Earlier text: General ArticlesModern Spiritualism.
By Editor
THEIR TENDENCY IS TO ATHEISM AND IMMORALITY.
WE are not left to conjecture what may be the result of such teachings as those we have quoted; they are bearing fruit which is abundantly manifest, and we trust that all will justify our strictures when the result is pointed out. But it may be objected that such declarations as we have quoted from the “Healing of the Nations,” Dr. Hare, Davis, and others, will not be found in the writings of all. To this objection we answer by applying principles, as to other evils. Thus: The apologists of slavery acknowledged that there were evils and abuses attending the system, of which they did not approve; but they claimed that there were also good and kind masters, who did not abuse their slaves; to which we reply: What were termed the abuses were a vital part of the system; there was nothing in the system to prevent such abuses; the kind-hearted masters have really been the greatest foes to humanity, giving respectability to that which is in its very nature evil, and thus prolonging its existence. So in regard to “respectable houses” and “fashionable saloons” in the traffic in ardent spirits. While the evils are necessary consequences of the systems, it were far better to let them bear only their hideous features, that mankind might reprobate them and put them away. And so of Spiritualism. There has nothing been published by Spiritualists that would forbid the sentiments we have quoted. The tendency of all that we have seen is in the same direction. We do not offer the testimony of those who have opposed it as a trick, a humbug, but of those who have examined it, embraced it, and been its firm adherents. Joel Tiffany, a well-known lecturer and publisher of the spiritualistic views, testified on this point. Although quoted before, we repeat his testimony in this connection because of its importance:— “In an article entitled, ‘Spiritualism,’ published in the December number of the Monthly, among other faults and errors, I charged that its influence had tended to create a kind of moral and religious Atheism—that these modern developments had not awakened religious aspirations in the minds of those who had been the subjects of them. To this charge many took exceptions as being too severe. I have carefully investigated its truth since that time, and find the charge to be just. My experience has been, go among Spiritualists where you will, and as a general thing, they have no faith in a living, conscious, intelligent Deity; possessed of love, volition, affection, etc., as an object of religious aspiration and worship. They feel no demand for worship themselves, and they denounce and ridicule its exercise in others. On an examination both of their theoretical and practical faith in God, you will find that it amounts to nothing but an indefinite and incoherent Pantheism.” Dr. Randolph was eight years a medium and a lecturer. He gave his opinion of it, from which we extract as follows:— “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 the 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 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 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 of normal 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 influence. 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.” J. F. Whitney, editor of the N. Y. Pathfinder, gives his opinion. The following extracts will show his opportunities and ability to judge of its character and tendency:— “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 indorse 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 these manifestations are continued to be received, and to be as little understood as they have been, since they made their appearance at Rochester, and mortals are to be deceived by their false, fascinating, and snake-like charming powers, which go with them, the day 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 indorse 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.” Almost every one who has heard of Spiritualism has heard of Cora Hatch, the great trance-speaking medium, who, accompanied by her husband, Dr. Hatch, has traveled extensively and astonished multitudes by her extemporaneous lectures on various subjects. Dr. H. has renounced Spiritualism, and we subjoin extracts from his testimony. Cora, lately his wife, is still a medium, and has separated herself from him and chosen an affinity. Dr. Hatch says:— “All Spiritualists claim that the mental control of mediums is spiritual psychology, and that, for the time being, the mind is held in perfect vassalage to the controlling spirit. Also, that the spirit world is made up of just such persons as are daily passing from this world to that, and that both the good and evil alike have power to return and obsess mortals who are mediumistic. Therefore, taking the concession of the Spiritualist and combining it with the well-known laws of psychological control, we are inevitably forced to the following conclusion, viz., that there is no reliance to be placed upon the veracity or moral integrity of any mental medium on earth. Their oath would be wholly unreliable, for the moment they are called upon to bear witness they may become infested or obsessed by an outside influence which desires to give different testimony, and thereby made to utter such statements as they know to be wholly false, when in their normal condition; and at the same time they may be, apparently, perfectly themselves in reference to all other things. Here we have a basis, according to the Spiritualist’s own theory, which is incontrovertible, and which establishes upon immutable laws the perfect unreliability of mediums. “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. “It is worse than useless to talk to the Spiritualists against this condition of things; for those who occupy the highest position among them are aiding and abetting in all classes of iniquities which prevail among them. The abrogation of marriage, bigamy, accompanied by robbery, theft, rapes, are all chargeable upon Spiritualism. I most solemnly affirm that I do not believe that there has during the past 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 openings of the avenues of Spiritual intercourse. But during the past eight months I have devoted my attention to critical investigation of its moral, and religious bearing, and I stand appalled before the revelations of its awful and damning realities.” This evidence of Dr. Hatch perfectly accords with that of Mr. Tiffany, Mr. Whitney, and Dr. Randolph. And later still, “Rev. T. L. Harris, of New York City, a noted medium, through whom some of the most popular spirit-publications were given, renounced it, and a testimony as strong as any of the preceding. The quotation we take from the New York Tribune, Feb. 25, 1860, as copied from the London Advertiser. It says:— “We went to the place from a sense of duty, expecting, as did all the 300 or 400 Spiritualists who were present, that we should hear the most masterly vindication of Spiritualism that could be given; and hoping that having once heard its ablest defense, we should be the more fitted, as opportunity offered, to expose with greater success the iniquities, the dangers, and the disastrous results, morally, socially, and physically, of this latest and most insidious form of Pantheism. “Mr. Harris held up to the eyes of his audience the system of Spiritualism as the most hideous and horrible thing which had ever come from the nether world. He said that he himself was a living proof of the danger, mentally and physically, of cultivating the so-called science of Spiritualism. He mentioned that only a few years ago it had taken so absorbing a possession of his mind, and had obtained so complete a mastery over him, that it gave rigidity to the muscles of his frame, and a terrible unearthly expression to his countenance. He added that he had seen and known many others—excellent and amiable persons before they became Spiritualists—from whom the power which the demoniacal system had acquired over them had taken away their appetites, had unfitted them for the ordinary duties of life, crushed all their energies, mental and physical, deprived them of sleep at night, and caused their bodies to waste away, as if the victims of some fell disease which set all medical skill at defiance. Others he had known and seen, whose arms and legs had become as cold and rigid as those of a marble statue, while the expressions of their countenances were so horrible as more to resemble those of demons than of human beings. “The Spiritualists of America, he further stated, are not only as a body Pantheists, rejecting alike the idea of the Scriptures as a divine revelation, and of the existence of God, but they are gross sensualists and utterly immoral in their conduct in all the relations of life. “Mr. Harris added, that this was not only true of the Transatlantic Spiritualists as a body, but that it was true of every 999 out of 1000 of their number. Thousands of persons had died in America during the fifteen years that he had been a Spiritualist, who had notoriously lived most immoral lives, and yet the spirits of every one of these persons affirmed that they were all perfectly happy. The Spiritualist literature of America, Mr. Harris also stated, was, with one or two exceptions in a thousand cases, pantheistic, feeble, driveling, nay, almost idiotic. The Spiritualists were utterly selfish, as well as sensual and grossly immoral. They were destitute of all human sympathies, and never were known to perform a single benevolent action. They fully believed that, in a future state, they would live the same licentious lives as they had done on earth. The American Spiritualists were in reality a body of pagans, worshipping, like the ancient pagans, obscene and, in every respect, grossly licentious deities. And as regards the spirits with whom they hold communion, they resembled the sorcerers and demons who took possession of men and women in the days of Christ, and are so frequently referred to in God’s word—that word which is the only sure foundation of our faith, and the only safe rule of our conduct. “There were a few Christian men who had been deluded into the adoption of the system, but only in a modified degree, and so long as their Spiritualism was kept in subjection by their Christianity, the observations he had made did not apply to them. But these exceptions were so few as to be hardly worthy of notice. He begged to impress on the minds of his audience, that all that he had said of the system of Spiritualism, which he characterized as an infernal system, was the result of his own personal knowledge and experience. He mentioned some individual cases, of which he was an eye witness, in which the demon of Spiritualism had obtained so entire a mastery over its victims, as to throw them down on platforms and other public places, just as the evil spirits did of which we read in the New Testament. “The marriage vow imposes no obligations in the views of Spiritualists. Husbands who had for years been so devotedly attached to their wives, that they have said nothing in the world but death itself could part them, have abandoned their wives and formed criminal connections with other females, because the spirits had told them that there was a greater Spiritualist affinity between these husbands and certain other women, than between them and their lawful wives. Wives, too, the most devoted, and loving, and true to their husbands that had ever contracted the marriage obligation, had left their husbands and children, and lived in open immorality with other men, because the spirits had told them that they ought to do so on the ground of there being a greater Spiritualist sympathy between them and their husbands.” A MIGHTY sceptered monarch sways
The realms of mortal breath;
For every human soul obeys
The mandate stern of Death.
Death never smites a feeble blow,
Nor waiteth long between;
He cometh from the depths below
This harvest ground to glean.
He hangs a fearful gloominess
About the wizard sea;
A never-failing loneliness,
When flowing pleasantly.
But when the howling tempests rise,
Death hasteth to the fray,
And o'er the billows swiftly flies
In ruin's dread array.
In plaintive sounding melody
The breezes whisper low:—
"The agency of death shall be
Through time's all-ceaseless flow."
Death rideth on the stormy blast
Amid the lightning's play;
And shouteth when the war-clouds fast
Their many victims slay.
He floateth on the noiseless breeze
In fragrant summer time;
And hideth 'mid the leafy trees,
Whence music sweet doth chime.
He glideth where deep waters flow,
And spreads the ripple wide;
And stands where fetid marshes low
Extend their sluggish tide.
He saileth on the sun's bright beam,
Like love's resistless glance;
And where the festive torches gleam,
Whirls in the giddy dance.
Death mingleth tempting pleasure's cup,
And crowns all earthly joy;
He hovers where the song goes up,
Commissioned to destroy.
He filleth every spot of earth,
Like all-pervading light;
And all that claimeth mortal birth
Death smites in giant might.
There's horror in the very air
When o'er the dead we bend;
There's mingled terror everywhere
If Death an arrow send.
What wonder then we stand aghast
When summoned far away?
For Death, unwelcome till the last,
Attends our steps each day. that time. My experience with Spiritualists when they have been asked if they had intelligent communications from their affectionate friends, has been in duration of time, like the heathen's worship of idols—they have been ridiculed by the Spiritualists in formation by the simple statement of my faith in the Bible, to the effect to nothing in common with the Pantheism of the present day. Dr. [name illegible] and a letter from [name illegible] from which I quote: "I estimate the common claims of the believers, that they believe in a God, no stronger foundation for a foothold, and hence the spiritism that I was dealing with which they hold and transmit, to proclaim the fact that something good and that the spirit is well-nigh at the gain both for us to-day and for the house to come." "As I have known for the past eight years, I have held it sacredly and in keeping my own experience of the truth which I most solemnly believe, that it was sanctioned and consequently witnessed thereto." "For I believe with what I possess of the spirit. There was no spirit of a demon, but I had confidence in its final ruin." possessing it in all its action. Thus I am possessed of the truth and his life, and no evil in the final statement. Our Duty to Visit the Sick
"I HAVE been a member of your church for thirty years," said an elderly Christian to his pastor, "and when I was laid by with sickness for a week or two, only one or two came to visit me. I was shamefully neglected." "My friend," said the pastor, "in all those thirty years how many sick have you visited?" "Oh," he replied, "it never struck me in that light." And so, many consider only the relation of their brethren to them, and not their own relation to others. The Perihelion Theory.
By Editor
OUR readers need not expect us to give any particular views of this theory, for we have to confess that we have never read a page from the advocates of the theory. We do not profess to understand it. We have far more confidence in "the sure word of prophecy" than in any theory founded upon observations of natural causes and effects, or in the deductions of scientific investigations. In this cause we labor under this difficulty, that we profess to very little scientific knowledge ourselves, while those who profess to be thoroughly versed in scientific matters are divided upon the subject; some of them say "the language of the stars" is clear and decisive in favor of this peculiar theory—that they afford emphatic testimony that a great crisis in nature is approaching; while others, of confessed ability and erudition, are sure that the whole theory is a humbug. Aside from any supposed strength of evidence in the motion of the heavenly bodies, the advocates of the theory have one circumstance in their favor, which has an influence on many minds. It is this: the very things predicted are coming to pass with astonishing rapidity. We do not offer any opinion as to the relation of these facts to the supposed cause here indicated—we again confess that we have little interest in that direction—but we know that the facts exist to an extent which is truly startling. Distress is among the nations. The number of those who have died of starvation during the last five years is fearfully immense. It is counted up by many millions. And the prospect before us is by no means flattering. Those countries in Europe and western Asia, which have raised wheat for exportation, have no crops, or very small ones. The people are poor—by no means prepared to buy food which has been imported from distant lands. It is with reason that the multitudes look forward to the coming winter with fearful forebodings. In some parts of Central Asia it is thought the short crop of the present year will nearly answer the home demand, as the population is so reduced by starvation that the usual quantity will not be required! A heart-sickening reason for the sufficiency of a small supply of food. The jealousies and contentions among the nations cause a large increase in war expenses of late years, and demand great standing armies. By such means the power of production is decreased, while the demand is increased, and the people are more heavily taxed as their ability is destroyed to pay their taxes and supply themselves with bread. The result is not difficult to foresee. Suffering is unavoidable. Not only as nations or governments, are the inhabitants of the world involved, but a state of unrest and disquiet everywhere prevails in society. A few years ago the rich—or those counted rich—were satisfied with thousands; now they are not satisfied unless they can gather the wealth of the land into their hands, and count their possessions by millions. By such a monopoly of wealth the number of the poor is increased, who, in turn, are not satisfied with moderate wages, or such as would be considered very liberal a few years ago, but wish to grow quickly rich, without capital to begin with, and to spend much in superfluities and rioting, expecting their real wants to be supplied by the government or the wealthier classes. Beggars, under the name of tramps, do not supplicate for food and clothing—they demand them as their right, and hold the community in dread by threats or open acts of violence. Society is not more convulsed than nature itself. The prevalence of pestilences may be traced in part to the bad habits of the people; to the absence of regard for sanitary regulations; but starvation—the cutting of supplies—arises from natural causes; and these in turn bring the pestilence. The prevalence of cyclones or tornadoes, and destructive storms is unprecedented. They are not confined to any part of the earth. A greater number have occurred in Europe and America the present year, than in many years before. Not a week—scarcely a day—passes without bringing tidings of another calamitous storm. Whether these things are in any wise related to the motions and positions of the heavenly bodies, we do not know. But we have looked for such things. We are neither surprised nor disappointed that distress among the nations and convulsions of nature are prevalent and increasing. We believe the time is just before us, spoken of in Dan. 12:1—"a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation." We have no knowledge of the means whereby this state of things shall be brought about; this is, comparatively, a matter of small importance. But, from the tendency of the age, we may reasonably expect that when the judgments of God are upon the earth, men will evade the force of the fulfillment of the prophecies by referring them—even the seven last plagues—to natural causes. Science and philosophy are now, and will continue to be, the dependence of the people, for information concerning the past, the present, and the future. Few—very few—humble themselves before God and tremble at his word. We look at these startling things with feelings of much gratitude to God, for the certain information which we have given to us in the writings of the prophets. And especially are we grateful for the precious, consoling promise that, in that time of trouble upon the nations, God's own "people shall be delivered, every one whose name is found written in the book. The world has had its long day of triumph and rejoicing against the cause of God, while the people of God have been persecuted and afflicted. But this order is not long to continue; "the triumphing of the wicked is short." The calamities of the wicked world are impending, while the triumph of the saints is equally near. They who have been troubled shall find rest when the Lord Jesus shall appear; but he will, at that time, take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel. 2 Thess. 1. Our hearts rejoice in the glorious prospect. War, pestilence, and famine, have no dread for those who look for and love the appearing of the saviour. "Come, Lord Jesus." Thy presence will more than make up for the sorrows and losses of this world. "Come joy or come sorrow, whate'er may befall; An hour with my God will make up for them all." What Language Did Our Lord Use?
By John Nevins Andrews
ALTHOUGH the Old Testament was written in Hebrew with the exception of portions of Ezra, Jeremiah, and Daniel, which were written in Chaldaic, and although the New Testament was written in Greek, the language spoken by our Lord to the people of his time was neither Hebrew nor Greek. The Hebrew language ceased to be the language of the common people in the Jewish nation during the seventy years' captivity in Babylon. There they adopted the language of the Chaldeans, their conquerors, giving it of course a Hebraic cast. The Chaldaic or Aramic language, which indeed was much like the Hebrew, being thus adopted was, as a matter of course, retained during the five hundred years that elapsed before the Son of God began his work among men. In this time, however, the language underwent changes, and became so far different from the original Chaldaic that it is called the Syro-Chaldaic language. This was perhaps as nearly like the Chaldaic as the English language of to-day is like that spoken by our ancestors five hundred years since. The Syriac was used in our Lord's time by the people of quite an extensive region. The Jews of that time spoke a language compounded of Chaldaic and Syriac. This was the language of our Lord's discourses. We might reasonably infer this from the fact that it was the language of the common people. But we know it to be the case because the very expressions used by him are in many cases preserved. It is true that this language is termed in the New Testament the Hebrew tongue. But this is not because that it is the original, pure Hebrew, but because it was the language of the Hebrew people of that time, and because it resembled that tongue. It was in this modern kind of Hebrew that our Lord's inscription was written upon his cross; and it was in this that Paul addressed the people from the castle stairs. Luke 23:38; Acts 22:2. The evangelists, though writing in Greek, frequently desired to preserve the exact expressions used by our Lord. So they introduce the very words of that language in which our Lord spoke, and then they interpret them. Thus he says to the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, "Talitha cumi," which signifies, "Damsel, arise." Mark 5:41. This explains why the evangelists occasionally give our Lord's exact words and then interpret them. We have in these words in 1 Cor. 16:22 an instance of the use of the Syro-Chaldaic language by the New Testament writers. Maranatha is a term of that language signifying, "The Lord cometh." It seems to have been introduced by Paul, though writing in Greek, for the purpose of emphasis. Anathema is Greek, signifying accursed. The sentence, therefore, amounts to this: "If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ let him be accursed at the coming of the Lord." "When James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me," etc. Gal. 2:9. "Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ." 1 Cor. 1:12. This is a name given by our Lord himself to Simon. It is a word signifying in the language then used by the Hebrew people, a stone. It is therefore exactly equivalent to his more common Greek surname, Peter. John 1:42. WHAT DOES SIMON BAR-JONA SIGNIFY?
This is the designation of Peter used by our Lord in responding to his noble confession of faith recorded in Matt. 16:16, 17. Bar is a Syriac word signifying son. The expression is therefore in meaning simply this: Simon son of Jonas.
J. N. A.