SECOND. MIND-READING OR CLAIRVOYANCE; AS EXHIBITED CHAPTER XI. MIND-READING OR CLAIRVOYANCE, AS EXHIBITED IN THE TELEPATHY OF SCRIPTURE AND OF THE CELESTIALS. ONE FINITE MIND SEEKING AND OBTAINING SOME CONTENT OR CONTENTS FROM ANOTHER. In Scriptural Telepathy, in the Class of psychic communications treated in Chapter VII., all thought-transmissions from one finite mind to another, occurred solely at the volition of the Deity. They were involuntary on the part of those minds themselves. We will now consider II. THAT CLASS OF TELEPATHIC COMMUNICATIONS IN WHICH ONE FINITE MIND VOLUNTARILY SEEKS AND OBTAINS THOUGHT-DISCLOSURES FROM ANOTHER. The philosophy of this has been suggested already. As God is able, of his own volition, to communicate the content or contents of any one finite mind to another, at any time and at all times; plainly he is able to do this at the particular time when any given finite mind requests or desires such disclosure from another. And, as a matter of fact, at the request or desire of one finite mind for thought-disclosure from another, such disclosure often is bestowed. A. Between Finite Minds in This World. Suppose such a mind desires some communication about the divine ideas, purposes, or preferences. It is a most familiar thing for the human mind to ask from the divine mind light. And this communion is going on all the time. A soul wants guidance, help, comfort, or some disclosure of the will of God. He simply asks God for it, and expects to get it. It is also a most natural and proper thing for a finite mind at times to desire light about another finite mind. But everything in that other mind, at all times, and under all circumstances; is minutely and comprehensively known to God. As He can, with perfect ease, at any moment, communicate information about his own mind; in exactly the same manner, he can, at any moment, impart any content or contents from another mind. And, in Bible times, he did so. There are two ways in which this is represented in Scripture as taking place. (a) Precisely as a finite being would ask God for light about anything else; e. g., about God's own mind on a given question; so That Being Formally Asks for Light about Some Other Finite Mind. (This phase of Biblical clairvoyance is somewhat similar to the experimental clairvoyance of science; in which the percipient by special deliberate effort is enabled to read the contents of the agent mind.) Case 41. David Requests and Obtains Directly from God Disclosure of the Prospective Purpose of Saul. * David, in the town of Keilah, has heard that Saul is coming against him. The fugitive desires facts. "Then said David, O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. Will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, He will come down." (I. Sam. 23; 10-11). The exact purpose of Saul's heart is directly communicated to David. And any other content of the mind of Saul could have been directly revealed in the same way. Or any content from the mind of any other person in Keilah. Or any other servant of God, as well as David, could in like manner have obtained any content from the mind of Saul or from any mind in that town; had God pleased to respond. In like manner David, now in the other world, may ask communication from the mind of his friend Jonathan. And God may grant it in exactly the same way. Then Jonathan may seek some reciprocal communication from David. And such inter change of communications may go on indefinitely. The same might occur between any other saints in the spirit world. Under this head comes Daniel's recovery of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The seer asks God to disclose it to him. This vision of the king's had sunk below his field of consciousness, so it was for the time submerged in his unconscious mind. It was by no means forgotten altogether. Had it been entirely lost, he would not at once have recognized it, upon Daniel's description of its character. As Nebuchadnezzar then identified it, that showed it had not wholly vanished from his mind. (Dan. 2; 47). The incident will be noticed further in Case 48. This illustration is parallel to those instances from science, in which the clairvoyant reads from the mind of the agent ideas, facts, etc., which the latter declares that he had himself forgotten. Though David, in the language quoted under Case 41, asked only about what was in the mind of Saul; in the same way he might inquire what was in the minds of many persons. For note the context. Case 42. At David's Direct Request, God in Like Manner Discloses the Prospective Purposes of the Men of Keilah. Now the fugitive asks further. me up into his hand? "Will the men of Keilah deliver And the Lord said, they will deliver thee up." (I. Sam. 23; 11-12). There might have been other persons who were parties to this affair. And David could have ascertained their feelings and prospective courses by the same method. So, in the other world, David or any other person may ask God about the mental contents of a group of spirits there; e. g., some band of prophets he had known on earth. And these may be at once communicated to him. Or the group of prophets may seek information from the minds of a band of priests. Then this may be reciprocal and continuous. Note, in all these cases, we are distinctly told that the divine mind is the medium of communication. Therefore no matter how far asunder David and Saul might have been on earth, obviously that omnipresent mind could, with equal ease, have revealed to |