SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS.

NZ Truth, Issue 604, 13 January 1917, Page 8

SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS.

Dear "Truth,"— Professor T.J. Hudson fells us that: . ; ■ . ■ Spiritual manifestations add nothing to our .stock, of knowledge of 'what is m store for us beyond the grave.' We must stilly look for immortality with the eye of Faith alone, relying on the promise of th« Master.. ,;,.,■, -.. ' ' Providence has wisely and kindly withheld from man the knowledge of -the future. Whether at any time the. spirits of the departed have been permitted to wander again on this earth is a subject that has often agitated the poet and philosopher., Some great intellects have been persuaded that the boundary between; the seen and the unseen has been passed, and that disembodied spirits have • actually . held communicaition with living. mortals. But when minds. like Shakespeare. attempt to realise such shadowy theories - they do not approach them with such, paltry tricks as floating 1 m .the r air (m , the dark), writing on a elate, playing on a banjo, utterMg unintelligible nonsense, and so ; forth. Wh*en Shakespeare would show us a visitant from the other world he does so with a solemnity appropriate to ' such an - unwonted, and startling event . But th© history of so-called modern spiritualism, and the records of its professional mediums, are so smirched with deliberate deception that no one is justified m approaching consideration of the subject Without being on his guard, and while retaining an impartial judgment, being fully alive to every possibility of fraud and trickery. The air of mystery and sanctity with which the professed spiritualists delude their followers has great influence over little minds, and there are not a few who ore glad of any opportunity to be brought into notice. ; Th^y will embrace any creed, 1 follow any Illusion, discuss any theory, however unsubstantial. Humanity embraces a largo class of people predisposed to dabble m occult mysteries, and with. a tendencVbo believe m supernatural interference with their personal welfare. They are ' emotional, credulous, <- and In fact ready-made dupes. A timely warning may save such as these from the tolls of unscrupulous impostors, and enable them to ascribe to their true source the var-

ious impositions, tricks, and Bubterfuges by which these "spirit" mediums play upon the most Bacred feelings j of the credulous while relieving them of their cash. Spiritualism m one form or other has ever plagued the world. It is "as old as the hills," and likely to last as long— being a natural product of weak minds and crafty humb.ugs. Every variety of convulsive and cataleptic phenomena has been ascribed to it. Every old, house with rats scampering behind its walls, has been haunted by the spirits of the departed; and ghostly forms have been conjured from the mists of. the evening, the spray of the waterfall,- or maybe the.outline of some poor wandering devil trudging upon the road - side. And there is nothing m nature that has not been turned to account by lovers of the marvellous, by superstition, or— most potent cause— ignorance. The spiritualists of our day accept the kettle-stand taps as of spirit origin and believe m intelligent communications from the parlor furniture; and they are with us m full blast; With /their peculiar faith, their strange "phenomena," and, stranger than ell, their hybrid mediums, who act as a kind of buffer between this and' the next world. And what varied' beliefs does this spiritualism embrace t We* have no two ideas alike as to mediums, the, spirits, or the spirit world. -Even the sect, if we can call it one, is 'doubtful, of the "manifestations" among its own people . These fanatics have made vigorous efforts to force upon the W9*ld the stupid rapping " delusion as a 'reality; their "spirit guides" who 'lead to nothing good; their "controls" who require restraint; their "miracles'' and their "gush." Then we have their "famous trance media" and "inspirationists," who never possess , higher powers than- are to be found In those who are popularly said to have "a gift o' the gab," and who usually speak "an. infinite deal of nothing." And note the suspicious fact that while you may wait an hour for any form of spirit manifestation, end then not get it, the "inspirationist" has always got . his, or' her, "spirit guides^ well, m hand, and can dash off into any subject m the wordiest and most ornate of canters at a moment's notice? Until spiritualists can give us more th«" tall talk and stale juggling tricks palmed ' off upon too credulous believers as, the communications end the work of ethereal hosts, the worlcKwlll remain sceptical. What a libel upon "the. spirits of the just made perfect," that through some possibly debased, and drunken "medium," they shall give ignorant or frivolous messages to mankind ! ' But so it is, according to the spiritualistic theory. Examine the communications from the spirits and out of the stupid mass see if you can get one grain of wisdom higher than the standard of the medium's mind it emanates from, or as they say, "comes* through." See I if one of the class so vigorously working the spiritual "goldr mine" can give you a single "tip" of any higher value than c sporting prophet's, which may come right, but is far more likely to prove wrong. But spirit mediums have too often been caught tripping for ordinary onlookers to place eny reliance on them, though, they still remain dear to the faithful few, . who regularly take the prodigal ones back again and condone their past offences with new faith and a liberal supply of "whitewash." The recent awful disclosures m a London police court, end. events m New York City, Los Ange- s les, and Sydney, as well as m the police courts of Napier and Christchurch, In. New Zealand, as reported so fully m "Truth," havo cast a temporary shadow over the cause, end even the hoodwinked faithful are beginning .to be chary of giving credence to ell the "physical manifestations," "materialisations," and "trance addresses" that are about. The evil effects of spiritualism upon the moral and . mental condition of its followers is the deepest stain upon its history. The wrecks of thousands of Intellects are monuments to Its heartless fraud and .malign influences. One of the famous Fox ' sisters, after she became Mrs.. Kane, said that if m her late years she had wholly submitted herself to its foolish vagaries and its base temptations, she would undoubtedly have become a raving maniac. It is a pity the police have not more power given them by law than they now possess to stop these consoienceless spiritxialistlc swindlers from ruining the lives and blighting the prospects of those they seek to devour through their devilish greed and dlcked deception. It is not enough for these parasites to Insult and rob the sorrowing and bereaved by selling them felse and lying messages purporting to come from their , loved ones who have "passed beyond," but they, seek to despoil them of what means theyLhave left, and even of their reason, by promising to endow them with powers that the rascals know full well cannot be conferred. It is to be hoped that the authorities, as well us the public, will soon form Its ultimate conclusion upon this flagrant and audacious system of humbugging — that regarded as a superstition it ranks below Voudoolsm and fetish worship, and as on illusion below tho effects produced by the most ordinary magician at a country fair? — Youth, etc., THOS. W. DRIVER.

Wellington .