THE TRAGEDY OF THE SEANCE
By MONTAGUE SUMMERS
The mediums, who of their own will
freely open the door to these spirits, who invite them to enter, stand in the
most deadly peril. A Spiritist of many years’ experience
who saw not too late the hazard and abandoned that creed, writes as follows:-
“Spirit communion soon absorbs all the time,
faculties, hopes, fears, and desires of its devotees, and herein lies one of
the greatest dangers of spiritualism.
Infatuated by communication with the unseen inhabitants of the hidden
world, the medium loses his or her interest in the things pertaining to every
day life and interest. A soft and
pleasing atmosphere appears to surround them. The realities of flesh and blood are
lost in ideal dreaming and there is no incentive to break away from a state of
existence so agreeable, no matter how monstrous are the delusions practised by
the spirits. Their consciences are so
callous as if seared with a hot iron, sin has in them lost its wickedness, and
they are willing dupes to unseen things who delight to control their every
faculty. Very seldom has a
full-fledged spiritualist been able to comprehend the necessity and blessedness
of the religion of Jesus Christ, and to withdraw from the morbid conditions
into which he/she has fallen.
“For about three months I was in the power of spirits, having
a duel existence, and greatly tormented by their contradictory and
unsatisfactory operations. They tormented me to a very severe extent,
and I desired to be free from them.
I lost much of my confidence in them, and their blasphemy and
uncleanness shocked me. But they
were my constant companions. I
could not get rid of them. They tempted me to suicide and murder, and
to other sins. I was fearfully beset and bewildered and
deluded. There was no human
help for me. They led me into strange extravagances of action, and to believe, in a
measure, a few of their delusions, often combining religion and devilry in a
most surprising manner.”*
[*
Spirit Possession, by H. M.
Hugunin. (This casts full light on
the Scripture phrase – ‘possessed by an unclean spirit’; for it is not occupation
only, but possession.]
In
my own experience, I myself, not once, but over and over again, have seen all these
symptoms unmistakably marked in those whose sole interest and aim in life
seemed to be a constant attendance at seances. I have watched, in spite of every effort
unable to check and dissuade, the fearfully rapid development of such
characteristics in persons who have begun to dabble with Spiritism, at first no
doubt in moods of levity and wanton curiosity, but soon with hectic anxiety and
the most morbid absorption. Some
fifteen years ago in a well-known English provincial town a circle was formed
by a number of friends to experiment with table-turning, psychometry, the
planchette, ouija-boards, crystal-gazing, and the like. They were, perhaps, a little tired of
the usual round of social engagements, dances, concerts, bridge, etc. They wanted some new excitement,
something a little out of the ordinary.
Before
long they met twice, three times, every evening in the week. Professional mediums were engaged who
travelled down from
Argument,
pleading, reproof, authority, official admonishment, all proved useless; one
could only stand by and see the terrible thing doing its deadly work. The symptoms were exactly as above
described. In two cases, men, the moral fibre was for a while apparently
destroyed altogether; in another case, a woman, there was obsession, and
persons who either knew nothing of, or had no sort of belief in Spiritism,
whispered of eccentricities, of outbursts of uncontrolled passion and
ravings, which pointed to a disordered mind, to an asylum. All sank into a state of apathy; former
interests vanished; the amenities of social intercourse were neglected and
forgotten; old friendships allowed to drop for no reason whatsoever; a complete
change of character for the worse, a terrible deterioration took place; the
physical health suffered; their faces became white and drawn, the eyes dull and
glazed, save when Spititism was discussed, and then they lit with hot unholy
faces; one heard covert gossip that hinted of crude debauch, of blasphemous
speeches, of licence and degradation. Fortunately by a series of providential
events the circle was broken up; outside circumstances compelled the principals
to fall away, and what was doubtless a more potent factor than any, one or two
were suddenly brought to realize the deadly peril and the folly of their
proceedings. It proved a hard
struggle indeed to rid themselves of the controls to which they had so blindly
and so utterly submitted; their wills
were weakened, their health impaired; more than once they slid back again into
the old danger zone, more than once they were on the verge of giving up the
contest in despair. But under
direction and availing themselves of those means of grace the Church so
bounteously proffers they persevered, and were at length made clean.*
[*
The history of Witchcraft and Demonology
(Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.).]
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FOOTNOTE
It
will be remembered that the Lord Jesus Christ said:- “As it was
in the days of Noah, so shall it be in
the coming of the Son of
It
is very plain from the Scriptures that the flood was brought on, principally,
by the weird intrusion of evil spirits mixing with the race of man until the
whole world had corrupted its way.
Some of these awful intrusions of the spirits during the antediluvian
days are only dimly intimated, but enough is said to make us plainly understand
the awful deception and corruption of that period. There are some facts in common life that
even the newspapers say are “unprintable,”
and there are some of the facts of spiritism that are equally unprintable. When I first went to
ROBERT
CAMERON, D.D.