Chapter XI.

Spiritualism.
Part I.
The Testimony of The Bible.

The open interference of evil spirits with our world might be reasonably expected.

The mere mention of the supernatural is often received with a smile of incredulous contempt. And there are not a few professing Christians who manifest great anxiety to limit the number and extent of past miracles, and to obscure the possibility of their recurrence in the present time, though they do not venture upon an absolute denial of God's power to suspend or change His own laws. But that Satan can work wonders they will never allow: nay, in many cases they even refuse him a personal existence.

Surely such a state of mind must proceed either from ignorance or unbelief. For does not Paul speak of the working of Satan as being with all power and signs and wonders wrought in support of a lie? And the simple assertion of Scripture, that the air which envelops our earth swarms with rebellious spirits, ought at least to prepare us for their occasional manifestation and open interference. Undoubtedly God has forbidden them either to communicate directly with man or to influence him for evil. Yet, since they are disobedient, and are not at present restrained by force, it is reasonable to believe that they sometimes break the former commandment even as they are continually defying the latter. And this supposition is confirmed by Scripture: for we find numerous allusions to dealings between men and demons in the Old Testament, while in the New witchcraft is treated as one of the manifest works of the flesh.

The mosaic laws against witchcraft referred to no mere imposture, but to an actual connection with fallen spirits.

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," was the injunction of the Lord by Moses. And that this law is not concerned with mere superstition or deception, but points to a wilful fellowship with the powers of evil, we may learn from the severity of the punishment. Yet many would persuade us that of forbidden arts are merely intended to indicate different forms of imposture. One example will suffice to prove the folly of such an opinion.

In the twentieth chapter of Leviticus we find the following enactment; - "A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them." How, then, could an Israelitish judge decide in the case of a person arraigned under this law? Would not the whole issue depend upon the proof that the accused really had an attendant spirit? And is not the law an express declaration, not merely of the possibility, but also of the actual occurrence of such connections?

Scripture never denies the actual existence of the Heathen gods.

Indeed the Bible, as we have already seen, mentions many things which have no place in modern philosophies, and, among them, one which is of the utmost importance to our subject. For it plainly recognises spiritual existences behind the idols of Heathenism, and affirms that these existences are demons. An attempt has been made to disprove this statement on the ground that two Hebrew words, the one signifying "nothings" and the other "vanities," are used as appellations of the Pagan gods, and that by such terms their non-existence is necessarily implied. But the fallacy of this inference may be exposed by a glance at the same words in other connections.

"Woe to the shepherd of nothing that forsaketh the flock!" exclaims Zechariah. And certainly he does not speak of a purely imaginary shepherd, but of a worthless one, who is not what he pretends to be. Similarly Job, when he calls his friends "physicians of nothing," does not mean to tell them that they are non-existent, but merely, as our version has expressed it, that they are "physicians of no value." The Jewish idea of the word as applied to Heathen deities may be seen in the Septuagint version of the ninety-sixth Psalm, where it is rendered by daimonia.

Hence the fifth verse is made to mean, "For all the gods of the nations are demons; but the Lord made the heavens."

Again; the singular of the word for "vanities" is Abel, the name which Eve gave to her second son. But she had no intention of thereby denying the reality of his being. Nor when the preacher cries, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity," can we understand him to be affirming the non-existence of the universe.

It is, therefore, evident that these terms when applied to the Heathen gods do not dispute the fact of their being, but the truth of their pretensions. Real powers they are, but only finite ones; and hence they have no just claim to the title of gods.

On the contrary, the Old Testament treats them as real potencies.

Scripture, then, contains nothing to disprove the existence of false gods, but, on the contrary, asserts and assumes it as a fact. For instance, when foretelling the death of the first-born of both man and beast, the Lord signifies His intention of also punishing the gods of Egypt. And, in reference to the same event, Moses subsequently wrote; - "For the Egyptians buried all their first-born, which the Lord had smitten among them: upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments."

Again; in the tenth chapter of Deuteronomy we have the expression, "For Jehovah your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords." And numerous are the Scriptural assertions that Jehovah is highly exalted above all gods, to be feared above all gods, and so on.

If, then, He executed judgment upon the gods of Egypt, they must have been living beings: if He is contrasted with other gods, they must be real existences.

And plainly indicates that they are demons. The Seirim and shedim.

Nor does the Old Testament omit to hint at the nature of these so-called deities, as the following verses will show.

"And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto demons (Heb. Seirim), after whom they have gone a whoring."

"They sacrificed unto demons (Heb. Shedim), not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not."

"And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the demons (Heb. Seirim), and for the calves which he had made."

"Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons (Heb. Shedim)."

In the place of the seirim - which originally signified goats, and was afterwards used of wood demons or satyrs - the Septuagint has toiv mataioiv,

that is, "vanities": but in two passages of Isaiah it translates the same noun by daimonia,

"demons." And this latter rendering is authoritatively confirmed in the New Testament by the passage in the eighteenth chapter of the Apocalypse which is parallel to that in the thirteenth chapter of Isaiah. Shedim - literally "mighty ones," "lords" - is invariably interpreted in the Septuagint by daimonia.

Thus, of the two words, the first appears to have been applied either to the Heathen idols or to the spiritual powers behind them, the second only to the demons themselves.

The teaching of the New Testament is to the same effect. Examination of two remarkable passages.

The testimony of the Greek Scriptures is to the same effect as that of the Hebrew, and we cannot better illustrate this than by examining two statements in the First Epistle to the Corinthians. In the eighth chapter we read as follows; - "We know that there is no idol in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be beings called gods, whether in heaven or upon earth - as there actually (wsper)

are gods many and lords many - yet to us there is one God the Father, of Whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things, and we by Him."

Now the word idol (eidwlon) signifies a creation of the fancy, an idea of the mind. Therefore, by the words, "there is no idol in the world," Paul means that there are no such beings as Jupiter, Mars, or Venus, exactly as they are represented in Heathen Mythology: such are not to be found in the universe, but are merely the creatures of man's imagination. Yet, he goes on the say, the gods whom the Heathen worship do exist, and are, moreover, real potencies, though differing altogether in their attributes and characteristics from the ideals of men. But they are falsely called gods: they are not uncreated and self-existent beings:

Nor have they any right to the title in a secondary sense, as being the delegates of the Supreme, those to whom the Word of God has come(John xx. 35; for their action is against His Word.

their power, though often great, is finite and subordinate: and, however they may delude the Heathen, we at least know that there is only one God.

The second passage is in tenth chapter. "What, then, am I to say? That a thing sacrificed to an idol is anything - that is, any real sacrifice - or that an idol is anything? Nay, but that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I do not wish you to have communion with demons. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons: ye cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons."

This quotation involves the same doctrine. An idol, the creation of man's fancy, is nothing; but it is not possible that men could be moved to worship nothing: there is a real power behind. The Heathen think that they are sacrificing to Deity; but their offerings ascend to demons, and by their sacrificial feasts they establish a fellowship with unclean spirits similar to that which exists between Christ and His Church.

Conclusion of the argument from Scripture.

It is plain, therefore, that the disembodied spirits which haunt the air are the beings whom the Heath worship, the inspirers of oracles and soothsayers, the originators of all idolatry, whether Pagan or Popish, the powers that are ever striving by divers means to subjugate the human race to their sway.

Hence we may obtain the important deduction that Paganism, from its most intellectual phase down to the lowest fetishism, is not the mere worship of stocks and stones, but the cultus, whether conscious or unconscious, whether direct or through various mediums, of rebellious spirits. Nor can the converse of the proposition be denied, that the cultus of any such spirits is pure Paganism.

The great aim of Satan is not the spread of absolute scepticism, but the subjugation of the world to demonical power.

Now all idolatrous worship is inseparably connected with magic and the exercise of supernatural power. For it is only by a continual display of such power, or at least b y a fixed belief in it, that the human race can be held in the grievous bondage of demon-service. The instant a man loses faith in the possibility of the supernatural, he becomes, in spite of any vague ideas of Divine rule, a virtual sceptic. In the opinion of many such a result w ould satisfy every desire of the Evil One: but the following considerations deter us from assenting to their conclusion.

Whenever Scripture lifts the veil, and allows us a momentary glimpse of the Kingdom of Darkness, we behold a community, malignant indeed, but perfect in order and government, and thirsting for the subjugation of the human race. For the empire of Satan cannot be completely organised till men be as obedient to demons as demons are to the rebel principalities and powers, and these last again to their great prince. And so, the denizens of the air are not merely stirring up an aimless revolt against God, but would fain annex the whole of our world to their own orderly dominion.

Therefore, although for the present Satan will allure men from God by any bait which pleases them, he, nevertheless, fosters absolute scepticism only as Jesuitical emissaries are said to encourage revolution and anarchy in order to break down the barriers which withstand the advance of their own system. His real plan must be sought in the various false religions, by comparing which the thoughtful student may detect many strange and unsuspected points of contact. Differences indeed they have, arising from peculiarities of race or disposition: they resemble the fragments of a marble block, some of which display more of one coloured vein, some of another: but if the pieces be fitted together again, line meets line, and the variegated pattern appears perfect. Originally they all issued from one centre - Babylon has been the golden cup to make every drunken - and around one centre will they be reunited when the time for its revelation arrives.

The grand aim, then, of Satanic miracles is to bring men under the influence of demons. The Devil would by no means destroy, but rather increase, a belief in the supernatural; he would, however, point out Satan, and not Christ, as the head of thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, and hasten the time when one shall sit as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. To this end is all the teaching of his signs and wonders directed, however carefully they may be disguised, and whether they be appearances of aerial forms, visions, oracles - which seldom afford real help, and often lure men on to destruction by the ambiguity of their response, soothe-sayings - sometimes strikingly verified, but never reliable, spirit-writing, voices of the unseen, magnetic healings, or any other exhibition of his power. Nor can we examine the many superstitions confirmed by these miracles without astonishment at the skill with which they are adapted to the purpose of enthralling mankind. For is not this the obvious intent of spirit-communications, auguries, omens, tokens, lucky and unlucky days and seasons, purification's, holy water, spells, potions, amulets, charms, fetishes, relics, images. Pictures, crosses, crucifixes, and all the countless prescriptions of demonical systems?

There are two ways by which men can acquire superhuman power. The first by an unlawful excitation of their own dormant faculties.

Now the false signs are usually exhibited through human mediums selected by the demons, who perceive, it may be, some affinity to themselves in the objects of their choice. And it appears that there are two methods by which men can acquire unlawful power and knowledge, and gain admittance to a prohibited intercourse.

He who would follow the first - but comparatively few have hitherto been able - must "so bring his body under the control of his own soul that he can project his soul and spirit, and, while living on this earth, act as if he were a disembodies spirit." The man who attains to this power is called an adept; and, according to a late President of the British Theosophical Society, "can consciously see the minds of others. He can act by his soul-force on external spirits. He can accelerate the growth of plants and quench fire; and, like Daniel, subdue ferocious wild beasts. He can send his soul to a distance, and there not only read the thought of others, but speak to and touch these distant objects; and not only so, but he can exhibit to his distant friends his spiritual body in the exact likeness of that of the flesh. Moreover, since the adept acts by the power of his spirit, he can, as a unitive force, create out of the surrounding multiplex atmosphere the likeness of any physical object, or he can command physical objects to come into his presence."

The powers of such men are defined by the author of "Isis Unveiled" as "mediatorship, not mediumship." They may be exaggerated, but the existence, in all times of the world's history, of persons with abnormal faculties, initiates of the great mysteries, and depositories of the secrets of antiquity, has been affirmed by a testimony far too universal and persistent to admit of denial.

The development of these faculties is, doubtless, possible but to few, and even in their case can only be compassed by a long and severe course of training, the object of which is, to break down the body to a complete subjection, and to produce a perfect apathy in regard to all the pleasures, pains, and emotions, of this life, so that no disturbing elements may ruffle the calm of the aspirant's mind and hinder his progress. And two initial rules, laid down as indispensable to the discipline, are - abstinence from flesh and alcohol, and absolute chastity. In other words, he who would be an adept must conform to the teaching of those demons, predicted leaders of the last apostacy, who forbid to marry, and command to abstain from meats.

Thus, but doubtless not without the aid and instruction of evil spirits as well as of a already perfected adepts, those latent powers are educed, which certainly exist in all men, but are as certainly forbidden by God to be used, or even sought out, in this life. For it is every man's duty, for the present, to preserve a clear and undisturbed consciousness of the world in which he is placed, of those material surroundings by dealing with which, in accordance with the Divine laws, it is appointed that he shall find the discipline needful to his sanctification. And for this reason our spiritual independence of time and space, and superhuman power of knowing doing and influencing, are suppressed by the nature of our bodies. Man is a spirit in prison, and so he must be content to abide, until God unlocks the door of his cell. But if he will have instant enjoyment by a premature excitation of potentialities which are reserved for future development, he can only do so by feloniously breaking through his dungeon bars, and thus shattering the harmony of his present nature.

The second, by a passive submission to the control of other spirits.

The second method is by a passive submission to the control of foreign intelligence's, who, either by the direct action of their own power, or by guiding the application of certain means, will draw out the spirit of their subject and free it from the body. If this process be effected by demons, the patient is termed a medium; but he must be a person whose spirit can be easily detached from the body, either because the latter is weak and diseased, or from causes which are not obvious. In such a manner he is brought into intelligent communication with spirits of the Air, and can receive any knowledge which they possess, or any false impressions which they may choose to impart. By practice the facility of this intercourse becomes much greater; and as the fellowship progresses, and men become more enamoured of their aerial visitants, the demons seem permitted to do various wonders at their request, and, finally, to reveal themselves to sight, hearing, and touch. Since, however, the spirits of some persons seem by their very nature to possess powers akin to those of the trained adept, it is at times difficult to decide in which way such phenomena are produced.

As we before remarked, the escape of the medium's spirit may be effected by the unassisted action of the demons. But it is often necessary to supplement that action by various aids - such as the Sukra and Manti of the Hindu Soma-mystery; or a cup of poisonous drugs similar to that which enabled the Chaldena initiate to behold the glittering form of the great goddess passing by at the top of the cave; or a mephitic vapour, like that of the Delphic oracle; or the whirling dance of the dervish; or the long fasting and watching of the Ojibbeway Indian; or the gazing fixedly upon a metal plate or crystal held in the hand; or that fascinating power of a fellow-creature which in modern times is called mesmerism.

By such and other means the activity of the outward senses is diminished or altogether checked, and the consciousness passes into another sphere, where the spirit gazes upon wondrous visions; is able to hold intercourse with supernatural beings, to reveal secrets, and in some degree to foretell; can travel in a moment to any part of the world, and accurately describe places, houses, and the condition and actions of those who are living in them; has the power of seeing the internal mechanism of its own body or those of others; and will give a diagnosis of disease and prescribe for it. Indeed the spirit seems to leave the body just as at death - save that some silver cord is not yet snapped - and often, as in the case of trance-mediums, another spirit enters it and speaks with a different voice and with different knowledge.

All spirits which hold intercourse with men in either of these two ways are evil spirits, from whose influence, if a communication be once opened, it is difficult to escape.

But since all such proceedings as these are a transgression of the limits of humanity as laid down by the Creator, it follows that all supernatural beings who sanction them and hold intercourse with the transgressor must be spirits of evil. And the unlawful confusion brings its own immediate punishment, in addition to the fearful judgment to come. For our body appears to be not only a prison, but also a fortress, and is, not improbably, devised for the very purpose of sheltering us in some degree from the corrupting influence of 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.

It is but seldom that a person can be mesmerised for the first time without his own consent; and when such cases do occur they are probably to be referred to some special weakness, which may not infrequently be traced to a special sin. But if submission be once yielded, it is hard to withdraw it: and every fresh exercise of the power upon the same patient increases its influence.

So, in the case of fellowship with demons, there are but few who can become mediums without perseverance: but when a communication has been once established, the spirits are loath to relinquish it, and are wont to persecute those who, having become conscious of their sin, are determined by the grace of God to transgress no more.

Examination of Old Testament words applied to sorcerers.

We will now proceed to examine the Scriptural terms used to describe those who practise supernatural arts, giving in each case the Hebrew word with an attempted explanation.

Chartummim (Mymjdh).

"The sacred scribes." This is a name given to the magicians of Egypt in the times of Joseph and Moses, and also to those of Babylon in the days of Daniel. The word seems to be connected with the Hebrew cheret (jdh),

a style or pen, and to signify those members of the priestly caste, who, although they also practised other kinds of magic, were mainly concerned with writing. Perhaps they were identical with the writing mediums of our days, who, according to the author of "Glimpses of a Brighter Land," are divided into five classes as follows. Those whose passive hand is moved by the demon without any mental volition on their own part: those into whose mind each word is separately insinuated instantaneously with its automatic inscription on the paper: those who write from the dictation of spirit-voices: those who copy words and sentences which they are made to see written upon the air, or upon some suitable object, in letters of light: and, lastly, those in whose presence spirit-hands, sometimes visible, sometimes invisible, will take up the pen and write the communication.

Chakhamim (Mymbh).

"Wise men." But since this word is joined to chartummim, and since it appears that the chakhamim turned their rods into serpents, it follows that they were so called, not as mere philosophers or men of experience, but as having intercourse with supernatural beings, by whose assistance they displayed a greater than human wisdom, and could exhibit miraculous power. We may compare our own term "wizard," which originally meant a wise man, or sage.

In the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy there is a remarkable passage which in the English version reads as follows;- "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord."

This list of abominations begins with him "that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire," a phrase which must not be understood of the burning of children as a sacrifice to Moloch, but of a sort of purification by fire, or fire-baptism, by which they were consecrated to the god, and supposed to be freed from the fear of a violet death.

That this practice is still kept up in many parts of Christendom by the midsummer fires of St. John�s Eve is a fact too well known to need illustration. We may, however, mention that a copy of the Hereford Times is now before us, containing a report of a lecture on "Home Heathenism," delivered at Wolverhampton by Mr. Gibson, a Wesleyan minister, in which the following statement occurs. "They had heard of the fire-worshippers of persia, little thinking, perhaps, that they had fire-worshippers within a distance of sixty or seventy miles. At Midsummer, on many of the hills of Herefordshire, fires were burning while the peasantry danced around them, and the ceremony was not completed until some of the young people had passed through the fire." This, as being a kind of charm or spell, is of course classed among sorceries. We will now examine the remaining terms in the order in which they stand.

Qosem (Moq).

A diviner, one who discovers the hidden things of past present or future time by supernatural means. This appears to be a comprehensive term, being used of a diviner by omens and tokens or by direct spirit-communication.

Meonen (Nnem).

Is derived by some from a root which wo uld supply a choice of signification: for the word might either mean a practiser of hidden arts, or a diviner by clouds. But a connection with ayin (Nye),

the eye, is much more probable; and we may then deduce the meaning of a fascinator with the eyes, or, in modern language, a mesmerist, who throwing another into a magnetic sleep obtains oracular sayings from him. Many, however, prefer the signification of an "observer," that is, one who makes minute inspection of the entrails so as to deduce the omens, in contradistinction to the augur who divined by tokens requiring the use of the ear as well as that of the eye.

Menachesh (Sxnm).

This word is connected with nachash (Sxn),

a serpent, and is usually explained to mean a hisser or whisperer, and then a mutterer of enchantments. But the use of the verb of which it is the Piel participle seems to point in a different direction. In the thirteenth chapter of Genesis, Laban entreats Jacob to stay with him: "for," says he, "I divine - or, more literally, perceive by observation - that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake." And again; when to the pleading of Ben-hadad's servant Ahab replied, "Is he yet alive? He is my brother," we are told that the men "divined," took an omen," from what he had said. Hence the verb seems to have been used primarily of drawing an inference from rapid observation, and then of divining. From the first meaning comes nachash, a serpent, on account of its quick intelligence: from the second menachesh, an augur, one who divines by observing signs and tokens, such as the singing and flight of birds, aerial phenomena, and other sights and sounds.

Mekhashsheph (PSbm).

The root of this word signifies "to Pray," but only to false gods or demons. Hence it is, perhaps, applied to those who use incantations or magical formul�.

Chobher chebher (dbx dbx).

Literally, a binder of a band or spell. That is, either a fabricator of material charms and amulets; or, much more probably, one who by incantations and spells brings demons into association with himself, so as to obtain aid or information from them. It is a common practice to open a modern s�ance by chanting or singing hymns to invoke the presence of spirits.

Shoel obh (bNa laV).

A consulter of demons. That is, one who has established such a fellowship that he can communicate with them directly, and neither needs to do so mediately by means of signs or omens, nor even requires the aid of spells to draw them to himself.

An obh is a soothsaying demon: but by an earlier use the word is also applied to the person connected with such a demon. Originally it signified a skin bottle, and its transition from this first meaning to its second may be clearly detected in the following exclamation of Elihu;- "For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me. Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles." The word appears, then, to have been used of those into whom an unclean spirit had entered, because demons, when about to deliver oracular responses, caused the bodies of the possessed to grow tumid and inflated. We may, perhaps, compare Virgil's description of the soothsaying Sybil: for he tells us that her breast began to swell with frenzy, and her stature appeared to increase, as the spirit of the god drew nearer. According to some, however, the medium was called an obh merely as being the vessel or sheath of the spirit: but in either case the term was afterwards applied to the demon itself.

That the spirit actually dwells within the person who divines by it, we may see from a previously quoted passage of Leviticus, the literal rendering of which is, "A man or a woman when a demon is in them," etc. And in strict accordance with this is the account of the Philippian damsel who had a Pythonic spirit.

The reason for this deviation from our version will be found in a note towards the close of the chapter.

For Paul compelled the spirit to come out of her, and she instantly lost all her supernatural power.

From the stories of medi�val witches, and from what we hear of modern mediums, it seems likely that a connection with an obh is frequently, if not always, the result of a compact, whereby the spirit in return for its services enjoys the use of the medium's body. Indeed there is reason to believe that a medium differs from a demoniac, in the ordinary sense of the term, merely because in the one case a covenant exists between the demon and the possessed; whereas the frightful duality and confusion in the other arise from the refusal of the human spirit to yield a passive submission and acquiesce in a league with the intruder.

And let us not suppose that the age of demoniacs is past: the lapse of a few centuries has not reconciled demons to the disembodied state, they are still as eager as ever to clothe themselves with bodies. In the course of an interesting conversation which the writer had with the late Dr. Forbes Winslow, the latter expressed his conviction that a large proportion of the patients in our lunatic asylums 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.

Yidoni (ynery).

A knowing one: that is, a person who is able to supply required information by means of the spirits with which he is associated.

Doresh el hammethim (Mytmh la Srd).

A seeker into the dead, a necromancer, one who consults the dead for advice or information. The familiar was supposed to summon the spirit required, just as in modern Spiritualism; but, as we shall presently see, in many cases at least, and possibly in all, it is probable that the obh itself personated the dead.

Such, then, are the abominations mentioned in the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy; but there are yet other terms in Scripture applied to the practisers of similar or kindred arts.

Ittim (Myja).

This word occurs in Isaiah: it seems to mean whisperers or mutterers, that is, those who repeat spells or charms.

In Isaiah's description of the downfall of Babylon, the city so famed for its astrologers, we find mention of Hobhre Shamayim (MymS yrbh),

that is, dividers of the heavens, astrologers who divide the heavens into houses for the convenience of their prognostications.

The same persons are then described as Chozim bakkokhabhim (Mybkykb MyNx),

star-gazers, those who study the stars for the purpose of taking horoscopes.

Lastly; they are said to be Modiim lechodashim (MySdxl Myeydwm),

deliverers of monthly predictions from their observations.

In Daniel we have two other terms applied to those who were conversant with forbidden arts.

Ashshaph (Nyrzg).

A sorcerer. Properly a practiser of hidden arts: for the word is connected with ashpah (hpSa).

A quiver, that in which arrows are hidden.

Gazrin (Nyrzn).

Deciders, determiners, practisers of the art of casting nativitie's. Used of astrologers who, from a knowledge of the hour of birth, determined the fate of men by the position of the stars, and by various arts of computation and divining.

Remarks on words expressive of sorcery in the New Testament.

In the New Testament the following names, all of which appear to be comprehensive and general, are applied to those who deal with the powers of darkness.

M�yai. Originally the Magi were a Persian religious caste; but their influence was subsequently extended to many countries. They acted as priests, prescribed sacrifices, were soothsayers, ad interpreted dreams and omens. Origen affirms that they were in communication with evil spirits, and could consequently do whatever lay within the power of their invisible allies. Certainly - if we may trust the statements of early Christian writers - they were well acquainted with mesmerism and every practice of modern Spiritualism.

Farmakeuv.

One who uses drugs, whether for the purpose of poisoning, or for magic potions or spells - signification's which are carefully distinguished by Plato in his De Legibus. In the Nubes of Aristophanes, Strepsiades suggests the hiring of a Thessalian witch (farmakiv)

to draw the moon down; and the verb (farmakeuein)

is used by Herodotus in reference to the sacrifice of white horses whereby the Magi sought to charm the Strymon. Again; farmakeia

is employed in the Septuagint to express those arts by which the magicians of Egypt imitated the miracles of Moses. These examples are sufficient to show that the word soon became a general term for a sorcerer; and, in tracing its meaning, we must not forget that drugs were often administered by the ancients for the purpose of producing an effect similar to that of mesmerism.

Twice in the New Testament sorcery (farmakeia)

and idolatry are coupled together: and in commenting upon the first passage Lightfoot well remarks that idolatry signifies the open recognition of false gods, and sorcery the secret tampering with the powers of evil.

Oi ta perierga praxautev.

Those who had practised curious - that is, magical - arts. Perhaps, among other things, they trafficked in the celebrated amulets called Ephesian letters, which were said to be copies of the mystic words inscribed on the image of Artemis, and to have the property of preserving their wearers from all harm. The books which they destroyed may have contained astrological computations, the "Babylonios numeros" of Horace.

The practices of sorcery may be divided into three classes.

From this list of terms it will be observed that demonical arts fall readily into three classes. The first comprises all kinds of divination by omens, tokens, and forbidden sciences; the second the uses of spells and incantations as a means of accomplishing what is desired: and the third every method of direct and intelligent communication and co-operation with demons.

With regard to the first class, the signs and omens were doubtless arranged by demons, who, after inducing a belief in their reliability by presenting them before the occurrence of certain events, could thenceforth easily act upon human minds, and, by simple appearances, either deter men from their purpose, or urge them on to enormities of evil.

As to forbidden sciences, since it is probable that everything in nature affects us, there may be a foundation of truth in them - indeed Scripture seems to hint that there is in the case of astrology. But such lore is for the present positively interdicted by God: nor is it difficult to discover reasons for His prohibition. For the mind of man is altogether unable to grasp and handle knowledge so profound and so complicated: with his present powers he would waste a whole life, and gain nothing but a miserably imperfect and altogether unreliable acquaintance with the mysterious law. Not in his fallen condition could he be trusted with such tremendous secrets, even if he could comprehend them. His pride and independence would swell, nothing would be withheld from him, and his wickedness would devise crimes which can now scarcely find place even in his fancy.

The spells and incantations may either be mere arrangements of the demons, who, by bringing about the desired effect when they could, have established a faith in them: or, perhaps, they are in some cases grounded upon a real potency in the means employed, which has thus been unlawfully disclosed by rebellious spirits.

Direct communication with demons, whether by writing, clairvoyance, clairaudience, or in other ways, is now becoming universally prevalent. It is sustained by what is called mediumistic power, a faculty which, as we have before remarked, some seem to develop instinctively, but which in many cases can only be obtained by a sedulous and persevering use of the means prescribed.

In a case which came under the observation of the writer, it was only after a perseverance of three months that the aspirant to demon-intercourse compassed his desire. But it was not long before he begin to perceive the diabolical nature of it. That which had been difficult to acquire was, however, far more difficult to renounce; and for some considerable time he was so incessantly tormented by the spirits, to whose influence he had yielded himself, that he well nigh lost his life , or at least his reason. Historical notices of Spiritualism in the Bible. The Teraphim.

Having thus examined the Scriptural terms applied to dealers with demons, let us now glance at the historical facts illustrative of the subject. Upon the antediluvian son we have already commented, and observed that its repetition in postdiluvian times seems to have originated all heathen systems and mythology. We will, therefore, now proceed to the next indication of Demonism, which appears in the mention of teraphim.

The derivation of this word has caused much trouble: but the conjecture of R. S. Poole, in Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible," is worth consideration, and brings the teraphim into very close connection with Spiritualism. Their use appear to have commenced in Chaldea; but the affinity between that country and ancient Egypt in language as well as religion is well known, and hence Mr. Poole traces the name to an Egyptian root, and explains it as follows:-

"The Egyptian word ter signifies 'a shape, type, transformation,' and has for its determinative a mummy: it is used in the Ritual, where the various transformations of the deceased in Hades are described. The small mummy-shaped figure, Shebtee, usually made of baked clay covered with a blue vitreous varnish, representing the Egyptian as deceased, is of a nature connecting it with magic, since it was made with the idea that it secured benefits in Hades; and it is connected with the word ter, for it represents a mummy, the determinativ e of that word, and was considered to be of use in the state in which the deceased passed through transformations, teru. The difficulty which forbids our doing more than conjecture a relation between ter and teraphim is the want in the former of the third radical of the latter; and in our present state of ignorance respecting the ancient Egyptian and the primitive language of Chaldea in their verbal relations to the Semitic family it is impossible to say whether if is likely to be explained. The possible connection with the Egyptian religious magic is, however, not to be slighted, especially as it is not improbable that the household idolatry of the Hebrews was ancestral worship, and the Shebtee was the image of a deceased man or woman, as a mummy, and therefore as an Osiris, bearing the insignia of that divinity, and so in a manner as a deified dead person, although we so not know that it was used in the ancestral worship of the Egyptians."

If there be any truth in this idea, the use of teraphim was precisely analogous to the consultation of the dead by modern Spiritualists. And, whatever be the derivation of the word, the fact at least remains, that the images signified by it were kept for the unlawful purpose of divination. But this fact is sometimes obscured in our version by the substitution of "idols," or "idolatry," for "teraphim." The well-known words of Samuel to Saul should be rendered;- "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim." And Zechariah should be made to say;- "For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams."

But those who used teraphim, though they broke the law of Jehovah by seeking unto the dead and establishing a fellowship with demons, do not seem to have openly denied him. This we may see by the cases of Laban, Michal the wife of David, and the heretical Israelites of later times. And herein we may discover another point of resemblance between the less advanced of modern Spiritualists and the ancient diviners by teraphim.

The cup which was found in Benjamin's sack.

We have already noticed the appearance of dream-interpreting mediums of Joseph's time. An incident of the same period discloses the prevalence of another supernatural art. For the steward, when ha accused Joseph's brethren of stealing his masters cup, exclaimed;- "Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth?" Now we are not for a moment to suppose that Joseph followed the magical practices of Egypt: the words were merely devised by the steward, in reference to a universal custom of the country, to enhance the value of the cup. For when interpreting the dreams of the chief butler and chief baker, as well as when summoned into the presence of Pharaoh, Joseph disclaimed all intercourse with demons, and declared that the revelation he was about to make had come directly from God. When, therefore, he afterwards says to his brethren, "Wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine?" we must understand him to be disguising himself by an affectation of the customs of Egypt. He is not, however, referring to the previous words of the steward: for he could not have divined by a cup which was not at the time in his possession.

The practice to which the steward alluded was probably the same as that which is still in vogue among Egyptian magicians, and consists in pouring something into a cup, by gazing fixedly at which a person is mesmerised and enabled to see in the fluid whatever may be desired. Lane, in his "Modern Egyptians," gives a remarkable and well-known account of a sheikh who divined in this way: but with the immaterial difference that the boy who was to be mesmerised looked into a black liquid poured upon his hand.

Conflict of the Egyptian magicians with Moses.

When Moses began to exhibit the marvels of God before Pharaoh, the Egyptian mediums were immediately summoned, as being themselves also accustomed to work wonders. And up to a certain point they did succeed in imitating the Hebrew prophet, though they were utterly unable to counteract his miracles and give relief to their countrymen. They caused their rods to become serpents: they turned water into blood: they brought frogs out of the river Nile: but there the power of their lord ceased, for, great as it was, it was finite. All their efforts to imitate the next miracle were in vain: they were compelled to fall back, and confess that they could no longer contend with the Almighty.

Reason of the frequent denunciation of sorcery in the law. The mediums destroyed by Saul.

We may now understand the frequent reference in the law of Sinai to practisers of all kinds of sorcery. It was necessary both to destroy the influence of the Egyptian magicians, and to prepare the people of God for the, perhaps, worse dangers which awaited them in the Land of Promise. For Canaan contained many descendants of the Nephilim and consequently teemed with mediums, through whose influence, since the law was not put in force against them, the Israelites were seduced to idolatry and involved in bitter troubles.

Saul, probably at the instigation of Samuel, destroyed these evil doers with such vigour that the few who survived could only practice their wicked arts in secret, and a long time elapsed before sorcerers and false prophets recovered their power in Judah.

Yet, after a while, the destroyer himself appealed for help to one who had escaped the edge of his sword, and verified the prophet's warning that rebellion is as the sin divination, and that stubborn self-will is as idolatry and teraphim. For when Samuel uttered those words, Saul had already been guilty of rebellion and stubbornness: he was, therefore, also capable the crimes of divination, idolatry, and the consultation of teraphim, heinous as they at the time appeared to him. Let our heart but be estranged from God, and there is no sin so great, so outrageous, as to be impossible to us. The close of Saul's history is a mournful proof of this, and shows how easy a prey man becomes to the Powers of Evil when the multitude of his provocation's has at length caused the Spirit of the Most High to depart from him, and he stands alone amid the ruins of his broken purposes, while the gathering of his fears portends a pitiless storm upon his unsheltered head.

The history of Saul and the witch of En-dor.

The dark shadow of approaching death was beginning to steal over the wayward king: he saw the glittering helms and spears of the invading army, and his heart trembled with gloomy foreboding. The Spirit of the Lord no longer came upon him as in the day when he sent forth the bloody tokens, and indignantly summoned all Israel to march with him to Jabesh-Gilead. Nay, the phantoms of past sins, and, perchance, the gory forms of the slaughtered priests, floated continually before his eyes, and took away all rest, all steadfastness of purpose. The prophet who had so long borne with him, so often entreated for him, was dead. He essayed to pray, but found that if any regard iniquity in his heart the Lord will not hear him. For Jehovah, Who had pleaded with him so patiently, forgiven him so many times, had no more, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. The gates of salvation, which had remained open all the day in Cain, were suddenly closed at nightfall, and there was neither form seen nor voice heard in response to his now despairing cry.

Then he yielded to an evil thought: he remembered the dealers with familiar spirits and wizards whom, in obedience to the law, he had destroyed from the land: he knew that they were reputed able to call the dead; and, perhaps, stifling his conscience with the plea that it was a prophet of the Lord with whom he would converse, determined, since God would not hear him, to appeal to the Powers of Darkness.

Had he but said with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him," he might have found mercy even at the last. But faith is rarely given at the close of life to those who have spurned repeated offers of grace: experience teaches the general rule that, as a man lives, so does he die; and thus it was with Saul. Turning to his companions he asked if they knew of any surviving dealer with demons. The question must have filled them with astonishment: for could Saul, who had so mercilessly destroyed the mediums in the name of the Lord, be about to stultify himself by inquiring of them! But the king was evidently in earnest, and sore troubled: they, therefore, told him of a witch who was at that time concealed in one of the caves of En-dor, not mote than seven or eight miles from the camp. En-dor! There seemed to be a good omen in the name: for was it not there that two great enemies of Israel, Jabin and Sisera, perished, and became as dung for the earth?

Or, if we render the Hebrew literally, "a woman who was mistress of a demon."

Saul waited for the shelter of night, and then, with two companions, went forth to fill up the measure of his iniquities. He arrived at the north-eastern slope of the Little Hermon, and the dexterity with which his attendants found out the witch's cave in the darkness, and amid the numerous perforations of the mountains, seems to prove their frequent habit of resorting to it. Passing into the recess of the cavern, dimly lighted, perhaps, by a fire of wood, the king accosted the woman with words which show the absolute identity of her craft with that of the modern medium. "I pray thee," he said, "divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up whom I shall name unto thee." The witch was at first suspicious: but Saul reassured her by a strange oath, and swore by the name of Jehovah that no harm should befall her for breaking the law of Jehovah. Thereupon she inquired with what spirit he would communicate, and being requested to call up Samuel commenced her preparations.

Now the obh was supposed to have the power of summoning the dead; but, since we cannot admit that this power extended to the spirits of the just, the familiar must, in many cases at least, have personated the spirit required. Any necessary information could, of course, have been procured with lightning speed from the demons who had watched the life of the person invoked. This seems the most probable way of accounting for that accurate knowledge of the past which is often displayed by mediums: but how shall we explain their more wonderful altogether unreliable, predictions of the future? Perhaps somewhat as follows. The dealings of God with man, and the different stages of human probation, are doubtless both systemic and consequential; and therefore evil spirits, acquainted it may be with laws hidden to us, and taught by a general prescience of coming events. But they are by no means able to penetrate the deep counsels of the Almighty, and hence their calculations must be often baffled by an unexpected fiat of His will. We may thus understand why their predictions are often strikingly verified while at times they as signally fail.

And so the woman's familiar would doubtless have presented itself as Samuel, and, perhaps, have uttered soothing words to the king. But the usual procedure was cut short by a sudden interference, and the medium shrieked with terror as she perceived, probably through her familiar, that the inquirer was her great enemy king Saul, and, still worse, that all her powers were held in abeyance, and her Satanic accomplice paralysed, by the apparition of a being with whom she felt that she had neither part nor lot. For since Saul would seek unto the dead, God had in anger sent the real Samuel as the bearer of a fearful message of doom.

We need follow the history no further: the dread utterance of Samuel, the despair of Saul, his return to the camp, and his miserable end on the next day, are matters with which we are not at present concerned. We have only to remark that the woman was evidently well known to the officers of Saul; that she was assisted by an attendant spirit; that she was confident in her power of producing a supernatural voice, as well as an apparition which she, at least, could see and describe; that she recognised Saul supernatural information; and that she was terrified at the counterfeit one whom she had expected. Lastly; we are expressly told that the crime of consulting a medium sealed the doom of the first king of Israel.

Spiritualism in the history of Judah.

From this time there is no mention of mediums in the history of Judah until the days of Isaiah. Then the streams of wickedness were returning upon the land from the surrounding Heathen nations, and idolatry and sorcery were rapidly overspreading it. And accordingly the prophet exclaims;- "Thou hast forsaken Thy people, the House of Jacob, because they are replenished from the East, and are mesmerisers like the Philistines, and abound with the children of strangers." it is clear from this verse that Demonism was again beginning to prevail, and strong are the words of Isaiah against it, and especially against those practices which have now reappeared in modern Spiritualism.

Upon the accession of Manasseh, the wicked son of Hezekiah, the revolt was openly headed by the king: for of him we are told that he did evil in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the Heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. It will be instructive to mark the details of that evil as showing the connection of Spiritualism with Idolatry, and, therefore, with Romanism, which, owing to the discoveries of Layard, Rawlinson, and others, now stands clearly convicted of descent from the system of Babylon, and the Baal-worship of old. For the following is the e xplanation of the term "abominations of the Heathen"; "He built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up alters for Baal, and made an Achtaroth-symbol, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. And he built alters in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put My name. And he built alters for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his son pass through the fire, and divined by mesmerism and augury, and set in office one who had a familiar spirit and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger."

The consequence of these abominable practices was a fearful threatening of woe. Jehovah would send a judgment so terrible that both the ears of him who heard of it should tingle: He would level Jerusalem with the ground, even as He had destroyed Samaria: He would treat the Holy City as a man does a dish, when, after wiping away the moisture, he turns it over lest a single drop should remain.

The next king, Josiah, did indeed put away the abominations and remove the mediums from the land: but they soon returned, as we may see by the complaints and denunciations of Jeremiah. To the very last the infatuated nation trusted in them, and turned away from the servant of Jehovah when he cried;- "Hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your mesmerisers, nor to your enchanters, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I sh ould drive you out and ye should perish."

Thus the effects of Josiah's reformation were transient, and, therefore, the threatened judgment and overthrow of Jerusalem quickly followed. And this is the third instance which has presented itself to us or speed y destruction consequent on a more open and general intercourse with the rebel inhabitants of the air.

Traces of Spiritualism in the history of Israel.

In the kingdom of Israel, the spread of sorcery was, of course, a natural result of Baal-worship. The false prophets, as well as those who were active in the last days of the kingdom of Judah, were doubtless mediums inspired by the agents of Satan. And awful, yet instructive, is the scene in which a lying spirit receives permission to enter into the prophets of Baal, the mediums of the royal household, in order that by their influence the miserable Ahab may be led away to meet his death.

A little later we have an unmistakable hint of the prevalence of mesmerism in Syria. For when Naaman heard the message of Elisha, he was indignant that the prophet did not appear, and angrily exclaimed;- "Behold, I thought, he will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and move his hand up and down over the place, and recover the leper." It will be observed that we have adopted the marginal rendering, which alone expresses the correct meaning of nuph in the Hiphil. For that verb signifies to wave up and down, and is the root of tenuphah, the wave offering.

Now Naaman well knew the mode of mesmeric healing as practised by the priests of Rimmon and the false prophets of his own land, and, therefore, expected Elisha to make passes over him in the same way. Hence we can understand the treatment he received. For had Elisha himself come forth and lifted his hand over the leprous spots, Naaman would doubtless have ascribed his recovery to the mesmeric influence of the prophet, who was, therefore, directed not to see him, but to send him to wash in the waters of Jordan.

"What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcraft's are so many?" was the indignant reply of Jehu to Jehoram. And the teachings of some modern Spiritualists seem likely to remind us of the close connection of the two crimes.

A prophecy of Zechariah.

Of the references to mediums in the prophetical books we have already noticed so many that we will only further mention a remarkable promise by the mouth of Zechariah. "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land." A consideration of this passage with its context makes it apparent that Spiritualism will be prevalent among the Jews when they return in unbelief to their own land: but that, upon the advent of their King, they will be for ever freed from that curse which was the cause of their former expulsion.

Spiritualism in the New Testament.

In the New Testament there are hints of the same sin, and the later inspired writers take the same view of it. We have already mentioned the Philippian damsel who had a Pythonic spirit, by which we are, probably, to understand that her familiar was a subordinate of the great power worshipped under the name of Apollo, the Sun-god, and the inspirer of the Delphic oracle. Such would certainly be the idea conveyed to the mind of a Greek or Roman by the significant adoption of this Pagan term. Python was originally the name of the great soothsaying serpent of Delphi, which was slain by Apollo. Hence the god took his title of Pythius, and became the inspirer of oracles and soothsayers. His priestess at Delphi was called Pythia or Pythonissa; and latterly the term Python was transferred to any soothsaying demon which gave responses in the name of Apollo
Tertullian (De Anim, XXVIII) divides the demons who are connected with magic into three classes: (1) Parabolic spirits which throw men on the ground. (2) paredral spirits which keep ever at their side; and (3) Pyth-onic spirits which cast them into trances. If this be a true classification, the Philippian damsel must have been a clairvoyant or trance-medium. But this inference is entirely obscured in our version by the inaccurate substitution of "a spirit of divination" for "a Pythinic spirit": and, consequently, the hint that the being called Apollo really had to some extent the attributes assigned to him is veiled to English readers. Such should, however, be no longer the case: for the authoritative connection Of Spiritualism with the ancient gods is of peculiar importance at a time when Apollo is reappearing as a mighty angelic existence in poems which claim to be demonically inspired.

We have also previously noticed Paul's inclusion of witchcraft among the manifest works of the flesh, and the conversion at Ephesus of those who had practised magical arts, and will only add that sorcerers are twice mentioned in the closing chapters of the Apocalypse. They are found in the catalogue of those who shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, and are warned that they shall never walk in the streets of the golden city. The prophetical passage in the First Epistle to Timothy we designed pass be for the present.

Thus the testimony of the Bible is everywhere consistent: nor could it be better expressed than in the emphatic words of Moses, that all practisers of demonical arts "are an abomination unto the Lord."