MODERN SPIRITUALISM
A SUBJECT OF PROPHECY
AND A
SIGN OF THE TIMES.
BY URIAH SMITH
THE REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING CO.
1896.
CONTENTS
Preface.
Chapter One. Opening Thought.
A Manifestation of Power.
A Manifestation of Intelligence.
The Progress of Spiritualism.
Chapter Two. What is the Agency in Question?
Credentials of the Bible.
An Impossibility.
The Soul Not Immortal.
Chapter Three. The Dead Unconscious.
Chapter Four. They Are Evil Angels.
Warnings Against Evil Spirits.
Chapter Five. What The Spirits Teach.
They Deny All Distinction Between Right And Wrong.
Dangers Of Mediumship.
Miscellaneous Teaching.
Spirits Cannot Be Identified.
Chapter Six. Its Promises: How Fulfilled.
Chapter Seven. Spiritualism A Subject Of Prophecy.
Conclusion.
Index Of Authors Referred To.
Index Of Books, Papers, Etc., Quoted.
Index Of Texts Of Scripture Illustrated Or Explained.
Footnotes
PREFACE.
For nearly fifty years Spiritualism has been before the world. This surely
is time enough to enable it to show its character by its fruits. “By their
fruits ye shall know them,” is a rule that admits of no exceptions. If
evil fruits appear, the tree is corrupt.
Spiritualism has made unbounded promises of good. It has claimed to be the
long-promised second coming of Christ; the opening of a new era among
mankind; the rosy portal of a golden age, when all men should be reformed,
evil disappear, and the renovation of society cause the hearts of men to
leap for joy, and the earth to blossom as the rose.
Has it fulfilled all, or any, of these promises? If not, is it not a
deception? and if a deception, considering its wide-spread influence, and
the number of its adherents, is it not one of the most gigantic and
appalling deceptions that has ever fallen upon Christendom? The Bible in
the plainest terms, declares that in the last days malign influences will
be let loose upon the world; false pretensions will be urged upon the
minds of men; and deceptions, backed up by preternatural signs and
wonders, will develop to such a degree of strength, that, if it were
possible, they would deceive the very elect. Is it possible that
Spiritualism may be the very development of evil, against which this
warning is directed?
To investigate these questions, and to show by unimpeachable testimony,
what Spiritualism is, and the place it holds among the psychological
movements of the present day, is the object of these pages. Not a few
books have been written against Spiritualism; but most of them endeavor to
account for it on the ground of human jugglery and imposture, or on
natural principles, the discovery of a new and heretofore occult force in
nature, etc., from which great things may be expected in the future. But
rarely has any one discussed it from the standpoint of prophecy, and the
testimony of the Scriptures, the only point of view, as we believe, from
which its true origin, nature, and tendency, can be ascertained.
Many features in the work of Spiritualism would seem to indicate that the
source from which it springs is far from good; but it is based upon a
church dogma, firmly established through all Christendom, which in many
minds is of sufficient weight to overbalance considerations that would
otherwise be considered ample grounds for shunning or renouncing it. It is
therefore the more necessary that the reader, in examining this question,
should let the bonds that have heretofore bound him to preconceived
opinions, sit loose upon him, and that he should put himself in the mood
of Dr. Channing when he said: “I must choose to receive the truth, no
matter how it bears upon myself, and must follow it no matter where it
leads, from what party it severs me, or to what party it allies.” And he
should remember also, as the eminent and pious Dr. Vinet once sagaciously
observed, that “even now, after eighteen centuries of Christianity, we are
very probably involved in some enormous error, of which Christianity will,
in some future time, make us ashamed.”
In view, therefore, of the importance of this question, and the tremendous
issues that hang on the decisions we may make in these perilous times, we
feel justified even in _adjuring_ the reader to canvass this subject with
an inflexible determination to learn the truth, and then to follow it
wherever it may lead.
U. S.
_Battle Creek, Mich., 1897._
Chapter One.
OPENING THOUGHT.
What think ye? Whence is it—from heaven or of men? Such was the nature of
the question addressed by our Saviour to the men of his time, concerning
the baptism of John. It is the crucial question by which to test every
system that comes to us in the garb of religion: Is it from heaven or of
men? And if a true answer to the question can be found, it must determine
our attitude toward it; for if it is from heaven, it challenges at once
our acceptance and profound regard, but if it is of men, sooner or later,
in this world or in the world to come, it will be destroyed with all its
followers; for our Saviour has declared that every plant which our
heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up. Matt. 15:13.
To those who do not believe in any “heavenly Father,” nor in “Christ the
Saviour,” nor in any “revealed word of God,” we would say that these
points will be assumed in this work rather than directly argued, though
many incidental proofs will appear, to which we trust our friends will be
pleased to give some consideration. But we address ourselves particularly
to those who still have faith in God the Father of all; in his divine Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, through whose blood we have redemption; in the
Bible as the inspired revelation of God’s will; and in the Holy Spirit as
the enlightener of the mind, and the sanctifier of the soul. To all those
to whom this position is common ground, the Bible will be the standard of
authority, and the court of last appeal, in the study upon which we now
enter.
A Manifestation of Power.
Spiritualism cannot be disposed of with a sneer. A toss of the head and a
cry of “humbug,” will not suffice to meet its claims and the testimony of
careful, conservative men who have studied thoroughly into the genuineness
of its manifestations, and have sought for the secret of its power, and
have become satisfied as to the one, and been wholly baffled as to the
other. That there have been abundant instances of attempted fraud,
deception, jugglery, and imposition, is not to be denied. But this does
not by any means set aside the fact that there have been manifestations of
more than human power, the evidence for which has never been impeached.
The detection of a few sham mediums, who are trying to impose upon the
credulity of the public, for money, may satisfy the careless and
unthinking, that the whole affair is a humbug. Such will dismiss the
matter from their minds, and depart, easier subjects to be captured by the
movement when some manifestation appears for which they can find no
explanation. But the more thoughtful and careful observers well know that
the exposure of these mountebanks does not account for the numberless
manifestations of power, and the steady current of phenomena, utterly
inexplicable on any human hypothesis, which have attended the movement
from the beginning.
The Philadelphia _North American_, of July 31, 1885, published a
communication from Thomas R. Hazard, in which he says:—
“But Spiritualism, whatever may be thought of it, must be
recognized as a fact. It is one of the characteristic intellectual
or emotional phenomena of the times, and as such, it is deserving
of a more serious examination than it has yet received. There are
those who say it is all humbug, and that everything outside of the
ordinary course which takes place at the so-called séances, is the
direct result of fraudulent and deliberative imposture; in short,
that every Spiritualist must be either a fool or a knave. The
serious objection to this hypothesis is that the explanation is
almost as difficult of belief as the occurrences which it
explains. There must certainly be some Spiritualists who are both
honest and intelligent; and if the manifestations at the séances
were altogether and invariably fraudulent, surely the whole thing
must have collapsed long before this; and the Seybert Commission,
which finds it necessary to extend its investigations over an
indefinite period, which will certainly not be less than a year,
would have been able to sweep the delusion away in short order.”
The phenomena are so well known, that it is unnecessary to recount them
here. Among them may be mentioned such achievements as these: Various
articles have been transported from place to place, without human hands,
but by the agency of so-called spirits only; beautiful music has been
produced independently of human agency, with and without the aid of
visible instruments; many well-attested cases of healing have been
presented; persons have been carried through the air by the spirits in the
presence of many witnesses; tables have been suspended in the air with
several persons upon them; purported spirits have presented themselves in
bodily form and talked with an audible voice; and all this not once or
twice merely, but times without number, as may be gathered from the
records of Spiritualism, all through its history.
A few particular instances, as samples, it may be allowable to notice: Not
many years since, Joseph Cook made his memorable tour around the world. In
Europe he met the famous German philosopher, Professor Zöllner. Mr.
Zöllner had been carefully investigating the phenomena of Spiritualism,
and assured Mr. Cook of the following occurrences as facts, under his own
observation: Knots had been found tied in the middle of cords, by some
invisible agency, while both ends were made securely fast, so that they
could not be tampered with; messages were written between doubly and
trebly sealed slates; coin had passed through a table in a manner to
illustrate the suspension of the laws of impenetrability of matter; straps
of leather were knotted under his own hand; the impression of two feet was
given on sooted paper pasted inside of two sealed slates; whole and
uninjured wooden rings were placed around the standard of a card table,
over either end of which they could by no possibility be slipped; and
finally the table itself, a heavy beechen structure, wholly disappeared,
and then fell from the top of the room where Professor Zöllner and his
friends were sitting.
In further confirmation of the fact that real spiritualistic
manifestations are no sleight-of-hand performances, we cite the case of
Harry Kellar, a professional performer, as given in “Nineteenth Century
Miracles,” p. 213. The séance was held with the medium, Eglinton, in
Calcutta, India, Jan. 25, 1882. He says:—
“It is needless to say that I went as a skeptic; but I must own
that I have come away utterly unable to explain by any natural
means the phenomena that I witnessed on Tuesday evening.”
He then describes the particulars of the séance. An intelligence,
purporting to be the spirit of one Geary, gave a communication. Mr. Kellar
did not recognize the name nor recall the man. The message was repeated,
with the added circumstances of the time and particulars of a previous
meeting, when Mr. Kellar recalled the events, and, much to his surprise,
the whole matter came clearly to his recollection. He then adds:—
“I still remain a skeptic as regards Spiritualism, but I repeat my
inability to explain or account for what must have been an
intelligent force which produced the writing on the slate, which,
if my senses are to be relied on, was in no way the result of
trickery or sleight-of-hand.”
Another instance from “Home Circle,” p. 25, is that of Mr. Bellachini,
also a professional conjuror, of Berlin, Germany. His interview was with
the celebrated medium, Mr. Slade. From his testimony we quote the
following:—
“I have not, in the smallest degree, found anything to be produced
by prestidigitative manifestations or mechanical apparatus; and
any explanation of the experiments which took place under the
circumstances and conditions then obtaining, by any reference to
prestidigitation, is _absolutely impossible_. I declare, moreover,
the published opinions of laymen as to the ‘How’ of this subject,
to be premature, and according to my views and experience, false
and one-sided.”—_Dated, Berlin, Dec. 6, 1877._
When professional conjurors bear such testimony as this, while it does not
prove Spiritualism to be what it claims to be, it does disprove the humbug
theory.
In addition to this, it appears that two propositions, one of $2000, and
the other of $5000, have been offered to the one who claimed to be able to
duplicate all the manifestations of Spiritualism, to duplicate two
well-authenticated tests; but the challenge has never been accepted, nor
the reward claimed. See _Religio-Philosophical Journal_, of Jan. 15, 1881,
and January, 1883.
A writer in the _Spiritual Clarion_, in an article on “The Millennium of
Spiritualism,” bears the following testimony in regard to the power and
strength of the movement:—
“This revelation has been with a power, a might, that if divested
of its almost universal benevolence, had been a terror to the very
soul; the hair of the very bravest had stood on end, and his
chilled blood had crept back upon his heart, at the sights and
sounds of its inexplicable phenomena. It comes with foretokening
and warning. It has been, from the very first, its own best
prophet, and step by step, it has foretold the progress it would
make. It comes, too, most triumphant. No faith before it ever took
such a victorious stand in its very infancy. It has swept like a
hurricane of fire through the land, compelling faith from the
baffled scoffer, and the most determined doubter.”
Dr. W. F. Barrett, Professor of Experimental Physics in the Royal College
of Dublin, says:—
“It is well known to those who have made the phenomena of
Spiritualism the subject of prolonged and careful inquiry, in the
spirit of exact and unimpassioned scientific research, that
beneath a repellent mass of imposture and delusion there remain
certain inexplicable and startling facts which science can neither
explain away nor deny.”—_“__Automatic, or Spirit, Writing,__”__ p.
11 (1896)._
In the _Arena_ of November, 1892, p. 688, Mr. M. J. Savage, the noted
Unitarian minister of Boston, says:—
“Next comes what are ordinarily classed together as ‘mediumistic
phenomena.’ The most important of these are psychometry, ‘vision’
of ‘spirit’ forms, claimed communications by means of rappings,
table movements, automatic writing, independent writing, trance
speaking, etc. With them also ought to be noted what are generally
called physical phenomena, though in most cases, since they are
intelligibly directed, the use of the word ‘physical,’ without
this qualification, might be misleading. These physical phenomena
include such facts as the movement of material objects by other
than the ordinary muscular force, the making objects heavier or
lighter when tested by the scales, the playing on musical
instruments by some invisible power, etc.... Now all of these
referred to (with the exception of independent writing, and
materialization) I know to be genuine. I do not at all mean by
this that I know that the ‘spiritualistic’ interpretation of them
is the true one. I mean only that they are genuine phenomena; that
they have occurred; that they are not tricks or the result of
fraud.”
In the _Forum_ of December, 1889, p. 455, the same writer describes his
experience at the house of a friend with whom he had been acquainted eight
or ten years. When about to depart, he thought he would try an experiment.
He says:—
“She and I stood at opposite ends of the table at which we had
been sitting. Both of us having placed the tips of our fingers
lightly on the top of the table, I spoke, as if addressing some
unseen force connected with the table, and said: ‘Now I must go;
will you not accompany me to the door?’ The door was ten or
fifteen feet distant, and was closed. The table started. It had no
casters, and in order to make it move as it did, we should have
had to go behind and push it. As a matter of fact we led it, while
it accompanied us all the way, and struck against the door with
considerable force.”
From the same article, p. 456, we quote again:—
“I add one more experiment of my own. I sat one day in a heavy,
stuffed armchair. The psychic sat beside me, and laying his hand
on the back of the chair, gradually raised it. Immediately I felt
and saw myself, chair and all, lifted into the air at least one
foot from the floor. There was no uneven motion implying any sense
of effort on the part of the lifting force; and I was gently
lowered again to the carpet. This was in broad light, in a hotel
parlor, and in presence of a keen-eyed lawyer friend. I could
plainly watch the whole thing. No man living could have lifted me
in such a position, and besides, I saw that the psychic made not
the slightest apparent effort. Nor was there any machinery or
preparation of any kind. My companion, the lawyer, on going away,
speaking in reference to the whole sitting, said: ‘I’ve seen
enough evidence to hang every man in the State—enough to prove
_anything excepting this_.’
“Professor Crookes, of London, relates having seen and heard an
accordion played on while it was enclosed in a wire net-work, and
not touched by any visible hand. I have seen an approach to the
same thing. In daylight I have seen a man hold an accordion in the
air, not more than three feet away from me. He held it by one
hand, grasping the side opposite to that on which the keys were
fixed. In this position, it, or something, played long tunes, the
side containing the keys being pushed in and drawn out without any
contact that I could see. I then said, ‘Will it not play for me?’
The reply was, ‘I don’t know: you can try it.’ I then took the
accordion in my hands. There was no music; but what did occur was
quite as inexplicable to me, and quite as convincing as a display
of some kind of power. I know not how to express it, except by
saying that the accordion was seized as if by some one trying to
take it away from me. To test this power, I grasped the instrument
with both hands. The struggle was as real as though my antagonist
was another man. I succeeded in keeping it, but only by the most
strenuous efforts.
“On another occasion I was sitting with a ‘medium.’ I was too far
away for him to reach me, even had he tried, which he did not do;
for he sat perfectly quiet. My knees were not under the table, but
were where I could see them plainly. Suddenly my right knee was
grasped as by a hand. It was a firm grip. I could feel the print
and pressure of all the fingers. I said not a word of the strange
sensation, but quietly put my right hand down and clasped my knee
in order to see if I could feel anything on my hand. At once I
felt what seemed like the most delicate finger tips playing over
my own fingers and gradually rising in their touches toward my
wrist. When this was reached, I felt a series of clear, distinct,
and definite pats, as though made by a hand of fleshy vigor. I
made no motion to indicate what was going on, and said not a word
until the sensation had passed. All this while I was carefully
watching my hand, for it was plain daylight, and it was in full
view; but I saw nothing.”
We need not multiply evidence on this point. A remark by T. J. Hudson
(“Law of Psychic Phenomena,” p. 206, McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1894) may
fitly close this division of the subject. He says:—
“I will not waste time, however, by attempting to prove by
experiments of my own, or of others, that such phenomena do occur.
It is too late for that. The facts are too well known to the
civilized world to require proof at this time. The man who denies
the phenomena of spiritism to-day is not entitled to be called a
skeptic, he is simply ignorant; and it would be a hopeless task to
attempt to enlighten him.”
A Manifestation of Intelligence.
From the testimony already given it is evident that there is connected
with Spiritualism an agency that is able to manifest power and strength
beyond anything that human beings, unaided, are able to exert. It is just
as evident that the same agency possesses intelligence beyond the power of
human minds. Indeed, this was the very feature that first brought it to
the attention of the public. Spiritualism, as the reader is doubtless
aware, originated in the family of Mr. John D. Fox, in Hydesville, near
Rochester, N. Y., in the spring of 1848. Robert Dale Owen, in his work
called “Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World,” p. 290, has given a
full narration of the circumstances attending this remarkable event. The
particulars, he states, he had from Mrs. Fox, and her two daughters,
Margaret and Kate, and son, David. The attention of the family had been
attracted by strange noises which finally assumed the form of raps, or
muffled footfalls, and became very annoying. Chairs were sometimes moved
from their places, and this was once also the case with the dining-room
table. Heard occasionally during February, the disturbance so increased
during the latter part of March, as seriously to break the nightly repose
of the family. But as these annoyances occurred only in the night-time,
all the family hoped that soon, by some means, the mystery would be
cleared away. They did not abandon this hope till Friday, the 31st of
March, 1848. Wearied by a succession of sleepless nights, the family
retired early, hoping for a respite from the disturbances that had
harassed them. In this they were doomed to especial disappointment. We can
do no better than to let Mr. Owen continue the narrative, in his own
words:—
“The parents had removed the children’s beds into their bedroom,
and strictly enjoined them not to talk of noises, even if they
heard them. But scarcely had the mother seen them safely in bed,
and was retiring to rest herself, when the children cried out,
‘Here they are again!’ The mother chided them, and lay down.
Thereupon the noises became louder and more startling. The
children sat up in bed. Mrs. Fox called her husband. The night
being windy, it was suggested to him that it might be the rattling
of the sashes. He tried several to see if they were loose. Kate,
the younger girl, happened to remark that as often as her father
shook a window-sash, the noises seemed to reply. Being a lively
child, and in a measure accustomed to what was going on, she
turned to where the noise was, snapped her fingers, and called
out, ‘Here, old Splitfoot, do as I do!’ The knocking instantly
responded.
“_That was the very commencement. Who can tell where the end will
be?_
“I do not mean that it was Kate Fox, who thus, in childish jest,
first discovered that these mysterious sounds seemed instinct with
intelligence. Mr. Mompesson, two hundred years ago, had already
observed a similar phenomenon. Glanvil had verified it. So had
Wesley, and his children. So we have seen, and others. But in all
these cases the matter rested there and the observation was not
prosecuted further. As, previous to the invention of the steam
engine, sundry observers had trodden the very threshold of the
discovery and there stopped, so in this case, where the royal
chaplain, disciple though he was of the inductive philosophy, and
where the founder of Methodism, admitting, as he did, the
probabilities of ultramundane interference, were both at fault, a
Yankee girl, but nine years old, following up more in sport than
in earnest, a chance observation, became the instigator of a
movement which, whatever its true character, has had its influence
throughout the civilized world. The spark had been ignited,—once
at least two centuries ago; but it had died each time without
effect. It kindled no flame till the middle of the nineteenth
century.
“And yet how trifling the step from the observation at Tedworth to
the discovery at Hydesville! Mr. Mompesson, in bed with his little
daughter (about Kate’s age), whom the sound seemed chiefly to
follow, ‘observed that it would exactly answer, in drumming,
anything that was beaten or called for.’ But his curiosity led him
no further.
“Not so Kate Fox. She tried, by silently bringing together her
thumb and forefinger; whether she could obtain a response. Yes! It
could _see_, then, as well as _hear_. She called her mother. ‘Only
look, mother,’ she said, bringing together again her finger and
thumb, as before. And as often as she repeated the noiseless
motion, just as often responded the raps.
“This at once arrested her mother’s attention. ‘Count ten,’ she
said, addressing the noise. Ten strokes, distinctly given! ‘How
old is my daughter Margaret?’ Twelve strokes. ‘And Kate?’ Nine.
‘What can all this mean?’ was Mrs. Fox’s thought. Who was
answering her? Was it only some mysterious echo of her own
thought? But the next question which she put seemed to refute the
idea. ‘How many children have I?’ she asked aloud. Seven strokes.
‘Ah!’ she thought, ‘it can blunder sometimes.’ And then aloud,
‘Try again.’ Still the number of raps was seven. Of a sudden a
thought crossed Mrs. Fox’s mind. ‘Are they all alive?’ she asked.
Silence for answer. ‘How many are living?’ Six strokes. ‘How many
are dead?’ A single stroke. _She had lost a child._
“Then she asked, ‘Are you a man?’ No answer. ‘Are you a spirit?’
It rapped. ‘May my neighbors hear, if I call them?’ It rapped
again.
“Thereupon she asked her husband to call her neighbor, a Mrs.
Redfield, who came in laughing. But her cheer was soon changed.
The answers to her inquiries were as prompt and pertinent, as they
had been to those of Mrs. Fox. She was struck with awe; and when,
in reply to a question about the number of her children, by
rapping four, instead of three, as she expected, it reminded her
of a little daughter, Mary, whom she had recently lost, the mother
burst into tears.”
We have introduced this narrative thus at length not only because it is
interesting in itself, but because it is of special interest that all the
particulars of the origin, or beginning, of such a movement as this,
should be well understood. The following paragraph will explain how it
came to be called “The Rochester Knockings,” under which name it first
became widely known. It is from the “Report of the 37th Anniversary of
Modern Spiritualism,” held in Brooklyn, N. Y., March 31, 1885, and
reported in the _Banner of Light_, the 25th of the following month:—
“After a song by J. T. Lillie, Mrs. Leah Fox Underhill, the elder
of the three Fox sisters (who was on our platform), was requested
to speak. Mrs. Underhill said that she was not a public speaker,
but would answer any questions from the audience, and in response
to these questions told in a graphic manner how the spirits came
to their humble home in Hydesville, in 1848; how on the 31st of
March the first intelligent communication from the spirit world
came through the raps; how the family had been annoyed by the
manifestations, and by the notoriety that followed; how the
younger sisters, Catherine and Margaret, were taken to Rochester,
where she lived, by their mother, hoping that this great and
apparent calamity might pass from them; how their father and
mother prayed that this cup might be taken away, but the phenomena
became more marked and violent; how in the morning they would find
four coffins drawn with an artistic hand on the door of the
dining-room of her home in Rochester, of different sizes,
approximating to the ages and sizes of the family, and these were
lined with a pink color, and they were told that unless they made
this great fact known, they would all speedily die, and enter the
spirit-world.
“Gladly would they all have accepted this penalty for their
disobedience in not making this truth known to the world. She told
how they were compelled to hire Corinthian Hall in Rochester; how
several public meetings were held in Rochester, culminating in the
selection of a committee of prominent infidels, who, after
submitting the Fox children to the most severe tests,—they being
disrobed in the presence of a committee of ladies,—reported in
their favor.... All the time she was on our platform, there was a
continuous rapping by the spirits in response to what was being
said by the several speakers, also in response to the singing, and
all our exercises.”
In the same volume of the _Forum_ from which quotations have already been
made, M. J. Savage states many facts which have a determinate bearing on
the point now under consideration; namely, the intelligence manifested in
the spiritual phenomena. From these we quote a few. He says (p. 452 and
onward):—
“I am in possession of quite a large body of apparent facts that I
do not know what to do with.... That certain things to me
inexplicable have occurred, I believe. The negative opinion of
some one with whom no such things have occurred, will not satisfy
me.... I am ready to submit some specimens of those things that
constitute my problem. They can be only specimens; for a detailed
account of even half of those I have laid by, would stretch to the
limits of a book.
“A merchant ship bound for New York was on her homeward voyage.
She was in the Indian Ocean. The captain was engaged to be married
to a lady living in New England. One day early in the afternoon he
came, pale and excited, to one of his mates, and exclaimed, ‘Tom,
Kate has just died! I have seen her die!’ The mate looked at him
in amazement, not knowing what to make of such talk. But the
captain went on and described the whole scene—the room, her
appearance, how she died, and all the circumstances. So real was
it to him, and such was the effect on him, of his grief, that for
two or three weeks, he was carefully watched lest he should do
violence to himself. It was more than one hundred and fifty days
before the ship reached her harbor. During all this time no news
was received from home. But when at last the ship arrived at New
York, it was found that Kate did die at the time and under the
circumstances seen and described by the captain off the coast of
India. This is only one case out of hundreds. What does it mean?
Coincidence? Just happened so? This might be said of one; but a
hundred of such coincidences become inexplicable.”
The following is another instance mentioned by the same writer:—
“I went to the house of a woman in New York. She was not a
professional. We had never seen each other before. We took seats
in the parlor for a talk, I not looking for any manifestation.
Raps began. I do not say whether they were really where they
seemed to be or not; I know right well that the judgment is
subject to illusion through the senses. But I was told a ‘spirit
friend’ was present; and soon the name, time, and place of death,
etc., were given me. It was the name of a friend I had once known
intimately. But twenty years had passed since the old intimacy;
she had lived in another State; I am certain that she and the
psychic had never known or even heard of each other. She had died
within a few months.”
Mr. Savage then gives examples where the power in question was exclusively
mental:—
“The first time I was ever in the presence of a particular
psychic, she went into a trance. She had never seen, and, so far
as I know, had never had any way of hearing of my father, who had
died some years previously. When I was a boy, he always called me
by a special name that was never used by any other member of the
family. In later years he hardly ever used it. But the entranced
psychic said: ‘An old gentleman is here,’ and she described
certain very marked peculiarities. Then she added: ‘He says he is
your father, and he calls you ——,’ using the old childhood name of
mine.”
Again, same page:—
“One case more, only, will I mention under this head. A most
intimate friend of my youth had recently died. She had lived in
another State, and the psychic did not know that such a person had
ever existed. We were sitting alone when this old friend announced
her presence. It was in this way: A letter of two pages was
automatically written, addressed to me. I thought to myself as I
read it,—I did not speak,—‘Were it possible, I should feel sure
she had written this.’ I then said, as though speaking to her,
‘Will you not give me your name?’ It was given, both maiden and
married name. I then began a conversation lasting over an hour,
which seemed as real as any I ever have with my friends. She told
me of her children, of her sisters. We talked over the events of
boyhood and girlhood. I asked her if she remembered a book we used
to read together, and she gave me the author’s name. I asked again
if she remembered the particular poem we were both specially fond
of, and she named it at once. In the letter that was written, and
in much of the conversation, there were apparent hints of
identity, little touches and peculiarities that would mean much to
an acquaintance, but nothing to a stranger. I could not but be
much impressed. Now in this case, I know that the psychic never
knew of this person’s existence, and of course not of our
acquaintance.”
Mr. Savage then mentions cases which he calls still more inexplicable,
because the information conveyed was not known either to the psychic
(which seems to be the new name for medium) or to himself. He says:—
“But one more case dare I take the space for, though the budget is
only opened. This one did not happen to me, but it is so hedged
about and checked off, that its evidential value in a scientific
way is absolutely perfect. The names of some of the parties
concerned _would be recognized in two hemispheres_. A lady and
gentleman visited a psychic. The gentleman was the lady’s
brother-in-law. The lady had an aunt who was ill in a city two or
three hundred miles away. When the psychic had become entranced,
the lady asked her if she had any impression as to the condition
of her aunt. The reply was, ‘No.’ But before the sitting was over,
the psychic exclaimed, ‘Why, your aunt is here! She has already
passed away.’ ‘This cannot be true,’ said the lady; ‘there must be
a mistake. If she had died, they would have telegraphed us
immediately.’ ‘But,’ the psychic insisted, ‘she is here. And she
explains that she died about two o’clock this morning. She also
says that a telegram has been sent, and you will find it at the
house on your return.’
“Here seemed a clear case for a test. So while the lady started
for her home, her brother-in-law called at the house of a friend
and told the story. While there the husband came in. Having been
away for some hours he had not heard of any telegram. But the
friend seated himself at his desk and wrote out a careful account,
which all three signed on the spot. When they reached home,—two or
three miles away,—there was the telegram confirming the fact and
the time of the aunt’s death, precisely as the psychic had told
them.
“Here are most wonderful facts. How shall they be accounted for? I
have not trusted my memory for these things, but have made careful
record at the time. I know many other records of a similar kind
kept by others. They are kept private. Why? The late Rev. J. G.
Wood, of England, the world-famous naturalist, once said to me: ‘I
am glad to talk of these things to any one who has a right to
know. But I used to call everybody a fool who had anything to do
with them; and with a smile—“I do not enjoy being called a
fool.” ’
“Psychic and other societies that advertise for strange phenomena,
must learn that at least a respectful treatment is to be accorded,
or people will not lay bare their secret souls. And then, in the
very nature of the case, these experiments concern matters of the
most personal nature. Many of the most striking cases people will
not make public. In some of those above related, I have had so to
veil facts, that they do not appear as remarkable as they really
are. The whole cannot be told.”
A quotation from this same writer (“Automatic Writing,” page 14), says:—
“I am in possession of a respectable body of facts that I do not
know how to explain except on the theory that I am dealing with
some invisible intelligence. I hold that as the only tenable
theory I am acquainted with.”
In the same work (page 19), the author, Mrs. S. A. Underwood, as the
result of her communications from spirits, says:—
“Detailed statements of facts unknown to either of us [that is,
herself and her ‘control’], but which weeks afterward were learned
to be correct, have been written, and repeated again and again,
when disbelieved and contradicted by us.”
On this point, also, as on the preceding, testimony need not be
multiplied. The facts are too well known and too generally admitted to
warrant the devotion of further space to a presentation of the evidence.
_The question must soon be met, What is the source of the power and
intelligence thus manifested?_ But this may properly be held in abeyance
till we take a glance at:
The Progress of Spiritualism.
during the fifty years of its modern history. It began in a way to excite
the wonder and curiosity of the people, the very elements that would give
wings to its progress through the land. Men suddenly found their thoughts
careering through new channels. An unseen world seemed to make known its
presence and invite investigation. As the phenomena claimed to be due to
the direct agency of spirits, the movement naturally assumed the name of
“Spiritualism.” It was then hailed by multitudes as a new and living
teacher, come to clear up uncertainties and to dispel doubts from the
minds of men. At least an irrepressible curiosity was everywhere excited
to know what the new “ism” would teach concerning that invisible world
which it professed to have come to open to the knowledge of mankind.
Everywhere men sought by what means they could come into communication
with the spirit realm. Into whatever place the news entered, circles were
formed, and the number of converts outstripped the pen of the enroller. It
gathered adherents from every walk of life—from the higher classes as well
as the lower; the educated, cultured, and refined, as well as the
uncultivated and ignorant; from ministers, lawyers, physicians, judges,
teachers, government officials, and all the professions. But the
individuals thus interested, being of too diverse and independent views to
agree upon any permanent basis for organization, the data for numerical
statistics are difficult to procure. Various estimates, however, of their
numbers have been formed. As long ago as 1876, computations of the number
of Spiritualists in the United States ranged from 3,000,000 by Hepworth
Dixon, to 10,000,000 by the Roman Catholic council at Baltimore. Only five
years from the time the first convert to Modern Spiritualism appeared,
Judge Edmonds, himself an enthusiastic convert, said of their numbers:—
“Besides the undistinguished multitudes, there are many now of
high standing and talent ranked among them,—doctors, lawyers, and
clergymen in great numbers, a Protestant bishop, the learned and
reverend president of a college, judges of our higher courts,
members of Congress, foreign ambassadors, and ex-members of the
United States Senate.”
Up to the present time, it is not probable that the number of
Spiritualists has been much reduced by apostasies from the faith, if such
it may be called; while the movement itself has been growing more
prominent and becoming more widely known every year. The conclusion would
therefore inevitably follow that its adherents must now be more numerous
than ever before. A letter addressed by the writer to the publishers of
the _Philosophical Journal_, Chicago, on this point, received the
following reply, dated Dec. 24, 1895:—
“Being unorganized, largely, no reliable figures can be given.
Many thousands are in the churches, and are counted there. It is
_claimed_ that there are about five million in the United States,
and over fifty million in the world.”
The _Christian at Work_ of Aug. 17, 1876, under the head of “Witches and
Fools,” said:—
“But we do not know how many judges, bankers, merchants, prominent
men in nearly every occupation in life, there are, who make it a
constant practice to visit clairvoyants, sightseers, and so-called
Spiritual mediums; yet it can scarcely be doubted that their name
is legion; that not only the unreligious man, but professing
Christians, men and women, are in the habit of consulting spirits
from the vasty deep for information concerning both the dead and
the living. Many who pass for intelligent people, who would be
shocked to have their Christianity called in question, are
constantly engaged in this disreputable business.”
The following appeared some years ago, in the San Francisco _Chronicle_:—
“Until quite recently, science has coldly ignored the alleged
phenomena of Spiritualism, and treated Andrew Jackson Davis, Home,
and the Davenport brothers, as if they belonged to the common
fraternity of showmen and mountebanks. But now there has come a
most noteworthy change. We learn from such high authority as the
_Fortnightly Review_ that Alfred R. Wallace, F. R. S.; William
Crookes, F. R. S. and editor of the _Quarterly Journal of
Science_; W. H. Harrison, F. R. S. and president of the British
Ethnological Society, with others occupying a high position in the
scientific and literary world, have been seriously investigating
the phenomena of spiritism. The report which those learned
gentlemen make is simply astounding. There is no fairy tale, no
story of myth or miracle, that is more incredible than their
narrative. They tell us in grave and sober speech, that the spirit
of a girl who died a hundred years ago, appeared to them in
visible form. She talked with them, gave them locks of her hair,
pieces of her dress, and her autograph. They saw her in bodily
presence, felt her person, heard her voice; she entered the room
in which they were, and disappeared without the opening of a door.
The savants declare that they have had numerous interviews with
her under conditions forbidding the idea of trickery or imposture.
“Now that men eminent in the scientific world have taken up the
investigation, Spiritualism has entered upon a new phase. It can
no longer be treated with silent contempt. Mr. Wallace’s articles
in the _Fortnightly_ have attracted general attention, and many of
the leading English reviews and newspapers are discussing the
matter. The New York _World_ devotes three columns of its space to
a summary of the last article in the _Fortnightly_, and declares
editorially that the ‘phenomena’ thus attested ‘deserve the rigid
scientific examination which Mr. Wallace invites for them.’ This
is treating the matter in the right way. Let all the well-attested
facts be collected, and then let us see what conclusions they
justify. If spirit communication is a fact, it is certainly a most
interesting one. In the language which the World attributes to
John Bright, ‘If it is a fact, it is the one besides which every
other fact of human existence sinks into insignificance.’ ”
One of the reasons why it would be quite impossible to state the number of
real Spiritualists in our land to-day has already been hinted at in a
foregoing extract. It is that “many thousands,” and we think the number
might in all probability be raised to millions, who are in reality
Spiritualists, do not go by that name. They are in the various churches,
and are counted there. Yet they believe the phenomena of Spiritualism,
accept its teachings in their own minds, and quietly and constantly, as
the _Christian at Work_ avers, consult clairvoyants and mediums, in quest
of knowledge. The grosser features of the teachings of Spiritualism which
were painfully prominent in its earlier stages, which there is no reason
to believe are discountenanced or abandoned either in theory or practice,
are relegated to an invisible background, while in its outward aspect it
now poses in the attitude of piety and the garb of religion. It even
professes to adopt some of the more prominent and popular doctrines of
Christianity. In this phase the average churchgoer cannot see why he may
not accept all that Spiritualism has to give, and still retain his
denominational relationship. Besides this, the coming to light, every now
and then, of the fact that some person of national or world-wide fame is a
Spiritualist, adds popularity and gives a new impetus to the movement.
Such instances may be named as the founder of the Leland Stanford
University, of California; the widow of ex-Vice-President Hendricks, of
Indiana, who, it is said, is carrying on some very successful financial
transactions by direction from the spirit world; and Mr. W. T. Stead,
London editor of the _Review of Reviews_, who, in 1893 started a new
quarterly, called _The Border Land_, to be devoted to the advocacy of the
philosophy of Spiritualism, which he had then but recently espoused. In
other countries it has invaded the ranks of the nobility, and even seated
itself on the thrones of monarchs. The late royal houses of France, Spain,
and Russia are said, by current rumor, to have sought the spirits for
knowledge. No cause could covet more rapid and wide-spread success than
this has enjoyed.
Chapter Two.
WHAT IS THE AGENCY IN QUESTION?
Having now shown that there are connected with Spiritualism supermundane
phenomena that cannot be denied, and equally evident superhuman
intelligence, sufficient to give to the movement unprecedented recognition
in all the world, the way is open for the most important question that can
be raised concerning it, and one which now demands an answer; and that is,
What is the agency by which these phenomena are produced, and by which
this intelligence is manifested? This question must be examined with the
utmost care, and, if possible, a decision be reached of the most assuring
certainty; for, as Mr. M. J. Savage says, “Spiritualism is either a grand
truth or a most lamentable delusion.”
It is proper that the claim which Spiritualism puts forth for itself, in
this regard, should first be heard. This is so well known that it scarcely
need be stated. It is that there is in every human being a soul, or
spirit, which constitutes the real person; that this soul, or spirit, is
immortal; that it manifests itself through a tangible body during this
earth life, and when that body dies, passes unscathed into the unseen
world, into an enlarged sphere of life, activity, and intelligence; that
in this sphere it can still take cognizance of earthly things, and
communicate with those still in the flesh, respecting scenes which it has
left, and those more interesting conditions still veiled from mortal
sight; that it is by these disembodied, or “discarnated” spirits that raps
are given, objects moved, intelligence manifested, secrets revealed,
slates written, voices uttered, faces shown, and epistles addressed to
mortals, as friend would write to friend. If this be true, it opens what
would indeed be considered a grand avenue of consolation to bereaved
hearts, by giving them evidence that their departed friends still lived;
that they recognized, loved, and accompanied them, and delighted still to
counsel and instruct them. If not true, it is a masterpiece of superhuman
craft and cunning; for it takes Christendom on the side where it is least
guarded; as the view is everywhere held that the dead are conscious, and
the only question would be as to their power to communicate with persons
still living in the body; and it throws its arms around the individual
when the heart is the most tender, when plunged into a condition in which
every pang of bereaved sorrow, every tie of affection, and every throb of
love, press him to crave with all his being that communication with the
dead may be proved a fact, and to constrain him to accept the doctrine,
unless kept from it by some power stronger than the cords that bind heart
to heart in deathless love. If it be a deception, it occupies a vantage
ground before which men may well tremble.