SPIRITUALISM.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 180, 27 June 1884, Page 2

SPIRITUALISM.

At St. Peter's Church, Wellington, last Sunday, the Yen. Archdeacon Stock preached from the 31st verse of the 16th chapter of St. John:" IfiheybelievenotMoses'and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead. 1 ' In the course of his sermon the preacher said that m every age there had been an attempt to gather other knowledge than wha had been revealed of the existence of another world — to learn especially from the spirits of the dead what they could teach; He could ■; not : hesitate to^ say that the Word of God was their only and sufficient guide,' and that any apparently supernatural acts, or any messages apparently from tbe dead, if they tended to bring tne Bible into disrepute, if they professed to reveal more than the Ejible ; revealed, were not from good, but from evil spirits. If these spirits were seeking' to lead men up--wards^ to, a purer JightJ let. them \m-> veil 'these deeds of darkness and so prevent their repetition by the ccr r . taintf of a-fuli discovery ; ; br" let them, do some other good, and not !as now, do nothing but excite astonishment, to no good end. It had? been said m defence of all this, and it was the only reason he had ever :seien advanced that was of any value, fthat men who had no thought of the future, and no belief m anything of life after their present life was endded, were thus learning to believe that there was another world. Jf their former unbelief had beenr caused jiby Iwant of evidence, this reason would be a good one ; but this was not the case. Unbelief was not caused by any such want. In conclusion, Archdeacon Stock said' that he had spoken plainly on what had become common m their midst, as feeling that a congregation should, know what views their minister held on such a point. He had as : yet read nothing as done at such inquiries which tended for 'good. He at once excepted mesmerism^that strange power which every one m full health of mind and body possessed — from such condemnations as he gave to any'inquiries from spirits. Mesmerism could, as he knew well, be used to give and restore health to the sick, but for '"aught else, he saw no new truth elicited; nothing but what was known already.