The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-06-16

ward. 1-st3enesis XIV. 1. That is. / am thy
guidcsSthy protector. Next he went TO
Isaac in the night and said: Il am the
God of abraham, thy father: fear not.
for am with thee and will bless thee
and multiply thy seed for my servant
Abraham's sake. "-Genesis XVI, "a
Here He claimed to be nothing more
than the God of Abraham Genesis
xviii, 13 the same God appears TO
Jacob in the night again and says: Il
am the Lord God of Abraham, thy faith
er and the God OF Isaac. the land
wherein thou lest to thee will / give it
and thy seed" Here he claims 10 be
the Lord; that is. Yahweh. the God of
both Abraham and Isaac. and proposes
now TO be Jacobs God. Next. in Exodus
iii, s. he appears as Moses and says:
Il am the God of thy father, the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob" That is. he was the
guide first Of Abraham. then of Isaac,
then of Jacob and then of Moses's faith
or. See verse fifteen. Ever after that
he is called the God of the Hebrews, the
God of Israel, etc. See Exodus fiji, Is;
V. 3; Exodus xiv, 10. The idea of one
universal Deity never entered the mind
of Hebrew until after the Babylonish
captivity. Even when they We're in
Babylon their great desire to get back
to their own country was In order that
they might worship their own God.
exclaimed, How can we sing Yahweh's
songs in a strange land?'-Psalms
cxXxiii, f.
NEW TESTAMENT SPIRITS.
The New Testament is all susceptible
to interpretations similar to those given
above. AS we began this part of the
argument with the first book of the Old
Testament, it will be appropriate to
close it with an application of the argu-
ment to the last book of the new.
The Apocalypse. commonly called the
book of Revelation, is nothing more nor
less than a series of spirit communica-
tons coming from circle of spirits who
call themselves the seven spirits of
God" 1t purports to be 1.-The revelation
OF Jesus Christ which God gave unto
Him to show unto His servants things
which must shortly come to pass, and
He sent and signified it unto His servant
John, who bear record of the word of
God and of the testimony Of Jesus, and
of all things that he saw"
Here the revelation was of, or from,
Jesus. and the object was to show unto
his servants things which must shortly
come to pass.
John was undoubtedly trance
medium. He says: Il, John. was in the
spirit on the Lords day" That is,
was in a spiritual condition. John heard
behind him a voice-a spirit voice. He
turned to see the source of that voice
and saw Jesus, a departed human spirit.
This spirit-Jesus-in his preliminary adj
dress says seven times, He that hath
an ear let him hear what the spirit
saith to the churches" If the churches
as the last sands of the nineteenth CEN
fury are running out could be induced
to listen to spirit voices they might have
some of the power of goodness AS they
are they hug to their bosoms the old
dead carcass-forms. ceremonies and
cymbals, while the real. power seeks and
finds a recognition among a people whom
themselves will not recognize. In the
language OF this spirit on this occasion
l counsel them to buy gold tried in the
fire, and white raiment and eye salve"
in order that they may discover their
own nudity.
This medium John several times sees
the communicating spirits. He de
scribes few Of them. He saw one with
hair as white as snow. with a golden
girdle and with feet which shone as
FURNISHED brass. In chapter twenty
seventh, verses eight and nine, he says:
And /, John, saw these things and
heard them. And when had heard and
seen 1 fell down TO worship before the
feet of the angel which showed me these
things. Then saith he unto me: See
thou do it not, for I am thy fellow
servant, and Of thy brethren the
prophets, and of them which, keep the
sayings of this book, Worship God.
A better rendering would be: 81 am a
fellow servant with thee. and with thy
brethren the prophets. and with them
that keep the sayings of this book"
Thus i have tried to show from the
earlier and later parts of the Bible that
il originated as the result Of communion
between this and the spirit world. Now
1 have space left to point out only one
of the many places where the spiritual
phenomena come to the front in such a
way that they cannot easily be misun-
derstood.
WITCH OF ENDoR STORY.
The case OF the visit of King Saul to
a medium is as appropriate as any one
case in the Bible. The minister usually
calls it the case of Saul and the witch
of Endor." Even Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage fell into the error of calling this
woman a witch. The Bible nowhere
calls that lady a witch. On the other
hand, it proves that she was more than
an ordinarily good woman. The story
is found in First Samuel xviii 90.
Be ii remembered that Samuel and
Saul had been intimate friends. Samuel
was Yahweh's prophet. at the head of a
school of prophets. The time came when
Samuel demanded greater sacrifices to
Yahweh than Saul was willing to make;
he even demanded human sacrifices, and
when Saul refused Samuel himself hewed
King Agag to pieces before Yahweh.
First Samuel XIV, SO.
The breach between Samuel and Saul
had become SO great that Samuel re-
fused to see Saul any more until the
day of his death. nor could Saul get
communications from any other prophets
or by any other means. Saul, under
Samuels directions, had driven all who
had familiar spirits out of the land. Now
he wanted communication. and after
trying i'm various ways he inquired for
one who had a familiar spirit. He was
informed that there was a woman at
him, as she was one he sought to kill.
with two of his friends went by night
to visit the lady.
She at first refused to sit for him, but
was finally persuaded TO do so. AS soon
as she entered into a clairvoyant condi-
ton she saw that her old enemy Saul
was before her. This frightened her and
she cried out, why hast thou deceived
me. for thou art Saul?' Saul. after as
surfing her that no harm should come
to her. asked her what she saw. She
answered that she saw gods ascending
out of the earth. A better translation
is: Il saw one with a godlike form as
cending out of the earth" Then Saul