unfit to enter there (John 3: 5); nor could themeeting
be in a place of flames and torment, for surely Samuel
was not in such a place. No; the “familiar spirit”
spoke to Saul from the standpoint of the general faith
of that time, taught by Samuel and all the patriarchs
and prophets,-namely,
that all who die, good and bad
alike, go to sheol, the grave, the state of death, the
sleep from which naught can awaken except the resur-
rection power of Michael, the arch-angel (Dan. 12: 1,
2);-except it were claimed that the witch’s “familiar
spirit” could awaken the dead in advance,-but
this,
as we are showing, was a deception, a fraud, the “lying
spirit” personating the dead and answering for Samuel.
Of this passage Charles Wesley wrote –
“What do these solemn words portend?
A gleam of hope when life shall end?-
Thou and thy sons shall surely be
To-morrow in repose with me:-
Not in a state of hellish pain,
If Saul with Samuel remain;
Not in a state of damned despair,
If loving Jonathan be there.”
One remarkable thing in connection with the mani-
festations of these fallen angels, or “demons,” is that
people of ordinary common sense are so easily deceived
by them and accept such flimsy proofs respecting
the
dead, which they would not accept respecting the liv-
ing.
The inquirer will accept through the medium a
description which fits ‘to the individual and his manner,
clothing and appearance yearsbefore,and will hold sacred
a message purporting to come from him, whereas the
same individual would be more on guard against de-
ception by a living impostor, and his message through
a servant.