MODERN SPIRITUALISM.
When, in a country where for at least twelve centuries the Christian
Religion has been accepted, and by which that country has received unknown
blessings both temporal and spiritual, schools of thought arise, in which
Historical Christianity is not simply patronized, but put out of court,
the phenomenon is both portentous and noteworthy. That this is so at the
present time in England with many, need scarcely be pointed out. The
scepticism which has deluged the Continent, coming upon a people whose
religious convictions had been so seriously disturbed by the Reformation,
and whose conceptions of objective political truth had been so ruthlessly
disorganized by the events of the Commonwealth and the Revolution of 1688,
has found the ground well prepared for a scattering of the seeds of doubt.
Abroad they were sown some generations ago, and brought forth deadly
fruit. The French Revolution and its horrors followed as a matter of
course. Events before our eyes tell in very plain language that our own
turn has at last come.[41] The day of trial is now upon us. True, the
vulgarity of the eighteenth-century unbelievers is not at present so
manifestly apparent; though it exists amongst certain active leaders of
the lower classes with whom scepticism is popular. But the tone and temper
of public opinion, the bold utterances of serials and newspapers, the
public political policy now in vogue and popular, the too general
understanding that Christianity is to be as far as possible ignored in
legislation--all indicate the steady and rapid progress of sceptical
liberalism.
The Broad Church party in the established communion has done much, and
will no doubt do much more, to eliminate the Supernatural from the minds
of its admirers and of the people of England. Disliking dogma, its
teaching, when the fog which surrounds it allows that teaching to be
partly comprehended, is of the earth earthy. It dovetails in with the low
material views and carnal desires of the money-grubbing many. Its ideal of
bliss, not always wrapped up in philosophical jargon (and therefore
sometimes intelligible), is simply commercial prosperity and temporal
wealth; eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, comfort,
material pleasure and ease; the conquest of Nature by scientific research
and progress; an enjoyment of the present and only the present; and a
complete banishment of the old-world theology--useful, it may have been,
in times gone by, when the World was being educated; but now to be thrown
aside as lumber, worn out and valueless. In place of that Historical
Christianity accepted since the days of S. Augustine of Canterbury, we are
promised doubt, disbelief, a refined as well as an unrefined intellectual
Paganism; and in the end--though such an end may not now be contemplated
by all members of that ecclesiastical school--a positive rejection of the
distinct nature of God.
At present, of course, the figure is decently draped. Its ugly proportions
and hateful outline are not apparent. Its admirers have to accommodate
themselves with some skill to the strong prejudices of the age; to
tolerate systems which they contemn, to carry out the silent but certain
operation of destruction, under the hypocritical desire of assisting
mankind to complete the work of temporal progress.
All this is before us and around us, if we would but note it. And this
being so, the state of thought and of society, as few can fail to observe,
is eminently calculated to afford those who disbelieve in the
Supernatural, good opportunities of advance in the direction of negations.
On the other hand, the presence amongst us of a sect of persons who call
themselves "Spiritualists," and whose notorious words and works may be
noted and criticized, is full of moment and importance. Spiritualism, when
first it appeared and took shape, was treated with contempt. The facts
urged by its supporters were denied; the manifestations almost universally
disbelieved in. It was declared to be the work of acute knaves, or the
offspring of idle and imaginative dreamers. Public writers treated it with
scornful contempt. Reports of its strange proceedings and extraordinary
developments were knowingly and deliberately suppressed. It was hastily
hustled off the public stage, refused a hearing, and denied a defence.
This policy, however convenient to its promoters, has failed. Sneers have
not killed it. Its ideas and theories have been recently reduced to a
formal system, while its votaries have increased to an extent scarcely
credited. Christians and non-Christians, Roman Catholics,
Church-of-England people and Protestants, have ranged themselves under
its banner, and accept and propagate its views. To some the existence of
spurious coin proves the value of the true; and the portents of these
latter times are surely full of warning and value.
At all periods, it should be observed, certain classes of leaders of men's
thoughts have succeeded in banishing the Supernatural from the field of
human action. For example, Thucydides, representing the World exclusively
in its natural aspect, did this. He had neither ear nor eye for the
marvellous. In recent times, from the period of Locke to the beginning of
the present century, a similar course was adopted by a very influential
school of writers, remarkable for their careful dismissal of the
miraculous, both from ken and consideration. To such, the World was a
machine, wound up once for all by its Author, and needing no further
application of that power which appeared to have spent itself, so to
speak, in the act of creation. Like S. Peter's "scoffers," "walking after
their own lusts," they practically declared, "since the fathers fell
asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of
creation."[42]
But, of course, such a state of thought could only be transitory. The
universal convictions of man's conscience, and the most earnest desires of
his heart, produced a reversion of opinion. The very dogmatic
philosophers soon found themselves at sea. Reason and Imagination were
starved, while the Understanding was profoundly flattered. This has so
turned out, not once, nor twice, but continually. Scepticism has followed
Superstition, and Superstition Scepticism. Wherever the Catholic Religion,
having once been had, has been deliberately cast out and denied, there, as
in Scotland at the present day, Superstition is more than ordinarily
widespread and rampant. The Gnosticism and Manichæism of the early
Christian era have reproduced themselves in later times; while Materialism
has lived side by side with that Superstition which, on the surface, it
seemed so necessary for the same Materialism to deny.
The following faithful account of the rise of the modern system of
Spiritualism is borrowed from a contemporary record:--
"In December, 1847, a respectable farmer and his family, named Fox,
settled in a house at Hydesville, a hamlet near Newark, in the State of
New York. They were troubled from the first with noises, which in January,
1848, assumed the definite character of knockings, like that of a hammer.
Two children, since so famous as the Misses Fox, felt something heavy,
like a dog, lie on their feet when in bed, and one of them felt as if a
cold hand were passed over her face. The knockings went on increasing in
violence, and at length it was observed, on some occasion when Farmer Fox
tried the windows to see if they could be caused by the wind, that the
knockings exactly answered the rattle accidentally made by the moving
sash. This suggested the idea of inviting the noises, or rather the beings
who caused them, to reply by rapping, on repetition of the letters of the
alphabet, to questions put to them. This was first tried at a place called
Rochester, with which the family were connected, whence the term
'Rochester knockings' came into use. The experiment succeeded perfectly,
and this was the origin of 'spirit-rapping,' which has since grown into a
regular system. The neighbours being called in, the affair soon thickened
and developed into a 'movement.' The rappings revealed a murder which had
taken place in the house when in other hands. Public meetings were called,
committees of ladies formed to examine the children, and prevent the
possibility of deception. Similar phenomena began to show themselves in
various parts of the country, and under yet more extraordinary conditions.
Raps were heard on all sorts of objects--ceilings, tables, chairs, &c.,
and it was discovered that certain persons were better fitted than others
to communicate with the spirits, to whom these noises were now attributed.
Such persons were called _mediums_, a name with which the World is now
sufficiently familiar, and when they were present, tables and chairs would
move about and rise from the ground. Many other astonishing things became
common, as drawing and music, executed under this strange influence, by
persons who knew nothing of these arts."
As to its principles and policy, no better nor fairer exposition of them
can be had than from the various publications which are so largely and
generally circulated. From a pamphlet written with some system[43] by Mr.
T. Grant of Maidstone, the following extracts, explanatory of the now
formulated principles of Modern Spiritualism, are made:--
"TABLE OF MEDIA.
_Outward._
1. Vibratory Medium.
2. Motive Medium.
3. Gesticulating Medium.
4. Tipping Medium.
5. Pantomimic Medium.
6. Impersonating Medium.
_Inward._
7. Pulsatory Medium.
8. Manipulating Medium.
9. Neurological Medium.
10. Sympathetic Medium.
11. Clairlative Medium.
12. Homo-motor Medium.
_Onward._
13. Symbolic Medium.
14. Psychologic Medium.
15. Psychometric Medium.
16. Pictorial Medium.
17. Duodynamic Medium.
18. Developing Medium.
_Upward._
19. Therapeutic Medium.
20. Missionary Medium.
21. Telegraphic Medium.
22. Speaking Medium.
23. Clairvoyant Medium.
24. Impressional Medium.
"The _Outward_ stratum includes all kinds of mediumship in which spirits
act only on the physical organism, first using simply the electrical or
magnetic emanations from the medium and others in the room to produce
movements of objects, or concussions called rappings, and to control
matter in various ways; and secondly, using portions or the whole of the
medium's body by direct action of spirits upon the bodily organs, the
medium's spirit being more or less passive, and not taking part in the
performance....
"_Vibratory Mediumship._ I have often met with instances in my experience,
and multitudes of persons are sometimes attacked together, with variations
in accordance with individual character. The physical excitement and
convulsive phenomena often witnessed at revival meetings are chiefly of
this kind....
"The _Motive Medium_ comes next in order; he furnishes the magnetic power
by which spirits are enabled to move tables and other material objects....
"The third class is _Gesticulating Mediumship_, which appears to be a
development of the vibratory. It is exhibited by the sect of 'Shakers' of
the present day in the initiatory stage of their development, and was a
form of mediumship common amongst the prophets of the Cevennes, the
votaries of S. Vitus, and in most religious excitements.
"_Tipping Mediumship_ follows next, and this again is a step in advance
from the _Motive_ mediumship, the movements of tables and other objects
being so regulated by the intelligence of spirits as to produce
telegraphic communications....
"_Pantomimic media_ belong to the fifth class; they are made, by the
controlling or guardian spirit, to put themselves in various postures, so
as to represent any peculiarity belonging to spirit-friends who are
standing by, wishing to make their presence known and to communicate.
Lecturers on electro-biology produce, to some extent, the same effects.
"The last in this stratum is the _Impersonating Mediumship_, which is a
development from the Pantomimic. In this case the communicating spirit
enters and takes full possession of the medium's body, whilst his own
spirit stands aside."
The writer then passes on to consider what he terms the "Inward stratum,"
thus:--
"First we have _Pulsatory Mediumship_, in which the medium receives
communications from spirits and answers to mental questions by means of
pulsations, like tiny raps, on different parts of the body, or by sounds
heard only by himself. These manifestations, although very convincing to
the medium himself, afford but little satisfaction to anybody else.
"_Manipulating Mediumship_, which follows, is in fact Curative Mesmerism,
in which, however, the will of the mesmeriser is strengthened and guided
by spirits. Dr. Newton, of America, who visited Maidstone in 1870 and made
several interesting and permanent cures, is a most remarkable and
successful medium of this class, many of his cures having, indeed, all the
appearance of miracles.
"In the next form of mediumship, the _Neurological_, the spirit impresses
thoughts upon the brain, and the medium puts them into words; thus the
communications partake of the peculiarities of the medium, and if the
medium is impressed to write, he does so in his own handwriting and mode
of diction and spelling.
"Next comes _Sympathetic Mediumship_, which is an extension of the
Neurologic, but in which the spirits enter more intimately into sympathy
with the medium. Both of these last are transitional forms of mediumship,
and not very reliable until carefully developed.
"In _Clairlative Mediumship_, which succeeds in order, scenes of the past
are clearly reproduced, or original scenes pictured to the mind, as in
dreams and visions.[44]
"The last of this Inward group is called the _Homo-motor_ medium, one who
is in perfect sympathy and under the complete control of one individual
spirit only, who, in fact, appears to live a second life on earth in union
with him."
And then he defines and discusses the "Onward stratum":--
"We begin with _Symbolic Mediumship_, in which the interior vision is
opened by spiritual aid, and the medium sees in a vision the almost exact
pre-figurations of things which will occur at some future time, or which
do in reality now exist, either in germ or in full or partial development.
"The second in this group, _Psychologic Mediumship_, is a very important
form. A medium of this class is one who is in a condition to be impressed
by a sympathetic spirit with any set of ideas which he desires to
represent. It is sometimes done in a pictorial form, when the medium
clearly sees and describes scenes which appear to the vision, such as the
appearance and movements of an army, a landscape, a congregation in a
cathedral, and so forth....
"The _Psychometric Medium_ has the power of feeling and correctly
describing the characteristics of persons with whose spheres he or she is
brought into sympathy or contact. The power is generally exercised by
placing to the forehead, the perceptive region of the brain, anything
which has been intimately connected with the person, as a piece of his
hair, his handwriting, or a well-worn article of dress. Some will thus
read a sealed letter or the mottoes enclosed in nuts....
"_Pictorial Mediumship_ differs from the Symbolic chiefly in the
circumstance that the things seen and described by the medium do not in
reality exist as material facts, but are only representations, prefiguring
or bodying-forth a spiritual or psychical truth....
"The next is the _Duodynamic Medium_, a word signifying two powers, he
being capable of exhibiting two or more forms of mediumship at the same
time. These compound media, maturely developed, are said to be
comparatively rare.
"The last in this Onward stratum is the _Developing Medium_, through whom
spirits can very usefully assist in developing the mediumistic faculty in
others. They have the power of harmonising the influences which affect
them, and of rendering media passive to the action of the spirits who are
seeking the control of their organisms."
As regards the "Upward stratum," the following definitions are given:--
"The _Therapeutic Medium_ is one who effects the cure of many diseases
through the sympathetic power of seeing and describing minutely the
disorganized parts of the body, and directing the necessary treatment;
sometimes the manipulating mediumship is added, when the medium not only
sees the source of mischief, but also makes curative mesmeric passes at
the same time.
"Next, we have the _Missionary Medium_, who is irresistibly compelled to
go, without knowing why or whither, wherever the spirit guides him. Under
this controlling influence, media have been made to travel nearly all over
the civilized world, generally without purse or scrip, or any personal
knowledge of the places; the spirits raising up friends and helpers at
every step as they are required." Writing of a Missionary Medium known to
himself, Mr. Grant adds the following:--"I am acquainted with a medium of
this class in Maidstone, who is too weak in body to walk far in his
ordinary state, yet, under this influence, he is often made to walk long
distances without feeling fatigue, at the most unreasonable hours of day
or night, and he has several times been instantaneously transported from
one place to another, miles apart."
"Speaking mediumship," writes the author quoted, "is a most useful and
instructive faculty.... In most cases speakers have to be entranced, that
is, their spirits have to be removed from the body for a time, in order to
give the acting spirit full control; but when this has to be done the
medium is but little advanced from the personating mediumship, which is
one of the successive stages which a fully-developed speaking medium
generally passes through. Many of our most celebrated and effective
preachers and speakers have been, or are, really speaking media, under the
guidance of spirits, without its being suspected or understood even by
themselves. This is, indeed, 'inspiration.'
"The _Clairvoyant Medium_ follows next in order, and is in advance of the
telegraphic, because he is able to see the scenes that are actually
transpiring at the time in another place, no matter how far distant.
"The _Impressional Medium_ is generally one who has advanced through the
neurologic, sympathetic, clairlative, and psychologic phases, and thus
become so easily and thoroughly impressible by his guardian spirit that
the medium appears to live a double life, the conditions and circumstances
of both states of existence finding a ready expression through his
organism at all times without his being entranced, the spiritual
existence becoming as much as the physical his normal state." pp. 7-18.
The acts and deeds of Mr. Daniel Home, a Scotchman, and of the Davenport
brothers, Americans, who figure very prominently as mediums in the
authentic records of the spiritualists, are tolerably well known by report
to many. From America, where the signs were first noticed, they came
eastwards to England and the European continent, in which places the
spiritual manifestations were even more remarkable than those which had
occurred and been testified to in the West. Under the direction of a
medium, people sat round a table, and by a silent invocation of spirits,
by "willing"[45] that they should come, they came, and produced the
following amongst other equally strange phenomena.[46] Large tables rose
to the ceiling, floating in the atmosphere with a sort of undulating
motion, and coming down again to the floor without noise; sprigs of
flowers were torn off and presented to people by the spirit; accordions
and other musical instruments were played without any visible hand holding
or moving them; luminous stars and streaks of light appeared in various
places, while "spirit hands" were seen and felt as palpably as mortal
flesh and blood could be; answers to questions made, were given by a
system of raps or by spelling out words on a child's alphabet placed on
the floor. Thus conversations, sometimes sensible, but frequently trivial
and absurd,[47] were held with the spirits summoned. Spirit hands, using
material pens, ink and paper, wrote answers to queries; quoted verses
from known authors, or put down original poems. In some cases the
narratives published were anonymous, and only authenticated by witnesses
who privately testified to the newspaper-editors their accuracy. But in
some instances persons of repute and ability came forward in support of
their correctness.[48] Dr. Gully of Malvern, for example, publicly
testified that he had seen Mr. Home float about a room for several
minutes, and guaranteed the accuracy of the facts set forth in a most
remarkable fashion in an early number of the "Cornhill Magazine." A
well-known clergyman of the High Church party in the Church of England,
gives his testimony to the truth and strangeness of certain appearances
and manifestations, in the following communication to the Editor of this
volume:--
"I was staying in the north of England with the Rev. ----, in 1850. During
my visit a well-known medium (at that period a clergyman of the diocese of
London) spent the evening with us. Eight or ten other people were there at
the same time. 'Table-turning' was the subject of a long and animated
discussion, in which those who accepted the facts and those who rejected
them were about equally divided. There was nothing to be done, therefore,
but to test the question. This was determined on. A circular table about
four feet in diameter, of considerable size and weight, was used. Seven
people sat round it, joining their hands on the table, and after
conjointly _willing_ that it should turn itself in one direction or be
turned, for about twelve minutes, it began to vibrate strangely and then
slowly to move. At first its motion was in circles, then it moved from
side to side of the room with dash and rapidity. Afterwards it was
strangely tilted on the other side. On one occasion later on, it rose
several inches from the ground, and remained suspended in the air for
nearly two minutes. As to the facts, no one could dispute them. Afterwards
a variety of questions were put, to which the table replied by knocking on
the floor. It was agreed beforehand that one knock should stand for 'No',
two for 'Yes.' An alphabet was produced, and words in response were
spelled out. Some of the queries were trivial, some arithmetical, some
momentous. The answers were usually accurate, sensible, and intelligible,
but not always so. After questions had been put concerning the future
state, heaven, hell, purgatory, the happiness of the good and the
punishment of the wicked, a question was asked, 'Where did the spirit now
answering dwell when on earth?' The name of a place in Devonshire was
spelled out. This reply greatly interested a clergyman present, who some
fifteen years previously had been curate in that county. It was followed
by another:--'What was the name of the person whose spirit is here?' Then
the table spelt out, by means of the alphabet, the name of a yeoman who
had died impenitent and blaspheming at the period before referred to. This
was sufficient for me," writes the above correspondent; "what I had heard
and seen convinced me that necromancy was practised. I left the house,
protecting myself by the sacred sign, convinced of the sin of the
practice. And though I had been a spectator and not an actor, I made a
resolution, which I have scrupulously kept, never to see nor sanction such
proceedings again."
Another somewhat similar example is here recorded. A clergyman of the
Church of England, intimately known to the Editor of this volume, supplies
the following remarkable narrative regarding the action and authors of
Spiritualistic manifestations:--"Being a perfect and total sceptic as to
the supernatural character of so-called 'Spiritualism,' and believing that
the results asserted to be produced by its votaries were brought about by
pre-arranged trickery and the deception of confederates, I for a long time
declined to be present at, or to take part in, a _séance_, though
earnestly pressed to do so. However, circumstances led me to attend one in
the year 1862, at a house in Notting Hill Square, London, in the month of
October. Prior to the operations, which were managed and conducted by a
'medium,' I was invited to examine both the room where the _séance_ was to
be held, and the table by which the operations were to be conducted.
Conversations, held by a well-known spiritualist, were to be carried on,
(by means of an alphabet, raps and knockings,) with the spirits who were
presumed to be present, and who were declared to have miraculously moved
the table round which, for some time, seven persons, including myself, had
been sitting. The room was about ten feet in height, and in the centre was
a gas chandelier of three lights, all of which were burning. During the
sitting, after the table had made several most remarkable gyrations,
tilting one side of itself upwards and downwards at an angle of at least
forty-five degrees, at the command of the chief operator it slowly
ascended from the floor to the height of at least seven feet, viz. the
bottom of the pendent gaselier. Its plane having caused the lamp glasses
to rattle by contact, the table then with a strange throbbing and
vibration and slow movement began to descend. We had all removed our
chairs, to give room for its ascent, and standing close to the walls
around, saw it slowly come down to its place. I was so shocked and
horrified at what I beheld, and now so firmly convinced that the
remarkable actions we had witnessed were the result of the invocation and
intervention of evil spirits, that I declined, in language most positive
and unmistakable, to have any further part in such unlawful performances.
When further attempts were made to obtain fresh manifestations, taking
from my neck a small silver crucifix, which had been blessed by a high
ecclesiastical dignitary, I made a mental act of faith in the Blessed
Trinity, and holding the small crucifix in my closed hand, placed my hand
clasping it on the table, saying mentally, 'If this be the work of evil
spirits, may God Almighty, for Christ's sake, stop it!' The moment I did
this, the table, which had been moving about strangely in several
directions, and by varied singular motions, became suddenly and at once
motionless. Nor could it be made to stir afterwards. Being perfectly
convinced that such operations were of the nature of Necromancy, forbidden
by the Church, as Scripture plainly testifies, I made an earnest
exhortation to those in the room, after the last manifestation, not to
cooperate in such deeds any further. Some maintained by rather blasphemous
arguments that Spiritualism was destined to, and would soon, take the
place of Christianity; and were kind enough to pity my ignorance,
narrowness, prejudice, and sectarianism, to which I made no reply. I then
left."
From another source (a well-known country gentleman in one of the midland
counties) has been obtained a series of questions and answers which were
put, given, and taken down in the year 1856, at a gathering at which the
practice of table-turning and spirit invocation was tested by those whose
conviction, in the main, regarding them, as the Editor is informed, agrees
with that of the correspondents already quoted. Similar strange phenomena
occurred on this occasion likewise:--
"Are you a Spirit who inhabited this earth? Yes.
How long have you been dead? No reply.
Have you been dead years? No.
Months? No.
Weeks? No.
Days? Yes.
How many? Five days.
Do you mean five days? Yes.
Did you live in this neighbourhood? Yes.
Did you know any at this table? Yes.
Will you point them out? Yes. (It then crossed the room three times
violently and stopped before three persons.)
Will you spell your name? Yes. R---- J----[49] (the way he always
spelt it).
Are you happy? No answer.
Can we do you any good? No.
Was the Baptist religion true? No.
Will you spell the true religion? Yes--Saients.
Is there a middle state of souls? Yes.
Will the end of the World be soon? Yes.
Will it be the end of the World or the end of wickedness? The end of
wickedness? Yes.
Will the World be destroyed by water? No.
By fire? No.
Will it be partly destroyed by fire? Yes.
Shall any of us see the Last Day? Yes.
In how many years? Twenty-five years.
Will the Last Judgment be then? No.
Will that be the Millennium? Yes.
Will Enoch and Elijah come again? Yes.
Will the Jews be restored? Yes.
Will Russia conquer England? Yes.
Will it be in the reign of Queen Victoria? No.
In the reign of her successor? Yes."
The testimony of Mr. Crookes, the discoverer of a new metal, and a Fellow
of the Royal Society, may here be suitably recorded. Unlike some other
so-called "scientific investigators," he is reported to have resolved upon
a careful and thorough examination of the spiritualistic phenomena. He is
said to have maintained originally that, even if the alleged facts were
true, he might be able to explain them by some natural law. Accordingly he
thoughtfully pursued his inquiries and investigations over a series of
years, taking unusual care to render deception out of the question and
impossible. The result has been given to the public in the "Quarterly
Journal of Science" for January, 1874,[50] from which the following
quotations are made:--
"The phenomena I am prepared to attest are so extraordinary and so
directly oppose the most firmly-rooted articles of scientific
belief--amongst others, the ubiquity and invariable action of the law of
gravitation--that, even now, on recalling the details of what I witnessed,
there is an antagonism in my mind between _reason_, which pronounces it to
be scientifically impossible, and the consciousness that my senses, both
of touch and sight--and these corroborated, as they were, by the senses of
all who were present--are not lying witnesses when they testify against my
preconceptions. But the supposition that there is a sort of mania or
delusion which suddenly attacks a whole roomful of intelligent persons who
are quite sane elsewhere, and that they all concur to the minutest
particulars in the details of the occurrences of which they suppose
themselves to be witnesses, seems to my mind more incredible than even the
facts they attest" (pp. 77-78).
Under the heading of "The Phenomena of Percussive and other Allied
Sounds," he makes reference to the raps and knocks of various kinds made
and heard in different places, "in a living tree, on a sheet of glass, on
a stretched iron wire, on a stretched membrane, a tambourine, on the roof
of a cab, and on the floor of a theatre," and where no known law, and no
contrivance or trickery, could afford any clue to their cause. He then
inquires whether the sounds thus heard are the result of some blind,
irrational, hidden material force obeying the Laws of Nature. His
conclusion, however, was that the varied phenomena being evidently
governed by intelligence, a thinking being must have been concerned in
their origination. "The intelligence," he maintains, "is sometimes of such
a character as to lead to the belief that it does not emanate from any
person present." The movement of heavy substances at a distance from the
medium is then discussed, and Mr. Crookes thus writes:--
"On three successive evenings a small table moved slowly across the room,
under conditions which I had specially pre-arranged, so as to answer any
objections which might be raised to the evidence" (p. 84).
Again:--"On five separate occasions a heavy dining-table rose between a
few inches and one and a half feet off the floor, under special
circumstances which rendered trickery impossible. On another occasion a
heavy table rose from the floor in full light, while I was holding the
medium's hands and feet. On another occasion the table rose from the
floor, not only when no person was touching it, but under conditions that
I had pre-arranged, so as to assure unquestionable proof of the fact" (p.
85).
Once more:--
"On one occasion I witnessed a chair, with a lady sitting on it, rise
several inches from the ground. On another occasion, to avoid the
suspicion of this being in some way performed by herself, the lady knelt
on the chair in such manner that its four feet were visible to us. It then
rose about three inches, remained suspended for about ten seconds, and
then slowly descended. At another time two children, on separate
occasions, rose from the floor with their chairs, in full daylight, under
(to me) most satisfactory conditions; for I was kneeling and keeping close
watch upon the feet of the chair, and observing that no one might touch
them" (p. 85).
Respecting another class of phenomena, said to be common enough with
Modern Spiritualists, which appeal to the sense of sight, under the head
of "Luminous Appearances," Mr. Crookes thus writes:--
"Under the strictest test conditions I have seen a solid self-luminous
body, the size and nearly the shape of a turkey's egg, float noiselessly
about the room, at one time higher than anyone present could reach
standing on tip-toe, and then gently descend to the floor. It was visible
for more than ten minutes, and before it faded away it struck the table
three times, with a sound like that of a hard, solid body. During this
time the medium was lying back, apparently insensible, in an easy-chair.
"I have seen luminous points of light darting about and settling on the
heads of different persons; I have had questions answered by the flashing
of a bright light a desired number of times in front of my face. I have
seen sparks of light rising from the table to the ceiling, and again
falling upon the table, striking it with an audible sound. I have had an
alphabetical communication given by luminous flashes occurring before me
in the air, whilst my hand was moving about amongst them. I have seen a
luminous cloud floating upwards to a picture. Under the strictest test
conditions, I have more than once had a solid, self-luminous crystalline
body placed in my hand by a hand which did not belong to any person in the
room. In the light, I have seen a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope
on a side-table, break a sprig off, and carry the sprig to a lady; and on
some occasions I have seen a similar luminous cloud visibly condense to
the form of a hand, and carry small objects about" (p. 87).
Two pages later on the following occurs:--
"I was sitting next to the medium, Miss Fox, the only other persons
present being my wife and a lady relative, and I was holding the medium's
two hands in one of mine, whilst her feet were resting on my feet. Paper
was on the table before us, and my disengaged hand was holding a pencil.
A luminous hand came down from the upper part of the room, and after
hovering near me for a few seconds, took the pencil from my hand, rapidly
wrote on a sheet of paper, threw the pencil down, and then rose up over
our heads, gradually fading into darkness" (p. 89).
And then Mr. Crookes testifies that not only spirit-hands, but spectres or
spirit-persons in their entirety, were seen:--
"In the dusk of the evening, during a _séance_ with Mr. Home at my house,
the curtains of a window about eight feet from Mr. Home were seen to move.
A dark, shadowy, semi-transparent form like that of a man was then seen by
all present standing near the window, waving the curtain with his hand. As
we looked, the form faded away and the curtain ceased to move. The
following is a still more striking instance. As in the former case, Mr.
Home was the medium. A phantom form came from a corner of the room, took
an accordion in its hand, and then glided about the room playing the
instrument. The form was visible to all present for many minutes, Mr. Home
also being seen at the same time. Coming rather close to a lady who was
sitting apart from the rest of the company, she gave a slight cry, upon
which it vanished" (p. 90).
In conclusion Mr. Crookes sets forth five current theories with regard to
these and similar phenomena; one of which theories is clearly expressed
in the following sentence. These supernatural manifestations, he asserts,
some maintain to be "the actions of Evil Spirits or Devils, personifying
who or what they please, in order to undermine Christianity and to ruin
men's souls" (p. 96). Such a definition, it may be added, is in perfect
accordance with ordinary experience, the testimony of Scripture, the
action and teaching of the living Church, as well as a fulfilment of
express and definite prophecies regarding "the latter days."
MODERN SPIRITUALISM.
CONTINUED.
"Superstition, in its grossest form, is the worship of Evil
Spirits."--_John Henry Newman._
"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except
there come a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be revealed, the Son
of Perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped.... Whose coming is after the working of Satan,
with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of
the Truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them
a strong delusion that they should believe a lie."--_2 Thess. ii. 3-11._
"The greatest intellectual triumph that can be achieved by the Devil is
gained when men are prepared to believe that he is not."--_Sermons_, _Rev.
T. T. Lee_ (A.D. 1796).