Modern Spiritualism Part 2

Mr. Savage then mentions cases which he calls still more inexplicable, because the information conveyed was not known either to the psychic (which seems to be the new name for medium) or to himself. He says:-

"But one more case dare I take the s.p.a.ce for, though the budget is only opened. This one did not happen to me, but it is so hedged about and checked off, that its evidential value in a scientific way is absolutely perfect. The names of some of the parties concerned _would be recognized in two hemispheres_. A lady and gentleman visited a psychic. The gentleman was the lady's brother-in-law. The lady had an aunt who was ill in a city two or three hundred miles away. When the psychic had become entranced, the lady asked her if she had any impression as to the condition of her aunt. The reply was, 'No.' But before the sitting was over, the psychic exclaimed, 'Why, your aunt is here! She has already pa.s.sed away.' 'This cannot be true,' said the lady; 'there must be a mistake. If she had died, they would have telegraphed us immediately.' 'But,' the psychic insisted, 'she is here. And she explains that she died about two o'clock this morning. She also says that a telegram has been sent, and you will find it at the house on your return.'

"Here seemed a clear case for a test. So while the lady started for her home, her brother-in-law called at the house of a friend and told the story. While there the husband came in. Having been away for some hours he had not heard of any telegram. But the friend seated himself at his desk and wrote out a careful account, which all three signed on the spot. When they reached home,-two or three miles away,-there was the telegram confirming the fact and the time of the aunt's death, precisely as the psychic had told them.

"Here are most wonderful facts. How shall they be accounted for? I have not trusted my memory for these things, but have made careful record at the time. I know many other records of a similar kind kept by others. They are kept private. Why? The late Rev. J. G.

Wood, of England, the world-famous naturalist, once said to me: 'I am glad to talk of these things to any one who has a right to know. But I used to call everybody a fool who had anything to do with them; and with a smile-"I do not enjoy being called a fool." '

"Psychic and other societies that advertise for strange phenomena, must learn that at least a respectful treatment is to be accorded, or people will not lay bare their secret souls. And then, in the very nature of the case, these experiments concern matters of the most personal nature. Many of the most striking cases people will not make public. In some of those above related, I have had so to veil facts, that they do not appear as remarkable as they really are. The whole cannot be told."

A quotation from this same writer ("Automatic Writing," page 14), says:-

"I am in possession of a respectable body of facts that I do not know how to explain except on the theory that I am dealing with some invisible intelligence. I hold that as the only tenable theory I am acquainted with."

In the same work (page 19), the author, Mrs. S. A. Underwood, as the result of her communications from spirits, says:-

"Detailed statements of facts unknown to either of us [that is, herself and her 'control'], but which weeks afterward were learned to be correct, have been written, and repeated again and again, when disbelieved and contradicted by us."

On this point, also, as on the preceding, testimony need not be multiplied. The facts are too well known and too generally admitted to warrant the devotion of further s.p.a.ce to a presentation of the evidence.

_The question must soon be met, What is the source of the power and intelligence thus manifested?_ But this may properly be held in abeyance till we take a glance at:

The Progress of Spiritualism.

during the fifty years of its modern history. It began in a way to excite the wonder and curiosity of the people, the very elements that would give wings to its progress through the land. Men suddenly found their thoughts careering through new channels. An unseen world seemed to make known its presence and invite investigation. As the phenomena claimed to be due to the direct agency of spirits, the movement naturally a.s.sumed the name of "Spiritualism." It was then hailed by mult.i.tudes as a new and living teacher, come to clear up uncertainties and to dispel doubts from the minds of men. At least an irrepressible curiosity was everywhere excited to know what the new "ism" would teach concerning that invisible world which it professed to have come to open to the knowledge of mankind.

Everywhere men sought by what means they could come into communication with the spirit realm. Into whatever place the news entered, circles were formed, and the number of converts outstripped the pen of the enroller. It gathered adherents from every walk of life-from the higher cla.s.ses as well as the lower; the educated, cultured, and refined, as well as the uncultivated and ignorant; from ministers, lawyers, physicians, judges, teachers, government officials, and all the professions. But the individuals thus interested, being of too diverse and independent views to agree upon any permanent basis for organization, the data for numerical statistics are difficult to procure. Various estimates, however, of their numbers have been formed. As long ago as 1876, computations of the number of Spiritualists in the United States ranged from 3,000,000 by Hepworth Dixon, to 10,000,000 by the Roman Catholic council at Baltimore. Only five years from the time the first convert to Modern Spiritualism appeared, Judge Edmonds, himself an enthusiastic convert, said of their numbers:-

"Besides the undistinguished mult.i.tudes, there are many now of high standing and talent ranked among them,-doctors, lawyers, and clergymen in great numbers, a Protestant bishop, the learned and reverend president of a college, judges of our higher courts, members of Congress, foreign amba.s.sadors, and ex-members of the United States Senate."

Up to the present time, it is not probable that the number of Spiritualists has been much reduced by apostasies from the faith, if such it may be called; while the movement itself has been growing more prominent and becoming more widely known every year. The conclusion would therefore inevitably follow that its adherents must now be more numerous than ever before. A letter addressed by the writer to the publishers of the _Philosophical Journal_, Chicago, on this point, received the following reply, dated Dec. 24, 1895:-

"Being unorganized, largely, no reliable figures can be given.

Many thousands are in the churches, and are counted there. It is _claimed_ that there are about five million in the United States, and over fifty million in the world."

The _Christian at Work_ of Aug. 17, 1876, under the head of "Witches and Fools," said:-

"But we do not know how many judges, bankers, merchants, prominent men in nearly every occupation in life, there are, who make it a constant practice to visit clairvoyants, sightseers, and so-called Spiritual mediums; yet it can scarcely be doubted that their name is legion; that not only the unreligious man, but professing Christians, men and women, are in the habit of consulting spirits from the vasty deep for information concerning both the dead and the living. Many who pa.s.s for intelligent people, who would be shocked to have their Christianity called in question, are constantly engaged in this disreputable business."

The following appeared some years ago, in the San Francisco _Chronicle_:-

"Until quite recently, science has coldly ignored the alleged phenomena of Spiritualism, and treated Andrew Jackson Davis, Home, and the Davenport brothers, as if they belonged to the common fraternity of showmen and mountebanks. But now there has come a most noteworthy change. We learn from such high authority as the _Fortnightly Review_ that Alfred R. Wallace, F. R. S.; William Crookes, F. R. S. and editor of the _Quarterly Journal of Science_; W. H. Harrison, F. R. S. and president of the British Ethnological Society, with others occupying a high position in the scientific and literary world, have been seriously investigating the phenomena of spiritism. The report which those learned gentlemen make is simply astounding. There is no fairy tale, no story of myth or miracle, that is more incredible than their narrative. They tell us in grave and sober speech, that the spirit of a girl who died a hundred years ago, appeared to them in visible form. She talked with them, gave them locks of her hair, pieces of her dress, and her autograph. They saw her in bodily presence, felt her person, heard her voice; she entered the room in which they were, and disappeared without the opening of a door.

The savants declare that they have had numerous interviews with her under conditions forbidding the idea of trickery or imposture.

"Now that men eminent in the scientific world have taken up the investigation, Spiritualism has entered upon a new phase. It can no longer be treated with silent contempt. Mr. Wallace's articles in the _Fortnightly_ have attracted general attention, and many of the leading English reviews and newspapers are discussing the matter. The New York _World_ devotes three columns of its s.p.a.ce to a summary of the last article in the _Fortnightly_, and declares editorially that the 'phenomena' thus attested 'deserve the rigid scientific examination which Mr. Wallace invites for them.' This is treating the matter in the right way. Let all the well-attested facts be collected, and then let us see what conclusions they justify. If spirit communication is a fact, it is certainly a most interesting one. In the language which the World attributes to John Bright, 'If it is a fact, it is the one besides which every other fact of human existence sinks into insignificance.' "

One of the reasons why it would be quite impossible to state the number of real Spiritualists in our land to-day has already been hinted at in a foregoing extract. It is that "many thousands," and we think the number might in all probability be raised to millions, who are in reality Spiritualists, do not go by that name. They are in the various churches, and are counted there. Yet they believe the phenomena of Spiritualism, accept its teachings in their own minds, and quietly and constantly, as the _Christian at Work_ avers, consult clairvoyants and mediums, in quest of knowledge. The grosser features of the teachings of Spiritualism which were painfully prominent in its earlier stages, which there is no reason to believe are discountenanced or abandoned either in theory or practice, are relegated to an invisible background, while in its outward aspect it now poses in the att.i.tude of piety and the garb of religion. It even professes to adopt some of the more prominent and popular doctrines of Christianity. In this phase the average churchgoer cannot see why he may not accept all that Spiritualism has to give, and still retain his denominational relationship. Besides this, the coming to light, every now and then, of the fact that some person of national or world-wide fame is a Spiritualist, adds popularity and gives a new impetus to the movement.

Such instances may be named as the founder of the Leland Stanford University, of California; the widow of ex-Vice-President Hendricks, of Indiana, who, it is said, is carrying on some very successful financial transactions by direction from the spirit world; and Mr. W. T. Stead, London editor of the _Review of Reviews_, who, in 1893 started a new quarterly, called _The Border Land_, to be devoted to the advocacy of the philosophy of Spiritualism, which he had then but recently espoused. In other countries it has invaded the ranks of the n.o.bility, and even seated itself on the thrones of monarchs. The late royal houses of France, Spain, and Russia are said, by current rumor, to have sought the spirits for knowledge. No cause could covet more rapid and wide-spread success than this has enjoyed.

Chapter Two.

WHAT IS THE AGENCY IN QUESTION?

Having now shown that there are connected with Spiritualism supermundane phenomena that cannot be denied, and equally evident superhuman intelligence, sufficient to give to the movement unprecedented recognition in all the world, the way is open for the most important question that can be raised concerning it, and one which now demands an answer; and that is, What is the agency by which these phenomena are produced, and by which this intelligence is manifested? This question must be examined with the utmost care, and, if possible, a decision be reached of the most a.s.suring certainty; for, as Mr. M. J. Savage says, "Spiritualism is either a grand truth or a most lamentable delusion."

It is proper that the claim which Spiritualism puts forth for itself, in this regard, should first be heard. This is so well known that it scarcely need be stated. It is that there is in every human being a soul, or spirit, which const.i.tutes the real person; that this soul, or spirit, is immortal; that it manifests itself through a tangible body during this earth life, and when that body dies, pa.s.ses unscathed into the unseen world, into an enlarged sphere of life, activity, and intelligence; that in this sphere it can still take cognizance of earthly things, and communicate with those still in the flesh, respecting scenes which it has left, and those more interesting conditions still veiled from mortal sight; that it is by these disembodied, or "discarnated" spirits that raps are given, objects moved, intelligence manifested, secrets revealed, slates written, voices uttered, faces shown, and epistles addressed to mortals, as friend would write to friend. If this be true, it opens what would indeed be considered a grand avenue of consolation to bereaved hearts, by giving them evidence that their departed friends still lived; that they recognized, loved, and accompanied them, and delighted still to counsel and instruct them. If not true, it is a masterpiece of superhuman craft and cunning; for it takes Christendom on the side where it is least guarded; as the view is everywhere held that the dead are conscious, and the only question would be as to their power to communicate with persons still living in the body; and it throws its arms around the individual when the heart is the most tender, when plunged into a condition in which every pang of bereaved sorrow, every tie of affection, and every throb of love, press him to crave with all his being that communication with the dead may be proved a fact, and to constrain him to accept the doctrine, unless kept from it by some power stronger than the cords that bind heart to heart in deathless love. If it be a deception, it occupies a vantage ground before which men may well tremble.

But, as has been already stated, the question is here to be discussed from the standpoint of the Bible; the Bible is to be taken as the standard of authority by which all conflicting claims respecting the nature of man, must be decided. The authenticity of the Scriptures, in reference to those who deny their authority, is an antecedent question, into the discussion of which it is not the province of this little work to enter. A word, however, by way of digression, may be allowed in reference to its authorship.

Credentials of the Bible.

1. The Bible claims to be the word of G.o.d. Those who wrote it a.s.sert that they wrote as they "were moved by the Holy Ghost;" and they append to what they utter, a "Thus saith the Lord."

2. If it is not what it claims to be, it is an _imposture_ invented by _deceivers_ and _liars_.

3. _Good_ men would not deceive and lie; therefore they were not the ones who invented the Bible.