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RE-INCARNATION.
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is supernatural, nothing that is lawless. It is our ignorance which makes us look upon an occurrence as a miracle; for were we all-knowing, we should know the causes of the miraculous as well, and thus know them to be simply natural. The reasons given by us in proof of the power of will are not pure speculations of a metaphysically inclined brain, but facts which are conformable to truth under the severest tests, namely,
(1) as being in strict conformity to the rules of reason,
(2) as being confirmed by ancient tradition, i.e., the experience of mankind in the past, and
(3) as being capable of yielding immediate and certain results when experimented with.
In the last instance, however, there is a little qualification to be attached to our statement, and it is that we do not try to make theoretical experiments with spiritual truths, but, in all earnest sincerity, put them to practical test. The powers of the human will seem incredible on account of their simple explanation, and superficial students are ever prone to raise their voice against what they have never properly exerted themselves to understand. When the construction of steamships was in contemplation, some one, it is said, took it into his head to write a book on the impracticability of the idea, and sent some copies of it for sale to America. But, by a strange irony of fate, the boat which carried the books to the New World happened itself to be a steamship! The 'easy-chair 'speculations of our men of science on spiritual matters are just like the views of the author of the book referred to, and
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