Preamble.

Whereas the popular theories respecting the nature of man, physical and moral, and theologies professing to explain the character of God and his moral government, also the plans of salvation and thoughts respecting the future destiny and nature of the human soul, are incompatible with the ascertained facts of science, principles of nature, tenets of sound philosophy, and the progress of true religion; submerging society and individuals in an ocean of ignorance, disease, vice, and spiritual darkness, producing individual misery and social evils deplored by all sects and portions of the community :

Resolved, that the British Association of Progressive Spiritualists institute a movement for the purpose of spreading knowledge on the nature of man and his relations—physical, social, mental, moral, and spiritual—so as to disperse the dark ignorance and injurious systems that at present prevail; and with a view to the better understanding of our new positions and effectual performance of our progressive page 62 work, we beg to submit the following propositions for the consideration of all interested in human progress.