The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1888-05-10

ism is different from these? l answer, all
these delusions have mentioned belong to
the same family. They are examinations
from the unseen world. What does God
severely Of them that He never speaks of
them but with vivid thunders OF indigna-
tion. He says: IL will be swift witness
against the sorcerer." lie says: "Thou
shalt not suffer witch to live" And lest
you might make some important distinction
between spiritualism and witchcrafJ God
says III SO many words: s"There shall not
be among you consult,r of familiar spirits,
or wizard, or necrOmancer; for they that do
these things are an abomnation unto the
Lord" And He says again: 1.-THE soul OF
those who seek after such as have familiar
spirits, and who go whOring after them,
will set myself against them, and he shall be
cut OIL from among his Ipeople." The Lord
Almighty, in score OF passages, which 1
have not now time to quote, utters His i'll
dignation against all this great family Of
lelusions. After that be spirituaiist il
you dare
Still further, we learn from this text how
1t is that people come to fall into spiritual-
ism. Saul had enough trouble Ito kill ten
lei. After awhile he resolved to go and 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 sprtuaism finds
its victims in the troubled, the bankrupt, the
sick, the bereft. You lose your watch, and
you 90 to the fortune teller to find where it
Is. You lose friend, you want the spiritual
wcrd opened, so that you may have COM
munlcation with him. In highly-w-ought,
nervous, aud diseased state of mind, you go
and put yourself in that communication.
That is why hate spirituaism. 1t takes ad.
vantage Of one in Il moment of weakness,
which may come upon us at any time. We
lose friend. The trial is keen. sharp. su 20.
eating, almost maddening. If we could
marshal host, and storm the eternal world,
and recapture our loved one. the host would
soon be marsbaled. The house is so lonely.
7 he world is So dark. The separation is so
insufferible.
But 81 lr;tuallsm says; ''We will open the
back and talk to YOU" Though We may
not hear his voice, we may hear the rap of
lis hand. So, clear tie table. Sit down.
Put your hands OH the table. Be very quiet.
Five minutes gone. Ten minutes. No mo.
ton of the table. No response from the fll-
ture world. Twenty minutes. Thirty min-
utes. Nervous excitement all the time in-
cIe Using. Forty minutes. The table shivers.
Two raps from the future world. The letters
of the alphabet are called over. The de-
parted friends name is John. At the pro-
nunciation Of the letter u" two raps. At
the PRO lunciation of the letter so" two
raps. At the pronunciation of the letter III"
two raps. At tie pronunciation of the letter
''N' two raps. There you have the wl:o.e
name spelled out. John, John. Now. t.
spirit being present, you say: ''John. are
you happv?'' Two raps give an affirmative
answer. Pretty soon the hand of the medium
begins to twtch and tess. and begins to write
out. after paper and ink are furnished,
message from the eternal world. What is
l.Io "a IxIx1 -
has been amid the illuminatons of heaven,
can not spell as we'll as it used to. 1t has
lost all grammatical accuracy and can not
write as distinctly. L received a letter
through medium once. l sent it back.
said: "Just please to tell those ghosts they
had better 60 to school and get improved in
their ortEography." Now,just think of spirits,
that the bible represents as enthI hIoned 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 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 lanquishing, are
in the radiant society OF heaven, and that we
shall join them there, not in stifled and
mysterious half-utterance which makes the
hair stand ON end and the cold chills creep
down the back, but i'll an unhindered and
ilimitable delight
And none shall murmur or misdoubt
When Gods great sunrise finds out.
Yes,my friends, spiritualism comes to those
who are in trouble and sweeps them into its
delusions. Saul, in the midst of his disaster,
went to the witch of Endor. The vast ma
jorltv OF those who have gone to spiritual
mediums have been sent there through their
misfOrtunes.
learn still further from this subject that
spiritualism aud necromancy are affairs Of
the darkness. Why did not Saul go in the
day? He was ashamed to 60. 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 darkened room.
Why. The majority of their wonders have
been swindles, and deception prospers best
in the night.
Some of the performances of spiritual me-
diums are not to be ascrlbed to fraud. but to
some occult law that after awhile may be de .
monstrated. But l believe that now nine
hundred and ninety-nine out of every thOus-
and achievements on the part Of spiritual
mediums are arrant and unmitigated hum
bugs. The mysterious red letters that used
to come out on the mediums arm were found
to have been made by an; iron pencil that
went heavily over the flesh; not. tearing it,,
but so disturbing the bood that it came up in
great round letters. The witnesses of the
seances have locked the door, put the key in
their pocket, arrested the operator, and found
out, by searching the room, that hidden levers
moved the tables. The sealed letters that
were mysterio,lsly read without opening
have been found to have been cut at the side,
and then afterward slyly put together with
gum arabic and the medium who, with q
heavy blanket over his head. could read q
book, ,'has been found to have had bottle of
phosphoric oil, by the light of which any,
hoo pnA f,.l
quism, and legerdemain, and sleight of hand,
and optical delusion account for nearly ev-
erything. Deception being the main staple
of spiritualism, no wonder it chooses the
darkness.
You have all seen strange and unaccounta-
BILE things in the night. Almost every man
has at some time had a touch of hallu-
cination. Some time ago, afterI had been
overtempted to eat something indigestible
before retiring at night, after retiring saw
the president of one of the prominent col
leges astride the foot of the:bed, while he
demanded of me loan Of cents. When l
awakened 1 had no idea it was anything
supernatural. And have to advise you, if
you hear and see strange things at night. to
stop eating hot mince pie and take a dose of
bilious medicine. 1t is an outraged physical
organism, enough to deceive the very elect
after sundown, and does nearly all its work
in the night. The witch of Endor held her
scances ut night; so do all the witches
Away with this religion of spooks,
Still further: learn from my text that
spiritualism is doom and death to its dis
ciples. King Saul thought that he would
get help from the 'smedium;" but the first
thing that he sees makes him swoon away,
and no sooner is he resuscitated than he Is
told he must die. Spiritualism Is doom and
death to everyone that yields to it. 1t ruins
the body. Look In upon an audience of
sniritualists. Cadaverons. Weak. Nervous.
Exhausted. HANDS clamny ana cold.
Nothing prospers but long hair-soft marshes,
yielding rank grass. Spiritualism destroys
the physical health. Its disciples are ever
hearing startling news from the other world.
Strange beings crossing the room in white.
Fable 'fidgety, wanting to get its feet loose
as II to dance. Voices sepulchral and omin.
ous. Bewildered with raps. Ineyer knew a
confirmed spiritualist who chad healthy
nervous system. 1t is incipient epilepsy and
catalepsy. Destroy your nervous system,
and you might as well be dead. l have
noticed that people who are hearing raps
from tho future world have but little
strength left to bear the raps of this world.
1t is an awful thing to trifle with ones nerv-
Gus system. It is so delicate, it Is SO far
reaching, its arrangements are SO terrible.
Get the nervous system in a jangle, and, so
so far as your body and soul are concerned.
kt.x. v1H<1o x,sSsx 60 DzAt a..