CHAPTER XIV.

THE EVILS OF SPIRITUALISM.

"Manasseh . . . used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger."-2 CHRON. xxxiii: 6.

"IF there is anything intrinsically wrong in the course we incline to pursue, or necessarily injurious in the intercourse itself, we desire to know in what that wrong or injury is made to consist."-Brittan's Review of Beecher, p. 26.

We challenge you, as men-as earnest men, as men desiring the good of your fellows-to come forth and meet us in the fight, expose our errors, draw the shroud away, and enable the world to see us as we are. We challenge you to come and do that thing."—Address of the Society for the Diffusion of Spiritual Knowledge.

We have already shown that spiritualism is essentially the same with the necromancy and sorcery. forbidden in the Scriptures. Whatever God has prohibited must be "intrinsically wrong."

It must be wrong to heed the spirits, because in

so doing every person is liable to be grossly deceived. Messrs. Spear and Hewett, of Boston, with their associates, were lamentably victimized in the matter of the divining image. The demons assured them that they were not experimenting, and that when the image was completed they would surely invest it with life, so that it would speak. According to Mr. Hewett, the constructors of the image acted on the presumption that the spirits would not falsify and would not commit any moral wrong. But when, at an expense of about 2,000 dollars, the image was completed, it turned out that the whole thing was an "experiment," the spirits "falsified" and their confidants were "deceived!" But, strange to say, this was not enough. As though to prove for once that

"A little learning is a dangerous thing,"

Mr. Spear was prepared to take another lesson of a similar character and be duped again.

A correspondent of the Boston Investigator, writing from Randolph last winter, says:

"The spiritualists here, under the guidance of Rev. John M. Spear, don't despair of success in something. They are now spending $80 per week digging a hole in the ground for the discovery of the fossil remains of an ancient race of beings that lived 18,000 years ago!-The most elevated and reliable class of spirits have informed Mr. Spear, that the above race was wealthy, that they made it

a business to accumulate property, and their wealth was buried with them, the nature of which has not been disclosed--whether gold, silver, or precious stones, remains to be ascertained. One of our most respectable citizens, a man of wealth and integrity, is now engaged in this business, and is following the directions of the spirits in every respect !"

SPIRITUALISTIC BIGAMY.

“A singular case of bigamy recently occurred in this city, which illustrates the new uses to which spiritual raps may be appropriated. A woman named Susan A. Hubbard was arrested for the above offence, and taken before Judge Osborne, of the Lower Police Court, for a hearing, on the 20th inst. It was alleged that she had three or four husbands; but it was necessary only to prove the existence of two marriages, Rev. Mr. Saggart, a Baptist clergyman, one of the witnesses, identified the prisoner as the person whom he had, some years since, married to Hubbard. Hubbard himself was present, and was also identified by the witnessthus proving that he was not dead, but had unfortunately' turned up.'

"The second husband (or rather one of the subsequent husbands) was also present, and swore to his recent marriage with the defendant. Mr. Smucker, the counsel for the prosecution, wished to know the circumstances under which the last marriage had been brought about. The witness, Henry

W. Smith, was a school-master. He had first met the prisoner at an assemblage of spiritualists, on the corner of Broadway and Lispenard street. She was a prominent member of the circle, which met there from time to time, to summon the world of spirits to their presence and interrogate them. The prisoner gradually became acquainted with the witness, (a robust, good-looking young man,) and having conceived a passion for him, set about the work of inducing him to marry her. He heard that she had former husbands, and wished to know if they were dead. At the next meeting she summoned the whole of them from the land of shadows, and made them all, one after the other, testify to the fact that they were dead, (in the body,) and give other interesting items as to their spiritual condition. The young man, being a firm believer in spiritualism, could not, of course, deny such evidence; and being attracted by the smartness, intelligence and good looks of the 'medium,' he married her. Not long after, he discovered that her 'spiritual manifestations' were lying manifestations, and that there were three or four other claimants to the possession of his wife, one of whom was black!"-New York paper.

A FAMILY RUINED BY SPIRITUALISM.

Mr. George Doughty, a respectable farmer of Flushing, Long Island, "possessed of considerable property, having his interest excited by the reports

of the doings of the mediums of this mischievous and absurd delusion, resolved to seek out one of the professors of the spiritual doctrines, and make himself acquainted with the mysteries which they pretend to disclose. With that intention he proceeded to the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was introduced to a professed medium, a lady named Mrs. French, whom, after a short acquaintance, he invited to visit him and his family on Long Island; and from that time-some two years ago-up to within a recent date, she has been a constant visitor at the farmer's house, where she was, at the wish of the unfortunate man, treated as one of the family.

"A few weeks since, however, she arrived in the city of New York, and instead of proceeding direct to the farmer's, as she was wont to do, took rooms at the Irving House, where she was accompanied by a strange man, whom, she informed the farmer upon visiting her, was about writing an interesting legend of the spirit land, she furnishing the materials and the matter. Such was the influence she had acquired over the farmer, and the strange delusion under which he labored, that she induced him to adopt her as his daughter, and finally to make over to her nearly his entire property.

The wife of the unfortunate victim endeavored to restrain him in his mad career, but did not succeed. By threats of violence, he compelled his gentle partner to make an assignment of her interest. in his affairs to him; after which, he proceeded to