The Irish standard., 1920-04-03
Christiar.sz; 80 e. a;s;ss. st .:s'. ''''
&$>Spiritism

the uHsS i, and weariness, perplexity,
and finally despair would enervate and
destroy the nation" Again: "And the
same peril exists today and through
all time will continue to exist"
Indeed, no less q Spiritist than our
recent visitor, Sir Oliver Lodge, has
warned Chicagoans against the dan
gers of spiritistic practices to the
"weak-minded." We must be frank,
however, in admitting that the most
weak.minded folk are usually those
who think themselves the strongest;
which takes the strength out of Sir
divers warning.
It is fair to say that the 'spirits"
quite uphold the statements of their
earthly mouthpieces. They teach many
varied and contradictory doctrines,
according to the hearers, their coun-
tries or their religions. They have
been known to be very pious Catho'
lies, though not strictly orthodox. in
France and even in some circles of
England. They are very fair Protest
ants-with qualiacations-in England,
Germany and the United States. They
suit their clients as to religion in
China, Japan and India; and they con-
firm the radical anti-religious atheists
in certain Spiritistic circles of France
and Spain. But they are unit on
some things, and these things happen
to be the basic doctrines Of Christian
] ity. For example: Man has not fall
| en-, and never was there any evidence
of fall" (Sir Conan Doyle.) "The
Spiritists reject as a baseless figment
the story of fall from state of
primeval innocence and perfection to
a state of degradation in the person of
Adam and Eve" (Stainton Moses.)
Goodbye to the Book Of Genesis. "The
incarnation, sufferings and death of
Christ were in no sense an atonement
for the sins Of man." (Doyle.) Death
is not terminus for fixing mans des.
tiny" "Hell as . permanent place
does not exist" .(Doyle.)
All these New Revelations" emanate
not from the Divine Teacher Of Man
kind, for Whose coming the earth was
prepared by prophets and saints for
Thousands of years. Whose life was
perfection, who fulfilled every detail
of the inspired predictions regarding
Himself, Who worked wonders to tes
tify to the truth of His teachings; but
through automatic writing, table-tip
ping and rapping, trumpet talk to the
accompaniment Of tambourine music
and trance utterances Of the most re
pulsive kind.
There are three usual explanations
offered for spiritistic phenomena. The
first is trickery and telepathy. abou,
which latter force We know very lit
tie. II this explanation IL the correct
one the New Revelation il nothing
at best but . reflection Of mindi
tossed about BY every kind Of doc
trine." and therefore NO revelation
1 at Ill. except that OF extraordinary
mental gymnastics. The second 10 thai
spiritistic phenomena are what theJ
j pretend to be. actual revelations from
the dead. II this explanation wert
correct, they are permitted by God IL
direct contradiction to His own in
spired word; and, placed beside Hi
former revelation, are found to bt
made up Of pitiful nothings serve<
to the accompaniments Of clownisf
tricks. undignified and often immora
actions and words, and mixed so mucl
with contradictions as to make con
slant apologies necessary from ever
avowed believers. The third explana
tion is, that the genuine preternatura
phenomena are the work Of evi
spirits. That some of it is from sucl
spirits is admitted by recognized apol
ogists, such as Doyle. But how in thi,
case distinguish between the good ant
the bad? There is no rule but that o
fallible human judgment, since all th'
. rules of the old revelation are sup
! posed to be cast into the junk heap
J Next week l hope to show that th'
third explanation is the only one tina
, really explains.