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Mrs. Piper & the Society for Psychical Research by Michael Sage

XII William Stainton Moses--What George Pelham thinks of him--How Imperator and his assistants have replaced Phinuit.

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The self-styled spirit-guides of Stainton Moses formed a united group obeying one chief, who called himself Imperator. Rector, Doctor, Prudens, were his subordinates. Naturally, they asserted they were the souls of men who had lived on earth; the above names were borrowed for the circumstance; their real names were revealed to Stainton Moses, who wrote them in one of his note-books, but always refused to publish them. I beg the reader to observe this detail, which will become important later.

Stainton Moses had the temperament of an apostle but not at all that of a man of science. The contents of the messages interested him much more than their origin. The former clergyman liked better to discuss a doubtful text than patiently to accumulate facts while guarding himself in all possible ways against fraud. Certainly he was scrupulously honourable; no conscious falsehood ever passed his lips, but his temperament makes his interpretations doubtful, and with reason. He was one of the first members of the Society for Psychical Research, but the methods which the Society adopted from the beginning were not of a kind to please him; for his part, he believed that abundant proofs already existed, and he saw no use in minutely examining a large number of small facts.

Dr Speer's son, whom Stainton Moses had taught, praises his judgment, his modesty, his inexhaustible charity. Modest he really was, and it never occurred to him to be vain of the miraculous phenomena which occurred in his presence; he never thought of making a venal use of his mediumship. Although he published his communications, he hardly ever published reports of his phenomena. It was Frederic Myers who published these from the note-books of the Speer family and of Stainton Moses himself. The notes are in agreement, although they were made separately, and without any idea of publication.

The son of Dr Speer asserts that Stainton Moses never refused a discussion, and never despised an opponent. But, on the other hand, Frederic Myers, who knew him well, assures us that he bore contradiction badly, and was quickly irritated by it. The manner in which he retired from the Society for Psychical Research tends to prove that it is Myers who is right. The son of Dr Speer, in his gratitude to his former master, must have deceived himself.

I will now explain the reason of this long preamble about Stainton Moses. At a sitting which took place on June 19, 1895, Professor Newbold, conversing with George Pelham, obtained from him the enunciation of doctrines which contradicted those given by Stainton Moses in _Spirit Teachings_. Professor Newbold[75] then asked,--

"Do you know of Stainton Moses?"

George Pelham.--"No, not very much. Why?"

Professor Newbold.--"Did you ever know of him or know what he did?"

G. P.--"I only have an idea from having met him here."

Professor N.--"Can you tell me what he said?"

G. P.--"No, only that he was W. Stainton Moses. I found him for E.[76] and Hodgson."

Professor N.--"Did you tell Hodgson this?"

G. P.--"I do not think so."

At the sitting on the next day, Professor Newbold returns to the charge.

"Can you bring Stainton Moses here?"

G. P.--"I will do my best."

Professor N.--"Is he far advanced?"

G. P.--"Oh, no, I should say not. He will have to think for a while yet."

Professor N.--"What do you mean?"

G. P.--"Well, have you forgotten all I told you before?"

Professor N.--"You mean about progression by repentance?"

G. P.--"Certainly I do."

Professor N.--"Was not he good?"

G. P.--"Yes, but not perfect by any means."

Professor N.--"Was he a true medium?"

G. P.--"True, yes, very true; his 'light' was very true, yet he made a great many mistakes and deceived himself."

Phinuit, sent to find Stainton Moses, ends by bringing him. George Pelham warns the sitter against the confusions and incoherences of Stainton Moses's communications. "When he arrives," says George Pelham, "I will wake him up."