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- 80 -
We have strength in proportion to our apprehension of
the truth, and our strength is not lessened by giving
utterance to truth. A cup of coffee or tea is not the equal
of truth, whether for the inspiration of a sermon or for
the support of bodily endurance.
(A denial of immortality)
A communication purporting to come from the late
Theodore Parker reads as follows: "There never was,
and there never will be, an immortal spirit."
Yet the very periodical containing this sentence
repeats weekly the assertion that spirit-communications
are our only proofs of immortality.
(Mysticism unscientific)
I entertain no doubt of the humanity and philanthropy
of many Spiritualists, but I cannot coincide with their
views. It is mysticism which gives spiritualism
its force. Science dispels mystery and
explains extraordinary phenomena; but Science never
removes phenomena from the domain of reason into the
realm of mysticism.
(Physical falsities)
It should not seem mysterious that mind, without the
aid of hands, can move a table, when we already know
that it is mind-power which moves both table
and hand. Even planchette - the French toy
which years ago pleased so many people - attested the control
of mortal mind over its substratum, called matter.
It is mortal mind which convulses its substratum, matter.
These movements arise from the volition of human belief,
but they are neither scientific nor rational. Mortal mind
produces table-tipping as certainly as table-setting, and
believes that this wonder emanates from spirits and
electricity. This belief rests on the common conviction that
mind and matter cooperate both visibly and invisibly,
hence that matter is intelligent.
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