re an abomination unto the Lord." Lev. 19:31:
"Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards,
to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God." See also, 2 Kings 21:2, 6,
9, 11; Rev. 21:8; Gal. 5:19-21; Acts 16:16-18; etc. Thus plainly in both
the Old and New Testaments, are these practices forbidden.

An Impossibility.

But why does the Bible forbid such practices as necromancy, or a
"pretended" communication with the dead?--Because it would be only a
pretense at best; for such communication is impossible. The dead are
unconscious in their graves, and have no power to communicate with the
living. Let this truth be once established, and it is the death-blow to
the claims of Spiritualism, in the cases of all who will receive it.
Allusion has already been made to a popular and wide-spread dogma in the
Christian church which furnishes a basis for Spiritualism. It is that the
soul is immortal, and that the dead are conscious. Spirits make known
their presence, and claim to be the spirits of persons who have once lived
here in human bodies. Now if the Bible teaches that there is no such thing
as a disembodied human spirit, a knowledge of that fact would enable one
to detect at once the imposture of any intelligence which from behind the
curtain should claim to be such spirit. Any spirit seeking the attention
of men in this life, and claiming to be what the Bible says does not
exist, comes with a falsehood on its lips or in its raps, if the Bible is
true, and thus reveals its real character to be that of a deceiver. In
this case the Bible believer is armed against the imposture. No man likes
to be fooled. No matter therefore how nice the communicating intelligence
may seem, how many true things it may say, or how many good things it may
promise, the conviction cannot be evaded that no real good can be intended
or conferred by any spirit, or whatever it may be, masquerading under the
garb of falsehood, or pretending to be what it is not. On such a
foundation no stable superstructure can be reared. It becomes a
death-trap, sure to collapse and involve in ruin all those who trust
therein.

It is very desirable that the reader comprehend the full importance of the
doctrine, as related to this subject, that the dead are unconscious and
that they have no power to communicate with the living. This being
established, it sweeps away at one stroke the entire foundation of
Spiritualism. Evidence will now