Complete Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe

by Harriet Beecher Stowe

  I. I admit that the facts you state about the Church’s warfare in these latter days have not the most favorable aspect; but how the needed elements of theology and religion are to be supplied by demonstrations afforded by these latter-day phenomena, I do not yet quite see.

  P. If religious teachers will but study these facts, simply as facts, in all the different aspects which they have presented, from their first appearance up to this time — study them in the same spirit in which the chemist studies affinities, equivalents, and isomeric compounds — in the same spirit in which the astronomer observes planets, suns, and nebulæ — in the same spirit in which the microscopist studies monads, blood-discs, and protoplasm — always hospitable to a new fact, always willing to give up an old error for the sake of a new truth; never receiving the mere dicta either of spirits or men as absolute authority, but always trusting the guidance of right reason wherever she may lead — if, I say, they will but study these great latter-day signs, providential warnings and monitions, in this spirit, I promise them that they shall soon find a rational and scientific ground on which to rest every real Christian doctrine, from the Incarnation to the crown of glory — miracles, the regeneration, the resurrection, and all, with the great advantage of having the doctrine of immortality taken out of the sphere of faith and made a fixed fact. Furthermore, I promise them, on those conditions, that they shall hereafter be able to lead science rather than be dragged along unwillingly in its trail; and then science will be forever enrolled in the service of God’s religion, and no longer in that of the world’s materialism and infidelity.

  I. Planchette, your communication has, upon the whole, been of a most startling character; tell me, I pray you, what do you call all this thing, and what is to come of it?

  WHAT THIS MODERN DEVELOPMENT IS, AND WHAT IS TO COME OF IT.

  P. Can you, then, bear an announcement still more startling than any I have yet made?

  I. I really know not; I will try; let us have it.

  P. Well, then, I call it a Fourth Great Divine Epiphany or Manifestation; or what you will perhaps better understand as one of the developments characterizing the beginning of a Fourth Great Divine Dispensation. What is to come of it, you will be able to judge as well as I when you understand its nature.

  I. What! so great an event heralded by so questionable an instrumentality as the rapping and table tipping spirits?

  P. Be calm, and at the same time be humble. Remember that it is not unusual for God to employ the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and that when He comes to visit His people, He almost always comes in disguises, and sometimes even “as a thief in the night.” Besides the spirits of which you speak are only the rough but very useful pioneers to open a highway through which the King is coming with innumerable hosts of angels, who, indeed, are already near you, though you see them not. It is, indeed, an hour of temptation that has come upon all the world; but be watchful and true, prayerful and faithful, and fear not.

  I. Please tell us then, if you can, something of the nature and objects of this new Divine Epiphany which you announce; and as you say it is a Fourth, please tell us, in brief, what were the preceding Three, the times of their occurrence, and how they are all distinguished from each other.

  P. The First appealed only to the affections and the inner sense of the soul, and was the Dispensation of the most ancient Church, when God walked with man in the midst of the garden of his own interior delights, and when “Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him.” But as this sense of the indwelling presence of God was little more than a mere emotion, for which, in that period of humanity’s childhood, there was no adequate, rational, and directive intelligence, men, in process of time, began to mistake every delight as being divine and holy; thus they justified themselves in their evil delights, or in the gratification of their lusts and passions, considering even these as all divine. [The “sons of God” marrying the “daughters of men.” — Gen. vi. 2-4.] And as they possessed no adequate reasoning faculty to which appeals might be made for the correction of these tendencies, and thus no ground of reformation, the race gradually grew to such a towering height of wickedness that it had to be almost entirely destroyed. The Second age or Dispensation, commencing with Noah, was distinctively characterized by the more special manifestation of God in outward types and shadows, in the adyta of temples and other consecrated places and things, from which, as representative seats of the Divine Presence, and through inspired men, were issued laws to which terrible penalties were annexed, as is exemplified by the law issued from Mount Sinai. The evil passions of men were thus put under restraint, and a rational faculty of discriminating between right and wrong — that is to say, a Conscience — was at the same time developed. But the sophistical use of these types and shadows (of which all ancient mythology is an outgrowth), and the accompanying perversion of the general conscience of mankind, gradually generated Idolatry and Magic with all their complicated evils, against which the Jewish Church, though belonging to the same general Dispensation, was specially instituted to react. Furthermore, as the mere restraints of penal law necessarily imply the existence in man of latent evils upon which the restraint is imposed, it is manifest that such a dispensation alone could not bring human nature to a state of perfection; and so a Third was instituted, in which God was manifested in the flesh. That is to say, He became incarnate in one man who was so constituted as to embody in himself the qualitative totality of Human Nature, that through this one Man as the Head of the Body of which other men were the subordinate organs, He might become united with all others — so that by the spontaneous movings of the living Christ within, and thus in perfect freedom, they might live the divine life in their very fleshly nature, previously the source of all sinful lusts, but now, together with the inner man, wholly regenerated and made anew. Here, then, is a Trinity of Divine manifestations, to the corresponding triune degrees of the nature of man — the inner or affectional degree, the intermediate, rational, or conscience degree, and the external, or sensuous degree.

  But while this was all that was necessary as a ground for the perfect union of man with God, in the graduated triune degrees here mentioned, and thus all that was necessary for his personal salvation in a sphere of being beyond and above the earthy, it was not all that was necessary to perfect his relations to the great and mysterious realm of forms, materials, and forces which constitute the theater of his earthly struggles; nor was it quite all that was necessary to project and carry into execution the plan of that true and divine structure, order and government of human society which might be appropriately termed “the kingdom of heaven upon earth; wherefore you have now, according to a divine promise frequently repeated in the New Testament, a Fourth Great Divine Manifestation, which proves to be a manifestation of God in universal science.

  I. But that “Fourth Manifestation” (or “second coming,” as we are in the habit of calling it), which was promised in the New Testament, was to be attended with imposing phenomena, of which we have as yet seen nothing. It was to be a coming of Christ “in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory,” and the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, etc., were to occur at the same time?

  P. Certainly; but you would not, of course, insist upon putting a strictly literal interpretation upon this language, and thus turning it into utter and senseless absurdity. The real “heaven” is not that boundary of your vision in upper space which you call the sky, but the interior and living reality of things. The “clouds” that are meant are not those sheets of condensed aqueous vapor which float above your head, but the material coatings which have hitherto obscured interior realities, and through which the Divine Logos, the “Sun of Righteousness,” is now breaking with a “power” which moves dead matter without visible hands, and with a “great glory,” or light, which reveals a spiritual world within the natural. The “Resurrection” is not the opening of the literal graves, and re-assembling of the identical flesh, blood, and bone
s of dead men and nations which, during hundreds and even thousands of years, have been combining and re-combining with the universal elements; but it is the re-establishment of the long-suspended relations of spirits with the earthly sphere of being, by which they are enabled to freely manifest themselves again to their friends in the earthly life, and often to receive great benefits in return; and if you do not yet see, as accompanying and growing out of all this, the beginning of an ordeal that is to try souls, institutions, creeds, churches, and nations, as by fire, you had better wait awhile for a more full exposition of the “last judgment.” People should learn that the kingdom of God comes not to outward but to inward observation, and that as for the prophetic words which have been spoken on this subject, “they are spirit, and they are life.”

  I. And what of the changed aspects of science that is to grow out of this alleged peculiar Divine manifestation?

  P. To answer that question fully would require volumes. Be content, then, for the present, with the following brief words: Hitherto science has been almost wholly materialistic in its tendencies, having nothing to do with spiritual things, but ignoring and casting doubts upon them; while spiritual matters, on the other hand, have been regarded by the Church wholly as matters of faith with which science has nothing to do. But through these modern manifestations, God is providentially furnishing to the world all the elements of a spiritual science which, when established and recognized, will be the stand-point from which all physical science will be viewed. It will then be more distinctly known that all external and visible forms and motions originate from invisible, spiritual, and ultimately divine causes; that between cause and effect there is always a necessary and intimate correspondence; and hence that the whole outer universe is but the symbol and sure index of an invisible and vastly more real universe within. From this unitary basis of thought the different sciences as now correctly understood may be co-related in harmonic order as One Grand Science, the known of which, by the rule of correspondence, will lead by easy clews to the unknown. The true structure and government of human society will be clearly hinted by the structure and laws of the universe, and especially by that microcosm, or little universe, the human organization. All the great stirring questions of the day, including the questions of suffrage, woman’s rights, the relations between labor and capital, and the questions of general political reform, will be put into the way of an easy and speedy solution; and mankind will be ushered into the light of a brighter day, socially, politically, and religiously, than has ever yet dawned upon the world.

  I. My invisible friend, the wonderful nature of your communication excites my curiosity to know your name ere we part. Will you have the kindness to gratify me in this particular?

  P. That I may not do. My name is of no consequence in any respect. Besides, if I should give it, you might, unconsciously to yourself, be influenced to attach to it the weight of a personal authority, which is specially to be avoided in communications of this kind. There is nothing to prevent deceiving spirits from assuming great names, and you have no way of holding them responsible for their statements. With thinkers — minds that are developed to a vigorous maturity — the truth itself should be its only and sufficient authority. If what I have told you appears intrinsically rational, logical, scientific, in harmony with known facts, and appeals to your convictions with the force of truth, accept it; if not, reject it; but I advise you not to reject it before giving it a candid and careful examination. I may tell you more at some future time, but for the present, farewell.

  CONCLUSION.

  Here the interview ended. It was a part of my original plan, after reviewing various theories on this mysterious subject, to propound one of my own; but this interview with Planchette has changed my mind. I confess I am amazed and confounded, and have nothing to say. The commendable motive which the invisible intelligence, whatever it may be, assigned in the last paragraph for refusing to give its name, also prompts me to withhold my own name from this publication for the present, and likewise to abstain from the explanation I intended to give of certain particulars as to the manner and circumstances of this communication. On its own intrinsic merits alone it should be permitted to rest; and as I certainly feel that my own conceptions have been greatly enlarged, not to say that I have been greatly instructed, I give it forth in the hope that it may have the same effect upon my readers.

  HOW TO WORK PLANCHETTE.

  We have received letters from different persons who have tried Planchette, but failed to make her work. Our correspondents wish to know the reason of the failure, and what conditions must be complied with on their part to remedy the difficulty. We reply by the insertion of the following rules, which should be read in connection with the descriptive paragraph near the commencement of this pamphlet:

  RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN USING PLANCHETTE.

  For some persons (strong magnetizers), “Planchette” moves at once, and for one such person it moves rapidly and writes distinctly. With such a person it is not necessary for another to put their hands on; it will operate alone for them, and better than with two persons.

  It has been noticed that one pair of male and one pair of female hands form a more perfect Battery to work “Planchette” than two males or two females would do.

  It has also been noticed that one light and one dark complexioned person are better than two light or two dark persons would be together; also, that two females, with their hands on together, are better than the hands of two males would be.

  If, after observing these rules, “Planchette” should refuse to write, or move, different persons must try until the necessary Battery is formed to make it operate. (It is here remarked that the average number of persons able to work “Planchette” is about five to eight; but it is still possible, but improbable, to have an assemblage of eight persons and not any be able to make “Planchette” go.) After it is ascertained who are the proper persons to move “Planchette,” no end of fun, amusement, and possibly instruction, will be afforded.

  According to the experience of the present writer, the proportional number of those for whom Planchette will work promptly, and from the first, is not quite so great as here given. But by perseverance through repeated trials, under the right mental and physical conditions, most persons may at length obtain responsive movements, more or less satisfactory. Planchette, however (or the intelligence which moves her), likes to be treated with a decent respect, and has a repugnance to confusion. Ask her, therefore, none but respectful questions, and only one of these at a time; and when there are several persons in the company anxious to obtain responses, while one is consulting let all the others keep perfectly quiet, and each patiently await his turn. A non-compliance with these conditions generally spoils the experiment.

  Query: Have we here the spiritus mundi of the old philosophers?

  See an article entitled “A Remarkable Case of Physical Phenomena,” in the Atlantic Monthly for August, 1868.

  SPIRITUALISM.

  BY MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.

  [The following was written for, and published in the Christian Union. It was reprinted in The Phrenological Journal in 1870. We present it here, as in some measure explanatory of all the matter which precedes it. There are many who do not accept all that is claimed to be true, in Modern Spiritualism, who will entertain the moderate views expressed by The Author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Editor.]

  It is claimed that there are in the United States four million Spiritualists. The perusal of the advertisements in any one of the weekly newspapers devoted to this subject will show that there is a system organized all over the Union to spread these sentiments. From fifty to a hundred, and sometimes more, of lecturers advertise in a single paper, to speak up and down the land; and lyceums — progressive lyceums for children, spiritual pic-nics, and other movements of the same kind, are advertised. This kind of thing has been going on from year to year, and the indications now are that it is increasing rather than diminishing.

  It
is claimed by the advocates of these sentiments that the number of those who boldly and openly profess them is exceeded by the greater number of those who are secretly convinced, but who are unwilling to encounter the degree of obloquy or ridicule which they would probably meet on an open avowal.

  All these things afford matter for grave thought to those to whom none of the great and deep movements of society are indifferent. When we think how very tender and sacred are the feelings with which this has to do — what power and permanency they always must have, we can not but consider such a movement of society entitled at least to the most serious and thoughtful consideration.

  Our own country has just been plowed and seamed by a cruel war. The bullet that has pierced thousands of faithful breasts has cut the nerve of life and hope in thousands of homes. What yearning toward the invisible state, what agonized longings must have gone up as the sound of mournful surges, during these years succeeding the war! Can we wonder that any form of religion, or of superstition, which professes in the least to mitigate the anguish of that cruel separation, and to break that dreadful silence by any voice or token, has hundreds of thousands of disciples? If on review of the spiritualistic papers and pamphlets we find them full of vague wanderings and wild and purposeless flights of fancy, can we help pitying that craving of the human soul which all this represents and so imperfectly supplies?