Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-03-02

world. The letters or the alpnaDet are
called over. The departed friends name
is John. At the pronunciation OF the let:
ter j two raps. At the pronunciation OF
the letter o two raps. At the pronuncia-
ton of the letter II two raps. At the
pronunciation OF the letter N 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 happy?"
Two raps give an affirmative answer.
MANY years ago the steamer Atlantic
started from Europe for the United States.
Getting midocean, the machinery broke,
and she floundered around day after day
and week after week. and for a whole
month after she was due people wondered
and finally gave her up. There was great
anguish in the cities, for there were many
who had friends aboard that vessel. Some
Of the women In their distress went to the
spiritual medium and inquired as to the
fate of that vessel. The medium called up
the spirits, and the rapplngs on the table
indicated the steamship lost, with all on
board. Women went ravlng mad and were
carried to the lunatic asylum. After
awhile one day a gun was heard OH quaran-
tine. The flags went up on the shipping,
and the bells OF the churches were rung.
The boys ran through the streets crying:
"Extral Tho Atlantic Is safe!" There was
the embracing as from the dead when
friends came again to friends, but some Of
those passengers went up to find their
wives 10 the lunatic asylum, where this
cheat of Internal spirltualism had put
them.
I bring against this deluslon a more
fearful indictment-it ruins the soul i'm
mortal. First, it makes q man a quarter
OF an infldel; then 1t makes him half an In
a. Ii Ia inf Inl
II God is ever slapped In the face, 1t Is
when a spiritual medium puts down her
hand on the table, invoking spirits de-
parted to make revelation. God has told
YOU all you ought to know, and how dare
YOU be prying into that which is none OF
your business? You cannot keep the Bible
In one hand and spiritualism In the other.
One or the other will slip out OF your grasp,
depend upon 1t. Spiritualism is adverse
to the Bible, in the fact that 1t has In
these last days called from the future
world Christian men to testify against
Christianity. Its mediums call back
Lorenzo Dow, the celebrated evangelist,
and Lorenzo Dow testines that Christians
are ldolaters. Spiritualism calls back Tom
Paine, and he testi1es that he is stopping
in the same house in heaven with John
Bunyan. They coll back John Wesley, and
he testihes against the Christian religion,
which he all his life gloriously preached.
Andrew Jackson Davis, tho greatest OF all
the spirltualists, comes to the front and de-
clares that the New Testament Is but 1.-THE
dismal echo Of barbaric age" and the
Bible only zone Of the pen and ink relics
OF Christianity"
have in my house book used In spir-
itualistlc service 1t contains q catechism
and q HYMN book. The catechism has these
questions and answers:
@. What Is our chief baptism? A. FIRE.
quent ablutlon in water.
@. What is our inspiration? A. Fresh air
and sunshine.
o. What is our love feast? A. Clear
conscience and sound sleep.
@. What Is our prayer? A. Physical ex-
ercise.
And then 1t goes on to show that great
proportion OF their religious service Is
system Of calsthenics. Then when they
want to arouse the devotion OF the people
to the highest pitch they give out the
hymn on the sixty-flfth page:
The night hath gathered up her silken
frlnges.
Or, on the fifteenth page:
Come to the woods, helgh no!
"But," says some one, wouldn't 1t be
world? Don't you think 1t would strength
en- Christians2 There are a great many
materialists who do not believe there are
souls, but il spirits from the future world
should knock and talk over to us they
would be persuaded" To that answer In
the ringing words of the Son OF God, "If
they believed not Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded though one
rose from the dead"
T believe these are the days OF which the
apostle spake when he said, I'm the latter
times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits" Audi
ences in this day need to have reiterated
in their hearing the passages l quoted
some minutes ago. "There shall not BIO
among you consulter OF familiar spirits.
or wizard, or necromancer, for they that
do these things are an abomination unto
the Lord" and, "The soul that turneth
after such as have familiar spirits l will
set Myself against them, and they shall be
cut off from their people"
But invite you now to Christian
seance, q monday seance. This congre-
cation is only one great family. Here Is
the church table. Come around the church
table; take your seats for this great Chris
tian seance; put your Bible on the table,
put your hands on top Of the Bible and then
listen and hear il there are any voices COM
ing from the eternal world. / think there
are. Listenl "Secret things belong unto
the Lord, our God, but things that are re-
vealed belong unto US and to our chill
dren." Surely that Is a voice from the spirit
world. But before you rise from this Chris
tian seance I want you to promise me you
will be satisfied with the Divine revelation
until the light OF the eternal throne breaks
upon your vision. Do not go after the
.kolx - M nAfo ff
rappings either in sport or In earnest.
Teach your children there are no ghosts
to be seen or heard In this world save those
which walk on two feet or four-human or
bestial Remember that spirituallsm ut
the best Is useless thing, for IL 1t tells
what the Bible reveals it is superhuity,
and IL it tells what the Bible does not re-
veal it Is lie.
Instead Of going to get other people to
tell your fortune tell your own fortune by
putting your trust In God and doing the
best you can. will tell your fortune. "Ail
things work together for good to them
that love God" Insult not your departed
friends by asking them to come down and
scrabble under an extension table. Re-
member that there Is only one spirit
invoke, and that Is the holy, blessed
and omnipotent spirit OF God. Harkl
He is rapping now, not on O table or
the floor, but rapping on the door Of your
heart, and every rap Is an invitation to
Christ and warning OF judgment to come.
Oh, grieve Him not away Quench Him
not. He has been all around you this
morning. He was all around you last
night. He has been around you all your
lives. Hark! There comes voice with
tender, overmastering information, saying:
"My spirit shall not always strive"