{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_27197/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_27197","id":"gutenberg_27197","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27197","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Spiritualism"],"text":"MODERN SPIRITUALISM\n\n                          A SUBJECT OF PROPHECY\n\n                                  AND A\n\n                            SIGN OF THE TIMES.\n\n                              BY URIAH SMITH\n\n                   THE REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING CO.\n\n                                  1896.\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nPreface.\nChapter One. Opening Thought.\n   A Manifestation of Power.\n   A Manifestation of Intelligence.\n   The Progress of Spiritualism.\nChapter Two. What is the Agency in Question?\n   Credentials of the Bible.\n   An Impossibility.\n   The Soul Not Immortal.\nChapter Three. The Dead Unconscious.\nChapter Four. They Are Evil Angels.\n   Warnings Against Evil Spirits.\nChapter Five. What The Spirits Teach.\n   They Deny All Distinction Between Right And Wrong.\n   Dangers Of Mediumship.\n   Miscellaneous Teaching.\n   Spirits Cannot Be Identified.\nChapter Six. Its Promises: How Fulfilled.\nChapter Seven. Spiritualism A Subject Of Prophecy.\nConclusion.\nIndex Of Authors Referred To.\nIndex Of Books, Papers, Etc., Quoted.\nIndex Of Texts Of Scripture Illustrated Or Explained.\nFootnotes\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nFor nearly fifty years Spiritualism has been before the world. This surely\nis time enough to enable it to show its character by its fruits. \u201cBy their\nfruits ye shall know them,\u201d is a rule that admits of no exceptions. If\nevil fruits appear, the tree is corrupt.\n\nSpiritualism has made unbounded promises of good. It has claimed to be the\nlong-promised second coming of Christ; the opening of a new era among\nmankind; the rosy portal of a golden age, when all men should be reformed,\nevil disappear, and the renovation of society cause the hearts of men to\nleap for joy, and the earth to blossom as the rose.\n\nHas it fulfilled all, or any, of these promises? If not, is it not a\ndeception? and if a deception, considering its wide-spread influence, and\nthe number of its adherents, is it not one of the most gigantic and\nappalling deceptions that has ever fallen upon Christendom? The Bible in\nthe plainest terms, declares that in the last days malign influences will\nbe let loose upon the world; false pretensions will be urged upon the\nminds of men; and deceptions, backed up by preternatural signs and\nwonders, will develop to such a degree of strength, that, if it were\npossible, they would deceive the very elect. Is it possible that\nSpiritualism may be the very development of evil, against which this\nwarning is directed?\n\nTo investigate these questions, and to show by unimpeachable testimony,\nwhat Spiritualism is, and the place it holds among the psychological\nmovements of the present day, is the object of these pages. Not a few\nbooks have been written against Spiritualism; but most of them endeavor to\naccount for it on the ground of human jugglery and imposture, or on\nnatural principles, the discovery of a new and heretofore occult force in\nnature, etc., from which great things may be expected in the future. But\nrarely has any one discussed it from the standpoint of prophecy, and the\ntestimony of the Scriptures, the only point of view, as we believe, from\nwhich its true origin, nature, and tendency, can be ascertained.\n\nMany features in the work of Spiritualism would seem to indicate that the\nsource from which it springs is far from good; but it is based upon a\nchurch dogma, firmly established through all Christendom, which in many\nminds is of sufficient weight to overbalance considerations that would\notherwise be considered ample grounds for shunning or renouncing it. It is\ntherefore the more necessary that the reader, in examining this question,\nshould let the bonds that have heretofore bound him to preconceived\nopinions, sit loose upon him, and that he should put himself in the mood\nof Dr. Channing when he said: \u201cI must choose to receive the truth, no\nmatter how it bears upon myself, and must follow it no matter where it\nleads, from what party it severs me, or to what party it allies.\u201d And he\nshould remember also, as the eminent and pious Dr. Vinet once sagaciously\nobserved, that \u201ceven now, after eighteen centuries of Christianity, we are\nvery probably involved in some enormous error, of which Christianity will,\nin some future time, make us ashamed.\u201d\n\nIn view, therefore, of the importance of this question, and the tremendous\nissues that hang on the decisions we may make in these perilous times, we\nfeel justified even in _adjuring_ the reader to canvass this subject with\nan inflexible determination to learn the truth, and then to follow it\nwherever it may lead.\n\nU. S.\n_Battle Creek, Mich., 1897._\n\n\n\n\n\n                               Chapter One.\n\n\nOPENING THOUGHT.\n\n\nWhat think ye? Whence is it\u2014from heaven or of men? Such was the nature of\nthe question addressed by our Saviour to the men of his time, concerning\nthe baptism of John. It is the crucial question by which to test every\nsystem that comes to us in the garb of religion: Is it from heaven or of\nmen? And if a true answer to the question can be found, it must determine\nour attitude toward it; for if it is from heaven, it challenges at once\nour acceptance and profound regard, but if it is of men, sooner or later,\nin this world or in the world to come, it will be destroyed with all its\nfollowers; for our Saviour has declared that every plant which our\nheavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up. Matt. 15:13.\n\nTo those who do not believe in any \u201cheavenly Father,\u201d nor in \u201cChrist the\nSaviour,\u201d nor in any \u201crevealed word of God,\u201d we would say that these\npoints will be assumed in this work rather than directly argued, though\nmany incidental proofs will appear, to which we trust our friends will be\npleased to give some consideration. But we address ourselves particularly\nto those who still have faith in God the Father of all; in his divine Son,\nour Lord Jesus Christ, through whose blood we have redemption; in the\nBible as the inspired revelation of God\u2019s will; and in the Holy Spirit as\nthe enlightener of the mind, and the sanctifier of the soul. To all those\nto whom this position is common ground, the Bible will be the standard of\nauthority, and the court of last appeal, in the study upon which we now\nenter.\n\n\n\n\nA Manifestation of Power.\n\n\nSpiritualism cannot be disposed of with a sneer. A toss of the head and a\ncry of \u201chumbug,\u201d will not suffice to meet its claims and the testimony of\ncareful, conservative men who have studied thoroughly into the genuineness\nof its manifestations, and have sought for the secret of its power, and\nhave become satisfied as to the one, and been wholly baffled as to the\nother. That there have been abundant instances of attempted fraud,\ndeception, jugglery, and imposition, is not to be denied. But this does\nnot by any means set aside the fact that there have been manifestations of\nmore than human power, the evidence for which has never been impeached.\nThe detection of a few sham mediums, who are trying to impose upon the\ncredulity of the public, for money, may satisfy the careless and\nunthinking, that the whole affair is a humbug. Such will dismiss the\nmatter from their minds, and depart, easier subjects to be captured by the\nmovement when some manifestation appears for which they can find no\nexplanation. But the more thoughtful and careful observers well know that\nthe exposure of these mountebanks does not account for the numberless\nmanifestations of power, and the steady current of phenomena, utterly\ninexplicable on any human hypothesis, which have attended the movement\nfrom the beginning.\n\nThe Philadelphia _North American_, of July 31, 1885, published a\ncommunication from Thomas R. Hazard, in which he says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cBut Spiritualism, whatever may be thought of it, must be\n    recognized as a fact. It is one of the characteristic intellectual\n    or emotional phenomena of the times, and as such, it is deserving\n    of a more serious examination than it has yet received. There are\n    those who say it is all humbug, and that everything outside of the\n    ordinary course which takes place at the so-called s\u00e9ances, is the\n    direct result of fraudulent and deliberative imposture; in short,\n    that every Spiritualist must be either a fool or a knave. The\n    serious objection to this hypothesis is that the explanation is\n    almost as difficult of belief as the occurrences which it\n    explains. There must certainly be some Spiritualists who are both\n    honest and intelligent; and if the manifestations at the s\u00e9ances\n    were altogether and invariably fraudulent, surely the whole thing\n    must have collapsed long before this; and the Seybert Commission,\n    which finds it necessary to extend its investigations over an\n    indefinite period, which will certainly not be less than a year,\n    would have been able to sweep the delusion away in short order.\u201d\n\n\nThe phenomena are so well known, that it is unnecessary to recount them\nhere. Among them may be mentioned such achievements as these: Various\narticles have been transported from place to place, without human hands,\nbut by the agency of so-called spirits only; beautiful music has been\nproduced independently of human agency, with and without the aid of\nvisible instruments; many well-attested cases of healing have been\npresented; persons have been carried through the air by the spirits in the\npresence of many witnesses; tables have been suspended in the air with\nseveral persons upon them; purported spirits have presented themselves in\nbodily form and talked with an audible voice; and all this not once or\ntwice merely, but times without number, as may be gathered from the\nrecords of Spiritualism, all through its history.\n\nA few particular instances, as samples, it may be allowable to notice: Not\nmany years since, Joseph Cook made his memorable tour around the world. In\nEurope he met the famous German philosopher, Professor Z\u00f6llner. Mr.\nZ\u00f6llner had been carefully investigating the phenomena of Spiritualism,\nand assured Mr. Cook of the following occurrences as facts, under his own\nobservation: Knots had been found tied in the middle of cords, by some\ninvisible agency, while both ends were made securely fast, so that they\ncould not be tampered with; messages were written between doubly and\ntrebly sealed slates; coin had passed through a table in a manner to\nillustrate the suspension of the laws of impenetrability of matter; straps\nof leather were knotted under his own hand; the impression of two feet was\ngiven on sooted paper pasted inside of two sealed slates; whole and\nuninjured wooden rings were placed around the standard of a card table,\nover either end of which they could by no possibility be slipped; and\nfinally the table itself, a heavy beechen structure, wholly disappeared,\nand then fell from the top of the room where Professor Z\u00f6llner and his\nfriends were sitting.\n\nIn further confirmation of the fact that real spiritualistic\nmanifestations are no sleight-of-hand performances, we cite the case of\nHarry Kellar, a professional performer, as given in \u201cNineteenth Century\nMiracles,\u201d p. 213. The s\u00e9ance was held with the medium, Eglinton, in\nCalcutta, India, Jan. 25, 1882. He says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cIt is needless to say that I went as a skeptic; but I must own\n    that I have come away utterly unable to explain by any natural\n    means the phenomena that I witnessed on Tuesday evening.\u201d\n\n\nHe then describes the particulars of the s\u00e9ance. An intelligence,\npurporting to be the spirit of one Geary, gave a communication. Mr. Kellar\ndid not recognize the name nor recall the man. The message was repeated,\nwith the added circumstances of the time and particulars of a previous\nmeeting, when Mr. Kellar recalled the events, and, much to his surprise,\nthe whole matter came clearly to his recollection. He then adds:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI still remain a skeptic as regards Spiritualism, but I repeat my\n    inability to explain or account for what must have been an\n    intelligent force which produced the writing on the slate, which,\n    if my senses are to be relied on, was in no way the result of\n    trickery or sleight-of-hand.\u201d\n\n\nAnother instance from \u201cHome Circle,\u201d p. 25, is that of Mr. Bellachini,\nalso a professional conjuror, of Berlin, Germany. His interview was with\nthe celebrated medium, Mr. Slade. From his testimony we quote the\nfollowing:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI have not, in the smallest degree, found anything to be produced\n    by prestidigitative manifestations or mechanical apparatus; and\n    any explanation of the experiments which took place under the\n    circumstances and conditions then obtaining, by any reference to\n    prestidigitation, is _absolutely impossible_. I declare, moreover,\n    the published opinions of laymen as to the \u2018How\u2019 of this subject,\n    to be premature, and according to my views and experience, false\n    and one-sided.\u201d\u2014_Dated, Berlin, Dec. 6, 1877._\n\n\nWhen professional conjurors bear such testimony as this, while it does not\nprove Spiritualism to be what it claims to be, it does disprove the humbug\ntheory.\n\nIn addition to this, it appears that two propositions, one of $2000, and\nthe other of $5000, have been offered to the one who claimed to be able to\nduplicate all the manifestations of Spiritualism, to duplicate two\nwell-authenticated tests; but the challenge has never been accepted, nor\nthe reward claimed. See _Religio-Philosophical Journal_, of Jan. 15, 1881,\nand January, 1883.\n\nA writer in the _Spiritual Clarion_, in an article on \u201cThe Millennium of\nSpiritualism,\u201d bears the following testimony in regard to the power and\nstrength of the movement:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThis revelation has been with a power, a might, that if divested\n    of its almost universal benevolence, had been a terror to the very\n    soul; the hair of the very bravest had stood on end, and his\n    chilled blood had crept back upon his heart, at the sights and\n    sounds of its inexplicable phenomena. It comes with foretokening\n    and warning. It has been, from the very first, its own best\n    prophet, and step by step, it has foretold the progress it would\n    make. It comes, too, most triumphant. No faith before it ever took\n    such a victorious stand in its very infancy. It has swept like a\n    hurricane of fire through the land, compelling faith from the\n    baffled scoffer, and the most determined doubter.\u201d\n\n\nDr. W. F. Barrett, Professor of Experimental Physics in the Royal College\nof Dublin, says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cIt is well known to those who have made the phenomena of\n    Spiritualism the subject of prolonged and careful inquiry, in the\n    spirit of exact and unimpassioned scientific research, that\n    beneath a repellent mass of imposture and delusion there remain\n    certain inexplicable and startling facts which science can neither\n    explain away nor deny.\u201d\u2014_\u201c__Automatic, or Spirit, Writing,__\u201d__ p.\n    11 (1896)._\n\n\nIn the _Arena_ of November, 1892, p. 688, Mr. M. J. Savage, the noted\nUnitarian minister of Boston, says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cNext comes what are ordinarily classed together as \u2018mediumistic\n    phenomena.\u2019 The most important of these are psychometry, \u2018vision\u2019\n    of \u2018spirit\u2019 forms, claimed communications by means of rappings,\n    table movements, automatic writing, independent writing, trance\n    speaking, etc. With them also ought to be noted what are generally\n    called physical phenomena, though in most cases, since they are\n    intelligibly directed, the use of the word \u2018physical,\u2019 without\n    this qualification, might be misleading. These physical phenomena\n    include such facts as the movement of material objects by other\n    than the ordinary muscular force, the making objects heavier or\n    lighter when tested by the scales, the playing on musical\n    instruments by some invisible power, etc.... Now all of these\n    referred to (with the exception of independent writing, and\n    materialization) I know to be genuine. I do not at all mean by\n    this that I know that the \u2018spiritualistic\u2019 interpretation of them\n    is the true one. I mean only that they are genuine phenomena; that\n    they have occurred; that they are not tricks or the result of\n    fraud.\u201d\n\n\nIn the _Forum_ of December, 1889, p. 455, the same writer describes his\nexperience at the house of a friend with whom he had been acquainted eight\nor ten years. When about to depart, he thought he would try an experiment.\nHe says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cShe and I stood at opposite ends of the table at which we had\n    been sitting. Both of us having placed the tips of our fingers\n    lightly on the top of the table, I spoke, as if addressing some\n    unseen force connected with the table, and said: \u2018Now I must go;\n    will you not accompany me to the door?\u2019 The door was ten or\n    fifteen feet distant, and was closed. The table started. It had no\n    casters, and in order to make it move as it did, we should have\n    had to go behind and push it. As a matter of fact we led it, while\n    it accompanied us all the way, and struck against the door with\n    considerable force.\u201d\n\n\nFrom the same article, p. 456, we quote again:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI add one more experiment of my own. I sat one day in a heavy,\n    stuffed armchair. The psychic sat beside me, and laying his hand\n    on the back of the chair, gradually raised it. Immediately I felt\n    and saw myself, chair and all, lifted into the air at least one\n    foot from the floor. There was no uneven motion implying any sense\n    of effort on the part of the lifting force; and I was gently\n    lowered again to the carpet. This was in broad light, in a hotel\n    parlor, and in presence of a keen-eyed lawyer friend. I could\n    plainly watch the whole thing. No man living could have lifted me\n    in such a position, and besides, I saw that the psychic made not\n    the slightest apparent effort. Nor was there any machinery or\n    preparation of any kind. My companion, the lawyer, on going away,\n    speaking in reference to the whole sitting, said: \u2018I\u2019ve seen\n    enough evidence to hang every man in the State\u2014enough to prove\n    _anything excepting this_.\u2019\n\n\n    \u201cProfessor Crookes, of London, relates having seen and heard an\n    accordion played on while it was enclosed in a wire net-work, and\n    not touched by any visible hand. I have seen an approach to the\n    same thing. In daylight I have seen a man hold an accordion in the\n    air, not more than three feet away from me. He held it by one\n    hand, grasping the side opposite to that on which the keys were\n    fixed. In this position, it, or something, played long tunes, the\n    side containing the keys being pushed in and drawn out without any\n    contact that I could see. I then said, \u2018Will it not play for me?\u2019\n    The reply was, \u2018I don\u2019t know: you can try it.\u2019 I then took the\n    accordion in my hands. There was no music; but what did occur was\n    quite as inexplicable to me, and quite as convincing as a display\n    of some kind of power. I know not how to express it, except by\n    saying that the accordion was seized as if by some one trying to\n    take it away from me. To test this power, I grasped the instrument\n    with both hands. The struggle was as real as though my antagonist\n    was another man. I succeeded in keeping it, but only by the most\n    strenuous efforts.\n\n\n    \u201cOn another occasion I was sitting with a \u2018medium.\u2019 I was too far\n    away for him to reach me, even had he tried, which he did not do;\n    for he sat perfectly quiet. My knees were not under the table, but\n    were where I could see them plainly. Suddenly my right knee was\n    grasped as by a hand. It was a firm grip. I could feel the print\n    and pressure of all the fingers. I said not a word of the strange\n    sensation, but quietly put my right hand down and clasped my knee\n    in order to see if I could feel anything on my hand. At once I\n    felt what seemed like the most delicate finger tips playing over\n    my own fingers and gradually rising in their touches toward my\n    wrist. When this was reached, I felt a series of clear, distinct,\n    and definite pats, as though made by a hand of fleshy vigor. I\n    made no motion to indicate what was going on, and said not a word\n    until the sensation had passed. All this while I was carefully\n    watching my hand, for it was plain daylight, and it was in full\n    view; but I saw nothing.\u201d\n\n\nWe need not multiply evidence on this point. A remark by T. J. Hudson\n(\u201cLaw of Psychic Phenomena,\u201d p. 206, McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1894) may\nfitly close this division of the subject. He says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI will not waste time, however, by attempting to prove by\n    experiments of my own, or of others, that such phenomena do occur.\n    It is too late for that. The facts are too well known to the\n    civilized world to require proof at this time. The man who denies\n    the phenomena of spiritism to-day is not entitled to be called a\n    skeptic, he is simply ignorant; and it would be a hopeless task to\n    attempt to enlighten him.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nA Manifestation of Intelligence.\n\n\nFrom the testimony already given it is evident that there is connected\nwith Spiritualism an agency that is able to manifest power and strength\nbeyond anything that human beings, unaided, are able to exert. It is just\nas evident that the same agency possesses intelligence beyond the power of\nhuman minds. Indeed, this was the very feature that first brought it to\nthe attention of the public. Spiritualism, as the reader is doubtless\naware, originated in the family of Mr. John D. Fox, in Hydesville, near\nRochester, N. Y., in the spring of 1848. Robert Dale Owen, in his work\ncalled \u201cFootfalls on the Boundary of Another World,\u201d p. 290, has given a\nfull narration of the circumstances attending this remarkable event. The\nparticulars, he states, he had from Mrs. Fox, and her two daughters,\nMargaret and Kate, and son, David. The attention of the family had been\nattracted by strange noises which finally assumed the form of raps, or\nmuffled footfalls, and became very annoying. Chairs were sometimes moved\nfrom their places, and this was once also the case with the dining-room\ntable. Heard occasionally during February, the disturbance so increased\nduring the latter part of March, as seriously to break the nightly repose\nof the family. But as these annoyances occurred only in the night-time,\nall the family hoped that soon, by some means, the mystery would be\ncleared away. They did not abandon this hope till Friday, the 31st of\nMarch, 1848. Wearied by a succession of sleepless nights, the family\nretired early, hoping for a respite from the disturbances that had\nharassed them. In this they were doomed to especial disappointment. We can\ndo no better than to let Mr. Owen continue the narrative, in his own\nwords:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe parents had removed the children\u2019s beds into their bedroom,\n    and strictly enjoined them not to talk of noises, even if they\n    heard them. But scarcely had the mother seen them safely in bed,\n    and was retiring to rest herself, when the children cried out,\n    \u2018Here they are again!\u2019 The mother chided them, and lay down.\n    Thereupon the noises became louder and more startling. The\n    children sat up in bed. Mrs. Fox called her husband. The night\n    being windy, it was suggested to him that it might be the rattling\n    of the sashes. He tried several to see if they were loose. Kate,\n    the younger girl, happened to remark that as often as her father\n    shook a window-sash, the noises seemed to reply. Being a lively\n    child, and in a measure accustomed to what was going on, she\n    turned to where the noise was, snapped her fingers, and called\n    out, \u2018Here, old Splitfoot, do as I do!\u2019 The knocking instantly\n    responded.\n\n\n    \u201c_That was the very commencement. Who can tell where the end will\n    be?_\n\n\n    \u201cI do not mean that it was Kate Fox, who thus, in childish jest,\n    first discovered that these mysterious sounds seemed instinct with\n    intelligence. Mr. Mompesson, two hundred years ago, had already\n    observed a similar phenomenon. Glanvil had verified it. So had\n    Wesley, and his children. So we have seen, and others. But in all\n    these cases the matter rested there and the observation was not\n    prosecuted further. As, previous to the invention of the steam\n    engine, sundry observers had trodden the very threshold of the\n    discovery and there stopped, so in this case, where the royal\n    chaplain, disciple though he was of the inductive philosophy, and\n    where the founder of Methodism, admitting, as he did, the\n    probabilities of ultramundane interference, were both at fault, a\n    Yankee girl, but nine years old, following up more in sport than\n    in earnest, a chance observation, became the instigator of a\n    movement which, whatever its true character, has had its influence\n    throughout the civilized world. The spark had been ignited,\u2014once\n    at least two centuries ago; but it had died each time without\n    effect. It kindled no flame till the middle of the nineteenth\n    century.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd yet how trifling the step from the observation at Tedworth to\n    the discovery at Hydesville! Mr. Mompesson, in bed with his little\n    daughter (about Kate\u2019s age), whom the sound seemed chiefly to\n    follow, \u2018observed that it would exactly answer, in drumming,\n    anything that was beaten or called for.\u2019 But his curiosity led him\n    no further.\n\n\n    \u201cNot so Kate Fox. She tried, by silently bringing together her\n    thumb and forefinger; whether she could obtain a response. Yes! It\n    could _see_, then, as well as _hear_. She called her mother. \u2018Only\n    look, mother,\u2019 she said, bringing together again her finger and\n    thumb, as before. And as often as she repeated the noiseless\n    motion, just as often responded the raps.\n\n\n    \u201cThis at once arrested her mother\u2019s attention. \u2018Count ten,\u2019 she\n    said, addressing the noise. Ten strokes, distinctly given! \u2018How\n    old is my daughter Margaret?\u2019 Twelve strokes. \u2018And Kate?\u2019 Nine.\n    \u2018What can all this mean?\u2019 was Mrs. Fox\u2019s thought. Who was\n    answering her? Was it only some mysterious echo of her own\n    thought? But the next question which she put seemed to refute the\n    idea. \u2018How many children have I?\u2019 she asked aloud. Seven strokes.\n    \u2018Ah!\u2019 she thought, \u2018it can blunder sometimes.\u2019 And then aloud,\n    \u2018Try again.\u2019 Still the number of raps was seven. Of a sudden a\n    thought crossed Mrs. Fox\u2019s mind. \u2018Are they all alive?\u2019 she asked.\n    Silence for answer. \u2018How many are living?\u2019 Six strokes. \u2018How many\n    are dead?\u2019 A single stroke. _She had lost a child._\n\n\n    \u201cThen she asked, \u2018Are you a man?\u2019 No answer. \u2018Are you a spirit?\u2019\n    It rapped. \u2018May my neighbors hear, if I call them?\u2019 It rapped\n    again.\n\n\n    \u201cThereupon she asked her husband to call her neighbor, a Mrs.\n    Redfield, who came in laughing. But her cheer was soon changed.\n    The answers to her inquiries were as prompt and pertinent, as they\n    had been to those of Mrs. Fox. She was struck with awe; and when,\n    in reply to a question about the number of her children, by\n    rapping four, instead of three, as she expected, it reminded her\n    of a little daughter, Mary, whom she had recently lost, the mother\n    burst into tears.\u201d\n\n\nWe have introduced this narrative thus at length not only because it is\ninteresting in itself, but because it is of special interest that all the\nparticulars of the origin, or beginning, of such a movement as this,\nshould be well understood. The following paragraph will explain how it\ncame to be called \u201cThe Rochester Knockings,\u201d under which name it first\nbecame widely known. It is from the \u201cReport of the 37th Anniversary of\nModern Spiritualism,\u201d held in Brooklyn, N. Y., March 31, 1885, and\nreported in the _Banner of Light_, the 25th of the following month:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cAfter a song by J. T. Lillie, Mrs. Leah Fox Underhill, the elder\n    of the three Fox sisters (who was on our platform), was requested\n    to speak. Mrs. Underhill said that she was not a public speaker,\n    but would answer any questions from the audience, and in response\n    to these questions told in a graphic manner how the spirits came\n    to their humble home in Hydesville, in 1848; how on the 31st of\n    March the first intelligent communication from the spirit world\n    came through the raps; how the family had been annoyed by the\n    manifestations, and by the notoriety that followed; how the\n    younger sisters, Catherine and Margaret, were taken to Rochester,\n    where she lived, by their mother, hoping that this great and\n    apparent calamity might pass from them; how their father and\n    mother prayed that this cup might be taken away, but the phenomena\n    became more marked and violent; how in the morning they would find\n    four coffins drawn with an artistic hand on the door of the\n    dining-room of her home in Rochester, of different sizes,\n    approximating to the ages and sizes of the family, and these were\n    lined with a pink color, and they were told that unless they made\n    this great fact known, they would all speedily die, and enter the\n    spirit-world.\n\n\n    \u201cGladly would they all have accepted this penalty for their\n    disobedience in not making this truth known to the world. She told\n    how they were compelled to hire Corinthian Hall in Rochester; how\n    several public meetings were held in Rochester, culminating in the\n    selection of a committee of prominent infidels, who, after\n    submitting the Fox children to the most severe tests,\u2014they being\n    disrobed in the presence of a committee of ladies,\u2014reported in\n    their favor.... All the time she was on our platform, there was a\n    continuous rapping by the spirits in response to what was being\n    said by the several speakers, also in response to the singing, and\n    all our exercises.\u201d\n\n\nIn the same volume of the _Forum_ from which quotations have already been\nmade, M. J. Savage states many facts which have a determinate bearing on\nthe point now under consideration; namely, the intelligence manifested in\nthe spiritual phenomena. From these we quote a few. He says (p. 452 and\nonward):\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI am in possession of quite a large body of apparent facts that I\n    do not know what to do with.... That certain things to me\n    inexplicable have occurred, I believe. The negative opinion of\n    some one with whom no such things have occurred, will not satisfy\n    me.... I am ready to submit some specimens of those things that\n    constitute my problem. They can be only specimens; for a detailed\n    account of even half of those I have laid by, would stretch to the\n    limits of a book.\n\n\n    \u201cA merchant ship bound for New York was on her homeward voyage.\n    She was in the Indian Ocean. The captain was engaged to be married\n    to a lady living in New England. One day early in the afternoon he\n    came, pale and excited, to one of his mates, and exclaimed, \u2018Tom,\n    Kate has just died! I have seen her die!\u2019 The mate looked at him\n    in amazement, not knowing what to make of such talk. But the\n    captain went on and described the whole scene\u2014the room, her\n    appearance, how she died, and all the circumstances. So real was\n    it to him, and such was the effect on him, of his grief, that for\n    two or three weeks, he was carefully watched lest he should do\n    violence to himself. It was more than one hundred and fifty days\n    before the ship reached her harbor. During all this time no news\n    was received from home. But when at last the ship arrived at New\n    York, it was found that Kate did die at the time and under the\n    circumstances seen and described by the captain off the coast of\n    India. This is only one case out of hundreds. What does it mean?\n    Coincidence? Just happened so? This might be said of one; but a\n    hundred of such coincidences become inexplicable.\u201d\n\n\nThe following is another instance mentioned by the same writer:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI went to the house of a woman in New York. She was not a\n    professional. We had never seen each other before. We took seats\n    in the parlor for a talk, I not looking for any manifestation.\n    Raps began. I do not say whether they were really where they\n    seemed to be or not; I know right well that the judgment is\n    subject to illusion through the senses. But I was told a \u2018spirit\n    friend\u2019 was present; and soon the name, time, and place of death,\n    etc., were given me. It was the name of a friend I had once known\n    intimately. But twenty years had passed since the old intimacy;\n    she had lived in another State; I am certain that she and the\n    psychic had never known or even heard of each other. She had died\n    within a few months.\u201d\n\n\nMr. Savage then gives examples where the power in question was exclusively\nmental:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe first time I was ever in the presence of a particular\n    psychic, she went into a trance. She had never seen, and, so far\n    as I know, had never had any way of hearing of my father, who had\n    died some years previously. When I was a boy, he always called me\n    by a special name that was never used by any other member of the\n    family. In later years he hardly ever used it. But the entranced\n    psychic said: \u2018An old gentleman is here,\u2019 and she described\n    certain very marked peculiarities. Then she added: \u2018He says he is\n    your father, and he calls you \u2014\u2014,\u2019 using the old childhood name of\n    mine.\u201d\n\n\nAgain, same page:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cOne case more, only, will I mention under this head. A most\n    intimate friend of my youth had recently died. She had lived in\n    another State, and the psychic did not know that such a person had\n    ever existed. We were sitting alone when this old friend announced\n    her presence. It was in this way: A letter of two pages was\n    automatically written, addressed to me. I thought to myself as I\n    read it,\u2014I did not speak,\u2014\u2018Were it possible, I should feel sure\n    she had written this.\u2019 I then said, as though speaking to her,\n    \u2018Will you not give me your name?\u2019 It was given, both maiden and\n    married name. I then began a conversation lasting over an hour,\n    which seemed as real as any I ever have with my friends. She told\n    me of her children, of her sisters. We talked over the events of\n    boyhood and girlhood. I asked her if she remembered a book we used\n    to read together, and she gave me the author\u2019s name. I asked again\n    if she remembered the particular poem we were both specially fond\n    of, and she named it at once. In the letter that was written, and\n    in much of the conversation, there were apparent hints of\n    identity, little touches and peculiarities that would mean much to\n    an acquaintance, but nothing to a stranger. I could not but be\n    much impressed. Now in this case, I know that the psychic never\n    knew of this person\u2019s existence, and of course not of our\n    acquaintance.\u201d\n\n\nMr. Savage then mentions cases which he calls still more inexplicable,\nbecause the information conveyed was not known either to the psychic\n(which seems to be the new name for medium) or to himself. He says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cBut one more case dare I take the space for, though the budget is\n    only opened. This one did not happen to me, but it is so hedged\n    about and checked off, that its evidential value in a scientific\n    way is absolutely perfect. The names of some of the parties\n    concerned _would be recognized in two hemispheres_. A lady and\n    gentleman visited a psychic. The gentleman was the lady\u2019s\n    brother-in-law. The lady had an aunt who was ill in a city two or\n    three hundred miles away. When the psychic had become entranced,\n    the lady asked her if she had any impression as to the condition\n    of her aunt. The reply was, \u2018No.\u2019 But before the sitting was over,\n    the psychic exclaimed, \u2018Why, your aunt is here! She has already\n    passed away.\u2019 \u2018This cannot be true,\u2019 said the lady; \u2018there must be\n    a mistake. If she had died, they would have telegraphed us\n    immediately.\u2019 \u2018But,\u2019 the psychic insisted, \u2018she is here. And she\n    explains that she died about two o\u2019clock this morning. She also\n    says that a telegram has been sent, and you will find it at the\n    house on your return.\u2019\n\n\n    \u201cHere seemed a clear case for a test. So while the lady started\n    for her home, her brother-in-law called at the house of a friend\n    and told the story. While there the husband came in. Having been\n    away for some hours he had not heard of any telegram. But the\n    friend seated himself at his desk and wrote out a careful account,\n    which all three signed on the spot. When they reached home,\u2014two or\n    three miles away,\u2014there was the telegram confirming the fact and\n    the time of the aunt\u2019s death, precisely as the psychic had told\n    them.\n\n\n    \u201cHere are most wonderful facts. How shall they be accounted for? I\n    have not trusted my memory for these things, but have made careful\n    record at the time. I know many other records of a similar kind\n    kept by others. They are kept private. Why? The late Rev. J. G.\n    Wood, of England, the world-famous naturalist, once said to me: \u2018I\n    am glad to talk of these things to any one who has a right to\n    know. But I used to call everybody a fool who had anything to do\n    with them; and with a smile\u2014\u201cI do not enjoy being called a\n    fool.\u201d \u2019\n\n\n    \u201cPsychic and other societies that advertise for strange phenomena,\n    must learn that at least a respectful treatment is to be accorded,\n    or people will not lay bare their secret souls. And then, in the\n    very nature of the case, these experiments concern matters of the\n    most personal nature. Many of the most striking cases people will\n    not make public. In some of those above related, I have had so to\n    veil facts, that they do not appear as remarkable as they really\n    are. The whole cannot be told.\u201d\n\n\nA quotation from this same writer (\u201cAutomatic Writing,\u201d page 14), says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI am in possession of a respectable body of facts that I do not\n    know how to explain except on the theory that I am dealing with\n    some invisible intelligence. I hold that as the only tenable\n    theory I am acquainted with.\u201d\n\n\nIn the same work (page 19), the author, Mrs. S. A. Underwood, as the\nresult of her communications from spirits, says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cDetailed statements of facts unknown to either of us [that is,\n    herself and her \u2018control\u2019], but which weeks afterward were learned\n    to be correct, have been written, and repeated again and again,\n    when disbelieved and contradicted by us.\u201d\n\n\nOn this point, also, as on the preceding, testimony need not be\nmultiplied. The facts are too well known and too generally admitted to\nwarrant the devotion of further space to a presentation of the evidence.\n_The question must soon be met, What is the source of the power and\nintelligence thus manifested?_ But this may properly be held in abeyance\ntill we take a glance at:\n\n\n\n\nThe Progress of Spiritualism.\n\n\nduring the fifty years of its modern history. It began in a way to excite\nthe wonder and curiosity of the people, the very elements that would give\nwings to its progress through the land. Men suddenly found their thoughts\ncareering through new channels. An unseen world seemed to make known its\npresence and invite investigation. As the phenomena claimed to be due to\nthe direct agency of spirits, the movement naturally assumed the name of\n\u201cSpiritualism.\u201d It was then hailed by multitudes as a new and living\nteacher, come to clear up uncertainties and to dispel doubts from the\nminds of men. At least an irrepressible curiosity was everywhere excited\nto know what the new \u201cism\u201d would teach concerning that invisible world\nwhich it professed to have come to open to the knowledge of mankind.\nEverywhere men sought by what means they could come into communication\nwith the spirit realm. Into whatever place the news entered, circles were\nformed, and the number of converts outstripped the pen of the enroller. It\ngathered adherents from every walk of life\u2014from the higher classes as well\nas the lower; the educated, cultured, and refined, as well as the\nuncultivated and ignorant; from ministers, lawyers, physicians, judges,\nteachers, government officials, and all the professions. But the\nindividuals thus interested, being of too diverse and independent views to\nagree upon any permanent basis for organization, the data for numerical\nstatistics are difficult to procure. Various estimates, however, of their\nnumbers have been formed. As long ago as 1876, computations of the number\nof Spiritualists in the United States ranged from 3,000,000 by Hepworth\nDixon, to 10,000,000 by the Roman Catholic council at Baltimore. Only five\nyears from the time the first convert to Modern Spiritualism appeared,\nJudge Edmonds, himself an enthusiastic convert, said of their numbers:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cBesides the undistinguished multitudes, there are many now of\n    high standing and talent ranked among them,\u2014doctors, lawyers, and\n    clergymen in great numbers, a Protestant bishop, the learned and\n    reverend president of a college, judges of our higher courts,\n    members of Congress, foreign ambassadors, and ex-members of the\n    United States Senate.\u201d\n\n\nUp to the present time, it is not probable that the number of\nSpiritualists has been much reduced by apostasies from the faith, if such\nit may be called; while the movement itself has been growing more\nprominent and becoming more widely known every year. The conclusion would\ntherefore inevitably follow that its adherents must now be more numerous\nthan ever before. A letter addressed by the writer to the publishers of\nthe _Philosophical Journal_, Chicago, on this point, received the\nfollowing reply, dated Dec. 24, 1895:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cBeing unorganized, largely, no reliable figures can be given.\n    Many thousands are in the churches, and are counted there. It is\n    _claimed_ that there are about five million in the United States,\n    and over fifty million in the world.\u201d\n\n\nThe _Christian at Work_ of Aug. 17, 1876, under the head of \u201cWitches and\nFools,\u201d said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cBut we do not know how many judges, bankers, merchants, prominent\n    men in nearly every occupation in life, there are, who make it a\n    constant practice to visit clairvoyants, sightseers, and so-called\n    Spiritual mediums; yet it can scarcely be doubted that their name\n    is legion; that not only the unreligious man, but professing\n    Christians, men and women, are in the habit of consulting spirits\n    from the vasty deep for information concerning both the dead and\n    the living. Many who pass for intelligent people, who would be\n    shocked to have their Christianity called in question, are\n    constantly engaged in this disreputable business.\u201d\n\n\nThe following appeared some years ago, in the San Francisco _Chronicle_:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cUntil quite recently, science has coldly ignored the alleged\n    phenomena of Spiritualism, and treated Andrew Jackson Davis, Home,\n    and the Davenport brothers, as if they belonged to the common\n    fraternity of showmen and mountebanks. But now there has come a\n    most noteworthy change. We learn from such high authority as the\n    _Fortnightly Review_ that Alfred R. Wallace, F. R. S.; William\n    Crookes, F. R. S. and editor of the _Quarterly Journal of\n    Science_; W. H. Harrison, F. R. S. and president of the British\n    Ethnological Society, with others occupying a high position in the\n    scientific and literary world, have been seriously investigating\n    the phenomena of spiritism. The report which those learned\n    gentlemen make is simply astounding. There is no fairy tale, no\n    story of myth or miracle, that is more incredible than their\n    narrative. They tell us in grave and sober speech, that the spirit\n    of a girl who died a hundred years ago, appeared to them in\n    visible form. She talked with them, gave them locks of her hair,\n    pieces of her dress, and her autograph. They saw her in bodily\n    presence, felt her person, heard her voice; she entered the room\n    in which they were, and disappeared without the opening of a door.\n    The savants declare that they have had numerous interviews with\n    her under conditions forbidding the idea of trickery or imposture.\n\n\n    \u201cNow that men eminent in the scientific world have taken up the\n    investigation, Spiritualism has entered upon a new phase. It can\n    no longer be treated with silent contempt. Mr. Wallace\u2019s articles\n    in the _Fortnightly_ have attracted general attention, and many of\n    the leading English reviews and newspapers are discussing the\n    matter. The New York _World_ devotes three columns of its space to\n    a summary of the last article in the _Fortnightly_, and declares\n    editorially that the \u2018phenomena\u2019 thus attested \u2018deserve the rigid\n    scientific examination which Mr. Wallace invites for them.\u2019 This\n    is treating the matter in the right way. Let all the well-attested\n    facts be collected, and then let us see what conclusions they\n    justify. If spirit communication is a fact, it is certainly a most\n    interesting one. In the language which the World attributes to\n    John Bright, \u2018If it is a fact, it is the one besides which every\n    other fact of human existence sinks into insignificance.\u2019 \u201d\n\n\nOne of the reasons why it would be quite impossible to state the number of\nreal Spiritualists in our land to-day has already been hinted at in a\nforegoing extract. It is that \u201cmany thousands,\u201d and we think the number\nmight in all probability be raised to millions, who are in reality\nSpiritualists, do not go by that name. They are in the various churches,\nand are counted there. Yet they believe the phenomena of Spiritualism,\naccept its teachings in their own minds, and quietly and constantly, as\nthe _Christian at Work_ avers, consult clairvoyants and mediums, in quest\nof knowledge. The grosser features of the teachings of Spiritualism which\nwere painfully prominent in its earlier stages, which there is no reason\nto believe are discountenanced or abandoned either in theory or practice,\nare relegated to an invisible background, while in its outward aspect it\nnow poses in the attitude of piety and the garb of religion. It even\nprofesses to adopt some of the more prominent and popular doctrines of\nChristianity. In this phase the average churchgoer cannot see why he may\nnot accept all that Spiritualism has to give, and still retain his\ndenominational relationship. Besides this, the coming to light, every now\nand then, of the fact that some person of national or world-wide fame is a\nSpiritualist, adds popularity and gives a new impetus to the movement.\nSuch instances may be named as the founder of the Leland Stanford\nUniversity, of California; the widow of ex-Vice-President Hendricks, of\nIndiana, who, it is said, is carrying on some very successful financial\ntransactions by direction from the spirit world; and Mr. W. T. Stead,\nLondon editor of the _Review of Reviews_, who, in 1893 started a new\nquarterly, called _The Border Land_, to be devoted to the advocacy of the\nphilosophy of Spiritualism, which he had then but recently espoused. In\nother countries it has invaded the ranks of the nobility, and even seated\nitself on the thrones of monarchs. The late royal houses of France, Spain,\nand Russia are said, by current rumor, to have sought the spirits for\nknowledge. No cause could covet more rapid and wide-spread success than\nthis has enjoyed.\n\n\n\n\n\n                               Chapter Two.\n\n\nWHAT IS THE AGENCY IN QUESTION?\n\n\nHaving now shown that there are connected with Spiritualism supermundane\nphenomena that cannot be denied, and equally evident superhuman\nintelligence, sufficient to give to the movement unprecedented recognition\nin all the world, the way is open for the most important question that can\nbe raised concerning it, and one which now demands an answer; and that is,\nWhat is the agency by which these phenomena are produced, and by which\nthis intelligence is manifested? This question must be examined with the\nutmost care, and, if possible, a decision be reached of the most assuring\ncertainty; for, as Mr. M. J. Savage says, \u201cSpiritualism is either a grand\ntruth or a most lamentable delusion.\u201d\n\nIt is proper that the claim which Spiritualism puts forth for itself, in\nthis regard, should first be heard. This is so well known that it scarcely\nneed be stated. It is that there is in every human being a soul, or\nspirit, which constitutes the real person; that this soul, or spirit, is\nimmortal; that it manifests itself through a tangible body during this\nearth life, and when that body dies, passes unscathed into the unseen\nworld, into an enlarged sphere of life, activity, and intelligence; that\nin this sphere it can still take cognizance of earthly things, and\ncommunicate with those still in the flesh, respecting scenes which it has\nleft, and those more interesting conditions still veiled from mortal\nsight; that it is by these disembodied, or \u201cdiscarnated\u201d spirits that raps\nare given, objects moved, intelligence manifested, secrets revealed,\nslates written, voices uttered, faces shown, and epistles addressed to\nmortals, as friend would write to friend. If this be true, it opens what\nwould indeed be considered a grand avenue of consolation to bereaved\nhearts, by giving them evidence that their departed friends still lived;\nthat they recognized, loved, and accompanied them, and delighted still to\ncounsel and instruct them. If not true, it is a masterpiece of superhuman\ncraft and cunning; for it takes Christendom on the side where it is least\nguarded; as the view is everywhere held that the dead are conscious, and\nthe only question would be as to their power to communicate with persons\nstill living in the body; and it throws its arms around the individual\nwhen the heart is the most tender, when plunged into a condition in which\nevery pang of bereaved sorrow, every tie of affection, and every throb of\nlove, press him to crave with all his being that communication with the\ndead may be proved a fact, and to constrain him to accept the doctrine,\nunless kept from it by some power stronger than the cords that bind heart\nto heart in deathless love. If it be a deception, it occupies a vantage\nground before which men may well tremble.\n\nBut, as has been already stated, the question is here to be discussed from\nthe standpoint of the Bible; the Bible is to be taken as the standard of\nauthority by which all conflicting claims respecting the nature of man,\nmust be decided. The authenticity of the Scriptures, in reference to those\nwho deny their authority, is an antecedent question, into the discussion\nof which it is not the province of this little work to enter. A word,\nhowever, by way of digression, may be allowed in reference to its\nauthorship.\n\n\n\n\nCredentials of the Bible.\n\n\n1. The Bible claims to be the word of God. Those who wrote it assert that\nthey wrote as they \u201cwere moved by the Holy Ghost;\u201d and they append to what\nthey utter, a \u201cThus saith the Lord.\u201d\n\n2. If it is not what it claims to be, it is an _imposture_ invented by\n_deceivers_ and _liars_.\n\n3. _Good_ men would not deceive and lie; therefore they were not the ones\nwho invented the Bible.\n\n4. If, therefore, it was invented by men at all, it must have been\ninvented by _bad_ men.\n\n5. All liars and religious impostors are bad men; but\u2014\n\n6. The Bible repeatedly and most explicitly forbids lying and imposture,\nunder the threatening of most condign punishment.\n\n7. Would, therefore, liars and impostors invent a book which more than any\nother book ever written, denounces lying and imposture, thus condemning\nthemselves to the severest judgments of God, and at last to eternal death?\n\n8. If, then, the Bible is not the invention of good men,\u2014because such men\nwould not lie and deceive; nor of evil men,\u2014because such men would not\ncondemn themselves; nor of good or evil angels, for the same reasons, who\nelse can be its author, but he who claims to be, that is, the living God?\n\n9. If, therefore, from the very nature of the case, it must be God\u2019s book,\nwhy not believe it, and obey it?\n\nTo return: Appeal is therefore made to the Bible; and the object is to\nlearn what the Bible teaches about Spiritualism. When the claim is put\nforth that it is the disembodied spirits of dead men who make the\ncommunications, the Bible reader is at once aware of a conflict of claims.\nIn times when the Bible was written, there were practices among men which\nwent under the names of \u201cenchantment,\u201d \u201csorcery,\u201d \u201cwitchcraft,\u201d\n\u201cnecromancy,\u201d \u201cdivination,\u201d \u201cconsulting with familiar spirits,\u201d etc. These\npractices were all more or less related, but some of them bear an\nunmistakable meaning. Thus, \u201cnecromancy\u201d is defined to mean \u201ca pretended\ncommunication with the dead.\u201d A \u201cfamiliar spirit\u201d was \u201ca spirit or demon\nsupposed to attend on an individual, or to come at his call; the invisible\nagent of a necromancer\u2019s will.\u201d\u2014_Century Dictionary._ Spiritualists do not\ndeny that their intercourse with the invisible world comes under some, at\nleast, of these heads. But all such practices the Bible explicitly\nforbids.\n\nDeut. 18:9-12: \u201cThere shall not be found among you any one that maketh his\nson or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or\nan observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a\nconsulter with _familiar spirits_, or a wizard, or a _necromancer_. For\nall that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord.\u201d Lev. 19:31:\n\u201cRegard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards,\nto be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.\u201d See also, 2 Kings 21:2, 6,\n9, 11; Rev. 21:8; Gal. 5:19-21; Acts 16:16-18; etc. Thus plainly in both\nthe Old and New Testaments, are these practices forbidden.\n\n\n\n\nAn Impossibility.\n\n\nBut why does the Bible forbid such practices as necromancy, or a\n\u201cpretended\u201d communication with the dead?\u2014Because it would be only a\npretense at best; for such communication is impossible. The dead are\nunconscious in their graves, and have no power to communicate with the\nliving. Let this truth be once established, and it is the death-blow to\nthe claims of Spiritualism, in the cases of all who will receive it.\nAllusion has already been made to a popular and wide-spread dogma in the\nChristian church which furnishes a basis for Spiritualism. It is that the\nsoul is immortal, and that the dead are conscious. Spirits make known\ntheir presence, and claim to be the spirits of persons who have once lived\nhere in human bodies. Now if the Bible teaches that there is no such thing\nas a disembodied human spirit, a knowledge of that fact would enable one\nto detect at once the imposture of any intelligence which from behind the\ncurtain should claim to be such spirit. Any spirit seeking the attention\nof men in this life, and claiming to be what the Bible says does not\nexist, comes with a falsehood on its lips or in its raps, if the Bible is\ntrue, and thus reveals its real character to be that of a deceiver. In\nthis case the Bible believer is armed against the imposture. No man likes\nto be fooled. No matter therefore how nice the communicating intelligence\nmay seem, how many true things it may say, or how many good things it may\npromise, the conviction cannot be evaded that no real good can be intended\nor conferred by any spirit, or whatever it may be, masquerading under the\ngarb of falsehood, or pretending to be what it is not. On such a\nfoundation no stable superstructure can be reared. It becomes a\ndeath-trap, sure to collapse and involve in ruin all those who trust\ntherein.\n\nIt is very desirable that the reader comprehend the full importance of the\ndoctrine, as related to this subject, that the dead are unconscious and\nthat they have no power to communicate with the living. This being\nestablished, it sweeps away at one stroke the entire foundation of\nSpiritualism. Evidence will now be presented to show that this is a Bible\ndoctrine; and wherever this is received, the fabric of Spiritualism from\nbase to finial falls; it cannot possibly stand. But where the doctrine\nprevails that only the thin veil that limits our mortal vision, separates\nus from a world full of the conscious, intelligent spirits of those who\nhave departed this life, Spiritualism has the field, beyond the\npossibility of dislodgment. When one believes that he has disembodied\nspirit friends all about him, how can he question that they are able to\ncommunicate with him? and when some unseen intelligence makes its presence\nknown, and claims to be one of those friends, and refers to facts or\nscenes, known only to them two, how can the living dispute the claim? How\ncan he refuse to accept a claim, which, on his own hypothesis, there is no\nconceivable reason to deny? But if the spirits are not what they claim to\nbe, how shall the inexplicable phenomena attending their manifestations be\nexplained?\u2014The Bible brings to view other agencies, not the so-called\nspirits of the departed, to whose working all that has ever been\nmanifested which to mortal vision is mysterious and inexplicable, may be\njustly attributed.\n\n\n\n\nThe Soul Not Immortal.\n\n\nSpiritualism declares it to be the great object of its mission, to prove\nthe immortality of the soul, which, it says, is not taught in the\nScriptures with sufficient clearness, and is not otherwise demonstrated.\nIt well attributes to the Scriptures a lack of plain teaching in support\nof that dogma; and it would have stated more truth, if it had said that\nthe Scriptures nowhere countenance such a doctrine at all. But, it is\nsaid, the Scriptures are full of the terms, \u201csoul\u201d and \u201cspirit.\u201d Very\ntrue; but they nowhere use those terms to designate such a part of man as\nin common parlance, and in popular theology, they have come to mean. The\nfact is, the popular concept of the \u201csoul\u201d and \u201cspirit\u201d has been\nformulated entirely outside the Bible. Sedulously, unremittingly, for six\nthousand years, the idea has been inculcated in the minds of men, from the\ncradle to the grave, that man is a dual being, consisting of an outward\nbody which dies, and an inward being called \u201csoul,\u201d or \u201cspirit,\u201d which\ndoes not die, but passes to higher spirit life, when the body goes into\nthe grave. The father of this doctrine is rarely referred to by its\nbelievers, as authority, possibly through a little feeling of\nembarrassment as to its parentage; for he it was who announced it to our\nfirst parents in these words: \u201cYe shall not surely die!\u201d Gen. 3:4. When\nmen began to die, it was a shrewd stroke of policy on the part of him who\nhad promised them that they should not die, to try to prove to those who\nremained that the others had not really died, but only changed conditions.\nIt is no marvel that he should try to make men believe that they possessed\nan immaterial, immortal entity that could not die; but, in view of the\nghastly experiences of the passing years, it is the marvel of marvels that\nhe should have succeeded so well. The trouble now is that men take these\nmeanings which have been devised and fostered into stupendous strength\noutside the pale of Bible teaching, and attach them to the Bible terms of\n\u201csoul\u201d and \u201cspirit.\u201d In other words, the mongrel pago-papal theology which\nhas grown up in Christendom, lets the Bible furnish the terms, and\npaganism the definitions. But from the Bible standpoint, these definitions\ndo not belong there; they are foreign to the truth, and the Bible does not\nrecognize them. They are as much out of place as was the inventor of them\nhimself in the garden of Eden. Let the Bible furnish its own definitions\nto its own terms, and all will be clear. The opinion of John Milton, the\ncelebrated author of Paradise Lost, is worthy of note. In his \u201cTreatise on\nChristian Doctrine,\u201d Vol. I, pp. 250, 251, he says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cMan is a living being, intrinsically and properly one individual,\n    not compound and separable, not, according to the common opinion,\n    made up and framed of two distinct and different natures, as of\n    body and soul, but the whole man is soul, and the soul, man; that\n    is to say, a body or substance, individual, animated, sensitive,\n    and rational.\u201d\n\n\nIn this sense the word is employed many times; but whoever will trace the\nuse of the words \u201csoul\u201d and \u201cspirit\u201d through the Bible, will find them\napplied also to a great variety of objects; as, person, mind, heart, body\n(in the expression \u201ca dead body\u201d), will, lust, appetite, breath, creature,\npleasure, desire, anger, courage, blast, etc., etc., in all nearly fifty\ndifferent ways. But it is a fact which should be especially noted, that in\nnot a single instance is there the least hint given that anything\nexpressed by these terms is capable of existing for a single moment, as a\nconscious entity, or in any other condition, _without the body_! This\nbeing so, none of these, according to the Bible, are the agency claimed to\nbe present in Spiritualism.\n\nAnother fact in reference to this point, should be allowed its decisive\nbearing. The question now under investigation is, Is the soul immortal, as\nSpiritualism has taken upon itself to teach, and claims to demonstrate?\nThe Bible is found to be so lavish in the use of the terms \u201csoul\u201d and\n\u201cspirit,\u201d that these words occur in the aggregate, _seventeen hundred\ntimes_. Seventeen hundred times, by way of description, analysis,\nnarrative, historical facts, or declarations of what they can do, or\nsuffer, the Bible has something to say about \u201csoul\u201d and \u201cspirit.\u201d The most\nimportant question to be settled concerning them, certainly, is whether\nthey are immortal or not. Will not the Bible, so freely treating of these\nterms, answer this question? Very strange, indeed, if it does not. But\ndoes it once affirm that either the soul or the spirit is immortal?\u2014_Not\nonce!_ Does it ever apply to them the terms \u201ceternal,\u201d \u201cdeathless,\u201d\n\u201cneverdying,\u201d or any word that bears the necessary meaning of\nimmortal?\u2014Not in a single instance. Does it apply to them any term from\nwhich even an inference, necessary or remote, can be drawn that they are\nimmortal? Even reduced to this attenuated form, the answer is still an\nemphatic and overwhelming, _No!_ Well, then, does it say _anything_ about\nthe nature and capabilities of existence of that which it denominates soul\nor spirit?\u2014Yes; it says the soul is in danger of the grave, may die, be\ndestroyed, killed, and that the spirit may be wounded, cut off, preserved,\nand so, conversely, made to perish.\n\nIt is sometimes claimed that it is not necessary that the Bible should\naffirm the immortality of the soul, because it is so self-evident a fact\nthat it is taken for granted. But no one surely can suppose that the\nimmortality of the soul is more self-evident than that of Jehovah; yet the\nBible has seen fit to affirm his immortality in most direct terms. 1 Tim.\n1:17: \u201cNow unto the King eternal, _immortal_, invisible, the only wise\nGod, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.\u201d 1 Tim. 6:16: \u201cWho only\nhath _immortality_, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto;\nwhom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power\neverlasting. Amen.\u201d Let, then, similar Bible testimony be found concerning\nthe soul; that is, that it is \u201cimmortal,\u201d or \u201chath immortality,\u201d and the\ntaken-for-granted device will not be needed.\n\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter Three.\n\n\nTHE DEAD UNCONSCIOUS.\n\n\nFrom the fact now established that the soul is not immortal, it would\nfollow as an inevitable conclusion, that the dead are not conscious in the\nintermediate state, and consequently cannot act the part attributed to\nthem in modern Spiritualism. But there are some positive statements to\nwhich the reader\u2019s attention should be called, and some instances supposed\nto prove the conscious state which should be noticed.\n\n1. _The Dead Know not Anything._\u2014As a sample of the way the Bible speaks\nupon this question, let the reader turn to the words of Solomon, in Eccl.\n9:5, 6, 10: \u201cFor the living know that they shall die: but the dead know\nnot anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them\nis forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now\nperished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that\nis done under the sun.... Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with\nthy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in\nthe grave, whither thou goest.\u201d\n\nThis language is addressed to the real, living, intelligent, responsible\nman; and how could it be plainer? On the hypothesis of the commonly\nbelieved distinction between the soul and the body, this must be addressed\nto the soul; for the body considered as the mere material instrument\nthrough which the soul acts, is not supposed of itself to know anything.\nThe body, as a body, independent of the soul, does not know that it shall\ndie; but it is that which knows, while one is alive, that it shall die\u2014it\nis that same intelligent being that, when dead, knows not anything. But\nthe spirits in Spiritualism do know many things in their condition;\ntherefore they are not those who have once lived on this earth, and passed\noff through death; for such, once dead, this scripture affirms, know not\nanything\u2014they are in a condition in which there is \u201cno work, nor device,\nnor knowledge, nor wisdom.\u201d This is a plain, straightforward, literal\nstatement; there is no mistaking its meaning; and if it is true, then it\nis not true that the unseen agents working through Spiritualism, are the\nspirits of the dead.\n\n2. _The Spirit Returns to God._\u2014Another passage from the same writer and\nthe same book, may recur to the mind of the reader, as expressing a\ndifferent and contradictory thought. Eccl. 12:7. \u201cThen shall the dust\nreturn to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who\ngave it.\u201d A careful analysis of this passage reveals no support for\nSpiritualism; for it does not say that the spirit, on returning to God, is\nconscious, or is capable of coming back and communicating with mortals. It\nis not denied that different component parts enter into the constitution\nof man; and that these parts may be separated. Solomon himself may\ntherefore tell us what he means by the term \u201cspirit\u201d which he here uses.\nHe employs the same word in chapter. 3:21 of this same book, but says that\nbeasts have it as well as men. And then in verse 19, he explains what he\nmeans, by saying that they (man and the lower animals) _all_ have one\n_breath_. The record of man\u2019s creation in Gen. 2:7, shows that a\nvitalizing principle, called the \u201cbreath of life,\u201d was necessary to be\nimparted to the organized body, before man became a living being; and this\nbreath of life, as common to man and to all breathing animals, is\ndescribed in Gen. 7:21, 22, by the term \u05e8\u05d5\u05d7 (_ruahh_), the same word that\nis used for \u201cbreath,\u201d in Eccl. 3:19, \u201cspirit,\u201d in verse 21, and \u201cthe\nspirit,\u201d which God gave to man, and which returns to God, in chapter 12:7.\nThus it is clear that reference is here made simply to the \u201cbreath of\nlife\u201d which God at first imparted to man, to make him a living being, and\nwhich he withdraws to himself, in the hour of man\u2019s death. Job states the\nsame fact, and describes the process, in chapter 34:14, 15: \u201cIf he [God]\nset his heart upon man, if he gather _unto himself_ his [man\u2019s] spirit\n[same word] and his breath; ... man shall turn again unto dust.\u201d No one\ncan fail to see here that Job refers to the same event of which Solomon\nspeaks.\n\nAnd at this point the question may as well be raised, and answered, Whence\ncomes this spirit which is claimed to be the real man, capable of an\nindependent and superior existence without the body? Bodies come into\nexistence by natural generation; but whence comes the spirit? Is it a part\nof the body? If so, it cannot be immortal; for \u201cthat which is born of the\nflesh is flesh.\u201d John 3:6. Is it supplied to human beings at birth? If so,\nis there a great storehouse, somewhere, of souls and spirits, ready-made,\nfrom which the supply is drawn as fast as wanted in this world? And if so,\nfurther, is it to be concluded that all spirits have had a pre-existence?\nand then what was their condition in that state? And again, how does it\nhappen, on this supposition, that this spirit in each individual exhibits\nso largely the mental and moral traits of the earthly parents? These\nhypotheses not being very satisfactory, will it be claimed that God\ncreates these spirits as fast as children are born to need them? and if\nso, who brings them down just in the nick of time? and by what process are\nthey incarnated? But if God has, by special act, created a soul or spirit\nfor every member of the human family since Adam, is it not a contradiction\nof Gen. 2:2, which declares that _all_ God\u2019s work of creation, so far as\nit pertains to this world, was _completed_ by the close of the first week\nof time? Again, how many of the inhabitants of this earth are the\noffspring of abandoned criminality; and can it be supposed that God holds\nhimself in readiness to create souls which must come from his hands pure\nas the dew of heaven, to be thrust into such vile tenements, and doomed to\na life of wretchedness and woe at the bidding of defiant lust? The\nirreverence of the question will be pardoned as an exposure of the\nabsurdity of that theory which necessitates it.\n\n3. _The Spirits of Just Men Made Perfect._\u2014This expression is found in\nHeb. 12:23, and seems, by some, to recognize the idea that spirits can\nexist without the body, and are to be treated as separate entities. Thus\ninterpreted it might appear to give some support to Spiritualism. But it\nwill by no means bear such an interpretation. The apostle is contrasting\nthe privileges of Christians in the present dispensation, with the\nsituation of believers before the coming of Christ. What he sets forth are\nblessings to be enjoyed in the present tense. Yes, says one, that is just\nwhat I believe: We are come to spirits; they are all about us, and tip and\ntalk and write for us at our pleasure. But hold! nothing is affirmed of\nspirits separately. The whole idea must be taken in. It is the \u201cspirits of\n_just men_ made perfect;\u201d and the participle \u201cmade perfect\u201d agrees with\n\u201cjust men,\u201d or literally \u201cthe just made perfect\u201d (\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03af\u03c9\u03bd \u03c4\u03b5\u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03c9\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd),\nnot with \u201cspirits.\u201d It is the _men_ who are made perfect to whom we are\nsaid to have come. But there are only two localities and two periods, in\nwhich men are anywhere in the Scriptures said to be made perfect. One is\nin this life and on this earth, and refers to religious experience (\u201cBe ye\ntherefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect\u201d);\nthe other is not relative, but actual and absolute, and refers to the\nfuture immortal state when all the people of God will enter upon eternal\nlife together (\u201cGod having provided some better thing for us, that they\n[the ancient worthies] without us should not be _made perfect_.\u201d Heb.\n11:40). Thus, taken in either of the only two ways possible, the text\nfurnishes no proof of Spiritualism. It doubtless refers to the present\nstate, the expression, \u201cspirits of just men,\u201d being simply a periphrasis\nfor \u201cjust men,\u201d the same as the expression, \u201cthe God of the spirits of all\nflesh\u201d (Num. 16:22), means simply \u201cthe God of all flesh,\u201d and the words\n\u201cyour whole spirit, and soul, and body\u201d (1 Thess. 5:23), means simply the\nwhole person.\n\n4. _Spirits in Prison._\u2014The apostle Peter uses an expression, which,\nthough perhaps not often quoted in direct defense of Spiritualism, is\nrelied upon extensively in behalf of the doctrine of the conscious state\nof the dead, which, as already shown, is the essential basis of\nSpiritualism. And such texts as these are here noticed to show to the\ngeneral reader, that the Bible contains no testimony in behalf of that\ndoctrine, but positively forbids it, as further quotations will soon be\nintroduced to show. The passage now in question is 1 Peter 3:19, where,\nspeaking of Christ, it says: \u201cBy which also he went and preached unto the\nspirits in prison.\u201d By the use of strong assumption, and some lofty\nflights of the imagination, and keeping in the background the real intent\nof the passage, a picture of rather a lively time in the spirit world, can\nbe constructed out of this testimony. Thus the spirits are said to be the\ndisembodied spirits of those who were destroyed by the flood. See context.\nThey were in \u201cprison,\u201d that is, in hell. When Christ was put to death upon\nthe cross, he immediately went by his disembodied spirit, down into hell\nand preached to those conscious intelligent spirits who were there, and\ncontinued that work till the third day when he was himself raised from the\ndead. A thought will show that this picture is wrong, (1) in the time, (2)\nin the condition of the people, (3) in the acting agent, and (4) in the\nend to be attained. Thus, when Christ had been put to death, he was\n\u201cquickened\u201d (or made alive), says the record, \u201cby the Spirit.\u201d This was\ncertainly not a personal disembodied spirit, but that divine agency so\noften referred to in the Scriptures. \u201cBy which,\u201d that is, this Spirit of\nGod, he went and preached. Then he did not go personally on this work. The\n\u201cspirits\u201d were the antediluvians; for they were those who were disobedient\nin the days of Noah. Now when were they preached to? Verse 20 plainly\ntells us it was \u201c_when_ once the longsuffering of God waited _in the days\nof Noah_.\u201d In accordance with these statements now let another picture be\npresented: Christ, by his Spirit which was in Noah (1 Peter 1:11), and\nthus through Noah, preached to the spirits, or persons, in Noah\u2019s time,\nwho were disobedient, in order to save all from the coming flood who would\nbelieve. They were said to be \u201cin prison,\u201d though still living, because\nthey were shut up under condemnation, and had only one hundred and twenty\nyears granted them in which to repent or perish. Thus Christ was\ncommissioned to preach to men said to be in prison, because in darkness,\nerror, and condemnation, though they were still living in the flesh. Isa.\n61:1. Dr. Adam Clarke, the eminent Methodist commentator (_in loco_),\nplaces the going and preaching of Christ in the days of Noah, and by the\nministry of Noah for one hundred and twenty years, and not during the time\nwhile he lay in the grave. Then he says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe word \u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9 (spirits) is supposed to render this view of\n    the subject improbable, because this must mean _disembodied_\n    spirits; but this certainly does not follow; for the _spirits of\n    just men made perfect_ (Heb. 12:23), certainly means righteous\n    men, and men _still in the church militant_: and the Father of\n    spirits (Heb. 12:9) means men still in the body; and the God of\n    the spirits of all flesh (Num. 16:22 and 27:16), means _men, not_\n    in a disembodied state.\u201d(1)\n\n\n5. _Cannot Kill the Soul._\u2014\u201cFear not them which kill the body, but are not\nable to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both\nsoul and body in hell.\u201d Matt. 10:28. We know what it is to kill the body;\nand by association of ideas, it seems quite natural to form a like\nconception of the soul as something that can be treated in the same way.\nThen if the soul cannot be killed like the body, the conclusion seems easy\nof adoption that it lives right on, with all sensations preserved, as it\nwas with the body before its death. If it were not for the pagan\ndefinition of \u201csoul,\u201d which here comes in to change the current of\nthought, such conclusions drawn from this text would not be so prevalent;\nand a little attention to the scope of Christ\u2019s teaching here will readily\ncorrect the misapprehension. This is brought out clearly in verse 39: \u201cHe\nthat findeth his _life_ shall lose it: and he that loseth his _life_ for\nmy sake shall find it.\u201d This is easily understood. No one will question\nwhat it is to lose his life; and Christ says that he who will do this for\nhis sake, shall find it. Any one who has been put to death for his faith\nin the gospel has \u201clost his life\u201d (had the body killed) for Christ\u2019s sake.\nBut Christ says, Do not fear them, even if they do this. Why?\u2014Because ye\nshall find it\u2014the life you lost. When shall we find it?\u2014In the\nresurrection. John 6:40; Rev. 20:4-6. The expression, \u201cshall find it,\u201d\nthus becomes the exact equivalent of the words, \u201care not able to kill the\nsoul;\u201d that is, are not able to destroy, or prevent us from gaining that\nlife he has promised, if we suffer men, for his sake, to \u201ckill the body,\u201d\nor deprive us of our present life. The correctness of this view is\ndemonstrated by the word employed in these instances. That word is \u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03ae\n(_psuche_). It is properly rendered \u201clife\u201d in verse 39, and improperly\nrendered \u201csoul\u201d in verse 28. This lesson, that men should be willing to\nlose their life for Christ\u2019s sake, was considered so important that it is\nagain mentioned in Matthew, and reiterated with emphasis by Mark, Luke,\nand John; and they all use this same word \u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03ae, which is rendered \u201clife.\u201d\nIn one instance only in all these parallel passages have the translators\nrendered it \u201csoul;\u201d and that is Matt. 10:28, where it is the source of all\nthe misunderstanding on that text.\n\n6. _Souls Under the Altar._\u2014As a part of the events of the fifth seal as\ndescribed in Rev. 6:9-11, John says he saw the souls of the martyrs under\nthe altar, and heard them crying for vengeance. If they could do that, it\nis asked, cannot disembodied souls now communicate with the living? Not to\nenter into a full exposition of this scripture, and the inconsistencies\nsuch a view would involve, it is sufficient to ask if these were like the\ncommunicating spirits of the present day. How many communications have\never been received by modern Spiritualists from souls confined under an\naltar? In glowing symbolism, John saw the dead martyrs, as if slain at the\nfoot of the altar; and by the figure of personification a voice was given\nto them, just as Abel\u2019s blood cried to God for vengeance upon his guilty\nbrother (Gen. 4:10), and just as the stone is said to cry out of the wall,\nand the beam out of the timber to answer it. Hab. 2:11.\n\n7. _The Medium of Endor._\u2014Aside from the direct teaching of the\nScriptures, it is still held by some that there are scenes narrated in the\nBible which show that the dead must be conscious. The first of these is\nthe case of Saul and the woman of Endor, whom he consulted in order to\ncommunicate with the prophet Samuel, as narrated in 1 Samuel 28. Here, it\nmust be confessed, is brought to view an actual case of spirit\nmanifestation, a specimen of ancient necromancy; for the conditions,\nmethod of procedure, and results, were just such as pertain to the same\nwork in our own day. But then, as now, there was no truth nor good in it,\nas a brief review of the narrative will show. (1) Samuel was dead. (2)\nSaul was sore pressed by the Philistines. Verse 5. (3) God had departed\nfrom him. Verse 4. (4) He had cut off those who had familiar spirits and\nwizards, out of the land, because God had forbidden their presence in the\nJewish theocracy, as an abomination. Verse 3; Lev. 19:31. (5) Yet in his\nextremity he had recourse to a woman with a familiar spirit, found at\nEndor. Verse 7. (6) She asked whom she should bring up, and Saul answered,\nSamuel. Verse 11. (7) Saul was disguised, but the familiar spirit told the\nwoman it was Saul, and she cried out in alarm. Verse 12. (8) Saul\nreassured her, and the woman went on with the s\u00e9ance. Verse 10. (9) She\nannounced a presence coming (not from heaven, nor the spheres, but) up out\nof the earth, and at Saul\u2019s request gave a description of him, showing\nthat Saul did not himself see the form. Verse 13. (10) Saul \u201cperceived\u201d\nthat it was Samuel (not by actual sight, but from the woman\u2019s description;\nfor the Hebrew \u05d9\u05e8\u05e2 and the Septuagint, \u03b3\u03b9\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03ba\u03ce, signify to know, or\nperceive, by an operation of the mind.) Verse 14. (11) The woman supposed\nit was Samuel; Saul supposed it was Samuel; and that personation is, then,\nby the law of appearance, spoken of, in whatever it said or did, as\nSamuel; as, \u201cSamuel said to Saul,\u201d etc. Verse 15. (12) Was Samuel really\nthere as an immortal soul, a disembodied spirit, or as one raised from the\ndead?\u2014No; because (_a_) immortal souls do not come up out of the ground,\nwrapped in mantles, and complain of being disquieted and brought up; (_b_)\nSamuel was a holy prophet, and if he was conscious in the spirit world, he\nwould not present himself at the summons of a woman who was practicing\narts which God had forbidden; (_c_) God having departed from Saul, and\nhaving refused to communicate with him on account of his sins, would not\nnow suffer his servant Samuel to grant him the desired communication\nthrough a channel which he had pronounced an abomination; (_d_) Samuel was\nnot present by a resurrection, for the Devil could not raise him, and God\ncertainly would not, for such a purpose; besides Samuel was buried at\nRamah, and could not be raised at Endor; (_e_) It was only the woman\u2019s\nfamiliar spirit, personating Samuel as he used to appear when alive\u2014an\naged man clothed with a mantle. His object was to make both the woman and\nSaul believe it was Samuel, when it was not, just as communicating spirits\nto-day try to palm themselves off for what they are not. As a specimen of\nancient Spiritualism, this case is no particular honor to their cause; and\nas a proof of the immortality of the soul, and the conscious state of the\ndead, it is a minus quantity.\n\n8. _The Transfiguration._\u2014Jesus took three of his disciples, Peter, James,\nand John, apart into a high mountain, and was transfigured before them;\nhis face became as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light, just\nas it will be in the future kingdom of glory, which this scene was\ndesigned to represent. And there then appeared Moses and Elias talking\nwith Christ. But Moses had died in the land of Moab nearly fifteen hundred\nyears before, and it is at once concluded that the only way to account for\nhis appearance on this occasion, is to suppose that he was still alive in\nthe spirit world, and could appear in a disembodied state, and talk with\nJesus as here represented. But such a conclusion is by no means necessary.\nJesus was there in person, Elias was there in person; for he had not died,\nbut had been translated bodily from this earth. Now it would be altogether\nincongruous to suppose that the third member of this glorious trio,\napparently just as real as the others, was only a disembodied spirit; an\nimmaterial phantom. Unless the whole scene was merely a vision brought\nbefore the minds of the disciples, Moses was as really there, in his own\nproper person, as Jesus and Elias. But there is no way in which he could\nthus be present, except by means of a resurrection from the dead; and that\nhe had been raised, and was there as a representative of the resurrection,\nis proved, first by his actual presence on this occasion, and secondly, by\nthe fact that Michael (Christ, who is \u201cthe resurrection and the life,\u201d\nJohn 11:25) disputed with the Devil (who has the power of death, Heb.\n2:14) about the body of Moses. Jude 9. There could be no other possible\nground of controversy about the body of Moses except whether or not Christ\nshould give it life before the general resurrection. But Christ rebuked\nthe Devil. Christ was not thwarted in this contest, but gave his servant\nlife; and thus Moses could appear personally upon the mount. This makes\nthe scene complete as a representation of the kingdom of God, as Peter\nsays it was (2 Peter 1:16-18); namely, Christ the glorified King, Elias\nrepresenting those who will be translated without seeing death, and Moses\nrepresenting those who will be raised from the dead. These two classes\nembrace all the happy subjects of that kingdom. This view of the matter is\nnot peculiar to this book. Dr. Adam Clarke, on Matt. 17:3, says: \u201cThe body\nof Moses was probably raised again, as a pledge of the resurrection.\u201d(2)\nAnd Olshausen says: \u201cFor if we assume the reality of the _resurrection of\nthe body_, and its glorification,\u2014truths which assuredly belong to the\nsystem of Christian doctrine,\u2014the whole occurrence presents no essential\ndifficulties. The appearance of Moses and Elias, which is usually held to\nbe the most unintelligible point in it, is as easily conceived of as\npossible, if we admit their bodily glorification.\u201d\n\nThose passages which speak of Christ as the \u201cfirst-fruits,\u201d the\n\u201cfirst-born from the dead,\u201d the \u201cfirst-born among many brethren,\u201d \u201cof\nevery creature,\u201d etc., refer only to the chief and pivotal importance of\nhis own resurrection, as related to all others; and Acts 26:23 does not\ndeclare that Christ should be the first one to be raised from the dead,\nbut that he first, by a resurrection from the dead, should show light to\nthe Gentiles. (See the Greek of this passage.) These scriptures therefore\nprove no objection to the idea that Moses had been raised from the dead,\nand as a victor over the grave, appeared with Christ upon the mount. Thus\nanother supposed stronghold affords no refuge for the conscious-state\ntheory, or for Spiritualism.\n\n9. _The Rich Man and Lazarus._\u2014With the features of this parable, as found\nin Luke 16, which is supposed to prove the dead conscious, and\nSpiritualism possible, the reader is doubtless familiar. It should ever be\nborne in mind that this is a parable; and in a parable, neither the\nparties nor the scenes are to be taken literally, and hence no doctrines\ncan be built upon such symbolic representations. But not only is it a\nparable, but it is a parable based upon traditions largely entertained by\nthe Jews themselves in the time of Christ. Thus T. J. Hudson (\u201cLaw of\nPsychic Phenomena,\u201d p. 385) says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cIt is a historical fact, nevertheless, that before the advent of\n    Jesus, the Jews had become imbued with the Greek doctrine of\n    Hades, which was an intermediate waiting station between this life\n    and the judgment. In this were situated both Paradise and Gehenna,\n    the one on the right, and the other on the left, and into these\n    two compartments the spirits of the dead were separated, according\n    to their deserts. Jesus found this doctrine already in existence,\n    and in enforcing his moral precepts in his parables, he employed\n    the symbols which the people understood, neither denying nor\n    affirming their literal verity.\u201d\n\n\nThus Christ appealed to the people on their own ground. He took the views\nand traditions which he found already among them, and arranged them into a\nparable in such a way as to rebuke their covetousness, correct their\nnotions that prosperity and riches in this life are tokens of the favor\nand approbation of God, and condemn their departure from the teachings of\nMoses and the prophets. As a parable, it is not designed to show the state\nof the dead, and the conditions that prevail in the spirit world. But if\nany persist that it is not a parable, but a presentation of actual fact,\nthen the scene is laid, not in the intermediate state, but beyond the\nresurrection; for it is after the angels had carried Lazarus into\nAbraham\u2019s bosom. But the angels do not bear any one anywhere away from\nthis earth, till the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the\ndead. Matt. 24:30, 31; 1 Thess. 4:15-17. Finding no support in this\nportion of scripture for the conscious-state theory, with its\nspiritualistic possibilities, appeal is next made by the friends of that\ntheory to the case of\u2014\n\n10. _The Thief on the Cross._\u2014Luke 23:39-43. When one of the malefactors\nwho were crucified with Jesus, requested to be remembered when he should\ncome into his kingdom, according to the record in the common version, the\nLord replied, \u201cTo-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.\u201d To go from death\ninto paradise the same day, means to go into the spirit world without a\nbody, or discarnated, as Spiritualists claim. And so it would be if such\nwas Christ\u2019s promise to the thief; but it was not.\n\nThe little adverb \u201cto-day\u201d holds the balance of power as to the meaning of\nthis text. If it qualifies Christ\u2019s words, \u201cVerily I say unto thee,\u201d it\ngives one idea; if it qualifies the words, \u201cThou shalt be with me in\nparadise,\u201d we have another and very different idea. And how shall the\nquestion of its relationship be decided?\u2014It can be done only by the\npunctuation.\n\nHere another difficulty confronts us; for the Greek was originally written\nin a solid line of letters, without any punctuation, or even division into\nwords. Such being the case, the punctuation, and the relation of the\nqualifying word \u201cto-day,\u201d must be determined by the context. Now it is a\nfact that Christ did not go to paradise that day. He died, and was placed\nin the tomb, and the third day rose from the dead. Mary was the first to\nmeet him, and sought to worship him. But he said, \u201cTouch me not, for I am\nnot yet ascended to my Father.\u201d John 20:17. Paradise is where the Father\nis (see 2 Cor. 12:2-4; Rev. 2:7; 22:1, 2), and if Christ had not been to\nhis Father when Mary met him the third day after his crucifixion, he had\nnot then been to paradise; therefore it is not possible that he made a\npromise to the thief on the day of his crucifixion, that he should be with\nhim _that_ day in paradise.\n\nBut further, the day of the crucifixion was the day before the Sabbath;\nand it was not lawful to leave criminals on the cross during that day.\nJohn 19:31. If they were still living when the time came to take them from\nthe cross, they were taken down, and their legs were broken to prevent\ntheir escape. The soldiers on this occasion broke the legs of the two\nthieves, because they were still alive; \u201cbut when they came to Jesus and\nsaw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs.\u201d Verses 32, 33. The\nthief therefore lived over into the next day.\n\nThus there are two absolutely insuperable objections against allowing the\nadverb, \u201cto-day,\u201d to qualify Christ\u2019s promise, \u201cThou shalt be with me in\nparadise:\u201d (1) Christ did not go to paradise that day; and (2) The thief\ndid not die that day. Before these facts the conscious-state argument\nbuilt upon this incident, vanishes into thin air. Just place the comma (a\npunctuation mark not invented till 1490) after \u201cto-day\u201d instead of before\nit, and let that word qualify the verb \u201csay\u201d and emphasize the time when\nit was spoken, and all is harmonious. The thief\u2019s request did not pertain\nto that day, but looked forward to the time when Christ should come into\nhis kingdom; and Christ\u2019s promise did not pertain to that day, but to the\ntime in the thief\u2019s request; so he did not falsify it by not going to his\nFather for three days afterward. The thief is quietly slumbering in the\ntomb; but Christ is soon coming into his kingdom. Then the thief will be\nremembered, be raised from the dead, and be with Christ in that paradise\ninto which he will then introduce all his people. Thus all is as clear as\na sunbeam, when the text is freed from the bungling tinkering of men.\n\nThe strongest texts and incidents which are appealed to in defense of the\nconscious-state theory, have now been examined. If these do not sustain\nit, nothing can be found in the Bible which will sustain it. All are\neasily harmonized with these. Thus in Paul\u2019s desire to \u201cdepart and be with\nChrist\u201d (Phil. 1:23), he does not there tell us _when_ he will be with\nChrist; but he does tell us in many other places; and it is at the\nresurrection and the coming of Christ. Phil. 3:11; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. When\nhe speaks of our being clothed upon with our house from heaven (2 Cor.\n5:2), he tells us that it is when \u201cmortality\u201d is \u201cswallowed up of life.\u201d\nBut that is only at the last trump. 1 Cor. 15:51-54. If we are told about\nthe woman who had had seven husbands (Matt. 22:23-28), no hint is given of\nany reunion till after the resurrection. If God calls himself \u201cnot the God\nof the dead, but of the living\u201d (Matt. 22:32), it is because he speaks of\n\u201cthose things that be not as though they were\u201d (Rom. 4:17), and the\nworthies of whom this is spoken, are sure to live again (Heb. 11:15, 16),\nand hence are now spoken of as alive in his sight, because they are so in\nhis purpose. Texts which speak of the departure and return of the soul\n(Gen. 35:18; 1 Kings 17:21, 22), are referable to the \u201cbreath of life,\u201d\nwhich is the meaning of the word in these instances rendered \u201csoul.\u201d\n\nThree passages only have been referred to, which declare positively that\nthe dead know not anything. It was thought preferable to answer certain\nobjections, before introducing further direct testimony. But there are\nmany such passages, a few more of which will now be presented, as a\nfitting conclusion to this branch of the subject. The reader\u2019s careful\nattention is invited to a few of the various texts, and the conclusions\nthat follow therefrom.\n\n1. _Death and Sleep._\u2014Death, in numerous passages is compared to sleep, in\ncontrast with the wakeful condition. See Ps. 13:3; Job 7:21; John 11:11;\nActs 7:60; 1 Cor. 11:30; 15:51; 1 Thess. 4:14; etc. But there is only one\nfeature in sleep by virtue of which it can be taken as a figure of death;\nand that is, the condition of unconsciousness which shuts up the avenues\nof one\u2019s senses to all one\u2019s environment. If one is not thus unconscious\nin death, the figure is false, and the comparison illogical and\nmisleading.\n\n2. _Thoughts Perish._\u2014So David testifies: \u201cPut not your trust in princes,\nnor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth,\nhe returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.\u201d Ps.\n146:3, 4. The word \u201cthoughts\u201d does not here mean simply the projects and\npurposes one has in view, which do often fail, when the author of them\ndies, but it is from a root which means the act of thinking, the operation\nof the mind; and in death, that entirely ceases. It cannot therefore be\nthe dead who come out of the unseen with such intelligence as is shown in\nSpiritualism.\n\n3. _Job\u2019s Statement._\u2014Speaking of a dead man, Job (14:21) says: \u201cHis sons\ncome to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he\nperceiveth it not of them.\u201d If the dead cannot take cognizance of matters\nof so much interest as these, how can they communicate with the living as\nthe spirits do?\n\n4. _No Remembrance of God._\u2014David, in Ps. 6:5 and 115:17, again testifies:\n\u201cFor in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give\nthee thanks?\u201d \u201cThe dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into\nsilence.\u201d Is it possible that any righteous man, if he is living and\nconscious after going into the grave, would not praise and give thanks to\nthe Lord?\n\n5. _Hezekiah\u2019s Testimony._\u2014Hezekiah was sick unto death. Isa. 38:1. But he\nprayed, and the Lord added to his days fifteen years. Verse 5. For this he\npraised the Lord, and gave his reasons for so doing in the following words\n(verses 18, 19): \u201cFor the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate\nthee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The\nliving, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day.\u201d This is a\nclear affirmation that in death he would not be able to do what he was\nable to do while living.\n\n6. _New Testament Evidence._\u2014The New Testament bears a corresponding\ntestimony on this subject. None will be saved except such as Christ raises\nup at the last day. John 6:39, 40. No one is to receive any reward before\nthe resurrection. Luke 14:14; 2 Tim. 4:8. No one can enter God\u2019s kingdom\nbefore being judged; but there is no execution of judgment before the\ncoming of Christ. 2 Tim. 4:1; Acts 17:31; Luke 19:35; etc. If there is no\navenue to a future life by a resurrection, then all who have gone down in\ndeath are perished. 1 Cor. 15:18. Such texts utterly forbid the idea of\nconsciousness and activity, on the part of any of the human family, in\ndeath.\n\nThis part of the subject need not be carried further. It has been dwelt\nupon so fully simply because of its determinate bearing on the question\nunder discussion. Spiritualism rests its whole title to credence on the\nclaim that the intelligences which manifest themselves are the spirits of\nthe dead. The Bible says that they are _not_ the spirits of the dead. Then\nif the Bible is true, the whole system rests upon deception and falsehood.\nNo one who believes this will tamper with Spiritualism. One cannot have\nSpiritualism and the Bible, too. One or the other must be given up. But he\nwho still holds on to the theory that the dead are conscious, contrary to\nthe testimony of the Scriptures has no shield against the Spiritualistic\ndelusion, and the danger is that he will sooner or later throw the Bible\naway.\n\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter Four.\n\n\nTHEY ARE EVIL ANGELS.\n\n\nAs the Bible plainly shows what the spirits which communicate are _not_,\nit just as clearly reveals also what they _are_; so that in no particular\nis one left to conjecture or guesswork. There is an order of beings\nbrought to view in the Scriptures, above man but lower than God or Christ,\ncalled \u201cangels.\u201d No Bible believer questions the existence of such beings.\nIt is sometimes asserted that angels are departed human spirits; but this\ncannot be; for they appear upon the stage of action before a single human\nbeing had died, or a disembodied spirit could have existed. When the world\nwas created, Job declares that \u201cthe morning stars sang together, and all\nthe sons of God shouted for joy.\u201d These are two of the names applied to\nthese beings, but they are also known by a number of others. They are 167\ntimes called angels; 61 times, angel of the Lord; 8 times, angel of God;\n17 times, his angels; 41 times, cherub and cherubim. There are also such\nnames as seraphim, chariots, God\u2019s hosts, watchers, holy ones, thrones,\ndominions, principalities and powers,\u2014all referring to the different\norders of these heavenly beings.\n\nA part of this host fell into sin, and thereby became evil, or fallen,\nangels. A reasonable statement of how this came about can be given, but no\nreason for the act itself. Sin cannot be explained. To explain it would be\nto give a reason for it; and to give a reason for it would be to excuse\nit; and then it would cease to be sin. In the beginning a condition\nexisted which was in itself right and essential; but which nevertheless\nmade sin possible. It is one of the inevitable conditions of the highest\nglory of God, that all his creatures should serve him from choice, under\nthe law of love, and not by compulsion, as a machine, under the law of\nnecessity. To secure this end, they must be made free moral agents. Thus\nto angels was given the freedom of the will, the same as to man. They were\nin a state of purity and happiness, with every condition favorable for a\ncontinuance in that condition; but in the free choices of their free\nwills, they of course had the power, if they should unaccountably see fit\nso to use it, to turn away from truth and right, and rebel against God.\nThis some of them did. So we find Jude speaking of \u201cthe angels that kept\nnot their first estate\u201d (Jude 6), and Peter, of \u201cthe angels that sinned\u201d\n(2 Peter 2:4); and these they further declare, were cast down to Tartarus,\nand are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment\nof the great day.\n\nThere must have been to this rebellion an instigator and leader; and we\naccordingly find the Bible speaking of such a personage; the whole company\nbeing described as \u201cthe Devil and his angels.\u201d Our Lord pointed out this\nleader in evil, and his work, in John 8:44: \u201cYe are of your Father the\nDevil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the\nbeginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.\nWhen he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the\nfather of it.\u201d This reveals the great facts in his case. He abode not in\nthe truth. Then he was once in the truth; and as he is a liar, and the\nfather of it, he was the first one to depart from truth and introduce\nfalsehood and evil into the universe of God.\n\nIn Isaiah (14:12-14) this being is addressed as Lucifer, or the day-star;\nand the prophet exclaims, \u201cHow art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, son\nof the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken\nthe nations!\u201d The following verses indicate that the nature of his\ntransgression was self-exaltation and pride of heart: \u201cFor thou hast said\nin thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above\nthe stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in\nthe sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I\nwill be like the Most High.\u201d Paul, in 1 Tim. 3:6, intimates that it was\nthis pride that caused the ruin of this once holy being. Of an elder he\nsays that he must not be a novice, \u201clest being lifted up with pride he\nfall into the condemnation of the Devil,\u201d or that sin for which the Devil\nwas condemned.\n\nIn Ezekiel 28, Satan is again spoken of under the pseudonym of \u201cthe prince\nof Tyrus.\u201d Verse 2 shows his pride: \u201cBecause thine heart is lifted up, and\nthou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God,\u201d etc. Verses 12-15\ndescribe his beauty, wisdom, and apparel, and his exalted office as a high\ncherub, before his sin and fall. Verse 15 reads: \u201cThou wast perfect in thy\nways from the day thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.\u201d\n\nThese passages give us a sufficient idea of the origin of Satan and how\nsuch an incarnation of evil has come to exist. The Tartarus into which he\nand his angels were cast, according to Peter, is defined by leading\nlexicographers, as meaning the dark, void, interplanetary spaces,\nsurrounding the world. Using the serpent as a medium, this apostate angel,\nthus cast out, plied our first parents with his temptation by preaching to\nthem the immortality of the soul, \u201cThou shalt not surely die,\u201d and alas!\nseduced them also into rebellion. The dominion which was given to Adam\n(Gen. 1:28), Adam thus alienated to Satan, by becoming his servant; for\nPaul says, \u201cKnow ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to\nobey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?\u201d Rom. 6:16. Now, consequently,\nsuch titles as \u201cprince of this world,\u201d \u201cprince of the power of the air,\u201d\n\u201cgod of this world,\u201d etc., are applied to him, because he has by fraud\nusurped that place. John 14:30; Eph. 2:2; 2 Cor. 4:4. He, of course,\nemploys \u201chis angels\u201d to co-operate with him in his nefarious work.\n\nThus clearly do we have set before us just the agencies,\u2014the Devil and his\nangels,\u2014which are adapted, both by nature and inclination, to carry on\njust such a work as is seen in Spiritualism. But how do we know, some one\nmay ask, but that Spiritualism is the work of the good angels?\u2014We know\nthat it is not, because good angels do not lie. They never would come to\nmen, professing to be the spirits of their dead friends, and imitate and\npersonate them to deceive, knowing that the mediums did not know, and\ncould not ascertain that they were altogether another and different order\nof beings. But the evil angels, led by the father of lies, and cradled,\nand drilled, and skilled, and polished, in the school of lying, would be\ndelighted to deceive men in this very way, by pretending to be their dead\nfriends, and then by working upon their affections and love for the ones\nthey could skilfully personate, bring them under their influence and lead\nthem captive at their will.\n\nThese evil angels are experts in deception. They have had six thousand\nyears\u2019 experience. They are well acquainted with the human family. They\ncan read character. They study temperament. They acquaint themselves\nminutely with personal history. They know a thousand things which only\nthey and the individual they are trying to ensnare, are aware of. They\nknow many things beyond the knowledge of men. They can easily carry the\nnews of the decease of a friend, and the description of a death-bed scene,\nto other friends thousands of miles away, and months before the truth\nthrough ordinary channels can reach them, so that when it is verified,\ntheir influence over them may be increased. (See page 23.)\n\nThere is nothing that has yet taken place, of however inexplicable a\nnature, and nothing which even the imagination may anticipate, which is\nnot, and will not be, easily attributable to these unseen angels. They are\nlying spirits; for the fundamental principle on which they are acting is a\nlie; but they tell enough truth to sway and captivate the minds of men. It\nmatters not how sacred the field in which they tread, nor how hallowed the\nassociations which they invade, they press into every spot where it is\npossible, by spinning another thread, to strengthen their web of\ndeception.\n\nAnd in what dulcet and siren tones they woo their victims to lay aside all\nresistance to their influence, to become receptive and passive, and yield\nthemselves to their control; and when they have them thus helpless in\ntheir arms, they deliberately and cruelly instil into their minds the\nvirus of ungovernable lust, the leprosy of unconquerable rebellion against\nthe government of Heaven. That this language does not misrepresent nor\nslander them, will be shown from their own testimony, before the close of\nthis book.\n\nThe thought is not overlooked that many even of those who do not profess\nto be Spiritualists, deny the existence of any such being as a personal\nDevil, or of personal evil angels, his agents. He is no doubt well pleased\nwith this, as such people can the more easily be made the victims of his\nwiles. But these same persons would no doubt acknowledge the existence, as\nreal beings, of God, Christ, and the good angels. This fact being\nestablished, by parity of reasoning the Devil and his angels become real\nbeings also. The same arguments which show that God and Christ exist as\npersonal beings may be used to show that the Devil and his angels are\npersonal beings also. He who denies that there is a personal Devil, must\nbe prepared also to deny that there is a personal Christ. So far as the\nargument for personal existence is concerned, Christ and good angels stand\non one side of the equation, and the Devil and his angels on the other;\nand whoever would rub out the one, must rub out the other also.\n\nChrist said that he \u201cbeheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.\u201d Luke\n10:18. John in the Revelation (12:7) beheld a war in heaven. \u201cMichael\n[Christ] and his angels fought against the dragon [Satan]; and the dragon\nfought, and his angels.\u201d On the ground that there is no Devil, this would\nbe a wonderful battle\u2014Christ and his angels, who are real beings, fighting\nfuriously against myths and nonentities which have not even the substance\nof a phantom.\n\nTo endorse the doctrine of a personal Devil, is not to endorse the grossly\nabsurd caricatures conjured up by morbid imaginations, and popular\ntheology,\u2014a being with bat\u2019s wings, horns, hoofs, and a dart-pointed tail.\nYet upon such pictorial fables he doubtless looks with complacency; as\nthey are calculated still further to destroy faith in his existence, and\nenable him the better to cover his tracks and carry on his work among men.\nNevertheless the only rational hypothesis on which to account for the\npresent condition of this world (which every one must admit is full of\ndevilishness), the existence of evil, and the presence of sickness,\nsuffering, and death, is the account the Bible gives us of fallen angels\nand fallen men. Unfallen angels are beings of mighty power. One of them\nslew in one night 185,000 Assyrians (2 Kings 19:35); and the one who\nappeared at the time of Christ\u2019s resurrection had a countenance like the\nlightning, and raiment white as snow, and before him the keepers of the\ntomb fell like dead men. Matt. 28:3, 4. A fall from their high estate,\nthough it would impair their strength and power, cannot be supposed to\nhave wholly deprived them of these qualities; therefore the fallen angels\nstill have capabilities far superior to those of men. The only defense\nmankind has against them is found in Christ, who circumscribes their power\n(for they are kept in chains, 2 Peter 2:4), and makes provision by which\nwe may resist them. Eph. 6:11; James 4:6-8; 1 John 5:18. The question why\nthey are permitted to continue finds solution in the thought that God is\nconsistently giving to sin time and opportunity to develop itself, fully\nshow its nature, and manifest its works, to all created intelligences, so\nthat when it shall finally be wiped out of existence, with all its\noriginators, aiders, and abetters, as in God\u2019s purpose it is to be (Rev.\n20:14, 15; 2 Peter 3:7, 13; Rev. 5:13), there will ever after remain an\nobject-lesson sufficient to safe-guard the universe against a repetition\nof the evil. Only some 6000 years are allotted to this work of evil; and\n6000 years are as nothing compared with eternity.\n\n\n\n\nWarnings Against Evil Spirits.\n\n\nThe Scriptures plainly point out the working of these agents of\nwickedness, and warn us against them. In 1 Tim. 4:1, we read: \u201cNow the\nSpirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from\nthe faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.\u201d This\nshows that these spirits make it an object to seduce, or deceive, to draw\nmen away from the true faith, and cause them to receive, instead, the\ndoctrines they teach, which are called \u201cdoctrines of devils;\u201d and this\nscripture is written to put men on their guard against them.\n\nAgain Paul says: \u201cFor we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against\nprincipalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this\nworld, against spiritual wickedness [margin, \u2018wicked spirits\u2019] in high\nplaces.\u201d Eph. 6:12. And he adjures his readers to put on the whole armor\nof God to be able to resist them.\n\nThe apostle Peter exhorts to the same purpose: \u201cBe sober, be vigilant;\nbecause your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about,\nseeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith.\u201d 1 Peter\n5:8, 9. If our ears do not deceive us, a good deal of this roaring is\nheard in the ranks of Spiritualists, where, by invisible rapping, agitated\nfurniture, clairvoyance, clairaudience, writing, speaking, marvels, and\nwonders, he seeks to set the world on tiptoe of curiosity and expectation,\nand bewilder men into a departure from the faith and the acceptance of the\ndoctrines of devils. He is cunning enough not to \u201croar\u201d in a way to\nfrighten and repel, but only to attract attention, and lead multitudes,\nthrough an overweening curiosity and wonder at the marvels, to come\nthoughtlessly within the sphere of his influence.\n\nThe prophet Isaiah also has something to say directly upon this subject:\n\u201cAnd when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar\nspirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people\nseek unto their God? for the living to the dead?\u201d Isa. 8:19. That is, is\nit consistent for living people to go to dead ones for their knowledge?\nThe following verse shows where we should go for light and truth: \u201cTo the\nlaw and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is\nbecause there is no light in them.\u201d The time has certainly come when many\nare saying just what the text points out, and seeking to the dead, to\nfamiliar spirits, and wizards, for knowledge. Those practices which in the\nBible are enumerated as \u201ccharming,\u201d \u201cenchantment,\u201d \u201csorcery,\u201d\n\u201cwitchcraft,\u201d \u201cnecromancy,\u201d \u201cdivination,\u201d \u201cconsulting with familiar\nspirits,\u201d etc., are more or less related, and are all really from one\nsource. So in modern times different names indicate substantially the same\nthing. Thus Mr. Hudson, in \u201cPsychic Phenomena,\u201d p. v, says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cIt has, however, long been felt by the ablest thinkers of our\n    time that all psychic manifestations of the human intellect,\n    normal or abnormal, whether designated by the name of mesmerism,\n    hypnotism, somnambulism, trance, spiritism, demonology, miracle,\n    mental therapeutics, genius, or insanity, are in some way\n    related.\u201d\n\n\nSeven, at least, of the foregoing names are no doubt in the warp and woof\nof Spiritualism; and he might have added mind-reading and Christian\nScience. And Spiritualists admit that their work is the same as that\ndescribed by the Bible terms above quoted. Thus, Allen Putnam, a\nSpiritualistic writer, says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe doctrine that the oracles, soothsaying, and witchcraft of\n    past ages were kindred to these manifestations of our day, I, for\n    one, most fully believe.\u201d\n\n\nIn a pamphlet by the same author, entitled, \u201cMesmerism, Spiritualism,\nWitchcraft, and Miracle,\u201d p. 6, he says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cAs seen by me now, Mesmerism, Spiritualism, Witchcraft, Miracles,\n    all belong to one family, all have a common root, and are\n    developed by the same laws.\u201d\n\n\nTo all these, therefore, the text under notice (Isa. 8:19, 20) applies. We\nare to bring them to the standard of \u201cthe law and the testimony,\u201d and \u201cif\nthey speak not according to this word ... there is no light in them.\u201d The\nliving should not seek to the dead.\n\nIn Rev. 16:13, 14, the same spirits are again brought to view, and called\n\u201cunclean spirits,\u201d and \u201cspirits of devils.\u201d Their last work of deception\nis to go forth to the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to\ngather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Thus all that\nis revealed of them from beginning to end (and scriptures might be\nmultiplied on the point) furnishes the most cogent reason why all should\nbe keenly awake to their existence and their work, and be ever watchful\nagainst their influence and approach.\n\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter Five.\n\n\nWHAT THE SPIRITS TEACH.\n\n\nIt has been shown in the preceding chapters that the unseen \u201ccontrols\u201d\n(the beings who control the mediums) in Spiritualism, are not the spirits\nof the dead, but are fallen angels or spirits of devils. This fact will be\nconfirmed by a brief glance at some of their teachings; for we are to\nremember that if they speak not according to the law and the testimony\nthere is no light in them. It matters not that what they teach may be\nsupported by signs and wonders beyond the comprehension of the human mind.\nThat is no guarantee of truth; for such phenomena are to be wrought, as\nwill soon be shown, to prove a lie. The Lord anciently put his people on\ntheir guard in this respect. Deut. 13:1-3, 5: \u201cIf there arise among you a\nprophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and\nthe sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying,\nLet us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve\nthem; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that\ndreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye\nlove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.\u201d \u201cAnd\nthat prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he\nhath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, ... out of the way\nwhich the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in.\u201d\n\nThus the fact that one who professed to be a prophet could perform a sign\nor wonder, showing his connection with some unseen power, was not enough\nto shield him from condemnation and punishment, if what he undertook to\nprove by that sign or wonder was contrary to the truth, and tended to lead\naway from God. The teaching of any system is an important part of the\nfruit it bears; and by that, according to our Lord\u2019s own rule, we are to\njudge it, and not by any power or mighty works connected with it, however\nwonderful they may be.\n\n\u201c\u2019Tis not the broad phylactery\n  Nor stubborn fasts, nor stated prayers\nThat make us saints. We judge the tree\n  By what it bears.\u201d\n\u2014_Alice Carey._\n\nIt is therefore pertinent to look sufficiently at the teachings of the\nspirits to ascertain their character. Here we shall find some most\ndamaging testimony; for\u2014\n\n1. _They Deny God._\u2014It is no pleasure to transcribe the utterances of\npractical atheism; yet enough should be given to show what they teach on\nthe great fundamental principles of Christianity. At a s\u00e9ance, reported in\nthe _Banner of Light_, July 11, 1868, the following questions were\naddressed to the spirits, and the accompanying answers received:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014It is said in the Bible that man is made in the image of\n    God. Please tell us what that image is.\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014He is made in the image of everything that ever was, that\n    is, or that ever shall be. He holds within his caliber everything\n    that exists, that ever has existed, or that ever will exist. Now,\n    God is included in this. If he exists at all, he exists everywhere\n    (and we have taken in everything), every place, every name, every\n    condition. I believe that the human stands above all things else,\n    and holds within its embrace all the past, present, and future. In\n    this sense he is created and exists in the image of God.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014What is God essentially?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Everything. Essentially you are God, and I am God\u2014the\n    flowers, the grass, the pebbles, the stars, the moon, the sun,\n    everything is God.\u201d\n\n\nThe Devil, through the serpent in the garden, taught Adam and Eve that the\nsoul is immortal, and has transfused the same idea very successfully\nthrough paganism, Romanism, and Protestantism; but he also said, \u201cYe shall\nbe as gods;\u201d and now, it seems, he is trying to make the world swallow\nthis other leg of his falsehood; but by putting it forth under the form of\nthe old pagan pantheism, that everything is God, and God is everything, he\nbetrays the lie he uttered in Eden; for in that case, Adam and Eve were no\nmore gods after they ate than they were before.\n\nAnother s\u00e9ance, reported in the _Banner_ about twenty years later than the\none quoted above, April 28, 1888; an inquirer addressed to the \u201cspirits\u201d a\nquestion about God, and received answer, a portion of which is presented\nbelow:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014Some Spiritualists, I learn, believe in a God; otherwise\n    they would not pray to him\u2014taking for granted that there is such a\n    being. Please enlighten us.\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014We have yet to come in contact with a thorough\n    Spiritualist, one who understands something of spiritual life and\n    the revelations made by returning spirits, who directly believes\n    in a personal God. True, many Spiritualists and many returning\n    spirits offer their invocations to the \u2018Great Supreme Spirit of\n    all life and intelligence,\u2019 not because they expect to change the\n    order of law, or to come into direct communication with, or\n    nearness to, a Great Supreme Being, clothed in the image of man,\n    but because they desire to enter an atmosphere of harmony, to\n    uplift their own souls to a plane of thought which will bring\n    spiritual inspiration to their minds. We make a distinction\n    between that Great Supreme Overruling Force which we may call the\n    Superior Spirit of Intelligence, Wisdom, and Love, and the\n    personal Deity, clothed in the image of man, gigantic in stature,\n    jealous and revengeful by nature, which has been set up and\n    worshiped as the Christian Jehovah. We know of no Spiritualist\u2014let\n    us repeat it\u2014who believes in such a personal God; but we can\n    believe and accept the idea, though it may pass beyond almost our\n    finite comprehension, that there is a grand universal Spirit\n    permeating all forms of existence; that this great source of\n    light, of activity and vitality vibrates with intelligence, and\n    that it is superior to all organic forms, however grand they may\n    prove to be.\u201d\n\n\nThe same views have been taught all along by the \u201cspirits\u201d of\nSpiritualism, as could be shown by extracts dating as far back as 1858,\nonly ten years after the \u201cRochester Knockings.\u201d And though Spiritualism is\nnow assuming more of the sedate speech of organized Christianity, the\nspirits do not modify their teaching in respect to God. In \u201cAutomatic, or\nSpirit, Writing,\u201d p. 148 (1896), are given many messages from the spirits\nthrough the mediumship of Mrs. S. A. Underwood, wife of the editor of the\n_Philosophical Journal_, Chicago. The \u201cspirits\u201d set forth their teaching\nin answer to questions by the medium, some of which have reference to God,\nthough his name is not used. Thus on page 148, this conversation is\ngiven:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014You often in these communications speak of the binding\n    laws of spiritual life\u2014that because of them you cannot give us\n    such and such information, etc. Now who makes those laws, and\n    whence came they, and how are they taught?\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014Thou say\u2019st \u2018who\u2019\u2014therefore we cannot answer. Go back to\n    the first question and ask one at a time.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Well, who makes the laws?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Spirits are not bondaged by _persons_.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Then how do you come to know those laws?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Pharos will now answer. Spiritual laws are spiritually\n    perceived, as soon as the physical perceptions are got rid of.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Could you explain to us those laws?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Courses of teaching from our side are as necessary for you\n    to understand even the rudimentary laws of Being, as courses in\n    your colleges; and guessed-at spirit knowledge from your bounded\n    view must always fail in accurate wording.\u201d\n\n\nIt will be perceived that the answers to these questions are, from the\nbeginning, evasive; but the real idea entertained clearly shines through\nthe thin veil drawn over to conceal it. The questions pertain to the\nsource, or authorship, of the \u201claws of spiritual life;\u201d and this would\ngenerally be understood to be God. But on a technicality the spirits\nrefuse to answer. The question is made plainer, and the answer is that\n\u201cspirits are not bondaged by _persons_;\u201d that is to say that spirits have\nnothing to do with personalities, and that no personal being has anything\nto do with those laws. There is therefore no God who formulates and\npromulgates them. No wonder the question followed, how they came to know\nthese laws; and it was a very convenient answer that we will know when we\nget there and have lost all physical perceptions. A desire for some\nexplanation of those laws is met with the not very satisfactory\ninformation that they (the spirits) would have to give those in our sphere\na course of teaching, like a college course, before we could understand\neven the rudimentary laws of Being. The only thing clear in all this is\nthat there is no God; at least no personal God such as the Bible reveals.\nTo the \u201cgrand whole,\u201d whatever that may be, they give the name of the \u201cAll\nof Being.\u201d In answer to a question concerning \u201cpersonalities,\u201d they are\ncalled \u201catoms emanating from the same source\u2014parts of the great All of\nBeing, partaking of the general characteristics of the grand whole.\u201d\u2014_Page\n149._\n\nReader, how does all this compare in your own mind with the God of the\nBible, the Creator of all things, the loving Father of us all, who has for\nhis creatures more tender regard and pity than a father can feel for his\nown children, whose very name and nature is Love, and who has purposed\ninfinite good for all men, and will carry it out unless they, as free\nmoral agents, by their own sin, prevent his doing for them what he desires\nto do? The Bible is not responsible for the aspersions cast upon God by a\nfalse theology, which misrepresent his character and give occasion for the\ncharges of vindictiveness and vengeance and awful tyranny, so freely made\nby fallen angels and wicked men. They do not belong to him who is the\nsource of all goodness and mercy; and we would labor to bring those who\nhave perverted views of God back to a right conception of the great Friend\nof sinners, as he has revealed himself in his holy word.\n\n2. _They Deny Jesus Christ._\u2014Christ is revealed as the divine Son of the\nFather; and to deny that he was or is any more than any other man is\nsurely to deny him; and the scripture says that \u201cwhosoever denieth the\nSon, the same hath not the Father.\u201d 1 John 2:23. The following is what the\n\u201cspirits\u201d began to teach in the earliest stages of Spiritualism concerning\nChrist:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWhat is the meaning of the word Christ?\u2014\u2019Tis not, as generally\n    supposed, the Son of the Creator of all things. Any just and\n    perfect being is Christ. The crucifixion of Christ is nothing more\n    than the crucifixion of the spirit, which all have to contend with\n    before becoming perfect and righteous. The miraculous conception\n    of Christ is merely a fabulous tale.\u201d\u2014_Spiritual Telegraph, No.\n    37._\n\n\nHow fully does this declaration that any good man is Christ open the way\nfor the fulfilment of the Saviour\u2019s prophecy that in the last days many\nfalse Christs and false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. See\nMatt. 24:24. A prospectus of the _Truth Seeker_ contained these words: \u201cIt\nshall be the organ through which the christs of the last dispensation will\nchoose to speak.\u201d\n\nA little later, July 19, 1862, there was published in the _Banner of\nLight_ a lecture on Spiritualism by Mrs. C. L. V. Hatch, in which she\nspoke of Christ as follows:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cOf Jesus of Nazareth, personally, we have but little to say.\n    Certain it is, we find sufficient that is divine in his life and\n    teachings, without professing to believe in the fables of\n    theologians respecting his birth and parentage. We are content to\n    take the simple record as it stands, and to regard him as the son\n    of Joseph and Mary, endowed with such purity and harmony of\n    character as fitted him to be the Apostle and Revelator of the\n    highest wisdom ever taught to man. It is the fundamental article\n    in the creed of modern Christianity, that Jesus was divine in his\n    nature, and of miraculous origin and nativity. Now, no human being\n    of ordinary intelligence, unwarped by educational bias, would ever\n    profess to believe in such a monstrous figment, which only shows\n    the blindness of superstitious prejudice.\u201d\n\n\nHere is something twenty-four years later. A s\u00e9ance reported in the\n_Banner of Light_, Oct. 9, 1886, gives the following questions and\nanswer:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014Do \u2018spirits\u2019 generally believe in the divinity of Jesus\n    Christ; that he was the Son of God; that he was crucified, dead,\n    and buried, and rose again the third day for the saving of all who\n    should believe in him?\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014No; spirits generally\u2014advanced spirits, those who are\n    intelligent, having studied deeply into the principles of life\u2014do\n    not accept the theory of the divinity of Jesus Christ; they do not\n    believe that he was crucified for mankind, in the accepted\n    understanding of that term.\u201d\n\n\nSome years ago a class was formed in New York City for the purpose of\ninvestigating what is called the spiritual philosophy. Before that class,\nDr. Weisse said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cFriend Orton seems to make rather light of the communications\n    from spirits concerning Christ. It seems, nevertheless, that all\n    the testimony received from advanced spirits only shows that\n    Christ was a medium and reformer in Judea; that he now is an\n    advanced spirit in the sixth sphere; but that he never claimed to\n    be God, and does not at present. I have had two communications to\n    that effect. I have also read some that Dr. Hare had. If I am\n    wrong in my views of the Bible, I should like to know it, for the\n    spirits and mediums _do not contradict me_.\u201d\n\n\nThe peculiar insult here purposely offered to the Saviour will be\nappreciated when it is noted that at about the same time the spirits\nlocated Thomas Paine, the well-known skeptic, in the seventh sphere, one\nsphere above that of Christ. He must therefore have progressed very\nrapidly, seeing he so quickly surpassed Christ, who had over 1700 years\nthe start of him.\n\nBefore the same class Dr. Hare is reported to have spoken as follows,\nwhich we give without assuming any responsibility for the spiritual\ngrammar therein exhibited:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cHe said that he had been thus protected from deception by the\n    spirits of Washington and Franklin, and that they had brought\n    Jesus Christ to him, with whom he had also communicated. He had\n    first repelled him as an impostor; but became convinced afterward\n    that it was really him. He related that he had learned from that\n    high and holy spirit, that he was not the character that\n    Christendom had represented him to be, and not responsible for the\n    errors connected with his name, but that he was, while on earth, a\n    medium of high and extraordinary powers, and that it was solely\n    through his mediumistic capabilities that he attained so great\n    knowledge, and was enabled to practice such apparent wonders.\u201d\n\n\nWhen Christ was upon earth, it was envy, jealousy, and malice that moved\nthe Pharisees against him (Matt 27:18); and it seems that he is followed\nby the same feelings in the spirit world. This is natural; for he who\nfired the hearts of the Pharisees with their malignant spirit, is the same\none, as we have seen, who is working through the powers of darkness in the\nunseen world to-day. Any way to degrade Christ in the minds of men to a\nlevel with, or below, the mediums of our time, and make it appear that\nthey can do as great wonders as he, seems to be the object in view.\n\nThere is plainly manifest an irrepressible desire on the part of spirits\nand mediums to show Christ to be inferior to the leaders of other great\nreligions of the world, as Buddha, Confucius, Zoroaster, etc. Thus, at a\nseance held in 1864 (_Banner of Light_, June 4), the spirits were\nquestioned as follows:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014Have you ever seen Confucius or Zoroaster?\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014Yes, many times.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014In the order of degree, which stands the higher in moral\n    excellence\u2014Jesus Christ, Confucius, or Zoroaster?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Confucius stands in morality higher than the other two....\n    Jesus himself claims to have been inspired to a large extent, by\n    this same Confucius. And if we are to place reliance upon the\n    records concerning each individual, we shall find that Jesus spoke\n    the truth when he tells us that he was inspired by Confucius.\u201d\n\n\nIndeed! Where are the records referred to? Where and when did Jesus\n\u201cspeak\u201d the words attributed to him? And where does he tell _us_, that he\nwas inspired by Confucius? So we are to believe, are we, that the gospel\nof Jesus Christ, is only a rehash of what was originally wrought out in\nthe brain of Confucius, and not words fresh from the fountain of light\ngiven him by his Father in heaven, to speak, as he claimed them to be? Yet\nhe was a high and _holy_ medium. We wonder what standard of holiness and\nperfection the spirits can have.\n\nBut still later, in 1896, we find the spirits putting forth the same\nteaching in reference to Jesus Christ. In \u201cAutomatic, or Spirit Writing,\u201d\npp. 148, 149, we have this:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014Do you accept Jesus as the model of spiritual knowledge?\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014Shall you give us a better example?\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Well, we are willing to accept him as one of many, but not\n    as chief.\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Change the name. Call him by other names\u2014Buddha, Krishna, or\n    Mohammed, the spirit is one\u2014is ever and ever the same. Spirit is\n    one, not many, however often the name is changed.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Were not Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed distinct personalities?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014No more than all atoms emanating from the same source\u2014parts\n    of the great All of Being, partaking of the general\n    characteristics of the grand whole\u2014but yielding to environments,\n    showed marked individualism, such as the force of the times in\n    which they appeared would create in their characters.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Are these leaders of religious thought not distinct\n    individualities now?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014No, not on spiritual planes, which do not recognize any\n    now.\u201d\n\n\nThus they persist in denying that Jesus holds any pre-eminent position as\na religious teacher. He may as well be called Buddha, Krishna, or Mohammed\nas Jesus. They are all the same spirit, all atoms of the great \u201cAll of\nBeing,\u201d all as much alike as three drops of water from the same ocean, and\nwhat is more bewildering still, they have now all lost their individuality\nin the spirit world. How, then, can it be told that Christ is in the sixth\nsphere, and Paine in the seventh? Such teachers, though they may claim to\nbe good spirits, are branded as antichrist by both John and Jude. John\nsays: \u201cWho is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is\nantichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.\u201d 1 John 2:22. Again,\n\u201cEvery spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh\nis not of God.\u201d 1 John 4:3. According to the spirits, Jesus Christ has no\nmore come in the flesh than have Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, Zoroaster,\nor any other religious teacher. They all simply yielded to their\nenvironments, and showed marked individualism while on this earth, and\nhave now become absorbed in the \u201cgreat whole\u201d in the spirit world. Thus,\nas Jude says (verse 4), they deny \u201cthe only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus\nChrist.\u201d\n\nSo much for their denial of Christ in his person. They also deny him in\nhis offices; for to deny and ridicule what he came to do, is one of the\nmost effectual ways of denying him. The great work of Christ was the\nshedding of his blood to atone for the sins of the world; and the spirits\nare particularly bitter in denouncing that idea. If such sentiments were\nuttered only by open and professed scoffers, it would not do so much harm;\nbut it is not unusual to find those bearing the title of \u201cReverend\u201d\ndescanting on these themes in a manner to show themselves antichrist,\naccording to the definition of that term by John. And even this need not\nsurprise us; for the sure word of prophecy has foretold that some who have\nonce held the true faith will depart therefrom to give heed to seducing\nspirits, and doctrines of devils. 1 Tim. 4:1.\n\nOne R. P. Wilson, to whose name is attached the ministerial title, in his\nlectures on \u201cSpiritual Science,\u201d said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cAlthough as a believer in true spiritual philosophy, we cannot\n    receive the orthodox views of salvation, yet we recognize the\n    birth of a Saviour and Redeemer into the universal hearts of\n    humanity, _wherein truly the deity is incarnate_, dwelling in the\n    interior of man\u2019s spirit. We believe that each soul of man is born\n    with his or her Saviour within them; for as man is an embodiment\n    of the universe in epitome, he contains in his central nature an\n    incarnation of deity. The germ of immortal unfoldings resides\n    within the spirit of it, which needs only appropriate conditions\n    to call forth the expanding and elevating powers of the soul.\u201d\n\n\nIn \u201cSpiritual Science Demonstrated,\u201d p. 229, Dr. Hare said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cSince my spirit sister\u2019s translation to the spheres, she has\n    risen from the fifth to the sixth sphere. It has been alleged by\n    her that her ascent was retarded by her belief in the atonement.\u201d\n\n\nA \u201cspirit\u201d calling himself Deacon John Norton, as reported in the _Banner\nof Light_, said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI used to believe in the atonement; I honestly believed that\n    Christ died to save the world, and that by and through his death\n    all must be saved if saved at all. Now I see that this is folly\u2014it\n    cannot be so. The light through Christ, the Holy One, shone in\n    darkness; the darkness could not comprehend it; and thus it\n    crucified the body, and Christ died a martyr. He was not called in\n    that way, that by the shedding of his blood, the vast multitude\n    coming after him should find salvation. Everything in nature\n    proves this false. They tell me here that Christ was the most\n    perfect man of his time. I am told here also that he is worthy to\n    be worshiped, because of his goodness; and where man finds\n    goodness he may worship. God\u2019s face is seen in the violet, and man\n    may well worship this tiny flower.\u201d\n\n\nIn the pantheism of Spiritualism, every object in nature, the tiny flower,\nthe pebbles, the trees, the birds and bees, are worthy to be worshiped as\nmuch as Christ. In one breath the spirits extol him as a most perfect man,\npre-eminent in goodness and worthy to be worshiped, and in the next, place\nhim in a position which would make him the greatest fraud and impostor\nthat ever lived. Such inconsistencies show that Christ is a miracle which\nevil men and evil angels know not how to dispose of.\n\nAs they deny Christ, they must, logically, deny the doctrine of his second\ncoming. This doctrine is made of especial importance and prominence in the\nNew Testament. The nature of that coming, its manner, and the\ncircumstances attending it are so fully described, that no one who adopts\nthe Bible view can possibly be deceived by false christs. But the church\nand the world have been turned away from the true doctrine of the second\nadvent, and the way is thus prepared for the great deceptions of the last\ndays. Spiritualism is one of these, and claims that it is itself that\nsecond coming. Joel Tiffany, a former celebrated teacher of Spiritualism,\nhas said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI must look for the coming of my Lord in my own affection. He\n    must come in the clouds of my spiritual heavens, or he cannot come\n    for any benefit to me.\u201d\n\n\nAnd through Mrs. Conant, a famous medium of the early days of\nSpiritualism, the controlling spirit said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThis second coming of Christ means simply the second coming of\n    truths that are not themselves new, that have always existed....\n    He said, \u2018When I come again, I shall not be known to you.\u2019\n    Spiritualism is that second coming of Christ.\u201d\u2014_Banner of Light,\n    Nov. 18, 1865._\n\n\nBut the Bible description of this event is, the revelation of the Lord\nhimself in the clouds of heaven in the glory of the Father, the\nreverberating shout of triumph, the voice of the archangel, the trump of\nGod, the flash of his presence like that of the lightning, the wailing of\nthe tribes of the earth, as they thus behold him, while unprepared to meet\nhim, and the resurrection of the righteous dead. And where and when have\nthese inseparable accompaniments of that event been seen? They do not\noccur when a person is converted from sin, nor do they occur in the dying\nchamber, nor have they occurred in Spiritualism; and until they do take\nplace, the second coming of Christ is not accomplished.\n\nMany seek to dispose of such testimony as this, by making it all\nfigurative, or meeting it with a bold denial, as in the case of the\nresurrection of the body. And the way has been too well prepared for this\ncondition of things, by much of the teaching of popular orthodoxy, which\nturns the early records of the Bible into childish allegory, perverts the\ntrue doctrine of the coming and kingdom of Christ, and denies the\nresurrection of the dead, by destroying its necessity through the\nimmortality of the soul. On the vital point of the resurrection, Dr.\nClarke makes this noteworthy remark:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cOne remark I cannot help making,\u2014The doctrine of the resurrection\n    appears to have been thought of much more consequence among the\n    primitive Christians than it is _now_! How is this?\u2014The apostles\n    were continually insisting on it, and exciting the followers of\n    God to diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness through it. And\n    their successors in the present day seldom mention it! So the\n    apostles preached, and so the primitive Christians believed; so we\n    preach and so our hearers believe. There is not a doctrine in the\n    gospel on which more stress is laid; and there is not a doctrine\n    in the present system of preaching which is treated with more\n    neglect.\u201d\u2014_On 1 Corinthians 15_ (_original edition_).(3)\n\n\nIn view of the way the Bible has been treated by its professed friends, it\nis no wonder that infidelity prevails, and Spiritualism prospers.\n\n3. _They Deny the Bible._\u2014The denial of God and Christ, as set forth above\nis, of course, a denial of the Bible; and not much need therefore be added\non this point. We quote only a few representative utterances. Doctor Hare\n(\u201cSpiritual Science Demonstrated,\u201d p. 209) says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe Old Testament does not impart a knowledge of immortality,\n    without which religion were worthless. The notions derived from\n    the gospels are vague, disgusting, inaccurate, and difficult to\n    believe.\u201d\n\n\nAs to the Old Testament, it would seem doubtful whether Mr. Hare ever read\nfar enough to find (1) Job exclaiming: \u201cFor I know that my Redeemer\nliveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and\nthough after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see\nGod: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not\nanother; though my reins be consumed within me\u201d (or, as the margin reads:\n\u201cMy reins within me are consumed with earnest desire [for that day];\u201d) or\n(2) David: \u201cI shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness;\u201d or (3)\nIsaiah: \u201cThy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they\narise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust;\u201d or (4) Ezekiel:\n\u201cBehold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up\nout of your graves;\u201d or (5) Daniel: \u201cMany of them that sleep in the dust\nof the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and\neverlasting contempt;\u201d and (6) Hosea: \u201cI will ransom them from the power\nof the grave, I will redeem them from death.\u201d Job 19:25-27; Ps. 17:15;\nIsa. 26:19; Eze. 37:12; Dan. 12:2; Hosea 13:14. And as for the New\nTestament, it is no doubt \u201cdisgusting\u201d to many Spiritualists to read that\n\u201cthe fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and\nwhoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have\ntheir part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the\nsecond death;\u201d and that without the city \u201care dogs, and sorcerers, and\nwhoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and\nmaketh a lie.\u201d Rev. 21:8; 22:15.\n\nCommunications from spirits are offered in place of the Bible as a better\nsource of instruction, the Bible being denounced, as above quoted, as\n\u201cvague, inaccurate, and difficult to believe.\u201d A brief comparison of the\ntwo will furnish pertinent evidence on this point. Take, on the Bible\nside, for example, a portion of the record of creation (Gen. 1:1-5):\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cIn the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the\n    earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face\n    of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the\n    waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And\n    God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light\n    from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness\n    he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first\n    day.\u201d\n\n\nThe facts stated in this record, the profoundest minds can never\ncomprehend; the language in which they are expressed, a little child can\nunderstand. The statements are plain and simple, a perfect model of\nperspicuous narrative. Place by the side of this an account of the same\nevent, as given us from the \u201cspheres.\u201d The spirits have undertaken to\nproduce a new Bible, beginning, like the old, with the creation; and this\nis the way it starts out, through the mediumship of \u201cRev.\u201d T. L. Harris:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c1. In the beginning God, the Life in God, the Lord in God, the\n    Holy Procedure, inhabited the dome, which, burning in magnificence\n    primeval, and revolving in prismatic and undulatory spiral,\n    appeared, and was the pavilion of the Spirit: In glory\n    inexhaustible and inconceivable, in movement spherical, unfolded\n    in harmonious procedure disclosive.\n\n\n    \u201c2. And God said, Let good be manifest! and good unfolded and\n    moral-mental germs, ovariums of heavens, descended from the\n    Procedure. And the dome of disclosive magnificence was heaven, and\n    the expanded glory beneath was the germ of creation. And the\n    divine Procedure inbreathed upon the disclosure, and the\n    disclosure became the universe.\u201d\n\n\nWe will inflict no more of this \u201cundulatory spiral\u201d nonsense on the\nreader. He now has both records before him, and can judge for himself\nwhich is the more worthy of his regard. There have been Spiritualists who,\nwriting in their normal state, and not yet fully divorced from the\ninfluence of their former education, have acknowledged the authenticity of\nthe Bible, and the doctrines of Jesus as recorded in the gospels. But\nthese, it is claimed, are to be understood according to a spiritual\nmeaning which underlies the letter; and this spiritual meaning generally\nturns out to be contrary to the letter, which is a virtual denial of the\nrecord itself. But the quotations here given (only a specimen of the\nmultitudes that might be presented) are given on the authority of the\n\u201cspirits,\u201d whose teachings are what we wish to ascertain.\n\n\n\n\nThey Deny All Distinction Between Right And Wrong.\n\n\nThere is implanted in the hearts of men by nature, a sense of right and a\nsense of wrong. Even those who know not God, nor Christ, nor the gospel,\npossess this power of discrimination. This is what Paul, in Rom. 2:15,\ncalls \u201cthe work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also\nbearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else\nexcusing one another.\u201d That this distinction should now be denied by a\nclass in a civilized community, professing to be advanced thinkers and\nteachers, among whom are found the learned, the refined, and the\nprofessedly pious, shows that we have fallen upon strange times. To be\nsure, many of them talk fluently of the beauty and perfection of divine\nlaws; but in the sense in which they would have them understood, they rob\nthem of all characteristics of law. The first great essential of law is\nauthority; but this they take away from it; the next is penalty for its\nviolation; but this they deny, and thus degrade the law to a mere piece of\nadvice. The \u201cHealing of the Nations,\u201d an authoritative work among\nSpiritualists, pp. 163, 164, says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThus thy body needs no laws, having been in its creation supplied\n    with all that could be necessary for its government. Thy spirit is\n    above all laws, and above all essences which flow therein. God\n    created thy spirit from within his own, and surely the Creator of\n    law is above it; the Creator of essences must be above all essence\n    created. And if thou hast what may be or might be termed laws,\n    they are always subservient to thy spirit. Good men need no laws,\n    and laws will do bad or ignorant men no good. If a man be above\n    law, he should never be governed by it. If he be below, what good\n    can dead, dry words do him?\n\n\n    \u201cTrue knowledge removeth all laws from power by placing the spirit\n    of man above it.\u201d\n\n\nA correspondent of the _Telegraph_ said of this work, \u201cThe Healing of the\nNations:\u201d\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cAccording to its teaching, no place is found in the universe for\n    divine wrath and vengeance. All are alike and forever the object\n    of God\u2019s love, pity, and tender care\u2014the difference between the\n    two extremes of human character on earth, being as a mere atom\n    when compared with perfect wisdom.\u201d\n\n\nThis is a favorite comparison with them,\u2014that the difference between God\nand the best of men is so much greater than the extremes of character\namong men,\u2014the most upright and the most wicked,\u2014that the latter is a mere\natom, and not accounted of in God\u2019s sight. That there is an infinite\ndifference between God and the best of men, is all true; for God is\ninfinite in all his attributes, and man is very imperfect at the best. But\nto argue from this that God is inferior to man, so that he cannot discern\ndifference in character here, even as man can plainly discern it, seems\nbut mad-house reasoning. What would we think of the man who had the same\nregard for the thief as for the honest man, for the murderer as for the\nphilanthropist? To ignore such distinctions as even men are able to\ndiscern would destroy the stability of all human governments; what then\nwould be the effect on the divine government? God has given his law\u2014holy,\njust, and good\u2014to men, and commanded obedience. He has attached the\npenalty to disobedience: \u201cThe soul that sinneth, it shall die,\u201d \u201cThe wages\nof sin is death.\u201d Eze. 18:20; Rom. 6:23. And in the judgment, the\ndistinction God makes in character will be plainly declared; for he will\nset the righteous on his right hand, but the wicked on the left. Matt.\n25:32, 33.\n\nThis view of the failure of law, and the absence of all human\naccountability, naturally leads to a bold denial of sin and the existence\nof crime. The \u201cHealing of the Nations,\u201d p. 169, says: \u201cUnto God there is\nno error; all is comparatively good.\u201d The same work says that God views\nerror as \u201cundeveloped good.\u201d A. J. Davis (\u201cNature of Divine Revelation,\u201d\np. 521) says: \u201cSin, indeed, in the common acceptation of that term, does\nnot really exist.\u201d\n\nA discourse from J. S. Loveland, once a minister, reported in the _Banner\nof Light_, contained this paragraph:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWith God there is no crime; with man there is. Crime does not\n    displease God, but it does man. God is in the darkest crime, as in\n    the highest possible holiness. He is equally pleased in either\n    case. Both harmonize equally with his attributes\u2014they are only\n    different sides of the same Deity.\u201d\n\n\nIn \u201cAutomatic Writing\u201d (1896), p. 139, a question was asked concerning\nevil, meaning sin and crimes among men. The spirit answered that these\nwere conditions of progress, and were so necessary to elevation that they\nwere to be welcomed, not hated. The questions and answers are as follows:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014Can you give us any information in regard to the\n    so-called Devil\u2014once so firmly believed in?\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014Devil is a word used to conjure with.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Well, then, as the word itself doubtless arose from the word\n    \u2018evil,\u2019 which means to us unhappiness, can you give us an\n    explanation of the existence of evil?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Evil\u2014as you who are the greatest sufferers from it, name one\n    of the conditions of progress\u2014is as necessary, aye, more so, than\n    what you call good, to your and our elevation to higher spheres.\n    It is not to be hated, but welcomed. It is the winnowing of the\n    grain from the chaff. Children of truth, don\u2019t worry over what to\n    you seems evil; soon you will be of us and will understand, and be\n    rejoiced that what you call evil persists and works as leaven in\n    the great work of mind versus matter.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014But it seems to us impossible that brutal crimes like\n    murder, assassinations, or great catastrophes, by which the\n    innocent are made to suffer at the hands of malicious and cruel\n    persons, should work for ultimate good?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Percipients of the grand whole of Being can understand but\n    may not state to those on your plane, the underlying good making\n    itself asserted even through such dreadful manifestations of human\n    imperfections as the crimes you name.\n\n\n    \u201cWhen asked why certain wrongs were allowed to be perpetuated,\n    this answer was given:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThere is a law of psychical essence which makes necessary all\n    these ephemeral entanglements which to you seem so severe, and you\n    will yet see from your own standpoint of reason why such hardships\n    must be endured by questioning souls on the highway of progress.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014But do you from your vantage ground of larger knowledge grow\n    careless that such injustice is done?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014We do care, but cannot remedy.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Why can\u2019t you remedy?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Because humanity is but an embryo of existence.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014If you can perceive the trials and sorrows of mortals, and\n    can interfere to save them, why do you not more often do so?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014When undeveloped souls pay the price of development, we\n    stand aloof, and let the play go on. Interference will do no\n    good.\u201d\n\n\nIn view of such a confession, what becomes of the many claims put forth by\nother spirits that they are ever hovering near their friends to assist and\nguard them, to help and inspire them, and keep them from evil and danger?\nThese say that those terrible crimes (and this would include all crimes)\nare all necessary, that they are tending to develop souls, and bring them\nto higher spheres, and thus are just as laudable as good actions; so they\nsettle back in a gleeful mood, and \u201clet the play go on;\u201d let wicked men\ncultivate and develop and practice their evil propensities, and the\ninnocent suffer. Well may men pray to be delivered from such a spirit\nassembly as that.\n\nIn \u201cHealing of the Nations,\u201d p. 402, Dr. Hare says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThat anything should, even for an instant, be contrary to his\n    will, is inconsistent with his foresight and omnipotency. It would\n    be a miracle that anything counter to his will should exist.\u201d\n\n\nA lecture on the \u201cPhilosophy of Reform,\u201d given by A. J. Davis, in New York\nCity, bears testimony to the same effect:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cIn the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, it is affirmed that sin\n    is the transgression of the law. But by an examination of nature,\n    the true and only Bible, it will be seen that this statement is\n    erroneous. It gives a wrong idea of both man and law.... It will\n    be found impossible for man to transgress a law of God.\u201d\n\n\nThus they very illogically assume that if God has the will or the power to\nprevent evil, it could not exist, and therefore, if there is such a God,\nhe is responsible, forgetting that God is long-suffering, and bears long\nwith vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, before they pass beyond the\nlimits of his mercy and perish. But Mr. Davis says further:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cReformers need to understand that war is as natural to one stage\n    of human development as peace is natural to another. My brother\n    has the spirit of revenge. Shall I call him a demon? Is not his\n    spirit natural to his condition? War is not evil or repulsive\n    except to a man of peace. Who made the non-resistant? Polygamy is\n    as natural to one stage of development as oranges are natural to\n    the South. Shall I grow indignant, and because I am a monogamist,\n    condemn my kinsman of yore? Who made him? Who made me? We both\n    came up under the confluence of social and political\n    circumstances; and we both represent our conditions and our\n    teachers. The doctrine of blame and praise is natural only to an\n    unphilosophical condition of mind. The spirit of complaint\u2014of\n    attributing \u2018evil\u2019 to this and that plane of society\u2014is natural;\n    but is natural only to undeveloped minds. It is a profanation\u2014a\n    sort of atheism of which I would not be guilty.\u201d\n\n\nThe Bible says, \u201cWoe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that\nput darkness for light and light for darkness.\u201d Isa. 5:20. And it makes\nanother declaration which finds abundant confirmation in the sentiments\nquoted above: \u201cBecause sentence against an evil work is not executed\nspeedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to\ndo evil.\u201d Eccl. 8:11.\n\nHaving thus attempted to destroy in the minds of men all distinction\nbetween good and evil, all being alike in God\u2019s sight, and all equally\ngood, they try to make the way a little broader and easier for men to give\nfull rein to all the propensities and inclinations of an evil heart, by\nteaching that there is no Lawgiver and Judge before whom men must appear\nto give an account of their deeds, but that they are responsible to\nthemselves alone, and must give account only to their own natures. Thus\nHon. J. B. Hall, in a lecture reported in the _Banner of Light_, Feb. 6,\n1864, said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI believe that man is amenable to no law not written upon his own\n    nature, no matter by whom given.... By his own nature he must be\n    tried\u2014by his own acts he must stand or fall. True, man must give\n    an account to God for all his deeds; but how?\u2014Solely by giving\n    account to his own nature\u2014to himself.\u201d\n\n\nAt a s\u00e9ance reported in the _Banner of Light_, May 28, 1864, the following\nquestion was proposed, and the answer was by the communicating spirit:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014To whom or to what is the soul accountable?\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014To no Deity outside the realm of its own being, certainly;\n    to no God which is a creation of fancy; to no Deity who dwells in\n    a far-off heaven, and sits upon a white throne; to no Jesus of\n    Nazareth; to no patron saint; to no personality; to no principle\n    outside our own individual selves.\u201d\n\n\nThe \u201cHealing of the Nations,\u201d p. 74, says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cMan is his own saviour, his own redeemer. He is his own judge\u2014in\n    his own scales weighed.\u201d\n\n\nA little over twenty years after the birth of Spiritualism, Aug. 25, 1868,\nthe Fifth National Convention of Spiritualists was held in Corinthian\nhall, Rochester, N. Y., at which a formal \u201cDeclaration of Principles\u201d was\nset forth. From the seventh and eighth paragraphs, under principle 20, we\nquote the following:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Seventh_, To stimulate the mind to the largest investigation ...\n    that we may be qualified to _judge for ourselves_ what is right\n    and true. _Eighth_, To deliver from _all bondage to authority_,\n    whether vested in _creed_, _book_, or _church_, except that of\n    received truth.\u201d\n\n\nThis is the same principle of man\u2019s responsibility to no one but himself,\nauthoritatively adopted. What a picture have we now before us! Destroy\nman\u2019s belief in, and reverence for, God and Christ, as they do; lead him\nto ridicule the atonement, the only remedy for sin; make him disbelieve\nthe Bible; take away from his mind all distinction between right and\nwrong, and assure him that he is accountable to no one but himself; and\nhow better could one prepare the way to turn men into demons. All this the\nspirits, by their teaching, seek to do. And can any one fail to foresee\nthe result? Comparatively a small proportion of the inhabitants of this\ncountry have committed themselves to these views; consequently but little\nof the legitimate fruit as yet appears; but take human nature as it is and\nsuppose all the inhabitants of this land to act on these principles, and\nthen what would we have?\u2014A pandemonium, a scene of anarchy, riot,\nbloodshed, and all depths of rottenness and corruption\u2014in short, a hell so\nmuch worse than that to which the Devil is popularly assigned, that he\nwould at once change his location and here take up his abode.\n\nThat this statement is none too strong, will appear as we look a moment at\nsome of the results which have already developed themselves among the\nfriends of such views, and as their inevitable fruit. The tendency can by\nno possibility be otherwise than to atheism and all immorality. As has\nbeen already remarked, the repulsive features were made much more\nprominent in the early stages of Spiritualism than at the present time.\nThey are now held in the background. The literature touching these points\nhas been remodeled, and an air of respectability and religion assumed.\nMost of the quotations therefore date some years back, and would be\ncharitably withheld were there any evidence of reform either present or\nprospective. But where or when have these principles ever been officially\nrepudiated, and evidence given that the consequent practices had been\nabandoned? That there are many Spiritualists of upright and moral lives,\nand honorable members of society, in the best sense of that term, we\ngladly believe; but is not this because they are living above their\nprinciples; and due, not to the influence, but rather to the non-influence\nof real Spiritualism upon their lives? The quotations given are from those\nwho have been prominent among Spiritualists as authors and speakers. If\nthey overdraw the picture, the responsibility is with them. Dr. B. P.\nRandolph, author of a work \u201cDealings with the Dead,\u201d was eight years a\nmedium, then renounced Spiritualism long enough to expose its character,\nthen returned to it again, unable to break entirely away from the spell it\nhas fastened upon him. He gives his opinion of it in the following\nscathing words:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI enter the arena as the champion of common sense, against what\n    in my soul I believe to be the most tremendous enemy of God,\n    morals, and religion, that ever found foothold on the earth;\u2014the\n    most seductive, hence the most dangerous, form of sensualism that\n    ever cursed a nation, age, or people. I was a medium about eight\n    years, during which time I made three thousand speeches, and\n    traveled over several different countries, proclaiming its new\n    gospel. I now regret that so much excellent breath was wasted, and\n    that my health of mind and body was well nigh ruined. I have only\n    begun to regain both since I totally abandoned it, and to-day had\n    rather see the cholera in my house, than be a spiritual medium.\n\n\n    \u201cAs a trance speaker, I became widely known; and now aver that\n    during the entire eight years of my mediumship, I firmly and\n    sacredly confess that I had not the control of my own mind, as I\n    now have, one twentieth of the time; and before man and high\n    heaven I most solemnly declare that I do not now believe that\n    during the whole eight years, I was sane for thirty-six\n    consecutive hours, in consequence of the trance and the\n    susceptibility thereto.\n\n\n    \u201cFor seven years I held daily intercourse with what purported to\n    be my mother\u2019s spirit. I am now fully persuaded that it was\n    nothing but an evil spirit, an infernal demon, who, in that guise,\n    gained my soul\u2019s confidence, and led me to the very brink of ruin.\n    We read in Scripture of demoniac possession, as well as abnormal\n    spiritual action. Both facts exist, provable to-day; I am positive\n    the former does. A. J. Davis and his clique of Harmonialists say\n    there are no evil spirits. I emphatically deny the statement. Five\n    of my friends destroyed themselves, and I attempted it, by direct\n    spiritual influences. Every crime in the calendar has been\n    committed by mortal movers of viewless beings. Adultery,\n    fornication, suicides, desertions, unjust divorces, prostitution,\n    abortion, insanity, are not evils, I suppose. I charge all these\n    to this scientific Spiritualism. It has also broken up families,\n    squandered fortunes, tempted and destroyed the weak. It has\n    banished peace from happy families, separated husbands and wives,\n    and shattered the intellect of thousands.\u201d\n\n\nThe following is an extract from the writings of J. F. Whitney, editor of\nthe New York _Pathfinder_. His view of the subject accords with that of\nDr. Randolph:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cNow, after a long and constant watchfulness, seeing for months\n    and for years its progress and its practical workings upon its\n    devotees, its believers, and its mediums, we are compelled to\n    speak our honest conviction, which is, that the manifestations\n    coming through the acknowledged mediums, who are designated as\n    rapping, tipping, writing, and entranced mediums, have a baneful\n    influence upon believers, and create discord and confusion; that\n    the generality of these teachings inculcate false ideas, approve\n    of selfish individual acts, and endorse theories and principles,\n    which, when carried out, debase and make men little better than\n    the brute. These are among the fruits of Modern Spiritualism, and\n    we do not hesitate to say that we believe if these manifestations\n    are continued to be received, and to be as little understood as\n    they are, and have been since they made their appearance at\n    Rochester, and mortals are to be deceived by their false,\n    fascinating, and snakelike charming powers, which go with them,\n    the day will come when the world will require the appearance of\n    another Saviour to redeem the world from its departing from\n    Christ\u2019s warnings.... Seeing, as we have, the gradual progress it\n    makes with its believers, particularly its mediums, from lives of\n    morality to those of sensuality and immorality, gradually and\n    cautiously undermining the foundation of good principles, we look\n    back with amazement to the radical change which a few months will\n    bring about in individuals; for its tendency is to approve and\n    endorse each individual act and character, however good or bad\n    these acts may be....\n\n\n    \u201cWe desire to send forth our warning voice, and if our humble\n    position as the head of a public journal, our known advocacy of\n    Spiritualism, our experience, and the conspicuous part we have\n    played among its believers, the honesty and the fearlessness with\n    which we have defended the subject, will weigh anything in our\n    favor, we desire that our opinions may be received, and those who\n    are moving passively down the rushing rapids to destruction should\n    pause, ere it be too late, and save themselves from the blasting\n    influence which those manifestations are causing.\u201d\n\n\nEvery one who knows anything about Spiritualism has heard of Cora Hatch,\nwho traveled extensively, and manifested her powers as an extemporaneous\nlecturer before astonished multitudes. One of her husbands, Dr. Hatch,\nrenounced Spiritualism, and the following is from the testimony he bore\nconcerning it:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe most damning iniquities are everywhere perpetrated in\n    spiritual circles, a very small percentage of which ever comes to\n    public attention. I care not whether it be spiritual or mundane,\n    the facts exist, and should demand the attention and condemnation\n    of an intelligent community.... The abrogation of marriage,\n    bigamy, accompanied by robbery, theft, rape, are all chargeable\n    upon Spiritualism. I most solemnly affirm that I do not believe\n    that there has, during the last five hundred years, arisen any\n    people who are guilty of so great a variety of crimes and\n    indecencies as the Spiritualists of America.\n\n\n    \u201cFor a long time I was swallowed up in its whirlpool of\n    excitement, and comparatively paid but little attention to its\n    evils, believing that much good might result from the opening of\n    the avenues of Spiritual intercourse. But during the past eight\n    months I have devoted my attention to critical investigation of\n    its moral, social, and religious bearing, and I stand appalled\n    before the revelations of its awful and damning realities.\u201d\n\n\nMuch testimony of this nature might be given from those who have had\nsimilar experiences and equally favorable facilities for judging of the\ncharacter of Spiritualism. We present only a few extracts more.\n\nDr. Wm. B. Potter of New York, in an article under the head of \u201cAstounding\nFacts,\u201d and also in a tract entitled, \u201cSpiritualism as It Is,\u201d gives the\nresult of his experience and observations. His testimony is the more\nvaluable, since he writes not from the standpoint of one who has renounced\nSpiritualism, whose feelings may for the time be overwrought, and his\nlanguage stronger than would be used in calmer moments. When he wrote, he\nwas still an advocate of Spiritualism, and spoke as a friend who would, if\npossible, induce Spiritualists to reform their faith and their manner of\nliving. He says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cFifteen years of critical study of Spiritual literature, an\n    extensive acquaintance with the leading Spiritualists, and a\n    patient, systematic, and thorough examination of the\n    manifestations for many years, enable us to speak from actual\n    knowledge, definitely and positively, of \u2018Spiritualism as It Is.\u2019\n    Spiritual literature is full of the most insidious and seductive\n    doctrines, calculated to undermine the very foundations of\n    morality and virtue, and lead to the most unbridled\n    licentiousness.\n\n\n    \u201cWe are told that \u2018we must have charity,\u2019 that it is wrong to\n    blame any one, that we must not expose iniquity, as \u2018it will\n    harden the guilty,\u2019 that \u2018none should be punished,\u2019 that \u2018man is a\n    machine, and not to blame for his conduct,\u2019 that \u2018there is no\n    high, no low, no good, no bad,\u2019 that \u2018sin is a lesser degree of\n    righteousness,\u2019 that \u2018nothing we can do can injure the soul or\n    retard its progress,\u2019 that \u2018those who act the worst will progress\n    the fastest,\u2019 that \u2018lying is right, slavery is right, murder is\n    right, adultery is right,\u2019 that \u2018whatever is, is right.\u2019\n\n\n    \u201cHardly can you find a Spiritualist book, paper, lecture, or\n    communication that does not contain some of these pernicious\n    doctrines; in disguise, if not openly. Hundreds of families have\n    been broken up, and many affectionate wives deserted by\n    \u2018affinity-seeking\u2019 husbands. Many once devoted wives have been\n    seduced, and left their husbands and tender, helpless children, to\n    follow some \u2018higher attraction.\u2019 Many well-disposed but\n    simple-minded girls have been deluded by \u2018affinity\u2019 notions, and\n    led off by \u2018affinity hunters,\u2019 to be deserted in a few months,\n    with blasted reputations, or led to deeds still more dark and\n    criminal, to hide their shame.\u201d\n\n\nThe same writer also mentions a fact which shows where the responsibility\nof all this looseness of morals belongs. He says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cAt the National Spiritual Convention at Chicago, called to\n    consider the question of a national organization, the only plan\n    approved by the committee, especially provided that no charge\n    should ever be entertained against any member, and that any\n    person, without any regard to his or her moral character, might\n    become a member.\u201d\n\n\nThe fact that no plan could find approval which did not provide that they\nshould never be blamed nor called to account for any of their deeds, shows\non what points they felt the most anxious, and plainly proves that they\nbelong to the class of which Christ spoke, who loved darkness rather than\nlight, and who would not come to the light lest their deeds should be\nreproved. John 3:19-21.\n\nIt is unpleasant to wade through pools of filth, and we therefore spare\nthe reader quotations from those Spiritualists who have not only avowed\nthe most revolting practices of free love, but openly advocated the same,\nand endeavored to induce others to come out likewise, on the ground that\nthey were only honestly and publicly admitting what the others believed\nand practiced in secret. For the same reason we pass by the notorious\nWoodhull and Claflin, and Hull and Jamieson episodes, in this field,\nwhich, in the illustration and language of another, \u201cburst upon the\ncountry like a rotten egg three thousand miles in diameter!\u201d\n\nIt may be said that these things are in the past and the situation has now\ngreatly changed. For the benefit of those who thus flatter themselves we\nintroduce one more quotation. It is from \u201cThe Law of Psychic Phenomena,\u201d\nby T. J. Hudson (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1894). The language is\ncandid and conciliatory, and the author cannot be accused of any undue\nprejudice on the question of which he speaks. On page 335, he says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI do not charge Spiritualists as a class with being advocates of\n    the doctrines of free love. On the contrary, I am aware that, as a\n    class, they hold the marriage relation in sacred regard. I cannot\n    forget, however, that but a few years ago some of their leading\n    advocates and mediums proclaimed the doctrine of free love in all\n    its hideous deformity from every platform in the land. Nor do I\n    fail to remember that the better class of Spiritualists everywhere\n    repudiated the doctrine, and denounced its advocates and\n    exemplars. Nevertheless the moral virus took effect here and there\n    all over the country, and it is doing its deadly work in secret in\n    many an otherwise happy home. And _I charge a large and constantly\n    growing class of professional mediums with being the leading\n    propagandists_ of the doctrine of _free love_. They infest every\n    community in the land, and it is well known to all men and women\n    who are dissatisfied or unhappy in their marriage relations, that\n    they can always find sympathy by consulting the average medium,\n    and can, moreover, find justification for illicit love by invoking\n    the spirits of the dead through such mediums.\u201d\n\n\nWe have italicized that passage in the foregoing which shows that the\ndeadly evil is still working in secret, and that a large and constantly\ngrowing number of professionals are aiding and abetting the iniquity.\n\n\n\n\nDangers Of Mediumship.\n\n\nA few testimonies will show that when one gives himself or herself up to\nthe control of the spirits, such ones take a most perilous position. The\nspirits insist on their victims becoming passive, ceasing to resist, and\nyielding their whole wills to them. Some of their persuasive words are\nthese: \u201cCome in confidence to us;\u201d \u201cLet our teachings deeply impress you;\u201d\n\u201cYou must not doubt what we say;\u201d \u201cLearn of us;\u201d \u201cObey our directions and\nyou will be benefited;\u201d \u201cSeek to obtain knowledge of us;\u201d \u201cHave faith in\nus;\u201d \u201cFear not to obey;\u201d \u201cObey us and you will be greatly blessed;\u201d etc.,\netc. Mesmerists operate in the same way. They gain control of their\nsubjects in the same way that the spirits mesmerize their mediums, and\nwhen under their control, the spirits cause them to see whatever they\nbring before them, and hear according to their wills, and do as they bid.\nAnd the things they suppose they see and hear, and what they are to do,\nare only such things as exist in the mind of the mesmerizing power. The\nsubject is completely at the mercy of the invisible agency; and to put\none\u2019s self there is a most heaven-daring and hazardous act. Mr. Hudson\n(\u201cLaw of Psychic Phenomena,\u201d p. 336) says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cTo the young whose characters are not formed, and to those whose\n    notions of morality are loose, the dangers of mediumship are\n    _appalling_.\u201d\n\n\nTo further gain the confidence of mortals, the spirits claim to be the\nones who answer their prayers. In \u201cAutomatic Writing,\u201d p. 142, we have\nthis:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014Will our friends tell us whether from their point of\n    view, there is any real efficacy in prayer?\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._ [by spirits].\u2014Shall not \u2018a soul\u2019s sincere desire\u2019 arouse\n    in discarnate and free spirits effort to make that sincere desire\n    a reality? What good can come from aspirations on mortal planes,\n    save through the efforts to make those aspirations realized on\n    spiritual planes, by the will of freed spirits?\u201d\n\n\nMediums are unable to resist the powers of the unseen world when once\nunder their control. Professor Brittan (\u201cTelegraphic Answer to Mahan,\u201d p.\n10), concerning mediumship, says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWe may further add in this connection that the trance mediums for\n    spirit intercourse are equally irresponsible. Many of them are\n    totally unable to resist the powers which come to them from the\n    invisible and unknown realms.\u201d\n\n\nDr. Randolph (\u201cDealings with the Dead,\u201d p. 150) shows the dangers of\nmediumship, as follows:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI saw that one great cause of the moral looseness of thousands of\n    sensitive-nerved people on earth, resulted from the infernal\n    possessions and obsessions of their persons by delegations from\n    those realms of darkness and (to all but themselves) unmitigated\n    horror. A sensitive man or woman\u2014no matter how virtuously\n    inclined\u2014may, unless by constant prayer and watchfulness they\n    prevent it and keep the will active and the sphere entire, be led\n    into the most abominable practices and habits.\u201d\n\n\nThis same writer, in the same work, pp. 108, 109, says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThose ill-meaning ones who live just beyond the threshold, often\n    obtain their ends by subtly infusing a semi-sense of volitional\n    power into the minds of their intended victims, so that at last\n    they come to believe themselves to be self-acting, when in fact\n    they are the merest shuttlecocks bandied about between the\n    battledores of knavish devils on one side, and devilish knaves\n    upon the other, and between the two the poor fallen wretches are\n    nearly heart-reft and destroyed.\u201d\n\n\nA work by A. J. Davis called \u201cThe Diakka, and their Earthly Victims,\u201d\nmentions the nature of these denizens of the spirit world, and their\nwonderful location. The country (to speak after the manner of men) which\nthey inhabit, is so large that it would require not less than 1,803,026\ndiameters of the earth to span its longitudinal extent. This he had from a\nspirit he calls James Victor Wilson, a profound mathematician! This space\nis occupied by spirits who have passed from earth, who are \u201cmorally\ndeficient, and affectionally unclean.\u201d\u2014_Page_ 7. The same spirit, Wilson,\ndescribes the diakka as those \u201cwho take insane delight in playing parts,\nin juggling tricks, in personating opposite characters to whom prayers and\nprofane utterances are of equi-value; surcharged with a passion for\nlyrical narrations; one whose every attitude is instinct with the schemes\nof specious reasoning, sophistry, pride, pleasure, wit, subtle\nconvivialities; a boundless disbeliever, one who thinks that all private\nlife will end in the all-consuming self-love of God.\u201d\u2014_Page 13._ On page\n13 he says further of them, that they are \u201cnever resting, never satisfied\nwith life, often amusing themselves with jugglery and tricky witticisms,\ninvariably victimizing others; secretly tormenting mediums, causing them\nto exaggerate in speech, and to falsify in acts; unlocking and unbolting\nthe street doors of your bosom and memory; pointing your feet into wrong\npaths, and far more.\u201d\n\nWhat this \u201cfar more\u201d is, we are left to conjecture. The advertisement of\nthis book says that it is \u201can explanation of much that is false and\nrepulsive in Spiritualism.\u201d W. F. Jamieson, in a Spiritualist paper,\ncalled these diakka \u201ca troop of devils,\u201d and quoted Judge Carter as\nsaying: \u201cThere is one thing clear, that these diakka, or fantastic or\nmixed spirits, are very numerous and abundant, and take any and every\nopportunity of obtruding themselves.\u201d\n\nHudson Tuttle, author of \u201cLife in Two Spheres\u201d and other Spiritualistic\nworks, speaks of \u201ca communication, through a noted medium, to Gerald\nMassey from his \u2018dog Pip,\u2019 the said Pip \u2018licking the slate and writing\nwith a good degree of intelligence.\u2019 \u201d He adds, \u201cMr. Davis would say that\n\u2018Pip\u2019 was a \u2018diakka,\u2019 and to-morrow he will communicate as George\nWashington, Theodore Parker, or Balaam\u2019s ass. This diakka is flesh, fish,\nor fowl, as you may desire.\u201d\n\nSome idea of how the spirits sometimes torment the mediums, as hinted at\nabove, may be gained from the following instance. In \u201cAstounding Facts\nfrom the Spirit World,\u201d pp. 253, 254, Dr. Gridley describes the case of a\nmedium sixty years of age, living near him in Southampton, Mass. The\nsufferings inflicted upon him \u201cin two months at the hands of evil spirits\nwould fill a volume of five hundred pages.\u201d Of these sufferings, the\nfollowing are specimens:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThey forbade his eating, to the very point of starvation. He was\n    a perfect skeleton; they compelled him to walk day and night, with\n    intermissions, to be sure, as their avowed object was to torment\n    him as much and as long as possible. They swore by everything\n    sacred and profane, that they would knock his brains out, always\n    accompanying their threats with blows on the forehead or temples,\n    like that of a mallet in the hands of a powerful man, with this\n    difference, however; the latter would have made him unconscious,\n    while in full consciousness he now endured the indescribable agony\n    of those heavy and oft-repeated blows; they declared they would\n    skin him alive; that he must go to New York and be dissected by\n    inches, all of which he fully believed. They declared that they\n    would bore holes into his brain, when he instantly felt the action\n    suited to the word, as though a dozen augers were being turned at\n    once into his very skull; this done, they would fill his brain\n    with bugs and worms to eat it out, when their gnawing would\n    instantly commence. These spirits would pinch and pound him,\n    twitch him up and throw him down, yell and blaspheme, and use the\n    most obscene language that mortals can conceive; they would\n    declare that they were Christ in one breath, and devils in the\n    next; they would tie him head to foot for a long time together in\n    a most excruciating posture; declare they would wring his neck off\n    because he doubted or refused obedience.\u201d\n\n\nWho can doubt that such spirits are the angels of the evil one himself?\nDr. Gridley in the same work, p. 19, gives the experience of another\nmedium, for the truthfulness of which he offers the fullest proof:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWe have seen the medium evidently possessed by Irishmen and\n    Dutchmen of the lowest grade\u2014heard him repeat Joshua\u2019s drunken\n    prayers [Joshua was a strong but brutish man he had known in\n    life], exactly like the original,\u2014imitate his drunkenness in word\n    and deed\u2014try to repeat, or rather act over his most brutal deeds\n    (from which for decency\u2019s sake, he was instantly restrained by\n    extraordinary exertion and severe rebuke)\u2014snap and grate his teeth\n    most furiously, strike and swear, while his eyes flashed like the\n    fires of an orthodox perdition. We have heard him hiss, and seen\n    him writhe his body like the serpent when crawling, and dart out\n    his tongue, and play it exactly like that reptile. These\n    exhibitions were intermingled with the most wrangling and horrible\n    convulsions.\u201d\n\n\nThese descriptions, it would seem, ought to be enough to strike terror to\nany heart at the thought of being a medium. But there is yet another phase\nof the subject that should not be passed by. These fallen spirits who are\nengineering the work of Spiritualism, to maintain their \u201cassumed\ncharacters,\u201d and \u201cplay their parts\u201d like the aforesaid diakka, represent\nthat disembodied spirits \u201cjust over the threshold,\u201d still retain the\ncharacteristics they bore in life, such as a disposition to sensuality and\nlicentiousness, love of rum, tobacco, and other vices, and that they can,\nby causing the medium to plunge excessively into these things, thereby\nstill gratify their own propensities to indulge in them. The following\nsketch by Hudson Tuttle, a very popular author among Spiritualists, is\nsomewhat lengthy, but the idea could not better be presented than by\ngiving it entire. In \u201cLife in Two Spheres,\u201d pp. 35-37, he says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cReader, have you ever entered the respectable saloon? Have you\n    ever watched the stupid stare of the inebriate when the eye grew\n    less and less lustrous, slowly closing, the muscles relaxing, and\n    the victim of appetite sinking over on the floor in beastly\n    drunkenness? Oh, how dense the fumes of mingled tobacco and\n    alcohol! Oh, what misery confined in those walls! If you have\n    witnessed such scenes, then we need describe no further. If you\n    have not, then you had not better hear the tale of woe. Imagine to\n    yourselves a bar-room with all its sots, and their number\n    multiplied indefinitely, while conscience-seared and bloated\n    fiends stand behind the bar, from whence they deal out death and\n    damnation, and the picture is complete. _One has just arrived from\n    earth._ He is yet uninitiated in the mysteries and miseries of\n    those which, like hungry lions, await him. He died while\n    intoxicated\u2014was frozen while lying in the gutter, and consequently\n    is attracted toward this society. He possessed a good intellect,\n    but it was shattered beyond repair by his debauches.\n\n\n    \u201c \u2018Ye ar\u2019 a fresh one, aint ye?\u2019 coarsely queried a sot, just then\n    particularly communicative.\n\n\n    \u201c \u2018Why, yes, I have just died, as they call it, and \u2019taint so bad\n    a change after all; only I suppose there\u2019ll be dry times here for\n    the want of something stimulant.\u2019\n\n\n    \u201c \u2018Not so dry; lots of that all the time, and jolly times too.\u2019\n\n\n    \u201c \u2018Drink! Can you drink, then?\u2019\n\n\n    \u201c \u2018Yes, we just can, and feel as nice as you please. But all\n    can\u2019t, not unless they find one on earth just like them. You go to\n    earth, and mix with your chums; and when you find one whose\n    thoughts you can read, he\u2019s your man. Form a connection with him,\n    and when he gets to feeling _good_, you\u2019ll feel so too.\u2014There, do\n    you understand me? I always tell all fresh ones the glorious news,\n    for how they would suffer if it wasn\u2019t for this blessed thing.\u2019\n\n\n    \u201c \u2018I\u2019ll try, no mistake.\u2019\n\n\n    \u201c \u2018Here\u2019s a covey,\u2019 spoke an ulcerous-looking being; \u2018he\u2019s of our\n    stripe. Tim, did you hear what an infernal scrape I got into last\n    night? No, you didn\u2019t. Well, I went to our friend Fred\u2019s; he\n    didn\u2019t want to drink when I found him; his dimes looked so\n    extremely large. Well, I _destroyed that feeling_, and made him\n    think he was dry. He drank, and drank, more than I wanted him to,\n    until I was so drunk that I could not break my connection with\n    him, or control his mind. He undertook to go home, fell into the\n    snow, and came near freezing to death. I suffered awfully, ten\n    times as much as when I died.\u2019... Reader, we draw the curtain over\n    scenes like these, such as are daily occurring in this society.\u201d\n\n\nIn these cases the whole evil of the indulgences of course falls upon the\nmediums; and who would wish to assume personal relation with such a world,\nand be forced to bear in their own bodies the evils of the unhallowed\nindulgences of unseen spirits, against their will?\n\nOther scenes represented as taking place in the spirit land, are most\ngrotesque and silly and would be taken as a burlesque upon Spiritualism,\nwere they not put forth in all gravity by the friends and advocates of\nthat so-called new revelation. Thus Judge Edmunds, giving an account of\nwhat he had seen in the spirit world, mentions the case of an old woman\nbusy churning, who promised him, if he would call again, a drink of\nbuttermilk; he speaks of men fighting, of courtezans trying to continue\ntheir lewd conduct; of a mischievous boy who split a dog\u2019s tail open, and\nput a stick in it, just to witness its misery; of the owner of the dog,\nwho, attracted by its cries, discovered the cause, and beat the boy, who\nfled, but was pursued and beaten and kicked far up the road. See Edmund\u2019s\n\u201cSpiritualism,\u201d Vol. II, pp. 135-144, 181, 182, 186, 189. Surely here are\nthe diakka playing their pranks in all their glory.\n\n\n\n\nMiscellaneous Teaching.\n\n\nOn the leading points of faith as held by Christians generally, quotations\nhave been given to show sufficiently what the spirits teach, and the\nobject they are trying to effect. But the reader will be interested to\nlearn what they teach on some other points which incidentally appear in\ntheir communications.\n\nSpiritualists object most strenuously to the idea of unconsciousness in\ndeath, or to the Bible declaration, \u201cThe dead know not anything.\u201d But the\nspirits themselves teach this very thing. Thus Judge Edmunds, Vol. II,\nAppendix B, p. 524, quotes the confession of a spirit that he was totally\nunconscious for a time, he could not tell how long, and awoke to\nconsciousness gradually; and that the state of unconsciousness differs\nwith different persons, depending on circumstances. A. J. Davis admits\nthat Professor Webster was eight days and a half unconscious.\u2014_\u201c__Death\nand the After Life,__\u201d__ pp. 18, 19._\n\nThrough Mrs. Conant, medium, in _Banner of Light_, June 3, 1865, we have\nthis information: \u201cIt is said that some spirits require a thousand years\nto awake to consciousness. Is this true?\u2014Yes, this is true.\u201d In \u201cAutomatic\nWriting,\u201d p. 93, the spirits teach the same thing to-day. If others deny\nsuch statements, it only shows that their testimony is contradictory and\ntherefore unreliable.\n\nAgain, the Bible doctrine that the incorrigibly wicked must cease from\nconscious existence, is denounced by Spiritualists; but on this point the\nspirits confess also:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014Do I understand you to say that a diakka is one who\n    believes in ultimate annihilation?\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014Only yesterday one said to a lady medium, signing himself\n    \u2018Swedenborg,\u2019 this: \u2018Whatsoever is, has been, will be, or may be,\n    _that_ I AM, and private life is but the aggregative phantasms of\n    thinking throblets rushing in their rising onward to the central\n    heart of eternal death.\u2019\u2014_\u201c__Diakka__\u201d__ p. 11._\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Does every human being continue life on higher planes?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Shall not all who are abortions die?\u201d\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Do you mean that some born on this plane may spiritually die\n    from lack of force to persist?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Yes\u2014both women and men are born into the divine humanity who\n    must necessarily perish, because they have not sufficient soul\n    strength to persist.\u201d\u2014_\u201c__Automatic Writing,__\u201d__ pp. 101, 102._\n\n\nThere is, it seems, a purgatory in the spirit world. In answer to a\nquestion, a spirit replied:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThere is a sphere in spirit life allotted to those who leave the\n    earthly plane in spiritual ignorance, which is _not pleasing_ to\n    dwell upon, yet which is absolutely necessary to spiritual soul\n    growth.\u201d\u2014_Id., p. 90._\n\n\nSpiritualism is claimed to settle the question of immortality; but the\nspirits confess themselves ignorant of it:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014On your plane do you arrive at certainty in regard to\n    immortality?\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014We here are as _ignorant as you are_ as to the ultimate of\n    existence. Immortality is still an _undetermined issue_. One life\n    at a time seems as pertinent with us as with you.\u201d\u2014_Id., p. 103._\n\n\nThe spirits\u2019 heaven, it seems, is not so desirable a place that it\nprevents their being homesick.\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014Why are you homesick?\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014Have not found out the real reason; things are so\n    different from former ideas.\u201d\u2014_Id., p. 111._\n\n\nSpirits are not allowed to tell too much about their condition, as the\nfollowing question and answer show:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014Can\u2019t you tell us what makes it pleasanter,\u2014describe so\n    we can understand?\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014You\u2019ll find out as I did\u2014_\u2019gainst the rules here to\n    tell_.... Just be patient\u2014it\u2019s all easy enough when you learn how.\n    I was puzzled, but it all seems straight enough now.\u201d\u2014_Id., p.\n    115._\n\n\nThey teach the pre-existence of souls, and the old pagan doctrines of the\nreincarnation of souls, and the final absorption of all into Nirvana. A\nspirit having answered that all had been asserted in some other form,\nquestions and answers followed from which we quote:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Is that statement an intimation of the truth of\n    reincarnation?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Souls of all who have preceded you are centered in you in\n    spite of your childish protests. Ask not of those predecessors;\n    for they yet live in you, and you in them.... Long ago you and I\n    went over the ground under eminent names.... Were not we together\n    when Socrates and Aspasia talked?\u201d\u2014_Id., pp. 151, 152._\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Can you tell us, at least, whether spirit, as a whole or in\n    its individual atoms, exists eternally?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Yes; spirit as a whole is eternal\u2014exists\u2014did exist\u2014by force\n    of Powers you cannot understand. But you as individual,\n    self-conscious, atomistic particles of spirit wholeness, are not\n    eternal, and must return to the Primal Source.\u201d\u2014_Id., p. 133._\n\n\n\n\nSpirits Cannot Be Identified.\n\n\nHaving now sufficiently examined the teaching of the spirits, a final\nquestion arises in regard to them, whether it is possible to identify\nthem, and determine with any absolute certainty whether they are the\nspirits of the particular individuals they claim to be, or even spirits of\nthe dead at all, or not. It should be distinctly borne in mind, always,\nthat evil angels, whose existence has been proved from the Bible, whose\nnature and delight is to deceive, can walk the earth unseen, imitate and\npersonate any individual, and reveal their characteristics of thought,\nwriting, acts, form, and features, and make so perfect a counterfeit as to\ndefy detection. How, then, can it be told what spirit it is, even though\nit shows the face and features of some well-known friend? On this topic,\nas on preceding questions, Spiritualists themselves may produce the\nevidence. President Mahan (\u201cDiscussion with Tiffany and Rhen,\u201d p. 13)\nremarks:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cCertain experiments have been made, in order to determine whether\n    spirits are present. Individuals go in as inquirers, and get\n    definite answers\u2014in the first place, from _departed spirits_ of\n    persons _yet living_; in the second place, from departed spirits\n    of persons who _never existed_ here or anywhere else; in the third\n    place, from the departed spirits of brute beasts.\u201d\n\n\nWhen it is considered, as already noted, that spirits do their work\nthrough mesmeric power, it is easy to understand how the medium is made to\nbelieve that such and such a spirit is communicating when it is not so at\nall. This question of identity came up in the very early stages of\nSpiritualism, and is no nearer settled, on their own confession, now than\nthen. A Mr. Hobart, in 1856, who claimed to be the first Spiritualist in\nMichigan, made the following admission:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe spirit sometimes _assumes_ the name of an individual\n    belonging to the same church, to induce them to hear. This is\n    necessary with some who are so bigoted they would not believe\n    unless a name was assumed which they respected.\u201d\n\n\nAn article in the _Spiritual Telegraph_, of July 11, 1857, begins as\nfollows:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe question is continually being asked, especially by novitiates\n    in spiritual investigations, How shall we know that the spirits\n    who communicate with us are really the ones whom they purport to\n    be?... In giving the results of our own experience and observation\n    upon this subject, we would premise that spirits unquestionably\n    can, and often do, personate other spirits, and that, too, often\n    with such perfection as, for the time being, to defy every effort\n    to detect the deception.... If direct tests are demanded at all,\n    we would recommend that they be asked for the purpose of proving\n    that the manifesting influence is that of _a spirit_, rather than\n    to prove what _particular_ spirit is the agent of its production.\u201d\n\n\nThis is an entire begging of the whole matter in question; for it is not\ndenied that it is _a_ spirit; we want to know what _particular_ spirit it\nis; but for that we must not ask; for it cannot be ascertained. The same\narticle states that other and lower spirits often crowd in and take the\nplace of the spirit communicating, without the knowledge of the medium. We\nmight also quote \u201cSpiritualism as It Is,\u201d p. 14, that \u201cnot one per cent.\nof the manifestations have had a higher origin than the first and second\nspheres, which are filled with low, ignorant, deceptive, mischievous,\nselfish, egotistical spirits;\u201d and \u201cDealings with the Dead,\u201d p. 225, that\n\u201cthe fact is, good spirits do not appear one tenth as often as imagined.\u201d\n\nJan. 7, 1888, the following appeared in the _Banner of Light_:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014What is the cause of our receiving inconsistent and\n    untruthful communications? Does the blame, if any there is, rest\n    with us or the controlling intelligence?\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014There are spirits who delight in imposing upon mortals;\n    they realize their power outside of material things, and that\n    those who seek knowledge from them _cannot see nor get hold of\n    them_; therefore to an extent they exercise a certain power over\n    those mortals who approach; and if the mortals are themselves\n    tricky by nature, insincere, ready to take advantage of others,\n    whether it be at the time of sitting or in their daily life, rest\n    assured they may be imposed upon by spirits from the other side\n    who occupy a like plane of existence with themselves.\u201d\n\n\nMediums themselves will not trust the spirits, according to statements\nmade as late as 1896. Mrs. S. A. Underwood, medium, in \u201cAutomatic\nWriting,\u201d p. 55, says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWith all my experience in it, I would not to-day venture upon any\n    change, business venture, friendship, or line of conduct, advised\n    from this source, unless my own common material sense endorsed it.\n    Indeed, I would not take as fact any of its even reasonable advice\n    without question, because it is not reliable as a guide in earthly\n    affairs.\u201d\n\n\nSpirit communication, then, certainly does not amount to much as a\nheavenly instructor, a celestial guide to enlighten the ignorance of men.\nWhatever we know ourselves, we may rely upon; all else is uncertain.\nAgain, on p. 56, she says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThen the assumption of great names by apparently common-place\n    minds is a very strange thing. I was horrified and annoyed when\n    this occurred under my own hand, because that is one of the things\n    which disgusted me with spiritual messages before this writing\n    came to me, as I had occasionally glanced over such messages. When\n    I protested against such assumption, I was told that \u2018Elaine and\n    Guinevere\u2019 were not real beings, but types. So somewhere in our\n    sphere are spirits who embody cleverness in creations of their own\n    fancy, and adopt names suited to that fancy.\u201d\n\n\nThus the spirits themselves confess that the names they often assume are\nnot those of real beings, but typical and fanciful. Nothing more, it would\nseem, is necessary to complete the condemnation of Spiritualism, so far as\nits own nature is concerned. When in addition to all else, it appears that\nthe spirits cannot be identified; that the whole underlying claim that the\nspirits are the spirits of the dead, must itself be assumed; and that,\ntoo, in the face of the numberless known falsehoods and deceptions that\nare constantly issuing from the unseen realm,\u2014there is nothing left for it\nto stand upon.\n\n\n\n\n\n                               Chapter Six.\n\n\nITS PROMISES: HOW FULFILLED.\n\n\nIt is fair to call Spiritualism to account as to the fulfilment of the\npromises involved in its challenge to the world when it stepped upon the\nstage of action. No movement ever opened with more magnificent promises.\nIt posed before the world as an angel of heavenly light. It claimed to be\nthe second coming of Christ. It claimed to have been sent to regenerate\nmankind, and renovate the world. We give herewith a few of its\nspirit-inspired pretensions. Its \u201cDeclaration of Principles,\u201d Article 20,\nsays:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe hearty and intelligent convictions of these truths [the\n    teachings of spirits] tend to energize the soul in all that is\n    good and elevating, and to restrain from all that is evil and\n    impure, ... to quicken all philanthropic impulses, stimulating to\n    enlightened and unselfish labors for universal good.\u201d\n\n\nIn behalf of the cause of woman it says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cSpiritualism has done more for the advancement of true womanhood\n    than the Church or any of its accessories.\u201d\u2014_Dr. Watson, in Banner\n    of Light, April 16, 1887._\n\n\nMiss A. L. Lull, in the _Religio-Philosophical Journal_ of Jan. 23, 1886,\nsaid:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cSpiritualism is the saviour of humanity, because it is reaching\n    out toward the criminal, and in its effort to lift humanity to a\n    higher plane, it is laying the foundation for future\n    generations.... Spiritualism comes to cleanse out the dregs and\n    wretchedness of humanity.\u201d\n\n\nMrs. Cora L. V. Richmond, in a mediumistic discourse reported in the\n_Banner of Light_, April 3, 1886, said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe Great Reformer of the world is Spiritualism.... When modern\n    Spiritualism made its appearance, it said in so many words, I come\n    to reform the world.... Spiritualism came to put the ax at the\n    root of the tree of human evil, it came to decide upon the most\n    important and vital thing connected with existence; _i. e._, Is\n    man only an evanescent, material, earthly being, or is he\n    immortal?... Spiritualism came to reform death, to resolve it into\n    life; came to reform fear, to resolve it into trust and knowledge;\n    came to reform the darkness which rests upon humanity concerning\n    the nature of man\u2019s existence.\u201d\n\n\nIn the same paper, April 6, 1887, was given the following prediction of\nthe future of Spiritualism:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cModern Spiritualism will grow, and deepen, and broaden, and\n    strengthen, until all false creeds and dogmas shall be swept from\n    the earth\u2014when faith shall be buried in knowledge, when war shall\n    be known no more, when universal brotherhood shall prevail to\n    bless mankind.\u201d\n\n\nIn \u201cNineteenth Century Miracles,\u201d p. 79, M. Jaubert speaks as follows:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cAffirm to your people that man never dies, that his immortality\n    is proved, not by books but by material and tangible facts, of\n    which every one can convince himself; that anon our houses of\n    correction, and our prisons, will disappear; suicide will be\n    erased from our mortuary tables; and nobly borne, the calamities\n    of earth shall no longer produce madness.\u201d\n\n\nMrs. R. S. Lillie, in a speech at the Thirty-eighth Anniversary services\nin Horticultural Hall, Boston, Mass., and reported in the _Banner of\nLight_, of April, 1886, said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cChristianity never had a Pentecost to be compared with modern\n    Spiritualism. The latter is as far in advance of the former, as\n    the electric light is in advance of the tallow dip of the past;\n    for it is nineteen centuries ahead of it.\u201d\n\n\nThese are most astounding claims; and if there is any truth in them,\nSpiritualism ought to have shown itself as a great uplifting moral power,\nprovided it has been able to get any foothold among the people. We\ntherefore inquire what its success has been. On this point Professor Keck,\nat the Thirty-ninth Anniversary of Modern Spiritualism, at Bridgeport,\nConn. (_Banner of Light_, April 9, 1887), said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cIt [Spiritualism] has made converts of more scientific men and\n    profound thinkers than any other sect in the world. In thirty-nine\n    years it has grown to ten or fifteen millions of believers, with\n    thousands of mediums, a literature printed in every known\n    language, and converts in every quarter of the globe.\u201d\n\n\nWith all these facilities and all this success, it surely has been able to\nmake good its claims, and fulfil its promises, if its nature is such as it\nassumes, and its promises are good for anything; and its course should be\nmarked by a great decrease of crime, by the promotion of virtue and a\ngeneral improvement in the moral tone of society, wherever it has gone.\nFor nearly fifty years it has now been operating in the world; and with\nall its glowing professions of what it was able to do, and its millions of\nconverts, \u201cenergized to all that is good and elevating,\u201d its impress for\ngood should everywhere be seen.\n\nBut what are the facts?\u2014Just the reverse of what has been promised. Free\nlove, which is free lust, has followed in its wake; homes have been\nruined, families scattered, characters blighted; while insanity and\nsuicide have been the fate, or the last resort, of too many of its\nvictims. And outside of its own ranks, in the world at large, the fifty\nyears since the advent of Spiritualism have been years of increase of\ncrime and every evil in a fast growing ratio. Liquor drinking, tobacco\nusing, gambling, prostitution, defalcations, robberies, bribery, municipal\ncorruption, divorces, thefts, insanity, suicide, and murder, have\nincreased in far more rapid ratio than the population itself.\n\nThe reader will remember the testimony of Dr. Randolph, p. 105, that five\nof his friends destroyed themselves, and he attempted it for himself, by\ndirect spirit influences. The Philadelphia _Record_, of Feb. 17, 1894,\nspeaks of the suicide of May Brooklyn in San Francisco, Cal.:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe letters and papers left by the dead woman show plainly that\n    in her grief over the death of Lovecraft she had dabbled in\n    Spiritualism, and had finally reached the conclusion that her only\n    chance of happiness lay in joining her lover in the other world.\u201d\n\n\nA few figures, as samples, will be given just to emphasize the general\nstatements. The following is from the Chicago _Tribune_ of Jan. 1, 1893:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe number of persons who have committed suicide in the United\n    States during the year (1892), as gathered from telegraph and mail\n    report to the _Tribune_, is 3860, as compared with 3331 last year\n    (1891), 2640 in 1890, and 2224 in 1889. The total is much larger\n    than that of any of the eleven preceding years.\u201d\n\n\nThe _Christian Reformer_ gives the following figures of murders, suicides,\nand embezzlements from 1891-1893:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cMurders in 1893, 6615; increase over 1891 of 709.\n\n\n    \u201cSuicides in 1893, 4436; increase over 1892, 576; 1891, 1105.\n\n\n    \u201cFunds embezzled in 1893, $19,929,692; increase of 100 per cent.\n    over 1892.\u201d\n\n\nIt may be asked, What has this to do with Spiritualism?\u2014It is a test of\nthe value of its promises. Spiritualism has been posing for fifty years as\nthe \u201cworld\u2019s reformer,\u201d the great energizing, uplifting force to elevate\nmankind, the mighty power which has come to empty our workhouses and\nprisons, abolish suicides and all crime, the \u201celectric light\u201d compared\nwith the \u201ctallow dip\u201d of the gospel. And yet with all these claims, with\nits millions of adherents, and the funds and influence at its command, it\nis allowing, year by year, crime to increase much faster than the\npopulation. Now if Spiritualism was the purifying, renovating power which\nit claims to be, such results could not have been seen. It is very\nevident, that, as a power in the world in behalf of righteousness and\nhumanity, it has been of no account; and as between the forces of good and\nevil, its weight has been on the side of evil instead of good. It is thus\nthat the author of Spiritualism, the father of deception, fulfils the\npromises made through that channel to deceive mankind. What organized,\naggressive efforts against evil has Spiritualism ever shown? Where are its\nschools and colleges? Where are its hospitals and benevolent institutions?\nWhere are its organized charities? and what are its millions of members\ndoing to relieve suffering and distress, and turn men to better ways of\nliving? The very aspect it presents to the world to-day, stamps the brand\nof Cain upon its brow. The Boston _Herald_ of Dec. 17, 1874, said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cLet Spiritualism produce some idea, utter some word, or perform\n    some deed, which will have novelty, and yet be of manifest value\n    to the human race, and it will make good its claims to our serious\n    consideration. But it has not done this. For nearly thirty years\n    it has been before the world in its present shape, and in all that\n    time, with all its asserted command of earthly and\n    superterrestrial knowledge, it has never done an act, or breathed\n    a syllable, or supplied an idea which had any value as a\n    contribution to the welfare of the race, or to its stock of\n    knowledge. Its messages from learned men who are dead, have been\n    the silliest bosh; its stories about life upon the planets are\n    wretched guesses, many of which can be proved false by the\n    astronomer; its visions have frightened scores of people into\n    madhouses, and made semi-lunatics of hundreds of others.\u201d\n\n\nIf this charge was good as late as 1874, it is equally so at the present\ntime. And thus are we forced to the conclusion that Spiritualism, judged\nby the light of its fair promises, is one of the most lamentable of\ndelusions, and most stupendous of failures.\n\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter Seven.\n\n\nSPIRITUALISM A SUBJECT OF PROPHECY.\n\n\nWe come now to one of the most timely and important features of this whole\nsubject; for God in his word has foretold and forewarned the world of the\nmovement here passing under review. He has made known the time when it\nshould appear, the character it would bear, and the work it is to do. He\nhas also connected this with the great event of all-overshadowing\nimportance to this world, of which it is a startling sign and sure\nprecursor; namely, the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We ask the\nspecial attention of the reader to this part of the subject.\n\nA word of digression may be allowed as to the place which prophecy holds\nin the word of God. Prophecy is that feature of the sacred volume which\nconstitutes it a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Ps. 119:105; 2\nPeter 1:19. It is that which enables that word to be a guide to the hosts\nof Israel through the weary journey and the gloomy shades of time, giving\nto every era its \u201cpresent truth,\u201d and showing the progress of the\nslow-revolving ages toward the great consummation. It is the golden\ncredential which the Bible holds up to the world of its genuineness and\nauthenticity.\n\nProphecy is peculiar to the Christian Scriptures. No other so-called\nsacred books contain this feature. It is not found in the Vedas, Shasters,\nor Puranas of the Hindus, nor the Zend Avestas of the Parsees, nor the\nKojiki Nohonki, of the Shintos of Japan, nor the law books of Manu, nor\nthe Koran of the Mohammedans, nor the Kan-Ying-Peen or Tao-Te-King of the\nChinese, nor the Tripitakas of the Buddhists. The reason is obvious.\nNeither the minds of men nor of angels, either good or bad, can read the\nfuture. Divine omniscience alone can see the end from the beginning and\nforetell the great events that shall mark the history of the world, and\naffect the interests of the church. It is this that stamps the Bible as\ndivine, and lifts it immeasurably above all other books. It is indeed\npassing strange that all cannot see this. Instead of being a book that\ngrows obsolete and out of date with the passing years, like the\nproductions of men, it is the only book ever seen upon the earth which is\never abreast of the times in every age, and lifts the veil of the future\nbefore him who honestly and reverently seeks its pages for a knowledge of\nthe truth. Those who ignore or despise the prophecies, rob the Bible of\none of the brightest stars in its crown of glory.\n\nTo be entitled to claim credit as divine, any book or system should be\nable to show that it can correctly foretell the future. The spirits see\nthis, and, knowing that they cannot do it, discountenance and discourage\nall such efforts. Here is a little of their teaching on the subject:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Ques._\u2014Why are so many predictions made through mediums, which\n    prove false?\n\n\n    \u201c_Ans._\u2014Wonderful _guesses_ are sometimes made by daring spirits.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Can you tell us anything of the future?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Pharos says you must not ask questions of the future\u2014spirits\n    who _prophesy_ are _not good_ spirits.\n\n\n    \u201c_Q._\u2014Do you mean that it is not best for us to know the future?\n\n\n    \u201c_A._\u2014Souls on your plane are undergoing discipline, and it would\n    cost more than it is worth to foretell the future of your\n    state.\u201d\u2014_\u201c__Automatic Writing,__\u201d__ pp. 141, 142._\n\n\nSpiritualists rail at God for prohibiting from Adam and Eve, in the\ngarden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, to keep them in\nignorance. What will they say to these spirits who coolly answer that \u201cit\nwould cost more than it is worth\u201d to give them any knowledge of future\nevents? This, perhaps, they will consider all right because it isn\u2019t God\nwho says it.\n\n1. Let us then see what God has said of the time and work and significance\nof Spiritualism. Over seven hundred years before Christ, the prophet\nIsaiah wrote of our time, as follows: \u201cAnd when they shall say unto you,\nSeek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and\nthat mutter, should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to\nthe dead? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to\nthis word, it is because there is no light in them.\u201d\n\nHere is certainly a prophecy that a time would come when just such a work\nas Spiritualism is now doing would be a distinguishing feature of the age.\nThe present must be the time referred to, because it has never been so in\nany past age; and the present meets the specifications in every\nparticular. It shows that the only safety for any one now is to seek unto\nhis God, and make the law and the testimony, the word of God, the great\nstandard by which to try all spirits. 1 John 4:1. And another great event\nis directly connected with this, that is, the second coming of Christ; for\naccording to verses 16-18, the disciples are then looking for him.\n\n2. Matt. 24:24: \u201cFor there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,\nand shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were\npossible, they shall deceive the very elect.\u201d\n\nA deception of no ordinary power is here brought to view. It really\nresults in the division of Christendom; for all but the elect are carried\naway by it. In its own claims, Spiritualism fulfils the \u201cChrists\u201d and\n\u201cprophets\u201d part of the declaration, claiming of course to be true, while\nthe Bible says it is \u201cfalse.\u201d The signs and wonders are beginning to be\nseen in the many \u201cinexplicable\u201d phenomena attending Spiritualism. But many\nmore startling exhibitions, as will be presently shown, are yet to appear.\nWe charge upon Spiritualism, so far, the fulfilment of this prophecy. But\nmark! this occurs when the Son of man is about to appear \u201cas the lightning\ncometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west\u201d (verse 27); and it\nis one of the prominent signs of that event. See the prophecy from verse\n23 to verse 35. Mark and Luke also dwell upon the same prediction, as\ngathered from the lips of our Lord himself.\n\n3. Heb. 10:28, 29: \u201cHe that despised Moses\u2019 law died without mercy under\ntwo or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he\nbe thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath\ncounted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy\nthing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?\u201d\n\nIt is the bold stand which Spiritualism has taken against Christ and the\natonement, that makes this scripture applicable to that work. The apostle\nis speaking of the times when the great \u201cday is approaching\u201d (verse 25);\nwhen it is but a little while, and he that shall come, will come and will\nnot tarry (verse 37), and the introduction of verse 29, in such a\nconnection, becomes a prophecy that such an outbreak against Christ and\nhis atoning work would be seen when he is about to come again. And the\nfulfilment we are now beholding in Spiritualism.\n\n4. Rev. 12:12: \u201cWoe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the\ndevil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that\nhe hath but a short time.\u201d\n\nThis scripture locates itself. It is when Satan knows that he has but a\nlittle time to work, and hence it must be in the last days. At this time\nhe descends upon the world in an avalanche of wrath. \u201cWrath\u201d is a\nmisleading term. The words \u03b8\u03c5\u03bc\u03cc\u03bd \u03bc\u03ad\u03b3\u03b1\u03bd signify the strongest and most\nintense emotion of the mind. If the object is to accomplish some\nparticular end, they would indicate the most intense, concentrated,\nenergetic, and persistent efforts to that purpose, using every means, and\nbringing to bear every influence to reach the result in question. Satan,\nas we have seen, has an object in deceiving the human family, as far as\npossible, to their destruction, by signs and wonders. In this work,\naccording to the prophecy before us, he will go to the extent of his\npower, and show his most potent signs. Bringing the supposed forms and\nfeatures of the dead before living witnesses, is his most successful\nmethod at the present time. But as this work is, as yet, done largely in\nthe dark, it gives more room for jugglery and imposition. The time will\ncome, however, when, in open light, counterfeit materializations of the\ndead will swarm on earth, and deceive, if it were possible, the very\nelect\u2014_i.e._, all who cannot meet the deception with the potent weapon\u2014\u201cIt\nis written, The dead know not anything, neither have they any more a\nportion forever [in the present state of things] in anything that is done\nunder the sun.\u201d\n\n5. Rev. 13:13, 14: \u201cAnd he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire\ncome down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them\nthat dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power\nto do.\u201d\n\nThis prophecy relates to some earthly government represented by a symbol\nwith two horns like a lamb. Verse 11. It is part of a prophecy beginning\nwith chapter twelve, and ending with verse 5 of chapter fourteen. It is\nnot the place here to introduce an exposition of this prophecy. It is only\nnecessary to state that the position taken is that the lamblike symbol\nrepresents our own government, the United States of America.(4) And the\ngreat wonders that he does, apply to the marvelous manifestations of\nSpiritualism. It is a significant fact that Spiritualism arose in this\ncountry, thus fitting itself exactly to the prophecy. The climax of the\nwonders brought to view in the text, making \u201cfire come down from heaven on\nthe earth in the sight of men,\u201d has not yet been reached. More is\ntherefore to be developed. Yea, this wonder-working power is to go forward\ntill that which, in the time of Elijah, was the test between the false god\nBaal and the Lord Jehovah, is brought to pass, and fire is made to come\ndown from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And the sad feature of\nthis case will be that the multitudes, not perceiving the change of issue,\nwill take the act down here to be a test of truth, as it was in the days\nof Elijah.\n\nTaken in connection with other portions of the book of Revelation, this\nprophecy reveals clearly what the agency that works the miracles is. The\ndragon, representing paganism (Rev. 12:3, 4); the beast, representing the\npapacy (Rev. 13:1-10); and the lamblike symbol, representing\nProtestantism, or more specifically, Protestant America (Rev. 13:11-17),\nconstitute the symbols of this prophecy. For convenience, let us designate\nthem as _A_, _B_, and _C_; respectively. _C_ works his miracles in sight\nof _B_; _B_ and _C_ are again brought to view in Rev. 19:20, and there _C_\nis called \u201cthe false prophet.\u201d We know the false prophet here is the same\nas _C_, because he works miracles before _B_, the same as _C_ does in\nchapter 13:14. All together, _A_, _B_, and _C_ are brought to view in Rev.\n16:13, and unclean spirits like frogs are said to come out of their\nmouths; and then verse 14 tells what they are: \u201cFor they are spirits of\ndevils, working miracles.\u201d This, then, not the spirits of dead men, is the\nagency that works the miracles of chapter 13:13, 14. We follow the subject\nso far, at this point, merely to identify the agency that works the\nmiracles, and shall have more to say upon it. But before passing, we would\nremind the reader that here also the subject is connected with the second\ncoming of Christ; for the prophecy of Revelation 13 ends with the\nredemption of the church which immediately follows. Rev. 14:1-5.\n\n6. 2 Thess. 2:9-12: \u201cEven him, whose coming is after the working of Satan,\nwith all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of\nunrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of\nthe truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send\nthem strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might\nbe damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in\nunrighteousness.\u201d\n\nHere, again, we have the great fact brought out with still more startling\nemphasis, that there is to be a great outbreaking of Satanic power among\nmen, just before and up to, the coming of Christ. And if we already see\nthe preliminary and even far-advanced working of this power in\nSpiritualism, the world should stand aghast at the perils of the times in\nwhich we live. The coming of Christ is brought to view in verse 8, and\nverse 9 states that at that time Satan will be working with all power. The\ncommon version is calculated to obscure this passage. The words \u201ceven him\u201d\n(verse 9) are wrongly and unnecessarily supplied. Literally rendered, the\nlast clause of verse 8, and the first of verse 9 would read as follows:\n\u201cWhom the Lord ... shall destroy with the brightness of his [Christ\u2019s]\ncoming; of whom [Christ] the coming is, after [or at the time of] the\nworking of Satan,\u201d etc. The word \u201cafter\u201d is from, the Greek \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1 (_kata_),\nwhich when referring to time, as in this case, does not mean \u201cafter or\naccording to,\u201d but \u201cwithin the range of, during, in the course of, at,\nabout,\u201d as in 2 Tim. 4:1, where it is rendered \u201cat.\u201d\n\nSo here is a plain declaration that at the very time when Christ comes\nSatan will be working in the hight of his power, by signs and lying\nwonders (wonders to prove a lie) to keep the people under falsehood and\ndeception. Verses 10-12 tell who his victims are, and why they become\nsuch: they are those who preferred the pleasures of sin to the practice of\nrighteousness, and so would not receive the truth, nor the love of it. In\nall such cases God\u2019s throne is clear. He always, as in this case, sets\ntruth first before the people, gives them a chance, and calls upon them to\nembrace it, and be saved. But when men, as free moral agents, whom God\nwill not force into his kingdom, refuse to receive the truth, shut their\neyes, close their ears, and steel their hearts against it, and find their\npleasure in unrighteousness, in going in just the opposite direction;\u2014what\ncan God do for them? We leave the skeptic himself to answer. For more\nyears than Spiritualism, in its present phase, has been before the world,\nseveral religious bodies have made a specialty of the great Bible truth\nconcerning the state of the dead, and life only in Christ, which\neffectually shields all those who receive it against the rapping delusion.\n\n7. Rev. 18:2: \u201cAnd he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon\nthe great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils,\nand the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful\nbird.\u201d\n\nAmong the many predictions given in the word of God touching the last\ndays, is one which foretokens a wide-spread and lamentable declension in\nthe religious world. The phrase which embodies it, is the one just quoted,\n\u201cBabylon is fallen.\u201d The term \u201cBabylon\u201d is not intended nor used as a term\nof reproach, but rather as a descriptive word setting forth the very\nundesirable condition of \u201cmixture\u201d and \u201cconfusion\u201d in the religious world.\nIt is certainly not the Lord\u2019s will, who prayed that all his people should\nbe one, that scores or hundreds of divisions and sects should exist within\nhis church. That is owing, exclaims the Catholic, to the Protestant rule\nof private judgment. It is not. It is owing to that Pandora\u2019s box of\nmystical interpretation placed in the church by old Origen, that prince of\nmischief-makers. By this method, which has no method and no standard, the\ninterpretations of God\u2019s word will ever be as various and numerous as the\nwhims and fancies that may find a place in the minds of men.\n\nBut all this confusion must be remedied in that church which will be ready\nfor the second advent; for no people will be prepared for translation but\nsuch as worship the Lord in both _spirit_ and _truth_. To bring the church\nto this point, a call has been sent to Christendom in the special truths\nfor this time. Most turn away, but some are taking the stand to which\nthese circumstances summon them. The process is simple. It is but to read\nand obey God\u2019s word in the light of what is called the literal rule of\ninterpretation. No other rule would ever have been thought of, if the\nDevil had let the minds of men alone. By this rule the true Sabbath would\nalways have been maintained a perfect safeguard against idolatry in the\nearth; the law would have held its place as a perfect, immutable, and\neternal rule of conduct, a safeguard against the antinomianism of all ages\nand the Spiritualism of to-day; the view that the dead remain unconscious\nin the grave till the resurrection, would always have been held, and then\nthere could have been no purgatory, no masses for the dead, no Mariolatry,\nno saint worship\u2014in short, no Roman Catholicism, and no Universalism, nor\nSpiritualism; the true nature of the coming and kingdom of Christ would\nnot have been lost sight of, and the peace and safety fable of a temporal\nmillennium never could have existed.\n\nTo say nothing of other errors that would be corrected, suppose all\nChristendom stood together on these four simple truths, how much division\ncould there have been in the Christian world? A second denomination could\nnot have existed. And what would have been the condition of things?\u2014As\ndifferent from the present condition as one can well imagine\u2014no paganism,\nno Roman Catholicism, no Protestantism, no multiplied sects, no\nSpiritualism,\u2014but Christianity, broad, united, free, and glorious. Some\nare taking their stand on these truths, and so will be shielded from the\ndelusions of these last days, for which the way, by ages of superstition\nand error, has been so artfully prepared. Every one must stand upon them\nwho is governed by the literal rule of interpretation; for they are read\nin so many words out of the sacred volume itself. But the churches\ngenerally reject them, often with bitterness, scorn, and contempt, and\nsome even with persecution. And this is why Babylon has fallen.\n\nThat organization, called in Rev. 17:5: \u201cMystery, Babylon the Great, the\nMother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth,\u201d has been very generally\napplied by Protestants to the Roman Catholic Church; but if that church is\nthe mother, who are the daughters? This question has been asked for many\nyears. Alexander Campbell said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe worshiping establishments now in operation throughout\n    Christendom, incased and cemented by their voluminous confessions\n    of faith, and their ecclesiastical constitutions, are not churches\n    of Jesus Christ, but the legitimate daughters of that mother of\n    harlots\u2014the Church of Rome.\u201d\n\n\nLorenzo Dow said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWe read not only of Babylon, but of the whore of Babylon, styled\n    the mother of harlots, which is supposed to mean the Romish\n    church. If she be a mother, who are her daughters? It must be the\n    corrupt national established churches that came out of her.\u201d\n\n\nThe great sin charged against Babylon, is unlawful connection with the\nkings of the earth. The church should be entirely free from the state. But\nnow the churches of America, which have for long years borne so noble a\npart, are clamoring for a union with the state, calling for a recognition\nof God\u2019s name in the Constitution, and God\u2019s law in the courts, and that\nthe government be run on Christian lines. Old, antiquated laws which they\nfind upon the statute books of various States, they are beginning to use\nto persecute those who differ in belief with them; and they seek for the\nenactment of more stringent Sunday laws for the same purpose. And when\nthey shall succeed in getting full control of the state, they will have\nsevered the last link that has held them to their high estate, show\nthemselves true members of the Babylonian family, and sink in spirit and\npractice to the level of the elder Rome.\n\nRev. 14:8 was fulfilled in 1844.(5) Since then the churches have been\ngoing down in spirituality and godliness, catering more and more to the\nworld, indulging in carnal amusements, festivals, wife auctions, and\nkissing bees, to the very border line of decency, but especially filling\nup with the influences mentioned in Rev. 18:2, till the leaven of\nSpiritualism is fast penetrating the whole mass. Yet there are a multitude\nof God\u2019s people connected with these churches, who deplore the situation,\nand for whom a crisis is approaching. The cry is again to be raised,\n\u201cBabylon is fallen, come out of her my people.\u201d We verily believe the time\nhas come when that call should be made and heeded; for a little further\nprogress in the evil path upon which we have entered, will surely provoke\nthe just judgments of heaven. Verses 4, 5.\n\n8. 2 Tim. 3:8: \u201cNow as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these\nalso resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the\nfaith.\u201d\n\nThe first five verses of this chapter portray a dark list of eighteen sins\nwhich will characterize professed Christians in the last days; for those\nwho bear the characters described, have a _form of godliness_, but deny\nthe power thereof. The three following verses plainly describe certain\nmembers of the spiritualistic fraternity; and they are said to be of the\nsame sort. This prophecy therefore becomes parallel to that which has just\nbeen examined. The fall of Babylon prepares the popular churches for\nSpiritualism. Here the practice of these sins in the churches, makes them\nof the same sort with Spiritualists, so that they fraternize well\ntogether. Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses by the wonders they were able\nto perform; so these will resist the truth through the wonders of\nSpiritualism. And this is in the last days where we now are. So Babylon\u2019s\nfall just precedes the coming of Christ.\n\n9. Rev. 16:14: \u201cFor they are the spirits of devils, working miracles,\nwhich go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to\ngather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.\u201d\n\nThe work of the spirits reaches its climax in the scene here brought to\nview. Their last mission is to go to the kings of the earth to gather them\nto the battle of that great day of God Almighty. In this conflict, so far\nas this earth is concerned, the great controversy between Christ and Satan\ncloses in the triumph of Him who rides forth on a white horse at the head\nof the white-horsed armies of heaven. The beast and false prophet are\nhurled into a lake of fire, and the remnant, the kings of the earth and\ntheir armies, are slain by the sword of him upon whose vesture is\ninscribed the all-conquering title, \u201cKing of kings and Lord of lords.\u201d\nRev. 19:11-21.\n\nBut before these spirits can thus influence the kings of the earth, they\nmust make their way to them and bring them under their control. They have\nalready shown great facility in this work, giving promise of what they\nwill be able to do in the near future. A work by Hudson Tuttle, \u201cWhat Is\nSpiritualism?\u201d p. 6, names the following among the late and living crowned\nheads, nobility, etc., who have been supporters of Spiritualism:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cEmperor Alexander, of Russia; Louis Napoleon, of France; Queen\n    Victoria, of England; Prince and Princess Metternich; Prince\n    Wittgenstein, Lieutenant Aide-de-camp to the emperor of Russia;\n    Hon. Alexander Axahof, Russian Imperial Councilor, St. Petersburg,\n    Russia; Baron Guldenstuble, of Paris; Baron Von Schick, of\n    Austria; Baron Von Dirkinck, of Holmfield, Holstein; Le Comte de\n    Bullet, of Paris; Duke of Leuchtenberg, of Germany. Of England\n    there are Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Lindsay, Lord Adare, Lord Dunraven,\n    Sir W. Trevilyan, Countess Carthness, Sir T. Willshire, Lady\n    Cowper, Sir Charles Napier, Sir Charles Isham, Bart., Colonel E.\n    B. Wilbraham, of the English army,\u201d etc.\n\n\nThe late Alexander III, of Russia, and the queen of Spain are also\nreckoned among the number. Thus, so far as the agency of the spirits is\nconcerned, there is nothing in the way of the speedy fulfilment of Rev.\n16:14.\n\n\n\n\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\n\nThe reader now has before him, in brief, the main outlines of this\nmomentous subject.\n\n1. Spiritualism, so far as its phenomena are concerned, is not humbug and\ntrickery, but a real manifestation of power and intelligence.\n\n2. But the marvels and wonders are not performed by the spirits of the\ndead.\n\n3. Evil spirits step in and counterfeit what are supposed to be the\nspirits of the dead, in which men have been taught to believe, simulating\npoints of identity to any minute particular that may be required.\n\n4. Besides starting on this false assumption, all their teaching shows\nthat they are agents of evil, not of good, and their work is to degrade,\nnot elevate.\n\n5. The world by long resistance of the truth, has prepared the way for\nthis deception, which the spirit that worketh in the children of\ndisobedience is not slow to improve.\n\n6. Even the churches of Christ, by rejection of the truth, are preparing\nthemselves for the same snare.\n\n7. The Scriptures have plainly pointed out this great outbreak of the\nworking of Satan, and invariably connected it with the last days and the\nsecond coming of Christ.\n\n8. Spiritualism is thus a subject of prophecy, and an infallible sign and\nprecursor of the soon-coming end.\n\n9. The great day of the Lord is near and hasteth greatly; and all things\nnow call upon all men to prepare for its eternal decisions.\n\nIs this the lesson? Who will heed it and thus escape the delusions and\nperils of these last days, and be finally saved in the kingdom of heaven?\n\n\n\n\n\nINDEX OF AUTHORS REFERRED TO.\n\n\nAlexander, Emperor, 146\n\nAxahof, Hon. Alexander, 146\n\nAdare, Lord, 146\n\nAlexander III., 146\n\nBellachini, Mr., 14\n\nBarrett, Dr. W. F., 15\n\nBright, John, 30\n\nBuddha, 86, 87, 88\n\nBrittan, Professor, 111\n\nBrooklyn, May, 128\n\nChanning, Dr., 4\n\nCook, Joseph, 12\n\nCrookes, Professor, 17\n\nCrookes, Wm., F. R. S., 29\n\nClarke, Dr. Adam, 50, 56, 91, 92\n\nCarey, Alice, 78\n\nConfucius, 86, 88\n\nConant, Mrs., 90, 119\n\nCurry, Dr., 56, 92\n\nClaflin, Mr., 109\n\nCarter, Judge, 113\n\nCampbell, Alexander, 143\n\nCarthness, Countess, 146\n\nCowper, Lady, 146\n\nDixon, Hepworth, 28\n\nDavis, A. J., 29, 97, 100, 105, 112, 114, 118\n\nDavenport, Messrs., 29\n\nDow, Lorenzo, 143\n\nDunraven, Lord, 146\n\nDe Bullet, Le Compte, 146\n\nEglinton, Mr., 13\n\nEdmunds, Judge, 28, 117, 118\n\nFox, John D., 18\n\nFox, Mrs., 18, 19, 20, 21\n\nFox, Margaret, 18, 20, 22\n\nFox, Kate, 18, 19, 20\n\nFox, David, 18\n\nFox, Mary, 21\n\nFox, Catharine, 22\n\nFranklin, Benjamin, 85\n\nGeary, Mr., 13\n\nGlanvil, Mr., 20\n\nGridley, Dr., 114, 115\n\nGuldenstuble, Baron, 146\n\nHazard, Thos. R., 11\n\nHarrison, W. H., F. R. S., 29\n\nHome, Mr., 29\n\nHendricks, Mrs., 31\n\nHatch, Mrs. C. L. V., 83, 106\n\nHare, Dr., 84, 85, 89, 92, 99\n\nHarris, \u201cRev.\u201d T. L., 94\n\nHall, Hon. J. B., 101\n\nHatch, Dr., 106\n\nHudson, T. J., 17, 57, 74, 109, 111\n\nHull, Moses, 109\n\nHobart, Mr., 122\n\nIsham, Sir Charles, 146\n\nJamieson, W. F., 109, 113\n\nJaubert, M., 126\n\nKeller, Harvy, 13\n\nKrishna, 87\n\nKeck, Professor, 127\n\nLillie, J. T., 21\n\nLoveland, J. S., 97\n\nLull, Miss A. L., 125\n\nLillie, Mrs. R. S., 127\n\nLeuchtenberg, Duke, 146\n\nLyndhurst, Lord, 146\n\nLindsay, Lord, 146\n\nMompesson, Mr., 20\n\nMilton, John, 40\n\nMohammed, 87, 88\n\nMassey, Gerald, 114\n\nMahan, Pres., 121\n\nMetternich, Prince, 146\n\nMetternich, Princess, 146\n\nNorton, Deacon John, 89\n\nNapoleon, Louis, 146\n\nNapier, Sir Charles, 146\n\nOwen, Robert Dale, 18, 19\n\nOlshausen, Dr., 56\n\nOrton, Mr., 84\n\nOrigen, 141\n\nPutnam, Allen, 75\n\nPaine, Thomas, 85, 87\n\nPotter, Dr. William B., 107\n\nParker, Theodore, 114\n\nQueen of Spain, 146\n\nRedfield, Mrs., 21\n\nRandolph, Dr. B. P., 104, 105, 112, 128\n\nRichmond, Mrs. Cora L. V., 126\n\nSlade, Mr., 14\n\nSavage, M. J., 15, 22, 24, 25, 32\n\nStead, W. T., 31\n\nStanford, Leland, 31\n\nTiffany, Joel, 90\n\nTuttle, Hudson, 113, 116, 146\n\nTrevilyan, Sir W., 146\n\nUnderhill, Leah Fox, 21\n\nUnderwood, Mrs. S. A., 26, 80, 123\n\nVinet, Dr., 5\n\nVictoria, Queen, 146\n\nVon Schick, Baron, 146\n\nVon Dirkinck, Baron, 146\n\nWesley, Mr., 20\n\nWood, Rev. J. G., 26\n\nWallace, Alfred R. F. R. S., 29, 30\n\nWeisse, Dr., 84\n\nWashington, George, 85, 114\n\nWilson, R. P., 88\n\nWhitney, J. F., 105\n\nWoodhull, Mrs., 109\n\nWilson, James Victor, 112, 113\n\nWebster, Professor, 118\n\nWatson, Dr., 125\n\nWittgenstein, Prince, 146\n\nWillshire, Sir T., 146\n\nWilbraham, Col. E. B., 146\n\nZ\u00f6llner, Professor, 12, 13\n\nZoroaster, 68, 88\n\n\n\n\n\nINDEX OF BOOKS, PAPERS, ETC., QUOTED.\n\n\nAutomatic or Spirit Writing, 15, 26, 80, 86, 98, 111, 119, 120, 121, 123,\n124, 133\n\n_Arena_, The, 15\n\nAstounding Facts from the Spirit World, 114\n\n_Banner of Light_, 21, 78, 79, 83, 84, 86, 89, 90, 97, 101, 119, 123, 125,\n126, 127\n\n_Christian at Work_, The, 29, 30\n\n_Chronicle_, San Francisco 29\n\nCentury Dictionary, 35\n\n_Christian Reformer_, The, 129\n\nDeclaration of Principles of the Spiritualists, 102, 125\n\nDealings with the Dead, 104, 112, 123\n\nDeath and the After Life, 118\n\nDiscussion with Tiffany and Rhen, 121\n\n_Forum_, The, 16, 22\n\nFootfalls on the Boundary of Another World, 18\n\n_Fortnightly Review_, 29, 30\n\nHome Circle, 14\n\nHealing of the Nations, 96, 97, 99, 102\n\n_Herald_, Boston, 130\n\nKojiki Nohonki, 132\n\nKoran, 132\n\nKan-Ying-Peen, 132\n\nLaw of Physic Phenomena, 17, 57, 74, 109, 111\n\nLife in Two Spheres, 113, 116\n\nLaw Books of Manu, 132\n\nMesmerism, Spiritualism, Witchcraft, and Miracles, 75\n\n_North American_, Philadelphia, 11\n\nNineteenth Century Miracles, 13, 126\n\nNature of Divine Revelation, 97\n\nParadise Lost, 40\n\n_Pathfinder_, New York, 105\n\nPurana, 132\n\n_Quarterly Journal of Science_, 29\n\n_Religio-Philosophical Journal_, 14, 28, 80, 125\n\nReport of the 37th Anniversary of Modern Spiritualism, 21\n\n_Review of Reviews_, 31\n\n_Record_, Philadelphia, 128\n\n_Spiritual Clarion_, 14\n\n_Spiritual Telegraph_, 83, 96, 122\n\nSpiritual Science Demonstrated, 89, 92\n\nSpiritualism as It Is, 107, 108, 123\n\nSpiritualism 118\n\nShaster, 132\n\n_The Border Land_, 31\n\nTreatise on Christian Doctrine, 40\n\n_Truth Seeker_, 83\n\nTelegraphic Answer to Mahan, 111\n\nThe Diakka and their Earthly Victims, 112, 113\n\n_Tribune_, Chicago, 128, 129\n\nTao-Te-King, 132\n\nTripitaka, 132\n\nVeda, 132\n\n_World_, New York, 30\n\nWhat Is Spiritualism, 146\n\nZend Avesta, 132\n\n\n\n\n\nINDEX OF TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED OR EXPLAINED.\n\n\nGENESIS.\n  1:1-5, 93\n  1:28, 68\n  2:2, 46\n  2:7, 45\n  3:4, 39\n  4:10, 52\n  7:21, 22, 45\n  35:18, 61\n\nLEVITICUS.\n  19:31, 36, 53\n\nNUMBERS.\n  16:22, 48, 50\n  27:16, 50\n\nDEUTERONOMY.\n  13:1-3, 5, 77\n  18:9-12, 36\n\n1 SAMUEL.\n  Chap. 28, 52, 53\n\n1 KINGS.\n  4:1, 73\n  17:21, 22, 61\n\n2 KINGS.\n  19:35, 72\n  21:2, 6, 9, 11, 36\n\nJOB.\n  7:21, 62\n  14:21, 63\n  19:25-27, 93\n  34: 14, 15, 45\n\nPSALMS.\n  6:5, 63\n  13:3, 62\n  17:15, 93\n  115:17, 63\n  119:105, 131\n  146:3, 4, 62\n\nECCLESIASTES.\n  3:19, 21, 45\n  8:11, 101\n  9:5, 6, 10, 43\n  12:7, 44, 45\n\nISAIAH.\n  5:20, 101\n  8:19, 74\n  8:19, 20, 75, 133\n  14:12-14, 67\n  26:19, 93\n  38:1, 5, 18, 19, 63\n  61:1, 50\n\nEZEKIEL.\n  18:20, 97\n  28:, 67\n  28:2, 12-15, 68\n  37:12, 93\n\nDANIEL.\n  11:2, 93\n\nHOSEA.\n  13:14, 93\n\nHABAKKUK.\n  2:11, 52\n\nMATTHEW.\n  10:28, 50, 51, 52\n  10:39, 51\n  15:13, 9\n  17:3, 56\n  22:23-28, 32, 61\n  24:23-35, 135\n  24:24, 83, 134\n  24:30, 31, 58\n  25:32, 33, 97\n  27:18, 85\n  28:3, 4, 72\n\nLUKE.\n  10:18, 71\n  14:14, 64\n  16:, 57\n  19:35, 64\n  23:39-43, 58, 59\n\nJOHN.\n  3:6, 46\n  3:19-21, 109\n  6:39,40, 64\n  6:40, 51\n  8:44, 67\n  11:11, 62\n  11:25, 55\n  14:30, 68\n  19:31-33, 60\n  20:17, 59\n\nACTS.\n  7:60, 62\n  16:16-18, 36\n  17:31, 64\n  26:23, 57\n\nROMANS.\n  2:15, 95\n  4:17, 61\n  6:16, 68\n  6:23, 97\n\n1 CORINTHIANS.\n  11:30, 62\n  15:, 92\n  15:18, 64\n  15:51, 62\n  15:51-54, 61\n\n2 CORINTHIANS.\n  4:4, 68\n  5:2, 61\n  12:2-4, 59\n\nGALATIANS.\n  5:19-21, 36\n\nEPHESIANS.\n  2:2, 68\n  6:11, 72\n  6:12, 73\n\nPHILIPPIANS.\n  3:11, 61\n  1:23, 61\n\n1 THESSALONIANS.\n  4:14, 62\n  4:15-17, 58, 61\n  5:23, 48\n\n2 THESSALONIANS.\n  2:8,9, 139\n  2:9-12, 138\n\n1 TIMOTHY.\n  1:17, 42\n  3:6, 67\n  4:1, 73, 88\n  6:16 42\n\n2 TIMOTHY.\n  3:8, 144\n  4:1, 8, 64\n  4:1, 10-12, 139\n\nHEBREWS.\n  2:14, 55\n  10:25-29, 135\n  11:15, 16, 61\n  11:40, 48\n  12:9, 23, 50\n  12:23, 47, 50\n\nJAMES.\n  4:6-8, 72\n\n1 PETER.\n  1:11, 49\n  3:19, 48\n  3:20, 49\n  5:8, 9, 73\n\n2 PETER.\n  1:16-18, 56\n  1:19, 131\n  2:4, 66, 72\n  3:7, 13, 72\n\n1 JOHN.\n  2:22, 87\n  2:23, 83\n  4:1, 16-18, 134\n  4:3, 88\n  5:18, 72\n\nJUDE.\n  Verse 4, 88\n  \" 6, 66\n  \" 9, 55\n\nREVELATION.\n  2:7, 59\n  5:13, 72\n  6:9-11, 52\n  12:3, 4, 137\n  12:7, 71\n  12:12, 135\n  13:1-10, 137\n  13:11, 13, 14, 136\n  13:11-17, 138\n  14:1-5, 138\n  14:8, 144\n  16:13, 14, 75, 138\n  16:14, 145, 146\n  17:5, 142\n  18:2, 140\n  18:2, 4, 5, 144\n  19:11-21, 145\n  19:20, 138\n  20:4-6, 51\n  20:14, 15, 72\n  21:8, 36, 93\n  22:1, 2, 59\n  22:15, 93\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n    1 Original edition.\n\n    2 Original edition. Not found in the mutilated edition, revised by Dr.\n      Curry.\n\n    3 The revision of Dr. Clarke\u2019s Commentary by Dr. Curry, proves the\n      truthfulness of what the doctor here says, for this important\n      passage is entirely eliminated, and its place filled with statements\n      which Dr. Clarke did not make, and sentiments which he did not\n      believe. It is no less than a crime to treat a dead man\u2019s work in\n      this manner.\n\n    4 For a full argument on this point, fortified by testimony, the\n      application of which is beyond question, see works treating on the\n      United States as a subject of prophecy, for sale by the\n      International Tract Society, Battle Creek, Mich.\n\n    5 See works on the three messages of Revelation 14, for sale by the\n      International Tract Society, Battle Creek, Mich.","title":"Modern Spiritualism","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":40764}