SPIRITUALISM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5638, 11 December 1879, Page 6

SPIRITUALISM.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—As nearly all the letters that have of late appeared on the subject of Spiritualism have run parallel in point of fiery heat with this sultry weather, perhaps you will find space for one which Bhall be as studiously temperate as brief. I write not as an apologist; the old faith, to which my attachment is ever increasing needs, it not; and

as for the moral delinquencies of the professing Church, they will be dealt with, and ■lore effectively, too, than by violent and inflammatory attack. A personal and prolonged interview with Mrs. Britten enables . me to add my testimony to that of the many who have already and so enthusiastically pronounced her panegyric. Her intellectual and social qualities are confessedly high. But, of course, none of your readers can take this statement a3 tantamount to an expression of sympathy with her mission. Concerning Spiritualism, there isjthe widest divergence of opinion. Many, becauso mediums have been found practising deception, have rushed to the conclusion that the whole thing is a gigantic falsehood. This is an illogical extreme. JCot a few, again, are indulging, or seem at least to indulge, the most sanguine hopes regarding its triumph. 1 It is the crowning religious philosophy or philosophical religion which is eventually to crush all creeds and superstit'ous beliefs into the dust of the Middle Ages. The ground I occupy stands mid-way. The man who doubts the reality of Spiritualism must not only doubt the decision of the most practised and skilful ecientific observers of the day ; he must call in question the veracity of his own senses. But if the question comes to be, citi bono,in the interests of Spiritualism I must be silent. My own independent and sifting scrutiny has led me to abandon a matter which, though psychologically strange, I must regard a», to say the very least, an unprofitable of time. Beyond the first 1 shall not dogmatise. But a private letter lately received from the principal of an educational institution in Gugby, intimately acquainted with British scientific and literary circles, Spiritualistic and otherwise, confinn r d me in the justness of my conclusions. He tells me he hardly know s an exception as to the ultimate treatment of Spiritualism, and adds :—"I have long ceased even to read any literature on the point." Iby no means approve of all contained in the article "Animal Magnetism" in "Chambers's Encyclopaedia," but there is a considerable element of truth in the following quotation, as your readers will, I believe, determine at last for themselves :—"Spirits reveal heaven to Robert Owen, as organised on his own social theory; while a Protestant clereyman finds the world of spirits pervaded by a horror of the Pope; and to pious Scotch Presbyterians every revelation regarding it is completely in accordance with Calvinistic theology."—l am, &c., A. Carrick.