THE FALLACY OF SPIRITUALISM.

Waikato Times, Volume 93, Issue 14540, 11 December 1920, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE FALLACY OF SPIRITUALISM.

II- THE‘‘CULT’’AND THE CHURCHES

(By R. R. Macgregor, Ph.D., F.R.A.1.)

Apart from the general fallacious grounds on which this new cull seeks to build "a monument more enduring than brass,” but which is, in the opinion of the right-minded, more insecure than shifting sand, there are certain speeille uspeets and considerations of its revolutionary (the Spiritualist objects to this word, he prefers the euphemistic ‘‘broadening”) teachings which should engage the attention of all enquiring intelligences. 1 refer to its opposition to Christianity; its refusal to accept our Lord as anything more than a medium; its denunciation of the vicarious atonement; the literal resurrection of the body; the birth of Jesus; the infallibility of the Bible; and the doctrine of salvation by faith. In the face of this denial, of such essential Christian beliefs, can the Christian, of whatever church, accept Spiritualism as a divine revelation, which claim its devotees urge? Here, then, is our subject; Spiritualism, its attitude to the churches, and conversely their attitude towards this new “religion” which, openly and avowedly, seeks to overthrow faith in God, Christ, and the Bible. Doyle’s Dicta. In the eyes of every churchgoer, no matter of what persuasion, Spiritualism stands condemned out of the writings of its greatest ambassador to our shores, Sir A. Conan Doyle, who has written as follows in his book, “The Vital Message”;— “The Old Testament must be permanently set aside from any relationship to present-day religious life. It ‘poisons the very spring of our religious thought." The Christian Church must stop making the death of Christ of pre-eminent importance, must cease “losing itself in vain dreams of vicarious sacrifices and imaginary falls.” The evangelical idea of the inspiration of even the New Testament is “full of inconsistencies and contradictions.” Spiritism, with its new revelations, will constitute the new and reformed Christianity, "the new spiritual influx which is giving up psychic religion.” Thus does Spiritualism denounce the faith of our fathers; thus docs it reject the principal tenets of a religion that has existed throughout the ages; that has given solace to hundreds of thousands of souls; that still wields its old peculiar power and efficacy; that is broad-based on the belief in a personal God, the reality of Death, the need of faith in Christ as Saviour of the world as a condition of eternal life; the essentia! disparity between sin and holiness and the declaration of man’s divinity. All these and other devoutlyheld beliefs are negatived and even held up to ridicule by the followers of this new cult. Is, then, Christianity, which lias sufficed for centuries, wrong? Was the Man of the Cross nothing more than an ordinary man? Did he die for nothing? Has the Christian world been clutching at a straw for hundreds of years? Have the souls of thousands of departed mistaken the road? Has there not been, judged by our Christian standards, any progress down the course of time? All these questions must be answered in the negative,’if we accept the view-point of the Spiritualist. Such pessimism Is far from the thought of every Christian. Other Opinions. Other spiritualistic opinions could be given. Exigencies of space confine us to mentioning only a few. Mr John Lobb, in a work purporting to* give an account of “Talks with the Dead,” but which is, in numerous instances, to my mind, farcical, writes the following passage, which is uttered by a spirit who, in life, was the Rev. William Rogers, alias “Hang Theology Rogers”“Creeds and dogmas find no favour on the other side. The Christian Church to-day fails to arrest tile attention or command the respect of the world to whom they preach'; their words fall dead without the proof of works.” This passage merely fortifies one of my previous contentions, that the .astounding craze for instant proof, instant demonstration, lias carried Spiritualists away. They have lost faith. Aptly might the Biblical passage be applied to them, “Oh, ye of little faith 1” We are naturally led to enquire, in the face of the above, whether the Power of the Spirit has forsaken the church of to-day, as it is alleged, for Spiritualism. Can the conscientious unbiassed Spiritualist (if there are such) say that his belief commands the respect of the world to as great an extent as Christianity? If so, might it not be reasonable to suppose that his “religion” would furnish better examples and instances in support of its tenets than those afforded by spirits returning to Hie world merely for the purpose of putting sweets in people’s mouths, rapping tables, dropping coins, or suchlike insignificant trifles. To the right-minded, even to the man in the street, all Hie recorded opinions and advices and stories of returned spirits arc a mere plethora of trivialities. If this is the true religion, have not Christians been ludicrously attempting the impossible for centuries? Such insignificant phenomena surely must refute the assertion that Hie power of Hie Spirit is to be found in Spiritualism. Spiritualists also assert that their belief is a direct opposite to materialism; but all these tilings, attributes of their cull—the medium, the planclictte, table-rapping, automatic writing—what are more grossly material? Spiritualism both denies and countenances materialism. Again, followers of Hie “now revelation” say, because Hie teachings and beliefs of Hie churches have persisted for ages that is no reason for their unquestioning acceptance by their devotees. 01 course, it is not, but its antiquity, coupled with its ancient and stillpresent power, is quite a sufficient reason. Spiritualism, on close survey, will be found to be a curious boiling down of Chaldean and other necromancies, pagan Bahylonianism, Buddhism, Posicrucianism, Theosophy, and Gnosticism. A remarkable array! It appears Hat hybridism is ils main feature. lam certain it will take something far more subtle and convincing than any of the recently much-discusscd Spiritualistic paraphernalia lo induce Hie main body of staunch churchmen lo discard thei r old urn! tried faith in a glorified Saviour, and adopt the sham and caricature of divinity Spiritualists offer in ils stead. In the day of reckoning, Spiritualism will he judged out of its own mouth, and stand condemned.

mere hot air fulmlnation, but they must be simpler than we take them to be if they do not understand that the men who are thus talking “direct action” are ready to translate it into practice whenever the occasion appears to them to be Opportune. There has been sufficient proof of that to convince anyone, and yet we understand the shipping companies’ representatives will meet the syndicalist advocates with the view of arranging for co-operation and joint control of the industry. Surely a sense of business responsibility should first firmly demand that before any control of the industry is conceded the waterside Federation shall renounce its policy of direct aclionism, which threatens the staiblity not only of that industry, but of industries in general. No doubt Hie shipping companies want peace. We all want peace, but not peace at Hie sacrifice of principles; not peace with surface consideration and underground warfare; not peace with the everpresent threat of direct action, like a revolver at one’s head; not peace in which one side is acting in co-opera-tion with the other, and that other is using Hie benefits of the co-operation and at the same time advocating a “Council of Action” and other moves that would, if given effect to, destroy the business or drive out the partner. This is not peace, but the most treacherous mode of warfare. It holds the shield of friendship to cover Hie body of hatred. We have no hesitation in saying that if the shipping companies are prepared to condone these most vicious anomalies they must be held equally responsible with the men who are professing cooperation and preaching what would effect general industrial paralysis; neither, in this event, can be held to have any regard for Hie general interests of the pyblic.