Spiritualism: Mrs. Chamberlain's Speaking Medium Visit
By M. E. Cornell
Mrs. Chamberlain, a speaking medium came to Woodland and attracted some attention, but most of her positions were similar to those of Dr. Morril. The spirit operating professed to be that of some celebrated doctor, and there was considerable ability in the use of medical terms, and philosophy. Whenever the spirit referred to our position, it did so with much energy, and at times was very spiteful! Spirit. The spirit said, If you ask us to prove the immortality of the soul by the Bible, we cannot, the Adventist would gain the advantage. A well-instructed Adventist will tell you more of the phenomena than we dare tell. Why? Because they have such a grand way of accounting for it. All they have to do is to cry, “Demons, demons, forever.” Reply. The spirit seems to be very much troubled because we have “such a grand way of accounting for the phenomena.” It is grand, indeed! Taking the Bible, does give us a glorious “advantage,” and even the spirits seem to appreciate it. The Bible explains it all, and exposes the deception, and this is why the spirits are so universally opposed to it. If they could only get the Bible out of the way there would be fair sailing for them. Spirit. The man who says it is the devil, is bigoted. If God made all and called them good, where does the devil come from? You see there is no room for a devil. Reply. That same Bible explains how it was that the angels fell. They were created good, and were perfect in their way, until iniquity was found in them. They were free agents, but kept not their first estate, and abode not in the truth. There was no evil or sin until it was found in Satan. He first introduced it by his rebellion. Spirit. In a former lecture we said that we rather liked his Satanic Majesty, and some persons took fright and left the hall. Reply. They might have left the hall because they were disgusted. Spiritualists often speak in favor of Satan, but who ever knew one to speak in praise of the God of the Bible? Evidently, it is because like those who crucified Christ, “ye are of your father the devil, and his works ye will do.” This spirit, speaking through Mrs. Chamberlain, is, no doubt, one of Satan’s angels, and of course he rather likes his master. Spirit. The Bible is inferior to the Koran in many respects. Reply. The spirits seem to like the Koran best. Just what we would expect of Satan, for he is the author of the Mohammedan religion. Hence, we often hear those under spirit influence speak in favor of the Koran, but never, in favor of the Bible. Spirit. But there is no use talking to an Adventist, for they are out of our reach. Reply. Why not? Because they cannot blind the eyes of one who really goes by the Bible. In that book, we are advertised of the deceptions of Satan, and we learn the fact that all these wonders, professing to be by the spirits of the dead, are in fact the work of fallen angels under Satan. Spirit. What about the spirits that came to the Wesley family? They did act like the devil, sure enough! Were the Wesleys bad people? Reply. No doubt that was the devil’s troop assailing a good man. But the Wesleys believed they were the spirits of devils, and so declared at the time. They also thought they acted like the devil, and were prepared to resist them. What a pity that many people now do not act with as much wisdom. Spirit. Do the Adventists suppose they can find the soul—that subtle, gaseous substance that pervades all nature? It always existed. Man is a sponge, and absorbs the memorizing power of the lower animals. Life in the animal is tantamount to life in man. Reply. We have no trouble in finding the soul which the Bible speaks of, but that immaterial, “gaseous substance,” which pervades all nature, which exists as much in the aroma of the flowers as anywhere else, we are free to admit we cannot find. According to this spirit doctor, then, the soul is the memorizing power of the lower animals! So it may be that the “memorizing power” of a hog or a polecat may have become the immortal soul of some noted spiritualist lecturer. Spirit. There is one thing I have thought much of, and I will throw it out here for your consideration. It is this: Bee comb is not made by the bees, but is a natural growth the same as a plant. Reply. Then thousands of persons who have watched the making of the comb by those natural mechanics, through the glass hives, have all been mistaken! They supposed they saw the busy bees actually building up, day by day, and skilfully forming the cells all after the same pattern. But now it turns out that these latter-day wiseacres, who believe that their souls are composed of the memorizing power of some lower animal, have discovered that it is all a mistake. Bees don’t form the comb for the honey, it grows of itself! Oh! spirit doctor, what lower animal could have furnished brains for such a sublime idea? The spirit of some animal has at last found a human organism that is sufficiently developed to be a medium of such wonderful intelligence! That spirit must be highly gratified at the progress of human development! Spirit. Mind or spirit is of far greater power and knowledge in the spirit world. Reply. If we take the bee-comb discovery as a specimen, we must say they have a queer way of manifesting superior knowledge. But we regard it as a downright slander to attribute such sentiments to any human spirit, nay, we were about to say that an intelligent dog would know better. We would rather conclude it was the talk of some third-class demon, simply prating for his own amusement, or to see what fools he could make of humanity. The celebrated Dr. Spirit Demon, may even now be amusing himself over the idea that some will believe any absurdity that comes from invisible spirits. Spirit. The immortality of the soul can easily be proved by science, independent of the Bible and everything else. Reply. Spiritualists have generally claimed that the principal object of the mission of spiritualism was to convince the world of the immortality of the soul. That as it was not taught in the Bible, there was no way to establish the doctrine but by the return of the spirits of the dead. But now it can easily be proved by science. We heard the spirit’s arguments from science, and certainly we have read better arguments from science in old works written before the advent of spiritualism. So, then, it turns out that there was no need of spirits returning, for the object could have been accomplished by science, and that was in the world all the time.