The New Zealand THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1919. SPIRITISM

New Zealand Tablet, 13 November 1919, Page 25

The New Zealand THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1919. SPIRITISM

COCKNEY lady at a Spiritist seance asked w//fiwJ&& to be allowed to communicate with the M&M\y spirit of her dead husband. In due time the husband spoke through the. medium. <[gixsib£ The bereaved widow asked, "Is that you, ' Harry?". Harry answered,-."' "Yes, Harriet." "Are you- happier where 'you- are yjf *\ now : than ; when you were" with me?*' "Yes, Harriet. "And where? are : you now, Harry?" . "In Hell, Harriet." The story is of the class described by the phrase, Se non e ver# e ben trovato; but it contains in it an epitome of all that

joes- to' -drive people** nowadays- to '.Spiritism'; ! The" poor "•" : ignorantCockney' whom the; Reformation has robbed of the comfort of the Communion of Saints is a type ■yi the many that hunger for assurance that the, s dead are not lost to them for ever; /and the sardonic \ flip- : , pancy of the answers has in it. the .essence of i all that 20'uld. be said. to the < true nature of the T ; communicareceived in • : such ways : . by • ■ a ; yearning, • ignorant, credulous people. > i In' s all i ages there have been : many persons who sought ' ; to v - penetrate into the - dim region v; beyond the dark portals of ;• death, riot content with the knowledge vouchsafed them by : God;' and ' never,'' too, was a time when evil spirits were ( not ready to avail themselves of this human .curiosity for. : their own ends. It is borne out.-by . testimony, from all. sides that the Great , War, has made people, hungrier for knowledge, of the dead, and that men and women > hitherto plunged in 'the materialism of the world are yearning for some assurance of a spiritual 1 ; and abiding life behind the veil. For lack of better knowing, many are driven to ; Spiritism, and are "thus exposed to innumerable dangers from' which religion" alone could save them. Spiritism reaps. its harvest under such conditions; and it has become one of the real evils that came in the train of the war which was, according to politicians, to.{produce nothing but, good. ■ : "\iyA .'■-. ■;: —' :>■« *■■• ■.:■■ Spiritism, which means the belief that the living can communicate: with the spirits of the dead, must be distinguished from Spiritualism, which is the doctrine that teaches us that' there is a spiritual order, as real as the material order which we see and feel and hear around us. Spiritism covers in a general way such phenomena as table-turning, knocks, messages from a distance, levitation, disappearances and. appearances, prophecies. - One theory ■ suggests • that such phenomena may be explained by the hypothesis that we are surrounded • in life by a world of spirits making various efforts to communicate with us, arid that through speci- '* ally 'endowed persons called mediums such communications are established. .... Another tells, us that the phenomena may be explained by telepathy and by the unexplored powers .of the sub-conscious . soul. within us, which,is intimately connected with past, present, and future. There are, or at any rate there used to be, many ' who ridiculed Spiritism and condemned it straightway as conjuring or white magic. But in view of the testimony of men like Sir William. Crookes, Professor , Lombroso, and Sir Oliver Lodge, a writer in the Dublin Review rightly asserts that it is now impossible for any man "with the shadow of a claim to education -to say the whole thing is nonsense." No doubt there is a great deal of trickery arid fraud, but it is undeniable that, as Sir Oliver Lodge tells us: "The evidence goes to prove that discarnate intelligence under certain conditions may interact with us on the material side, thus gradually coming within our scientific ken." The Materialists are bitterly . opposed to any such recognition as this, as it is a complete refutation of all their theories of life and being. Christianity has always taught the existence of a spiritual world, and sees nothing impossible in the fundamental position of Spiritism. It is not until Spiritists come to draw conclusions from the- admitted phenomena that they come into collision with Revelation. The Church teaches us that the souls in. Heaven are permitted to know what passes on earth and to be interested in the living. We are also taught-that-we can help the souls in Purgatory, who probably are endowed with knowledge of what happens . among their friends on earth. So that in so far' forth as Spiritism asserts that there are spirits, and that they /are interested in us,, it is on perfectly safe ground. , Where it errs is in supposing that (1) we , can communicate -with the disembodied souls of the dead, and. that (2) to seek to do so is right and expedient. The Church condemns both these errors. The. dead are either in Heaven, Purgatory, "or Hell; ; arid . it is impious to suppose that ■ God would permit a ' soul to be called back,at the .request • of sojme curious jSerson,/perhaps, to answer some trivial ques-

tion. And.-grave scientists*; who have .gone deeply into the matter have, from ~an altogether different view-pointj.reached-the.same conclusion as the 'Chureh; that it% :; neitherf right'nor expedient' to seek' to open "tip' communication "with' spirits.' Good Christians live /and"' move in a world of spirits. They need .no rappangs. and. voices to assure -them of. the reality -of -spiritual things. -H They have ; the ; consolation'- of the v Communion of Saints, and they ask to know no more than God permits concerning their dear dead friends. .. r The..hun-~ ger of others for knowledge of the dead is a proof of the void in human hearts from "which religion has been stolen, and the true remedy is the restoration, of ,the faith in Our Lord" Jesus Christ: !"' /_ ~; •'"/;/ \'.. '"/'■["'/"' ......... ....,...,.,.. .... .. . . ■■[ ""■• •' •■• ''••' :v ,j'"'^;.j ..:. In. conclusion, -let us quote the. following-words in which a contemporary sums up "• the 'problem': -U- >•■•• "I would advise them to have nothing to do with, the • attempt' to seek consolation about the ; dead from ; converse,' real or imaginary, '.with' the spirits of the dead V .and that mainly on' three grounds: (1) that the best sort of consolation is ; to be -found in putting your trust: in Jesus .Christ, as the unique and final revealer of God and the spiritual world; and that the limits of knowledge under which He lays us had better be respected. (2) That the inquiries suggested are sure to lead to a morbid and excessive pre-occupation with the dead, and to upset the sane balance of the spiritual life. (3) That ' Spiritism is sure to develop a new sort of religion, a new kind of revelation, which, again,: is fairly certain to be in more or less marked deviation from the belief of the Church and the New .Testament;., and if that is so,, and if it is.to. be- taken for granted that the source of this new disclosure are really spirits, I then we must consider that'spirits may of different qualities, good and bad, and that the penalty of pre- \ sumptuousness may be deception." . . v . The Church will not allow us to believe that the X souls of the dead may be evoked at the will of the medium. -But the Church does not forbid us to believe that the demons, who are always . ready to interfere I for their own.ends in our affairs, will not accept the invitation directed to others. ... ..... ~ ..