constitution of our nature (says W. G. D.) we cannot receive this motive power (influx) without being aware of it," (by the effect or the cause?) "and as we were never aware of it, we must infer to us it never came." We, however, ascribe those "motive powers" of our being-affection and thought, to the influx of spiritual life and light, acting as the cause principle, into the organic constitution of man, as the cause instrumental, whence results volition and reflection. Our opponent is more humble in the former part of his production. He there exclaims, "What know we of the range of material agencies?" and professes to be aware "how little it is that man knows." Now, if there is one subject more than another which, by its occultness, has baffled the intellect, skill, and experience of man to explain, it is this very "constitution of our nature," in an assumed accordance with which W. G. D. has so confidently pronounced against our philosophy, with what probability of correctness we leave our readers to judge. W. G. D. is merely tentative in regard to the main point at issue, as to the fact of "Communications being now made to Man from a Spiritual World." He questions the manner and matter of the communications; but leaves the facts unaccounted for. To such an aspect we might oppose the "stubborn" facts, resting confidently in the opinion that they will baffle the ingenuity of W. G.D., or any of the same mind, to account for them satisfactorily on any other theory than that of spiritual agency. It is easy to be a questioner and a quibbler; and if we entertain any of W. G. D.'s questionings, it will be more than the spirit in which they are made deserves. 66 one who should ridicule the simple to-and-fro motion of the piston-rod in the steam engine, which nevertheless actuates complicated, beautiful, and powerful machinery. Further, he asks why the communications are not of a more decided character. This may be satisfactorily accounted for. According to his own saying, spirits are "immaterial;" they are denaturalized; and we may conclude, from analogy, that they are as incognizant, in ordinary, of the whereabout of nature and the natural world, as we are of spirits and the spiritual world. Now no one has attempted to deny that the communications under notice are of an exceptional and abnormal character. We believe that they are permitted—not provided-by Providence. Benjamin" has already submitted a reason why the communications should not be of so obvious a nature as to force a conviction of their spiritual agency on " all doubters and deniers." He has also shown why a "medium" is necessary, in order to determine a spirit's cognizance and effectiveness to the natural sphere. All these particulars point to the necessarily rudimentary character of communications made under the circumstances; and W. G. D. ought to be satisfied in regard to the matter. " communication," which Benjamin" has given, purporting to be the bona fide production of a "rapping spirit," and accounting in part for the "modus operandi of the rappings," has also come under our own notice, and we suspect our friend has only seen an abridgment of the original, which is more ample in its details. We shall here give it in extenso, as it appears in an American periodical now before us: 66 The sounds are, to a certain extent, produced by the control which invisible spiritual beings have over the electrical mediums of the nervous system. The usual mode of producing the sounds is by the capacity which spirits have, by an effort of the will, to disturb the imponderable agents, which pervade the objects and the localities where the sounds are heard." That We may here remark, that we are saved any speculations as to the benefits which may accrue from those spiritual communications known as the "rappings." It is now a matter of history that thousands have been rescued from a state of doubt and denial, in regard to the first truths of religion, by their agency; and who can estimate Benjamin" has said "the "rappings' the benefits which may result from bringing alone of all other species of communications even a single soul into a state of recognizance presumed to be going on around us, profess in regard to those higher motives and inte- to be communications from spirits." To the rests implied in a belief in God and the spi-"rappings," however, we beg permission to ritual world. W. G. D. jeers at the "rap-a- add the "ringings" which characterize the tap" nature of the communications. Herein spiritual experience of Mary Elizabeth Squirhe displays as much taste and judgment as rel. We have not space for a detailed account of this case of spiritual communication, and therefore beg to refer our readers to the published account of the "Shottisham case," as placed before the public in a very interesting and instructive book.* The case takes first rank in the NEGATIVE ARTICLE.-II. THE stage of enlightenment to which the world has now progressed seems to indicate a speedy termination of the reign of error. Long has human energy and progress been perverted and crushed beneath the blighting influence of superstition and ignorance, and slowly and gradually has the experience and philosophy been acquired which, in some measure, constitute man's protection against the snares of error, by which he is so often beset. One of the happy prospects of our age is its increasing desire for knowledge and free controversy, for by it error is dragged from its strongholds into the light of free discussion, which must eventually exhibit its feebleness and deformity, when contrasted with the excellence and efficacy of truth. tural passage that would seem to support this hypothesis; and the word "prison" in this verse is, in the Syriac version, rendered in "sepulchres, in the grave," or, according to the Rev. Mr. Glen Moncrieff's interpretation, "that the spirit of Christ, in Noah, preached to those who were in the grave (prison), when Peter wrote." Still we have the higher authority of Christ, who distinctly taught that there were but two future states of existence, separated by an impassable gulf. The next passage, in Rev. vi. 9-11, representing "the souls under the altar crying to be avenged," will no more admit of a literal interpretation than the "blood of Abel crying to God," which simply means that the principle of justice being violated, it demanded that the equilibrium should be restored. The next passage that " Benjamin" refers to only tends to disprove his theory-where Peter, repeating the prediction of David, viz., suffer thine holy one to see corruption:" the word here translated "hell" is in Hebrew "sheol," which signified the grave, or the state of the dead. But the passage explains itself; as the two sentences are paralleled, implying to be left in hell would be to see corruption, which evidently means the grave. Therefore we presume that neither scripture nor reason leads us to conclude that there is any sphere of probation beyond the present.. And as the existence of this sphere is confessedly essential to the truth of the “ communications" referred to, it follows that these communications are neither scriptural nor reasonable. In the opening of this question "Benjamin" has described what he imagines to be the nature and the prevalence of scepticism relative to spiritual manifestations. This" Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor he especially deprecates; but he afterwards admits the propriety and importance of an instinctive reserve in the mind towards new facts, the origin and bearings of which we cannot discover. Now, we presume that the scepticism which "Benjamin" so much complains of does not, as a rule, exceed this which he has himself justified. We aver that no conscientious friend of the truth will manifest an instinctive reserve towards new facts, the origin and bearing of which cannot be at once discovered. He will, in such cases, suspend his opinions or belief until they assume a perceptible form, upon which judgment can be legitimately exercised; but fiction has so often been administered in the "Benjamin" has further endeavoured to shape of fact-men have so often been de-establish his theory, by informing us "that ceived by the marvellous-that the wise are properly on guard against easy credulity, which is more seductive and dangerous than unbelief itself. In endeavouring to prove from scripture the existence of a middle state, called hades, "Benjamin" has alluded to 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19. Now, this we conceive is the only scrip man, when divested of this body, will be aware of spiritual presence; because, while he is in the body, he is only sensible of bodily existence." He previously alludes to the fact that nerves are essential to sensation, which would be annihilated were these nerves divided; and from this infers that man, separated from this nervous and phy First. We assert that revelation teaches us that man is not a compound of two separable organisms, but simply one individual being or essence-that death is a total cessation of existence for the time being-the life hereafter a second bodily existence. If we establish this position we likewise establish the impossibility of " spiritual rappings." It may also be stated that this position is held by many Christians, and not a few ministers, both in Great Britain and America. It was defended by Bishop Watson, the renowned apologist of the Bible, and by Bishop Law, in his "Theory of Religion," and also by the philosophic Locke and Paley. But to the evidence. sical system, will be unconscious of material | simply consist in a sympathetic action or objects, but conscious of spiritual presence. influence going on betwixt two individuals, This mode of reasoning is altogether illogi- which is most effectually produced by two cal, being an unqualified attempt to draw a susceptible and similarly constituted minds; positive conclusion from purely negative some, however, are more capable of receiving grounds. Yet it is afterwards stated that these transmissions or impressions, others of this explains the higher phenomena of mes- communicating them. But this no more merism, or clairvoyance, in which state the proves that the mind or consciousness of the body is partially separated from the spirit, one becomes blended with that of the other, causing an imperfect spiritual existence for than it proves that the body of the one is the time being. It will be observed, that blended with the body of the other. It is the phenomena here referred to is explained also asserted by "Benjamin" that "revelation, by the partial separation of the body from philosophy, and the statements of true clairthe spirit, which is an explanation that is voyants, prove the dual existence of man, or evidently useless, and more mystical in itself that he is a compound of spiritual and natuthan the phenomena to be explained. It is ral organisms." Now, we are prepared to also ignored by the fact that clairvoyants show that this assertion, so far from being can still speak and hear, which could not proved, can be disproved from these various occur if the mind which operates, and is sources:operated upon, by these physical organs, were separated from them. This explanation, it will also be found, is fatal to "Benjamin's" own theory; as he has stated that 'separated spirits have no cognizance of space, locality, or material objects, having no organs for this result, but are only aware of spiritual presence." Now, according to this statement, it follows that if clairvoyants were partially separated spirits (their physical sight also being obscured), they must necessarily be unable to perceive anything but spiritual presence; the reverse of which is the fact, there being no record of any clairvoyant having observed aught but material objects, localities, or persons. It might, also, here be remarked, that if spirits have no objective perception, their condition must be a melancholy one. In order to explain the mode of the "spiritual rappings," "Benjamin" has also attempted to put mesmerism under contribution. He says that a "spirit comes into the use of the memory of his 'medium' in a similar character to that of a mesmerizer and his patient, when the consciousness of the one becomes blended with the consciousness of the other." But it unfortunately happens for "Benjamin” that the consciousness of the one never does become blended with that of the other, any more than that the sight or the eyes of the one become blended with the eyes of the other. Everyone that is conversant with the phenomena of mesmerism, or any simple reader of the Zoist will be aware that what are called "mesmeric transmissions" When man was created, we are told that "God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." It is obvious that the material structure is here denominated man, and not the mere body, or an inferior part of man, and contains no allusions as to man being a compound of two separable organisms, the one mortal and the other immortal; on the contrary, it is stated that man became a living soul by the infusion of breath; hence it follows-by implication-when man ceases to breathe, his soul will be again extinct. This is still more expressly stated after the fall, when Adam was addressed by God as follows-" In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Every unbi assed mind will here perceive that the pronoun "thou" implied the entire man; but although this be disputed there will be nothing gained, as "thou" must, in either case, imply the conscious part of man, as it cannot be applied to that which is unconscious. It is further stated that man was sent out of the garden, lest he should eat of the tree of life, and live for ever. Thus it is evident that the Mosaic account of man's creation is totally irreconcilable with the supposition that the conscious part of man escapes death, or that it is separable from the material organization. Hence, we find it stated throughout the Bible, when kings and patriarchs died, that they "slept with their fathers;" obviously implying that death was a state of absolute unconsciousness. But David, to put the question beyond doubt, says, Psa. clxvi. 4, "His (man's) breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth: in that very day his thoughts perish." This one passage, we presume, might suffice to demonstrate the fallacy of the "communications" referred to. We shall now refer the reader to Job. xiv. 12; also xxi. 32, 33; Psa. xlix. 19, 20; Eccles. ix. 5, 6; Dan. xii. 2. These passages are but a few out of many that establish the position we have here taken. Benjamin" says that "St. Paul spoke the language of the profoundest philosophy when he declared that there were spiritual bodies and natural bodies." Yes: but unfortunately it was a philosophy eminently fatal to our friend "Benjamin's" notion. In 1 Cor. xv. 42, we read, "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It (the body) is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption;" ver. 44, "It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." It is, therefore, obvious that there are no spiritual bodies until they are raised at the resurrection, which entirely ignores the theory of "spiritual rappings." 66 plies, if found at all, must be sought for in some living subject-some organ or being that has life, from which it can no more be separated than motion can be separated from a moving body, or the agility of an animal from the animal itself. To assert, as "Benjamin" has done, that what he designates "the controller of the human organism, must be itself organized," is equivalent to saying that it is a substance that it has parts-otherwise it is an organized nothing, which is a contradiction and an impossibility. Being, then, a substance, it must be itself human, and part of the human organism; instead of two organisms there is, then, but one individual organism. The extinction of life produces no separation, but simply an alteration; no organ is removed from the body, neither can there be any function, unless it be imagined that funetions are independent of their respective organs-that effects are independent of their causes, which would be to suppose chance, and to annihilate the established principles of science and philosophy. To assume that life, when extinguished in the body, is not entirely extinct for the time being, but is existing in another state or locality, is equally as unwarrantable and illogical as to suppose that a candle, when put out, is not altogether extinguished, but that the same identical light is shining somewhere else. But as light, heat, electricity, and sound are exclusively the result of some material process, so also are life, feeling, sensation, and thought. Take away from the mind of man the operation of the five external senses, the nervous system, and the functions of the brain, and all that will be left will be a mere empty space a void. And does "Benjamin" mean to affirm that this is his spiritual organism. It is afterwards asserted by our friend that "the spiritual organism is developed by the natural one," and to elicit the whole truth, we add, from the same authority, that it also decays with the natural one. If it be a fact that the mind has, from youth to maturity, gradually developed itself, it is not less a fact that from maturity to extreme old age the mind has been gradually decaying, until it finally becomes imbecile, and unable to understand the simplest syllogism, enjoying more the prattle of children than the most intelligent reasoning. Is it not also a fact that the mind becomes dis eased, as in cases of insanity-or deranged by intoxication-and that it is for a time destroyed by a blow on the head, by compression of the brain, or by apoplexy? And yet, in the face of these facts, it is asserted without the shadow of an argument that 'the mind is more truly substantial than the granite-rock, because more unchanging and more enduring." We might here very properly say, in the words of Job, "Who is he that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" "Benjamin" has also stated "that the natural organism cannot act without the continued influence of the higher or spiritual organism." We shall here only allude to one fact to prove the fallacy of this statement -that it is exactly the reverse of the truth. This fact will also involve the immediate point at issue. The following is related by Sir Astley Cooper : A sailor, during an engagement, by falling from the yardarm to the deck of a vessel, received a violent contusion on the head. All his mental operations were thereby immediately obliterated. He existed in this state (organically alive, but mentally dead) for thirteen months, when the ship arrived at Portsmouth. He was then taken to the hospital, where it was discovered that a portion of the cranium was driven in, so as to press upon the brain, which was carefully raised, and immediately the suspended functions of his mind came again into operation, and the man opened his eyes, and exclaimed, 'How goes the action?"" This case strikingly proves the entire dependence of mind upon physical conditions, and that the natural organism can act wholly independent of the influence of the mind, or (according to "Benjamin") the spiritual organism. Moreover, it logically proves the impossibility of "spiritual rappings," as it shows that the mind has no independent action of its own. Having now seen that the arguments in favour of the "communications" referred to are fallacious and untenable, we will, in conclusion, present the reader with the following extract from the "Westminster Review," page 268: "If it were true that our poor souls, instead of retiring into their rest after the weary fight of this world, were to be at the beck and call of every tobacco-squirting 'loafer' who chooses to constitute himself a medium, would not those who had any self-respect sooner become dogs, and perish with our bodies?" Also, page 270: "Is the world always to be subject to a recurrence of these mental epidemics or not? We believe there is one remedy, and one only,-early education; by which we mean, not mere learning, but discipline and training in the methods of the natural sciences, and the inculcation of inductive habits of mind. The deductive habit is that which has hitherto been almost exclusively cultivated in our schools and universities; but of what value is it, when we need to sift, not logical conclusions, but the data on which they are founded. It is notorious that theologians, lawyers, and mathematicians fall an easy prey to these epidemics; while there is not the name of a single practical naturalist. or a physiologist, not a chemist who has ever displayed higher faculties than logical acuteness and a good memory, to be found amongst the deluded herd." Neither can it be presumed that these "rappings" are subserving any important end; on the contrary, it is a fact that their tendency as yet has been to perplex and abstract the minds of many from those objects that rationally claim their attention. They have also been a medium by which the churches in America have already lost thousands of their members, and the lunatic asylums received a considerable accession to theirs. Therefore, judging of them by their fruits, we are justified in saying that the tree must be evil and corrupt. And when mankind assiduously begin to study the facts of science and the laws of their own internal-and also external-nature, they will then be armed against delusion, and will no longer be the sport of these distressing and frivolous aberrations. HALKET. Good temper is the philosophy of the heart; a gem in the treasury within, whose rays are reflected on all outward objects; a perpetual sunshine, imparting warmth, light, and life to all within the sphere of its influence. |