By way of answer to these questions, I propose to set out shortly the teachings of modern Spiritualism. Before doing so, it is as well to premise that these teachings necessarily are based upon the communications of invisible beings, and since no proof can be given of their being true, Spiritualists ask us to accept them only so far as they appeal to our sense of reason and justice. They are quite content to let these revelations be contrasted with the revelations of the Bible touching the future state, feeling sure that the truth will speak for itself and need fear no criticism.

One obvious inference, as affecting the orthodox notions of heaven and hell or the state of the departed after death, must be, that if spirits can communicate at all, they are neither in one place nor the other, but in an intermediate state very similar to the Romish idea of purgatory.

Spiritualists assert that the orthodox practically know nothing of the future state. Whilst professing to believe that the dead sleep in Jesus until the final resurrection, yet we talk of our departed friends as already in heaven and being already angels. A good example of this is given on p. 212, ante, from the Church Hymns. The New Testament tells us that Lazarus went at once to heaven and the rich man to hell, and also that Christ descended into hell and did not ascend into heaven until the third day, though he had previously promised that the thief should this day be with him in Paradise.

When we come to ask Spiritualists what proof they have that the so-called communications from the spirits of the departed, touching their future state, are to be relied on, they refer us to the published facts of Spiritualism in the works before named and in their periodical press, wherein they say that during the last thirty years since the phenomena first originated, in 1847, the whole tenour of spirit communications obtained through independent mediums, in all parts of the world-America, Australia, England, and the continent of Europe, at all times and in all places

without the possibility of fraud or collusion-all agree on the following main facts of the future life. Whenever and wherever the departed have been able to communicate, they have unanimously taught:

That the change called death is merely a birth into another condition of life, and the real man is the spirit; which spirit has an organised form, composed of sublimated material, with parts and organs corresponding to those of the corporeal body; that this process of physical death in no way essentially transforms the mental constitution or the moral character of those who experience it, else it would destroy their identity; that, after death, the man finds himself in the spiritual world, which has substantial realities, objective as well as subjective; that happiness or suffering in the spiritual state, as in this, depends not on arbitrary decree or special provision, but on character, aspirations, and degree of harmonisation, or of personal conformity to universal or divine law; that therefore the experiences and attainments of the present life lay the foundation on which the next commences; that since growth is the law of the human being in the present life, and since death is merely a birth into another condition of life, retaining all the advantages gained in the experiences of this life, it may be inferred that growth, development, expansion, or progression, is the endless destiny of the human spirit; that the spiritual world is not far off, but near, around, or interblended with our present state of existence; and hence that we are constantly under the cognisance of spiritual beings; that as individuals are passing from the earthly to the spiritual state in all stages of mental and moral growth, that state includes all grades of character from the lowest to the highest; that happiness and misery depend on internal states rather than on external

surroundings;* there are as many gradations of each as there are shades of character-each one gravitating to his own place by natural law of affinity; that communications from the spiritual world, whether by mental impression, inspiration, or any other mode of transmission, are not necessarily infallible truth, but, on the contrary, partake unavoidably of the imperfections of the minds from which they emanate and of the channels through which they come, and are, moreover, liable to misinterpretation by those to whom they are addressed; hence that no inspired communication, in this or any age (whatever claims may have been set up as to its source), is authoritative any further than it expresses truth to the individual consciousness, which last is the final standard to which all inspired or spiritual teachings must be brought for judgment; that inspiration, or influx of ideas and promptings from the spiritual realm, is not a miracle of a past age, but a perpetual fact-the ceaseless method of the divine economy for human elevation; that all angelic and all demoniac beings which have manifested themselves or interposed in human affairs in the past, were simply disembodied spirits in different grades of advancement; that all authentic miracles (so called) in the past— such as the raising of the apparently dead, the healing of the sick by the laying on of hands or other simple means, unharmed contact with poisons, the movements of physical objects without visible instrumentality, &c., &c.-have been produced in harmony with universal laws, and hence, may be repeated at any time under suitable conditions; that the causes of all phenomena, the sources of all power, life, and intelligence, are to be sought for in the internal or spiritual realm, not in the external or material; that the chain of causation

* The reader who has followed me so far will remember that I have tried to prove (ante p. 116) that the Gospels preach precisely the same truth.

leads inevitably to a creative spirit, who must be not only a fount of life (Love), but a forming principle (Wisdom), thus sustaining the dual parental relations of father and mother to all finite intelligences, who, of course, are all brethren; that man, as the offspring of this Infinite parent, is in some sense His image or finite embodiment; and that, by virtue of his parentage, each human being is or has, in his inmost, a germ of divinity, an incorruptible offshoot of the divine essence, which is ever prompting to good and right, and which, in time, will free itself from all imperfections incident to a rudimental or earthly condition, and will finally triumph over evil; that all evil is disharmony, greater or less, with this divine principle; and hence, whatever prompts and aids man to bring his external nature. into subjection to and harmony with the divine in him, in whatever religious system or formula it may be embodied, is a means of salvation from evil.*

The following are the practical teachings deducible from the foregoing propositions:

The hearty and intelligent conviction of these truths, with a realisation of spirit communion, tends to enkindle lofty desires and spiritual aspirations—an effect opposite to that of a grovelling materialism which limits existence to the present life; to deliver from painful fears of death, and dread of imaginary evils consequent thereupon, as well as to prevent inordinate sorrow and mourning for deceased friends; to give a rational and inviting conception of the after-life to those who use the present worthily; to stimulate to the highest and worthiest possible employment of the present life, in view of its momentous relations to

* Here again the teachings of Spiritualism harmonise with the Christianity I have endeavoured to expound from the scriptures and the meaning I have put on the word Salvation.

the future; to energise the soul in all that is good and elevating, and to restrain the passions from all that is evil and impure. This must result, according to the laws of moral influence, from a knowledge of the constant presence or cognisance of the loved and pure; to prompt our earnest endeavours by purity of life, by unselfishness, and by loftiness of aspiration, to live constantly en rapport with the highest conditions of spirit-life and thought; to stimulate the mind to the largest investigation and the freest thought on all subjects-especially on the vital themes of a spiritual philosophy and all cognate matters-that it may be qualified to judge for itself what is right and true; to deliver from all bondage to authority, whether vested in creed, book, or church, except that of perceived truth; to cultivate self-reliance and careful investigation by taking away the support of authorities and leaving each mind to exercise its own truth-determining powers; to quicken all philanthropic impulses, stimulating to enlightened and unselfish labours for human good under the encouraging assurance that the redeemed and exalted spirits of our race, instead of retiring to idle away an eternity of inglorious ease, are encompassing us about as a cloud of witnesses, inspiring us to the work and aiding it forward to a certain and glorious issue.

The preceding outline of the principles of modern Spiritualism, both theoretical and practical, will give the reader a better idea of Spiritualism as a religion than probably any number of newspaper reports of séances is likely to do.

I propose to conclude this exposition by a comparison. of the creed of Spiritualism with the creeds of orthodox Christianity. The obvious advantage which Spiritualism seems to possess over other creeds lies in 'the fact that it