Evening star., 1900-08-07
CLAIMED BY SPIRITUALISTS,
Mr. A. b. Richmond in Lecture
Speaks of John Wesley.

Speaks of John Wesley.
From the Buffalo Express.
LILY DALE. August 2.-This afternoon
A. B. Richmond lectured at the auditorium
on John Wesley a Spiritualist and His
Mother a Medium His address was, in
the main, devoted to the submission of evil
Gence tending to show that John Wesley
was in touch with the spirit world and
was a spirftualist Mr. Richmond said:
We depend on the written pages of the
historian for a true account of long past
events and the incidents of phenomena
therein narrated, and in this lecture l call
as evidence the unadorned statements of
witnesses who lived when Wesley did and
saw and heard what he did"
In referring to the strange occurrences at
Epworth parsonage and which the theo-
logical creeds of that day sought strenu-
ously to deny and ridicule. as to their spir-
itual origin, Mr.. Richmond said:
'Al the biographers Of John Wesley
speak of these occurrences as undeniable
facts, while no one has attempted to ex
plain them on any other theory than that
of Wesley himself, who was fully convinced
of their spiritual origin"
To Substantiate his statements in this
connection Mr. Richmond quoted from sew
eral well-known authors and historians
such as Robert Southey in his Life of
Wesley and THE Story of MethOdism,"
by A. A. Hyde, ID. D., late professor of
biblical literature in Allegheny College
Pa. in which he says: There was a sound
of doors slamming, of curtains drawing. of
shoes dancing without a wearer; trench
er. untouched upon the table danced to un-
heard music. 1t obeyed Mrs. Wes-
ley. If she stamped on the floor and bade
it answer, its response was instant"
Mr.. Richmond said: Nearly every life
of Wesley, no matter who is the author
narrates these mysterious phenomena. The
encyclopedias of today refer to them as
undeniable and inexplicable facts. The
evidence of the happenings Of the Wesleyan
trrit
that of any other fact proven by history
and nothing but unreasoning bigotry will
deny 1t. John Wesley believed in the spir
itual nature Of phenomena, and that belief
influenced his whole life and religious
teachings. The great founder of Methodism
in relating his experience and convictions
of the subject of the evidence of spirit
manifestations says: What pretense have
i to deny well-attested facts because 1 can
not comprehend them? 1t is true that
most of the men of learning in Europe
have given up all accounts of apparitiQns
as mere old wives fables. / am sorry for
II and | willingly take this opportunity of
entering my solemn protest against this
violent compliment which so many that
believe the Bible pay to those who do not
believe it. | owe them no such service.
They well know whether Christians know
1t or not that the giving up of these ap-
partitions is in effect giving up the Bible:
and they know on the other hand that IL
but one account of the intercourse or men
with spirits Is admitted, their whole castle
in the air (deism, atheism and materialism)
falls to the ground. One of the capital OBJ
jections to all these accounts which have
known urged over and over, is this. Did
you ever see an apparition yourself? No;
nor did l ever a murder. yet l believe
there Is such thing With my
last breath will / bear testimony against
giving up to infidels one of the greatest
proofs OF the invisible world mean that
of apparitions confirmed by the testimony
of all ages
..Th,, NJ Picbmopd said sis the testi-
mony of one of the worlds greatest and
best men the founder of church that
claims a population of 100000, with A.
coo 900 communicates, and yet the Chris
tfan Advocate and other publications of
this great denomination deride the belief of
their pioneer and apostle.