The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1878-08-01
SPIRII UaLLSM TESTED.

EDITOR ADVANCE: l have been test
ing the system of spirit ualism by an in
f"Ilible rule. The rule is, ':by their
fruits ye shall know Them" Now, the
common sense Of all lnen in all ages
since it's utterance by Christ, has &C.
cePttd this rule as a safe criterion by
which to test all persons, all principles
and all systems. think it proper,
therefore, to ask does the system of
spiritualism bear good fruit or sound
morality? answer no, cmphatically
no, and I affirm without any fear of sue
ccssful contradiction, that such is it's
origin, its source, its history and it's
principles that it is in the nature of
things II corrupt tree and cannot but
bear corrupt fruit. Here, then, you
have the reason Willy it meyer made Il
man wiser or better. The fact is, the
system contains no code Of morals,
nothing whatever to restrain from
wrong doing. am free to confess that
there are honest. upright, well-lpeaning
people who are associated with the sys-
tenn for AL of that. AS every man of !.
very small share of common sense will
see that u system which is universally
bad has no power to make men honest
and upright, but it has the power of
making men worse. have seen men
who have embraced it BECOME ;earfully
!. demoralized by it. The honesty and
the uprightness then Of such people
must come from the christian system.
1t can come from there for that con
tains the only code Of morals known to
the world, and which defines the nature
of human act ions and makes the plain
est distinction between right and
wrong, between vice and virtue. 6
The grand difference hetWeen the sys-
TEN of christianity and the system of
spiritualism is this: The system of
christiany if full of blessings to all men,
Here a great deal might he said, but we
cannot dwell. Spiritualism is the very
opposite and in deadly conflict with it,
and seeks incessantly Ivy all means it's
destruction, apd would it it could do,
stroy it's code of morals, and with it I'LL
government both human and divine,
and all civaliZed life, and reduce ali
Mankind to barbarism. No wonder,
then, that men who are acquainted with
with the workings Of the system say
That they have never seen men made
better by it, but infinitely worse, and
that If spiritual ism be the work of spir:
ITS Or demons such Us the Greek and
Roman sorcerers evoked. Here l give
you the testimony of Mr.. ]. Il. Whit.
ney, very prominent spiritualist in
! New York, who, after witnessing its
immoral tendencies for some time,
abandoned it. Now mark what he
says:
y am deeply impressed with the fac,
that modern spiritualism is the work OF
spirits, but they are evil spirits, and
can see no good Ill consulting them. ;;
Again he says: II look upon modern
spiritualism us the work Of Satan, anJ
which has created more lniuultv Since
its introduction through the Fox fami
ly than all other crimes and vices dur
ing the last fifty years. In short, from
What experience | have with spirltual
ism and its believers, am firmly con
| yi,cetl that the result of splritualisp is
wholly immoral aud dehasing, destroy
ing all the moral character OF its beleiy
ers, inculoating us it does false princi
pies and raising false hopes, thereby
rendering man little better than the
brute creation. Adult terry, fornication
deception and hypocrisy ere its leading
tendencies. Tie spirits assume the
gArb Of angels, while ii fact they are
devils, doomed by sin OH earth, and seek
! through 1spiritualisn to increase their