Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “New Revelation” and “Vital Message”

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "New Revela- tion" and "Vital Message" By Joseph A. West Among the many developments of the nineteenth century none are more remarkable than spiritualism. One hundred years ago the religious world believed that since the apostles of Jesus fell asleep, "the heavens had been sealed as brass over our heads," and when the "Mormon" elders announced that com- munication was again restored between the heavens and the earth, in the glorious manifestation of the Father and the Son to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the world seemed aflame with bit- terness and persecution. Almost immediately after this, spir- itualism began to manifest itself in different parts of the coun- try, and has since grown, until it now counts its votaries by the millions, and among them, a great many learned and scientific men in every part of the world. Mr. Doyle says that thirty years ago he was completely in- fidel to every phase of spiritualism, but that an almost constant study and investigation thereof, from then until now, has con- vinced him that there is life after death and that communication has been established between the living and the dead. He arraigns Christianity as a failure, which places too much stress vipon Christ's death and not enough upon the exam- ple of his life and teachings, reiterating the oft-repeated state- ment that he was only a great reformer that died for an ideal, and thus became a martyr for the advanced principles which he taught. He gives Christ credit, however, for possessing an ideal infinitely higher, and of greater potentiality than that pos- sessed by any reformer before or since his time. The following is what he claims to be the general opinion held in the spirit world with respect to Christianity: Opinion is not absolutely uniform over there, any more than it is here; but reading a number of messages upon this subject they amount to the following: There are many higher spirits with our departed. They vary in degree. Call them angels and you are in touch with old religious thought. High above all these is the great spirit of whom we have cognizance — not God, since God is so infinite that he is not within their ken — but one who is nearer God. This is the Christ spirit. His special care is this earth. He came upon it at a time of great earthly depravity — a time when the world was almost as wicked as it is now — in order to give the people the lesson

DOYLE'S "NEW REVELATION" 7 of an ideal life. Then he returned to his own high station, having left an example that is still occasionally followed. Redemption is hardly ever spoken of. Through spiritualism he has discovered that the spirit world is right here on this earth; that after a time, a kind of probationary season, all advance to another condition where it is not so easy to reach them; that the best time to get com- munication from the other side is right after death, and that the longer after this that you wait the more difficult it is. A brief interval, however, of varying length is passed, im- mediately after death, in a kind of recuperative sleep. Most of his best psychical investigations were made right after this period, or at the moment of dissolution. Out of 250 cases to which he refers, 134 were taken at this time, from which, among other things, he learned the following: The departed all agree that passing is usually both easy and painless, and followed by an enormous reaction of peace and ease. The individual finds himself in a spirit body, which is the exact counterpart of his old one, save that all disease, weakness, or deformity has passed away. This body is standing or floating beside the old one, and conscious both of it and of the surrounding people. The dead man * * * soon finds, to his surprise, that though he endeavors to communicate with those whom he sees, his ethereal voice and his ethereal touch are equally unable to make any im- pression upon those human organs which are only attuned to coarser stim- uli. He is presently aware that there are others in the room besides those who were with him there in life, and among these others, who seem to him as substantial as the living, there appears familiar faces, and he finds his hands grasped or his lips kissed by those whom he had loved and lost. Then in their company, and with the help and guidance of some more radi- ant being who has stood by and waited for the new comer, he drifts, to his own surprise, through all solid obstacles to and out upon his new life. This is a definite statement, and this is the story told by one after the other with a consistency which impels belief. * * * The spirit is not a glorified angel or goblin damned, but is simply the person himself, containing all his strength and weakness, his wisdom and his folly, exactly as he has retained his personality (pages 65 to 67). Mr. Doyle was informed that hell, as a place of torture, did rot exist, but that purifying chastisements in purgatory take its place. That punishment is very certain and very serious, but consisted mainly in the fact that the wicked were consigned to lower spheres with a knowledge that their own conduct in life had placed them there, but with the hope that by the help of those above them they might be advanced to better conditions; that the main business of the more fortunate was to uplift their more unfortunate: "The greatest joys of heaven," as he puts it, "is in emptying hell." They all agree as to the pleasant con- ditions of life behind the veil, that all who love or have interests in common are united, and life is so full of interest and occupa- tion that none would wish to return. He accounts for the in- creasing difficulty as time goes by of communication with the

8 IMPROVEMENT ERA departed, i<> be found in the fact that at first most of their loved ones an- here, but with the passing of time, their immediate circle <>l friends and acquaintances have joined them over there, .m.l hence their interest in this life diminishes. Later they pass to another sphere from whence communication seems to be more frequent, and less difficult. Also, while our loved ones very much desire to communicate with us, and often do so, especially during our sleeping hours, they find as much dif- ficulty in reaching our irresponsive grosser personalities as we do in getting in touch with the spirit world, and this is the barrier between us. The lower cannot ascend but the higher can de- -< end. The child grows to normal, age disappears, together with every weakness or deformity, and youth and beauty prevail everywhere. Here let me say that the early manifestations of spiritualism were of a physical character, such as the moving of tables, au- tomatic music, spirit rappings, etc., but since then there has arisen a great many forms of mediumship, which, Mr. Doyle Bays, are so different from each other that an expert at one may possess no power whatever at the other. He specifies them as the clairvoyant, the crystal-seer, the automatic writer, the trance speaker, the photographic medium and the direct voice medium, most all of whom can work better in the dark than in the light. (See page 33, Vital Message.) On page 41 of the same work he says: We must also admit that some mediums are extremely irresponsible and feather-headed people. A friend of mine, who sat with Eusapia Palladino, assured me that he saw her cheat in the most childish and bare-faced fashion, and yet immediately afterwards incidents occurred which were absolutely beyond any normal power to produce. On page 46, ibid, we find the following: In automatic writing you are at one end of the telephone, if one may use such a simile, and you have no assurance who is at the other end. You may have wildly false messages suddenly interpolated between truthful ones — messages so detailed in their mendacity that it is impossible to think that they are not deliberately false. When once we have accepted the cen- tral fact that spirits change little in essentials when leaving the body, that in consequence the world is infested by many low and mischievous types, one can understand that these untoward incidents are rather a confirmation of spiritualism than an argument against it. * * * In clairvoyance the same sudden inexplicable deceptions occur. On page 75, ibid, the following occurs: The question of mediumship, what it is and how it acts, is one of the most mysterious in the whole range of science. It is a common objection »o say, if our dead are there, why should we only hear from them through people by no means remarkable for moral or mental gifts, who are often paid for their ministrations?

DOYLE'S "NEW REVELATION" 1 On pages 91 and 92 of The New Revelation appears the fol- lowing : Apart from all these limitations [referring to the fact that the spirit's estimate of time is almost always wrong] we have, unhappily, to deal with absolute cold-blooded lying on the part of wicked and mischievous intelli- gences. Everyone who has investigated the matter has, I suppose, met with examples of wilful deception, which are occasionally mixed up with good and true communications. It was of such messages, no doubt, that the apos- tle wrote when he said: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God." These words can only mean that the early Christians not only practiced spiritualism, as we understand it, but also that they were faced with the same difficulties. There is nothing more puzzling than the fact that one may get a long connected description with every detail given, and that it may prove to be entirely a concoction. How- ever, we must bear hi mind that if one case comes absolutely correct, it atones for many failures, just as if you had one telegram correct you would know that there was a line and a communication, however much they broke down afterwards. Notwithstanding all of the above admissions, Mr. Doyle makes the following remarkable and astonishing statement: The conclusion of my long search after truth is thai in spite of occa- sional frauds, which spiritualists deplore, and in spite of wild imaginings, which they discourage, there remains a great solid core in this movement which is infinitely nearer to positive truth than any religious development with which I am acquainted. — The New Revelation. I do not see how anyone can place any dependence upon a means of communication with the other world that is so liable to be unbiddingly used by wicked and delusive spirits. Upon the matter of mediumship, Mr. Doyle says: The medium is, in truth, a mere passive machine, clerk and telephone in one. Nothing comes from him. Every message is through him. Why he or she should have the power more than anyone else is a problem. This power may be best defined as the capacity for allowing the bodily powers, physical and mental, to be used by an outside influence. In its higher forms there is temporary extinction of personality and the substitution of some other controlling spirit." — The Vital Message, page 76. How different all this is from true inspiration or revelation from God! The Apostle Paul declares that, "The spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet," and elsewhere in the scrip- tures we are told that, "The prophets of old spoke and wrote as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost." The Holy Ghost is a spirit of truth and cannot lie. Joseph Smith defines it as "a Spirit of pure intelligence," and not one that robs us of our mental and physical powers in any sense. Under its in- spiration men, in the full exercise of all their faculties, have experienced moments of great mental and spiritual exaltation during which many great and glorious truths, unmixed with er- ror, have been revealed not only in this gospel dispensation but in all the dispensations past.

10 IMPROVEMENT ERA .Neither can this spirit be invoked, nor the medium of com- munication he employed by wicked men on this side of the veil, nor by evil and lying spirits on the other. Paul says it will not dwell in unlioK temples or the bodies of the wicked. (I Cor. 3:16, IT.i From time immemorable there have been two spirits op- erating among mankind, and two mediums of communication between this and the other world: One from Lucifer and the other from t lie Lord. Through the latter, Abel was led to live a righteous life, and through listening to the former, Cain be- came a murderer. One enabled Pharaoh's magicians to with- stand Aaron and duplicate the miracles performed through him, until the final test, when Aaron's serpent swallowed up the ser- pent of the magicians, thus demonstrating the superiority of the power by which it was sustained: while the other led Moses in his triumphal delivery of Israel from bondage and from tyr- anny. One inspired the wicked prophets of Baal and the other the prophet Elijah when he called down fire from heaven and destroyed them for leading Israel astray. One took possession of King Saul because he had violated God's command and was thereby cut off from the Lord's favor and communion, and led to seek the medium of Endor. The other inspired David to become one of Israel's greatest kings. In that day, Saul, by the direction of the Lord had "put away" the mediums, and hence he was compelled to seek this one in disguise. She soon found out who he was, however, and delivered to him a much more truthful message than usually comes from similar sources today, yet this did not disprove nor condone the evil source through which it came. In I John 4:1, it is said: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Then in the next verses we are told : Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that spirit of anti-Christ, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. He did not mean Jesus, the great reformer, but Jesus the Christ, the Redeemer of the world, for so he preached and bore testimony of him. These passages should be sufficient to con- vince any and all true believers in the Bible that spiritualism, as it exists today, is not of God, for it universally denies the di- vinity of the mission of the Christ, as the Savior and Redeemer of the world. The prophet Joseph had a foretaste of this power just be-

DOYLE'S "NEW REVELATION" 11 fore the heavenly visitation that opened up this dispensation; and later the Lord revealed through him many things regarding spiritualism that you will find in Joseph Smith's teachings. In reading what the prophet has to say upon this subject, and upon the conditions that exist in the spirit world, to be found in his history, it is hard to get away from the conviction that Mr. Doyle found much of the truthful portion of his statements and de- scriptions of the spirit world in the doctrines of the "Mor- mon" Church. Through the Prophet Joseph Smith the fact was revealed that the Lord created all things spiritually, before they were created temporally, upon the earth, including man and all the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and that after death all will again appear in the exact likeness of their earth life, being com- posed of a spirit element much more pure and refined than the elements that compose the body. This spirit identity can pass through earthly solids and cannot be seen except through or by our spiritual sight or vision. Conditions behind the veil are an exact counterpart of conditions here — the hills and valleys, great rivers and small streams, the trees and vegetation, but all of a much higher order and of greater beauty. Man in the spirit world will be just what he was at the time of his demise, and will be possessed of all his acquirements, educationally and otherwise. If a very good and a very gifted man here, he will be the same there, and if a demon here, and he has not repented and made full reparation, he will be the same there; hence, we find in the spirit world the wise and the foolish, the educated and the unlearned, the good and the bad, and people of all shades of opinion and belief. If a Catholic here, he or she will be a Catholic there, until converted to some other faith. Hence the opinion of the spirits behind the veil are as varied as their individual personalities and no more to be relied upon there than here. "Mormonism" teaches that as Christ did a vicarious work for all mankind, so may men and women, when rightly directed and duly authorized, do a vicarious work here for loved ones gone, in having performed for them gospel ordinances that they failed to receive in mortality, and which alone appertain thereto; that one of our greatest responsibilities hereafter will be to preach the gospel in the spirit world, that by the accept- ance of the same, the saving ordinances thereof, as taught by the Redeemer of the world, may be applied to souls in that sphere of life, and they receive the benefits, blessings and glories there- of; so that all of God's children may ultimately be saved and exalted in some degree of divine glory. The Church and Kingdom of Christ, with all its laws, or- dinances and officers, exists over there as here, and both work in conjunction. All are very busy, and all are su-

l_> IMPROVEMENT EH \ premel] nappy, compared with tho sorrows and trials of mortal life. The child thai dies in infancy grows to the full stature of its Bpiril life, and the earthly relationships that we form through the noly Priesth I here, and do not violate through transgres- sion, are perpetuated there, including all earthly family organ- izations with their exquisite joys. Hell arises from conscious regrets of what we might have been and not from eternal, torturous physical pain, as believed in liv many of the sectarian world. The memory of the righteous embraces all the experiences of their past, present, and future lives, except those things that would measurably destroy their happiness, and of which they have repented and made full reparation; while one of the sources of sorrow and punishment to the wicked is a vivid recol- lection of all their evil deeds. Those who inherit a higher de- gree of glory can administer, and do administer to the lower, but the lower cannot ascend to the higher, or the glory for which their earthly lives have not fitted or prepared them. The constant mission of the higher is to elevate and advance those below them, for all are God's children and of one great fraternal family. The spirit world is right here on this earth where those wiio have abided a celestial law (for the prophet said this earth would abide that law) will receive their inheritance, and the earth will take its place among celestial spheres very near the throne of God, or the world upon which he dwells. Many of the Latter-day Saints, and especially those labor- ing in the temples, have been permitted glimpses of the spirit world, and find conditions as here stated. President Jedediah M. Grant related to President Kimball such a vision a short time before his death. He said that he met many with whom he had been acquainted in life, including loved ones gone before, and all were just as they were in life, but very happy and unwilling to return. He describes that world as beautiful beyond mortal conception. Its architecture far exceeded his highest conception of the temple of Solomon, and its beautiful scenery and wealth of flowers and vegetation were beyond description. President Young said death itself was not only painless but a moment of superlative joy, and so I might continue at great length, but space will not permit. All of this, and much more that limited space prevents me from naming here, was revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and through him to others, when spiritualism was just beginning to manifest itself anew in unintelligible, mysterious physical manifestations. Many have supposed that all spiritual communications, ex- cept those that come through the channels of the holy priest-

DOYLE'S "NEW REVELATION" 13 hood, were inspired by the evil one, and for an evil purpose. This is invariably true where any one pretends to receive, through such sources, revelations for the guidance of the Church. Even when of an individual character, they should be regarded with suspicion, because there are so many lying spirits abroad in that world laying in wait to deceive, and who, we are told, would, were it possible, deceive the very elect. There are times, however, when the Lord permits loved ones who have gone before to bring comforting messages to the living, but in all such cases, the communication is directly with the person for whom such message is intended, and not through a third, irre- sponsible person. If doubt arises as to the character of such a messenger we have the following key: When a messenger comes, saying he has a message from God, offer him your hand, and request him to shake hands with you. If he be an angel, he will do so, and you will feel his hand. If he be the spirit of a just man made perfect, he will come in his glory; for that is the only way he can appear. Ask him to shake hands with you, but he will not move, be- cause it is contrary to the order of heaven for a just man to deceive; but he will still deliver his message. If it be the devil as an angel of light, when you ask him to shake hands, he will offer you his hand, and you will not feel anything; you may therefore detect him. (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 129:4-8.) We are told in the same revelation that there are two kinds of beings in heaven, viz., angels who are resurrected personages, having bodies of flesh and bones; and the spirits of just men made perfect, who are not resurrected, but inherit the same glory. In our day men have rejected the true medium of com- munication between God and man — the Holy Priesthood, and are accepting, as never before, spiritualism with its minimum of truth intermixed with much very dangerous error. If however, spiritualism can but aid in impressing upon the minds of that great multitude of mankind who are infidel thereto, the reality of life after death, it has been of some use, and offers us another evidence of the Lord's ability to use the instrumentalities of evil to further his purposes. The main cause of the social unrest and political chaos throughout the world today is a disbelief in God and a hereafter. Millions in Europe and multitudes in our own fair, free land have abandoned a belief in a world and life beyond. They ask for no heaven, and they fear no hell. They want what they claim to be their share of the good things of life without any reciprocal or productive effort on their part. Hence they cry, "Down with government, the world over. Let us destroy with fire and sword, the existing order of society, that we may at once come into possession of our share of the world's wealth, for time is passing and death will end it all!" Faith in God and the hereafter would remedy this evil. Logan, Utah.