Month: March 2021

86. Does Spiritualism recognize rewards and punishments in the life after death? Yes, but natural rewards and punishments of the same kind as here. It does not find any arbitrary rewards and punishments there any more than here. All rewards and punishments in all the realms of God’s great kingdom, are found in the outworking of nature’s laws. They are not either favoritism on the one hand, nor vengeance on the other. Man sins and suffers here, or obeys the law and reaps reward. And as below, so above. No…

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84. It is boldly asserted that Modern Spiritualism, despite its Professed communications with the Spirit Realm for the past seventy years, has really discovered nothing definite concerning Life after Death. Is this true? A greater untruth could scarcely be uttered. It is admitted that communication with the Spirit Realm is still in a tentative and an experimental stage. It may be frankly confessed that there is yet much to learn about the conditions and laws that govern spirit return. There are, doubtless, many improvements to be made in our knowledge…

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82. What does Spiritualism teach us in regard to man’s duty to his native land or the land of his adoption? That every man owes a debt of loving and loyal service to his own land, to which he should render a supreme devotion. No man can serve two masters and no one can render a supreme devotion to two flags. This does not imply any spirit of antagonism to other lands. It simply states the law of reciprocity that should exist intact under all circumstances between the citizen and…

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79. What will be the Spirit of the Future Religion? It will be expressed in Lincoln’s immortal words: “Charity for all and malice toward none.” In Stead’s noble aphorism: “The union of all who love and serve in the interests of all who suffer.” In the Wisdom of the Brahmins: “It is not blessedness to know That thou thyself art blest: True happiness is not by one Nor yet by two possessed; Not to the many is it given But only to the all; The joy that leaves one soul…

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77. What relation is there, if any, between the New Thought Movement and Spiritualism? Spiritualists regard the New Thought Movement favorably and look upon it as one of the many indirect results of the great tide of thought and sentiment that sprang out of the origin and spread of Modern Spiritualism. The Optimism of New Thought; the high concept it has of human powers and possibilities; the Metaphysical Healing it practices; the wide departure it has made from Orthodoxy in abandoning the Old Theology and accepting the New Theology—and many…

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75. How do they look upon Christian Science as a system of teaching? As a mixture of many and in some cases, opposing elements. The distinctive features of Christian Science teaching they trace to Phineas P. Quimby, Mrs. Eddy’s healer and teacher. (See Letter of Dr. Quimby’s son, published in November, 1918 “Reason Quarterly.” See also the McClure Magazine series of articles on Mrs. Eddy and Christian Science.) The Scripture interpretations of “Science and Health” Spiritualists trace largely to Emanuel Swedenborg and its Idealism to Berkeley and other philosophers of…

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72. What is the attitude of Spiritualism toward the various Schools and Methods of Healing throughout the land? Spiritualists find some good in all the systems in vogue but look upon most of them as defective, believing that no system of bodily treatment can be radically and permanently effective. They look upon man as a unity and so long as the real man—the thinking, feeling and willing self—is left out of the treatment, so long will that system prove inadequate and transitory. 73. What is the attitude of Spiritualism toward…

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70. Have there been other remarkable healers in the Spiritualistic movement? Yes, too many to mention here. One very well known to the writer, Mrs. J. H. R. Matteson of Buffalo, who passed away a few years since after a wonderful record of 33 years in healing thousands—large numbers of them having been given up by regular physicians. It may be objected that as Mrs. Matteson administered herbal remedies her healing was not metaphysical. It was very largely so because her remedies were the result of spiritual teaching and control,…

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68. What objections do Spiritualists raise to the medical profession and to ordinary materia medica? The great objection to ordinary medical study and practice that Spiritualism raises is rather to its defects than to what it contains. It holds that the medical study and practice up to the present time has dealt almost solely with the body which is merely the house in which a man lives; that every system of medical study and practice which does not include a thorough and practical knowledge of man’s mental and spiritual forces…

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65. What is the Mission of Spiritualism? Spiritualism is a World Teacher, Inspirer and Comforter of humanity. It aims at the unfoldment and uplift of the race. It emancipates the mind from error. It interprets to man the great volume of nature. It is the best key with which to unlock the storehouse of Spiritual Knowledge. It is an illuminating teacher on the Bible and Christianity: It explains the enigmas and riddles of life. It brings all realms of nature under law and asserts that man’s whole duty in life…

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63. How may the Clergy be aroused to action on this subject? Members of their congregations interested in Spiritualism should ask their clergy to preach upon the subject. Get a copy of “Conundrums for the Clergy,” an inexpensive pamphlet, and send it to the minister. Collect a number of Bible passages and Bible incidents in which Spiritualism is taught or implied, and ask the minister to explain his interpretation of these in the pulpit. 64. Is there a safe and rational way of unfolding one’s own Mediumship? All men are…

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61. Are there other reasons for the Silence of the Clergy on Spiritualism? Doubtless there are many other reasons and among them we may mention: 1. Many ministers actually believe in the truth of Spirit Return, but fear to take a stand that may possibly mean the loss of their pulpit and salary. Many ministers are good for very little in this practical age except ministerial work. They fear to launch their bark upon an unknown sea. 2. Many clergymen who suspect the truth of Spiritualism are afraid to voice…

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58. Has Spiritualism any solace for the sorrowing? It is especially the One Religion of Consolation. Its teachings brighten the atmosphere of human life. Its demonstration of the after life has proven the Nectar of divinest comfort to the heart-broken and despondent. It is today the great Mother of Comfort to a world in tears over ten million slain in battle and unaccounted deaths resultant from the war. Spiritualism brings “the touch of a vanished hand, the sound of a voice that was still.” That is why out of all…

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56. What right have Spiritualists to say that Spiritualism is “The Religion of Sunshine and Happiness?” Because Spiritualism disperses the gloomy concepts found in the teachings of the past—teachings that were born in the darkness of the human mind and the savagery of the human heart—and everywhere presents to man the newer, truer and more cheerful views of human nature, life, death and the future. 57. What are the Teachings of Spiritualism regarding the socalled evils of life? Do Spiritualists deny that these evils exist? No. Sickness, pain, sorrow, loss,…

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54. Where can I get fuller information about Spiritualism? Most public libraries have in whole or in part the writings of Andrew Jackson Davis, the author of the Harmonial Philosoph and known as the “The Great Seer of Poughkeepsie” and often styled the “Father of Spiritualism.” The writings of Dr. J. M. Peebles, Dr. Moses Hull, Judge Edmonds, Stainton Moses, Hudson Tuttle, Sir Wm. Crookes, Sir Alfred Russel Wallace, Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, are worthy of careful study. Write to the N. S. A. Headquarters, Mr. Geo.…

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52. Is Spiritualism growing? What prospects of its general acceptance by the masses? If by Spiritualism is meant the organized movement it must be frankly admitted that it waxes and wanes with the varying conditions and the different workers in each locality. Many societies and churches under settled pastors and with efficient mediumship, show increasing strength and solidity and others decrease in effectiveness. If by the growth of Spiritualism, however, is meant the progress of the Spiritualistic teaching and the general acceptance of its fundamental ideas, then it may be…

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