The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-05-09

1
yourself IN that communication. You
have lost friend The house is so lonely,
the world so dark The separation is so
intolerable. If you could marshala host
and storm the eternal world and recapture
your loved one that host would be mar
shaleG. While you are in that weak and
| nervous and excited state spiritualism
comes and says: "Why, We'll bring your
friends back to you. You may not hear
their voice, but you will hear the rap
ping. You will have some communica-
ton with them" Now clear the table.
Put your hands on the table. Now,
! all be quiet, be very quiet. Five minutes
| gone. No response from the eternal
world. Be patient Laughter Fifteen
minutes gone and no response. Twenty
minutes and the nervous tension is be-
coming tremendous, but no response. Be
| patient Laughter Forty minutes gone.
The table shoulders. Spirits Laughter.
| Now, the name of the person was John.
Call over the letters OF the alphabet and
| when you have come to the right letter
the table shakes. Go on with the alpha
| bet until you come TO the letter j. Table
shakes. Go on with the alphabet until
! you come to the letter o. Table shakes.
| Go on with the alphabet until YOU come to
the letter III. Table shakes. Go over the
| alphabet again until you come to the let
ter \. Table shakes. Don't you seer
-O-H-N-John! Laughter.l But
| now the mediums hand begins 10
twitch and toss Put under it paper and
| pencil. Now it begins to write out the
message from the next world, and what is
remarkable is that though the departed
was an educated man in this world, now
he can not spell respectfully. Loud
laughter] He smashes ali the laws OF
| English grammar. got letter from the
eternal world, they say through one OF
| these mediums, and l sent the letter back
saying, 'You Just tell those ghosts they
| had better 90 to school a while and learn
] to spell Laughter. All, it is IN the
| time of weakness, worn out with bereave-
! ment and trouble and misfortune, that
| they come upon the soul and destroy
it, Think of bringing a spirit from Its
throne in glory to crawl under an extern
sion table laughter and break the crock
cry and ring the tea bell before supper is
ready laughter and rattle the shutters as
a gusty night. Compare that with the
treatment OF the Word OF God OF that sub
ject. 1t shows that our Christian dead are
in glory and amid the radiant society OF
the redeemed, free from pain and anguish,
and that we shall join them after while,
not in a stihed and mysterious half utter
ance that makes the cold chills creep up
the back and the hair rise on end, but in
an unlimited and unhindered delight.
That is the reason l hate spiritualism, the
fact that it takes men when they are
down. 1t takes the mother when she has
lost her children---nerves all ajangle, and
amid the overthrow of all the worldly
| prospects-and comes in with this infinite
sham of the devil. Oh, how many good
women l have seen destroyed by it!
! indict spiritualism, also because it is an
affair OF the night and of darkness. Saul
went to the witch of Endor. Why did he
not 90 in the daytime2 Ashamed, first.
Secondly, he knew that her exploits were
| chiefly in the night; her great exploits
| in the night Why not in the
| day? Because it is sham
and the night is better for the deception.
| There are wOndrous things done by medi-
ums which | suppose may be ascribed to
some occult law of nature which may after
| a while be demonstrated; but in nine hun
| bred and ninety-nine cases out of the
| thousand il is arrant humbug, mechanical
| trick. AL that writing on the mediums
arm, those red letters and words coming
! out most mysteriously, written there by
I the fingers of spirits 1t has been found
out to be the work of an iron pencil work
| ing heavily on the arm, not sufficiently to
tear it, but enough to disturb the blood so
the blood comes to the surface in great
letters. All these pictures of the departed,
| these spiritualistic photographs, all shown
TO be a mechanical trick, the picture COW
cred up for awhile by some slight cover
ing, sufficient, however, TO hide it, and
then a sponge after awhile just erasing
| this outside covering and the picture is
| there, the miserable daub of the original
artist. All that reading of book with a
blanket over the face turned out to be the
fact that the person thus practicing the
trick had phOsphoric light in a phial
under the blanket, and you can read a
book by phosphoric light quite as easily
as with a candle And letters read with
out opening-all found to have been split
at the side and then carefully pasted to-
gether. Witnesses OF these performances
have locked the door and put the keys in
their pocket and then explored and found
out that the tables were moved by mystic
rious levers. Legerdemain, ventrilOquism,
optical delusion mechanical trick account
for nine hundred and ninety-nine of the
cases out of the thousand. Hence the night.
Always the night, or a darkened room.
Sunlight is the foe of sham. Spiritualism
is a child of darkness. Have YOU seen
strange and wonderful things in the night?
/ suppose almost every person has had at
some time something like an hallucina-
ton, especially if you have eaten very
heavy supper. Laughter Years ago, l
was overtempted to eat something very
indigestible before retiring ut night, and
in the night / saw the president OF one of
the prominent colleges seated astride the
bedpost imploring me for the loan of five
cents. laughter / did not take it as
spiritualistic demonstration the next morn
ing when thought over it, Aye, l indict
this crime of spiritualism because it works
the death and doom of its disciples Saul
thought he could%get relief. He went
there and the first thing he heard made
him swOon away, ana as soon as he came
to he was told he must die. That is all
the help he got. You look in upon
an audience Of spiritualistic cadav-
ers-weak, exhaused, hands clammy
and cold, you cannot show me
man or woman who for fifteen years had
believed in spiritualism and had adopted
it who has healthy nervous organization
So many thrilling things from the next
world. Such strange beings in white
crossing the room. Tables fidgety as
though they wanted to get their feet loose
and dance / have noticed that people
who hear a great many rappings from the
next world have not much strength left
for the heavy raps of this. Laughter
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