The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1894-12-20
TIE SPIRITS.
T---cTPIT gEI-cS
Who Are Locking About Us.
y. y. Herud.

mann II their utirutlc7 and plaques
and Of evil -pirits-Lul,e. vii, 81
Are they not All ministering spirits.
sent forth to minister for them who
shall be heirs Of observation-disclosures,
j., ii.
There is no reason why we should
gladly accept those teachings Of the
Scripture which happen to fall IN with
our notions OF what the Almighty
ought 10 do and reject those against
which we entertain prejudice.
If a messenger comes from God, both
respect and courtesy demand that We
shall listen to all he has to say.
There Is one matter, however, con
nected with the souls environment
which we persistently ignore that IS
the influences which neither originates
in our own wills nor comes from those
for whom We have love Of friendship,
but is exercised BY the unseen beings
who have passed through the change
which we call death, and for some
reason still linger near their happy
homes or their evil haunts.
The assertion that the departed may
have a rather close relation to Us IS
somewhat startling in age as practical
as this one TO affirm with any degree
Of emphasis that The two worlds, the
one in which we now live and the one
in whicL we shall live by and by,
arc so close that they touch each
other and that the good and bad folk
in Tie other world have something
(hOw much it might be difficult
to determme) to do with the affairs OF
this world-that seems very strange to
all Of us, and to many it is simply in
credible.
1t cannot be denied. however. that in
the records Of natural as we'll as OF what
is termed revealed religion this doctrine
occupies a very conspicuous place. Nc
student Of history can ignore the fact
that among unculttlred as we'll as cul-
tured races the belief that evil spirits
do intrude into our lives, and that good
spirits are always near to lend us assis
lance, is accepted with undoubtne
confidence.
Among barbarlc tribes YOU discover
two devices which are constantly resort
Ell to. The one is for the purpose Of
driving away the baneful influences
which have stealthily crept into the
household, and the other is to allure
and entice good influences These
"influence," are supposed III all cases
to be personalities. beings who Tor GOOD
OF bad motives. as the case may be, arc
interested IN what is being done on the
earth.
II YOU take stride from Contra
Africa to the India of the time of Chris
you are astoniShed to find that the sam,
belief prevails among the multitude
and that He, the preacher OF the ney
truth, accepted it and proclaimed it.
We are forced to admit that it Is
very hard doctrine to accept, and mos
frankly declare that there are man
intellectual difficulties in connection
with it which are embarrassing. W
are accustomed to seeing people. tina
we hesitate to believe that any one CA
exist whom we cannot see. To tell Il
that there are more folk in the uppe
air. invisible to us, than there are O
this lower plane. and that these inyisibl
beings, some Of them, are helping us t
he cured OF orr diseases and rolling tn
clouds away from our weary head
while others OF them are tempting l
IN precisely the way that our evil con
panionS do-all that sounds like
quaint concelt, the product of som
Imagination. We shrug our shoulder
or make deprecating gesture. or oil
erWlse express an astonishment that
without bounds. We shrink from til
man who makes such statments. an
wonder i he can be evenly balance,
or if some great misfortune has disturb
ed his equilibrium
But careful thinking conyinces ,
that whether the doctrine be true {
false, or whether we find ourselves ab
10 accept it or not, Christ certainl
REGARDED it as the pmbodiuppt of .