Modern Spiritualism Part 7

So much for their denial of Christ in his person. They also deny him in his offices; for to deny and ridicule what he came to do, is one of the most effectual ways of denying him. The great work of Christ was the shedding of his blood to atone for the sins of the world; and the spirits are particularly bitter in denouncing that idea. If such sentiments were uttered only by open and professed scoffers, it would not do so much harm; but it is not unusual to find those bearing the t.i.tle of "Reverend"

descanting on these themes in a manner to show themselves antichrist, according to the definition of that term by John. And even this need not surprise us; for the sure word of prophecy has foretold that some who have once held the true faith will depart therefrom to give heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. 1 Tim. 4:1.

One R. P. Wilson, to whose name is attached the ministerial t.i.tle, in his lectures on "Spiritual Science," said:-

"Although as a believer in true spiritual philosophy, we cannot receive the orthodox views of salvation, yet we recognize the birth of a Saviour and Redeemer into the universal hearts of humanity, _wherein truly the deity is incarnate_, dwelling in the interior of man's spirit. We believe that each soul of man is born with his or her Saviour within them; for as man is an embodiment of the universe in epitome, he contains in his central nature an incarnation of deity. The germ of immortal unfoldings resides within the spirit of it, which needs only appropriate conditions to call forth the expanding and elevating powers of the soul."

In "Spiritual Science Demonstrated," p. 229, Dr. Hare said:-

"Since my spirit sister's translation to the spheres, she has risen from the fifth to the sixth sphere. It has been alleged by her that her ascent was r.e.t.a.r.ded by her belief in the atonement."

A "spirit" calling himself Deacon John Norton, as reported in the _Banner of Light_, said:-

"I used to believe in the atonement; I honestly believed that Christ died to save the world, and that by and through his death all must be saved if saved at all. Now I see that this is folly-it cannot be so. The light through Christ, the Holy One, shone in darkness; the darkness could not comprehend it; and thus it crucified the body, and Christ died a martyr. He was not called in that way, that by the shedding of his blood, the vast mult.i.tude coming after him should find salvation. Everything in nature proves this false. They tell me here that Christ was the most perfect man of his time. I am told here also that he is worthy to be wors.h.i.+ped, because of his goodness; and where man finds goodness he may wors.h.i.+p. G.o.d's face is seen in the violet, and man may well wors.h.i.+p this tiny flower."

In the pantheism of Spiritualism, every object in nature, the tiny flower, the pebbles, the trees, the birds and bees, are worthy to be wors.h.i.+ped as much as Christ. In one breath the spirits extol him as a most perfect man, pre-eminent in goodness and worthy to be wors.h.i.+ped, and in the next, place him in a position which would make him the greatest fraud and impostor that ever lived. Such inconsistencies show that Christ is a miracle which evil men and evil angels know not how to dispose of.

As they deny Christ, they must, logically, deny the doctrine of his second coming. This doctrine is made of especial importance and prominence in the New Testament. The nature of that coming, its manner, and the circ.u.mstances attending it are so fully described, that no one who adopts the Bible view can possibly be deceived by false christs. But the church and the world have been turned away from the true doctrine of the second advent, and the way is thus prepared for the great deceptions of the last days. Spiritualism is one of these, and claims that it is itself that second coming. Joel Tiffany, a former celebrated teacher of Spiritualism, has said:-

"I must look for the coming of my Lord in my own affection. He must come in the clouds of my spiritual heavens, or he cannot come for any benefit to me."

And through Mrs. Conant, a famous medium of the early days of Spiritualism, the controlling spirit said:-

"This second coming of Christ means simply the second coming of truths that are not themselves new, that have always existed....

He said, 'When I come again, I shall not be known to you.'

Spiritualism is that second coming of Christ."-_Banner of Light, Nov. 18, 1865._

But the Bible description of this event is, the revelation of the Lord himself in the clouds of heaven in the glory of the Father, the reverberating shout of triumph, the voice of the archangel, the trump of G.o.d, the flash of his presence like that of the lightning, the wailing of the tribes of the earth, as they thus behold him, while unprepared to meet him, and the resurrection of the righteous dead. And where and when have these inseparable accompaniments of that event been seen? They do not occur when a person is converted from sin, nor do they occur in the dying chamber, nor have they occurred in Spiritualism; and until they do take place, the second coming of Christ is not accomplished.

Many seek to dispose of such testimony as this, by making it all figurative, or meeting it with a bold denial, as in the case of the resurrection of the body. And the way has been too well prepared for this condition of things, by much of the teaching of popular orthodoxy, which turns the early records of the Bible into childish allegory, perverts the true doctrine of the coming and kingdom of Christ, and denies the resurrection of the dead, by destroying its necessity through the immortality of the soul. On the vital point of the resurrection, Dr.

Clarke makes this noteworthy remark:-

"One remark I cannot help making,-The doctrine of the resurrection appears to have been thought of much more consequence among the primitive Christians than it is _now_! How is this?-The apostles were continually insisting on it, and exciting the followers of G.o.d to diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness through it. And their successors in the present day seldom mention it! So the apostles preached, and so the primitive Christians believed; so we preach and so our hearers believe. There is not a doctrine in the gospel on which more stress is laid; and there is not a doctrine in the present system of preaching which is treated with more neglect."-_On 1 Corinthians 15_ (_original edition_).(3)

In view of the way the Bible has been treated by its professed friends, it is no wonder that infidelity prevails, and Spiritualism prospers.

3. _They Deny the Bible._-The denial of G.o.d and Christ, as set forth above is, of course, a denial of the Bible; and not much need therefore be added on this point. We quote only a few representative utterances. Doctor Hare ("Spiritual Science Demonstrated," p. 209) says:-

"The Old Testament does not impart a knowledge of immortality, without which religion were worthless. The notions derived from the gospels are vague, disgusting, inaccurate, and difficult to believe."

As to the Old Testament, it would seem doubtful whether Mr. Hare ever read far enough to find (1) Job exclaiming: "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see G.o.d: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me" (or, as the margin reads: "My reins within me are consumed with earnest desire [for that day];") or (2) David: "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness;" or (3) Isaiah: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust;" or (4) Ezekiel: "Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves;" or (5) Daniel: "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt;" and (6) Hosea: "I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death." Job 19:25-27; Ps. 17:15; Isa. 26:19; Eze. 37:12; Dan. 12:2; Hosea 13:14. And as for the New Testament, it is no doubt "disgusting" to many Spiritualists to read that "the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and wh.o.r.emongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death;" and that without the city "are dogs, and sorcerers, and wh.o.r.emongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Rev. 21:8; 22:15.

Communications from spirits are offered in place of the Bible as a better source of instruction, the Bible being denounced, as above quoted, as "vague, inaccurate, and difficult to believe." A brief comparison of the two will furnish pertinent evidence on this point. Take, on the Bible side, for example, a portion of the record of creation (Gen. 1:1-5):-

"In the beginning G.o.d created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of G.o.d moved upon the face of the waters. And G.o.d said, Let there be light: and there was light. And G.o.d saw the light, that it was good: and G.o.d divided the light from the darkness. And G.o.d called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."

The facts stated in this record, the profoundest minds can never comprehend; the language in which they are expressed, a little child can understand. The statements are plain and simple, a perfect model of perspicuous narrative. Place by the side of this an account of the same event, as given us from the "spheres." The spirits have undertaken to produce a new Bible, beginning, like the old, with the creation; and this is the way it starts out, through the mediums.h.i.+p of "Rev." T. L. Harris:-

"1. In the beginning G.o.d, the Life in G.o.d, the Lord in G.o.d, the Holy Procedure, inhabited the dome, which, burning in magnificence primeval, and revolving in prismatic and undulatory spiral, appeared, and was the pavilion of the Spirit: In glory inexhaustible and inconceivable, in movement spherical, unfolded in harmonious procedure disclosive.

"2. And G.o.d said, Let good be manifest! and good unfolded and moral-mental germs, ovariums of heavens, descended from the Procedure. And the dome of disclosive magnificence was heaven, and the expanded glory beneath was the germ of creation. And the divine Procedure inbreathed upon the disclosure, and the disclosure became the universe."

We will inflict no more of this "undulatory spiral" nonsense on the reader. He now has both records before him, and can judge for himself which is the more worthy of his regard. There have been Spiritualists who, writing in their normal state, and not yet fully divorced from the influence of their former education, have acknowledged the authenticity of the Bible, and the doctrines of Jesus as recorded in the gospels. But these, it is claimed, are to be understood according to a spiritual meaning which underlies the letter; and this spiritual meaning generally turns out to be contrary to the letter, which is a virtual denial of the record itself. But the quotations here given (only a specimen of the mult.i.tudes that might be presented) are given on the authority of the "spirits," whose teachings are what we wish to ascertain.

They Deny All Distinction Between Right And Wrong.

There is implanted in the hearts of men by nature, a sense of right and a sense of wrong. Even those who know not G.o.d, nor Christ, nor the gospel, possess this power of discrimination. This is what Paul, in Rom. 2:15, calls "the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." That this distinction should now be denied by a cla.s.s in a civilized community, professing to be advanced thinkers and teachers, among whom are found the learned, the refined, and the professedly pious, shows that we have fallen upon strange times. To be sure, many of them talk fluently of the beauty and perfection of divine laws; but in the sense in which they would have them understood, they rob them of all characteristics of law. The first great essential of law is authority; but this they take away from it; the next is penalty for its violation; but this they deny, and thus degrade the law to a mere piece of advice. The "Healing of the Nations," an authoritative work among Spiritualists, pp. 163, 164, says:-

"Thus thy body needs no laws, having been in its creation supplied with all that could be necessary for its government. Thy spirit is above all laws, and above all essences which flow therein. G.o.d created thy spirit from within his own, and surely the Creator of law is above it; the Creator of essences must be above all essence created. And if thou hast what may be or might be termed laws, they are always subservient to thy spirit. Good men need no laws, and laws will do bad or ignorant men no good. If a man be above law, he should never be governed by it. If he be below, what good can dead, dry words do him?

"True knowledge removeth all laws from power by placing the spirit of man above it."

A correspondent of the _Telegraph_ said of this work, "The Healing of the Nations:"-

"According to its teaching, no place is found in the universe for divine wrath and vengeance. All are alike and forever the object of G.o.d's love, pity, and tender care-the difference between the two extremes of human character on earth, being as a mere atom when compared with perfect wisdom."

This is a favorite comparison with them,-that the difference between G.o.d and the best of men is so much greater than the extremes of character among men,-the most upright and the most wicked,-that the latter is a mere atom, and not accounted of in G.o.d's sight. That there is an infinite difference between G.o.d and the best of men, is all true; for G.o.d is infinite in all his attributes, and man is very imperfect at the best. But to argue from this that G.o.d is inferior to man, so that he cannot discern difference in character here, even as man can plainly discern it, seems but mad-house reasoning. What would we think of the man who had the same regard for the thief as for the honest man, for the murderer as for the philanthropist? To ignore such distinctions as even men are able to discern would destroy the stability of all human governments; what then would be the effect on the divine government? G.o.d has given his law-holy, just, and good-to men, and commanded obedience. He has attached the penalty to disobedience: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die," "The wages of sin is death." Eze. 18:20; Rom. 6:23. And in the judgment, the distinction G.o.d makes in character will be plainly declared; for he will set the righteous on his right hand, but the wicked on the left. Matt.

25:32, 33.

This view of the failure of law, and the absence of all human accountability, naturally leads to a bold denial of sin and the existence of crime. The "Healing of the Nations," p. 169, says: "Unto G.o.d there is no error; all is comparatively good." The same work says that G.o.d views error as "undeveloped good." A. J. Davis ("Nature of Divine Revelation,"

p. 521) says: "Sin, indeed, in the common acceptation of that term, does not really exist."