Science and Spiritualism.
THERE is one phase of the investigation of Spiritualism which does injustice to the truth and to science. Whenever a scientific scholar embraces Spiritualism, it is set down as a testimony from science in favor of Spiritualism. This is not correct. No one has ever pretended to prove Spiritualism by scientific tests, or on scientific grounds. The most that they can say is that they cannot discover any collusion nor trace it to its origin. They admit its claims because they cannot determine its origin. Now it is evident that this is not the voice of science in favor of Spiritualism. It is only a confession on their part that it does not fall within the range of scientific tests. Of course when it is removed from the field of scientific research it becomes to them a matter of conjecture as much as to the unlearned. Their testimony is entirely of a negative character. They admit its claims because they are not able to give any satisfactory solution of its mysteries. But this does not prove anything. It certainly does not prove that the claims of Spiritualism are correct; it shows only that they do not know anything about it. Whether the testimony of scientists is of any value at all depends altogether on the thoroughness of their investigations. But it must be remembered that their investigations are phenomenal, not scientific; and therefore their conclusions are worth no more than are those of the unlearned who observe the phenomena with equal carefulness. No one has a right to affirm that a proposition is true because he does not know that it is not true. When science and human reason fail, the Bible comes to our aid. The claims of Spiritualism are based on certain phenomena or facts of occurrence. These occurrences are, by careful observation, determined to be of unknown origin, that is, their origin is not from anything natural; they are supernatural. But that which is supernatural is beyond the bounds of science and mere reasoning. It must be established by testimony above nature. Having arrived at this evident conclusion, we must either admit the claims of Spiritualism on its own word, or take some other testimony which claims to be above nature. Such testimony we find in the Bible. It claims to be of divine origin; to establish its claims by the fulfillment of its prophecies, by the purity of its morality, by the harmony of its teachings, and by its vindication of divine justice even in dispensing mercy to the erring. In each of these points, Spiritualism entirely fails to establish its claim to our acceptance. The teachings of the Bible are elevating; those of Spiritualism are degrading. The Bible informs us that there were intelligences created before the creation of man; that they rejoiced in the creation of this world, and guarded the way of the tree of life after the fall of man; that some of them sinned, as man has sinned, and lost their "estate;" that, under the name of demons (devils), they carry on their deceptions, and their rebellions against God; and that they work miracles or "lying wonders" to turn men away from the truth. The mediums of Spiritualism and their works are described in the Bible, and identified beyond all question. Their doctrines are called the doctrines of devils. Spiritualists prove the Bible true by denouncing it, by denying the authority of God, by denying Jesus Christ and all means of salvation outside of man's own nature, by denying a future judgment and human accountability, by denying that any action is morally wrong, and by affirming that the purest state of society and the highest morality can only be found in the abrogation of marriage and the unrestrained passional attraction of the sexes! With these facts before us on every hand, why is it that men of education, of good reasoning ability, admit the claims of Spiritualism and entirely ignore the testimony of the Bible? This question may be readily answered by any one who has observed the tendency of the schools of these degenerate times. The disposition has some time been growing among men to accept science as the highest possible source of knowledge, and to rule out the testimony of the Bible as of no real value. Indeed, they have been placed in opposition to each other, and that even by professed teachers of the Bible, and the testimony of science has been decided positive and determinate, and that of the Bible speculative and uncertain. The Bible has thus been caused to lose its hold upon the popular mind and heart. And when science is found to be at fault, when it fails to measure the supernatural, men are left without a compass, at the mercy of the winds of speculation. Having lost their reverence for the Bible, they have thrown off restraint; and now, when their dependence fails, they would rather float even into the vortex of a whirlpool than to return to the teachings of the Bible, which restrains their selfishness and requires humility. The apostle Paul speaks of "the oppositions of science falsely so called," and says they are "vain babblings." Much that is called science in this age will fall under this head. We often hear men flippantly talk of what "science proves" when not a single well-attested fact exists to support their assertions. Many are but reproducing what the apostle so graphically describes in Rom. 1: "Professing themselves to be wise they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man," &c. "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator."