Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-04-30

BROOKLYN, April 29.-After the Rev. I.
Dewitt Talmsge, DID,, had in his we'll
known manner expounded the Scriptures,
the multitude of people who throng the
Tabernacle and all the entrances, packing
every available space Of standing and sit
ting room, united in singing,
"salyatlonl let the echo ny
The spacious earth around,
While all the armies OF the sky
Conspire TO raise the sound"
DR.. Talmage announced his subject:
Modern Spirituaiism." He took for his
tsxt: "Beholds there Is u woman that hath
a familiar spirit at Eu-dor. And Saul dis
guished himself and put on other raiment,
odd he went, and two men with him, and
they came to the woman by night; and he
said, pray thee, divine unto me by the
familiar spirit, and bring mt him up, whom
I shall name unto thss."-Samuel xviii.
Z, 8. Following is the sermon in full:
l have recently become spiritualist
At least SO some Of the journals Of that be-
lief declare. This, together with the fact
that mediums" are now being tried in the
criminal courts, setting millions Of people
to make inquiry in regard to communica-
ton between this world and the next, leads
me to preach this sermon.
Trouble to the right of him, and trouble
to the left Of him, Saul knew not what to
do. As last resort, he concluded 10 seek
out spiritual medium, or q witch, or any
thing that You please to call her-at any
rate, q woman who had communication
with the spirits Of the eternal world. 1t
was q very difficult thing TO do, for Saul
had either slain oil the witches or CON-
pelled them 10 stop business.
But Saul having sworn that no harm
shall come TO her, she says: We'll, who
shall bring up from the dead?" Saul
saws: Bring up Samuel" That was the
prophet who had died little while before.
/ see her waving wand, or stirring up
some poisonous herbs in cauldron, or
hear muttering over some incantations, or
stamping with her foot, as she cries out to
the realm Of the dead: Samuel Samuel!'
Io, the freezing horror! The floor Of the
tenement opens, and the gray hairs float
mn. and the forehead, the eyes, the lips.
the shoulders, the arms, the feet, the entire
body of dead Samuel, wrapped in sepul.
chral robe, appearing to the astonished
proup, who stagger back and hold fast, and
catch their breath and shiver with terror.
The dead prophet, white aud awful from
the tomb, begins to move his ashen lips,
and he glares upon King Saul and crie'
ont: "What did you bring me mp for:
Why did you break my long sleep? What
do you mean, King Saul?" Saul, trying
10 compose and control himself, makes :hit
stsmmering and afIrighted utterauce, as be
says TO to the dead prophet: "The Lord
is against me, and have come TO you fol
help. What shall | do?" The dead
prophet stretched forth his fuger to King
Saul and said: ode tomorrow!
COME WITH Me INTO THE sEPULcHRE
| am going now. Come, come with me. VI
And, 10? the floor again opens and the feet
of the dead prophet disappears, and The
arms and the shoulders and the forehead
The floor closes. Nothing is lef: in the
room but Saul and the two servants, and
the spiritual medium and the scnlptured
images and the divining rods and the bottles
and the vases and the poisonous herbs. o,
that was an awful scene.
learn first from this subject that spir
ituslism is o very old religion. Still fur
ther, We learn from this text now il is that
people come TO fall into spirituslism. San
had enough trouble TO kill ten men. He
did not know where to go for relief. After
awhile he resolved 10 go and see the witch
OF En-dor. He expected that somehow she
would afford him relief. II was his trou.
BILE that drove him there. Aud / have t6
tell you now that spiritualism finds
its victims in the troubled, the bank
rupt, the sick, the berelt. You lose
your watch, and you go to the fortune
teller to find where it ip. You lost
friend, you want the spiritual world
opened, 30 that you may have communi'
cation with him. In highly-wrought,
nervous, and diseased state Of mind, you
20 and put yourself in that communication.
That is why hate Spirituslism. Ittakes
advantage Of one in a moment Of weak.
ness, which may come upon us at any time
We lose friend. The trial IS keen, sharp
suffocatiug. almost msddening. II We
could marshal host, and storm the eter.
nal world, and recapturs our loved one,
the host would soon be marshalled. The
house is SO lonely. The world is 30 dark.
The separation is 30 insufferable.
But Spirituslism says: 1--WE will
OPEN THE FUTURE WORLD,
and your loved one can come back and
talk to you" Though we may not hear
his voice, we may hear the rap Of his
hand. So, clear the table. Sit down.
Pat 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 rsps from the future world.
The letters Of the alphabet are called over.
The departed friends name In John. At the
pronunciation Of the letter 81, two raps.
At the pronunciation Of the letter 20"
two raps. At the pronunciation OF the let
ter al" two raps. At the pronunciation
Of the letter IN" two raps. There you
have the whole name spelled out-J-o-h-n,
John. Now, the spirit being present, you
say: "John, are you ksppy?" Two raps
give an Affirmative answer. Pretty soon
the hand Of the medium begins to twitch
and toss, and begins 10 write out, after
paper and ink are furnished, o message
from the eternal world. What is remark
able, the departed spirit, al
though Il has been amid the
Examinations OF heaven, cannot spell as
well as Il used to. It has lost all gram
matical accuracy and cannot write a dis
tinctly. Ireceived letter through me
dium once. I sent il hack. said: "Just
please to tell those ghosts they had better
70 TO school and get improved in their or.
biography" Now, Just think Of spirits,
that the Bible represents ~ enthroned In
glory, coming down to crawl under the
table, and break crockery, and ring tea
bells before supper il ready, and rap the
window shutter on gusty night Il there
any consolation in such poos, miserable
work compared with the thought that our
departed Christian friends, got rid Of
PAIs AID LAsGUIsHIyG,
are in the radiant society Of heaven, and
that we shall Join them there, not in .
stifiod and mysferious halfutterance, which
makes the hair stand on end and the cold
chills creep the back, but In an unhinder-
"A .r1 tItiroifahie deli0ht