Connecticut western news., 1900-03-01
RELIGION OF GHOSTS.
THE REV. OR. TkLMkGE 'DENOuNCES
 SpiRITuAlrSM.
rx1SSaaRtiy Pfotssas Against All DaeA Beliefs as Necromancy and Delastoa Their Disciples Are DSS.kAA-CAuse Insaaity.

Delasioa Their Disciples Are , Dee-kAA-cause Insaaity.
 ICopyrisht. ls0o by Louis klopsch.l WAsHINoToN, Feb. 25.-In this dis course pr. Talmage discusses a theme never more under exploration than al shis ttiue and warns people against what he calls a religion of ghosts; text..I Samuel xxviii, '; Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at En-dor. And Saul disguised him. self and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night"
 Trouble 10 the right of him and trou- ble to the left of him, Saul knew not what to do AS last resort he con ciudei to seek out a spiritual medium or a witch or anything that you please to call her--a woman who had com munication with the spirits of the eter- nal world It was very difficult thing to do, for Saul had either slain all the witches or compelled them to stop ibusiness. A servant one day said to King Saul, Il know of a spiritual me dtum down at the village of En4dor." Do your said the king. Night falls. Sam. putting on 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, 'l wonder if this is the house." and they look In, and they see the haggard, weird and shriveled up spiritual me dium sitting by the light and on the table sculptnred images and -dipiniag 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 here?" 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. Well, who shall I bring up from the dead?" Saul says. Bring up Samuel" That was the prophet who had died little while before. I see her waving . wand, or stirring up some poisonous herbs in ia- a-caldrgn, or hear her muttering over some incantations, or stamping with her foot as she cries out to the realm of the dead: Samuel, Samuel!' Lo, AA~ rHa S,f tv,a fteAsmsnt opens, and the gray hairs float up and the forehead, the eyes, the iilps. 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 seance.
 The dead prophet, white and awful from the tomb, begins to move his lashen 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 afid c6ntrol himself, makes this stam merihg and affrighted utterance as he says to the dead phophet 'The Lord Is against me. and have come to you for help. What shall I dof" The dead prophet stretched forth his finger to King Saul and said: Die tomorrow! Come with me into the sepulcher. ;aTgUing now. Come, come with me" And, To, 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 hnlafch the, door between the spfesent state and tlie' future state all the Fingers of superstition have been busy. We have books entitled Foot falls on the Boundaries of Other Worlds" ''The Debatable Land Be tween This World and the Next" Re searches Into the Phenomena of Spir- ftualism' and whole libraries of hocus pocus, enough to deceive the very elect. Il shall not take time to rehearse the history of divination. Delphic oracle, sfbyl or palmistry or the whole cen turtles of imposture.
 Modern spiritualism proposes to open the door between this world and the
 
 with the dead. 1t has never yet of fered one reasonable credential.
 When I find Saul in my text consult Ing a familiar spirit. learn that sptr- itualism Is very old religion.
 Spiritualism in America was born in the year 1847, in Hydesville, Wayne county, N. Y., when one night there was . loud rap sheardragainst the door of Michael Weekman; a rap a second time, rap third time, and all three times. When the door was opened, there was nothing found there, the Knocking having been made seemingly by invisible knuckles.
 After awhile MT. Fox with his fami- ly moved Into that house, and then they had 'bahgings at the door every night. One night MT. Fox cried out, "'A:e you a spirit?' Two raps-answer in the affirmative. "Are you an inJur- ed spirit?" Two raps-answer in the affirmative. Then they knew right away that 1t was the spirit of a peddler who had been murdered in that house years before and who had been robbed of his $500. Whether the spirit of the peddler came back to collect his $500 or his bones do not know.
 Universal Rum7us.
 The excitement spread. There was . universal rumpus. The Hon. Judge tEdmonds declared in a hook that he had actually seen bell start from the top shelf of closet, heard 1t ring over the people that were standing In the closet; then, swung by Invisible hands it rang over the people in the back par Tor and noated through the folding doors to the front parlor, rang over the people there and then dropped on the floor. A senator of the United States, afterward governor of Wisconsin, had his head quite turned with spiritualis- tic demonstrations. The tables tipped, and the stools tilted, and the bed steads raised, and the chairs upset, and it seemed as If the spirits everywhere