The Blasphemy of Spiritualism.
W. Chaney, spiritualist, in a discussion with the editor of the World’s Crisis, at San Jose, Cal., Jan. 29, 1874, prayed to the devil at the opening of the last evening’s debate. The following is a copy of the prayer, according to the Crisis of March 11, 1874. It is designed evidently as a burlesque on prayer, and shows the terrible depth of blasphemy to which spiritualism has descended. “O Lucifer, bearer of Light! O Beelzebub, Lord of Scorpions! O Belial, Lord of the Opposite! O Baal Peor, Lord of the Opening! O Hades, God of Orcus! O Devil, Prince of Demons in the Christian Hell! O thou Monarch of the Bottomless Pit! Thou King of Scorpions having stings in their tails, to whom it is given to hurt the earth for five months, I beseech thee to hear my prayer. Thou seest the terrible strait in which I am placed, matched in debate with one of the big guns of Christianity, with every advantage against me save that I have truth on my side. Thou knowest, Old Bull’s Head, that, according to all history, thy reign has been most glorious and triumphant. Thou knowest, Old Cloven Foot, that by thy wondrous power thou hast, in all time, possessed the hearts of Christians with a mad fury, so that they have slaughtered more than seventy millions of men, women, and children, since the dawn of the present era. Remember, O Prince of Brimstone, that when thou stretchest forth thine arm, the Christian’s God cannot stand before thee for a moment. Therefore we beseech thee to stand by us on this occasion. Bless thy servant in his labors before thee. Fill his mouth with words of wisdom. Enable him to defend thee from the false charges about to be made against thy Sulphurous Majesty, and to triumph by truth and logic over his opponent, so that this audience may realize that thou art a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering Devil. Finally, when he has done and suffered thy will on this earth, receive him graciously into thy warm dominions, assign him plenty of brimstone, turn him often with thy fork, and roast him eternally. And thine shall be the kingdom, the power, and the glory, worlds without end. Serenely thine, ‘THE OLD PROFESSOR.’”