Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1920-04-07

may even result disastrously as in the
case of morbid spiritualism, the evil
results are not comparable to the in
iuries of the soul inflicted by the
common, everyday materialistic lusts
for money, properties and the salts
factions of the flesh.
New interest in the dead is justice
to the dead. Those who meant so
much to US when they were in the
body ought to mean more to US out
of the body than we have allowed.
We have been getting rid of our dead
too easily. An hour of intense weep
ing, week of private grief, month
of public mourning, and a year of
semi-retirement from society are not
enough. With decent burial, block
of marble and an occasional visit to
the cemetery, we have dimly sought
to square the loyalty of a lifetime
with our sense of obligation to the
dead. It is not Christian to cemeter-
ize love as most do. Christ gave the
world a very vivid illustration of
Gods contempt for sepulchres and
tombs. The cemetery in our town is
the emptiest place in our town, yet
we bestow the utmost. attention upon
it with the idea that our dead are
there and we are paying tribute to
them. "Hic jacet-John Smith" ="
What lie. The pagan Socrates knew
better than that.
The new interest in the dead en-
counters criticism, of course, whea-
ever it becomes identified with the
professional cult of the medium and
the seance and other devices of al
legged communication with spirits,
When Sir Oliver Lodge sincerely af-
firms that he had communication
with his son, Raymond through me-
dunn in London, and then again IN
forms us that members of his family
had clear and unmistakable commu-
nication with Raymond in their home
without a medium, 1 am disposed
very much to advise him to let the
mediums alone since they are eXpen-
sive and not necessary. But do not
want him to let Raymond alone. This
is to say, that an active, earnest spir-
itual communion with the dead is not
essentially involved in the question
of spiritualism. The competency OF
spirit with spirit to meet is the fun
damental of Christian experience. AS
matter of reason, the logic that de-
nies the intelligent accessibility of
nv mother, who is with Christ, rises
doubt the accessibility of Christ
Himself. l knew Him by my spirit
only. l talk with Him and l walk with
Him through my spirit only. My ca,
pacity to communicate with Him and
to receive communication from Him
| is the nerve of my Christian expert,
ence. There is no law of God or OF
common sense known to me that pro-
claims our incapacity for fellowship
with our glorious dead which would
not deny also our capacity for fel-
lowship with our more glorious Lord
The evidences from the scriptures
certainly support the possibility OF
communication between spirits abb
sent from the body and spirits pres
ent in the body.
The new interest in the dead would
lead us to enlarge the range of our
souls, and to take in fuller sweep
of faith with Christ as the center.
Whatever evil men may try to make
of it, it will be like the evil which ST.
mon, the sorcerer, sought to make of
the holy spirit. 1t will be no greater
or of different odium from the per-
versions which men have made of
every great truth and every good
thing. It is to me a matter of too tre-
mendous fact that our dead are still
within the scheme of our lives and
we are within the scheme of their
lives to deal with cavalierly.
Cali For Edgefeld; Edgefeld