The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

II. Claims 1848 Ushered in New Era for Human Race

Mrs. M. E. Cadwallader (d. 1934), one of the organizers of the National Spiritualist Association in 1893, erected a stone marker in Hydesville, New York, designating the exacx spot where the Fox cottage stood at the time of the Hydesville raps of 1848. She was likewise largely responsible for erecting the shrine placed by the Spiritualists of the world in the churchyard of the Plymouth Spiritualist Church in Rochester, New York. ⁶ Author of Hydesville in History, she was also editor of the Spiritualist journal The Progressive Thinker. She therefore speaks with some authority. She here discusses some points not often understood as to actual positions of Spiritualism. CFF2 1074.2

1. CLAIMS CHRISTIANITY BASED ON SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA

In a widely quoted editorial, “There is no death there are no dead,” in her Progressive Thinker, Mrs. Cadwallader wrote of how the various “Bibles [sacred books] of the ages” show that “belief in spirits is the foundation of all religions of the world,” and declared that the centuries have been “filled with manifestations of the spirit.” Then she boldly states: CFF2 1074.3

“A medium foretold the birth of Jesus, whose brief life an earth was filled with the performance of many so-called miracles which in reality were spiritual[istic] phenomena.” ⁷ CFF2 1074.4

2. MARCH 31 (1848) IS BIRTH DAY OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM

Among Spiritualists, she says:
“By common acceptance March 31, 1848, is the date that has officially been celebrated as the day when the raps at Hydesville, N. Y., in the home of the Fox Family, heralded to the world the stupendous message: ‘There is no death; there are no dead.’” ⁸ CFF2 1075.1

Just as millions of Christians celebrate the natal day of Jesus, so, Mrs. Cadwallader declares:
“March 31 is the day when Spiritualists celebrate the dawn of a new era which has changed the thought of the world: when they celebrate the anniversary of the rappings at Hydesville, which told the world that death is but a change from the physical to the spiritual world; that the personality still persists in the world of spirit; that those who have left the scene of their earthly labors can return to those still an earth.” ⁹ CFF2 1075.2

That, she adds, is “why we jubilate,” “why we celebrate.” To the Spiritualist 1848 is a division point in history. CFF2 1075.3

3. SPIRITUALISM THE “COMING UNIVERSAL RELIGION.”

Referring to Modern Spiritualism as “one of the greatest Movements the world has ever known,” she remarks: “We are struck with the magnitude of the Movement which in less than a century has attained such gigantic proportions.” ¹⁰ She again emphasizes the significance of March 31, 1848: CFF2 1075.4

“March 31, 1848 ushered in a new era for the human race, an era which had its beginning with the tiny raps at Hydesville and will culminate only in the distant cycles of the future.” ¹¹ CFF2 1075.5

And she adds that with the first public Spiritualist meeting in Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York, in 1849, Spiritualism entered upon “the beginning of a world-wide investigation by prominent people everywhere.” ¹² Then comes this prediction: “Spiritualism is the coming universal religion. It is the life blood of Christianity; in fact, it is Christianity plus.” ¹³ CFF2 1075.6

She states, significantly, “We are spirit here and now, a Part of God.” This too is a constantly recurring claim. CFF2 1076.1

4. NEW DISPENSATION BORN IN 1848

With this declaration regarding 1848, Spiritualist Dr. B. F. Clark agrees: “From this [the phenomena at the Fox home in 1848] a new dispensation was born.” ¹⁴ And he likewise adds that the movement spread from Hydesville to Corinthian Hall in Rochester in 1849, followed by a conference in 1851. The United States Congress was petitioned by fifteen thousand in 1854 to appoint a commission to investigate Modern Spiritualism. ¹⁵ Then he appends a roster of illustrious adherents and stressec its remarkable growth. Such are Spiritualism’s claims. CFF2 1076.2

5. BATTERY OF PERIODICALS SPANS FIRST CENTURY

A large number of Spiritualist periodicals marked its first century (1848-1948), beginning in 1849 with The Present Age and Spirit Messenger. Then came the Spiritual Telegraph in 1852, followed by Spiritual Age, The Spiritual Clarion, The Spiritual Universe, The American Spiritualist, Banner of Light (1857), and the Progressive Age, edited by Moses Hull; also The Spiritual Scientist, The Light of Truth, The Progressive Thinker, The National Spiritualist, ofllcial organ of the National Spiritualist Association (1919), The Lyceum Spotlight, and The Psychic Observer. ¹⁶ CFF2 1076.3

A paralleling battery of British publications included the British Spiritual Telegraph (1857), Spiritual Messenger (1858), Spiritual Magazine (1860), Spiritual Times, Spiritual Notes (1878), offlcial organ of the British National Association of Spiritualists, Light, The Two Worlds, Borderland, Spiritualist Review, Spiritualist Quarterly Magazine, and Psychic News. These were but Part of the list. And there were Continental journals as well. ¹⁷ CFF2 1076.4