Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-05-28

ailSt, WHO says the soul IS DuC tern
to express the mentality ofthe brain
aud that when the brain dies Sc
must the soul; or the infdel, who
listens with awe-strichen horror tt
the ticking of his watch, bringing
him to q realization of the fast-ap
proaching time when be must give
up al that is bright and beautiful
here, for utter apnihilation, that by
chance he came into existence and
by that same fckle goddess will b.
sent out; that all these should doub,
the truth of Spiritualism seems not
strange to me; but that our ministers
of the gospel, our so.called Christi
ans, all over the world, preaching
the immortality of the soul from n
Book which teens with Spiritual
truths and evidences, that they
should preach "that if o man die he,
shall live again" and ye. be the first
to hurl stone of denial and distrust
upon the temple which phenomenal!
proof Of their teaching has erected.
is past my comprehension. TO
them l would speak first, and espe-
ciallv to those who admit the fact of
spilit return, but claim tat only
evil spirits are permitted to revisit
earth. | cannot understand, for a
moment, how they can believe that
our dear Father, whose loving wis
dom has placed us here, could per-
nit us to be surrounded and con-
trolled by only such influences as
would tend to injuro US. In the
long ago, All INDUCTION was given to
"Try the spirits and prove whether
they were of God or not" 1t was
not II PERMISSION granted and apoli-
cable to speciai cases, but an impera-
tie command to all to try the spirits,
to test their character and identity
and from the knowledge obtained to
either accept them and their teach
ings OF to reject both. If the pos.
sibility for both good and eril spirits to
return to earth existed then, why
should il not noW9 What natural
law has been changed, that the dear,
loving mother, the devoted wife, the
innocent children, the husband and
father who on earth was never so
happy as i'll contributing to the hap
piness of those dear household
treasures, wife and children, the
sister who walked hand in hand with
dear Cnes here, shall be dcJarved
from returning to earth, to comfort,
and sustain their mourn
ing ones while, an erii spirit may
come to destroy them? Dear broth
ers, you who arc working to-day for
mans redemption. you who stand
before men as guides and teachers,
who hold up that Book of Books,
the Bible, as an infallible rule Of
faith and practice, how can you feel
that your work is being faithfully
done if you content yourselves with
saying Spiritualism is not true; or,
if tue, is the work of the Devil"
when you know Paul says. Con-
cerning spiritual gifts. brethren l
would not have you ignorant" and
again, Follow after charity and de-
sire spiritual gifts"
We are told that the Woman of
Endor called up aud conversed with
the spirit OF Samuel; that Moses
and Elias appeared and talked with
our dear elder brother, Jesus of
Nazareth, upon the Mount" in the
presence of three witnesses, and yet
when I tell you, to- day, that have
seen and talked with the friends you
have known here, but whose spirits
have been separated from the body,
you shrug your shoulders and say
1" Impossible, you are being deceived
by some evil influence" or what is
still more unkind and ungenerous,
say Humbug! fraud|
What is there in our philosophy
that you can object to? Spiritualism
is to me and to most of its believers,
not only a matter of faith, but
proven belief in the progress of every
human soul to purity and happiness
in the life ueyond. We believe that
for every sin committed in the body,
an atonement must be made, that
every one must work out his own