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M ay 28, 18 64 power, and in the presence of at least three or foar, and frequently ten or twelve persons.” We quote from the same article : SPIRITUALISM AT NICE. “ After Mr. Home’s expulsion from Rome he spent several weeks at Nice, where the phe nomena were examined and scrutinized by a great many of the winter residents, and many were convinced of the facts of spiritual pow er. We hear that these new converts are now returning with the spring to England, and a correspondent writes us that among his own friends he numbers half a dozen of them, and that they are wonderfully impressed with [ what they have seen. “ It appears that the manifestations were not confined to Mr. Home, for that after he had left Nice, a party of ladies and gentlemen formed a circle to see what could be doae without him. They soon obtained very strik ing results. The medium was found to be a Russian lady staying at Nice with her family, and who, a month ago, was unconscious of her power. She speaks only a word or two of English, but, under her influence, a heavy oval table gives answers iu English and Ger man. She is also a writing medium, and her hand writes, without any play of the fingers, intelligible messages. A great progress has been made by these occurrences amongst the ■visitors.” TJic S p i r i t u a l T i m e s . This is a “ weekly organ for the promotion I of spiritual and progressive topics, a register j of passing spiritual phenomena, and a miscel lany of spiritual literature,” published by F. Pitman, 20 Paternoster-row, London, Eng., for the proprietor, Mr. Robert Cooper, of Eastbourne, in the county of Essex. Pric e2d per number. Four numbers have reached us. This paper is republishing portions of Judge Edmonds’ works on Spiritualism. The lead ing article in the number before us is entitled: THE BATTLE OF SPIRITUALISM . The writer first states some of the diverse inodes of antagonism adopted by the oppo nents of Spiritualism. OBJECTIONS STATED. “ One party objects to spiritual communion on the ground that it is ridiculous and puerile for reflective beings to be engaged noting tho antics of stools and tables, said to he under the influence of some intelligent, independent, unseen, agent or agencies. “ Another party, admitting the facts of spirit intercourse, can see no good in it. “ Another party not only can see no good, but they can see nothing but the Devil in all the communications which purport to come from the spirit world. “ There are objections of every size, sect, form, and grade—those who want satisfying,’ by occular demonstration, that any single one of all the phenomena ever actually takes place. “ Those who, having found out the phenom ena are substantial aud beyond dispute, still harp upon the old string of magnetism, and think they have settled the matter forever and aye. “ Those who have not quite settled what is the primal cause of the manifestations yet; who, nursing their pet dogmatisms, cry out against the truth of Spiritualism if it does not exactly square all sides with them.” THE MISSION OF SPIRITUALISM . “ It is all very well to meet in circles and bave a little genial and friendly amusement with tables, &c.f but so long as nothing fur ther is mooted, nothing important will ob struct us, and there is a clear field—this is the logic of a vast number of persons. Only let •Spiritualism confine its operations to amusing the young and even the old, but it must not claim higher and holier work ; if it does, it is calculated to run counter to the essential doc trines of our religious faith. ^ “ Spiritualism, if true, must unfold its mis sion, whether it offend or please. Are the di vine truths it inculcates to lie throttled in the grasp of pet prejudices? It may and does run counter to error, and those only wbo make a religion of error can say that it runs coun ter to their religious faith. If ignorance has fostered prejudices and assumptions, does it follow that they should be ‘ all in all,’ through all time? If Spiritualism breaks the thraldom of doubt, and opens up a certain knowledge of the path to immortality, prov ing that sin attracts sin, and goodness coheres to gt i-Jness, that no mere sectarian views ofj God nnd Christ and immortality will weigh a feathn s weight in our favor in the great judgu • nt of our life actions, which judgment is ever going on in tbis life and in the next, shali we desecrate its holy uses by merely making it tbe vehicle of amusement ?” SPIRITUALISM AN ICONOCLAST. “ After eighteen centuries of Bible teach ings, how comes it that the world is yet so very tar off from that revivifying Christian character which the Savior exemplified in his own life? Tbe fault is not in Christ’s pure lessons of love, but in the sad fact that men calling themselves his followers have been clinging to tbe skirts of old pagan rituals, and have brought with them through the ages, the idols of earth, and have been worshiping them and not Christ. Spiritualism is the Iconoclast which is destined to break tbe mere earthly images which have been so long worshiped.” SPIRITUALISM AGGRESSIVE. “ Spiritualism has its true mission, not only in peace but in war. Peace, as taught by Christ in bis lessons of love and divine for giveness; and war, as is likewise taught by Christ in his character of savior from sin and eternal death. He warred with the prince of darkness arid with the foes of evil on every band, but he did it all in love, and not in vengeance. It is absurd to suppose that wrong is to be uprooted without digging at its roots and pulling it up with strong efforts. The very effect of a good action is to stir into motion the stagnant pool of wrong. “ If we desire good we can only gain it by warring against e v il; therefore, to argue that Spiritualism is not to be aggressive, is about as reasonable as asking that it may not pro gress. Whilst there is a single opponent to its pro gress it will be impeded, if it does not »6sert its majesty by proving its power. “ Tbe battle goes on between the Spiritual is t s and the materialistic philosophers in and i The M o t ji I Police P iR tem ity . out o f the c h u rches, and it muBt be fought out ______ T h e R c v u c S p f r t t u n l i s t e . The last number is almost entirely filled by toasts and speeches prepared for the banquet which was to have been given to Mr. Home by his friends in Paris. Only a few days pre vious to the time fixed upon ho wrote to M. Pidrart, editor of tho Revue , that “ for very grave reasons I am forced to decline assisting in the banquet which has been arranged for me. Believe that I have very important rea sons for withdrawing.” Following these addresses is an article on “ Spiritual Photography,” which alludes to the pictures which were taken in Boston ; and translations from Owen’s “ Footfalls.” It closes with notices of the departure from earth-life of Mr. Deming and M. Mathieu, which has appeared in our columns. T l ie R c v u c S p i r i t c , By Allen Kardec, for May, has arrived. Its leading article, on the “ Theory of Foresight,” gives good but uot new ideas upon this sub ject. Then follows a critique upon Renan’s “Life of Jesus,” founded upon the touching dedication to his sister, Henrietta; an address by the editor to the Spiritual Society of Paris, on the occasion of its seventh annual socia ble, and a short article by the same on the “ Spiritual School in America.” Ho assumes in this latter, that while America has given the principal facts of spirit intercourse, Europe has furnished the philosophy which goverps them, and which is assumption merely. The remainder ofthe Magazine is filled with ac counts of the spread of the belief in Spiritual ism in the different parts of France, and “ in structions from Cyrus to his children on his death-bed,” translated from Xenophon. A WORD TO THE MEMBERS. much to hope that it ma, ret f,„d .ucb j cian^ wi,, _ maintain that a certain peen.iar NEW BOOKS. Y o u t h ’* H i s t o r y o f th e R c b e l l i W illiam M. T h a y e r , A u thor. Walker,Wise. & Co., Boston. This is one of the most admirable books for the young that we have read for a long time. When a book can meet the wants of youth and vet interest and instruct adults it may be safely recommended. The style of the author is so pleasing that 'ie makes all incidents flow from his pen like pleasant stories, so that his tory becomes attractive. The ' it ume embraces the period of the Rebellion lrom tbe attack on Fort Sumter, tbe capture of Roanoke Island, and is a truthful picture of scenes and events that we are familiar with, and yet the author has so genial a manner that nothing seems like a dull repetition of what we had known, but like a A fraternal Brotherhood which shall adapt its sympathies to the wants of humanity is oae of the great needs of the present time. The work of the Moral Police Fraternity 1 suppose, i9 to be introspective as well as ex ternal—beginning with the individual, is to work outsvardly toward every brother and sistor needing human sympathy. T“ 5 first step to right influences abroad, is to establish tbem at home, and if jour Associ ation is composed of a greater or less number of persons alive to the obligations due their own ne^Fes, it is a power whose influence must he felt, and cannot be ignored. The so- called Christian Church has attempted the work of regenerating the world without the necessary self-regeneration, and has signally failed. The true method is by establishing such rules as will regulate our own lives in accordance with Nature’s laws; then that these laws shall outwork through the individu al to the great body of humanity. “ Ye are tbe light of the world,” expresses an evident law, operative at all times ; and if the light be in the members of your association it will light the world. You have made but a beginning, but it may be a beginning which shall event uate in the illumination of the world with the light of true religion, which is said to be that which “ visits the fatherless and the widow in their affliction, and keeps itself unspotted from thc world.” I hail with joy any movement which looks to the expression of one human sympathy to the weary and heavy-laden of earth ; for such is the spirit of heaven. The poor and weak have hungered for the spirit of Christ, which seems to have found no organized expression since our Elder Brother left the form. This may seem a harsh judgment of the church in all past time ; but I cannot see it otherwise. Christ’s real mission seems to have been over looked until these later days, when men are beginning to feel the great truth that “ all are but parts of one stupendous whole, whose body Nature is, and God the soul.” The im pulses of a common humanity seem now to have been first discovered, and wise men and women can no longer ignore the claims of any human brother or sister, however de graded they may have become. So far as I understand your association, it is a bond by wbich all connected therewith agree to live pure and harmonious lives, so far as the light within may enable them, with the determination that each shall seek to con serve all that is good, and reject all that is evil; that the light which may be shed upon riety of expression a 3 will bring into active j state of the brain accompanies every good co-operation the good and pure of all lands, idea and every sensation. These states of the Wl. 0 , welcoming the new Gospel of “ good !>,rain’ h0 \ iU furlhcr assert, bear no resem- ,- ; n » oU cii u .u f blance whatever to the image they express, will to men, shall become tbe messengers of And more0ver if he be an honest man, he will peace to all nations. A member of the Moral tell you that he is utterly incapable of under Police Fraternity in every town and hamlet i standing how or why such a state of the brain on earth is a possibility, within a brief period, should accompany, symbolize, or be a cause Imagine the power for good indicated by that j of such an effect. j *usj Why thought and sensation should be sym- angels. The Infinite Republic. GIVEN BY INSPIRATION. (Continued.) CHAPTER IV. THE OPERATIONS OF MIND. reality. Let us then be encouraged in this boi;c? is perhaps impossible for the student seed-time, believing that a bountiful harvest t0 explain ; nor does he think it desirable to awaits us, which we shall reap as men or ^ enter into a subtile maze of formulas which 1 cannot in any way clear up the substantial difficulty. Enough that tbe fact be established, and in order to render the vast world of ideas, of which j he has thrown open the portals, at least dim ly conceivable to the imagination of students . less accustomed to its solemn contemplation, j that he endeavor by the most striking and appropriate image, to symbolize tbat dread j Infinite, in the midst e f which we are forever voyaging. v. I- Let it be imagined that all relative or ma- All operations of the mind are, in their terial form be destroyed, and nothing left in highest and purest sense, the relation of one | Space but an infinity of fire-sparks, like the spirit to all other spirits of tbe Infinite. stars we behold on a clear night. Let each For as in the idea of water, air, or any de- | 0f these divine particles represent an individ- ecription of fluid, the motion of one particle unl spirit or center of intelligence endowed involves the motion of all particles of the! with absolute and sympathetc volition. Let said fluid, so. in the change, motion, action, j these ultimate atom3 and sole elements of the (see remark on use of words, chap. i., sect. v.) ! Infinite existence be conceived in constant of each individual spiritual center, is involved 1 motion. Then would be seen by the eye of a the sympathetic action of all other centers. ; mathematician, or of a non-mathematician These spiritual centers, points, or foci of | alike, that never for two consecutive instants perception, are thc only real and absolute e x - j could the relation of one spark to the rest re- istences, and necessarily so; because any de- main the same. It would also be seen that scription of entity, irrespective of sentient these living points of fire attracted or re beings (commonly called spirits.) would be1 puUed one another in certain relations, and utterly inconsistent with reason, which j amid all the apparent confusion there would teaches us that all properties of what is ordi- be visible a constaut effort to form themselves narily termed matter, are but relations be-, into regular figures, and again to form larger tween an unknown substance and ourselves, j figures from combinations in these partially This unknown substance, wbich has been tbe j regular figures, and thus, a d in fin itu m , the ef- mysterioii8 tormentor of all thinkers up to the j fort would be continued. It would be at once present moment, is destitute of all intrinsic! perceived by the observer tbat the ultimate properties, except that of affecting the per-1 aim and mathematically perfect relation of ceptions of living spirits. ; these sparks would be to attain precise and But as all effects result primitively from j universal equi-distance, in which state it spiritual volition, the source of all motion and . would be evident that attraction and repulsion change, this unknown substance can ouly be —that is, desire o f motion—must cease, and the Infinite host of spirits themselves, floating, j that in this state of equi-distance (which is as it were, in the ether of sympathetic rela-' “he «> » . - - • » * . narFant enirUnai hnrmnnvi tions : that is, thoughts, sensations, and phe nomena, or material forms. Therefore, we conclude that nothing really exists but living beings and their relations. pleasant panorama of that which we wish to ^ orid from your body may be pure, dissi keep forever in memory, to stimulate our love | €rror wherever it may be reached ; and of country, and make us reverence those wbo j have suffered and died that we might enjoy the blessings of a free Republic. Its whole tendency is to teach the young to value the next/tuat you will adopt such measures as adapt your healing influences to the diseased numbers of humanity. comf^rable experience with the class t symbol of perfect spiritual harmony) they would continue forever. But at the same time tbe observer would become aware that, from their infinite number, this process of arrangement, though momenta rily progressing, must necessarily be of infin- ' ite duration, as also that the attainment of How the relations oi one living ceuter to tb;s impossible universal equi-distance would another, and to all others, become sensations j destroy motion and produce eternal paralysis and perceptions to the individual being, is j —in a word, absolute and perpetual sameness not to be explained by any other signs used to ! wbich is tantamount to positive annihilation.* express ideas, because, being itself the great j t unnecessary to repeat an often reitera- primitive truth, the more we attempt to rep- ted conclusion. A material illustration was resent it by such signs the farther we remove wanting. It is given. Let us proceed to the from the simple consciousness itself, which is j application of the principles which have been only inexplicable from its absolute simplicity, developed. We exist, we feel and think. To exist is j ______ our innate nature ; to feel and think, our rela tion to the Infinite. Of what use would be, in a mathematical treatise, a lengthy essay upon the number One. Yet, existence and thought are ideas which precede that of unity in con sciousness. The Spirit, the I, the absolute blessings of our great Republic, and to mak. ' r^ogt needjng y0ur influences, leads me to them understand wby so terrible a war is on us. rnuke a suggestion which may be more than The many incidents are related with so much feeling that our heart was often moved j with strong emotion, and we were not asham ed to weep with Ella, Marcu9, and Charlie, who became [to us real personages, while Uncle William is a second Peter Parley, and we quite long for his continued narrations, that we may revive our memories and fix the great events of our times indelibly in our mind. This book is an admirable one for home libraries, being a valuable book of ref erence. Its descriptions of many of the im plements of war and definitions of terms and phrases are excellent. We are glad to see that five thousand copies have been sold, and trust that five times as many will be, for we have not merely sk u m tbe pages, but have read word for word, paragraph for paragraph, being quite unwilling to miss any, and gladly testify of their valuo. NEW MUSIC, We have received from Horace Waters, 481 Broadway, several new pieces of beautiful Music. Among them are “ The Francis,” a Polka Redowa, dedicated to Mrs. Samuel W. Francis, by Jobann Munck ; “ Heart Cbiraings.” M Rollop- “ Th* n( anticipated by your discussions of the ques tion, but I hope some grain of hidden truth may be discovered by another experience. S y m p a th y , or the recognition of the hidden link which binds the race together, is the key which unlocks every heart, and places the needy in receptive conditions. This can best be expressed personally , which necessitates visitation as the efficient means of promul gating this better gospel. You have, at pres ent, say, 150 members, located, I judge, in all parts of the country. This supplies an ex cellent condition for tbe most extended use fulness. Let it be understood as a rule of your association, tbat each member is a sub committee for the operation of certain general rules wbich shall be established by the cen tral association, in the matter of visitation, the bestowment of assistance, and in the gen eral operation of the principles of the asso ciation in the community where tbe members reside—a lesser planet shining in its orbit. If there be but one member iu any place, let that member act for the association, representing it3 spirit and principles as per- i'rancis,uy u u u a u u , a. fectly as possible; as other members are add a Waltz Sentimental, by M .Jveller; “ The Dy-1 ed^ jej them cooperate with each other, and c h a p t e r v . THE HUMAN APPLICATION. i. ________ The philosophy of the student is not the unity, can no more be explained than a math- j cant of phrase-mongers. It is living study of ematical point can be measured. That which existence drawn from the living fountains of has no parts, which is by its eternal, self-ex-I spirit. It is the revealed history of that istent nature, one and indivisible, must neces- which all consciously or unconsciously prac- sarily defy analysis. For analysis is division; tice. It is the temporary utilitarianism of the consequently, every attempt to analyze leads , earth, exalted by comparison with the ever- inevitably to the abandonment of the subject - lasting utilitarianism of the Infinite. in question, and a mere examination of its j immediate relations to external existences. ( It is the programme—the first distinct and , coherent programme of a moral and intellect- These relations are equally inexplicable by ual revolution. It opposes to skepticism and verbal or other imagery. Our whole sentient j iudifferentism, a hope and faith which the le- world is made up of signs and images. We gend and the hero-worship can no longer converse, as it were, with ourselves as well afford. Let us then consider what must be as others, by means of an eternal algebra, or i the inevitable results of tho diffusion and symbolic language of sense. Material forms 1 comprehension of such a system. Let us con- are, as it were, a perpetual series of hiero- sider its influence upon the happiness of the ~lyphic8, in which we write a never-ending individual, the morals and relations of society, i’story. At the bottom of all sentience is, the internal legislation and foreign policy of however, pure volition. We have, as it were, j nations, in a word, upon the great work of said to ourselves, or agreed with other spirits, j earthly progress, in the welfare against tyr- that such and such a symbol shall be to us anny, that is, ignorance, and the developm*ent such and such a sensation or idea. These j of freedom—that is, knowledge, signs are merely arbitrary. They are ever changing with progressive Science and Love, 1 that is spiritual harmony. Imagination,! Firstly, it relieves the mind of all doubts dreams, magnetism, indeed every act of our and apprehensions as to a future state. It is existence, prove the nullity of material forms, | credible because it is natural, just, and rea- ing Drummer,” words by Thomas Manahan, music by Mrs. Parkhurst; “ The Little Ballad Girl,” words and music by tbo late Stephen C. Foster; a song and chorus, entitled, “ This Hand never Struck me, Mother,” words by J. A. C. O’Conner, music by Mrs. Parkhurst; n The Sanitary Fair Polka,” by the same lady ; and “ Humbug Scholtish,” by M. Keller. From A. B. Whiting we have “ Three Heart Offerings,” comprising “ Lena De L’Orme,” wbich has been so favorably reviewed: “ By the side of the Murmuring Stream;” and “ Touch the Lute Gently.” These very pleasing little songs are published by H. M. Higgins, 117 Randolph street, Chicago. Oliver Ditson, of Boston, publishes a song and chorus, the music of which is furnished by that ballad poet, James G. Clark, dedicated to Mrs. C. F. Wells, entitled, “ We shall be Known Above.” It is a sweet arrangement of the old words “ Under tbe Ice.” There are all degrees of proficiency in the knowledge of the world. It i3 sufficient for our present purpose to indicate three : One class live in the u ti lity of tbe symbol, es teeming health aud wealth a final good. An other class lire to the beauty of the symbol— as the poet, artist, and man of science. A third class live above the beauty of the syra bol to the beauty of the thing signified ; these are wise men. The first class have common sense; the second, taste; the third, spiritual perception. Once in a long time a man tra verses the whole scale and sees and enjoys the symbol solidly, then also Jhas a clear eye for its beauty, and lastly, whilst he pitches his tent on this sacred isle of nature, does not of fer to build houses and barns thereon, rever encing the splendor of the God which he sees bursting through each chink and cranny. [E merson . with the central association, taking such vari ety in action as the intelligence of the mem bers may make practicable. Let the beneficia ries of the Fraternity become members, witb tbe simple condition tbat tbe principle and spirit of all members shall be “ good will to men” —“ as ye have received so give ye.” I suggest the connection of tbe beneficiaries as members, for such association will bo a bond of strength to them and will aid much in es tablishing thatself-respect which is indispen sable to any permanent influence for good upon the character. I have found among the needy the want of something to lean upon, which they feel to be stronger than them selves, in an emergency; the knowledge that such help is within tlieir reach nerves them for the conflict of life; tbe sympathy of the strong is to them strength. We have the germ of a mighty power upon the earth, if you give it breadth to meet the demands of the age. The field is the world and the angels of God demand that wo should begin to recognize and make practical those great laws of influence which aro for the healing of the nations. There are innumera ble ways in which your association may be come practical for good according to tho in telligence of the members ; but my suggestion bas reference to its more direct influence, which must, to a certain extent, be organized. The Moral Police Fraternity is an augury for good which I trust may be realized by the suffering children of earth in a bountiful measure. May its expnading influence com prehend tho wants of the race. It is not too save as the language of thought. hi . There are no unchanging laws of Nature. The idea of these fixed, immutable, imper sonal, and mysterious oligarchs, is as weak and foolish a superstition as any Mumbo Jum bo worship extant. As the ideal movement of every celestial body is necessarily a complicated onward spi ral within spiral, and in no case a circle round any other body ; as despite all theories of universal gravitation, the whole sidereal In finite i3 without a center, bound, or limit ; as Progress, and not repetition, is the necessary desire of all living spirits; as Perfection is necessarily forever sought aud forever unat tainable; as Truth iu its infihite expansive ness defies the limits, not only of dialectics, but of conception, at every turn; so all those imaginary fixed laws of Nature, so wise ly laid down by the poor ghosts and phantas mal embryos of philosophers (spiritual aco lytes, who oddly imagine themselves Hiero phants,) are not more than mere passing relations, such as, on a smaller scale, we form or create every day of our lives; and, like them, tho mere results of volition and reason, neither more nor less eternal than the arbi trary signs of wbich we have already spoken. An eternally fixed law must either be ab solutely stationary, or a regular repetition, j wbich excludes all progress, which excludes all origin or creation, which, in a word, ex cludes all existence, which is au eternal ab surdity. Let, therefore, tbe harmonious volition of the Infinite Spirit host be no longer mocked, either by cowardly terrors of a personal des pot, or the feeble limitations of poor hapless system-mongcrs, who, contemplating tbe abyss of Infinity, grow giddy, even to the idiotic mania of confessing their ignorunce, whilst they stammer “ It is science.” We have said that men think by signs and images, by which they represent to themselves their relations to other spirits, and the rela tions botweon such relations. Every physi- sonable. The longer its hypotheses be dwelt upon, the more easily they will be believed. Secondly, it sweeps away many vain and tormenting questions, which, having filled their part in stimulating thought, are no longer worthy serious attention. With the stupid notion of a beginning of a World with out end, it carries away that bugbear of phi losophers aud theologians—the origin of Evil. It shows what evil is, and demonstrates its necessary existence. For without Evil— Perfection—that is annihilation. But as the settlement of this question is of vital importance to the emancipation of the soul from clogging skepticism, the student must apologize to quicker reasoners for once re-stating the substance of his former argu ments on this point. Good and Evil, pleasure and pain, are com parative terms. Suppose a spirit to have attained a perfect state of happiuess—to have reached an exquisite point in eternity, leaving nothing beyond it to be desired. At tbat pe riod or eternal state of thought it must stop forever. The slightest change of condition would diminish or increase enjoyment. If the former, Perfection would vanish. If the lat ter it never would have been attained. To say tbat the spirit could change one state of perfect^happiness for another, equally perfect yet essentially different, is absurd, because the mere desire of change would imply imperfeo* tiou. So fine, indeed, are the infinite grada tions of happiness, and its negation, suffering, that no calculable period of time can be as signed to a precisely uniform sensation. Perfection and change have been shown to be irreconcilable. It requires not to be proved that vitality, motion—Thought—cannot exist without change. Therefore is perfection ab solute, the most monstrous and undeniable of impossibilities, and only as impossibility con ceivable at all. Therefore is Evil, like Good, a necessary element of existence, aud progres sive principle of spiritual activity. Therefore, the question of the origin of evil is the ques tion of the origin of thought, that is, of living spirits, which were and are eternal and self- existent. For out of the dead and the un thinking was never, save in tho visions of
