The facts stated in this record, the profoundest
minds can never comprehend; the language in which
they are expressed, a little child can understand.
The statements are plain and simple, a perfect model
of perspicuous narrative. Place by the side of this
an account of the same event, as given us from the
“spheres.” The spirits have undertaken to produce
a new Bible, beginning, like the old, with the
creation; and this is the way it starts out, through
the mediumship of “Rev.” T. L. Harris:—
They Deny All Distinction Between Right
And Wrong.
There is implanted in the hearts of men by
nature, a sense of right and a sense of wrong. Even
those who know not God, nor Christ, nor the gospel,
possess this power of discrimination. This is what
Paul, in Rom. 2:15, calls “the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing
witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing
or else excusing one another.” That this distinction
should now be denied by a class in a civilized community,
professing to be advanced thinkers and
teachers, among whom are found the learned, the
refined, and the professedly pious, shows that we
have fallen upon strange times. To be sure, many
of them talk fluently of the beauty and perfection
of divine laws; but in the sense in which they would
have them understood, they rob them of all characteristics
of law. The first great essential of law is
[pg 096]
authority; but this they take away from it; the next
is penalty for its violation; but this they deny, and
thus degrade the law to a mere piece of advice.
The “Healing of the Nations,” an authoritative
work among Spiritualists, pp. 163, 164, says:—
“Thus thy body needs no laws, having been in its creation
supplied with all that could be necessary for its government.
Thy spirit is above all laws, and above all essences
which flow therein. God created thy spirit from within his
own, and surely the Creator of law is above it; the Creator of
essences must be above all essence created. And if thou hast
what may be or might be termed laws, they are always subservient
to thy spirit. Good men need no laws, and laws will
do bad or ignorant men no good. If a man be above law, he
should never be governed by it. If he be below, what good
can dead, dry words do him?
“True knowledge removeth all laws from power by placing
the spirit of man above it.”
A correspondent of the Telegraph said of this
work, “The Healing of the Nations:”—
“According to its teaching, no place is found in the universe
for divine wrath and vengeance. All are alike and forever
the object of God's love, pity, and tender care—the difference
between the two extremes of human character on earth,
being as a mere atom when compared with perfect wisdom.”
This is a favorite comparison with them,—that
the difference between God and the best of men is
so much greater than the extremes of character
among men,—the most upright and the most wicked,—that
the latter is a mere atom, and not accounted
of in God's sight. That there is an infinite difference
between God and the best of men, is all true; for
God is infinite in all his attributes, and man is very
imperfect at the best. But to argue from this that
[pg 097]
God is inferior to man, so that he cannot discern
difference in character here, even as man can plainly
discern it, seems but mad-house reasoning. What
would we think of the man who had the same regard
for the thief as for the honest man, for the murderer
as for the philanthropist? To ignore such
distinctions as even men are able to discern would
destroy the stability of all human governments;
what then would be the effect on the divine government?
God has given his law—holy, just, and
good—to men, and commanded obedience. He
has attached the penalty to disobedience: “The soul
that sinneth, it shall die,” “The wages of sin is
death.” Eze. 18:20; Rom. 6:23. And in the
judgment, the distinction God makes in character
will be plainly declared; for he will set the righteous
on his right hand, but the wicked on the left. Matt.
25:32, 33.
This view of the failure of law, and the absence
of all human accountability, naturally leads to a bold
denial of sin and the existence of crime. The
“Healing of the Nations,” p. 169, says: “Unto
God there is no error; all is comparatively good.”
The same work says that God views error as “undeveloped
good.” A. J. Davis (“Nature of Divine
Revelation,” p. 521) says: “Sin, indeed, in the
common acceptation of that term, does not really
exist.”
A discourse from J. S. Loveland, once a minister,
reported in the Banner of Light, contained
this paragraph:—
[pg 098]
“With God there is no crime; with man there is. Crime
does not displease God, but it does man. God is in the darkest
crime, as in the highest possible holiness. He is equally
pleased in either case. Both harmonize equally with his
attributes—they are only different sides of the same Deity.”
In “Automatic Writing” (1896), p. 139, a question
was asked concerning evil, meaning sin and
crimes among men. The spirit answered that these
were conditions of progress, and were so necessary
to elevation that they were to be welcomed, not
hated. The questions and answers are as follows:—
“Ques.—Can you give us any information in
regard to the so-called Devil—once so firmly believed in?
“Ans.—Devil is a word used to conjure
with.
“Q.—Well, then, as the word itself doubtless
arose from the word ‘evil,’ which means to us unhappiness, can you
give us an explanation of the existence of evil?
“A.—Evil—as you who are the greatest
sufferers from it, name one of the conditions of progress—is as necessary,
aye, more so, than what you call good, to your and our elevation
to higher spheres. It is not to be hated, but welcomed.
It is the winnowing of the grain from the chaff. Children of
truth, don't worry over what to you seems evil; soon you will
be of us and will understand, and be rejoiced that what you
call evil persists and works as leaven in the great work of
mind versus matter.
“Q.—But it seems to us impossible that brutal
crimes like murder, assassinations, or great catastrophes, by which
the innocent are made to suffer at the hands of malicious and
cruel persons, should work for ultimate good?
“A.—Percipients of the grand whole of Being
can understand but may not state to those on your plane, the underlying
good making itself asserted even through such dreadful
manifestations of human imperfections as the crimes you
name.
“When asked why certain wrongs were allowed to be
perpetuated, this answer was given:—
[pg 099]
“There is a law of psychical essence which makes necessary
all these ephemeral entanglements which to you seem
so severe, and you will yet see from your own standpoint of
reason why such hardships must be endured by questioning
souls on the highway of progress.
“Q.—But do you from your vantage ground of
larger knowledge grow careless that such injustice is done?
“A.—We do care, but cannot remedy.
“Q.—Why can't you remedy?
“A.—Because humanity is but an embryo of
existence.
“Q.—If you can perceive the trials and sorrows
of mortals, and can interfere to save them, why do you not more
often do so?
“A.—When undeveloped souls pay the price of development,
we stand aloof, and let the play go on. Interference
will do no good.”
In view of such a confession, what becomes of
the many claims put forth by other spirits that they
are ever hovering near their friends to assist and
guard them, to help and inspire them, and keep
them from evil and danger? These say that those
terrible crimes (and this would include all crimes)
are all necessary, that they are tending to develop
souls, and bring them to higher spheres, and thus
are just as laudable as good actions; so they settle
back in a gleeful mood, and “let the play go on;”
let wicked men cultivate and develop and practice
their evil propensities, and the innocent suffer. Well
may men pray to be delivered from such a spirit
assembly as that.
In “Healing of the Nations,” p. 402, Dr. Hare
says:—
“That anything should, even for an instant, be contrary
to his will, is inconsistent with his foresight and omnipotency.
[pg 100]
It would be a miracle that anything counter to his
will should exist.”
A lecture on the “Philosophy of Reform,” given
by A. J. Davis, in New York City, bears testimony
to the same effect:—
“In the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, it is affirmed
that sin is the transgression of the law. But by an examination
of nature, the true and only Bible, it will be seen that
this statement is erroneous. It gives a wrong idea of both
man and law.... It will be found impossible for man to
transgress a law of God.”
Thus they very illogically assume that if God
has the will or the power to prevent evil, it could not
exist, and therefore, if there is such a God, he is responsible,
forgetting that God is long-suffering, and
bears long with vessels of wrath fitted for destruction,
before they pass beyond the limits of his mercy
and perish. But Mr. Davis says further:—
“Reformers need to understand that war is as natural to
one stage of human development as peace is natural to another.
My brother has the spirit of revenge. Shall I call
him a demon? Is not his spirit natural to his condition?
War is not evil or repulsive except to a man of peace. Who
made the non-resistant? Polygamy is as natural to one stage
of development as oranges are natural to the South. Shall I
grow indignant, and because I am a monogamist, condemn
my kinsman of yore? Who made him? Who made me?
We both came up under the confluence of social and political
circumstances; and we both represent our conditions and our
teachers. The doctrine of blame and praise is natural only
to an unphilosophical condition of mind. The spirit of complaint—of
attributing ‘evil’ to this and that plane of society—is
natural; but is natural only to undeveloped minds. It is
a profanation—a sort of atheism of which I would not be
guilty.”
[pg 101]
The Bible says, “Woe unto them that call evil
good, and good evil; that put darkness for light and
light for darkness.” Isa. 5:20. And it makes
another declaration which finds abundant confirmation
in the sentiments quoted above: “Because sentence
against an evil work is not executed speedily,
therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set
in them to do evil.” Eccl. 8:11.
Having thus attempted to destroy in the minds
of men all distinction between good and evil, all
being alike in God's sight, and all equally good, they
try to make the way a little broader and easier for
men to give full rein to all the propensities and
inclinations of an evil heart, by teaching that there
is no Lawgiver and Judge before whom men must
appear to give an account of their deeds, but that
they are responsible to themselves alone, and must
give account only to their own natures. Thus Hon.
J. B. Hall, in a lecture reported in the Banner of
Light, Feb. 6, 1864, said:—
“I believe that man is amenable to no law not written
upon his own nature, no matter by whom given.... By his
own nature he must be tried—by his own acts he must stand
or fall. True, man must give an account to God for all his
deeds; but how?—Solely by giving account to his own nature—to
himself.”
At a séance reported in the Banner of Light,
May 28, 1864, the following question was proposed,
and the answer was by the communicating spirit:—
“Ques.—To whom or to what is the soul
accountable?
“Ans.—To no Deity outside the realm of its own being,
certainly; to no God which is a creation of fancy; to no
[pg 102]
Deity who dwells in a far-off heaven, and sits upon a white
throne; to no Jesus of Nazareth; to no patron saint; to no
personality; to no principle outside our own individual
selves.”
The “Healing of the Nations,” p. 74, says:—
“Man is his own saviour, his own redeemer. He is his
own judge—in his own scales weighed.”
A little over twenty years after the birth of
Spiritualism, Aug. 25, 1868, the Fifth National
Convention of Spiritualists was held in Corinthian
hall, Rochester, N. Y., at which a formal “Declaration
of Principles” was set forth. From the seventh
and eighth paragraphs, under principle 20, we quote
the following:—
“Seventh, To stimulate the mind to the largest
investigation ... that we may be qualified to judge for ourselves what
is right and true. Eighth, To deliver from all bondage to
authority, whether vested in creed, book, or
church, except that of received truth.”
This is the same principle of man's responsibility
to no one but himself, authoritatively adopted.
What a picture have we now before us! Destroy
man's belief in, and reverence for, God and Christ,
as they do; lead him to ridicule the atonement, the
only remedy for sin; make him disbelieve the Bible;
take away from his mind all distinction between right
and wrong, and assure him that he is accountable
to no one but himself; and how better could one
prepare the way to turn men into demons. All this
the spirits, by their teaching, seek to do. And can
any one fail to foresee the result? Comparatively
a small proportion of the inhabitants of this country
[pg 103]
have committed themselves to these views; consequently
but little of the legitimate fruit as yet
appears; but take human nature as it is and suppose
all the inhabitants of this land to act on these principles,
and then what would we have?—A pandemonium,
a scene of anarchy, riot, bloodshed, and
all depths of rottenness and corruption—in short,
a hell so much worse than that to which the Devil
is popularly assigned, that he would at once change
his location and here take up his abode.
That this statement is none too strong, will appear
as we look a moment at some of the results
which have already developed themselves among the
friends of such views, and as their inevitable fruit.
The tendency can by no possibility be otherwise than
to atheism and all immorality. As has been already
remarked, the repulsive features were made much
more prominent in the early stages of Spiritualism
than at the present time. They are now held in the
background. The literature touching these points
has been remodeled, and an air of respectability and
religion assumed. Most of the quotations therefore
date some years back, and would be charitably withheld
were there any evidence of reform either present
or prospective. But where or when have these
principles ever been officially repudiated, and evidence
given that the consequent practices had been
abandoned? That there are many Spiritualists of
upright and moral lives, and honorable members of
society, in the best sense of that term, we gladly
believe; but is not this because they are living above
[pg 104]
their principles; and due, not to the influence, but
rather to the non-influence of real Spiritualism upon
their lives? The quotations given are from those
who have been prominent among Spiritualists as
authors and speakers. If they overdraw the picture,
the responsibility is with them. Dr. B. P. Randolph,
author of a work “Dealings with the Dead,”
was eight years a medium, then renounced Spiritualism
long enough to expose its character, then
returned to it again, unable to break entirely away
from the spell it has fastened upon him. He gives
his opinion of it in the following scathing words:—
“I enter the arena as the champion of common sense,
against what in my soul I believe to be the most tremendous
enemy of God, morals, and religion, that ever found foothold
on the earth;—the most seductive, hence the most dangerous,
form of sensualism that ever cursed a nation, age, or people.
I was a medium about eight years, during which time I made
three thousand speeches, and traveled over several different
countries, proclaiming its new gospel. I now regret that so
much excellent breath was wasted, and that my health of
mind and body was well nigh ruined. I have only begun
to regain both since I totally abandoned it, and to-day had
rather see the cholera in my house, than be a spiritual
medium.
“As a trance speaker, I became widely known; and now
aver that during the entire eight years of my mediumship, I
firmly and sacredly confess that I had not the control of my
own mind, as I now have, one twentieth of the time; and
before man and high heaven I most solemnly declare that I
do not now believe that during the whole eight years, I was
sane for thirty-six consecutive hours, in consequence of the
trance and the susceptibility thereto.
“For seven years I held daily intercourse with what purported
to be my mother's spirit. I am now fully persuaded
that it was nothing but an evil spirit, an infernal demon,
[pg 105]
who, in that guise, gained my soul's confidence, and led me
to the very brink of ruin. We read in Scripture of demoniac
possession, as well as abnormal spiritual action. Both facts
exist, provable to-day; I am positive the former does. A. J.
Davis and his clique of Harmonialists say there are no evil
spirits. I emphatically deny the statement. Five of my
friends destroyed themselves, and I attempted it, by direct
spiritual influences. Every crime in the calendar has been
committed by mortal movers of viewless beings. Adultery,
fornication, suicides, desertions, unjust divorces, prostitution,
abortion, insanity, are not evils, I suppose. I charge
all these to this scientific Spiritualism. It has also broken
up families, squandered fortunes, tempted and destroyed
the weak. It has banished peace from happy families,
separated husbands and wives, and shattered the intellect
of thousands.”
The following is an extract from the writings of
J. F. Whitney, editor of the New York Pathfinder.
His view of the subject accords with that of Dr.
Randolph:—
“Now, after a long and constant watchfulness, seeing for
months and for years its progress and its practical workings
upon its devotees, its believers, and its mediums, we are compelled
to speak our honest conviction, which is, that the manifestations
coming through the acknowledged mediums, who
are designated as rapping, tipping, writing, and entranced
mediums, have a baneful influence upon believers, and create
discord and confusion; that the generality of these teachings
inculcate false ideas, approve of selfish individual acts, and
endorse theories and principles, which, when carried out,
debase and make men little better than the brute. These are
among the fruits of Modern Spiritualism, and we do not hesitate
to say that we believe if these manifestations are continued
to be received, and to be as little understood as they are,
and have been since they made their appearance at Rochester,
and mortals are to be deceived by their false, fascinating,
and snakelike charming powers, which go with them, the
day will come when the world will require the appearance of
[pg 106]
another Saviour to redeem the world from its departing from
Christ's warnings.... Seeing, as we have, the gradual
progress it makes with its believers, particularly its mediums,
from lives of morality to those of sensuality and immorality,
gradually and cautiously undermining the foundation of
good principles, we look back with amazement to the radical
change which a few months will bring about in individuals;
for its tendency is to approve and endorse each individual act
and character, however good or bad these acts may be....
“We desire to send forth our warning voice, and if our
humble position as the head of a public journal, our known
advocacy of Spiritualism, our experience, and the conspicuous
part we have played among its believers, the honesty and
the fearlessness with which we have defended the subject,
will weigh anything in our favor, we desire that our opinions
may be received, and those who are moving passively down
the rushing rapids to destruction should pause, ere it be too
late, and save themselves from the blasting influence which
those manifestations are causing.”
Every one who knows anything about Spiritualism
has heard of Cora Hatch, who traveled extensively,
and manifested her powers as an extemporaneous
lecturer before astonished multitudes. One of her
husbands, Dr. Hatch, renounced Spiritualism, and
the following is from the testimony he bore concerning
it:—
“The most damning iniquities are everywhere perpetrated
in spiritual circles, a very small percentage of which
ever comes to public attention. I care not whether it be spiritual
or mundane, the facts exist, and should demand the
attention and condemnation of an intelligent community....
The abrogation of marriage, bigamy, accompanied by
robbery, theft, rape, are all chargeable upon Spiritualism.
I most solemnly affirm that I do not believe that there has,
during the last five hundred years, arisen any people who are
guilty of so great a variety of crimes and indecencies as the
Spiritualists of America.
[pg 107]
“For a long time I was swallowed up in its whirlpool of
excitement, and comparatively paid but little attention to
its evils, believing that much good might result from the
opening of the avenues of Spiritual intercourse. But during
the past eight months I have devoted my attention to critical
investigation of its moral, social, and religious bearing, and I
stand appalled before the revelations of its awful and damning
realities.”
Much testimony of this nature might be given
from those who have had similar experiences and
equally favorable facilities for judging of the character
of Spiritualism. We present only a few extracts more.
Dr. Wm. B. Potter of New York, in an article
under the head of “Astounding Facts,” and also in
a tract entitled, “Spiritualism as It Is,” gives the
result of his experience and observations. His testimony
is the more valuable, since he writes not
from the standpoint of one who has renounced Spiritualism,
whose feelings may for the time be overwrought,
and his language stronger than would be
used in calmer moments. When he wrote, he was
still an advocate of Spiritualism, and spoke as a friend
who would, if possible, induce Spiritualists to reform
their faith and their manner of living. He says:—
“Fifteen years of critical study of Spiritual literature, an
extensive acquaintance with the leading Spiritualists, and a
patient, systematic, and thorough examination of the manifestations
for many years, enable us to speak from actual
knowledge, definitely and positively, of ‘Spiritualism as It
Is.’ Spiritual literature is full of the most insidious and
seductive doctrines, calculated to undermine the very foundations
of morality and virtue, and lead to the most unbridled
licentiousness.
[pg 108]
“We are told that ‘we must have charity,’ that it is
wrong to blame any one, that we must not expose iniquity,
as ‘it will harden the guilty,’ that ‘none should be punished,’
that ‘man is a machine, and not to blame for his conduct,’
that ‘there is no high, no low, no good, no bad,’ that ‘sin is a
lesser degree of righteousness,’ that ‘nothing we can do can
injure the soul or retard its progress,’ that ‘those who act the
worst will progress the fastest,’ that ‘lying is right, slavery is
right, murder is right, adultery is right,’ that ‘whatever is,
is right.’
“Hardly can you find a Spiritualist book, paper, lecture,
or communication that does not contain some of these pernicious
doctrines; in disguise, if not openly. Hundreds of
families have been broken up, and many affectionate wives
deserted by ‘affinity-seeking’ husbands. Many once devoted
wives have been seduced, and left their husbands and tender,
helpless children, to follow some ‘higher attraction.’ Many
well-disposed but simple-minded girls have been deluded
by ‘affinity’ notions, and led off by ‘affinity hunters,’ to be
deserted in a few months, with blasted reputations, or led
to deeds still more dark and criminal, to hide their shame.”
The same writer also mentions a fact which shows
where the responsibility of all this looseness of morals
belongs. He says:—
“At the National Spiritual Convention at Chicago, called
to consider the question of a national organization, the only
plan approved by the committee, especially provided that no
charge should ever be entertained against any member, and
that any person, without any regard to his or her moral character,
might become a member.”
The fact that no plan could find approval which
did not provide that they should never be blamed
nor called to account for any of their deeds, shows
on what points they felt the most anxious, and
plainly proves that they belong to the class of which
Christ spoke, who loved darkness rather than light,
[pg 109]
and who would not come to the light lest their deeds
should be reproved. John 3:19-21.
It is unpleasant to wade through pools of filth,
and we therefore spare the reader quotations from
those Spiritualists who have not only avowed the
most revolting practices of free love, but openly
advocated the same, and endeavored to induce others
to come out likewise, on the ground that they were
only honestly and publicly admitting what the others
believed and practiced in secret. For the same
reason we pass by the notorious Woodhull and
Claflin, and Hull and Jamieson episodes, in this field,
which, in the illustration and language of another,
“burst upon the country like a rotten egg three
thousand miles in diameter!”
It may be said that these things are in the past
and the situation has now greatly changed. For the
benefit of those who thus flatter themselves we introduce
one more quotation. It is from “The Law of
Psychic Phenomena,” by T. J. Hudson (A. C.
McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1894). The language is
candid and conciliatory, and the author cannot be
accused of any undue prejudice on the question of
which he speaks. On page 335, he says:—
“I do not charge Spiritualists as a class with being advocates
of the doctrines of free love. On the contrary, I am
aware that, as a class, they hold the marriage relation in sacred
regard. I cannot forget, however, that but a few years
ago some of their leading advocates and mediums proclaimed
the doctrine of free love in all its hideous deformity from
every platform in the land. Nor do I fail to remember that
the better class of Spiritualists everywhere repudiated the
[pg 110]
doctrine, and denounced its advocates and exemplars. Nevertheless
the moral virus took effect here and there all over the
country, and it is doing its deadly work in secret in many an
otherwise happy home. And I charge a large and constantly
growing class of professional mediums with being the leading
propagandists of the doctrine of free love. They infest every
community in the land, and it is well known to all men and
women who are dissatisfied or unhappy in their marriage
relations, that they can always find sympathy by consulting
the average medium, and can, moreover, find justification for
illicit love by invoking the spirits of the dead through such
mediums.”
We have italicized that passage in the foregoing
which shows that the deadly evil is still working in
secret, and that a large and constantly growing
number of professionals are aiding and abetting the
iniquity.
Dangers Of Mediumship.
A few testimonies will show that when one gives
himself or herself up to the control of the spirits,
such ones take a most perilous position. The spirits
insist on their victims becoming passive, ceasing to
resist, and yielding their whole wills to them. Some
of their persuasive words are these: “Come in confidence
to us;” “Let our teachings deeply impress
you;” “You must not doubt what we say;”
“Learn of us;” “Obey our directions and you will
be benefited;” “Seek to obtain knowledge of us;”
“Have faith in us;” “Fear not to obey;” “Obey
us and you will be greatly blessed;” etc., etc.
Mesmerists operate in the same way. They gain
control of their subjects in the same way that the
spirits mesmerize their mediums, and when under
[pg 111]
their control, the spirits cause them to see whatever
they bring before them, and hear according to their
wills, and do as they bid. And the things they suppose
they see and hear, and what they are to do, are
only such things as exist in the mind of the mesmerizing
power. The subject is completely at the mercy
of the invisible agency; and to put one's self there
is a most heaven-daring and hazardous act. Mr.
Hudson (“Law of Psychic Phenomena,” p. 336)
says:—
“To the young whose characters are not formed, and to
those whose notions of morality are loose, the dangers of
mediumship are appalling.”
To further gain the confidence of mortals, the
spirits claim to be the ones who answer their
prayers. In “Automatic Writing,” p. 142, we
have this:—
“Ques.—Will our friends tell us whether from
their point of view, there is any real efficacy in prayer?
“Ans. [by spirits].—Shall not ‘a soul's sincere
desire’ arouse in discarnate and free spirits effort to make that sincere
desire a reality? What good can come from aspirations
on mortal planes, save through the efforts to make those
aspirations realized on spiritual planes, by the will of freed
spirits?”
Mediums are unable to resist the powers of the
unseen world when once under their control.
Professor Brittan (“Telegraphic Answer to Mahan,”
p. 10), concerning mediumship, says:—
“We may further add in this connection that the trance
mediums for spirit intercourse are equally irresponsible.
Many of them are totally unable to resist the powers which
come to them from the invisible and unknown realms.”
[pg 112]
Dr. Randolph (“Dealings with the Dead,”
p. 150) shows the dangers of mediumship, as follows:—
“I saw that one great cause of the moral looseness of
thousands of sensitive-nerved people on earth, resulted from
the infernal possessions and obsessions of their persons by
delegations from those realms of darkness and (to all but
themselves) unmitigated horror. A sensitive man or woman—no
matter how virtuously inclined—may, unless by constant
prayer and watchfulness they prevent it and keep the
will active and the sphere entire, be led into the most
abominable practices and habits.”
This same writer, in the same work, pp. 108,
109, says:—
“Those ill-meaning ones who live just beyond the threshold,
often obtain their ends by subtly infusing a semi-sense
of volitional power into the minds of their intended victims,
so that at last they come to believe themselves to be self-acting,
when in fact they are the merest shuttlecocks bandied
about between the battledores of knavish devils on one side,
and devilish knaves upon the other, and between the two the
poor fallen wretches are nearly heart-reft and destroyed.”
A work by A. J. Davis called “The Diakka, and
their Earthly Victims,” mentions the nature of these
denizens of the spirit world, and their wonderful
location. The country (to speak after the manner
of men) which they inhabit, is so large that it would
require not less than 1,803,026 diameters of the
earth to span its longitudinal extent. This he had
from a spirit he calls James Victor Wilson, a
profound mathematician! This space is occupied
by spirits who have passed from earth, who are
“morally deficient, and affectionally unclean.”—Page
[pg 113]
7. The same spirit, Wilson, describes the
diakka as those “who take insane delight in playing
parts, in juggling tricks, in personating opposite
characters to whom prayers and profane utterances
are of equi-value; surcharged with a passion for lyrical
narrations; one whose every attitude is instinct
with the schemes of specious reasoning, sophistry,
pride, pleasure, wit, subtle convivialities; a boundless
disbeliever, one who thinks that all private life
will end in the all-consuming self-love of God.”—Page
13. On page 13 he says further of them, that
they are “never resting, never satisfied with life,
often amusing themselves with jugglery and tricky
witticisms, invariably victimizing others; secretly
tormenting mediums, causing them to exaggerate in
speech, and to falsify in acts; unlocking and unbolting
the street doors of your bosom and memory;
pointing your feet into wrong paths, and far more.”
What this “far more” is, we are left to conjecture.
The advertisement of this book says that
it is “an explanation of much that is false and
repulsive in Spiritualism.” W. F. Jamieson, in a
Spiritualist paper, called these diakka “a troop
of devils,” and quoted Judge Carter as saying:
“There is one thing clear, that these diakka, or
fantastic or mixed spirits, are very numerous and
abundant, and take any and every opportunity of
obtruding themselves.”
Hudson Tuttle, author of “Life in Two Spheres”
and other Spiritualistic works, speaks of “a communication,
through a noted medium, to Gerald
[pg 114]
Massey from his ‘dog Pip,’ the said Pip ‘licking
the slate and writing with a good degree of intelligence.’ ”
He adds, “Mr. Davis would say that
‘Pip’ was a ‘diakka,’ and to-morrow he will communicate
as George Washington, Theodore Parker,
or Balaam's ass. This diakka is flesh, fish, or fowl,
as you may desire.”
Some idea of how the spirits sometimes torment
the mediums, as hinted at above, may be gained
from the following instance. In “Astounding Facts
from the Spirit World,” pp. 253, 254, Dr. Gridley
describes the case of a medium sixty years of age,
living near him in Southampton, Mass. The sufferings
inflicted upon him “in two months at the hands
of evil spirits would fill a volume of five hundred
pages.” Of these sufferings, the following are
specimens:—
“They forbade his eating, to the very point of starvation.
He was a perfect skeleton; they compelled him to walk day
and night, with intermissions, to be sure, as their avowed
object was to torment him as much and as long as possible.
They swore by everything sacred and profane, that they
would knock his brains out, always accompanying their
threats with blows on the forehead or temples, like that of a
mallet in the hands of a powerful man, with this difference,
however; the latter would have made him unconscious, while
in full consciousness he now endured the indescribable agony
of those heavy and oft-repeated blows; they declared they
would skin him alive; that he must go to New York and be
dissected by inches, all of which he fully believed. They
declared that they would bore holes into his brain, when he
instantly felt the action suited to the word, as though a dozen
augers were being turned at once into his very skull; this
done, they would fill his brain with bugs and worms to eat it
out, when their gnawing would instantly commence.
[pg 115]
These spirits would pinch and pound him, twitch him up
and throw him down, yell and blaspheme, and use the most
obscene language that mortals can conceive; they would
declare that they were Christ in one breath, and devils in the
next; they would tie him head to foot for a long time together
in a most excruciating posture; declare they would wring
his neck off because he doubted or refused obedience.”
Who can doubt that such spirits are the angels of
the evil one himself? Dr. Gridley in the same work,
p. 19, gives the experience of another medium, for
the truthfulness of which he offers the fullest
proof:—
“We have seen the medium evidently possessed by
Irishmen and Dutchmen of the lowest grade—heard him
repeat Joshua's drunken prayers [Joshua was a strong but
brutish man he had known in life], exactly like the original,—imitate
his drunkenness in word and deed—try to repeat,
or rather act over his most brutal deeds (from which for
decency's sake, he was instantly restrained by extraordinary
exertion and severe rebuke)—snap and grate his teeth most
furiously, strike and swear, while his eyes flashed like the
fires of an orthodox perdition. We have heard him hiss, and
seen him writhe his body like the serpent when crawling,
and dart out his tongue, and play it exactly like that reptile.
These exhibitions were intermingled with the most wrangling
and horrible convulsions.”
These descriptions, it would seem, ought to be
enough to strike terror to any heart at the thought
of being a medium. But there is yet another phase
of the subject that should not be passed by. These
fallen spirits who are engineering the work of Spiritualism,
to maintain their “assumed characters,” and
“play their parts” like the aforesaid diakka, represent
that disembodied spirits “just over the threshold,”
still retain the characteristics they bore in life, such
[pg 116]
as a disposition to sensuality and licentiousness, love
of rum, tobacco, and other vices, and that they can,
by causing the medium to plunge excessively into
these things, thereby still gratify their own propensities
to indulge in them. The following sketch by
Hudson Tuttle, a very popular author among Spiritualists,
is somewhat lengthy, but the idea could not
better be presented than by giving it entire. In
“Life in Two Spheres,” pp. 35-37, he says:—
“Reader, have you ever entered the respectable saloon?
Have you ever watched the stupid stare of the inebriate when
the eye grew less and less lustrous, slowly closing, the muscles
relaxing, and the victim of appetite sinking over on the floor
in beastly drunkenness? Oh, how dense the fumes of mingled
tobacco and alcohol! Oh, what misery confined in those
walls! If you have witnessed such scenes, then we need
describe no further. If you have not, then you had not
better hear the tale of woe. Imagine to yourselves a bar-room
with all its sots, and their number multiplied indefinitely,
while conscience-seared and bloated fiends stand
behind the bar, from whence they deal out death and damnation,
and the picture is complete. One has just arrived
from earth. He is yet uninitiated in the mysteries and miseries
of those which, like hungry lions, await him. He died
while intoxicated—was frozen while lying in the gutter, and
consequently is attracted toward this society. He possessed
a good intellect, but it was shattered beyond repair by his
debauches.
“ ‘Ye ar' a fresh one, aint ye?’ coarsely queried a sot,
just then particularly communicative.
“ ‘Why, yes, I have just died, as they call it, and 'taint
so bad a change after all; only I suppose there'll be dry times
here for the want of something stimulant.’
“ ‘Not so dry; lots of that all the time, and jolly times too.’
“ ‘Drink! Can you drink, then?’
“ ‘Yes, we just can, and feel as nice as you please. But
all can't, not unless they find one on earth just like them.
[pg 117]
You go to earth, and mix with your chums; and when you
find one whose thoughts you can read, he's your man. Form
a connection with him, and when he gets to feeling good,
you'll feel so too.—There, do you understand me? I always
tell all fresh ones the glorious news, for how they would suffer
if it wasn't for this blessed thing.’
“ ‘I'll try, no mistake.’
“ ‘Here's a covey,’ spoke an ulcerous-looking being; ‘he's
of our stripe. Tim, did you hear what an infernal scrape I
got into last night? No, you didn't. Well, I went to our
friend Fred's; he didn't want to drink when I found him;
his dimes looked so extremely large. Well, I destroyed that
feeling, and made him think he was dry. He drank, and
drank, more than I wanted him to, until I was so drunk that
I could not break my connection with him, or control his
mind. He undertook to go home, fell into the snow, and
came near freezing to death. I suffered awfully, ten times
as much as when I died.’... Reader, we draw the curtain
over scenes like these, such as are daily occurring in this
society.”
In these cases the whole evil of the indulgences
of course falls upon the mediums; and who would
wish to assume personal relation with such a world,
and be forced to bear in their own bodies the evils
of the unhallowed indulgences of unseen spirits,
against their will?
Other scenes represented as taking place in
the spirit land, are most grotesque and silly and
would be taken as a burlesque upon Spiritualism,
were they not put forth in all gravity by the friends
and advocates of that so-called new revelation.
Thus Judge Edmunds, giving an account of what he
had seen in the spirit world, mentions the case of an
old woman busy churning, who promised him, if he
would call again, a drink of buttermilk; he speaks
[pg 118]
of men fighting, of courtezans trying to continue
their lewd conduct; of a mischievous boy who split
a dog's tail open, and put a stick in it, just to witness
its misery; of the owner of the dog, who, attracted
by its cries, discovered the cause, and beat
the boy, who fled, but was pursued and beaten and
kicked far up the road. See Edmund's “Spiritualism,”
Vol. II, pp. 135-144, 181, 182, 186, 189.
Surely here are the diakka playing their pranks in
all their glory.
