Chapter I: Front Matter

Lizzie Doten]

POEMS
OF
PROGRESS.

BY
LIZZIE DOTEN.

“If an offence come out of the Truth, better is it that the
offence come, than the Truth be concealed.” JEROME.

“Stand out of my sunshine.” DIOGENES OF SINOPE.

BOSTON:
WILLIAM WHITE AND COMPANY,
BANNER OF LIGHT OFFICE,
158 WASHINGTON STREET.
NEW YORK AGENTS--THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY,
119 NASSAU STREET.
1871.

Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1871,
BY MISS ELIZABETH DOTEN,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

Electrotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry,
No. 19 Spring Lane.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

DECLARATION OF FAITH (PREFATORY). 5

THE CHEMISTRY OF CHARACTER. 11

LET THY KINGDOM COME. 14

THE SPIRIT OF NATURE. 17

MARGERY MILLER. 20

THE LAW OF LIFE. 26

A RESPECTABLE LIE. 33

THE RAINBOW BRIDGE. 38

REST THOU IN PEACE. 42

ANGEL LILY. 44

THE ALL IN ALL. 48

“ECCE HOMO.” 50

PETER MCGUIRE; OR, NATURE AND GRACE. 56

HYMN OF THE ANGELS. 62

GONE HOME. 64

THE CRY OF THE DESOLATE. 66

THE SPIRIT-MOTHER. 69

FACE THE SUNSHINE. 77

HESTER VAUGHN. 83

SONG OF THE SPIRIT CHILDREN. 87

HE GIVETH HIS BELOVED SLEEP. 90

THE FAMISHED HEART. 92

THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE. 99

REFORMERS. 102

MR. DE SPLAE. 105

WILL IT PAY? 109

THE LIVING WORD. 114

HYMN TO THE SUN. 119

GREATHEART AND GIANT DESPAIR. 123

“THE ORACLE.” 128

MY ANGEL. 135

THE ANGEL OF HEALING. 139

TRUTH TRIUMPHANT. 143

GOOD IN ALL. 147

JOHN ENDICOTT. 153

THE TRIUMPH OF FREEDOM. 157

OUR SOLDIERS’ GRAVES. 164

OUTWARD BOUND. 166

THE WANDERER’S WELCOME HOME. 170

LABOR AND WAIT. 174

FRAE RHYMING ROBIN. 176

AN ELEGY ON THE DEVIL. 181

FRATERNITY. 185

OWEENA. 190

GONE IS GONE, AND DEAD IS DEAD. 195

THE SPIRIT TEACHER. 198

LITTLE NELL. 203

THE SOUL’S DESTINY. 206

GUARDIAN ANGELS. 208

NEARER TO THEE. 211

THE SACRAMENT. 213

THE GOOD TIME NOW. 217

LIFE’S MYSTERIES. 221

A WOODLAND IDYL. 225

JUBILATE. 229

THE DIVINE IDEA. 231

THE PYRAMIDS. 235

THE INNER MYSTERY. 237

DECLARATION OF FAITH.

Doubtless many who take up this book, and glance carelessly at its pages, will exclaim, “What! more Spiritualism!” To which remark I answer, yes, more Spiritualism, an unequivocal, undisguised, positive Spiritualism--confirmed by many years of careful observation, study, and experience, and of which this book is the legitimate outgrowth. Eight years have elapsed since my first volume--“Poems from the Inner Life”--was given to the world (to the Preface of which I now refer for any explanation concerning my mediumship). During that interval of time, the ranks of the believers in Spiritualism have steadily increased in numbers, its phenomena, presenting an array of well-established facts, have challenged the investigation of some of the first scientific minds of the age, and its philosophy has done more towards liberating the human mind from the thraldom of old superstitions and creeds than any other form of faith which has arisen for centuries. But as yet, it has not secured that prestige of popularity and respectability which the combined influence of age, wealth, and organized action ever afforded. Consequently, those who are “named by its name” must be prepared to meet the anathemas of religious bigots--the lofty scorn of those who are wise in their own conceit--the scurrilous attacks of those who would divert attention from their own infamy and the petty irritations of a numerous pack who follow at the heels of every new movement, and ever distinguish themselves by noise rather than by knowledge. As a participant in this great movement, I have found such attacks to be helps rather than hinderances to my progress, inasmuch as I have been enabled to define my own positive and affirmative position more clearly from the negations of the opposers of Spiritualism.

We are told that “it is not a Religion.” But after a long and careful study of the past and present, I have yet to find any phase of faith, which, in its very inception has commenced so directly at the root of all necessary reform, viz., the purification and harmonious development of the human body. This primary and fundamental truth has been taken as a starting-point--it has been enunciated from the spirit world--repeated by the inspirational speakers--has been interwoven with all the spiritualistic literature, and has found a practical application in the Children’s Lyceums. The religion that teaches, “Take care of the soul, and let the body take care of itself,” will inevitably defeat its own purposes, and has already been taught long enough for us to know that it is a failure. No other form of faith ever brought the spiritual world so near, _as to banish its supernatural character, and place it within the province of natural law_. No other form of faith has _illustrated_ the fact _so clearly_, that just as we go out of this world, so do we enter upon the next, thereby presenting a more rational incentive to endeavor, than the rewards of Heaven or the punishments of Hell; and no other from of faith has so effectually dissipated the idea of an inane and purposeless life in the future, and given to the angels a more exalted employment than “loafing around the throne.” It also teaches that mediumship, under proper circumstances, is a _healthy, harmonious, and normal development of human nature_, and that communion with the spiritual world is not interdicted, and no more impossible than any other attainment that lies in the direct line of natural law, human progress, and scientific investigation. This to me, and to those who have accepted Spiritualism thoughtfully and sincerely, makes it _a religion indeed_, and the positive assertions of any number of intellectual or religious “authorities” to the contrary cannot make it otherwise.

We have been told again and again, that “Spiritualism is Supernaturalism,” that we believe in miracles, which are contrary to the “methods” of God’s government. We have denied this repeatedly, assuming that we ourselves had the best right to say what we did believe; but our denial has not been accepted, and the reason is obvious. Any number of scholastic discourses, elaborately written essays, and eloquent appeals to popular prejudice, would lose their pith and marrow, and be found wanting, if this false predicate, this fabricated nucleus for their logic should be disallowed.

Again, we are told that “Spiritualism is not Science;” to which we reply, that Spiritualism has presented facts and phenomena which the later discoveries in Science are tending both to explain and substantiate. It has been demonstrated that it is not the eye that sees, the ear that hears, or the nerves that feel, but each of these avenues of sense serves to convey the vibrations of the surrounding “ether” to the central consciousness, which alone is possessed of the power of perception. Since this is so, who shall dare place a limit to the possibilities of that consciousness, of which so little is definitely known? Or why should any man prescribe, as a standard for all others, the limitations of his own feeble consciousness. A modern reasoner tells us that “if the bodily ear receives vibrations from one atmosphere, it _cannot_ receive them from another, and no fiction of an inner ear can give genuineness to voices and whispers of a spiritual tongue.” Since, however, it is not the outer ear, but the inner consciousness, that hears, a quickening of its perceptions will allow it to catch the vibrations from another atmosphere, and Spiritualism demonstrates, by indisputable facts, that this is so. Also, that this is not an _abnormal_ condition, but _perfectly legitimate_ to certain states of the inner consciousness.

The revelations of the spectroscope, and the investigations of some of the greatest scientific minds of the present day, have determined the existence of a higher scale of vibrations than those which fall within the ordinary range of human vision. All the objects and forms of life comprehended in that scale, although so closely blended and interwoven with the vibrations of our own plane of existence, are lost to our dull perceptions, unless, through some physical or mental condition, there is a quickening of our inner consciousness. When this comes, as it has again and again to many, we have revelations from the “_spirit world_,” which is, after all, but a finer _material_ world, as real, as substantial, as objective, and as directly within the province of universal law, as that which we now inhabit. That we should be made sensibly aware of this higher life, under certain legitimate conditions, is perfectly _natural_. Indeed, it would be strange, with the uniformity of succession and development which pervades all things, if we were not. It is not a world that is _possible_, but _actual_, not one that _might_ be, but _is_.

In this matter, intelligent Spiritualists range themselves side by side with those of whom Professor Tyndall has said, “You never hear the really philosophical defenders of the doctrine of uniformity speaking of _impossibilities_ in nature. They best know that questions offer themselves to thought, which Science, as now prosecuted, has not even the tendency to solve. They keep such questions open, _and will not tolerate any unlawful limitations of the horizon of their souls_.” However weak and imperfect our spiritual vision may be at present, we shall use each and every opportunity of obtaining all the information that is possible, either from this world or the next. The report of the committee chosen by the London Dialectical Society, to investigate the subject of Spiritualism, “bears strong testimony in favor of the reality of the manifestations,” and is a step in the right direction. All we ask of our opponents, is fair treatment and an unprejudiced consideration of the facts and phenomena which Spiritualism presents. We do not fear as to the result.

But the objection which is most frequently urged against Spiritualism is, that “it is immoral in its tendencies.” In my anxiety to prove all things, I have also taken this matter into careful consideration, and diligently compared the annals of crime in the so-called Christian church with those of Spiritualism. For several years I have collected the items from the daily newspapers, that I might have them for future reference, and in due time come to a just and impartial conclusion. As I write, that record of ministerial delinquency, ecclesiastical abominations, and human frailty, lies before me. Where I have found one spiritual sheep that has gone astray, I have found ninety and nine of the Shepherds in Israel in great need of repentance. Let the church cleanse her own Augean stables before she utters one word in relation to the immoralities of Spiritualism. Casting stones and calling hard names will not profit either party. It is neither Christianity nor Spiritualism that is responsible for these immoralities, but _poor human nature_. The remedy lies not in creeds or forms of faith, but in the growth of Truth in the Understanding, and Love in the heart. Not as a Spiritualist, but as a child of humanity, do I hope that the entire world may yet have a moral standard, harmonious with the laws of God and Nature, and consistent with the highest good of the individual and society.

Having, from inclination and a sense of duty to my kindred in the faith, pursued the subject thus far, the “Spirit moves me” to present, in conclusion, a few quotations which require neither comment nor explanation.

“If we are _wise_ we shall sit down upon the brink and content
ourselves with saying what the spiritual world _is not_ and _cannot
be._ * * The soul _must_ be entirely ignorant of the second body
until it has ceased to use the first. * * The new organs, may be,
all correspond in intention and effect to the present ones; but we
say that _they do not yet exist._ _They cannot exist_; the ground
is pre-occupied.”

_John Weiss_,
Unitarian Monthly Journal, May, 1866.

“Moreover, the satellites of Jupiter are invisible to the naked
eye, and therefore can exercise no influence over the Earth, and
therefore would be useless, and therefore _do not exist_.”

_Francesco Sizzi_, Times of Galileo.

“If the Spiritualists would secure the favor of _sensible people_
they must let them see that they are not at war with good sense. *
* It were better that very sacred and dear beliefs should go, than
that this enemy of all rational belief should remain. Let us prefer
to have _no_ other world, than to have another world full of
teasing, troublesome, meddlesome beings, who interfere with the
rational order of the world we dwell in.”

_O. B. Frothingham_,
“The Index,” July 8, 1871.

“If the new planets were acknowledged, what a chaos would ensue!” *
* “I will never concede his four new planets to that Italian,
though I die for it.”

_Martin Horky_, Times of Galileo.

“O my beloved Kepler! How I wish we could have one good laugh
together! Here, at Padua, is the principal Professor of Philosophy,
whom I have repeatedly and urgently requested to look at the moon
and planets through my telescope, which he pertinaciously refuses
to do! Why, my dear Kepler, are you not here? What shouts of
laughter we should have at _all this solemn folly_!”

_Letter from Galileo to John Kepler._

POEMS OF PROGRESS.

THE CHEMISTRY OF CHARACTER.

JOHN, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul,
God in his wisdom created them all.
John was a statesman, and Peter a slave,
Robert a preacher, and Paul--was a knave.
Evil or good as the case might be,
White, or colored, or bond, or free--
John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul,
God in his wisdom created them all.

Out of earth’s elements, mingled with flame,
Out of life’s compounds of glory and shame,
Fashioned and shaped by no will of their own,
And helplessly into life’s history thrown;
Born by the law that compels men to be,
Born to conditions they could not foresee,
John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul,
God in his wisdom created them all.

John was the head and the heart of his State,
Was trusted and honored, was noble and great.
Peter was made ’neath life’s burdens to groan,
And never once dreamed that his soul was his own.
Robert great glory and honor received,
For zealously preaching what no one believed;
While Paul, of the pleasures of sin took his fill,
And gave up his life to the service of ill.

It chanced that these men, in their passing away
From earth and its conflicts, all died the same day.
John was mourned through the length and the breadth of the land--
Peter fell ’neath the lash in a merciless hand--
Robert died with the praise of the Lord on his tongue--
While Paul was convicted of murder, and hung.
John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul,
The purpose of life was fulfilled in them all.

Men said of the Statesman--“How noble and brave!”
But of Peter, alas!--“he was only a Slave.”
Of Robert--“’Tis well with his soul--it is well;”
While Paul they consigned to the torments of hell.
Born by one law through all Nature the same,
_What_ made them differ? and _who_ was to blame?
John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul,
God in his wisdom created them all.

Out in that region of infinite light,
Where the soul of the black man is pure as the white--
Out where the spirit, through sorrow made wise,
No longer resorts to deception and lies--
Out where the flesh can no longer control
The freedom and faith of the God-given soul--
Who shall determine what change may befall
John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul?

John may in wisdom and goodness increase--
Peter rejoice in an infinite peace--
Robert may learn that the truths of the Lord
Are more in the spirit, and less in the word--
And Paul may be blest with a holier birth
Than the passions of man had allowed him on earth.
John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul,
God in his wisdom will care for them all.

LET THY KINGDOM COME.

THE peaceful night, “the stilly night,”
Came down on wings of purple gloom,
And with her eyes of starry light,
Looked through the darkness of my room;
Peace was the pillow for my head,
While angels watched around my bed.

Freed from a weight of cumbering care,
My earnest spirit seemed to rise,
And on the wings of faith and prayer,
I sought the gates of Paradise;
Like priceless pearls I saw them gleam,
As in the Revelator’s dream.

O, holy, holy was the song
Of blessed spirits echoing thence,
So soft and clear it swept along,
It ravished all my soul and sense;
Close to those gates of light I crept,
And like a homeless orphan wept.

The white-robed angels went and came--
The white-robed angels saw me there--
And one, in our dear Father’s name,
Came at my spirit’s voiceless prayer.
“Dear child,” he said, “why dost thou wait
With weeping at the heavenly gate?”

“O, weary are my feet,” I cried,
“With wandering o’er the earthly way;
Lo, all my hopes hang crucified,
And all my idols turn to clay;
Far distant now the Father seems,
And heaven comes only in my dreams.”

He laid his hand upon my head,
And tenderly the angel smiled.
“Thy Father knows thy need,” he said,
“And he will aid his suffering child.
Return unto thine earthly home--
His kingdom yet shall surely come.”

Obedient at the word I turned,
And sought mine earthly home once more,
While all my soul within me burned,
With joy I never knew before;
For that blest vision of the night
Had filled me with celestial light.

Still o’er my life its glories stream,
The solace of my lonely hours,
Fair as the sunset’s golden gleam,
And lovely as the bloom of flowers;
A sweet assurance, calm and deep,
Which treasured in my soul I keep.

Henceforth I wait with anxious eyes,
Until the shadows flee away,
To see the morning star arise,
Which ushers in that glorious day.
Be patient, O my heart! be still
Till time the promise shall fulfill.

THE SPIRIT OF NATURE.

“The bond which unites the human to the divine is Love, and Love is
the longing of the Soul for Beauty; the inextinguishable desire
which like feels for like, which the divinity within us feels for
the divinity revealed to us in Beauty. Beauty is Truth.”--PLATO.