Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-04-06

spirit?" Two raps-answer in the af-
Then they knew right away
that it was the spirit of peddler who
had been murdered in that house years
before and who had been robbed of his
$500, Whether the spirit of the pedder
came back to collect his $500 or his
bones | do not know
The excitement spread. There was
q universal rumpus. Hon. Judge Ed
monds declared in book that he had
actually seen bell start from the
top shelf of n closet, heard it ring over
the people that were standing in the
closet; then, swung by invisible hands,
it rang over the people in the back par
lor and floated 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 Wiscon-
sin, had his head quite turned with
spiritualistic demonstrations. The TIA
bles tipped, and the stools tilted, and
the bedsteads raised, and the chairs
upset, and it seemed as if the spirits
everywhere had gone into the furni-
ture business Well, the people said:
"We have got something new in this
country. 1t is new religion!" Oh,
no, my friend, thousands of years ago,
we find in our text, a spiritualistic
seance!
Nothing in the spiritualistic circles
of our day has been more strange,
mysterious and wonderful than things
which have been seen in past centuries
of the world. In all ages there have
been necromancers those who consult
with the spirits of the departed;
charmers, those who put their subjects
in mesmeric state; sorcerers, those
who by taking poisonous drugs see
everything and hear everything and
tell everything; dreamers, people who
in their sleeping moments can see the
future world and hold consultation
with spirits. Yes, before the time of
Christ, the Brahmans went through all
the table moving, all the furniture eX-
citement, which the spirits have eX-
plotted in our day, precisely the same
thing over and over again, under the
manipulation of the Brahmans. Now,
do you say that spiritualism is differ
ent from these? | answer, all these
delusons l have mentioned belong to
the same family. They are eXhuma-
tions from the unseen world.
What does God think of all these de-
lusions? He thinks so severely of them
that He never speaks of them but with
livid thunders of indignation. He says;
Il will be n swift witness against the
sorcerer." He says: "rhou shalt not
suffer witch to live" And, lest you
might make some important distinc-
tion between spiritualism and witch
craft, God says, in so many words:
There shall not be among you a con-
sulter of familiar spirits, or wizard, OF
necromancer, for they that do these
things are an abomination unto the
Lord" The Lord God Almighty in a
score of passages which have not now
time to quote utters His Indignation
against all this great family of delu-
sions. After that be a spiritualist if
you dare!
Still further, we learn from this text
how it is that people come to fall into
spiritualsm. Saul had enough trouble
to kill ten men. He did not know where
TO 90 for relief. After awhile he re-
solved to 60 and see the witch of En-
dor. He expected that somehow she
would afford him relief. 1t was his
trouble drove him there. And | have
to tell you now that spiritualism finds
its victims in the troubled, the bank.
rupt, the sick, the bereft. You lose
your watch, and you go to the fortune
teller to find where it is.
You lose friend; you want the spir
itual world opened, so that you may
have communication with him. In {
highly wrought, nervous and diseased
state of mind you go and put yourself
in that communication. That is why
| hate spiritualism. 1t takes advan
| tage of one in a moment of weakness
which may come upon us at any time
| We lose q friend. The trial is keen
sharp, suffocating, almost maddening
| If we could marshal a host and storm
the eternal world and recapture oul
loved one, the host would soon be mar
shaled. The house is so lonely. Tht
world is so dark. The separation is 81
insufferable. But spiritualism says
"We will open the future world, ant
Fyour loved one can come back and tall
to you" Though we may not hear hi
voice, we may hear the rap of his hand
So, clear the table. Sit down. Pu
your hands on the table. Be very quiet
Five minutes gone. Ten minutes. n,
motion of the table. No response iron
the future world. Twenty minutes
Thirty minutes. Nervous eXcitemen
all the time increasing. Forty min
utes. The table shivers. Two rap
from the future world. The letters o
the alphabet are called over. The de
parted friends name is John. At tn
pronunciation of the letter j, two rap'
At the pronunciation of the letter {
two raps. At the pronunciation of tn
letter II, two raps. At the pronuncia
tion of the letter n, two raps. Their
you have the whole name spelled out
John, John. Now, the spirit bein
present, you say: John, are you haT
py?" Two raps give an affirmative an
swer.
Pretty soon the hand of the mediur
begins to twitch and toss and begin
TO write out, after paper and ink ar
furnished, message from the eternf
world. What is remarkable, the d,
parted spirit, although it has bee
amid the illuminations of the Heavel
cannot spell as well as it used to. ]
has lost all grammatical accuracy, an
cannot write as distinctly. l receive
a letter through medium once.