that the simple words ,st4 ,paul occurring in the other scripts would be all-sufficient4 ,but no2 he proceeds to make all sorts of indirect allusions1 to talk all round ,st4 ,paul in each of the scripts1 and to make five quotations from ,st4 ,paul's writings4 ,this is beyond coincidence1 and quite convincing1 but none the less it illustrates the curious way in which they go round instead of going straight4 ,if one could imagine some wise angel on the other side saying1 ,now1 don't make it too easy for these people4 ,make them use their own brains a little4 ,they will become mere automatons if we do everything for them--if we could imagine that1 it would just cover the case4 ,whatever the explanation1 it is a noteworthy fact4 ,there is another point about spirit communications which is worth noting4 ,this is their uncertainty wherever any time element comes in4 ,their estimate of time is almost invariably wrong4 ,earth time is probably a different idea to spirit time1 and hence the confusion4 ,we had the advantage1 as ,i have stated1 of the presence of a lady in our household who developed writing mediumship4 ,she was in close touch with three brothers1 all of whom had been killed in the war4 ,this lady1 conveying messages from her brothers1 was hardly ever entirely wrong upon facts1 and hardly ever right about time4 ,there was one notable exception1 however1 which in itself is suggestive4 ,although her prophecies as to public events were weeks or even months out1 she in one case foretold the arrival of a telegram from ,africa to the day4 ,now the telegram had already been sent1 but was delayed1 so that the inference seems to be that she could foretell a course of events which had actually been set in motion1 and calculate how long they would take to reach their end4 ,on the other hand1 ,i am bound to admit that she confidently prophesied the escape of her fourth brother1 who was a prisoner in ,germany1 and that this was duly fulfilled4 ,on the whole ,i preserve an open mind upon the powers and limitations of prophecy4 ,but apart from all these limitations we have1 unhappily1 to deal with absolute coldblooded lying on the part of wicked or mischievous intelligences4 ,everyone who has investigated the matter has1 ,i suppose1 met with examples of wilful deception1 which occasionally are mixed up with good and true communications4 ,it was of such messages1 no doubt1 that the ,apostle wrote when he said3 ,beloved1 believe1 not every spirit1 but try the spirits whether they are of ,god4 ,these words can only mean that the early ,christians not only practised ,spiritualism as we understand it1 but also that they were faced by the same difficulties4 ,there is nothing more puzzling than the fact that one may get a long connected description with every detail given1 and that it may prove to be entirely a concoction4 ,however1 we must bear in mind that if one case comes absolutely correct1 it atones for many failures1 just as if you had one telegram correct you would know that there was a line and a communicator1 however much they broke down afterwards4 ,but it must be admitted that it is very discomposing and makes one sceptical of messages until they are tested4 ,of a kin with these false influences are all the ,miltons who cannot scan1 and ,shelleys who cannot rhyme1 and ,shakespeares who cannot think1 and all the other absurd impersonations which make our cause ridiculous4 ,they are1 ,i think1 deliberate frauds1 either from this side or from the other1 but to say that they invalidate the whole subject is as senseless as to invalidate our own world because we encounter some unpleasant people4 ,one thing ,i can truly say1 and that is1 that in spite of false messages1 ,i have never in all these years known a blasphemous1 an unkind1 or an obscene message4 ,such incidents must be of very exceptional nature4 ,i think also that1 so far as allegations concerning insanity1 obsession1 and so forth go1 they are entirely imaginary4 ,asylum statistics do not bear out such assertions1 and mediums live to as good an average age as anyone else4 ,i think1 however1 that the cult of the seance may be very much overdone4 ,when once you have convinced yourself of the truth of the phenomena the physical seance has done its work1 and the man or woman who spends his or her life in running from seance to seance is in danger of becoming a mere sensation hunter4 ,here1 as in other cults1 the form is in danger of eclipsing the real thing1 and in pursuit of physical proofs one may forget that the real object of all these things is1 as ,i have tried to point out1 to give us assurance in the future and spiritual strength in the present1 to attain a due perception of the passing nature of matter and the all-importance of that which is immaterial4 ,the conclusion1 then1 of my long search after truth1 is that in spite of occasional fraud1 which ,spiritualists deplore1 and in spite of wild imaginings1 which they discourage1 there remains a great solid core in this movement which is infinitely nearer to positive proof than any other religious development with which ,i am acquainted4 ,as ,i have shown1 it would appear to be a rediscovery rather than an absolutely new thing1 but the result in this material age is the same4 ,the days are surely passing when the mature and considered opinions of such men as ,crookes1 ,wallace1 ,flammarion1 ,chas4 ,richet1 ,lodge1 ,barrett1 ,lombroso1 ,generals ,drayson and ,turner1 ,sergeant ,ballantyne1 ,w4 ,t4 ,stead1 ,judge ,edmunds1 ,admiral ,usborne ,moore1 the late ,archdeacon ,wilberforce1 and such a cloud of other witnesses1 can be dismissed with the empty ,all rot or ,nauseating drivel formulae4 ,as ,mr4 ,arthur ,hill has well said1 we have reached a point where further proof is superfluous1 and where the weight of disproof lies upon those who deny4 ,the very people who clamour for proofs have as a rule never taken the trouble to examine the copious proofs which already exist4 ,each seems to think that the whole subject should begin de novo because he has asked for information4 ,the method of our opponents is to fasten upon the latest man who has stated the case--at the present instant it happens to be ,sir ,oliver ,lodge--and then to deal with him as if he had come forward with some new opinions which rested entirely upon his own assertion1 with no reference to the corroboration of so many independent workers before him4 ,this is not an honest method of criticism1 for in every case the agreement of witnesses is the very root of conviction4 ,but as a matter of fact1 there are many single witnesses upon whom this case could rest4 ,if1 for example1 our only knowledge of unknown forces depended upon the researches of ,dr4 ,crawford of ,belfast1 who places his amateur medium in a weighing chair with her feet from the ground1 and has been able to register a difference of weight of many pounds1 corresponding with the physical phenomena produced1 a result which he has tested and recorded in a true scientific spirit of caution1 ,i do not see how it could be shaken4 ,the phenomena are and have long been firmly established for every open mind4 ,one feels that the stage of investigation is passed1 and that of religious construction is overdue4 ,for are we to satisfy ourselves by observing phenomena with no attention to what the phenomena mean1 as a group of savages might stare at a wireless installation with no appreciation of the messages coming through it1 or are we resolutely to set ourselves to define these subtle and elusive utterances from beyond1 and to construct from them a religious scheme1 which will be founded upon human reason on this side and upon spirit inspiration upon the other8 ,these phenomena have passed through the stage of being a parlour game2 they are now emerging from that of a debatable scientific novelty2 and they are1 or should be1 taking shape as the foundations of a definite system of religious thought1 in some ways confirmatory of ancient systems1 in some ways entirely new4 ,the evidence upon which this system rests is so enormous that it would take a very considerable library to contain it1 and the witnesses are not shadowy people living in the dim past and inaccessible to our cross-examination1 but are our own contemporaries1 men of character and intellect whom all must respect4 ,the situation may1 as it seems to me1 be summed up in a simple alternative4 ,the one supposition is that there has been an outbreak of lunacy extending over two generations of mankind1 and two great continents--a lunacy which assails men or women who are otherwise eminently sane4 ,the alternative supposition is that in recent years there has come to us from divine sources a new revelation which constitutes by far the greatest religious event since the death of ,christ 7for the ,reformation was a re-arrangement of the old1 not a revelation of the new71 a revelation which alters the whole aspect of death and the fate of man4 ,between these two suppositions there is no solid position4 ,theories of fraud or of delusion will not meet the evidence4 ,it is absolute lunacy or it is a revolution in religious thought1 a revolution which gives us as by-products an utter fearlessness of death1 and an immense consolation when those who are dear to us pass behind the veil4 ,i should like to add a few practical words to those who know the truth of what ,i say4 ,we have here an enormous new development1 the greatest in the history of mankind4 ,how are we to use it8 ,we are bound in honour1 ,i think1 to state our own belief1 especially to those who are in trouble4 ,having stated it1 we should not force it1 but leave the rest to higher wisdom than our own4 ,we wish to subvert no religion4 ,we wish only to bring back the material-minded--to take them out of their cramped valley and put them on the ridge1 whence they can breathe purer air and see other valleys and other ridges beyond4 ,religions are mostly petrified and decayed1 overgrown with forms and choked with mysteries4 ,we can prove that there is no need for this4 ,all that is essential is both very simple and very sure4 ,the clear call for our help comes from those who have had a loss and who yearn to re-establish connection4 ,this also can be overdone4 ,if your boy were in ,australia1 you would not expect him to continually stop his work and write long letters at all seasons4 ,having got in touch1 be moderate in your demands4 ,do not be satisfied with any evidence short of the best1 but having got that1 you can1 it seems to me1 wait for that short period when we shall all be re-united4 ,i am in touch at present with thirteen mothers who are in correspondence with their dead sons4 ,in each case1 the husband1 where he is alive1 is agreed as to the evidence4 ,in only one case so far as ,i know was the parent acquainted with psychic matters before the war4 ,several of these cases have peculiarities of their own4 ,in two of them the figures of the dead lads have appeared beside the mothers in a photograph4 ,in one case the first message to the mother came through a stranger to whom the correct address of the mother was given4 ,the communication afterwards became direct4 ,in another case the method of sending messages was to give references to particular pages and lines of books in distant libraries1 the whole conveying a message4 ,the procedure was to weed out all fear of telepathy4 ,verily there is no possible way by which a truth can be proved by which this truth has not been proved4 ,how are you to act8 ,there is the difficulty4 ,there are true men and there are frauds4 ,you have to work warily4 ,so far as professional mediums go1 you will not find it difficult to get recommendations4 ,even with the best you may draw entirely blank4 ,the conditions are very elusive4 ,and yet some get the result at once4 ,we cannot lay down laws1 because the law works from the other side as well as this4 ,nearly every woman is an undeveloped medium4 ,let her try her own powers of automatic writing4 ,there again1 what is done must be done with every precaution against self-deception1 and in a reverent and prayerful mood4 ,but if you are earnest1 you will win through somehow1 for someone else is probably trying on the other side4 ,some people discountenance communication upon the ground that it is hindering the advance of the departed4 ,there is not a tittle of evidence for this4 ,the assertions of the spirits are entirely to the contrary and they declare that they are helped and strengthened by the touch with those whom they love4 ,i know few more moving passages in their simple boyish eloquence than those in which ,raymond describes the feelings of the dead boys who want to get messages back to their people and find that ignorance and prejudice are a perpetual bar4 ,it is hard to think your sons are dead1 but such a lot of people do think so4 ,it is revolting to hear the boys tell you how no one speaks of them ever4 ,it hurts me through and through4 ,above all read the literature of this subject4 ,it has been far too much neglected1 not only by the material world but by believers4 ,soak yourself with this grand truth4 ,make yourself familiar with the overpowering evidence4 ,get away from the phenomenal side and learn the lofty teaching from such beautiful books as ,after ,death or from ,stainton ,moses' ,spirit ,teachings4 ,there is a whole library of such literature1 of unequal value but of a high average4 ,broaden and spiritualize your thoughts4 ,show the results in your lives4 ,unselfishness1 that is the keynote to progress4 ,realise not as a belief or a faith1 but as a fact which is as tangible as the streets of ,london1 that we are moving on soon to another life1 that all will be very happy there1 and that the only possible way in which that happiness can be marred or deferred is by folly and selfishness in these few fleeting years4 ,it must be repeated that while the new revelation may seem destructive to those who hold ,christian dogmas with extreme rigidity1 it has quite the opposite effect upon the mind which1 like so many modern minds1 had come to look upon the whole ,christian scheme as a huge delusion4 ,it is shown clearly that the old revelation has so many resemblances1 defaced by time and mangled by man's mishandling and materialism1 but still denoting the same general scheme1 that undoubtedly both have come from the same source4 ,the accepted ideas of life after death1 of higher and lower spirits1 of comparative happiness depending upon our own conduct1 of chastening by pain1 of guardian spirits1 of high teachers1 of an infinite central power1 of circles above circles approaching nearer to ,his presence--all of these conceptions appear once more and are confirmed by many witnesses4 ,it is only the claims of infallibility and of monopoly1 the bigotry and pedantry of theologians1 and the man-made rituals which take the life out of the ,god-given thoughts--it is only this which has defaced the truth4 ,i cannot end this little book better than by using words more eloquent than any which ,i could write1 a splendid sample of ,english style as well as of ,english thought4 ,they are from the pen of that considerable thinker and poet1 ,mr4 ,gerald ,massey1 and were written many years ago4 ,spiritualism has been for me1 in common with many others1 such a lifting of the mental horizon and letting-in of the heavens--such a formation of faith into facts1 that ,i can only compare life without it to sailing on board ship with hatches battened down and being kept a prisoner1 living by the light of a candle1 and then suddenly1 on some splendid starry night1 allowed to go on deck for the first time to see the stupendous mechanism of the heavens all aglow with the glory of ,god4 ,,supplementary ,,documents ,i4 ,,the ,,next ,,phase ,,of ,,life ,i have spoken in the text of the striking manner in which accounts of life in the next phase1 though derived from the most varied and independent sources1 are still in essential agreement--an agreement which occasionally descends to small details4 ,a variety is introduced by that fuller vision which can see and describe more than one plane1 but the accounts of that happy land to which the ordinary mortal may hope to aspire1 are very consistent4 ,since ,i wrote the statement ,i have read three fresh independent descriptions which again confirm the point4 ,one is the account given by ,a ,king's ,counsel1 in his recent book1 ,i ,heard a ,voice 7,kegan ,paul71 which ,i recommended to inquirers1 though it has a strong ,roman ,catholic bias running through it which shows that our main lines of thought are persistent4 ,a second is the little book ,the ,light on the ,future1 giving the very interesting details of the beyond1 gathered by an earnest and reverent circle in ,dublin4 ,the other came in a private letter from ,mr4 ,hubert ,wales1 and is1 ,i think1 most instructive4 ,mr4 ,wales is a cautious and rather sceptical inquirer who had put away his results with incredulity 7he had received them through his own automatic writing74 ,on reading my account of the conditions described in the beyond1 he hunted up his own old script which had commended itself so little to him when he first produced it4 ,he says3 ,after reading your article1 ,i was struck1 almost startled1 by the circumstance that the statements which had purported to be made to me regarding conditions after death coincided--,i think almost to the smallest detail--with those you set out as the result of your collation of material obtained from a great number of sources4 ,i cannot think there was anything in my antecedent reading to account for this coincidence4 ,i had certainly read nothing you had published on the subject4 ,i had purposely avoided ,raymond and books like it1 in order not to vitiate my own results1 and the ,proceedings of the ,s4,p4,r4 which ,i had read at that time1 do not touch1 as you know1 upon after-death conditions4 ,at any rate ,i obtained1 at various times1 statements 7as my contemporary notes show7 to the effect that1 in this persisting state of existence1 they have bodies which1 though imperceptible by our senses1 are as solid to them as ours to us1 that these bodies are based on the general characteristics of our present bodies but beautified2 that they have no age1 no pain1 no rich and poor2 that they wear clothes and take nourishment2 that they do not sleep 7though they spoke of passing occasionally into a semiconscious state which they called 'lying asleep'--a condition1 it just occurs to me1 which seems to correspond roughly with the ',hypnoidal' state72 that1 after a period which is usually shorter than the average life-time here1 they pass to some further state of existence2 that people of similar thoughts1 tastes and feelings1 gravitate together2 that married couples do not necessarily reunite1 but that the love of man and woman continues and is freed of elements which with us often militate against its perfect realization2 that immediately after death people pass into a semi-conscious rest-state lasting various periods1 that they are unable to experience bodily pain1 but are susceptible at times to some mental anxiety2 that a painful death is 'absolutely unknown1' that religious beliefs make no difference whatever in the after-state1 and that their life altogether is intensely happy1 and no one having ever realised it could wish to return here4 ,i got no reference to 'work' by that word1 but much to the various interests that were said to occupy them4 ,that is probably only another way of saying the same thing4 ',work' with us has come usually to mean 'work to live1' and that1 ,i was emphatically informed1 was not the case with them--that all the requirements of life were somehow mysteriously 'provided4' ,neither did ,i get any reference to a definite 'temporary penal state1' but ,i gathered that people begin there at the point of intellectual and moral development where they leave off here2 and since their state of happiness was based mainly upon sympathy1 those who came over in a low moral condition1 failed at first for various lengths of time to have the capacity to appreciate and enjoy it4 ,,automatic ,,writing ,this form of mediumship gives the very highest results1 and yet in its very nature is liable to self-deception4 ,are we using our own hand or is an outside power directing it8 ,it is only by the information received that we can tell1 and even then we have to make broad allowance for the action of our own subconscious knowledge4 ,it is worth while perhaps to quote what appears to me to be a thoroughly critic-proof case1 so that the inquirer may see how strong the evidence is that these messages are not self-evolved4 ,this case is quoted in ,mr4 ,arthur ,hill's recent book ,man ,is a ,spirit 7,cassell ,co47 and is contributed by a gentleman who takes the name of ,captain ,james ,burton4 ,he is1 ,i understand1 the same medium 7amateur7 through whose communications the position of the buried ruins at ,glastonbury have recently been located4 ,a week after my father's funeral ,i was writing a business letter1 when something seemed to intervene between my hand and the motor centres of my brain1 and the hand wrote at an amazing rate a letter1 signed with my father's signature and purporting to come from him4 ,i was upset1 and my right side and arm became cold and numb4 ,for a year after this letters came frequently1 and always at unexpected times4 ,i never knew what they contained until ,i examined them with a magnifying-glass3 they were microscopic4 ,and they contained a vast amount of matter with which it was impossible for me to be acquainted4 4 4 4 ,unknown to me1 my mother1 who was staying some sixty miles away1 lost her pet dog1 which my father had given her4 ,the same night ,i had a letter from him condoling with her1 and stating that the dog was now with him4 ',all things which love us and are necessary to our happiness in the world are with us here4' ,a most sacred secret1 known to no one but my father and mother1 concerning a matter which occurred years before ,i was born1 was afterwards told me in the script1 with the comment3 ',tell your mother this1 and she will know that it is ,i1 your father1 who am writing4' ,my mother had been unable to accept the possibility up to now1 but when ,i told her this she collapsed and fainted4 ,from that moment the letters became her greatest comfort1 for they were lovers during the forty years of their married life1 and his death almost broke her heart4 ,as for myself1 ,i am as convinced that my father1 in his original personality1 still exists1 as if he were still in his study with the door shut4 ,he is no more dead than he would be were he living in ,america4 ,i have compared the diction and vocabulary of these letters with those employed in my own writing--,i am not unknown as a magazine contributor--and ,i find no points of similarity between the two4 ,there is much further evidence in this case for which ,i refer the reader to the book itself4 ,,the ,,cheriton ,,dugout ,i have mentioned in the text that ,i had some recent experience of a case where a polter-geist or mischievous spirit had been manifesting4 ,these entities appear to be of an undeveloped order and nearer to earth conditions than any others with which we are acquainted4 ,this comparative materialism upon their part places them low in the scale of spirit1 and undesirable perhaps as communicants1 but it gives them a special value as calling attention to crude obvious phenomena1 and so arresting the human attention and forcing upon our notice that there are other forms of life within the universe4 ,these borderland forces have attracted passing attention at several times and places in the past1 such cases as the ,wesley persecution at ,epworth1 the ,drummer of ,tedworth1 the ,bells of ,bealing1 etc41 startling the country for a time--each of them being an impingement of unknown forces upon human life4 ,then almost simultaneously came the ,hydesville case in ,america and the ,cideville disturbances in ,france1 which were so marked that they could not be overlooked4 ,from them sprang the whole modern movement which1 reasoning upwards from small things to great1 from raw things to developed ones1 from phenomena to messages1 is destined to give religion the firmest basis upon which it has ever stood4 ,therefore1 humble and foolish as these manifestations may seem1 they have been the seed of large developments1 and are worthy of our respectful1 though critical1 attention4 ,many such manifestations have appeared of recent years in various quarters of the world1 each of which is treated by the press in a more or less comic vein1 with a conviction apparently that the use of the word spook discredits the incident and brings discussion to an end4 ,it is remarkable that each is treated as an entirely isolated phenomenon1 and thus the ordinary reader gets no idea of the strength of the cumulative evidence4 ,in this particular case of the ,cheriton ,dugout the facts are as follows3 ,mr4 ,jaques1 a ,justice of the ,peace and a man of education and intelligence1 residing at ,embrook ,house1 ,cheriton1 near ,folkestone1 made a dugout just opposite to his residence as a protection against air raids4 ,the house was1 it may be remarked1 of great antiquity1 part of it being an old religious foundation of the #adth ,century4 ,the dugout was constructed at the base of a small bluff1 and the sinking was through ordinary soft sandstone4 ,the work was carried out by a local jobbing builder called ,rolfe1 assisted by a lad4 ,soon after the inception of his task he was annoyed by his candle being continually blown out by jets of sand1 and1 by similar jets hitting up against his own face4 ,these phenomena he imagined to be due to some gaseous or electrical cause1 but they reached such a point that his work was seriously hampered1 and he complained to ,mr4 ,jaques1 who received the story with absolute incredulity4 ,the persecution continued1 however1 and increased in intensity1 taking the form now of actual blows from moving material1 considerable objects1 such as stones and bits of brick1 flying past him and hitting the walls with a violent impact4 ,mr4 ,rolfe1 still searching for a physical explanation1 went to ,mr4 ,hesketh1 the ,municipal ,electrician of ,folkestone1 a man of high education and intelligence1 who went out to the scene of the affair and saw enough to convince himself that the phenomena were perfectly genuine and inexplicable by ordinary laws4 ,a ,canadian soldier who was billeted upon ,mr4 ,rolfe1 heard an account of the happenings from his host1 and after announcing his conviction that the latter had bats in his belfry proceeded to the dugout1 where his experiences were so instant and so violent that he rushed out of the place in horror4 ,the housekeeper at the ,hall also was a witness of the movement of bricks when no human hands touched them4 ,mr4 ,jaques1 whose incredulity had gradually thawed before all this evidence1 went down to the dugout in the absence of everyone1 and was departing from it when five stones rapped up against the door from the inside4 ,he reopened the door and saw them lying there upon the floor4 ,sir ,william ,barrett had meanwhile come down1 but had seen nothing4 ,his stay was a short one4 ,i afterwards made four visits of about two hours each to the grotto1 but got nothing direct1 though ,i saw the new brickwork all chipped about by the blows which it had received4 ,the forces appeared to have not the slightest interest in psychical research1 for they never played up to an investigator1 and yet their presence and action have been demonstrated to at least seven different observers1 and1 as ,i have said1 they left their traces behind them1 even to the extent of picking the flint stones out of the new cement which was to form the floor1 and arranging them in tidy little piles4 ,the obvious explanation that the boy was an adept at mischief had to be set aside in view of the fact that the phenomena occurred in his absence4 ,one extra man of science wandered on to the scene for a moment1 but as his explanation was that the movements occurred through the emanation of marsh-gas1 it did not advance matters much4 ,the disturbances are still proceeding1 and ,i have had a letter this very morning 7,february #bast1 #aiah7 with fuller and later details from ,mr4 ,hesketh1 the ,engineer4 ,what is the ,,real explanation of such a matter8 ,i can only say that ,i have advised ,mr4 ,jaques to dig into the bluff under which he is constructing his cellar4 ,i made some investigation myself upon the top of it and convinced myself that the surface ground at that spot has at some time been disturbed to the depth of at least five feet4 ,something has1 ,i should judge1 been buried at some date1 and it is probable that1 as in the case cited in the text1 there is a connection between this and the disturbances4 ,it is very probable that ,mr4 ,rolfe is1 unknown to himself1 a physical medium1 and that when he was in the confined space of the cellar he turned it into a cabinet in which his magnetic powers could accumulate and be available for use4 ,it chanced that there was on the spot some agency which chose to use them1 and hence the phenomena4 ,when ,mr4 ,jaques went alone to the grotto the power left behind by ,mr4 ,rolfe1 who had been in it all morning1 was not yet exhausted and he was able to get some manifestations4 ,so ,i read it1 but it is well not to be dogmatic on such matters4 ,if there is systematic digging ,i should expect an epilogue to the story4 ,whilst these proofs were in the press a second very marked case of a ,polter-geist came within my knowledge4 ,i cannot without breach of confidence reveal the details and the phenomena are still going on4 ,curiously enough1 it was because one of the sufferers from the invasion read some remarks of mine upon the ,cheriton dugout that this other case came to my knowledge1 for the lady wrote to me at once for advice and assistance4 ,the place is remote and ,i have not yet been able to visit it1 but from the full accounts which ,i have now received it seems to present all the familiar features1 with the phenomenon of direct writing superadded4 ,some specimens of this script have reached me4 ,two clergymen have endeavoured to mitigate the phenomena1 which are occasionally very violent1 but so far without result4 ,it may be some consolation to any others who may be suffering from this strange infliction1 to know that in the many cases which have been carefully recorded there is none in which any physical harm has been inflicted upon man or beast4