The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1864-01-20
Written for the Union sy Ghas Peterson, . ESQ
SPIRIT RaPPtNG EXPOSED.
IIcoscLUDED.1


to enter inert matter, and then show itself, |
responsive to the volition and intelligence of
within the body, from which
it itfollowedi; lit will go of course very far to-
ward proving, that this is the connscting link
between mind and matter, I he immaterial and
the material. And it seems in the nature of
things. very fitting that it should be SO; that.
THIS mysterious agent, which batles every MT
tempt to inyestigat te It's satars, this which in
its very essence, seems to hold q middle place
between the material, and the immaterial,
should indeed be the medium sof their action
and reaction on each other For example:
IF electricity in the human body, is the insep-
arabic companion of intelligent spirit, can it
be supposed that all the other electricity in
the world is destitate of it !? The hair of an
imals is highly electrici Is it then .throught
this they make this communications to each
other of which there are iundoubted pre-. e.fs in
the records of animal instinct? We think it
must be SO, and an all wise and berefcent
Creator has wisely ordered and directed these
things What then shall wessay of the elec-
tricity of the thunder cloud Will scIeace
lead us back to the beliefs of our nursery, and
make us little children again? Or will she
revive in modified form the beautiful mythol-
ogy of the Greeks, which peopled all nature
With Gods will some savant at q future day
feel persuaded that the great Creator has COM
mitted the elements of the globe to subordi-
nate intelligence, to be welded according to
his will, this all pervading electricity being
the medium by which their powers are brought
to bear on inert matterf Will any future
comm entator conjecture it to be in thia sense
that "He maketh his angelsy spirits, and his
ministers fame of fre" Will science her
self, one day turn around on heryotaries, and
shiver to atoms, the doctrine of invariable
sequences by assuring them that this all per-
vading clement the immediate agent of self
determining intelligencea r
1t is satisfactory at least to find that those
who pow lead the van in experimental science,
manifest no disposition to assert, that elec-
tricity is itself life or spirit, but only deem it
to be its constant accompaniment and that the
theory of the spiritusl body supposcs it to be,
not controlling, but being controlled by the
immaterial principle and byit carried whither-
soeyer it will. This is illus.rated by numerous
touching narratives Of dying mothers, going
off in spirit, to see their children at distance
the apparition being visible to those who were
with the children, whilesth who watch the |
flesh and blood, thought that it slept, and were
Informed when consciousness Returned, that
the children had, been visited. 1T seems a
great pity that Mr.. OwEN's ghost-lore which |
is for the most part very harmless in its ten
denotes, should be laid by himself, as foun-
dation for the wicked delusionss connected
with rapping; that after demonstrating to his
own satisfaction at least, vehicle of electroid
character, subject to an immortal heaven born
spirit, dwelling WITH it in the bodys apdstrav-
elling with it opt of the body, he should lead
his readers to suppose, that this spiritual body
with its master can be compelled to come and
so;ourn in table at the bidding of any sett
of idle boys or girls that choose to place their
fingers on the leaf, andthat it must answer
all their silly questions. We must denounce
it as that sin of witchcraft which all laws hu-
man and divine have represented as rebellion
against heaven. The most concise account we
have in the scriptures of the conduct and
uel-2s chapter where we are tod that "when
the Lord departed from Saul, and answered
him not, neither by dreams nor by Urin, not
by prophets" he applied to witch and re-
quired her to bring up, not an evil spirit, but
that of the holy prophet Samuel, who was dis
pleased at the disturbance. :,
Seme expounders of the bible have tried to
L. IL. Al, Iol l.sn
up ghosts, and was herself terrified at the
sight of Samuel. The obvious bearing of the
whole passage however conveys, rather that
her alarm arose from the sudden discovery
that her visitor was the King who had been
wont to punish witches, and she supposed her
self caught in snare. When reassured by
Saul, she described the apparition which he
at once Unidentified, but it seems he did not
see, and the conversation proceeded either di-
rectly or through the witch, as medium
Although the former seems almost literally
on the face of the narrative, yet one would
infer that as Saul did not see, neither did he
hear the Prophet, that there was great room
for doubt. Let this narrative be compared
with 1st Samuel 1913 and Isaiah S-i9 and
no one can doubt for moment, that to at
tempt to elicit communications from spirits of
the dead is a amost prssumptiousss;n.is 4 On this
subject Mr.. Owen says athat GOD protects his
own mysteries, and has rendered it impossible
to eys-pass the limits Of permitted inquiry =,
IF God has closed the way imam cannot pass
thereon /; but if he has left open the path who
shall forbid its entrance This win not do
for argument with the bible in our hands
We cannot forget, aEal al,os6. aoi,.i is4:;s.es4-s
1aTAIans first disobedi ence, md the fruit +
e 2a0f that forbi idden tree, whose mortal taste 5l
ia Brought death into the world and all our Woes