SPIRITUALISM by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 23, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 37.

SPIRITUALISM.

By Editor

SPIRITUALISM is a subject upon which many remarkable things are said, but just now we do not recall anything more surprising than some things said in a recent sermon by Rev. Dr. Easton, a San Francisco pastor. As reported in the Morning Call, the doctor said:—

"I stand opposed to modern Spiritualism. I oppose it because it is anti-Christian. Its teachings are in direct opposition to the Bible in rejecting the atonement and Christian faith. . . . It is sensual, unphilosophical, and illogical. I oppose Spiritualism because it is opposed to civil justice. If spirits can come back to earth and speak to us, why do they not expose and denounce the murderers that are undetected and unpunished?"

We have no particular fault to find with these reasons for opposing Spiritualism. Some of them are certainly good. The first one, namely because it is anti-Christian, is all-sufficient for us, and includes all the others except the last. It is frivolous, and might prove to be a two-edged sword, cutting both ways; for instance, the infidel might say, If there be a God, why does he not expose undetected criminals? etc. When the doctor tells just why, some Spiritualist may give an equally good reason why the spirits do not do it.

But the remarkable part of Mr. Easton's discourse, is what he said about ministering spirits. How he reconciles it with his denial of the return of spirits, we leave him to explain. He said:—

"What we call death we have reason to believe makes no change in the soul. Plato in the spirit world has not forgotten his Greece, Napoleon has not forgotten his France, Washington has not forgotten his America. Millions of fathers and mothers remember the world where they wedded and lived happily together. Myriads of little children remember the places where they played when on earth. Man is the helper of man in this world, and it is the same in the spirit world. It is reasonable to believe that in the spirit world the soul increases its power and usefulness. Authentic manifestations of soul power are many. We are often sensible of impending evil. Warnings come in dreams. Death-bed experiences in which the parting soul has been gladdened with divine music—in which the eye has looked upon friendly faces that had long been lost to the earth—point to the existence of a border land, whose inhabitants seem to make themselves known in great crises or in great need. It is customary to think of the spirit world as very far away, yet it may be very near us. It may be all around us, and its inhabitants may have means to reach us of which we are ignorant."

If this be true, what right has the doctor to deny the claims of Spiritualists? And what becomes of his last objection to Spiritualism? Placed side by side, Mr. Easton's utterances simply show the utter inconsistency of rejecting Spiritualism, and at the same time admitting the doctrine on which it is built, namely, the natural immortality of the soul, and its consciousness in death.

The Bible plainly declares that "the dead know not anything," and that they have no part in anything that is done under the sun (Eccl. 9:5, 6). Again of the dead man, Job says: "His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:21. Those who accept the testimony of the Scriptures can consistently oppose Spiritualism; all others who assay so to do are like men fighting fire with dry flax—they only feed the flames.

C. P. B.