Spiritualism in Europe: Peebles' Woodland Lecture
By M. E. Cornell
While at Woodland, last fall, the Hon. J. M. Peebles came and appointed to speak in a hall. Our meetings of course drew the people so that he had but few hearers. Out of respect to the man, as one of the ablest and most candid of spiritual speakers and writers, and because he had resided in Battle Creek for years, and meeting as we did in this far-off land, and for old acquaintance' sake, we gave him a cordial invitation to give his last lecture in the tent. He accepted, and we took notes. He gave some very interesting accounts of the progress of spiritualism in Europe. He said there were in London no less than six journals entirely devoted to spiritism. In Paris, there were two journals, and not less than fifty thousand earnest believers, the great Jules Favre being among the number. There were four papers in Spain, and one each in Hungary and Russia, devoted to the subject. The Emperor Alexander was also a devout believer. He was delighted with the seances he attended in Naples, where he learned that the poet Longfellow was not only a spiritualist, but a constant visitor at the circles during his stay in that city. Mr. Peebles said he called upon Hiram Powers, the great sculptor, who is a devout spiritualist. When in London, he was introduced to many scientific men, and several members of the aristocracy, who were supporters of the doctrine. Mr. Peebles said there were hundreds of thousands of secret believers, not known to the public, and many of them were men in high authority in the governments of earth. Mr. Peebles, after holding up to ridicule the orthodox idea, as he once believed, of an “undefinable nothing, going off at death,” and an “immaterial God without body or parts,” turned square about, and, to our utter astonishment, uttered the following:— “God is not a body. He is not a located being, but a universal, all-pervading principle. He cannot be an organization of substance.” Spiritualists are always talking about the inconsistencies and contradictions of Bible believers, while they themselves exhibit the very climax of confusion. We will now give some of Mr. Peebles' positions, with our replies: Peebles. The body is only the house in which the real man lives. The eyes are windows; the hair is the shingles on the roof; the head is the upper story of the house! Reply. The Scriptures always treat the physical organism as the real man, whether it be dead or alive. “God formed man of the dust of the ground.” “The first man is of the earth, earthy.” “Behold there was a dead man carried out.” But if Mr. Peebles is sure that the body is a house, and that it has an “upper story,” it must also have a lower story or basement, and he ought to know in which story the real man lives. He neglected to tell us all about it, from his stand-point. Probably he went as far with it as he could see any adaptation, and thought best to keep silent about the remainder. Peebles. The only evidence the world has ever had of a future life, has been the return of spirits. Reply. We have positive evidence of future life by the resurrection of the body. Moses appeared on the mount of transfiguration with Christ and Elijah, who had not died. If Christ and Elijah were there bodily, Moses must have been there bodily, hence he must have been raised from the dead. Christ was raised from the dead and appeared to over five hundred witnesses at one time. And he took extra pains to show his followers that he was not a spirit. Said he, “Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.” Now if he were not raised from the dead literally and bodily, then he was the greatest impostor the world ever saw. How, then, could he be a good man, as spiritualists generally admit that he was? Peebles. All force is spirit force. Nothing can move without spirit. Every living creature has a spirit as well as man. Reply. Then dogs, cats, lizards, frogs, snakes, and snails, have spirits as well as men, and every living, moving thing will be in the spirit land, for they all have spirits. The only difference, according to Mr. Peebles, would be, that in the future state the spirits are disembodied, and float about with no house or home! Peebles. The Bible does not speak of angels as a distinct race from mankind. There never was an angel except he was first a man with a human body in this world. Reply. Friend Peebles seems to greatly err, not understanding the Scriptures; for nothing is more clearly set forth in the Scriptures, than the distinction between angels and men. In Hebrews, chapter 2, we have plainly stated, 1. That man was made “a little lower than the angels.” 2. That, when Christ took man's nature, he “was made a little lower than the angels,” and 3. That, when he took our nature, “he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” Again, we find a distinction made between the “innumerable company of angels,” and “the spirits of just men made perfect.” So we always find it true that those who oppose the Bible do not understand it. Peebles. There is no devil. The idea of a war in Heaven is ridiculous. But if spiritualism is of the devil, and he makes the blind see, and the lame walk, &c., he must be a blessed good devil! [Applause from the spiritualists.] Reply. Is it any more improbable that there should arise a rebellion and war in Heaven, than on this planet? It seems to me that the idea of a successful war in Heaven to purify it, and clear out the rebels, is not half so absurd as the low, foolish description of the spiritualistic Heaven, given by Judge J. W. Edmonds, where he says he saw a dog with a split stick on his tail, yelling with pain, and a man kicking the spirit boy who inflicted such pain upon the spirit dog's spirit tail! It is no proof that Satan is a “blessed good devil,” because he sometimes does that which in itself is good. Does not Mr. Peebles know that there is such a thing as doing good that evil may come? Has he not read the account of the man who, for months showed every kindness to a family, until he had gained their confidence, and then at the midnight hour murdered every one of them, and left, with their money? Peebles. If you would talk with the spirits, you must be pure and Christ-like. Reply. In this, we have another proof that talk is cheap stuff. Mr. P. knows that the most abandoned often get first-class communications. King Saul, after he became base and rebellious, and God had left him, succeeded admirably with the spirits. Those who have rebelled against God and Christ and the Bible, are the very ones to be taken into communion with the army of Satan. Peebles. There is no comfort or satisfaction in faith. We must have knowledge. And that is what your Bible says, “Add to faith, knowledge.” Reply. The gentleman has left out an important round in the ladder. It reads, “Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue, knowledge.” But he has quoted it to suit their condition, for they “depart from the faith,” leave out the virtue, and go to the dead for knowledge! Peebles. But they make out that man has no more soul than a dog! Have, then, Theodore Parker and his spaniel dog gone to the same place? Reply. Why not, Mr. Peebles? If dogs and men all have the same spirit, as you have just been claiming, where is the inconsistency? And that dog of Parker's may have been the very one that Judge Edmonds saw the boy tormenting in the spirit land! In all this, we have proof enough of the blindness and confusion of those who talk about the contradictions of the Bible, and go by the spirits. But from such confusion may the Lord ever deliver us. The whole system, even as set forth by such men as Mr. Peebles, and their leading authors, is more and more disgusting to me. And here I am reminded of the prophecy of the spirits, that in less than two years I would be a spiritualist. The two years are now past, and, God be praised, I stand in his strength, and abhor spiritualism more than ever. I still believe that, “in all matters of wisdom,” the word of the Lord is ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers of the whole world. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments.” And let all the people say, Amen!