The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1888-05-10
MODERN SPIRITUALISM.
Dr.. Talmage Unmasks the Mediums
tic Charlatans Who Prey Upon
Weak Humanity.

Their Victims Found Among the
Troubled, the Bankrupt, the
sick, and the Bereft.
After the Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage. d. d.,
on the Goth ult., had, in his wel-known
manner, expounded the scriptures, the
multitude of people who ihronged the taber-
nacle and all its 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.
DR.. Talmage announced his subject:
"Modern Spiritualism." He took kfor his
text:
s.Behold there is woman that hath a familiar
spirit at Endor. And San disguised himself and
put on other raments. and ne went, and two men
with him, and they cama to the woman by nlght,
and he said pray thee divine unto me by the
familiar spirit, and bring me him up whom shall
aame unto thee."-I. Samuel xviii, 7-S
Following is the sermon in full:
have recently become spiritualist. At
least so some of the journals OF that belief
declare. This, together with the fact that
| "mediums'' are now being tlied in the GRIM
lInal courts, setting millions OF people to
make inquiry in regard to communication
between this world and the next, leads me
10 preach this sermon.
Trouble to the right of him, and trouble TO
| he lett of him. Saul knew not what to do.
| As a last resort he concluded to seek out n
| ,piritua. medium, or a witch, or anything
| hat YOU please to call her--at any late.
| woman WHO had communication with the
| spirits of the eternal world. 1t was very
49,, Il fprS SaytI hnd a SllJ
all the witches or compelled them to stop
| business. A servant one day said to King
| saul: 81 know of spiritual medium down
| at the village of En-dor." "Do you?" said
tie king Night falls. Saul, putting off his
| Singly robes and putting on the dress OF a
| plain citizen. with two servants, goes OUT 10
| aunt UP this spiritual medium. 1t was no
easy thing for Saul to disguise himself, for
| The tallest people in the country only came
| 40 to his shoulder, and l think from the
| strength of the man and the way he bore
| himself he must have been we'll proportion
ed. 1t must have been ffghtful
thing to see man walking along in
| the night eight or nine feet high. Isuppose,
IS the people saw hlm pass, they said:
| ..Who is that? He is us tall as the king"
| having no idea that in such a
plain dress there really was passing the
king. Saul and his servants after while
reach the village, and they say: 81 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 table sculptured images. and divining
rods. and poisonous herbs, and bottles, and
vases They say: eyes, this must be the
place. One loud 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
| here:" The tall king informs her that he
has come to have his fortune told. When
| she hears that she trembles and almost drops
the light, for she knows there is no chance
| for I; fortune-teller or spiritual medium in
all the land. But Saul, having sworn that
| no harm shall come to her, she says: swell,
who shall bring up from the dead?' Saul
saws: "Bring up Samuel" That was the
prophet who had died little while before.
| I see her waving wand, or stirring up some
| poisonous herbs in a caldron, or hear her
muttering over some incantations, or stamp
| ing her foot as she cries out to the realms Of
the dead: Samuel! Samuel?" Lo the
freezing horror! The floor of the tenement
opens and the gray hairs float up, and the
forehead, the eyes, the lips, the shoulders,
Samuel, wrapped III sepulchral robe, APP
pearing to the astonished group, who stag
ger back, and hold fast, end catch their
| breath and shiver with terror. The dead
prophet, white and awful from the tomb, be-
gins to move his ashen lips, and he glares
YOU bring me up for? Why did you break
my long sleep9 What do you mean, King
Saul?" Saul, trying to compose and control
himself, makes his stammering and alright
ed utterance, as he says to the dead prophet:
s'The Lord is against me and have come to
you for help. What shall DOR The dead
prophet stretched forth his finger to King
Saul and said: = 'Die. tomorrow! Come
with ME into the sepulcher. am going
now, Come, come with ~ And 10! the
floor again opens and the feet of the aead
prophet disappear, and the arms, and the
shoulders, and the forehead. The floor
closes. Nothing is left in the room but Saul
and the two servants and the spiritual medi-
um, and the sculptured images, and the di-
yining rods, and the bottles, and the vases,
| and the poisonous herbs. Oh, that was an
awful seance!
learn first from this subject that spiritrl-
alism is very old religion, 1t is natural
that people should want to know the origin
and the history of doctrine which is so wide-
spread in all the villages, towns. land cities of
| the civilized world, getting new converts
every day--a doctrine with which many of
you are already tinged.
spirituaIism in America was born in 1S47,
| in Hydesville, Wayne County, N, Y, when
one night there was a loud rap heard against
the door of lilchael. Weekman; rap
| second 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.
| In that same house there was a young wo.
| man who had a cold hand passed over her face
and there being seemingly no arm attached
| to it, ghostly suspicious eresexcited. After
| q while 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: "Are you spirit!, Two raps, answer
| ing in the affirmative. care you an injured
| spirit?" Two raps, answering in the affirm
ative. And SO 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 peddler had been there to
| collect his $500 or his bones, cannot say,
not being a spiritualist; but there was
| great racket at the door, so Mr.. w eekman de-
clared, and Mrs. Wcekman, and Mr.. and Mrs.
| Fox, and allIthe,l little Foxes. The excitement
| spread. There was universal rumpus.
| Hon. Judge Edmonds declared, in u book,
| that he had actually seen a 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 foated through
! the folding.doors to the front parlOr, rung
over the people there, and then dropped on
the floor. n. P. Talmage, senator of the
| United States, afterward governor Of Wis
| consin, had his head completely turned with
| spi1itualistic demonstrations. A man as he
was passing along the road said that he was
| lifted up bodily and carried toward hi'
home through the air at such great speed he
could not count the posts on the fence as he
passed; and as he had handsaw and .
square in his hand they beat, as he passed
through the air, most delightful music. And
the tables tipped, and the stools tilted. and
the bedsteads raised, and the chairs upset,
and it seemed as If the spirits everywhere had
gone into the furniture business! Well, the
| people said. 1--WE have got something new
in this country; it is new religion" Oh,
] no, my friends. Thousands of years ago we
| Ind 10 our text spirit,lalistic seance.
Nothing IN the spiritllalistic 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 been necromancers,
those who consult with the spirits Of the de-
psrtei; charmers, those who put their sub
| tects ff p 1nesmeric state; soroercrs, those
WHO by takiag tp9fs9nous drugs see every
thing and hear everything Ed tell every
thing; dreatpSff, people Whe In tAeir Sleep
| ing momen1 can see the iHtHre world and
hold consultation With spirits. astrelogers,
who could read new dispenssti0n In the
cfaro ovnprfa IN ra1ulistrv who can tell by