Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from What Is Spiritualism?;An Address Delivered Before the Society of Spiritualists, at Penny's Hall: In the City of East Saginaw, Mich., On the Celebration of Their Twenty-Third Anniversary
Ladies and gentlemen -this day being the anniversary of the advent of Modern Spiritualism. Or more properly the day when for the for the first time attention was so directed to the subject that by following up the feeble suggestions then received, the key was discov ered which solved the mysteries and gave to the world an intelligent comprehension of what they had previously regarded either as supera stitution, or belonging to the domain of that in which many retained a lingering belief, and denominated sorcery or witchcraft: I have considered it appropriate to the present occasion to answer the ques tion which is so often propounded by the opponents of our philosophy, viz. What is Spiritualism? By some the question is asked in their ignorance of the subject and with an honest desire, and for the para pose of learning the truth but by others in a spirit of affected and contemptuous scorn, and to give expression to their malice and hate. These latter often expose their ignorance of the subject by attempting to reply to the question themselves. Oh, say they, but we know all about it. Spiritualism is rapping upon tables, and moving them through the tricks of the so-called mediums, or by the aid of electriei ty, or galvanism, or magnetism, or odic force, or the will power of the medium upon matter, or the devil, or else the persons so believing are physchologized and made to believe as real, that which has no existence except in their excited and diseased imaginations. All spontaneous exhibitions of spirit presence or power are accounted for by them on the ground of hallucination, or as the result of the operations of a diseased mind. These are the answers of those who have but slightly, if at all, investigated the subject, and who have never made themselves familiar with the literature of spiritualism or the grounds on which a belief in it is based, or whose minds are so warped by their previous prejudices, that they are incapable of dispas sionately weighing the evidences which spiritualism furnishes of its truth; and often will they wrap themselves in their ignorance and prejudice, and refuse to let in the light, for fear that what their Spirit ual guides tell them, is true, me that it is the devil attempting to lead them astray. But the enlightened spiritualist listens to these puerile chidin gs and misrepresentations, with feelings of pity akin to contempt, for those whose narrow minded prejudices and bigotry have prevented them from listening to facts and reason, and prejudging and condemning a cause with which they are almost totally unacquainted. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
