The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1878-08-22

[nAnK me Tor celllng upon you tWOuays
before. The ssmedium" had certainly
never heard the name of your mother,
much less that had seen you. In the
same way within three days . living
voice not mortal, giving the same
name. has earnestly requested me to
write you. OF course all these SEEM
ing facts are delusions, or the mockery
of evil spirits ct least SO l ought to
believe, If were to follow the teach
ings inculcated In the Rev. DIR. G -'s
last Sunday evenings sermon. This
sermon has been handed me by Mrs.
R, and l have perused it with
some care. Pardon me If amuse my.
self with imagining him in conversa-
tion, after the style of modern cler.
gyman, or of Tyndall or Huxley. with
James, sthe Lords brother" Trans
porting DR.. c. 10 the vicinity of
Jerusalem, j and to about the thirty
third year of our era, we will suppose
that James has asserted in his pres.
ence that the crucified Jesus had rlsen
from the dead. DIR. {" may be
imagined testing James's faith, some
thing in this way:
DR. Glow do You know that
Jusus rose?
JAMEs.-I saw and touched him.
DIR. B.-When and where7
JAMEs.-In q room at night He
came in when the doors were closed.
and vanished before they we're open
ed but all present saw him.
DE-. C.-Was he really tangible, and
are you sure you touched him.
JAMEs.-He was really tangible. ]
am sure that I saw and touched him.
DIR. C.-My dear. James, that 10 all
delusion and Illusion. Either some
one was in the room, slyly personst-
ing him in dress and features. or some
evil spirit presented himself, or you
were in such . state of "mental ex-
pectancy," al of you, that you saw and
touched only what you wished to see
and touch. No spirit can come in the
semblance of flesh into Q closed room
and vanish while it remains closed.
This is hallucination pure and simple,
Your Jesus never rose from the dead
and, james, neither you nor any 9th
er person saw him as If aliue after
death. But If you did see him, re.
member that ''no severer denuncis.
tions are found in the Bible than those
against necromancers, sorcerers, &C.
Turn to Deut. XVIII; N-12. If you
saw . real spirit, It was not jesus, but
some demon personating him for the
time being. You teach, james q
doctrine of devils," in teaching the
resurrection Of Jesus.
IfDr. &c sermons were put in.
to dialogue think 1 fairly represent
the language in which he would be
bound to address . "witness of the
resurrection of Jesus" had he lived
In the first half Of the first century. II
is interesting to see that no section OF
the Christian world, except Q email
body among the Shakers and Sweden.
borgisns, has one word of welcome
or any kind recognition for this class
of phenomena. When the great sci.
entific minds of ali countries. are
strenuously maintaining that thu. pos.
sibiIity of . future life is altogether
dubious, the Church is doing its best to
suppress the evidence that demon
strates TO the very senses the realty OF
such = life. 1t is unfortunate that her
guides, blind leaders Of the Blind are al
ways opposed to the disclosures of any
new truth. They Imprisoned Galileo for
teaching the verify of the Copernican
system; they earnestly resisted the
diffusion Of all true knowledge of as.
tr0nOmy or geology; and now, when
the telegraph. telephone ana phono-
graph at least suggest that we may
reach our departed loved ones, these
same blind guides are the fret to dis
courage the effort and to disseminate
suspiciOH in regard to the only known
modes of access to the invisible world.
Fret, they hold that the mediums are
all deceivers; secondly, the inquirers
are al deceived or hallucinated /;
thirdly. il tho mediums do real
Iy open the veil between this world
and the next, demons alone may be
expected to be the only visitants.
This il all the 1ruit the Church can
reap from the wonderful array Of
facts that show the world to be en-
tering upon that period when, In the
language of the unknown author OF
the Apocalypse. "there shall be no
more DEATH" That is, practically, no
more death, because our loved and
lost ones are to be found to be still
aliuc under higher and more desirable
conditions for all modes of sentieace
than when in the body.
The urgency of voices dear to you,
though not. SPOKEN through feshly
lips, impels to this communication. the
first and probably the last upon this
subject with which shall ever troub-
le you. Pray receive 1t kindly, and
we will speak only OF the
things that perish, as those that belong
to the immortal world are seen by US
from points Of view 20 dissimilar.
Very truly your friend always.
d. L.
FLlnRTS AND COQUETTES.
No woman likes to be called . CO.
quette, and yet how few can abstain