The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 35
Its Contradictions
Its Contradictions.
"Yes; there are certain far reaching minds that could no more be content to exist with the simple amount of knowledge that could be gathered from one planet, than they could be content to page 18 exist, if it were possible, within the confines of a nutshell. They desire to know all that it is possible for them to know, and finding that they have unlimited freedom in the spirit world, they exercise it—they make use of it."
"I think, if such a thing ever occurred, it certainly is something very rare. The inhabitants belonging to each separate planet, those who have passed beyond the material into the spiritual life, are, of necessity, more powerfully attracted to the planet of which they have been born than to any other. Indeed, it is almost impossible for the inhabitants of any other planet to visit the earth In Propria Persona or Vice Versa."
"The higher angels do not themselves come into immediate electrical relation with any terrestrial association of minds, but mediately, by and through representative spirits "—P. 101.
Ques.—"Are we to suppose that media who claim to be under the direct influence of Jesus Christ and other ancient spirits are correct? Can those ancients come and influence the media of the present day?"
Ans.—"Yes; you are at liberty to suppose whatever you page 19 will. It is by no means an impossible thing for those ancient spirits to return, manifesting through modern media."
"We attended a seance this evening at Mr. Stewart's rooms in Pence Hall, and saw ten or twelve materialised spirit forms stand in the cabinet door—full-sized forms of men and women. After these appearances came forth the materialised form of Jesus, and stood at the door a short time, dressed in a white robe and having a, crown of thorns upon his head. He advanced from the cabinet and took the hands of Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Cline before retiring. On Friday morning," says the writer, "we had a private seance, at which eight persons were present, including Dr. Pence. The medium entered the cabinet, and in about twenty minutes was entranced. After a little time, during which the spirit control talked as usual, the cabinet door reopened, and a majestic form appeared, which filled us with awe, for there stood in the door in majestic grandeur Jesus of Nazereth! the Lord of Glory! the King of Kings! the pure and holy Christ of God! He had come according to promise, and stood manifest before our eyes. He stood looking at us silently for several moments, and then said, ' You are faithful soldiers, and greater wonders than these shall you see.' These words he spake in a low voice, yet distinct enough for all to hear . . . . . . .He then beckoned each of us to Him, took us by the hand, blessed and kissed us before retiring to the cabinet. He had stood in the door and on the platform nearly half an hour. He had on a white robe, and a crown was upon his head, in the centre of which glistened a beautiful gem. A faint halo was visible, surrounding His sacred head. He left us awe stricken with His presence."
The horrid blasphemy, and sacrilegious impiety of the above, is only too apparent. The quotation illustrates the fact of the contradiction of spiritist teaching, and shows to what lengths of impiety the system leads. When lying spirits, whether embodied or disembodied, personate the "Lord of glory," it merits the severest denunciations of the christian world.
"On quitting the body, the soul re-enters the world of spirits from which it came, and from which it will enter upon a new material existence, after a longer or shorter lapse of time." "Spirits having to pass through many incarnations, it follows that we have all had many existences, and that we shall have others, more or less perfect, either upon this earth or in other worlds."—Intro, p. 15. "Can spirits come to this world for the first time, after having been incarnated in other worlds? Yes; just as you may go into other ones"—p. 73. "Might a man belonging to a civilized race be reincarnated, as an expiation, in a savage race? Yes; but that would depend on the kind of expiation he had incurred. A master who had been cruel to his slaves might become a slave in his turn, and undergo the torments he had inflicted on others. He who has wielded authority may, in a new existence, be obliged to obey those who formerly bent to his will."—p. 127.
"One of the worst features with which spiritualism is charged is the darky the baneful doctrine of reincarnation, as taught by Allan Kardec, of France. It is a direct contradiction of the surety given us at Rochester, that there is progress in the spirit-land. This wild, fantastic doctrine, which would break up kindred, ties and families, should be rejected. It belongs, as has been said, to the imperfect nature of spirit communication."
Ques.—"Does the controlling spirit mean that spirits, after being separated from their earthly tenement, will again occupy a human body, as they did before the dissolution?
Ans.—"That the spirit will return to earth again and become reincarnated in a human body there is much evidence. Indeed all that we have been able to gain is largely in its favour."—p. 71.
Ques.—"Some people believe in the transmigration of souls. . . . Does the soul enter other bodies sometimes better and sometimes worse than its own?
Ans—"In one sense it does enter other bodies, and acts through other bodies than the human. . . . The ancients grappled with a very great truth in their theory of the transmigration of souls. They intuitively perceived the power of the soul over all matter, and perceiving its power, they very naturally were led to conclude that it would use the power, and therefore become incarnated in other forms than the human."—pp. 78, 79.
Ques.—"Do you mean to say that these spirits that now occupy forms, may at some future stage of life come back, and take another?'
Ans.—"Judging from the experience of others, predicating our faith upon their experience, we are as sure of it as we are of our immortality."—p. 294.
"Reincarnation, while it is a phenomenal fact, is an economical absurdity."
"The elevation of the spirit would have been better accomplished by its surrendering itself to the operation of the elevating forces of the spirit-spheres, and thus, reincarnation, while a phenomenal fact, is an economical absurdity."
It is thus admitted that reincarnation is a fact, but that it is an absurdity in nature, for which there is no page 22 adequate reason. On the same page as above, a Wm. R. Tomlinson, M.A., advocates reincarnation as a possible merciful alternative for debased and hopeless spirits. Further evidence of this doctrine being taught in England may be seen in the same paper for Nov. 22nd and 29th, pp. 463 and 472. The conclusion reasonably deducible from the foregoing quotations is, that the doctrine of the transmigration of souls is a prominent part of spiritist teaching, but is opposed by some, and especially by Mrs. E. H. Britten, as a dark, baneful, wild, and fantastic doctrine.
That the spirits are deceivers, their communications utterly unreliable and contradictory, and tending backwards towards the heathenism of a bygone age, is fully sustained by the quotations given. As these statements are, without exception, from spiritist writers, the system is fully condemned out of the mouths of its own advocates.