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LIFE BEYOND DEATH
WITH EVIDENCE

by

The Rev. CHARLES DRAYTON THOMAS
[1867-]

WITH INTRODUCTION BY

The Late VISCOUNTESS GREY OF FALLODON


1923
GLASGOW SYDNEY AUCKLAND
 

CONTENTS

CHAPTER. PAGE
INTRODUCTION. By Viscountess Grey of Fallodon 1
PREFACE 5
I. THE ARGUMENT 7
II. COMMUNICATIONS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE
SUBJECT 15
III. EVIDENTIAL MESSAGES 22
IV. THE EVIDENCE CANNOT BE EXPLAINED AWAY
BY TELEPATHY 36
V. IDENTITY SHOWN IN REPLY TO TEST QUESTIONS 40
VI. THE HYPOTHESIS OF IMPERSONATION 52
VII. THE SLEEP OF DEATH AND THE AWAKENING
TO GREATER LIFE 58
VIII. WHAT OUR FRIENDS IN THE NEXT LIFE KNOW
ABOUT OUR SURROUNDINGS AND OUR THOUGHTS
PART 1. Our Surroundings 64
PART 2. Our Thoughts 79
IX. FURTHER EVIDENCE THAT THE DEPARTED CAN
KEEP IN TOUCH WITH EARTH 91
X. THE SPIRITUAL BODY 107
XI. THE EVIDENCE OF BOOK TESTS 113
XII. A REAL WORLD 125
XIII. EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIMENTS WITH THE
DAILY PRESS 138
v


vi Contents

PAGE CHAP.
XIV. OCCUPATIONS IN THE LIFE BEYOND DEATH 152
XV. THE INTERPRETER OR CONTROL 160
XVI. "ORDER IS HEAVEN'S FIRST LAW" 166
XVII. THE MODUS OPERANDI OF TRANCE
COMMUNICATION 172
XVIII. ENHANCED POWERS AND HAPPINESS 176
XIX. INFORMING THE CONTROL 186
XX. MISCONCEPTIONS RECTIFIED AFTER DEATH 192
XXI. VOICING THE MESSAGE 197
XXII. INTERCOURSE WITH EARLIER GENERATIONS 201
XXIII. DIRECT CONTROL 207
XXIV. CONTACT WITH HIGHER REALMS 211
XXV. ON THE DIFFICULTY OF TRANSMITTING NAMES
IN PSYCHIC MESSAGES 218
XXVI. THE PLACE AND CONDITION OF THE
UNPROGRESSED 226
XXVII. THE INFLUENCE OF THE SITTER 236
XXVIII. "WHERE I AM THERE SHALL ALSO MY SERVANT
BE" 242
XXIX. SOUL AND SPIRIT 247
XXX. CAN THE SOUL LEAVE THE BODY DURING
SLEEP? 260
XXXI. A SIGNIFICANT MISTAKE 279
XXXII. THE MYSTERY OF OUTER SPACE 287
XXXIII. A SURVEY OF RESULTS 290
XXXIV. ARMISTICE DAY, 1927 294

 

INTRODUCTION

By VISCOUNTESS GREY OF FALLODON

This will be a useful book if it falls into the right hands. There are many to whom it may bring a measure of comfort, who feel an intense and despondent longing for word or sign from "precious friends hid in Death's dateless night"; but, let it be added, only to those whom the obtaining of this through a medium does not fill with the sense of insuperable repugnance that it arouses in some. This book is not likely to be of use to such as find a more sublimated union through the channel of the Holy Eucharist; nor will it be congenial to Theosophists, or those followers of Rudolf Steiner, who so rightly teach that we should dwell beyond the psychic, pressing on into those higher reaches, which are the more celestial development of our nature. To many, however, this is a counsel of perfection, and it may well be that this book will reach a wide public of its own. Think of the great crowd that watches a football match, or sees a race run, or one that lines the route of some royal wedding, or state funeral, and ask yourself how many illumined minds, how many elevated religious minds, even how many minds simply intuitively convinced of survival, are there in that sea of faces? A small percentage. It is this other vaster portion of our fellow creatures that those of us who believe we have spoken with the risen dead, want to reach. And it is for these that such books as this are published.

The author has observed a rigorous method of investigation that puts high value on his work. Readers will find the subject dealt with in thoroughness and integrity. Spiritualism has not been too rich in wise adherents. Sir Thomas Browne says that if the banner of Truth trails in the dust, it is the fault of the standard bearer. And

1


2 Introduction

this subject, of all others, has had its full quota of ensign bearers that have been either strangely clumsy, or unworthy of their trust. So, to find someone willing and capable of working along the lines of the Society for Psychical Research, combining sympathy with their rigour, is no small good. Mr. Drayton Thomas is known to me through our common interest in Psychical Research; and we have had more than one interesting case of cross-correspondence, in our work, as recorded in my book The Earthen Vessel.* These devices of Book Tests and Cross-correspondences, to the casual observer so unnecessarily complicated, were invented, it is believed, by a band of psychical-researchers on the other side of death, in order to counter the objection so commonly made, that all simpler communications arise from mind-reading. Many people think that it is we, spiritualists, who thrust these kinds of complicated methods upon our communicators, making, in a most repellent lightness of feeling, a kind of "pencil and paper game," out of this spiritual bond. Not at all. "Book Tests" and Cross-correspondences," and the still more puzzling Newspaper Tests," have been given us from workers who have progressed further along this subject than have we. It was a great moment when, in the curious phenomenon of Cross-correspondences, it became apparent to the pioneers on our side of the grave, that they were not working alone. When in the midst of irrelevances, truncated quotations, and snippets from the Classics, there emerged something, fragmentary but insistent, which suggested the thing being part of a scheme, devised by those on the other side, to get messages through in a way that could not be attributed to any activity on the part of the medium, nor to any mind-reading between the medium and the person receiving the message, by any of the ordinary channels of sense. The moment when this first was apprehended, may be likened in Myers's fine image, to the thrill in the heart of the worker tunnelling through some dark mountain's centre on hearing the first faint ring of the picks of the approaching party, working from the other side. In years to come, when people now unborn,

* Published at the Bodley Head.


Introduction 3

shall look back upon this Age, to view its promontories, this outcome of the work of the Society for Psychical Research will stand as one of the Great Peaks. It is not that communication with the dead is any new discovery; it has been an old tale in the long Story of Man. The Folklore of every country is charged with it religions are based on it and vitalised by all it implicates but for lack of verification, all this has gone down the wind. Now, in this modern movement, the thing is being built upon a rock. There has been instituted a system of evidential investigation. This is brought to bear on such psychological material as may be presented to the test. Anything that has not passed through this mill is disclaimed; nothing is rightly held of value that does not bear the hall-mark of this trained scrutiny. And the work grows.

There have been some in all ages who have held they spoke with the dead, and who have given us their message.

It may be the message is being recorded, fruitfully, at last.

PAMELA GREY.


PREFACE

But what avail inadequate words to reach
The innermost of Truth?...
Yet, if it be that something not thy own,
Some shadow of the Thought to which our schemes,
Creeds, cult, and ritual are at best but dreams,
Is even to thy unworthiness made known,
Thou mayst not hide what yet thou shouldst not dare
To utter lightly, lest on lips of thine
The real seem false, the beauty undivine.
So, weighing duty in the scale of prayer,
Give what seems given thee. It may prove a seed
Of goodness dropped in fallow-ground of need.

WHITTIER. Utterance.

This book explains how I became assured that I was speaking with friends who had left earth. It also outlines their description of life in realms beyond.

The whole evidence is too voluminous to print, but sufficient is given to indicate its variety. I have selected striking instances among many of equal value. There is little mention of failures, because these have been relatively few. My friends enjoy testing their powers and some experiments have not been entirely successful.

The book and newspaper tests (explained in chapters XI. and XIII.), were experimental, and in these there were usually some failures. Both success and failure have been carefully analysed-the former by Mrs. Henry Sidgwick in a paper which appeared in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research for April, 1921; and the latter in my book, Some New Evidence for Human Survival.

The impressive force of evidence personally received is difficult to convey in print. My book is, to the actual fact,

5


6 Preface

something like a collection of butterflies in a museum, arranged and motionless, while away in the glades of the forest the air is full of joyous life, flashing and flitting from tree to flower under the blue sky. Those who know the life of the forest can best realise the significance of pressed specimens.

In addition to proofs, my friends tell something of their life and surroundings since leaving earth. But they remind me, from time to time, that they are unable to say all they wish, and that speaking through a medium is analogous to passing stones through a sieve; part will go through while the residue will not. I discuss the causes of this limitation in chapter XIX. and elsewhere.

In my opinion information about our future life, with its practical implications, is the goal to which all psychic phenomena and evidence should lead. I have so arranged the following chapters that the evidence and the description alternate. This has a double advantage: it avoids the monotony of following one line of thought too continuously, and it also produces that intermingling of proof with description which characterises my sittings. Since the evidential matter proves accurate it gives added probability to the descriptions which accompany it.

Further light upon such obscure subjects as the medium's faculty and the methods of communication will, doubtless, be obtained by continued investigation. One of the hopeful features of Psychical Research is the increasing number of qualified students who are now entering the field.

I am indebted to the Society for Psychical Research, from whose literature I learnt how to appraise and discriminate in dealing with psychical evidence.

But special gratitude is due to Mrs. Osborne Leonard, through whose kind co-operation the material of this book has been obtained, and to Viscountess Grey of Fallodon for many helpful suggestions, as well as for the Introduction to this volume.

January, 1928.


CHAPTER I

THE ARGUMENT

THIS book is founded upon personal experience during eleven years of study with a highly gifted sensitive, Mrs. Osborne Leonard. The messages were received while Mrs. Leonard was in trance. As the methods of trance communication are becoming familiar to the more intelligent part of the reading public, it may be unnecessary to allude to them here; especially as they are fully described in subsequent chapters.

My purpose is to give numerous examples of the evidence which has satisfied me that I am in conversation with my father and with my sister, Etta. The former was a Christian Minister who passed on in 1903; my sister, who had shared my studies for three years, passed over in 1920. As they both have told me much about their experiences since leaving earth, I devote several chapters to their descriptions of life as they find it in realms beyond death.

Before presenting the main body of evidence it may be useful to illustrate that spirit of cautious discrimination and suspended judgment which should mark a student of psychical phenomena. I shall, therefore, review a few examples of the messages received in my sittings with Mrs. Osborne Leonard, criticising them in turn and opposing to each some hypothesis other than the seemingly obvious one of "spirit return." I shall then adduce further examples which exclude those alternative hypotheses. Advancing in this manner, we shall come to cases for which there would seem to be no reasonable explanation but that of actual communication from one's friends in the unseen.

1. I was repeatedly informed of events in our home

7


8 The Argument

which were unknown to me. On inquiry, these messages were found to correspond accurately with the facts.

But might not this information have reached the medium's mind by some kind of telepathic message from my wife who had occasionally accompanied me to Mrs. Leonard, and who knew of these household events?

2. Many such messages related to events in our home, of which my wife was as entirely unaware as was I.

But might not these incidents have been observed personally by the medium during the condition termed "travelling clairvoyance," or even seen by her while achieving some sort of television? This is met by a consideration of the next type of message which introduces information which could not have been ascertained by the medium, even had she been residing in our house.

3. On my mentioning that I was interested in the Leys School at Cambridge, the communicator, who claimed to be my father, remarked that two people whom he knew had taken great interest in it. He was unable to transmit the names in full, but said that they commenced with the letters R and P. This puzzled me until I found that Drs. Rigg and Punshon had been prominently connected with the opening of the school.

Clearly this was beyond the medium's discovery by clairvoyance, but might it not have been read from my mind? I had no conscious memory of the matter in question, and was but eight years old when the Leys School was commenced. Granting the possibility that I retained a subconscious memory of the event, there remains the difficulty of supposing that the medium's mind could select such apposite information from my subconscious memories, and could do this at a moment's notice.


The Argument 9

4. Immediately after the departure from our house, of a guest who had spent a good deal of time in my study, I was told that the letters M and D, representing two names, had been noticed in my room. On my next meeting with this guest he informed me that, during his stay with us, he had been thinking very much about the advisabilty of applying to his former chief to replace him upon the staff of his newspaper. The initials of paper and chief were respectively M and D.

Here was something impossible to have been obtained by any means known to science. Is one to suppose that I had subconsciously obtained this information from our guest's mind and that Mrs. Leonard had then read it from me? It is difficult to feel comfortable about such a slender hypothesis, even though it be admitted that the powers of mind may be greater than we have supposed.

5. A stranger wrote asking me to obtain news of his son in a remote part of Mesopotamia, who had been missing since a skirmish with the Arabs. The letter gave his full name and the circumstances in which he was last heard of. I asked my communicators if they could help. They suggested that I should think and pray about the boy for several mornings before my next sitting, and mentally ask him to come to my study. They said that they would be present and would notice if any stranger came. During my next sitting they said that the lad had been to my study and that they had obtained information from him. They proceeded to give some particulars which agreed with what I had learnt from the father's letter; they also added a full personal description and several evidential items. At subsequent sittings more information was forthcoming. I first forwarded the description of the boy's personal appearance, asking the father if he recognised it. The reply stated that it was more detailed and exact than the father himself could have given; a photograph was enclosed so that


10 The Argument

I might satisfy myself of the extraordinary accuracy of the description. Encouraged by this, I sent the evidential messages; these included details of the boy's home life, which proved to be true. It was thus established beyond possibility of doubt that they related to the boy in question, and that he had been killed in action.

Is there any explanation other than that of spirit agency? It might be suggested that I had subconsciously psychometrised.* the father's letter and so learnt particulars which were within the father's knowledge. But it so happened that the letter sent me by the boy's father was typewritten, so that if psychometry came into action at all it would seem to have been confined to the signature alone. Faced with this alternative, one finds the spirit explanation far the likelier.

6. I was told that my mother was to receive at Christmas a bag of unique design, and this article was somewhat minutely described. No such present appeared at Christmas, but, at the sitting following, the communicator expressed certainty that it would reach my mother soon it did; it arrived on her birthday, which was four weeks after Christmas. On meeting the lady who gave this present I learnt that she had made it specially for my mother, intending to give it at Christmas, but later decided to reserve it for the birthday. Full details are given later in this book. Where is the link in this case? The lady lived at a distance, and we had neither seen nor heard of her for many months; neither had I any reason to think she would be giving a present: nor did she know Mrs. Leonard.

It would, I think, puzzle anyone to discover an alternative to the explanation given by my sister, who was the communicator in this instance. In earthly life she had known the donor of this present; also, she tells me that

* For definition of Psychometry, see page 94.



The Argument 11

she is often with our mother and able to notice, the thoughts sent out to her by friends. Such a thought she had noticed in detail before making her prediction of this present. First, she caught the intention to make the gift at Christmas, and was still confident that it would arrive, although the giver changed her original plan about the date.

7. My father showed much interest in a book I was writing and became impatient for its publication. He said, at one sitting, that if I looked on the second shelf behind my study door, fourth row up, and tenth book from the left, I would find, towards the middle of its fourteenth page, words forming a message which he would like to give out to the world. Exactly where described I found the following appropriate sentence, This suggestive little book has appeared.

That book was published in 1922 under the title, Some New Evidence for Human Survival, and in it will be found numbers of similarly verified book tests. It may be asked whether I had any idea of what might be found in the designated place. I had no idea whatever. The book in question proved to be one I had not looked at for ten years, and I failed to remember having noticed the sentence in question. If it be suggested that this was only a happy coincidence, mere chance, I would reply that I, and other investigators, have had too many such coincidences to credit their being the result of chance. In the chapter on Book Tests attention is drawn to an investigation by the Society for Psychical Research which decides this matter definitely. For where chance coincidence produced 4.7 per cent. successes, the book tests given in trance messages obtained an average of 36 per cent., and my own communicators, who had practised this type of experiment, achieved a considerably higher percentage of success. The investigation established conclusively that chance coincidence did not explain the book tests.

8. Certain experiments which extended over two years were named newspaper tests. They were a


12 The Argument

development of the book tests, and consisted of references to items which would be found in some public journal on the morrow-most frequently The Times. They were ingeniously devised by my father to prove his independence of any information which might be in my mind, or in the medium's. He also used them, now and again, to give additional proof of his identity; for he interwove incidents connected with 'his life on earth with names to be found in some clearly defined part of the morrow's paper. Here is one such instance: On January 16th, 1920 at 3.20 p.m., I was asked to examine the morrow's Daily Telegraph, and to notice on its first page, near the top of the second column, the name of the place where I was born. The message continued, "He is not sure if it is given as a place name, but the name is there."

There appeared next day, four lines from the top of that column, the following advertisement in which "Victoria" might be either a personal or a place name. Victoria Send by return. Most anxious second message. I had always thought of my birthplace as Taunton, never as Victoria, but recollected having heard the latter name used in connection with Taunton. So I wrote to my mother asking for particulars. She replied that at the time of my birth they were living close by the Wesleyan Church of which my father had charge in Taunton, that it was always called Victoria to distinguish it from the larger Church at the farther end of the town; and she added, finally, that his Church was situated in Victoria Street, and that the house where I was born was in Victoria Terrace. Comparatively few persons now living would remember that I was born at Taunton, fewer still would be aware that I was born at Victoria. Yet this is just the kind of fact which my father could not possibly forget. I may add that this advertisement had not appeared in the Telegraph of the preceding day.

This class of test was, as I have said, devised to demonstrate independence of any telepathy from human minds. No person on earth knew the solution of the tests at the



The Argument 13

hour when they were given; and even the operators at the printing works could not be sure of the position any particular advertisement would occupy when the paper was finally made up some hours later. Two separate strands of information were combined by the communicator, who brought into definite connection some fact from his earth life and some name, or statement, which was being prepared for insertion in the morrow's Press. It was my invariable custom to post a copy of these tests to the Society for Psychical Research on the day they were given. I have therefore independent witness to the fact that these tests were actually received by me on the day before their verification became possible.

Although Newspaper Tests have been before students of Psychical research for several years, I am not aware that any criticism has succeeded in casting doubt upon their validity. It may be confidently said that they provide definite proof of communication from some mind other than that of any person on earth; and that they sometimes contain evidence that the communicator is one of the sitter's departed friends.

Glance backward now to the simpler tests from which we started and which we sought to explain in this or in that manner, without attributing them to the action of the discarnate. Having at last proved that the discarnate are indeed speaking, we shall find it reasonable to think the earlier evidences were also originated by them. Spirit intervention being finally proved, all our earlier and tentative criticism must be revised in the light of that fact. It is wise to ask how far each result might have been achieved by a medium's unaided faculties, but we should be as wary of attributing all phenomena to the medium, as of placing everything to the credit of spirits. Both these causes may possibly come into action at different times and in varying degrees.

It may be said that the instances adduced deal with trivial matters, yet it would be untrue to say that they have been used in a trivial way. Not only were they accompanied by messages dealing with matters of highest interest, but they were so used as to demonstrate important


14 The Argument

facts, and to lead onward the thoughtful observer. Do we deride the specialists for counting the hairs on gnat', and dissecting the entrails of mosquitoes? Not if we recollect that it was by so doing they checked the fevers of Panama and thereby made practicable the cutting of its canal. To a casual observer that minute attention to insects might have seemed trivial, but it had in view the making possible of a waterway between two oceans. Where there is intelligent purpose small things may be used for great ends, and in selecting evidence from trivial items a very remarkable intelligence has been shown in these communications. If they are what they seem to be they are the calculated effort of some who have passed beyond the limited life of earth to bring us into a closer and more intelligent relation with the boundless life beyond it.


CHAPTER II

COMMUNICATIONS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT

I AM aware that some persons are nervous of psychical phenomena in any form. In some instances this is due to their having been told terrifying tales, or perhaps they recall some chance supernormal experience of which they did not realise the significance. To such minds the whole subject seems related to a mysterious and dark region wherein lurk unknown perils. And so they not only turn away from it themselves, but urge others to do the same.

Yet in knowledge there is not only power but also safety. In our investigations we shall find nothing which cannot reveal something further of the beauty and entrancing wonder of God's ways. Darkness is but the earth's shadow, and there are always the stars above it. And what seems to us to be mysterious is only beauty, hidden for the moment in the shadow of our ignorance. Communication with our loved ones in the life beyond, should be a step upward in our realisation of the approachableness of Jesus Christ, who was the expression in human form of the Highest, and who is "Our Friend, our Brother, and Our Lord."

The following extracts from conversations with my father and sister will indicate their view of the importance and helpfulness of such intercourse.

April, 1917. Through Feda (Mrs. Leonard's "control")

Your father thinks that Spiritualism can be very dangerous if not properly explained. People should be taught to understand it. Some who accept the fact of spirit return, on finding that they get good advice from a medium, go again and again, asking guidance in all sorts of circumstances about which they

15


16 Communications on the Importance of the Subject

ought to use their own powers. This is bad. We are placed on earth to develop ourselves. Such persons need to learn how rightly to use the privilege of communication, and not to remain too dependent on others.

July, 1917. Through Feda.

Your father considers that this communication might not be good for everyone. Some are not ready for it. The more one realises the reality of the spiritual life while on earth, the better is he able to live, and the more is he fitted to benefit by this kind of communication. The subject has come to grief repeatedly because the wrong sort of people took it up and dealt with it in a wrong way.

December, 1917. Through Feda.

We are very ready to give any information which we think may prove helpful. I am aware that there are those on earth who consider they have no need of us. But in these difficult times there is a widespread need of that which will elevate life, augment and help a true faith, and prompt men to realise the higher self. When men have no ground for their faith they gradually become slaves to lower influences.

January, 1918. Through Feda.

He has already warned you about the danger of bringing this subject (i.e. the reality of communication) before undesirable people.... His mind has changed about Spiritualism as a whole, but upon the one point he is stronger than before. It has been misused by some; not only by the foolishly curious, but also by those who took it up for bad ends.... It is like playing with a sharp weapon; they cut themselves badly, but, unfortunately, they often hurt others first. Such people give the whole subject a bad reputation. But, used wisely, it is a great power for good, as you yourself have already experienced



Communications or the Importance of the Subject 17

December, 1919. My father controlling.

Certainty about a future life will bring into the Kingdom of God many who are now outside. It was a shock to me when I realised how many had discarded the Christian faith on reaching manhood. Although I had some idea of it before, I only knew it fully after my passing. I then saw that relatively few, in their mature years, held the full certainty and truth of Christianity. But they can be brought back, and, further, we might make it certain that they would never again lose their faith, if facts were offered them at their critical period. I consider that the educational system is wrong; for the brain is developed at the expense of the soul, and superficial knowledge usurps the place of more important things. People need something they will really believe; they are ready for it. Those of you who know are responsible for giving them some proofs of the next life before they pass over. Fifty years back, our eyes were not opened to these truths relating to the next life. I heard something about Spiritualism, but did not think it sufficiently important to make it a study. So many things stare us in the face, to the importance of which we are not awake. I have talked with many here who tell me exactly the same thing.

October, 1923. Through Feda.

Etta says, I should not like to be back again in the body; I should not welcome it for myself, save that you might see and hear me. This is such an interesting life. When on earth I learnt something of it through psychic studies, and you know what joy it brought into my life. It opened up such a wonderful new mental life in me.... Compared with this, my interests on earth seem so small. It will be delightful when you come here.

Father speaks of the prevalence on earth of the dread of dying, of passing into the unknown. But it need not be unknown and we are working to make it known


18 Communications on the Importance of the, Subject

November, 1923. My father controlling.

I wish that the Churches were exercising a greater influence upon the minds of men, so that they might be led to consider and adopt a spiritual aim in their lives. I have no wish that Spiritualism should become a fashionable craze, yet better that than the present widespread indifference to all that concerns the soul and its after-life. I observe an absence of high aim and intelligent anticipation of future destiny in many to-day whose predecessors were, at least, regular attendants at church. If Spiritualism became popular, many might be influenced by the mere force of example, even if not thinking things out for themselves. But better that, rather than remain as they are; better come in like sheep, than stay away from spiritual and uplifting influences. There are different ways of arriving at spiritual knowledge, but the great thing is to arrive. I think that this communication is indeed a real method of acquiring spiritual knowledge, and for some people it is the best method.

January, 1924. My sister Etta controlling.

Father thinks that there are now many ministers who would thankfully welcome this subject of communication if they were only sure that others would not spoil it and do hurt by it. But he remarks, We cannot afford to consider only the people who would do harm with it. That would be like hiding all the knives and forks and everything else that could possibly be used harmfully. There are really very few things which could not be misused if people chose to make wrong use of them.

August, 1925. Etta controlling.

Our passing was not all loss to you, for we can now bring you into touch with higher things than we could have done while still on earth. This communication opens out things so; it did for me. I wonder if you realised how much it meant to me. My knowledge and interest in it came to me at a time when I greatly



Communications on the Importance of the Subject 19

needed it. I had been feeling a need for something more, as if something vital were missing, notwithstanding my happy home life. Then this came to me just at the right time, bringing something more into my life, not only something fresh, but of more vital interest than I had ever known before. All my life afterwards was so full of interest. I notice that it has done the same for you. Also, I see that it has already increased your usefulness and will do so still more. So you can imagine how very happy I am about it.

January, 1926. Father controlling

Spiritualism is important to the world for the help it will give in knowledge of God and in self-mastery. We see the difficulties besetting men, and their need of hope. The hope which Spiritualism gives will do more good than all the intellectual wrangling now in progress. People have strayed into agnosticism or worse, appalled at the imagined lack of interest in the future life. We do not condemn, for we understand their difficulties, but to know the truth would help them.

April, 1926. Through Feda.

Your father says, I am very hopeful about the future. When men understand the nature of life in the Beyond, the aspect of the country to which they must inevitably go sooner or later, they will make up their mind to prepare for it. That is my belief; if a man understands, he will prepare. He has not understood so far. What has he been taught, save that there is another life? He does not know of what sort, nor what it is like, nor what is going on there. All is so vague that his ideas of it are vague, too. We wish to make known what it is really like, and what man has to prepare for. As you know, I was always a great believer in personal responsibility. We need to bring that home to men in a practical and spiritual sense.


20 Communications on the Importance of the Subject

September, 1926. Etta controlling.

I think that the wonder of this communication between the two worlds increases for both of us. While on earth I read of those who said that, after a time, they found they could get no further with the subject. It was their mistake; for it unfolds new wonders continually. I think that the cause of their getting no further was their not marching with it, not permitting it to unfold in their own mind at all. Such persons look at it through a narrow opening only, and then are surprised that their view does not expand.

There is no doubt that when one takes up this knowledge of communication and its benefits, something further is expected of him. He is, in a sense, obliged to think more and to do more. You have found that you cannot keep it to yourself, as some do.

November, 1926. Etta controlling.

I used to think death rather dreadful, but that was before learning about psychical communication. Perhaps it was an idea of being hurt in getting rid of the physical body. There are many here who are convinced that there will not always be this difficulty in death; that a time will come when men gradually prepare for leaving the body, and will then go and later return in a transmuted body. That may be thousands or even millions of years ahead. Before it can come to pass, men's lives and bodies must become much purer. When men can go and return, to be seen by their friends, death will not seem so sudden a break, and others will realise that they can do the same when sufficiently developed spiritually.

When we descend to spheres lower than that on which we dwell, we coarsen our body. "Coarsen" is scarcely a pleasant word, and my meaning is simply that we, to some degree, solidify it. That is accomplished by thought. Jesus did it at will on returning. He did not leave his physical body behind, it was transmuted. Father thinks that this is what will



Communications on the Importance of the Subject 21

happen to all mankind eventually; what Our Lord (lid was a sample of what we might do. In the far future one and another will begin to do it, then many will follow suit. The human body can be made so much better than it is at present. Perhaps that is why the phrase, "Body, soul and spirit," includes the body; for the body is worthy of being prayed about and of the Divine care.

Ours is a wonderful life, Dear. I would not come back now. Look upon death as an opening, and not as a closed door. We used to regard it as an end, even Christians did so. Many think that they will have to sleep, and sleep a very long time. I think those are the happier who can just trust and hold on, whatever comes. If only all could do that it would be all right; but there are always some who cannot do that, they require knowledge. Although a real faith is much higher than knowledge coming through Spiritualism, yet many need the latter.

November, 1927. Father, through Feda.

What a change your knowledge of my presence makes. Your consciousness of our lives, companionship and nearness has made a difference to you. I was as near before, but it did not affect you because you were not conscious of it in the way you now are. And so with the Heavenly Father's love, and His Spirit presence, the more you are conscious of it, the more you can receive and benefit by it.


CHAPTER III

EVIDENTIAL MESSAGES

THE following references to my father are taken from notes of my first sittings with Mrs. Leonard. It will be seen how his identity became more and more definitely established.

My letter of introduction to Mrs. Leonard was given by one who, at that time, had only the slightest acquaintance with me. Neither he nor Mrs. Leonard have been to our house. None of the references to my father were elicited, or assisted, by "fishing" for information; to that process I am most sensitive and never fail to discount anything which might possibly be attributed thereto. It will be seen that many of the statements made concern matters which could not easily, if at all, have been ascertained by inquiry, whether among my acquaintances or from books of reference.

1st sitting. Feb. 3rd, 1917.

Feda said:-

"There is an elderly man with a beard here. The beard is grayish, his hair is thin at the top and rather sticking out at the sides. He has a moustache, the brows are prominent and gray. His face is good in shape. He is fine-looking and he held himself up well."

This is an accurate description of my father in his later years.

"He shows himself as if in a large photograph, the face full and looking thoughtfully. One hand rests upon something, while the other is out a bit away from him. There was something dark at the back of this picture."

22



Evidential Messages 23

We have a photograph corresponding to this description. It represents my father in early life and, as it used to hang in his study, it would have been strongly impressed on his memory. At the date of this sitting it was in my mother's house at Bournemouth. Mrs. Leonard was then living in London, and did not know my mother.

"He had been used to a room with books, it was a study and there are shelves of books. On the table were books and papers. The furniture was solid and dark. This man had met many people and had helped many. He must have been a fine character. The initial 'J' comes with him."

This accurately described my father's study and his character. His first initial was "J."

"His throat was frequently husky, it troubled him, for his voice would go thick sometimes and he would try to clear it."

Here followed an imitation of clearing the throat by a series of small, rapid coughs, and it was at about this point in the description that I realised its relevancy to my father.

"His end was sudden. He had not been very ill. He was surprised, and not too pleased, because there were things he had been accustomed to look after and he wished to attend to them. He was very methodical and liked to see to things for himself. There was a paper referring to some money that was 'put out,' he was rather worried about it; the matter could not be carried through before he passed over, but it was completed afterwards."

These remarks are correct. The money formed part of a Trust which he managed, and at his death a considerable sum had been removed from one investment and was in course of being transferred to another, He was most



24 Evidential Messages

punctilious about such matters and always prided himself upon being minutely accurate and methodical.

"He is a very fine spirit, has much vigour and force. He would talk direct to people and always meant what he said. He would not allow himself to be talked over; he had his own ideas and stuck to them. He would have been very wary of this subject of communication, but now he knows more than he did then and understands it better. Feda feels that it was the throat and not the chest which used to cause the voice trouble. He would continue talking when it was out of order and then had to suffer for it afterwards."

All this is true of my father as I knew him on earth.

Readers who are unfamiliar with the difficulties incident to transmission of messages through psychic channels will ask why my father was introduced in a way so roundabout, and not simply as John D. Thomas. This peculiar difficulty with names is discussed in chapter XXV.

2nd sitting. March 23rd, 1917.

"He left three important papers in a bureau.... He left some paper in a drawer, not a will, but 'Guarantee' is the word which fits and in a way explains it. It looks to Feda to be a paper about so long and so broad (hands indicate 12 inches by 4 inches) and in three or four folds, perhaps. It is a financial paper representing a good sum of money. It was left there and is important."

I omit a striking description of the bureau and the room where it stood for interest centres in the statement about the papers. Three important papers in a bureau "correctly describes securities for the Trust money which he had invested in three directions. The other paper, or "Guarantee," was a Certificate of Shares in an Educational



Evidential Messages 25

Company, which were his personal property. On examining this Certificate I found that it was doubled over once and then folded thrice. Its dimensions as folded were those indicated by Feda.

My father had usually called my mother by her name, Sarah. Remembering this, I asked if he could "give any information which would be proof to Sarah," whom I was seeing shortly. Immediately came a number of descriptions which, it was said, she and I would be able to recognise. There was no hesitation in giving the reply an(' not a trace of angling for clues.

"There was a room with a great deal of wood in it. Put this down especially."

Now, I could think of no room in his house to which this description applied, so I asked if further details could be given:-

"It was the only room in the house with so much wood-work, a sort of panelling on the walls."

I was left as much in the dark as before, but when my mother read this she described to me the front room of a house in which they had resided at Great Yarmouth. This room was oak-panelled from floor to ceiling. My parents had frequently spoken about it to each other at the time, and they never had anything like it in any of the dozen houses they moved to in later years. I was aged four and a half when they left Yarmouth, and my recollection of this wood-panelling was confined to a dim idea of moulding around the cornice.

"Near the bureau, but above it, and easily seen when sitting at it, is the picture of a man, elderly with fine face, a splendid character."

This was the position occupied by a picture of John Wesley, in his later years. My father would certainly


26 Evidential Messages

have described Wesley as "a splendid man." He was one of that great preacher's ardent admirers.

"A big sideboard, old, dark, and long, projecting out from the wall. Underneath are cupboards and drawers, and at the top are cupboards again. In the centre is something raised, making the middle look higher."

An excellent description of a sideboard of quite unusual pattern which my parents had bought seventeen years previously when retiring from the itinerancy and furnishing their own house.

"A table with a shelf upon the top of its back this shelf juts out from the back, as he describes it to Feda."

There is a bookcase bought at the same time as the above sideboard. It is distinctly unusual in design and is accurately described by the above words.

"There is something there that he thought a lot of. It is one of those glasses (here the medium's hand indicated the overmantel of looking-glass in the room where we were sitting). Very fine; perhaps not everybody's taste, but he liked it much."

My mother recognised this as indicating the overmantel in my father's study. From her I learnt that he had bought it at a sale and had re-enamelled it himself, and that he admired it more than did my mother.

"Sarah has a screen with birds upon it."

I had no recollection of such a screen, but on hearing of this test my mother produced two such and remarked that they were used during the last six years of my father's life. They are Japanese work, with birds figured in gold thread.



Evidential Messages 27

There is shown to Feda a pedestal on the ground with a figure upon it. Pedestal about four feet high and white, the figure of good size."

My mother recognised this white pedestal and statue which used to stand in the dining-room at Gosport, where they resided for two years, leaving in 1873. It had been my mother's purchase and was often the subject of my father's humorous criticism.

"There was a model of a horse in dark colour, standing on a shelf."

This answers to the rocking-horse which I played with in 1870-1. It stood upon a substantial wooden platform, and being unusually large, was the most conspicuous object in my play-room.

3rd sitting. April 21st, 1917.

The chief indications of personal identity given in this sitting were the following:-

"He has met 'B' there, one who was connected with us in a certain way, but not in the latter part of his life, nor under recent conditions. It was away from here and in a place where the air was fresher and the surrounding country beautiful. The house was closed for a time."

The initial given is that of the surname of our family solicitor with whom we formerly had business relations extending over many years in the Isle of Wight. He had passed over two months before this sitting, as I was aware from press notices. We had not heard from him for some twenty years. The family residence at Newport, I.O.W., had been given up, and remained closed for a period before being let to strangers. "Away from here" is correct as this sitting was held in London.
.


28 Evidential Messages

"This 'B' went to a building of grey stone, he went there regularly." The description then proceeded to indicate a little mannerism habitual to 'B,' and which I instantly recognised.

The building of grey stone to which "B" went regularly fits the church of which he was one of the oldest members and a prominent supporter. All these references pertained to matters which would be very familiar to my father, as they also were to me.

"This 'B' was ailing for a long time, but passed suddenly the trouble was connected with his heart."

On this point I was without information, but on writing to his family discovered that it was true.

At one period of this sitting the medium gave a number of little coughs and Feda remarked that the communicator used to do that. This was a repetition of the coughing and throat-clearing in the first Leonard sitting. She then remarked that he smiled at this imitation. I inquired whether he still continued to cough. She replied, "'No,' he says, 'I am now hale and hearty, looking a young man in the prime of life. Were you to see me as I really am, it is possible you might not recognise me. My appearance is more like the early photograph which shows me without a beard, but with rather prominent whiskers. Have you that photograph?'"

I recognised this description. The photograph, which had been mentioned in the first sitting, was then in my mother's house at Bournemouth. Mrs. Leonard had not been in that house and did not at this time know my mother.

At another part of the sitting, and following references to friends of my wife, Feda several times repeated in an inquiring whisper, "The twenty-seventh? The



Evidential Messages 29

twenty-seventh?" And then, speaking to me, proceeded, "It is not to do with them, but he is reminded of an anniversary which falls on a 27th. Ask your mother about it."

I replied that my mother would certainly be a most suitable person to ask, as her birthday falls upon a 27th. Feda then remarked, "He is laughing and seems pleased."

At five previous sittings with Mr. Vout Peters my father had established his identity by many correct references to his earth life, including a statement that he had invested money in mines. Peters said, "He laughs about the mine, your mother was against it." This remark was made four days before the present sitting with Mrs. Leonard in which Feda suddenly said:-

"He is sure that something better could have been done with those mines. They were not carried on in the same way as when started. Everything got at sixes and sevens. All would have been right if only managed rightly. He says, 'I am as convinced of it now as I was then.'"

This is precisely the manner in which my father habitually alluded to two investments in mines which he had made against advice.

4th sitting. May 12th, 1917.

A few days before this date I had been speaking at Luton. Much of this sitting was occupied in giving proofs that my father had been present there observing my movements and surroundings. There were also a few allusions bearing upon his identity, and these are given below.

Feda said that my father had recently been with me at a place which he formerly knew, but that it was greatly changed since those days.


30 Evidential Messages

My father had twice visited Luton. The first time was in 1871 when we stayed with my uncle, the Rev. Nicholas Kelynack, who was then stationed there. In the year 1900 my father was living with me at the neighbouring village of Toddington, and we occasionally went to Luton. Luton's population has doubled since those early days so it was correct to say that it had greatly changed.

"Someone else has come here to-day with your father and they have been discussing the changes; this second person used to have a public position there and knew many of the people. He was useful in different movements started there, to which he lent his name and support; he was in a representative position."

This seemed so accurately to fit the Rev. N. Kelynack (he died in 1910), that I assumed he was the person intended, and remarked to Feda, "This person was related to my father." She at once replied:-

"'Connected' rather than related, they say. Connected by marriage and not related by blood."

This was true; he and my father had married two sisters.

"Was there a family 'H' in that town? He says he knows, he gives Feda the name Hunt. Also another of three letters, 'L' is the first, not quite Lee, sounds like U."

The name of three letters sounding like Li is correct. Mr. Lye was well known to us when we were residing at Toddington, and Mr. Hunt had been prominent in Luton during the period of my uncle's work there. Both gentlemen were closely connected with our Church and known to my father.

There is frequently a difficulty in transmitting names through Feda. It will be alluded to in a later chapter.



Evidential Messages 31

To save time and facilitate her task she usually gives only the initial letter.

"There is a place to which he saw you go for a meal. He used to like visiting that place 'D.'"

The "D" would stand for Dunstable which is a few miles from Luton, and to which place I went and dined with old friends. My father frequently walked into Dunstable when living with me at Toddington and certainly enjoyed doing so, as it was the chief place in the Circuit and the centre for important meetings. Added to the above reference to the town "D" was a minutely accurate description of the room in which I had dined with my friends, as well as several identifying descriptions of the town, such as could be given only by one who had been personally familiar with it.

It is important to add that throughout this sitting I gave no clue to the names of Luton or Dunstable, and that Mrs. Leonard was most unlikely to have heard of my visit there. Even had she known, it can scarcely be supposed that information relating to my uncle's connection with the place, or the room in which I dined at Dunstable, and other details so accurately stated during this sitting, could have come before her notice normally. As given, it sounded exactly like reminiscences from the distant past, combined with personal observation of my movements a few days previously.

5th sitting. June 14th, 1917.

In the early portion of this sitting several references were made to my mother, all of which related to the days when my father first knew her, and the early years of their married life. Among these were two about which I was uncertain. One was a detailed description of a walk by a river, the other referred to a red rose. My mother agreed with me that the river walk suggested either Newport or Taunton. Her one outstanding memory connected with a


32 Evidential Messages

red rose was that she had worn such a flower in her hair on the occasion of Garibaldi's visit to Newport a few weeks before her marriage.

It was in the September following this sitting that I had my first table-sitting with Mrs. Leonard, and noticed that by this means of communication there was less difficulty in obtaining names. I therefore took occasion to put questions as follows:-

QUESTION. I wish to ask father about tests which he gave for mother. One was something about a red rose which he thought would be remembered. Had this anything to do with the visit of a noted personage to the place where she lived?

REPLY. The table immediately, by tilts while the alphabet was spelled, gave the name GARIBALDI.

QUESTION. The other described a walk by some river where you and mother went in the early days. Where was it?

REPLY. Again the table tilted to the alphabet, giving the word NEWPORT.

To go back to my account of the trance sitting: I asked if my father could recollect how mother used to wear her hair. At this Feda (for so I must term the medium while under control), appeared to listen intently for a few seconds, and then twirled the medium's first two fingers round each other exactly as I remember seeing my mother act when doing her curls. Then after this dumb-show came the words, "Corkscrews, ringlets, not just one but several and down the shoulders. The hair was drawn sideways from the forehead and then went into ringlets." This is as accurate a description as could have been expected from my father who was not proficient in feminine terminology. My mother would have said that in those days she wore her hair parted in the centre and with long curls. At the date of this sitting Mrs. Leonard had not met my mother.

There were two further references bearing upon personal identity:-



Evidential Messages 33

There is a Mr. Jones whom he has met there." Five items were given which served to distinguish this Jones from others of that name. We had no hesitation in identifying this description of a brother-minister with whom my father had been closely connected in a particularly difficult period of his work.

I then mentioned the fact of my working in London at a Mission which had been founded by the old boys of the Leys School, Cambridge, and was surprised to hear the following remark: "There was someone 'R' who took great interest in that school, also 'P'." Now the school was founded while I was a child, and I knew only two names among those who had worked for its establishment, and neither name commenced with either "R" or "P. After making futile inquiries among those who might have been expected to recollect, I finally procured a copy of the Leys Directory. Its pages recorded that two ministers had been closely connected with the school's inauguration, viz. Morley Punshon and Dr. Rigg. Both took prominent part in the opening services and the first Speech Days. My father always took special interest in such matters, and his recollection of the part taken by these two in the school affairs is very natural, for he had greatly admired them both.

6th sitting. July 12th, 1917.

My mother accompanied me on this occasion and was introduced to Mrs. Leonard without being named. Feda's first remark was that my communicator was present. She continued:-

"He has gone over to that lady, he is patting her on the shoulder; he is sitting by her and looking pleased. He is putting his arm over her shoulder. I wonder why? It is a strange thing for him to do. He says, 'Not at all; his conduct is quite in order.' He seems quite pleased. He won't come away from that lady. He touches her hair at the back. She used


34 Evidential Messages

to do her hair quite differently many years ago (here was repeated the finger pantomime of curling the hair, as at a previous sitting). Twisty, curly things, several of them, not just one or two."

My mother's hair was up and no curls showing on this day.

Feda proceeded:-

"There was a photograph taken of her with the curls. Her hair was smoother upon the top; not curly there, but banded. Feda thinks that gentlemen do not know how to describe ladies' hair properly."

We have, not one, but many photographs showing my mother with curls in her earlier years, and one of these answers to the term "banded"; for it shows a thick band of braided hair passing over the head. I refrain from further attempt to describe, lest I give Feda additional justification for her criticism.

"Does she laugh about the mines still, and persist in thinking they were no good? Everyone said there was nothing in it. He asserts that they were badly organised, that the wrong set of people were in control and that this was the cause of the failure. He does not worry about it now, but it made a great impression on his mind at the time."

All this was appropriate, for my mother had been strongly opposed to these investments.

"Someone proposed that he should not grow a beard; nevertheless, he took to one."

This was a second playful reference to my mother, as she had been averse to his growing a beard. It now occurred to me to inquire at what place he resided when commencing to grow the beard; I did not myself remember, but was certain that my mother would be able to tell me



Evidential Messages 35

afterwards. The name could not be given beyond the initial letter "R." I learnt afterwards that the place was one which we alluded to as Rasen, the Lincolnshire town of Market Rasen. However, the failure to give the full name was atoned for by a convincing description of the place and of his church there.

This concludes the selection, from my first six sittings, of references bearing upon the identity of the communicator. Many more were given subsequently, to some of which allusion will be made in later chapters. The above will afford readers an opportunity of judging how far I was justified at this early date in assuming that my father was originating the messages which Feda transmitted to me through the medium's lips.


CHAPTER IV

THE EVIDENCE CANNOT BE EXPLAINED AWAY BY TELEPATHY

IT was in 1882 that F. W. H. Myers suggested the term telepathy (feeling at a distance) to designate the transference of thought from one mind to another. He and Sir William (then Professor) Barrett found evidence that in certain circumstances the ideas or feelings of "A" were caught by "B," quite apart from any known means of communication. The Society for Psychical Research, founded in the above year, published a careful examination of telepathy. But despite the strength of the evidence telepathy was rejected and even derided by the scientific orthodoxy of that day. People in general followed the scientists in refusing to believe that thought could pass from mind to mind apart from the usual channels of sense.

Eventually a change came. It was seen that telepathy explained the results of certain experiments, and that it might possibly account for many curious happenings which had hitherto been regarded as mysterious.

Telepathy is still denied by some. But the work of the Society for Psychical Research has established the fact that there is occasionally a communication between mind and mind for which we cannot account, and which seems to be direct thought-transmission. Maybe it happens but rarely, and the method of its operation remains obscure.

However, like other things which are not fully understood, telepathy is credited with accomplishing far more than it really does. Just as novices will watch a clever conjuring performance and remark that the baffling results are due to hidden springs and wires, so is it supposed that all our asserted communications with people who have died are nothing more than instances of telepathy between minds on earth.

36



The Evidence cannot be explained away by Telepathy 37

It is suggested that our own thoughts, and those of other people, are being unconsciously broadcast, and that the sensitive brain of a trance medium "picks up" these impressions, giving them out as veritable communications from the dead.

Some who have read the preceding chapter may think that this hypothesis offers a sufficient explanation without supposing any intervention from another realm of existence. I am not of this opinion. Years of minute inspection, with ample opportunity for study, testing and experiment, has convinced me of the contrary. I will touch on two lines of evidence:-

1. The newspaper-test experiments so fully elaborated in the second portion of my book, Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death, prove that my communicators can give information which is unknown to any minds on earth. Memories of personal and other matters are there interwoven with names and sentences which are not in print until some hours after the test messages are given. This selection and interweaving is completely beyond any results attributable to telepathy.

2. Shortly after the sittings recorded in the previous chapter, I commenced a series of experiments. These experiments were altered and made increasingly rigorous until I was completely satisfied that my communicator was able to obtain information about objects which had been placed within envelopes, and the latter so mingled that I had no idea what any particular one contained until the test was given and they were opened and examined.

A mere description of the contents of a sealed packet, or locked box, might be achieved by some form of clairvoyance on the part of a gifted medium. This has been repeatedly accomplished when mediums have been permitted to touch such packets. But in my experiments the envelopes and boxes were always twenty miles distant from


38 The Evidence cannot be explained away by Telepathy

the medium, and yet details of their contents were given by my communicator and proved to be correct.

In the experiment about to be described, it should be noted that the essence of the test was that the communicator, claiming to be my father, should state his message in terms personal to himself.

From my collection of cabinet photographs I took six and placed them side by side in an iron box. My precautions included closed eyes and a perfectly dark room, so that I might not see the pictures. Lest touch should convey information to my subconscious mind, I had attached spring clips to each picture; holding them by their clips I was able to avoid touching the actual photographs while mixing and placing them within the box. I thus avoided any knowledge, conscious or subconscious, of the order in which they stood. The box was then locked and placed on a shelf in my study; the key was put in my pocket; both box and key remained where placed until the experiment was concluded.

At the next sitting my father told me, through Feda, that his own photograph stood first on the left.

On opening the box that evening I found that my father's portrait was the first on the left. Further, his descriptions proved unmistakably that he had obtained detailed knowledge of four of these pictures, yet, as they were known to me, this can be disregarded for our present purpose. But one outstanding item of special significance was given in his opening remark, Feda said:-

"He will take them from left to right. One of himself is there. He laughs; he felt it."

Now, I had not said that his photograph would be included, yet he not only asserted its presence, but also its correct position in the box.

On completing his description of the content of this box, he added, through Feda:-

"Next time he will try to give the order in which they all stand. He does not know if he can do it,



Evidence cannot be explained away by Telepathy 39

one has to try these things. People may ask, why do they try book-tests and such like in which they sometimes fail? We have to attempt, or we could accomplish nothing. You were not sure when first you ventured out in the car, whether you could get back again. One must learn, and that means some degree of venturing."

The experiment was therefore repeated, the procedure being the same as before. On this occasion it was asserted that his portrait was placed third from the left. Subsequent examination proved this to be correct, as also were other details relating to the order and contents of the pictures.

Now, among the six photographs chosen for the experiment, three were of men; one of these looking slightly younger, the other slightly older, than my father. Mrs. Leonard had seen neither my father nor his portrait, nor had she visited our house. I have no reason to suppose that, at this early period of our acquaintance, she was even aware that my father had been a minister. But what do we find? My communicator, who asserts that he is my father, unerringly designates the exact position of the photograph representing my father. No one but myself was aware that this portrait was being used for the experiments, while neither I, nor anyone else on earth, knew the position which his portrait occupied, relatively to the others, within the locked box. This case, therefore, presents no loophole for thought-transmission. Yet, under these circumstances, my father's portrait was recognised and its position among the others accurately stated.

This surpasses any result of telepathy as known to us whether in experiments or in spontaneous happenings. It demonstrates an entire independence of thought-transference, whether from my own mind, or from the minds of others living on earth. It is, in my opinion, a sufficient answer to the suggestion that the numerous and accurate references to my father's earth memories, instanced in previous pages, originated in telepathy between incarnate minds.


CHAPTER V

IDENTITY SHOWN IN REPLIES TO TEST QUESTIONS

THREE questions, which would be meaningless to strangers, are answered by my communicators in the manner I would expect from my father and sister.

In the autumn of 1920 I decided to give my father and sister an opportunity of showing how appropriate an answer they could give to questions relating to a town of the north in which we had lived for three years when I was a boy. It was essential to this experiment that I should so phrase the questions as to give no clue or information. I therefore asked them to tell me what was suggested to their minds by the words I was about to say, and proceeded to name the title by which we had habitually alluded to a popular social function in my father's church in that northern town. I coupled with it the name of a friend who used to add to the gaiety of those occasions. I also asked for facts relating to the colleague who had occupied the house adjoining ours, and about "The little hurt bird." This was a name we used for my sister's little playmate there.

The replies, given partly through Feda, and partly through direct personal control, left no doubt as to each question being fully understood. Twenty-three statements were made, and these included descriptions, initials, and names of persons connected with the town in question, all correct, and entirely appropriate in their setting. Nothing was said which was contrary to my recollection of the facts, although there were seven further statements which, at this lapse of time, I have no means of verifying. These may or may not be correct. They, were matters likely to have been within my father's or my sister's

40


Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions 41

recollection, although not in mine. Their reply comprised-

3 Surnames. 10 Initials. 10 Facts or descriptions, 7 Unverified items.

It is important to note that no name or clue, other than the above three questions, had been given, and that, from first to last, I did not mention the town to which my questions referred.

Immediately after my father had replied to the first question Etta took control and gave a correct name, and two initials, all three being perfectly relevant. She then added the following description of a walk, well remembered by me on account of its being a trespass, and therefore always undertaken with a feeling of apprehensive delight. I give her exact words, to show that they pass beyond vague description.

"Do you remember being near a railway embankment? There was a bridge further along. Do you remember walking along a short cut which one could go from another road? I cannot quite recall how we managed it, but there was a short cut near the embankment. You could go down a short cut by the railway from the road a little way from where we lived, and so get into another road without going all the way round."

In the accompanying sketch all the above features are shown. In the foreground is the house in which we then lived. Between it and the railway line is the embankment, at the end of which a railway bridge crosses the road to the left. The walk described is indicated by broken lines. We started from a gap in our garden fence, and crossing private property, where there was no right of way, climbed up an embankment and reached the railway station. From the station we then crossed the line and passed the station-yard, after which we trespassed over fields until reaching a high road which was our objective, it being one


Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions 43

of our favourite walks. We thus saved a somewhat long detour. My sister was very young at this time and particularly nervous about trespassing. She would frequently ask if we were likely to be prosecuted. Hence this walk is the more likely to have been impressed on her memory.

In his reply to my question about the colleague in the next house, my father gave, through Feda, several descriptions which correctly outlined certain marked characteristics. He then spoke of another who was there connected with their work, giving initials which were those of a third colleague living in the same town. First, he gave the letter B, which was the initial of this colleague's surname, then he added H. I remembered that Henry was this colleague's Christian name, and so, repeating the initials in the order given, viz., B. H., said that I recognised the name intended. Instantly came the correction, "Not in the right order, put them the other way, H. B." This was done so promptly and emphatically as to be most marked, and it was only after this correction that I noticed my having unintentionally repeated the initials in the order given by Feda, that is to say, B. H. instead of H. B.

This question elicited several remarks, all of which were correct, and there was no hesitation, no fishing for clues, and nothing in the least irrelevant.

During a sitting shortly after the above, they reverted to these questions, my father remarking that, "there was a Mr. Ward and a Mr. B-- in the same town at the same time, the Mr. B-- being an important person there." This was entirely appropriate. Mr. Ward had been my music master and occasionally acted as deputy organist in my father's church, while Mr. Bird (not to be confused with the above H. B.) was one of our chief church officials.

I had been careful to give no clue to the meaning of little hurt bird." But Etta had shown in the previous sitting that she understood its reference to her child friend and she now used an ingenious method of indicating the actual name. She said that she had noticed in my study something which would be, "a good reminder of this


44 Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions

person. Look on the shelf behind your study door, the second from the top, and towards the right-hand side, and you will find a distinct allusion to her on the outside of a book." The pronoun showed knowledge of the sex, whereas the nickname gave no clue to this. From previous experience of the way in which they had practised utilising book titles, I gathered that some relevant name would be suggested, either by a title, or buried in it after the manner of the "buried rivers" game.

I was, however, curious as to how the name required, which was Eva, could be indicated by any titles known to me. I had never noticed anything of the kind among my books. But on examining the shelf indicated, I discovered that the sixth title, counting from the right-hand side, was, Man the Primeval Savage. The name Eva is "buried" in the word PRIMEVAL.

In order to discover whether this finding might be attributed to chance, I inspected hundreds of other titles, but no other provided the required name. Of all the books in my study there was but this one which would have served the purpose, and its position had been indicated by Etta.

The replies to my three experimental questions contained a number of perfectly apposite remarks. These pass far beyond the range of chance coincidence. No single one of all the thirty items given was inappropriate, although seven of them related to details which were outside my recollection. The facts stated, and found to be true, number twenty-three. Broadly speaking, they were not the memories which I should myself have selected as reply to these particular questions. They have all the appearance of independent memories culled from minds acquainted with our life and surroundings at a date when I was twelve to fifteen years of age, my sister Etta being seven years younger.

Etta recalled many matters which correctly related to Eva, and these were given as being her associations with the phrase, "Little hurt bird." To my sister and myself these two names would be synonymous. But they would not have this association for any now living on earth, save



Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions 45

my mother (who was not present at these sittings) and myself.

My father gave suitable replies when asked about his old colleague whom I indicated in a manner which would be meaningless to anyone who had not been intimate with Wesleyan circles in that one particular town. I cannot accept the suggestion that this information was derived from my own mind, conscious or subconscious; for it entirely omits things which had especially interested me, and dwells for the greater part on matters which were of interest to my father and sister. No doubt, the replies would have been more striking had names been given rather than initials; yet these letters were not random guesses, but were given in correct association with the places and people to which they had reference.

The difficulty in transmitting names is dealt with in a special chapter of this book. It may suffice to say here that inability to get a name pronounced by the medium's lips does not necessarily imply forgetfulness on the part of the communicator, although that may occasionally be the cause. It is said by the communicators themselves, and reasserted by Feda, that the difficulty lies in transmitting to her an arbitrary sound in which she is not assisted by the context-a sound, moreover, which cannot be replaced by any substitute except an initial letter.

I have used the word "sound," because we think of a name in that way; but it should not be supposed that Feda hears vibrations in the air when communicators transmit their thoughts to her. Rather is their thought received in a way which, to her, seems like spoken words. When thought-transmission is at its best and strongest .Feda speaks of "hearing"; when it weakens she can no longer hear, but "senses" or feels the meaning. In the latter case names are particularly difficult to transmit to her.

After all, the important part of a message is that which conveys the intention of the sender, and in the above replies to my experimental questions I find evidence that my father and Etta are able to give information on matters had been familiar to them in earth life; information,


46 Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions

moreover, which cannot reasonably be attributed to any other source, since the particular questions I asked would have suggested nothing relevant to strangers.

Four months later again referring to the same place, my father named two ministers, Kendal and Hardy. The former had a church there during the time of our residence, but the latter was associated in our minds with the place only on account of my father having endeavoured to arrange that Hardy should succeed him there on our removal in 1882. As some half-dozen details were correctly given about each of these men, in addition to their surnames, it was obvious that my communicator recollected facts which dated thirty-eight years before this sitting.

Three years after the foregoing, and during a sitting to which my mother had accompanied me, she inquired through Feda whether my father and sister had met Mrs. Palmer. This Mrs. Palmer was widow of the colleague already mentioned, and we had recently seen a notice of her death.

The reply was as follows:-

"It is curious that you should ask that, because Etta says she had intended to mention that lady to-day. Her husband has waited for her a long time. The letter E is connected with her."

The husband had died nineteen years previously, and the widow's name was Eliza. But the evidence became better still, for in further conversation about Mrs. Palmer, Etta volunteered the name of her daughter Florence, an old friend. She then said that among the people they had met in their new life was "old John Palmer" whom we might remember, although "not connected with the other Palmers." I had no difficulty in recalling this person, for, on the occasion of my first meeting him, somewhen in my early ministry, he mentioned that he had been present at my parents' wedding. He had never been named or even indirectly alluded to in these sittings, nor had I thought of him for many years. The similarity of



Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions 47

surname had no doubt recalled him to Etta's mind when my mother asked the question about Mrs. Palmer.

SYMMONDS versus SIMMONS

Confusion between the above similar-sounding names accidentally affords proof of my father's identity. For, while I ask about the former, he speaks about the latter, giving information quite unknown to me, but which had been familiar knowledge to my father before my birth.

In December, 1923, while my father was communicating, I asked him, by way of an experiment, to think over and let me know at a subsequent sitting "the associations in his memory with the name Symmonds whom mother used to know." He agreed to do this.

The person to whom I thus alluded was a Mr. Symmonds of Wimborne, a very old friend of our family. While visiting Mr. and Mrs. Symmonds my mother first met my father; it was this fact that prompted me to say "Symmonds whom mother used to know." In asking this question I was thinking of Mr. Symmonds of Wimborne and of no other person; indeed, it did not occur to me that there was anyone else known to my father whom he could possibly confuse with this friend. Needless to add, I merely pronounced this name and did not spell it. Had I spelled it the result might have been different. As it happened, events proved that my father mistook the question and thought of another person with whom he and my mother had been on dose terms of friendship, one whose name was spelled differently but easily mistaken in sound for Symmonds.

At a later sitting Feda, speaking for my father, introduced the subject. She said:-

"He asks if you have quite lately heard of a death which has reminded you of Simmons? You may not have heard yet. This death has not to do with


48 Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions

Simmons, but he thought you would have read of it. It is another name beginning with S. It takes your father back to a time long ago and to a place connected with Simmons."

In taking notes at this sitting I spelled the name Symmonds, supposing that the Wimborne friend was being spoken of. But as Feda proceeded I realised that what was being said seemed to have no connection with that person. While studying the reply on my return home I began to ask myself whether my question might have been misunderstood, and whether the descriptions given were intended to apply to someone else? Only then did I remember that my parents had spoken of a similar name in connection with their residence at Taunton, the place of my birth.

On asking my mother about this I learnt that a Rev. Samuel Simmons had been Governor of the Taunton Wesleyan College when my father went to live in that town, and they had been colleagues. Moreover, my mother recognised that some of the descriptions given through Feda would apply to this Mr. Simmons. I therefore wrote to his surviving daughter, enclosing a copy of my notes and asking her opinion about them. Her reply commenced as follows:-

"I was really startled at the first question, as to hearing of a death reminding one of the name Simmons; because only a week or fortnight previously I had read in The Times of the death of Mrs. Savery at Taunton. She was a Miss Carrie Sibly in your father's time there, and her father and mine worked together in those days at the college, Mr. Sibly being head master and my father the governor."

This established the correctness of my father's first remark in replying to my question. There had occurred recently-a fact unknown to me-the death of one whose surname had the initial "S." This name, moreover, connected with the Simmons of long ago; for, when my



Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions 49

father went to Taunton, Mr. Sibly was headmaster and Mr. Simmons the governor of the college there. Thus it is certain that Sibly, Simmons, and Taunton would all have been connected in my father's mind with that distant date.

We find here a clear indication, supported by more to be considered immediately, that my thought of Mr. Symmonds of Wimborne had no influence whatever upon the reply elicited by my question. On the contrary, my father had followed his own line of memory and had given particulars about a person and place which were not in my mind.

Feda next described some work in which my father and Mr. Simmons had been mutually interested. This may be right or wrong; there is no way of deciding it after this lapse of time; it is likely to have been correct.

Feda next said that she was being shown the picture of a place, and this she described in a somewhat disjointed manner. When subsequently I visited Taunton it became apparent that part of the town near our church agreed in many features with this description.

She then continued:-

"Walker was connected with this place; he was one whom your father knew well. Ferren or Farren-though that is not quite right-also Fr--, a man who was connected with it. There was a place W-- near, rather a long name, which your father had much to do with."

In commenting upon the above sentences, Mr. Simmons's daughter wrote:-

"The name Walker recalled to me at once a college master who, I believe, was in the school at the time of my father's death; he was known by the boys as Sammy Walker. The name French, too, was that of an important family, and Mr. Henry French was a master at the college."

In the Taunton Wesleyan Circuit were two places of


50 Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions

which the names commence with "W," viz., Wellington and Wiviliscombe. Part of my father's duty was to take services at both. A lady who had lived at Wellington while my father was at Taunton tells me that in those days an important family of Wesleyans named Farrant resided at Wiviliscombe.

So here we find the name Walker given correctly and verified; the name Farrant obviously attempted in "Ferren or Farran"; while the abortive effort "Fr--" indicated the family called French. Of these three names the only one known to me was French.*

Two further items conclude this reply to my question:-

"We had a disappointment when at this place, although 'disappointment' is not quite the right word; a person's leaving was an important loss, it was a passing over."

On inquiry I learnt that the Rev. Samuel Simmons, Governor of the College, died during my father's residence at Taunton. My parents had been on terms of intimate friendship with the Simmons family.

The phrasing of the above sentence, in its vague commencement, and gradual approach to exact statement well illustrates Feda's method of obtaining from the communicator, first a general idea, then successive approximations, and finally the thought which it is desired to express.

"He feels a curious connection again between this place and you. You are going to have news."

As I was listening with Wimborne in my thought, it is certain that I could have had no clue to the meaning of this remark. But three days afterwards I received a letter from Taunton, written by one who recalled my father's residence there.
---
* It may be interesting to note that on another occasion Feda again failed to transmit this name French, although there was then little doubt that' Fr--" was an attempt to transmit the sound French. (See Chap. XXXI).



Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions 51

The chief interest of the above experiment turns upon the fact that the two names, Symmonds and Simmons, although different in spelling, are sufficiently similar in sound to make confusion likely. When asking for associations with a Symmonds whom my mother used to know, I was thinking only of the friend at Wimborne, and it did not occur to me that this name could be confused with any other. But my communicator went on to give references which connect with quite a different person, one with whom my father had been on terms of intimacy some fifty years earlier. The items mentioned include several which had never been within my knowledge. As received by me at the sitting they seemed wholly inaccurate. I could not connect them, even remotely, with the person about whom I had asked. This experience is valuable, therefore, as it affords no support whatever for the suggestion that the medium was tapping my subconscious mind.


CHAPTER VI

THE HYPOTHESIS OF IMPERSONATION

"HAVE we any guarantee that the communications which seem to come from our friends beyond death are not concocted by impersonating spirits, or by the devil himself?" This question is asked by some who think that certain isolated texts of Scripture warrant their fear. Others go further and change the question into an assertion. This may be termed The Devil Impersonation hypothesis.

Before adducing specific reasons for its invalidity, there are two considerations which these objectors will be well advised to ponder.

Firstly, it must be emphatically stated that, if appearances of the dead and messages from them are, in these days, the result of impersonation, it is open to anyone to assert that such appearances and messages as are recorded in the New Testament were likewise impersonations and deceptions. But this is a reductio ad absurdum. No evil personality would have wrought deception for such ends as were achieved by the founding of the Christian Church. Our Lord's own test can be here applied, "By their fruits ye shall know them." More than once He had to deal with minds similarly hesitant as to the good or evil origin of what they heard. He directed their attention to the results. "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." The appearances and messages recorded in the Gospels were instrumental in founding a religious movement which has endured through the centuries with ever widening blessing. The fruit has been good. Who dare suggest that it sprang from an impersonation?

Secondly, it should be realised that present-day messages from those whom we identify with our risen friends have led to good. Multitudes confess that they have been turned

52



The Hypothesis of Impersonation 53

thereby from doubt to belief, from agnosticism to faith: in short, the religious instinct has been enriched and intensified and in no wise lessened. The fruit has been good. No one who is aware of the uplifting influence which many have proved in their lives will suggest that this is the work of deceiving spirits who desire to neutralise the influence of Jesus Christ, or to degrade man's thought and life. If evil powers were the source of these communications they would be doing the work of God's ministering spirits and undermining the hold of evil on mankind.

The impersonation hypothesis is founded on an unworthy conception of the world unseen. It pictures evil spirits permitted to impersonate one's risen friends, while these are unable to intervene. Such an idea can only arise from the assumption that the frequent, if temporary, triumph of evil over good, of falsehood over truth, so often observed on earth must still prevail, even in higher realms. But have we any reason for supposing that evil is more triumphant there than it is here? Even in this life truth comes into its own; falsehood is self-betrayed, the will towards good is supplemented by unseen powers and slowly wins its widening way.

To believe that our messages are the work of deceiving spirits is to suppose that the evil beings are more powerful than the good. It assumes that evil intelligences, bent upon the misleading and degradation of humanity, have embarked upon a systematic venture which, in complete variance from their intention, is leading men to a more spiritual conception of life, to keener and more determined aspiration after righteousness, and to a more reasoned trust in Jesus Christ.

For such nightmare fancies there is no foundation in observed fact. Those who speak with us from across the borderland of life are just the same lovable, faithful friends whom we knew before death took them from our sight. They display the same solicitude for our welfare, moral and spiritual, as they did when here. They give numerous and convincing proofs of their identity, both in the definite tests which they volunteer, eager to convince us that they live, as well as in those which we demand of


54 The Hypothesis of Impersonation

them in order to establish this truth. There are the subtle touches of character and the mannerisms which friendship unfailingly recognises. They show the same love and reverence for whatever is good and honourable; and I bear witness to the fact that my friends retain the same reverence, love and devotion for God and for Jesus which marked their lives when I knew them here on earth.

Throughout eleven years of frequent converse with those beyond the veil I have found nothing to suggest that they are other than they claim to be; nor have I ever observed the slightest indication that those speaking to me are animated by anything save the sincerest desire for my betterment. If, throughout these years, I have been speaking with those who wish to amuse themselves by deceiving me, or to do me hurt by impersonating my loved ones, then the only possible conclusion would be that they are taking considerable pains for no intelligent end. Such amusement must have palled on them long ago. The dullest of them must have perceived before this that instead of doing me harm they are helping me to rise beyond possibility of being hurt, either mentally or spiritually, since they have led me nearer God. In short, the devil of this hypothesis would be neither evil nor clever, but sufficiently inane to be undertaking an immense amount of pains to defeat his own ends by raising me towards a plane of thought and aspiration in which evil has no place.

Let us now regard the situation from another point of view. Supposing Jesus did come back and speak to His friends on earth; supposing Peter, Paul and others were truly favoured with communications from heavenly helpers; supposing my own friends are enabled to speak with me by psychic means, so that I receive the purport of what they wish to say; then all that I have met with during these years of experimental study is intelligible. Indeed, it is exactly what one would have expected, provided one had realised something of the difficulties of transmitting thought through imperfect channels. The occasional confusion in the messages, together with the inability to get certain names and words correctly reproduced, are precisely what must result from the limitations of the method



The Hypothesis of Impersonation 55

used. Like the blurrings of celestial objects in the earlier and imperfect telescopes, which were easily resolved into clear definition by the employment of better instruments, so do we find that confusions arising with poorly developed mediums are made clear when the communicator speaks to us through a more gifted and practised human instrument.

I doubt if any impartial seeker after truth could retain the devil hypothesis after studying the modus operandi of trance messages with a medium of fine power and high mind. By such study one learns experimentally some of the difficulties under which our friends work while communicating, and how greatly they are limited in expressing themselves by the mental resources of the medium employed. One discovers the causes of confusions and mistakes, and how to apportion these between communicator, medium and control. But such study does not explain to any logical mind why, on the devil hypothesis, these particular classes of mistake and limitation should be present. For the mistakes and confusions are not such as would happen were the speaker reading our thoughts at the moment. For example, I am frequently aware of the name which would clinch the message, or of some fact which has been misstated. But my clear thought upon these points does not help the speaker; it is rather the rule that the less one thinks of what ought to be said, the more likely is it to be correctly given. Again, I am frequently aware of items which, if stated, would greatly add to the completeness and convincing character of the evidence which is being given; but the speaker does not avail himself of my recollections; he gives his own ideas of the matter and not mine.

Just as I am always careful to consider how much of the information given might have been obtained by the medium through normal channels, so also do I ask myself how much of it existed in my own mind, whether conscious or subliminal. My interest would not have been sustained through years of study had I found that the medium was weaving messages from material obtainable from outside sources, or that the communicator's conversation was composed of my own memories. I have found that the medium freely transmits what could not have been discovered


56 The Hypothesis of Impersonation

normally, and that my communicators consistently give their own ideas and draw upon their own memories. They also reveal those characteristics with which I was familiar as pertaining to my friends during their earthly life, and each remains true to himself; their respective individualities never blend. All happens as if I were conversing with those whose names the speakers claim; and, so far as I can see, the happenings are quite unlike attempts at impersonation. I speak, of course, of my experiences with capable mediums. The confused messages in elementary experiments with automatic writing, planchette, ouija, or glass-and-letter methods of communication, are frequently baffling and open to doubt. These are best studied by giving the communicators an opportunity of clearing them up while speaking through more satisfactory channels.

If our messages originate with deceased friends then the latter do remarkably well, considering the difficulties under which they have to work, difficulties which must continue while our ability to provide them with adequate channels of communication remains so limited.

In discussing the devil impersonation hypothesis one cannot forget that Our Lord's critics raised the same cry of "Devil." Unable to disabuse their minds of fear, even in presence of His blameless personality and beneficent activities, they attributed his works to diabolic co-operation. "Thou hast a devil," was their reply to his teaching. A similar trend of mind now regards with suspicion communications which do not conform with conventional ideas about our relation with the world unseen.

My father speaks of Our Lord Jesus in terms which would satisfy orthodoxy. He and my sister, as well as others who have conclusively proved their identity, describe occasions on which they have seen Our Lord and have heard Him speak. Is this the action of a subtle enemy who desires my undoing? It is not what one would expect from diabolic agencies. On the other hand, it is exactly what I should expect from those who claim to be giving these teachings. Why should I doubt their bona fides? I have never found the slightest cause for so doing in all the years of my intercourse with them.



The Hypothesis of Impersonation 57

The devil hypothesis has no basis in observed fact conscientiously interpreted, nor is it held by those who have first-hand experience of these studies. I recall with amusement the solemn pronouncement made by a minister of religion who told me that he was sure that all these communications were the work of the evil one. He described how he had proved this by his own automatic writing; for as soon as his hand had acquired the power of writing without his conscious volition and had scribbled messages purporting to come from deceased friends, he had gravely demanded, Are not you who write really a devil? To his great satisfaction the word "Yes" was written in reply. And so, for him, the matter was settled. Had he cared honestly to study the subject he would have learnt that his reply was the reproduction by his subconscious mind of an idea which he had committed to its keeping. A genuine devil would have replied in the negative.

I believe in One God, maker and ruler of this world and the next. I entirely disbelieve in any omniscient and almighty evil spirit. Evil there must be in the unseen; for multitudes of evilly disposed people are continually passing thither from this earth. I know no reason for supposing that their power for evil is increased when they change this life for the next, nor do I believe that they will perpetually retain the state of mind in which they pass over. In the clearer light of the Beyond, evil loses the disguise which hid its real nature here, and it then appears in its essential hideousness and folly. Also, it brings home to its devotees, by the stern logic of cause and effect, the disqualifications which it has imposed upon them. This painful revelation ultimately prepares misguided souls for appreciating the guidance and help which He, who is Infinite Love and Wisdom, places around his backward children. Such is my faith. It is not contradicted by any Scripture intelligently interpreted, nor by the divinely implanted instincts of the human soul; it lies implicit in Our Lord's Words concerning the Heavenly Father, and is confirmed by the experiences transmitted to us by those who speak from the other side of death.


CHAPTER VII

THE SLEEP OF DEATH AND THE AWAKENING TO GREATER LIFE

DEATH has been a mystery. The lifeless body of a friend has all the appearance of profound slumber. But it speedily undergoes chemical changes which ultimately destroy it. The cage is empty, its tenant has escaped elsewhere.

"How shall we bury you?" asked his friend, as Socrates was about to drink the hemlock. "just as you please, if only you can catch me, and I do not escape you," said Socrates, "for when I have drunk the poison I shall no longer remain with you, but shall depart to some happy state of the blessed."

A greater than Socrates assured His disciples that when He was crucified He would pass into another state of life. His subsequent reappearances created in those who loved Him an invincible enthusiasm; they saw that death was a step upward into greater life.

Some who have experienced the earlier stages of death, and then revived, have given an account of what, at the time, had seemed to be their last moments on earth. Their story is tranquillising and encouraging.

But we learn much more from those who, having finally crossed over, are able to return and describe their falling asleep and the subsequent awakening beyond bodily death.

My father once said:-

I wish you could come here for a week and remember it on returning to earth. But there is a subconscious awareness, even with some who have heard nothing about life on our side, but who are doing their best, notwithstanding absence of knowledge.

58



The Awakening to Greater Life 59

I am certain that when they come to the end of physical life they have some intimation of what awaits them here, and this brings them a more wonderful knowledge than they had ever dreamed of, even if it comes only a few seconds before their transition. It is something like approaching a bridge in a thick fog, and the fog lifts suddenly so that the opposite bank is clearly seen. You will have known instances where those previously passed over have been seen by the dying, who exclaim, "I can see so-and-so." It seems unfortunate that so often there is no physical strength left to tell what they see. But I think they do see.

C.D.T.: Did you yourself see just at the last?

Father: (The reply was given with unusual solemnity and emphasis). I did. I felt not one presence only, but several. At the time one does not reason about it, and may be unable to ask oneself why it is so, being able only to realise, "They are here."

Speaking of his earliest consciousness after death my father remarked on his surprise at seeing trees, flowers and birds. It must be remembered that his passing had been as sudden as it was unexpected. Owing to what seemed a temporary indisposition he had spent the day in bed. The doctor saw nothing serious in his condition, and he was able to do some writing. Towards the close of the afternoon my mother left him alone for a while and on returning found him in the act of expiring.

He tells me that, following his surprise at seeing trees and flowers when waking, he had a hazy recollection of a proposed absence from home. It occurred to him that he must have already made the journey and commenced the visit for, had he been in his own room, neither flowers nor trees would have been visible. Presently he rose and walked out among the trees. In the distance he observed a house standing on a grassy slope. While wondering as to his whereabouts he was joined by one who, in friendly conversation, made him realise what had taken place.


60 The Sleep of Death and

Not long afterwards he was enabled to return and view his earthly home. He could see the familiar rooms and realise the sorrow we were feeling. He longed to be able to prove to us, what he was aware we all believed-namely, that he still lived and that his love for us was unchanged. Fourteen years later there came the opportunity for which he had been waiting: I commenced a course of psychical investigation.

My sister died shortly after a serious operation. Being aware of her approaching transition, she discussed it calmly with me during our last interview. Having to some extent shared my psychic studies, she knew that she would be able to communicate with me, and this knowledge softened for both of us the pain of parting.

Some months later she described to me her awakening in the new life beyond death. It was, in substance, as follows:-

From where she found herself reclining she looked through an open doorway into a garden of flowers, and realised that she was in the home which had been described by her father in his communications. While gazing out upon the scene of beauty and light she became aware that her father was standing near. They did not immediately speak in words, but it seemed to her that they were thinking to each other, exchanging ideas mentally without spoken words. When, presently, he spoke she found it delightful to hear his voice again, and to be able to reply in the old, familiar way.

She added, that to find herself there did not seem so strange as might have been expected. Memories came to her of having been there previously; the place was not wholly unfamiliar. Later, she learnt that at times, during sleep, her soul had visited and grown accustomed to the place; although, when waking from such sleep, no normal consciousness remained of what the soul had enjoyed. Her physical brain had not been able to share the experiences of the soul.



the awakening to Greater Life 61

,Seven months after her passing she again alluded to this experience:-

"It is difficult to realise I have been here so long a time, it seems no more than a few weeks; for there is so much to do, to see, and to learn. I am glad to have known before my passing something about this life and the possibilities of communication with you. Before finally leaving earth I seemed to be dreaming, and yet it was not wholly a dream. It seemed as if I had come here before the final separation from my physical body. I was only partly conscious towards the last, only half within the body; for my soul was already freeing itself. Nor did it seem wholly strange to me when I found myself here. I must have frequently come during sleep; for I could now remember that I had been here previously." *

The following account of death and awakening was given by one whom I had known for many years, and who had passed her last hours in unconsciousness. To those who were watching her it seemed as if body and mind were in extreme discomfort, and only a few isolated sentences, uttered amid the ramblings of delirium, hinted at the experience which the soul was then enjoying. I had been told of these hints-references to seeing her parents-and so took occasion to inquire, during her first communication with me, whether in her last hours on earth she had seen the friends who had gone before. She replied:-

"You ask if I saw anyone before passing. I seemed lifted above the usual things and surroundings, and I had a dream or vision, I do not know what you would call it. It seemed at the time like a very wonderful, happy and peaceful dream, in which I was with, not only those who had passed over recently, but with father and mother and many relations whom I had not seen for a long, long time. Now you ask: Did I see them? Yes, I saw them, though not with physical

*See Chap. XXX for discussion of sleep experiences.


62 The Sleep of Death and

sight, but I saw them. They were as satisfactory to me, as clear and distinct, as anything I had ever seen in my ordinary earth life.

"Now I was not conscious of any change, or anything abrupt, but from that very happy dream I seemed to pass into a peaceful sleep, and I think I emerged into a more or less conscious state, now and again, because I seemed occasionally aware that there were people whom I knew and loved who were near me, and taking care of me, and I was quite content to let it be so.

"I hear now that I slept for three or four days. But when I woke, completely awoke, I felt refreshed, and so much younger and better in every way than I had felt for many years....

And now, here we are all together again, all the people I used to know and love; all are here at their best, best time, best health, best everything......

We get a glimpse from a slightly different angle in the experience of G. M., who had been a life-long friend of my father and who was welcomed by him on his passing. My father and si