~ • Spiritism JBBSm -••':': ;; - : - •■.•■•■,-•' Class "B? 1 6 A 2. Book .T3 Copyright^ , COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. SPIRITUALISM, Or SPIRITISM; and WHAT IT IS. BY ISAAC L. PEEBLES, Of the Mississippi Cojiference. Nashville, Tenn. ; Dallas, Tex. Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South. Barbee & Smith, Agents. 1900. THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, Two Copies Receive© JUL. 27 1901 Copyright entry CLASS CV XXa N». / / FOf COPY 3. Copyright, iqgo, by Isaac L. Peebles. PREFACE. I have not only written this booklet in response to a request, but also with the hope of 'giving desired information on the subject of Spiritism ; and, too, of doing something toward stopping the progress and ending the existence of Spiritism ; and therefore, what- ever is accomplished in this direction by this booklet, I shall feel quite thankful to God, and feel that it has not been written for naught. I shall always feel grateful to Brother J. Lilly for requesting me to preach a sermon on Spiritism, and then also for requesting me to publish it. Isaac L. Peebles, (3) Spiritualism, or Spiritism. Spiritualism, or more properly Spir- itism, is becoming quite popular with many people, and quite puzzling to oth- ers. Some regard it seriously, while others esteem it lightly. It is the reli- gion of some, while others hardly know what to do or to say about it. Some believe it to be a skillfully arranged sys- tem of tricks, while others believe it to be divine. But let us, with the best lights we have, see what it really is, and in order to this let us first of all notice the subject of Spiritism negatively; then let us see what it really is. 5 Spiritism Is Not a System of Tricks* How any one with even only a very lim- ited knowledge of Spiritism can believe that it is a mere system of tricks is quite strange to us. It is true that some pre- tended spiritists have been discovered playing tricks, such as, first, claiming to read letters before they were unsealed and unfolded, but the envelopes of such letters have been found opened in the sides and sealed with gum arabic; sec- ondly, claiming to be able to read books while their heads were covered up with a thick blanket, but close investigation has revealed the use of phosphoric oil, by which any one could read with their head thus covered up; thirdly, claiming that mysterious talking was carried on 6 Is Not a System of Tricks, in different parts of the room, when in reality it was the voice of a ventriloquist being thrown about from place to place in the same, and on and on we might continue to a lengthy list of tricks played off on people even by persons claiming to be spiritists ; but nevertheless we can- not believe that Spiritism is a mere system of tricks, or a mere sleight of hand. It has amply proved itself to be more than this. Indeed, it has proved itself to be more than human in knowledge and power. People have attended the meet- ings of spiritists, not knowing any one present, being perfect strangers, and still spirits have told them their names, where they were born and educated, and also things in their lives that they thought none but God knew. Spiritism has made known things that had taken Spiritism. place and were taking place in differ- ent parts of the world at a time when there was no human means of knowing them. It has moved chairs, tables, etc., about without any contact what- ever with any visible agency. It has made musical instruments rise and move along the ceiling of houses and at the same time make music. It has lifted them into the air beyond the reach of any visible agency, and played upon them. It has lifted chairs and tables up and made them move about with people sitting on them. Daniel * Thqrne and other mediums have been lifted up and made to float around in the air. It has produced strange lights, snakes, and turned water to blood. It has produced the handwriting and even the voice of persons who were dead. It has pro- 8 y ' Is Not a System of Tricks. duced the hands and even the whole bodies of the dead. In the Opera House in Boston, Mass., on the nth of April, 1897, people had their friends to appear to them from the dead and to shake their hands with a hearty grip. Many other things might be mentioned that Spiritism has and can do that are su- perhuman, but we think that these are sufficient to show that it is not a mere sleight of hand or a mere system of tricks. Besides these things, lawyers, judges, doctors, influential business men, and ministers of the gospel have become converts to Spiritism. Its adherents and sympathizers are estimated at ten mil- lions. In this country it has its church- es and camp meetings. Annual camp meetings are held at Lake Pleasant, Mass. ; Onset, Mass. ; Cassadaga, N. Y. ; 9 Spiritism. and at Lookout Mountain, Tenn. The annual attendance at Lake Pleasant, Mass., is estimated at from ten to fif- teen thousand. So from all these things we see that Spiritism is a reality, and, too, that any one who denies it argues his ignorance. It is not a mere system of tricks. 10 Spiritism Is not the Spirits of the Departed Communicating through Mediums* The spirits of those who once lived in this world do not communicate through certain persons denominated mediums with those who are still alive. This, I know, will seem strange and un- true to a spiritist, and also to one who has attended a seance (saons), or meet- ing of spiritists, but still we have unan- swerable proofs that we are right. Our proofs are scriptural. David, in speak- ing of his child, said: " But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." (2 Sam. xii. 23.) In this passage David ii Spiritism. clearly declares that a departed spirit does not and cannot come back to this world. Job, in speaking of death, said: "The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more : thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to the grave shall come tip no more. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more." (J°b vii. 8— io.) We learn from these words that when any one leaves this world, or dies, he does not come back any more, neither is he allowed to return to his earthly house any more (oikon, accusative of otkos, meaning his family and his resi- dence.) So the belief that the spirits of the dead come back to their families, and especially to their houses and haunt 12 Is Not the Spirits of the Departed. them, is proven by those words to be false, and also they disprove the claim of Spiritism that it brings the spirits of the dead back to this world. Job again says of the dead: "His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he per- ceiveth it not of them." (Job xiv. 21.) By these words we learn that a man dies and leaves his children in this world, and when they come to honor he does not know it, neither does he know when they go down to degradation and desti- tution. In speaking of the wicked, he says: "He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. The eye also which saw him shall see him no more ; neither shall his place any more behold him." (Job x 3 Spiritism. xx. 8, 9.) From these words we learn that the spiritist shall not be able to find the spirit of the wicked who is dead, and, too, however dissatisfied he may have been when he left the world, he cannot come back to attend to any- thing he may have left undone, neither can he come back at all. He is in eter- nity to stay until the day of general judg- ment. That the dead do not and can- not come back to this world, and, too, that they cannot communicate with the living here, is evident from the words of Jesus concerning the rich man and Lazarus. Our Lord declared that after the rich man and Lazarus had died the rich man lifted up his eyes in hell, be- ing in torments, and seeing Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, he cried to Abraham to send Lazarus to H Is Not the Spirits of the Departed. cool his tongue ; but Abraham informed him that no one could pass from him to the rich man, and neither could any one pass from the rich man to him. The rich man, seeing that his request could not be granted, then begged Abraham to send Lazarus back to this world to warn his five brethren who were still living at his father's house; but Abra- ham reminded him that they had Mo- ses and the prophets, and added: "Let them hear them." But this did not satisfy him, and he declared that if one would go to them from the dead they would hear him. Then Abraham replied by saying: " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." (Luke xvi. 31.) If the spirits of the dead were permitted to re- *5 Spiritism. turn to this world and to communicate with the living, whether through me- diums or otherwise, is it not unmistaka- bly plain that the rich man would have gladly come and warned his five broth- ers? and if he could not come himself, and Lazarus could have come, and if it were right for Lazarus to come, do we all not know that Abraham, instead of answering him as he did, would have sent Lazarus at once? The plain doc- trine of our blessed Lord is, that the dead are not only not allowed to come back to this world, but they are not al- lowed to communicate with the living by any means or in any respect. It is true, it is recorded that "the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of their graves after his resurrection, and went 16 Is Not tfie Spirits of tke Departed, into the holy city, and appeared unto many" (Matt, xxvii. 52. 53), but let us not forget that these were not spirits, but saints in their bodies who were res- urrected after Christ arose from the dead, not only in. proof of immortality, but also, and most especially, in proof of Christ's own resurrection from the dead. Such a thing, except the tempo- rary rising of Samuel in rebuke to the witch of Endor (1 Sam. xxviii. 11, 12), never happened before, and never will again, likely, until the general resurrec- tion in the last day of our race on the earth. Having seen that Spiritism is not a communion of the spirits of the dead who once lived in the world, through mediums or otherwise, with the living, let us now notice that Spiritism is not of God. 2 17 Spiritism Is Not of God. Spiritism is not of God, because it does not recognize him as he requires. It does not give to God, or rather it does not recognize God as that independent and controlling being that he is. Its tendency is not for that full reverence and awe that are due him as the true God. Indeed, it is censured with a de- nial of God, but we are willing to admit that this cannot be fully sustained, for any ism that denies the existence of God is worse than that of the devils themselves; for James says: "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." (Jas. ii. 19.) That is, if any believes there is a God, he only be- Is Not of God. lieves what the devils do, for they be- lieve and tremble. The devils believe there is a God, and let us therefore con- cede that Spiritism does believe there is a God, too, but it does not submit to his control and rule as a subject, a crea- ture, or a child should. Spiritism is not of God, because it does not have that respect for the teachings of the Bible that it should. It does not search it as a divine record, and of course does not regulate its life by the same. It esteems itself as being capable of such teach- ings and of such deeds as it contains. Spiritism is not of God, because it re- jects God's plan of saving men, and has a plan of its own. God's plan is to preach his word contained in the Bible, and, as Paul expresses it: "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to *9 Spiritism. save them that believe." (i Cor. i. 21.) And again: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the pow- er of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." (Rom. i. 16.) We are to preach, and to preach the gospel of Christ ; but Spiritism has its own gos- pel, and ignores that of Christ in the salvation of men. Christ says, "Ex- cept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John iii. 3); but Spiritism feels no need of such a change, and proposes to be saved by its own teachings. The declaration of God concerning Christ is, "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts iv. 12); but Spiritism proposes salvation in its own name, and, instead of preach- 20 Is Not of God. ing to men to believe on Christ, it leads them off from him by table-rappings, sight-seeings, and communications from spirits, etc. God has declared concern- ing men, " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per- suaded though one rose from the dead" (Luke xvi. 31); but Spiritism proposes to save by communications with the dead, and even by having them to ap- pear from death. From these things we can see very clearly that Spiritism is perfectly out of harmony with God, and therefore cannot be of God. 21 Spiritism Is the Work of the Devil. That Spiritism is the work of the dev- il is clear from the following reasons: i. We have seen that it is not of God, and that it is superhuman, and there- fore there is no other classification for it. It is not the work of God, and it does things that men cannot do. And, too, since its work is like that of Satan, it therefore cannot be otherwise than the work of Satan. 2. It falsifies. We should not for- get that our Saviour said of the dev- il: " There is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it" (John viii. 44)? meaning that he is on the opposite side of truth, and 22 Is the Work of the Devih while he may say some things that are true, as when he said of Christ, "I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God" (Mark i. 24), yet the truth is not a fixed principle in his heart, neither does it regulate his life in the least, and hence he not only has no truth in him, but he is the very impersonation of falsehood. Spiritism falsifies in this, that it claims to communicate with the dead, and also that it brings the dead back to this world again, in oppo- sition to the plain teachings of the Bi- ble that the dead not only do not come back to this world, but that they have no communications with it whatever, and therefore all communications and visible appearances of the dead by Spir- itism is of the devils. It is true, Saul applied to the witch of Endor for the 2 3 Spiritism. resurrection of Samuel that he might consult with him, and sure enough he came up from the grave, but not in re- sponse to the witch, but as a rebuke to" her in her black, art of Spiritism. That this was the case is evident from the following facts : (i) It is said: "And Saul had put away those that had famil- iar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land." (i Sam. xxviii. 3.) This was done because God required it, but the witch of Endor had escaped because she was not in the district in which these were slain. (2) The witch did not intend to bring up Samuel from the dead, even if she could have done so, for she was afraid of Samuel, because he hated witches and favored their death, and therefore her own life would be in danger should he be brought up 24 Is the Work of tke Devil. from the dead. That it was not her puppose to bring him up from the dead is clear from the following: "And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with aloud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up ; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself." (i Sam. xxviii. 12-14.) From this scripture we learn that it was not her purpose to bring Samuel up from the dead, because when he did rise she be- 2 5 Spiritism. came quite alarmed, and Saul said to her, "Be not afraid;" and, besides, she did not know him, and exclaimed, "I saw gods ascending out of the earth. 9 ' Likely the first sight she saw was that of angels, and then she said, "An old man covered up," which was Samuel, who followed whom she did not know. It was her purpose that her familiar spirit should rise up in the form of Sam- uel, but God thwarted her by making Samuel himself to rise, and she became greatly alarmed, and seems not to have felt any ease whatever, until Saul said to her, "Be not afraid," fearing it was a trick of Saul to have her killed, for as soon as she discovered that her familiar spirit had not responded, and what she really did not expect had happened, she said to Saul, "Why hast thou deceived 26 Is the Work of the Devil. me?" So it is clear from this case that Spiritism does not cause the dead them- selves to appear again in this world, but that devils or familiar spirits assume the form of the dead, and thus present themselves as the real dead when it is a real lie. And let it be remembered that the strange noises and appearances in what are known as haunted houses are nothing more nor less than the devils themselves. That there are strange noises and appearances in houses and elsewhere, ever and anon, we are con- strained to believe, for reliable and good people have heard and seen them. The Wesleys heard doors opening and per- sons walking in when nothing of the kind could be seen ; they heard knock- ings, the door latches moving up and down, walking up and down stairs, 2 7 Spiritism. every step seeming to shake the house from top to bottom; the rocking of a cradle, the sound as if a large iron ball were thrown among many bottles, the pouring out of silver, etc. Mr. John Wesley states that their large mastiff dog would become so scared as to tremble, and that on one occasion when the noises were great the dog ran and sheltered himself under his father and mother, who were standing together. The dis- turbances were so great at his father's house that the neighbors and clergy- men earnestly advised his father to leave it, but he said, "No; let the devil flee from me; I will never flee from the devil;" and afterwards these disturb- ances ceased. Many other such proofs we could give, but this we think is sufficient. 28 Is the Work of the Devil. Be it pertinent to say that such dis- turbances have been so great and an- noying in some residences that families could not live in them, and would move out. They have not only heard strange noises, but they have seen strange ap- pearances, and even shot at them with- out any apparent effect. The devils have appeared in the form of human hands, heads, the whole form, the form of dogs, horses, buggies, cradles, mills, light, etc., and even that of angels. 3. Spiritism is the work of the devil, because its followers are not made truly pious. They do not in the least man- ifest the spirit of our blessed Lord. There is no real humility in their lives; indeed, it makes its devotees proud, self-conceited, and egotistical. Some become so blinded as to believe them- 29 Spiritism. selves to be the special favorites of Al- mighty God, when God is having noth- ing whatever to do with the kind of lives they are living. The thing of hav- ing frequent communications with the dead is quite exalting and inflating. 3° Spiritism Is Denounced by God as the Work of the Devil. That it may appear clear that God does denounce Spiritism as the work of the devil, let us remember that God esteems all work that is not of him as the work of the devil. The doctrine of the Bible is that a person is either a child of God or a child of the devil, and that if he is a child of God he does the works of God; and if he is a child of the devil, he does the works of the devil. This appears quite clear to us from the following scriptures: "He that commit- teth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifest- ed, that he might destroy the works of 3 1 Spiritism. the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed re- maineth in him: and he cannot sin, be- cause he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." (i John iii. 8-10.) And our blessed Lord, in speaking to those who were not the children of God, said: " Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your fa- ther ye will do." "He that is of God heareth God's words." (John viii. 44, 47.) That we might not be deceived by Spiritism in any respect, God includes the various names that express it in its dif- erent forms in declaring himself against it. The following are the names of its different agents or its different forms: 3 2 Is Denounced by God. Charmer, consulter with familiar spir- its, diviner or divination, enchanter or enchantments, familiar spirits, necro- mancer, soothsaying, sorcery or sorcer- er, witch, w T izard, or witchcraft, and we might with great propriety add the so- called Christian science. That these various names do express its various agencies and its different forms is evi- dent from the Scriptures. While Paul and Silas were at Philippi, Luke says: "And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by sooth- saying: the same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, 3 33 Spiritism. being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour," (Acts xvi. 16-18.) This damsel likely could tell her master many things that were happening and had happened, and, be- sides, many other things, just like Spir- itism of to-day, and we notice, too, that soothsaying and divination are used for the same thing. In the city of Sama- ria, in the days of Philip, it is said: " There was a certain man, called Si- mon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one ; to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God." (Acts viii. 9, 10.) This spirit- 34 Is Denounced by God. ist could likely make snakes appear, and do many other things somewhat, if not exactly, like Spiritism in our times, but of him Peter declared: "I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity." (Acts viii. 23.) Paul, in his Epistle to Timo- thy, said : "Avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called." (1 Tim. vi. 20.) The science to. which Paul calls atten- tion is not worthy to be called science at all, although it claims to be a science. This evidently means Chris- tian science, for two reasons: 1. This science is not worthy of the name of science at all, and if there ever was a so-called science unworthy of the name, it surely is the so-called Christian science, which is a desultory, contra- 35 Spiritism. dictory, jungled mess. 2. The second reason why it applies to the so-called Christian science is, its opposition to God's Word and God's plans. It is an insidious form of Spiritism. But let us now notice God's declarations against other forms of Spiritism. " Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them : I am the Lord your God." (Lev. xix. 31.) "And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits and after wizards to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and I will cut him off from among his people." (Lev. xx. 6.) "A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death." (Lev. xx. 27.) "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." (Ex. xxii. 36 Is Denounced by God. 18.) St. Paul, in Galatians v. 20, class- es witchcraft with the works of the flesh, or as the work of those who are sin- ning against God, and then declares: "Of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not in- herit the kingdom of God/' (Gal. v. 21.) Paul said to a certain sorcerer: "O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" (Acts xiii. 10.) "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 enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necro- 37 Spiritism. mancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord." (Deut. xviii. 10-12.) Nov/ if Spiritism strives to hide itself behind strained in- terpretations of these scriptures, let it not forget that God includes those who are consulters with familiar spirits just such as Spiritism consults with. Let these strong words of God against Spir- itism constrain all to have nothing what- ever to do with Spiritism, remembering that it is the work of the devil or devils. 33 Spiritism Is Ancient as Well as Modern. It is believed that because Spiritism now bears the name of Spiritualism — a name that is modern — that Spiritism it- self is modern in its beginning also, but this is a great mistake. Neither does the present peculiar form in which it now exists make it modern in its origin, for we have already seen that God warned his people against it in other forms fifteen hundred years before Christ came into the world, and from all we can gather it existed even beyond that period, and, indeed, the manner in which God gave his warnings proves it to have existed before that period. The highest and most attractive form in which it existed all along the ages, and most es- 39 Spiritism. pecially in ancient times, was that of ora- cles. In Egypt, one of the most ancient of the prominent nations of the world, we find it flourishing in this form very ear- ly, and that this was a form of Spirit- ism in Egypt is clear from what God says of the Egyptians himself in the fol- lowing utterances: "And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have famil- iar spirits, and to the wizards. And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel Lord." (Isa. xix. 3, 4.) Herodotus, in writing about the Egyptians, said: "With respect to divi- nation, they held that it is a gift which no mortal possesses, but only certain of the gods; thus they have an oracle of 40 Is Ancient as Well as Modern. Hercules, one of Apollo, of Minerva, of Diana, of Mars, and of Jupiter. Be- sides these, there is the oracle of Lato- na at Buto, which is held in much higher repute than any of the rest. The mode of delivering the oracles is not uniform, but varies at the different shrines." (Herodotus, bk. 2; chap. 83.) And let us not forget that we have already learned in the Bible that divination is the work of evil spirits, as in the follow- ing: "A certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by sooth- saying;" and Paul said to this spirit she had, "I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour." (Acts xvi. 16-18.) According to all the rec- ords we can gather on Egypt, all its \ 4 1 Spiritism. temples were so many oracles, but those we have mentioned were the most noted. Oracles were numerous in Greece, and it is recorded of Croesus, or Cresus, that he sent messengers to many of them to test their knowledge. "The messengers who were dispatched to make trial of the oracles were given the following instructions : they were to keep count of the days from the time of their leaving Sardis,and, reckoning from that date, on the hundredth day they were to consult the oracles, and to in- quire of them what Croesus, the son of Alyattes, king of Lydia, was doing at that moment. The answers given them were to be taken down in writing and brought back to him. None of the re- plies remain on record except that of the oracle of Delphi. These, the mo- 42 Is Ancient as Well as Modern. ment that the Lydians entered the sanc- tuary, and before they put their ques- tions, the Pythoness (the medium) thus answered them in hexameter verse : I can count the sands, and I can measure the ocean; I have ears for the silent, and know what the dumb man meaneth; Lo! on my sense there striketh the smell of a shell-covered tortoise, Boiling now on a fire, with the flesh of a lamb, in a caldron; Brass in the vessel below, and brass the cover above it. These words the Lydians wrote down at the mouth of the Pythoness (medium) as she prophesied, and then set off on their return to Sardis. When all the messengers had come back with the an- swers which they had received, Croe- sus (Cresus) undid the rolls, and read 43 Spiritist 301, what was written in each. Only one approved itself to him, that of the Delphic oracle. This he had no sooner heard than he instantly made an act of adora- tion, and accepted it as true. For on the departure of his messengers he had set himself to think what was most im- possible for any one to conceive of his doing, and then, waiting till the day agreed on came, he acted as he had de- termined. He took a tortoise and a lamb, and, cutting them in pieces wdth his own hands, boiled them both togeth- er in a brazen caldron, covered over with a lid which was also of brass." (Herodotus, bk. i, chaps. 47, 48.) This act of the oracle of Delphi is just like some of the work of Spiritism to- day. We should like to notice some of the ;LofC. 44 Is Ancient as Well as Modern. oracles of many other nations and peoples, but space and time will not allow, and therefore be it sufficient to say that all ora- cles of heathen and pagan nations were about the same, except that some seemed to be more attractive than others, and, too, there was a difference in giving an- swers to those who asked questions. They were delivered in verse by some, others were pronounced by the medium, some were given from the hollow of an oak, others by letters sealed up, while others by lot, etc. Spiritism seems to have existed in some form, or in various forms, all along the ages since the fall of man — if it did not begin before the fall right in the garden of Eden and ac- complish the fall of man. In this age it appears in various forms, but did not appear in its present monopolized form, under the name of Spiritualism, until 45 Spiritism. about 1848, or rather began to develop in this form about that time. We are informed that knockings began in the house of John D. Fox in December , 1848, and increased in loudness toward the end of the following March. John D. Fox lived in Arcadia, Wayne Coun- ty, N. Y. He had two daughters, Margaret and Kate. His daughter Mar- garet imitated the rappings by snapping her fingers, and it was discovered that there were responses to her rappings. The rapper was asked the question, "Are you a human being?" and there was no answer. And then the question was asked, "Are you a spirit?" and two distinct raps were given. Com- munications were established by raps in reply to questions, and also by assent to letters of the alphabet, so as to spell out words. So it was soon discovered that 46 Is Ancient as Well as Modern. spirits were ready when desired to an- swer such questions as they chose to answer by raps, through proper me- diums, or persons that they recognized as suitable mediums. Margaret and Kate Fox became excellent mediums. It seems the raps were more distinct in the presence of Kate Fox. Subsequent- ty she was taken to her married sister, Mrs. Fish, at Rochester, N. Y., where other mediums were found and spirit circles were formed. After this Mar- garet and Kate visited not only other cities of New York, but also cities in other States. Mrs. Hayden, an Amer- ican medium, excited much public inter- est in Spiritualism in London, England, in 1852. Robert Owen, founder of English Socialism, was converted to Spiritualism by her. Daniel D. Home, who was born near Edinburgh, Scot- 47 Spiritism, land, March 20, 1833, was brought to the United States in 1840. In 1850 he was known as a medium, and in 1855 moved to London, England, where he created much stir among the people because of his wonderful works. He became not only a topic for daily con- versation, but also a topic for newspaper articles, and subsequently visited Rus- sia, Germany, Italy, and France, and gave some remarkable manifestations. He exhibited before Alexander II., in St. Petersburg, and also before Napo- leon III., in Paris. Spiritism in its present form is not satisfied with homes on the different continents, but it is establishing itself upon the islands of the seas. May God grant that its progress shall soon cease, and its destruction become a reality im- mediately ! Amen . 48 Au * 3 i£OT JUL 27 1901