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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 35

The Dangers of Spirit-Mediumsiiip : it Destroys Individuality and Power of Self-Control, and is an Incentive to Crime

The Dangers of Spirit-Mediumsiiip : it Destroys Individuality and Power of Self-Control, and is an Incentive to Crime.

The dangers of spirit-mediumship are so many, and so great, that did persons properly understand and estimate them, few indeed would be found to lend themselves as the instruments of these evil and debased beings. It will always be the case that there will be persons who, not-withstanding the dangers and evils resulting from this intercourse, will yet be found indulging therein. There are many, however, who are entirely unsuspicious of these dangers, and who, if warned in time, and the nature of the evils clearly pointed out, may be saved ere they are fully drawn into the net. It is with the hope of influencing such, that these testimonies are presented. Would that page 63 the warning voice now raised, may be heard, and the unwary saved. Some may, perhaps, say that the danger is magnified, and that it is really not so great as described. If the reader is in such a frame of mind, let me earnestly plead for a careful consideration of the following testimonies, and to assure him, that they may not only be relied upon, but might be largely increased in number.

When these unseen beings obtain an entrance into the mind, if the person seeking the intercourse be of a moral character, whom open manifestations of immorality would repel, there is a great expression of a benevolent desire for their welfare; and a profession that they are performing the divine will in thus coming and seeking to benefit them. They also, by the expression of this same desire, seek to lead them to pledge themselves to seek intercourse with them at stated and regular periods; and under no pretence whatever, unless absolute inability from sickness, to stay away. So far do these spirits go in this, that they seek a written pledge to this effect. This statement is made upon the testimony of one from whom it was sought by the spirits, and who, on being led to see the evil of the system, informed the writer.

They seek, also, entire passivity on the part of those seeking intercourse with them. The mind must be passive, and the statements of the spirits are to be received in a reverent and believing state of mind; or, it is affirmed, the spirits will be unable to impart the benefit they desire.

The following is from Judge Edmonds' work on "Spiritualism :"—

"It is sometimes, when all the spirits are assembled here for the purpose of carrying out a certain plan, almost impossible to arrange the magnetic current so as to communicate freely, and it ought to be understood that when the higher spirits come to your circle, really to do good, the absence of any member positively interferes with the whole order of manifestation. Certainly, therefore, it is of importance that each member should be present, unless detained by sickness, and that no ordinary excuse should be given or received unless a high and noble duty prevents attendance."

"On Sunday last the teaching was entirely different from that intended; the higher spirits wished to communicate, but the medium was not in condition, and another spirit took possession. page 64 Another thing, when some of you have staid a certain time you are impatient to go, and it is the case, that when the full circulation of the magnetism is perfectly established that the higher teaching can be given—thus it may be in the latter part of the evening that the most important teachings can come."

"For all or for nothing; for everything or for naught, should be your motto. You cannot love God and the world, and in this cause you profess to love God and to carry out the truth as it is revealed by his instruments."—pp. 245-6-7-8.

Thus no ordinary excuse is to be received for absence from the circle; the plea for this is that the current is interfered with, and the spirits are not so well able to communicate; and the dictum is laid down "for all or for nothing in other words, either give yourselves up to us wholly in this respect, or decide to keep away from seeking intercourse with us. The latter is not only the prudent, but the only wise course. In the same work, on page 277, the spirits say—

"But woe to them who are instruments selected, if, indeed, they listen not to what we have said—who, in spite of all the means of progress, choose rather the evil than the good! Human mind never pictured to itself the degradation which will ensue here on earth, and the infinite misery hereafter."

Ah! woe indeed! rather woe if they do listen. A threat of human degradation such as was never witnessed before is pronounced if they are not heeded. The entireness of the control they seek is here apparent. This is the continuous cry of the spirits—"be passive," "give your minds up entirely to us," "if you are not purely passive we cannot communicate, and thus you lose the benefit we seek to impart to you."

"In "Flashes from the Spirit-World," a question is asked as to some of the conditions necessary to be observed by those asking the spirit to control them. In answer to this, a spirit replies thus :—

"One of the conditions requisite is a passive state of mind on the part of the questioner. Be willing to receive whatever the spirit is able to give. . . . Again, it is necessary that you lay down all prejudice. Put your preconceived notions under your feet, and be willing to receive whatever is true for its own sake. Persons who seek to investigate this phenomenon should remember that it is the voice of God talking to his children. And remembering this, you will come in humility, asking the Great Father Spirit to bestow upon you what you most need."—P. 385.

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Here, entire passivity is required; an emptying out of all previous ideas; a sitting in a teachable spirit at the feet of these spirits, and regarding their communications as the voice of God to His children. What subjection could be more entire? In "Philosophy of Spiritual Inter-course," A. J. Davis says :—

"Again and again we are told that perfect passiveness—a subjugation of our prejudices and anxious feelings—is necessary that we may obtain truthful and reliable communications; and, when these conditions are not fulfilled, a disappointed experience reminds us that we have violated and deranged the prescribed laws of these communions. In truth, when we are anxious or impatient, we become intellectually positive, and then we exhale a magnetic atomosphere, while we inhale the necessary electrical emanations which rapidly exhausts the presiding medium, and the communications are thereby deranged,—becoming, as many persons have frequently observed, contradictory and confused, and, perhaps, for the time being, altogether arrested."

The spirit of Thomas Paine says :—

"Such is the physical and mental condition of minds that we intend to make a great change in them before we write what will be necessary. The writing will not be the commencement of our work, but will follow other manifestations as soon as will be expedient. . . . The writing will be executed with great rapidity, when mediums shall become wholly passive"—"Pilgrimage of Thomas Paine," p. 250

It is thus seen that entire passivity—the giving up of individuality, is what these beings are seeking. Nothing can be of God which requires the giving up of our manhood; nothing can be good which requires the suspension of will and judgment, and makes of the man an automaton. God does not violate his own laws, nor will he destroy the sense of personal responsibility which he has given to man. If the influence to which we are asked to give ourselves up were a good one, the evil would be less; but it would still be an evil, if it took away our power of individual action. But when the influence may be, and certainly often is, an evil one, the danger and the wrong are seen to be immense. That the magnitude of the evil may be grasped, the following is presented as to the character of the beings at whose feet we are invited to sit, and to whose guidance we are asked to yield ourselves. A question is asked—

"Do the appetites, and passions, and propensities—in a word, page 66 the character, in earth life, of the individual, adhere to him when ushered into the spirit realm?"

The spirit of Thos. Paine replies—

"Precisely as death leaves you, so life in the spirit-world finds you. You are spiritually no different after death. You have only passed through a chemical change which has affected the body, and the spirit's relationship to the body, while the spirit itself remains precisely the same. The thief is still the thief, the liar is still the liar, the murderer is still the murderer, the drunkard is still the drunkard."—"Flashes of Light," pp. 109, 110.

In the same work the question is asked—

"Then spirits do, at times, assist in deception?"

And a spirit replies—

"Why should they not? There are spirits disembodied who are on the same plane with himself, and from them you should expect similar mental conditions, They would do what he would do. They stand no higher, no lower. They are ready to assist him in all that is possible."—p. 204.

Again—

"Is there as much evil existing in the spirit-world as there is here?"

"There is evil existing in the spirit, you may be sure of that. . . . . For instance, the drunkard enters the spirit-world as a drunkard. Death does not change him, it only takes away his external shell. It leaves the man precisely the same; and so it is with regard to all the evils or mistakes of life."—Ibid. p. 231.

Now how can intercourse with such beings be for improvement? And it must be remembered, that it is just this class of spirits which are said to be most anxious to communicate through human bodies; that the more elevated a spirit becomes the more difficult it is for it to communicate. If what has been established, as to the character of the spirits, under a previous heading, is borne in mind, along with the citations just given, the conclusion will necessarily arise in the mind that intercourse with such beings must be evil in its results.

In "Flashes of Light," by A. Putnam, previously quoted from, is the following question and answer; the spirit answering takes the name of Theo. Parker :—

Ques.—"Why do mediums suffer so much in allowing spirits out of the form to manifest? In some cases they become Living martyrs."

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Ans.—"All that which transcends the usual order of human life must of necessity produce suffering. Those persons who are called mediums, are possessed of an extremely sensitive organism. It must be so, because they are sensitive to things beyond human senses, and this exaltation of the nervous system produces, under the slightest inharmonious conditions, pain and distress."—p. 235.

The question, it may be observed, is represented as being put to the spirit at a spiritualistic seance, and therefore, may be safely regarded as a testimony from a spiritist of the fact, that in holding intercourse with spirits, the mediums suffer greatly; even to the extent of becoming "living martyrs." On page 291 of the same work, is the following question and answer:—

Ques.—"Do disembodied spirits ever cause mortals to commit suicide? Is the act justified under any circumstances?

Ans.—"Disembodied spirits do influence mortals in this direction, as in all others. Every act is justified by its parents—by those propelling powers that force it into objective life. This is no exception."

Thus, spirits do incite persons to commit suicide; and it is here stated that the parents of this crime—who are the spirits—justify it as they do every other to which they incite their willing victims. The writer was acquainted with a lady in Victoria, who had been brought, by her own act, under the influence of the spirits. She stated that she frequently heard a voice, as distinctly as though a person stood by and was addressing her, and this voice continually suggested that she should take away her life. I tried to persuade her that it was merely imagination, and that she was perhaps unwell, and thus her mind acted a little out of its usual manner; but she calmly assured me that there was no mistake, that she heard the voice as clearly and as distinctly as she did my own when I spoke to her; and from what I have subsequently learned of these phenomena, I now believe that she did hear this voice. Her friends were greatly concerned respecting her, as she made several attempts to take away her life, and they were compelled, even though with much reluctance, to place her several times in the Asylum for the insane, at Kew, near Melbourne. On the last occasion of being there, after being out for a little time, and her friends, hoping that she had successfully overcome her page 68 weakness, relaxing their watchfulness, she succeeded in putting a termination to her life by drowning. In the quotation given, it is stated by this writer, that spirits do incite to the committal of the crime of self-murder; and in the personal reminiscence just given, is an evidence of their having done so. Another instance of the same kind came under my notice, but thus far happily, without the fatal termination. A lady in the same city, who was a believer in this terrible superstition, anxious to obtain communications from departed friends, allowed herself to be developed as a medium. When questioned as to the matter, she made the melancholy confession to a friend, that although she earnestly sought communication from her departed dear ones, and from good spirits, the only spirits from whom she received communications were wicked ones, who tried to lead her to do most abominable things, and often told her to go and hang herself, or take away her life, by throwing herself into the river, as they wished her to join their company in the spirit-world. The result of these communications was, that they had produced a settled melancholy, which probably may have a similar fatal termination as in the previous case. Results such as these should certainly act as a warning.

The following quotation, from the "Arcana of Spiritualism," by Hudson Turtle, shows the consequences likely to accrue, in the event of the wicked and debased portion of society adopting this system :—

"A circle is formed of low and vile characters, who commence by swearing, and intend nothing but sport. As they do not desire purifying and elevating instruction, they repel the pure, and attract spirits like themselves, such as love to lie, to cheat, to steal, who disregard all right, who answer all questions by lies, except so far as they may secure to themselves the confidence of their questioners. Test questions they may answer correctly. Meantime, they will send those persons who repose confidence in what they say in a vain and wild chase after wealth. . . . There are also spirits who delight in torture. If these can find a medium suitable for their purpose, they will do with him as they choose, making him act and speak in a most reprehensible manner."—p. 312, 313.

Just imagine a dozen men of lying, thieving, and murderous proclivities, seeking intercourse with these beings, and being incited by them to similar deeds. Under the page 69 influence of these unseen prompters, they would regard themselves as justified in the perpetration of every imaginable diabolical deed; for, as we saw by a previous quotation, these spirits demand that their utterances should be regarded as the voice of God, of the "Great Father Spirit addressing his children." If, then, these men could obtain the idea, that in their wicked acts, they were acting under the sanction of the deity, to what horrible lengths might they not go? The Thugs of India, who made a trade of murder and robbery, and who believed, that the more persons they murdered and robbed, the more acceptable were they to their bloody deity, are the true counterparts of what such persons would be. And could we conceive of the bulk of mankind adopting these principles of spirit intercourse, and acting upon them, neither life nor property, neither virtue nor character, would be safe; earth would be a very pandemonium of evil, and the end of civilization would have dawned.

At page 195 of the same work, an explanation is given as to the liability of the mediums to become victims of evil influences. The writer says :—

"The sensitive condition, the cause of mediumship and its necessary accompaniment, renders the medium easily affected by surrounding circumstances. Hence the waywardness of character they often exhibit, and for which they are unqualifiedly censured. The broadest charity should be bestowed, for the vital force of mediums is heavily drawn upon, and they are often left in a state so negative as to become the prey of untoward influences."

The following testimonies will amply illustrate the truthfulness of the above as to the liability of mediums to degenerate in character, until they have lost the special characteristics of honourable manhood. I first introduce Dr. B. F. Hatch, formerly husband of the trance-speaking medium, Mrs. Cora V. Hatch, but now Mrs. Daniels. The doctor travelled with his wife while she was giving her lectures, and had an intimate acquaintance with spiritualism. He says:—

"I have heard much of the improvement in individuals in consequence of a belief in spiritualism. With such I have had no acquaintance But I have known many whose integrity of character and uprightness of purpose, rendered them worthy examples of all around, but who, on becoming mediums, and giving up their individu- page 70 ality, also gave up every sense of honour and decency. A less degree of severity in this remark will apply to a large class of both mediums and believers. There are thousands of high-minded and intelligent spiritualists who will agree with me, that it is no slander in saying, that the inculcation of no doctrines in this country has ever shown such disastrous moral and social results as the spiritual theories."—"Spiritualism Unveiled," p. 27.

Dr. Randolph, who for eight years was a medium and lecturer, says :—

"As a trance-speaker. I became widely known; and now aver, that during the entire eight years of my mediumship, I firmly believe 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 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 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 brink of ruin. We read in Scripture of demoniac possession as well as of normal spirit action. Both facts exist provable to-day; I am positive the former does.. . . Five of my friends destroyed themselves, and I attempted it by direct spirit influences. Every crime in the calendar has been committed by mortals moved by viewless beings."—"Nature and Tendency of Modern Spiritualism," p. 78.

The editor of the New York Pathfinder, J. F. Whitney, gives his opinion of the results of mediumship, thus:—

"Being, 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 endorse each individual act and character, however good or bad these acts may be."—Ibid. p. 79.

The French spiritualist, Allan Kardec, in his "Spirits' Book," answers the question, "Why does God permit spirits to incite us to evil?" The answer is carefully worded, but admits a possibility of results, which, when fairly looked at, are startling. His words are:—

"Imperfect spirits are used by Providence as instruments for trying men's faith and constancy in well doing. You, being a spirit, must advance in the knowledge of the infinite. . . When you are acted upon by evil influences, it is because you attract evil page 71 spirits to you by your evil desires, for evil spirits always come to aid you, in doing the evil you desire to do; they can only help you to do wrong when you give way to evil desires. If you are inclined to murder you will have about you a swarm of spirits who will keep this inclination alive in you."

A swarm of evil spirits, attending a man who is fond of taking away human life, and keeping that inclination alive in him, can only produce the most fearful results. To encourage men of such tendencies to indulge in intercourse with these beings would be a crime. Judge Edmonds gives similar testimony to the above. In his book "Spiritualism," he says:—

"We are taught that there are spirits in the next state of existence whose propensities are evil. Not that they are a distinct race of beings, known in the old theology as Devils, and represented as a creation distinct from, and independent of, the human family, but men and women who have lived on earth, perverted and distorted morally, and have passed away from this primary existence with those perversions and distortions unchanged and aggravated by the desolation and misery, apparently to them without end and without hope, in which they find themselves existing. Selfish, intolerant, cruel, malicious, and delighting in human suffering upon earth, they continue the same, for a while at least, in their spirit home. And having, in common with others, the power of reaching mankind through this newly-developed instrumentality, they use it for the gratification of their predominant propensities, with even less regard than they had on earth for the suffering which they may inflict on others.

"It cannot be difficult to discover in such a state of things the material, not only for much positive mischief, but the cause of many of the crudities and contradictions which so often disturb the superficial observer, and sometimes mislead the credulous and confiding.

"This influence displays itself in various forms, but scarcely ever without tending to impair confidence in the manifestations. Sometimes it is with a clearly marked purpose of evil, avowed with a hardihood which smacks of the vilest condition of mortal society. Sometimes its fell purposes are most adroitly veiled under the cover of good intentions. Sometimes it is restless and uneasy—'to one thing constant never.' At other times it is calm, considerate, and persevering. Now it contents itself with finding amusement in the harmless perplexities to which it subjects us, and anon it is satisfied only when it can goad on its victim to crime, and rejoice in the agony it produces."—"Spiritualism," pp. 41, 42.

We are here told of spirits who are selfish, intolerant, cruel, and malicious, and who delight in human suffering; page 72 that they take pleasure in goading their victims on to crime and rejoice in the agony they thus cause. In the following quotation, which is taken from Dr. Gridley's work, we have an illustration of the work of the spirits. It is an account of an aged medium of sixty years living near the Doctor (in Southampton, Mass.) whose sufferings "in two months at the hands of evil spirits would fill a volume of 500 pages." Very little of this ever becomes known outside of the "circles." The following extract will give some idea of the case:—

"They forbade his eating, to the very point of starvation. He was a perfect skeleton; they compelled him to walk day and night, with intermissions, to be sure, as their avowed object was to torment him as much and as long as possible. They swore by everything sacred and profane that they would knock his damned brains out, always accompanying their threat with blows on the forehead or temples, like that of a mallet in the hands of a powerful man, with this difference, however, the latter would have made him unconscious, while in full consciousness he now endured the indescribable agony of those heavy and oft-repeated blows; they declared they would skin him alive; that he must go to New York and be dissected by inches,—all of which he fully believed. They declared they would bore holes in his brain, when he instantly felt the action suited to the word, as though a dozen augers were being turned at once into his very skull; this done, they would fill his brain with bugs and worms to eat it out, when their gnawing would instantly commence. . . . These spirits would pinch and pound him, twitch him up and throw him down, yell and blaspheme, and use the most obscene language that mortal can conceive; they would declare that they were Christ in one breath and devils in the next; they would tie him head to foot for a long time together, in a most excruciating posture; declare they would wring his damned neck off because he doubted them or refused obedience."—"Nature and Tendency of Modern Spiritualism," page 124.

The following is culled from a letter in "Medium and Daybreak," Nov. 15, 1878, and speaks for itself:—

"Sometime ago I received into my service a young person, who, knowing nothing whatever of spiritualism, shortly gave evidences of mediumship; it was, however, soon plain that the controlling influences were of a dark nature. It would fill the pages of your paper to relate all the strange details of this case; at & future day, for the instruction of others, I intend giving them to the public, at present I only wish to comfort the lady who applies to you in the case of the little boy who "falls down, becomes rigid," &c.

"All these features were present in the case of my domestic; page 73 she fell from the top of the stairs as many as four times a day, and generally remained stretched rigidly head downwards, half way between the top and the bottom. I find no one, not even a climbing boy, able for a moment to maintain the position in which I have found this girl lying on the stairs, many, many times. Sometimes, however, she would be thrown quite to the bottom; she was always found rigid. For weeks an effort was made to prevent her from taking any food. At every meal to which she sat down she was placed in a trance, almost death-like, sitting in her chair; in this position she would talk on being questioned, and evidences of strong clairvoyant power were given at these times. Sometimes on being thrown down, the writhing and struggling of the poor girl were pitiful, and her cries and groans have been heard by the neighbours "—page 726.

On page 192 of Judge Edmonds' "Spiritualism," there is an account of a Mrs. F., a delicate lady medium, being possessed by an evil spirit. The following is a portion of the Judged statement respecting it :—

"It was evident that the influence was an unhappy one, and that self-control and self-consciousness had left her. It was some time before the spirit said much, but the gesticulation was violent. He frequently looked in my face with a concentrated expression of spite. His face was very much flushed. The eyes were open and protruded, and the cheeks swollen. Around the whole of the upper part of the neck, just below the chin and ears, was a white streak, as if there was no blood there, while below that the neck was so flushed that it was fairly purple.

"The right hand was doubled into a fist, and he over and over again raised it to strike me. It seemed to tremble with passion and was very rigid and hard. I said to him several times, 'Strike, if you want to.' His eyes were generally fixed rigidly at some object on the table, and when I would say this he would turn and look at me, as if to see with what emotions I said it. Several times he raised his fist, and, shaking it at me, said. "Do you see that?' I said 'Yes,' but I was not uneasy at anything he could do, for God was over all, and in him I trusted "

On page 513 is an account of a similar spirit possessing Dr. Dexter. He says:—

"It was altogether a very extraordinary manifestation. It was conducted throughout with unusual and indeed unknown violence. He took entire possession of the Doctor, not merely of his arm, as others did, and the Doctor said he felt an almost uncontrollable inclination to strike me, and to commit acts of violence."

These cases might be largely added to; indeed, the instances of personal violence used by the spirits, and the page 74 destruction of will power in their victims, are almost innumerable.

A Mr. D., an old resident of Dunedin, was taken possession of by a spirit professing to be that of his grandfather, which so threw him about the room, and with such great violence, that the effects were felt for a considerable period afterwards. The spirits appear to have taken full control of him, and threatened that if he ever forsook spiritualism, they would either make him a raving maniac, or incite some one to take away his life. On one occasion a spirit took possession of him and deprived him of power of speech, and compelled him to stand at the door of his residence making horrid grimaces at the people as they were passing on their way from the different places of worship. Two medical men were among the number who passed, and being struck with the man's peculiar conduct, after satisfying themselves that he was not intoxicated, which was their first impression, and judging from his continuing the grimaces when they addressed him, that he must be out of his mind, they took charge of him and escorted him, until they could give him into the safe custody of a constable, and he was subsequently committed to the lunatic asylum for safe keeping. My informant, who received the account from the man's own lips, stated, that he averred he was not insane, that he understood all that was going on, and fully realised the gravity of his position when the doctors took him in charge; but that the spirit had taken away his power of speech, and compelled him to make the horrid grimaces which led to his being placed in the asylum. The man subsequently left town for the country, and was found murdered, which his friends supposed to have been the fulfilment of the threat made to him.

A Mr. Y., another resident of Dunedin, when at a seance, was taken possession of by a spirit, doubled up like an india-rubber ball, and thrown with great violence about the room, displacing everything in the room, and at last leaving him on the floor foaming at the mouth, and vomiting. A Mrs T. of South. Dunedin, a trance-medium, was, on one occasion, taken in a similar manner, and was so bruised by being violently thrown about, that she had to remain in her chamber for several days. Violent convulsions and distortions are usual at seances, persons beating themselves, or throwing themselves about in such a manner, as to lead those present to suppose they were intending to destroy themselves.

A writer in the Spiritual Telegraph, No. 187, says:—"I have seen mediums rolling on the floor, uttering grunts like swine, giving vent to the most hideous yells, and at times beating their bodies, and tearing their hair like lunatics."

The Superintendent of the Indiana Lunatic Asylum, in 1853, said : "A new cause of insanity has been developed. During the year, eighteen have been added to our number from the so-called spiritual rappings."

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In the report of the Ohio Lunatic Asylum for 1853 is the following :—"Nothing is more worthy of notice than the large and rapidly increasing number of cases caused by the popular delusion, 'spirit rappings.'" Only during the past few weeks, two melancholy cases of insanity from this cause have occurred in the vicinity of Dunedin. Do such bitter waters flow from a sweet fountain? That these are the legitimate fruits of the system, the foregoing testimonies conclusively prove.

A few weeks ago I was waited upon by a young gentleman occupying a position of responsibility and trust in one of our mercantile offices, and with whom I had become acquainted on a return voyage from London to Melbourne in the year 1877. He told me that he had been induced, from curiosity and sceptism as to the phenomena of spiritualism, to join himself to a "circle," in which were several developed mediums. Being of a highly sensitive temperament, although he was sceptical as to the interference of spirits in the matter, he was soon brought under the influence. In a short time he found himself experiencing knocks while in the office attending to his duties, and was so thrown about that he had often to retire to another room to hide the matter from his fellow-clerks. While casting up his accounts, he was stopped, and compelled to write words and sentences which appeared to be wholly unmeaning, so that he found himself unable to attend to his duties. After this had gone on for some time, he became alarmed for himself, and saw that the consequences to him were likely to be serious. His confidence in the goodness of the influence exerted over him was shaken, by finding that the "spirits told such atrocious lies," and as he had had a Christian training, he knew such could not be from God. The spirits sought to obtain from him a written promise that he would allow nothing of any ordinary character to keep him away from the circle on the evening on which it regularly met. This request, and its being repeatedly insisted upon, alarmed him. He concluded that, as he had found the spirits to be liars, as they were destroying his power of individual action, compelling him to go to places, and do things, against his own will and inclination; and as he saw that they now wished, by obtaining the written promise, to secure entire control over him, that the influence must be a Satanic one, he was resolved, if possible, to rid himself from it. The night prior to his visit to me was the one on which the circle usually met, and the first one after his newly made resolve at which he was determined not to be present. As he sat in his room and the usual time of meeting arrived, he felt some powerful influence at work with him and trying to compel him to go. The chair on which he sat (so he averred) moved right away from the table, while the table moved in an opposite direction; and in terror lest his resolution should fail, he fell upon his knees and earnestly besought God to deliver him from the power of these unseen beings. He success- page 76 fully resisted the prompting to attend the seance, and on the next morning waited upon me and communicated the above facts.

After conversing with him for some time, I suggested that we should unite together in prayer. We knelt down, and while praying, I was disturbed by hearing a struggle, and upon looking at the young man I saw him raised from his knees, and his body twisted as though he was struggling with some one; and after about a minute thus spent, he was thrown violently on the floor. I felt altogether perplexed. I asked myself what possible object the young man could have in coming and imposing upon me. I saw that he was most serious and I questioned him as to the apparent struggle and his fall, when he assured me that he was taken hold of by a power he seemed unable to resist and thus thrown down. Had he been an entire stranger to me, I should have given no credence to his words, but my acquaintance with him on our voyage having led me to form a high estimate of his character and truthfulness, I could not thus dismiss the matter. After a little while, he begged that I would pray with him again, and the same scene was enacted, and he was again thrown with even greater violence upon the floor. I was altogether in a maze. I keenly questioned him as to the influence, with the same result as before. In a little time, he again requested me to pray, and with increased violence he struggled, and was thrown upon the floor. Having some engagements to attend to, and wishing for time to think over what had occurred, I excused myself, and he returned to his home.

Early on the following morning he again called, and informed me that he felt better; but after sitting and conversing for a little, he again asked me to pray with him, as he felt the influence again, coming on. We knelt, and nothing occurred to disturb. In a few minutes he said, "I feel very peculiarly. The spirits seem to enter me by the brain, and produce a terrible numbing feeling." After a pause he said, "Would you mind putting both your hands upon my head and praying as you did before? I think if you were to do that I should get rid of the influence." I did as requested; but as I prayed, his struggles were so great, and he was thrown so up and down the floor—his arms and legs being thrown about with the greatest violence, that it was only with difficulty my hands were kept upon his head. What struck me as most remarkable was, that when I used the name of Jesus, and prayed that the young man might even just then be delivered from the evil influence, his struggles were most fearful, his face being distorted, his arms and legs thrown about, his body twisted and raised from the floor, and then thrown violently down. There was brought forcibly to my mind, by what I thus saw, the Scripture account of demoniacal possessions, and especially the one case where a father brought his son, and where, before coming out, the spirit tare him, and caused him to foam at the mouth, and left him as dead. I was astounded, at what I saw, and full of pity for the young man, who appeared page 77 very unhappy. Having assisted him to a seat, and after some little conversation, he again asked if I would pray, placing my hands on his head as before, as he believed that he was thus assisted to struggle against the influence, and would ultimately conquer. I did so. The struggling again went on, but with greater violence than at any previous time. He gnashed his teeth, as though in agony; his eyes glared, and his face was greatly distorted. While thus struggling, he violently spat out and foamed at the mouth, and then lay on the floor utterly prostrate, and as though bereft of all strength. It was a very considerable time before he was sufficiently recovered to go to his home; but after resting and taking some food, he was able to do so.

This is an unvarnished account of what actually occurred. I can offer no explanation of it, other than what might be suggested to the reader by a perusal of it. I had never seen anything like it before, and I hope not to do so again. The young man believed himself to be possessed by evil spirits; I can offer no other explanation. He was in good bodily health, and was apparently as sane as he had ever been. Its harmony with the cases cited in the preceding pages, would lead to the conclusion that if they were the result of spirit possession, then, undoubtedly, this case was so likewise. I believe it was; and I place it on record as a warning to others, lest they, from the same feeling of curiosity, or other motive, should be led into an intercourse which is unlawful and unholy, and against which God has pronounced his severe displeasure. The young man is still affected by the influence, and has had to give up his situation and leave Dunedin, with the intention of returning to England, thus hoping to be entirely free from the evil influences under which he had allowed himself to be brought.

As further testimony to the character and doings of these beings, the following is cited. It is from Dr. Randolph's "Dealings with the Dead":—

"Those ill-meaning ones who live just beyond the threshold, often obtain their ends by subtly infusing a semi-sense of volitional power into the minds of their intended victims; so that at last they come to believe themselves to be self-acting, when in fact they are the merest shuttlecocks, banded about between the battledores of knavish devils on one side, and devilish knaves upon the other; and, between the two, the poor wretches are nearly heart-reft and destroyed."—pp. 108, 9.

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I have before quoted from Hudson Tuttle, the author of the "Arcana of Spiritualism," and other spiritualistic works. He says:—

"Reader, have you ever entered the respectable saloon? Have you ever watched the stupid stare of the inebriate when the eye grew less and less lustrous, slowly closing, the muscles relaxing, and the victim of appetite sinking over on the floor in beastly drunkenness? Oh, how dense the fumes of mingled tobacco and alcohol! Oh, what misery confined in those walls! If you have witnessed such scenes, then we need describe no further. If you have not, then you had not better hear the tale of woe. Imagine to yourselves a bar room with all its sots, aud their number multiplied indefinitely, while conscience-seared and bloated fiends stand behind the bar, from whence they deal out death and damnation; and the picture is complete! One has just arrived from earth. He is yet uninitiated in the mysteries and miseries of those which, like hungry lions, await him. He died while intoxicated—was frozen while lying in the gutter, and consequently is attracted toward this society. He possessed a good intellect, but it was shattered beyond repair by his debauches.

"'Ye ar' a fresh one, ain't ye?' coarsely queried a sot, just then particularly communicative.

"'Why, yes, I have just died, as they call it, and 'taint so bad a change after all; only I suppose there'll be dry times here for want of something stimulant.'

"'Not so dry; lots of that all the time, and jolly times too.'

"'Drink! can you drink, then?"

"Yes, we just can, and feel as nice as we please. But all can't, not unless they find one on earth just like 'em. You go to earth, and mix with your chums, and when you find one whose thoughts you can read, he's your man. Form a connection with him, and when he gets to feeling good, you'll feel so too.—There, do you understand me? I always tell all fresh ones the glorious news, for how they would suffer if it wasn't for this blessed thing.'

"'I'll try it, no mistake.'

"'Here's a covey,' spoke an ulcerous-looking being; 'he's of our stripe. Tim, did you hear what an infernal scrape I got into last night? No, you didn't. Well, I went to our friend Fred's; he didn't want to drink when I found him, his dimes looked so extremely large. Well, I destroyed that feeling, and made him think he was dry. He drank, and drank, more than I wanted him to, until I was so drunk that I could not break my connection with him, or control his mind. He undertook to go home; fell into the snow, and came near freezing to death. I suffered awfully, ten times as much as when I died.' . . . Reader, we draw the curtain over scenes like these, such as are daily occurring in this society."—"Life in the Spheres," pp. 35, 37.

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Thus the poor deluded mediums are made to believe they want to drink, and their natural aversion to crime and lewdness is destroyed by the beings whose presence and influence are courted by thousands. This is spiritualism! that grand panacea for all human ills; that universal reformer of all abuses; that pure and elevating system, which, it is said, will raise and ennoble the race! May God save the race from its fell and destroying power. It is in itself a moral ulcer, full of rottenness, disease, and death.

Dr. Randolph says again :—

"The bodies and souls of mediums may be, and are attacked, the remnant of will destroyed, or lulled, the moral sense stupefied, and the entire being subjugated by spectral harpies, and human ghouls, who wander on either bank of existence."—"Dealings with the Dead," pp. 107-8.

Dr. Gridley, in his "Astounding Facts," represents himself as receiving from his spirit friend Bryant, the following revelation. The Joshua spoken of was a strong, but brutish man, whom he had known in life, but who was now in the spirit-land:—

"On one occasion, while Joshua was possessing the medium, it appeared evident that the love of rum in the former was by no means impaired by his transfer to the world of spirits. To test this, I asked him if he would have a glass of brandy. The inviting, even bewitching manner with which he reached forth and waved his hand invitingly towards me, with the sweet-loving motion of his lips, surprised me beyond measure; and I replied, perhaps rudely, that if he came here for brandy, he would get nothing but water. His countenance instantly exhibited the most fierce and terrible anger. He grated his teeth furiously, doubled his fist, and made a most desperate blow at the pit of my stomach, and exclaimed, 'Damn you!' I now inquired, 'Friend Bryant, is it possible that a man who loves rum in this world carries that love with him into the next?' 'Yes, it is certainly true.' 'But there can be nothing there by which to gratify it,' I said, inquiringly. 'No, not in ours; but you must not forget that our world, especially with low, wicked spirits, is not far from yours.' 'But you do not mean to say that such an appetite in a disembodied spirit can be gratified?' 'Spirits who have left the rudimental body can gratify a drunken appetite ten times as easy as those in that body.' 'But how can that be?' I asked in wonder. 'Joshua can enter the body of any drunken brute in human form, and partake of the exhilarating influence of his cups with the greatest ease imaginable.' He stated too that spirits were guilty of licentious acts, page 80 and that quarrelling and licentiousness were as inseparable in their world as in ours."—"Astounding Facts," pp. 26-27.

T. L. Harris, once a Swedenborgian minister, and afterwards one of the most eminent, popular, and learned advocates of spiritualism, gives his testimony upon this matter. In a sermon on "Spiritualism," delivered in London, in the year 1868, after speaking of the various views held and taught by spirits and spiritualists, and pointing out their contradictions and absurdities, he passes on to its social characteristics, and charges, that it tramples underfoot the most sacred obligations necessary to the well-being of society. He then further continues :—

"Now, as a man of honour, I pledge myself, and stand committed to the assertion, that, through mediumistic channels, all these things are taught as emanating from the spirits; and worse is taught, if possible, to those who penetrate the inner circles of the gloomy mysteries, where the old magic is born again. If I strip the veil from this horror, I have a right, as a Christian teacher, to do so. I but reiterate matters which the best informed of spiritualists are as fully acquainted with, as that media speak or tables move."—"Spiritualism Self-Condemned," pp. 29, 30.

Again he says—

"Murder, adultery, suicide, and the most revolving blasphemies, may be traced directly to the communications and puttings forth of impure spirits, both in ancient and modern times."—Ibid. p. 32.

He further says:—

"So far as I am able to judge, the majority of such instances are traceable to the habit of attending seances. I earnestly call attention to this point. The man of iron nerves may say that he feels no change of state. He may laugh down the idea of peril. With him it is but a question of time. The vitriol that eats in a day through iron wire has but to continue the process to eat through the iron bar. It is slow, this poison, but sure. I lift the alarm cry of danger. It is not safe, unless there is a Divine use and value in the act, and so unless it is in the order of Providence, either to submit to a spirit's influence or to participate in circles of spirit manifestations.

"As with a voice from the secret chambers, where the fair, the young, the virtuous, the unsuspecting, from the mere habit of attending the seance, have felt the foul contact of the larvae from perdition, I cry to all, 'Shun the seance, where the unregenerate, or giddy, or worldly, or volatile or careless medium, officiates as the middle stander and opener of the door between the natural and unseen worlds. If you do not wish to become yourselves demoniacs, shun the place and shun the occasion.' To the pure, I can hint page 81 such reasons as, if uttered, would make every ear tingle. From what heathen spiritualism, before Christ, was, we may infer what modern spiritual intercourse, pursued in an irreverent or curious or worldly spirit, is likely to become."—Ibid, pages 32-3.

This testimony and warning, coming as it does from one who has had such opportunities of knowing what spiritism is, and who at the time he uttered these words was still a Spiritualist, is of great weight. It is not intended to be affirmed in these pages that all spiritualists are infidel and immoral persona. This could not be affirmed of any system, even the most immoral in the world There are many most excellent persons who are Spiritualists, but they were good before they became acquainted with this system, and if they remain so, it is in spite of its natural and inevitable tendency. What we can affirm, without fear of successful contradiction, is, that the genius and character of Spiritualism have attracted to it a mass of low, immoral, debased, and irreligious persons, whom it fails to elevate, and to whom it gives a greater license to sin.

When the dangers of mediumship are fairly considered, in the light of the facts presented in the preceding pages, it becomes a matter of astonishment how any should be so infatuated as to seek to be developed as mediums. The facts given prove that, in mediumship, individuality—the power of individual and independent action—is relinquished, and a spirit other than the medium's own takes possession of him and does with him as he pleases. That spirit mediumship leads to the commission of crime cannot be denied by any who are at all acquainted with the nature and fruits of the system : it is the most prolific incentive to crime that the mind can conceive. If, then, these things are so,—and I hold they have been clearly proved,—then spiritism, as a practice, deserves to be reprobated by all; and the judgment of God pronounced on those seeking this intercourse is seen to be just.