But apart from all these limitations we have,
unhappily, to deal with absolute coldblooded lying on
the part of wicked or mischievous intelligences.
Everyone who has investigated the matter has, I
suppose, met with examples of wilful deception, which
occasionally are mixed up with good and true
communications. It was of such messages, no doubt,
that the Apostle wrote when he said: "Beloved,
believe, not every spirit, but try the spirits whether
they are of God." These words can only mean that the
early Christians not only practised Spiritualism as we
understand it, but also that they were faced by the
same difficulties. There is nothing more puzzling than
the fact that one may get a long connected description
with every detail given, and that it may prove to be
entirely a concoction. However, we must bear in
mind that if one case comes absolutely correct, it
atones for many failures, just as if you had one
telegram correct you would know that there was a line
and a communicator, however much they broke down
afterwards. But it must be admitted that it is very
discomposing and makes one sceptical of messages until
they are tested. Of a kin with these false influences
are all the Miltons who cannot scan, and Shelleys who
cannot rhyme, and Shakespeares who cannot think, and
all the other absurd impersonations which make our
cause ridiculous. They are, I think, deliberate
frauds, either from this side or from the other, but to
say that they invalidate the whole subject is as
senseless as to invalidate our own world because we