THE MODERN HISTORY OF SPIRITISM

I

SPIRITUALISM at its source is older than man, but we have no intention of tracing it to its source just now, that will come later. At the moment we wish to deal with it only for the period of time during which it has been known by its present name.

And yet its present name is not the best because it has too wide an application. At one time "Spiritualism" was used to designate the doctrines and religious life of mystics like Jacob Bohme and Madame Guyon who tried to live consecrated lives subject to the Holy Spirit, and in obedience to the Word of God.

As a French investigator put it, "spiritualism is the opposite of materialism. Whoever believes he has something within him distinguished from matter is a spiritualist," in which sense, of course, all true Christians are spiritualists, though it does not follow that they practice communications with spirits of an invisible world.

Therefore to designate this latter belief the word "Spiritism" has come to be used, which we shall employ hereafter, meaning by it the idea of some people, that the living can and do communicate with the spirits of the departed, and also including the various practices resorted to in that intercourse.

II

Spiritism, which is also necromancy or the evocation of the dead, was a feature of that Gnosticism which assailed the Christian Church in the Apostolic era, and against which Paul, by the Holy Spirit, inveighs particularly in his epistle to the Colossians. And this, in turn, indicates that it was not a new thing even then, but that it formed a part of the earlier pagan religions. Allusions to it have been found in Homer, Strabo ascribes its practice to the early Persians, Theodoret finds it in Chaldea and Babylonia, and readers of the Old Testament recall Moses speaking of it as among the abominations of the Canaanites (Deut. XVIII) of which we speak in a later chapter.

The Delphic oracles (more than 600 B. C.) are claimed by Spiritists and we believe with good reason, and the same may be said of the lives of seers and clairvoyants and the facts of witchcraft in all ages. "Never would that oracle at Delphi have been so celebrated nor stored with so many gifts from all kinds of peoples and kings, unless every age had experienced the truth of its utterances" (Cicero, De Divinatione 19).

To come to the Christian period, the early Church fathers assume as unquestionable the agency of evil spirits in the pagan oracles and rites, showing themselves by divinations, cures and dreams. The records of the Roman Catholic Church also speak of phenomena which bear a close resemblance to present-day Spiritism. During the Reformation Luther published a treatise against "The Celestial Prophets", so-called, of Germany, whom he charged with exercising the imitative powers of Satan.

There were occurrences in the Wesley family ascribed to Spiritism (1716), and it is commonly believed to explain much in Swedenborg's alleged full and open communication with the spirit world.

In America, David Brainerd, in his work among the Indians, declared that one of his greatest difficulties was the conviction they held that their diviners had supernatural power, a conviction he himself shared.

In 1843, the Shakers at New Lebanon, N. Y., became the subjects of strange experiences, and influences purporting to be spirits who had lived in the world in different ages, took possession of their bodies and spoke through their vocal organs.

III

What is known as the "spirit-rapping" phenomenon began in March, 1848, in the family of John D. Fox in Hydeville, N. Y., whose daughters a few years afterwards began to give public performances.

The alleged spiritist manifestations of these young women became the subject of extensive newspaper discussion with the result that "mediums", through whom they were said to occur, were multiplied in different parts of the country by hundreds and thousands.

The séances of the Fox girls before the Civil War were attended by some of the most prominent men of the country, and when they visited Europe they had the nobility and royalty for their auditors. Societies were organized, and disciples and imitators came forward in great numbers.

IV

This brings us to the scientific epoch in Spiritism, when such men as Sir William Crookes, the English chemist and physicist, who died recently, became actively interested in it.

In the London Quarterly Journal of January, 1874, he classified the phenomena under some ten or a dozen heads, and also conducted exhibitions in his own house, mostly in the light, when it is said that the existence of an unexplained force was accurately tested by means of an ingenious apparatus.

20 Spiritism and the Fallen Angels

In other words, with Sir William Crookes' investigations it began to be felt that the phenomena of Spiritism were not all fraud, and while the scientists were unable to explain the source of some of them, their ignorance in the premises went so far to confirm the teaching of the Bible that the source was to be found in the superhuman realm.

Sir William testified that "it was a common thing for seven or eight of us in the laboratory to see Miss Cook (the medium) and 'Katie' (the spirit) at the same time under the full blaze of the electric light." On one occasion, the electrician showed to the satisfaction of the spectators that the medium was inside the cabinet while the supposed spirit form was visible and moving outside.

Quoting Nelson's Encyclopædia, it was the organization of the Society of Psychical Research (England, 1882; America, 1888) that revived recent interest in the doctrine. Its work has tended to put limits to the claims which have been made for communication with the discarnate, though it has at the same time strengthened the belief in it by giving it better scientific credentials. Reports on the remarkable case of Mrs. Piper were published in five different volumes of the Proceedings of this Society, and it is said that they offer the best mass of scientific evidence extant in support of possible spirit communication.

It was the evidence derived from this woman's case when she crossed the Atlantic in 1889, that finally convinced Sir Oliver Lodge that deceased relatives spoke or sent messages through her organism informing him both of known and unknown facts subsequently verified. In other words, to quote him exactly, it convinced him "that the brain and organism of a living person might be utilized by deceased personalities whose own bodies had ceased to work."

To avoid an erroneous supposition in the light of some things which we have already said, let it be stated clearly at this point that the Bible is against the conclusion of Sir Oliver. It reveals, as we shall subsequently discover, the possibility of materializations, but not the actual talking with the dead. By materialization in this case we mean the assumption of a material and bodily form by evil angels or demons who wickedly personate the dead and deceive the living, but nothing more. The proof of this will follow, but to avoid any possible misunderstanding at the outset, the fact itself is here stated.

V

The current revival of Spiritism, or "the Spiritist intrusion", as Life called it, dates from the recent war, and was predicted by close and earnest students of the Bible. It is "due to the bereavements of the war and to the longing of broken hearts to find out something concerning the destiny of those who have been taken from them." Instead of turning "to the law and to the testimony" as the inspired prophet exhorts, they have taken up with spirits "that peep and that mutter" (Isaiah VIII. 19, 20).

"There is hardly a home in England," we are told, "from which some boy has not gone forever during these last two years. Can they be reached? Can one have communion with them? Can they break through the wall between their world and ours?

"Then, one by one, such men as Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir A. Conan Doyle published books saying, 'We have had communications from our boys, and have spoken with them and with their comrades who perished on the field of battle.'

"Thousands of parents responded, 'If they, why not we?' And the result has been an almost overwhelming rush to mediums, and long lists of séances are now advertised in the papers." (Editorial in The Christian Work).

In our opinion the campaign of the powers of darkness gained its greatest headway up until that date during the fighting from Mons to Ypres.

Readers will recall a fantastic story of that period published at first in a London evening paper, and entitled, "The Bowman", which purported to tell how St. George and the old Agincourt bowmen appeared during the retreat from Mons and fought with the British against the foe. The author frankly declared it was pure fiction, but so heated was the British imagination at the time and so psychologically ready for the reception of the occult, that he was not believed by many who seriously entertained the opinion that angels appeared to the soldiers.

Nor were these in all cases the intellectually weak, but in some instances intelligent and educated men and women, including a Christian scholar whom we personally know, and who is honored throughout Christendom. Indeed an eminent clergyman of London is reported to have said that such a case of spiritual intervention was "eminently creditable. Joan of Arc saved her country owing to the vision of an angel, and why should not the phenomenon be repeated in this case?"

Immediately people began to hold intercourse with their beloved dead, as was supposed. The Christian scholar, in a private letter to the writer, said: "My wife saw her boy in his spiritual body permitted to come once to comfort her. We know. It is the same with many. This war is given for the convincing of many that the future life is a real thing, and that God Himself speaks to man. This is the one consolation that remains out of this hideous and horrible time of trial. My wife was permitted to talk to her boy. He was even more radiant than in life, but otherwise the same. He told her of his death and the manner of it. We learned after a month that this was true. Some people call it a dream. I know it was a vision granted to soothe her sorrow and her longing. This has nothing to do with magic. The spiritual eye saw the spiritual body."

VI

It would not be the part of wisdom for the writer to delay warning the unwary until our consideration of this subject approached its conclusion. Hence a pause is made here to say that the experiences above recorded are very different from those of Bible saints.

Let a brief reference be made again to Isaiah's words (VIII. 19-22). He sees Israel in the latter days in great distress, doubtless far beyond anything known in the late war. They are "hardly bestead and hungry", "behold trouble, darkness, dimness of anguish". They are seeking u unto them that have familiar spirits and unto wizards that peep and that mutter", and he rebukes them, saying, "Should not a people seek unto their God? On behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

In other words, are not the Word and the Spirit of God the source, and the sufficient source, of the Christian's comfort in this age? Does he need such visions to convince him of the future life and that God speaks to men? The rich man in our Lord's story in Luke 16 thought well of that kind of evidence, but we remember how fruitless "father Abraham" thought it would be. If such things are the only, or the strongest, consolation remaining for God's people in such a time of trial, what of the millions of them to whom they do not come?

Let the Christian ever keep in mind that there are such beings as evil spirits, of whom we shall learn considerable by and by, and let him consider further that fundamentally only these are in evidence in this modern outbreak of Spiritism.

In proof of this it may be mentioned that in all the accounts of the angels at Mons which came to our attention, not once was Jesus Christ so much as named. St. George was named, and Joan of Arc, and Socrates, and Swedenborg, and the Virgin Mary. God was referred to a few times, but our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ never. Even the private correspondence mentioned above, and from a Christian source, alludes to Him but once, and then indirectly, and by His human and family name, Jesus.

"What place do you give to Christ in Spiritualism?" was asked of a votary by a London editor. "Is He to you the Son of God, and do you worship Him as such?"

"Oh, no," came the reply. "He is to us simply the Master Medium."