IT IS COMING by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 10, 1887

IT IS COMING.

By Editor

In the new charter that is being prepared for San Francisco, to be voted upon at the next election, it is proposed to exact a license from Spiritualist mediums, just the same as from fortune-tellers, jugglers, etc. Commenting on this, the Golden Gate says:—

"Ministers of other religions preach the continued existence of the spirit of man beyond the grave without producing an iota of positive proof thereof. Spirit mediums come forward with irresistible evidence of that stupendous fact. Now, why should the former be exempted from a license fee, and not the latter? Can any fair-minded person answer?"

We do not see how the "ministers of other religions" can very well reply to that question, except by admitting that Spiritualist mediums should be placed on a level with themselves. The ministers who are referred to are those who teach that there is really no such thing as death, that the real man cannot die.

This is just what Spiritualists teach, and what they profess to demonstrate. It may be urged that Spiritualists do not accept the Bible as true; neither do those ministers who say that men retain their consciousness in death, and that in fact the soul of man cannot die. For the Bible says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die;" and "his breath goeth forth; he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish."

If men accept the devil's assertion, "Ye shall not surely die," we cannot see how they can consistently refuse to accept his professed demonstration of his original lie. And they will not do so. There is no hope that the mass of professed Christians will accept the simple truth of the Bible concerning the nature of man, and his dependence on Christ as the sole source of life; and thus they will inevitably fall into the greater delusion of Spiritualism. The Golden Gate has only to wait a little while, and it will see Spiritualism almost universally adopted, and Satan thus formally acknowledged as god of this world. Those who shudder at the thought of such a proceeding should speedily accept the Bible just as it reads; this is the only way they can escape the snare of the devil.