Chapter II - Imposition and Demonstration
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inalienable birth-right of dominion. Silence the belief
inalienable birth-right of dominion. Silence the belief
we are in the body, and we discern the past and future
as readily as the events of to-day; but this is the science
of Life, and not mediumship. The order and natural-
ness of phenomena that we deem a mystery and marvel,
are perceived when we remember mind controls mind,
and that matter is only another name for mind; a table
or piano is moved by mind instead of muscle, and we
should prove our power in this and other directions if
we admitted it, but not admitting it, we virtually have
it not, like the horse feebly submitting to the rein,
unconscious of his power; phenomena that proceed
from belief lose their power when we lose the belief
that occasioned them; matter is manifest mind.
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Misinterpretation hinders the harmony of phenome-
Misinterpretation hinders the harmony of phenome-
non, and leaves it to ignorance and abuse. Clairvoy-
ance foresees the future and repeats the past "that is
daguerreotyped on mortal mind only, and based on no
Principle or Truth; it is mortal opinions unworthy
obtaining. A past event is memory, a faculty of mind,
and a future one is perception, another mental faculty;
all events are mind before matter. Mediumship is a
belief of individualized "spirits," also that they do
much for you, the result of which is you are capable of
doing less for yourself. Why some event, conversation,
or even simple circumstance is more readily traced by
the clairvoyant than others, is owing to the fact the men-
tal emotions they produced were more vivid, therefore
they are more distinctly defined in mind. When told by
a clairvoyant something you have long since forgotten,
'tis useless to say they never read it in my mind because
I recollected it not. It is by no means necessary the
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memory of those present retains what the clairvoyant
memory of those present retains what the clairvoyant
sees. Beliefs, and images of thought are not limited to
space or personal sense, that grosser strata of mortal
mind. The clairvoyant sees not by means of solar rays,
or an object striking the retina; and our proof that
mortal mind is the element of all sublunary things is,
that they exist to this mind the same as to personal
sense. The reader must make due distinction between
mediumship and the individual; there are undoubtedly
noble purposes in the hearts of noble women and men
who believe themselves mediums.
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The science of Life, gained by slow and solemn
The science of Life, gained by slow and solemn
foot-steps, at the expense of all 'isms and 'ologies, will
unite being into one silken chord of good-will to man;
and there is but one right way under the sun, even the
pathway of holiness. We should not hang on the skirts
of others, but in our own identity possess some merit of
our own not borrowed from others; and is there any
so blind as not to admit individual faults? But medi-
umship well-nigh disavows all individual responsibility,
and literally lays the charge of all good or evil on the
shoulders of the dead. While we cherish all charity
for our fellow-beings, we have none for a belief that
inevitably shuts the door on reason and revelation, and
robes the mind in darkness akin to barbarism. But for
the misinterpretation of mental phenomena, through a
belief of mediumship, the signs of science would have
been discerned ere this, in the phenomena of to-day,
and what is ascribed to personal agencies, have rested
on the basis of Principle. Phenomena not understood
had better be let alone, until the explanation is given
that deprives humbug and avarice of advantage, and