Religion of The Future

RELIGION OF THE FUTURE

by William Denton {1823-1883) , an early pioneer of Spiritualism

We venture to say that the new movement will spring from the
Spiritualistic ranks which by and by, all of the orthodox will
Unhesitatingly recognize all of the spiritual teachings and
Reinterpret their doctrine in the spirit of the new.
We hope there will be a reinterpretation of the old, and it is to be
Hoped that all religions will convincingly tend toward the same goal.
Spiritualism will satisfy the essential needs of the human heart.
You drift tempest-tossed, on the ocean of life, and you need
Guidance and comfort and encouragement. In the face of the unrest
Which surrounds you, you want to have the assurance of a ground
Where your anchor can catch. You want to know your goal and the
Direction in which you have to steer. All of this must be supplied
By spiritual knowledge, and where your knowledge is insufficient,
Faith steps in.
Spirituality is inborn in every soul in the same way as gravity is
Inalienably part of all matter. Everything is a particle that exists
Interlinked with the whole of the cosmos. It is swayed by it; it is
Attached to it, its momentum is determined by it in the exact
Proportion of its weight, of its position, and generally of its
Relation to the universe. The innate energy of every particle, every
Atom presses forth in one direction or another beyond its own
Limits, as if it were yearning beyond itself. No piece of matter is
Existence in itself: its nature and its movements are conditioned by
The rest of the universe, and it can find the fulfillment of its
Belonging only outside its own energy.
In the same way every sentient soul yearns beyond itself and becomes
Easily conscious of the fact that it is only a part of an
Immeasurably great whole, that stretches forth into unknown
Infinitudes; and that the significance of its life lies outside the
Sphere of its ego.
Spiritualism is so strong that it may be counted as the deepest
Passion of which man is capable. It is possessed of a motive power
Which excels all other passions, and can if misdirected, lead to
Deeds, which otherwise would be impossible; such as sacrifice of
one's self or of one's own deity who is believed to demand such
Offerings. Spiritualism enters into every fiber of man's spiritual
Existence, and throughout the development of human actions it
Remains the factor which adjusts the relation of the individual to
The all-important factor. It grows and matures with the growth and
Maturity of man.
It weaves out of his experiences a world of conceptions in which it
Appoints him to his place, assigns his duties, and furnishes his
Direction for his conduct. The functions of Spiritualism, however,
Go deeper still. Your entire world is the actualization of eternal
Types which develop according to law, and brings into existence
These possibilities which in philosophy are called Platonic ideas.
Accordingly man is not a mere congries of atoms : he is more than a
Corporal conglomeration of matter; he is the actualization of the
Type of his personality: his essential and characteristic being
Consists in the ideas he thinks, in the aims he pursues, and in the
Significance which he possesses for the great movement of human
Life. Life is eternal and has made its appearance in corporeal and
Visible shape, and no thinking man will ultimately deny the
Existence of another life. Spiritualism reminds you of the eternal
Background against which the fleeting phenomena of the material
World take shape. This eternal is the essential part of life, that
Transfigures the transient in which it is actualized. The higher man
Rises, the better he understands how to distinguish between faith
And knowledge. In the dogmatic state, you are like children, being
Nursed with fairy tales and parables; but in the state of manhood
You shall see face to face, and have a clear and unequivocal
Comprehension of the truth. When once one has caught some vision and
Hope of the fullness of life that Spiritualism reveals, when he has
Seen some glimpses of the ideal spiritual realm to which its
Aspirations point, he is then concerned only in making that ideal a
Reality. No man becomes a saint by dreaming of heaven. Faith can
Never satisfy the longing soul; it is ever looking forward; he sees
The promise of spring in the storms of winter; he sees the handiwork
Of Nature and he finds the promise of full life everywhere. You are
Nearer to the psychical moment than you know. Revelations from the
World of mind, the realm of the spiritual, are alike craved and
Claimed in all lines of life, religious, social and even political.
You are not alone in this movement. No, far from it. You have on
Your earth level headed men who give themselves openly to the study
Or acceptance of the physical phenomena, and as well from king to
baronet, show revived interest and faith in the spiritual phenomena;
but some writers, professors and preachers take up what some one
calls, "the psychical craze" and give their most matter of fact
paragraphs and preachments to some phase of it. The mere possibility
of such stories coming in these tunes from staid newspaper
correspondents and finding such accepting the daily statements of
press, shows what a change has come upon the public mind since the
days when ghost stories of this nature were whispered mainly in the
fireside corners and confidential gossip guarded by strict pledges
against a scoffing world. Spiritual phenomena are subjects of
special interest to the intellectual world at the present time,
mainly as it relates to the spiritual laws for the formation of a
correct, man and also, a correct government for all men.
Even the tremendous question of life hereafter is held in abeyance
before the vital interest in grasping the relation of the spiritual
laws and forces, to the earth life. Christian Science, Mental
Science, New Thought, etc. are all relative to spiritual laws and
controlled wholly by spiritual influences. The psychic teacher will
serve to illustrate the question of the occasional opening of man's
normal vision to the knowledge of the existence of spiritual beings.
And further to show the purpose of such awakening, as well as to
explain the nature of it he says, "The human eye and ear are tuned
to the perception of waves or vibrations of light and sound
traveling at velocities that have been measured."
There are vibrations below those to which the eye and ear are
attuned of which man is absolutely unconscious; yet such vibrations
do exist. It is true that the lower you go in the scale of
vibration, the more nearly you approach the inorganic world; on the
other hand the higher you go in the inorganic world, the higher you
go in the scale of vibration and the closer you come to unknown
forces and to the brink of a world that forces itself upon your
consciousness. There is no obstacle to force vibrating at high
velocities; as light penetrates glass it penetrates any organic
matter. And the soul, the spirit, the ego, partakes of the qualities
of these forces and to a much higher degree may be a legitimate
deduction. Commonly, it is its disembodied state that is looked to
as the one to put it into the active exercise of these forces; but
that sometimes even while in the body pent, it breaks through the
muddy vesture of decay and touches the unknown keys of harmony and
omnipotence in the universe of pure power, the history of genius
itself testifies as well as the indisputable evidence of psychic
power and phenomena which the scholars and scientists now recognize;
and are, above all else concerned to investigate. All poets have
signalized their consciousness of rare moments, when they were
superior to themselves—when a light, a freedom, a power came to them
which lifted them to performances they were wholly unable to reach
at other times. Your inspiration comes from the higher forces and
sometimes from the higher spheres of spiritual truth, and touches
the plane where life means something powerful, and that can only be
measured by eternity. These forces make you feel first of all the
indifference of circumstances, that you have called in other than
material forces to your aid, is the thing that makes you a strength
and an inspiration to mankind, as all the psychic teachers of today
are conspiring to set forth.
The swinging of time's pendulum in the direction of the psychical,
is clearly indicated by introducing experiments in psychic phenomena
into students' classrooms, and bespeaking truth for mediumistic
demonstrations and by this trend of all thought and philosophy, to
locate human power and achievement in the mental or spiritual
forces. Science is merely "searching the sixth sense in man, and the
spiritual moment that may break in upon this great mystery is
perchance, not so far distant. The spiritual view-point which has
been dimly presented to man by teachers and mystics of long ages,
may at length, declare itself in man's consciousness which is a
point to revolutionize the whole life problem. How many writers
whose prophetic souls disclose the might and meaning of this
spiritual awakening! There are hundreds who are alive to the force
of this distinction in the unveiling of spiritual truth to man and
who follow the vision to its surest heights of blessedness and power
in the uplifting of mankind. This unveils the glad realms of life
and power to man, and in all-embracing joy of it, no dismal goadings
of conscience that marked the darkened hour, find any place. Once
the veil is lifted between man and "the place where joy resides at
the heart of creative being all is well." It is ignorance that makes
error and all its haunting monitors in man's pathway. It may be that
in the time of ignorance, conscience is the little spark
of "celestial fire" that struggles to light the way to the true
haven of spiritual truth. But once the vision is made clear, the
narrow mission of science is at an end. If you wish to reform a man,
do not tell him that he is a sinner; show him who and what he is,
and he will reform himself: aye, and if he holds the balance of
power in his hands he will reform the world—which is directly in
line with spiritual laws, and one who gives the true vision with his
means to forward it ”it would surely know how to meet all the
difficulties the short sighted ones he could conjure up in his
pathway. It is more than "a faith" which is original as the
spiritualists acknowledge it, that illumines your presentation of
the case; it is a truth that is mighty to save by anchoring itself
in "leaders" on the heights of the struggle in the firing line of
truth. This is a truth that has been given to the people from the
creation of your world ; and no great thing was ever accomplished in
your world without inspiration ; but lacking the means to make his
inspiration available in the life of men, many a seer and medium
have missed the end of his vision. When the light breaks at the top
of the world, and the men who see the best things, have power to
bring them to pass, the millennium should not be far distant by
whatever name the brethren are pleased to call it.
Meantime, the undercurrent of interest in spiritual things
pertaining to the higher forces perceptible everywhere, must
naturally prepare the way for men and women of genius who can focus
and interpret the psychic or spiritual movement, and turn it to the
highest service of mankind. That it shall bring a glimpse of the
truth on earth for which weary, heavy laden men and women as well as
the dwarfed and misdirected children of men, may well thank the
spirits and their mediums.
The church is in the midst of one of the most appalling crises in
its history. The reason is of its false teachings; as it claims of
radical criticism, and in the name of scholarship; whereas, the
enemies of the past have been the reporters chiefly of outsiders;
the present enemies are inside leaders in a great scholastic
apostasy entrenched in foremost positions in pulpits, in the press,
in educational institutions and even in theological seminaries.
Once the great aim of religious endeavor was to bring all men to
church adherence, to confession of one or the other of the faiths.
They have been working at that for centuries, and there remains just
about as much real sin in the world as ever: there remains as much
unnecessary misery; as much injustice and wrong. The world is far
from being saved. The founders of Christianity taught men to be
patient, meek peacemakers ; pure in heart, neighborly, sincere,
just, loyal to their best "ideas." His followers could not content
themselves with things as simple as these. They sought out
subtleties; they taught men to dispute over historical and
traditional data; they proclaimed that men would be saved by faith.
There are many who call themselves preachers of the gospel; whose
good news consists in this ”that men have only to force themselves
into mental activity to accept this or the other faith or tradition,
and they will have accomplished the will on high, they will have
saved their own souls. Do you mean to say that you have a moral
universe, where the one great thing required is that men should
believe some things they can know nothing about? To tell the thief,
the swindler, the liar, the bankrupt and the social outlaw that what
the great judge of all requires of them is nothing more than that
they should believe some chapter in the bible (history), or some
theory in some celestial place, may have indeed been the sound of
good news to them. This seems a cheap and easy escape from the
terrors of the law without the rigor of justice.
The religion that is to save the world is Spiritualism which
underlies right action” that which burns itself into the depths of a
man and forces him to follow the truth, to serve the right, to
battle wrong, to succor need, to give all he has, even life itself,
for noble ends. Do you believe in goodness, right, justice, love,
truth, and to choose Spiritualism as your guide post?
Now do you admire these principles? If you do, follow them. This is
the truth that will save the world and be the coming religion.
RELIGION OF THE FUTURE William
Denton

William Denton was also one of the main spirit communicators through the brilliant materialisation mediumship of William Aber.

Z

Zerdini, do you know of a book on William Aber's mediumship?

Alan

Alan wrote:Zerdini, do you know of a book on William Aber's mediumship?

Alan

Hi Alan

Yes I have four of his books namely:

"Beyond the Vail" by William Aber, Jabez Hunt Nixon

"Rending the Vail" by William Aber, Jabez Hunt Nixon

"The Guiding Star" by William Aber, Jabez Hunt Nixon

"The Dawn of Another Life" by W.Aber/ Star Circle of the Spirit World

A series of four books produced during the period 1890 to1903 in Spring Hill, Kansas by the dictations of visible full-form spirit materializations through the mediumship of William W. Aber.

The primary leaders of the spirit team were Prof. William Denton - a Spiritualist in life, Dr. Reed, electricity pioneer Prof. Michael Faraday, and USA founding father and early champion of human rights, Thomas Paine.

1700 pages of direct testimony from the world beyond.

Kind regards

Zerdini

Zerdini, many thanks indeed for that information.

Alan

Zerdini, I have managed to track down these titles in facsimile editions by Kessinger Publishing. They are a bit pricey, so I would appreciate it if you could recommend the one that you think is best to start off with.

Many thanks for your help

Alan

Hi Alan

I notice that you can download zipped versions free from this site:

http://survivalebooks.org/

Hope you enjoy reading them. There is a lot of reading matter so it would be advisable to print them out if possible.

I have copies of the original books.

Kind regards

Zerdini

zerdini wrote:Hi Alan

I notice that you can download zipped versions free from this site:

http://survivalebooks.org/

Hope you enjoy reading them. There is a lot of reading matter so it would be advisable to print them out if possible.

I have copies of the original books.

Kind regards

Zerdini

Thanks very much indeed for that Zerdini

I have just discovered that the piece above from William Denton Religion of the Future is a passage through the Mediumship of William Aber from the book Dawn of Another Life pages 173 to 180 and published in 1910