The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1888-05-10

splrlts, ana VINO 20 wnorlng after them.
Will set myself against them; and he shall be
cut on from among his tpeople:" The Lord
Almighty; In score OF passages; which I
have not NOW time to quote; utters His in:
dignation against all this great family of
ielusions: After that be spirituaiist If
you dare!
Still further, we learn from this text how
1t Is that people come to fall into spiritual.
ism. Saul had enough trouble to kill ten
men. He did not know where to 70 tor re-
lief. After awhile he resolved to 60 and see
The witch Of En.dor. He expected that
somehow she would afford him relief. 1t was
his trouble that drove him there. And I
its victims in the troubled; the bankrupt, tho
sick, the bereft You lose your watch, and
you 50 to the for rune teller to find where it
Is. You lose friend. you want tile spiritual
wcrld opened, 50 that you may have COM
munlcation with him: In highly:w:ought,
and put yourself in that Communication.
That is why hate spiritualsm. 1t takes nd:
vantage of one in a moment of weakness,
which may come upon us at any time. We
lose friend. The trial is keen. sharp. su:'o.
eating. almost maddening. If we could
marshal host, and storm the eternal world.
and recapture our loved one. the host would
soon be marshaled. The house Is so lonely.
he world is so dark. The separation is 50
insufferable.
But splritual,sm says: eve will open the
future world, and your beloved one can como
back and talk to YOU" Though we may
not hear his voice, we may hear the rap Of
Put your hands on the table. Be very quiet.
Five minutes gone. Ten minutes. No mo.
ton of the table. No response from the fu--
ture world. Twenty minutes. Thirty min.
utes. Nervous excitement all the time in
creasing. Forty minutes. The table shivcrs,
Two raps from the future world. The letters
of the alphabet arc called over. The de-
parted friends name is Joh,. At the pro.
nunciation Of the letter ~" two raps. At
the pronunciation Of the letter 80" two
raps. At the pronunciation Of the letter sH'
two raps. At tic pronunciation of the letter
IN" two raps. There you have the wLo.e
name spelled cut. john, John. Now. tie
spirit being present, you say: "Jol1n. are
you happy?" Two raps give an affirmative
answer. Pretty soon the hand of the medium
begins to tWitch and tcss. and begins to write
out, after paper and ink are furnished. a
message from the eternal world. What is
remarkable. the departed spirit, although it
has been amid the iIlNminations of heaven,
can not spell az we'll as it used to. 1t In,
lost all grammatical accuracy and can not
write as distinctly. 1 received letter
through medium once. I sent it back. l
said: "Just please to tell those ghosts they
had better 60 to school and get improved in
their photography" Now, just think of spirits,
that the bible represents as cnthro ned in
glory, coming down to crawl under the able,
and break crockery, and ring tea-bells before
supper is ready. and rap the window shutter
on Il grlsty night. Is there any consolation in
such poor, miserable work compared with
the thought that our departed Christian
frierd:, 6 rid OF pain and lanquisling, arc
in the radiant society OF heaven, and that we
shall join them there, not in stifled and
mysterious half-utterance which makes the
hair stand OH end and the cold chills clc D
down the back, but in an unllndcred and
illimitable delight.
And none shall murmur or misdonbt.
When Gods great sunrise finds US out
Yes,my friends spirituaism comes to those
who are III trouble and sweeps them into its
delusions. Saul; in the midst of his disaster,
jorltv Of those who have gone to spiritual
mediums have been sent there through their
miS!ortunes.
learn still further from this subject that
spiritllalism and nccrOmancy are affairs Of
the darkness. Why did not Saul 60 in the
day? He was ashamed to 90. Besides that,
he knew that this spiritual medium, like all
her successors, performed her exploits III
the night. The Davenports, the Fowlers, the
Foxes, the spiritual mediums of all ages;
have chosen the night or darkencd room.
Why? The majority Of their wonders have
been swindles, and deception prospers best
in the night.
diums are not to be a>crlbcd to fraud. but to
some occult law that after awhile may DC de
monstrated. But | believe that now nine
hundred and ninety-ninc out of every thouls-
and achievements on the part of spiritual
mediums are arrant and unmitigated hunl-
bugs. The mysterious red letters that used
to come out on the mediums arm were found
went heavily over the flesh; not. tearing it,
but so disturbing the hood that it came up in
great round letters. The witnesses of the
seanccs have locked the door, put the key in
their pocket, arrested the operator, and found
out, by searching the room, that hidden levers
moved the tables. The sealed letters that
were mysteriou>ly read without opening
have been found to have been cut at the side,
and then atterWard slyly put together with
gum arabic; and the medium who, with a
heavy blanket over his head. could read a
book, has been found to have had bottle OF
body can read book; and ventrilo-
quis,n, and legcrdemain, and 'sleight Of hand,
and optical dclusion account for nearly CIV.
crything. Deception being the main staple
OF spirtualism, no wonder it chooses the
darkness.
You have all seen strange and unaccounta-
bic things in the night. Almost every man
has Mt some time had touch of hallu'
cination. Some time ago, after1 had been
ovcrtempted to cat something indigestible
before retiring at night, after retiring 81 "
the president of one of the prominent col.
leges astridc the foot OF the: bed, while he
demanded Of me loan Of cents. When
awakened I had no idea it was anything
supernatural. And have to advise you, il
you hear and see strange things at night. t.
stop eating hot mince pie and take a dose Of
bilious medicine. 1t is All outraged physical
organism, enough to deceive the very elect
after shutdown, and does nearly all its work
in the night. The witch Of Endor held hel
seances at night; SO do all the witches
Away with this religion of spooks.
Still further: learn from my text tina,
spirituaIism is doom and death to its dis
ciples. King Saul thought that he would
get help from the ''medium;" but the first
thing that he sees makes him swoon away
| and no sooner is he resuscitatcd than lie j.
told he must die. Spiritualism is doom ant
death to everyone that yields to it. 1t ruins
the body. Look in upon an audience O
snirltMaiists. Cadayerons: Weak Nervo!s
yielding rank grass. Splritualism destroys
the physical health. Its disciples are ever
hearing startling news from the other world
Strange beings crossing the room in white.
Table fidgety, wanting to get its feet loose
as il to dance. Voices sepulchral and omin'
Gus. Bewildercd with raps. Inever knew q
confirmed spiritualist who chad q healthy
nervous system. 1t is incipient Epilepsy and
| catalepsy. Destroy your nervous system
| and you might as we'll be dead. l have
noticed that people who are hearing rap.
from tho future world have but little
! strength left to bear the raps of this world
1t is an awful thing to trifle with ones nerv.
Gus system. It is so delicate, it is so far
reaching, its arrangements are so terrible
Get the nervous system in a jangle, and, sc
| SO far as your body and soul are concerned
the whole universe is q jangle. Better ir
our ignorance experiment with chemist:
retort that may smite us dead, or with ar
engineers m-boiler that may blow us t.
atoms, than experiment with the nervous
| system. \ man can live with only one lun.
or with no eyes, and he happy, as men have
been under such affections, but woe lie tt
the man whose nerves are shattered. Spirit
ualism smites first of all, and nightly
against the nervous system, and 80 make!
! life miserable.
indict spir,ualism, also, because it is 81
cial and marital curse. The worst deeds O.
RIGHTEOUSNESS and the worst orgies of oil,
scenity have been enacted under its patron