Spiritualist Declaration of Principles

Plymouth Spiritualist Church is a member church of the National Spiritualist Association of Churches.

We follow a set of principles that we believe, when adhered to, will provide us with a good life. They are:

We believe in infinite intelligence. (We believe in God.)
We believe that the phenomena of nature, both physical and spiritual, are the expression of Infinite Intelligence. (We believe that God is expressed through all nature.)
We affirm that a correct understanding of such expression and living in accordance therewith constitute true religion. (True religion is living in obedience to Nature's Laws.)
We affirm that the existence and personal identity of the individual continue after the change called death. (We never die.)
We affirm that communication with the so-called dead is a fact, scientifically proven by the phenomena of Spiritualism. (Spiritualism proves that we can talk with people in the Spirit World.)
We believe that the highest morality is contained in the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (Be kind, do good, and others will do likewise.)
We affirm the moral responsibility of the individual, and that we make our own happiness or unhappiness as we obey or disobey nature's physical and spiritual laws. (We bring unhappiness to ourselves by the errors we make and we will be happy if we obey the laws of life.)
We affirm that the doorway to reformation is never closed against any soul here or hereafter. (Every day is a new beginning.)
We affirm that the precepts of Prophecy and Healing are Divine attributes proven through Mediumship. (Prophesy and healing are expressions of God.)

(Children's Principles in italics)

Interpretation

By
Joseph P. WhitweIl
3rd President

By this we express our belief in a supreme Impersonal Power, everywhere present, manifesting as life, through all forms of organized matter, called by some, God, by others, Spirit and by Spiritualists, Infinite Intelligence.
In this manner we express our belief in the immanence of Spirit and that all forms of life are manifestations of Spirit or Infinite Intelligence, and thus that all men are children of God.
A correct understanding of the laws of nature on the physical, mental and spiritual planes of life and living in accordance therewith will unfold the highest aspirations and attributes of the Soul, which is the correct function of True Religion.
"Life here and life hereafter is all one life whose continuity of consciousness is unbroken by that mere change in form whose process we call death." Lilian Whiting.
Spirit communication has been in evidence in all ages of the world and is amply recorded in both sacred and profane literature of all ages. Orthodoxy has accepted these manifestations and has interpreted them in dogma and creed in terms of the supernatural. Spiritualism accepts and recognizes these manifestations and interprets them in the understanding and light of Natural Law.
This precept we believe to be true. It points the way to harmony, peace and happiness. Wherever tried it has proven successful and when fully understood and practiced, will bring peace and happiness to man on earth.
Man himself is responsible for the welfare of the world in which he lives; for its welfare or its misery, for its happiness or unhappiness and if he is to obtain Heaven upon Earth, he must learn to make that heaven, for himself and for others. Individually, man is responsible for his own spiritual growth and welfare. Sins and wrong-doing must be outgrown and overcome. Virtue and love of good must take their place. Spiritual growth and advancement must be attained by aspiration and personal striving. Vicarious atonement has no place in the philosophy of Spiritualism. Each one must carry his own cross to Calvary's Heights in the overcoming of wrong-doing and replacing them with the right.
We discard entirely the terrible wrong and illogical teachings of eternal damnation and in place thereof we accept and present for consideration of thinking people the thought of the continuity of life beyond the change called death. A natural life, where the opportunity for growth and progress to better, higher and more spiritual conditions are open to all, even as they are here on the earth plane of life. We accept no such teaching as a "Hell Fire," but we do teach that sin and wrong-doing will necessarily bring remorse and suffering that would be difficult to describe in words and which can only be relieved by the individual's own efforts if not here, then in the hereafter. If we make our own lives better while here and that of our neighbors happier we shall unfold that happiness or heaven on earth which we shall carry with us into the Spirit World.
We thus affirm our belief in and acceptance of the truths and assertions that Prophecy and Mediumship are not unique nor of recent occurrence alone, but they are universal everlasting and have been witnessed and observed in all ages of the world.