Modern Spiritualism. THE SPIRITS CANNOT BE IDENTIFIED. (Continued.)
By Editor
IN the Spiritual Telegraph of July 11, 1857, the leading editorial is entitled, "On the Identification of Spirits." The following is the commencement of the article:— "The question is continually being asked, especially by novitiates in spiritual investigations, How shall we know that the spirits who communicate with us are really the ones whom they purport to be? and for want of a satisfactory answer many minds are thrown into perplexity, and even doubt as to whether the so-called spiritual manifestations are really such. In giving the results of our own experience and observation upon this subject, we would premise that spirits unquestionably can, and often do, personate other spirits, and that, too, often with such perfection as, for the time being, to defy every effort to detect the deception. Not only can they represent the leading personal characteristics of the spirits whom they purport to be, but they can relate such facts in the history of said spirits, as may be known to the inquirer, or to some one else with whom the communicating spirit is or has been en rapport. And this, in our opinion, is done so often as to very materially diminish the value of any specific tests that may be designedly instituted by the inquirer for the purpose of proving identity; and that if direct tests are demanded at all, we would recommend that they be asked for the purpose of proving that the manifesting influence is that of a spirit, rather than to prove what particular spirit is the agent of its production." So it appears that all their talk about "tests" and "test mediums" is entitled to no credit whatever. The "experience and observation" of the editor of the Telegraph entitles his testimony to as much credit as that of any Spiritualist in the country. According to his view, we can only assure ourselves "that the manifesting influence is that of a spirit," which we would not deny, but we cannot ascertain "what particular spirit" is communicating, as they "personate with such perfection as to defy every effort to detect the deception." This is all that we have ever claimed or could claim, in regard to this great system of falsehood. The following from the same article is equally expressive of their characters and actions:— "From much experience and observation, however, we are satisfied that if, after having received in all good faith, such messages directly from the spirit friend whom it purports to be, we proceed to inquiries about matters of theological faith or speculative philosophy, or even about such practical concerns of human life as may involve the ambition, conceits, or prejudices of other spirits than the one with whom up to that moment we have been talking, then other spirits who may be more nearly related to, or who may have more perfect control over, the mediums, will most probably assume instantly the name and position of our friend, pushing the latter aside, and will set forth his own theories, fancies, and probably falsities, using the name of our friend and all the confidence we may have gained in the latter's identity, by way of enforcing what he would have us believe. And we receive the communication perhaps with the utmost surprise that our friend, in passing into the spirit world, should have so soon changed his opinion on that particular subject!" What a confession is this! How completely are all their tests of identity and claims for reliability swept away! Mr. Tiffany has also given pointed evidence on this subject:— "When communications are received through public mediums, the probabilities are that the communicators belong to a very low plane of development, and that the communications cannot be relied upon, whatever may be the professions of the communicator. There is almost always an influence which belongs peculiarly to each medium—an influence which seems to be a presiding spirit, which that medium will usually recognize, answering to the name of 'Jim' or 'John.' It is generally the case that this spirit will be found on hand first, and is the one to do whatever is to be done, and he becomes the father, mother, brother, sister, or friend of everybody. . . The circumstances of a public circle are exceedingly unfavorable to getting communications from spirits of a high degree of refinement. The most that can be obtained under such conditions is some external evidence of spiritual existence. The point to which I wish to call your attention is the almost universal fact that mediums devoted to external manifestations, while under the influence of this presiding spirit, are under an influence to deceive, to cheat, which is almost irresistible. It does not matter particularly how good manifestations they get. I have seen this deceptive disposition manifested in mediums who could get very remarkable manifestations, such as the movement, in the open light, of a table with several men standing upon it."—Lect., pages 122-3. According to this high spiritualistic authority, all the mediums advertised to give public seances are deceivers and cheats, and subject to a deceptive influence; as the Scriptures say of this class, "Deceiving and being deceived;" and those who consult them are mere dupes. Mr. Tiffany has spoken our mind exactly. "Not one per cent of the manifestations have had a higher origin than the first and second spheres. These spheres being full of low, ignorant, deceptive, mischievous, selfish, egotistical spirits, fond of controlling media, they have, by reading the minds of mortals, and picking up old poetry, essays, and the floating notions of the times, with a few facts obtained from higher spheres, passed themselves off for our friends and relatives, and the great and good of all ages."—Spiritualism as it Is, page 16. "The fact is, good spirits do not appear one-tenth as often as imagined; the majority of spiritual appearances are but out-creations—subjective images of the seer objectified—else are psychological projections of other minds—images impressed upon the susceptible person's brain."—Dealings with the Dead, page 255. A. J. Davis, in "Present Age and Inner Life," says:— "A medium may obtain thoughts from a person sitting in the circle, or from a mind even in some distant portion of the globe, and still be wholly deceived as to the source of them. Because, so far as all the primary interior sensations and personal evidences are concerned, such impressions do appear and feel, to the receptive vessels of the medium, precisely identical with those which emanate from a mind beyond the dominion of the tomb." So, according to the great seer, all the phenomena of test-mediumship may be produced without any spirit influence at all! Jacob Harshman, a medium, writes:— "Under these influences, they become impatient with the spirits, who do our work by immutable laws. And under such a state of excitement, they respond to their own questions, by a law which they do not understand, and consequently mistake it for a spiritual operation."—Love and Wisdom, page 28. Judge Edmonds makes a statement bearing directly against the reliability of the communications. He says:— "Occasionally there are instances where it would seem as if the medium was giving the precise words of the spirit. But this is rare, because it involves a state of things in the medium, both physically and mentally, that is very difficult to attain, namely, an exclusion of the medium's self-hood—a suspension of his own will, and spirit control, that is very unnatural, very difficult, and very dangerous, and, therefore, necessarily very rare." The Judge saw that their discord and contradictions needed some apology, and this was his plea in their behalf. Being questioned in relation to the disagreement between himself and Dr. Hare, both under the instruction of the spirits, he answers as follows:— "Thus Dr. Hare has all his life long been an honest, sincere, but inveterate disbeliever in the Christian religion. Late in life, Spiritualism comes to him, and in a short time works in his mind the conviction of the existence of a God, and his own immortality. So far his spirit teachers have already gone with him. But he still denies Revelation. He is as sturdy and sincere now in that denial as he ever was. Will it be just to conclude, because his spirit teachers have not yet brought him up to that point, that, therefore, there is not and never has been a Revelation?"—Spir. Tract, No. 5, page 12. Such an evasion as the above goes very far toward destroying our confidence in the honesty and sincerity of Judge Edmonds. Yet we would not consider it worth while to notice it here did he not do Revelation the injustice to connect it with Spiritualism. That it is nothing better than an evasion is evident, for 1. He knew—he could not be ignorant of the fact—that thousands have been led to renounce Revelation under the influence of Spiritualism. 2. Spiritualists, including Judge Edmonds himself, deny a Revelation "of authority," without which the Bible is not only a nullity, but a falsehood, for it claims authority to the fullest extent. 3. He must have been aware of Dr. Weisse's statement that spirits and mediums do not contradict his views of the Bible (which coincide with those of Dr. Hare), that it is only a transcript of heathen fables. 4. He very well knew that A. J. Davis, who is the great apostle of Spiritualism, has ever been unsparing of his denunciations of the Bible. 5. He well knew that Dr. Hare not only continued to deny Revelation, but that his teachings were sanctioned and approved by the highest spirits! It is stated by Dr. H., in his preface to the fifth edition of his work, that his infidel strictures on the New Testament were indorsed by Christ himself! in the presence of Washington, Franklin, and others. If Judge Edmonds had not been a Judge—not acquainted with the laws of evidence—his statement might be considered more excusable. We have seen the claim put forth by a Spiritualist, in a boastful manner, that Dr. Hare has done more to destroy faith in the Bible than any other man of this age; yet his teachings come to us more strongly attested by spirits than those of any other Spiritualist. He received ministerial credentials (which he published), as a teacher of truth to the world; these credentials were given under the sanction of an assembly of spirits, and "obtained under test conditions." The assembly said that they accredited him as their minister to earth's inhabitants, and that he was battling fearlessly against error. In this assembly were "Geo. Washington, J. Q. Adams, Dr. Chalmers, Oberlin, W. E. Channing, and others." Can the Judge show any better indorsement than this? Again, Warren Chase was one of the very earliest advocates of Spiritualism. He has been most persistent and untiring in his efforts to advance its interests. Perhaps no one has delivered more lectures, or cast a wider influence in its favor, than he. An infidel at the beginning of his course, what has Spiritualism done to correct his infidelity? At this time he stands a most defiant infidel, or more nearly an atheist, everywhere indorsed as a faithful exponent of Spiritualism. And so of Ambler, Harshman, Hoar, Denton, Wadsworth, Hull, Carter, etc. In fact, we can scarcely find an exception. Without being able to identify a single spirit, they yet follow them blindly, willingly, into the lowest sinks of Pantheism. Recently a case has been reported in the Medium and Daybreak of England which is offered as evidence of identity, but is really a strong proof against their claims. It was the "materialization" of the spirit of a Mr. Thomas Ronalds, who revealed as follows:— "I have to inform you that my last life on earth was a reincarnation. In a former existence I was a Persian prince, and lived upon the earth some hundreds of years before Christ. In that life I was possessed of a quantity of beautiful and valuable jewels. Strange to say, you become aware of the existence of those jewels in this very city of London. They are diamonds of the purest water and brilliancy, and, moreover, they are charmed stones, and would therefore be inestimable value to their possessor. I wish you, my dear brother, to become the purchaser of those stones." Here is a revival of two heathen pagan notions: the transmigration of souls, and the possession of charmed objects to preserve from harm. We lately heard some of this class object to the Bible on the ground that it was merely a transcript of pagan dogmas. Yet they are ever ready to adopt the most absurd dogmas of paganism contrary to the teachings of the Bible. If they really believe that the Bible is of pagan origin, they are singularly inconsistent in rejecting it, for they take to pagan notions as a duck takes to water. But in this instance the doctrine was turned to practical account, as the following will show. It is an extract from the instruction of the spirit for the disposal of the ring in which were set the charmed jewels:— "This ring, my dear brother, I wish you to present to our medium, Arthur Colman, as a testimonial of my gratitude to him for his services in enabling me to materialize for you. . . It will be a talisman to protect him; it will increase his power as a medium; and with that ring he can never want a friend; indeed, he will bear a species of charmed life." The unbeliever may be so uncharitable as to suppose that the medium had something to do with the direction, but Spiritualists, who profess to be guided only by reason! cannot see it. The spirit gave very explicit directions as to where the stones might be found, and how obtained, and the brother was stimulated to activity in the matter by the information that another party was intending to purchase the ring the following day. This is a dodge often played by speculators in this world and we are led to suspect that the spirit which dictated the direction was not far removed from the plane of earthly interests. But the point on the question of identity is this: At a certain "seance" this spirit appeared in both forms at once, as a Persian prince and an English gentleman. Now as no individual can exist in two forms at the same time, it follows that one of these appearances was manufactured for the occasion if we even allow that the identical spirit was present. And if one was certainly got up for the occasion it is proof that both might have been produced in like manner. So, instead of being evidence of personal identity, it is destructive of their claims for tests of identity. We think, as A. J. Davis says, the parties were "psychologized to see them" in the form desired, and that Mr. Ronalds was not there either as English gentleman or Persian prince. It is all a work of deception by Satan, the prince of deceivers. Although Spiritualism does not furnish any test of identity, nor any means of detecting the tricks of mediums or the falsehoods of spirits, we feel assured that there is a test which will "detect the deception." It is "the law and the testimony" of God's word. "If they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them." We have shown that they do not speak according to this word, and that, even by their own admissions, there is neither light nor truth to be expected from them. Every test by which Spiritualists profess to be convinced of its truthfulness is proved fallacious by the evidence quoted from Partridge, Davis, and others; and we give not a tithe of the testimony that might be collated on this point. Professing to be led by "the most enlightened reason," they daily receive and credit what is most unreasonable. They would overthrow the word of God, and introduce as substitute the caprices and fancies of unknown evil spirits. They would dethrone God, "the Judge of all," and arrogate to themselves the prerogatives of his office. They would bring the Saviour from the Father's throne, where he sits a priest to intercede for man, and be their own redeemers—their own saviours. They destroy all distinctions of right and wrong. They cast off moral restraint in the name of freedom, and make no difference between liberty and licentiousness. EDITOR.