THE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM.
By James White
They destroy all distinctions of right and wrong. "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" God requires us to perfect holiness in his sight, and to purify our souls in obeying the truth; but if there is no choice of action, or no difference worthy of notice between the principles of truth and error, right and wrong, how shall we assure our hearts before God? The teachings of Spiritualism are truly destroying the foundations, by denying the distinctions of right and wrong, and affirming that no evil consequence can result from any course of action. The correspondent of the Telegraph, already noticed, who elevated "the Healing of the Nations" so far above the Bible, further says of it: "According to its teaching, no place is found in the universe for Divine wrath and vengeance. All are alike and for ever, the object of God's love, pity and tender care—the difference between the two extremes of human character on earth being as a mere atom when compared with perfect wisdom." This is not merely the sentiment of the correspondent of the paper; he characterizes truly the teachings of the book, which is a standard work of Spiritualism. That there is a wider difference between God and the very best of the human race, than there is between the two extremes of the human race, we do not deny; for God is infinite in every perfection, while man is imperfect at best. But to argue from hence that God disregards the distinctions of character, or will not vindicate his laws and punish the guilty, is but shallow reasoning, to say the best of it. Abraham passed a different judgment on the ways of God, and doubtless his perceptions of truth and justice in this matter were as acute as those of the spiritual authorities. He said, "That the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Gen. xviii, 25. Instead of giving us an exalted view of the holiness of the Supreme Being, these spiritual teachings really place him below our estimate of a good, worthy man. We do not conclude that a man, because he is wise and good, will overlook and disregard all difference of action and character in his children or in his fellow men. He who is the lowest and most debased will least regard these distinctions. Can we respect the man who places the same estimate upon the thief that he does upon the honest man, or regards the murderer in the same light that he does the innocent and inoffensive? We cannot. Such declarations deny, not the Bible only, but every principle in reason or revelation on which the stability of the Divine government depends. The same sentiment is taught by A. J. Davis, in a lecture on the "Philosophy of Reform," from which the following is an extract: "Reformers need to understand that WAR is as natural to one stage of human development as PEACE is natural to another. My brother has the spirit of revenge. Shall I call him a demon? Is not his spirit natural to his condition? War is not evil or repulsive, except to a man of peace. Who made the warrior? Who made the non-resistant? Polygamy is as natural to one stage of development, as oranges are natural to the South. Shall I grow indignant, and because I am a monogamist, condemn my kinsman of yore? Who made them? Who made me? We both came up under the confluence of social and political circumstances; and we both represent our conditions and our teachers. The doctrine of blame and praise is natural only to an unphilosophical condition of mind. The spirit of complaint—of attributing 'evil' to this and that plane of society—is not natural; but is natural only to undeveloped minds. It is a profanation—a sort of atheism—of which I would not be guilty. And all our religions, all our schemes of reformation, operating on this superficial plane, need the very elements which are necessary to reform." Revenge, war, polygamy, and every violation of the principles of morality or the Law of God, may not be blamed. In the same lecture he says, "It will be found impossible for man to transgress a law of God." Thus according to nature, "the true and only Bible," it is impossible to do wrong! To call war, polygamy, &c. evil, is "a sort of atheism!" It is unnecessary further to pursue this point. Any further "progress" in this direction seems almost impossible: they may go further in practice than they have yet gone, but the theory of lawlessness is fully developed. They deny the resurrection of the dead. It is generally assumed that the real man does not die, and that which returns to earth never rises. A denial of the resurrection is a consequence of holding their views of the state of the dead. And we find that all those, whether Spiritualists or not, who teach the immortality of the soul and the consciousness of man in death, in a measure deny the resurrection, general judgment, &c.; for if the righteous enter into "fullness of joy" at death, a resurrection would be of little consequence; and if the wicked sink to the pains of hell when they die, a future judgment would succeed their punishment, and of course be no more than a farce. This view reduces the glorious promises of the coming of Christ, the establishment of his kingdom, and the resurrection of the dead to mere cyphers, possessing no real value in the plan of redemption. Some have endeavored to avoid this charge, by denying only a general resurrection, and construing the scriptures which speak of the resurrection so as to mean the rising of the spirit body, which, they affirm, is developed, and rises as Christ arose, on the third day after death. But this theory is contradicted by the facts or phenomena of Spiritualism, according to the following correspondence of the Telegraph. It is dated, Watertown, N. Y., July 18, 1857, and relates to the death of the daughter of the writer. "In a short time she left us but not for ever. No, in a few short hours she came, attended by a friend. Mrs. Mayo, the medium, was controlled to come to our residence at this time. She is a healing and speaking medium, and through her the spirit of Oliver Wilcox spoke to us and said our daughter was with him, and that he would aid her in arranging her own funeral. He did so. We don't mourn as those without hope; for she yet lives and communicates with us." This is a complete contrast with the hope of the Christian, as may be seen by reading 1 Thess. iv, 13-18. We trust that the testimony presented fully sustains our position in regard to the character of the spirits. By the perfect rule, the word of God, it is shown that what they teach could not be characterized better than it is by the Apostle—"doctrines of devils." In regard to their power and disposition to deceive, we have one more class of evidence to present, viz., the admission of Spiritualists. According to their own statements the testimony of the spirits cannot be relied on. In a discussion of the subject last Summer with one who claimed to have been the first Spiritualist in the State of Michigan, (Mr. Hobert of St. Joseph county,) he made the following remarks: "The spirit sometimes assumes the name of an individual belonging to the same church to induce them to hear; this is necessary with some who are so bigoted they would not believe unless a name was assumed which they respected." This was an admission that we did not suppose any intelligent Spiritualist would make; and any such assumption would avail nothing if the person spoken to believed what the Bible says, that "the dead know not anything." Eccl. ix, 5. That they often do deceive those who seek to them, is beyond all doubt; and to ward off the force of this fact, the flimsy covering of doing evil that good may come, is thrown over them. They are good, but it is our weakness and bigotry that causes them to profess to be what they are not! They are obliged to deceive us for our benefit, and lie us into the truth!66 The following appeared in the Spiritual Age last July. The points of interrogation, and remarks in brackets show that the editor considers it a deception; but we know not why these appearances and communications are not as reliable as those given in the Age to prove the truth of Spiritualism. "Alleged return of the angels. Mr. Van Deusen of this city, desires us to say that the Angels that were wont to appear to the Patriarchs have appeared to himself and wife at his house; and that they have communicated 'most important intelligence from the seventh sphere.'(?) Mr. S. insists that the divine messengers have come to him under circumstances which render it impossible that he should be mistaken, [we think a mistake is possible,] that they have revealed certain important and fundamental principles (?) of a new social order to be established on the earth, and wherein the conjugal law will be rightly understood, and the relations of the sexes properly adjusted. Mr. Van Deusen and his wife desire us to say, that they are anxious to communicate to all lovers of truth what they know of this important subject, for which they will charge nothing. [That's a popular feature.] Any well disposed person who may wish such information as they can give, is at liberty to call at 164 Taylor St., where no tests need be expected." The following remark from Dr. Hare shows that he also believes there is danger of being deceived by them: 'There was a difficulty, undoubtedly, in knowing precisely how it is, even upon the testimony of spirits, because spirits there occupying different spheres and immensely differing in their degree of development, accordingly give discrepant accounts of the matter. We must first identify the spirit and determine his trustworthiness before we could accredit the testimony. We must observe the same rules of evidence, apply the same tests, and have the same care in ascertaining their identity and veracity we do in like matters here.' But Spiritualists do not observe the same rules nor apply the same tests, neither is it possible for them to do so, though they sometimes profess to. Dr. Hare seems to consider himself safe from deception, as will appear by the following remark: 'I thought it impossible that he could have been deceived. It was not likely that any spirit would, in such a convocation, where Washington, Franklin, his father, and mother, and others were present, assume a false character and name to deceive him, any more than it was possible for any individual to assume to be and speak as some one else, at a town meeting, without being detected.' But Dr. Hare assumes that 'Washington, Franklin, his father, and mother, and others were present,' for he has not the same means of determining the identity of persons that he would have in a town meeting. We have attended many town meetings in years gone by, but we never yet knew any man to speak in such meetings in the name of his neighbor. But such things often take place in the 'circles,' if we can credit the testimony of Spiritualists. In the Spiritual Telegraph of July 11, 1857, the leading editorial is '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 enquirer for the purpose of proving identity: and 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 not to be depended upon. 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 testimony 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, to prove the fulfillment of the prophecy; they are seducing spirits. 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, and who may have more perfect control over, the medium, 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!' All questions of 'theological faith,' 'speculative philosophy,' or even of 'such practical concerns of human life as may involve the ambition, conceits, or prejudices,' of some wicked spirit, will cause such ambitious, conceited and prejudiced spirit to push the other aside, take his name and send his falsities and forgeries abroad to be devoured as 'divine revelations.' We need not carry our investigation of this point any further. We feel assured that there is a test which will 'detect the deception.' It is 'the Law and 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 by their own admissions too, there is neither light nor truth to be expected from them. Probably ninety-nine one hundredths of all the tests of faith upon which Spiritualists profess to be convinced of its truthfulness, would be proved fallacious by the above observation of the Telegraph. 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 a substitute the caprices and fancies of some unknown evil spirit. They would dethrone God as 'the Judge of all,' and arrogate to themselves the prerogatives of that office. They would bring the Saviour from his Father's throne, where he sits a Priest to intercede for man, and be their own redeemers—their own saviours. They destroy the distinctions of right and wrong. They cast off moral restraint in the name of freedom, and make no difference between licentiousness and liberty. The word of the Lord is fulfilled. We are in perilous times; iniquity abounds; the power of godliness is seldom seen; men are even now in perplexity; the nations are angry and becoming distressed. Soon will the judgments of God be manifest, and destruction sweep as a whirlwind over the earth, swallowing up the ungodly in everlasting ruin. How good is the Lord to mark out our path and set up waymarks so plain that we need not be mistaken! One of the plainest of these is the work of Satan now manifested in Spiritualism. May the Lord set home the truth to our hearts, that we may truly 'discern the signs of the times.'
J. H. W.
(To be Continued.)