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 communication purporting to come from the late Theodore Parker reads as follows: “There never was, A denial of immortality 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.
I entertain no doubt of the humanity and philanthropy of many Spiritualists, but I cannot coincide with their Mysticism unscientific 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.
It should not seem mysterious that mind, without the aid of hands, can move a table, when we already know Physical falsities 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.
