One can well imagine how they shook their bearded
heads, declared that such occurrences were outside their own
experience, and possibly pointed to the local conjuror who earned
a few not over-clean denarii by imitating the phenomena. There
were others, however, who could not possibly deny, because they
either saw or met with witnesses who had seen. These declared
roundly that the whole thing was of the devil, drawing from
Christ one of those pithy, common-sense arguments in which He
excelled. The same two classes of opponents, the scoffers and
the diabolists, face us to-day. Verily the old world goes round
and so do the events upon its surface.
There is one line of thought which may be indicated in the
hope that it will find development from the minds and pens of
those who have studied most deeply the possibilities of psychic
power. It is at least possible, though I admit that under modern
conditions it has not been clearly proved, that a medium of great
power can charge another with his own force, just as a magnet
when rubbed upon a piece of inert steel can turn it also into a
magnet. One of the best attested powers of D. D. Home was that
he could take burning coals from the fire with impunity and carry
them in his hand. He could then--and this comes nearer to the
point at issue--place them on the head of anyone who was fearless
without their being burned. Spectators have described how the
silver filigree of the hair of Mr.
Pages:
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105