Spiritualism and Necromancy

()
SPIRITUALISM
AND
NECROMANCY.
BY
REV. A. B. MORRISON,
0/ tlu Stndlu,.,. Iifu.,u Cm/wnrt:,.
CINCINNATI:
HITCHCOCK AND WALDEN.
NEW YORK:
NELSON AND PHILLIPS.
. '' S""!
MAIIYlllft tlftU,IIII.III.II'f
'110M
THl BlQUEST Of
'Ylll1 IANIIN WINOI!.I.
1111
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873.
BY HITCHCOCK & WALDEN,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PREFACE.
AFTER the publication of our .two ser-

. mons, or lectures, on Spiritualism and
Necrom_;lncy, our mi~d turned naturally to a
further investigation of the claims of spirit-
ualism ; and as we studied the subject deeper
and closer, we determined to write out our
discoveries and deductions, for our own use.
This we have done in the form of lectures,
something after the manner of sermonizing;
for such is our habit of thought.
The production has been so interesting to
us, and our former publication having received
such favor, we h~ve been encouraged to give
this also to the public ; being impelled to do
so with strong hope of doing some good, by
II PREFACE.
arresting the tide of the ruinous heresy of

spiritualism. We are aware that w.e shall
meet the anathemas of those who have already
fallen into. this snare of the devil ; but we
-hope to win back, to God and reason, honest
souls who have been tempted to tamper with
this serpent of sin.
In our fifth and seventh lectures we look,
too, for opposition from "the orthodox ;" but,
after C!lreful study, aided by such helps as
we could command, we have deliberately and
solidly concluded that "the Man of Sin" is
not the "Old Man at Rome." We are willing
to admit that he is a sinner, and that he is
possessed of the spirit of Antichrist; but we
can not determine, by Bible or history, that
he is the Antichrist of prophecy. Our sev-
enth lecture, on the Spirit of Inquiry, or
Office 'and Use of Philosophy, is largely
extracted from a review we wrote, a year
ago; of Dr. Cocker's " Greek Philosophy ;" &
and, as it had never been given to the public,
PREFACE. III
and seemed to us t<? meet and express a felt

want of our nature, so evidently manifest in
the restless instability of man away from his
God, we determined to insert it in this publi-
cation. Having prepared it in a little different
form for ministerial criticism, we submit it to
the laity without fear, trusting that it will do
good, by showing in easy thought to the com-
mon reader that man, estranged from God by
sin, is ever restless and unsatisfied until he
be restored to the Father, thr!>ugh the merit
of the Son. The other chapters treat directly
of Spiritualism, with all its diabolism and
hatefulness.
We have in crude outline another work,
showing the true medium of spirit-communi-
cation, which may or may not go to tile public.
Future circumstances shall determine.
A. B. M .
•
•
CONTENTS.
PAGE,
I. SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY, • 9

II. SPIRITUALISM AN AGENCY OF SATAN, 36
III. SPIRITUALISM AND DEMONOLOGY, • 62
IV. SPIRITUALISM AN AGENCY OF SATAN, 83
V. SPIRITUALISM AND ANTICHRIST, 98
VI. DECEPTION OF SPill.ITUALISM, 112
VII. THE SPIRIT OF INQUIRY IN MAN, 126
VIII. A WORD TO SPIRITUALISTS, 146
IX. BIBLE SPIRITUALISM, 166
X. SPIRITUALISM A LoVER OF DARKNESS, 186
3
INTRODUCTION.
F ROM its earliest history, Methodism has

carried on a vigorous warfare in defense
of spiritual Christianity. It has been not only a
stirring appeal and invitation of mercy to sinners,
but also a bold note of warning to souls who have
fallen into the snares of false religion. Our fa-
thers were conspicuous for their boldness and
readiness in attacking vagaries of unbelief, and
every form of false doctrine. In this country, the
itinerant ~inistry has pursued the same methods.
But the concessions that our Government makes
to religious liberty and freedom of speech and
worship, offer facilities for the propagation. of false
5
6 INTRODUCTION.
religion, of which the spirit of evil has been alert

to take advantage.
The author of this little volume has chosen to
appear in print, not to achieve the notoriety of
authorship, but to carry the practical results of
his pastorate into a wider field. In the course
of his regular duties, the delusion known as
spiritualism, through the advocacy of one who
had formerly been a Methodist preacher, produced
bewilderment and perplexity in the minds of some
over whom he had spiritual care. He wisely
entered the lists in defense of the truth as it is
in Christ. The success of his public effort, em-
bodied in two sermons, called for their publication
as desirable and profitable to his Church ; and
out of these has grown this larger ess·ay.
Spiritualism has had a wonderful growth in the
United States in the twenty-five years since the
Misses Fox, of New York State, first gained the
public attention. By bold assertions and shrewd
practices, it has bewildered and entrapped some
honest people whose curiosity was excited, and
INTRODUCTION. 7
they have received spiritual harm. For modem
spiritualism, as a system of religious thought and
faith, is identical in origin and analogous in spirit
and practice to that of demonology, which In-
spiration has described as the doctrine of devils.
It has borne no good fruit. The classes it attracts
by its teachings, an!! whose lives it fails to reform,
are a standing proof of its worthlessness as a
religious system. It has swept many into the
most vicious forms of immorality and wickedness.
It has added nothing to our knowledge of this life
or of the world to come.
This pernicious belief has but to be examined
and judged by the light of the Sacred Scriptures,
the teaching of history, and in its unvarying
tendency to pervert the moral life of its disciples,
to be seen in its true character. This is the aim
of the author of this volume. He defines and
sets forth. its proper character and constant tend-
encies, comparing it with the spiritualism taught
in the Word of God. We commend it to all
who are seeking to know the truth. We are
8 INTRODUCTION.
confident that its perusal will prove a benefit to

those whose minds are in doubt and need such
light as its pages offer. A knowledge ·of its
contents will prepare any one to ward off the
subtleties of the deceiver of souls, and establish
the conviction that spiritualism is the most dan-
gerous form of unbelief with which Christianity
has now to contend.
BENJ. ST. }AMES FRY.
ST. Lours, 'Jum 6, 1873·
Spiritualism and Necromancy.
I.
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY.
•• There shall not be found among you any one that
maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or
that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an en-
chanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with famil-
iar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do
these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because
of these abominations the nord thy God doth drive them
out before thee."-DEUT. XVIII, 1o-12.
sINCE the unfortunate fall of our race,

every recorded act of man has been in
clear demonstration of the Bible doctrine of
our alienation from God and from righteous-
ness. And it has ever been the studied policy
of Satan, that old seducer, so to blind the
eyes of men as to keep them in ignorance
9
10 SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY.
of God. A thousand years ago, this was no

difficult task ; but, with Bible-houses and a
free press, Satan must bestir himself, or the
light of the ages must fall on and illuminate
the eye of reason in the masses o( men. So,
the very Pandora's box of hell has, within a
hundred years, been opened out to earth's
inhabitants, for the tangling of their feet and
the snaring of their souls ; and every-where
men are seeking to hew out to themselves
new cisterns, in the vain hope of finding in
some one of them the elixir of the soul's life.
It is not a new weapon of war that Satan
uses, when he throws the blinding cloud of
doubt over the mental vision of man-bring-
ing in strong delusions, trusting that men •
may believe a lie that they may be damned ;
for he has been all too successful in th~ ruin
of souls with this weapon to abandon it now.
Nor does he hesitate in using things real to
induce men to believe things unreal ; nor the
contrary, the use of things unreal to induce
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. II
men to believe things real. All this to delude

men, and keep out, or shut out, the light of
the Gospel, and the true service that God
requires. Anciently, he habitually used the
art of the magician and soothsayer, sorcery
and divination; to-day, he uses the arts and
sciences, perverting them. He seizes the
Bible doctrine of spirit communication, abus-
ing and perverting it into a lie. The warfare
is the same; the weapons are nearly identical.
Their appliance. only is different ; then he
used magic, now he uses spirit. We notice:
I. Ancient necromancy and modern spir-
itualism are identical. By the term necro-
mancy, we mean now to include the theory
that men on the earth are able, by spirit
alliance, to converse with the spirits of the
dead, and thereby get a knowledge of the
spirit.world; for a necromancer is properly
one who pretends to foretell future events by
holding converse with departed spirits, and
one who uses sorcery and enchantments.
Young says, "A necromancer is a trick-

ster." Gregory says, "Conjuration, or the
black art." Necronite is, in the Greek,
"/~tid/' while necropolis is the city of the
dead, with whom the ancient necromancer
Claimed to be on familiar terms, and with
whom they claimed to converse at pleasure;
and by such conversation they claimed to
know future events. For this purpose they
used divination, of which there were many
sorts, as is implied in the original· expression
here, "Kasem, Kasamim "-seeking to know,
by unlawful arts and practices, things secret
or to come. They were very superstitious;
and, by closely observing the planets and the
weather, they pronounced one day lucky and
·another unlucky. By such means they ob-
tained the mastery of the superstitious minds
of the masses, who had no means of refuting
them ; for they were also jugglers, causing
things by some secret art to assume a false
appearance, and thus would practice illusions
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. 13
on the people's fancy, and deceive by the

slight of hand. These pretenders were wont
to use superstitious words in their incanta-
tions ; and, by observing the waters, looking
through smoke, and other foolish ceremonies,
they conjectured the destiny of the spirit.
They used witchcraft, or were admitted to be
in league and covenant with the devil, by
whose help they deluded the people's senses,
etc., through evil arts. The word is "nac!task,"
where it is in the plural ; it is sorcerer, who
is otie who transforms natural things so as to
deceive the eye, not only deceiving, but get-
ting possession of the will-power of the
deceived.
The word is sometimes translated sooth-
say_er...:....sooth and say; for they pretend to
know and tell the events of life and future
things. And because of this, then secret,
power of mesmerism-for it was nothing
else-they were called charmers ; for, at this
juncture, the devotee would, by means of
2
ventriloquism, make the astonished subjects

believe that they were in familiar conversation
with the spirits of the dead. Hence Moses,
in the text, calls them "consulters with fa-
miliar spirits." The original word is " Sltoel
Ob," and is, literally, "one who speaks out of
his belly," and inquires of Ob, which means
a bottle, and was the name given by the He-
brews to the spirit, and was aptly applied to
those deceivers ; for, during the process of
' their divinations, or seance (sa-ance), they
distended their bodies violently, as a leather
bottle full of new wine. Galen says, "Such
persons violently distend their bodies like
leather bottles full of wine, ready to burst,
and speak as if their voice was sent from I
I
their bellies." Whoever has witnessed the art I
and heard the words of the professional jug- I

gler will comprehend this, and also see that
such shabby tricks are not yet extinct ; but, j
with the practice of such arts, the heathen
nations of the land which Israel wa-s to occupy
SPIRITUAUSM AND NECROMANCY. 15
and possess, were able to palm themselves off

I
as wizards and necromancers ; for these terms
were not then offensive. The one signified
" a knowing man ;" the· other, "a consulter
of the dead." Their manner of doing so was
to lie down in some dark place in the night,
usually on or at the grave of him whose
spirit they would consult, and then, after
muttering strange and unintelligible words,
in low, solemn, guttural sounds, would pretend
to have communion with the spirit, and would
sometimes claim to have seen the spirit.
Such, then, is a brief outline of ancient
necromancy.
My proposition identifies modern spiritual-
ism with it; and, if the identity be maintained,
we need but refer to the terrible maledictions
of God upon the one, to be conscious of his
disapprobation of the other.
Diviner, observer of times, enchanter, witch
a consulter with familiar spirits, a wizard,-and
a necromancer, signified the same characters,
in the performance of their several practices ;

as the term architect signifies builder, who
may be laying the foundation, or mounting
the turret. So, for convenience, we may use
the general term "necromancy," and notice its
work, as compared with spiritualism.
The necromancer pretended to know, by
means of spirit communication, future events.
Webster says, "By magic, enchantment, witch-
craft, and divination, by the assistance of evil
spirits ;" that is, as we understand him, by
help of the devil. Now, is there any thing in
spiritualism like this practice ?
A medical medium, or clairvoyant, in Bos-
ton, on Washington Street, advertises after ·
this manner:
"MAGNETIC TREATMENT!
BUSINESS MEDIUM I ~
TURKISH LoVE POWDERS I SOMETHING NEW I

Latlie1 in lrlfii!Jie I Fimli11g lost properly," etc. ;
and. all this she pretends to carry on by aid

of the spirits of the ancients, for the moderate
r
sum of two dollars I not including medicines,

some particular kinds of which are exorbi-
tantly high.
It is estimated that the fifty medical medi-
ums in Boston realize an aggregate income of
six hundred thousand dollars, for soothsaying
the fortunes of the thousands who go to their
seances daily ; and it is worthy of note, that
nearly all mediums who have the shrewdness
to do so, resort to the medical trick for gain,
in money and lust. But we notice :
The necromancer was a consulter with fa-
miliar spirits ; that is, they pretended to talk
with the spirits of the dead. Webster says,
" Familiar spirit, a demon or evil spirit, sup-
posed to attend a call."
By this means, the damsel spoken of in the
sixteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles
"brought great gain to her masters ;" and,
like the modern follo.wer of the Fates, they
were quite angry when the circle was broken,
and the power of the medium blasted by the
1
I
name of the Lord ] esus. Sorcery was a rec-
ognized practice in the days of the apostles,
and Simon Magus supposed it was by this
means the Holy Ghost was given. But, are
there any such practices in spiritualism? Let
us see. Here is an abstract from the Boston
Daily News, July 25, 1872:
" Mrs. Harding, a noted medium of Boston,
gets two dollars for getting dead relatives to
come and converse with their living friends.
Hundreds visit her daily. To get a 'setting,'
you must send in your application several
days in advance, otherwise your desire to con-
verse with a relative will be denied. This
woman was in poverty five years ago, when
she hit upon the happy a~t of clairvoyance, or
spiritualism ; now, her income is said to be
eighty dollars per day."
" By her soothsaying her masters had great
gain" (Acts xvi) ; and, by Mrs. Harding's
spiritualism, she has, in five years, sprung from
poverty to a princely fortune. The same paper
J
says her house, at No. 4 Concord Square, cost

her twenty thousand dollars, and is furnished
at an expense of eight thousand dollars, while
her bank account is as creditable as the largest
wholesale houses in the city. In a business
sense; with her, spiritualism is no "humbug."
But the necromancer of Moses' day was also
a wizard. In plain English, a wizard is a
conjurer, or one who resorts to tricks and
sleight of ha:nd, for the purpose of causing im-
aginary things to seem true, making the un-
real to appear real, the false to seem true, etc.
Dr. Waterland, an author of some note,
says it properly means one who consulted the
dead, an,P he describes their manner of doing
so: "They, t~e 'wizards,' went to the grave
of the dead in the night, stretched themselves
upon them, and muttered as from the belly,
or in ventriloquism." To this Isaiah is thought
to refer, in the nineteenth verse of the eighth
chapter. Hear the quotation: "And when
they shall say unto you, Seek unto them
that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards

that peep and mutter: should not a people
seek unto their God ?" Then Isaiah chal-
lenges thus: "To the law and to the testi-
mony: if th~y speak not according to this
word, it is because there is no light in them."
Now, are there any such "peepings" and
mutterings in spiritualism ? Let us see;
and we will not, dare not now, descend to
the low, sluttish seance of home manufac-
ture, where the lowest order of ignorant
men and women cherish the baser passions,
whose spawn is treachery and free-loveism,
and the consequent concomitant, violation of
the conjugal vow; but we prefer giving its
fairest lights.
An unmarried and, we are told, eloquent
divine, of Alton City, determined, some
months ago, to "leave his own little corner
of the Lord's vineyard to grow up in weeds,"
and visit the great Mecca of spiritual man-
ifestation, which " Mecca" is an obscure
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. 2I
village in the State of New York, called Mo-

ravia; and the result of his visit is in print,
and so· becomes public pl'operty. We quote
only a few of the leading features of the
article ; for, as it appeared in the St. Louis
Democrat, July 10th, most of you have read it.
He says : · 11 Kind reader, imagine yourself
in a country house," etc. ; 11 a circle of seven·
is formed, hands are joined, the medium faces
us." "The light is excluded ; but a lamp is
burning." 11 The only door is bolted ;" "now
the lamp is extinguished-all is dark." Sud-
denly, "the piano begins to play. Nothing is
touching the keys ; but the playing goes on."
"Now, voices, seemingly above us, joiri in the
song with great power and sweetness." The
author does not tell us whether he learned
tlie tune or not, nor the name of the song.
We shall in a moment speak of optical
illusion.
But, just now, we have something that re-
minds US Of the WizardS that II peeped 11-the
evidence of sound. A little study of the

habits of the ancient necromancer will fully
explain this sound, or those " peepings."
They-while in the dark-muttered, murmur-
ing words that seemed to be the voice of
another. So Mrs. Andrews-who was our
author's medium-with a knowledge of mes-
/ merism and ventriloquism, while in the dark,
spake and sang, as did the wizards of Moses'
day. But now, while the mind is beclouded,
and every nerve of the soul is on the stretch,
it is a fitting time for yet other display of
the spirits.
Accordingly, "mysterious lights began to
dance in circles about the room ;" which was
doubtless but an optical illusion, aided by the
magic-lantern in the hand of Mrs. Andrews,
who was just then behind the "velvet curtain
of the cabinet." And now, while the mind is
so entranced, "soft voices whisper startling
things in our ears "-whether those "startling
things" were of earth or of heaven the
narrator does not tell us-but "delicate hands

thrill us with gentle and affectionate touches,"
and' "tender lips kissed mine." No marvel
that he was speechless. We have read, in 1
Samuel xxviii, 7 (it was after Saul had got
tired serving Israel's God, and God had for-
saken· him), he said to his servants, "Seek me
a woman that hath a familiar spirit." At En-
dor, he found just such a woman, and her per-
formances were so overpowering that Saul fell
down in a swoon.
But our author was now sufficiently wrought
up to get nearer the medium, which he did,
even shutting the door of the cabinet after
her; which door, you will bear in mind, only
extended part way up, the upper portion of
the aperture being covered with a " black-
velvet curtain;" and, to his amazement, out
thrust an "armless hand "-it was a pretty
hand-" white as snow." And it, in a know-
ing way, "tapped him on the hand and arm."
After this, faces, heads, etc., appeared ; and
did n't look at all ghostly either, but were

perfectly natural.
Permit us to remark here, that we would
suppose any such ocular demonstration, pur-
porting to be spirit, would startle the fears of
one so orthodox as we are told the narrator
is; for Jesus said, to his doubting disCiples,
" H~ndle me, -and see, for a spirit hath not
flesh and bones as ye see me have."
Surely, the man must have forgotten his
Bible, to have believed those Moravia women
were spirits, after they had played the piano
for him ; had sung sweetest music to
him; had familiarly patted him on hand
and arm-ah I had embraced, "hugged, and
kissed him." We say, after all this, the man
must have forgotten the Scriptural declara-
tion, "A spirit hath not flesh and bone&."
But do you ask for an explanation of these
singular manifestations on other than spiritual
development? Very well. There are times
,ijlr'the life of almost every one, when they are
easily led into illusions. We once, out of
curiosity, visited a noted French spiritualist
during the seance. He seemed to take off
his head ; and then, by aid of ventriloquism,
the severed parts beld familiar conversation .
•
But he as readily conversed with any friend
you might wish to hear from. Now, what
sane man will say those acts or tricks of the
artful juggler were real ? But, to hundreds
of men and women, they were as real as are
the late developments at Moravia, in New
York. Our purpose in referring to those
wonderful manifestations has been to show
that necromancy has only changed in name ;
that its practices are common to-day, in
Europe and America, under the Christian
name of spiritualism ; and this we have plainly
done by comparative analogy. And now we
are ready to examine a secorid proposition,
n~mely:
2. Spiritualism is a dangetous delusion.
We wish to premise, with this thought: •
Christian men seldom fall into this heresy

while Christians, or, falling into it, are seldom
Christians after it ; and, because of this, the
danger is all the more to be dreaded. It can
not be denied there are men, all through the ,
land, avowed spiritualists, who were once
Christians. Fifty years ago, in this country,
when men lost the grace of God out of their
hearts, they were at once restless and unhappy
until they returned. To-day, spiritualism
seizes such men, and at once, with its semi-
diabolism, settles the soul in apathetic ease,
keeping up the dangerous delusion by flooding
the country with pretended messages from
the dead.
Isaiah said to all such: "To the law and to
· the testimony : if they speak not according to
these words, it is because there is no life
in them."
That is, as we understand the prophet, let
this dispute be determined by the Word of
• God, which is the law.
He was now speaking of apostate Israel-
ites (see Isaiah viii, 19), who had sought
"familiar spirits, and conversed with wizards,
who peeped or muttered," and declares, "If
they will not go by God's word, trouble, dark-
ness, and the dimness of anguish shall finally
come upon them." The Scriptures ·speak
elsewhere of certain characters who are given
over to believe a lie that they may be damned.
Hence the danger of the delusion. It is a
law in physiology, that the effect of opinion
on mind is as the reality. The man who
studies physical anatomy until he finds a weak
spot in his frame, will at once become a
chronic invalid on the physician's hands.
So men and women, falling into the power
of some designing schemer, in some dark
room set apart for seance, antl seeing strange
sights, their untrained ears listening to the
peepings of the wizard, will first of all be
put under the enchanter's spell. After that,
not all the world-no, not the world's great
Redeemer-can convince them that they have

not heard the voice and seen the shape of the
spirits. To reason with them, and to under-
take to show them the unchristlikeness of
such foolish diabolism, but maddens them.
Nine out of ten have a morbid, mental de-
pression, bordering upon mania. They lose
their interest in rational things. Their busi-
ness goes down, and most of them go to
poverty and want ; for it is only the designing
knaves of the circle who amas~ wealth by
filching it from the pockets of their dupes.
At a spiritualists' picnic in Island Grove,
in the East, the present season, one poor
"Simple Simon" importuned the company for
one hundred dollars, to enable him to perfect
a wonderful invention which he claimed Hin-
doo and Egyptian spirits had revealed to him.
They were old spirits too, some of them seven
hundred years old. An old lady wanted eight
hundred dollars, to help her in the performance
of spiritual cures.
Nothing is more evident than · that the

leaders in spiritualism advocate the heresy
from the most sinister motives ; but it is al-
most equally apparent that the victims of it
seldom escape the snare. Hence, we pro-
nounce it a very dangerous delusion. But,
again:
3· Spiritualism is terribly wicked and false.
It is a noteworthy fact, that the advocates of
heresy are flippant with Scriptural quotations,
until the Scriptures condemn them ; then
they abandon the Bible for tradition, or for
infidel productions. Spiritualists are no ex-
ception to the rule ; for in argument they in-
variably commence with the Bible, but end
with the revelations of the seance, and thus
close the mouth of the unbeliever, for the
simple reason few sensible men have been on
the other side and come back to report ; and
respectable people, who have some regard for
their reputation, do not like to go "capering"
about in dark comers and dens to hunt up
3
the spirits. So the argument is ended when-

ever the spiritualist declares himself to have
had a statement from some spirit, received in
some dingy back-room, where decent people
would not dare to go. But we deny the right
for this barest assertion, and propose showing
the wickedness and falsity of the terrible
heresy, by its own practices and by the Word
of God, the Bible :
Deuteronomy xviii, 12: "For .all that do
these things are an abomination unto the
Lord."
Deuterono~y xviii, 14: "For these nations,
which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto ob-
servers of times, and unto diviners : but as
for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered
thee so to do."
Leviticus xix, 31 : '' Regard not them that
have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards,
to be defiled by them."
Leviticus xx, 6 : "And the soul that turn-
eth after such as have familiar spirits, and
after wizards, I have set my face against that

soul, and will cut him . off from among his
people."
Leviticus xx, 27: "A man also or woman
that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard,
shall surely be put to death."
Exodus xxii, 19: "Thou shalt not suffer a·
witch to live."
Now, read the case of Manasseh. He
reigned in Israel something over fifty years ;
but toward the close of his reign he did that
which was evil in the sight of the Lord, for
which God sorely punished him.
What were his crimes ? The record is in
2 Kings xxi ; he became an observer of times,
and used enchantment, and dealt with familiar
spirits, and wrought much wickedness in the
sight of the Lord. "Therefore," saith the
Lord," I am bringing such evil on Jerusalem
and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both
his ears shall tingle." The affliction ~ame, and
the poor old backslider, being in sorrow and
penitence, returned unto his God. But Isaiah

says : "When they shall s.ay unto you, Seek
unto them that hath familiar spirits : should
not a people seek unto their God?"
Malachi, to show God's displeasure, says,
" I will come near to you to judgment, and
will be a swift witness against the sorcerers,"
etc.
"By their fruits ye shall know them," said
Jesus; and by this unfailing rule may we try
spiritualists.
And, first, who are spiritualists? Who, 0
who, in any country or town ?
Second, what have they done? Has science
I
been promoted by them ? have_ the industries

been advanced? has society been elevated and
made better by spiritualists ? Rather, has not
the tendency been directly the reverse of all
this ? Those we have known have not been
patterns of piety; and not one in a thousand
has made any claim to the Christian relig-
ion. Robert Dale Owen, a noted infidel and
free-lover, is an acknowledged light in the

motley company; so is Victoria Woodhull.
Third, what are their practices ? But, all
known, we may not answer this question in
public.
Fourth, to become a spiritualist is to aban-
.don all Scriptural hope of heaven.
God's plan of life provides that nothing un-
clean, impure, or unholy can ever enter heaven.
Spiritualism admits the vilest with the pure.
God says, " Except ye repent, ye shall all
likewise perish."
But spiritualism makes no difference, after
death, between the good and the bad ; for
their professed messages from those of every
grade of character, while on earth, are of the
same complexion.
But Malachi says, "Then shall ye return,
and discern between the righteous and the
wicked, between him that serveth the Lord
and him that serveth him not."
David says, " The wicked shall be turned
into hell, with all the nations that forget

God~" but in the creed of the spiritualists
there is no such place of habitation.
The Lord Jesus says, "These shall go away
into everlasting punishment ;" but the only
everlasting punishment in spiritualism is pos-
sible delayed spiritual development.
God's. Word says, "The soul that sinneth,
it shall die ;" but spiritualists deny all such
Scripture, and so are without Scriptural hope
of heaven.
But, to conclude, we may ask, since spirit-
ualism can not be maintained by the Bible,
but is strongly condemned wherever it is
spoken of in the Scriptures, as we have
plainly shown, how can a good man or woman
embrace it?
It never reforms heart or life, and why
should good men wish to embrace it? It
helps no one ·in the life that now is; why,
then, should· men practice such folly? And,
finally, it never yet smoothed a dying pillow;
SPIRITUALISM AND N'ECROMANCY. 35
why should men throw away religion for such
unsatisfying chaff? May God save us from
its power here, and save us in endless life
hereafter, through Jesus' merit I Amen.
II.
SPIRITUALISM AN AGENCY OF SATAN.
"Get thee behind 'IJle, Satan."-JESUS.

" Neither give place to the devii."-PAUL.
THE cunning and malignity of Satan can

never be fully understood in this life.
But is there such a being? The name, Devil,
comes to our language ftom the Greek word
diabolos, which signifies calumniator, or ac-
cuser. He is represented in the Scriptures
as a fallen spirit, or as a wicked angel-an_
enemy of the human race and a hater of God.
He is in the Scriptures spoken of by the
various names which express_ his character,
such as serpent; for in that character and
form he deceived the federal head; But he
can assume a variety of forms, and can appear
either as an angel of light or as an angel of
36
darkness. Because of this, David calls him
a dog and a fowler ; Jesus calls him a wolf;
he is also called a lion and an adder,-all
of these names being expressive of his
character.
He was not always a devil, but was created
an angel of light, and of high order. How he
became a devil we need not be curious to
know, si~ce the Scriptures, it must be con-
fessed, are not very explicit on the subject.
Nor have chronologists been definite as to
the time.
Some time, in the unchronicled past, he
became envious of Jehovah, because of God's
great glory ; and, being but a finite creature
in knowledge, he could not know the power
of God. Hence, he conceived the thought of
revolt. Counseling with the unwary, he drew
a multitude of heaven's inhabitants into his
treasonable plot.
God suffered long and was kind ; and not
until Satan's treason became open revolt did
he prepare the place of punishment, and cast

the rebels into it.
Because of this defeat, and the consequent
ruin, he became the sworn enemy of God and
of man. There is nothing in the Scriptures
to warrant the conclusion that Satan has
aught against our race ; but, being the foe of
God, and seeing that God created man for his
own glory, and that he has set his heart upon
him to magnify him or to exalt him, he hates
the man because God loves him.
But we are aware that the ever-busy mind
of man is ready to ask, Did the great Author
of all good, in creating all things for his own
glory, also create Satan, who may very justly
be styled the author of all evil; or was it by
some strange transmutation in spirit-alchemy
that this foe to our race came into being?
We deem the question already answered
above ; for the Scriptures teach plainly that
he was created an angel of light. And we
are ready to admit that we can only account
for his wonderful transmutation on the hy-

pothesis of angelic probation. It is a princi-
ple in the government of God, that all his
intelligent creatures be perfectly happy. They
could not be so unless perfectly free. They
can not be free unless under law. But there
can be no law without a penalty. This, we
think, is evidently God's rule for the govern-
ment of man, and it must have been similar
in the control of angels. Satin and a host
of others " kept not their first estate ;" and,
as man, they failed in their probation.
· How long they remained in such failure,
prior to the creation of man, we have no
means of knowing.
But men now ask, Why did not the great
and all-wise God destroy Satan ? In the an-
swer, you have the solution of the indestruc-
tibility of spirit; for the soul of ·God's intelli-
gent beings can not become extinct. Hence
Satan lives, and must continue to live ; and
while he lives will do all the evil he can.
40 SPIRITUAUSM AND NECROMANCY.
And he will drag down to his own misera~le

death-home as many souls as he is able to
delude. And this he will do out of revenge-
ful hate for the God he failed to dethrone,
simply because he sees the manifest love God
has for man ; and, he infers, to ruin man is to
be avenged upon God. We are aware that
all this is at. variance with the vagaries of
men who deny the personality of the devil ;
and that it is directly at variance with the
Universalist's theory of the eternal pre-exist-
ence of evil, on the hypothesis of opposites,
claiming a counterpart for all things; such as
light-darkness ; cold-heat ; sweet-bitter;
good-bad, etc.; thus of course defining what
we call the devil as but a principle, whose
opposite is God. But that such deduction is
fallacious and sel.f-contradictory, is apparent ;
for it refutes the plain Word of God when it
says, "God is." To evade this, however, the
cunning polemic assumes that, as God is, so
Satan is ; and this is claimed upon the above
hypothesis of counterparts. If this were true,

then would the fall of man by the personal
temptations of an individual devil be a mean-
ingless tissue of mythical stories, as it stands
in the Bible. For, throughout all the Word
of God, Satan is spoken of as an individual
being separate and apart from all other beings.
Plainly it is said, the angel of God disputed
with the devil about the body of Moses. But
when Paul spoke of fightings without, he only
spoke of fears within, and said, " When I
woulel do good, evil is present with me ;"
showing this, plainly, to have a tempting devil
without and an evil nature within were very
different things.
Again: that the theory of the Universalist
is a fallacy, is evident from the positive ne-
cessity of final disposition of the opposing
forces. For the good, this is easy, assuming
for it greater force and strength ; for the re-
sult of continued struggle must be the final
overthrow of all evil, and must end in the
triumph of all good, thus securing the com-

pleted welfare of all men. What becomes of
the priority of reasoning, on the basis of op-
posites, Universalists have not yet told the
world. Hence, the world persists in the ar-
gument, If good and evil are coeval, then
they must be coexistent; and since John saw
"the great dragon cast out, who is called
Satan, that old serpent, the devil, who de-
ceiveth the whole world" (see Rev. xii, 9), the
Christian world continues to believe the
Scriptural declaration, " Resist t.he devil, and
he will flee from you," and are careful to
heed Paul's counsel, "Neither give place to
the devil."
But again, as already intimated, we infer
the distinctive individuality and personality of
the devil, from the names given him in God's
Word, all of which are expressive of his per-
sonality. In Revelation ix, I 1, he is called
the "angel of the bottomless pit." In John
xii, 3 I, he is said to be the "prince of this
world ;" but in Ephesians he is called the

"prince of darkness." Many Scriptures set
forth the low, vicious, cunning boldness with
which he tries to drag down the souls of
men ; for, while the Bible uses the definite
article the to describe Satan, it must be un-
derstood that he is not alone in his work of
diabolism, for there are whole troops of devils.
" They throng the air, they darken heaven,

And rule this lower world."
Matthew and Luke give an account, in

their Gospels, ·of one possessed with devils ;
and the plural is most used in the New Tes-
tament Scriptures when they speak of those
possessed of the devil. Out of Mary Magda-
lene Jesus cast seven; and. in the country
of the Gergesenes those cast out were called
legion, because they were many.
But all these, it must be noted, were sub-
ordinate to Satan, who was their ruinous
counselor in heaven, and whose fortunes they
44 . SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY.
have been doomed to follow. And by these

assistants he carries on, in every age, an
unrelenting warfare upon our race. The
trail of the serpent is left on every page
of the history of the past, and the evidence
of his operations is seen through the whole
course of earthly affairs. In the Christian
age, "the mystery of iniquity" is the center
of his system. Opposition to the cross of
Christ is its leading characteristic ; but its
modifications are innumerable.
We give Catholicism full credit for all the
iniquity of which her mysteries are author;
but we can not regard Popery as fully answer-
ing the description of "the mystery of in-
iquity" in its maturity, as set forth in the
Scriptures. Popery may be the highest type
of it, and we think it is ; but Paul said, in
his day, "The mystery of iniquity doth already
work." Catholicism, as we see it, was not
known to Paul ; but "the mystery of iniquity"
was then working ruin. And from that day
to this, each generation has witnessed some
new feature of the predicted abomination.
Delusions and corruptions have crept in, and
multiplied around us. Hostility to the Gospel
is found in systems, opinions, and practices
subversive of the true faith, sufficient to
startle the advocate of salvation through faith
in Jesus Christ. It is true, these evil devices
of Satan are as yet disjointed and various;
but the fear is, they will eventually coalesce
and constitute an infamous whole, under the
leadership of Satan. In the memory of the
present generation, many sects of antagonistic
principles have become united. Usually, this
occurs by the strong swallowing up the weak.
And to-day Popery, in true gamboge style, is
making giant efforts to absorb all there is of
strength and beauty in the Protestant Epis-
copal Church. With this, Satan would be in
triumph; but in other departments, and with
other Christian Churches, he can not hope to
succeed in this direction. Hence, his resort
4
to other means with which to work "the mys-

tery of iniquity." And what, among Chris-
tians, could do the work better than conten-
tion and strife? For the destruction and
overthrow of nationalities, he uses these most;
but for the ruin of Christian Churches he
uses heresy, false and dangerous doctrines,
even doctrines of devils. Of this the apostle
gives due warning when he says, "The Spirit
speaketh expressly that in the latter times
some shall depart from the faith, giving heed
to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils ;"
or, as the last word should be rendered,
"demons." It would then read, Giving heed
to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons,
or the emissaries of Satan. The word di-
abolos, from which the name devil is derived,
is never used in the plural when applied to
Satan. So, whenever the word "devils"
occurs in the New Testament, it should be
understood as demons, or as inferior fallen
angels, subject to Satan. And now, in this
aspect of the workings of " the mystery of
iniquity," what more aptly illustrates it than
spiritualism, as known in modern days ?
A liberality of sentiment has been allowed
to find place among nominal Christians, that
sees, in the idolatry of the nations, accepted
worship of the true God, under different sym-
bols; and thus they not only legalize all forms
of worship, but approve idol worship. This is
in direct opposition to the plain Word of
God ; for it every-where condemns false gods
with holy severity, speaking of them, in terms
of indignation and contempt, under such
titles a.s "abominations," "no gods," "shame,"
"stocks," "stones," "vanities," "devils." The
heathen worshiped a multitude of such. What
correct thought could they have of Deity?
For, in common reason we may argue, every
deity they had, above one, was an evidence
of their ignorance of the true God of heaven
and earth, and showed beyond cavil that they
had no true knowledge of the "one true God
over all." To this must be added the gross

and sensual conceptions in their minds of
their images and deities, the amours, lusts,
quarrels, and many other mean qualities,
which they attributed to their gods. We
shall by this, we think, see plainly that the
heathen world has no true knowledge of God,
as he is to the Christian revealed in revelation
and natute.
But it may be necessary, to clear our way
for the discussion of the true character of
spiritualism, to consider the words devil and
demon more fully. Let us, then, give atten-
tion to the use of the terms, both in Scripture
and in that class of ancient writings known
as the classics.
In Homer, the demons and gods of the
heathen always mean the same, and the·words
are used interchangeably. And while we ad-
mit that the application of the word was
sometimes modified, yet it is worthy of note
the identity was never lost sight ·o(
The Greek philosophers speak of demons

as an intermediate class between gods and
men, calling them either gods or demons ac-
cording as they understood them to send
blessing or cursing on their subjects. Their
superior gods were not supposed to send
either cursing' or blessing upon men, nor in
any" way to interfere with the affairs of earth.
Because of this view of the gods, the masses
were given almost wholly to demon-worship.
Fear being the moving impulse, the evil
demons must be propitiated. But they a.lso
deified warriors, philosophers, and heroes ;
'and this, doubtless, was what first led in that
age to the application of the word demo11 to
the .souls of the dead.
Plato did not relinquish the original mean-
ing of the word, but he attached a new
meaning to it ; for he calls the souls of dis-
embodied men demons, and seems to have
some vague reference to the original creation
of man in the image of God. This Platonic
use of the term gradually prevailed, at times

nearly excluding its original or earlier sense.
Josephus, in his "Jewish Wars," following
this interpretation, says, "Those that we call
demons are the spirits of wicked men."
Thus we find, in classical usage, first, de-
mons were regarded as gods, holding interme-
diate place between men and other or higher
gods ; · and, second, they were the souls of de-
ceased men. The good and evil demon,
spoken of by Socrates, seems to have refer-·
ence only to the conscience bearing witness
for or against us.
When the word occurs in the Old or New
Testament, we might reasonably look to find
it very much modified.
Thus, in Deuteronomy xxxii, 17, it is said:
"They sacrificed unto devils [demons], not to
God ; to gods whom they knew not, to new
gods that came newly up, whom your fathe~s
feared not."
Paul doubtless refers to this sin, when
reproving the Corinthians for mingling hea-
then rites with Christian ordinances, saying,
"The Gentiles sacrifice to demons and to
God, and I would not that ye should hav~
fellowship with demons."
The word was used by the Athenians, as
signifying inferior deities, when they said of
Paul, " He seemeth to be a setter forth of
strange gods ;" and · as Paul stood on Mars'
Hill for the defense of the truth, he said, "I
perceive that in all things ye are too super-
stitious." Good authority claims that this
might· have been rendered, "In all things ye
are much given to demon-worship." ·And
this would have given no offense ; for the
Greeks would have understood it as an im-
plied, but mild, reproof of over-zeal, demon-
worshiper being understood in Athens as a
pious man. As we have shown, they em-
ployed the term as interchangeable, expressing
either me fear of God or the fear of demons.
But the word demons, in the New Testa-
\
ment Scriptures, often expresses definitely

malignant spirits. Such terms as the follow-
. ing establish this: "unclean spirits," "spirits
of _wickedness," "evil spirits."
The gods worshiped by the heathen, in
Paul's day, were certainly believed to be re-
ally-existing evil demons ; for they applied
this very name to the-beings they worshiped;
and the accusation of the Jews, that Jesus
cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of
devils-or demons, by the prince of demons-
appears conclusive as to the sense in which
the word was employed. The reply of the
Lord sanctions this understanding. In like
manner, when the Seventy returned, and re-
ported that even the devils were subject to
them through his name, Jesus replied, saying,
"I beheld Satan falling from heaven as
lightning."
Well, it is affirmed wit4 very great confi-
dence by spiritualists, that they are, in this
the nineteenth century, in easy and direct
communication with spirits ; that they con-
verse with them, and receive most interesting
information from them of the state of the
dead in particular, and of the spirit-world in
general.
· That they are in communication with
spirits, we allow. But two things we deny to
spiritualists throughout these pages: First,
that they hold any kind of intercourse in
their seances with the spirits of the dead, or
the souls of those who once lived on the
earth in mortal bodies ; and, second, that
they ever receive any trustworthy or reliable
information, from the spirits answering their
call, of the spirit-world, because, as we have
indicated and shall plainly prove, the spirits
answering such call are lying spirits, or de-
mons. We have admitted they are in spirit-
CQmmunication with spirits, and are ready
also to admit that they do, by the various
spiritual mediums or channels of spirit-commu-
nication, receive messages from those spirits ;
but those spirits, we are · sure, are-as we ,

have said-demons, and are full of lies.
For many years, like h~sts of honest Chris-
tians, being alarmed at this species of diabol-
ism, we tried to keep it out of sight, to ex-
plain it away, to shame it down, by calling it
jugglery, tricks, sleight of hand, etc. ; but,
after thorough study, we have become con-
vinced that all attempts to explain the phe-
nomena of spiritualism by .the operation of
natural laws are wholly futile and unsatisfac-
tory. And though it be true there is much
of low cunning, knavery, jugglery, and sleight
of hand practiced with it, for the purpose of
gain and for other reasons, yet the name and
character, the intelligence and learning, of
some of its adherents, forbid us to call in
question the statements they make. Nor can
we in many cases pronounce it jugglery.
The contradictions of some of the spirits
do not prove there were no spirits present ;
they may only prove the bungling work of the
medium, or performer. If the spirit of Wes-
ley or of Calvin is made to utter a blasphemy
in one circle in New York, and to pronounce
a blessing in a circle in Chicago, while it
tells political lies at the same time in St.
Louis, it proves most certainly that the spirits
of Wesley and Calvin were not present in
any of those circles; but it by no means
proves that the blasphemy, blessing, and polit-
ical falsehoods did not have a spirit author in
each circle.
The Word of God plainly gives warning
that men will give heed to seducing spirits,
and to the teachings of evil demons. And if
the manifestations of spiritualism should be-
come tenfold more startling than any thing it
has yet shown to the world, it would only be
in accordance with what the Scriptures affirm
is to precede the time of the end ; for the
coming of the wicked one is, as Paul sets it
forth, "after the working of Satan, with all
power and signs and lying wonders "-the
last expression referring not to spurious mir-

acles, but to miracles performed in support of
falsehood. Again, it is said of Satan, " He
doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire
come down from heaven in the sight of men,
and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth
by those miracles which he had power to do."
Need we marvel if the approach of that con-
summation of ungodliness be marked with
"the mystery of iniquity" and startling im-
postures ? And who, in the face of these
Scriptural warnings, will fail to see in modern
spiritualism, with its recent manifestations,
that "the mystery of iniquity doth already
work?"
Let us remember we have been faithfully
warned of these impostures ; and let us be
guarded against them. For there shall arise
false Christs in those days, say the Scriptures,
and false prophets, who shall show signs and
wonders, insomuch that if it were possible
they would deceive the very elect. Behold,
•

says the Divine witness, " I have told you."
We must not be supposed to believe that any
thing so stupid and bungling as spiritualism
is, can be the complete fulfillment of these
solemn warnings ; but it is evidently a warn-
ing to the watchful believer as to the source
of danger to the cause of Christ.
Nor are we, as Christians, to treat this
monstrous iniquity with simple contempt; for
it has power-power that is acknowledged in
God's Word; power that is all the more dan-
gerous because of its hidden mysteries; power
to deceive and then destroy. Few, if any,
even of earth's wisest thinkers, can withstand
this power of demons, unless they be aided by
an abiding and saving faith in Jesus Christ.
Is it not true that men of master minds, with
all the mental culture that earth could give,
have fallen before this Juggernaut of devils,
as readily as the te~der reed goeth down be-
fore the tempest? Witness the scholarly
Robert Dale Owen, and many others of
•
greater strength of mind and of purer morals,
to say nothing of the hundreds and thousands
of ordinary minds, who, like the tiny minnows
of the deep, have gone with the great levi-
athans down to moral death. Ah ! if we
could stop here, then the danger would be
less alarming. But, alas ! .multitudes of Chris-
tians, and even Christian ministers, have been
numbered with its ruined victims; and to-day
the earth witnesses the sad spectacle of men
who once claimed to feel the vows of God
upon them, and who were not disobedient to
the heavenly calling, but, feeling a Christ-like
burden for souls, were wont to go forth in the
name of the Master, striving to make the
world better by pointing it to the Lamb of
God, but now advocating the doctrines of the
prince of darkness, on no other authority than
that they are .wholly unable to explain the
demon-like apparitions of the dark seance of
modern spiritualism. One such fallen minis-
ter, of Unitarian faith, was wont to teach in
the name of Jesus in this city; but, alas! the
dark, damning snare of demonology tangled
his feet and strangled his love for the minis-
try of the Gospel of Christ, supplanting it
with strong admiration for "the mystery of
iniquity;" and now, instead of preaching
Christ to the .people, he strongly advocates
spiritualism. And others of this city, and all
through the land, good lay members of the
Church of Christ, have become sadly entan-
gled in this hateful net of Satan, so much so
that their faith in Jesus Christ as a Savior
has become shaken.
It is sad to consider the change this moral
bane has wrought in such victims. Once they
were active members of the Church of God,
delighting to do him service ; but, from the
day that the poison of spiritualism entered
their souls, they have been as barren of spirit-
ual duty as of spiritual enjoyment.
And now, in conclusion of this chapter,
suffer a word of exhortation. Can we, as
6o SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY.
Christians, and especially as Christian minis-

ters, stand, with hands folded, idly by, and see
this great mystery of evil ruin our people, as
it creeps stealthily in, doing its hellish work
in the dark? Nay, let us take the alarm.
"The mystery of iniquity is already beginning
to work." Let us, in the name of morality
and religion, make ourselves masters of the
mystery, by st)ldy, faith, and prayer; and let
us give timely warning. Thus many may be
saved from its damning power, for our encour-
agement in the work. Let us remember that,
as in apostolic days, Satan can not stand be-
fore the name of Jesus, whenever that name
is used in faith and sincerity. "Jesus I
know," said the devil, on one occasion ; and
in the name of Jesus may we conquer spirit-
ualism, which is but a manifestation of Satan's
power.
"Jesus, the name high over all,
In hell or earth or sky;
Angels and men before it fall,
And devils fear and fly.
'
Jesus, the name to sinners dear,
The name to sinners given,-
lt scatters all their guilty fears,
It turns their hell to heaven.
Jesus the prisoner's fetters breaks,

And bruises Satan's head;
Power into strengthless souls he speaks,
And life into the dead."
s
III.
SPIRITUALISM AND DEMONOLOGY.
" But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled

Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ."-2 CoR. XI, 3·
wE have, in the former pages of these

lectures, identified ~piritualism with
the work of Satan. We now come to speak
of it directly as an agency of demons. We
are aware that many good and wise men, with
a holy horror for strife and a timid fear of
agitation, are wont to regard this dangerous
heresy as an innocent or harmless something
that time will cure, hence there is no need
of meeting it with argument. But, Christian
reader, just look about you for one moment
at the ruin it has wrought, before you hastilf
pass judgment upon it as an innocent delusio~.
62
/
How many, who were once Christians, and

were happy, are now the dupes and advocates
of this delusion I _How many families in this
Christian land have had the domestic peace
of the family band hopelessly destroyed by
this doctrine of devils I for it will not be de-
nied that it panders to all that is carnal in
our race.
Universalism teaches the final salvation and
happiness of all mankind ; but it earnestly
enjoins chastity, virtue, and the sanctity of
the conjugal relation, in the life that now is.
And because of these virtues, they are really
valuable accessions to any community ; for
their leaders not only teach good morals, but
practice it in their every-day life, and some
of them are model patterns of uprightness.
And yet orthodox Christians feel perfect
license to cry out against their heresy, and to
warn them of the dangers of a hell which
.multitudes of honest Christian Universalists
will never find.
But here is a doctrine of devils, believed in

and practiced by men and women of every
grade of morals and intellect, · a doctrine
which strikes at the very foundation of human
society, and destroys the bonds of human
happiness, because it destroys the family tie,
or disregards the marriage relation. That it
· has done and is doing all this, none convers-
ant with its workings will deny. Events,
under the spiritualistic teaching of Robert
Dale Owen and the accomplished Fanny
Wright, at New Harmony, Ind., can not be
forgotten, by many citizens of Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois, to this day. They are certainly
remembered in New Harmony. Events of
similar character have occurred elsewhere-
yea, are transpiring now-under the same
baneful doctrine of demons, and its sister
heresy, free-loveism ; for they were brooded
by the same demon. Especially is it true,
now, in the State of New York, in Louis-
ville, Ky., as well as many other places in
the United States, in London, and nearly all
over Europe.
Is it a time, we ask, for silence? Nay, as
we are to watch for souls, let us raise the
alarm by crying out to the people, "Neither
give plac~ to the devil." For we may be
assured that something more potent than
silent contempt is necessary, if we would. see
spiritualism overthrown. It must be met,
firmly and logically, with Scriptural and rea-
sonable argument, if we would save reasonable
men and women from its delusive power. The
phenomena are as startling and bewildering
to the intellect of the refined and educated
as its doctrines are pleasing to the affections
and passions of the depraved men and women
who gloat over its disclosures.
But its advocates err when they assert it
as new or novel. Its practices were as large! y
indulged in, in the days of Mos~s, as they are
to-day ; and the sin of necromancy was as
sternly denounced in the Word of God then
I
I
II
as was the sin of adultery in the days of

l
Jestl$.
If, then, the Bible treats it so gravely, let
us calmly but firmly consider the subject.
The fall of man was no mere accident; but
was the result of a well-developed plot for
his ruin, conceived with intelligence, and ex-
ecuted with great skill. The being who de-
vised it has since gradually brought man
under a malignant system of delusion, and
has ever evinced a deep and infernal design
against God and man. And 0, how cun-
ningly are his plans designed for the ensnar-
ing of the human soul! Whether we look at
the pagan, Jewish, or Christian systems, we
every-where see corrupt panderings to the
solicitations of depravity, all ministering to
the pride, folly, and selfishness of fallen man.
This, of itself, ought to convince every ra-
tional mind that the designer and executor of
such skillful snare must be directly opposite
to the source of all good; and this opposite,
we maintain, is Satan. And we rejoice that
we have an infallible guide in establishing
both the existence and chara<;ter of demons ;
for there is a being whose dark deeds and
malicious operations are frequently referred to
by inspired writers, called by them the devil;
and to question his existence is simply to
confess ourselves his dupes.
We have given, in a former chapter, some-
thing of the Bible account of the original life
and position of Satan and his angels, or com-
rades and· assistants; but we may farther
quote from Jude. He says, of demons," The
angels which kept not their first estate, but
left their own habitation, he hath reserved in
everlasting chains under darkness unto the
I
judgment of the great day." And Peter says,

" God spared not the angels that sinned, but
cast them down to hell, and delivered them
into chains of darkness." Of Satan, Christ
said he was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth.
I

I
\
From these and kindred Scriptures we
deduce the following facts :
I. The devil and his angels were once holy
intelligences in heaven, but fell from their
original condition. They once stood in holy
purity before God, and fulfilled the end of
their creation. But they were soon involved
in wretchedness and ruin ; for they abode not
in the truth. They sinned. " They kept not
their first estate." They left their former
habitation ; but did not, could not, go beyond
Jehovah's power. By creation, then, they
were highly exalted; and, because of this
exaltation, their terrible fall is all the more
appalling.
2. But, it is also evident, they were, in their
creation and first position, free agents; and
this is the ground of their condemnation.
"They kept not their first estate." This, of
necessity, i~plies perfect moral freedom.
Satan became the father of lies, from choice.
He and his angels are voluntary transgressors.
SPIRITUAUSM AND NECROMANCY. 6g
The actions of a being destitute of volition

must forever be free alike from praise and
blame. Satan and his comrades sinned, and
thus became the voluntary instruments of
their own fall.
3. They are reserved in darkness, to be
punished at the Judgment of t.he Great Day.
Their present abode is hell. The Greek term
is Tartarus. Robinson's Greek Lexicon de-
fines Tartarus as the abyss of Hades, where
·the shades of the wicked are imprisoned and
tormented. M'Knight speaks of it as a deep
place under the earth ; but the Greeks spoke
of Tartarus as in the air, or as airy Tartarus.
This term, then, as used by the apostle Peter,
would not only give the idea of a place of
punishment for wicked spirits, but would by
many be understood as being in the air. And
this agrees with the general idea of the Bible;
for the Old Testament represents Satan as
going up and down in the earth, tempting
men. The New Testament gives the same
'/0 SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY.
idea. He walketh about as a roaring lion ;

and he is called the prince of the power of
the air. We are said to wrestle, not with
flesh and blood, but with the rulers of the
darkness of this world, and with spiritual
wickedness in high places. This must be
understood as direct contests with demons
who inhabit the air. But whether this be
their usual abode, authors are not agreed, nor
is it an essential difference; for, whatever be
the present abode of fallen spirits or demons, it
is evident they have not yet met their final
doom, for they are reserved in chains to the
Day of Judgment to be punished. This is
proven by their memorable inquiry of Jesus,
"Art thou come hither to torment us before
the time?" Chains of darkness, then, must
be understood simply to restrain them in their
degraded state. And this shows their fallen
estate in terrible contrast to their former
place. Once they were angels of light, free
to range the domain of light, but now
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. 7I
"reserved in chains of darkness." And though
Satan can for a purpose appear as an angel
of light, yet even then his true abode is dark-
ness. Once more: chains of darkness do
not confine the devil and his angels to any
certain spot or place, but simply to .a certain
condition.
We get the character of Satan from the
names given him in the Scriptures. He is
called an adversary, an enemy, a tempter, a
deceiver, a murderer, and a liar. Surely, from
these characteristic titles we may know his
character; for if it were possible to combine
all that is foul and false in one being, it would
not be more hideous than the character given
to Satan in the Holy Scriptures. And, most
certainly, every true Christian heart on earth
must recoil from the slightest touch of this
subtle, false accuser of God and man. The very
mention of his name in connection with the
acts of men should at once raise the alarm.
But is it not a sad reflection, that be is not
only consulted as a " familiar spirit," and his

aid invoked in the furtherance of devilish
lusts, but his communications to the seance,
give·n in person to the medium, or else re-
vealed by some one of his legion helpers, is
preferred to all Scripture and all intelligence
and reason?
Most certainly, no Christian could be in-
duced to take part in the dark circle with
spiritualists, if they were apprised of the
fiendish character of the "familiar spirits"
consulted. But it is the province of Satan t"o
hold his subjects in the dark. And, since it
is true that Satan and his devilish helpers
were in being before our world began, they
have been acquainted with all who lived on
the earth before us, as well as with all who live
here now; it is not a marvel that they find a
medium of communicatian with those who are
willing to consult them. Nor is it strange
that such old reporters can · and do make
startling revelations about the unseen world.
.-1
I
But it must always be borne in mind that
Satan is the father of lies; yea, "is a liar from
the beginning, and the truth is not in him."
If he were an unskillful bungler, then he need
not be dreaded ; but, alas I he is full of cun-
ning art, and is an able debater. The Scrip-
tures represent him as securing his infamous
objects by guile and deception. And this in-
genuity is what is to be dreaded ; for he has
rio power to compel obedience to his will, not
even over the weakest child of grace.
It ought to be an alarming fact to spiritu-
alists, that no medium ever thinks of asking
God's blessing on the "circle," in the name
of the Lord Jesus. We are willing to assert
that, if any medium-so called-will, before
sitting down at the seatzce, earnestly invoke
the presence of God, in faith and sincerity,
and then receive any kind of communication
from "familiar spirits," we shall be ready to
recant much that we have written in· these
pages. We are willing to stand pledged to
74 SPIRITUALISMI AND NECROMANCY.
this ; for, in all cases where God is acknowl-

edged, Satan has no power. Had he resorted
to coercive force in the instance of the Fall,
the effort must have been a failure; but, by
subtlety and deception, his success was readily
accomplished. True, he announced a false-
hood that was alarming ; but that falsehood
was made plausible by ingenious reasoning.
It ought to be kept in mind by all genera-
tions, that when Satan holds any communi-
cation with mortals, it is in a false character.
He came to Eve in the body of a serpent,
and assumed great wisdom. His announce-
ment was, Eat of this forbidden tree, and ye
shall be as God. This seemed desirable, and
the snare was a success.
To the infidel, he comes in the dark, dis-
mal body of the charnel-house, asserting
"death an eternal sleep." But man's every
impulse cries out against annihilation. Satan,
in argument, holds up the rottenness and ·1
corruption of the grave, and demands, " Can
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY.- 75
these bones live ?" and the skeptic is con-
firmed.
To the scientist, he comes in the form of
science and reason, and plausibly argues " the
eternal pre-existence of matter ;" and this, by
the materialist, is accepted as more reasonable
than revelation.
But in every age he comes to the restless,
longing souls of those who are unwilling to
serve God, but who are not willing to stifle the
hungry longing within them for the spirit-life,
in the form of "familiar spirits;" and, by pre-
tended messages from the dead and revelations
of the unseen spirit-world, he is enabled to
gain full possession of the mind and reason
of the poor unfortunate spirit, to the ruin of
the soul ; for, after that, his only oracle is
spiritualism. And this is Satan's wisdom, to
blind the eyes of men's understanding. 0,
how false and subtle is he I Falsehood and
deceit are his· chosen instruments for securing
the present and eternal ruin of our race.
...
76 SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY•.
In all heathen lands, he rules the masses

with cruelest despotic power. Even in meas-
urably enlightened pagan nations, their ora-
cles are but caricatures of consulting the God
of heaven, largely mixed, it is true, with hu-
man trickery. But in this way the ruler of
darkness secures, in all heathen nations, the
undivided homage of .both the deceiver and
the deceived.
The systems of divination used by such
nations are fearful engines of mischief; for
they enslave and degrade every faculty of the
soul. Nor is there material difference in the
incantations used by them from the means
employed by spiritualists in Christian lands.
Pagans, in their divinations, prec!_ict future
events by the alr, by the planets, by the flight
of birds, by the inspection of the human hand,
and by various other equally foolish means.
But these are without a knowledge of God's
Word. Hence, Satan hold's them captive by
his will, without · resort to the revelation of
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. '/'/
the Scriptures of Divine truth. For it is

characteristic of Satan's strategy to adapt his
work to the means in the hands of the people,
or to gauge his operations by the intelligence
of the people he would destroy. It is com-
paratively easy for him to control the dark
and beclouded mind of the heathen and pa-
gan ; but in all Christian lands there is. a
knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, revealing
to men a knowledge of the spirit-world and
the true state of the souls of the departed.
Hence, to make his fiendish work a success
in such lands, he must pervert the Word of
God ; and this he does, with both cunning
and wisdom. Witness his flippant and un-
warranted quotation and interpretation of
Scripture, made to Jesus, when he was ex-
hausting all his skill in tempting him. And
are not all spiritualists as profuse in their
quotations and interpretations of the Word
of God ? Yea, marly leading spiritualists are
avowed exponents of the Scriptures.
6
78 SPIRITUALISM: AND NECROMANCY.
But it will doubtless be asked by the advo-

c~tes of the seance, Is there any proof that
spirits have any thing to do with the systems
of divination practiced by the heathen? We
answer, the proof is plainly given in the six-
teenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.
The spirit in the maiden was a spirit of divi-
nation, and carried on the work of deception
by instructing the damsel in the art of his
science, or in soothsaying. The spirit that
possessed her also knew the character of the
apostles, and indorsed them as servants of
the most high God ; and it even acknowl-
edged them as teachers of the way of salva-
tion-the purpose being, no doubt, to pervert
such teaching, by mixing with it the doctrines
of devils. This grieved Paul sorely; and he,
in the name of Christ, rejected such testi-
mony, and coll:lmanded the spirit to come out
of the young woman, which it did, to the dis-
may of her masters ; "fo_r by her soothsaying
she brought much gain to her masters."
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. . 79
The power of Satan to corrupt Christianity

is recognized in all the Epistles to the early
Churches. The first manifestations of this
was by false or Judaizing teachers, substitut-
ing the deeds of the law for the righteous-
ness of Christ. Paul seems to be the first to
detect the infernal sour~e of such teaching,
and gives the alarm in the ~leventh chapter
of 2 Corinthians, saying : " But I fear, lest
by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve
.through his subtlety, so your minds should be
corrupted from the simplicity. that is in
Christ. . . . For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel ;
for Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his
ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness ; whose end shall be accord-
ing to their works."
Here, then, is plain evidence of the power
of Satan, through the medium of men, to
8o SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY,
corrupt even the Gospel of Christ. Let spir-

itualists who bring new doctrines from the
spirits of the dead, as they suppose, beware.
Such falsities are from no departed spirit of
any mortal who ever lived on this earth, but
are from fallen spirits, or demons, who only
seek to pervert the way of salvation into a lie,
by substituting a gospel of their own. Should
not the words of warning given by St. Paul
be tremblingly heeded by all who are tempted
to tamper with the spirits of demons ? Hear
Paul, in Galatians i, 8 : " Though we, or an
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel
unto you than that we have preached unto
you, let him be accursed."
But, notwithstanding the apostle's warning,
Satan succeedeq in corrupting the Gospel, by
setting in motion "the mystery of iniquity,"
which led to ·most blasphemous apostasy.
This apostasy was manifested in the early
ages of Christianity, in the form of works,
penance, etc., much of which has entered into
and remains in the Catholic Church. Pray-

ing to the holy virgin, to saints, and bowing
· to images, have no other origin. But Satan,
seeing that this was not sufficient corruption
of the Gospel of Christ, and that many Cath-
olics were true Christians, despite those great
errors-and seeing, too, that millions would
never be corrupted through the Satanic her-
esies of Catholicism-" the mystery of in-
iquity" must work outside of that great
Church organization, as well as within it.
Hence, the characteristics of this dark mys-
tery are seen to thicken in the Protestant
world, in every age.
It is now the boast of the dupes of this
heresy of demons, that their numbers are in-
creasing annually-not realizing that the in-
crease of this mysterious abomination is an-
other proof of the truth of the Bible, which
points specifically to the multiplication of signs
and lying wonders, especially in the last days.
If Satan put it into. the hearts of Ananias
and his wife to lie even unto God, we may

infer there is nothing too dark or damning
for him to do. The proof of the inspired
declaration, that the god of this world has
blinded the eyes of the people, is on every
hand ; and among the very strongest proofs
of this is the incJ"ease of spiritualism. Noth-
ing but the pure Gospel of Christ is able to
meet it
IV.
SPIRITUALISM AN AGENCY OF SATAN.
"Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye ?"

ACTS XIX, IS.
THROUGHOUT the Dark Ages, when

the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus
was corrupted by gross admixture of super-
stition and paganism, the popular mind was
ruled by superstitious awe, and terror of
ghosts, hobgoblins, necromancy, and witch-
craft. It was the constant effort of Satan to
pervert the light of the Gospel of Christ, and
to turn science and philosophy against the
very means by which the mind of the student
had been enlightened for the successful pur-
suit of them. Hence, all belief in the super-
natural and spiritual must be rejected as un-
philosophical, illogical, and incorrect. Partly
83
(
84 SPIIUTUALISII AHD :HECROIIANCY.
by the Reformation, but mainly by the unsat-

isfied longing, and the bitter wailings of
humanity for a spirit-life beyond, has this
heresy of Satan and the infidel been, in mod-
em days, suppressed and hushed up. And all
the old, corrupt superstitions of materialism
have been revived ; and to-day we witness the
anomalous spectacle of the very characters
who once called it childish and the weakness
of folly to believe in the spirit-life, not only
the avowed advocates of it, but, with all the
desperation of despair, invoking the evidence
of demons to prove something tangible re-
garding the disembodied soul of humanity.
The question between Christians and this
sect of infidels, who go by the pleasing name
of spiritualists, is not about the possibility of
spirit-communication, but about the character
of such communication. Christians have ever
allowed the ministration of spirits, and have
also understood the power of Satan in holding
the souls of men captive at his will.
But the quarrel is between this class and
themselves, when they wrote on the tomb-
stones of their own children, " Death is an
eternal sleep."
The Word of God plainly teaches there are
legions of evil spirits, or demons, who are
ever ready to answer the call of those who
invoke their presence ; for thus they are doing
the pleasure of their chief, in perverting the
grace of God and deluding the souls of men.
The claim of the spiritualists, that spirits
answer their call in the darkness of the seance,
will not be denied by any who have made
themselves familiar with the many Scriptural
expositions of the dark and damning deeds
• of demons. Jesus and his apostles frequently
came in contact with those who were pos-
sessed of demons. We are aware that· some
pretenders have assumed to defend revelation,
by explaining such demoniacal possession as
only the result of natural disorder, or of phys-
ical derangement. But all such attempted
explanation is at the expense of the Divine

Word itself;· for it explains away the express
language of inspiration. And thus, in their
bungling attempts to explain a mystery, they
unconsciously exhibit the Lord Jesus and his
apostles as confirming the superstitions of the
age ; for they recognized Satanic possessions
wherever they met them-yea, and they were
also recognized by the demons of possession.
All through the New Testament Scriptures
this is found true. Divination and soothsay-
ing, telling of things unseen, and foretelling
future events, are all characteristics of demo-
niacal spirits.
There are two forcible examples given by
the evangelists, that forbid the evasions to
which we have referred. Bishop ·warburton
aptly remarks: "-Our indulgent Master has
been pleased to guard this important truth
against the most plausible evasions of self-
conceited men, to cut off all escape from a
forced concession of the mighty hand. of God,
compelling his most averse creatures to ac-
knowledge his sovereign power. One of those
cases is the temptation of Jesus by the devil
in the wilderness ; the other is the possession
of brute animals." The Savior of men, with
all the infirmities of our race as a man, was
nevertheless the victim of no bodily disorder
or physical ailment ; and he was on this occa-
sion subject to the buffetings of Satan, and
only by his Divinity was able to overcome
the Satanic power that assailed him. Nor
can it be argged, as some have supposed,
with those who were the victims of Satan's
power, that he was under any kind of mental
delusion ; for the infinite mind of the Messiah
was far above all such suspicion. But the
evidence of the power and presence 'Of de-
mons,, in the case of the Gaderenes and the
swine, is equally forcible; for they at once
recognized Jesus as the Christ, and besought
him, if they were cast out, to be permitted to
enter the swine.
We will not argue that a diseased mind

may not conjure up all manner of chimeras
and delusiye, startling things; but, most cer-
tainly, none will assume that any such men-
tal aberration afflicted a great herd of swine
all at the same time, and instantly, so that
they simultaneously rushed to their own ruin
in the sea. Plainly, we are driven to admit
both the presence and power of the demons,
or deny the authenticity of the whole narra-
tiv..e ; for the brutish instinct of the animals
could never have moved them thus, in har-
mony, to hurry to their own destruction.
But, if further evidence of the presence and
possession of deinons be desired, it may be
stated they were ever subject to the name of
Christ. Take the case given in Acts xix, 14
There were seven impostors, who had doubt-
less discovered the truth of the statement we
have just made, and seeing that devils were
subject to the order of Paul when he used
the name of the Lord Jesus, and finding a
man possessed, they determined, either for
the public notoriety it would give them, or
for gain, to imitate Paul. Accordingly, in the
name of Jesus, whom Paul preached, they
commanded the unclean spirits to come out
of the man. They-the spirits-rec~gnized
the name of Paul and of Jesus, but refused
to recognize the authority of these impos-
tors to use such names ; and they were in-
sulted and roused to fury at the audacity
and imposition of the men. They terribly
frightened the hypocrites; for the man pos-
sessed leaped upon them and overcame them,
so that they were glad to escape without their
clothes, being wounded.
If it be objected that these cases have
nothing to do with modern spiritualism, we
answer, they prove beyond dispute that de-
mons can act through the human organiza-
tion ; that they not only can do so, but
actually have made both men and women
mediums of utterance and actions. The fact
of their doing so now may be plainly in-

ferred. Bear in mind, in all cases demonology
has been practiced in opposition to the Word
of God, beginning with Satan's contradictions
in the Garden of Eden, and coming down to ·
the sorcery of Simon Magus ahd Elymas. In
all cases, each act of the demon has been in
flagrant opposition to the Word of God. And
another noted feature of demonism is this:
wherever God's presence is invoked, demons
have no power. We have asserted, in a former
chapter, that no spiritual "circle" dare invoke
the blessed presence of the living God in
their nightly sessions. Such invocation would
be disastrous to the revelations of the spirits.
And wherefore ? we ask. Ah I those dark
spirits know the power of the living God ;
and, because of that power, they are not
likely to put in an appearance where such
presence is first sought.. And now, if we are
correct-and spiritualists will not deny it-
may we not infer-yea, may we not assume
• positively-the spirits who answer the call of

the medium are not the spirits of those who,
like ourselves, once lived on the earth encum-
bered with mortal bodies ? for they, by the
" teachings of spiritualism, are now in paradise,
and ought to have no occasion to fear the pres-
ence of God. For it must be remembered that
spiritualists claim to receive communications
from the spir~ts of those who all their lives
professed to love God, and who, dying in the
true faith of the Gospef of Christ, went in holy
triumph to possess the spirit-land. Surely, these
will not be afraid to visit the circle where God's
blessing and his presence is sought- in prayer.
Why, then, 0 deluded spiritualist! why not
pray to the God of revelation, when you sit
down in the dark seance for mere fragmentary
revelations of the spirit-world ? Ah ! the ar-
gument is against you. The spirits that an-
swer your call are demons, who only reveal
things to you as their father, the devil, in-
structs or permits. And, as he is the father
of lies, you dare not with safety put any con-

fidence in the communications he may permit
you to receive.
We have already taught in these pages
that the Scriptures nowhere authorize the •
belief that the spirits of departed men, and
especially of good men, ever held communi-
cation with mortals on earth, through the
medium of spiritualism. There is, however,
one exception, and it is the case of Samuel
and Saul. It is plainly litated that Samuel
appeared unto Saul at the instance of t~e
witch of En-dor. We stated this case in our
chapter on Spiritualism and Necromancy; but
as we have now assumed the ground that
only the spirits of demons answer the call of
the spiritual medium in the seance, we deem
it proper to consider more fully this only ex-
ception. And we note, first, the medium, or
witch, did not herself expect the veritable
person of Samuel to appear. She doubtless
supposed that, as usual, some demoniacal
spirit would answer her call, who would per-
-sonify the dead prophet, Samuel, and who
would, by his deceptive cunning, delude Saul,
and bring gain to her; but when she realized
··that it was Samuel who appeared, she was
the worst scared witch that ever held seance
in spiritual circle on this earth. Whether
she had been acquainted with the prophet in
his life-time, and thus was enabled to recog-
nize him on sight, or whether the spirit of
some demon revealed to her both Samuel and
Saul, we can not tell ; but we do know that, as
soon as Samuel appeared, she was enabled to
see through the disguise of Saul. That there
is not profound mystery in the whole trans-
action, will not be assumed ; or that we can
unravel the mystery by any logic of Scripture
or reason, we will not claim. It may have been -
that some demon was enabled or permitted to
take possession o~ the well-known frame of
the dead prophet-or, what seems more likely
to us, was permitted to assume some spectral
7
semblance of the man of God, and also to

mimic the familiar sound of the prophet's
voice, and thus deceive the wretched king
and the terribly frightened woman. But,
whether the one or the other of these be
true, we can not suppose that the repose of
this servant of God could be broken, either
by the wickedness of Saul or the incantations
of the witch.
There is nothing in it all to prove the
false claim of spiritualism, that the spirits of
the dead speak to the living through the
spiritual medium ; for the form of the prophet
is seen, and his voice is heard, as though he
were personally present. And there is not
the slightest indication that the spirit of the
prophet was speaking through the person of
the medium, or of the presence of invisible
agency.
Witchcraft often took the form of necro-
mancy, or pretended consultation of the dead.
The heathen, to this day, pretend to call up
the dead by their incantations. But God's
Word gives no countenance to the supposition
that the spirits of the dead answer such call.
It does, however, abundantly prove the agency -
of evil spirits, not only among Jews and idol-
ators, but also among professed Christians.
As soon as "the mystery of iniquity" be-
gan to work, we find the agency of demons
at work, as busily as among the heathen in
the days of the prophets, striving often to
counterfeit the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Paul,
, meeting this dangerous heresy of demons,
gave the alarm, by exhorting the brethren to
believe not every spirit, but to try the spirits,
and see whether they be of God. Because
of the persistence of demons in their efforts
to counteract the effect of the Gospel of
Christ, it became necessary to give warning
of the great sin of consulting "familiar spir-
its" and seeking intercourse with the dead.
Paul enumerates, as a work of the flesh,
witchcraft, and adds, "They that do such
9() SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY•
. things shall not inherit the kingdom of

God."
It is not surprising that a benighted hea-
then· should have faith in witchcraft and divi-
nation ; but is it not a matter of astonishment
that an intelligent being, in a Christian land,
in this age of culture and science, should bow
down to the same stupid work of devil~ ? The
vague, unsatisfying reports of those modern
diviners about the spirit-world, not to speak
of their frequent contradictory character, we
would suppose would be enough to convince
an intelligent mind of the absurdity of spirit-
ualism, as known in our day. But that men,
with an open Bible in their hands, revealing,
in flashing light, the indignation of Jehovah
against all who do· such things, will yet per-
sist in such practices, is to us unexplainable.
In our first chapter on this subject, we made
this statement : "Christian men seldom fall
into this heresy while Christian, or, falling
into it, are seldom Christian after it." And
the argument we then used is abundantly

sustained by the Word of God. Saul never
thought of going to the witch for consultation
until his sins had led him away from God,
and his fear for the future drove him to con-
fer with the demon's spirit that possessed her.
Other cases might be given, full as pointed ;
but we have ~xtended this chapter already
beyond intended limits. And it will be con-
ceded by all-but spiritualists-that spiritual-
ism, being Antichrist, will not be, never has
been, indulged in by Christians, until after
they have forfeited the favor of God, and have
ceased to be Christian.
And now we beg of all Christians, as did
St. Paul, "Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits whether they be of God."
"Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who
are ye ?"
v.
SPIRITUALISM AND ANTICHRIST.
" But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are

lost : in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds
of them which believe not."-2 CoR. IV, 3, 4-
ALL Protestant writers, so far as we know,

interpret Antichrist, or " the Man of
Sin," as signifying Popery, or Romanism.
And now, if we dissent, we are aware that we
at once become subject to the charge of most
flagrant heretical notions. But, after the most
careful study of which we are capable, we are
convinced it would be just as reasonable to
interpret the Koran as the foundation of Mor-
monism ; for, to our mind, there is no founda-
tion in truth for any such exposition, only as
it may be applied to Romanism as to the
heresies of any other system of errors. The
98
great measuring of swords that has been

going on between Protestants and Catholics
for many years, on this basis of conflict, is
the veriest folly. We also take occasion to
say, in this place, that the great phantom of
"political Romanism," that has been so dex-
terously and zealously paraded before the
American people for half a century, as if it
were the only form of diabolical hatefulness
that was worthy of the steel of the earnest
Protestant polemic, has, in our judgment, but
shown the shortsightedness of the zealot.
We are aware that we are differing, now, from
the popular idea of Protestant thinkers and
writers o.n this important subject; for they
interpret the "Man of Sin," with admirable
unanimity, to mean the Pope of Rome. Our
reasons for dissent shall be apparent hereafter.
It is just now popular with this class of
writers to predict the great battle of God, the
war of the spirits, the fight between Gog and
Magog, speedily to take place on this proud
IOO SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY.
American Continent; and some possess enough

of the prophet's ken-we had almost said are
foolhardy enough-to locate the center of .
conflict in the Mississippi Valley. But the
years go by, and the conflict is not apparent ;
or, certainly, not more so than it was three
centuries ago.
If it were possible for the Gospel polemic
to lay_ aside his theological lens, and adjust
the non-partisan glasses of the statesman,
and then retrospect this great but new nation,
he would discover other elements of danger
as potent as that of Romanism ; and, indeed,
would see in Romanism elements of danger
only as they are apparent in any corrupt and
fallen Church, cursed with devilish and inor-
dinate greed for gain and worldly glory ; for
-such Church, corrupted by demons and wholly
destitute of the spirit of Christ, will not hes-
itate to use all means, fair or foul, for the
accomplishment of its aims, on the plea of
devils, that the end justifies the means. Such
,
Church is dangerous to the life of the nation,

because its lust for power and wealth would
. unite Church and State. But, in this sense,
the Catholic Church is not a particle in ad-
vance of the Protestant Episcopal Church,
only as it has advantage in numbers. But
who--unless it be the persecuted Cheney, of
Chicago--would think of designating Bishop
Whitehouse "the Man of Sin," or the Prot-
estant Episcopal Church "the mystery of in-
iquity I" Yet there is as much authority, and
as good Scriptural warrant for it, when Anti-
christ is properly understood, as there is for
heaping unqualified epithets upon the Cath-
olic Church, or for interpreting "the Man of
Sin " as the Pope of Rome.
We do not thrust ourself forward as an
apologist for Rome, nor for the Catholic
Church ; but we must protest against charg-
ing an offense upon a people who are just
about as corrupt as Satan can make them, of
which they are not guilty, any more than are
J
Protestant organizations who have departed

from the true faith of the Gospel of Jesus,
and who practice the corruptions of depravity,
and who advocate the doctrine of demons.
And all these we find in many factions and
sects, but in none more than the one which
goes by the name of spiritualism; for this
one pre-eminently practices the doctrines of
devils, with scarce an admixture of Gospel
truth.
In the early ages of Christianity, the man-
ifestations of a personal Antichrist were as
confidently looked for as was the second
coming of Christ. Irenreus, who had been
instructed by the disciples of John, Papias,
and Polycarp, asserts that Antichrist is the
designation of an individual whom Satan
shall use as his instrument to deceive those
who dwell on the earth, for three years and a
half; and that this false prophet, in support
of his impious claims, shall work miracles ;
and, at last, the usurper shall be destroyed
'-> by the return of Christ to the earth. Now,

while we would not rely wholly upon Irenreus
in support of a Bible doctrine, yet this, we
think, may be taken as proof o~ the prevail-
ing opinions of those early days about the
great Antichrist : First, that he should come,
as some very wicked person ; second, that he
should rule, supreme, for a short time ; and,
third, that after his short but terrible reign,
Christ should return and establish his own
everlasting kingdom, to the utter destruction
of " the Man of Sin," or of Antichrist.
But, before this occurs, the Jews are to be
restored- to Palestine--mark, not converted to
Christ, but restored in unbelief-and shall, at
the coming of Antichrist, possess Palestine
as an independent state. This must be plain,
because it is during this Jewish prosperity
_, that Antichrist shall appear. And, according •
to the prediction of our Lord, the authority of
Antichrist will then be acknowledged by the
whole Jewish nation: 1' I am come in my
104
.
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY•
Father's name, and ye receive me not. When

another shall come in his own name, him will
ye receive."
The Lord Jesus, and the apostles too,
plainly predict the apostasy of Christendom,
and describe their corruptions as waxing
worse and worse, until, like the Jews before
them, in the abuse of God's goodness, his
judgments overtake them, and they are cut
off. In the present condition of the general
Church of Christ, we can plainly trace the
fulfillment of these predictions ; for, though
it be true there is real piety, and much vital
godliness, in many branches of the true
Church of Christ, yet, it is a:n alarming fact,
"the mystery of iniquity doth already work,''
and the leaven of corruption hath already
pervaded much of the mass. For this and
many other generations, this leaven of un-
righteousness may be partially stayed by the
full and earnest consecration of heart and life
to the service of Christ, by those who love
,
our Lord Jesus in faith and sincerity. But the

destiny of the mystery is to reach its climax
· in '' that Wicked One."
However much the Popes of Rome have
exalted themselves before men, and however
arrogantly they have assumed the prerogatives
of G~d, it can not be said 'of them they sit
in the temple of God ; nor that they show
themselves God, and demand the worship
that should be given to God. Not even Pope
Pius the Ninth, with the devilish infallibility
dogma to back him,.dares claim divine wor-
ship ; but Antichrist shall exalt himself above
all that is called God. How, then, can he be
the Catholic Pope of Rome ?
We are in the habit, as Protestants-and, for
aught we know, Catholics do the same thing-
of interpreting the wonderful vision of Nebu-
chadnezzar as a symbol of the kingdom of
God, which shall break in pieces and destroy
all other kingdoms. The stone cut out with-
out hands, which crushed and destroyed the
. \
great image, we interpret as the Gospel of

Christ, or the Christian Church ; and the
' image, that is crushed and destroyed by this
stone, we, as Protestants, interpret to be the
Catholic Church. And, in turn, Catholicism
interprets this same image as the foul heresy
of Protestantism ; and this, ~ith them, is
Antichrist. That both are in error, we think
is evident, because of the character of the
image, and also of the stone. The image
represents the succession of four monarchies :
the Babylonian was suc~eeded by the Medo-
Persian ; it by the Grecian ; and the Grecian
by the Roman. This great image was finally
destroyed with the stroke of a stone ; and,
after this destruction of the image, the stone
filled the whole earth.
Now, on the supposition that this image is
"the Man of Sin," and that Christianity is to
overthrow it, we must note two things about
the stone : First, it was cut out without
hands, thus precluding the possibility of all
I
human agency in its formation, while it is

claimed by all Christians that human agency
and human instrumentality are distinguishing
features of the Christian dispensation ; but,
second~ the stone did not expand until after
the image was wholly destroyed. Christianity
has expanded a millionfold, but " the Man of
Sin" is not crushed. We may add one other
thought about the stone. It did not change
the character of the image, but with fury
destroyed it ; whereas, the great aim of
Christianity is to convert and save.
But, by applying the image to the Catholic
Church, we involve ourselves in yet greater
difficulty; because, first, in the king's vision
the stone came in contact with the image
after the division of the Roman Empire;
whereas, Christianity came in contact with
the Empire while it was at its greatest glory
and in its strongest unity. Moreover, though
the Roman empire has been overthrown, it
did not fall by Christiani.ty, but by barbarians.
Then, it follows, both the stroke of the stone

and the destruction of the image are yet in
the future. And since the kingdom of Christ
is already reaching out to fill the world, we
· can not conclude that the stone of Nebu- ',
chadnezzar's dream represents it; and, since

Catholicism is not crushed, but is in great
power, that it was symbolized, by the great
image, as "the Man of Sin."
But now, while' we have assumed-and, we
think, maintained-that Antichrist is not Ca-
tholicism, and that the image of the beast is
not the Pope of Rome, but is a great and
powerful wicked monster of a man that is yet
to come, we are ready now to take ground
definitely-as we have already implied-that
Antichrist, in substance and principle, is
manifest in all the workings of Satan among
men. Especially is the spirit of Antichrist
seen in the workings of Satan, developed in
·au heresies and false doctrines.
It is the prerogative of God to forgive sin,
SPIRiTUALISM .A.ND NECROMANCY. 109
and he alone hath power to do so ; for he
alone hath the words of eternal life. But
Catholicism grants absolution, grants indul-
gences, curses and blesses her votaries at
pleasure ; and this is Antichrist.
Again : it is the prerogative of the Lord
Jesus to make intercession for sinners; for,
"if any man sin, we have an advocate with
the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous."
Catholicism substitutes the intercessions of
the priesthood, of fallible men, for that of
Jesus. It will not be denied that few of
the rank and file-the membership-of the
Catholic Church ever pray to God the Fa-
ther, through Jesus, his Son. And this is
the spirit of Antichrist.
Again : the Lord God is supreme. " Thou
shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him
only shalt thou serve ;" but Catholics worship
the Host, and pray to the Virgin. And this,
too, is the spirit of Antichrist.
But are there no other forms of heresy that
8
IIO SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY.
partake of the spirit of Antichrist, by per-

verting the Word of God and substituting the
doctrine of demons?
David says, "The law of the Lord is per-
fect, converting the soul ;" but infidelity and
and spiritualism reject the law of the Lord as
it reveals the plan of life and salvation through
Jesus Christ, and substitutes the dim readings
of nature, and the dark, bungling, contradic-
tory revelations of demons, through a human
medium. And this is the spirit of "that
Wicked One," " the Man of sin."
· Or, again, God's Word very plainly puts a
difference, in time, between him that serveth
God and him that serveth him not ; and, for
the spirit-life, God has very plainly defined
the abode of both good and bad. But spirit-
ualism, for the life that now is, sets aside the
Word of God for the indulgence of the gross-
est vice, and receives the communication of
demons concerning the future state ; while
the infidel sneers at the idea of sin in this
SPIRITUAUSM AND NECROMANCY. I II
life, assuming there is no Supreme Being to

be sinned against, and for the spirit-life he
feels contempt. Both, in their way, are found
fighting against God. And this is plainly
the spirit of that Antichrist. And thus they
are lost to the power of the Gospel of Jesus;
for they, being blinded by the god of this
world, follow his devices, and are led captive
by him at his will, beyond the reach· of the
light of the Gospel.
There is about as much hope of a demon's
redemption as there is of the final salvation
of a confirmed infidel or of a full-fledged
spiritualist, they being fully given over to
reprobacy of mind, to believe a lie that they
may be damned. The Gospel is hid to them.
"But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them
that are lost : in whom the god of this· world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not."
VI.
DECEPTION OF SPIRITUALISM.
"It shall even be as when a hungry man dreametb, and,

behold, be eatetb; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty."
ISAIAH XXIX, 8.
"But the multitude of the proud shall be like the small dust;
And like the ftitting cbaft; the multitude of the terrible."
BISHOP LoWTIL
sOLOMON said, "There is a way that

seemeth right unto a man; but the end
thereof is the way of death." The cunning
of the adversary of our race is evidenced
in 'his gilding the pathway to ruin, so that it
seems more pleasant and attractive to the
traveler's eye than all ·others. T~e ability
manifest in this will be apparent, when we
consider that directly the reverse is true.
The way of holiness is a highway ; a narrow
way, strait and clean ; a pleasant way, full of
112
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. I I3
grandest mountain scenery; a bountiful path-

way, hanging full of the richest clusters of
grapes on every hand. Yea, it is crowded
with all manner of richness and good things,
exactly suited to the want and taste of the
immortal spirit of the traveler. But, with all
this, its pleasure can only be enjoyed, and its
richness possessed, by such as walk in the
path ; and the beautiful scenery can only be
discerned by those whose feet press the
heavenly road, and whose spiritual eyes look
out from Pisgah's top into the valley of Esh- ·
col. Because of this, poor benighted way-
farers look in 'vain for the beauty of the way.
And, moreover, the prince ofdarkness has so
beclouded the mental vision of the wayfarl!r,
that he not only sees no beauty in the path
• of life, but to him it seems, of all other ways,
the most gloomy ; for Satan hath blinded his
eyes. But what is more strange than all this
is, the pathway of sin is broad and ugly, full
of the foulest things outside of perdition, and
the worst possible company crowd the road

horribly. . The drunkard and the thief, the
liar, the whoremonger, the harlot, and the
churl, the blasphemer, the murderer, the gam-
bler, and the infidel, are all on this road.
The road itself is horrible. Quagmires,
deep, dark, and dangerous pitfalls, are yawning
all the length of it. And, besides, it is but a
short journey on it until the traveler finds
himself smothering in the slough of despond,
which dangerous lagoon stretches clear across
the way. And yet this terrible road seems
the right one to multitudes, who do not
realize that the end is death.
Satan is ever industriously employed in
strewing the way with such seductive pleas-
ures as will most likely delude the sense and
deceive the eye. And by this means he gilds
the pleasures of sin with an attractive charm,
which so entrances the giddy pleasure-seeker
that Satan can readily convince him that any
thing so pleasant must be innocent and
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. I IS
harmless ; and, if harmless, then it must be
right. Once settled in this, he will not only
indulge in the practice, but will quite ear-
nestly defend the sin. This is but a natural
process.
Take, as a sample in proof of this, the
lover of strong drink. No sober man will
advocate intoxication, But men have drunk
to excess, and defended the right, for many
generations ; .because, first, they have tasted
.the dangerous draft, and have been thrilled
with the intoxication. True, there was the
smiting of the conscience, and the sense of
shame and degradation ; but they have drunk,
and drunk again, until, in self-defense, for
protection from the stings of conscience and
for a covering of their shame, they have
hunted for \arguments to prove the correct-
ness of the hateful practice. These, by Sa-
tan's aid, they have soon found, and, find-
ing them, they became confirmed drunkards.
After this, all words of reason and argument
•
\
I 16 SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY.
I
are lost on them ; for they are now fortified
in their own ruin.
This might be illustrated in many ways.
Men loving sin, and being naturally opposed
to the law of the Lord, the common resort
is, either to pervert the Word of God by
false interpretation, or to deny it wholly. Of
the latter class is the open infidel and tbe
atheist, who, like David's fool, say in their '
hearts there is no God. But of the former is
the heretical perverter of the Word of God,
of every grade and order.
And chief among them all are the modern
spiritualists. We say modern spiritualists, be-
cause the spiritualists of olden time mad~ no
claim to a belief in the law of God. And al-
though it is true that very many of the modern
spiritualist lecturers and writers deny God and
revelation, yet many of them are avowed be-
lievers in the Scriptures of Divine truth. All
these, assuming belief in God's Word, are yet
not content with the revelation that it makes of
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. I 17
the spirit-world; and rejecting the truth of its

teaching, that no traveler to the bourne of the
dead can ever return at the bidding of sinful
mortals, they resort to the professed spiritual
medium, allow themselves to listen to-ah I
and to receive as worthy of credit-the con-
tradictory and absurd telegrams of demons as
authentic dispatches from their dear friends
who inhabit the spirit-world. And, as mar-
velous as it seems to a believer in the plain
Word of God, whose stamp of condemnation
is upon all such unlawful means of obtaining
intelligence from the spirit-world, this class
of dreaming fanatics receive such reports of
demons as more reasonable than Scriptural
truth. They are as in a feverish dream, and
suppose that they have intercourse with the
dead. Some that we could name are so in-
fatuated with this belief, that with them the
control and care that the spirits have of the
believer in their agency wholly supersedes the
providence of God.
I 18 SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY.
A lady, whose culture and refinement is

,acknowledged by those who know her-whose
name we suppress-is in possession of a
very pretty home in the most aristocratic
part of the city, and has, in connection with
her residence, a very great variety of flowers.
These flowers, in their season, show remark-
able thrift and care in their resplendent
bloom. This lady matron, who is an avowed
and somewhat noted spiritualist medium, on
being asked by a lady friend, who was de-
lighted with the beauty of the flowers, how
she managed to have such great success in
floral culture, gravely responded :
"Ah, my dear I the work is nothing. I give
myself no concern about the flowers. I trust
their keeping wholly to the spirits. They do
it all. I have only to. be careful to leave a
bucket of water where they can get it every
night-for they are fond of water-and all the
rest they do for me."
Now, dear reader, do you smile at such
l
r
presumption ? So did we when we first

learned of the incident; but, we can assure
you, no full-fledged spiritualist will think of
criticising such confidence in the watch-care
of the spirits.
This same lady is in the habit of placing
plate and chair at the table at each meal,
where a daughter-long since deceased-was
wont to sit during her life-time. And this
she does in full confi.dence that the spirit of
the daughter is present at the table of her
mother, each day, for her daily bread. Is the
mother foolish ? Yes : there is no qu~stion
of that with sane people. But the proof is
not wanting that hundreds of spiritualists
are equally foolish ; though most of them ex-
hibit the insanity of the blind stupor in a
different way. For all of them, in the very
act of receiving spiritualism, discredit the
Scriptures, provoke Jehovah, and offer an in-
sult to the intelligence of man. But "as a
hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth,"
120 SPIRITUAUS'M AND NECROMANCY.
but, alas I there must be an awakening ; "and

when he awaketh his soul bath appetite."
Solomon says, "Know thou that for all
these things God will bring thee into judg-
ment." "Then," says Malachi, " shall ye re-
turn, and discern between the righteous and
the wicked, between him that servetb God
and him that serveth him not."
These foolish and wicked triflings, this
presumptuous setting at naught of the plain
Word of God, may endure for a time; yea,
the cunning, crafty perverter of the Scriptures
may hold blindly on to his delusion during
his natural life-time ; but there cometh a day
of awakening, a day of arousing up from the
delusive dream. And then, alas ! though in
the terribly delusive dream the appetite was,
or seemed to be, sated, yet now, at the waken-
ing, "the soul hath appetite ;" that is, the
soul is not satisfied, the intellectual being is
disappointed. As the wrecked mariner, cast
on desert shore, naked, thirsty, famishing
--- ----· -- - - ------ - -
with hunger, falls into troubled slumber, he

dreams, and in the vision he is again at
home, surrounded by all that heart could
wish ; he and his friends gather around the
festal board ; they eat, drink, and are merry;
the feast is of most prodigal provision-all
have eaten to the full ; but " he awaketh and
his soul hath appetite." Then is the desola-
tion and destitution of the poor mariner
doubly terrible.
We are sad with our reflections when we
remember there are thousands of dreaming
immortals, cast on the sterile reef of spirit-
ualism, slumbering away in the fateful dream
of the carnally secure, refusing to be wakened
because the illusive spell of demons is upon
them; and, with dogged persistence, continue
to build their hopes of a blissful immortality
on this foundation of demoniacal possession.
But both the faith and practice of men is
to be finally tested ; and, doubtless, to this
testing the apostle refers, in the third chapter
of 1 Corinthians, when he says, "For other

foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man
build upon this foundation, gold, silver, pre-
cious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's
work shall be made manifest; for the· day
shall declare it, because it shall be revealed
by fire; and the fire shall try every man's
work, of what sort it is."
Men can go through the world with any
heresy, their love of carnal pleasure lifting
them above the fear of consequences. And
often not until the final hour of life do they
awake to the terrible delusive dream. Then
the bitterness of death is doubly bitter. But
awake from the stupor of heresy men must,
and that, too, unexpectedly, suddenly.
Jesus said, " In an hour that ye think not
the Son of man cometh ;" and the Lord God
has said, " I will laugh at your calamities,
when your fear cometh as 4esolation."
In closing this chapter, we earnestly but
kindly ask all intelligent spiritualists if an

instance can be given where the believer in
spiritualism triumphed over the fear of death,
with an intelligent triumph. Such informa-
tion, from reliable source, might modify our
horror of the monstrous heresy.
St. Paul said, "The sting of death is sin,
the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be
unto· God, who giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ."
Multitudes have in all ages believed this;
and, going to God in the name of Jesus
Christ, have passed from under the ban of
the ·taw, and have been enabled to triumph,
through Jesus, over the last enemy, which is
death. Paul, addressing those of this faith,
said, in holy exultation, "This is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith."
Compared with .this holy, triumphant ex-
pectancy, the vague, unsatisfying contradic-
tions of spiritualism are as the blackness of
darkness, even for this life. But for the
death-hour, and the life to come, there is no

word in the English language that is bold
enough to show the contrast between him
who, in full confidence of the truth of revela-
tiop, meets the final foe, and, in the strength
that Jesus gives, passes over into the land
of the blessed, and him who, in life, substi-
tuted for the Word of God the confusing and
uncertain revelations of the spiritual seatlce.
The servant of God, in such liour, exclaims,
"I know that my Redeemer liveth," and
shouts, with David of old, "Though I walk
through the valley and shadow of death, I
will fear no evil ;" or, . with Paul, he will
shout the victory in words like these: "For
we know that if our earthly house of this
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God, a bouse not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens."
Now, what is the language of the spirit-
ualist in the trying hour? Ah 1 what? Let
the dumb, confused stupor of such, in the
terrible trial. show to all living the dangerous

deception of the frightful heresy ; for it is
the delusion of demons seeking the ruin
of souls.
9
VII.
SPIRIT OF INQUIRY IN MAN; OR, THE

OFFICE OF PHILOSOPHY.
"Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge

of the truth."-2 TIM. nr, 7·
"For aa I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found
an altar with this inscription, To THI!. UNKNOWN Goo.
Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto
yoiL "-ACTS XVII, 23.
A CHEMICAL test, dropped into a qui-

escent mass, will effect a combination
of new affinities ; but, before such affinities
are formed, there must be first a separation
of elements, an active effervesence, then the
combination.
This may illustrate what is going on con-
tinually in human Society. Events occur,
questions arise, which compel the separation
126
SPIRJTUAUSM AND NECROMANCY. 127
of opinions, and the passing over to opposite

poles of antagonistic forces.
Before the chemical test, the old mass
seemed to be in harmonious rest. So, where
no test question of Divine truth assails ·the
moral quiet of the unregenerate, there is the
quiet of the grave. But since the entrance
of sin into the world, there has been the dis·
turbing element ; for righteousness and sin
can never live in harmony. These are the
antagonistic forces, out of which must come
the new affinities and the final harmony.
But as the forces are opposing, there must
be, during the formatory stage, niuch disquiet.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ falls upon the
moral mass of our race much as the chemical
test. But men have volition ; and though
disturbed, yet, loving the old element of sin,
they "do always resist the Holy Ghost."
And yet, being once disturbed, our race has
never been able to fi~d quiet while resisting
the truth of the Gospel.
This may, in part, account for the many

devices of men looking after rest for the dis-
turbed quiet of the heart. The struggle is
no new one, only it develops in different
forms in almost every age, it being the evi-
dent practice of Satan, when beaten at one
point, to concentrate his forces on another,
ever counting it victory so long as he can
keep men from finding the true God, from
whom man is estranged. The Lord has
largely defeated him in this, by planting in
man a desire to find his way back to God,
and by holding out to his stumbling feet
lanterns for the pathway, in the heavens
above and in the earth beneath, all seeming
to say, Come back to God, come back to God I
To the myriad beckoning hands in nature,
God has added all truth, in morals and sci-
ence, to aid benighted man in his search for
the living God ; for it is evident that the tend-
ency of all true science is to the acknowl-
edgment of the true God of heaven and earth.
Dr. Cocker has plainly shown, in his

"Greek Philosophy," that even the Greeks ·
were very largely indebted to Hebrew re-
ligion for their philosophy. Christianity, it is
true, in the .third and fifth centuries, became
somewhat imbued with the Platonic school
of Greece; yet the philosophy of the Greeks
imbibed a religious hue from the Christianity
of the Hebrew.
That the Greeks were not aware of the
former, nor the Christians of the latter, does
nQt disparage the fact, nor disprove the as-
sumption. Nor yet is it a marvel; for only in
the light of developed ages do we read clearly
the pages of the past.
The millions of to-day read as blindly the
printing of the every-day page of history as
did the Athenians in. Paul's day bow to the
unknown god whom they ignorantly wor-
shiped. But the student of to-day, aided by
the light of reason, science, and revelation-
standing with Paul, on Mars' Hill, at Athens,
l
I
I
I
surrounded by the temples, statues, and altars

which Grecian art had consecrated to pagan
worship-would read, with the enthusiasm of
the Christian ph,ilosopher and scientist, ~the
unseen hand of Deity, guiding, in p.Il this
sculptured grandeur, and controlling, in all
the mazes of their confused wisdom, to the
one uncontrollable, resultant development of ·
the unknown God, so boldly declared unto
them by St. Paul.
To the Christian student, it is a pleasing
reflection God's revelation of himself is as
positively and-to him-as plainly recorded
in tHe Book of Nature as in the Book of Rev-
elation, or the Bible; for it may be readily
shown that, while the r.ejector of the Bible,
and those ignorant of the Scriptural revela-
tions of Deity, fail to find God in nature, yet
the legitimate tendency of the diligent study
of nature, guided by reason alone--which,
when enlightened, always demands cause for
effect-is the development of the Supreme,
SPIRITUAUSM AND NECROMANCY. · 13 I
or great First Calise. Nor have the efforts

of infidels been able to ~how the contrary, in
this or any other age; though tlie most sci-
entific analyses of the germinal properties of
life have been invoked by Da!win and others.
For what does all the learned research of
those able and scholarly. naturalists show, if
it be not the necessity of some great First
Cause for all things ? True, they have gone
into the _secret imd labyrinthian mazes of the
hitherto undiscovered germinal· properties of
life, or protoplasm ; but beyond this, while
they reject the Bible, they .can not go-and
so have stood, and must forever stancl, con-
founded by their own wonderful discoveries.
As with the ancient skeptic naturalist, so
with the· modern, each arriving in his tum at
the limit of his power in research.
But no such altar and inscription would
have been erected and inscribed as Paul saw
at Athens, had not the philosophy of the
· Greeks constantly led them on to the discovery
132
.
of the "unknown God, whom they ignorantly

worshiped."
Our convictions of the sequel of unfinished
explorations in the field of science, must, of
course, be founded upon the results of the
past research of the scientist. And by this
rule we see, first, the unsatisfied longing of
the mind of each philosopher for yet greater
discoveries, even after the rules of his craft
are fully exhausted ; ·and, second, that the
ever-restless spirit within him urges him on
to such efforts of discovery as will lead to the
attainment of the end.
And as correct rules in philosophy must
lead to the solution of all philosophical
problems, so the legitimate tendency of the
philosophical research of the ancients was to
lead them through nature up to nature's God.
And if it be asked, If modern theorists fail
to find the true God, and even hold the exist-
ence of Deity as doubtful, then can it be in-
ferred that the ancient philosopher would ever,
unaided, have gained a knowledge of the un-

known God ? we answer1 Knowledge is not
intuitive, but a desire for knowledge is ; or,
at least, man is not wanting in an internal
incentive to the acquisition of knowledge.
Assuming, with Job, 11 There is a spirit
within man, and the inspiration of the Al-
mighty giveth him understanding," and if,
when correct geometrical rules are observed,
then the most difficult problems in geometry
are solved, does it not follow that the phi-
losophical research of the ancients, which led,
even in the first years of Christianity, to the
acknowledgment of the existence of the un-
known God, in ideal, have led them-possi-
bly-in other generations, to grasp the reality
of such being, made, in nature, manifest and
known?
But if it be objected such assumption argues
" against the necessity of Divine revelation, we
answer, This was the time of 11 the fullness
.. of the Gentiles," and Christ, the hitherto
unknown, must now be manifest unto Greek

as well as unto Jew. And while the Jew, by
aid of the Divine prediction of his coming in
\ prophecy, could readily receive him through
penitence and faith as the Christ, "the sent
of God," so the learned Greek, whose philos-
ophy had led him no farther than the ideal
unknown, would be able, by adding to his
philosophy the revelations of the New Testa-
ment Scriptures, to receive him whom Paul
so eloquently declared unto them.
But if, again, it be urged that the modern
scientist is as far from a knowledge of the
true God as were the ancients, we again an-
swer, the tendency of all true science is to
the discovery of first or elementary cause,
which is the self-existent. And it is known
to every student that the speculative vagaries
of the ancients will not compare with the
more reasonable productions of such men as •
Renan, Darwin, Huxley, or even Owen.·
So far as we know, all modern, rationalistic, ...
SPIRITUALISM .AND NECROMANCY. 135
material theorists allow primal cause for all

things, stumbling only on the nature and
character of such primal cause. A learned
author, from whom we have already quoted,
says, " Science is inevitably approaching the
idea that all kinds of force are but forms or
manifestations of some one central force, issu-
ing from 'some ·one fountain-head of power."
Modern writers, of nearly all classes, acknowl-
edge the form of force, which is a type of all
the rest, is consciousness of living effort in
volition. AU force, then, is of one type, and
that type is inihd.. In its last analysis, ex-
ternal causation may ·be resolved into Di.vine
energy. The great astronomer, Herschel,
says, "The force of gravitation is the direct
result of a consciousness, or will, exerted
somewhere."
And now, if this conclusion results from a
scientific study of the heavens, without the
aid of revelation, may not the humble Chris-
tian, with the revelation of Jesus Christ,
heartily exclaim, "Power belongs to God?"

And is he not justified in believing that it is
through Divine energy that all things are,
and are upheld; and that in God we live and
move and have our being ?
Those who resign the government of this
world to Satan, may see nothing in the phi-
losophy of the ancients but a simple creation
of Satan ; but he who believes that the entire
control and progress of humanity is in the
hand of a merciful Providence, must see that,
in the purposes of God, even ethnicism has
fulfilled some end, and that heathenism has
at least shown the want, and to some extent
prepared the mind for the advent, of Chris-
tianity; for, it must be noted, God has never
left himself without a witness, in any nation.
True, the religion of the Athenians was not
able to release them from the guilt of sin, nor
redeem them from its power or make them
pure and holy; and thus, practically, it brought
them no nearer to God. But it did awaken in
thelll a conscience, and educate it; and it de·

veloped in them more fully the sense of sin
and guilt, and made them conscious of their
inability to save themselves. And thus it
created in them a felt want of something
more than mere embellishment and culture;
and, the moment such· sense is aroused, ma.n
sees the importance and feels the need of
being saved from the consequences of sin by
a higher power.
..Esthetic taste had found, in Athens, full
gratification. Poetry, sculpture, architecture,
were all brought to the highest perfection ;
but the need of something higher, deeper,
and more true, was not only felt, but was
written on the very stones; so that, while the
solid granite grandly expressed the flashing
power of their genius, it also held in inefface·
able grasp the wailings of the prompter of
that genius-the wailings of an unsatisfied
soul. To fill this void, or to satisfy this
hunger, they erected an altar to the unknown
God, and ignorantly worshiped him. They

had lords many, and gods many ; but, in the
erection of this altar, they confessed a felt
want of something higher than all th~e.
The strength and we~kness of heathen
mythology consisted in the contradictory
character of their deities ; for through it all.
there is a blending of the natural and the
supernatural, the human and the Divine.
Zeus, the eternal king, the immortal ruler,
whose will is ever sovereign, has something
of human weakness. God and man are thus
in some mysterious way united. And may
we. not consider
. this as in evidence of the
deepest longing of the human heart-that is,
an unconquerable desire to b~ing God nearer
to the human apprehension and closer to the
human heart? Hence, also, the hold paganism
had, in Paul's day, upon the Grecian mind.
But in this human aspect was also found
its weakness ; for, when philosophic thought
is brought into contact with and permitted
critically to test mythology, it dethrones its

false gods.
The age of spontaneous religious senti-
ments must be succeeded by the age of re-
flection. Popular theological faith must be
put into the crucible of dialectic analysis,
that the frivolous and the false may be taken
from the pure and the true. For the reason
of man must be as well satisfied as his heart;
and faith in God must have a logical basis.
It must be founded on demonstration and
truth, and the question, Is God cognizable by
the human mind? must be reasonably an-
swered. And if this can be achieved, then a
deeper foundation is laid in the mind of hu-
manity, upon which Christianity can rear her
higher and nobler truths. And by this rule
of philosophy Paul declar-ed, "That which
can be' known of God is manifested in their
hearts, God himself having shown it to
them ;" and with such thought he proceeded
to say, "As I passed by and beheld your
sacred objects, I found an altar with this

inscription upon it, To the unknown God."
This idea of a God who is the uncondi-
tioned cause of all things, may have been
possessed, unacknowledged, by Paul's audi-
tors ; yet, doubtless, it was in consequence
of his discovery of this fundamental prin-
.ciple _of all religion, that emboldened him
so eloquently to de_clare the true God, in the
midst of so much idolatry. We infer this;
for a mere blind impulse never guides man to
the true end of his being. A simple tendency
to the perfection of his nature, without a re-
vealed object, would be but mockery and
misery-an ig'fzis-fatuus, perpetually alluring,
but always deceiving him.
The idea of God is revealed to man in the
spontaneous development of his intelligence.
And the existence of a supreme reality, cor-
responding to and represented by this idea,
is rationally and logically demonstrable, and
therefore justly entitled to take rank as part
of our legitimate, valid, ·and positive knowl-

edge.
But it must not be supposed that such
conclusions were reached more frequently by
philosophers of Paul's day than by the mere
scientist of the. present time; Jor many of
them, as is the scientist of the present day,
were in the habit of resolving all substances
into self-existent being, simply upon the hy-
pothesis that all knowledge is limited to
material phenomena; that is, to appearances
perceptible to human sense. Thus, we can
not know the essence of any object, nor the
real mode of procedure of any event; but
simply its relation to other events, as similar
or dissimilar, coexistent or successive; and
these always the same.
The constant resemblances which link phe-
nomena together, and the constant sequences
which unite them as antecedent and conse-
quent, are, by this class of naturalists, termed
laws ; while they acknowledge that their
10
nature and anterior causes are to them wholly

unknown.
But, on the other hand, the philosophical
analysis of Plato, and many others of his
school, lead constantly to the revelation of
real cause and being.
We are wont to condemn, without charity,
the sculptured grandeur of Athens, the Tem-
ple of Diana, together with the Altar of the
Unknown God, as being but the impulse of a
wicked and idolatrous race of sensual materi-
alists ; but the student of nature and revela-
tion will not fail to see the goodness and
providential care of God in all this restless-
ness of the ancient thinker, as he in nature
and art sought for a satisfying portion. For
it is now evident that God gave to this unrest
a preparatory place and office, which, if it did
not bring them to a full knowledge of the
truth, nevertheless prepared .their minds for
"the full investigation of Paul's declaration of
the unknown God. This is shown in the
,
awakening and enthronement of conscience

as a law of duty; and also in exhibiting to
the awakened conscience the great distance
and estrangement from God, showing the
need of a mediator between man and God,
who, unlike the Grecian image in sculptured
granite, must not stand stolid and mute before
the penitent worshiper ; but who would lay
hold of the ·man, and plead with God, thus
insuring reconciliation.
Thus God has ever used the quickened
thought of the ages to prepare the mind,
and turn the masses to himself for safety
and rest.
Let the Christian, then, instead of cowardly
yielding the field of science to the skeptic,
take courage. God has not left mankind in
hopeless unrest ; and we apprehend that the
present attacks of the materialist and scientist
will not only come to naught while they try
vainly to pull down the Christian's tower of
strength, but it will be seen ultimately to redound
to the glory of God and the firmer upbuilding

of the cause of Christ. For, as the ancients
were "ever learning," and were not able to
come to a knowledge of the truth until they
unconsciously acknowledged the failure of
their philosophy to bring peace to the heart
of unrest, in the erection of the Altar to the
Unknown God, so the physiologist of modern
day, in his vain endeavor to r;eject God, has
been, by the unfailing correctness of his own
philosophy, led to confess the limit of his
own powers, and to the acknowledgment of
some greater power beyond. This is shown
in the fact that, no sooner has one scientist
discovered and made known to the restless
world of skeptics the wonderful protoplasm,
or the germinal properties of life, than a
hundred voices demand the origin of the
protoplasm itself, not knowing that, in doing
this, all the truth of God's Word becomes
proved, and Christianity established.
Let the !skeptic go on with his skepticism;
let the scientist continue his scientific re-

search,-they will but show him the weakness
of man, and develop the power of God. And
may the great Eternal Spirit hasten the day
when the "Unknown God" shall be declared
unto all nations, and the name of Jesus be
sung, in every land by every tongue I Amen.
VIII.
A WORD TO SPIRITUALISTS.
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter

times some shall depart &om the faith, giving heed to seduc-
ing spirits, and doctrines of devils."-I TIM. IV, I.
N0 student, either of the Word of God

or the book of nature, will charge God
with redundancy, or with the performance of
an unnecessary thing. For the complete
production of all things in nature, he gave
but . one command to each ; and, in perfect
order and harmony, they sprang into _being-
the light, the earth, the sea, the fish, the
fowl, the beast, the sun for the day, and the
moon and the stars for the night.
But one command in prohibition to the
federal head, and but one penalty was affixed
to its violation. And after the pitiful fall,
146
but one promise of man's redemption was

given by the Almighty Fath~r. At the full-
ness of time, but one Savior came into the
world for the redemption of the one pledge,
that the seed of the woman should bruise the
serpent's head. True, the prophets grew
eloquent, and their messages ever and anon
thrilled the generations of the long-rolling
ages, as the Holy Ghost revealed to them the
coming Messiah ; but all the hallowed fire of
their glowing tongues ever glowed around the
one promise of his coming.
One voice at the Jordan, when Jesus was
baptized, cried out from earth, "Behold the
Lamb of God;" and one from heaven thrilled
the astonished multitude with the one ex-
clamation, «This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased : hear ye him."
And but one dove descended and alighted
upon Jesus, thus testifying to his Divine
Sonship. Twelve legions of angels were
ready to testify for Jesus; but with this
announcement of his Divinity, he went forth

on his Divine mission.
He mingled freely, as a man, with the
apostles ; but he showed himself but once
during his sojourn with them in transfigura-
tion. He was but once in an agony, in the
Garden. He bore but one cross for us. He
was crucified once, for all. He was dead, and
buried, but one time ; but that once was all-
.sufficient; for he conquered the monster foe,
hell, for a time. He burst the bonds of death,
and came forth in glorious triumph, giving to
earth this immortal assurance: Death and the
grave have no power that Jesus can not
break. Once more he ascended on high-
once for all-where he ever liveth to make
intercession for all that love him.
From these facts, we may learn the great
God never uses unnecessary means for the
accomplishment of any work for man, or for
any created intelligence. To Satan, who said
to him, " If thou be the Son of God, command
that these st~nes be made bread," Jesus an-

swered, " Man shall not live by bread alone."
And again, when the tempter tried him from
another stand-point, he. did not enter into
lengthened .argument, but simply said, "It is
V4t"itten, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God." To the caviling Pharisees, he- said :
" This is an evil generation. They seek a
sign, and there shall no sign be given it but
the sign of Jonas the prophet." To the anx-
ious and troubled soul of Dives he answered,
"Neither would they be persuaded though
one arose from the dead."
The lesson to us is this : God has, by the
inspiration of his Spirit, caused to be recorded
in his Word all that we need know, in life, to
sect~re our happiness here, and our safety and
joy forever.
"Of making many books there is no end;"
but there is but one Bible. God has faith-
fully and plainly recorded himself in one
volume; and 0, what a volume it is !-as
ISO SPIRITUAUSM AND NECROMANCY.
high as the heavens, as deep as infinity. No

marvel that groveling, sensual minds stag-
ger at its mysteries. But it has this aston-
ishing peculiarity : the simple-minded may
grasp enough of its truth to be guided into
the way of life forever; but, alas I with the
blinding clouds of doubt and distrust that
Satan is ever throwing about the human
mind, we stumble at the plainest truth it
records.
It is, happily, the province of the Christian
to believe God, as he talks through his Word;
and, believing his Word, to know Jesus whom
he hath sent. And with this confidence and
knowledge, he is fortified against the tempter's
startling suggestions about the future state ;
for the Jesus in whom he trusts has said to
him, through his Word, "I go to prepare a
place for you, that where I am there ye may
be also." In this he trustingly and calmly
rests his soul, and, with the psalmist, exclaims,
" Though I walk through the valley of the
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. ISI
shadow of-death, I will fear no evil ; for

thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they
comfort me ;" or with Paul, the trusting man
of. God, can say joyfully, "To live is Christ,
but to die is gain."
Not so with the doubting distruster of
God's Word. To him, life is all full of per-
plexity, the grave is dismal, and eternity is
dreadful. To him it is a terribly long time
since Jesus was here among men; and, to his
restless mind, the record that God made of
himself, by the hand of Moses, of the begin-
ning of time and the creation of all terres-
trial things, seems so far in the distant past
that a hungry longing springs up in his soul
for some fresh revelation of God and the
spirit-interests of ·man. And then, losing
sight of the revelations already made, that
one day with the infinite God is as a thou-
sand years and a thousand years as one day,
and that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
to-day, and forever, without variableness or
shadow of turning ; and forgetting that if

such an unchangeable God, who has all
power, declared, eighteen hundred years ago-
by man's count-that he was going to pre-
pare a place for his servants that day, then
such place ·is prepared this day for all that
love him ; but, though the Bible has faith-
fully given warning, and "the Spirit has
spoken expressly that in the latter times
to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils,"
yet multitudes, in their blindness, ignore or
reject all this, and do give heed to seducing
spirits and doctrines of devils. For what
but this can induce men to close their eyes
to the fact that God in his Word has revealed
to man all that he ought to know, in this
life, of the spirit-life to come, and, turning
away from revelation, betake them to the con-
tradictory uncertainties of the spiritual me-
dium, in dark seance'! If it were nothing
worse to do so, it would show very great
distrust in and dissatisfaction with the revela-

tions God has been pleased to make, to the
citizens of earth, about the ample provision
he has made for all who serve him.
But the resort of the spiritualist for intel-
ligence from the spirit-world not only dis-
credits God, but it credits and propagates 1
the falsehoods of demons. Having departed

from the faith, they give heed to seducing
spirits and doctrines of devils. Mark: those
spirits are seducing. To seduce, is to draw
aside from the path of rectitude. And this
is the office that is especially assigned to
those malignant demons who lead poor mor-
tals away from God, until they deny the
faith. Then they are ready to heed also the
doctrines of devils.
God has plainly told us, in his Word, of the
abode of the spirits of the justified. The
ever-memorable answer of Jesus, to the trust-
ing penitent on the cross, is all-sufficient:
"This day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
Stephen, also, when about to die, saw the

gates of the spirit-home wide open, and the
angels too, as they came fluttering down to
the dying man, as if in a hurry to bear his
spirit to the home of the soul. These, with
kindred cases throughout the Scriptures, and
in the experience of the Christian world, set-
tle the safe abode of the spirits of all who
trust in Jesus.
Necromancers, astrologers, and spiritual
mediums have for many ages taken advantage
of the seeming mystery that enshrouds the
state of the dead, and have speculated upon
the broken-hearted, bereaved friends of the
departed ; and have made both notoriety and
money by pretending to receive important
messages from the dead.
Christian reader, if it be true that the
Word of God bas not yet allayed the preying
anxiety of your mind and heart about the
safe abode and soul-security of wife or child
or very dear friend, let us devote one moment,
SPiRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. 155
in the light of reason and common sense, to
the candid investigation of the claims of
spiritualists.
Let us enter the chamber of your beloved
friend. That friend is a devout servant of
God. The breathing is already short and
hurried ; the pulse is but a flutter. Life is
certainly receding; for the pallor of death is
on the brow. We are in deepest sympathy,
and give utterance to our sorrow in a rain
of tears. We watch with .all eagerness every
symptom of change. One step more, and
our dear friend will be gone.
Mark the effort ; our friend is struggling
to speak. Do you hear that exclamation ?
It is with faltering lip, but it is the shout
of the victor. If we heard them correctly, ,
the.se were the words : "Thanks be unto God,
,_. who giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ!''
A moment more, and all is over. The
body is dead. But where is the spirit ? what
is its state? and will it-can it-again an-

swer my call? We try it; we call to it to
come back ; we shout aloud for but one more
word,-but all is still as the grave.
Must we part forever? We go to the
grave to weep and call. If we were listening,
inspiration would answer: "Not here. Why
seek ye the living among the dead?" But the
deaf ear of our reason is stopped to this
voice, and we turn away in dum'5 silence,
with great sorrow.
Just now, spiritualism comes in, to take
advantage of our sorrow and of our hungry
longing to hear something of our dead. The
mediums are the dupes of "seducing spirits,"
and they "give heed to doctrines of devils,"
or demons ; and these demons pretend to an-
'
swer the call of the medium, with some
message from our friend.
Aside from revelation, two very important
things make this pretense absurd :
First, our departed friend, while in life,
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. 1§7
could not have been induced to associate, in

any way whatever, with this vile nest of spir-
itualists who breed the doctrine of devils ;
for, throughout life, our loved one abominated '--
the damnable heresy ; and death produces no
change morally. Hence the assumption of
the medium, of a visit from such a one, is
unreasonable.
But, second, on the supposition that it were
possible for our friend to come back to earth
for any purpose, would it not be more reason-
able to suppose that the visit would be to
friends, kindred, and loved ones, than to sup-
pose our dearest, pure, loved one should seek
out the dark, stealthy seance, where are met,
for the orgies of demons, those whose morals
are bad, and whose theories and practices are
in flagrant violation of the laws and usages
of all decency in civilized lands ? Can any
sane man conceive it a reasonable thing that
a pure spirit, saved by the merit of the Lord
Jesus, all clad in white robe, washed in the
II
blood of the Lamb, should ever visit such

assembly of demons, both spiritual and incar-
nate, as is usually found in the circle of
spiritualists when convened for their nightly
sessions? The very thought is rev9lting, and
is the reverse of all that the Scriptures have
taught us about the employment of the saints
in light. "A man is known by the company
I
he keeps." This will not be called in ques-
tion in this world. Like seeks like ; and it
is a law of our being that we are unhappy
if our associates be not congenial. Because
of this, men choose their associates to corre-
spond with their own tastes and morals. The
Scriptures draw the same distinctive line for
the spirit-life. And for the abode of the
good there must be preparatory cleansing ;
for "nothing that is unclean, impure, or un-
holy can enter there." But for the abode of
the wicked, all that is vile and impure shall
enter it.
Now, with such marked difference, how
absurd to suppose the spirits of the justified

ever appear to answer the call of a profligate
medium in this world! We can conceive of
no more monstrous villainy than to impose
on the credulity of the bereaved and broken-
hearted, by bringing pretended messages, re-
ceived by spiritual mediums, to the sad and
sorrow-stricken ones. And the atrocious dia-
bolism is all the more hideous and hell-de-
serving when, as is usually the case, the
forged message is in flagrant opposition to
the whole life, faith, and practice of .the
departed.
Let Christians beware ; for " the Spirit
speaketh expressly that in the latter times
to sed~cing spirits and doctrines of devils."
To those who have already fallen into this
snare of Satan we have a word of counsel,
and we are done.
And, first, we are ready to admit that
many of you are sincere and honest in your
I6o SPIRITUAUSM AND NECROMANCY.
convictions of the truth of what is called

spiritualism ; but you are the victims of the
cunning of both bad men and devils. This
we have plainly shown in these chapters.
Satan, who is ever seeking to turn the mind
of man away from God, was not slow in
recognizing the earnest desire of humanity to
peer into the mysterious abode of the dead,
and to learn something more than is revealed
in the Holy Scriptures of the employment of
the spirits of our friends in the spirit-world.
To the deception, he bas from the first used
a double agency ; namely, wicked, deceitful
men, and demons. These constitute every
complete circle of spiritualists. These cun-
ning demons, under the tuition of Satan,
their chief, are masters in all jugglery, magic,
and witchcraft; and, with bad men and women
to help them, are able to make such demon-
strations in th.e "dark sittings" of the circle
as are calculated to deceive the credulous,
unsuspecting victim.
Let me remind you of a fact, patent even

to stanch spiritualists themselves, that should
excite your alarm. The pretended revelations
of the spirits are often flatly contradictory;
and this very fact has ever been, and now is,
the greatest wonder to the believer in spirit-
ualism. For instance, in Chicago the spirit
of some great general or statesman has re-
ported himself present in the seance.- and,
after receiving the welcome of the circle, he
has proceeded to deliver messages. But,
strangely enough, the same noted character
reports himself present, the very same mo-
ment, in some dark, curtained room in New
York. And the same thing is repeated in
New Orleans, and in San Francisco. The
medium in ea~h of those circles, in astonished
wonder, receives the most wonderful intelli-
gence from the spirit-world. But, alas for
the veracity of the noted spirit, not one of
his messages agrees with another I They are
contradictory, and some of them senseless.
Then, they can not all be true. Who can

explain this confusion? It is bungling, even
for a devil.
Now, that noted spirits are often announced
as present in different places, at the same
time, will not be denied by any who are con-
versant with the "tricks of the trade." For
this, indeed-as we have intimated-is to
skilled spiritualists one of the most inexplica-
ble feats in all spiritualism. A firm believer in
the seance can never explain or understand it.
But, evidently, this is the solution, and the
only reasonable one that can be given: There
was no such spirit present in any one of those
circles ; but there were spirits of demons
present, to answer the call of the several
mediums in each of those distant cities. The
medium chanced to call for the same spirit.
Now, bear in mind, those demons are all the
children of him who is the father of lies ; and
they do credit to their chief. So, when the
medium, by certain cabalistic raps and signs
known to the craft, asked if the spirit of

Thomas Jefferson was present, the demons
responded affirmatively. But these junior
devils are finite, a11:d not one could possibly
know what the other was answering ; hence
the confusion and contradictions.
It is known to the world that, repeatedly,
the spirits-which in all cases are demons,
and not, as is supposed, the spirits of de-
parted mortals-have been ensnared and con-
founded by unbelievers, who have asked them
if the spirit of some distant but living friend
was present. The spirit of the demon-as
we have said-being finite, does not always
know whether such person is dead or alive.
And because the question is asked, he sup-
poses the person dead, and readily personates
him. All know that, by this means, aston-
ished mediums have been made ashamed of
the confusion.
But those demons have vast knowledge of,
and acquaintance with, both men and things
on the earth ; and have thus been enabled to

amaze and astonish the world, by reporting
themselves to the spiritual medium as the
spirit of some one not known to be dead.
Inquiry has shown the man to have died
without the knowledge of his friends at
home. But the demon who personated him
knew it ; and that was a grand achievement
for this heresy of Satan, spiritualism.
But, finally, we wish to conclude. Already
we have extended our hunt after this dan-
gerous heresy far beyond our original pur-
pose. Our one purpose has been to save the
honestly deceived-and they are many, for it
is a: dangerous snare-and to convince the
confirmed spiritualist of the diabolism of his
heresy. And this we think we have plainly
proved, by common facts, by reason, and by •
the inspired Scriptures.
And now, with an earnest prayer to the
~od of all truth for your deliverance from
this snare of Satan, we entreat you, "Believe
not every spirit, but try the spirits whether

they be of God." And may the great
Eternal Spirit guide both you and us . into
the way of all wisdom and truth, and bring
us at last into the safe abode of the spirits
of the just, where we shall be forever content
to abide in the presence of Jesus, by whose
merit we are saved !
But, dear reader, while we have taken the
ground-and, we think, fairly maintained it-
that spiritualism is a snare of demons, by
which they deceive poor bewildered mortals,
by personating, in the sea1tce, the friend whose
spirit you call for, and that no such spirit of
departed friend ever did or can answer your
call, yet we allow the ministration of spir-
its, even to mortals on earth ; and this we
shall show in the following chapter on Bible
Spiritualism.
IX.
BIBLE SPIRITUALISM; OR, THE MINIS-

TRATION OF THE SPIRITS.
" Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to min-
ister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?''-HEB. r, 14-
THE apostle, in this chapter, represents

to the Hebrews the great favor of God
in giving his Son to be the all-sufficient sac-
rifice for all. And to show his great superi-
ority over all others, he presents him as a
divine, or as an uncreated Savior, bringing
messages of salvation unto them. There had
been, from the beginning of the first promise
of hope to man, messengers sent from Go~,
with instruction and the encouragement of
hope ; but these were created beings, who
only came to the heirs of salvation as in-
structed by the Master. Hence, they were
166
. SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. 167
but fellow-heirs or fellow-servants of the same

God ; but the superiority of Jesus is shown
in that he possesses Divine Sonship, or is the
uncreated Messenger of God to man. Our
business with the subject now, is to ascertain
the office, mission, and extent of the minis-
tration of the spiritual messengers God is
pleased to send into the world, and to what
extent Christians are dependent upon them.
We notice:
1. The meaning of ministering spirits.
The term spirit may, in this Scriptural
sense, be defined as an immaterial, intelligent
substance, or an immaterial, intelligent being.
Ministration signifies the act of performing
service.
Ministering spirits, then, are messengers
sent from God on. some service.
The lesson also teaches the service ren-
dered. But spirit, as applied to man, signifies
the reasonable soul, which continues in being
after the death of the body-the spiritual,
reasoning, and choosing substance, capable

of eternal happiness-and means the soul.
Thus, when the dying Stephen said, in his
last prayer on earth, "Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit I" the prayer was for the reception of
the soul by the Lord Jesus. The likeness
and affinity is thus apparent. Intelligent
souls, or the unembodied angels of God in
heaven, and the embodied souls of the heirs
of salvation on earth, each and all are the
servants of the most high God.
The angels have kept th~ir first estate, and
their happiness is complete in the unclouded
presence of their maker, God, and their im-
material wants are all met by his unobstructed
hand ; for in his presence there is fullness of
joy, and at his right-hand there are pleasures
for evermore.
But man is the victim of the Fall ; and,
though redeemed by the blood of Christ, yet
he is still on trial ; and, because of his weak-
ness and imbecility of mind, he is likely to
SPIRITUAUSM AND NECROMANCY. 16g
fail ; for Satan is yet a tempting devil, bent

on man's ruin. God would save him, and
calls out to him, "Look unto me, all ye ends
of the earth, and be ye saved." But poor
man, in his blindness, shouts back, in his
grief, "0, that I knew where I might find
him!" To his plaintive wail of trouble God
answers, "As I live, I have no pleasure in
the death of him that dieth, but would rather
all would turn unto me and live." "Turn ye,
turn ye ; for why will ye die·?", The bewil-
dered soul again calls out, while the bitter-
ness of death is upon him, How shall I
come?" To his cry the voice of God's Word
responds, " Let the wicked man forsake his
ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts,"
and let him "repent ~nd be converted ;" for
"except ye repent, ye shall all likewise per-
ish." The sorrowing one, thus taught, ex-
claims, " I do repent ; God be merciful to me
a sinner!" and instantly there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God ; for angels
ever manifest a lively interest in all that per-

tains to the glory of God and the salvation
of man. Do you ask how the angels know?
We answer, the truth is plainly taught in the
Scriptures that these happy spirits have great
knowledge of all that pertains to man on
earth. What the medium of communication
is, it must be confessed, is more a matter of
conjecture. When the Scriptures would re-
duce it to our conception, figures of speech,
· suited to the knowledge of mortals, are used.
Thus, in Jacob's dream, a ladder seemed to
rest on the earth, but its top touched the
stepping-stone of the grand ·gateway of
heaven, and the angels of God both ascended
and descended; and the Savior told Nathaniel
that he should see heaven open, and the
angels of God ascending and descending upon
the Son of Man. But both their descent to
earth and ascent to heaven is in the interest
of man, and is for the glory of God ; for,
"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent
•
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. I 7I
forth to minister for them who shall be heirs

of salvation." And now we notice :
2. Their office and work with Christians.
The great apostle to the Gentiles charges
Timothy to act a faithful part, "before God,
and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect
angels;" which, to our mind, plainly implies
that he was all the time under their eye and
inspection. The first preachers of the Gospel
of Christ were not only the "gazing-stock of
the earth," but were "a spectacle to angels."
How often or how constantly they accom-
pany our footsteps, or what the medium of
locomotion, is not now a question of impor-
tance; nor need we be curious to know why
God-who knows us altogether, and has all
power to help us-employs them for our com-
fort. We may not know; but may we not
say : There are seasons when these sons of
God speed on the wings of light from the
eternal throne, charged with a mission of
love, and freighted with the blessing of God,
to some poor earth-worm, burdened with sor-

row and care, lifting the burden, and cheering
the heart? for "we have not a high-priest
who can not be touched with the feelings of
our infirmities, but was in all points tempted
as we are, yet without sin, and angels came
and ministered unto him," and he is, to the
Christian, elder brother. Not only so, but
with him the Christian is joint-heir.
If angels ministered unto Jesus, in his sore
trial, and Christians are joint-heirs to the in-
heritance, might we not, without proof-texts,
assume they delight to wait on and cheer the
heart and band of the weary pilgrim, as he
sojourns in this wilderness of sin ? But the
proof is not lacking ; for, " are they not all
ministering spirits, sent to minister for them
who shall be heirs of salvation ?" How they
do this, and to what extent, must be apparent
from a few considerations ; for we must bear
in mind they are not cumbered with material
bodies ; hence, no estimate of the velocity of
their movements can be made. And if it be

true that matter offers no more resistance to
spirit than to thought, then those spirits,
messengers of God, may be kneeling at the
throne eternal one moment of man's ·count;
and, having received a message from God the
Father, the next moment the messenger is
ch~ering thy heart.
Let us think of it one moment. God is in
heaven; his saints militant are on earth.
Now, God's children are as darling to him
as the apple of an eye ; but those children
are, while on earth, exposed to the tempter's
snare. They are also yet in school, and have
much to learn ; often their wisdom is at fault,
and their ignorance leads them astray. Some-
times they are in doubt, and know not what
is right. Paul says, "For we know not what
we should pray for as we ought." But God
sees it all, and. God knows it all. The poor
bewildered soul is bowed down and sorrowing;
earth seems cold, dark, and dreary; and Satan
12
tempts us with the thought : God has for-

gotten ; "curse God and die." So he tempted
Job; so he will tempt you. But, go back, ye
gates of heaven, and let the eye of faith pen-
etrate the inner glory I There, seated on the
eternal throne, sits and reigns the omnipotent
Father ; at his side stands our High-priest,
pleading for all his saints ; before the throne,
in countless throng, stand his saints, and the
angels are all around. The Father hears and
heeds ; a messenger is called and counseled ;
then, freighted with love, speeds his flight to
earth. He may go to the palace; he is sure to
go to the cottage, where dwells the lone, sad-
hearted widow, with words of cheer and the
blessing of peace ; for they minister to the
heirs of salvation.
Are we asked why, and how? To the first
we answer: God, who can speak a world from
nought, and can do all things without an
agency, chooses to carry on all ·his work by
the use of means, and pas, from the beginning,
SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY. I7S
stamped both man and angel with nobility,
by making them his acknowledged partners,
especially in the great work of salvation.
See Psalm ciii, 21 : " Bless ye the Lord, all
ye his hosts ; ye ministers of his, that do his
pleasure." And also 2 Corinthians vi, 1 :
"We then, as workers together with him, be-
seech you also that ye receive not the grace
of God in vain ;" or 2 Corinthians v, 20:
"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as
though God did beseech you by us : we pray
you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to
God."
By these Scriptures, the co-operation of both
men and angels with God in his work is plainly
taught. But the question is not of the fact, but
the reason ; and this is twofold : the glory of
God and the ennobling and lifting up of the
creature. For it must be borne in mind that,
though all Christians are the servants of God,
yet they are more--even partners with God in
the great work of salvation. But as man
works with God for the good of his fellow-

man, so do the angels work for God, in help-
ing man. We have already said the angels
·have a great knowledge of the affairs of men
on the earth. We now advance to the
thought of their great interest in those af-
fairs. See I Peter i, I 2 : " Unto whom it was
revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us
they did minister the things, which are now
reported unto you by them that have preached
the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghos~
sent down from heaven ; which things the
angels desire to look into."
From this Scripture, and others, it is evi-
dent that angels are intensely interested in
the work of our salvation, ever· using their
holy influence to win us to the way of life ;
and the proof is not wanting that they are
sometim'es commissioned to hedge us in, and
prevent us from going into the paths of sin.
The case of the false prop.het is in point.
Balak, King of the Moabites, seeing that Israel
was much too strong for him, conceived the

thought of getting Israel cursed by their God.
There was none that could bring this about,
in his judgment, save the prophet Balaam.
Alas I he was wont to pronounce blessings
on Israel.
But Balak sought him out, and said, "Curse
me this people, for they are too mighty for
me." The prophet treated the servants
kindly ; and, after counsel with God, he said
to Balak's messengers, "Get you into your
land, for the Lord refuseth to give me leave-
to go with you." When this word was brought
to Balak, he was evidently sorely troubled,
and he determined to send more honorable
men, even princes. These said, "Let nothing
hinder thee from coming to Balak; for he will
promote thee unto very great honor, and will
do whatsoever thou sayest; only curse Israel."
Balaam was tempted ; but had not yet deter-
mined to go contrary to the word of the
Lord-no, not even for a " house full of gold
and silver;" but God, after having plainly

shown him that he did not approve of his
going, gave him permission. Balaam hurried
to seize the r~ward of iniquity ; and would
have cursed Israel, but God sent his angel to
stop up his way. How angry was Balaam
when first hindered I how he smote the beast,
whose eyes first beheld the angel ! And not
until his own eyes were opened to behold the
heavenly visitant was he aware of his great
sin in striving to curse Israel. And when he.
came to Balak, and the sacrifices were all
prepared, he could only say, " How shall I
curse whom God hath not cursed ? or how
shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied ?"
Here, then, is a plain case of the restrain-
ing influence of ministering spirits, sent from
God to his servants on earth. Without it, in
this case, the prophet must have fallen a
victim to the snare of his tempter.
May we not infer his children of to-day are
equally the objects of his care ?
Saul of Tarsus thought he was doing God

service when he persecuted the believers in
Jesus; but God's Holy Spirit an:_ested him in
his course of mad'hess, and directed him in
the way of life.
But those heavenly messengers not only
serve as guardian shields to his saints on
earth, but they also serve as counselors and
comforters of all who seek the fellowship of
God. " I will not leave you comfortless,"
said Jesus; "I will come unto you;" and on
the inauguration-day of Christianity, or the
day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost, in com-
forting power, fell on the believers in Jesus.
Then Paul and Silas, in the prison, wit-
nessed the presence and felt the power of
the heavenly apparition. So did Peter, though
in the gloomy jail ; and, to his inexpressible
joy, his chains fell off, and he was free from
the loathsome dungeon. But we are all con-
cerned to know whether such heavenly visit-
ants are composed of the Holy Spirit of God
18o SPIRITUAUSM AND NECROMANCY.
and the angels of heaven, or do the spirits

of the dead in Christ ever revisit the earth ?
Bishop D. W. Clark, in his " Man all
Immortal," page 2o6, says :
"Among those myriads of angelic messen-
gers, is it not possible that there should
sometimes be found one who was once an
inhabitant of earth ? Is it not possible that
our departed kindred, our parents, our com-
panions, our dear children, that passed from
us in the bloom of life, a loved brother or
sister, may revisit eart~ and come to minister
to· us in that which is holy and good ; to
breathe around us influences that will draw
us heavenward ? If it be possible to revisit
earth, this, no doubt, is the glorious mission
on which they would desire to come.
" The form in which the spirit of the de-
parted might be expected to visit us, would
be that of spiritual communion. There are
seasons when the soul seems to recognize
the presence of, and to hold communion with,
the departed. They are like angelic visitants :

we meet them in our lonely walks, in our
deep and solemn meditations, and in our
closet communings ; we meet them when the
lengthening shadf)ws hallow the eventide-
mysterious and solemn is their communion ;
we meet them when sorrows encompass us
round about, and hallowed is the influence
their presence imparts. Who shall say that
at such times there is not a real communion
between the living and the dead ?"
Hannah More, when dying, extended her
arms as if to embrace some one, called the
name of a beloved sister, long before departed,
and exclaimed "Joy I" and expired. Hosts of
similar cases might be given, in which dying
saints have given evidence of the presence
of loved ones, long in the spirit-land ; but we
forbear, that we may notice:
3· The goodness of God in such wise
provision.
The desire for immortality is found to
/
exist in the heart of all intelligent beings,

and it is scarcely possible for the mind to
conceive of a more revolting thing than
annihilation.
Spiritualists of modern days make stronger
claim of immortality from spirit revelations
than from the Bible; indeed, some assert that
spiritualism must be maintained or immor-
tality must be denied. To this we dissent ;
for the interpretation given of spiritualism,
by spiritualists, is just as opposite to the
ministration of spirits as light from darkness,
or righteousness from sin. But, thank God!
we are not left to grope our way in the dark
uncertainti~s of spiritual seance for the blessed
assurance of immortality and eternal life ; but
God's blessed Word thrills with the breath-
ings of the spirit-fife on almost every page;
and, to assure comfort, and encourage our
holy longings, he gives first his Spirit, as a
reminder and as a comforter. And this is
but in accordance with the promise of the
Lord Jesus, "Lo, I am with you alway, even

to the end of the world."
The Christian, pleading this immortality
pledge, realizes the truth of that sublime
exclamation of the Christian poet :
" My God is reconciled,
His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for his child,
I can no longer fear.
His Spirit answers to the blood,
And tells me I am born of God."
With such blessed assurance of an immor-

tal heirship with Jesus, can the proof of my
immortality be wanting? Nay: but I grasp
the Bible truth, "Because he [that is, Christ]
liveth, I shall live also."
And. such blessed assurance is given by
his Word and by his Spirit; and to it all
the saints on earth and in heaven stand
witness.
Who cheered the heart of the dying
M'Kendree, as, in the final struggle, he
ex<;laimed, "All is well ?"
184 SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY••
Multiplied thousands of such cases could

be given, all showing the presence of minis-
tering spirits, who have accompanied the
saint in life ; and, in the parting hour, the
heavenly watchers stand ready to waft the
astonished saint to their heavenly bowers.
Christian pilgrim, were you ever thrown
into a new circle of society, where you looked
for strangers ? What was your astonishment
and joy, to find yourself in the midst of
warmest friends l The itinerant minister will
feel the force of this ; for this experience has
thrilled his heart often in life, as he and his
family have gone up and down in the earth,
preaching Christ and the great salvation, with
no home but the hearts of his people.
Ah l we shall not be strangers in heaven,
nor embarrassed for company; for some one
of the ministering spirits, who have minis-
tered to us in life, will stand ready to intro-
duce us, and to show us round the great city;
and all our friends, relatives, and acquaintances
will greet us on the eternal shore. Shall we

know them ? 0 yes : we knew theqt in life ;
we saw them in death, and were not deceived;
and now they meet us at .the dividing line.
"My father and the chariots!" has thrilled
the hearts of thousands in all ages ; and you
and I may be permitted to exclaim, erelong,
as our ransomed spirits are freed from these
earth-clogs, "My father, my mother, my child,
my son or my daughter, my Savior! for, 'are
they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to
minister for. them who shall be the heirs of
salvation ?'" Amen.
X.
SPIRITUALISM A LOVER OF DARKNESS.
" And this is the condemnation, that light is come into

the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because
their deeds were evil"-JOHN 111, 19-
sINCE the introduction of sin into the

world, a characteristic feature of the sin-
ner's deeds has been a love of darkness and
a hatred of the light. And so deep-seated is
this in the hearts of men, that even when
moved to deeds of righteousness, in their
first inception, they seek the privacy or cover
of darkness. He to whom the above quota-
tion was addressed was doubtless convinced
that Jesus was a teacher sent from God, and
was persuaded that he could tell him about
the way of life. Hence, he was moved to
go to Jesus for instruction ; but, for some
J86
reason, went at night. During the conversa-

tion that followed, Jesus called his attention
to this love of darkness by the unregenerate.
" They love darkness rather than light, be~
cause their deeds are evil."
"Light has come into the world."
"Let there be light," was the exclamation
of Jehovah, which dispersed fhe gloom and
drove back the long chaotic night of the ages.
Light is of Divine origin. "And God saw
the light that it was good, and he divided it
from the darkness, calling it day ; but he
called the darkness night."
In Scripture parlance, all that is good, pure,
and true is called light; while all that is vile
and impure is called darkness--sometimes
blackness. And this is truly characteristic
of righteousness and sin. Man was originally
a creature of the light, and the redeemed are
always called children of the light. It is only
while men are rejecting salvation that they
love the darkness and hate the light.
Scientists attempt to define the properties

of light, and to detect its origin. Thus, we
have the theory of emanation, which supposes
light to be a material fluid, of extreme sub-
tlety, emanating _in particles from a luminous
body. Then we have the theory of undula-
tion, asserting that light is produced by the
undulations of an independent medium, set
in motion by some luminous body, losing
sight of the fact there can be no luminous
body without light.
Now, all this but puzzles the brain of the
student ; and by such scientific rules he will
hardly determine whether the natural light is
an emanation of the sun, the most luminous
body, or whether the sun is the reflex con-
centration of the light. But. this we know,
God commanded the existence of light ; and,
seeing the light, he pronounced it good, and
divided it from the darkness.
After this, he commanded lights for the
firmament of the heaven : the greater one, the
sun, to rule the day ; the lesser ones, the
moon and the stars, to rule the night.
Skeptics and infidels reject this Bible ac-
count of the origin and existence of light
before the existence or construction of the
sun. But this class of maudlin thinkers re-
ject all that the Bible records of God and of
God's works, simply because their finite minds
can not grasp infinity. The Christian, seeing
these in hopeless confusion-for they do not
themselves agree-turns boldly to the Scrip-
tural truth, whether the light is dealt out to
mortal gaze by the sun, moon, or stars.
God is the author of it ; for he commanded
it into being before any of these concentrated
bodies of it were hung up in the heavens for
the gaze of earth's inhabitants. Deity is the
embodiment of light, and in him there is no
darkness at all.
But it follows, if God is light, then they
that are his walk in the light. David meant
this when he said, " They shall walk, 0 Lord,
13
190 SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY• .
in the light of thy countenance: they shall

still be praising thee."
But again : light is but an emanation of
Deity ; and, if so, then where God dwells
there must be an infinite day. Earth is but
his footstool ; but heaven is his dwelling-
place. When John, in Apocalypt~c gaze,
peered over the embattled walls of heaven,
he exclaimed, with rapture: "There is no
night there;" for "the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it." "And
the city bad no need of the sun, neither of
the moon, to shine in it ; for the glory of
God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the
light thereof."
God, then, is light ; and the character of it
must be purity and holiness. Friend, does it
shine upon thy pathway? Then,
"Walk in the light; so shalt thou know

That fellowship of love
His Spir~ only can bestow,
Who reigns in light above."
But what are the revelations of light?

1. It brings to our senses a knowledge of
existent facts. The. glories of earth and
heaven are no better than the dungeon to
the blind ; for all is dark to them. In our
humane asylums for the blind, the teachers
accomplish much for the poor unfortunate
inmates, ·making them, happily, not only
masters in the cunning arts, but imparting
to them also a knowledge of letters. Yet
here is the limit of their power ; and a
knowledge of color, of the rain~pw tints, and
the beauties of nature, no teacher ever yet
imparted to the born blind.
As in the physical, so in the moral world.
The light of God never falls upon the eye
of the alien soul. No infidel's creed ever
yet brought a knowledge of the ·true God, or
declared the revelations of Heaven. To such
it is all mystery-all gloom; for the eye of
their understanding is darkened. There is
no light in them ; and this is their condem-
nation : they love the darkness, and cherish

the gloom.
But it is the province of the light, if per:
mitted, to dispel the darkness and drive
away the gloom; and this it does for all who
will come into it. But ·here is the strangest
anomaly: light has come into the world, but
men reject it, cherishing the gloom. They
continue to stumble into the dark pits of
doubt and sin. God has graciously given his
Word to shine as a lamp of life; but men
reject it as all dark and full of mystery. The
good Spirit of God has been given to en-
lighten the world ; but men resist the striv-
ings of the Spirit and grieve it away, while
they remain in the darkness of nature's night.
It needs no argument to convince men of
the truth of some unsupplied want of their
nature ; for there is, evidently, at least a
partial knowledge of something wrong, of pos-
sible danger, which leaves men restless and
unsettled. Nothing can be more apparent than
the truth of the Scriptural declaration, "There

is no peace to the wicked." In evidence,
study the teeming millions of our race who
reject God and his Word, as they struggle in
hopeless unrest. See them in heathen lands,
as they grope in the dark. See them in
Christian lands, ~s they fly to every refuge·
of lies, in the vain hope of finding rest and
quiet for the wretched conscience.
But we wish to offer one thought more of
the light; and that is, its accessibility for
all ; and in this may be seen the goodness
of God.
The greater fight that rules the day-our
sun-is, we maintain, the concentration, or
the embodied form, of material light; and
this is so centrally hung up in the firmament
of heaven, that all the inhabitants of the
earth may behold its rays and walk in its
light. And under its warming influence, the
great world of vegetation is quickened into
life, joy, beauty, and gladness. "The Lord
God is a Sun and a Shield." The Lord

Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness, and it
pleased the Fat~er that in him should all
fullness dwell. This great light is for the
lightening of the eyes of earth's blinded
millions. Has he not declared that this was·
the great purpose of his being lifted up, that
he might draw all men unto himself?
Men stumble in mines and pits, with but
the flickering, artificial light of the taper,
while the great blazing sun is shining with a
perfect flood of light in the heavens above
them. So, even in Christian lands, in the
light of the Gospel of Christ, men stumble
in the dark pits of sin, strangely-ah ! stub-
bornly-shutting the ~ye of reason and faith
against every ray of light, which, if admitted,
must discover to them not only their folly,
but also their danger, and the only way out
of it. "This is their condemnation."
But "they love darkness." And this will
lead us to speak of the cha~cter of darkness.
And as we have, in the forepart of this chapter,
maintained that God is the embodiment and
author of light, and attempted to show that
all who are his walk in the light, so, now, we
assert, and shall proceed to prove, that Satan
is prince of darkness, and that all his servants
stumble in the dark.
We are wont to speak of what we do not
understand as dark, all dark, Satan has ever
plied his hellish arts in the dark. So he
came to the first pair ; and, under the dark,
i'llpenetrable pall of false pretense, he accom-
plished his work of diabolism. He has never
changed his cursed tactics; for they have
been altogether too successful in deluding
souls to ruin to be given up; and with mys-
terious, dark, and damning schemes, he entan-
gles men to this day. Hence, he is truth-
fully called the prince of darkness, and the
dark adversary.
This being his character, we are not sur-
prised that his foulest deeds are wrought in
19(5 SPIRITUAUSM AND NECROMANCY.
darkness. We have given the case of Sau1,

King of Israel. While he remained a right-
eous man, he was wont to consult God in all
that pertained to his kingdom. And t~s he
did before the altars of God, in open day,
through the prophets of the God of Israel.
But when he-by his sins-bad· lost the favor
of God, he sought not only impenetrable dis-
guise, but the cover of a dark night, to confer
with the witch of En-dor.
So, to-day, while men love mercy and deal
justly, and worship the God of their fathers,
they seek Heaven's broadest light ; but when
their deeds are evil, and they are without the
light of the grace of God in their hearts, then
do they seek the mantle of thick darkness ;
and, carefully excluding the light, they seek
audience with the spirits of darkness. And
here, in the dark, does the restless, God-for-
saken heart of thousands in our day, in this
Christian land, under the deceptive name of
spiritualism, offer strange service at the altars
of strange gods. Under the delusion that

they are holding conference with the spirits
of the dead, they blindly cenfer with demoni-
acal spirits ; or, as Isaiah says, they confer
with wizar~s that peep.
But so has Satan ever worked. His first
efforts are to blind the eyes of the under-
standing ; and such are his deceptive powers,
that men under his influence imagine they
see more clearly than all others. This makes
the conflict between light and darkness all
the greater ; for, if men imagine they see, all
the world can not make them believe they
are in darkness.
Take, in proof, the bigoted Catholic, of this
or any country. Taught by an unholy priest-
hood to believe in the power of the priest to
grant special indulgence, the deluded devotee
will go straightway from solemn mass to the
beer-garden or brothel, where, in riotous sin,
debauchery, and shame, he will spend God's
most holy day, under the delusive conviction
Ig8 SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY.
that he has permission to do so, because he

has paid his money to " father confessor in
Holy Mother Church."
Are you shocked at this, piol!s Protestant?
Well, know this: you can no more change
him from his convictions, that he has a perfect
right thus to indulge in beastly lusts, than you
can change the laws of gravity; for so he is
taught from his infancy. Satan has deluded
the priest, and the priest has deluded the
man ; and thus a chain of deceptions-well-
connected-has run from Pope to laity for
many generations. Gross darkness has, indeed,
covered the people.
Now, it is evident to the thinking that this
accursed, ruinous system has been, and now
is, kept up and perpetuated by ·deception.
And the deception is preserved and sustained
by withholding the Bible from the hands of
the common members of this "mother of har-
lots." Or, in other words, give the Bible to
the members of the Catholic Church, and in
ten years it would either be reformed or it

would pass out of existence.
But we have said it is Satan's ·policy to
delude and keep men in the dark. His ban-
ner is the mantle of thick darkness. Under
this, he matures his plans for the ruin of
souls; and he even laughs at the light o~
heaven or the revelation of God's Word, so
long as he can hold men under the folds of
his flag, which is darkness and doubt.
Of course, there is much confusion in the
ranks of his votaries, because they are in the
dark; and it would not be reasonable to ex-
pect them even to understand themselves,
much less one another. Consequently, we
find in Satan's service a conglomerate mass,
agreeing in but one thing; namely, they all
"love darkness, because their deeds are evil."
Some are openly infidel, some are atheists,
some are Universalists, some are free-lovers,
some are freethinkers, and many are spirit-
ualists; but, as admitted, all love darkness,
and are opposed to God and righteousness.

And all are in restless confusion, and are like
blind men groping their way in tte dark ;
and are ready to follow after every ignis-
fatuus of demoniacal or human device. But
such is the character of darkness, to confuse
and to confound.
Nor is it strange that no single faction of
Satan's votaries agree among themselves.
Perhaps the fairest sample of this is found
among spiritualists. That some of them are
advocates of good morals and decency, cher-
ishing some respect for chastity and virtue,
will not be denied. But what Christian fa-·
ther or mother, or what man or woman who
has one grain of respect for virtue, could read
the reports of their late convention-held in
Cincinnati-without the tinge of shame man-
tling the brow. And yet the reports went
into thousands of Christian families, to the
insult of decencl and the disgrace of public
journalism.
One blatant shrew (a Miss B.), in a speech

at the above convention, defied any man in
the conJention to tell which of the children
of the household were his own. And it must
be told, to the everlasting disgrace of this
convention of spiritualists, that this flippant,
insulting, defiant challenge was loudly cheered.
Tell it not to the heathen of any land where
we have Christian missionaries, but these are
the people who claim to have taken advanced
ground in spiritual knowledge I
But stay, reader. Do n't suppose, from the
seeming openness of the above speech, and
the daylight ses!lions of the conventions this
people hold throughout the country, that
they are therefore not afraid of the light.
Nay: these are but the external outcroppings
of the damning lessons studied in the dark .
seance, where demons are the tutors, and
lecherous men and women are the students.
Here, in this school of Satan, lessons are
learned fit only for the brothel, and corrupting
enough to ruin a saint-lessons at once au

outrage upon humanity and contradictory of
all God's Word; but these lessons are aU
learned in the dark, and are as secret as the
Roman confessional.
. Some respectable spiritualists-for such
there are, despite the corrupting influences to
which they are exposed by association-will
think these strictures lacking in charity ; but
such unfortunate persons as have fallen vic-
tims to this Satanic agency will need no
proof that the vilest and most corrupt men
and women of this age, both in Europe and
·America, are most prominent in the seance,
or so-called spiritual circle. And here, with
every ray of light shut out, these vile, brutish
demons incarnate come into closest contact
with the husbands, wives, and daughters of
respectable families, and sometimes-it may
be-with virtuous young men and women.
How long virtue could be maintained with
such associations, is a question many have
solved to their shame and sorrow, having

proved by sad experience that "evil commu-
nications corrupt good manners.'~
But already we have extended this chapter
beyond what we intended. We close it with
the Scriptural warning : "This is t~e con-
demnation, that light is come into the world ;
and men loved darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil."
THE END.
..
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the Library on or before the lae'
stamped below.
A fine of five cents a. day ia 1DtllU'll1
by retaining it beyond the
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What is the author's perspective on spiritualism?

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()

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873.

BY HITCHCOCK & WALDEN,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

AFTER the publication of our .two ser-

arresting the tide of the ruinous heresy of

and seemed to us t<? meet and express a felt

I. SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY, • 9

F ROM its earliest history, Methodism has

religion, of which the spirit of evil has been alert

confident that its perusal will prove a benefit to

sINCE the unfortunate fall of our race,

of God. A thousand years ago, this was no

men to believe things real. All this to delude

Young says, "A necromancer is a trick-

on the people's fancy, and deceive by the

ventriloquism, make the astonished subjects

and heard the words of the professional jug- I

and possess, were able to palm themselves off

in the performance of their several practices ;

TURKISH LoVE POWDERS I SOMETHING NEW I

and. all this she pretends to carry on by aid

sum of two dollars I not including medicines,

says her house, at No. 4 Concord Square, cost

that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards

village in the State of New York, called Mo-

evidence of sound. A little study of the

narrator does not tell us-but "delicate hands

did n't look at all ghostly either, but were

Christian men seldom fall into this heresy

Redeemer-can convince them that they have

Nothing is more evident than · that the

the spirits. So the argument is ended when-

after wizards, I have set my face against that

penitence, returned unto his God. But Isaiah

been promoted by them ? have_ the industries

free-lover, is an acknowledged light in the

into hell, with all the nations that forget

SPIRITUALISM AN AGENCY OF SATAN.

"Get thee behind 'IJle, Satan."-JESUS.

THE cunning and malignity of Satan can

he prepare the place of punishment, and cast

for his wonderful transmutation on the hy-

And he will drag down to his own misera~le

hypothesis of counterparts. If this were true,

triumph of all good, thus securing the com-

world ;" but in Ephesians he is called the

" They throng the air, they darken heaven,

Matthew and Luke give an account, in

have been doomed to follow. And by these

to other means with which to work "the mys-

over all." To this must be added the gross

The Greek philosophers speak of demons

use of the term gradually prevailed, at times

ment Scriptures, often expresses definitely