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BAPTIST SPEAKS OF SPIRITUALISM Dr. John E. White Discusses Timely Topic. Special to The State. . Anderson, April 4.-Asserting that "evidence from the scriptures certainly supports the possibility of .communication between the spirits absent from the body and the spirits present in the body," but that this communication is of a "spiritual" rather than of a "material" nature, Dr. John E. White, brilliant pastor of the First Baptist church, presi dent of Anderson College, and one of the most widely known ministers in the Southern Baptist convention, de livered here a sermon on "The New Interests in the Dead." Synopsis of Sermon. A synopsis of Dr. White's sermon follows : Tljere is a new interest in the dead. You do not have to go to the haunts of spiritualism to find it. The dupes of the seance and the devotees of the ouija board are a small company be side the multitude of people who are thinking of their dead in terms of life as they never did before. In fact, few of those who feel this quickened sense of their?, dead will ever have anything to do with mediums or the cult of spiritualism. I do not think these people deserve to be rebuked or lectured. They are in no danger of conceiving less of their living Lord heoause they are realizing more of th?ur living loved ones. By the ??ame faculty of spirit with which they feel that He lives forever more, they un derstand that their loved ones who are with Him are alive forevermore. This is why the arguments in con troversy against spiritualism and the sermons renouncing Saul and the Witch of Endor for disturbing Sam uel, seem to me inadequate and some what unsympathetic in dealing with this new intedest in the dead which is abroad in the land. The connection -between it and the renewed activity of spiritualism is, of course, obvious, but it is not vital. The better to pro tect and fortify against spiritualism, is to soundly include this keen turn ing toward the living dead as within the proper range of the spiritual ex perience which belongs to the Chris tian. The writers who are disposed to discredit the present extension of in terest in the dead usually begin by explaining that it is something abnor mal, morbid and unnatural. They say that it is a reaction of bereavement, of sorrow and brokenness from the war. The explanation does not cover hte facts. We are in no great mourn ing in this country on account of the war. Sixty years ago the Confederate war swept away our young men like a flood, but there was no such intens ification of interest in the dead as the result. The interpretation of what we find in other people's minds lies deep ly in another direction, not in mor bid mourning. It is a general expe rience coming out of the war, certain ly, but of its illumination, not its la mentation. One of the unexpected develop ments of the war was the sudden in tense and practically unanimous as- j sertion of immortality in the con sciousness of millions of men stand ing in the presence of death. The sense of life as continuous and of dy ing as a movement of life dominated the armies. It was not the hope of im mortality, but the faith of it, the cer tainty of it that unexpectedly sound ed out like a grand chorus on the bat tlefields. The testimony was proclaim ed through letters to the home folks, trench talk, farewells of the wound ed, and even in the banter of death, from men who were dead the next hour. Their witness made an impact on the world's mind of a new convic tion of immortality. The new interest in the dead, there fore, is not as the critics explain, a selfish grief staggering under a load j>r sorrow, crying in the lonely dark ness". It r love following faith, pur suing spiritual certainty, love en lightened and assured, in a degree never known before that its dead are actually living. It is love acting as love is bound to act with such a light in its eyes. What a difference it makes in our thoughts and feelings about our dead when we pass from the faith of our survival as a doctine to the faith of it as a fact. This is the experience many people are coming into these days. Revolt Against Materialism. The new interest in the dead is on the side of Christianity in its age long conflict with materialism. It is a revolt against the crass philosophy of matter which has dominated us for a century. No one will rebuke it who reflects carefully on the loss religion and life have sustained under the de pression of modern mateliaristic science. Granted that such spiritual .adventures are not without peril, and may even result disastrously as in the case of morbid spiritualism, the evil results are not comparable to the in juries of the soul inflicted by the common, everyday materialistic lusts for money, properties and the satis factions of the flesh. New interest in the dead is justice to the dead. Those who meant so much to us when they were in the body ought to mean more to us out of the body than we have allowed. We have been getting rid of our dead too easily. An hour of intense weep ing, a week of private grief, a month of public mourning, and a year of semi-retirement from society are not enough. With a decent burial, a block of marble and an occasional visit to the cemetery, we have dimly sought to square the loyalty of a lifetime with our sense of obligation to the dead. It is not Christian to cemeter ize love as most do. Christ gave the world a very vivid illustration of God's contempt for sepulchres and tombs. The cemetery in our town is the emptiest place 'in our town, yet we bestow tae utmost attention upon it with the idea that our dead are there and we ai-e paying tribute to them. "Hie jacet-John Smith." What a lie. The pagan Socrates knew better than that. The new- interest in the dead en counters criticism, of course, when ever it becomes identified with the professional cult of the medium and the seance and other devices of al leged communication with spirits, When Sir Oliver Lodge sincerely af firms that he had cdmmunication with his son, Raymond through a me dium in London, and then again in forms us that members of his family had clear and unmistakable commu nication with Raymond in their home without a medium, I am disposed very much to advise him to let the mediums alone since they are expen sive and not necessary. But I do not want him to let Raymond alone. This is to say, that an active, earnest spir itual communion with the dead is not essentially involved in the question of spiritualism. The competency of spirit with spirit to meet is the fun damental of Christian experience. As a matter of reason, the logic that de nies the intelligent accessibility of my mother, who is with Christ, rises a doubt the accessibility of Christ Himself. I knew Him by my spirit only. I talk with Him and I walk with Him through my spirit only. My ca pacity to communicate with Him and to receive communication from Him is the nerve of my Christian experi ence. There is no law of God or of common sense known to me that pro claims our incapacity for fellowship with our glorious dead which would not deny also our capacity for fel lowship with our more glorious Lord. The evidences from the scriptures certainly support the possibility of communication between spirits ab sent from the body and spirits pres ent in the body. The new interest in the dead would lead us to enlarge the range of our souls, and to take in a fuller sweep of faith with Christ as the center. Whatever evil men may try to make of it, it will be like the evil which Si mon, the sorcerer, sought to make of the holy spirit. It will be no greater or of different odium from the per versions which men have made of evei-y great truth and every good thing. It is to me a matter of too tre mendous fact that our dead are still within the scheme of our lives and we are within the scheme of their lives to deal with cavalierly. 'All For Edgefield; Edgefield For AH." g From the Cn I to the Grave i SOMETHING TO Carriage for baby. & ^ ' Victrola to take the $ ing pin. fi Soft, comfortable I ? papa. g Violins and guitars 1 % Art squares and rug? g the carpet with. 0 And if these don't pl o g We have a full line send yourself where yo g P. S.-We also sup] j B. B. , fi Edgefiei Merchant Marine 18,000,000 Tons. Washington, April 3.-The mer chant marine of the United States is nearing the striking total of about 18 000,000 gross tons. The enormous growth of American merchant fleets is at once seen by a comparison with the figures of our shipping before the outbreak of the world war. These facts are set forth in a com prehensive study of America's mer chant marine published today by the Banker's Trust Company in volume form, entitled "America's Merchant Marine." On June 30 1914, American ship ping comprised 7,928,688 gross tons. But of this total only 1,076,151 gross tons were in foreign trade. There were 2,882,992 gross tons on the Great Lakes and 3,969,614 gross tons in sea and river trade. By June 30, 1919, American ship-' ping had increased to 12,907,300 gross tons. Of this total 6,669,726 gross tons were in foreign trade, 2, 635,680 gross tons on the Great Lakes and the remainder in sea and river trade. "Of the nearly 13,000,000 gross tons of shipping under the American flag on June 30, 1919, says this study further, "there were 7,300,000 gross tons of sea going ships of over 1,000 tons gross. From June 30, 1919 to November 1919, there were docu mented about 1,500,000 gross tons of American shipping, both government owned and private owned. In addition the United Skates shipping board had on its program (allowing for cancel lations) about 4,000,000 gross tons incomplete. "Including the private contracts for ships recently placed in American shipyards, present indications, there fqre point to a total American mer chant marine, in the near future, of about 18,000,000 gross tons. This es timate makes a certain allowance for ships sold for foreign account." No country in the world except Great Britain has ever had a mer chant marine anywhere near the present and prospective size of America's. In 1914, before the world war, Great Britain's merchant steam fleet of 100 tons and over was 18, 892,000 gross tons, and that of the British dominions 1,632,000 gross I tons. During the world war the mer chant marine of the United Kingdom lost in war operations 7,753,311 gross tons and 1,032,779 gross tons in marine losses, leaving (allowing for new construction) a deficit under the 1914 figures of 2,547,000 actual gross tonnage, while the British do minions gained only 231,000 tons. Of the European countries stand ing.next to. Gpeat Britain before the world war, Germany led, with 5,135, 000 gross tons of steam vessels 100 tons or over. But the war reduced Germany's merchant marine to a mere shadow. I Something New for Ed ge held. We have installed an electric clip per, which enables us to do faster and better work, and in order to ren der satisfactory service to the Edge fi?ld public, we have increased our force of barbers to three regularly during the week, and four on Satur day. Our patrons will not have to wait hereafter to be served. Mr. L. W. Smith is at first chair; Mr. C. E. Hall, the second; Mr. Ed Corley, the third and Mr. John H. Miller, the fourth. PALACE BARBER SHOP. To the rear of Bank of Edgefield. TT?.Ff?TR?fl Tno jaest Tonic, T?P?Q M? LAXATIVE M1 i JJ HO Family Medicine. idle SUIT THEM ALL place of mama's roll >ed for hard-working for sister's serenade, s to finally put her on ease of guns and rifles to u can get pleased. ply the coffins. JONES W, S. C. C. N. BRADSHAW SANITARY PLUMBING WHAT IS HOME WITHOUT PLUMBING The installation of water works for the town i& now under way. There has been gradual increase in the cost of plumbing material and fixtures for the past two years or more, and we see no prospect for a decrease for months to come. Supply houses cannot guarantee delivery at any specified time. I cannot give an estimate and guarantee prices for more than four or five days. If the estimate is accepted I can guarantee the pnces whether the work will be done at once or in the next thirty days. In any case there will probably be some delay. The wise man will install his plumping now and connect with the town water works later. aaa ms mm mi Hr SF Wi* si Your Orders Solicited. When in need of any of the fol lowing, remember us: Corn, Corn-chops, oats, hay,' alfal !fa, feeds, wheat bran, wheat shorts, J mix feeds, corn or cotton seed meal, dairy feeds, chicken feed, both the 'scratch and lay mash, or most any thing in heavy feeds. Also remember we carry a com plete line of fancy and heavy gro ceries. Will appreciate small as well as large orders. J. D. KEMP & CO. i We are macing a runion SPRING ' -FIELD PUMPS, come in and get one while they last at ?3.00. YONCE & MOONEY. T. B. GRENEKER Attorney at Law Office in the ADDISON LAW BUILDING Or King's New Eiscwan KIW THE COUGH. M'-cp TKH l.UNfi* Now that we have had day current established in town, it has been pos sible for me to install a complete, electrically driven plant for cutting edging and finishing all lenses used in my optomctrical wojk. In nearly all cases, it is possible for me to de liver the most complicated glasses within an hour or so after examina tion i's made. The public is cordially invited to call and see this machinery. GEO. F. MIMS, Optometrist-Optician, Edgefield, S. C. FOR SALE: One set of Goodyear Ford inner tubes, never been used. Price $10.00. F. F. RAINSFORD, Penn & Holstein Prescription Druggists Pure Drur/s and Chemicals Our prices are reasonable. Our 75 years of service to the people insure efficiency and We Solicit Your Continued Patronage For Quick. Acceptance. Galvanized Roofing at $8.50 per square, except 10 and 12 feet lengths which are 10 cents higher. This is cheaper than factory prices. Galvan ized shingles on hand. A car of press ed bick to arrive this week. E. S. JOHNSON. FARMERS, ATTENTION! YvTe invite the farmers to come in and see MNAGE Cotton and Corn Planters They lay off furrow, distribute fertilizer, ridge, bed, plant and cover seed all in one operation. One and team can prepare and plant 12 acres per day. This will relieve the acute labor situation. Absolutely guaranteed to do the work. STEWART & KERNAGHAN