Paper on "Occultism" or "Spiritualism"

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume XI, Issue 2, 1 April 1918, Page 84

Paper on "Occultism" or "Spiritualism"

Foreword.

My first thought, when asked to write a paper for this evening, was to tell you something about the work I am most interested m at present. We have been reading and hearing a great deal about China and India, and were particularly interested m the accounts of midwifery m those lands, so that to sketch you a contrast between midwifery as conducted at Home and Abroad would have been an easy task. Had I done so, you would have seen that that to which their most anxious thought and attention is devoted, is — not asepsis — oh no, they know nothing of harmful microbes, but the dire necessity of appeasing the multitudes of malignant spirits "waiting to injure mother and babe. My interest being thus aroused m spiritism, I began to study it, and was horrified to find how great was the hold it was acquiring m our own lands. I knew, as you do, that many people were putting themselves m the hands of metaphysicians, mindhealers, or whatever you call them. Time was when we saw no harm m doing so. I knew also that our own town abounded m fortune-tellers, and that scores of people distracted by anxiety were applying to occult sources for news of their loved ones. Knowing all this, I longed to speak to you about it, but hesitated lest the subject might be considered by some uninteresting, or unsuited to this audience, and realising my own inability to do justice to it. As the outcome of uncertainty, I wrote to the superintendents of two of our mental hospitals and their replies dispelled any shadow of a doubt as regards the suitability of the subject, making me realise that as nurses we should know all about these things, chiefly that we may warn and help others, who are being led on to ground more dangerous than any at Rotor ua. Dr. King's letter speaks for itself. Dr. J comments on the coincidence of my writing just after several articles had appeared m their papers on the subject, and telling me how he would have answered certain statements made ; and it is our privilege to read that unpublished reply.

Copy of Letter from Dr. Truby King.

" I think your idea to give the nurses an address on the harm done by the growth of occultism, superstition, etc., an excellent one. It always amazes me that persons of any sense can consult fortune-tellers, etc., and attach importance to what they profess to be able to foresee and foretell, and the same applies to the consulting of uneducated and ignorant quacks who profess to be able to cure disease by what they call " suggestion ' or ' faithhealing. 1 " You ask my opinion and experience as to the mental effects of occultism on the people who delivei themselves over to dabbling ia such matters, the effect on the stability of the mind and nervous system. " One cannot give details m a few lines on so complex a matter ; but I may say m general that no class of patient is more unsatisfactory to deal with than the woman (and they, the occultists, are mostly women), who come to us with the history of having been for a longer or shorter period, m the hands of occultists or spiritualists, or of having given much attention to such things. t " The stereotyped story they tell us is that they seem to have lost their ' willpower.' and this loss or normal governing .power, tends to involve even the humblest functions of organic life, for instance, control and regulation of the urinary and bowel functions. Twice m the couise of three months I was consulted by highly refined middle-aged ladies who had become depressed and melancholic, because after being treated by a s suggestion expert : and occultist for constipation (which the expert seemed for a time to have cured) they found themselves quite unable to evacuate the bowel, without direct or indirect orders or messages sent repeatedly from the expert. " One of these ladies, who was travelling round the world, and only sojourning m Dunedin for a few months, found herself unable to leave New Zealand because the bowels failed to clear themselves without messages coming to hand from the expert. She said that if she went to Timaru o

Chris tchuroh the expert could keep the machinery going by means of the telephone or by telegram, but she could not face the return voyage to England where the beneficient influence would be cut otf. 1 This was the borderland of insanity, and the other woman was quite insane . You will find cases, such as the above, described and exjjlained m an admirable book by Albert Moll, which I shall be glad if you will return to me after perusal. You should also read Robert H. Benson's novel 1 The Necromancers,' which is seriously written from the Roman Catholic point of view and has the advantage of also being an interesting story and novel. ' The people who imagine they get trivial and often absurd messages from the other world, by means of seances, etc., really bring themselves to the very borderland of insanity, and it is often hard to say whether or not one ought to regard them as having actually crossed the border and become insane when they ' hear voices,' though m truth no one is speaking to them either from the earth or from beyond the earth. v By getting into a confused and dreamy state they have brought about ' auditory hallucinations ' quite similar to those brought home to people m the course of D.T.s or other forms of mental derangement or insanity. The alcoholic brings this to pass by poisoning his highest and most sensitive brain cells by alcohol, while the devotee of occultism or mysticism wills his highest colls to sleep, and passes into a day-dream m which for the time being he cannot distinguish between reverie and reality. In both cases the highest portions of the nervous system have been put out of function, m the one case by poison, and m the other case by foolishly monkeying with Nature, pretending juggling with the senses, dispensing with commonsense and with the truth, and getting into the bad habit of not being satisfied with the normal and natural means by which the Creator has appointed that we shall see and hear on this earth (vie, the miraculous eyes and ears and the nerves leading from them to the still more miraculous brain centres). " In this matter I quite agree with the Roman Catholics and Father Benson— l cannot imagine anything more antagonistic to true religion than the attitude of the average

occultist or mystic. One has only to road history to understand the fatal influence mysticism exercised over the people who delivered themselves over to it m the earl} 7 centuries of the Christian Church ; and no doubt this is why the Roman Catholics so utterly discountenance anything of the kind among the members of their flock." Copy of Dr. J *s Letter. "It is really rather an extraordinary coincidence that you should have written me on that much vexed subject, ' Occultism,' for a short time ago one of the papers here, published under the heading ( War and Insanity,' an interesting article b}^ Dr. Robertson, Medical Superintendent of one of the largest Scottish Mental Hospitals, on that very subject. He referred to Sir Oliver Lodge's book ' Raymond,' and deprecated its being published at such a time, and warmly praised Lord Halifax's criticism of it. The following day appeared a letter by a notorious spiritualist here, ridiculing the idea of ' unknown men J like Dr. Robertson and Lord Halifax daring to criticise such a well-known scientist as Sir OLver Lodge, and then branching off somewhat as follows : w lt will, no doubt, be a surprise to your readers to learn that according to the Government Statistics for the past ten years, only m two cases was occultism given as the possible cause of insanity, while scores and scores of persons m our mental hospitals are at the present time suffering from religious mania.' tk I was sorely tempted to reply to this letter, but disliked the idea of being dragged into a newspaper controversy, which was obviously what the man wanted. I would have said, that as I had helped to compile these statistics for the past ten years, I probably knew as much about them as the author of the letter, that only the principal assigned cause was put m the statistics, and when occultism was unquestionably an important factor m the patient's breakdown, if there was a neuropathic history, as is usually the case, the assigned cause was heredity, and further, that it was a surprise to me to hear about the cases of religious mania. "I have been over eleven years m this work, and have not come across a single case of religious mania, for there was no

such thing — as a pathological entity it is unknown. One may as well speak of wireless telegraphy or electrical mania according to the delusions that are most m evidence ; and I should have added, that I've known of a number of cases, who probably would not have become insane, but for occultism ; for its baleful effects on neuropathic individuals are beyond question. ' Why, even m this small mental hospital here, I've had three cases of this sort. If foolish women and men too, who dabble with' the poison could only have seen one of these patients for a few minutes as she was after admission, they would have had a wholesome lesson. " When I was on my way Home m 1907, I struck up a friendship with a R.C. Priest and his bosom friend — a German, but nevertheless a gentleman and a very fine chap. The Priest, a young man, does rescue work m London, on the lines of Dr. Barnardo's Homes, and his friend assists (or assisted) him. This German, Mr. Roupert, had been an Anglican Clergyman , but had become a Romanist. He showed me a booklet he had written on this subject, " Occultism" or Spiritualism, or whatever' 'ism " they call it, and it was illustrated by the most remarkable photographs, taken by himself, of weird spirit forms. I had, and have, no doubt these were genuine, but can't and won't attempt to explain them. He told me that he had entirely given up researches into the Spirit World ; otherwise he was convinced he would have become insane, as he was now convinced that the spirits were ! evil spirits' pretending they were the spirits of the departed." " Occultism " or " Spiritualism." In introducing to your notice occultism, or spiritualism as it is more commonly known, I am but following the example of many of our leading mental specialists, and as I wish to point out to you many of the terrible dangers of this fearful and rapidly increasing evil, I cannot do better than use their words. There are so many aspects of this subject, any one of which would make a study for an evening, that, like the captain of a man-of-war, I must clear the decks for action ; dealing m as few words as possible with the origin, nature, and development of this thing ; and concentrating our time

and thought on the physical and mental effects thereof, and if at times, I seem to incline to the moral side, it is not that I have forgotten that I am writing a medical paper for nurses, but that it is almost impossible to do otherwise m discussing the dangers arrising from that which, not only is a false religion, but which, beyond doubt, is destined m a few short years to become a terrific power for evil. DEFINITION. Naturally the first necessity is to define our subject. What is this thing known as spiritualism, or more correctly, ' Spiritism.' It is occultism, i.e., that which emanates from a source not generally understood or recognised to exist, attributed either to a mysterious psychical power possessed by certain persons or media, or to the pretence of certain spirit beings who produce the phenomena. Many of our leading and cleverest men take the first view, and one understands their view-point. For instance, Dr. Moll says : "I have explored telepathy cures from a distance, animal magnetism, tablemoving, spirit rapping, materialisations, and so-called fire-media, but I never came across a single phenomenon which was not open to explanation, by those forces known to reputable science. I never thought it necessary to call to my aid the hypothesis of spirit intervention, or of mysterious psychical forces, to explain such manifestations as came to my notice, but I have often been thwarted m my object, because the conditions I imposed were not adhered to . The common subterfuge of the spiritualists, of course, is that the very presence of a sceptical person and the observance of strict conditions, frustrate the manifestations of the spirit world." To my mind that "but" rules him out of court as a judge, because by his own showing he has never succeeded m giving it a fair test. Let mo quote what others say about it. ' The Bible recognises not only the material world, but a spiritual world intimately connected with it, and spiritual beings, both good and bad, who have access to, and influence for good or ovil, the world's inhabitants." Again, 'It is a revival by Mary and Kate Fox, of the demon worship of the ancient Pagans, ' and again, "Itis an out-

burst of demonism, which is a predicted and ominous sign of the times, and rightly styled a trinity of evil, trickery, delusion, diabolism." Only time and the occasion prevent my proving to you that it is identical with necromancy, witchcraft, divination, and astrology. Fortune-telling, palmistry, as practised, crystal-gazing, etc., all are its children ; while it is intimately related to Christian Science, and the multitude of new religions that fill our Saturday's paper, which Pember likens to " Chips of Marble, some having more of one colour and some of another, but which, when fitted together again, show a perfect pattern, and that pattern is spiritism." Spiritism, then, is an effort on the part of humans to establish an unlawful intercourse with spirit beings on another plane. These spirit beings are not what they pretend, and by many are believed to be the spirits of the departed dead ; and this intercourse is strictly forbidden, and condemned by the Creator Himself, of this we have abundant proof. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelations, is consistent and awful m its denunciation, warning, and condemnation ; the punishment meted out being death to the individual and awful judgment, if not utter destruction and anniiiiliation to the community. Read the history of the world before the flood, read the history of the Jewish race, and the Canaanitish nations, and you will realise what I mean. But, m passing, let me give you just two passages illustrating this. Quote Deut. 18 10-11-12: "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, witch, charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, wizard, or a necromancer ; for all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord" etc., etc. Leviticus 20, 27 : " A man or woman that hath a familiar spirit shall surely be put to death." I had an experience, some years ago, with an astrologer, who sent me a partial horoscope — it was a remarkably clever bait and only the remembrance of those passages kept me from following it up. If there were no possibility of people having intercourse with familiar spirits,

guides, and controls, why this Divine condemnation ? While the dreadful penalty stated surely indicates the wickedness of such practices according to the Divine Mind ; it is a profane curiosity, a breaking through of the laws of God, to gaze at that which is forbidden. It could not be practised m countries where the Bible revelation is taught and beJieved by the mass of the people. Moreover, we are distinctly told that m the last part of this age " Many shall give up their old faith and listen to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons : ' You remember, too, what we are told m the Apocalypse about the three unclean spirits coming up out of the pit and inciting the nations to war ; if we have not at all events a foreshadowing of it m Europe to-day, what have we ? A recent writer discussing why victory is withheld from us says : " Spiritism, m these talks with the dead, thus seeks to draw aside the veil which God has seen fit to draw over the future life." It has never accomplished any good results, never exposed a wrong, or detected a criminal though many seances have been held for that purpose. So, m dismissing that aspect of the question, let me just say this ; if it were good for us to know more of the future or of the life of those who have departed, we would have been told it. -HISTORY. Now, just for a few minutes before speaking of the danger of having anything to do with occultism m any form whatever, let us trace briefly the history of this strange befief. A few decades ago, like a cloud upon the horizon, no bigger than a man's hand ; to-day it threatens to cover the whole heavens, and is spoken of by many as the religion of the future. Then to trace the history of spiritualism, it is necessary to trace the influence exercised by evil spirits on mankind, since the earliest ages, and that influence began m the Garden of Eden, for indeed the forties of last century witnessed merely a revival of that, which is as old as Adam for the power back of that revival is identical with that described by St. Paul, when he says, 'We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against Principalities and Powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against

spiritual wickedness m high places — sometimes translated — wicked spirits m the heavenlies." Dr. C. Williams, author of tc Insanity and Mental Specialist," says : ;t I venture to predict that just as scientific men no longer consider it unscientific to admit that people m the body can hypnotize, influence, and control other people m the body, so very shortly it will no longer be considered unscientific to admit that disembodied beings can, and do, act upon and control m a somewhat similar way beings m the flesh. I have devoted the very best years of my life to the subject, and have arrived at the conclusion that disembodied beings can, and often do, obsess the fleshly inhabitants who people the earth's surface." I never thought very much about this subject till lately, and my feeling since studying it, has been one of absolute amazement. Truly there are more things m heaven and earth than this world dreams of. All through the Old Testament we see examples of the terrible results of tampering with occu ltism . In the Ist Chron. 10-13, King Saul, you remember, died because he enq uired of one that had a familiar spirit ; and secular history supplies abundant evidence of its existence m all parts of the world, down to the present time, while Paganism has ever been closely associated with spiritism and necromancy Readers of the "Life of Mary Slessor " will know that m parts of Africa, if twins are born, both mother and babes are left to die, if not actually killed, because it is supposed one twin must belong to an evil spirit. Probably you also know that m such lands as China and India little girls are daily being sold to the temples to be married to the Gods, and their parents think it an honour. I have read that frequently before a crisis m the world's history, there is unusual activity m the spirit world — certain it is at the time of the first advent— they furnished abundant evidence of their presence and power, but when Christ came into the world, he brought a new light with Him, and wherever that shone it dispelled the darkness of Paganism and the powers of evil wore driven back. As Milton so beautifully expresses it :—

" The oracles are dumb, no voice or hideous hum Runs through the arched roof m words deceiving. Apollo from his shrine, can no more divine With hollow shriek the steeps of Delphos leaving. No nightly trance or breached spell, Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell." You cannot read English history or literature, Shakespeare for instance, without meeting frequent references to witchcraft, nor need I remind you of the nations opinion of it. Lord Halifax shows that it is identical with the spiritualism of to-day. Lot me quote extracts from his arresting comparisons : ' ; What is the essential difference between such tales and the accounts, say, of the Delphic Oracle, and the Pythonesses, with their tripods, and the trance into which they were thrown ? What, I say, is the difference between aIJ these accounts of ancient necromancy, witchcraft, and dealings with the unseen and the professed and acknowledged claims of the spiritualism of to-day." The modern phase, as we have already seen, commenced about the middle of last century, when the discovery was made m America, that communication could be established with the spirit world by means of the alphabet. The first message thus transmitted was a typical lie : "We are all your dear friends and relatives." The movement thus commenced spread across America like prairie fire till its adherents were numbered by millions. It has been well said, we have travelled a long way since then, and the occult has become so fashionable as to supersede all other religions, for the last thirty years, under various names, it has been extending its influence. Prior to the war the United States and Australia were its strongholds, now England seems to be coming its chief centre. Another writer, twenty years ago, speaks of " Psychical epidemics, yielding to no arguments of reason, whose career the law seemed impotent to really check." He tells how m the latter part of the eighties there was one society of occultists m Berlin, while m 1 000 there were some nine rival societies ; what must they number

now ? -He thinks the swinging of the pendulum to occultism, mysticism, and superstition is the natural reaction from the extreme materialism rampant m the sixties of last century, quite possibly. Certainly it is rapidly bringing about the con dition of things we are told to expect m the terrible " Day of Preparation." Adapting the words of Dr. Mott : " The present sociological conditions prevailing m Germany as well as m other countries (we might say m the world) offer a fertile ground for this psychical epidemic." (That was nearly twenty years ago.) What of the added and terrible fertilisation of the last three years ? Is it any wonder all things considered, that a crop has sprung up surpassing the wildest imaginings of Mr. Mott, so that to-day spiritualism is advertised by over 200 periodicals, and claims 60,000,---000 adherents, including the highly culture!, intellectual, and the influential of many lands. Sir Oliver Lodge, Wallace (Astronomer), Conan Doyle are names well known m the world of science. Its influence m the religious world is terrible, many even of our Ministers having been ensnared, and think, too, of the black cloud of superstition engendered m our o \vn lands— tokens , images , charm s of all descriptions, sold to the army by millions and believed m by our soldiers and their friends. Slot prayer machines m the streets of England's cities, and, of course, mascots m every regiment, as on most motor cars ; and now, by the discovery of some sort of morse machine, the medium is becoming unnecessary. Independent communication, so I have read, being established between the individual and the spirit world. If we had a similar medical invention we might abolish the bacteriologist and his media when investigating microbes. Think what that would mean ? DANGERS. L could tell you much more concerning all this, but my object to-night is not merely to interest you, but rather to appeal to you as a body of nurses to warn others of the dangers involved. This would be our clear duty were it only a destroyer of the body, but because it destroys the body, unhinges the mind, and it produces a spiritual wreck, therefore it is our threefold duty to warn all we can against it, especially at a time when not only is mental healing

rampant, but as an English writer says (Willomatt) : " Its claims are appealing to so many with irresistible force ; it promises to satisfy the deep cravings of many bereaved hearts ; hundreds of thousands are powerfully tempted just now ; their loved ones have fallen m the war. Spiritualism claims to put them m touch with these departed ones." How well we can understand the temptation. We know what it is "to yearn for the touch of a vanished hand, and the sound of a voice that is still." Spiritism claims to satisfy this longing, and open communication between the living and the dead. It is the very element of truth it contains which makes this claim so overwhelming to man}' an enquirer. Some one goes to a seance, a total stranger to all present, and possibly sceptical, if not actually antagonistic. He there receives a personal call through the lips of the medium (such cases are frequent) and is put m touch with the supposed spirit of a departed friend, who establishes that identity b} T relating facts known only to himself and that friend. Herein lies the danger. Just as of old, those who sought advice from the oracles were told a certain amount of truth m order to entice them later to their destruction, so present-day enquirers into spiritualism are frequently enticed on by the very truthfulness of the communications they first received. Thus believing themselves to be m direct communication with their departed friends, as spiritualism claims. Now, just here the unwary and unwarned fail to see two things. First, the truth of the facts communicated m no way proves the identity of the one making the communication ; and secondly, the inhabitants of the spirit world — not " departed humans " — are possessed of quite sufficient intelligence and knowledge of human affairs to assume the supposed personality. Moreover, even if spiritualism were able to put us m touch with the departed, for that very reason it stands condemned m God's Word, and to have any dealings with it is wilfully to oppose and defy the strongest possible denunciation of God. We have already seen that the hand stretched out from the unseen world is no! the hand of a departed friend, but something far more terrible.

In the able article by Viscount Halifax, * k Raymond, some Criticisms," we read : ' Every instructed Christian knows that he has no right to meddle m such mattters." And why ? Because we are not the only inhabitants of this world m which we live ; because we are surrounded by, and exposed to, the influence of numberless spiritual agencies, of which some are good and some are bad. This, Sir Oliver Lodge himself acknowledges — it is quite possible, all experience proves it, for men and women to expose themselves to the most terrible dangers ; dangers of which they little know either the extent or the depth, by bringing themselves, through dealing with forbidden things, into the power of those who are ever planning and endeavouring to compass their destruction. Its consequences may not always be immediate, but of the general result of spiritualistic practices there can be no doubt. They are ruin — intellectual and moral, sometimes actual madness, and oftener than some may suppose, all the signs that accompany diabolical possession. If for nothing more than its physical effects, spiritism should be condemned. We are commanded to cultivate as cue of the graces, self-control (translated temperance) ,and we know the physical harm done by even a temporary loss of control caused by some passion — while spiritism lessens, if not destroys, that control, as you shall presently hear. Moreover, that control, once given over to another, is intensely hard to recover. In fact, one of their own leaders says that " when the votaries of spiritism enter its inner circles they have no desire to turn back," and even m lesser cases the road back is as difficult, rough, and beset by persecution as the road m is easy." I have read of a victim who had a horrible feeling that something was gripping her shoulder and she longed to be delivered, but would not at the price of denouncing spiritism Canon McClure says : " This is a matter which needs to be stixmgly impressed on people of a morbid curiosity, and on that section of the public, who, with a levity that is nothing less than revolting, intrude on regions beset with extreme danger. The dabbler may with ominous facility become a miserable victim ; the

follower of what he or she thinks to be a fashionable quest is setting out on a path, whence the retracing of steps may be found a struggle of terrible intensity." — (Canon McClure's Spiritism.) Pember says : " Man is a spirit m prison and so he must be content to abide till God unlocks the door of his cell. But if he will have instant enjoyment by a premature excitation of those potentialities which are reserved for future developir. i nt , he can only do so by felonously breaking through his dungeon bars and thus shattering the harmony of his present nature." Speaking of the spirit of the medium leaving the body (and if you wish to see the dangers attending that, read the " Necromancers "), and another spirit m control taking possession, he says : ' The unlawful confusion brings its own punishment — m addition to the fearful judgment to come. For our bodies appear to be not only a prison, but a fortress, and is not improbably devised for the very purpose of sheltering us m some degree from the corrupting influence of the demons In its normal condition it effectually repels their more open and violent assaults, but if we once suffer the fence to be broken down, we are no longer able to restore it, and are henceforth exposed to the attacks of malignant enemies." Miss Showers, of whom Pember tells, was the daughter of an Indian officer, who became a medium at the age of sixteen years, and (says her mother m writing of her) she will probably never entirely recover from the effects of the spirit manifestations. She lost the use of her limbs and lay m a partially cataleptic state of utter helplessness for more than six months— with the awful, unspeakable reality of spiritualism ever before her. A student of elemon possession, as described m the New Testament, and as witnessed m heathen lands to-day, is supplied with much evidence as regards the physical harm done to the victims. They cut themselves with knives, throw themselves m the fire or the water, do all manner of loathsome things to their bodies : and again, m our own time and lands many suffer not only unnecessary illnesses, but even death, because they consult the wrong persons. Many a one has signed their death warrant by neglecting to go to a

qualified doctor, preferring to dabble m occultism. But enough of that. Mental disease is worse than physical, and the effect on the body is as nothing to that of the mind. But my pen is hopeless^ inadequate ; one wants the pen of a ready writer and words of fire to do justice to this subject. Lacking both, I shall call to my aid some of our mental specialists, who know so much more than I, and can speak with authority. I have already read two of our New Zealand doctors' letters. Dr. Robertson, of Edinburgh, who has studied it long, and is disinclined to take the view of spirit possession says that "he felt it to be necessary at this time, as the result of several cases that had come under his care, to utter a note of warning to those who were seeking consolation m their sorrows by practical experiments m the domain of spiritualism. He would remind enquirers into the subject that if they would meet those who were hearing messages from spirits every hour of the day, who are seeing forms, angelic and human, surrounding them, that are invisible to ordinary persons, and who are receiving other manifestations of an equally occult nature they only required to go to a mental hospital to find them." Continuing, "He warned those who might possibly inherit a latent tendency to nervous disorders to have nothing to do with practical inquiries of a spiritualistic nature, lest they should awaken this dormant proclivity to hallucinations within their brains," Dr. Forbes Winslow expressed his opinion that a large proportion of the cases m a lunatic asylum are cases of possession, and not of madness. He distinguished the demoniac by a strange duality, and by the fact that when temporarily released from the oppression of the demon, he is often able to describe the force, which seizes upon his limbs and compels him to acts or words of shame against his will. Apropos of which, m an article by Mr. H. W. Seager, he says : "I met a lady by appointment, who had been a spiritualist, and m consequence had been confined to an asylum. She made a rather remarkable statement to the effect that half of the people m asylums were not mad, but possessed, and said she was able to distinguish between the two. because she was a medium."

The same writer says : tb Many families have had their home circles broken up, by its members having to be confined m lunatic asylums, and moreover, it is not uncommon for the spirits to recommend married couples to separate, and form socalled affinities.' Do you wonder the late Dr. Talmage said of it "It is an unclean and damnable thing For the sake of man's honour and woman's purity, let the last vestige of it perish for ever." A Personal Experience of the Baleful Influence of Spiritualism. Some years ago I was called to a patient (suffering from acute pneumonia), living m one of the many suburban houses of a familiar suburb of London. The first impression received was that of admiration for the general physique of the patient himself ; a remarkably fine looking old man, whose crimson skull cap accentuated the snowy white hair and beard.. It was obvious that intellect of a high order registered itself upon the I fty brow of the old gentleman, and the statement by the doctor that here was a brain second to Shakespeare, was readily received as a probable fact by me. I then became aware that the room was lined with shelves of books— books and pamphlets everywhere, and the vocation of the patient was plainly seen to be that of poet and author. At one time this man and his family had lived m affluence and had been lionized by high society . On looking through these books I discovered that years had been spent on writing volumes on ancient Egypt, the Light of the World, denying the inspiration of the Bible as the word of God. Spiritualism was set on the throne of worship m this particular house. What was the effect which soon became apparent to my mind ? As I had been ignorant of the character or condition of the family, I had been called m to professionally assist. First, there was a terrible hopelessness m the attitude of the eldest daughter, herself a very clever woman who had a high position m educational work. She was devoted to her father, but could do nothing but stand for hours gazing dejectedly at him. She appeared to never take any food, and presently the secret

came out, and she was obliged to succumb to the deadly influence of brandy drinking, which had alone kept her going for days. hi bed she would lie for ten days or a fortnight, utterly and helplessly drunk. Secondly, there was a chaos m household management, poverty was extreme, disorder and incapacity seemed to reign m the domestic region, and a sinister evil seemed to have the upper hand. One day the wife appeared m the bedroom with the evident intention of saying something to soothe and cheer the mind of her husband. She told him that she had been m communication with the spirits of two daughters who had died years before, and that they were waiting for him to come to them. The effect was electric m the sudden rousing of the old man's gradually weakening powers. He became enraged and furious, and as if possessed by an evil spirit. He laid hold of anything that was near, m the shape of a watch chain, glasses, bottles of medicine (which had been on a small table near the bed) ; these he flung across the room and out of the window causing a terrific noise and creating an atmosphere of fear and dismay. The wife took her departure and paid no more visits to the sick room. The frenzy of the old man gradually subsided and he sank lower and lower, yet his vitality seemed to be held m the power and grip of some invisible chains, and for four days and nights he lay dying and struggling with death ; apparently given over to the possession of those beings he had surrendered himself to. His influence had been strong on those around him, and he had been the means of destroying their faith , and m conseq nence had robbed himself and his family of any consolation afforded by the belief m a living Christ, nor did they know of the presence of the one true spirit promised by Him to His followers while here on earth. It is needless to say how thankful I was to leave such an atmosphere, one which has always remained with me as an example of the powers of darkness and of the effect of human tampering with the unseen.

Extract from a Letter from Nurse Stinson, China (Dunedin Hospital). A couple of weeks ago a young woman tormented by a demon died here. Her mother and husband and two children came with her and all lived m one room. Does it sound like a hospital ? Lt was a terrible death, and really from fright. She came m to escape the demon, and had slight pneumonia and a weak heart ; but the day she died suddenly, she was really well except for her heart. Tf you will read m your Bibles of demons attacking people, you will get some idea of what happened here. I only saw her onee — the second time — and she died the third time, her weak heart being unable to stand the awful fear. I actually trembled myself and we all four of us prayed, but like the disciples, who once failed, we failed also. The woman was quite unconscious that we were with her, and wrestled and st niggled and implored some unseen thing to leave her. It was so real that we felt the reality —nobody struggling for life with a visible foe could have been more terrified. She shrieked and shrieked, and said "You came when I was alone," though we never left her alone. She poured with perspiration, her face was purple, and at times she trembled violently. When it was over she panted fearfully. She asked us why we had left her. The first time she said some huge horror attempted to take her away. The second time she said there was no heaven and no earth, and the text it brought to my mind was this: 'A horror of great darkness fell upon him. No help for her anywhere, but this awful wrestling m the horror of great darkness. How awful is the power of Satan and his followers, and m China he is worshipped. We are nearing the fifth Moon, and the first five days are wholly given up to the Dragon Festival— that old serpent also called the Devil and Satan. The time is at hand when he will be bound for a 1000 years, and because the time is short, he is fiercer than ever, and spiritualism flourishes m the West.