TO GROW IN CHARACTER.

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 9, 10 January 1920, Page 6

TO GROW IN CHARACTER.

The Bishop of London, on all Saints' Day:—

"There is only one question to deal with on All Saints' Day, after fiveyear3 of war, that is, what do we know about those who have passed away? After five years' study of all books on spiritualism within reach, and conversing with those who imagined themselves to be in constant communication, I feel it is the duty of a Bishop to guide people in a. wise path. The experiences related by Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir A. Conon Doyle do no harm. The subject was discussed in the Old Testament, but never in any kind of way is it inculcated in the New Testament. It has a most deleterious effect on those who study it. Fraud has been discovered again and again in the revelations of mediums. What I fear is that those who grasp the shadow, too often lose the substance. What is the answer of the church? Have we no answer to mourning mothers on All Saints' Day? I asked a mother not to think of a son as a ghost. Christ said, 'Behold, it is I, myself.' The dear boj she loved was the same five minutes after death, as he was five minutes before. If we, are the same five minutes after death, we should check temper, curb passion, and grow more unselfish. Judas went to his own place, and Stephen to his own place. It would make all the difference in the after-world what we are really—like Judas or like Stephen. We must bring back the Communion of Saints. None of us die perfect. Our boys would be the last to say they died perfect. They have gone to homes where they will grow in character." '