SPIRITUALISM.

Freethought Review, Volume II, Issue 15, 1 December 1884, Page 8

SPIRITUALISM.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ' FREETHOUGHT REVIEW.' " Upon my day of life the night is falling, And in the winds from un-sunned spaces blown I hear far voices out of darkness calling My feet to paths unknown." ( Quotation.) Sir,The question is often asked—Of what use is Spiritualism when we have in modern Christianity all that is needed for man's spiritual welfare and rule of life ? For those who do not care to investigate spiritual phenomena, the question is a natural one, and similar questions might be asked by those who value systems of morality only that are based upon truth, and about the utility of which there can be little doubt. If it be necessary, however, to believe something in order to lead a good moral life, of the two, Spiritualism is the least objectionable. It will, no doubt, be admitted by you " stupid Freethought people'' that there are men of good moral character in the churches, just as it has been acknowledged that there are Freethinkers even in this colony that tower in moral grandeur head and shoulders above them. I have just read an article upon Spiritualism in the ' New Zealand Mail,' by " Asmodeus," which I should like to deal with in detail did time permit. I can only say that his arguments were far from being convincing, and the hypothesis of the sun-flower turning " were no sun visible" did not strengthen them. Like others who have written on the subject, he does not seem to get far from where he started, but does a good deal of going round and round. There is one thing, however, of which lie cannot be accused, viz., bringing to the front and parading the names of Spiritualists eminent in the literary and scientific world. Spiritualists are never tired of this. It no more proves, nor is it any evidence of, the truth of Spiritualism than if I were to point to the barbarous races that were Spiritualists to disprove it. Spiritualism can be traced from the illiterate savage of the past to the cultured and educated man of the present

—from the dying Zulu, who whispered in his friend's ear, " I go to the spirit of my fathers, and we will fly beside you on the wings of the wind, and drive the game into your path," to the venerable poet of France, Victor Hugo, who said, "I feel in myself the future life ; I am rising, I know, towards the sky; winter is on my head, and eternal spring is in my heart; I hear around me the immortal symphonies of the worlds that invite me." These words are expressive of a deep sense of immortality, and are just what might be expected from a man of Victor Hugo's temperament. They are eloquent, but they give us no information, His only evidence is his own feelings. The thirst for the infinite proves infinity." And we have also a man, whose memory will be held in everlasting remembrance, telling an audience of Freethinkers that for his part he knew that man lived hereafter ; but for all that, the question has been asked, and it has not been answered to my satisfaction—ls Spiritualism a system of faith, or a system of facts ? T7 ours, &c, J, G. M. Masterton, Oct. 22.