The Forrest City times., 1888-05-05

suffer witch Co live" And lest yon mie nt make some impor ant distinction between spirilulism and witchcrafL God says, In SO
 many words: There shall not be among you eonsulter of familiar spirits. or wiz
 ard, or necromanceri for they that do these
 thngs sre an abomlnat on unto tho Lord" | And He sass again. sFrhe soul of those who
 seek after such as have familiar spirits. and
 who go whorlng after them will set myself
 against them, and he shall be cut of from
 among his people, The Lord AL
 mighty, in a score of passages, which have
 not now time to quote, utters His lndigaa-
 ton against all thls great family of dcius. | ions Alter that be Splrituiisi if Ou dare [ still further; We learn from this text how
 it is that people come to fall into sprltualistn.
 Saul had enough trouble to kli ten men, He
 did not know where to 20 for relief Aftef
 awhile he resolved to go aud see the witch of | En-ior. He expected that somehow she
 thst drove him there. And have to tell you now that Spriulsm finds its victims in the | troubled, the bankrupt, the ses, the berefL ] You loose your watch, and you go Co the | fortune-telier to find where t is. You lose
 friend, you want the spiritual world opened, | so that you may have communication with | him. In hlghly-wrought, nervous and dis
 eased state of mind, YOU go and put yourself
 In that communication That Is why l hate ! spirItualism. Ii takes advantage oi one in a '
 us at any time We lose a friend, The trial | Is keen. sharp suffoeating. almost madden. ing. If we could marshal host and storm
 the eternal world, and recapiure our loved
 one, the host would soon be marshslled The | house is so lonely The world Is 90 dark The
 separation is so insuiIerabe.
 But Spir tualism says: "We will open the future world. and your loved one can come back and talk to you.n Though we may not
 hear bis voice, we may hear the rap Of his , hon e.. ala N1.f falk ts,txft pfff FPp
 hands on the table. Be verF quiet. Five ! minutes gone. Ten minutes. No motion of
 the table. No response from the future world l Twenty minutes. Thirty minutes. Nervous l excitement all the time increasing. Forty | minutes The table shlvcrs. Two raps from
 the future world. The letters of the alpha
 bet are called over. The departed friends s
 name Is John. At the pronunciation or the letter 'J, - two raps At the pronunciation
 Of the letter Q, n two raps. At the pronun- | ciation of the letter "H,n two raps At the
 pronunciation of the letter "N," two raps. | There you have inc whole name spelled out
 John, John. Now, the spirit being present,
 you say; 'Johu. are you happyP Two raps l give an affirmative answer. Pretty soon the hPnd ot the medium begins to twitch and
 toss, and begins 10 write out, after paper and | ink are furnished, message from the eter-
 nal world. What Is remarkable, the depart
 ed spirit, although it has been am q the 1 illumin ations of heaven. cannot spell as well l II
 accuracy and cannot write as distinctly.
 received letter through medium once. l | sent 1t back. l said: Just please to tell
 those ghosts they had better 20 to school and ! get improved in their orthography." Now, | just think of spirits, that the Bible represents
 as enthroncd in glory, coming down 10 crawl under the table, and break crockery and ring 1 tea-bells before supper is ready and rap the
 window shutter on eusty night Is there
 any consolation in such poor, miserable work
 sl rf.1 | Christian friends, got rid of pain and Ian | gushing, are in the radiant society of heaven, | and that we shall join them there not in q
 stihed and mysterious hqlf-utterance, which
 makes the hair stand un end and the cold | chllls creep the back, but in an unhindered
 and ilimtable delight
 And none shall murn1ur or misdoubt
 ., When Gods great sunrise finds us out"
 Yes my friends, Siritualism comes to
 those who arc in trouble and sweeps them | into it's delusions Saul, in the midst of his | disaster went to the witch of En-dor The
 vast majority of those who have gone to
 spiritual mediums have been sent there
 through their misfortuncs.
 | learn stlll farther from this subject, that | Spiritualism and necromancy arc affairs of the l darkness. Why did not Saul go in the dayi He was ashamed to go. Besides that, he
 knew that this spiritual medium, like all her
 successors, performed her exploits in the
 night The Davenports, the Powders, the | Foxes, the spiritual mediums of all ages,
 have chosen the night Or a darkened room. | WhYl The majority of their wonders have been swlndles, and deception prospers besl | in the night
 Some Of the performances of spiritual med | iums are not to be aseribed to fraud, but to
 sorre occult lav that after awhile may be de-
 moustratcd. But l believe that snow ninS 1 hundred and nlnety-nInc out of, every thou ! sand achievements on the part Of spiritual l mediums are arrant and unmitle ated hum 1 bug. The mysterious red letters that ussd | to come out on the mediums arm were found tohave been made by an iron pencil that went l heavily over the flesh not tearing it, but so | disturbing the blooi, that 1t came up in great
 round letters The witnesses Of the seances | have locked the door, put the key in their l pocket, arrested the operator, and found out | by searching the room, that hidden levers | moved the tables. The sealed letters that
 were mysteriousls read without opening have l been found to nave been cut at the side and
 then afterwards slYly put together with gum | arabic; and the medium who, with heavy | blanket over his head, could read book. has l been found to have had q bottle of phosphor. l ie oil, by the light of which anybody can read a book, and ventriloquism, and ieeerdemain, l aud slight of hand, and optical delusion ac- | count for nearly everything Deception be- | ing the main staple of spirtualism. no won- ! der it chooses the darkness.
 You have all seen strange and unaccount-
 able things in the night Almost every man
 has at some time had a touch of hallucina-
 ton. Some time ago, after had been over l tempted to eat something indigestible before
 retiring at night, after retiring l saw the
 president of one of the prominent colleges
 astrde the foot of the bed, while he demand ed of me loan of five ccntsi When l
 awakened had no idea 1t was anything super
 natural. And have to advise you, If you hear 1 and see strange things at nigiit to stop eat
 ing hot mlnee pie and take dose Of bilious medicine. IL Is an outraged physical organ | ism, enough to deceive the very elect after
 sundown, and does nearly all it's work in the
 night. The witch of En-dor held her l seances at night; so do all the witches. Away | with this religion Of spOoks.
 | Still further; l learn from my text that | spiritullsm Is doom and death to Its disciples.
 King Saul thought he would get help from the l .'medum;n but the first thing that he sees
 makes him swoon away, and no sooner is he | Spirituaisn ia doom and death to everyone | that yields 10 it. It ruins the body. Look in 1 upon au audience of spirltualists. Cadaver | otis. Weak. Nervous Exhausted. Hands clammy and cold. Nothing prospers but long | hair--soft marshes yielding rank grass. spir- | itualism destroys the physical health. It's l disciples are ever hearing startling news from
 the other world. Strange beings crossing the
 room fin white. Table hdgetty, wanting to | get ifs feet loose as if to dance Voices
 sepulchral and omnibus. Bewlldered with
 raps. never knew a confirmed Splritualist | who had a healthy nervous system. It Is in-
 cipient epilepsy and catalepsy Destroy your
 nervous system and you might as well be
 dead. I have noticed that people who are
 hearing raps from the future would have but
 little strength left to bear the hard raps of
 this world. It Is sn awful thing to trihe with
 one's nervous system. It Is SO delicate-it Is
 so far-reaching--its Arrangements are so ter.
 rible. Get the nervous system tangle, and
 so far as your body and soul are concerned, the whole universe is jangie. Better in our | ignorance experiment with chemists retorl that may smite us dead, or with an en- gineers's steam boiler that may blow us 1 10 atoms, than experiment with the nervous system. A man can live with only one lung
 or with no eyes. and be happy, as men have
 been under such afllctious; but woe be to the
 man whose nerves are shattered. spirituaism
 smites first of all, and nightly, against the
 nervous system, aud so makes life miserable. | I indict Spirltualsm also, because 1t Is a
 social and marital curse. The worst deeds of | licentiousness and the worst orgies of ob
 scenity have been enacted under it's patron | age. The story Is too vile for me to tell. 1 will not polute my tongue nor your ears with .f.-f k.a f.a.,