Death Merely a Transition is "Word" of Dead Boston Pastor

1921

While the experiences of Dr. Elliott and the Braintree business man have been advanced by British spiritists as valid physical proof of the existence of another world (involving a guardian angel and visions of the crucified Christ), psychic manifestations are still being reported in the United States as competent evidence.

In Boston, Mass., a series of lectures are being delivered by what is represented as the personalities of various men and women who have died, through the body of the Rev. F. A. Wiggin, pastor of Unity Church. The first of these lectures was given recently when Dr. George C. Lorimer, late pastor of Tremont Temple, who died in 1904, supposedly spoke.

There was nothing uncanny about this service. After congregational singing and a prayer, Rev. Mr. Wiggin stepped forward, closed his eyes and announced his text from the seventeenth verse of the seventh chapter of Corinthians — "As the Lord hath called every one so let him walk."

It was Rev. Dr. Lorimer who was now talking through Mr. Wiggin. As Dr. Wiggin lifted his head the whole gesture was undeniably reminiscent of Rev. Dr. Lorimer, according to those who knew that well known pastor.

But "Dr. Lorimer" made no reference to the unusual fact that he was addressing a Boston audience for the first time since he had died in 1904, nor that he found anything new and strange in the Boston of 1921, nor to the fact that the world had been through one of the greatest wars of all times. He "spoke" as he might have spoken in 1900, using such references and analogies in the application of his text and the development of his theme as were common at that time.

"Dr. Lorimer" did assure his hearers that death meant nothing except a sort of transition into another world, in which men continue the work of this world in much the same way as they had worked and lived here. And Christ was just as much of a force for good and just as much of a mystery there as here.

—Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Jan. 1, 1922, section 4, page 2.

Comment: That's a very interesting statement right at the end, that after the transition into another world Christ is just as much a mystery there as here.

Pastor Preaching Tomorrow on the Wrath of God

Oakland, California, 1940

'Reason for Wrath Of God' Subject

Rev. Harold L. Thatcher, minister of the Pioneer Memorial Methodist Church, will preach tomorrow night on the subject "The Reason for the Wrath of God." He says: "Are people of the 20th century to understand that St. Paul was in error when he referred to an angry God, and also to the wrath of God? We hear a great deal concerning the love of God today, but comparatively little concerning the wrath of God. Yet the same Bible and the same New Testament which tells of God's love for man also reminds us and admonishes us concerning His anger and wrath over man's sin."

The minister speaks at 10:50 a.m. on "The General Epistle of Jude."


'Confession' to be Theme

"An Experience: a Confession" will be the subject of the sermon by the pastor, Dr. George M. Derbyshire, at the First Baptist Church tomorrow morning. He says: "The root of a vital Christian life is an experience that is real and the practical phases of that experience are not felt individually or socially unless there is a real confession. Perhaps we have more religious experience than is apparent on the surface of things but it certainly is not being expressed. This expression is sorely needed in our American life."

"Thou Art Weighed" will be the evening topic. The pastor "will present a look at our National and international situation through an ancient experience of a king whose conscience was troubled and through that disturbed mental state saw the judgment of God in the handwriting on the wall. Perhaps God's judgment is more apparent to us today than it was to this ancient monarch. His hand seems already to have written a sentence of judgment."


'Clear Perception of Life' Will be Subject at Unity

At the Oakland Unity Truth Center tomorrow morning at the Women's City Club auditorium, Rose Emery will take for her subject "A Clear Perception of Life." The sermons during July are based on the lessons from Unity School of Christianity in Kansas City.

"In God We Trust" is the topic of the second of the patriotic lessons on Tuesday night at the Ebell auditorium at 8 o'clock by Rose Emery.


'Conditions in World' Theme

"Noah and His Ark, Christ and His Church" or "World Conditions in the Light of Scriptural Prophecy" will be the sermon subject of Dr. J. N. Hoover, guest speaker at Havenscourt Colonial Church, Church of the Crimson Cross, tomorrow morning at the 11 o'clock service. Dr. Hoover, who is a nationally known Bible teacher, is filling the pulpit in the absence of the pastor, Rev. Baldwin H. Sherman.

In the evening at 7:30. Dr. Hoover will speak on "Jimmy and His Luck," or "Where and How God Speaks to Man." This will be an evangelistic service and will include a large Young People's Choir with special music and choruses.


Rev. Amster to Give Two Sabbath Sermons

Dealing with the world-wide plight of the Jewish people and the efforts of his organization to reach them with material and spiritual relief, Rev. Herbert H. Amster, Christian Jew, native of Vienna and now an American citizen, will deliver two addresses tomorrow at the College Avenue Church, 2740 College Avenue, Berkeley, it was announced by the pastor, Dr. Louis R. Patmont.

Reverend Amster, who represents the American Board of Missions to the Jews, has chosen for his topic at the 11 o'clock morning service "The Jews' Uniqueness," and for the 7:30 o'clock evening service "The Jews' Confession."

—Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, July 13, 1940, page 4.