The Soul of an Old Coat by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 1, 1872

The Soul of an Old Coat.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

Dear reader, do you know that that old coat, those old shoes, and that old hat of yours, all have immortal, undying spirits, that will live in the world to come? Perhaps you have never thought of this; but you know that this is an age of improvement and invention, and many things are being found out now which were not known before. Many men have believed and taught that their bodies had immortal souls which live after the body dies; but wonderful to tell! we now learn that even our old clothes which we wear have immortal souls too. You ask how this is proved. Well, we go to the spiritualists and they offer unquestionable (?) proof of it. I will state it as their medium stated it to me.

Suppose you go to a medium to test the truthfulness of spiritualism. The medium goes into a trance, and tells you that your father is present; but you are unbelieving. You want some proof of it. So the medium tells you that he sees your father standing by your side, or somewhere in the room. Now you know that the medium never saw your father. Hence, you ask her to describe him whom she sees; and if she describes a person in every respect like your father, why, you are satisfied, or at least the medium claims that you ought to be satisfied, that it is really the spirit of your father. Well, your father perhaps was a miller; and you remember him, not only his features, size, complexion, but his clothes, which he used ordinarily to wear. So the medium proceeds to describe the spirit which she sees.

“I see a man standing by your side; I should judge that he was about sixty years old.” Well, you think that is right; for my father was about that age when he died. She further says, “He has light hair and sandy whiskers.” This again is the exact appearance of your father. “He has blue eyes and a deep scar on his right cheek.” Here, again, is just the appearance of your father. “He appears to be lame in one foot and carries a cane.” You are almost convinced now, for that is just what your father did. “But further, he has on light gray clothes, well worn, and threadbare. They appear to be dusty with flour.” Now you are almost certain that it must be your father, for that is just the clothing he wore.

Now, from the description, you would almost swear that that was your father. The medium, and, indeed, all spiritualists claim that you must be very unbelieving if you are not convinced that it is really he. They claim that the same evidence, the same amount and exact description in any court of justice would identify any man; and hence that it identifies this spirit whom the medium sees as being your father, beyond the possibility of a doubt; hence it must be the spirit of your dead father.

Now comes the point to which we wish to call your attention. If the spirit which dwelt in your father's body is there, because the medium sees and can describe the exact looks, and features of your father's face, then it follows just as legitimately that the spirit of your father's old coat is there too; because she describes the coat just as minutely as she does your father's face!! If it proves that the spirit of your father's body is there, does it not prove just as plainly that the spirit of your father's coat is there too? Certainly it must.

You remember the case of Samuel and the witch of Endor. Saul asked the woman, the medium, what she saw. “And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle, and Saul perceived that it was Samuel.” Here you will see that one thing that convinced Saul that Samuel was there, was that old mantle, which Samuel always wore while in the flesh. See 1 Sam. 15:27. Now was the spirit of Samuel there? If so, the spirit of his old mantle was there too. Hence you see, dear reader, from all these facts, it is plain that the very clothes we wear are animated with an undying spirit; and still further, that our spirits will be clothed with spirits of garments that we wear here. Now, we can draw a very practical lesson from this; namely, it is very important that we wear good clothing here; and particularly that we dress up a little just before we die, as we shall have to wear these clothes there eternally!!!

But to be serious about it, I think there is an important point about this, which shows the deception of modern spiritualism. Last night, I heard a trance speaker lecture. I asked him if spirits wore clothing in the spirit world. He said they did; but that it was clothing adapted to that country, and different from ours. Then I asked him how it was, that when mediums describe to us the spirits of our friends, whom they say they see before them, these spirits generally appear in the same clothing that they wore upon earth. He answered in substance as follows: When one person psychologizes or mesmerizes another, he obtains entire control of the mind thus psychologized. Then he has power to make this mesmerized person see whatever he wishes him to see. For instance, the mesmerized person will think that he sees an apple tree before him. He walks up, picks the fruit, and eats it. It is all real to him, though actually, there is no tree there. But the one who mesmerizes him has this power of bringing before his mind any image he chooses, though it is not really there. So it is in the case of a medium in a trance. The spirit mesmerizes the medium; then the medium sees the spirit of your friend; and in order that you may identify its spirit, it appears to be clothed in the same garments with which you were familiar in its earth life—not that the spirit really has on those garments. And so it is in those wonderful manifestations which have appeared at Moravia, N. Y., and other places where not only the medium, but all present in the room, see the form, the features, and the clothing of your dead friend. The spirit materializes itself, and takes on a physical form for the time being; and in order that you may be sure that it is your friend, it also takes on for the moment material clothes, which look just like the ones it wore in earth life. This he explained to me to be the philosophy of it.

Now, reader, look at the facts a moment. If the spirit can magnetize the medium and bring before her mind, and make her see a tree which is not really there, and fruit which does not exist, then the spirit can also make that medium see, or think she sees, the form of a person which is not there at all, any more than the tree is there. And if the medium sees that spirit clothed with garments which are not there at all, what proof have we that the spirit is there any more than the clothes? If she can see clothing which does not exist, she can see spirits which do not exist. And further, if a spirit can take on a material form and material clothing, so as to be seen, then that spirit can take on any form it chooses, or any color of clothing.

Do you inquire for your mother? It immediately assumes the appearance of your mother, clothing and all. Do you inquire for your little babe? The same spirit assumes the appearance and dress of your little babe.

In confessing this point, the spiritualists have given us the whole argument. We claim that it is simply the devil, and that by psychologizing or mesmerizing the medium, he has power to make her see anything that he chooses, when it is not really there at all. And thus the devil can transform himself into any shape or form to suit the emergency, and that therefore it is no proof that it is really the spirit of your departed friend because it looks like it.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

Hutchinson, Minn., Sept. 8, 1872.