Milford chronicle., 1888-05-04
TABERNACLE SERVICES.
REV. DR.. TALMAeE DlscoURSEs ON
MODERN SPlRlTUALISM.


ligion-Not a Madhouse but Has Its
Yictims-The RibIe Is Enough for Us to
Know OF the Future.
BRooKLYN. April 29.-After the Rev. T.
De Witt Talmage, d. D., had in his well
known manner expounded the Scriptures, the
multitude Of people who throng the Taber-
naele and all the entrances, packing every
available space Of standing and sitting room,
united in singing:
Salvation let the echo fly
The spacious earth around,
While all the armies Of the sky
Conspire TO raise the sound.
DIR. Talmage announced his subject, "Mod-
ern Spiritualismn He took for his text,
Behold, there is a woman that ath a famil-
lar spirit at En-dor. And Saul disguised him
self and put on other raiment, and he won't,
and two men with him, and they came to the
woman by night, and he said, pray thee
divine unto me by the familiar spirit, aud
ing me him up whom / shall name unto
thee."-I Samuel xviii, Z, S. Following is
the sermon in full:
1 have recently become a Spiritualst At
least so some of the journals Of that belief
declare. This, together with the fact that
mediums are now being tried in the criminal
inquiry in regard to communication between
this world and the next, leads me to preach
this sermon.
Trouble to the right of him and trouble to
the left Of him. Saul knew not what to do.
As n last resort, he concluded to seek out a
spiritual medium, or Il witch, or anything
that You please 10 call her-at any rate. a
woman who had communication with the
spirits of the eternal world 1t was a very
difficult thing to do, for Saul had either slain
all the witches or compelled them to stop
business A servant one day said to King
Saul: 81 know of a spiritual medium down
at the village of En-dor.n do your said the
king. Night falls. Saul, putting off his
kingly robes, and putting on the dress Of a
plain citizen, with two servants, goes out to
hunt up this spiritual medium. It was no
easy thing for Saul to disguise himself, for
the tallest people in the country only came
up to his shoulder, and l think from the
strength Of the man and the way he
bore himself he must have been
well proportional. 1t must haze been a
frightful thing to see a man walking
along in the night eight or nine feet high.
l suppose as the people saw him pass, they
said: "Who is thatl He is as tail as the
king''-having no idea that in such a plain
dress there really was passing the king
Saul and his servants after awhile reach the
village, and they say: II wonder if this is
the house," and they look in and see the
haggard, weird and shriveled up spiritual
medium sitting by the light, and on the ta-
bic sculpturcd images, and divining rods,
and poisonous herbs, and bottles, and vases.
They say: "Yes, this must be the place"
One load rap brings the woman TO the door;
and as she stands there, holding the candle
or lamp above her head and peering out into
the darkness, she says:
''Who is hcre.n The tall king informs her
that he has come to have his fortune told.
Whom she hears that, she trembles and
almost drops the light, for she knows there
is no chance for a fortune teller or spiritual
medium in all the land. But Saul, having
sworn that no harm shall come to her, shes
''Wcll, who shall / bring up from the deadN
Saul saysi .'Bring up Samuel" That was
the prophet who had died little while be-
fore. l see her waving a wand, or stirring
up some poisonous herbs in a caldron, or
hear nuttering over some incantations, or
stamping with her foot, as she cries out to
the realm of the dead: samuel SamuelP'
Lo, the freezing horror! The floor of the
tenement opens, and the gray hairs float up,
and the forehead, tho eyes, the lips, the
shoulders the arms, the feet, the entire body
of dead Samuel, wrapped i'm sepulchral robe,
appearing to the astonished group, who
stagger back and hold fast, and catch their
breath, and shiver with terror. The dead
prophet white and awful from the tomb,
begins to move his pshen lips and he giareS
upon King Saul, and cries out;
"What did You bring me up for2 Why did
You break my long sleepi What do you
mean, King Saul!p Saul, trying to compose
and control himself, makes this stammoring
and afTrighted utterance, as he says to the
dead prophet: "The Lord is against me, and
have come to you for help. What shall [
don The dead prophet stretched forth his
finger to King Saul and said: "Die to-mor-
rowl Come with me into the sepulcher l
am going now. Come, come with mel" And
10! the floor again opens, and the feet Of the
dead prophet disappear, and the arms, and
the shoulders, and the forehead. The floor
closes Nothing is left in the room but Saul
and tho two servants, and the spiritual me-
dunn, and the sculptured images, and the
divinng rods, and the bottles, and the vases,
and the poisonous herbs. Oh that was an
awful seancei
learn first from this subject that spir-
itualsm is a very old religion 1t is natural
that people should want TO know the origin
and -the history of doctrine which is so
widespread in all the villages, towns and
cities of the civilized world, getting new
converts every day--a doctrine with which
many Of you are already tinged.
SpiritGalsm in America was born in 1917,
in Hydcsville, Wayne county, n. Y, when
one night there was loud rap heard against
the door of Michael Weekman; rap a sec
ond time, rap third time; and all three
times, when the door was opened, there was
nothing found there, the knocking having
been made seemingly by invisible knuckles.
II that same house there was a young woman
Who had a cold hand passed over her face, and
there being seemingly no arm attached to it,
ghostly suspicious were excited After
awhile Mr. Fox and his family moved into
that house, and then every night there was a
banging at the door; and one night Mr.. Fox
said: care you a spilit!" Two raps, ans
swering in the affirmative. "Are you an
injured spiritT Two raps, answering in the
affirmative Andso they found out, as they
say, that it was the ghost or spirit Of a ped
der who had been murdered in that house
many years before for his $500. Whether
the ghost Of the dead peddler had come
there to collect his $500, or his bones, can
not say, not being a Spiritualst; but there
was a great racket at the door, so Mr..
Weekman declared, and Mrs Weekman
and Mr. Fox and Mrs. Fox and all the
little Foxes. The excitement spread There
was universal rumpus The Hon. Judge
Edmonds declared, in a book, that he had
actually seel bell start from the top shelf
Of a closet, heard it ring over the people that
were standing in the closet, then, swung by
invisible hands, it rang over the people in
the back parlor, and fioated through
the folding doors to the front parlor,
rung over the people there, and then
dropped on the floor. N. p Talmage,
senator of tho United States, afterwards
| governor Of Wisconsin, had his head
completely turaed with spiritualistic
! demonstrations. A man as he was
passing along the road said that ho was
lifted up bodily, and carried toward his
home through the air, at such great speed he
could notcount the posts on the fence as he
/ passed; and as he had hand saw and a
/ square in his hand, they beat, as he passed