CESSARY CONDITIONS FOR ITS DEVELOPMENT AND EXERCISE. The famine, 'not
of bread, nor of water, but of hearing words from the Lord,' and the
loss of 'open vision' of the spirit, which afflicted Christendom for so
many years (because of the blind intolerance of zealots who, in their
adherence to the 'letter,' crushed out the sensitives through whom the
'spirit' might have been revealed), that famine is rapidly passing away,
and we are being fed with the living bread of spiritual inspiration, and
are growing strong enough to welcome the messengers who come to us
through the gateway of mediumship from their after-death home.

The Truth of Personal Survival.

"When once there is established the conviction of the truth of personal
survival of our loved ones, and the actual and satisfactory
demonstrations thereof through mediumship (and we know of no means
whereby such evidences can be obtained save through mediumship), we are
thrilled and delighted; and when this conviction is borne upon us and
driven home by the evidences, and the truth of spirit ministry has been
realized, nothing can destroy it. The spiritualist stands upon firm
ground--the impregnable rock of ascertained fact. He knows that
intercourse between the two worlds is real, continuous; therefore he is
proof against all speculations, denunciations, and adverse theories.
Dogmatic condemnations, 'bogey' cries, charges of fraud against mediums,
fail to move or frighten him. He can 'speak what he knows and testify to
what he has seen;' his positive and affirmative experience and testimony
outweigh all the opposition of 'doubting Thomases' who do not know.

The Gateway of Mediumship.

"Through the gateway of mediumship the spirits make themselves known in
a variety of ways. There are many phases of mediumistic phenomena, and
the student will find that he must be patient, painstaking, and
persevering if he would make sure of his facts. Careful investigation,
possibly prolonged research, under many difficulties and with many
discouragements, will be required, but 'success is certain if energy
fail not,' and the results will adequately recompense him for all
sacrifice and struggle! For in the light of the demonstrated fact of
continued existence after death, it is clear that man is even now 'a
spirit served by organs'--that consequently the basis of all religious
experience and affirmation is the spiritual consciousness of mankind.
There could be no revelation to m