Research source

THE HEAVEN AND HELL OF SPIRITUALISM CONTRASTED WITH THE HEAVEN AND HELL OF SCRIPTURE 141

Date of account: Published 1855
Source: Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations Demonstrating the existence of spirits and their communion with mortals. Doctrine of the spirit world respecting heaven, hell, morality, and God. Also, the influence of Scripture on the morals of Christians.
Reference: Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations Demonstrating the existence of spirits and their communion with mortals. Doctrine of the spirit world respecting heaven, hell, morality, and God. Also, the influence of Scripture on the morals of Christians. · selected passage 22
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

terpoise for sin, a source of discord originally confined to Judea, expanded with Christianity and Islamism: verifying Christ’s allegation, that he came “as a sword, not as a messenger of peace”—Superior morality and far less questionable certainty of the communications from the spirit world—Quotation from Mosheim—Quotation from Gibbon—For more than a thousand years, the Grecian or Roman Catholic clergy were the solo depositaries of the word of God, so called, and regulators of religious morals; yet, according to Bishop Hopkins, during that time, the clergy were for the most part pre-eminent in vice, as compared with the rest of the community; whence it is inferred that, like Pope Boniface, the wicked clergy in general were unbelievers in the truth of the gospel—If the morals of the modern clergy are better, it is neither from the barbarous example furnished them in the Old Testament, nor the ultra precepts of the gospel; being too much enlightened to be governed by either—Summary made by Bishop Hopkins—Any religion, like that of Moses, which does not make immortality a primary consideration, must be chiefly confined to worldly objects, and, of course, unworthy of consideration.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This comes from historical psychical research. Methods, witness handling and standards of evidence differ from present-day research and should be assessed from the cited passage and edition.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

The passage can support a history of claims and recurring descriptions. It does not establish a paranormal mechanism, and competing psychological, social and physical explanations remain relevant.

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