Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-03-02
RELIGION OFGHOSTS.
THE REV. Or. TALMAGE OENOuNCES
SPIRITUAllSM.
Indignantly Protests Against AN
Such Beliefs ms Nccromnncy and
Delusion Their Disciples Are
Doomcd-CnuSe Insanity


Deiusion - Their Disciples Are
Doomed-Cause Insanity.
Copyright. 1900. by Louis Klopseh.I
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2o.-ln this dis
course Or. Talmage discusses "a theme
never more under exploration than at
this time aud warns people against
what he calls religion of ghosts;
text, Samuel xviii, a: Behold, there
Is a woman that hath familiar spirit
at En-dor. And Saul disguised him
self and put on other raiment. and lie
went, and two men with him, and they
rane 10 the woman by night
Trouble 10 the right of him and trou-
bic 10 the left OF him. Saul knew not
what to do. AS last resort he con-
Guided TO seek out a spiritual medium
or n witch or anything that you please
to call hcr-a woman who had COM
munication with the spirits of the eter-
nal world. 1t was very difficult thing
to do, for Saul had either slain all the
witches or compelled them to stop
business. y servant one day said to
King Saul, Il know OF n spiritual me-
dunn down at the village of En-dor."
do your said the king. Night falls.
Saul, putting Off his kingly robes and
putting on the dress of plain citizen,
with two servants, goes out to hunt up
this medium.
Saul and his servants after awhile
reached the village, and they say, Il
wonder If this is the house." and they
look in, and they see the haggard,
weird and shriveled up spiritual me-
dunn sitting by the light and on the
table sculptured images and divining
rods and poisonous herbs and bottles
and vases. They say, Yes, this must
be the place." One loud rap brings
the woman to the door, and as she
stands there, holding the candle or
lamp above her head and peering out
into the darkness, she says, who is
hereT" The tall king informs her that
he has come to have his fortune told.
When she hears that, she trembles and
almost drops the light, for she knows
there is no chance for a fortune teller
or spiritual medium in all the land.
But Saul having sworn that no harm
shall come to her, she says, "WeH,
who shall 1 bring up from the dead?"
Saul says, Bring up Samuel" That
was the prophet who had died a little
while before. 1 see her waving n wand,
or stirring up some poisonous herbs in
caldron, or hear her muttering over
some incantatiOns, or stamping with
her foot as she cries out to the realm
of the dead Samuel, Samuelr' Lo,
the freezing horror! The floor OF the
tenement opens, and the gray hairs
float up and the forehead. the eyes, the
lips, the shoulders, the arms, the feet
the entire body of the dead Samuel
wrapped In sepulchral robe, appearing
TO the astonished group, who stagger
back and hold fast and catch their
breath and shiver With terror.
An Awful scancc.
The dead prophet, white and awful
frou the tomb, begins to move his
ashen lips. and he glares upon King
Saul and cries out: What did you
bring me up for? What do you mean.
King SaulT' Saul, trying TO compose
and control himself, makes this stam-
mering and affrighted utterance as he
says TO the dead phophet: 1.-The Lord
Is against me, and l have come TO you
for help. What shall doT' The dead
prophet stretched forth his finger to
King Saul and said: "Die tomorrow.
Come with me into the sepulcher. i
am going now. Come, come with mer'
And, 10. the floor again opens, and the
feet OF the dead prophet disappear and
the arms and the shoulders and the
forehead, The floor closes. oh. that
was an awful seance!
To unlatch the door between the
present state and the future state all
the fingers of superstition have been
busy We have books entitled Foot
falls on the Boundaries OF Other
Worlds" 1.-THE Debatable Land Be-
tween This World and the Next" '.Re-
searches Into the Phenomena OF Spir-
itualism" and whole libraries OF hocus
pocus, enough to deceive the very elect.
i shall not take time 10 rehearse the
history OF divination, Delphic oracle,
sibyl or palmistry or the whole CEN
turtles OF imposture
Modern spirituailsm proposes to open
the door between this world and the
next and put us into communication
with the dead. IL has never yet Of
fered one reasonable credential.
When find Saul In my text consult.
Ing a familiar spirit. I learn that spir-
itualism is very old religion.
Spiritualism In America was born In
county. n. Y. when one night there
was loud rap heard against the door
or Michael Weekman; rap a second
tine' rap third time. aud all three
times. When the door was opened,
there was nothing found there. the
knocking having been made seemingly
by Invisible knuckles.
After awhile Mr.. Fox with his fami
~ moved into that house. and then
they had banglugs at the door every
night. One night Mr.. Fox cried ont.
Are you spirlt?" Two raps-answer
In the affirmative. "Are you an iniur.
cd spirit" Two raps-answer In the
Affirmative. Then they knew right
away that 1t was the spirit OF a pe6dler
who had been murdered la that house
years before and who had been robbed
or his $500. Whether the spirit of the
peddier came back to collect his $500
or his bones do not know.
Universal Rumpus.
The excitement spread. There was
universal rumpus. The Hon. Judge
Edmonds declared In book that he
mao actually seen n bell start from the
top shelf OF a closet. heard IL ring over
the people that. were standing I'm the
cioset; then. swung by Invisible hands.
IL rang over the people in the back par
ior and foated through the folding
doors TO the front parlor, rang over the
people there and then dropped on the
moor. senator of the United States.
atterward governor of Wisconsin, had
MS head quite turned with spiritualls-
TIC demonstrations. The tables tipped,
ana the stools tilted, and the bed
s'eads raised, and the chairs upset, and
IL seemed as il the spirits everywhere
had gone into the furniture business!
Weil the people said: 1--WE have got
something new in this country. 1t is