so-called Devil—once so firmly believed in?
“_Ans._—Devil is a word used to conjure with.
“_Q._—Well, then, as the word itself doubtless arose from the word
‘evil,’ which means to us unhappiness, can you give us an
explanation of the existence of evil?
“_A._—Evil—as you who are the greatest sufferers from it, name one
of the conditions of progress—is as necessary, aye, more so, than
what you call good, to your and our elevation to higher spheres.
It is not to be hated, but welcomed. It is the winnowing of the
grain from the chaff. Children of truth, don’t worry over what to
you seems evil; soon you will be of us and will understand, and be
rejoiced that what you call evil persists and works as leaven in
the great work of mind versus matter.
“_Q._—But it seems to us impossible that brutal crimes like
murder, assassinations, or great catastrophes, by which the
innocent are made to suffer at the hands of malicious and cruel
persons, should work for ultimate good?
“_A._—Percipients of the grand whole of Being can understand but
may not state to those on your plane, the underlying good making
itself asserted even through such dreadful manifestations of human
imperfections as the crimes you name.
“When asked why certain wrongs were allowed to be perpetuated,
this answer was given:—
“There is a law of psychical essence which makes necessary all
these ephemeral entanglements which to you seem so severe, and you
will yet see from your own standpoint of reason why such hardships
must be endured by questioning souls on the highway of progress.
“_Q._—But do you from your vantage ground of larger knowledge grow
careless that such injustice is done?
“_A._—We do care, but cannot remedy.
“_Q._—Why can’t you remedy?
“_A._—Because humanity is but an embryo of existence.
“_Q._—If you can perceive the trials and sorrows of mortals, and
can interfere to save them, why do you not more often do so?
“_A._—When undeveloped souls pay the price of development, we
stand aloof, and let the play go on. Interference will do no
good.”
In view of such a confession, what becomes of the many claims put forth by
other spirits that they are ever hovering near their friends to assist and
guard them, to help and inspire them, and keep them from evil and danger?
These say that those terrible crimes (and this would include all crimes)
are all necessary, that they are tending to develop souls, and bring them
to higher spheres, and thus are just as laudable as good actions; so they
settle back in a gleeful mood, and “let the play go on;” let wicked men
cultivate and develop and practice their evil propensities, and the
innocent suffer. Well may men pray to be delivered from such a spirit
assembly as that.
In “Healing of the Nations,” p. 402, Dr. Hare says:—
“That anything should, even for an instant, be contrary to his
will, is inconsistent with his foresight and omnipotency. It would
be a miracle that anything counter to his will should exist.”
A lecture on the “Philosophy of Reform,” given by A. J. Davis, in New York
City, bears testimony to the same effect:—
“In the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, it is affirmed that sin
is the transgression of the law. But by an examination of nature,
the true and only Bible, it will be seen that this statement is
erroneous. It gives a wrong idea of both man and law.... It will
be found impossible for man to transgress a law of God.”
Thus they very illogically assume that if God has the will or the power to
prevent evil, it could not exist, and therefore, if there is such a God,
he is responsible, forgetting that God is long-suffering, and bears long
with vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, before they pass beyond the
limits of his mercy and perish. But Mr. Davis says further:—
“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 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 him? 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 natural;
but is natural only to undeveloped minds. It is a profanation—a
sort of atheism of which I would not be guilty.”
The Bible says, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that
put darkness for light and light for darkness.” Isa. 5:20. And it makes
another declaration which finds abundant confirmation in the sentiments
quoted above: “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed
speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to
do evil.” Eccl. 8:11.
Having thus attempted to destroy in the minds of men all distinction
between good and evil, all being alike in God’s sight, and all equally
good, they try to make the way a little broader and easier for men to give
full rein to all the propensities and inclinations of an evil heart, by
teaching that there is no Lawgiver and Judge before whom men must appear
to give an account of their deeds, but that they are responsible to
themselves alone, and must give account only to their own natures. Thus
Hon. J. B. Hall, in a lecture reported in the _Banner of Light_, Feb. 6,
1864, said:—
“I believe that man is amenable to no law not written upon his own
nature, no matter by whom given.... By his own nature he must be
tried—by his own acts he must stand or fall. True, man must give
an account to God for all his deeds; but how?—Solely by giving
account to his own nature—to himself.”
At a séance reported in the _Banner of Light_, May 28, 1864, the following
question was proposed, and the answer was by the communicating spirit:—
“_Ques._—To whom or to what is the soul accountable?
“_Ans._—To no Deity outside the realm of its own being, certainly;
to no God which is a creation of fancy; to no Deity who dwells in
a far-off heaven, and sits upon a white throne; to no Jesus of
Nazareth; to no patron saint; to no personality; to no principle
outside our own individual selves.”
The “Healing of the Nations,” p. 74, says:—
“Man is his own saviour, his own redeemer. He is his own judge—in
his own scales weighed.”
A little over twenty years after the birth of Spiritualism, Aug. 25, 1868,
the Fifth National Convention of Spiritualists was held in Corinthian
hall, Rochester, N. Y., at which a formal “Declaration of Principles” was
set forth. From the seventh and eighth paragraphs, under principle 20, we
quote the following:—
“_Seventh_, To stimulate the mind to the largest investigation ...
that we may be qualified to _judge for ourselves_ what is right
and true. _Eighth_, To deliver from _all bondage to authority_,
whether vested in _creed_, _book_, or _church_, except that of
received truth.”
This is the same principle of man’s responsibility to no one but himself,
authoritatively adopted. What a picture have we now before us! Destroy
man’s belief in, and reverence for, God and Christ, as they do; lead him
to ridicule the atonement, the only remedy for sin; make him disbelieve
the Bible; take away from his mind all distinction between right and
wrong, and assure him that he is accountable to no one but himself; and
how better could one prepare the way to turn men into demons. All this the
spirits, by their teaching, seek to do. And can any one fail to foresee
the result? Comparatively a small proportion of the inhabitants of this
country have committed themselves to these views; consequently but little
of the legitimate fruit as yet appears; but take human nature as it is and
suppose all the inhabitants of this land to act on these principles, and
then what would we have?—A pandemonium, a scene of anarchy, riot,
bloodshed, and all depths of rottenness and corruption—in short, a hell so
much worse than that to which the Devil is popularly assigned, that he
would at once change his location and here take up his abode.
That this statement is none too strong, will appear as we look a moment at
some of the results which have already developed themselves among the
friends of such views, and as their inevitable fruit. The tendency can by
no possibility be otherwise than to atheism and all immorality. As has
been already remarked, the repulsive features were made much more
prominent in the early stages of Spiritualism than at the present time.
They are now held in the background. The literature touching these points
has been remodeled, and an air of respectability and religion assumed.
Most of the quotations therefore date some years back, and would be
charitably withheld were there any evidence of reform either present or
prospective. But where or when have these principles ever been officially
repudiated, and evidence given that the consequent practices had been
abandoned? That there are many Spiritualists of upright and moral lives,
and honorable members of society, in the best sense of that term, we
gladly believe; but is not this because they are living above their
principles; and due, not to the influence, but rather to the non-influence
of real Spiritualism upon their lives? The quotations given are from those
who have been prominent among Spiritualists as authors and speakers. If
they overdraw the picture, the responsibility is with them. Dr. B. P.
Randolph, author of a work “Dealings with the Dead,” was eight years a
medium, then renounced Spiritualism long enough to expose its character,
then returned to it again, unable to break entirely away from the spell it
has fastened upon him. He gives his opinion of it in the following
scathing words:—
“I enter the arena as the champion of common sense, against what
in my soul I believe to be the most tremendous enemy of God,
morals, and religion, that ever found foothold on the earth;—the
most seductive, hence the most dangerous, form of sensualism that
ever cursed a nation, age, or people. I was a medium about eight
years, during which time I made three thousand speeches, and
traveled over several different countries, proclaiming its new
gospel. I now regret that so much excellent breath was wasted, and
that my health of mind and body was well nigh ruined. I have only
begun to regain both since I totally abandoned it, and to-day had
rather see the cholera in my house, than be a spiritual medium.
“As a trance speaker, I became widely known; and now aver that
during the entire eight years of my mediumship, I firmly and
sacredly confess that I had not the control of my own mind, as I
now have, one twentieth of the time; and before man and high
heaven I most solemnly declare that I do not now believe that
during the whole eight years, I was sane for thirty-six
consecutive hours, in consequence of the trance and the
susceptibility thereto.
“For seven years I held daily intercourse with what purported to
be my mother’s spirit. I am now fully persuaded that it was
nothing but an evil spirit, an infernal demon, who, in that guise,
gained my soul’s confidence, and led me to the very brink of ruin.
We read in Scripture of demoniac possession, as well as abnormal
spiritual action. Both facts exist, provable to-day; I am positive
the former does. A. J. Davis and his clique of Harmonialists say
there are no evil spirits. I emphatically deny the statement. Five
of my friends destroyed themselves, and I attempted it, by direct
spiritual influences. Every crime in the calendar has been
committed by mortal movers of viewless beings. Adultery,
fornication, suicides, desertions, unjust divorces, prostitution,
abortion, insanity, are not evils, I suppose. I charge all these
to this scientific Spiritualism. It has also broken up families,
squandered fortunes, tempted and destroyed the weak. It has
banished peace from happy families, separated husbands and wives,
and shattered the intellect of thousands.”
The following is an extract from the writings of J. F. Whitney, editor of
the New York _Pathfinder_. His view of the subject accords with that of
Dr. Randolph:—
“Now, after a long and constant watchfulness, seeing for months
and for years its progress and its practical workings upon its
devotees, its believers, and its mediums, we are compelled to
speak our honest conviction, which is, that the manifestations
coming through the acknowledged mediums, who are designated as
rapping, tipping, writing, and entranced mediums, have a baneful
influence upon believers, and create discord and confusion; that
the generality of these teachings inculcate false ideas, approve
of selfish individual acts, and endorse theories and principles,
which, when carried out, debase and make men little better than
the brute. These are among the fruits of Modern Spiritualism, and
we do not hesitate to say that we believe if these manifestations
are continued to be received, and to be as little understood as
they are, and have been since they made their appearance at
Rochester, and mortals are to be deceived by their false,
fascinating, and snakelike charming powers, which go with them,
the day will come when the world will require the appearance of
another Saviour to redeem the world from its departing from
Christ’s warnings.... Seeing, as we have, the gradual progress it
makes with its believers, particularly its mediums, from lives of
morality to those of sensuality and immorality, gradually and
cautiously undermining the foundation of good principles, we look
back with amazement to the radical change which a few months will
bring about in individuals; for its tendency is to approve and
endorse each individual act and character, however good or bad
these acts may be....
“We desire to send forth our warning voice, and if our humble
position as the head of a public journal, our known advocacy of
Spiritualism, our experience, and the conspicuous part we have
played among its believers, the honesty and the fearlessness with
which we have defended the subject, will weigh anything in our
favor, we desire that our opinions may be received, and those who
are moving passively down the rushing rapids to destruction should
pause, ere it be too late, and save themselves from the blasting
influence which those manifestations are causing.”
Every one who knows anything about Spiritualism has heard of Cora Hatch,
who traveled extensively, and manifested her powers as an extemporaneous
lecturer before astonished multitudes. One of her husbands, Dr. Hatch,
renounced Spiritualism, and the following is from the testimony he bore
concerning it:—
“The most damning iniquities are everywhere perpetrated in
spiritual circles, a very small percentage of which ever comes to
public attention. I care not whether it be spiritual or mundane,
the facts exist, and should demand the attention and condemnation
of an intelligent community.... The abrogation of marriage,
bigamy, accompanied by robbery, theft, rape, are all chargeable
upon Spiritualism. I most solemnly affirm that I do not believe
that there has, during the last five hundred years, arisen any
people who are guilty of so great a variety of crimes and
indecencies as the Spiritualists of America.
“For a long time I was swallowed up in its whirlpool of
excitement, and comparatively paid but little attention to its
evils, believing that much good might result from the opening of
the avenues of Spiritual intercourse. But during the past eight
months I have devoted my attention to critical investigation of
its moral, social, and religious bearing, and I stand appalled
before the revelations of its awful and damning realities.”
Much testimony of this nature might be given from those who have had
similar experiences and equally favorable facilities for judging of the
character of Spiritualism. We present only a few extracts more.
Dr. Wm. B. Potter of New York, in an article under the head of “Astounding
Facts,” and also in a tract entitled, “Spiritualism as It Is,” gives the
result of his experience and observations. His testimony is the more
valuable, since he writes not from the standpoint of one who has renounced
Spiritualism, whose feelings may for the time be overwrought, and his
language stronger than would be used in calmer moments. When he wrote, he
was still an advocate of Spiritualism, and spoke as a friend who would, if
possible, induce Spiritualists to reform their faith and their manner of
living. He says:—
“Fifteen years of critical study of Spiritual literature, an
extensive acquaintance with the leading Spiritualists, and a
patient, systematic, and thorough examination of the
manifestations for many years, enable us to speak from actual
knowledge, definitely and positively, of ‘Spiritualism as It Is.’
Spiritual literature is full of the most insidious and seductive
doctrines, calculated to undermine the very foundations of
morality and virtue, and lead to the most unbridled
licentiousness.
“We are told that ‘we must have charity,’ that it is wrong to
blame any one, that we must not expose iniquity, as ‘it will
harden the guilty,’ that ‘none should be punished,’ that ‘man is a
machine, and not to blame for his conduct,’ that ‘there is no
high, no low, no good, no bad,’ that ‘sin is a lesser degree of
righteousness,’ that ‘nothing we can do can injure the soul or
retard its progress,’ that ‘those who act the worst will progress
the fastest,’ that ‘lying is right, slavery is right, murder is
right, adultery is right,’ that ‘whatever is, is right.’
“Hardly can you find a Spiritualist book, paper, lecture, or
communication that does not contain some of these pernicious
doctrines; in disguise, if not openly. Hundreds of families have
been broken up, and many affectionate wives deserted by
‘affinity-seeking’ husbands. Many once devoted wives have been
seduced, and left their husbands and tender, helpless children, to
follow some ‘higher attraction.’ Many well-disposed but
simple-minded girls have been deluded by ‘affinity’ notions, and
led off by ‘affinity hunters,’ to be deserted in a few months,
with blasted reputations, or led to deeds still more dark and
criminal, to hide their shame.”
The same writer also mentions a fact which shows where the responsibility
of all this looseness of morals belongs. He says:—
“At the National Spiritual Convention at Chicago, called to
consider the question of a national organization, the only plan
approved by the committee, especially provided that no charge
should ever be entertained against any member, and that any
person, without any regard to his or her moral character, might
become a member.”
The fact that no plan could find approval which did not provide that they
should never be blamed nor called to account for any of their deeds, shows
on what points they felt the most anxious, and plainly proves that they
belong to the class of which Christ spoke, who loved darkness rather than
light, and who would not come to the light lest their deeds should be
reproved. John 3:19-21.
It is unpleasant to wade through pools of filth, and we therefore spare
the reader quotations from those Spiritualists who have not only avowed
the most revolting practices of free love, but openly advocated the same,
and endeavored to induce others to come out likewise, on the ground that
they were only honestly and publicly admitting what the others believed
and practiced in secret. For the same reason we pass by the notorious
Woodhull and Claflin, and Hull and Jamieson episodes, in this field,
which, in the illustration and language of another, “burst upon the
country like a rotten egg three thousand miles in diameter!”
It may be said that these things are in the past and the situation has now
greatly changed. For the benefit of those who thus flatter themselves we
introduce one more quotation. It is from “The Law of Psychic Phenomena,”
by T. J. Hudson (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1894). The language is
candid and conciliatory, and the author cannot be accused of any undue
prejudice on the question of which he speaks. On page 335, he says:—
“I do not charge Spiritualists as a class with being advocates of
the doctrines of free love. On the contrary, I am aware that, as a
class, they hold the marriage relation in sacred regard. I cannot
forget, however, that but a few years ago some of their leading
advocates and mediums proclaimed the doctrine of free love in all
its hideous deformity from every platform in the land. Nor do I
fail to remember that the better class of Spiritualists everywhere
repudiated the doctrine, and denounced its advocates and
exemplars. Nevertheless the moral virus took effect here and there
all over the country, and it is doing its deadly work in secret in
many an otherwise happy home. And _I charge a large and constantly
growing class of professional mediums with being the leading
propagandists_ of the doctrine of _free love_. They infest every
community in the land, and it is well known to all men and women
who are dissatisfied or unhappy in their marriage relations, that
they can always find sympathy by consulting the average medium,
and can, moreover, find justification for illicit love by invoking
the spirits of the dead through such mediums.”
We have italicized that passage in the foregoing which shows that the
deadly evil is still working in secret, and that a large and constantly
growing number of professionals are aiding and abetting the iniquity.
Dangers Of Mediumship.
A few testimonies will show that when one gives himself or herself up to
the control of the spirits, such ones take a most perilous position. The
spirits insist on their victims becoming passive, ceasing to resist, and
yielding their whole wills to them. Some of their persuasive words are
these: “Come in confidence to us;” “Let our teachings deeply impress you;”
“You must not doubt what we say;” “Learn of us;” “Obey our directions and
you will be benefited;” “Seek to obtain knowledge of us;” “Have faith in
us;” “Fear not to obey;” “Obey us and you will be greatly blessed;” etc.,
etc. Mesmerists operate in the same way. They gain control of their
subjects in the same way that the spirits mesmerize their mediums, and
when under their control, the spirits cause them to see whatever they
bring before them, and hear according to their wills, and do as they bid.
And the things they suppose they see and hear, and what they are to do,
are only such things as exist in the mind of the mesmerizing power. The
subject is completely at the mercy of the invisible agency; and to put
one’s self there is a most heaven-daring and hazardous act. Mr. Hudson
(“Law of Psychic Phenomena,” p. 336) says:—
“To the young whose characters are not formed, and to those whose
notions of morality are loose, the dangers of mediumship are
_appalling_.”
To further gain the confidence of mortals, the spirits claim to be the
ones who answer their prayers. In “Automatic Writing,” p. 142, we have
this:—
“_Ques._—Will our friends tell us whether from their point of
view, there is any real efficacy in prayer?
“_Ans._ [by spirits].—Shall not ‘a soul’s sincere desire’ arouse
in discarnate and free spirits effort to make that sincere desire
a reality? What good can come from aspirations on mortal planes,
save through the efforts to make those aspirations realized on
spiritual planes, by the will of freed spirits?”
Mediums are unable to resist the powers of the unseen world when once
under their control. Professor Brittan (“Telegraphic Answer to Mahan,” p.
10), concerning mediumship, says:—
“We may further add in this connection that the trance mediums for
spirit intercourse are equally irresponsible. Many of them are
totally unable to resist the powers which come to them from the
invisible and unknown realms.”