Modern Spiritualism Part 4

that it was Samuel (not by actual sight, but from the woman's description; for the Hebrew ??? and the Septuagint, ????s??, signify to know, or perceive, by an operation of the mind.) Verse 14. (11) The woman supposed it was Samuel; Saul supposed it was Samuel; and that personation is, then, by the law of appearance, spoken of, in whatever it said or did, as Samuel; as, "Samuel said to Saul," etc. Verse 15. (12) Was Samuel really there as an immortal soul, a disembodied spirit, or as one raised from the dead?-No; because (_a_) immortal souls do not come up out of the ground, wrapped in mantles, and complain of being disquieted and brought up; (_b_) Samuel was a holy prophet, and if he was conscious in the spirit world, he would not present himself at the summons of a woman who was practicing arts which G.o.d had forbidden; (_c_) G.o.d having departed from Saul, and having refused to communicate with him on account of his sins, would not now suffer his servant Samuel to grant him the desired communication through a channel which he had p.r.o.nounced an abomination; (_d_) Samuel was not present by a resurrection, for the Devil could not raise him, and G.o.d certainly would not, for such a purpose; besides Samuel was buried at Ramah, and could not be raised at Endor; (_e_) It was only the woman's familiar spirit, personating Samuel as he used to appear when alive-an aged man clothed with a mantle. His object was to make both the woman and Saul believe it was Samuel, when it was not, just as communicating spirits to-day try to palm themselves off for what they are not. As a specimen of ancient Spiritualism, this case is no particular honor to their cause; and as a proof of the immortality of the soul, and the conscious state of the dead, it is a minus quant.i.ty.

8. _The Transfiguration._-Jesus took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, apart into a high mountain, and was transfigured before them; his face became as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light, just as it will be in the future kingdom of glory, which this scene was designed to represent. And there then appeared Moses and Elias talking with Christ. But Moses had died in the land of Moab nearly fifteen hundred years before, and it is at once concluded that the only way to account for his appearance on this occasion, is to suppose that he was still alive in the spirit world, and could appear in a disembodied state, and talk with Jesus as here represented. But such a conclusion is by no means necessary.

Jesus was there in person, Elias was there in person; for he had not died, but had been translated bodily from this earth. Now it would be altogether incongruous to suppose that the third member of this glorious trio, apparently just as real as the others, was only a disembodied spirit; an immaterial phantom. Unless the whole scene was merely a vision brought before the minds of the disciples, Moses was as really there, in his own proper person, as Jesus and Elias. But there is no way in which he could thus be present, except by means of a resurrection from the dead; and that he had been raised, and was there as a representative of the resurrection, is proved, first by his actual presence on this occasion, and secondly, by the fact that Michael (Christ, who is "the resurrection and the life,"

John 11:25) disputed with the Devil (who has the power of death, Heb.

2:14) about the body of Moses. Jude 9. There could be no other possible ground of controversy about the body of Moses except whether or not Christ should give it life before the general resurrection. But Christ rebuked the Devil. Christ was not thwarted in this contest, but gave his servant life; and thus Moses could appear personally upon the mount. This makes the scene complete as a representation of the kingdom of G.o.d, as Peter says it was (2 Peter 1:16-18); namely, Christ the glorified King, Elias representing those who will be translated without seeing death, and Moses representing those who will be raised from the dead. These two cla.s.ses embrace all the happy subjects of that kingdom. This view of the matter is not peculiar to this book. Dr. Adam Clarke, on Matt. 17:3, says: "The body of Moses was probably raised again, as a pledge of the resurrection."(2) And Olshausen says: "For if we a.s.sume the reality of the _resurrection of the body_, and its glorification,-truths which a.s.suredly belong to the system of Christian doctrine,-the whole occurrence presents no essential difficulties. The appearance of Moses and Elias, which is usually held to be the most unintelligible point in it, is as easily conceived of as possible, if we admit their bodily glorification."

Those pa.s.sages which speak of Christ as the "first-fruits," the "first-born from the dead," the "first-born among many brethren," "of every creature," etc., refer only to the chief and pivotal importance of his own resurrection, as related to all others; and Acts 26:23 does not declare that Christ should be the first one to be raised from the dead, but that he first, by a resurrection from the dead, should show light to the Gentiles. (See the Greek of this pa.s.sage.) These scriptures therefore prove no objection to the idea that Moses had been raised from the dead, and as a victor over the grave, appeared with Christ upon the mount. Thus another supposed stronghold affords no refuge for the conscious-state theory, or for Spiritualism.

9. _The Rich Man and Lazarus._-With the features of this parable, as found in Luke 16, which is supposed to prove the dead conscious, and Spiritualism possible, the reader is doubtless familiar. It should ever be borne in mind that this is a parable; and in a parable, neither the parties nor the scenes are to be taken literally, and hence no doctrines can be built upon such symbolic representations. But not only is it a parable, but it is a parable based upon traditions largely entertained by the Jews themselves in the time of Christ. Thus T. J. Hudson ("Law of Psychic Phenomena," p. 385) says:-

"It is a historical fact, nevertheless, that before the advent of Jesus, the Jews had become imbued with the Greek doctrine of Hades, which was an intermediate waiting station between this life and the judgment. In this were situated both Paradise and Gehenna, the one on the right, and the other on the left, and into these two compartments the spirits of the dead were separated, according to their deserts. Jesus found this doctrine already in existence, and in enforcing his moral precepts in his parables, he employed the symbols which the people understood, neither denying nor affirming their literal verity."

Thus Christ appealed to the people on their own ground. He took the views and traditions which he found already among them, and arranged them into a parable in such a way as to rebuke their covetousness, correct their notions that prosperity and riches in this life are tokens of the favor and approbation of G.o.d, and condemn their departure from the teachings of Moses and the prophets. As a parable, it is not designed to show the state of the dead, and the conditions that prevail in the spirit world. But if any persist that it is not a parable, but a presentation of actual fact, then the scene is laid, not in the intermediate state, but beyond the resurrection; for it is after the angels had carried Lazarus into Abraham's bosom. But the angels do not bear any one anywhere away from this earth, till the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. Matt. 24:30, 31; 1 Thess. 4:15-17. Finding no support in this portion of scripture for the conscious-state theory, with its spiritualistic possibilities, appeal is next made by the friends of that theory to the case of-

10. _The Thief on the Cross._-Luke 23:39-43. When one of the malefactors who were crucified with Jesus, requested to be remembered when he should come into his kingdom, according to the record in the common version, the Lord replied, "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." To go from death into paradise the same day, means to go into the spirit world without a body, or discarnated, as Spiritualists claim. And so it would be if such was Christ's promise to the thief; but it was not.

The little adverb "to-day" holds the balance of power as to the meaning of this text. If it qualifies Christ's words, "Verily I say unto thee," it gives one idea; if it qualifies the words, "Thou shalt be with me in paradise," we have another and very different idea. And how shall the question of its relationship be decided?-It can be done only by the punctuation.

Here another difficulty confronts us; for the Greek was originally written in a solid line of letters, without any punctuation, or even division into words. Such being the case, the punctuation, and the relation of the qualifying word "to-day," must be determined by the context. Now it is a fact that Christ did not go to paradise that day. He died, and was placed in the tomb, and the third day rose from the dead. Mary was the first to meet him, and sought to worship him. But he said, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father." John 20:17. Paradise is where the Father is (see 2 Cor. 12:2-4; Rev. 2:7; 22:1, 2), and if Christ had not been to his Father when Mary met him the third day after his crucifixion, he had not then been to paradise; therefore it is not possible that he made a promise to the thief on the day of his crucifixion, that he should be with him _that_ day in paradise.

But further, the day of the crucifixion was the day before the Sabbath; and it was not lawful to leave criminals on the cross during that day.

John 19:31. If they were still living when the time came to take them from the cross, they were taken down, and their legs were broken to prevent their escape. The soldiers on this occasion broke the legs of the two thieves, because they were still alive; "but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs." Verses 32, 33. The thief therefore lived over into the next day.

Thus there are two absolutely insuperable objections against allowing the adverb, "to-day," to qualify Christ's promise, "Thou shalt be with me in paradise:" (1) Christ did not go to paradise that day; and (2) The thief did not die that day. Before these facts the conscious-state argument built upon this incident, vanishes into thin air. Just place the comma (a punctuation mark not invented till 1490) after "to-day" instead of before it, and let that word qualify the verb "say" and emphasize the time when it was spoken, and all is harmonious. The thief's request did not pertain to that day, but looked forward to the time when Christ should come into his kingdom; and Christ's promise did not pertain to that day, but to the time in the thief's request; so he did not falsify it by not going to his Father for three days afterward. The thief is quietly slumbering in the tomb; but Christ is soon coming into his kingdom. Then the thief will be remembered, be raised from the dead, and be with Christ in that paradise into which he will then introduce all his people. Thus all is as clear as a sunbeam, when the text is freed from the bungling tinkering of men.

The strongest texts and incidents which are appealed to in defense of the conscious-state theory, have now been examined. If these do not sustain it, nothing can be found in the Bible which will sustain it. All are easily harmonized with these. Thus in Paul's desire to "depart and be with Christ" (Phil. 1:23), he does not there tell us _when_ he will be with Christ; but he does tell us in many other places; and it is at the resurrection and the coming of Christ. Phil. 3:11; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. When he speaks of our being clothed upon with our house from heaven (2 Cor.

5:2), he tells us that it is when "mortality" is "swallowed up of life."

But that is only at the last trump. 1 Cor. 15:51-54. If we are told about the woman who had had seven husbands (Matt. 22:23-28), no hint is given of any reunion till after the resurrection. If G.o.d calls himself "not the G.o.d of the dead, but of the living" (Matt. 22:32), it is because he speaks of "those things that be not as though they were" (Rom. 4:17), and the worthies of whom this is spoken, are sure to live again (Heb. 11:15, 16), and hence are now spoken of as alive in his sight, because they are so in his purpose. Texts which speak of the departure and return of the soul (Gen. 35:18; 1 Kings 17:21, 22), are referable to the "breath of life,"

which is the meaning of the word in these instances rendered "soul."

Three pa.s.sages only have been referred to, which declare positively that the dead know not anything. It was thought preferable to answer certain objections, before introducing further direct testimony. But there are many such pa.s.sages, a few more of which will now be presented, as a fitting conclusion to this branch of the subject. The reader's careful attention is invited to a few of the various texts, and the conclusions that follow therefrom.

1. _Death and Sleep._-Death, in numerous pa.s.sages is compared to sleep, in contrast with the wakeful condition. See Ps. 13:3; Job 7:21; John 11:11; Acts 7:60; 1 Cor. 11:30; 15:51; 1 Thess. 4:14; etc. But there is only one feature in sleep by virtue of which it can be taken as a figure of death; and that is, the condition of unconsciousness which shuts up the avenues of one's senses to all one's environment. If one is not thus unconscious in death, the figure is false, and the comparison illogical and misleading.

2. _Thoughts Perish._-So David testifies: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps.

146:3, 4. The word "thoughts" does not here mean simply the projects and purposes one has in view, which do often fail, when the author of them dies, but it is from a root which means the act of thinking, the operation of the mind; and in death, that entirely ceases. It cannot therefore be the dead who come out of the unseen with such intelligence as is shown in Spiritualism.

3. _Job's Statement._-Speaking of a dead man, Job (14:21) says: "His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." If the dead cannot take cognizance of matters of so much interest as these, how can they communicate with the living as the spirits do?

4. _No Remembrance of G.o.d._-David, in Ps. 6:5 and 115:17, again testifies: "For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Is it possible that any righteous man, if he is living and conscious after going into the grave, would not praise and give thanks to the Lord?

5. _Hezekiah's Testimony._-Hezekiah was sick unto death. Isa. 38:1. But he prayed, and the Lord added to his days fifteen years. Verse 5. For this he praised the Lord, and gave his reasons for so doing in the following words (verses 18, 19): "For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day." This is a clear affirmation that in death he would not be able to do what he was able to do while living.

6. _New Testament Evidence._-The New Testament bears a corresponding testimony on this subject. None will be saved except such as Christ raises up at the last day. John 6:39, 40. No one is to receive any reward before the resurrection. Luke 14:14; 2 Tim. 4:8. No one can enter G.o.d's kingdom before being judged; but there is no execution of judgment before the coming of Christ. 2 Tim. 4:1; Acts 17:31; Luke 19:35; etc. If there is no avenue to a future life by a resurrection, then all who have gone down in death are perished. 1 Cor. 15:18. Such texts utterly forbid the idea of consciousness and activity, on the part of any of the human family, in death.

This part of the subject need not be carried further. It has been dwelt upon so fully simply because of its determinate bearing on the question under discussion. Spiritualism rests its whole t.i.tle to credence on the claim that the intelligences which manifest themselves are the spirits of the dead. The Bible says that they are _not_ the spirits of the dead. Then if the Bible is true, the whole system rests upon deception and falsehood.

No one who believes this will tamper with Spiritualism. One cannot have Spiritualism and the Bible, too. One or the other must be given up. But he who still holds on to the theory that the dead are conscious, contrary to the testimony of the Scriptures has no shield against the Spiritualistic delusion, and the danger is that he will sooner or later throw the Bible away.

Chapter Four.

THEY ARE EVIL ANGELS.

As the Bible plainly shows what the spirits which communicate are _not_, it just as clearly reveals also what they _are_; so that in no particular is one left to conjecture or guesswork. There is an order of beings brought to view in the Scriptures, above man but lower than G.o.d or Christ, called "angels." No Bible believer questions the existence of such beings.

It is sometimes a.s.serted that angels are departed human spirits; but this cannot be; for they appear upon the stage of action before a single human being had died, or a disembodied spirit could have existed. When the world was created, Job declares that "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of G.o.d shouted for joy." These are two of the names applied to these beings, but they are also known by a number of others. They are 167 times called angels; 61 times, angel of the Lord; 8 times, angel of G.o.d; 17 times, his angels; 41 times, cherub and cherubim. There are also such names as seraphim, chariots, G.o.d's hosts, watchers, holy ones, thrones, dominions, princ.i.p.alities and powers,-all referring to the different orders of these heavenly beings.

A part of this host fell into sin, and thereby became evil, or fallen, angels. A reasonable statement of how this came about can be given, but no reason for the act itself. Sin cannot be explained. To explain it would be to give a reason for it; and to give a reason for it would be to excuse it; and then it would cease to be sin. In the beginning a condition existed which was in itself right and essential; but which nevertheless made sin possible. It is one of the inevitable conditions of the highest glory of G.o.d, that all his creatures should serve him from choice, under the law of love, and not by compulsion, as a machine, under the law of necessity. To secure this end, they must be made free moral agents. Thus to angels was given the freedom of the will, the same as to man. They were in a state of purity and happiness, with every condition favorable for a continuance in that condition; but in the free choices of their free wills, they of course had the power, if they should unaccountably see fit so to use it, to turn away from truth and right, and rebel against G.o.d.

This some of them did. So we find Jude speaking of "the angels that kept not their first estate" (Jude 6), and Peter, of "the angels that sinned"

(2 Peter 2:4); and these they further declare, were cast down to Tartarus, and are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day.

There must have been to this rebellion an instigator and leader; and we accordingly find the Bible speaking of such a personage; the whole company being described as "the Devil and his angels." Our Lord pointed out this leader in evil, and his work, in John 8:44: "Ye are of your Father the Devil, and the l.u.s.ts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it." This reveals the great facts in his case. He abode not in the truth. Then he was once in the truth; and as he is a liar, and the father of it, he was the first one to depart from truth and introduce falsehood and evil into the universe of G.o.d.

In Isaiah (14:12-14) this being is addressed as Lucifer, or the day-star; and the prophet exclaims, "How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" The following verses indicate that the nature of his transgression was self-exaltation and pride of heart: "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of G.o.d: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." Paul, in 1 Tim. 3:6, intimates that it was this pride that caused the ruin of this once holy being. Of an elder he says that he must not be a novice, "lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the Devil," or that sin for which the Devil was condemned.

In Ezekiel 28, Satan is again spoken of under the pseudonym of "the prince of Tyrus." Verse 2 shows his pride: "Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a G.o.d, I sit in the seat of G.o.d," etc. Verses 12-15 describe his beauty, wisdom, and apparel, and his exalted office as a high cherub, before his sin and fall. Verse 15 reads: "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee."

These pa.s.sages give us a sufficient idea of the origin of Satan and how such an incarnation of evil has come to exist. The Tartarus into which he and his angels were cast, according to Peter, is defined by leading lexicographers, as meaning the dark, void, interplanetary s.p.a.ces, surrounding the world. Using the serpent as a medium, this apostate angel, thus cast out, plied our first parents with his temptation by preaching to them the immortality of the soul, "Thou shalt not surely die," and alas!

seduced them also into rebellion. The dominion which was given to Adam (Gen. 1:28), Adam thus alienated to Satan, by becoming his servant; for Paul says, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?" Rom. 6:16. Now, consequently, such t.i.tles as "prince of this world," "prince of the power of the air,"

"G.o.d of this world," etc., are applied to him, because he has by fraud usurped that place. John 14:30; Eph. 2:2; 2 Cor. 4:4. He, of course, employs "his angels" to co-operate with him in his nefarious work.

Thus clearly do we have set before us just the agencies,-the Devil and his angels,-which are adapted, both by nature and inclination, to carry on just such a work as is seen in Spiritualism. But how do we know, some one may ask, but that Spiritualism is the work of the good angels?-We know that it is not, because good angels do not lie. They never would come to men, professing to be the spirits of their dead friends, and imitate and personate them to deceive, knowing that the mediums did not know, and could not ascertain that they were altogether another and different order of beings. But the evil angels, led by the father of lies, and cradled, and drilled, and skilled, and polished, in the school of lying, would be delighted to deceive men in this very way, by pretending to be their dead friends, and then by working upon their affections and love for the ones they could skilfully personate, bring them under their influence and lead them captive at their will.

These evil angels are experts in deception. They have had six thousand years' experience. They are well acquainted with the human family. They can read character. They study temperament. They acquaint themselves minutely with personal history. They know a thousand things which only they and the individual they are trying to ensnare, are aware of. They know many things beyond the knowledge of men. They can easily carry the news of the decease of a friend, and the description of a death-bed scene, to other friends thousands of miles away, and months before the truth through ordinary channels can reach them, so that when it is verified, their influence over them may be increased. (See page 23.)

There is nothing that has yet taken place, of however inexplicable a nature, and nothing which even the imagination may antic.i.p.ate, which is not, and will not be, easily attributable to these unseen angels. They are lying spirits; for the fundamental principle on which they are acting is a lie; but they tell enough truth to sway and captivate the minds of men. It matters not how sacred the field in which they tread, nor how hallowed the a.s.sociations which they invade, they press into every spot where it is possible, by spinning another thread, to strengthen their web of deception.

And in what dulcet and siren tones they woo their victims to lay aside all resistance to their influence, to become receptive and pa.s.sive, and yield themselves to their control; and when they have them thus helpless in their arms, they deliberately and cruelly instil into their minds the virus of ungovernable l.u.s.t, the leprosy of unconquerable rebellion against the government of Heaven. That this language does not misrepresent nor slander them, will be shown from their own testimony, before the close of this book.

The thought is not overlooked that many even of those who do not profess to be Spiritualists, deny the existence of any such being as a personal Devil, or of personal evil angels, his agents. He is no doubt well pleased with this, as such people can the more easily be made the victims of his wiles. But these same persons would no doubt acknowledge the existence, as real beings, of G.o.d, Christ, and the good angels. This fact being established, by parity of reasoning the Devil and his angels become real beings also. The same arguments which show that G.o.d and Christ exist as personal beings may be used to show that the Devil and his angels are personal beings also. He who denies that there is a personal Devil, must be prepared also to deny that there is a personal Christ. So far as the argument for personal existence is concerned, Christ and good angels stand on one side of the equation, and the Devil and his angels on the other; and whoever would rub out the one, must rub out the other also.

Christ said that he "beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." Luke 10:18. John in the Revelation (12:7) beheld a war in heaven. "Michael [Christ] and his angels fought against the dragon [Satan]; and the dragon fought, and his angels." On the ground that there is no Devil, this would be a wonderful battle-Christ and his angels, who are real beings, fighting furiously against myths and nonent.i.ties which have not even the substance of a phantom.

To endorse the doctrine of a personal Devil, is not to endorse the grossly absurd caricatures conjured up by morbid imaginations, and popular theology,-a being with bat's wings, horns, hoofs, and a dart-pointed tail.

Yet upon such pictorial fables he doubtless looks with complacency; as they are calculated still further to destroy faith in his existence, and enable him the better to cover his tracks and carry on his work among men.

Nevertheless the only rational hypothesis on which to account for the present condition of this world (which every one must admit is full of devilishness), the existence of evil, and the presence of sickness, suffering, and death, is the account the Bible gives us of fallen angels and fallen men. Unfallen angels are beings of mighty power. One of them slew in one night 185,000 a.s.syrians (2 Kings 19:35); and the one who appeared at the time of Christ's resurrection had a countenance like the lightning, and raiment white as snow, and before him the keepers of the tomb fell like dead men. Matt. 28:3, 4. A fall from their high estate, though it would impair their strength and power, cannot be supposed to have wholly deprived them of these qualities; therefore the fallen angels still have capabilities far superior to those of men. The only defense mankind has against them is found in Christ, who circ.u.mscribes their power (for they are kept in chains, 2 Peter 2:4), and makes provision by which we may resist them. Eph. 6:11; James 4:6-8; 1 John 5:18. The question why they are permitted to continue finds solution in the thought that G.o.d is consistently giving to sin time and opportunity to develop itself, fully show its nature, and manifest its works, to all created intelligences, so that when it shall finally be wiped out of existence, with all its originators, aiders, and abetters, as in G.o.d's purpose it is to be (Rev.

20:14, 15; 2 Peter 3:7, 13; Rev. 5:13), there will ever after remain an object-lesson sufficient to safe-guard the universe against a repet.i.tion of the evil. Only some 6000 years are allotted to this work of evil; and 6000 years are as nothing compared with eternity.

Warnings Against Evil Spirits.