The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-03-07

>onethipg new in this country. 1t is
> new religiou' Oh, no, my friend,
thousands Of years ago, We find IN our
text, a>piritualist
Nothing 10 the spiritualistic circles
of our day has been more strange, myS-
ter,uus and wonderful than thugs
which have been seen in the past cen
turies of the world. In all ages there
have been; nccromancerS, those who
consult with the spirit OF the departed
charmers. those who put their subjects
in a mesmeric state; sorccrers, lhoSe
who by taking poisonous drugs oeg
everything and hear everything ano
tell evsryihiug; dreamers, people VINO
IN their sleeping n:oments can see the
f",nTe ,,rt', world and hold consultation with
,',;r;,s Yes, before The tint Christ,
,bn Bral.uaus went through all the
table moving, all the furniture excite
men,, which the spirits have exploited
in our day, precisely the same thing
over aud over again, under the mauipu
la,ion of the Brahmans. Now, do you
say that spiritualism is different frou
these? answer, all these deluSlons
have mentioned belong to the same
family. They are exhumatlons from
the unseen world.
What does God think Of all these de-
lusions? lie thinks so severely Of them
that he never speaks Of them but witt
livid thunders CT Indignation. He
says, Il will be swift witness agains
the sorc,rer.' He says, Thou sbal
40, suffer witch to live. And lest
YOU might make some important dis,
tioctioo between spiritualism and witch
craft God says in SO many words
There shal. not be among you con
su!,e. cf familiar spirits, or wizard, o.
uecromancer, for they that do these
things are al abomination unto the
Lord. The Lord God Almighty in 6
score cf passages which have not now
time to quite uttcrs his indignation
against all this great family of delu
sions. After that be spiritusllst II
you dare!
Still. further, we learn FROM this tex
how it is that people come to fall into
spiri,ualism. Saul had enough trouble
10 kill ten men. lie did not know
where to go for relief. After awhile
he resolved to go and see the witch Of
En- ior. He expected that sUmcho'
she would. afford him relief. 1t wa:
his trouble drove him there. And
have to tell you now that spirltuallsu
6nds its victims in the troubled, the
bankrupt, the sick, the bereft. lou
lose your watch, and you so to the for,
tune teller to find where it IS.
You lose q friend; you want the
spiritual world opened, so that you may
have communication with him. In q
highly wrought, nervous and diseased
state Of mind you so and put yourself
in that communication. That Is Why
hate spiri,ualism. 1t takes advantage
of one in moment of weakness, which
may come upon US at any time. We
lose friend The trial is keen, sharp,
suffocating, almost maddening. II We
could marshal host ami storm the
eternal world aud recapture our loved
one, the host would soon be marshaled
The house is so lonely. The world is
so dark. The separation is so insuier
able. But spiriluallsm says, we vii!
open the future world, aud your lovec
one can come back and talk to you.
Though We may not hear his voice, we
may hear the rap Of his hand. So
clear the table. Sit down. Put you,
hands on the table. Be very quiet
Five minutes gone. Ten minutes. NJ
motion of the table. No response from
the future world. Twenty minutes
Thirty minutes. Nervous excitemen
all the ,ime Increasing. Forty minutes
The table shivers. Two raps from ,h'
future world. The letters of the alpha
bet are called over. The departed
friends pame isJohu. Atthe pronun
citation cf the letter j two raps. a
The pronunciation of the letter . two
raps. At the pronunciation of the let
ter H two raps. At the pronunciation
of the letter n two raps. There 20,
have the whole name spelled out =
J h y, John. Now, the spirit beins
present, you say, John, are you hap
py?" Two raNs give an Affirmative an
swer.
Pretty soon the hand Of the medium
begins 70 witch and toss and begins t.
write out, after paper and ink are fur
nished, a message from the eterna
world. What is remarkable, the de-
parted spirit, althoughit has been amid
the i,lumiuations Of the heaven, cannot
spell as well as it used to. It has lost
all grammatical accuracy and cannot
slile as distinctly. l received letter
through medium once | sent il
back. I said, Just please to tell
those ghosts they had better 60 to school
and get improved in their orthography. .
Now, just think of spirits, that the
Bible represents as enthroned in glo-
~. coming down to crawl under the
table aud break crockery and ring tea
bells before supper is ready and rap the
window shutter on a gusty night
What consolation il such miserable
stuff as compared with the consolation
of cur departed friends free from toll
and sin and pain arc forever happy and
that we will join them, not in mysteri'
Gus and half Utterance which makes the
hair stand o., end and makes cold chills
creep The n,cs, but in a reunion most
blessed and happy and glorious!
And none shall murmur or misdoubt
When Gods great sunrise finds US out.
I learn still further from this subject
that spiritualism and nec:omancy arc
affairs of darkness. Why did not Saul
go in the day? lie was ashamed to go.
Besides that, he knew that this spiri-
,ual medium, like all her successors,
performed her exploits in the night.
The Davenports, the Fowlers, the