CHAPTER II. THE REVELATION

I can now turn with some relief to a more
impersonal view of this great subject. Allusion has
been made to a body of fresh doctrine. Whence does
this come? It comes in the main through automatic
writing where the hand of the human medium is
controlled, either by an alleged dead human being, as
in the case of Miss Julia Ames, or by an alleged higher
teacher, as in that of Mr. Stainton Moses. These
written communications are supplemented by a vast
number of trance utterances, and by the verbal messages
of spirits, given through the lips of mediums.
Sometimes it has even come by direct voices, as in the
numerous cases detailed by Admiral Usborne Moore in his
book The Voices. Occasionally it has come through
the family circle and table-tilting, as, for example,
in the two cases I have previously detailed
within my own experience. Sometimes, as in a case
recorded by Mrs. de Morgan, it has come through the
hand of a child.

Now, of course, we are at once confronted with the
obvious objection--how do we know that these messages
are really from beyond? How do we know that the medium
is not consciously writing, or if that be improbable,
that he or she is unconsciously writing them by his or
her own higher self? This is a perfectly just
criticism, and it is one which we must rigorously apply
in every case, since if the whole world is to become