THE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM.
By James White
But it is claimed that the manifestations of Spiritualism answer to Paul's description of the gifts of the Spirit in the gospel church, in 1 Cor. xii, and Eph. iv. But this is contradicted by the plain sense and reading of the Scriptures. Says Paul, "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." With Spiritualists the order is entirely different; each gift claims a diversity of spirits. One medium will call on a score of spirits in one evening; and healing mediums, in some cases, call on a number of spirits at once, to unite their strength and increase the power of healing. A careful reading of 1 Cor. xii, 4-13, will satisfy any one on this point. 1 Tim. iv, 1, we think has reference to this work. "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." In the latter times. Equivalent to the last days. In our brief comparison of the prophecies of Daniel and John, it was shown that the facts concerning the kingdoms of earth, proved that we are now in the last days; that the signs of the Saviour's coming have been fulfilled, and that it is now time to look and prepare for that event. As the deliverance of God's people draws near, the truth is resisted as it was in the days of Moses, by sorcerers, enchanters, necromancers, &c., who pretend to reveal secrets and foretell events by consulting the dead. This is "an abomination to the Lord." Isaiah says, "If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." That they contradict the word, and fulfill the prophecy of the Saviour respecting false christs, is evident from their teachings respecting the nature, person, and character, of Christ. They profess to be christs, but to which of them will the scripture facts concerning Christ apply? which of them has fulfilled the prophecies concerning the Messiah? which of them has ascended to the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens to intercede for sinners? To which of them has the Lord said, "Sit thou at my right hand till I make thy foes thy footstool?" To which of them, dear reader, would you entrust your soul's salvation? But enough of this. The united presumption, arrogance, and blasphemy of such teachers and teachings, is sickening. Yet there are professed believers of the Bible, and professed ministers of the gospel who uphold this blasphemous work, and pretend to find in it the perfection of Christianity! This brings to notice the next sentence in the prophecy of Paul above quoted. Some shall depart from the faith. As no person can depart from a place to which he has never been, so no one can depart from a faith that he had never professedly embraced. Then in the latter times we may expect to find some denying the truths of revelation, which they have before believed and advocated. That this is true of many of the advocates of Spiritualism, every one knows that is at all acquainted with that work. Many of the lecturers, and some of the mediums and editors, were formerly ministers of different denominations, and still prefix the title "Rev." to their names; and some clergymen, still occupying their places in their respective churches, are writing and speaking in favor of the new spiritual theory. But other specifications of the prophecy fix it to a certainty. Many of various classes may renounce the truth, but those referred to in this scripture depart from the faith. Giving heed to seducing spirits. This brings us to notice the claim continually set up that they are good spirits, doing good, &c. In order to seduce, they must have the appearance and profession of goodness. Seductive, says Webster, is "tending to lead astray; apt to mislead by flattering appearances." Flattery, is the seducer's strong hold; and this is a characteristic of the teachings of the spirits. In 2 Tim. iii, as already noticed, it is said that men shall be lovers of their own selves, boasters, proud, high-minded. Many Spiritualists love themselves so deeply, and regard themselves as so noble and elevated that they have lost all love and reverence for the Supreme Being. In their esteem the falsehood of the first great seducer is verified—"Ye shall not surely die. . . . Ye shall be as gods." (See Gen. iii, 4, 5.) This self-sufficient feeling is manifested amongst all classes of Spiritualists, and is well expressed by a speaker at a late annual spiritual convention in the State of Michigan. The speaker, who was also an officer of the convention, in stating the wants of reformers, said:— "What we want is men and women who can43speak and write their own thoughts without leaning on any support, not even God himself." The "Healing of the Nations" is a standard spiritual work, written by a medium, with an introduction and appendix by N. P. Tallmadge. Speaking of the spirit, it says:
"It can from its own individual powers, comprehend the deep beauties of itself." The "deep beauties of self" is a favorite subject of contemplation with a certain class of people. A certain character (Lucifer) is represented in the Scriptures as saying, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the Most High." Isa, xiv, 14. The following extract from the report of a lecture by A. J. Davis, in New York, is but a reiteration of this boasting. The subject was, "Spiritualism as an agent of human redemption." He was reported in a spiritual paper as saying:—
"Man will control the atmosphere, produce rain, and prevent injurious storms. Then the art of using electricity and magnetism will be discovered, and applied to the improvement of soils, doubling the amount of grains, fruits, &c. A new motive power is to be, ere long, brought out, and applied to the new arrangements for traveling and navigating sea and air," &c. That they are seducing, flattering spirits, is also fully proved by their teachings respecting Christ, making their followers believe themselves to be, not only prophets greater than those whose writings are in the scriptures, but christs of stronger powers as mediums than Jesus of Nazareth! It is claimed that they are benevolent and good because they heal diseases. Any reflecting mind will acknowledge that this alone is not sufficient to justify the claim. The argument is no more conclusive than it would be to claim that a physician must be of a benevolent disposition because he cures his patients. His reputation as such, and beyond this his fee or reward may be the grand motive of his practice. The intent and general course of life must be considered; and so of these spirits. The general tendency of their course and teachings must be ascertained, and these being considered, we shall find that their healing power is exerted only to carry on their deceptions and work of seducing from the path of right. And we inquire, who brought diseases into the world, and seduced man to a course of action that subjected him to disease? This was the work of Satan. All diseases are parts of the process of decay, and prove man to be subject to death, which is in the power of the Devil. Heb. ii, 14. But Jesus is the life-giver; [John iii, 16; vi, 40; x, 10; 1 Cor. xv, 22; 1 John v, 11, 12; Rom. ii, 7.] When the Saviour healed a woman of a disease of long standing, he said Satan had bound her eighteen years. Luke xiii, 16. And if Satan holds the human family in bonds of affliction, it is certainly no great cause of praise to him that he should release his hold of his victim for a season the better to carry on his deceptions, and bring them under the power of the second death. Would we praise the magnanimity of the ruffian who had bound and maltreated his neighbor, because he had afterward let him go? We should rather blame him for having ill treated him. Those who urge such a claim might with equal show of reason claim that the Devil was benevolent because of the liberal offers he made to the Saviour! Luke iv, 2-8. The offers were very large, but the intention deprived them of benevolence. These miracles of healing are often wrought through mediums who deny the Bible, reproach the idea of salvation through Christ, and blaspheme the name of God. Does the Lord, or his ministering angels, work through such? If Satan works, or ever shall work, in them that perish, and that love not the truth, [2 Thess. ii, 9, 10.] he could scarcely find more fitting subjects than many of the mediums through whom these "tests" and wonderful cures are manifested. Thus their character as "seducing spirits" is clearly proved. But there remains one important point in this prophecy to examine. By this we learn that those who give heed to these seducing spirits, also give heed to This brings us to a more full consideration of the doctrines of Spiritualism, as to their origin and tendency. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God," and whatever is opposed to Scripture is of the adversary, the Devil. In giving proof on this point we shall give the most direct, to wit, their own writings. And if some of them be found to border on blasphemy, they will present still stronger proof of our position. But while we regret the necessity for quoting such irreverent words even to prove the fulfilment of prophecy, we assure our readers that we do not give the most blasphemous expressions that we have heard spoken, or have read in their publications. The columns of the Truth Seeker, published in Angola, Ind., are literally filled with the lowest and most vulgar infidelity. Its name stands, (or lately stood; we have not seen these papers in some weeks,) in the Telegraph’s list of "weekly journals devoted to Spiritualism," immediately above the Crisis, published in Laporte, Ind., by "Rev. Henry Weller." The Truth Seeker is now published professedly without an editor, one intent of which is that it gives correspondents, who may be ignorant of the facts, the idea that they all occupy the office of editors of their own writings, and is of course designed to be a popular feature. But the truth is that the matter for a paper can no more be compiled without an editor than it can be printed without a printer; it can no more edit itself than the types can set themselves, or the press work itself. Every number that we have seen, contained editorial notes and notices, generally by A. P. Bowman, who is really the editor, and sometimes by the printer, who acts as editor as occasion requires, or in the absence of Mr. Bowman, who is also a lecturer. Not long since a communication was divided in two numbers and an apology offered to the writer therefor. This could not be done without agency, and was, of course, the work of the acting editor. A number of this paper published during the present year, (1857,) contains an editorial note by Mr. Bowman to a correspondent in which he speaks of his paper as follows:
"Our columns are open for a fool or a wise man; for the orthodox Devil or God, or for those who are more friendly and kind to each other than this God and Devil dare be." The correspondent to whom this was addressed is setting forth the glories of the reform movement in "Berlin Heights, Ohio," says:
"We shall combine in one the lecture room and the hall room, and shall seek to promote integral and harmonious development. . . .
"We have a Free Discussion Hall where the most radical and generally obnoxious sentiments are uttered with impunity. Orthodoxy, once proud and powerful, feebly totters over its grave, already sings—while Spiritualism and Infidelity stalk abroad at noon-day." In another article by Mr. Bowman, the whole of which is reviling Christianity and the gospel system, he speaks of the hymn commencing with the words, "Come ye sinners, poor and needy," as follows:
"It is generally sung to encourage sinners, who have conscientious scruples about the justice of saddling their sins onto Christ, to induce them to trust in Christ, in the face of their conscience and better judgment." But this publication and its correspondents, are not alone in the work of spreading infidel sentiments. To such names as Dr. Hare, and Dr. Weisse scores might be added, prominent as Spiritualists, who are openly and professedly infidels. The extract before given from Dr. Weisse is from a lengthy article, in which he labors to show that the writings of the Old and New Testaments are but a transcript of heathen fables, and he says that spirits and mediums do not contradict his view of the Scriptures; and a correspondent of one of the New York Spiritual papers, speaking of Dr. Hare’s work, claimed that he had done more to overthrow the Bible than any other man of the age. A. J. Davis says:
"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 both of man and law. . . . It will be found impossible for man to transgress a law of God." But the open and professed infidels are not alone guilty of promulgating such sentiments. Those Spiritualists who profess to believe the Bible, and amongst them clergymen, teach doctrines subversive of its most vital truths. This most clearly shows the fulfillment of the prophecy. They have, even while yet professing Christianity, departed from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. The course usually pursued to destroy the authority of the Bible, is first to affirm that there are essential truths that are not taught in it. These are found in the teachings of "the Spirits." When the candidate for "progression" has safely mounted this platform, and imbibed a due reverence for the spirits, they next teach that parts of the Bible are not true. By this time the reformer is prepared to believe that his reason is the test, and his wisdom the most perfect that he can find: that in reading the Bible he must discriminate between what is true and what is false. And we find invariably that that is pronounced false which is in opposition to the teachings of the spirits: of course their teachings are the sole test, and they henceforth are made to occupy the place that the word of God ought to. It is truly singular to behold those who ridicule the believer in the Bible, pronouncing him a slave, afraid to be guided by reason, &c., themselves led by the various teachings of spirits, on whose testimony they rely with implicit confidence, on points beyond the range of their observation, and concerning which they have no data from which to reason but the testimony of "seducing spirits." In the work of overthrowing the Bible various substitutes have been offered, and new versions commenced by spirit dictation. To prove the necessity of this it is affirmed that there is an internal or spiritual signification to the language of the Scriptures: that they cannot be understood by the mere reading of the words. This is an abuse of God’s word that, we regret to say, is countenanced and upheld by the teachings of the various denominations of Protestants. And in so teaching they as truly hide the Scriptures from the masses as the Catholic church has. If we take, for instance, a few plain words, as life, death, immortality, destruction, &c., and give them their plain, obvious meaning, the same that is given to them in other books, and in the dictionaries, "the Bible argument for Spiritualism," as it is termed, would vanish in an instant. But with it would also vanish some of the most cherished doctrines of the churches. That there are figures and symbols in the Bible, none deny, but the symbols are so explained that they are easily understood. It is also true that almost every book and writing now extant, contains figures, but that does not change the significations of the words used. If all the doctrines based upon such an abuse and perversion of the word of God were discarded or overthrown, the world would be greatly benefitted thereby. And if the churches will uphold their unscriptural dogmas, merely because they are popular, when it is so evident that they are the pillars and ground of Spiritualism, they must bear their portion of the blame of this iniquitous work with the Spiritualists who have only to use the arguments furnished to their hands by professors and doctors of theology. But these pretended versions of the Scriptures thus far have been abortive attempts to pervert and destroy the testimony of the word on points of vital importance, or else a mere display of high-sounding, unmeaning words. As an instance of the perversion of language, see the following from the "Healing of the Nations":
"All are outcasts from heaven as light and love are cast out of Jehovah." That sinful, rebellious man, who by transgression of the law of God is treasuring up to himself "wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the right judgment of God" is an outcast from heaven in the same sense and manner that love is an emanation from the God of love, is really absurd. No one could harbor the idea for an instant that had a particle of faith in the holy Scriptures. J. H. W.