Spiritualism Exposed at San Jose, California.
By M. E. Cornell
In our course of lectures here, we made spiritualism a specialty, and put out 1000 bills, of which the following is a copy:— “Spiritualism Exposed. An Explanation of the Wonders of Rapping, Table-tipping, Trances, and Haunted Houses. The Mystery Solved! A Candid and Critical Examination in the Light of Reason and Revelation. Permission given for Questions and Objections from the Audience.” The result was that our audience was more than doubled, there being a pretty general turnout of the spiritualists. Their speaker, Mr. Ferree, was also present. During the lecture, they were considerably excited, and interrupted us several times. Mr. Ferree wished to announce that he would reply on Sunday evening at Music Hall. We then tendered to him the use of the tent for his reply, on Monday evening, which was accepted, and a large audience listened to Mr. Ferree and Prof. Chaney for about two hours. At the close, we appointed to review both speakers the next evening. As there are some new ideas and a report may be of interest, we give the main points from our notes with our replies in dialogue form. Mr. Ferree opened with a poem from a spirit which referred to the devil as follows:— “I don’t see what we can do without him.” REPLY.—In all the references to Satan in the papers, books, and lectures of spiritualists, we never see anything against the devil, but very much against the God and Christ of the Bible, and never a word in favor. This fact not only stamps them as Antichrist, but shows that they are of their father, the devil. Indeed they admit it. In answer to the question, “Do you know of any such spirit as a person we call the devil?” the spirit, through the medium, Mrs. Conant, answered, “We certainly do. And yet, THIS SAME DEVIL IS OUR GOD AND OUR FATHER.” Banner of Light, Nov. 4, 1865. And Miss Lizzie Doten, a celebrated trance lecturer, made a regular prayer to the devil, beginning with, “O Lucifer, we lift up our voices to thee. From the depth of thine infamy stream forth divine truths,” &c. Dr. Child says, “What is called the devil is the Spirit of God in nature.” “It is the mission of the devil, yet unthought of by men, to carry them through the hell of earth, and prepare them for the heaven of the spiritual world.”—Better Views of Living, pp. 39, 41. Ferree. What if Judge Edmunds and Dr. Child’s were deceived by the spirits, and admitted it, Did they give it up? No; they grew stronger and stronger all the time. REPLY.—This admission confirms the application we have made of the scripture which declares that Satan shall work “with all deceivableness,” and that because men would “believe a lie,” they would have “strong delusion.” 2 Thess. 2: 10, 11. No wonder then if their eyes are not opened by the deception which they acknowledge. It is because their delusion is strong. Ferree. The God of the Bible deceived men. Eze. 14:9: “If the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.” REPLY.—In the 7th verse, we see why the Lord deceived (or abandoned them to a deception), for he says of them, “Which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart,” &c. When men turn away from God, he sends them deception and strong delusion by leaving them, and so they are deceived. Ferree. They are not dead, they still live! REPLY.—Here we have the same old lie of Satan, “Ye shall not surely die.” Spiritualists take the side of the devil every time. They ever claim to be teaching just what the devil said, and they believe it is truth. Is it not true, then, that they are “left to believe a lie,” as the apostle says? The following is an extract from a verbatim report of what Mr. Pope said in the last National Convention of spiritualists at Chicago, Ill.:— “As an individual, I have learned within the experience of thirty years what to me is an invaluable revelation—that I am a plant, and not a creature made out of nothing, and that, as a plant, I am subject to the conditions of growth. I am further convinced by my inspiration that whereas the devil, in the garden of Eden, declared if man, in his compound condition of Adam and Eve, would disobey the prohibition against eating of the tree which was adapted to his tastes and his conditions, he should become as God, knowing good from evil, that voice has gone on until, in the latter days, we hear it repeating ‘Ye are gods;’ and we have found that this God is not concentrated upon his throne as an almighty, powerful and avenging judge, but is disseminated. We are now seeking him in the face of our brother men. We know that this divinity is in humanity; that this God is manifest in the flesh; that this infinite intelligence and power, this love and benevolence and ingenuity, inhabits, not only the region where virtue dwells, but the base of the brain, and that it is as absolutely good as infinite wisdom and an absolute, pure God can make it. I have fought against the idea that laws and those conditions which proceed from the base of the brain are illegitimate; that they are the cause of the fall; that they are the product of man’s depravity. I insist that they are not. I assert that they are as legitimate as the functions of the coronal region; that they are God’s revelation to man; that man must commence with the inferior conditions and advance; and in this day we have the inspiration and ability to create a new heaven and a new earth. When we know that we are gods, and that we have the power, we shall advance to that position in which we shall become judges.” The same idea stands out prominent in all spiritualistic literature. Nothing can be more certain than that the spirit now speaking to spiritualists is identical with him that spoke to Eve in Paradise. Ferree. Lucretia Mott, one of the best women God ever made, said, “The Bible contains the words of God, and the words of man, and the words of the devil.” REPLY.—Exactly right. I believe that is true. The devil said, “Ye shall not surely die.” And spiritualists endorse what Satan said and constantly find fault with the words of God! Ferree. Some can see the spirit leave the body at death, because their optic nerve is sufficiently refined to see spirits. They appear as a gray mist, and are seen to organize into form. REPLY.—This agrees with A. J. Davis, who saw the spirit of a man, at death, appearing like condensed steam—a cloudy, wavy substance trembling to reorganize into form and life. This, then, is their immortal soul, which they say is a god. It is a “gray mist,” a cloud of steam—a foggy kind of ghost quivering and trembling to resurrect itself. [Here Mr. Ferree arose to explain. He did not hold that this gray mist was the spirit, for that could not be seen, but it was only the particles of the spirit’s body.] Worse and worse. If the body of the spirit is only a foggy mist, what must the spirit itself be? The little end of nothing whittled to a point would fitly illustrate its immateriality! Ferree. Refers to many good words and deeds of the spirits, and at the end of each anecdote or narrative concludes with, “That was a very good devil!” REPLY.—This is not a safe conclusion, for oftentimes things in themselves good are said and done for an evil purpose. A man and his wife and an only child, a lovely daughter, lived retired in a small country town, with every earthly comfort to make them happy. He had several thousand dollars which he kept out on interest most of the time. A stranger came into the place and gained admittance into that family as a boarder, and by his winning manners and great kindness to the family, he became a great favorite. There was nothing too hard for him to do for them, and they came to regard him as a son. In sickness, he watched over them constantly day and night, and it seemed as if he could never do enough for them. But when he saw that he had gained their entire confidence, he seduced the unsuspecting daughter under the promise of marriage, and stole three thousand dollars and left the country. The family was completely heart-broken and ruined. Now what about all those good deeds? The devil is sometimes transformed as an angel of light. He knows how to do good that evil may come. [Here Prof. Chaney takes the stand.] Prof. Chaney. About one-tenth of my time I am in doubt of having an immortal soul. REPLY.—Very likely, for the most of men do at times think soberly and rationally. And a man would have to be very far gone in such a delusion never to have any doubts of it. Prof. C. A vegetable has a soul. A grain of corn was planted and grew after being buried with a mummy for over two thousand years. It has an undying germ. REPLY.—The life of the germ was preserved by being incased so that no particle of moisture could affect it. But when found, suppose they had put it in the stove and baked it, where, then, would have been the life of the germ? Just so with the soul of man. It has no immortality that cannot be baked out of it very easily. Prof. C. Tries to degrade the body of man. The primates were found in most of the lower animals, especially the hog! REPLY.—If I remember rightly, the gentleman’s spirits have been pretty intimately connected with that animal. He claims that ancient and modern spiritualism are the same. Now take a case of ancient spiritualism. The man in the tombs was with a great medium. There was a legion of spirits around him. And when Jesus commanded the spirits to leave him, they begged to be allowed to go into the hogs. It was granted, and the result was that the whole herd of 3000 swine were developed as mediums! And the poor hogs, being enraged by the demons, or because they preferred death to mediumship, plunged into the lake and committed suicide! Rather sensible hogs those! Prof. C. The majority of the world do not believe in the God of the Bible. REPLY.—Very true. But the majority of the world are in heathenish darkness. They are uncivilized. How was it with infidel France when the devil and his faithful servant, Rousseau, inspired the people with madness against the Bible? Such a state of anarchy and corruption followed that even infidels themselves prayed for the restoration of the Bible! Prof. C. Not one first-class scientist credits the Bible account of creation. REPLY.—How does the Professor judge first-class scientists? Does he ignore such as Hitchcock, Haven, Lord Humphrey, Patterson, and a host of others? Assertions and denials without proof seem very cheap with the Professor! Prof. C. The God of the Bible is a whimsical God, has freaks, gets mad, and destroys the people. The God of nature never does so. REPLY.—The Creator has a right to destroy those who do not answer the end of their creation. He destroys in mercy to the creature. But has the gentleman never heard of the freaks of Dame Nature—how mad she gets in the earthquake and the whirlwind and the flood, the pestilence and the famine? Has he never read in history of the millions of innocent victims ruthlessly cut down by the God of nature? Will he now renounce his God as a tyrant and say with the fool, “There is no God”? O consistency, whither hast thou fled? REFLECTIONS.—That spiritualists are progressing no one could doubt after hearing Prof. Chaney’s blasphemous tirade against the Bible and its divine Author. The apostle Paul’s language, “waxing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived,” describes them exactly. There is no fear of God before their eyes, and they boast of their majorities both in and out of the churches. Their system is a negation of all that is pure and good. Of all the Bible, nothing is indorsed but Satan’s lie to Eve in the garden of Eden! The Bible never looked more precious than now. It shines brighter for this scourging, and all its friends here rejoice in the triumph of the word of God over all its foes. Truly, the Bible is more precious than gold. “Nay, were the skies one chrysolite,
This earth a golden ball,
And diamonds all the stars of night,
This book were worth them all.” San Jose, Cal., July 17, 1874.