January 1, 1865.

Mrs. Newton Crosland says:-" The history of Saul stands out with singular consistency and distinctness by the light which a spiritmessage throws upon it. These words were spelt out in my own house - Saul was a medium, but he offended God by consulting undeveloped spirits.' (Was Samuel the prophet an "undeveloped spirit ?")

The writer of an apology for spiritualism in the "Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine" says:-"The very titles of the art and its professors have been altered: what was necromancy is now spiritualism; and the presiding high priest or priestess of the mysteries is no longer called witch when of the feminine gender, and wizard when of the masculine, but both are now styled in common by a less expressive appellation-that of medium."

Andrew Jackson Davis, the high priest of American demonolatry, says "The time is past when these new things (spiritual manifestations) would have been ignorantly termed demonism, necromancy, and witchcraft."

Governor Tallmadge says: "All the magic, the mysteries, the witchcraft, and necromancy of the ancient world, from the time of the Delphic oracle, are explained by the modern manifesta

tions."

Judge Edmonds says:-- "The history of Salem witchcraft is but an account of spiritual manifestations, and of man's incapacity to understand them.'

Charles Partridge says of the witch of Endor:-" Call her witch, or what you will, she was a medium for the spirits."

Professor S. B. Brittan says:- "Simon Magus was, of all men,

PRINCE AMONG THE WORKERS OF SPIRITUAL MIRACLES."

So much for spiritualism as a "giving heed to teachings of demons;" but there is another count in the divine indictment, or rather the charge is more comprehensive, for it is added, "speaking lies in hypocrisy." All who are at all acquainted with the writings of spiritualists know that these alleged spirits generally claim to be good and holy spirits the spirits of pious friends and noted saints. Thus, for instance, Mr. S. C. Hall, in his letter before quoted, says :-" Honoured and revered be the memory of the good woman (her life in this sphere was continual preparation for life in another), who, when she left earth, was mercifully permitted to contiuue her influence, to give me counsel, to bring me messages,' to humble my heart, and lead me to a knowledge of my Saviour, a work she had laboured, while in the flesh, to accomplish, in vain. We have had evidence of her presence with us, since her 'removal,' as clear, certain, and conclusive, as we had when she was sitting in the body,' by our side." We have met this argument on scriptural grounds already; but we would here add a few more important "admissions" by spiritualists and "spirits." Mr. Laroy Sunderland, a well-known spiritualist writer and lecturer in America, in a work entitled "The Book of Human Nature," makes the following statement :-"Now as to the question, Are spirits reliable? I answer, Yes; they are reliable for teaching AND DEMONSTRATING THE EXISTENCE OF THE SPIRITUAL WOrld. If you make the inquiry still more specific, ask, whether the communications' indiscriminately made by

January 1, 1865.

spirits to mortals are always reliable, and to be taken for what they purport to be, I answer, No !"*

Mr. G. W. Stone, in his book on "Spiritual Manifestations," says:-"I conclude for myself that implicit confidence cannot be placed in the so-called spirit responses and communications as always coming from departed spirits. The medium, or some powerful mind or minds present, may overrule, warp, twist, or colour the answers and sentences spelt out. . . . . There is a mysterious agency from the spiritual world which cannot be completely overruled. Nevertheless, it is so often and so far controlled as to be decidedly unreliable." † Dr. Nichols, in his recently published "Forty Years of American Life," which contains an important chapter on spiritualism in that country, tells us :"These pretended spirits often lie. Messages are received purporting to come from departed persons, and giving the particulars of their decease, who prove, on inquiry, to be still alive. I have known this in several instances. Of course this does not disprove a communicating intelligence. . . . . If we admit the physical phenomena of spiritualism, and concede that communications or revelations are really made by beings ordinarily invisible to us mortals, we are still surrounded with difficulties. What assurance can we have in any case of the identity of a spirit? A bad or mischievous spirit may, for aught we know, personate our friends, penetrate our secrets, and deceive us with false communications. Where is the proof of identity? "‡

But more than this, the " spirits" themselves have made the same confession of "speaking lies in hypocrisy." The following remarkable instance is given by Dr. Seiss:-"They affirm (i.c., the spirits) that intercourse with them will make men happier and better; that they are blessed in the spirit-world; that there is no resurrection of the dead, no future punishment, no day of judgment. So these demons generally teach; and so one declared to William B. Laning, of Trenton, New Jersey, in 1853, through a writing medium. But he crossquestioned the spirit, and demanded of it, in the name of the Lord,' to answer his questions truly; and, though professing to be happy, it at once began to quail. Mr. Laning then asked:

"In the name of the Lord, is the Bible true ?' Answer 'Yes.' "The Bible forbids necromancy and the consulting of familiar spirits; which shall I believe, you or the Bible?' Answer- The Bible.'

Why, then, did you tell me that it was right and useful to consult the spirits?' Answer- Because I wished to deceive you.' 'What is the business of these spirits with men ?' Answer-IT IS TO DECEIVE.' 'Are you happy?' Answer-No; I am miserable.' 'Are you in hell?' Answer 'Not yet.' Do you expect to go there?' Answer-'Yes.' "When? Answer At the day of judgment.' 'Is there a day of judgment?' Answer-'Yes.' 'Is there to be a resurrection of the dead?' Answer-'Yes.' 'Have you any prospect of happiness?' Answer-I have no hope.' 'In the name of the Lord, is there a good spirit-the spirit of a departed Christian-among all these rapping and writing spirits?' Answer-'No, NOT ONE.'

• Quoted by the Rev. E. Nangle, “Spiritualism Fairly Tried,” p. 43. Forty Years of American Life," vol. ii, pp. 63, 64.

+ Page 63.

'Where are the spirits of departed Christians ? ' Lord has taken them!'"

January 1, 1865. Answer-The

"This," adds Dr. Seiss," is given as an authentic account of an actual occurrence. I have myself seen a manuscript letter from Mr. Laning, vouching for the truth of it, and of other like instances. The Rev. W. R. Gordan, of New York, affirms that he challenged one of these spirits in the name of the Lord Jesus to answer whether he was not a demon; to which the reply was in the affirmative. He asked further, ' Are all the communications of spiritualism from personating demons?' Answer -'Yes.'

Somewhat similar confessions are given by Mr. Nangle, Mr. Godfrey, and others.

All this is sufficiently startling; but the crucial test of spiritualism, as of every false system, remains to be applied. The Master has said: "BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM." (Matt. vii. 20.) Christianity can bear this test, the Bible can bear it, but no system of falsehood that the world has ever seen could endure it. How does spiritualism, on the whole-an isolated case is no fair criterion-bear it? Listen to the testimony, not of an opponent but of an impartial observer. Dr. Nichols says, speaking of its results in American, "There can be no question about the marked effect of spiritualism upon American thought, feeling, and character. Nothing within my memory has had so great an influence. It has broken up hundreds of churches; it has changed the religious belief of hundreds of thousands; it has influenced, more or less, the most important actions and relations of vast multitudes. Immense numbers of those who, a few years ago, professed a belief in some form of Christianity, or were members of religious organizations, have, under the influence of spiritualisn, modified or renounced such beliefs. Greater numbers, perhaps, who doubted or denied a future state, have found, as they think, in the phenomena of spiritualism, incontrovertible proofs of its reality. . The reader may make his own estimate of the value of this conviction.

"There can be as little doubt that spiritualism has either produced or developed a tendency to insanity in a great number of instances. I think no careful observer can mingle with considerable numbers of spiritualists, without noticing symptoms of insanity. There is no portion of the world so subject to insanity as New England and the Northern States, which it has mainly peopled.

"The influence of spiritualism upon morality is not very easy to estimate. It is claimed that the influence and admonitions of spirits and the belief in immortality have reformed many drunkards and profligates. On the other hand, it is known that numbers of spiritualists have taught and acted upon ideas of the largest liberty in social relations. They have adopted individualistic and 'free-love' doctrines. Husbands have abandoned wives, and wives husbands, to find more congenial partners, or those for whom they had stronger spiritual affinities. All spiritualists, it is true, do not accept the free-love doctrines; but it is also true that some of the most noted spiritualistic mediums, speakers, and writers have both taught and practised them, and that they have had numerous followers, to the

January 1, 1835.

great scandal and disgust of those who hold to old-fashioned morality."

Listen again to Mr. John F. Whitney, of New York, himself for two years a devoted and prominent spiritualist :-"We have seen the gradual progress it (intercourse with spirits) makes with its believers, particularly its mediums, from lives of morality to those of sensuality and immorality, gradually and cautiously undermining the foundation of good principles, till we look back with amazement at the radical changes which a few months will bring about in individuals; for its tendencies are to approve and endorse each individual act and character, however good or bad those acts may be. If an individual be an adulterer or an adulteress, approval of their course is given from the spirit, purporting, perhaps, to be the spirit of a loving, devoted father, who in this world would have gone to his grave in wretchedness to have known that his child could have so erred."

Listen once more to Dr. Seiss :-" It (spiritualism) has denied the authority of the Holy Bible, which is man's only light amid earth's darkness, and which, in the face of the scepticism and scrutiny of a thousand generations, has maintained its claim to be the inspired word of the eternal God. It has repudiated the Deity, Messiahship, and mediatorial work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only way to eternal life and blessedness. It has shown itself uncompromisingly inimical to the teachers of pure morality and scriptural religion. It has its chief support among men and women of questionable morals and of loose and sceptical principles. It has furnished sneers and accusations against the statements of inspiration, and the system of salvation therein revealed, the most malignant and blasphemous that have ever been uttered. It has not hesitated to give the glory of the Everlasting One to devils. I have a book of songs, professedly prepared by the spirits to be sung in the circles, which is wholly made up of metrical praises of intercourse with the dead, and solemn invocations of the departed-a liturgy of mere demon-worship."

Viewed in the light of the evidence we have now adduced, and it might be largely increased, how awfully applicable to modern spiritualism do the apostle's words become: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall apostatize from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits, and teachings of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy ; having their conscience seared with a hot iron." Surely we may recognize in them the finger of God pointing silently, through the mist of ages, to one of the dark signs of the gend even now looming before us. And let us remember that we have not yet seen the full development of this mystery of iniquity. Mesmerism has merged into clairvoyance, clairvoyance has given place to spiritualism; what is to follow? Can we doubt that the man who is giving heed to these deceiving demons, will be the most ready to bow the knee before that LAWLESS ONE "whose coming is after the energy of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders?" (2 Thess. ii. 9.) And is he not at hand? Yes, it is our solemn conviction that the world is preparing for Antichrist. "Evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived;" "a form of godliness," and at the same time a denial of the power thereof, meets us on every side; the

January 1, 1865.

taunt of the scoffer, "Where is the promise of His coming ?" is in our ears; the cross of the Redeemer is becoming the standard of a flying camp. But this is our confidence and our hope-THE KING IS COMING. And when his starlike banner shall gleam in the van, and his battleshout shall rally the fainting host, the tide of battle shall be turned, the army of the aliens shall be put to flight, the enemies of the Lord shall consume like the fat of rams, Satan shall be bound in chains of darkness and consigned to the prison of the pit, and amid the glad alleluias of an emancipated world Jesus shall take unto Him His great power and reign.

THE TWO NATURES.

BY ROBERT BROWN, ESQ., BARTON-ON-HUMBER.

"WHOSOEVER is born of God doth not commit sin, because (ort) his seed remaireth in him; and he cannot sin, because (or) he is born of God."

This passage cannot surely mean that the moment a man becomes a believer in Christ Jesus he ceases to be a sinner, and having no further principle of sin in him he can never sin again; for St. Paul, speaking as a believer, and giving the result of an examination of his own heart by the aid of God's Spirit, says, "I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me." Indeed, we are expressly told, "There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." Now no man can be a just man unless he be a justified man (Rom. iii. 19-26), a believer in our Lord Jesus, a converted man; for "the just," we are taught, "shall live by his faith;" that is, he can have no life in himself but what he obtains by faith from Christ alone, who is " our life" (Col. iii. 3), unless "he lives," in fact, "by the faith of the Son of God." (Gal. ii. 20.)

Again, no one can do good but by God's Spirit (Jer. iv. 22, xiii. 23; Rom. ii. 29, 25, vii. 19-21, viii. 1, 2, 5; Gal. iii. 2, 3, 5, v. 16-18; 1 Peter i. 2, 22, &c.), and no one can be a partaker of the Spirit of God, but a believer in Christ Jesus; for "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His ;" and " no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." And yet it is here very clearly revealed of every such "just man," that there never was, neither ever would there be, a time while He was on earth" when he should "do good" and "sin not." Chapter i. 8 is likewise express upon this point.

Bloomfield says the meaning of this passage is, "he cannot bring himself to commit sin, namely, wilfully and habitually;" and there can be no doubt that it has this meaning. But has it not a further meaning? We think it has. The original of the passage, "Whosoever is born of God," is somewhat similar in structure to that in John vi. 37: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me." So here, "All that is born of God doth