. A new revelation
seemed to be in the course of delivery to the human race, though how
far it was still in what may be called the John-the-Baptist stage, and
how far some greater fulness and clearness might be expected hereafter,
was more than any man can say. My point is, that the physical
phenomena which have been proved up to the hilt for all who care to
examine the evidence, are really of no account, and that their real
value consists in the fact that they support and give objective reality
to an immense body of knowledge which must deeply modify our previous
religious views, and must, when properly understood and digested, make
religion a very real thing, no longer a matter of faith, but a matter
of actual experience and fact. It is to this side of the question that
I will now turn, but I must add to my previous remarks about personal
experience that, since the War, I have had some very exceptional
opportunities of confirming all the views which I had already formed as
to the truth of the general facts upon which my views are founded.

These opportunities came through the fact that a lady who lived with
us, a Miss L. S., developed the power of automatic writing. Of all
forms of mediumship, this seems to me to be the one which should be
tested most rigidly, as it lends itself very easily not so much to
deception as to self-deception, which is a more subtle and dangerous
thing. Is the lady herself writing, or is there, as she avers, a power
that controls her, even as the chronicler of the Jews in the Bible
averred that he was controlled? In the case of L. S. there is no
denying that some messages proved to be not true--especially in the
matter of time they were quite unreliable. But on the other hand, the
numbers which did come true were far beyond what any guessing or
coincidence could account for. Thus, when the Lusitania was sunk and
the morning papers here announced that so far as known there was no
loss of life, the medium at once wrote: "It is terrible, terrible--and
will have a great influence on the war." Since it was the first strong
impulse which turned America towards the war, the message was true in
both respects. Again, she foretold the arrival of an important
telegram upon a certain day, and even gave the name of the deliverer of
it--a most unlikely person. Altogether, no one could doubt the reality
of her inspiration, though the lapses were notable. It was like
getting a good message throu