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\ No. 222 was asked why the voice of unity should no CO ont from this Convention; why we do not define a plan, determine measures, and open paths for this united effort for the advance ment ol human Rood ? It is not enough to be told lhat tve shall live on, we need not to he told this over and over again. But how shall the forces of the omnipotent life within us be expended for human good! Be urged tho necessity for instruction, for a combined move ment to secure mutual growth and develop- m jlr, Danforth styled himself a bread-and- butter and potato man-a practical every-day worker He alluded to the necessities ol spiritual laborers. Many were forced into business and employments to support their families, while abundantly competent to in struct the people. Spiritualists had no organ-1 ization to receive bequests, to accept, distri bute and espend funds. He desired to see some incor. orated organization to receive moneys, wbicb, were there such an organization, might be secured. Mrs Sweet, of Washington Co., spoke upon the words, “ By whom am 1 sent!” H. B. Storer thought we should lire here a. H C W righ t expected us to live hereafter live in the spiritual world, yet remain firmly , connected wilh the material, practical world. He spoke of the value of phenomena as arousing, interesting, and convincing many who can only be reached through thc door ot curiosity. After accepting thc truths of Spir itualism they become gradually interested in specific reforms. . , The people were in need of education, and public halls and public teachers are wanted in every town. We want not mere rhapsody, but scientific education. The question of organi zation should be freely disdussed, and he hoped at the National Convention it would be. A. B. Whiting sang, “ By the Side of the Murmuring Stream.” A d j o u r n e d . A f t e r n o o n Se s s io n . Charles Partridge offered a statement of| fact, as a basis of some remarks upon the re lations of the future life to this existence. Mr. J- B. Ferguson gave the qpening ad- ^ E e defined Spiritualism, and referring to his past experiences therein, avowed his firm con viction of the truth and naturalness of spirit- communion. . Whenever and wherever any mind is pre- pared to make an actual step of progress, there evidences cf immortality are given that anm- hilate all time and space. To what do.these evidences point ? Not a family that has enjoyed spiritual communion | but has been directed in the way of a higher humanitarian position. Without some pur- j pose of this kind, the spiritual phenomena is the veriest trash. Without an organization,! our children have no hope. Mr. Ferguson alluded to his former position 1 in the Church, aDd said the proof of his sin-1 cerity, then, was found in the fact that he I stood where be.did at present. In reply to the charge of corruption among | Spiritualists, he said that they had light enough to reflect their darkness, which was I more than the sects conld say of themselves. | Albert Brisbane'gave notice of a meeting to | consider the question of Social Science, at No 19’ Cooper Institute, Sunday evening, and! proceeded to cuggest the possibility of such al social organization as would secure to man kind on earth Borne o! the conditions believed to esrit in' the Spirit-World. We not only want to know tbatUt is well with them there —we wish also to make it well with us i ^Mr Wickes was in favor of organization, j and believed that all men were mediums, and mote or less warped and twisted thereby. The lesson' ot tbis was charity. Mr. Clark suggested prolonging the sessions | of the Convention during the rest of the week. Many speakers could.remuiu if it were desired, and deemed best. ( Mr. A. J . Davis said he was in sympathy with the Convention. His voice did not per mit him to speak much. Still he might have spoken, but thos far no distinct question had been before the Convention inviting remark. If the question of organization, or some other direct question, were under discussion, he might have something to say. At present no question was np; they were driving at no thing, and all seemed to he hitting it. The Convention was, as Dr. Hallock had re marked, itself tbe essential, significant fact. He had been interested and diverted; hoped others had been diverted, if not converted. He liked the suggestion ol Mr. Clark for two days more. He always liked a five-act drifthis were decided npon, hc hoped the last flays would prove the best days of tbe Con- vention. More practical progress conld be made, he felt by tbe selection of some important ques tion, and directing all the thought, for a ses sion, toward that subject. Mr Toohey offered some remarks against doctors, whom he regarded as quite as un- necessary in community as clergymen. He then quoted some facts and statistics respect ing marriage and prostitution as existing in Sweden : also in England. Mrs. Spence proposed to be even more practical than those who had preceded her. She alluded to the rejection by the Committee on Books, at the late Sanitary Fair, of a pro posed gift of Spiritual books by 0. Partridge, and of the necessity for holding Ibis Conven tion in so undesirable a hall, for want of means to procure a better, as evidences of the work to be done in New York. The expenses of the Convention, including the traveling expenses of some fifteen speakers- would amount to two hundred and ten dol lars. The receipts will fall short by some seventy dollars—to meet which, she propossd a collection. During the collection A. B. Whiting sung another of his songs: “ Touch the Lute Gently.” Mrs. Albertson had hoped that the subject of organization would be presented. Organ ization must and will come. This may be without creeds. There are no creeds in Na ture, and organization belongs to Nature. She related a spiritual vision, pointing to tbe remodeling of our present Constitution, and our reconstruction upon a basis recog nizing fully the truths of the Declaration of Independence. Adjourned. E v e n i n g S e s s io n . Mr. Atkins, of Cincinnati, extended an invi tation to speakers to visit that city. He would be happy to see any speakers who pro posed tc speak in that section, to make neces sary arrangements to secure their services. Mr. A. B. Whiting sung : “ The Land of the so-called Dead.” Uriah Clark made the opening address. He spoke of the “ cloud of witnesses” referred to by Paul, and of the cloud of witnesses who now hover over our battle-fields. It was then moved that the resolutions be taken up for discussion. (The resolutions will be published next week.) In a brief discussion upon the third resolu tion, touching the question of authority, Mr. Storer said the cardinal position of Spiritualists was, to accept no communication a9 authority, in the sense which religionists accept ancient teachings, but to submit all to human reason—to the test of private judg ment. Mr. Wickes said he believed there had been, can be, and will be communications from the Spirit-World, transcending our own capacity and judgment. The Fourth Resolution pending Evil is ignorance, producing discord, ITi Good is knowledge, insuring harmony. „ . al * , , , The ascent from ignorance to knowledge is , “ aPP7 13 ^e man that understands these the eternal progress of spirits. things and can cast off the tune-woven Thus, perfect knowledge, producing perfect r°b® of Prejudice and superstition. The path happiness, is infiniteeimally approached, but knowledge and vituel.es open before him. can never be attained absolutely, because the I . goes rejoicmg on Ins eternal way, through Infinite is, in its nature, an inexhaustible Ithe . brief defile of this mortal life, neither fear- 8tuj„ ing death, nor want, nor other passing evil, Thus, all spirits are eternal students of an ifo/ be. forward to inheritances of glory, infinite science. ; wh!cb no Pnest> k,n2» or 8od can question To conceive absolute perfection as possible i his enjoyment. / of attainment, is tantamount to conceiving » |„ Happy is the man that understands these limit to space and time, and all other eternal! ^mgs. He will not fear to make an appur- and infinite forms of tbought-in fine, to ; f?1 ®a^r,fiee fur a reai gam He will increase Thought itself—lhat is, to existence. For the | b,“ ™ 'n, happiness to the utmost, whilst idea ot its attainment is the idea of spiritual j ‘ “ definitely extending the happiness of h.s Death. Because, nothing being left to desire. eleIrInftl r.?™rade3- _ , activity, that is change, motion, succession of! , he will live a free man; he will depart a thought, would cease. One eternal idea j ee sPmt on tbe voyage of everhisting liberty, would paralyze the infinitude of spiritual na tures. Complete unity of thought would de stroy all distinction of being; for distinction would be imperfection. Thus perfect knowl edge would be perfect nothingness—an ever lasting void, an unbroken harmony of silence “ ™ versa* annihilation. I in all humility, asks this strayed philosopher, There is but one perfection, and its first „ Mch of the existing creeds, philosophies, or sstbihty. I wnrl4l „u„..iVi - J f e ------- _ The system of the student is recorded. Such a confession of such a faith is not likely to pa9s unassailed. Yet if it bc—as doubt less many will be forward to assert—a mad vision of a proud and licentious spirit; which, attribute is impossibility. The world was not created, it is forever creating. An infinitude of spirits are for ever molding their forms of thought—that is, their mutual relations to more perlect har mony. The Infinite is no empire of impolent servil ity, it is no machine of revolviug accuracy, but a republic without frontiers, in which every citizen is un eternal spirit, acquiring for himself au infinite spiritual wealth. Each spirit separately, and all collectively, are through eternal changes fulfilling the aim of their existence. There is no rest or pause for spiritual am bition. The idiot of to-day may be the pro phet of to-morrow. There never was being world systems, should, on its own merits, be fairly preferred to his conjectures? It is a hold imagination—nevertheless, lot it he imagined, that all the spirits of the Infin ite, from the souls of immeasurable star- worlds to the divine particle of the fly and tbe grass-blade, could assemble in stupendous conclave to choose a law for their eternal governance. Weigh well the faith ofthe stu dent, and reflect whether in truth such t parliament would dare reject it ? whether there can be conceived a principle more wor thy of the grandeur of the mightiest spirits, more accordant with every instinct and desire of a sentient being than the union of bound less liberty with everlasting order, of illimita- vt .u-iumiti\. xLic.o ucvci wus ■J'fug i bje ijftppjne33vrith eternal progression? utterly evil. Damnation. a3 opposed to per-1 Who, tbat once had grasped the beauty fection, is the impossible conception of a | and splendor of such a faith, would envy the starting-point to the infinite voyage, whidh i g0(jg tbejr ione]y pomp, their eternity never had beginning.^ And practically jio| witli0ut hone .their nnrmet a„hiof to omi spirit did ever yet turn back upon its journey Nothing is true but what is desirable, be cause all thought is the expression of the united desires of the Spirit-world. Hence the grandest and the mo3t beautiful and the most desirable, is at the same time the truest and the wisest of world-systems, for Mr. Fiskbougb advocatid tbc resolution, end lbe „ iu lhe citjzeng is lb8 ,aw -Qf without hope, their puppet subjects, and wear iness of their own impossible perfection? ho would envy them when proving their tedium, and disproving their perfection, by the creation of imperfect beings ? Who, ra ther than own himself a living toy of a celes tial monarch, or a mere chemical production of an effervescing planet, would not glory in avowed tbe utter injustice of the charge ofj public, and that law is eternal perfectibilitv • , an *terua,1 and relf‘regulated being, and fear- that is, eternal increase ot happiness and di-1 :I“ t„,j;tiv^ .kl,0vvled?ei free-love as applied to Spiritualists. Mrs. Townsend expressed the pain she felt at the differences of opinion. She would prefer a change of some words—to substitute tbe words “ free-lust” for “ free-love.” ..... . I UJVJ u u i v tv 1V1IU Ml bUD iUUUUC iW [iUUllV Ol Dr. Kallock moved the insertion of the j Spirits in its sublime progress, its discordant words, “ Meaning thereby free-lust,” after: harmony, and eternal perfection of imperfec- the words “ free-love,” in tho resolution. | tion. Let us now turn lrom the contempla- Dr. Young advocated the amendment be- j l ' o n °* t b e ^ tbe study of the parts, and cause it ivns practical. It met the popular j i,J<li,i<iuals consider thc understanding of the word. minution of pain. hi . Such is tbe general conception wbich we may dare to form of the Infinite Republic of nr v 1 “ au , , ., .. . , No spirit can think, act, or modify mat- Mr. McKinley thought the insertion of the ter without -«■ •• y • words proposed, an insult to the Convention, spirit. universal morality san t inevitably affecting every other Mrs. Albertson, in behalf of her religious j ‘ There'are iufiuite degrees of pleasure and nature, in protection of her religious freedom,; pain- opposed thc use of thc term love with such . Tbe slightest discord proroked b y one spirit . r ct • i a * A , is ft source of pain to all. a definition. Sbe wished the two words, so I Tbe ,eMt pfodu(,t;<m of harmoBy enhances widely different, separated as fur as posstb.e : lhe b|iss 0f infinite existences, in tbe resolution. , For it is the nature of spirits to reflect pain The amendment was adopted wilh but two * or happiness, noes. which, in all minds and in all systems, under a thousand disguises, proclaims thc Optimism of progress, and the Messiahship of Hope ? CHAPTER III. HARMONY IN DISCORD. i. In all thought, therefore in all speculations on the Infinite, there is a constant progress from discord to harmony. In every mind and in every aystera there is tbe fruitful germ of truth, even amid the abun dance of error. The great fundamental truth of all past creeds and systems, is the idea of spiritual regeneration, and of eternal justice. The metempsychosis of the Indians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Celts, and other nations, is a foreshadowing of the present doctrine of absolute spiritual development. The great fundamental error is the idea of As amended, the third Resolution was adopted without a dissenting voice. Mrs. Spence having announced a deficiency of forty-six dollars to meet the expenses o the Convention, Mr. Laing pledged the amount. The resolutions being adopted and sundry notices given, the Convention, at 10 P. M., was declared adjourned sine die. Aud this power is called sympathy, and is . begin.n.ing or limitation of being, a non-re- tbe necessary aud universal relation of all cog.n‘ tion of the supreme importance of tbe sentient beings. ' individual and conscious spirit, and a finality Hence every provocation of discord or pain in other spirits must necessarily increase our own portion of suffering, all production ofl harmony increase our individual happiness. In their philosophical sense, self-interest and duty are one. Ignorance alone causes pain. Knowledge ever conduces to happiness. Crime is ignorance. Virtue is knowledge. That is to say Ignorance and Knowledge of true happiness, and the road to its attainment. There are two kinds of knowledge. The certain and instinctive knowledge, de- •txrxx/l a ri ntnw n lfw . The Infinite Republic. GIVEN B Y INSPIRATION. (Continued.) CHAPTER II. TH E S Y S T E M . I. There was no beginning. There will be no , , , _ _ end. Infiuity is around us. Eternity is before I in the form of ill-health, recalls the spirit to and behind us. There is nothing perfect, but! its material duties, infinite perlectibility. There is no supreme! Health of body and mind, which differ only f anser Spirit, but there are infinite degrees in spirit- j in idea, are dependent upon spiritual sympathy I . ,rmer state * ---- for their preservation in organizations imper fect as all other works of tfieir Infinite Invent ors. The second kind ofknowledge is the knowl- in progress more or less decidedly expressed. ii. The proof of a past, a future, and a purely personal existence of the individual being, lies not in any records or traditions of past ages, but in the fact that such conceptions exist, without any mental or physical proof of their possible realization. Were the spirit finite, springing from and returning to nothingness, it would be utterly absurd to imagine that it could form concep tions of or aspirations toward an eternal and infinite exiatonce, contrary to all actual ual greutness. Tho Infinite—called variously, God, Uni verse, Cosmos, Substance, Being, Idea, and by other names well-known to students, signi- - fies Spirits without number, and Thought edge of immediate human acquisition— without bounds. uncertain elements of unfixed principles here- A personal God is but one of an infinite | after to be cleared from all doubts and Spirit-world. Each spirit is a God, and is to itself tbe cen ter ofthe Infinite. Matter is tbe combined result of the crea tive activity, that is, thought, of the whole Spirit-world. It is the ever-changing relation between spirits of wbich the essence can never change. Matter exists only in form, spirit in sub stance. All tbe attributes of matter are sensations or ideas to spirit, and without spirit, non-ex- inlent. Therefore Matter is, apart from Spirit, without attributes, that is, Don-existent. . ........... T~ I experience, and to tlie very principles of its rived from an eternity of past experience, ac- | *n nature cum u lated in progress from stale lo s t a t e ; | Th 'f , the instinct ^ im m o rtantJ non- dorm ant, now exerted w ith K M c e ly in Bowi1'se resambles lh e c o m m o n lo T e 0 f life, appreciable consciousness or ed i t i o n By or desire of sclt.p reserTation, a s is often fool- tbia know ledge » perform ed every ordinary | , h, sert«d, l iis in tbe fact that many men vital function, which habit and regularity | h a „J , , ’faced dcath telrlessl b J t ac. withdraw from attention, unti 1 over-ne(rlecl, j „ 0mmitted suicide with a ported faith ln the form of ,11-health, recalls the smrit tn , in , pirUual destin)r 1 The absence of specific recollections of a rmer state is as little a proof of its non-ex istence as would be forgetfulness of tbe thoughts and actions of early childhood in this present state. But in reality the memory or knowledge of another form of being cannot survive In the forms of this present life. We remember the ideas, we forget tho language. It is a spiritual translation. Our identity is uot a relative but an essential fact, independ ent of all forms of sensation and conscious ness whatsoever. Otherwise the dreamer or the madman would cease to be one and the same person as they had been when sane. Otherwise, one affected by wine, or under magnetic influence, might claim to be another aud distinct individual, which none but a man enamored of paradox for its own sako could venture for an instant to maintain, conclusions in the eternal memory. The former knowledge shows itself in man as instinct. The latter as science. The former influences man directly by im pulse. Tlie latter indirectly by reflection. Vulgar selfishness is merely a form of Igno rance lhat the happiness or pain of one influ- j ences the happiness or pain of all. j The most important spiritual knowledge, therefore, is Love. The most lamentable spiritual ignorance, Hatred. Love, in the form of expanded sympathy spiritB, and the most sympathetic of universal volitions. There is no real faith save in eJ- sential truth. Even in the raos abject super stitions, it is the nobler element that pervades the falsehood, which rivets the contemplation ofthe unsuspecting votary. vn. Every philosopher of the ideal and trans cendental schools of ancient or modern times, of India, Greece, England, or Germany, will be found to agree with the student in princi ple if not in form. Of these school* are tho great thinkers of the earth. Their logic may not convince, but the loftiness of their view* rarely fails lo elevate and refine the intelli gence of their readers. Their error is to have mistaken the impossible idea of unity, for tbe eternal beauty of harmonious variety. They too have enthroned universal abstractions, have attempted a synthesis as tbe religionist* have attempted nn impersonation, and the ma terialists dreamed a Medo-Persic code and classification of that infinite, ever-changing relation of center to center, spirit to spirit, re lation to relation, wbich defies all forms of thought, save the admission of its inexhausti ble fertility and'everlasting expansion. Let him wbo, reeling on the verge of the fathomless abyss, trembles to contemplate the everlasting perspective of truth, reflect but for an instant that decillions of ages hence (to use our present forms of thought, and speak of time as an external reality,) when universe upon universe, such as we now behold, con ceive or picture it, have faded away, vanished, and been reproduced by the progressive rea son of the ever-striving spirits of the Infinite; when the last poor wanderer of this present night shall have shaken off millions of mil lions of corporeal mantles, each brighter, purer, and more beautiful than the last; when be shall have ascended to a glory and a pow er wbich mocks bis present feeble vision of a regal God, and shall have developed, in the harmony of spiritual love, ten thousand senses, of which no dream as yet can be foreshad owed by human thought, each the channel ana conductor to his vital center of perception of unutterable delights—let him reflect tbat then, even then, he, the unspeakably happy, wise, and potent spirit, will be as far off as now from, embracing that immeasurable Infinite, of which be is an essential particle, an ultimate atom, an eternal native, lord, and citizen, which defies limit as it defies law, which ha* neither boundary nor monarch, chart nor shore, and meditating upon which, we can but murmur Infinite I Infinite! Infinite! Faith and Love ! Hope and Courage ! Reason and Science ! forever, and forever, and forever! VIII. The material system of organic progress, change, and reproduction, is merely that ofthe student, inconsistently deprived of the spirit ual host, which alone could give either ani mation or importance to the detail of natural PhWhrn'nmaterialists talk of hypothetical fluids and vital principles, they imagine that they are merely coveing their own ignorance with empty phrases, but, iu truth, they are indirectly admitting tbe necessity of tnat only vital principle, spiritual volition, which, even whilst verbally denying, every human being must involuntarily recognize in bisown being. Nevertheless, without this class of thinkers there would be no real science, that is, no ex act notion of special relations, wbich are the essence of kuowledge. To see clearly any object in a landscape it is necessary to fix the eye upon that object exclusively, lbe materialist, by limitiug his sphere of study to forms of phenomena, of which he takes direct cognizance through the medium of bis sense?, is enabled to concentrate his observation aud intelligence upon a certain class of ideas, of which he discovers the true nature and the law With regard to what comes not wit tun the range of so-called positive science, he t* and must be a skeptic. But when be rushes from skepticism to denial, he proves how long the pilgrimage yet before his soul in the end less transmigration. W hen he says, There is no spirit; I never saw one, or could find proof (material proof; for he understands no other and therefore demands that which is most inconsistent) of its existence,” the spiritualist replies, “ There is no matter, and nothing to prove even its necessity. I know nothing but through my consciousness; of what use are things if ideas can exist without tbem ?,J . . 1 Tbe student of toleration and harmony can equally profit by the studies of the materialist and the speculations of the Spiritualist. He studies in both the eternally varied relations of nature’s elements, and, beneath the diver sity of signs, studies to detect the umtormit/ of truth. The existence of anything irrespective of i and benevolence, is therefore the greatest sensitive beiogs, is an irrational conception1— J ‘ 1 ---- :......., --•••• of a useless nonentity. This is the law, that is the will of the Infin ite Spirit-world—to seek happiness and avoid pain. This is the circle without circumfer ence. beyond which nothing exists. Each spirit is the center of an universe of thought, and the universe of no two spirits is the sanlfe. No spirit was ever created by another, or came into existence of it6elf. Every spirit is eternal, indestructible, and indivisible in essence, infinite in potencc. Thus the Infinite contains in truth an infinity of Infinites. Tho Will of each spirit is a part of the destiny of all. This Destiny is but the love of all spirits for happiness and their hatred of pain. Happiness is the harmony of spiritual ac tivities. Pain is the discord. producer of happiness both to the spirit im bued with its influence, and to the infinite Spirit-world. In its individual application, when the whole power of the spirit is aroused by, and concentrated upon a single object, it is beyond question or comparison the nearest conceiva ble approach to perfect happiness. On the other hand, Hate, taking its most selfish and malign form—Tyranny—is the most fertile source of pain with which science is acquainted. Love indeed is harmony, that is happiness, that is virtue and knowledge, in a word, Per fection. Thus perfect love is an eternally pursued yet eternally unattainable abstrac tion. But it is tho consciousness of these aspi rations towards a supreme delight, which neither experience teaches nor humanity ren ders possible, that stamps man as a divine being, whose desires and powers necessitate a future and eternal stage for their expansion and development. Tho conception of a single divine ruler, or supreme heavenly magistrate, is an imperson ation of the instinct towards perfection exist ent in every spirit. It is our conception of| an ideal spiritual type, and varies perpetually with the state of the mind conceiving the idea. IV. Polytheism is, on tho one hand, a like im personation of various forms of perfection in the abstract. On the other hand, the deifica tion of heroes and sages is no delusion, but a true instinct of their innate greatness and fu ture glory in advanced conditions of being, v. Prayer is tbe firm consciousness of the im pulse towards perfection in the future. It is the spirit appealing to the sympathetic love of other spirits, and is of a mysterious potency not to be despised or disregarded by a philos opher. But the sons of knowledge lovo and hope, while the children of ignorance adore and tremble. vi. Faith is the most potent activity of spirit; therefore the most influential upon other j With regard to the true nature of matter, it is evident that either matter and thought are two names for one substance, or relation, or combination of relations between sub stances, (that is, betweeu indivisible and primitive things, spiritual eutities, living cen ters, or by whatever other name we may call ourselves, and other sentient companions iu existence.) or that matter is something actu ally distinct from thought and subject onh- to he modified, and transformed, and governed by the said spirits. For what we call the vis inertia, or innate power of resistance in ma:- I ter, is a mere chimera, and result of our own slowness of thought, invention, volition. Ev- ' ery day we are subjecting and triumphing over this sanguinary opponent. Our will dominates it absolutely, a3 soon as harmoni ously exerted. The creation of a fleet or a railroad is as much the result of simple spir itual volition as the raising of an arm, or the winking of an eyelid. To say that organic oc living matter sprang or springs originally from inorganic or lifeless matter is a mon strous suggestion; and it will be found on reflection that Motion or Life springing from the inert Lifeless in an idea in no way differ ing from Something being born of Nothing, which is absolutely inconceivable. Again, or ganic or living matter without volition, is as difficult to imagine or justify by reason, as the supposition above made : tor what motive or active cause can be conceived without sensa tion, what sensation without so.ne distinction of sensation, what distinction without prefer ence, what preference without some notion of pleasing aud displeasing, what that distin guishes pleasing and displeasing without de sire, nnd what desire without the will to grat ify it ? Hence we are driven to conclude that volition is tho basis of existence, and as voli tion or primitive motion has no meaning but the desire of individual enjoyment that person- i _
