Science and Spiritualism

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 20, 1908

Science and Spiritualism

By investigations which are said to be conducted under the most rigid conditions, scientists have been seeking to establish the reality of a conscious existence beyond the grave, and have been endeavoring to prove that communication may be held with those who have departed this life. Sir Oliver Lodge, an English scientist, is one of the leaders in this kind of research, and in a recent article he declares:

On the whole, I am of those who, though they would like to see further, and still stronger and more continued, proofs, are of opinion that a good case has been made out, and that as the best working hypothesis at the present time it is legitimate to grant that lucid moments of intercourse with deceased persons may in the best cases supervene, amid a mass of supplementary material, quite natural under the circumstances, but mostly of a presumably subliminal and less evident kind. The boundary between the two states—the known and the unknown—is still substantial, but it is wearing thin in places; and like excavators engaged in boring a tunnel from opposite ends, amid the roar of water and other noises, we are beginning to hear now and again the strokes of the pickaxes of our comrades on the other side.

It is strange, but doubtless true, that the testimony of this eminent scientist will have more weight with many persons than the inspired teaching of the Scriptures. The rapid growth of spiritualism in its various phases is an evidence that the time is drawing near for a threefold union between Protestantism, Romanism, and spiritualism, and it is under the influence of this threefold union that the prophecy of Rev. 13:14-17 will be fulfilled.