Altar Light: a Tribute to the Memory of the Rev. Alexander Fletcher, D.D. By the Rev. JOHN MACFARLANE, LL.D. Lon don: Nisbet and Co. THIS unpretending little volume is an affectionate memorial of a man who was highly and justly esteemed as a Christian minister of more than ordinary intelligence, consistency, and usefulness. Its chief characteristics are, judicious thought, devout feeling, and a style adapted to its subject. The narrative portion is simple and serious, all that good sense and Christian piety would dictate as appropriate to such a theme. Dr. Fletcher was always an acceptable, if not an eloquent, preacher, but his chief forte, espe cially in later life, was as a preacher to the young; and Dr. Macfarlane beautifully recognizes this fact in the following passage:"His renown is almost world-wide as a preacher to the lambs of the flock; consequently, we only obey the voice of a universal suffrage when we place this crown upon his hoary head, and summon a bereaved childhood to shed its tributary tear over his honoured grave." We predict a wide circulation to this touching and appropriate In memoriam. In reading books, observe this direction: consider the scope and design of the whole, and judge of the particular passages with reference to that; and if there be any single passage, which thou apprehendest not the meaning of, or which at the first reading seems to have another meaning than is agreeable to the author's design, build nothing upon such a passage, but wait awhile to see if the author will not explain himself; and if he does not, and thou canst not at last discern how that passage can, without some straining of words, be reconciled with others, then conclude however, and take for granted, that the author, if he appears a man of judg ment, is consistent with himself, and consequently that in that passage (however the words may sound) he did not mean to thwart and contradict all the rest of his book.-Dr. T. Fuller. Those grave sciences, logic and rhetoric, the one for judgment, the other for ornament, do suppose the learner ripe for both; else it is, as if one should learn to weigh, or measure, or to paint the wind. Those arts are the rules and directions how to set forth and dispose the matter: and if the mind be empty thereof, if it have not gathered that which Cicero calleth sylva and supellex, stuff and variety; to begin with those arts, it doth work but this effect, that the wisdom of those arts, which is great and universal, will be made almost contemptible, and degenerate into childish sophistry.-Bacon. AFFIRMATIVE. The Topic. IS SPIRITUALISM TRUE? "THE night side of nature" has always been felt to be full of mystery. The potent dreads which fill the soul of even the bravest, when the selfconcentrativeness of darkness enables them to become sensible of the pressure of "the invisible world" upon their souls, is a proof written a priori in the human frame of the intense reality of spiritual manifestations-of the fact, that Spiritualism is true.-D. H. We have no intention of pushing the Home-argument of the Cornhill Magazine upon our readers. What we have to say is much more palpable and plain, viz., the believers in Spiritualism have not hesitated to guarantee, by the publication of their names, &c., their statements and their faith. Its opponents have almost entirely shrouded themselves in the strictest, almost Juniuslike, anonymity. Which, then, is most likely to be honest and trustworthy,those who expose themselves to test and raillery, or those who merely gibe and rail behind the screen of a few types indicative of nothing, nobody, and nowhere?-QUID. In the second book of Akenside's "Pleasures of the Imagination," the following query is put: "Is thy short span Capacious of this universal frame? Thy wisdom all-sufficient? Thou, alas! Dost thou aspire to judge between the Lord Of nature, and His works?" Unbelievers in Spiritualism, who wish to limit truth to the measure of their own single, unaided comprehensions, ought to ponder on this before they definitely dissent. The spiritual world has always been regarded as nearer man than can be told in human speech. Inspiration, genius, seership, premonitions, visions, impressions, &c., are all forms of acknowledged spiritual agency. Why should these be its only forms? and man's acquaintance with the spirit not be like his knowledge of all things else, widened by the procession of the suns?-SPOT. Socrates had his demon; Homer, his muse; Luther, his spiritual aids and enemies; Swedenborg, his angel attendants; in fact, all great minds had their special forms of communion with the world beyond the grave; and it is still true, as George Herbert sang, two centuries ago: "More servants wait on man Than he'll take notice of. In every path He treads down that which doth befriend him, When sickness makes him pale and wan. Oh, mighty love! Man is one world, and hath Another to attend him."—Q. E. D. "The philosophic mind" of the present age is decidedly one of doubt. The apparition, in some form or other, of spiritual agencies to human beings has been for ever a tradition among men; nor is there any feeling so widely or so vividly diffused as that which teaches us to believe that there are "ministering spirits" wandering on the missions of mercy of the One Divinity, over the earth, and among men, and making all things work together for the fulfilment of the sublime purposes with which he has entrusted the ages; and men, in olden times, have not unfrequently entertained angels unawares, until their blessing gave them knowledge of the fact. Homer concurs with Scripture in asserting that in the If we have cast away the highest faculty of our soul-faith, which is "the evidence of things not seen," how can we hope to know the wondrous mysteries of nature, undreamt of as they are in the rationalizing faithlessness of modern philosophy? That such thinking abounds, is no proof that Spiritualism is untrue.-T. B. D. The consciousness of man has two relationships, one to the material and outward world, another to the spiritual world, of which it is the intermediatory organ. If man will find or make the sabbath of his soul in the world of objective existence, will close the eyes of his understanding upon all forms of higher being, and, microscope-like, looks only on the littleness that the world exhibits, it is impossible that he can see and know the higher relationships in which he stands to the universe of souls. In some so-called preternatural moment, his heart may be opened to emotions admonitory of nobler things; and in this so-called abnormal state, he feels that there are surrounding beings whose interests are knit with his; yet so soon as the hour of emotive excitement is past, he strives to persuade himself that all was dream and phantasy. It is not so, but through our blindness. The consciousness, when properly active and healthy, has a power of knowing far more widely and acutely than is ordinarily the case. This exquisite seeing is the revealer of the spirit-world. The soul diffuses itself into the sense of spiritual relations, and so becomes sensible of those finer, purer essences, whose lives mingle the forces of their being with those of men, and touch them into the harmonies of a diviner life. This double power of consciousness, by which the ordinary latencies of Spiritualism are made present to the knowing mind, is but rarely developed, now-a-days, among men. Only one-half of man's mental capacity is brought into play, and the blindness of our own consciousness we make an argument against the possibility of light and being of a spiritual kind. Though a blind man deny colour and form, we do not believe him to be right. Spiritualism is only the use of the whole consciousness of man, and its revelations must be true.-SOCRATES. The wonders of modern science have been so strangely productive of new and fresh sensations and excitements, that men have materialized the very spirits within them, or they would see at once that the new spirit manifestations now recognized among men as forming the embryotic elements of a science transcending the mere psychological school which is current among us, and rising into the region of a grand and worldpervading ontology, and a metaphysic inductively proven, is only the recoil and differential development of human thought, which has hitherto been overweighted by the material only. There is nothing really "stranger than fiction” in the matter. Steam was once as unbelievable a sprite as any ever brought into communication with man by any medium. Electricity, with its semi-spiritual, agency, and thoughtflashing energy, was once no more thoroughly subjugated to the powers of ordinary men, than are the manifestaMen tions of the spiritual world. doubted and denied regarding these, but their reality is now attested. The arch wizard of our day-science-has now worked these marvels into undeniable demonstrability. If these were, in their early day, a priori as much matters of hesitance and unbelief, as are now the agencies of the universe of spirits, why should we cloud our own souls, or clog our own progress into higher regions of existence, by doubt and denial? Let us give the same experimental acceptance to this new power as we have given to others, and we may rest assured that not a long time will elapse till we have mountain masses of evidence that Spiritualism is true.-G. G. 2 "All newly discovered truths," says I. H. Fichte, one of the most celebrated living philosophers of Germany, "have, at first, the lot of struggling against the old beliefs; but in the end they are always victorious." This is a true induction from the history of human effort. Spiritualism is now going through this constantly recurring ordeal. It is rich in the demonstrative power of facts; unless our opponents are, like King David, "in his haste," prepared to say, "all men are liars." The responsibility of proving an affirmative has been undertaken by many well-known persons. Among these we may justifiably name Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Wm. Howitt, Dr. Collyer, Mrs. E. B. Browning, Mrs. Crowe, Dr. Hoëfer, editor of the "Biographie Universelle," Tiedeman, the Metaphysician, &c.; and though these and many others have given the guarantee of their names to the genuineness of the several reports which have been issued, regarding spiritual intercourse, in which they have taken part, their opponents have never dared to charge them with "falsehood, fraud, and wilful imposition," but content themselves with uttering the contemptuous term fudge! and characterizing these persons as dupes. Even though an equal array of names could be given on the antispiritual side, they would not weigh like these. These are witnesses that they know and believe the truth; the others can only affirm that they know nothing, and believe little, of the matter. If there is any likelihood of error, let the opponents show it. The affirmation of the spiritualists is the strength of their cause.-L. D. P. NEGATIVE. To prove anything true, it is indispensable that we should understand the first principles of that which we investigate, the causes of its existence, its various operations, and its final results; and having all these clearly before our minds, we may nearly always judge of the truth or falsehood of any matter that is brought before our attention. But with Spiritualism it is different; we know the effects which are produced, but upon their causes speculation runs wild, and the most extravagant hypotheses abound. And as to the mode of operation which produces these effects, as much mystery is connected with this as with the former. We nearly all believe that the air around us is filled with guardian spirits from the world of light, and tempting spirits from the pit of darkness; but to give full credence to the fact, that they are permitted to make us aware of their presence, by putting seeming life into inanimate objects, we do well to hesitate ere we uphold such belief. The late article in the Cornhill Magazine, coming, as the editor affirms, from a friend in whose good faith and honourable character he can confidently repose, is far too serious a statement to be lightly passed over. We can do nothing less, we think, than believe in the sincerity of the writer. We do not doubt for a moment that he saw what he narrates, although we believe that the excitement of his brain, during the last séance of which he writes (when Mr. Home played so prominent a part in the affair) created, and caused him to revel in, the splendid temple of imagination. We know a lady friend in whose statements we can fully rely, that was one of a party which gave table-turning a fair trial. She declares that the table did rise on one side, and that it went from one part of the room to another, without the smallest outward force that she was aware of; and this happened in the presence of no professional table-turner, but in that of friends equally curious on the popular subject. Nearly all of the party had headaches after the occurrence, but this may be traced to the excitement they were in. But for all this, were they spiritual manifestations? believe not; but we do believe that they are the workings of phenomena with which we are yet unacquainted, and which may require another New We ton to unveil. Until he had placed before the world his law of gravitation, philosophers were as greatly distressed to know the secret stirrings which kept the rolling orbs of heaven around their common centre, as men of science now are at a loss to know why a table moves of its own accord, and gives successive raps with its lifeless feet. Let us take care, however, not to laugh in our ignorance, but try, by all the means in our power, to elucidate the fact, and philosophically show that a table may move and talk without being possessed with an evil spirit.-IOTA. "Spiritualism," or spirit-rapping, is not true. It is an imposition upon the credulous, used, in most cases, to make money, and in others to create awe. It appears that the region where spirits mostly manifest themselves is in a drawing-room; and that their principal freaks are conducted under tables, or in the dark. It seems singular that spirits should observe so much secresy in the manifestations which it is alleged they make. If they themselves are invisible, whence their extreme anxiety to perform their operations hiddenly? Were spiritual communications necessary to the inhabitants of this world, is it likely that the spirits would make such fools of themselves as to rap, spin, and lift up tables? Some extraordinary articles upon this subject have appeared in "Once a Week." It will, indeed, be surprising if any one person, after a perusal of these articles, can have any doubt of Spiritualism being an imposture. From first to last, it is a successful cheat, and I sincerely hope that it will soon be universally treated with the contempt it deserves. In conclusion (quoting from the article above referred to): "I cannot conceive a more accommodating audience for a conjuror's devices, nor, indeed, a much more ridiculous spectacle than a company of ladies and gentlemen, prepared for something out of the common, sitting exactly as the exhibitor himself has disposed them, credulous, if not already half convinced, in a state of breathless expec tation, squeezed together in the dark. If my readers will really let their minds dwell on this combination for a moment, and if it does not tickle them, they must be deficient in a sense of humour."J. C. What! pros and cons on the question, "Is Spiritualism True?" Of all the subjects on which the mind of man can be suffered to dwell, none so barren and unproductive; and, after all, what is the result? Opinion, and little more. We believe that Spiritualism, in its intended signification, is a doctrine as erroneous as is Materialism. That we have an incorporeal essence, cannot be denied; but that it can be seen, independent of the material man, is a question, to the solution of which we will not pretend. With all deference to the giant littérateur, Dr. Johnson, we cannot believe in ghosts and hobgoblins. The Bible very pointedly informs us that God is a Spirit, and that no man hath seen Him at any time. Had the question, "Is SpiritRapping True?" been propounded, it would have been more applicable to the article, "Stranger than Fiction." The universally received definition of " SpiritRapping," notwithstanding the evidence of Mr. Thackeray's friend of twentyfive years' standing, is, that it is an impudent cheat." "Ten thousand failures," says the author of "Stranger than Fiction," "do not disprove a single fact." True; but it shows that the science, in which he is so strong a believer, is either extremely embryotic or unprofitable. Ten thousand attempts for one success! That poor spider, and that unfortunate King Bruce-it would have been an alas-and-alackaday sort of a thing for both, had their success depended upon such scientific discipline. It is consolatory to readers of "Stranger than Fiction" to find, that the worthy editor allows them "to give or withhold their belief." And the writer's own scepticism only confirms the general discredit in which it is held:-"I refuse to believe such things on the e vidence of other people's eyes; and I 66 |