ng to
the unrenewed heart, while its solemn and vital truths are made of no
effect. Love is dwelt upon as the chief attribute of God, but it is
degraded to a weak sentimentalism, making little distinction between good
and evil. God's justice, His denunciations of sin, the requirements of His
holy law, are all kept out of sight. The people are taught to regard the
decalogue as a dead letter. Pleasing, bewitching fables captivate the
senses, and lead men to reject the Bible as the foundation of their faith.
Christ is as verily denied as before; but Satan has so blinded the eyes of
the people that the deception is not discerned.

There are few who have any just conception of the deceptive power of
Spiritualism and the danger of coming under its influence. Many tamper
with it, merely to gratify their curiosity. They have no real faith in it,
and would be filled with horror at the thought of yielding themselves to
the spirits' control. But they venture upon the forbidden ground, and the
mighty destroyer exercises his power upon them against their will. Let
them once be induced to submit their minds to his direction, and he holds
them captive. It is impossible, in their own strength, to break away from
the bewitching, alluring spell. Nothing but the power of God, granted in
answer to the earnest prayer of faith, can deliver these ensnared souls.

All who indulge sinful traits of character, or wilfully cherish a known
sin, are inviting the temptations of Satan. They separate themselves from
God and from the watchcare of His angels; as the evil one presents his
deceptions, they are without defense, and fall an easy prey. Those who
thus place themselves in his power, little realize where their course will
end. Having achieved their overthrow, the tempter will employ them as his
agents to lure others to ruin.

Says the prophet Isaiah: "When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them
that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter:
should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To
the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it
is because there is no light in them."(992) If men had been willing to
receive the truth so plainly stated in the Scriptures, concerning the
nature of man and the state of the dead, they would see in the claims and
manifestations of Spiritualism the working of Satan with power and signs
and lying wonders. But rather than yield the libert