第23章
We know of no Spiritualist--let us repeat it--who believes in such a personal God; but we can believe and accept the idea, though it may pass beyond almost our finite comprehension, that there is a grand universal Spirit permeating all forms of existence; that this great source of light, of activity and vitality vibrates with intelligence, and that it is superior to all organic forms, however grand they may prove to be." The same views have been taught all along by the "spirits" of Spiritualism, as could be shown by extracts dating as far back as 1858, only ten years after the "Rochester Knockings." And though Spiritualism is now assuming more of the sedate speech of organized Christianity, the spirits do not modify their teaching in respect to God. In "Automatic, or Spirit, Writing,"p. 148 (1896), are given many messages from the spirits through the mediumsbip of Mrs. S. A. Underwood, wife of the editor of the Philosophical Journal, Chicago. The " spirits" set forth their teaching in answer to questions by the medium, some of which have reference to God, though his name is not used. Thus on page 148, this conversation is given: -- Page 81 " Ques. -- You often in these communications speak of the binding laws of spiritual life--that because of them you cannot give us such and such information, etc. Now who makes those laws, and whence came they, and how are they taught?
" Ans. -- Thou say'st 'who'-- therefore we cannot answer. Go back to the first question and ask one at a time.
" Q .--Well, who makes the laws?
" A. -- Spirits are not bondaged by persons.
" Q. -- Then how do you come to know those laws?
" A. -- Pharos will now answer. Spiritual laws are spiritually perceived, as soon as the physical perceptions are got rid of.
" Q. -- Could you explain to us those laws?
" A. -- Courses of teaching from our side are as necessary for you to understand even the rudimentary laws of Being, as courses in your colleges; and guessed-at spirit knowledge from your bounded view must always fail in accurate wording." It will be perceived that the answers to these questions are, from the beginning, evasive; but the real idea entertained clearly shines through the thin veil drawn over to conceal it. The questions pertain to the source, or authorship, of the "laws of spiritual life;" and this would generally be understood to be God. But on a technicality the spirits refuse to answer.
The question is made plainer, and the answer is that "spirits are not bondaged by persons; " that is to say that spirits have nothing to do with personalities, and that no personal being has anything to do with those laws. There is therefore no God who formulates and promulgates them. No wonder the question followed, how they came to know these laws; and it was a very convenient answer that we will know when we get there Page 82 and have lost all physical perceptions. A desire for some explanation of those laws is met with the not very satisfactory information that they (the spirits) would have to give those in our sphere a course of teaching, like a college course, before we could understand even the rudimentary laws of Being. The only thing clear in all this is that there is no God;at least no personal God such as the Bible reveals. To the "grand whole,"whatever that may be, they give the name of the "All of Being." In answer to a question concerning "personalities," they are called "atoms emanating from the same source -- parts of the great All of Being, partaking of the general characteristics of the grand whole." -- Page 14.9.
Reader, how does all this compare in your own mind with the God of the Bible, the Creator of all things, the loving Father of us all, who has for his creatures more tender regard and pity than a father can feel for his own children, whose very name and nature is Love, and who has purposed infinite good for all men, and will carry it out unless they, as free moral agents, by their own sin, prevent his doing for them what he desires to do? The Bible is not responsible for the aspersions cast upon God by a false theology, which misrepresent his character and give occasion for the charges of vindictiveness and vengeance and awful tyranny, so freely made by fallen angels and wicked men. They do not belong to him who is the source of all goodness and mercy; and we would labor to bring those who have perverted views of God back to a right conception of Page 83 the great Friend of sinners, as he has revealed himself in his holy word.
2. They Deny Jesus Christ. -- Christ is revealed as the divine Son of the Father; and to deny that he was or is any more than any other man is surely to deny him; and the scripture says that "whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father." 1 John 2: 23. The following is what the "spirits" began to teach in the earliest stages of Spiritualism concerning Christ: -- "What is the meaning of the word Christ?--'T is not, as generally supposed, the Son of the Creator of all things. Any just and perfect being is Christ. The crucifixion of Christ is nothing more than the crucifixion of the spirit, which all have to contend with before becoming perfect and righteous. The miraculous conception of Christ is merely a fabulous tale."-- Spiritual Telegraph, No. 37. How fully does this declaration that any good man is Christ open the way for the fulfilment of the Saviour's prophecy that in the last days many false Christs and false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. See Matt. 24: 24. A prospectus of the Truth Seeker contained these words:
"It shall be the organ through which the christs of the last dispensation will choose to speak."A little later, July 19, 1862, there was published in the Banner of Light a lecture on Spiritualism by Mrs. C. L. V. Hatch, in which she spoke of Christ as follows: -- "Of Jesus of Nazareth, personally, we have but little to say.