Dan King

“ In the arts and sciences, in intellectual and metaphysical philosophy, theory, after theory, hypothesis, after hypothesis, has been promulgated only to be refuted and abandoned. Throughout all the long line of ages, bubble after bubble has burst, and every succeeding explosion has only made room for something still newer. In view of all this change, it is gratifying to know that there are fixed principles and unerring truths, that have stood the test of all experience, and are as enduring and unchangable as their creator. ”

“ Whoever will take the trouble to inquire may easily satisfy himself that there is nothing new in modern Spiritualism. It is only the same old hobby that has been ridden to market hundreds of times before; the ears may have been cropped and the caparison changed, but after all it is the very same old jade, on the same errands. And if time cannot convert a falsehood into truth, that which was a fraud and delusion two thousand years ago remains in falsehood still. Unerring truth is the attribute of Deity. ”

“ He who mingles base metal with pure coin is justly punished and government lays a heavy hand upon the man who adulterates food,—cities institute expensive and powerful quarantine regulations to protect their inhabitants from dangerous epidemics,—and what ought to be done with him who mingles base falshood with sacred truths, and spreads a moral pestilence on every side?
Spiritualism is a Mare Mortuum, a moral Asphaltites and whoever launches his bark upon its briny bosom will find the turbid element in constant agitation and himself moved to and fro by counter currents and adverse winds. ”

“ Every intelligent man must know that all his hopes of immortality are derived from the Bible. Aside from this, we have no evidence of a future state of existence. Without this, to use the language of Doct. Dwight man is "born none knows why,—and destined to go,—none knows whither". Darkness surrounds him in this life, and the chilling thought of annihilation hovers over his end. Now if Spiritualism is true this Bible is of little authority, because a communication from Voltaire, Tom Paine, or any other infidel, may at any time contradict any part, or the whole of it. ”

“ The path of time has ever been strown with new things, yet how few of all the supposed discoveries have stood the test of experience.—The disciples of Paracelsus who taught the wonders of Alchyma, and the thousands who engaged in the vain search for the Philosopher's stone, more than two thousand years ago, all supposed that they had made discoveries that were to illuminate the world,—which would wholly change the condition of human life, and bury in undistinguished oblivion, all the knowledge of the past. ”

“ Nearly all the believers in Spiritualism are persons of a peculiar nervous temperament. They are unstable, restless, fickle minded and extremely sensitive, fond of novelties and always catching at every new phantom that makes its appearance. They have strong imaginations, and weak reasoning powers. They may succeed well and even become eminent in some one branch of business, but they do not reason soundly upon every subject, and therefore are very liable to be led astray by the force of their own imagination, and fall into gross errors. ”

“ Every shadow that flits across his path, he deems a winged messenger from the Spirit land, and every evening breeze comes freighted with prophetic information. He becomes wholly absorbed in this hallucination, it occupies his thoughts by day, and his dreams by night, he is led captive by his own imagination, and becomes monomaniac. ”

“ One of their most reliable media, a man of whom they delight to boast, has already declared that he has received Spiritual communications informing him that the Bible is nothing but a fabrication, and wholly false. Thus in a single moment, with one fell swoop, the testimony of Robert Hare, consigns the Bible to the flames, and banishes all our hopes of immortality.—And when we consider that many of their most prominent men are avowed infidels, we have good reason to expect more communications of the same character. ”

“ Great numbers in Europe and some in this country have been put to death because they were supposed to have intercourse with evil spirits. And although we regret the morbid credulity and infatuation that led to such convictions, we are bound to respect those sacred principles of morality that looked with detestation and abhorrence upon such vile performances. Those who are endeavoring to make capital out of this delusion, and their benighted followers charge all who will not believe them with infidelity. ”

“ Intellectual and moral culture may do much towards dispelling the delusions of superstition, but they have never yet been able to eradicate that insatiable love of the marvellous with which all men seem to be endowed. Many of the means made use of two thousand years ago in aid of Spiritualism are resorted to now to give weight and verity to its exhibitions. As if Spirits were afraid of light, the darkness of night has ever been chosen for their manifestations. ”

“ Men talk about Spirits as though they were ordinary things, well known and understood. But what are Spirits? Who has seen a Spirit or can describe such an incorporeal existence? We cannot even in imagination have any conception of an immaterial being, because, we have no faculties by which we can recognize such existences. All experience proves that our knowledge of the external world is acquired wholly through the medium of bodily organs. Each organ has its distinct and separate task, and can never perform any vicarious duty. ”

“ But this mighty delusion at length came to an end—its priests passed away, their shrines were abandoned, and their temples fell; and all the world decided that there never was any truth in them. Is the testimony adduced to prove Spiritualism now stronger or better, than that which supported it in ancient times? The human mind is the same in all ages, and to a certain extent, under all circumstances. ”

“ Long before Christianity was known the pagan priests charged all with infidelity who would not believe in their supernatural endowments, and since the advent of Christianity the same old accusation has been continually reiterated. The investigations of science and philosophy and all experience prove conclsively, that the whole universe and every atom of which it is composed, is governed by immutable laws, as perfect and unerring as Jehovah himself. ”

“ Gentlemen,—One of the most exciting topics of the present time, is what is now called Spiritualism. Although not strictly a subject of medical inquiry, yet as it concerns our intellectual as well as moral being, we may properly consider it to be within our province; and and its extraordinary pretentions seem to demand a serious consideration. "Man know thyself," is one of the highest injunctions of both medical and moral philosophy, and he is most skilful in either department who best obeys this command. ”

“ Every generation in all past time have supposed that their own period was most extraordinary,—every new discovery became a subject of wonder and astonishment, and every succeeding age looked with derision upon the ignorance of all preceding. ”

“ A moral Simoom more paralizing than Sahara ever witnessed is now passing over us,—The air is already darkened by its mysterious gyrations, and those who are overcome by it will suffer mental depravation, with little hope of recovery. And shall we prostrate ourselves before this poisonous breeze, or like cowards stand still until it has spent its fury upon the innocent and unguarded? I hope we shall do neither,–but as men and philanthropists stand up and resist its encroachments. ”

“ To sound well informed minds, in their calm reasoning moments, departed spirits never make their appearance, and if all men were of this class we should hear no more of the self exhumed corpses dancing upon their graves in winding sheets. Frightful spectres would cease to visit the bedrooms of innocent females at the solemn hour of midnight, and every pretence to intercourse with the Spirits of the dead would be regarded as it should be, as an impious falsehood. ”

“ As soon as an individual begins to yield up his reason and assent to the pretensions of Spiritualism, he is on the lookout to find evidence to support his position, his sensibilities are awakened, and everything that he sees, or hears, is fraught with Spiritual manifestations. ”

“ The optic nerve is the sole organ of vision, and when wholly destroyed, total blindness ensues. The sense of hearing comes through the auditory nerves; when these are destroyed or wanting we have no means of acquiring a knowledge of sounds, and perfect deafness is the consequence: so of every other organ by which we become acquainted with external objects. Therefore when we are told, upon no matter what authority, that any individual can see without eyes, or has the faculty of any other sense without its appropriate organ, we are bound to consider all such testimony false. ”

“ A single response was enough to make a nation quake with fear, or become frantic with joy. The wretched minions of pagan priesthood who were enshrined in these temples and gave out the answers, were some of the vilest of beings, whose only knowledge consisted in framing equivocal and ambiguous answers to all interogations. ”

“ Not satisfied with the light of Revelation, nature has been put upon the rack to make her disclose her arcana. Dreams and visions, the flight of birds and the motions of animals, and the ever varying phenomena, of the natural world, have all been regarded as exponents of future events. ”

“ A review of history proves conclusively that the Spiritualism of the nineteenth century is essentially the very same thing that existed in the dark ages long before the christian era. Indeed it has always existed in some form, and under some name, and the strong love of the marvellous which is a component part of our intellectual being, seems to have made provision for its everlasting perpetuity. This mental proclivity is often unhappily increased by morbid impressions and erroneous teachings in early life. ”

“ Upon those fixed laws the earth, and all things animate and inanimate pertaining to it depend for their very existence, and he who denies this, might as well deny his own existence. But whoever declares his belief in this incontrovertable truth, is liable to be charged with infidelity, because men of weak minds, and christians of weak faith erroneously suppose this to be a denial of the Scripture account of miracles. They are afraid to compare Christianity with the light of philosophy and experience, lest it should not stand the test. ”

“ But we are told that one invisible Spirit may operate upon the Spirit of another living being, and make use of his bodily organs as means of communication; and this we are informed is the modus operandi of Spiritual manifestations. Precisely in the same way the ancient oracles pretended to operate. The man in the temple was the medium, and the invisible Spirits were supposed to manifest themselves through him. Their Spirits however did not always make use of human beings as media, sometimes birds, sometimes insects, and sometimes a bull calf brought the intelligence ”

“ Examine these instances and you will find that those giant minds have suffered deterioration, and have become weakened by age and infirmities, the noble ship once proof against all the assaults of the elements lies stranded upon a lee shore, the machine whose giant power once worked wonders, now lies in scattered fragments, the mammoth clock that for ages crowned the summit of some lofty dome, and uninfluenced by the vicissitudes of time or season told every hour correctly, has at length become worn out, its wheels are out of geer, and it tells false time. ”

“ The votaries of Spiritualism often point you to men once eminent in the professions, venerable clergymen and Hon. Judges, who have become converts to this doctrine. But all such examples instead of giving weight and authority to the delusion, only go to confirm the truth of my proposition, viz: that a morbid condition of the intellect favours its development. ”

“ Through the entire universe perfect order and regularity everywhere prevails, and nothing ever occurs, or can occur, to disturb that harmony. Therefore every pretended Spiritual manifestation which impugns that harmony must be false, and we are well assured that in all the farrago of Spiritual manifestation nothing has ever taken place, or can take place, which scientific investigations cannot account for. ”

“ To those who little paid little attention to history, the present appears to be an extraordinary age. They see progress inscribed upon everything. Nothing but the newest of the new gains favour with them. ”

“ Doubtless there are some amongst those who have consented to be enrolled as members of this sect, who are honest well meaning men, who, just because they could not readily account for all they saw, or herd, concluded that there must be something in it, and therefore incautiously, allowed themselves to glide into the vortex, without considering its fearful consequences. Some of these men, when they come to awake from their delirious stupor, will be ashamed of their company, and horror stricken at the condition in which they find themselves. ”