The Nicodemus cyclone. [volume] (Nicodemus, Graham County, Kan.) 1887-1888, 1888-05-04

it is a new religion" o no, nv friend
thousands of years ago we find in our text 6
| Splrltualistic seance.
Nothing in the Spirttuaiistie circles cf nrii
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 tnere nave Jeen necromancers, those who
consult With the spirits of the departed
cnarmers, those who put their subjects in q
| mesmerlc state; soreerers, those whC By TAX
ing poisonous drugs see everything and hear
everything and tell everything; dreamers, peo-
PIE VINO IN their sleeping moments can see
| the future world and held consultation with
spirits; astrolOgers, who could read a new dis
pensatlon 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 intoxicated the
sheep and the goats that came anywhere near
IT, and shepherd approaching 1t was thrown
by tnat exhalstion into an excitement in
which he could not fcretsll future eFent.
and held consultation with the spiritual
| world. Yea, before the time of Christ the
| Brahmins went through all the table-movng,
all the furniture excitement which the Spirits
have exploited in our day; precisely the same
thing over and over again. Under the manpi-
| latlOns CT the Brahmins Now do YOU say
that spiritualism is different from these!
| answer all these decisions have mentioned
| belong to the same family. They are exhIf-
nations from the unseen world. What does
God think of all these delusions1 He thinks
so severely ct them that he never speaks Of
| them but with livid thunders of Indignation:
| He says: II will be a swift witness against
| the sOrcerer." He says: Thou shalt not
suffer a witch to live" And lest you mig Mt
make some important distinction between
| Splritulism and witchcraft God says In so
many Words There shall not be among
you cOrsulter Of familiar spirits, or wiz
| ard or necrOmancer; for they that do these
| things are an abomination unto the Lord"
And He saws again: ''The soul of those who
seek after such as have familiar spirits and
| VINO go WhOring after them, | will set myself
against them, and ne shall be cut off from
among his people" The Lord Al
mighty, in score Of passages, which have
| not now time to quote, utters His indigna-
ton against all this great family of deluS-
| ions. After that be Spirtulst if you darel
Still further: We learn from this text how
1t is that people come to fall into Spirtualism.
Saul had enough trouble to kill ten men. He
did not know where to go for relief After
awhile be resolved to go aud see the witch OF
En-dor. He expected that somehow she
would afford him relief. 1t was his trouble
that drove him there. And have to tell you
now that Spiritulism finds it's victims in the
troubled, the bankrupt, the sick, the bereft.
You loose your watch, and you go to the
tortune-teller to find where it is. You lose
friend, you want the spiritual world opened,
SO that you may have communication with
him. In highly-wrought, nervous, and dis
eased state of mind, you go and put yourself
IN that communication That is why | hate
Sptritualism. It takes advantage OF one in a
moment of weakness, which may come upon
us at any time. We lose friend. The trial
is keen. sharp suffocating, almost madden
ing. II we could marshal host. and storm
the eternal world, and recapture our loved
one the host would soon be marshalled. The
house is so lonely. The world is so dark. The
separation is SO insufferable
But Spiritualism says: ''We will open the
future world, and your loved one can come
back and talk to you" Though we may not
hand. So, clear the table. Sit down. Put your
hands on the table. Be very quiet. Five
minutes gone. Ten minutes. No motion of
the table. No response from the future world
Twenty minutes. Thirty minutes. Nervous
excitement all the time increasing. Forty
minutes The table shivers Two raps from
the future world. The letters of the alpha
bet are called over. The departed friends
name is John. At the pronunciation of the
letter ~" two raps. At the pronunciation
of the letter co." two raps. At the pronun-
citation of the letter s'H," two raps. At the
There you have the whole name spelled out.
John, John. Now, the spirit being present,
you say: John, are you happyP' Two rapS
give an affirmative answer Pretty soon the
hand of the medium begins to twitch and
toss, and begins to 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 amid the
Nominations of heaven, cannot spell as we'll
as it used to. 1t has lost all grammatical
accuracy and cannot write as distinctly. I
received letter through medium once.
sent it back. | said: Just please to tell
those ghosts they had better go to school and
get improved in their photography" Now,
just think of spirits, that the Bible represents
as enthroncd in glory, coming down to crawl
under the table, and break crockery, and ring
tea-bells before supper is ready, and rap the
window shutter on a gusty night Is there
any consolation in such poor, miserable work
compared with the thought that our departed
Christian friends, got rid of pain and lam
gushing, are in the radiant society of heaven,
and that we shall join them there, not In a
stifed and mysterious half-utterance, which
makes the hair stand on end and the cold
chills creep the back, but in an unhindered
and illimitable delight
And none. shall murmur or misdoubt,.
When Gods great sunrise finds us out"
Yes, my friends, SDiritualsm comes to
tn ose who are in trouble and sweeps them
into It's decisions. 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 misfortunes.
| learn still farther from this subject, that
Spiritualism and necromancy are affairs of the
darkness. Why did not Saul go in the daYl
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 Fowlers, the
Foxes, the spiritual mediums Of all ages
have chosen the night or a darkened room.
Whyl The majority of their wonders have
been swindles, and deception prospers besl
In the night.
Some of the performances of spiritual med
iums are not to be ascribed to fraud, but to
some occult law that after awhile may be de-
monstrated. But | believe that now nina
hundred and ninety-nine out of every thou
sand achievements on the part of spiritual
mediums are arrant and unmtig ated hum
bug. The mysterious red letters that used
TO come out on the mediums arm were found
to have been made by iron pencil that went
heavily over the flesh. not tearing ii, but so
disturbing the blood, that 1t came up in great
round letters. The witnesses of the seauces
have locked the door, put the key in their
pocket, arrested the operator. and found out
BIZ searching the room, that hidden levers
moved the tables. The sealed letters that
were mysteriously read without opening, have
been found to have been cut at the side, and
then afterwards slyly put together with gum
arabic; and the medium who, with q heavy
blanket over his head, could re ad a book has
been found to have had bottle of phosphor.
ic oil hy the liCht Of which anvhOdv ran read