Spiritualism

Southland Times, Issue 18057, 29 January 1903, Page 2

Spiritualism

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Sin— There does not seetu lojtbe much danger of spiritualism becoming; a ; craz» ih Invercargill ; still, it may be as well p€rhaps to examine the credentials which the , advocates , of this now O-50.1t "- -present . for -our acceptance. These credentials consist . • ..-.. partly --''Of :■ ■ assumption ami ' partly 'of f wets', (frO what Its :\-«<lybeates claini to ;bb % facts, <: hut Which the general public will be-. 1 slow:';tb-;-receive as facts;.': The' 'first ...positive statement regarding man's soul is -fiis incapable of demonstration in this , new " ism \* ■as it has been, in all other. IMr Morse said : •' Man ivas not' a body with a. soul, but a so^ui with a body, aiwj ; naturally 'iinuior^V^.The : -V«sernali rcoii!itinuiug -■* something '^was greater than ■'-: the mechanism \vfc, controlled •; this 1 continuing light was -part of: the eternal soul of God." Now this assumption, for iti la no more, than assumption, is beset; with as great d^fncuUfes as thbo^tK^fex doctrine of -an soul; This eternal continuing' : . something i» a. thingiof growth'" and development after., it becomes Join^--'^*'.fts'- > ';iß^ingl;. : iio.as94;\.bf v ' clay," the human body. Many ottenipts have been made to ..describo and- ariklyaa . the soul, but it will -be- enough for ;.^\»y.V-. purpose rfco any it Is'- the: thinking pait; Of man. But .whence /this thinking part ;. coiries or wrfither it goes, or 4t really has' a separate, entity 'before;/ ! and . after the existence^ of; the body ,';no-mor-tal -man ;', can telh Mr Morse - did Jjioi offer a scrap of proof in support- of/ his theory. Air the Knowledge which we really possess regarding _this thinking ' '■. part 'of mnn or what is termed, .'• sQ*rt "'• ?r leads to the conclusion that the wul is an integral and ihd^ssoiuble\ part Of man. I know that; it is no more possiolo "to prove, absolutely'; this contention than" it is to prove the other, although there are some grounds on which to rest the- Jatter assumption. ; But there are none foir Hhe soparate existence of -..-the. sou} before ;«.n<l alter that of the 'body. ,"' There yjsn6 mystery about the grounds of proof that the soul is indigenous, an integral part of man. An infant seems to have 110 mind ; it ia born with capacities nntl its mind is developed by teaching. A child which is not taught knows nothing even when it arrives at maturity. This loads to the assumption that the soul is wholly dependent upon human factors for "its development. The soul i* W rtajnly a^ thing of growth, TJb<Jw pro*

per conditions it grows with the growth of the body, aad except in rare cases, the mind suffers senility with the body. But in cases of accidents to the brain,' the mind may become completely obliterated, 43 much so as if it was dead, whilst the body lives and. performs its usual functions. These are hard facts, ami they tell strongly against the assumption that the soul has an independent entity and is jiparV of the eternal soul, or as some sayiYdra^en. from the soul river. l*ut perhaps the strongest reason for rejecting .the 'theory of the soul coming from : a source independent of the body is the fact that idiots or weak-minded parents transmit their defects to their children. The soul appears to be us susceptible to damage and decay as the body. And with savage tribes the soul continues in a state of perpetual infancy— never advancing until it comes into permanent relations with civilisation. Then at the end, when the body is in the throes of dissolution, thero is not the faintest indication visible to natural eyes that anything survives the iinal .collapse of the body.: The poet Montgomery sings— ' Then the end ; beneath his rod : Mdn r s last; -enemy shall fall. That, refers to a time that we know nothing of. But in the meantime it is man ;that falls and the enemy flhat triumphs. : ■■;. ': The above all refers to ' - m the assumptive part of the lecture. In coming to the facts Mr Morsel-described a death scene asOse^n'^y^aX-spilfl^Baiist, giving a graphic pictare:..bf; .the> transition. .. "As a ; ; manias^dying^; a ; certain luminosity ; : ;V-;f\iidtot^\^it|wniVhimi>;'ftitled' away, and the :;/.-" t ormiKbecame darker •gradually. »\s the V darkness of the. body . increased Jght came -rolling '"up in waves, increasing in votame till it enveloped the head in a species of haze or halo. Then from this golden glory he could soe a new form evolve, first the head, then the body, then the limbs." That is what Mr .-.;. Morse called the tangible part of spirit- • : .ualism. It; vwas <the: ornate part of the : lecture at j any rate. 'That is the mysti- -:,' cal ;parts of .spbritualiatrii; It .is urtfortunate for: spiritualisni: that such beautiful visions: are i" restricted .i.to a favoured few. The mystical in spiritualism turns back the shadow on th^ dial s of time 2000 years, - and repairs! the rent in the veil of temple which" screened: ; the holy of . holies from the vulgar gaze, and reinstates a royal priesthood in possession of the holy of holies where none but the h%h?pfiest«iiay gaze upon rolling clouds of halo and glory which enshrine :■ -immortality. That is the spiritualist's audit of life's account. His real assets consist of a dead body. For profit and loss account he has bitls receivable, but only by an act of faith, consisting of rolling clouds of halo and gjory realisable after deattf." .But some very serious difflc^ties' ? lareVpresented byj Jdr Morse's way /in dealing with ..Vmiihl He says : "tMan -was iaiade for ; immortality not v immortality .-for* man. When man died he did nbt'Decbnje an'immo'rtai soul. If he didV-iniracl^trbuld be worked, and miracles had' no iplace * in the orderly scheme of Nature. .^; . The- soul of man was .[■;■_ greater than Vtho mechanism it coutrolYV led, nibre^eterhaiitnan the fleeting clay that covered it." By this paragraph it j is. clearly indicated that, the human or mortal "never put on immortality as St. raul^says/^but suffers death eternal Vhen- the sbuld,. takes its flight from it. Frdnri this "we must infer, that tho body profiteth ji6<!fang :i)y being a. tenement for the soul, but the soul alone is advanced in. the V scale of being. Now the question is dp. all bodies possess souls, from the infant' of fan hour upwards, and savages ? Jf so,- then ' the eouls who enter; the 'bodies: of infants and savages profit nothing— they cannot . develop in either./ '.lndeed- it! is : : only in civilised ' adults: that .souls r. can develop, and this shows a prodigious waste of human materialin "tfte i scheme of ' nature. Another •difflcuity presents "itself in the formation of the spiritual organism which was .said a "-replica of man ,or woman as in their .bibbm of health.*' If the eternal .organism is a true replica of the natural bodyjjyiere will be spirits in the spirit ; world with crutches, and some with a long : leg and a short one eked 6ut with an iron ring to the foot, and in : other cases little dogs will be seen leading- their blind* masters by a string. These, unfortunates are born so. Such ; difficulties might be multiplied indefinitely, /but vthislett^ is already long enough.— l am, &c, v ;. - ■"'- :^^.:-^^::-;:--:^\-, .••'.■ - - t: jbuxton. .;.,•: 26th," Jan.-;-. j. . i; -- : : ;:-,^: „; ; ■ " :■ _ .