Supramundane Facts in the Life of Rev. Jesse Babcock Ferguson, A.M. LL.D....
by T.L. Nichols, M.D. (ed)
1865

EXCEPRT FORM CHAPTER I – SPIRITUAL WRITINGS

For what follows, the editor is in no way responsible. But as frequent allusion is made in the preceding pages to what are denominated Supramundane or Spiritual Writings, Mr. Ferguson has selected from an extended collection a few specimens, that the general reader may judge of their nature and character. Perhaps no spiritual writing can be properly estimated except by the persons to whom and for whom it is given, and these only in a just appreciation of their mental status and moral surroundings. Different states call forth different administering, and the adaptation and application are rarely or ever made by the intelligence communicating. I have seen men of almost every contrast of creed and condition listen to the same communication, and deduce therefrom what to each was confirmatory of what he or she regarded as essential truth; when, perhaps, were the communication placed under the critical eye of some one isolated from these, it would not have been understood as directed to either. For the most part,.such communications are regarded as vague, indefinite, and unsatisfactory, when judged by the ordinary standards of criticism. This is the case with respect to those that are here appended. But I do not regard this as a good reason why they should be withheld, at least where we desire to reflect truthfully what we regard as a spiritual administering. Human destiny, even for a single day, is vague and unsatisfactory to every effort at realization. A direct and personal application of any address is in its very nature limited and circumscribed.