Nevertheless, the Church condemns all attempts at establishing such communication between the living and the dead, or even claiming, though falsely, such intercourse.  If this is done in the name of religion, she considers it an insult to God, Who thereby is trifled with and tempted to a miraculous manifestation of Himself outside the ordinary channels of revelation.  As an instrument of mere human curiosity, it is criminal, since it seeks to subject Him to the beck and call of a creature.  In case such practices succeed, there is the grave danger of being mislead and deceived by the evil spirit, who is often permitted, as the instrument of God, to punish guilty men.  When resorted to, as a means of relieving fools of their earnings, it is sacrilegious; and those who support such impious humbugs can be excused from deadly sin only on the grounds of lunacy.

Hypnotism and Mesmerism differ from Spiritism in this, that their disciples account for the phenomena naturally and lay no claim to supernatural intervention.  They produce a sleep in the subject, either as they claim, by the emanation of a subtile fluid from the operator’s body, or by the influence of his mind over the mind of the subject They are agreed on this point, that natural laws could explain the phenomenon, if these laws were well understood.

With this sort of a thing, as belonging to the domain of science and outside her domain, the Church has nothing whatever to do.  This is a theory upon which it behooves men of science to work; they alone are competent in the premises.  But without at all encroaching on their domain, the Church claims the right to pronounce upon the morality of such practices and to condemn the evils that flow therefrom.  So great are these evils and dangers, when unscrupulous and ignorant persons take to experimenting, that able and reliable physicians and statesmen have advocated the prohibition by law of all such indiscriminate practices.  Crimes have been committed on hypnotized persons and crimes have been committed by them.  It is a dangerous power exercised by men of evil mind and a sure means to their evil ends.  It is likewise detrimental to physical and moral health.  Finally, he who subjects himself to such influence commits an immoral act by giving up his will, his free agency, into the hands of another.  He does this willingly, for no one can be hypnotized against his will; he does it without reason or just motive.  This is an evil, and to it must be added the responsibility of any evil he may be made to commit whilst under this influence.  Therefore is the Church wise in condemning the indiscriminate practice of hypnotism or mesmerism; and therefore will her children be wise if they leave it alone.  It is not superstition, but it is a sin against man’s individual liberty over which he is constituted sole guardian, according to the use and abuse of which he will one day be judged.

CHAPTER XXXV.  CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.