Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1888-05-10
MODERN SPIRITUALISM
Dr.. Talmage breaches on Mediums
and Their Followers.
Nothing Mysterious or Awful About the
Whole Thing-Terrible Effects OF Fol-
lowing Spirituaiistic Doctrine-NOt
an Invention of This Age.

an Invention of This Age.
In late sermon upon Modern Spirit
ual,sn'' Dr. Talmage took for his text
Behold, there is a woman that hath a
familiar spirit at Endor. And Saul dis
9d,sed himself, and put on other rsjment,
and he went and two men with him, and
they came to the woman by night; and he
said. l pray thee, divine unto me by the
familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom
shall name unto thee" Samuel xviii.
70 Dr. Talmage recited the story OF King
Saul, how he disguised himself ard Wis
ited the Witch of Endor who was believed
to possess the power of calling up the
dead. and depicted Saurs amazement and
horror at the communication which he re-
ceived from the Prophet Samuel. DR.. Tai
mage then said:
learn first from this subject that spirit
ualism IS very old religion. 1t is natural
that people should want 10 know the origin
and the history Of a 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.
Splritualsm in America was born in
1S47. in Hydesville Wayne County, New
York. when one night there was a loud rap
heard against the door Of Michael Week
man; rap second time. a 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. In that
same house there was young woman who
had cold hand passed over her face, and
there being seemingly no arm attached to
ii, ghostly suspicious were excited. After
while Mr.. Fox AMI his family moved into
that house, and then every night there
was banging at the door, and
one night Mr.. Fox said: Are you a
spiritE'' Two raps, answering IN the
affirmative. "Are you an injured
spirit?" Two raps. answering in the affirm
alive. And 50 they found out, as they say,
that it was the ghost or spirit Of peddler
who had been murdered in that house many
years before for his $500. Whether the
ghost of the dead pc idier had come there
to collect his $500 or his bones, can not
say, not being spiritualist; but there
was a great racket at the door. 50 Mr..
Weekman declared, and Mrs. Weekman
and Mr. Fox and Mrs. Fox aud all the little
Foxes. The excitement spread. There
Edmonds declared IN a book that he had
actually seen bell start from the top
shelf OF a closet, heard it ring over the
people that were standing in the closet;
then, swung by nvisib hands, it rang
over the people in the back parlor, and
floated through the folding doors to the
front parlor, rung over the people there
end then dropped on the floor.
"A
States, afterward Governor Of Wisconsin.
had his head completely turned with spir-
itualistic demonstrations. A man as he
was passing along the road, said that he
was lifted up bodily and carried toward his
home through the air at such great speed
he could not count the posts on the fence
as he passed; and as he had saw and square
In his hand, they beat as he passed through
tho air most delightful music. And the
tables tipped, and the stools tilted, and the
bedsteads raised, and the chairs upset,
and it seemed as il the spirits everywhere
had gone into the furniture business! Well.
the people said: 1--WE have got something
new in this country; 1t is new religion"
q, no, my friends. Thousands OF years ago
we find in our text sEiritualistic seance.
Nothing In the sprltualist. circles Of
our day has been more strange, mysterious
and wonderful than things which have been
seen in the past centuries OF the world. In
all the ages there have be II necromancers,
those who consult with the spirits Of the
departed; Charmers, those who put their
subjects in mesmerlc state; sOr-
ccrers, those who by taking poisonous
drugs see every thing and hear every
thing aud tell every thing; dreamers, peo-
pie who in their sleeping moments can see
the future world and hold consultation
with spirits; astrologers, who could read a
new dispcnsation in the stars; experts IN
palmistry, who can tell by the lines in the
palm Of your hand your origin and your
history.
From a cave on Mount Parnassus, we are
told, there was an exhalation that intox-
icatei the sheep and the goats that came
anywhere near it, and shepherd approach
ing it was thrown by that exhalation into
excitement in which he could foretell fu-
ture events and hold consul alton with the
spiritual world. Yea, before the time Of
Christ the Brahmins went through all the
table-moving, all the furniture excitement,
which the spirits have exploited in our
day; precisely the same thing over and
over again, under the manipu iatlons Ct the
Brahmins. Now do you say that spiritual
ism is different from these! l answer. all
these dclusions have mentioned belong to
the same family. They are eXhumatious
from the unseen world. What does God
think Of all these delusions9 He thinks
SO severely of them that He never
speaks of them but with livid thunders OF
Indignation. He SAYS: II will be swift
witness against the sorcerer." He says:
1'Thou shalt not suffer witch to i've"
nd ,itybt ,oly prta ,,t
distinction between spirtualism and witch
craft God says In so many words: ''Therc
shall not be among you consulter of IA
miliar spirits, or wizard, or necromancer;
for they that do these things are an abom-
ination unto the Lord" And He says
again: THE soul of those who seek after
such as have familiar spirits, and who go
whorlug after them, l will set myself
against them and he shall be cut of from
among his people" The Lord Almighty,
in a score OF passages which l have not
now time to quote, utters HIS indignation
against all this great family of decisions.
After that be q spiritualist IL you dare!
Still further, we learn from this text how
it is that people come to fall into spiritual.
ism. Saul had enough trouble to kill ten
men. He did not know where to go for re-
lief After awhile he resolved TO 90 and
see the witch Of Endor. He expected tina.
somehow she would afford him relief 1t
was his trouble that drove him there. And
have to tell you now that spiritualism
finds Its victims in the troubled, the bank.
rupt, the sick, the bereft. You lose your
watch, and you go to the fortune teller to
find where it is. You lose q friend, YOU
want the spiritual world opened so that
you may have communication with him
In highly wrought, nervous and diseased
state Of mind you 20 and put yourself in
that communication. That is why hate
.~;..;$,,l;s,,, II %al,os ,I, 80 >n~ -