SPIRITUALISM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17651, 11 December 1920, Page 9

SPIRITUALISM.

SEVERAL SUNDAY ADDRESSES. Several addresses on spiritualism, in which reference will be made to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's recent lectures, will be delivered in Auckland to-morrow. The Rev. J. W. Kemp, pastor of the Baptist Tabernacle, will speak on the subject at a public meeting in the Tabernacle at 3.30 p.m. Mr. Geo. Aldridge, of the Church of Christ, will addiess a meeting at the Town Hall concert chamber at 3 p.m. The Rev. C. H. Grant Cowen, of St. Matthew's Church, the Rev. J. W. Shaw, of the Mount Eden Presbyterian Church,' the Rev. R. L. Walker, of St. James' Presbyterian Church, and the Rev. 1. Jolly, of St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church, will all speak on the subject at their evening services. The Rev. A. A. Murray will deliver an address in the Tivoli Theatre at 7 p.m. Mr. Harry Banks will deliver a lecture in the Town Hall concert chamber at 7 p.m. under the auspices of the Theoand Mr. T. A. McLeod, of Hamilton, will speak „on the subject at 7 p.m. in the Freemasons' Hall, Belgium Street. Mr. T. Russell Cameron will give an address in the Otahuhu Masonic Hall at seven o'clock. FORMER MEDIUM'S VIEWS. An address on the subject of Spiritualism was delivered by Mr. Wesley Richards in the Town Hall concert chamber last evening. Mr.' A. A. Murray presided. The hall was well filled, but there was a considerable amount •of coming and going, those who apparently found that the treatment of the subject was not from the aspect they expected leaving, and others coming in during the proceedings.' Mr. Richards, who spoke as one who had been a medium, said he did not doubt the authenticity of the manifestations described by Sir A. Conan Doyle. He believed that these manifestations had taken place. What he did dispute was that the messages were from the spirits of the dead. He believed that they were from evil spirits, and that the cult should be termed spiritism, or, more accurately, * demonism. He quoted copiously from the Scriptures, both Old Testament and New, to show that spfritism existed from the earliest times, and was denounced throughout the Bible as being evil and inspired by the devil. He stated, moreover, that to become a medium was to risk spiritual, mental, and physical harm. This side of the subject had not been touched by Sir Conan Doyle who was not a medium. He had been one, said Mr. Richards, and knew well the physical weakness and mental wretchedness involved. He urged his hearers particularly women, who were the more susceptible to occult influences, to avoid the temptation to become mediums if they showed any tendency in that direction, finally he appealed to his hearers to trust to the great truths of Christianity as contained in the Bible, and to avoid completely any dealings with spiritism. He declared that the growing cult of spiritism was that which was prophesied in the Bible as presaging, the coming end of the present dispensation.