SPOOK EXPOSER DRIVER'S DRIBBLINGS.

NZ Truth, Issue 605, 20 January 1917, Page 8

SPOOK EXPOSER DRIVER'S DRIBBLINGS.

'. -Dear "Truth," — rThomas Driver I thinks no doubt that with his vast , knowledge of .the art. of legerdemain | . ' he can drive rough shod over the cher- • ished faith of those who dare to differ frorii him. He «eems also to be able , to drive a pen with some facility. But after all what does his long, feeble, and flatulent letter amount to? Simply this, that there have been numerous frauds exposed m connection with j spiritualism. But is ttiat so singular arid exceptional an occurrence as to be taken as proof positive that, spiritualism hplus bolus 'is a fake? Have there been no frauds m, among the Jews, among the Roman Catholics, among the Anglicans, the Presbyter- - ians, the Wesleyans, the , Anglo-Israel-ites, the Salvation Army/ or among anjotjier creed credulous humanity, clings to m its want of knowledge as to what is beyond? And has not each religion or sect welcomed to its fold preverts from one or other religion who m turn have turned out to-be -frauds 2 Mr. Driver knows he , must answer both these questions m the affirmative. That being so, if he then condemns spiritualism because, of. the frauds connected i'wlth it or professing it, at one time or j another, what is his attitude toward all the other religions, including his own "revered holy faith," m which similar and worse frauds have been- discovered iand exposed? Mr. Driver is wellI named Thomas. Thomas was the unI believer. The discipie who would not j accept the risen Christ until, he had ■i seen the nail prints and put' his fingers m. the holes'. If he takes up the same attitude toward modern creeds as . his namesake Dydlmus . did towards j Clurist, then, I am afraid, that unlike 'the other, he will be compelled to re-, ! main an unbeliever right to the end of | the chapter^or there are "holes" and ."wound prints" m every existing creed ! which he cannot be shown and into which he cannot be allowed to put his j finger m order to probe Its genuineJ ness to the bottom. Luckily, there are < greater minds and at least as honest men as Mr. Driver who are interested m spiritualism and who are honestly , out to find the truth and to proclaim It from the housetops when found, despite the daubing and damning of doubters of the Driver model, ix has been declared by/more than one eminent man of science and literature that despite the frauds who batten- on those who believe In spiritualism, and despite the ■ wild imagining^ of certain honest but i hysterical souls, there Temains a solid core m this spiritualist movement, ; which, to use tho worus of Sir Arthur. Doyle, is "infinitely nearer to positive faith than any other religious development with which I am acquainted." This remarkable confesi slon of faith m what is commonly calli ed spiritualism is contained m a not- \ able article which Sir Arthur con- , tributed to a recent Issue of the spiritualist periodical, "lAgutt" m which the ' eminent litterateur gives a concise expression of the conclusions to which he , has come as the result of many years' \ experience and earnest investigation. Here is a pungent quotation from the article m question: "The days are. past when the considered opinions of such men as Crookes, | 1 Wallace, Flammarlon, Lodge* Barrett, ' Generals Drayson and Turner, Serjeant j Ballantyne, W. T. Stead, Judge Edj monds, Vice-Admlral Usbome-Moore, | the late Canon Wilberforce, and such a '•'cloud of other witnesses, can be dlsi missed with the etnpty-headed 'all rot' [formula. As Mr. J. Arthur Hill has I well said In a recent number of the j 'National Review,' 'we havo reached a ] point where further proof Is super- :' 1 fluous, and where the weight of dls- \ : proof lies upon those who deny i . We should now be at the close of the ; stage of Investigation and beginning • the period of religious reconstruction i .....' where these phenomena should bo taking Bhape as the foundations of a definite syntem of religious thought, : In Homo ways confirmatory of ancient i nystems. m some ways entirely new." f This brilliant writer at last has been i forced to recognise the truth of splrltj urULsm. Ho Is convinced that thoso i phenomena are not antagonistic to, but p confirmatory of all those moral laws • which aro common to most human sys- • terns, as to llfo after death, as to the » unhappy results of sin, as to the "ex--1 lot'ence of hlghor beings whom we may i call angels and of an evor-aacondlng r hierarchy, above us. culminating In . heights whlch',aro beyond our sight or 3 comprehension; with which wo may j associate tho Idea of AH- Power or of i God," and they are confirmatory as to 1 tho existence of tho "Summcrland" or i Heaven. And It la tho preaching and • teaching of theso truths that Thomao ! Driver and "Bora Fostus" would pro-

hibit by the force of the policeman and the pillory of the public court and prison. My dear sirs, it cannot be done.. This is the old intolerant spirit of the church, which for centuries tried to keep back the truth, but the truth will out. It will not be trodden under. Spiritualism must be judged by what it is m itself and not by the standards of the frauds who have professed it for .gain. Thomas had better drive more carefully or he'll come a cropper before very long.— Yours, etc., ROBIN BLOCHAIRN. Wellington. /