The Outlook by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · May 13, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 19.

The Outlook

By Editor

“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look forth to see what He will speak with me.”

GROWING SPIRITUALISM.

How rapidly Modern Spiritualism is building up as an organization we do not know, but we do know that its principles and doctrines are making rapid headway among religious classes, who would repudiate the name “Spiritualists.” However, there are those who come out openly, as, for instance, the popular Dr. R. Heber Newton. In a sermon February 21, on “The Truths of Spiritualism,” he is quoted by the New York Journal as saying:—

“‘Whatever may be the truth of Spiritualism,’ he said, ‘there are certain truths which are coming to the world through Spiritualism. It is a fact concerning modern Spiritualism that through it the conviction of the life to come is taking a new hold of man’s mind and heart. Orthodoxy has never denied Spiritualism; it has constantly asserted it.

“‘Spiritualism has restored to millions of men a vital faith in Christianity. Instead of impugning the sources of this renewed faith, let orthodoxy make more real to those who abide within its folds this ancient, fundamental and vital faith of men.’

“The clergyman next related the experience of a friend whose faith in Spiritualism had assured him that his dead wife existed in a new life.

“‘Spiritualism,’ he went on, ‘is a truth which is embodied in the records of the very beginning of our Christian religion—in those gracious stories which embalm the memory of the sacred experiences of the disciples through which they came to believe that their Master was alive, and that He had manifested himself to them. To-day we find ourselves in the singular position of theoretically believing in the possibility of intercommunication between those who live in the flesh and those who live out of the flesh, and yet utterly skeptical towards every experience which is an expression of this belief.’”

But Spiritualism, instead of restoring “to millions of men a vital faith in Christianity,” is turning men from Christianity; for two of the vital truths of Christianity are life only in Jesus Christ, and the necessity of a resurrection in the last day. Spiritualism makes void in the mind of him who receives it both of these grand truths. It opens the way for the revival of demon worship, and all the ancient falsehoods of paganism, not perhaps in the gross forms of ancient times, but modified by modern and advanced ideas. Spiritualism may be called Christianity or an aid to Christianity, but to those who read and love God’s Word it is seen and known to be a direct feeder of infidelity.