Spiritual gifts : and The seer of Palmyra : a sequel to Spriritual gifts and spirit manifestations

University of California • Berkeley

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine
in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing
the words of the Lord."— AMOS viii: n.

SPIRITUAL GIFTS

THE SEER OF PALMYRA.

A

SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS.

BY M. H.JJOND;

" Now concerning spiritual gifts, I would not have you ignorant." — PAUL*
"If thou knewest the gift of God."— JESUS.

"When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive, and gave gifts
unto men, —

And he gave some apostles, and some prophets." — PAUL.

" Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto
his servants the prophets."— AMOS iii: 7.

PROVIDENCE, R. I.

PREFACE.

'HEISTIC belief, notwithstanding the absurdities thai:
cluster around it and the difficulties that beset it
in our day, is still too precious — in View of the
incompleteness of this life — to relinquish without a most
serious and painful struggle.

With Prof. Clifford, " we have seen the spring sun shine
out of an empty heaven to light up a soulless earth ; we have
felt with utter lonliness that the Great Companion is dead."
" Without God and without hope " we once walked through
this world.

Now, all having changed with us, we desire to aid some
soul struggling in vain in the meshes woven by priestcraft,
to find a rational basis and practical ground and a faith
defensible from all assault.

Knowing the possibility of such attainment, our desire is
to humbly point the way out of the labyrinth of human
opinion up to the certitude expressed by the immaculate
Son of God when He said, " My doctrine is not mine, but
His that sent me. If any man will do His will he shall know
of the doctrine," by expressing what that doctrine is, obedi-
ence to which brings knowledge of the true character of
the "son of the carpenter," not only of what he is reported
to have done, but what he does, can and will do in keeping
with the statement of Paul, " Jesus Christ — the same yester-
day, to-day and forever."

No claim of erudition is made by which the writer's
thought is presented ; towering rhetoric and glittering hyper-

2 PREFACE.

bole may prolong the discussion, but truth. was and we
believe is to-day best served by straightforward and candid
statement.

If plainness of speech was warranted in Paul's day as
against Greek and Roman sophistry, we believe we shall be
able to show that the world's need is as great to-day in this
direction, as against the conflicting religious theories of the
day.

Carlyle has said that " the soul of all of nature's utterances
is perfect music."

Believing that Christianity proper, and as Christ taught it,
is not at war with itself ; that the God of revelation and of
the Bible is the God who created the natural worlds and is
always in harmony with himself; that Jesus Christ — the same
yesterday, to-day, and forever was and is His chosen and
authoritative representative, and not the dead Christ of human
creed ; that the promises of God to the race through Him
are not yea and nay — yes in the first century and no to-day,
but that "all the promises are yea and amen to the glory of
God " and to our satisfaction who, happily learning what the
will of God is, and doing it, are enabled to enter the portal
that leads away from doubt and tradition into the temple of
knowledge concerning spiritual things.

M. H. BOND.

Spiritual Gifts and Spiritual Manifesta-
tions.

*
BY M. H. BOND.

CHAPTER I.

IN a day when science itself is grappling with professed
spiritual phenomena, and seeking in vain a natural solu-
tion of its mysterious and startling manifestations, igno-
rance is unwarranted and unbecoming in either believer or
skeptic who may have rational opportunity to obtain light,
the everlasting and undeviating harbinger, as well as the
faithful attendant and companion of truth.

Profitableness, or practicability in spiritual matters must
be the inevitable and solitary test which the rational mind
will bring to bear in solution of these questions.

It is not within range of practical discussion designed in
this pamphlet, and at this time, to enter into detailed exam-
ination of all the phenomena with which history has fur-
nished us 'that may have transcended rational explanation.

From the days of Egyptian necromancy every nation and
every tribe have had a revelation, and an oracle, and a
manifestation so sacred and. so entrenched in fond desire
of a preconceived hope, that they have builded for it an
altar and a covering from the light of criticism, and of sun-
shine, and of the day ; have placed a priest to guard the
place and presence of the shekinah, and have hastened to
pour out by armies their life-blood in defense of toe temple
which covered all.

Looking back over the waste of centuries, what shall we
say of this, to us, blind exhibition of misdirected force and

3

4 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

apparent waste of human energy? Wnat profit for them
and what lesson to us ?

" The world by (its) wisdom knew not God," said Paul,
eighteen hundred years ago. Has the added experience
of centuries confirmed or denied its truth? Have the
representations of God, or manifestations of natural or
supernatural , power, given tests satisfactory to the highest
intelligence possessed by the nineteenth century? If so,
where shall we find these manifestations and tests, and
when found will they abide the full and free light of not
only the present, but the coming day, and the searching
analysis which has buried so many ghosts and fables of
human superstition and deception in the past?

" Canst thou by searching find out God ? canst thou find
out the Almighty unto perfection?" is the sublime language
of the friend of Job. " It is as high as heaven ; what canst
thou do? deeper than hell ; what canst thou know? " (JOB
ii, 7 : 8). And yet, is knowledge then cut off from higher
sources than man ? If so, our inquiry, our faith, our religion
is in vain, and our hope must end in blind desire, and vain,
though fond imagination. Marching on over the graves of
buried hopes and exploded myths of religious experiment
toward the day whose dawning reveals naught but the in-
tellectual light of criticism, shall the world assemble and hear
an eloquent burial service by some future Ingersoll of all
religions that postulate a theory covering more than the span
of life allotted to the natural man ? Is there, amid all the
starry worlds of this vast universe, an intelligence higher
than man ? and if there may be, is it in the eternal order of
things that man may know? Is the coming day to be a
burial or a resurrection morn of that hope of immortality
that forever and forever besieges the human soul ?

Supernatural or spiritual gifts or manifestations in the day
of Paul, and among the membership of that body or associa-

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 5

tion of religious believers called saints : founded and organ-
ized by Jesus Christ, called by His name, officered and
equipped under His own direction, were the gifts which He
promised to the believer in His mission to mankind that
should ever follow wherever his line of instructions should
be observed. (MATT, xxviii 120.) These gifts and the
physical or sensual manifestations or exhibitions of them,
partially, at least, were clearly defined to the unbeliever by
the scene upon Pentecost day, and subsequently following
the ministry of the church. They were to be sent by the
superior power in vindication of the promise • " If I go
away I will not leave you comfortless. Nevertheless I tell
you the truth : it is expedient that I go away ; for if I go
not away, the Comforter, will not come unto you; but if I
depart, I will send Him unto you."

Jesus, who was called the Christ, departed from this
world one way or another — as we may believe according to
our faith or our traditions. The testimony handed down to
us informs us that faith to withstand trials and death were
augmented, and comfort — such as was promised by the
founder of the church — received through the subtle processes
operating upon human minds and bodies through operation
of the spirit which was one, and called the Holy Ghost,
but diversified in its manifestations and gifts for the profit
of individual persons, adapted to their constitution.or nature,
and given, not as a sign to the curiosity or wonder-seeker
to inspire faith, but as evidence to follow the believer within
the magic' circle bounded by the line of obedience to the
command "to observe all things whatsoever " he had "com-
manded them," and as a fulfilment of his eternal pledge,
"Lo, I am with you always, EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE
WORLD."

An attempt to render this promise and word in such a
way as to circumscribe its fulfilment to the limits of that age,

6 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

has only served to draw a pall over the world's hope inspired
by the fulfilment of the pledges made to the church by its
founder.

Much talk is made of this as a progressive age and day
of enlightenment. In things material, or that which min-
isters to physical ease and sensual delight, apart from the
discomfort that will always attach itself to high mental and
spiritual estates in the presence of the great questions that
spring out of the issues of life and of death as presented to
our consciousness still unanswered, I grant may be
true. Knowledge has increased according to the prediction
of the prophet, but that kind the world has to offer still
satisfies not. The railroad takes us no nearer heaven. The
telegraph has not connected us with the unknown. Hackael
or Darwin have not yet found the opening that leads from
death to life. Spencer no alchemy of mental or physical
force sufficient to form a lens whose rays shall penetrate the
gloom that covers the dark river and that forever separates
humanity from the unknown. Col. Ingersoll, with infinite
wit, or mental acumen, does " not know whether death is a
wall or a door," and the stricken heart of the world with
hands stretched across the new made grave of its incom-
pleted life and ideal, utters still the olden cry, " If a man
die, shall he live again? "

I am aware of claims set up by different parties opposed
to this view of the majority. Some of the principal ones
only, which claim our nearest attention, we briefly discuss.

First — The Christian church or churches, so called, of
to-day, say to us that the pessimistic or skeptic view is
unwarranted by the facts of nature and ofs revelation. That
nature teaches of a God, and of a bodily resurrection, and
revelation furnishes us with the superior moral code and
evidences of life beyond the tomb.

No stronger or more powerful advocate of the natural

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 7

doctrine in favor of the revealed religion of immortality
need we refer to than Wilford Hall ; and yet this champion
of religion, and professed defender of the Bible and of the
right of Jesus Christ to the claim of being the world's
authoritative teacher, says in his "Problem of Life," p. 26^
that "The age of miracles is undeniably past." God, he
affirms, no longer works with His church as in the days of
Christ and his Apostles ; but the only remedy proposed for
the incoming tide of modern skepticism is an increased
store of worldly wisdom upon the part of Christ's ministry ;
meeting the assaults of infidelity with superior skill in
erudition ; keener logic and more subtile argument ; and he
admits if these fail that the decadence and overthrow of the
Christian church is only a question of time.

Human wisdom and sagacity aie thus still to be made
the only tests of religion, and of the truth or falsity of the
claim of divinity made for Jesus Christ and the gospel which
bears His name, and the war against infidelity still carried
on by a hundred different sects with as many different faiths,
with the patent of their name as authority to promulgate
whatever the fancy of theologians may dictate as gospel.

Is Jesus Christ to blame for all this confusion, and is the
system of test introduced by him to be thrown overboard
because men have changed and corrupted it, and its pro-
fessed friends deny the very and only methods authorized
by Him through which a KNOWLEDGE of God by and through
this man Christ Jesus was to be obtained ? " The world by
(its) wisdom knew not God ;" neither yet, confessedly, does
it know Him ; and there is something which amounts to
absurdity in the claim that this multiplied diversity of
human opinions, framed into creeds and canon laws and
articles of faith, with their kaleidoscopic and ever-changing
front, is a just, a faithful, and authoritative representation of
the everlasting and unchangeable gospel of Jesus Christ.

8 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

11 He that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth
not shall be damned." Believe what? Heaven help us ;
we have believed so much, and knew so little, that we don't
believe anything any more, and what is left of belief we have
to keep close and excluded, or it will be spoiled ; for the
image breaker is abroad in the land, and the history of the
religious world since the days of Constantine, especially,
must largely justify the reversal of the anathema by say-
ing, " He that believeth shall be damned, and he that be-
lieveth not shall be saved."

Spiritual gifts were the gifts of God eighteen hundred years
ago. Heaven proposed to reach men's consciousness through
adaptation of the message to their capacity — a school in
which " by the church might be known the manifold wisdom
ofGod."(EpH. iii, 9:10.) Their office work was to minister, and
supply to, the wants of man that which earthly powers could
not then, neither can they now, supply. Their presence with
the church was the certain test of not only His love and will-
ingness to bless those who united their fortunes by obedience
to His law and commandments with Him in a service of
salvation toward and for the world, but also of supernatural
and extraordinary power exhibited and manifested in con-
firmation of the word which he commanded them to teach.

In the April number of The North American Review,
Robert G. Ingersoll opens his second article upon " Why I
am an Agnostic " by saying, "the Christian religion rests on
miracles," and that " in order for miracles to be of any
value, they would have to be perpetual." Now while this is
saying more than the truth, yet no unprejudiced reader of
the New Testament history can say that the truth is not in it.
Careless readers might believe Mr. Ingersoll meant that there
was little else but miracles as a foundation on which to
predicate faith in the system, but if Mr. Ingersoll meant to
say that the Christian religion proper, included miracles, he

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 9

would say right, and that historical and second-handed tes-
timony in regard to them was not contemplated by the
founder of the Christian religion as a test of the faith of the
true believer in Him.

But the Christianity that Christ taught did not nor does
not "rest upon miracles" alone. If it did, the claim of the
Catholic church to the truth of its dogmas, and the
authority alone to promulgate salvation or pronounce con-
demnation would be hard to overthrow. To prove our
faith by human affidavits and a historical gospel alone, is to
prove altogether too much, as a few references might show.

In a pamphlet entitled " Hell," issued by the " Vatican
Library" in New York, and written by the Rev. Father
Schouppe, are the authenticated accounts of miracles from
the days of the early fathers of the Christian (Catholic)
church up to the year 1860, A. D., as proving the exist-
ence of a hell, and of the particular kind taught by the
Romish church, also borrowed from her and defended by
Calvin and other successors in Protestant "Reformation."

While it may not be unreasonable to suppose or even
unprofitable to believe in the existence of a hell, yet, the
world stands confused in regard to the certainty of its local-
ity, the quality, grade, or duration of punishment, the
design of its establishment or the character of its author
and founder, represented or misrepresented, as the case
may and must be by somebody. At least it is as easy to
prove by theologians, who claim to be the only authority,
that there are more hells than one, and of different kinds,
as that there is any hell at all, and the most charitable con-
struction or explanation of these differences and contradic-
tions fail to justify us in believing an infinite, just, merciful
and all-wise and unchangeable being as the author of all,
or perhaps any of them.

Upon " the infallible word of God," says Father Schouppe,

lo SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

" stands the dogma of hell." Quite likely, but even what
purports to be the speech of God upon this point eighteen
hundred or three thousand years ago has been so disagreed
upon by its expounders that it makes unbelief in authorita-
tive declaration easy in this age. But there is the supple-
ment, and, to the devout Catholic, proof of itself, in the
authenticated accounts furnished by the church, of the vis-
ible and sensible return of those who wore and are con-
signed to hell and its flames ; and while Universalists and
Liberals in religion may carry off honors in debate with
Father Schouppe, Calvin or Edwards, in regard to the letter
of a word that has killed so many, what shall we say of
human testimony and eye witnesses ; of revelations to Cath-
olic or Protestant, to the Maid of Orleans, Ann Lee, Swe-
denborg, the testimony of modern Spiritualism, etc. ?

In the pamphlet quoted on " Hell," page 49, we read :
"Not far from Lima (1590) dwelt a Christian lady who had
three maid servants, one of whom, called Martha, was a
young Indian of about sixteen years. Martha was a Chris-
tian, but little by little she grew cool in the devotion she had
displayed at first, became negligent in her prayers, and light,
coquettish and wanton in her conversations. Having fallen
dangerously ill, she received the last sacrament. After this
serious ceremony, during which she had evinced very little
piety, she said, smiling to her two fellow-servants, that in
the confession she had taken good care not to tell all her
sins to the priest. Frightened by this language, the girls
reported to their mistress, who, by dint of exhortation and
threats, obtains from the sick girl a sign of repentance and
the promise to make a sincere and Christian confession.
Martha confesses then, over again, and dies shortly after.
Scarcely had she breathed her last when her corpse emitted
an extraordinary and intolerable stench. They were obliged
to remove it from the house to a shed. The dog in the

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIOXS. n

court yard howled piteously, as if he were undergoing the
torture. After the interment the lady, according to custom,
was dining in the garden in the open air, when a heavy
stone fell suddenly in the centre of the table with a horrible
crash, and caused all the table equipments to spring, but
without breaking any article. One of the servants, having
occupied the room in which Martha had died, was awakened
by frightful noises — all the furniture seemed to be moved
by an invisible forte and thrown to the floor.

" We understand how the servant did not continue to oc-
cupy the room. Her companion ventured to take her place,
but the same scenes were renewed. Then they agreed to
spend the night together there. This time they distinctly heard
Martha's voice, and soon that wretched girl appeared before
them in the most horrible state and all on fire. She said
that by God's command 'she had come to reveal her condi-
tion to them ; that she was dajnned for her sins of impurity
and the sacrilegious confessions she had continued to make
until death.

" The fire of hell is a real fire, a fire that burns like this
world's fire, although it is infinitely more active. Must not
there be a real fire in hell, seeing that there is a real fire in
purgatory?" (Pages 50, 51.)

In the year 1870 Mgr.de Segur relates : "On the 4th
of November, 1859, died of a stroke of apoplexy, at the
Convent of the Franciscians of Foligino, a good sister named
Theresa Gesta. Twelve days after, a sister named Anna
Felicia, who replaced her in her oifice, went up to the ward-
robe, and was about to enter, when she heard moans which
seemed to come from the interior of this room. Somewhat
alarmed, she hastened to open the door. No one was there,
but new moans resounded, so clearly articulated that, despite
her usual courage, she felt seized by fear. ' Jesus, Mary ! '
she exclaimed, ' what is this?' She had not finished when

12 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

she heard a plaintive voice accompanied by this mournful
sigh : ' Oh my God, how I suffer ! ' The shocked sister
recognized at once the voice of poor Sister Theresa. Then
the whole hall was filled with a dense smoke, and the ghost
of Sister Theresa appeared, moving toward the door while
gliding by the wall. Having reached almost the door, she
exclaimed forcibly, ' This is a sign of the mercy of God ! '
and saying this she struck the highest panel of the door,
leaving hollowed in the charred wood a most perfect stamp
of her right hand*; then she disappeared."

The smell of charred wood and the impress of Sister
Theresa's hand was recognized by all the company that this
frightened sister called in in her astonishment and fright.
According to farther account, the next day she appeared to
her in her cell, calling her by name. "At the same time an
al] resplendent sphere of light appears before her, lighting
up the cell as if by noonday, and she hears Sister Theresa,
who with a joyous triumphant voice utters these words : ' I
died on Friday, the day of the passion, and behold on
Friday I depart for glory.' Then, adding affectionately,
'adieu, adieu, adieu,' she becomes transfigured into a thin,
white, dazzling cloud ; she flies away to heaven and van-
ishes." (Pages 52 and 53.)

One more account, among scores of like testimonies, and
the last in the book, tells us of a general of the Northern
army in the war of 1860, a devout Catholic, whose wife, a
fervent Protestant, was about to die. The general, with atten-
dants, began to draw their beads, and praying on their knees
for one hour, find her in syncope, without consciousness.
"At the end of some time," says the account, " returning to
herself and looking at her husband, she said to him in a very
intelligible voice, ' Call a Catholic priest ! — I beg,' she says,
' for a Catholic priest without delay.' ' But, my dear, you
would not have one.' 'Ah, general, I am entirely changed ;

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 13

God has shown me hell and the place that awaited me in
the eternal fire, if I did not become a Catholic? "

A literal hell of physical fire are among the literal cer-
tainties revealed with astounding and convincing occular
demonstrations according to this and other Catholic history
for those who neglect confession to their priests or who
renounce her dogmas.

Our experience laughs at, or our faith contradicts all this
testimony, but we swing over to an investigation of modern
spiritualism and find just as astonishing and astounding
things faithfully testified and certified to by intelligent,
conscientious witnesses, baffling modern science in their
attempts to explain the modern phenonmenon of meta-
physical, physical, or other force, claiming for its authorship
the presence of spirits that have inhabited bodies here upon
earth. Their testimony, however, while admitting the pos-
sible or probable return of the Catholic dead to this world
of ours, flatly contradicts the nations, opinions or statements
made concerning the orthodox hell, the causes which landed
them there, the punishment inflicted, duration, character, or
the means by which a soul may be delivered from the inter-
mediate state, (purgatory).

Immanuel Swedenborg has conversed with Plato, Des-
cartes and Jesus Christ, according to sober testimony.
Like other revelations from other sources, or more properly
speaking, through other sources or channels, however, the
supernatural conforms to the natural, and agrees to a dis-
tressing extent with the individual notion, preconceived
idea and former education.

The orthodox world say, there was a sign, a revelation,
a spiritual gift, with the church in the beginning, but there
are none now, none needed — "ceased with the apostolic
commission," though denied by Wesley and other reformers.

The Catholic church still says that supernatural manifes-

I4 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

tation and the return of the dead have since, and now do
testify to the truth of her dogmas.

Spiritualism's messengers deny the dogmas but affirm the
return of the dead, and with physical " sign " and mental or
metaphysical " wonder " the " medium " and high priestess of
the new evangel undertake to, and do and will, as they always
have in all ages and among all religions when the " condi-
tions " are favorable, satisfy a hungry world — a world hun-
gry and starving for more light, more facts, more truth, in
regard to the issues of life as they are presented to the cir-
cumscribed vision of mortals.

We say they are satisfied when the "conditions" "sur-
roundings" and circumstances are favorable. Of what faith
or belief, no matter how absurd it may appear in the light
which time and critical analysis affords, may not this be
truthfully said ?

What is truth ? Where is it to be found, and what are
the tests to be imposed ? — so that not only in the end, but
now, we may be satisfied that the law of the survival of the
fittest in religion will find us possessed masters of the key
of eternal knowledge and of the fact that we have not been
deceived by mortals or immortals, men or spirits ; or must
we still go on and down to the grave with choice only
between entire negation and abnegation of hope or happi-
ness save that only which this brief span may be made to
furnish. Or, on the other hand, of a faith only, which the
light of the coming morrow may turn to fable ; a faith of
inferences, of human analogy ; a faith that stands in con-
stant need of shifting base, and argument and expedients
in order to maintain the hope which it is supposed to cover
or defend ? Will it always be true that

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast,
faan never is but always to be blest."

Nowhere has there been heralded the uncertainty that

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 15

prevades the intellectual world to-day in regard to re-
ligious questions more clearly than by the leading daily
journals in this country in their editorial discussion concern-
ing religious instruction in our public schools. S^ys one
of the leading daily journals of New England, in an
editorial, in opposition to the view of Cardinal Manning
in regard to this question : " If religion were a matter of
science, and consequently beyond dispute, the schools might
teach it as they teach mathematics and other subjects of an
equally certain character. But it is not. The interpretation
of Christianity is a matter of opinion, and a matter as to
which differences of opinion are strongly marked."

" What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him ? and
what profit should we have if we pray unto Him?" (JOB
xxi, 15.) "We know so little," says William Lloyd Garri-
son * "of the great mystery that surrounds us here and of the
laws which guide our footsteps, that to serious minds the
flippant assumptions of theology seem profane."

With these facts before us, may we not with Job be
tempted to say, "What profit should we have if we pray
unto him," or what is the use of being religious at ail?
It is certainly true that a candid survey of the field of
Letters in the religious and skeptical world certainly
tends to a confusion of the natural mind. The French
school states that mankind is approaching a period
of complete outgrowth of the religious idea, and that
man is destined to become a non-religious being. An-
other school of philosophers will insist upon the culti-
vation of the religious idea as really necessary to the
harmonious development of man in the employment and
discipline of all of the finer forces of his being. That
prayer, for instance, is not necessarily, or altogether, a vain

* Liberal Union Club, Boston. Speec.i on "What Religions Can
Liberals Give their Children?"

1 6 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

exercise ; but rather a practical, mental, sesthetical and
moral gymnasium and drill, praying at a dead mark, with
the idea of an answer from any source, of course, excluded ;
but simply an echo of our own voices that may mark the
progress we may have made in the development of ourselves
by the aid of forces which lie within ourselves alone.

The adherents of both these modern schools of thought
are not only not insignificant in numbers, especially the lat-
ter, but in intellectual development, and even moral stand-
ing, commercial integrity and respectability, no longer rank
low in society to-day.

If infidelity, then, since the beginning of the sixteenth
century has made such rapid strides towards popularity,
what wonder that revolutionary France should be now rais-
ing a school of intellectual philosophers the first article of
whose creed should be, " No religion " — that the time for
regarding worship as a waste of time and human energy had
come.

How is the ambassador of Christ to face these problems ?
and how may he expect to win proselytes to His name and
a church which is called after his name, in view of the wide-
spread and almost universal and now made popular
skepticism — engendered, fostered, encouraged, and grown
by the terrible spectacle of religion, whose banners
His name has given prestige to, and enforced by the power
of a fleshy arm imposed by the very summit of the genius of
bigotry, cruelty, superstition, fanaticism and revenge.

If religion for sixteen centuries, according to the popular
verdict of the nineteenth century, has proved as much a
curse as a blessing — as much of a bar, as an incentive to
human progress — may and will not the coming man who de-
fends religion and churches and worship and prayers, have
to be possessed of better material for intelligent argument,
higher wisdom, better tests, or a better key to unlock the

SPIRITUAL MANIFES TA TIONS. 1 7

mysteries that now covers humanity like a pall, than his
predecessors ?

The Rev. Lyman Abbott, D. D., in reply to Mr. Ingersoll,
in the article refered to in the subsequent (April) number
of the North American Review * says that "Joseph Cook
and Dr. J. L. Wi throw have stood in the very forefront of
the conservative party in the orthodox church in its recent
controversies concerning the future of the heathen, and they
have both contended vigorously that an acceptance of
Christianity is not essential to salvation, that on the con-
trary, myriads of pagans will be found to have entered into
eternal life without any knowledge of Christ or his religion"

It might be well to contrast this statement of these cham-
pions of a "historical Christ" with the statements of Christ
himself : " And I give unto them eternal life, and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of
My hand." (JOHN x, 28 : 29.)

If Plato or Buddah can do the same for humanity, what
pre-eminence substantially has the "Christian religion " over
other systems.

Again, " And THIS is LIFE ETERNAL, to know that the only
true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. (JOHN,
xvii, 3.)

"No man cometh unto the Father but by me." (JOHN xiv,6.)

" He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in
himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a 'liar;
because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son"

And this is the record, that God hath given unto us eternal
life, and this life (not some other life), 'is IN His SON."
(I JOHN v, 10 : n.)

It is evident that Mr. Ingersoll or some one else has
partly converted these befogged theologians, and that they
do not believe the record that God gave of His Son.

* Flaws in Ingersollism, page 447.

*8 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

We will take the reader back in Bible history to a scene
in a city of Samaria called Sychar, and near to Jacob's welL
In his speech to the Samaritan woman, Jesus here says :
" But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall
be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life ; "
and also to her : " If thou knewest the gift of God, and who
it is that saith unto thee, ' give me to drink,' thou woulds't
have asked of him, and he would have given thee living
water"

" The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord" said Paul. Sin
also is defined by him as " a transgression of law," and
that " the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and of death." (ROM. viii, 2.)
Death and sin are the terrible facts of our human existence.
The cure is to be found, not in the realm of no law, lawless-
lessness, but in knowledge of and obedience to law — eternal,
unchangeable law. As God is eternal, so must his law be.
"There is a spirit in man." • If so, rationally as well as
scripturally, there must be a law governing that spirit that is
just as authoritative and just as arbitrary as is the inexorable
law that governs the physical or material forces of nature.
That law is the law of the spirit, of life in Christ Jesus — the
gospel. "Whoso looketh into the perfect law" said James,
"and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer,
but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his
deed." (JAMES i, 25.)

" Go preach THE gospel to every creature ; he that
believeth (it) shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall
be damned, or condemned." It was authoritative, and no
hesitancy or juggling expedients were to be allowed in its
proclamation in order to enlarge the following or please the
people. Men were, as now, in sin and darkness, and igno-

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 19

ranee and death. There was no time to apologize for the
truth. It was open and fair as the day ; honest men could
test it. "If any man would do he should know." Jesus
Christ as the sent of God defined the terms upon which
knowledge and not opinion of his true character could be
had. And this knowledge was the key to life eternal in
contradistinction to all other forms of life, and upon obed-
ience to that apostolic commission (since so garbled and
abused) a constituency, a church and an organization
was founded by illiterate fishermen, whose influence has
stood the assault of centuries ; for, great as has been the
apostacy and corruption of the methods and work of Jesus
Christ and of his chosen apostles, still is it better than
something worse. Still brightly and transcendently beams
across this waste of blood nnd tears, of cruel bigotry and
religious persecution and intolerance, the sublimity and
grandeur of the moral character and unparalleled heroism
of this man of sorrows.

But, was he not and is he not to day something more
than a profound and practical moralist, a wondrous and
superlative combination and exhibition of human attain-
ment ? Men that talk that way and think that way do not
Itnow him, neither on the other hand could any man say,
now or then, that Jesus is Lord and not man, only through
the key of knowledge furnished by obedience to the com-
mission, " Go teach all nations., baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teach-
ing them to observe all things whatsoever I have com-
manded you, and lo ! I am with you always even unto the
end of the world."

And yet He was not to be with them. Why this
paradox? For "Now," said He, (JOHN xvi : 5, 6, 7, 13),
" I go my way to Him that sent me, but because I have
said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart ;

20 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

nevertheless I tell you the truth ! It is expedient that
I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not
come unto you ; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you,"
but " When He, the spirit of truth is come, He will guide
you into all truth • and he will shew you things to come,"
and not only was this to apostles but to the hearer, the
believer, the doer of the word, for said Peter on Pentecost
day, " This gift of the Holy Ghost is to you and to your
children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the
Lord our God shall call." (Acrs ii 38 : 39).

Is the Holy Ghost of the modern vestry that same influ-
ence or spiritual power that Jesus Christ promised to send
as his faithful representative ? Does the power sought and
obtained at modern religious revivals answer in physical
description, intellectual result or harmonious conformity to
the New Testament literature upon that subject ! Oh
no ! Said Peter, acting under the commission of the Mas-
ter : " Having received the promise of the Holy Ghost, he
hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear."

What did they see and hear in men under the influence of
the Holy Ghost eighteen hundred years ago ? Something,
certainly, that you do not see or hear in modern Christian
churches, who still absurdly claim that it is the same spirit,
representing the Father of Infinite Truth and Love, and
Jesus Christ, His Son.

Are and have the Popes of the Romish church been the
true apostles and representatives of Jesus Christ, and acting
under the direction of trie spirit of truth in publishing from
time to time the contradicting dogmas of that church as the
authoritative and infallible word of God. The most charitable
Protestant will not say that, and if they are not true apostles,
they are false ones. We safely say at least, they are and
were mistaken, but Mr. Abbot says that the Romish church

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 21

is Christian* "The Christian spirit," he says, "is the
spirit of loyalty to Christ." A common statement, but very
ambiguously defined. True loyalty and discipleship are
inseparable. " Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoevei I
command you," said He, and to those Jews which believed
on Him — " If ye continue in my word, then are ye my
disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free"

What have we to-day, instead of truth? Error, falsehood,
belief at best, instead of knowledge, speculative theology,
changing creed and opinion, quarrel among the repre-
sentatives of Jesus Christ as to what he meant by what He is
reported to have said nearly two thousand years ago. No
authoritative declaration from pulpit that intelligent pew
renters feel bound to respect. Mr. Garrison says :" The
pews direct, and the preacher obeys." We are living at a
period that seems to mark the ebb tide of religious belief.f
The church may be moral but it is mysterious, and the
tendency of sentiment is that ignorance looks up to, and
intelligence looks down upon, the modern pulpit, and the
almost unseemly haste to abandon old positions under the
assaults of modern skepticism is proof of this.

The Rev. Lyman Abbott, D. D., says of Jesus Christ, in
reply to Mr. Ingersoll : " His message was very simple,
and yet the world has not yet become weary of listening to it,
and to-day, when a Henry Ward Beecher, a Philip Brooks,
a Dwight L. Moody, quietly ignoring the additions and
corruptions of a later scholasticism, goes back to the simple
teaching of this Galilean rabbi, throngs gather to hear the
teaching, as they did when it was first given on the shores
of the lake of Geneseret."

In view of the different interpretations which these noted

* North American Review, April Number, Page 456.
fSpeech at Liberal Union Club, Boston.

22 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

divines have given us of the "simple teaching of this Gali*
lean rabbi," there seems to be more poetry than facts in this
statement. As a matter of fact they have fostered rather
than ignored the " additions and corruptions of a later
scholasticism," and it will be found that it is too soon to
say that " the world has not yet become weary of listening "
to the message of Jesus Christ, for it has not for centuries
had the opportunity, and we shall be bold enough to say that
the Christ himself, coming under guise of lowly and unpop-
ular surroundings as at first, hidden under garb of human-
ity, having as before, " no form of beauty or comeliness " to
attract the senses, organizing a church after primitive pat-
tern, a system of faith and obedience to certain principles,
and called " my doctrine" promising as a result that he who
should obey, should "know ;" that signs mentioned should fol-
low the believer as of old — who does not know, or believe at
least, that there is not a church on earth, or popular min-
ister but that would reject him ? But, and if he should send,
by whom he would, in answer to Wesley's prayer,

"Almighty God of Love,

Set up the attracting sign,
And summon whom thou dost approve

As messengers divine,"

and that, "according to the scripture " and as it is " written,"
would it help matters ? Oh, no ; if they know not the
master how could they recognize his servants, for, " when
the son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his
glory ; and before him shall be gathered all nations ; and
he shall separate them," etc., " and shall say unto them on
his right hand, Come ye blessed — and to them on the left
hand, Depart from me." Why ? " For I was an hungered
and ye gave me no meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no
drink ; I was a stranger and ye took me not in ; naked, and

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 23

ye clothed me not • sick and in prison, and ye visited me
not." " Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord,
when saw we thee an hungered or athirst — and did not
minister unto thee?" Then he, the King, shall answer and
say unto them, inasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of
these, my brethren, ye did it not unto me." (MATT, xxv :
3x-46.)

Where, to-day, are those "brethren" of Jesus Christ?
When the Lord comes, the world ("nations") will evidently,
if this be true, not know them, and we are commanded to
treasure up his words that we be not deceived. . Evidently
they are, or will be masquerading under the disguise of a
religion unknown and unrecognized in the popular religious
world to day, the religion of Jesus Christ.

With people who have become accustomed to the sound
of confusion wrought by modern Babel builders in their
efforts to penetrate the clouds with towering rhetoric and
laud with glowing panegyric the names of Christ and the
martyrs of truth, these statements may, some of them, seem
harsh or uncharitable.

We have no war upon men or societies, and it would be
as foolish as it would be unjust to fail to recognize the good
in both — the splendid record of sacrifice, of moral and
physical heroism — in both Catholic and Protestant history.
But it is one of the sublime and everlasting qualities of
"charity" as Paul has defined that term, or the greatest of
Christian graces, that it does not consist altogether in giving
our goods to feed the poor, or baring our backs to blows,
or burning, or death, but that it "rejoiceth in the truth."
••'Thinketh no evil," nor is it neccessarily evil to think,
believe, know or even tell the truth.

The Romish religion is a "form" of the Christian religion,
says Rev. Lyman Abbott, D. D. , but " the church " Romish

24 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

and Protestant, "is itself half Theseus, half Centaur."* What
a confession ! After sixteen centuries of improvement upon
the methods introduced by Christ to turn out this hybrid-
ious monster as a result, and though he prove to Mr. Inger-
soll or others that it is better than something worse, it does
not relieve him, as a professed representative of Jesus Christ,
of the charge of inconsistency, no more than will his " chari-
table " attempt to harmonize or eulogize Catholic or Pro-
testant churches as essentially Christian in the light of that
"word " by which himself and all are to be judged " in the
last day." The Romish religion is a " form " of the "Chris-
tian religion," and yet the Rev. Edward Beecher, brother
of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, to whose pulpit in Ply-
mouth church the Rev. Dr. Abbott has succeeded, says
that, "the iQth chapter of Revelations contains a prophecy
of the coming events in the twentieth century, and that
chapter opens with rejoicings over the downfall of a corrupt,
anti- Chf istian corporation, which is none other than the
Church of Rome."| The reader does not care to be
wearied with other citations irom Protestant sources high
and low to the same effect.

Gladstone and Bismarck have said "that the man who
gives his allegiance to Rome cannot be loyal to his own
government," and a hundred ex-priests and " reformed "
nuns, expose in pulpit and #pon platform to-day, the
unchristian character of the church whose only apostle sits
as supreme dictator in religious matters and authoritative
declaration in the seat in which St. Peter never sat at Rome.
And the mother church, through her faithful ministers, in
turn exposes the anti-Christian and anti-Bible position of
the Church of England, as well as other Protestant churches,

*Flaws in Ingersollism, North American Review, April Number,
current year.

fLecture on Papacy, Tremont Temple, Boston.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS, 25

which Mr. Gladstone defends, by saying, "It will be ob-
served that the religion of the Church of England is so far
from exhibiting that unity of doctrine which Mr. Gladstone
represents as her distinguishing glory, that it is in fact, a
bundle of religious systems without number." It comprises
the religious system of Bishop Tomline, and the religious
system of John Newton, and all the religious systems which
lie between them. It comprises the religious system of Mr.
Newman, and the religious system of the Archbishop of
Dublin, and all the religious systems which lie between
them. " All these different opinions ' are held, avowed,
preached, printed, within the pale of the church."

But what becomes of all Mr. Gladstone's exhortations to
unity ? Is it not a mere mockery to attach so much import-
ance to unity in form and name, when there is so little sub-
stance ? — to endure with patience the spectacle of a hun-
dred sects battling within one church?

Mr. Gladstone seems to imagine that most Protestants
think it possible for the same doctrine to be at once true
and false ; or they think it immaterial whether, on a given
religious question, a man comes to a true or false conclu-
sian. She admits to her highest offices men who contra-
dict each other on the most vital questions of Christianity.
They profess to hold the real presence, transubstantiation,
sacramental confession, the sacrifice of the mass, purgatory,
the invocation of Mary and of the saints, and nearly all the
other doctrines that are contained in the Roman Catholic
creed. Others reject all these doctrines as damnable super-
stition. Now, by what effort of the mind can these two
parties be said to be one ? On what principle can it be
said that she has that unity which is essential to truth?
What idea of falsehood can we have if we hold the Church
of England is the one true church of Christ? " *

* "Is One Religion as Good as Another?" by Rev. John Mac-
Laughlin, pages 135, 139, 140.

26 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

The Catholic church "subsists in all ages, teaches all
nations, and maintains all truth." . . . "She comes
down by a perpetual succession from the Apostles of Christ
and has her DOCTRINE, her orders, and her mission FROM
THEM."

" Can she err in matters of faith ? Ans. — No, she cannot
err in matters of faith.

" Why so ? Because Christ has promised that the gates of
hell shall not prevail against his church ; that the Holy
Ghost shall teach her all truths and He himself will abide
with her forever.

" How shall we know the things which we are to be-
lieve? Ans. — From the Catholic church of God, which
He has established by innumerable miracles, and illus-
trated by the lives and deaths of innumerable saints."*

Ah, how, indeed shall we know the things which we are
to believe? Not, to rational minds by the " infallible word
of God," as defined by the Pope. Neither does the testi-
mony of Catholics to "innumerable miracles," nor the fact
that good men and women have been found within her pale,
"estab ish " us upon an immovable foundation, nor guar-
antee safety in the acceptation of her decretals.

Thus with neither Catholic or Protestant church is the test
of certainty found. Has Immanuel Swedenborg dispelled the
cloud that covers the great mystery, or has he added to its
density? On the contrary, does not the abstruseness of his
most voluminous creed rather add to than diminish the
uncertainty concerning religious questions, and place him
among the rank of nobles and learned men who by their
" wisdom knew not God." And when we turn to the ques-
tion of his seership, still though astonished, we are not en-
lightened ; a sign, but not certainty, marks these revelations.
And if his spiritual agency or guide informed him correctly of

* Apostles Creed, and Catechism.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 27

the great fire in Stockholm, it certainly is no more wonderful
than the fulfilled predictions of other religionists with whom
he is at an entire disagreement in regard to other and more
important matters, and the statements concerning his inter-
views with dead Greek philosophers, and revelations con-
cerning the heavenly world or worlds, are so ambiguous and
and filled with prolixity, as to rob them even of the claim
of profundity, and rather suggest a species of hypnotism
whose revelations cannot be made subject to any rational
test as to their truth or falsity.

The "Shakers," with " Mother " Ann Lee as their high
priestess and head, claimed power to " heal the sick,"
"cast out devils," and even raise the dead. Mother
Lee communicated with the dead, and, like Swedenborg, had
correspondence with angels, but they were Shaker angels,
as Swedenborgian angels, and with differences as strongly
marked in Bible interpretations, and to practical minds the
stream never rose much higher than the fountain of an inspi-
ration whose waters were so sadly corrupted with precon-
ceived absurdities and traditional belief as to make it entirely
vulnerable in its claims to perfect authorship.

Though attended by physical and metaphysical pheno-
mena, the same uncertainty marks the revelations of modern
spiritualism, and it is as easy to prove that there are lying
spirits, as that there are spirits at all. No intelligence existing,
or at least communicating higher than the "progressive" stage
that mortals once inhabiting this earth have already attained
to in spirit life and world ; and the rapidity also with which
all men, whether Christian, infidel or Pagan, are converted
to the peculiar tenets of spiritualism as soon as they pass
from earth life, gives it — with the other revelations already
noticed — a strong smack and flavor of the earth, which the
wonders of slate writing, or cabinet manifestations even, can-
not disabuse our minds of the possibility or even probability

28 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

of the conscious or unconscious employment of metaphysical
or occult hypnotism upon the mind or body of the
" medium." The "conditi jns," also, upon which knowledge
is said to be furnished to the truth seeker often lacks the savor
of practical morality to inspire unlimited confidence in the
authorship of the revelation — communications too often
conforming themselves to the opinions as well as passions of
the individuals.

Persons accustomed to high moral altitudes, and having
strict notions in regard to sexual purity, for instance, however,
are not liable to be shocked by a revelation which is certain
to be followed by rejection. But it would be contrary to the
logic of facts to say that the revelation has not in the past
conformed to a suspicious extent with the wants, desires,
preconceived opinion and moral status of the investigator.

CHAPTER II.

EVERY nation anciently, when it began to speculate
upon geographical matters, and to form surmises as
to the nature of the earth, regarded the world as a
vast plain, the centre of which was their own country. Fancy
filled the regions beyond with mythical beings and with
Utopias. The Greeks of Homer's time knew no more of
the world than the shores of Egypt and Asia Minor;
but they filled all the outlying regions with hydras and gor-
gons, with happy isles beyond the western seas with a race
of supremely wise, happy and long-lived mortals, with isles
of sirens, with fields elysian, and the abode of gods. Encir-
cling the world's plain flowed the ocean from which the
sun rose, and into which it set.

Still, all unconscious and unknown to us are we the sub-
jects of fond desire and fancy concerning

"A country where our fair hope abides,"

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 29

which the light of the coming day may relegate with the
Greek tradition to the history room, where exploded myth
and fabled fancy entertains at once and mocks the hope to
guess the heavens, or penetrate their secret. And the
" Heavenly Jerusalem," the golden street, the harp and the
crown, may fade away from our hope as Christian mythology,
at least, as yet, has there been no revelation to the world
that the report of this vision, said to have been given upon
that island in the Mediterranean sea eighteen hundred years
ago, is authentic. No one who has possessed a harp, or wore
a crown, or whose feet have pressed the street of the Golden
City, ever returned to certify that it is so. Christians do
not claim it, but, on the contrary, deny any revelation but
the old letter since that time ; and those who do claim to
have come back, not only deny having seen it, but the prob-
ability of its existence.

" Far out of sight while yet the flesh enfolds us,
Lies the fair country where our heart abides;
And of its bliss is naught more wondrous told us,
Than these few words, ' I shall be satisfied.' "

Yes, we may be, but we cannot tell. It is good poetry,
but it is hypothetical poetry, and expresses less of rational or
even scriptural idea, as will be hereafter seen, than of hyper-
bole, and the world is already learning to say, with Mr.
Ingersoll, " Let us be honest with ourselves. In the pres-
ence of countless mysteries, standing beneath the boundless
heaven sown thick with constellations, knowing that each
grain of sand, each leaf, each blade of grass, ask of every
mind the answerless question, knowing that the simplest
thing defies solution, feeling that we deal with the super-
ficial and the relative, and that we are forever eluded by the
real, the absolute, let us admit the limitations of our minds
and let us have the candor to say, 'we do not know.' "*

*December Number, North American Review, 1889.

30 SPIRITUAL GIF: s A:::)

And yet, if true, is this a comforting word? Has the
life we know enough in it to satisfy ? We think not. Pro-
fessor Clifford, the most able and scholarly atheist of the
century in his lecture upon, " Influence upon Morality of a
Decline in Religious Belief," says, "It cannot be doubted
that theistic belief is a comfort and a solace to those who
hold it, and that the loss of it is a very painful loss.
It cannot be doubted, at least, by many of us in this gen-
eration who either profess it now or received it in our child-
hood and have parted from it since with such searching
trouble as only cradle faiths can cause. We have seen the
spring sun shine out of an empty heaven to light up a soul-
less earth ; we have felt with utter loneliness that the Great
Companion is dead. Our children, it may be hoped, will
know that sorrow only by the reflex light of wondering com-
passion."

If the children of these great infidels and atheists of
modern times ever are made to look back in " the reflex
light of wondering compassion " upon the darkness that now
spreads itself like a pall upon the intellectual mind of the
nineteenth century, it will be because1 they either have been
enabled to extract more from creeds and dogmas than their
fathers, or else shall there be a new light and a way pointed
out to them in which, walking, they find out more than has
or does the popular religious world furnish them with to-day.

" Canst thou by searching, find out God ? " In answer
to this question, it is not hard to* say that upon the premise
that there is a God — and no one claims to know that there
is not — that to travel toward Him in a straight line and long
enough, would ensure us of His presence and of His exist-
ence— yes. But the natural mind would say, "the chasm is
limitless to the finite mind." So are the terms infinity or
eternity, but we cannot deny their probability of existence.
But is or has there been a revelation from Him who is sup-

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 31

posed to be the author of our existence that can be tested
satisfactorily ? Is there an infallible rule and /aw, given from
a perfect and infallible source, by which man may know that
he is at least in the way that will not lead to disappoint-
ment? And we answer, yes. What and where, then, is
the way ? and we answer, IT is THE WAY OF LIGHT.

" This then is the message which we have heard of him,
and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all.

" If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in
darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." (I JOHN, i : 5, 6.)

If this is true, what becomes of the rhymed and blinded
faith of that victim to the changing faiths of centuries. The
beautiful Quaker poet thus expressed :

" I falter, where I firmly trod,

And stretch lame hands of faith, and fall
Upon the world's great altar stair
That slopes THROUGH DARKNESS up to God."

Is the way to God the way of darkness ? If the way we
have largely trod for centuries is the way to God, we are
obliged to say, yes. If John, the servant of Jesus Christ,
told the truth, and the truth has not changed, we must say,
no ; for " God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all."

" But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we
have fellowship one with another.

1 ' That which we have seen and heard declare we unto
you, that ye also may have fellowship with us : and truly
our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus
Christ." (I JOHN i, 7 : 3.)

What fellowship hath modern theologians or the world
with the Christ of New Testament times, or what harmony
or agreement with his words ?

" Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him,
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed ;

32 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free.

" They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were
never in bondage to any man : how sayest thou, Ye shall
be made free ?

"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." (JOHN,
viii, 31-34.)

What is sin ? It is a transgression of law. What law
has the world transgressed ? " The earth is denied under
the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the
laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting cove-
nant. Therefore hath a curse devoured the earth, and they
that dwell therein are desolate ; therefore the inhabitants of
the earth are burned and but few men left." (!SA. xxiv, 5 : 6.)

" This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you ; in
both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remem-
brance :

" That ye may be mindful of the words which were
spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the command-
ment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour :

" Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last
days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

"And saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for
since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation.

" For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the
word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth stand-
ing out of the water and in the water :

" Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed
with water, perished :

" But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the
same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 33

" But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that
one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day.

" The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some
men count slackness ; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance.

" But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the
night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a
great noise, and the elements shall melt* with fervent heat,
the earth also and the works that are therein shall be
burned up.

" Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,
what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conver-
sation and godliness.

" Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day
of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ?

" Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for
new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous-
ness." (II PETER iii, i to 13.)

"And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty
angels,

" In flaming fire take vengeance on them that know not
God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lortf Jesus
Christ:

"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power ;

" When he shall come to be glorified in his saints,
and to be admired in all them that believe (because our
testimony among you was believed) in that day." (II THESS.
i, 7 to io.) ^^

* " Be filled " with fervent heat, etc.

34 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

What shall we believe? "in that day," or, in the language
of the Catholic creed, "How shall we know the things
which we are to believe?"

" Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him,
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed ;

•' And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free. QOHN viii, 31 : 32.)

The Catholic church having failed to continue in his
word, and Protestants as well, belief and tradition having
taken the place of KNOWLEDGE in spiritual matters, the neces-
sity for the restoration of that law and doctrine, anciently
promulgated, has become an actual fact before this infidel
world can be justified in the rejection of the idea that
Jesus Christ was the chosen and true representative of
God.

" Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into
the temple and taught.

"And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this
man letters, having never learned ?

" Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not
mine, but his that sent me.

" If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doc-
trine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
(JOHN vii, 14-17-)

Will some theologian arise and tell us what particular doc-
trine which by " doing " according to their prescribed forms
of faith a knowledge concerning which, and of the true
character of Jesus, "The Son of the Carpenter," will be
furnished?"

On the contrary, is it not true that doctrinal belief has
become decidedly unpopular in the churches of to-day, and
if so, why, if not, because of the fact, that, as in Jesus'
day, they have been so long teaching for commandments of
G6d the doctrines of men, that, seeing the confusion wrought

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 35

by man-made doctrines, they have concluded to abandon
all doctrine ? And yet the beloved disciple says :

"And this is love, that we walk after His command-
ments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard
from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

" For many deceivers are entered into the world, who
confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a
deceiver and an antichrist.

" Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things
which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

" Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doc-
trine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

" If there come any unto you, and bring not this doc-
trine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him
God speed :

" For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his
evil deeds. (II JOHN ii, 6-u.)

Worldly wisdom and erudition may supplement, but can
never be safely made to take the place of obedience to the
formulas prescribed by the Saviour of mankind by which a
knowledge of his true character, and of his doctrine may
be had.

" For after that in the wisdom of God the world by
wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe.

" For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after
wisdom :

"But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a
stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness ;

" But unto them which are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

" Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men ;
and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

36 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

" For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many
wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble,
are called :

•' But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty ;

" And base things of the world, and things which are
despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not,
to. bring to nought things that are :•

" That no flesh should glory in his presence." (I COR.
i, 21 : 29.

And Paul, knowing the absolute necessity of continuing
in the word which the Master had commanded, urges Tim-
othy thus :

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appear-
ing and his kingdom ;

'• Preach the word ; be instant in season, out of season ;
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

" For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine ; but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers, having itching ears ;

" And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and
shall be turned unto fables. (II TIM. iv, 2-4.)

What is truth? What is sound doctrine? Thy word,
said Jesus, is truth. Is it true that in these modern times
men's ears are turned away from the word of God, and are
being entertained by the wisdom of this world. Is it not
true that Christian and heathen mythological "fable,"
(stories, see Smith's Bible Dictionary,) embellished with
erudition, oratory, and stage effect, in elocution and rhetoric,
are the means employed to fill the modern pew and replen-
ish the coffers of the church ?

What is sound doctrine ? It must be the doctrine of

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 37

Christ, " My Doctrine," transgressing which, and not abiding
in, we are informed, we have not God ; " but he that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the Son."
We may be religious, but we may be seriously, and so far as
knowledge goes, fatally wrong, by being misled in these most
important matters.

" Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine ; con-
tinue in them : for in doing this thou shalt both save thy-
self, and them that hear thee. (i Tim. 4 : 16.)

Seeing then the importance and stress laid upon these
.matters in the early church, let us proceed to seek for a
clear definition of these doctrines, or the doctrine of Christ.

" Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of
Christ, let us go on unto perfection ; not laying again the
foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith
toward God,

"Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of
hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judg-
ment.

" And this will we do, if God permit.

"For it is impossible for those who were once enlight-
ened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made
partakers of the Holy Ghost,

" And have tasted the good word of God, and the pow-
ers of the world to come,

"If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto
repentance ; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of
God afresh, and put him to an open shame. (HEB. vi,
1:6.)

Another translation says, " Not leaving the principles of
the doctrine of Christ," etc., but the common version will
answer our purpose ; for it is not to be supposed that we
are to leave them, in the sense of a total abandonment, as
for instance : though the child may enter the way of com-

38 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

mon learning by means of the alphabet, yet can the use of
the alphabet never be abandoned — no matter to what
heights he may obtain. The use of the musical notes that
form the common scale will and must always be in use in
that system. No more can we either start right and con-
tinue safely so by abandoning the principles of the doctrine
of Christ. For, it is impossible for those who were once
enlightened — by obedience to these doctrines — and have
tasted of the heavenly gift — spiritual gifts — and were made
partakers of the Holy Ghost, and to have tasted of the good
word of God and the powers of the world to come, " to
renew them again unto repentance " — concerning these
things.

" For sin shall not have dominion over you : for ye are
not under the law, but under grace.

"What then? shall we sin, because we are not under
the law, but under grace ? God forbid.

" Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves ser-
vants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey;
whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteous-
ness?

" But God be thanked, that though ye were the ser-
vants of sin, ye have obeyed from the heart that form of
doctrine which was delivered you.

"Being then made free from sin, ye became the ser-
vants of righteousness.

" But now being made free from sin, and become ser-
vants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end
everlasting life.

" For the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Ron. vi,
14: 23.)

What form of doctrine ? Mr. Wesley said that " we are
but a band of brethren having a form of godliness, and

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 39

seeking the power." Have his professed followers found,
and do they now possess it, -or have they with the rest of
the daughters of "rrfystery," "Babylon," turned away their
ears from the truth and from submission to " that form of
doctrine" by which the Hebrew saints were enlightened and
enabled to be partakers of the heavenly gifts promised in
all ages to the believer in Christ's work ?

CHAPTER III.

F THE doctrine, then, first a theoretical basis and
exposition briefly will be in order :

i st. According to Paul, repentance from dead
works, the result of faith in the doctrines and precepts of
men, was necessary, and in order to do this, the unprofi-
tableness of man-made *' forms " of worship, for which there
is no authority from Christ or no evidence of profit to
men, needs to be shown, though we may be deemed
uncharitable in so doing, and of supplanting this faith in
human dogmas or of " revelations " from any source not in
harmony with this law of his own establishment with a
"faith toward God."

"Or THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS."

Baptism here is spoken of as plural, though referred to by
Paul in Eph. iv, 5, as one, which in reality is one as having
one authorship, but two in the sense that, though John's
baptism was an authorized and heavenly baptism, neither
he or any other man on earth could do more than to
baptize with water unto repentance, or " for the remission
of sins,1' (See Peter on day of »Pentecost) ; and if skep-
ticism concerning the efficacy of the use of water in any form
of religious worship has been engendered,as it evidently has,

4o SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

and is being, in, as well as out of churches, it is not because
that John's baptism has ceased to be a heavenly baptism, or
that the command to, "Go teach all nations,baptizing them,"
etc., is not binding to day upon the true ambassador of
Jesus Christ as of old, but because "faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God" in contradistinction to
the word of man. But, " How shall they hear without a
preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?"

" Faith, gospel faith, is an assurance of things hoped for
and an evidence of things not seen." The evidence having
been lacking in regard to the reasonableness or justice of
human creeds, faith in them could not be and is not j ustified,
" but justification through faith is a very wholesome doc-
trine and full of comfort," even to the intelligent mind if it
be faith in the truth. " Therefore, being justified by faith
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ"
and not through the doctrines of men. On the contrary,
Mr. Ingersoll says, and says truly, " their doctrines have
filled the world with woe." Instead of peace, discord, divi-
sion and doubt, and to believe which, no man is justified of
God in doing, and if no sign of profit or fruitfulness appears
in vindication of the practice of baptism in any form to
ra'tional minds, the consistent answer must be that dis-
obedience and apostacy from Christ's law having become
an established fact in history, it logically follows that Christ
is no longer bound to respect his part of the contract which
he made with men 1800 years ago, when he said, " If any
man will do (not simply believe), he shall know of the doc-
trine." And, we ask again, Do what? Why, "All things
whatsoever I command you," for :

" If you love me, keep my commandments.

"And I will pray the* Father, and he shall give you
another comforter, that he may abide with you forever ;

"Even the. Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 41

receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him :
but ye know him ; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be
in you. (JOHN xiv, 15 : 17.)

And " the spirit of truth " having departed with its gifts,
the world has been the blind followers of blind leaders.
But we ask, should not Jesus Christ recognize some form of
baptism if it be the correct one? And we answer, that dis-
connected from the other, or " all " of the commandments
or doctrine which he enjoined, No ! for James, speaking
even of the law of Moses, which was but a shadow of the
perfect law of liberty, says :

" For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet
offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

" For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also,
Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou
kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

" So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged
by the law of liberty. (JAS. ii. 10, n, 12.)

And if we are no longer under that law, but under grace ,
it is not grace that permits a man to be utterly lawless in
religious matters, but on the contrary, Paul says in Heb-
rews viii, 28, 29 :

" He that despised Moses' law died without mercy
under two or three witnesses :

"Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he
be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of
God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, where-
with he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done des-
pite unto the Spirit of grace ? "

And if we have broken this everlasting covenant, as-
Isaiah predicted (24th Chap.), is God bound to keep his
part of the covenant ?

"AND OF LAYING ON OF HANDS."

"Why, we lay on hands," says the Catholic or Episcopa-

42 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

lian. Yes, but why are you in the same dilemma as others?
and we can only answer for you that it is not because
Jesus Christ is not "the same, yesterday, to-day, and for-
ever," but because Paul told the truth when he said that
" no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is
called of God as was Aaron." God neither has, in any
past age, neither will He in this age, respect the authority
or ministration of men who send themselves or are " called "
by the congregation, with the sound of the louder metallic
jingle. And if the Holy Ghost fell upon the Samaritans
whom Philip baptized, through the laying on of the hands
of Peter and John, it was because he had authorized them
so to do. Likewise, if the twelve Ephesians, upon whom
Paul laid hands, and as a result " the Holy Ghost came
upon them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied,"
it was not because he was educated, and "called" as
modern ministers are, but because that he told the truth
when he said to the Galatians, i, 6 :

" I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that
called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel :

" Which is not another ; but there be some that trouble
you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

" But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached
unto you, let him be accursed.

" As we said before, so say I now again, If any man
preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received
let him be accursed.

" For do I now persuade men, or God ? or do I seek
to please men ? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the
servant of Christ.

" But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was
preached of me is not after man.

" For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught
it, but by the revelation of y^esus Christ"

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 43

"AND OF RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD."

It is a sound and true doctrine, and shows the beautiful
consistency, harmony and provision made by the Creator,
and expressed by Paul in the Ephesian letter, i Chap., 8.

"Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence ;

" Having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in
himself :

"That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he
might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven, and which are on earth ; even in him :

" In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. "

The "wisdom and prudence " manifested in the creed of
Calvin and others is not the wisdom which the gospel of
"glad tidings to all the people " will reveal when preached
by those sent. If the doctrine of the resurrection of the
body is not true, then is Christ not risen and our preaching
and our hope is in vain, and the Bible is anything but the
true word of God, Job was mistaken, David in error, and
Jesus wrong when he said :

" All that the Father giveth me shall come to me ; and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

" For I came down from heaven, not to do my own
will, but the will of him that sent me.

" And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but
should raise it up again at the last day.

" And this is the will of him that sent me, that every
one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have
everlasting life : and I will raise him up at the last day."
(JOHNvi. 37: 40.)

44 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

Through Jesus Christ nothing to man can or will be lost ;
human sorrow, trial, disappointment, death, shall only serve
to make eternal life more glorious, and fit us to finish our
incompleted work in a restored and perfect body,
upon the ground of its incompleteness and partial failure —
failure at least so far as reaching even our poor ideals upon
this earth as in the day when " the meek shall inherit " it,
and " shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."
The possibilities of this perfect combination of spirit and
matter have never been realized upon this earth, and never
can unless permitted to return. For though we may be
possessed of the gifts of the gospel even, yet do we now
prophesy in part only, and know in part only, but when that
which is perfect is come, partial and incomplete things shall
be done away, and though " for the perfection of saints "
are the gifts of God instituted, yet, does our ignorance and
incompleteness mock, and our slowness of growth ridicule
the idea of anything like an attainment unto the stature
portrayed in Christ with the time and opportunities offered
to mortals in the brief span that lies between the cradle and
the tomb.

"AND OF ETERNAL JUDGMENT."

Our brief survey of the uncertainties that now prevail in
regard to the real or actual estate of the dead ; of the
future, of rewards and punishments for the human family
who have dwelt, or are now dwelling upon this planet, must
suffice to convince us that the majority of mankind at least,
are in the dark, and the best that all the various priests of
every altar and of every temple can -give us, is an opinion.

Once more we urge the neccessity of the return of that
ancient law and order and following as a neccessity — as
does the day the night — the return of the ancient promised
comforter, the "spirit of truth," to teach us concerning

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 45

these things and to " take away the vail " that is over the
minds of the world and of its self-appointed ministers, in the
reading of the scriptures, in regard to this principle of the
doctrines of Christ, even as in the days of Paul.

" But their minds were blinded : for until this day
remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old
testament ; which vail is done away in Christ. (2 COR, iii : 14.)

And after centuries of apostacy from primitive Aethods, is
it at all strange that the vail is over the Gentile nations and
clearly manifested in the contradictions of faith expressed
in human creed in their reading of not only the Old but the
New Testament? No revelation, no ray of heavenly lighter
intelligence, no more the spirit of truth to guide the servant
of Christ, but left to . quarrel over a doubtful translation of
words spoken hundreds or thousands of years ago and sub-
ject to the manipulation of men who make no claim of
inspiration or heavenly guidance, but by their wisdom direct
or misdirect, as the case may have and has been. Does not
God know whether angels, men or women, little children or
heathen are elected before they were born or created to
punishments defined by Calvin or Edwards?

Why didn't those men- made divines, who so recently were
assembled in the Metropolitan Opera House in New York
city, ask God to help them revise the Westminister Cate-
chism? Can he do it? Will he do it? Ask yourselves,
ask them. Isn't it true that the Pagan, Robert G. Inger-
soll, is doing more to " revise " the catechism than their
own God ? Is it not true that we are living close to the
day of the fulfilment of prophecy uttered by that servant of
the living God, Jeremiah, who spake not as men speak, but
as Peter tells us. (II PET. i : 21.)

" For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of
man : but holy men of God spake as they were moved by
the Holy Ghost."

46 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

When he said, QER. xvi : 19,) "Oh Lord, my strength,
and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the
Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth and
shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity and
things wherein there is no profit.

Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no
gods?"

Only l&t evening, I heard an ex-Catholic priest, Father
Chiniquy say that the Romish Church was an idolatrous
church ; but how much better off in this respect is he as a
Protestant? "Thou shall have no other Gods before me,"
was the ancient and authoritative voice and command.
That was the God who said in the beginning, " Let us make
man in our ownjmage." The God of whom Paul tells us,
(HEB. i : 3,) that Jesus Christ was the brightness of his glory
and the express image of his person. And if it be absurd
for a Catholic to suppose or maintain that by the power or
prayer of the priest a piece of bread or wafer is turned into
the literal presence, soul, body and divinity of God and of
Jesus Christ, is it not equally absurd and "idolatrous" for a
Protestant priest to borrow from the Romish church the
God that Constantine and his bishops made, and set up the
idolatrous worship of a "God without body, parts or pas-
sions," in the place of that "God with whom Moses spake
face to face as a man speaketh with a friend ?" To substitute
a God that can neither hear, see, nor speak, nor has not
spoken for centuries; "gods that are no gods;" made to
be mocked and jeered at by the victims of an unauthorized
priesthood, and an unproved and unprovable gospel.

Spiritual gifts are the gifts of God to men. "Now, con-
cerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you
ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away
unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. (I Cor. xii,
1:2.)

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 47

What is an idol ? It is a God : a false one. What is a
dumb idol ? It is a dumb God. What is a dumb God ? It
is a God who either cannot, will not, or does not speak.
What kind of a God do Catholics, Protestants or Pagans
worship to-day ? and does their worship consist in a worship "in
spirit and in truth," or has it been and is it yet largely a system
of "lies, and vanity, and things wherein there is no profit?"

"Ye worship ye know not what?" What would the
Christ say were he placed standing amid our modern Babel
of to-day ? Has he changed since he left us, or is he the
same yesterday, to-day, and forever? If the heavens should
part, and he should speak, would his speech be conformed
to everybody's "shibboleth?" "If Jesus Christ should
come to this earth to-day, would he attend our church ?"
was the text and theme of the Rev. David Utter, pastor of
the First Universalist Church of Chicago, in a sermon not
long ago. He is coming, and it will be reasonable to sup-
pose that he will attend his own church, if he can find it
upon earth. Can he do it? Can you do it, my reader?
With the New Testament in your hand, can you find it?
Will all the Catholic, Protestant, or Pagan churches in the
world to-day put together fill the pattern of that church
which he organized before he went away, and denominated
"my church?" Search the world through to-day, and
coming back disappointed, let me take you to the professed
standard of reference.

"Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the
will of God, and Sosthenes our brother.

" Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them
that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with
all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ
our Lord, both their's and our's :

" Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father,
and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

48 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

" I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace
of God which is given you by Jesus Christ ;

" That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all
utterance, and in all knowledge ;

" Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you ;

" So that ye come behind in no gift ; waiting for the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ;

"Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may
be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus/ Christ." (I COR.
i, i to 8.

" Unto the church of God which is at Corinth." No doubt
about the " orthodoxy " of this church, or that it was " evan-
gelical " then, and as no new revelation has been had,
according to modern teaching, the last testament in regard
to these things ought to be in force, with rational minds.
" By Jesus Christ ; that in every thing ye are enriched by
aim in all utterance." Written sermons may have been
unknown. " And in all knowledge," not credulity or suppo-
sition. " So that the testimony of Christ was confirmed in
you" What testimony ? Why the signs that were to follow.
The gift of that spirit that was to guide them into truth, and
not error, and was to confirm the word not only in the
day of the apostles, but " unto the end."

" Now ye are the body of Christ." (Chap, xii, 27.) We
have found then, not only the church of God but the " body "
or church of Jesus Christ.

" Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in par-
ticular.

" And God hath set some in the church, first apostles,
secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles,
then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of
tongues." (i COR. xii. 27 : 28.)

" I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye
walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 49

" With all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering,
forbearing one another in love ;

" Endeavoring to keep the the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace.

" There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are
called in one hope of your calling ;

" One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

"One God and Father of all, who is above all, and
through all, and in you all.

" But unto every one of us is given grace according to
the measure of the gift of Christ.

" Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he
led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

" (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also
descended first into the lower parts of the earth ?

" He that descended is the same also that ascended up
far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

•' And he gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ;
and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ;

" For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ :

" Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ :

" That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and
fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in
wait to deceive ;

" But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him
in all things, which is the head, even Christ :

" From whom the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according
to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

50 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

" This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye
henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of
their mind,

"Having the understanding darkened, being alienated
from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart." (EPH. iv. i to 18.)

Please read Corinthians, the i2th chapter, which we
quote as fitting instruction, and as the original pattern in
church building.

CHAPTER IV.

OVV concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not
have you ignorant.

"Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away
unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.

" Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man
speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed : and
that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the
Holy Ghost.

" Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

"And there are differences of administrations, but the
same Lord.

" And there are diversities of operations, but it is the
same God which worketh all in all.

" But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every
man to profit withal.

" For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom ;
to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit ;

" To another faith by the same Spirit ; to another the
gifts of healing by the same Spirit ;

"To another the working of miracles; to another

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 51

prophecy ; to another discerning of spirits ;*to another divers
kinds of tongues ; to another the interpretation of tongues :

"But all these worketh that one and the selfsame
Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

" For as the body is one, and hath many members, and
all the members of that one body, being many, are one
body . so also is Christ.

" For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body,
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ;
• and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

" For the body is not one member, but many.

" If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I
am not of the body ; is it therefore not of the body ?

"And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye,
I am not of the body ; is it therefore not of the body ?

" If the whole body were an eye, where were the hear-
ing ? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling ?

" But now hath God set the members every one of
them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

"And if they were all one member, where were the
body?

" But now are they many members, yet but one body.

"And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no
need of thee : nor again the head to the feet, I have no
need of you.

" Nay, much more those members of the body, which
seem to be more feeble, are necessary :

" And those members of the body, which we think to
be less honourable, upon those we bestow more abundant
honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant
comeliness.

" For our comely parts have no need : but God hath
tempered the body together, having given more abundant
honour to that part wh;ch lacked :

52 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

" That there should be no schism in the body ; but that
the members should have the same care one for another.

"And whether one member suffer, all the members
suffer with it ; or one member be honoured, all the members
rejoice with it.

" Now ye are . the body of Christ, and members in par-
ticular.

"And God hath set some in the church, first apostles,
secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles,
then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of
tongues.

"Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers?
are all workers of miracles ?

"Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with ton-
gues ? do all interpret ?

" But j covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I
unto you a more excellent way. (I COR. xii.)

What is the more excellent way? What did Wesley
say ? What does Paul say ? In the following chapter we
read :

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a
tinkling cymbal.

" And though I have the gift of prophecy, and under-
stand all mysteries, and all knowledge ; and though I have
all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not
charity, I am nothing.

" And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and though I give my body to be burned, and have not
charity, it profiteth me nothing.

" Charity suffereth long, and is kind ; charity envieth not ;
charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

" Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,
is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil ;

SPIRITUAL MANIFEST A TIONS. 53

" Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth ;

" Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all
things, endureth all things.

" Charity never faileth : but whether there be prophecies,
they shall fail ; whether there be tongues, they shall cease ;
whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

" For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

" But when that which is perfect is come, then that which
is in part shall be done away.

" When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as
a child, I thought as a child : but when I became a man, I
put away childish things.

" For now we see through a glass, darkly ; but then face
to face ; now I know in part ; but then shall I know even as
also I am known. (I COR. xiii. i :i2.)

Prophecies may fail, tongues did and may cease, know'-
edge, as they acquired it, might vanish away; but only
because it was partial and incomplete ; for when that which
is perfect is come, that which is in part will necessarily have
to give way. But we must not forget that the very means
that were designed " for the perfection of thef saints " in the
early church, and of bringing about that development and
perfection of human character, were designed and " set in
the church," and to continue until we all in the unity of
the faith — not division of multiplied and different faiths —
" come to a perfect knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ ;

" That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and
fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in
wait to deceive ;

" But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him
in all things, which is the head, even Christ. "

54 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

Why are we tossed to and fro " with every wind of ' new '
doctrine" that blows? Is it not because we have ceased
to speak the truth in love, and have turned away our ears
unto fables?

Does not charity rejoice " in the truth " ? And is it not
true that the world is in darkness? And is it not becoming
in us to seek for the true causes of failure ? And is it char-
ity to deny the po>ver of God as defined in the ancient
church and promised without reservation to the believer
wherever he may be found ? and does not Paul immediately
follow in his letter with this: "Follow after charity and
desire spiritual gifts : "

"How is it then, brethern ? when ye come together, every
one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue,
hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be
done unto edifying.

" If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by
two, or at the most by three, and that by course ; and let
one interpret.

" But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in
the church ; and let him speak to himself, and to God.

" Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other
judge.

" If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let
the first hold his peace.

" For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn,
and all may be comforted.

"And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the
prophets.

" For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace,
as in all churches of the saints.

'•' If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual,
let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you
are the commandments of the Lord.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 55

'• Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not
to speak with tongues.

" Let all things be done decently and in order."

We are told that these gifts are done away, because " no
longer needed," and that they were given anciently for the
establishment of the church, and that Protestant, like Cath-
olic religion is " established " by the record of "innumerable
miracles and the lives and deaths of innumerable saints,"
and not by the continual presence of Christ with the church,
as represented by the spirit of truth, the only way by which
he can be represented or saved from misrepresentation.
And when Mr. Ingersoll says that " in order for miracles to
be of any value, they would have to be perpetual," he says
the truth; and if God is no respecter of persons, Mr.
Ingersoll or myself are just as mu<*h entitled to the gifts of
God when the conditions are complied with, as were they
anciently, and if complying with the same law that the Cor-
inthians did, we receive not the same evidences in the
church, we shall be obliged to take Mr. Ingersoll's side of
the question so far as any certainty about the Christian
religion is concerned. If a record of miracles is enough to
*' establish " the church to-day, the first church should rea-
sonably have been satisfied with the recorded miracles of
the Old Testament, and upon that assumption the miracles
ot" Jesus and his followers were superfluous. " We know
that God spake to Moses," said they, " but as for this fel-
low, we know not whence he is." But, as a matter of fact,
they didn't or couldn't know any such thing ; it was faith
in a record or a tradition, and could not be made to stand
as proof of God's power or unchangeability toward them.

But the gift of God to the church is not one, but many,
and divided, severally, as he will, and according to his wis-
dom, and according to the capacity of the individual.

" Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

56 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

"And there are differences of administrations, but the
same Lord.

" And there are diversities 'of operations, but it is the
same God which worketh all in all.

" But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every
man to profit withal.

"FOR TO ONE is GIVEN BY THE SPIRIT THE WORD OF
WISDOM."

Is wisdom, even wisdom which this world cannot give,
no longer needed in the church?

" AND TO ANOTHER THE* WORD OF KNOWLEDGE BY THE
SAME SPIRIT."

By this gift positive information concerning God and
spiritual things were to be revealed, but it was given, not
to be revealed as a law to the whole church, but for the
comfort of the individual and for his growth in heavenly
and divine things. As such it might be partial and incom-
plete, because the individual was such and not capable of
receiving only " in part."

"To ANOTHER FAITH BY THE SAME SPIRIT."

"Faith is an assurance of things hoped for and an evidence
of things not seen." It was the gift of God, especially to
individuals who obeyed Christ's law and were become a
part of the visible " body ;" all were to have it in some
measure or degree, but individuals were especially endowed
with this peculiar spiritual talent or gift, so that there might
be a diversity to edification in the church.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 57

"To ANOTHER THE GIFTS OF HEALING BY THE SAME
SPIRIT."

Fifty years ago it would have been a comparatively easy
matter to have drawn the line in regard to " gifts of heal-
ing," for the reason that these gifts were not claimed unless
in a very obscure way ; especially was this true of the popu-
lar church. But our day witnesses changes, and a man may
not be considered entirely fanatical who believes in " Divine
healing," and even " Christian " and " evangelical " minis-
ters lay on hands and anoint with oil in accordance with
the Apostle James' instruction to the church anciently for
the healing of the sick. While outside of the pale of
churches the very air has been full at times, and in some
quarters it has amounted to a popular " craze " of Chris-
tian science healing, or "faith cure," and the name of
Jesus Christ has been used as a cat's paw to pull the golden
" chestnut " out of the fire and into the pocket of the
" metaphysician," or to hedge against the increasing lifeless-
ness and apathy of the popular church by springing upon it
the question of faith cure and divine healing as against the
position which the orthordox Christian world had assumed
for centuries.

Beside all these has arisen an army of " mediums " and
professional " magnetic," "physiologic" and "mesmeric"
" healers,' . who " lay on hands " in a wholesale way that it
is probable that the Apostle James never dreamed of.

It will take but little thought or but little reading to dis-
cern the difference between "James, a servant of God" and
an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the members of the church,
those whom he addressed as " my brethren " in his advice
to them : " Is any among you afflicted let him pray. Is any
sick among YOU ? Let him call for the Elders of the church
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the
name of the Lord ; and the prayer of faith shall save the

58 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

sick, and the Lord shall raise them up, and if they have
committed sins they shall be forgiven him " QAS. v, 13: 15 )
and this modern army and mongrel horde who for filthy
lucre's sake,, and for every reason but the right, rational and
properly consistent scriptural one, use this sacred name and
word to fleece the people, to disgust humanity and destroy
faith in any or everything.

The gift of healing was one only among the varied and
many graces and gifts of the Holy Ghost in the original
church, and not the all and in all upon which mankind were
to predicate a faith or to be the test of truth.

Dr. Cullis, of Boston, builds a faith cure home or hospital
for consumptives, cripples, and the sick generally, and as
prayer, no matter how faithless, is better than pills, and
faith, no matter how much it may savor of credulity, is bet-
ter than physic, good air, good food, good nursing better
than "scientific" drug medication, we need not be surprised
to hear of u cures " and of affidavits to that effect ; but what
may be said of " Dr." Cullis, is said of spiritualists, who " lay
on hands," and furnish affidavits along with the thousand
newspaper advertisements — the "bitter" and " pill " alma-
nac certified wonders.

All these deny the existence, or practicability, or use, of
all, or most, of the other manifestations of spiritual power,
known and exercised in the ancient church.

In defense, however, of the necessity, or idea, that it was
designed for the church in all ages, we might speak of the
arguments put forth by professed representative ministers of
Christ, as well as others who claim that the gifts of healing
have been substituted by the attainments of medical science.
In reply to which, we offer : that the " science of medi-
cine," so far as our memory or experience goes, has proved
to be about as changing and unreliable as human theology,
and the cure of the body by the use of drugs is very nearly

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 59

as much of an unsettled problem as are the theological pre-
scriptions compounded by doctors of divinity for the relief
of the soul. At least it is safe to say and to quote reliable
and unquestioned authority of eminent medical practioners i
that "the science of medicine," as principally practiced to-
day, "is no science at all," but simply an experiment upon
the human body." This statement, beside others to the
same effect the writer has, not only in writing, but from the
lips of physicians, whose professional standing has never been
questioned. Men, Women, and children, sick, dying and
dead, all around us, which an increase of doctors, nor of their
learning, or systems, are not powerful enough to prevent, are
with us, as in the day of Christ and the apostles, and until
greater certainty marks the result of modern medical prac-
tice, it is too early to say that the gift of healing is no
longer needed, or longer to be sought after and " coveted "
by the church of God.

A careful observation, however, of all the conditions upon
which the promise and gift of healing is to be bestowed,
carelessness and failure to understand which has been the
cause of mistakes that engendered doubt and trial, should
be had by members of Christ's visible body.

Let us note the authoritative counsel of the apostle
James, QAMES v, 14 : 15.)

" Is any sick among you ? let him call for the elders of
the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord :

" And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the
Lord shall raise him up ; and if he committed sins, they shall
be forgiven him."

Let us remember that this counsel was given to an organ-
ized body of believers and called " the church," and to the
elders of that church, and cannot consistently nor scrip-
turally be construed into an authority for, or sanction of the

60 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

heterogeneous mass of metaphysical healers, faith curists,
" divine healing " by the laying on of hands of not only
" elders," but women or anybody else who has learned to say
" Lord ! Lord !"

"And the prayer of faith " in connection with the rest,
" shall save the sick." What is faith ? is it the possession of
an intense desire for the sick to recover? Oh no ! Is it
even a persuasion or belief that they may or will ? No in-
deed ! Nor does the presence of the spirit, sometimes even
in great power and comfort warrant us in the conclusion
that the sick will always recover. *

Faith, that faith which did, and does now save the sick,
" is an assurance of things hoped for " and " an evidence of
things not seen."

As a novice in experience and early and first acquaint-
ances in the operations and workings of the spirit, even
in his eldership, the writer has made the quite common, but
troublesome mistake of reckoning the fact of the spirits pres-
ence in comfort and great power at the bedside of the
sick as reliable token of their recovery, while the fact was,
and often is, that the mind of the spirit, which alone can
convey that prophetic intelligence, " assurance," " evidence,"
or " faith," referred to by James, may be wanting, and what
is true of the church, must certainly apply to the world

* To the church of which the writer is a member, we quote from the
Revelations given to the church of Christ in our days D. & C. 42, 12 :
"And whosoever among you are sick and have not faith to be healed,
but believe^ shall be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and
mild food, and that not by the hand of an enemy. And the elders of
the church, two or more, shall be called, and shall pray for, and lay
their hands upon them in my (Christ's) name; and if they die, they
shall die unto me, and if they live, they shall live unto me." And it
shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death,
for it shall be sweet unto them."

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 6l

when we are led to consider the abuse that the word faith
has been subjected to.

A man or woman may have the gift of faith, intuition,
foresight or premonition at a sick bedside that is not always
shared by the eldership, which, however, is to be a guide to
them, and not an oracle infallible to or for others.

To say also that forgiveness of sins follow the administra-
tions of modern "healers" of every sort, who quote as much of
James, commission as authority for their work as suits their
convenience, is of itself sufficient repudiation of any right
to use this promise made to the ancient church as authority
or license to abuse or cover the scriptures with the slime of
their money making-traffic.

As a matter of fact, it is a hard matter to tell whether the
presence or absence of anything or nothing will kill or cure.

An elder or elders may be called and may administer, the
sick may recover, but there may be little or no evidence
that their recovery is due to any special interference of the
Lord or exhibition of the power of His spirit upon the body
of the afflicted. The chances are that in a majority of cases
they would recover anyhow ; nothing but the presence and
instruction given by the mind of the spirit could settle mat-
ters with the writer. Administration does not always cure.
Elders nor oil will have effect save by the attendant " prayer
of faith," and while it may be said that it will not kill, the
wise, cautious and intelligent understanding and use of
God's design in bestowing this gift of healing is greatly
needed, not only by the world, but by the church of Christ
itself.

" To ANOTHER THE WORKING OF MIRACLES."

It seems to be quite a prevalent idea that miracles were
common and of every day occurrence, and always to be had
for the asking in the days of Christ and his Apostles, and

62 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

that notwithstanding the claim that they are no longer
needed, the gospel and church having been established
through them, or largely so, at least, yet it is one of the
most common things that the writer has ever met with,
especially among church people and ministers is a professed
willingness to believe, if a sign or a miracle is shown, that
which without a miracle or wonder transcending natural ex-
planation, would be rejected as anti-Christian or fanatical.

Notwithstanding this, we deny that Christ or the Apostles
designed to save men by the exhibition of miracles ; espe-
cially was this true when disconnected from His teachings.
The record must be and we believe is consistent with the
first commission.

"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature.

" He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but
he that believeth not shall be damned.

"And these signs shall follow them that believe ; In my
name shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak with new
tongues ;

" They shall take up serpents ; and if they drink any
deadly thing, it shall not hurt them ; they shall lay hands on
the sick, and they shall recover.

" So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was
received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

"And they went forth, and preached every where, the
Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs
following. Amen." (MARK xvi, 15 : 20.)

The world having lost the theory, formula or doctrine of
the gospel of Christ, the "power" of true Godliness that
was anciently attached to it having necessarily been with-
drawn, the Lord could no longer consistently work with a
people who denied his doctrine ; substitute something else
as a rule of obedience, and thus foster false doctrine by

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 63

confirming in the minds of men something other than "the
word."

A wholesome rule of life was to precede ; a law of moral
reformation was necessary ; repentance from dead works ;
and useless, unprofitable and man-made ceremonies were
to be had. The believer was to be taught to observe "all
things" that He had commanded before He should justify
their faith in Him after his departure by confirming"the word"
with not only the gift of miracles in the church, but all' the
other gifts as well. In fact, Luke has forgotten to say in
connection with the last commission anything about physical
miracles, but has not forgotten that which, to the mind of
the writer, is fully as important, when he, in his history of
the gospel, writes, (LUKE xxiv, 44 : 47) :

"And He said unto them, These are the words which I
spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things
must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses,
and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me.

"Then opened He their understanding, that they might
understand the scriptures,

"And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it
behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the
third day :

" And that repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in His name among all nations,beginning at Jerusa-
lem."

The presence to-day of a spirit which, possessed of, would
guide men into all truth, takes the place of the Master him-
self in so "opening the understanding" of men, especially
the benighted and befogged theologians of the day, " that
they" — as well as the ancient ministry — " might under-
stand the scriptures," and instead of the confusion wrought,
might see eye to eye in these important matters.

Says Paul, (I COR. i, 4 : 13) :

64 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

" I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of
God which is given you by Jesus Christ ;

"That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utter-
ance, and in all knowledge ;

" Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you :

" S0 that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the com-
ing of our Lord Jesus Christ :

" Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may
be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

" God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellow-
ship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

" Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there
be no divisions among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same judg-
ment.

" For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren,
by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are
contentions among you.

" Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of
Paul ; and I of Apollos ; and I of Cephas ; and I of Christ.
. " Is Christ divided ? was Paul crucified for you ? or were
ye baptized in the name of Paul? "

But says one, " division is a sign of liberality, and agree-
ment an evidence of the loss of independence, freedom,
progress."

Oh ! no, this not necessarily true, for Jesus himself said,
(LUKE xii, 49 : 52) :

" I am come to send fire on the earth ; and what will I,
if it be already kindled ?

" But I have a baptism to be baptized with ; and how am
I straitened till it be accomplished !

" Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth ? I
tell you, Nay ; but rather division :

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 65

"For from henceforth there shall be five in one house
divided, three against two, and two against three.

" The father shall be divided against the son, and the son
against the father; the mother against the daughter, and
the daughter against the mother ; the mother-in-law against
her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law."

Was He justified in this statement?

As interpreted by man, no. As interpreted and explained
by Himself, yes.

As to-day, so then, the land was filled with religious error,
and certainty was nowhere. Doubt and distrust of every-
thing, or of anything as being the truth hung over the world
like a pall. " The religious world," according to Mosheim,
" were in a state of confusion and constantly showing their
fallibility by being divided into an innumerable number
and variety of sects."

"The truth shall make you free," said Jesus, and its
possession was worth the war — a war not of carnal weap-
ons, by which the sword forged by men was to be used,
with this word as authority, to furnish the awful history
we have before us. Were the world already in possession
of the truth that saves, His declaration would have been
unwarranted. The war between truth and error was to be
waged. As the everlasting head and representative of
saving truths, He proposed no compromise ; He drew no
carnal weapon, but told with unflinching courage, the world
of its error, and illustrated with a wisdom and heroism un-
paralleled, the thorny, tearful, and unpopular way that led
to heavenly truth and everlasting salvation for the human
family.

The call to salvation was heeded, not by families or
flocks, but by individuals. The good He promised was
worth more than local friendships, " and a man's foes " be-

66 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

came those " of his own household." They were his
enemies; he was not theirs. He proposed to follow the
Master to higher grounds, and even dared to believe that
He was wiser, more powerful, and could do more for him
than even father, mother, brother, wife, or any earthly friend.
His doctrine was rational, pure, holy, practical ; why should
he not obey even unto death ? To remain with friends in
error, was no lasting benefit to them, and to the truly brave
and wise, whether among men, with angels, or God, it would
be a spectacle of cowardice and of evident unfitness for the
society of Jesus Christ or of his cross-bearing and unpop-
lar disciple in any age.

The unity that Paul urged was the unity of the church,
and not an agreement that one doctrine was as good as
another ; that Paul was the best preacher, or Apollos' elo-
quence ought to command a higher salary, or that Cephas
(Peter) was better at lifting a church mortgage. They
were to be united upon the doctrine and leadership of Jesus
Christ alone, and in the continuance of the Master's com-
mission " to teach all things whatsoever I have commanded
you." Thus also wrote Paul to Timothy (II TIMOTHY ii,
i to 5.) :

" Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is
in Christ Jesus.

" And the things that thou has heard of me among many
witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall
be able' to teach others also.

" Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of
Jesus Christ.

" No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs
of this life ; that he may please him who hath chosen him
to be a soldier.

" And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not
crowned, except he strive lawfully."

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 67

The war of differences must be carried on lawfully and in
defense of " the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus."
only. To preserve this all-important message was salva-
tion ; to refuse to maintain it, even at the cost of local tem-
poral peace, was ruin.

" Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on me through their word;

" That they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in me,
and I in thee, that they also may be one in Us : that the
world may believe that thou hast sent me.

" Sanctify them through thy truth : thy word is truth.

" As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I
also sent them into the world.

" And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also
might be sanctified through the truth." QOHN xvii, 20 :2i,
and i yth to iQth verses.)

We hear a great deal of the doctrine of " sanctification "
and " holiness " nowadays, with the question, however,
unsettled as to what the " word " or " the truth " is about it.
Sanctification was obtained, not by witnessing miracles or
the offer of money by Simon Magus, but by possession of
the spirit, and belief of and obedience to the truth as
taught by the Saviour of Mankind eighteen hundred years
ago.

" But there was a certain man, called Simon, which before-
time in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the peo-
ple of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one :

" To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the
greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.

" And to him they had regard, because that of long time
he had bewitched them with sorceries.

" But when they believed Philip preaching the things con-
cerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ,
they were baptized, both men and women.

68 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

" Then Simon himself believed also : and when he was
baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, behold-
ing the miracles and signs which were done.

" Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard
that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto
them Peter and John :

11 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that
they might receive the Holy Ghost :

" (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them : only they
were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

" Then laid they their hands on them, and they received
the Holy Ghost.

" And when Simon saw that through laying on of the
apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them
money,

" Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I
lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.

" But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee,
because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be pur-
chased with money.

" Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter : for thy
heart is not right in the sight of God.

" Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God,
if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

" For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness,
and in the bond of iniquity." (Acrs viii. 9 to 23.)

"To ANOTHER PROPHECY."

The Apostle Peter upon Pentecost day, affirmed the un-
changeability of God, and that he was no respector of per-
sons, but that in " every age " he that fears God by keeping
his commandments "and worketh righteousness," that righ-
teousness which is by faith in the truth and revealed alone

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 69

m the gospel — was accepted with him when he . said (Acrs
ii. 14 : 18) :

" Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem,
he this known unto you, and hearken to my words :

" For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is
but the third hour of the day.

" But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel ;

" And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I
will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see
visions, and your old men shall dream dreams :

' • And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour
out in those days of my Spirit ; and they shall prophesy'1

Who shall deny the promise of God to the true " servants
and handmaidens" of the Lord in the last days? or what
shall prevent the fulfillment of this word? even though
Babylon's priests shall say : '• These things are done away
and are no longer needed."

To say that this prophecy of Joel's was fulfilled eighteen
hundred years ago, is but to say that we " do not know the
scriptures, nor the power of G0d," as even a casual read-
ing of the second chapter of Joel, from whom Peter has
quoted, will show :

"And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in
the earth beneath ; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke :

"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon
into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord
come :" (Acrs ii. 19 : 20.)

This did not take place upon Pentecost day, neither has
it yet taken place. No more has the spirit yet been
"poured out upon all flesh" for Paul says that: ( i COR. xv. 39. )

"All flesh is not the same flesh : but there is one kind of
flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and
another of birds."

70 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

Those 1 20 souls did not constitute all flesh, but the com-
plete fulfillment of Joel's prophecy is evidently to be at or
in the time spoken of by the prophet Isaiah in the 9th chap-
ter, 6th to loth verses, inclusive, when "The wolf also shall
dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the
kid ; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them." "And the cow and the
bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie down together ; and
the lion shall eat straw like the ox." "And the sucking
child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned
child shall put his hand on the adder's den." "They shall
not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountains ; for the earth
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters
cover the sea."

Modern theologians would EMPTY the earth of all knowl-
edge concerning God by depriving mankind of the only
means by which he may be known. Remember Jesus
said, " and this is life eternal to know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." And Paul
has testified unto us that "no man can say," with knowledge,
"that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost," and the
Holy Ghost never has been neither can be known only by
the manifestation of its various "gifts " to men.

This acme and complete work of the spirit of Almighty
God is thus shown by Isaiah in its wonderful power to trans-
form not only mankind, but the brute creation, into the
ideal estate portrayed by this prophet of the living God
But its work commences with mankind — even us — who
through obedience to law having received of the " first fruits
of" this "spirit," "being" thus "made partakers of the
Holy Ghost and of the powers of the world to come," we
"prophesy in part" until with education by these heavenly
powers " we all come in the unity of the faith to a perfect
knowledge of the Son of God," unto a perfect man, " unto the

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 71

measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," and thus are
made fit for the seal of life eternal.

" This is that " (spirit) , said Peter, not that it was the ful-
fillment of Joel's prophecy, for, if those were " the last days,"
what " days " are we living in ? The context in Joel also
clearly denies the assumption of fulfillment in Peter's day.

Jesus, speaking of the office work of his chosen and
authorized representative, says : "And he will shew you things
to come," this alone would show the necessity of the gift of
prophecy.

The testimony of John upon the isle of Patmos is con-
clusive ;

"And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said
unto me, See thou do it not : I am thy fellow-servant, and
of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus : worship
God : for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophesy"
(REV. xix. 10.)

" Here is the patience of the saints : here are they that
keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."
(REV. xiv. 12.)

" And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the
altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God,
and for the testimony which they held." (REV. vi. 9.)

" And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to
make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the com-
mandments oj God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ:' (REV. xii. 17.)

Great care and caution, however, in the use of not
only the gift of prophecy in the church, as had among
its membership or laity, but of all the other gifts of the
Holy Ghost are necessary, for as in Paul and John's day, it is
evident that there are " many spirits gone abroad into the
world " to-day as it is that there are any spirits at all, and
there is a liability to deception through seducing, flatter-

72 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

ing, and false spirits, by imitation or counterfeiting of the
gifts of the gospel ; for whether we deny the existence of a
" devil " or the agency of spiritual powers of an evil character
that are superior to the natural wisdom of mortals, or do not,
it is evident to the most "liberal" mind that admits spirit
agency at all, that two spirit powers disagreeing, both can-
not represent the real truth, though for purposes of decep-
tion there may be an admixture, and for this purpose was
the gift of " discernment of spirits " anciently bequeathed
by the head of the church to the body.

" There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Al-
mighty giveth him understanding," said Job (Joe xxxii, 8),
and it is that inspiration, in contradistinction to all others
that the truly wise will seek to possess, as well also will ex-
perience in, and not ignorance of spiritual gifts, tend to
avoid error as we become acquainted by exercise with and
observation of them in the church. This, I apprehend, is
the meaning of Paul when he says in i COR. iv. i :

" Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ,
and stewards of the mysteries of God. "

Also in II COR. iii. 5 : 6.

" Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any
thing as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of God ;

"Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testa-
ment j not of the letter, but of the spirit."*

These high attainments were not possessed at once in
full measure by the novice, but, as in our advent into this
world, so to him that is born again, not of corruptible seed,

* Tcf the church is given in our day additional and valuable in-
struction. Book of Commandments, Sec. 17, 9, says: "The elders
are to conduct the meetings as they are led by the Holy Ghost, accord-
ing to the commandments and revelations of God."

Again, Section 46-7 : "And the Bishop of the church, and unto
such as God shall appoint and ordain to watch over the church, and
to be elders unto the church, are to have given unto them to discern

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 73

but of the incorruptible — " by the word of God which liveth
and abideth forever," — " born of the water and of the spirit,"
a growth and experience in spiritual things was necessary to
apostleship or leadership in addition to the natural talent
which God has given.

Mistakes in learning how to always use properly, and to
edification, even the gift of prophecy, by the inexperienced,
are not infrequent, even in the church. " But as he that is
spiritual judgeth all things," it will not be strange if those who
are not spiritual, either in the church or out, should be led
to make light of an endeavor to express the mind of the
spirit in language or manner not always calculated to charm
the purely sensual ear. If the correct idea is expressed, it
should satisfy those who have spiritual discernment, even
though the message of inspiration has to run the gauntlet of
human verbiage and language incomplete from the stand-
point of euphony or worldly wisdom. It is not the language
of God, but the speech of men, " and the spirit of the
prophets are subject to the prophets," or should be in the
church of God, their agency retained, and not delivered
over to the manipulation and use of spiritual forces unknown,
although they may in some respects transcend even the
wisdom of the agency through which they operate. False
spirits, however, without exception, will be found upon care-
ful investigation and inquiry to be anti-Christ, anti-Chris-
tian, opposed to his methods, his claim and his church, the
statements and claims of modern spiritualism and other
"spirit powers," to the contrary, notwithstanding. But,

all these gifts lest there should be any among you professing and yet
be not of God." • '

And again, Sec. 50-6 : "And as ye are appointed to the head,
the spirits shall be subject to you."

And in Luke x. 17, we read: "And the seventy returned
again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us
through thy name."

74 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

"ever learning, and never able to come to a knowledge
of the truth," will men and women by the blandishment,
and entertainment of worldly wisdom, and error gilded by
the language and poetry of seductive spirits that obtain
"control" of human agency, deceive the ignorant, unwary,
disobedient, and lawless seeker after " signs and lying won-
ders," as a balm for the lack that is in the fashionable church,
or the world to-day.

" Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual
gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.

" Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other
judge.

" If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let
the first hold his peace.

" For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn,
and all may be comforted.

" And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the
prophets.

" For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace,
as in all churches of the saints." (I COR. xii, 12, and 29 to

33-)

"To ANOTHER DISCERNING OF SPIRITS."

As much as time and space will allow has already been
said in regard to the necessity for this gift of God through
the Holy Ghost in the church to-day as in ancient times.

That the world is filled with men and women who prac-
tice the appearance of honesty and virtue for selfish, base,
and wicked purpose, goes without saying. That spirits —
if there are any — or any such thing as disembodied intelli-
gence or spiritual agency, may be masquerading behind
human forms and faces, who thus become at once both
victim and tool of plausible device by appeal to the need of
the human soul, through play upon the strongest forces of
our nature, seems not unreasonable.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 75

You know a plausible, sleek, and trusted rascal by
acquaintance only, and the superior wisdom which experi-
ence with them alone brings ; but you need not have the
"delirium tremens " in order to know the evil effects of the
continued use of alcohol. No more need you spend your
time or money in running after " wizards that peep and
mutter," or " spirit " manifestations and wonders, to find
out only at last that outside of the law of God there is no
safety nor certainty. "Man" was "made," not as a de-
scendant from the pollywog, but "a little lower than the
angels," and he stands between the upper and nether world
of intelligences. There is that which is beneath as well as
that which is above him ; he may ascend or descend, as he
may elect, for his agency and his ^eing, and himself and
his destiny, are and will be eternally his own ; he is, as was
Lucifer, a son of God, and an intelligent product of the
Almighty and Everlasting Force, and learn he must, in the
unfathomable school and opportunity of God that the way
to the fulfillment of God's design concerning him is the
way of law — known, fixed, unalterable, unchangeable, eter-
nal law. He may become more than man ; he may become
an angel, and God knows what beyond. He may become
less than man ; he may — for opportunity will be offered —
he may become, by his own will or volition, a devil. It is
idle and foolish in view of the stupendous wickedness that
mortals may attain to, and the depths to which men descend
even in this short life and opportunity, to believe that all
is solid and permanent beneath our feet ; that go which
way we will we cannot go down ; that though in a possible
future life we may or shall be happier, we shall never be
more wretched than here ; that though capacity and oppor-
tunity for enjoyment may be had in the future, yet the
capacity and limit of possible suffering has been reached,
or will be reached in this life.

76 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

Sin is a transgression of law, and where no law is
(known), sin is not imputed," says Paul. That is, a child
may place its hand in the fire, yet no moral turpitude attach
to the act. But for the willful and persistent doer of that
which is known to be wrong, there must always remain the
deeper lesson, lessons which will reach all the intelligent
and constantly growing forces of the soul.

It is not unreasonable to suppose that there may have
been " angels who kept not their first estate," but who pro-
posed to indulge a lawless ambition or pleasure, and see if
they might not become Gods themselves by breaking the
law decreed by the Superior Power, and making a law for
themselves ; foolish enough to think or hope that life might
be continued to them In the pursuit of their own will, and
learning thus through the pain of hell and discipline of
disobedience, that which Paul learned in the gospel, that
"sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death ;" not annihi-
lation, not a blotting out of an existence and the sum of an
intelligence accumulated at such a fearful experience and
cost. Oh no ! God is not only too merciful, but too wise
to permit any such a " finale " to his work of creation. But
that punishment as well as reward, that pain as well as hap-
piness would be the everlasting attendant of the soul, the
sure and abiding testator and executor of God and of his law.

If there are angels, why not devils ? What do mortals
know about the possibilities wrapped up in the word " life ?"

We read in the book of Revelations xiii, 11-14, in tne
vision of the Apostle John upon the isle of Patmos, concern-
ing things that were to come to pass after his day, that :

" And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth ;
and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

" And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before
him, and caueeth the earth and them which dwell therein to
worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 77

"And he doeth great wonders, so that he raaketh fire
come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

"And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the
means of those miracles which he had power to do in the
sight of the beast."

Also*ln Chapter xvi, 13, 14.

"And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of
the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast
and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

" For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles,
which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole
world"

Already kings and princes have been and are entertaining
and investigating the phenomenon and miracle working
power produced or exhibited by modern spiritual mediums
in Europe and all over the civilized world.

The newspapers were responsible for the statement that
shortly before the spiritualistic expose, made by Miss Fox or
Mrs. Margaret Fox Kane in eastern cities, that Victoria,
Queen of England, in conjunction with princes and lords,
some of whose names were given, had sent or were about to
send for this original modern spirit and wonder worker, in
order to test her powers of mediumship, and satisfy them-
selves in regard to the claims of her ability to communicate
with the dead.*

*Notwithstanding her " expose" the writer has reason to believe
this woman to be a genuine " spirit medium," though utterly lawless
and unreliable, and that her late public exposure of spiritualism by
the snapping of her toe joints, etc., is more of an evidence of spleen
against spiritualists, and a lawless and reckless desire to recuperate
her fallen fortunes and to secure public recognition in a new "role"
than an evidence that she is able to prove modern spiritualism to be
in toto the work of human tricksters.

There is evidence, however, that a host of gerfuine "mediums " do
alternate with spirit or supernatural "control," and when '-conditions"

78 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

Why may there not be angels "who kept not their
first estate " deprived of the privilege of the wondrous gift
of the bodily power possessed by mortals through which to
express themselves, striving to and obtaining possession
and control of physical organisms through which and by
which they may do only that which mortals do ? only in a
far more intelligent, though subtle and crafty sense, and that
is to play their tricks of spiritual ledgerdemain, embellished
by poetry such as only fallen angels can invent upon the
spur and need of the moment, of art, of song, of music, of
preaching, quotation of scripture or even of prayer ? and all
of the needs of the human soul thus covertly appealed to
under guise, to satisfy a generation of religiously disap-
pointed, sign, wonder, or evidence-seekers concerning the
great mysteries that envelop the life of humanity. The
extremity of fierceness of this device to possess a body was
expressed in the Saviour's time in the incident recorded by
Matthew, 8th Chapter, 28-32 :

"And when he was come to the other side into the
country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two possessed
with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so
that no man might pass by that way.

"And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to
do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither
to torment us before the time ?

are not "favorable," show exceedingly clever work as prestidigitators
by entertaining the already half-blinded individual, who seeking, not
necessarily or exactly after truth so much as for something which was
before impressed by want upon a hungry heart, and now by the aid
of " favorable conditions " already half photographed upon the brain.
The finishing wo rk of producing a conviction in a mind that either is
already to believe that it may be so, or filled with an intense desire
that it be or is so, makes the work of conversion by the human or
spirit prestidigitator a comparatively easy matter, as their rapidly
increasing numbers attest.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 79

"And there was a good way off from them an herd of
many swine feeding.

" So the devil besought him, saying, If thou cast us out,
suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

"And he said unto them, Go. And when they were
come out, they went into the herd of swine : and behold,
the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place
into the sea, and perished in the waters.

" And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into
the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the
possessed of the devils."

The test of all these matters with us is, that in sober
interview and intelligent inquiry, these spirits will be
found opposed to the claim of the Messiahship of
Christ, and in conformity to the opinions of modern
atheism and skepticism upon these subjects. To Jesus
Christ, in His presence or the presence of an authorized
servant of His alone, are these spirits liable to betray their
true character? Outside of these and in the presence of
those who are strangers to the truth as it is in Christ and
the power of the spirit of truth, they are liable to profess
great respect, admiration and even love for His name ; His
power, and the presence of the spirit which He promised to
the true disciple, the power and the gift of " discerning of
spirits" alone they fear; His authority as the one chosen
representative of God is always denied ; His law, His gov-
ernment or His kingdom is either unknown to or opposed
by them ; He is a "medium," a "reformer," a " moralist,"
a " profound religious philosopher," but never the Christ ;

8o SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

He is a " Saviour," but only in the sense that all good men
are, a " Son of God " as all are, and no more.

We read, ACTS xix, 13-20 :

"Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took
upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the
name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus
whom Paul preacheth.

" And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and
chief of the priests, which did so.

" And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know,
and Paul I know ; but who are ye ?

"And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on
them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so
that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

" And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also
dwelling at Ephesus ; and fear fell on them all, and the
name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

" And many that believed came, and confessed, and
shewed their deeds.

"Many of them also which used curious arts brought
their books together, and burned them before all men : and
they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand
pieces of silver.

"So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed."

Infidelity, or agnosticism, may not be anti- Christ ; an infi-
del or atheist or unbeliever in any thing may foolishly, or
with vain oath, profane or make light of the name of a God
or a Christ whom they never knew save by the reputation
which the creeds have furnished of them. But the tre-
mendous danger that besets the honest seeker after truth
in . these last days — the creed-disgusted, yet devout and
religiously hungry — is that blinded by the absurdities of
"Christian " mythology, and with delineation and exposition
of the devils of Milton or of Dante in our minds ; the real

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 81

and actual devils — being in truth, as much unlike the creations
of uninspired men as are their Gods — finding the field clear
for operation and from suspicion of their real presence, are
thus enabled by the ignorance that is in the world, and in
the churches organized and carried on by men and popular
method — of spiritual power of any kind — they ply their ne-
farious, wonder-working, and sign-producing phenomena —
disciples of " the prince of the power of the air," the
mysterious operations of forces of the air as exhibited in
"metaphysics," mesmerism, or trance; table tipping, slate
writing, "materialization," "mind reading" pschycometry,
etc., etc.

Whatever scientific and lawful investigation may develop
of real, lasting, and substantial benefit to man in the lawful
use of these forces in the future we do not propose to make
war against ; but prool that they are the attempts of the
spirits of dead men, women or children ONLY who have
come back to friends and place where they dwelt in the
flesh, to communicate in any way or manner they can, is to
the mind, and in the experience of the writer, wanting.

The spirits of dead men are to the modern spiritualist the
highest wisdom, goodness or authority communicating with
mankind, the highest intelligence accessible to mortals
struggling for light in all this vast and wondrous universe.
God, angels or seraphim, are all reduced to the " advanced "
stage that mortals have attained through a few years' expe-
rience in " spirit life."

We are aware of the claim made that the "Bible is the corner-
stone of spiritualism," from the fact that it is stated that
Samuel, a dead prophet of God, and a good man, appeared
to Saul, through the agency of the woman, or " medium "
of Endor, a statement which a critical analysis, however,
will not warrant us in accepting. Saul, a transgressor of
the law of the Lord, departing from the living God, deprived

82 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

of counsel through the legal and appointed method, hungry
for information, having no doubt a historical or practical
experience with the powers that have always opposed the
kingdom and government of God, notwithstanding his for-
mer decree, made in a better hour and time, sought coun-
sel that he knew that earth could not give. With his face
to the earth he " perceived," by the medium's description, as
in modern times, "that it was Samuel." Not that Samuel
was necessarily there, or the " mantle " which he wore in
earth life, but a " materialization," through the mind of the
medium possibly, by the chemistry of forces known to the
" Prince of the power of the air " or his agents.

But did not Moses and Elias come back to earth? Yes,
with an authoritative message and commission in the inter-
ests of the kingdom and government of God. They came
in the interests of, acknowledged the work and authority,
and were associates with Jesus Christ ; knew, and pro-
claimed his Messiahship and his government that is to be ;
they were not antichrist.

The revelations of modern spiritualism betray ignorance,
or willful perversion of the intellectual, moral, or rational
and consistent interpretation of the prophecies of the old,
or the promises of the New Testament scriptures.

If Immanuel Swedenborg ever saw Jesus Christ, his reve-
lations do not show it. On the contrary his voluminous
interpretations show that he has as little acquaintance with
the Christ of the prophets and of the New Testament scrip-
tures as other mediums of less doubtful standing in the
orthodox world, and the result is that doubt and mysticism
is added to instead of being taken from the Bible, the
mission, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

" God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets." (HEB. i : i .)

That's more ways than one. "But the manifestation of

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTA TIONS, 83

the spirit " and the revelation of God to men " is given to
profit withal" and placed under the safeguard of law and rule.

" Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the worlds." (HEB i : 2.)

And as has been shown, the Saviour did not go outside
and beyond the rule of the Old Testament or of God's way of
communication to men, forlsaiah says, iQth chapter, 3d verse :

"And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof;
and I will destroy the counsel thereof; and they shall seek
to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have
familiar spirits, and to the wizards."

And again :

" And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that
have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that
mutter ; should not a people seek unto their God ? for the
living to the dead." "To the law and to the testimony ; if
they speak not according to this word \ it is because there is
no light in them." (!SA. viii, 19 120.)

We have got this to learn that in entering into the realm
of spirit or of dealing with spirit intelligence we are as much,
nay more liable to be deceived than with embodied intel-
ligences with whom we are acquainted, and without law and
rule to govern, the chances for counterfeiting and deception
are increased, as, unguided or uncontrolled save by desire,
or hunger, or need of information we fall into the clutches
of a conglomerate mass of "familiar spirits " who are full as
likely to minister to your wants rather than to supply your
real and lasting need.

"To ANOTHER DIVERS KINDS OF TONGUES; TO ANOTHER

THE INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES:

" But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit,
dividing to every man severally as he will.

84 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

" For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all
the members of that one body, being many, are one body :
so also is Christ.

" For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body,
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ;
and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

"For the body is not one member, but many." (i COR.
xii. 10 : 14.)

The gift of " tongues " and the gift to interpret the same
belongs to the body or church of Jesus Christ, wherever it
exists and in all ages. The writer having felt and witnessed
its power in instances most numerous, he has heard men
and women, with whom he is in personal acquaintance and
friendship, unlearned and unlettered, with poor knowledge
of even acceptable English, speak in language unknown, or
other than our common English, and witnessed to by dis-
interested Hebrew and Greek scholars, as on Pentecost day
"concerning the wonderful works of God."

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were
all with one accord in one place.

"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a
rushing mighty wind, and it rilled all the house where they
were sitting.

"And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of
fire, and it sat upon each of them.

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to
speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

"And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men,
out of every nation under heaven.

" Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came
together, and were confounded, because that every man
heard them speak in his own language.

"And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying to one
another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans ?

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION'S. 85

"And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein
we were born ?

" Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers
in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus,
and Asia,

" Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of
Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and
proselytes,

"Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our
tongues the wonderful works of God.

"And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one
to another, What meaneth this?

"Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

" But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his
voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that
dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken
unto my words :

" For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is
but the third hour of the day.

" But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel ;

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I
will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, and your men shall see
visions, and your old men shall dream dreams :

"And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour
out in those days of my Spirit ; and they shall prophesy :

"And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in
the earth beneath ; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke :

" The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon
into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come :

"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be saved.

" Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and
having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,

86 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." (Acxs
ii, i to 21 133.)

Are we not living nearer the "last days," spoken of by
Joel and Peter — if indeed, the "signs of the times" do not
show that we are already in the midst of them — than were
they ? If we are really, reasonably, scripturally, and in fact,
and in truth, the sons and daughters of God, through
adoption, by obedience to His law and seal of the spirit of
truth. If God is "unchangeable," and "no respecter of
persons" — if we can, or expect to defend our claim to pos-
session of the Holy Ghost, by what law or rule are we
justified in saying that "these things are done away and no
longer needed?"

What evidence have we as professed believers in Jesus
Christ that he is not

"A dead fact, stranded on the shore
Of the oblivious years,"

if He does not communicate with his church — if He has one —
as in days of old, not only to "edify" but to "profit," not
only through the gift of tongues, and interpretations, proph-
ecy, healing, etc., but the discerning of spiritual powers, thus
throwing around the true disciple a safeguard and protec-
tion against every intelligence, or sign that opposes itself to
God and the true interests of the human soul. For has not
the Saviour, according to Matt, vii, 13 : 29 forewarned us
by saying :

" Enter ye in at the strait gate : for wide is the gate, and
broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat :

"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

" Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 87

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather
grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ?

" Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit ; but
a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

" A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

"Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn
down, and cast into the fire.

"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the
will of my Father which is in heaven.

"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy name have cast out
devils ? and in thy name done many wonderful works ?

"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you :
depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

" Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built
his house upon a rock :

"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell not : for
it was founded upon a rock.

"And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which
built his house upon the sand :

" And the rain descended, and the floods came, and .the
winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell : and great
was the fall of it.

"And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these say-
ings, the people were astonished at his doctrine :

" For he taught them as one having authority, and not as
the scribes."

And reader, do not become frightened or fearful if this cry,

88 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

11 Beware of false prophets," should be raised by some respect-
able "Pharisee," who does not believe in any kind of prophets
only dead ones, but with little heed, or reference to "these
sayings " of Christ, cry, Lord, Lord, with no expectation of
a consistent, clear or intelligent answer. But remembering
His word and instructions, we need not be deceived, for
"by their fruits ye shall know them," and if any man is to
be listened to it is not the one who denies the word of God,
or the signs of the presence of the spirit of truth.

Upon the other hand remember that

"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy name have cast out
devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
» "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you :*
depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

Jesus "knew what was in men," and was not ignorant of
them, or of devils. But to be able to prophesy or even
profess to cast out devils in His name, or in any other way,
will not ensure the salvation He came to bring, but "this is
life eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom thoij hast sent," and "if any man will do," "he
shall know." Failing to do, or even to "continue in well
doing" after having known the way, we shall fail to "reap"
the reward, or receive the gift of life as it is in Christ only.

Paul in his second letter to Thessalonians 2d chapter,
1-13, says:

" Now we beseech you, brethern, by the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, -

" That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled,
neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as
that the day of Christ is at hand.

" Let no man deceive you by any means : for that day

* Another, and we believe more correct version says : " You never
knew me.'*

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 89

shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and
that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition ;

" Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is
called God, or that is worshipped ; so that he as God sitteth
in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

" Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told
you these things ?

" And now' ye know what withholdeth that he might be
revealed in his time.

" For the mystery of iniquity doth already work : only he
who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

" And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the
Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall
destroy with the brightness of his coming.*

" Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan
with all power and signs and lying wonders,

* " Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doc-
trines of devils;

" Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having* their conscience seared with
a hot iron.;

" Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats,
which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them
which believe and know the truth." (I TIM. iv. 1-3.)

This prophecy may have had partial fulfillment in the history of
Popery, but partially only. The chronology is, " in the latter times"
the people were to be apostates from the faith. The Romish church,
as an organization, never had it as referred to by Paul. The fulfill-
ment of this part of the prophecy can only, and rationally, be laid at
the door of Brigham Young and apostate followers. — "Doctrines of
devils," polygamy, Adam God theory, "speaking lies in hypocrisy," —
witness their juggling and equivocation, as well as the oath disclo-
sures made by some of them before the officers of the U. S. govern-
ment in regard to trials for the crime of polygamy. " Having their
conscience seared as with a hot iron." See Mountain Meadow mas-
sacre, etc.

go SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

" And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them
that perish ; because they received not the love of the truth,
that they might be saved.

" And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion,
that they should believe a lie :

" That they all might be damned who believed not the
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

" But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you,
brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of
the spirit and belief of the truth."

What is the use of crying Lord, Lord, while we refuse to
believe the truth, the word, and instead of trying to know
and maintain the righteousness which is " revealed " alone
to the obedient believer, or " doer of the word," insist as
did the ancient Pharisees, whom Jesus and Paul rebuked,
upon " going about to establish w our " own righteousness,"
and refusing " to submit" ourselves "to the righteousness
of God."

"And for this cause " shall and has there been sent, or
permitted to be sent, the strong delusions of modern times,
•" even after the workings of Satan, with all power and signs
and lying wonders."

" And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question
with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him.

'/' And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth
this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you,
There shall no sign be given unto this generation." (MARK
viii : 11-12.)

And again (MATT, xvi, i : 14) :

" The Pharisees also the Sadducees came, and tempting
desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.

" He answered and said unto them, When it is evening,
ye say, It will be fair weather : for the sky is red.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 91

" And in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day :
for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can
discern the face of the sky ; but can ye not discern the signs
of the times ?

" A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a
sign ; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign
of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed."

The sign of "Jonas " was a type of His death, burial and
resurrection, and, " according to the scriptures " of the
prophets, which, while reading every Sabbath, as does the
modern Pharisee, they neither understood, believed 01
taught. And we shall be soon prepared, if we are not
already, to acknowledge a man as being " orthodox " who
denies not only the truth of the " fish story," but of the
literal resurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as the existence
of any othep lawful " sign " promised to the true believer.

Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost prophesies
thus:

"This know also, that in the /#.$•/ days perilous times shall
come.

" For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy,

" Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accuser?, -
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

" Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more
than lovers of God ;

" Having a form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof : from such turn away." (II TIM. iii, i :$.)

Are we living in the last days ? Did Paul tell the truth
or was he mistaken, and are the theologians right when they
tell us that the world is growing wiser in the things of God,
and better? Are we " lovers of pleasures more than lovers of
God?" and is the tendency of churches toward entertain-

92 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

merit, instead of spiritual, profitable and edifying instruction
in true Godliness? Are the church "trustees" and even
the minister, vying with the theatrical manager in the
invention and procuring of " attractions," not for the pur-
pose of " saving " by gospel method, but of keeping even in
the race for popularity and filling the church coffer ? Does
the fashionable, popular church accept or deny " THE "
form of Godliness, as well as the power thereof, as mani-
fested in the Doctrine of Christ, and the gifts of the Holy
Comforter which He promised to the believer?

Let popular, gilded and apostate Babylon and her harlot
daughters answer these questions, for answer they must,
either here or at the bar of Him, whose "word sliall judge "
us " in the last day."

Remember, again remember, oh, reader, that it is the
word interpreted by the spirit which comes through obedi-
ence to law, and not a " sign " or a "wonder " though it be
but a fascinating imitation or dangerous counterfeit of some
of the gospel signs which were to follow the believer in the
word as taught by the preacher whom God has sent, which
is to confirm you by the spirit of truth as a sure and safe
witness that we are " built upon a rock " that the storms of
time, the persecutions of men or the deceptive power of
demons cannot overthrow, and which is to finally judge
you, and to be the test of your building in this life.

Remember, and do not forget the warning which Jesus
gave, and which we repeat, lest you do forget and are led
into deception, that " many will say unto me in that day —
the judgment day — Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in
thy name ? and in thy name have cast out devils ? and in
thy name done many wonderful works? " And yet are
deceiving and being deceived through " the workings of
Satan, who with all power, and signs, and lying wonders,
and with all manner of deceivableness," is attracting the

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 93

attention of a faithless and unspiritual world away from the
angel- restored gospel in our day.

" And for this cause " shall God send them strong delu-
sions. Why? because they are not willing to believe the
truth, when it calls upon men to forsake their sins, not only
of lust and immorality, but of unbelief in the word of him
they constantly and with vain and useless liturgical repetition
call Lord, Lord.

" What's the use of a man's repenting of his sins, of aban-
doning unholy thoughts, or carnal desires and fleshy lusts, if
they do not essentially ' war against the ' human ' soul '
and its eternal interests, but only serve the purposes of edu-
cation and of ' advancement ' in knowledge, instead of
retarding his true and upward growth?" says some ' liberal '
in religious matters.

" What's the use of being obedient to any law in spiritual
matters, seeing things are changed and the gift of God, or
something so near like it which will do just as well, ' can be
purchased with money,' and without the trouble of self
denial?"

" What's the use or sense of trying to believe in a God
whom Ingersoll says is a fiend, or the priests say is dead, or
at least dumb ? What's the use of repenting, when evil is
only a ' lesser good ? ' What if Moses or Christ did say
' thou shalt not,' they were only men, and we'll please our-
selves. The ' hell ' we were taught to believe in, we know
now to be a cruel and unreasonable superstition and myth.
The gods we do not know, and we know as- much about
them as anybody, as the changing creeds show. Satan is
not, and all the devils there are, are in men. Hell is
nowhere, and heaven everywhere, and it is easier to SLIDE
down there, than to toil up the old-fogy, hard, thorny, straight^
narrow, contracted way.

"What's the use of troubling ourselves about any theory,

94 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

when our learned preacher says that it makes but little dif-
ference what we believe, only so we are ' honest?' And
doesn't even Rev Joseph Cook and Dr. Lyman Abbott
know, when they say that ' millions of heathen have entered
into life eternal without any knowledge of Jesus Christ.' "

"What's ' the use of being baptized, if it's not a saving
ordinance. '?' ' Except a man be born of water ' don't mean
water, and the preacher ought to know, for we pay him
well to tell us about these things. We havn't time to read
it ourselves, and wouldn't know anything much about if we
did, and as for the doctrine of the laying on of hands, and
the literal resurrection of the body, and of eternal judgment,
we never heard much about them, and, as a matter of fact,
we don't believe in anything very substantial but the dollar
that's now crowned king, and moves everything in this world."

" As a matter of fact, however," says he, " by the way,
I was a little interested in a 'seance,' which, in company
with my neighbor, who owns the pew next to mine in 'Dr.'
Blank's church up on Vanderbilt avenue, arid who, by the
way, is a ' liberal ' in his views, I attended the other even-
ing. ' The slate writing ' and ' mind reading ' experiments,
I confess, notwithstanding the ' spiritualistic expose ' and
' medium frauds ' that I had read about rather startled me,
and Brown says he knows there's something in it besides
ledgerdemain, and swears that there's intelligence in the
' raps ' even. In fact I really got so interested that I had
to tell my wife about where I had been. But she said it
was all of the devil, and that if I was dissatisfied with ' Dr.'
Blank's frozen erudition and poetic descriptions of nothing,
that I had better go where she had been visiting, down to
the ' faith cure ' meetings, as she thought they had more
life there, and though she felt ashamed to have one of Dr.
Blank's congregation to be seen there, yet Mrs. S, a f holi-
ness ' woman and a good neighbor that lives in the alley in

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 95

the rear, has said so much to our servant lately about the
' power ' they have at their meetings, I thought I would go>
and see if the Lord did really heal people now days, and'
perhaps he might heal my back that's been troubling me.
' I really can't see/ said she, ' why He won't, just the same
as the Bible says He used to do.' 'And there's my daughter,
well, but it beats all, she's just wild on " Christian Science,"
and I'll be bound if I know what the world is coming to,
any way. But I guess, however, that " one world at a
time " will do, and that it don't pay to worry over religious
matters very much anyhow.' "

CHAPTER V.

'* How TO BECOME A MEDIUM."

IN a pamphlet written by Prof. Cadwell, a mesmerist,,
medium and spiritual lecturer, entitled " Spiritualism
Versus The Bible," we have upon pages 40 to 48 instruc-
tions "how to become a medium." "If you are not a
medium and wish to become one," instructions follow by
which complying with the conditions you may become one.
" Your best and quickest way," he says, " is to be mes-
merized by any mesmerist that you may have confidence in,
requesting that as soon as you become unconscious he ask
some spirit to come and take control of your physical sys-
tem," etc.'

What do you think of it? Would you be willing with your
experience with embodied spirits to hand over your pocket
book to a stranger in a strange city and among a strange
people ? Do you hand over what is more valuable — your
agency to &c\.for yourself in important matters especially ?
Do you ever employ and trust an agent with temporal affairs

96 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

in a limited sense without credentials of honesty ? Do you
take your wife and daughter into any and every kind of
society without reference to or knowledge of their character ?

" One great hindrance to mediumship," says the Professor,
"with those who sit, is the fear of being made to say or do
something they may be ashamed of" " If you sit for spirits
to control you, let them do it the best way they can, and
not interfere too much" " If you wish to know whether you
are a medium for a partial or full form materialization, sit
with a few intimate friends, place a number of articles on
the table before sitting around it, and make the room per-
fectly dark during the first few sittings. There may be a
guitar or violin on the table, a small tea-bell, a glass partially
filled with water, and one containing a tea spoon. Sit with
hands joined a part of the time, and engage in light, but
not frivolous or excitable, conversation, and in singing some
well-known song, in which the majority or all should join.
About one hour is long enough to sit, unless the manifesta-
tions commence. Do not expect too much at first. Let
the same company sit, and in the same room at regular in-
tervals once or twice a week, for not less than eight or ten
weeks. Let no others join, unless known to be in PERFECT
SYMPATHY and very mediumistic. The probabilities are,
judging from my past experience, that five out of ten of
such circles will get MANIFESTATIONS within a month." * * *
"You may hold two slates tied together with a crumb of
pencil between them, and when sufficiently magnetized by the
hands, you may get writing between the slates." (Pages
44 to 46.)

For years the brain of Bishop, the "mind reader," was
positively electric with a nerve force that mirrored with the
most astounding accuracy the pulsations that were tele-
graphed to him through an infinitesmal and subtle force and
power the thought of another soul or spirit inhabiting a

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 97

body. What possibilities of deception, if we admit the ex-
istence of disembodied spiritual intelligences, may there not
be developed through mortals yielding up the agency of
their bodies to them ?

It is unnecessary for me to tell my readers the law by
which they may avoid deception, or become the victims of
fraud, and the dupes of a bad man or the flattering seductive
ways of evil women in this world. But it is a hard and too
oft a thankless task to undertake to convert or try to reason
with a man or woman, who, fleeing from "dead works " and
useless and unprofitable forms of worship in fashionable
churches to the modern seance room, fall into the clutches
of a very host of spiritual intelligences, whose feats of
mental and physical legerdemain, startle us into forgetfulness
of the necessity of asking for credentials, or even stopping to
think of the necessity of "trying the spirits." Indeed,
what we want most to know, after sixteen centuries of spirit-
ual starvation, and doubt and gloom, and experiment with
men-made Gods and gospels, is, whether there are any
spirits at all? And company that can give us assurance
that the dead are not dead, are to be welcomed with or
without credentials or character.

A fortune teller will flourish who tells us the thing we
want to know.

A "medium" will gather the golden harvest who can
produce a spirit that is able to " persuade " us that we are
better than we are, or that the conditions of purity and holi-
ness are not essential to prevention of deception through
" lying signs and wonders " wrought by the " prince of the
power of the air," the spirits that now entice the children of
the flesh, and of the world, and of disobedience.

A mother in search of a babe " forever lost " will not be
careful to scan the "revelation" that promises a reunion.
Only too willing is she to comply with any condition that

98 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

promises, or any spirit that can be made to satisfy her that
it is a spirit she is willing to meet more than half way or
to believe their every tale. What, I ask, what will not a
man or woman, a husband or wife, a father or a mother, lay
upon the altar of affection ?

Oh, sin-stricken, faithless, hungry, thirsty, starving soul !
Listen to one who has run the gauntlet, and whose heart
and brain and life has been tested in the crucible of forces
that are pressing upon human consciousness and human hun-
ger and human need to-day.

Listen ! while to-day I point you to the Immaculate Son
of God, and ask you once more, in this closing word and
appeal, to listen to the voice of God from the clouds, " This
is my beloved son, hear ye him ;" and while he talks to the
Samaritan woman, let us listen as perhaps we never listened
before.

" The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to
draw with, and the well is deep : from whence then hast
thou that living water ?

" Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us
the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and
his cattle ?

" Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh
of this water shall thirst again :

" But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life." (JOHN 4, n : 14.)

There were two wells there where 1800 years ago Jesus
talked with the woman of Samaria.

The site of one is lost ; the other, the source of its won-
drous and life-giving power having become corrupted
through giving heed to doctrines of men and the more sub-
tle doctrines of devils, for centuries has been unknown.

SPIRITUAL MANIFEST A TIONS. 99

The means by which that fountain of "living water" may
be reached, is in the fact that to the writer the cup has been
pressed to his lips through the restoration in our day,*
according to Christ's promise, of the law and the gospel, by
which and only through which the righteousness of God was
revealed to Paul — is revealed to him — and reader, may be
by your own act revealed to you.

Before we take our leave of you, we desire to call another
witness from the past, and we listen to —

" Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to
them that have obtained like precious faith with us through
the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ :

" Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the
knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

" According as his divine power hath given unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the
knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue :
(II Peter i, i to 3.)

Not only do we want and need to know of something
that pertains to our existence, but to Peter there was given
through a " divine power" " all things that pertain to life"
as well as Godliness.

It is not enough to satisfy ; it is not enough to know ; it is
not the design of God that we should be satisfied with life
as it comes to the animal creation, without will, volition,
desire, or intelligent action. Life in its abounding sense and

*" And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

" Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for
the hour of his judgment is come : and worship him that made heaven,
and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

" And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is
fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine
of the wrath of her fornication." (REV. xiv, 6, 7, 8).

ioo SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

fullness is and can only be revealed as we walk the narrow
way which a divine, a " revealed " law points out to us in
which to travel. " Straight is the gate that leads to life," in
its full and complete sense ; there is no crookedness, nor
darkness, nor winding, deceptive, evasive, nor destroy-
ing agency, or opposite form of life that shall be able to
deceive or to mislead him who hath the wisdom and the
courage to tread this shining way of light. Light shining and
luminous with reason, virtue, intelligence, holiness, purity,
" all things" that pertain to a profitable and Godly existence.

" Jesus said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water
shall thirst again."

What fountain my reader have you been drinking from ?
How does it effect your growth ? and are you satisfied ? If
not — if the doctrines of men and experience with spirit
agency has left a void in your soul — let me beseech you as
one who loves your soul to come with me, and let me per-
suade you to let down your vessel into that well and test
that promise and see if it be not true that Jesus Christ is
the same, yesterday, to-day, forever, and " though having
not seen Him," know that He lives to redeem His promises
to-day to those who believe on Him and obey His law.

" For the promise (of the Holy Ghost) is unto you, and
io your children and to all them that are afar off, even
as many as the Lord our God shall call." (Acrs ii : 39.)

Reader, you are now called by God's chosen ministry.
Our life against its failure — if you but comply with " the
law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus."

Possession of this power from God will place you not
only in possession of " some " things, but " all things that
pertain unto life."

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and
drink.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 101

" He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

" (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe
on him should receive : for the Holy Ghost was not yet
given ; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (}OHN vii,

37:39-)

Have you been blessed with a portion of the spirit of God
in your religious experience that makes it hard for you to
yield to the persuasions of men or spirits — that the name of
Jesus has not a different sound than other names, and
though even clouded by the creeds, is still to you " a name
which is above every other name ; " that the Bible still
must have something in it for you that neither priest or
atheist has ever been able to either fully explain or to do
away? Are you still groping in that partial "light that
lightens every man that cometh into the world," no matter
whether he be Christian or Pagan, and still unsatisfied, still
thirsting for the waters of a life yet higher, broader, deeper
than you have ever known? In other words, Have you
received the HOLY GHOST since you believed ? I mean the
ancient Holy Ghost, that absolute promise made by the
Saviour, and not that counterfeit imitation upon which you
have tried to feed your soul, but that " another comforter,"
even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive,
because, blinded by priestcraft and apostacy, and seducing
spirits and the flattering and plausible doctrine of devils, it,
"the world," " seeth him not neither knoweth him."
Whosoever drinketh of the corrupted fountains of the world
shall thirst again.

" But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life."

Do you lack knowledge concerning heavenly gifts?

102 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND

Remember that if you are a member of Christ's body, " a
branch of the true vine," His words abiding in you, you
shall ask what you will, for you will riot then be disposed to
ask amiss, and He will give it unto you through His prom-
ised representative.

"Is any sick among you" — the church — "let him call
for the elders of the church-, let them pray over them,
anointing them with oil in the name" — by the authority — "of
the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick," for
to one, by this spirit of promise, " is given the gift of heal-
ing." " If any man" among you lack wisdom, let him ask
of God through this legitimate means, and not of "familiar
spirits " ; "for to one is given the gift of wisdom, to another
the gift of knowledge, to another the gift of faith, to another
discerning of spirits, to another the gift of tongues, to
another prophecy," etc., etc. "All, all things that pertain
unto life and godliness " are in the keeping of this promised
comforter. This is the well* and the fountain we call you
to drink of. Reader, will you come ? Once more we ask
you to hear his voice :

" At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid
these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes.

" Even so, Father : for so it seemed good in thy sight.

" All things are delivered unto me of my Father : and no
man knoweth the Son^ but the Father ; neither knoweth any
man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the
Son will reveal him.

" Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.

" Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; for I am
meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest unto your
souls.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 103

" For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (MATE
n, 25 130.) -

And to the brethren of the Church of God and of Jesus
Christ in all the world, we send you our love and our assur-
ance of God's goodness, and of an eternal and abiding
faith in his wondrous and holy promises secured to us by
obedience to our glorious evangel — the ancient gospel
restored in all its happy fullness to earth's afflicted sons and
daughters, and in the language of the beloved disciple, we
administer to you, as your fellow-laborer in the Lord, our
parting benediction and blessing.

"But the anointing which ye have received of him
abideth in you : and ye need not that any man teach you :
but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,, and
is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye
shall abide in him."

THE

SEER OF PALMYRA,

OR

THE THREE WITNESSES.

A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIRTS.

BY M. H. BOND.

"Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons,

saith thfe King of Jacob,—

— Let'them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen, —
— Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye

are gods." — ISA. xli: 21-24.

"And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the
Lord hath spoken ? —

—When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow
not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken,
but the prophet hath spoken presumptiously: thou shalt not be afraid of
him." — DEUT. xviii: 21, 22.

PREFACE TO SUPPLEMENT.

'HE criticism that "Spiritual Gifts" is a sort of
cul-de-sac, i. e., a "blind canal" that leads nowhere,
has been impressed upon the mind of the writer,
or, in other words, that while many might agree that the
arraignment of popular religion for its inconsistency in
claiming sanction from either reason or the Bible was just,
and that the claim of Spiritualism that similarity of appear-
ance in exhibition of supernatural power through their
mediums to the phenomenon or "signs" promised by Jesus
and manifested in the early Christian church, was proof of
but one origin for both are evidenced to be unsafe and un-
warranted conclusions, yet have we, ourselves, failed to but
hint at the way out of difficulties that beset the dissatisfied
but earnest seeker after truth.

If any have been led to think thus, we have only this to
say : That our object first, in writing, was to stimulate
thought among people, both in the church and out, in re-
gard to the difficulties that beset the feet of the unwary and
the novice in the consideration of these things, and the
danger of confounding manifestations of occult force in their
application to religious truths, and the great care and dis-
crimination needed in dealing with the tremendous powers
which the age is fast discovering man to be subject to ; to
point to the consideration of the primitive and original
methods of obtaining light as revealed in reason and rational
scripture interpretation.

To the stranger to the gospel message as revealed from
heaven in our day, who may have read the book and felt dis-

4 PREFACE TO SUPPLEMENT.

satisfied at the close, in that it, as before expressed, "led
nowhere," we offer as a necessarily brief apology and explan-
ation, this "Supplement."

And to members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we only
say : Believing that the complex grouping in which the In-
finite Spirit of God may formulate and postulate the glorious
evidences of our Evangel can never be exhausted in time,
nor, we believe, in eternity, we submit for their kindly
criticism our epitomized evidences of the truth of the Latter
Day Message.

THE AUTHOR.

THE SEER OF PALMYRA,

OR

SEQUEL TO " SPIRITUAL GIFTS."

CHAPTER I.— THE THREE WITNESSES.

" We have also, a more sure word of prophesy, whereunto ye do
well to take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until
the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." — (II PETER, i : 19.)

"In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be
established. " — ( MOSES. )

So says Moses, Jesus, Common Law, Common Justice,
Reason and Right.

The character of testimony admissible in courts of
common jurisprudence is thus defined by Worcester : —

"Any matter of fact, the effect or design of which, when presented
to the human mind is to produce a persuasion affirmative or dis-
affirmative of the existence of some other fact. The means by which
facts are obtained for judicial purposes."

In other words, the preponderance of evidence is entitled
to the verdict. Upon this basis decrees are rendered that
may deprive a man of his life.

Our religion is upon trial in this nineteenth century ; the
world is summoned as a jury, and they will be charged with
the rendering of a verdict and judgment that the ages have
given sanction to : the judgment which unimpeachable
testimony of as many witnesses as the law may demand in
order to produce a preponderance of evidence, and to effect
a conviction in honest minds.

It will not be enough for us to say — "We are not

6 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

interested in religious matters, and especially in your
message." We are all interested, and involved in it —
as we shall show, whether you realize it now or not — and
when the evidence is all presented you will be called upon
to decide.

Eighteen centuries ago, there appeared among men an
obscure and unlearned Galilean. Whatever notoriety or
fame he may have obtained in his day among the popular
and fashionable world — especially the religious portion of it
— was the notoriety that attached to a malefactor. A man
"born of fornication," of lowly surroundings, and questionable
associations. A man m whom none of the rulers and public
teachers of the Pharisees believed as other than an imposter.
In his following were to be found few, very few, save the
poor, the illiterate, the unfortunate born and the poverty
reared ; and hung at last between thieves and the heavens
upon charges of blasphemy of their holy religion by the
Jew, and of conspiracy against Caesar's government by the
Roman nation. Hated and hunted to the death, was this
" man of sorrows," by the religious leaders of the day,
whose inconsistency, hypocrisy and apostacy from the faith
of God he denounced with a force and clearness that
rendered the employment of every species and every weapon
of warfare, save the truth, a necessity upon their part in
order to save their systems from overthrow.

With open scripture in his hand he quoted from the law
by which in pretense they claimed to be governed, and
read concerning himself, " It is written." His disciples and
followers after him, when brought before the judgment seat
of Jew or Gentile, for a reason for their faith, testified to
" none other things than Moses and the prophets said should
come." They affirmed, not as eye witnesses alone concern-
ing Jesus, that not only had they seen him alive, and that
he had manifested himself unto them " by many infallible

CW, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 7

proofs," but that "he died, was buried, and rose the third
day according to the scriptures."

Did this array of rational argument and testimony con-
vince, convert, or reform the Jew ? Nay ! They were too
steeped in the fashion and pride of this world ; the prestige
of fleshy power was too dear ; the praise of men, the emolu-
ments of their priestly office, coupled with their rage at him-
self and followers because of their exposure of their true
position in the light of rational scripture interpretation, rea-
son, justice and truth, was too much for them to confess and
renounce. They said : " We are stronger with error upon
our side, than are these illiterate fishermen and tax gatherers
with truth upon their side," and discarding the warnings of
their prophets, refusing the message of the "base things of
this world," whom God in his own inscrutable wisdom had
chosen to represent his truth, they sought by slander, mis-
representation, ostracism and physical force to destroy from
under the sun the message of Jesus Christ.

So transcendently above the world was his doctrine, that
no wonder was his mission misconstrued. That God should
choose "the weak things of this world to " supersede "the
wisdom of the mighty" was not conceived of by them.
The very faults and human weaknesses and worldly ignorance
betrayed by the early saints, as witnessed in the Pauline
Epistles, made the Gospel message " to the Jews a stumbling
block, and to the Greek foolishness," and ignoring the
spirit, the power and the life that was in Moses and the proph-
ets, they placed the ban of popular ecclesiastical ostra-
cism upon it, and drove its adherents to prison and to death.

The war of differences was waged, "and a man's foes
were of his own household," and the followers of Jesus were
" hated of all men " because of the falsehoods and slanders
set on foot by the enemies of the Christian faith ; and
" authentic history " during the first and second century

8 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

tells us that the early Christians "were haters of mankind,"
and that the religion of Jesus, was, according to Tacitus, " a
destructive superstition."

Has human nature changed ?

Is human history repeating itself in our day in regard to
religion ?

Has the truths of God changed, or has God changed in
his manner of revealing his mind and will ?

If not — with the history of the Jew, and his fate as a
nation, for the rejection of Heaven's message before us, in
the awful history of his suffering for eighteen centuries — let
us proceed to our brief presentation of

THE LATTER DAY MESSAGE.

Was Joseph Smith a prophet of God, or an impostor ?

Is the religious system understood, or misunderstood, in
the world to-day as "Mormonism," from first to Jast, as
characterized by Joseph Cook, a " Latter Day Swindle ?"
Or is it, separated from the apostasy which polygamy and
other kindred evils which afflicted the early Christian Church,
a message to mankind which can no more safely be treated
with unfairness, unreason, or injustice, than could the Jew
and the world meet the message of Jesus and his followers
with a flat refusal to submit to honorable rules of warfare in
the discussion of religious questions without danger of ulti-
mate overthrow of their systems of religious faith?

2d. — Is " Mormonism" in its origin an "avant courier" of
modern Spiritualism, and was Joseph Smith a prophet of
God in the same sense only as are all mediums who claim
supernatural direction and spiritual control ?

Our reply to both of these questions must be found in a
brief exposition and application to events that have tran-
spired and are now taking place in our day, of the text

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 9

quoted from in the beginning, and taken from the second
letter of Peter (II PETER, i, 19) :

" We have also a more sure word of prophesy."

This "word of prophesy," refers in comparison to some
antecedent testimony which we find by reading the three
previous verses to be a brief allusion to what our modern
spiritualistic friends would term a materialization of spirit
forms, the record of which event is alluded to by Matthew
in the iyth chapter of his testimony beginning with the ist
verse :

"And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother,
and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart,

"And was transfigured before them; and his face did shine as the
sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

"And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking
with him."

"While ke yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them;
and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." (Matthew xvii, 1:2:
3:50

As the differences between this supernatural manifesta-
tion and the manifestations of the modern seance room and
cabinet exhibitions have been referred to previously in the
pages of this book, we stop not now to analyze differences,
but proceed to call the attention of spritualists, and inves-
tigators of their claims and the lovers of truth everywhere,
to a class of evidences and testimony seldom seen upon
the witness stand in our day.

" We have also a more sure word of prophesy."

Peter's position is, we claim, in spite of the lack of his
ecclesiastical educational advantages, an impregnable one —
grand, stable, intellectual, and abiding in the character of
its forcefulness and reasoning. Let us follow this authorized
representative of Jesus who was called the Christ, taking
along with us our "Three Witnesses," referred to in the

io THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

> •
beginning, lest we be deceived in this age of deception

and doubt.

Peter has been to what would, if given a modern name,
be called a " seance," and witnessed with James and John
and Jesus, a materialization of the spirit forms of Moses and
Elias, and in addition, has heard the supernatural voice —
" This is my beloved son." Enough, we would say, to
satisfy, and perhaps convert, the Rev. M. J. Savage, Rev.
Heber Newton, the editor of the "Arena," Mary Livermore,
and others who have become interested in modern
spiritualistic phenomena, and who have signed an appeal
for the establishing of a " Psychic Investigation Association "
in the city of Boston in order to find a satisfaction and
evidence concerning heavenly things, which the theology of
Joseph Cook does not furnished them with, as well as thous-
ands of other honest yet dissatisfied investigators.

Leaving then, for the time, these manifestations, or
evidences for what they were in Peter's day, or may, or may
not, in our day be worth to mankind, let us follow him in
his argument. " We have also a more sure word of
prophesy." Strong as was the evidence apparently furnished
to Peter in the testimony upon the mount, his experience
and knowledge of the possibility of deception,when "visions,"
" apparitions, " or occult manifestations were to serve as the
basis of men's faith, leads him to the higher intellectual and
moral ground to be occupied in the discussion of evidence
in regard to heavenly things as revealed in a correct under-
standing and proper interpretation of the " more sure word
of prophesy " concerning the truth of the message he was
called of Jesus Christ to deliver the world.

Rational and abiding ground for belief in the mission of
Jesus Christ was not alone safely to be predicated in the fact
that a vision, or similitude of the dead Moses and Elias had
appeared to him, but rather in the intellectual, rational, and

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL QIPTS. 11

permanent argument that should stand the wear and test of
the ages, that— thousands and hundreds of years before his
existence upon earth — men, under the movement and inspir-
ation of a power that was willing to write its own test of truth
upon enduring tablets and throw down the gauge and chal-
l^nge to every power to a disproof of its importance and
truthfulness, and had "shown before, the coming of the just
o;ie;" had anticipated his reception, and photographed
history upon the mind of men, ages before it was conceived
of, or born in human wisdom, or of human knowledge.
And, when, 3000 years ago, the King of Moab withstood
Baalam, Baalam the son of Beor took up in prophesy this
parable :

" He said, which heard the words of God and knew the knowledge
of the Most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into
a trance, but having his eyes opened. "

" I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh;
there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of
Israel. " " Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion,"
etc. (NUM. xxiv, 15-19.)

" To Him gave all the prophets witness, " said Peter,
(Acis x : 43-.)

From Genesis to Malachi, the Infinite Spirit of truth,
impressing itself upon human agency and voicing itself in
human speech, sometimes, it is true/ less clear than at others,
but, altogether, in the chain of evidences extending over
ages of time, revealed, the one purpose of a superior intelli-
gence promising and. portraying events whose fulfillment in
Jesus' day and in his own person could by no possible
means suggest collusion or attempt to fulfill a promised pro-
gramme, by a life of suffering and self-denial upan the part
of the principal actors in order to carry out and perpetuate
a fraud upon the world.

The presence of John his forerunner, his nativity from
n virgin, as well as his human generation, his miraculous

12 THE SEER OF PALMYRA;

power, his entry into Jerusalem, his betrayal, his insult,
buffeting and scourging, patience under suffering, his
prophetic character and priestly office, his stupendous claim
for himself, and bold promise of heavenly revelation to the
obedient to his law as regarding himself, his rejection by
Jew and Gentile, his betrayal, his trial, death with the
wicked, the parting of his vesture, his burial with the rich,
his resurrection, exaltation, ascension, etc., etc. This, to
Peter, and to us, was, and is, the second, and more stable,
far reaching, and important witness to the message of truth
which they had to present to the world than was the vision
upon the mount.

That men, in and of themselves, could write history as
faithfully as was portrayed in the Jewish scriptures ages
before its fulfillment, was, in human analogy and experience,
to Peter, as it is to us, unreasonable ; that they were the
result of but one mind and one plan was evident.

"For prophesy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy
men of God spake as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost"
(II PET. i, 21).

This was God's method of revealing his mind and will to
men prior to the advent of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ
himself, fulfilling the plan thus foretold by prophet and seer,
summoned Heaven as witness to his mission, and promised
the same testator in regard to himself and his gospel to every
one who should submit themselves to his law, and thus
bringing in the third witness to the truth, as referred to by
Peter in the closing paragraph of the text :

"Until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your heart." (II
PET. i, 19.)

There was the vision upon the mount, and the supernatural
manifestation, but, standing amidst a host of deceptive and
counterfeiting agencies, it could not introduce a rule itself,
isolated and alone by which to satisfactorily test and "try the

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 13

spirits" manifested in so many different and conflicting ways,
as revealed in Peter's, as well as in our day, unless we accept
the test referred to by St. John : " That every spirit that con-
fessed Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, was already come in the
flesh, was of God and consequently not a false or delusive
spirit or manifestation. (I Jonxiv, i : 4.) The vision upon
the mount had this advantage, as all similar ones must have
in the preponderance of evidence furnished to reason, in
that its manifestations and revelations were " according to
the scriptures," i.e., somebody, ages perhaps before, testified
of these things. But to Peter it was not alone enough to en-
gage the fordes of error in the world, and he summons there-
fore as his second witness " a more sure word of prophesy,"
whereunto they did well to take heed, as unto a light shining
in a dark place. In other words, the power to foretell, as
manifested in the utterances of a David, an Isaiah, an
Ezekiel, or a Daniel, or a Zechariah, in the portrayal in
prophesy of the grand themes their revelations gave to the
world, was proof of the existence of God and of the Superior
Mind, as well as a willingness to communicate as well as
human weakness would permit, its witness to the world of
mankind.

But then there were false prophets and seers all along the
line of history from Baalam's day and Saul's. The worship
of Baal, etc., etc., whose cunning admixture of truth and
error in such proportions as was also seen in the Egyptian
and Grecian oracles, and which made them a source of
wealth to the priest who practiced enchantment, manipul-
ated consciously or unconsciously the powers of the air, and
summoned to their aid the language of the heavens to
astound the ignorant and unwary.

These powers, natural or supernatural, were not abated in
exhibition of their force and appeal in Peter's day. J-.sus
and his disciples were constantly met in their ministry by

14 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

these opposing agencies, and which, it seems, could only be
exposed by heavenly authority and manifestation upon the
part of those whom God had commissioned as ambassadors
of his eternal truth.

Thus became it necessary for Jesus to warn them and the
world against false prophets, whose disguise the ignorant
and unwary would fail to penetrate.

False prophets were to arise, according to Paul, and lead
away many, and Peter forewarns the world, as shown in the
previous pages, that in the last days that wicked influence
should be revealed, whose coming and advent was to be
after the cunning and plausible power of Satan, with all
power of signs and lying wonders, to deceive those who
were not willing to receive the love of the truth, but would
be after a revelation that promised continued life, and lib-
erty without law and blessing without obedience.

These facts, then, made the introduction of the third and
final witness and rational test of Peter's religion a necessity,
which was this :

The revelation, by heavenly arrangement according to the
plan devised and offered in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, was
the promise and pledge of the Holy Ghost with all its
blessed and manifold gifts to man by Peter upon Penticost
day ; not to one, but to all, even as many as the Lord
"should call."

It was a simple reiteration of Jesus' promise, when he
said :

" My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent. me. If any man will
do the will of God he shall know of the doctrine, whether it is of God,
or whether I speak of myself."

The true nature and character of Jesus Christ, more
especially that concerning his nativity, could not be ascer-
tained by natural method. No man could say that Jesus
was other than man, with certainty, save but by the per-

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 15

sonal revelation of God through the . testimony of Jesus
Christ, the gift of the Holy Ghost. Upon the contrary,
they were likely to, and did say, that he was naught but a
man, and in most cases a very bad man.

But when this holy intelligence and influence was received
through obedience to the doctrine and commandments of
Jesus, not only was his divinity revealed, but by this
unspeakable gift to man, he was through conformity to law
and holy living, to be led into, guided and instructed in the
way of all truth.

These three witnesses then, we claim, have given us the
permanency and stability that ever belonged to the early
Christian faith.

By the sure word of prophecy and this testimony of Jesus
to them, they overcame the world and made human history
illustrious with its hope.

Signs and wonders might be counterfeited, and even
prophesy might be successfully imitated enough by satanic
force to deceive, besides leaving perhaps a man's moral
character untouched or unregenerated, but the spirit of truth
was culminative, and to those who continued in his word,
unerasable and unanswerable. The way to knowledge con-
cerning heavenly things was opened, and that was enough,
for Jehova had parted the vail that was in the temple which
had served only as a sensual figure or type to Israel of the
heavenly thing now to be manifest to men when on the
cross His Son said : " It is finished," and the way into the
Holy of Holies was opened once for all, and man might
without hindrance or let draw near to God.

This, then, we present as a postulate of evid nces in favor
or proof of original Christianity.

1 6 THE SEER OF PALMYRA;

CHAPTER II.

" Surely, the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his ser-
vants, the prophets." (AMOS iii, 7.)

"Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the
God of Jacob." (IsA. xli. 21.)

PBOUT seventy years ago, in the western part of the
State of New York, a young man about fifteen years
of age, by the name of Joseph Smith, placed before
his father's family and startled the immediate neighborhood
by the statement that in answer to prayer he had received
the visitation of heavenly angels.

His own statement concerning these events, epitomized, is
something like this : That while deeply moved religiously
through revivals that were being held in his neighborhood,
and finding a conflict in his father's family as to which of
the religious sects or churches they should join, as he was
reading the Bible, his eye fell upon, this passage in James

GAS. i, 5) :

" If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all
men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him," etc.

Being too inexperienced in modern ways of juggling the
scriptures to presume that the Lord did not mean what he
said, he proceeded to a piece of woods or grove, and
kneeling alone he prayed, and the angels' visit is thus
described by him :

"My object in going to enquire of the Lord, was to know which of
all these sects was right, that I might know which one of them to join.
I asked the personages who stood above me in the light,.- which of all
the sects was right, for it had never entered into my heart that all were
wrong, and which I should join. I was answered that I should join
none of them for they were all wrong, and the personage who
addressed me said that all the creeds were an abomination in his sight,
that the professors of religion were corrupt. 'They draw near me
with their lips, but their hearts are far from me ; they teach for doc-

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 17

trine the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they
deny the power thereof.' He again forbade me to join any of them."
— HISTOEY OF JOSEPH SMITH.

From the minister to whom he confided his wonderful
experience, he received a contemptuous reply that he was
the subject of hallucination, and that it was all of the Devil ;
that there were no more such things as revelations or angels'
visits to men ; that they had ceased with and in the days of
Christ and his apostles.

Again, on the eve of September 21, 1823, another vision
was presented to Joseph Smith, in which a person, glorious
in appearance in the whiteness of his robes and the light
which accompanied him, who told him that he was a mes-
senger sent from God to inform him concerning the work
that the Lord had selected him to perform, giving him to
understand at the outset that his name should be had for
good and evil in all the world and among all nations, a thing
most unlikely to happen to an illiterate youth. He said that
there was a book deposited and written upon gold plates,
giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent
and the source from which they sprang. He also said that
the fulness of the everlasting gospel was contained in it as
delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants.

He also quoted from the Hebrew scriptures in regard to the
mission of Christ, and also opened up to this youth a vision
of the place where the book was concealed, so that it was
afterwards found by this means.

Subsequently, also, by angel ministry, and in fulfillment of
promises made by heavenly messengers to him that the time
had come for the Lord himself to work among men, and
that the ancient gospel with its gifts and the church of
Christ was to be restored to earth, and that he with others
was to be endowed with priesthood and authority to act and
administer in the name of the Lord ; that he would confirm

IS THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

their testimony to the gospel with signs following, as in
ancient times, giving heavenly instructions in regard to the
work of organization and spreading abroad the ancient gospel
and kingdom of God among men. Also, the angel told him
that God was about to fulfil the covenants made in the
Hebrew scriptures to the Jew : "That the land of Palestine
was to be restored to its former fertility, and the Jew was to
be gathered back to this land in fulfillment of the covenant
which God had made with their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, as well as all the prophets who had foretold of
these things, and that all these things were to take place in
this generation.

Now that a young man, or rather youth, should make
claim of angel visitation in our day, might, or might not be,
a strange thing. Joan of Arc saw visions; Immanuel
Swedenborg has impressed thousands with the testimony of
his seership ; and visions and revelations, as we have pre-
viously shown, are not things to be especially wondered at,
more especially since the time of the announcement of the
work begun through the instrumentality of this young man.

But the marked differences between the claim for their
origin and proof, as well as the results with which his work
has been characterized, and the work and character of the
manifestations wrought through Ann Lee, Swedenborg,
Catholic revelation or modern spiritualistic phenomenon,
are the objective points to which we wish to call the reader's
attention.

That this young man should say : First that an angel had
told him that his name should be spoken of in all the world
both for good and for evil, might be the result of wild fanati-
cism or mental hallucination, and if unproved by subsequent
events would certainly justify us in such conclusion. But
what are the facts in the case ? While men said that this
boy would never be known beyond his own immediate

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 19

neighboshood, history already for half a century records the
exact fulfillment of the prediction of this illiterate youth, and
the friends and enemies of Joseph Smith and " Mormonism,"
are already in every part of the globe.

That he should write a book* giving a mythical history of
two or three separate and distinct nations or peoples
whose progenitors and founders emigrated to the continent
of America, beginning as far back in human history as
the time of the abatement of the flood, or about 2200 years
before Christ, and another just prior to the time of the
destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the
carrying away into Babylonish captivity of the main body of
Israelitish dwellers therein, or 600 years B. C., and still of
another people subsequent to the captivity.

These things might not of themselves prove any thing

* The Book of Mormon has been claimed by the enemies of
Joseph Smith and of the Latter Day work to be a revamped story
written originally by one Solomon Spa aiding, etc., the manuscript of
which was stolen by Smith and revamped by the aid of Sidney
Rigdon, a disciple minister, and palmed off upon a half million of
credulous people as a revelation from God.

To this stupid falsehood there is not, nor has there been attest
or shadow of reasonable testimony.

Born of the imagination of some one, as being the solution of the
origin of the Book of Mormon, this story, for want of a better explana-
tion, has obtained currency almost throughout the world, and popu-
lar encyclopedial literature furnishes, as in Jesus' day, stories concern-
ing the origin of a religion and a book that opposes priestcraft
statements substantiated only by the preface, " It is claimed, It is
supposed," etc. As a matter of fact, Sidney Rigdon never saw any-
thing of the manuscript of the B. of M. until a printed copy was
placed in his hand. Any amount of testimony of men now living
can substantiate this, the manuscript of the original Spaulding
story, having been by the Providence of God found in Honolulu,
Sandwich Islands, and now in the possession of James H. Fairchild,
President of Oberlin, Ohio, College, and a copy of which can be
procured by addressing the Herald, Lamoni, Iowa.

20 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

extraordinary unless other evidence was had. But when
we take in our hand the Bible and find that the prophets and
seers of the Old Testament, as well as Jesus Christ himself
and his apostles in the New Testament plainly foretold off
and delineated these very things which Mr. Smith has in
his life work brought about and fulfilled to the very letter,
we begin to see room for just grounds for the claim of some-
thing more for the work of Joseph Smith and what the world
calls "Mormonism" than can be claimed by any other modern
prophet, seer, or professed revealer of the supernatural.

To demonstrate that we are dealing soberly and honestly
as well as truthfully in this, it will be necessary to open
briefly the pages of that which orthodox Jew arvd Gentile
receive as authority, the Bible.

ist, We stated that Joseph Smith startled his father's
family and neighbors by these statements concerning the
angel's message, and that the messenger had told him of a
book, written upon plates of gold, sealed up and hidden for
preservation in the ground centuries before by those whom
God had commanded to do this, and for purposes which
the book itself reveals. That it gave an account of the first
peoples who settled this continent, etc., etc.

Now we submit that this was a strange and unlikely story
for even wise men to tell, and the fact that they never have
told any such story is proof that Smith originated it, if the
angel story is not true.

This book which was first given to the world over sixty
years ago delivers an account of people who came from tha
tower of Babel at the time that God confounded their
language.

What does the Bible say?

«« Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did
there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did
the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." (GEN.

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 21

America is a part of " the earth."

American archaeological research, testimony and author-
ity, confirm these statements.

Concerning the second emigration to this land as affirmed
in the book of Mormon, we call the Bible reader's attention
to the forty-eighth chapter of Genesis, where as seen in the
nineteenth verse, Jacob, a prophet of the living God, blesses
the two sons of his own favorite son, Joseph, whom his
brethera sold into Egypt ; and said of them :

"The angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and
let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth ; and of the
elder, (Manasseh) he said, he also shall become a people, and he also
shall be great, but truly his younger brother, (Ephraim) shall be
greater than he, and his seed shall become a rmiltit'ude of nations"
(GEN. xlviii, 16-19.)

Where, save in the remnant of one of Jacob or Israel's
scattered sons or tribes, as seen in the multitude of Indian
nations which Columbus discovered as possessing this land,
can we find a rational explanation or fulfillment of this
prophesy ? Certainly not in Palestine, the land covenanted
to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for there was not, nor is there
room enough in that land for its fulfillment, neither does
subsequent history record its fulfillment there.

Farther evidence and light is obtained by reading the
forty-ninth chapter, beginning with the first verse :

" And Jacob called his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together,
that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days."

Blessings of various degrees and kind, and to modern
readers, without special significance, concerning Israel's sons
or tribes are here spoken of prophetically, but when we
come to the prophetic blessing of Joseph and his line, as
seen in the twenty-second verse, we have this :

"Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough whose brandies

nm ov«r the wall, Even by the God of thy father,

who shall help thee ; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with

22 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under,
blessings of the breast and of the womb."

' ' The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of
my progenitors unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills; they
shall be on the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the head of him
that was separated from lus brethren." (22d to 2;th verses.)

Here it will be seen are blessings of a temporal character
of greater magnitude than was promised to Abram and
Isaac, Jacob's progenitors — the land of Palestine (see Gen.
xiii, 14 to 1 8), and locates it through this prophesy
as " Unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills." A
choice land, blessed " with the blessings of heaven above,
and of the deep (seas,) " etc.

To Moses, a servant and prophet of God, and without peer
until the days of Christ, was this same thing also revealed,
as we have account in the book of Deuteronomy, Chap,
xxxiii, ist and i3th to i8th verses :

" And this is the blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God,
blessed the children of Israel before his death."

" And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land^ for the
precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth
beneath,

"And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the
precious things put forth by the moon,

" And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the
precious things of the lasting hills,

" And for the precious things of the earth and the fullness thereof,"
. . . "let the blessing come upon Joseph, and upon the top of
the head of him that was separated from his brethren,

" His g4ory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are
like the horns of unicorns; with them shall he push the people
together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of
Ephraim, and they are thousands of Manasseh."

" The utmost bound of the everlasting hills," as described
by Jacob and Moses, could consistently be located in no
other place upon the globe than upon the land of America,
where, as upon no other part of this earth can these pro-

Ok, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 23

phetic declarations, in regard to the favor of God, bestowed
upon our most glorious land as seen in " The precious things
brought forth by the sun," the divergence and plentiousness
of fruit and food produced in both Americas, "The precious
things of the earth and fullness thereof," " And the precious
things put forth by the moon," the action of tides, cleansing
our great coast cities, as well as supplying fish and food,
etc., etc.

" And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the
precious things of the everlasting hills."

See reports of the iron, copper, silver and gold, as taken
already from its " Ancient mountains and lasting hills."

Farther biblical evidence also is found in the book of
the prophet Hosea, concerning the Book of Mormon, as
found in the eighth chapter, and verse eleven and twelve :

" Because Ephraim hath made many a*ltars to sin, altars shall be
unto him a sin,"

" I have written to him the great things of my law, but they are
counted as a strange thing."

The word of God and Gospel of Jesus Christ as delivered
to the forefathers of these Indian tribes of America, whose
ancestors came from the land of Jerusalem in pursuance of
a warning from God to their father Lehi just prior to its,
destruction in the days of Zedekiah, the King of Judah,
and recorded in the Bc**?k of Mormon, has been, and is
indeed to-day, " counted as a strange thing."

The prophet Ezekiel also has given us evidence concern*-
ing tins book, as we find in the thirty-seventh chapter^,
particularly iri the fifteenth to tw-enty- third verses :

" The word of the Lord came agaiij unto me, saying,

"Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon
it, for Judah and for the children of Israel his companions : then
take another stick; and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of
Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions :

" And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall
become one in thine hand.

24 THE SEER OF PALI.

*' And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, say-
ing, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?

"Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take
the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes
of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick
of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine
hand.

' ' And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before
thine eyes.

*' And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will
take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be
gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their
own land."

Writings were anciently called sometimes books, and
sometimes sticks ; i. e. written parchment fastened upon
sticks, and rolled or unrolled as they read, hence the term
" sticks " by Ezekiel.

Here are two sticks or books, one called the stick of
Judah, the Bible, and another, called the stick of Joseph,
which is to be found in the hand of Joseph's son whom, we
remember, was blessed of his grandfather Jacob, and in
which was to be found the great things of God's law and
which were to be " counted a strange thing."

And when the people enquire what these things mean,
we are not to say that it is the Spaulding story, but, — " say
unto them, Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold I will take the
children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be
gone and bring them on every side, and bring them into
their own land," a thing that the Lord has been moving
nations and the heavens themselves ever since the coming
forth of this book to accomplish.

Still farther evidence is found in the " Stick of Judah ",
or Bible, by reference to the book of the prophesy of Isaiah,
twenty-ninth chapter, (see whole chap.) where a nation or a
people such as dwelt at Jerusalem should be laid against
with seige and fort and should be brought low ; also visited

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 25

with thunder, earthquake, tempest, etc., (see sixth verse,)
and the speech of these people should whisper out of the
dust, as literally fulfilled in the coming forth of this book and
the record that it gives of this people.

And the multitude of all the nations that fought against
Jerusalem — Gentiles — was, as to prophets and seers, to be
covered and hid.

What is the claim of these Gentile nations since the
days of Christ? No more prophets or seers; no longer
needed, we are told.

" And the vision of all has become as the words of a book which
is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this,
I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed." (Eleventh
verse.)

The points of identification and comparison between the
claims of Joseph Smith and this prophesy of Isaiah are these :

i. — Martin Harris, a farmer of Palmyra, takes to Prof.
Anthon, a noted scholar and linguist of New York City, a
transcript or copy of some of "the words of the book " for
information as an investigator. Martin Harris told the
writer in person that the conversation had with Prof. Anthon
was a literal fulfillment of the scriptures before he ever knew
it was in the Bible.

2.— "The book," (twelfth verse), not the words of the
book,- — is delivered to him that is not learned — Joseph
Smitn, — saying, "Read this I pray thee," and he saith,
*' I am not learned " — the words of the illiterate youth to
the angel.

Then, for the first time after long centuries of silence, and
in spite of the learned ignorance of men, who said, as they
still say, "that God no longer will reveal himself— that
scripture canon was closed on Patmos " — God speaks as he
said by the mouth of Isaiah he would do ; thus, thirteenth
verse:

26 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

"Wherefore, the Lord said, Forasmuch as the people draw near me
with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed
their hearts from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the pre-
cepts of men."

Was this true in the day when Smith claimed the fulfill-
ment concerning the book, and is it true to-day ? Look at
the fashion and form and empty professional and liturgical
worship in our popular churches to-day. Is it now, and
was it fifty years ago, especially true that our " fear toward
God was taught by the precepts of men," such as Calvin's
and modern defenders of a religious creed that, according
to Herbert Spencer, doomed untold millions to endless
tortures " for a small crime which they never committed ?"
Did not the pictures of an orthodox hell by the preacher
prove that " their fear toward God was taught by the pre-
cepts of men," as Isaiah said it would be at the time of the
coming forth of the book ? Twelfth verse.

" Therefore, behold I will proceed to do a marvelous work among
this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom <>f
their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent
men shall be hid."

How will God do or work ?

We can answer that best and safest, we think, by asking
how he has worked in the past.

Amos the prophet says, (AMOS iii, 7) :

" Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret
unto his servants the prophets"

And as the fashionable churches had long since recognized
prophets as unnecessary which God set in his ancient
church, the Lord was obliged to go outside of men-made
churches in order to keep his word which he made with
Amos:

" For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish."

Let us keep this in mind and see if the work inaugurated

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 27

through Joseph Smith has been and is fulfilling to-day this
prophecy.

For a half century a church without a college or theo-
logical school, with an illiterate ministry, has faced every
form of opposition that opposed the work of the early Chris-
tians. The ingenuity of men and of devils has been taxed
to invent and circulate falsehoods concerning the defenders
of this religion and the claims of Joseph Smith.

Hundreds of discussions have been had, and no matter
what others have done, public debate and open ventilation
of their claims has never been denied in any part of the
world, nor is it to-day by this people.

What is the result universally and always of these discus-
sions ? Hundreds, if not thousands, have been baptized at
the close of debate, and in every instance, so far as we know,
the defenders of the claims of Joseph Smith have done the
baptizing.

Is this evidence ? Nay, is it not proof of itself, that " the
wisdom of their wise men" have perished?

Again, seventeenth verse :

4 ' Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a
fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?"

" A very little while " — only sixteen years after the coming
forth of the Book of Mormon, and the land of Palestine that
has for centuries lain a desert and waste, receives at the hand
of heaven the long, lost, early and latter rain, as is now too
well known to farther refer to, and is a most important testa-
tor to the truthfulness of the mission of the Latter Day Seer.

Again, i8th verse.

" And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and
the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness."

It is a well-attested fact that in our day, and that through
the power of God restored to His church, the blind have
been made to see, the lame walk, and the once deaf have

28 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

been made to "hear the words of the book " of which the
world knows so little.

" The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor
among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." (igth verse.)

Conscientious, devoted, and spiritually-minded people —
thousands of them — have increased " their joy in the Lord"
through the teachings of this book, and the blessings which
the latter day message has brought to their creed- distracted
souls.

And as in Jesus' day, when John, while in prison, sent to-
him for evidences of his mission, Jesus sent back word that
among other evidences was the fact that " the poor had the
gospel preached to them." Because the poor are among
us, and are "rejoicing in the Holy One of Israel," is a
cause for popular disfavor, as in Jesus' day.

22d verse.

"Therefore, thus saitn the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, con-
cerning the house of Jacob, Jacob (Israel) shall not be ashamed,
neither shall his face now wax pale."

At the time of the coming forth of this book, over sixty
years ago, the Jew was despised, and had few favors at the
hand of any man, even in free America. What changes
have been wrought in favor of Israel \ How astonishingly
rapid has been the fulfillment of this prediction in the favor
shown to the Jew in most of the countries of the world ;
his advancement politically in England, France, Germany,
and in other countries ; his rapid accumulation of wealth,
etc., etc.

"They also that erred in Spirit shall come to understanding, and
they that murmur shall learn doctrine." (24th verse.)

The hypnotic and unbiblical manifestations exhibited in
modern religious revivals* are ample proof of present fulfill-

*We offer the following newspaper clippings : At a meeting of the
New York Medico-Legal Society, in January, the Committee on
Hypnotism, Dr. E. Morgan, Jr., chairman, reported that after a year's

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 29

ment of this part of Isaiah's testimony in our day — that
those well meaning people, without lawful testimony or
guide, in seeking after supernatural manifestations from God
have " erred in spirit," and the object of the latter day
restoration is to bring them to a correct understanding,
through instruction of the promised comforter, even the
spirit of truth — to those who are willing to obey the ancient
gospel.

And those also who have been murmuring at the incon-
sistencies of the creeds of men, have been, are learning and
may learn of the doctrine of Christ by obedience to his law
and receive according to his own promise a knowledge of
its truthfulness.

consideration of the subject, they regarded it safe to say that the fol-
lowing facts had been established : •

First — Hypnosis or artificial trance sleep is a subjective phenome-
non, and may be self-induced through expectation alone, through
fright, by religious ecstasy, or any enrapturing emotion.

Second — Hypnosis is not in itself a disease.

Third — Hypnosis is recognized in three stages — lethargy, somnam-
bulism, and catalepsy. The transition may be immediate.

Fourth — Hypnotism has been serviceable in medical and surgical
practice, both as a therapeutic agent, and in some cases as an efficient
and safe anaesthetic.

Fifth — The illusory impressions created by hypnosis may be made ta
dominate and tyrannize the subsequent actions of the subject.

THE MUNCIE REVIVAL — PEOPLE STILL CONTINUE TO FALL IN TRANCES
AND TO TFTVL BIG STORIES AFTERWARDS.

MUNCIE, IND., Fecember 15. — People continue to fall in hypnotic
style by the dozen at the great revival being held here by the evange-
list, Mrs. Woodworth, and interest is growing intensly. Ministers are
here from several points in Ohio and Illinois taking active part in the
meetings. To-night, Miss Hughes, who was in a hypnotized state-
seventy hours, told her second vision in her five minutes' talk. She
said she was taken '.o I:.e:. -en by an angel. Her brother met her at
the gate, and bade her cor:e in, but the Lord said not, as she had
great work on erut" "ngel then escorted her to hell,, where she

30 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

"They compass sea and land to make one proselyte," said
Jesus of the ancient Pharisee.

Discarding and refusing to "abide in the doctrine of
Christ," the ingenuity of the minister and the church trustee
is drawn upon to-day to sustain the church against the dis-
integrating forces at work, and a sensational emotional
preacher or "evangelist " is negotiated with, and secured at
generally a considerably higher salary than his professed
Master is supposed to have had, and one "whose latest
method and " success " in " converting " people is that
after a " touching" display of stage method and oratory an

saw a young man she knew pitched head first into the fiery furnace.
Mrs. Emma Richings, who was hypnotized twenty hours, said she saw
the gold brick paved streets with white marble buildings. While
visiting hell she saw the face of Mary in the audience before her there.
She was escorted on her journey by the wings of an eagle and begged
to mreain, but was told to return and exclaim to all the world what
she had seen. Both the women saw relatives with many stars in their
crowns.

A Pennsylvania woman has gone without food 250 days, and she
claims to see things taking place in heaven.

ONE YEAR IN A TRANCE — STRANGE EXPERIENCE OF MISS GRACE GRID-
LEY OF ILLINOIS.

AMBOY, ILL., February 5. — Miss Grace Gridley, of this place, has
just awakened from a most remarkable and prolonged trance. As the
result of religious excitement, she went into a comatose condition
nearly a year ago, and continued in that state up to the present time,
taking no food during all that time except a little in liquid form.

NO USE FOR HYPNOTISM.

CINCINNATI, OHIO, Jan. 18, 1891. — Dr. J. W. Prendergast, health
officer of this city, has influenced the authorities to refuse a license to
a lecturer on hypnotism and his entertainments have been stopped.

Dr. Prendergast takes the ground that hypnotism, when applied
indiscriminately, is injurious, as it affects the mental health of the sub-
ject. Upon his recommendation the council has passed an ordinance
to make it a misdemeanor to give hypnotic exhibitions.

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 31

invitation to those impressed to " come forward " is urgently
made. A cordon of sympathetic friends is placed around
himself and the seeker of religion. Then a circle of minis-
ters, if the revival is "big" enough to warrant their pres-
ence, and perhaps another wall of church members surround-
ing all, and this combination or battery of electric, psychic
or hypnotic force is started, crowding into its receptive
victim something that may be as foreign to a deliberate
rational conclusion as is the night from the day, and the
result is that a " Holy Ghost " is obtained whose influence
and manifestation may be as foreign to ancient Gospel
teaching as is the impressions of the ordinary professional
hypnotist or mesmerist upon the public exhibition platform,
and as far from the scriptures or the teaching of the "spirit
of truth" as light is from darkness.

We turn again to the prophet Zechariah, ist Chapter
1 4th and I5th verses :

" So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, say-
ing, Thus saith the Lord of hosts : I am jealous for Jerusalem . .
with great jealousy.

" I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease, for I
was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction."

God was displeased with Jerusalem and the Jews for their
rejection of Christ and the prophets ; but the heathen (Gen-
tiles) have " helped forward their affliction " by their long
persecution of the Jew.

"Therefore, thus saith the Lord: I am returned to Jerusalem with
mercies ; my house shalt be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, etc.

"Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, my cities through
prosperity shall yet be spread abroad, and the Lord . . . shall
yet choose Jerusalem.

'* Then I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold four horns.

" And I said unto the angel that talked with me, what be these?
And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah,
Israel and Jerusalem,

" And the Lord showed me four carpenters.

32 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

" Then said I, What came these to do? And he spake, saying, These
are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift
up his head, but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of
the Gentiles which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to
scatter it." i6th to I9th verses.

This work has already commenced since the angels' mes-
sage to Joseph Smith — see 2d Chapter, ist and 2d verses.

" 1 lifted mine eyes again and looked and behold a man with a
measuring line in his hand.

"Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To-
measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof and what is the
length thereof."

Now, what was the use of measuring Jerusalem, while the
walls now standing mark exactly its measurement? Let us
see :

" And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth and
another angel went out to meet him,

" And said unto him, run, speak to this young man saying, Jerusa-
lem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men
and cattle therein/' verses 3 and 4.

Zechariah here predicts the final restoration of the city of
Jerusalem, the gathering of the Jews that had been cast out
by the horn or power of the Gentile nations. Its borders-
were to be enlarged with a new line of measurement because,
with the multitude of men and cattle that was to gather
there, they would necessarily have to go outside of the pres-
ent limits of the wall now standing, and thus Jerusalem is to
" be inhabited as towns without walls."

Notice of this wonderful and miraculous change in regard
to the Jew and his land is first given to a young man by an.
angel.

While Jerusalem was deserted almost, and Palestine a
waste, Joseph Smith declared and affirmed till the day of
his slaughter that the angel made this known unto him,,
when as yet he knew nothing of the prophecy as recorded
in the Bible. Was not this a strange prediction for a youth

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 33

to make, and is it not rationally easier to believe that
God, who changes not, and who by the Holy Ghost inspired
Zechariah to make this prediction, sent also his angel to
Joseph Smith to fulfil it, rather than that this " young man '*
invented it?

David, also in the 85 Psalm gives us prophetic light upon
this same subject, seventh verse L

"Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. . . .
" I will hear what God the Lord will speak :• for he will speak
peace unto his people, and to his saints : but let them not turn again
to folly.

" Surely his salvation is nigh unto them that fear him: that glory
may dwell in our land.

" Mercy and truth are met together : righteousness and peace have
kissed each other.

" Truth shall spring out of the earth; righteousness shall look down
from heaven.

Yea the Lord shall give that which is good ; and our land shalt
yield her increase, 7th to 1 2th verses.

Here then, we claim, are three witnesses to the Latter Day
work which have been upon the stand for over a half century
and have stood the fire of the world's cross examination, and
all attempts at impeachment have thus far proved abortive.

Truth was to "spring out of the earth;" what is truth?
Jesus said, "Thy word is truth." The word of God or great
things of his law written to Ephriam upon this continent,
sprung " out of the earth," when the sealed book was given-
to this generation :

"Righteousness shall look down from heaven."

The angel flight to Joseph Smith with the everlasting gos-
pel, in fulfillment also of Revelation 14 :6, and which alone
reveals God's righteousness, gives us the only rational inter-
pretation that can be placed upon this prophecy.

And with this testimony of earth and of heaven comes
the third witness :

"And our land shall yield her increase.'*

34 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

Also in the 5oth Psalm, ist and 3d to 6 verses:

4 'The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the
earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof."

"Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence, a fire shall devour
before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him."

Here is a description of the Saviour's coming, as given by
himself and his apostles, Peter and Paul. Prior to his com-
ing he told his disciples :

"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for
a witness, and then shall the end come." (Matt. 24:14.)

Although men have said God would no more speak,
David affirms that he will "not keep silence," but that "the
heavens shall declare his righteousness." Then must the
Gospel be again revealed. And he is also to " call to the
earth" for a testimony, why ? "That he may judge his people."

Could God consistently judge and condemn the world for
rejecting a gospel that has for centuries been undergoing
repairs at the hands of theological tinkers, and is now so full
of patches that the original is about out of sight ? God has
called to the heavens, and they have answered by the angels
flight,

"And to the earth."

And the earth has answered, and yielded her treasure of
witness to the truth of the Bible and the gospel of Jesus
Christ, in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.

Turn also to Leviticus, 26th Chapter, 3d verse, where the
Lord warns Israel, through Moses, in regard to their future,
thus :

"If ye walk in my statutes and keep my commandments, and do
them:

" Then will I give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield
her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit." etc. etc.

But if they refuse to hear, the Lord says —

"I will make your cities waste " . . . " And I will bring the
land to desolation" . . . "Then shall the land enjoy her Sab-
baths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land."

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 35

But—

" If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their
fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that
also they have walked contrary to me " . . . "If then their
uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept the punish-
ment of their iniquity" . . . "Then will I remember my cove-
nant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac", und also my cove-
nant with Abraham will I remember; and I u>ill remember the land."
(LEV, xxvi, 3-4 and 31-42.

How literally this prophecy has been fulfilled upon the
race of the Jews and upon their land, we all know. Jesus
said that " Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gen-
tiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."* (LUKE
xxi, 24.) Paul said — ROM. xi, i to 25.) " Hath God

*The latest among a score of clippings from current newspaper
articles, confirmatory of this and for want of space, must suffice as the
only one we present from editorial of Boston Globe, three days ago,
March 10.

PALESTINE FOR THE JEWS. — A memorial was presented to the pres-
ident last week, asking that the government "use their good offices
and influence " to bring about an international conference among the
European powers looking to the restoration of Palestine to the Jews.

Palestine has attracted unusual interest of late, which interest has
been much stimulated by the recent persecution of the Jews in Russia.
There seems to be a singular concensus among biblical scholars, nota-
ble among whom is Prof. Totten, of Yale, who declare that the proph-
ecies point to this as the time when Palestine is to be restored to the
Jews. Somewhat interesting is the fact that Consul Gillman, the
United States representative at Jerusalem, in speaking of the new rail-
way from Jerusalem to Jaffa, quotes the prophecies as foretelling the
introduction of the first locomotives into Palestine as follows :

" The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his prep-
aration. . . They shall seem like torches; they shall run like
the lightning." (NAHUM ii, 3 :4.")

But modern statesmanship is not usually guided by prophecy. The
practical fact is that 2,000,000 Jews are being persecuted and driven
out of Russia. Palestine, which at present contains but about 400,000
people, would easily sustain 4,000,000. It is a country* of great natu-

36 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

cast away his people ?" God forbid ! but — " that blindness
in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gen-
tiles be come in " . . . <rand then all Israel shall be
saved."" How? By the preaching of orthodox ministers?*
Oh no! but "as it is written1' and as the angel told Joseph
Smith, and in no other way. The cessation of Gentile
oppression in Jerusalem will be the fulfillment of this proph-
ecy in part at least, and the rejection of the Gospel by this

ral resources, now languishing under the dead weight of the Turk.
Only recently has a railway been introduced, and electric lighting and
other modern appliances have been started in Jerusalem. Fifty new
houses have been built within the past year.

The time certainly seems to be opportune from one point of view,
for the banished Jews to re-enter the land of their fathers and build up
a modern civilization. Of course they would require generous, and
perhaps long-continued assistance, and perhaps this would be forth-
coming. All that the Christian powers of Europe could do would be
to guarantee protection.

But any proposition on the part of the " powers " to send the Jews
into Palestine and shut them up there by force is out of place when
dealing with so intelligent a people. Like the proposition to 4l send
the Africans back to Africa," it is a piece of impertinent assumption
which belittles and degrades. The Jews are already immigrating into
Palestine very rapidly. The latest consular reports from Palestine
present a very^ flattering showing of the resources of that country.
Cereals, fruits, vegetables and the vine flourish there, the orange and
the olive being especially prolific. All the country wants, it is said, is
the introduction of manufacturers, and Palestine may yet be aroused
from oriental slumber to take a high rank among the prosperous and
progressive nations of the earth.

*Rabbinowitz and other converted Jews keep themselves aloof from
all the creeds, pointing their followers to none of the so-called Chris-
tian churches — whose divisions as well as uncertainties of doctrine so
little conform to Bible teaching. In connection with this read Jer.
i6th, 1 4 to 21 especially the igth. — "Oh Lord, my strength and my
fortress," . . . "The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the
ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies
and vanity, and things wherein there is no profit."

OR, A SEQUEL TO S>' . fZ GIFTS. 17

•Gentile nation will be the signal of God to them that their
time is " fulfilled/' and that " upon whom this stone (Christ)
shall fall, it shall grind him to powder." (MATT, xx, i&), for?

" The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty
angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon those that know not
•God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(II THES. i, 7 :8.)

The Jew rejected this "stone," fell upon it, and was bro-
ken and scattered as the prophets, and Jesus predicted,
This broken remnant are to be gathered again.

*' But upon whom this stone shall fall it shall grind him to powder™

Let then this generation beware and be warned by the
rational message of the servants of God in these last days,
for if the blood of all God's servants, " from the blood of
righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias,
whom they slew between the temple and the altar" (MATT.
xxiii, 35), was required at the hand of that generation for
rejection of the prophets and himself, what shall we say of
this Gentile generation of blind followers, of blind leaders if
they reject not only the teachings of Moses and the
prophets, but Christ and his apostles, and persecute, slander
and slay the servants whom he has sent to >warn them ?
And also, "if they hear not Moses and the prophets," nei-
ther Christ nor the apostles, neither will they * repent " or
"be persuaded, though one rose from the dead" (LUKE xvi,
3 1 ), or if all their departed friends return from the " spirit
world." This is our experience at least.

Thus, while the world is pointing the finger of scorn at
Joseph Smith and the defenders of his claims, God, through
his holy and unchangeable word, points with the finger of
unerring certainty, the lover of truth, to the fulfillment of
the " sure word of prophecy " as culminative proof of the
mission of the Palmyra Seer.

Again, Joseph Smith claimed to be the chief instrument
in the hand of God in the restoration of the church and

38 THE SEER OF PALMYRA;

kingdom (synonymous terms) of God to earth in our clay.

Did he in this speak, as did his Master when on earthr
with authority of a commission from God, or did he assume
that which facts and scripture will not warrant ? His tradi-
tions were, until the angel visit dispelled them, those which
the priests had taught and still teach, that all the churches
evangelical, constitute the church of God. Let us see " To-
the law and to the testimony."

In the book of the prophet Daniel, second chapter, we
have the interpretation of the king of Babylon's dream con-
cerning that which God showed him should " be in the latter
days" (28th verse) and in the interpretation of this dream
of the image Daniel says, 44th verse :

" And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a
kingdom which shall never be destroyed."

This kingdom, or stone, as it is called in the 34th and
35th verses, which was to smite the image on its feet,
" became a great mountain and filled the whole earth,"
(35th verse).

Now this could not reasonably compare with a mountain
of earth and of stone, for such a mountain must have cor-
responding valleys to make it such, consequently could not
as such fill the earth.

The prophet Micah gives us explanation in the 4th chap-
ter of his prophecy, ist verse :

" But in the last days " (chronology the same as Daniel) " it shall
come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be es-
tablished in the top of the mountains," etc., etc.

What is the house of the Lord ? Paul tells us in i Tim.
iii. 15, that it "is the church of the living God." Daniel
tells us that in the days of these kings — not the days of
Caesar's government, when as yet neither the legs nor toes
of Nebuchadnezzar's image were in existence — should " the
God of heaven set up a kingdom." And if "the church of
the living God " and of Jesus Christ was the kingdom of

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 39

God in their day, as they taught, and has gone into the
wilderness (see Rev. xii, 1-6) — if this kingdom or church
suffered violence, and the violent have taken it by force, as
Jesus said they would do, or, in other words, destroy from
the face of the earth the ancient church organization
(which we know has been done), and if Daniel and Micah's
prophecy is to be fulfilled in the last days, we shall have to
know that the original pattern which God gave of church
government as shown in the Bible will have to be restored
to earth again through some means or somebody.

Again. When asked by his disciples what should be the
sign of his second coming, he replied, " this gospel of the
Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness"
(Matt, xxiv, 3, 4, 14.)

The kingdom, then, was among, or in the midst of them,,
the Jews. Its officers were as God and Christ placed them
in it : first, apostles ; second, prophets, with spiritual gifts,,
etc., etc.' Its reproduction in our day through the instru-
mentality of "the weak things of this world" is evidence-
that God is working through former methods, and in his>
own unchangeable way.

This gospel was also to be as Paul said (Rom. 1-16)%.
" The power of God unto Salvation." But Paul also pre-
dicted that " in the last days perilous times should come."

"Men should be lovers of themselves," . . . and
" having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof"
(II Tim. iii, i to 6.)

Has time confirmed or denied the truth of Paul's predic-
tion? "No more Apostles, No more prophets," says the
world ; 'No more the gifts of the gospel.' Its power denied
by popular ministers, as Paul said it would be in the last days*.

Who was right in this, and in agreement with the word of
God ? Smith, or the men that have since persecuted him
and his adherents ?

/4D THE SEER OF PALMYRA;

Again, in the revelation which John was given on Patmos,
in which history for centuries was unrolled to his gaze, he
saw concerning things which were to transpire after his day —
"Another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the ever-
lasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,
, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongues, and people,
" Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to
I him; for the hour of his judgment is come. (Rev. xiv,

6:7.)

Have we not shown that that Gospel which " is the power
of God " was not here ? Hence the necessity, of its restora-
tion, and under circumstances that will make good the word
of God, and prove itself to be according as " it is written ?"

Who claims a gospel restoration at the hands of an angel
but Mr. Smith ? Does the Pope, or any of the protestant
: reformers?

Note also this message was to be delivered in " the hour
of God's judgment." While the world was crying " peace
and safety," Joseph Smith, by proclamation to all the world,
and to kings and rulers, declared the message of God that,
" after the testimony of his servants should come the testi-
mony of destruction by storms and tempest and vivid light-
ning " — by war in our own lands, as well as in foreign coun-
vtries.*

What was *the pious and popular ministers doing all the
while but crying " peace and safety ;" that the millennium

*"The judgments of God are almost ready to burst upon the
nations of the earth. . . . And now I am prepared to say by the
authority of Jesus Christ that not many years shall pass away before
the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not
a parallel in the history of our nation." — Letter of Joseph Smith to N.
.Seaton, of New York, Jan. 5, 1833.

" Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly
• come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will
veventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls. The

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 41

was to come, if at all, by the preaching of the various gos-
pels they had formulated, and through them the world was
to be converted to God, etc., etc , and, like their predeces-
sors in Christ's day, paying little attention to the warning of
God's servants and prophet, save by endeavor to throw
dust in the eyes of the people and crying, " Beware of false
prophets."

Let us see farther :

" Jesus said, As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the day
of the coming of the Son of man."

How was it then ?

Did God destroy the people without warning? No, for
** he doeth nothing, save he revealeth his secret unto his
servants the prophets."

days will come that war will be poured out upon all nations beginning
at that place, for behold the Southern States shall be divided against
the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other
nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they
shall also call upon other nations in order to defend themselves
against other nations, and thus shall war be poured out upon all
nations. And it shall come to pass after many days, slaves shall rise
up against their masters, who shall be marshalled and disciplined for
war. And it shall come to pass, also, that the remnants* who are left
of the land shall marshal themselves and shall become exceeding
angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation ; and thus with
the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn,
and with famine, and plague, and earthquakes, and the thunder of
heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightnings also, shall the inhabitants
of the earth be made to feel the wrath and indignation and chasten-
ing hand of an Almighty God until the consumption decreed hath
made a full end of all nations, that the cry of the saints and the
blood of the saints shall cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of
Sabbaoth from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies. Wherefore
stand ye in holy places, and be not moved until the day of the Lord
come; for behold it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen." — Rev-
elation given through Joseph Smith in the year 1832.

*Indians.

42 THE SEER OF PALMYRA;

Could God consistently bring wholesale catastrophe upon
the world that had been blinded 6y priestcraft and ecclesi-
astical tyranny for centuries without intelligent warning?
Oh, no ! Then,as in the days of Noah, he must send a
prophet to warn the world.

The world said that the Gospel was to be preached to
convert it to Christ, Jesus said that the Gospel which was
then preached, was again to be preached as a witness and
was to be the "avant courier " or sign of his second advent.

In Matt, xx, we have also an account of prophecy con-
cerning the kingdom of God in parable by the Saviour,
where at the first, third, sixth and ninth hour of the day,
servants of God are sent out into the vineyard, or field,
which, he tells us, "is the world"; and lastly, at "about"
the eleventh hour — just before the close of day, or time of
work or labor — he calls again servants — not called of them-
selves, nor of their fellow-servants. The leader will per-
ceive that there are hours in the day, or world's history, in
which no servants are called.

This is confirmed also in Luke xiv, 12 to 24, where, in
contradiction of the popular clamor, that God sends no-
more servants, (" his servants the prophets," to reveal his
mind and will), Jesus here says that "a certain man made
a great supper and bade many," " and sent his servant, at
supper time" about the close of the day, etc.

This supper evidently refers to the wedding feast, as we
read in Rev. xix, 7-9, and called " the marriage supper of
the Lamb." (pth verse.)

Also referring to Matt, xxv, i, 2, which also proves that
the kingdom will be here upon earth when the Saviour
comes; and that the bride — the church — will go out to
meet him; which disposes of the claim of Advents and
others — that he is going to bring the bride with him, foolish
virgins and all ; or, in other words, that the kingdom which

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 43

Daniel saw will not be set up until after his coming, for
Daniel, you remember, says that "in the days of these
kings " — not after they are destroyed — " shall the God of
Heaven set up a kingdom," etc.

And now to the third and last witness to the Latter Day
Mission.

Joseph Smith stood before the world with his brethren
and boldly made this proposition : That no matter what a
man or woman might, or might not think of him ; if they
would repent of sin, be baptized for the remission of them,
receive the interposition of hands of the eldership of the
church that God himself would reveal to them through the
ancient " comforter " the truthfulness of his mission.*

The fact that though the Pharisees perceived that Peter
and John were ignorant and unlearned men, it did not pre-
vent their boldness when they said,

" And we are his witnesses of these things, as also is the Holy
Ghost which God gives to them that obey him." (ACTS v, 31 : 32.

Has the gift of the Holy Ghost descended upon men and
women in our day, even the spirit of truth, as in contradis-
tinction to other spirits ?

Does it testify of Jesus Christ and of the fulfillment in our
day of that which the prophets and himself predicted ? Has
the power of Godliness which the world denies been con-
firmed upon men in our day ? Let the sufferings and testi-
mony of thousands of honest and intelligent men and women
who have been driven from their homes, ostracized, slan-
dered, hated, persecuted, and some of them slain for the

*Assuming this to be true is to account for the trouble the U. S.
Government has had and is having with apostates from the primitive
" Mormon" faith in the Territory of Utah. They know more of both
the religion of God and of the Devil than do the people that are trying
to regulate them. Hence, the difference of opinion among " Gentiles"
as to their treatment, and the difficulty of solution of "the Mormon
problem" in Utah.

44 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ make answer
to thoughtful minds.

God is unchangeable, and is known, if revealed at all, by
his unchangeability.

We summon then to the truth of the mission of Joseph
Smith and of the latter day work, the same number and
kind of witnesses as did Peter in proof of the mission of
Jesus Christ, the points of identity so strongly marked as to
leave intelligent and honest seekers after truth without
excuse.

Evidences of supernatural character were had then and
are had now for what they may be worth. The vision upon
the mount was one.

When John was in prison he sent to Jesus for evidence of
his mission. "Tell John," said Jesus, how that " the blind
see the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and
the poor have the gospel preached to them."

The faith to raise the dead is not claimed by this people.
Tradition and opposition might alone prevent, for if Jesus
could do no mighty works in his own country because of
their unbelief, what ought in reason to be demanded of his
weak servants after centuries of tradition that these things
are done away, and the constant pressure of a faithless gen-
eration of sign seekers ? But that the gifts of the Gospel are
among this people, and do follow the believer in the ancient
gospel, is as well proven as were the miracles in Jesus' day,
through himself and his disciples.

2d. Jesus' mission was outlined centuries before by the
prophets.

The work of Joseph Smith is j.ust as clearly delineated in
both old and new testament scriptures, as we have conclu-
sively shown, and himself and his brethren go before the
world with this unanswerable argument " it is written."

The rising of the day dawn in the heart of the obedient is

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 45

as much a fact to those who obey, as in Peter's day. The
judgment being satisfied, the honest impulse of a man's
life should force to action, for, "with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness."

CHAPTER III.

"Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing-,,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves, Ye shall know them by their
fruits." (Matt, vii, 15: 16.)

Jesus said again, " If a man come in his own name, him
ye will receive." The failures of the adventists does not
hinder their popularity. False prophets are always, as a
rule, popular.

" Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you! for so dicD
their fathers to the false prophets." (LuKE vi, 26.)

The Lord said through Moses, Deut. 18, 21-22, that the
test of a false or a true prophet was that the thing did, or
did not come to pass, of which they prophesied.

Joseph Smith said 60 years ago that the churches organ-
ically were all wrong. They said we are all right.

He was the principal instrument of God in forming the
Church of Jesus Christ in these last days. It has not
been obliged to change its doctrines or church government
in over half a century, nor will it have to, as it is organized
after the perfect pattern. On the contrary, the doctrines
and forms of popular church government have been under-
going repairs from that day till this.

Joseph Smith said the gifts of the gospel were to be had
by the true believer as in Christ's day. The religious teachers
made ridicule of this claim, that they were done away, etc,
Many of them are now crawling around to the position
assumed by Smith, and ministers and women are laying ore.
hands for healing, etc. "Beware of false prophets."'

46 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

Joseph Smith said that the Jew was to obtain favor with
God and man. The world said, no. Who was right?

He prophesied of the increase of war, earthquakes, tem-
pest, tornadoes ; that the sea should heave itself beyond its
bounds, etc. The world said tornadoes were local and con-
fined to the torrid zones ; that the crust of the earth was
thickening and earthquakes must diminish. Look at the
history of tidal waves, cyclones in northern climes, history
of earthquakes as compared with former times, and " Beware
of false prophets."

Reader, are you disgusted with the form and fashion of a
Godless and powerless religion ? Are you tempted to leave
your church home in search of truth and rest? Take heed
that no man deceive you. Beware of seducing spirits.
Beware of false prophets that come to you in sheep's cloth-
ing, and remember this also that a wolf has certain points of
similarity when covered with the outward appearance or
clothing of a sheep, and may deceive you. And if even
spirits with sign and unexplainable wonder — purporting to
be the spirit of your mother that lived and died in the faith
of Jesus Christ, tell you that he is not what he claimed to
be — not what the prophets said of him : That he is not " the
only name given under heaven or among men whereby we
must be saved." That he was mistaken when he said : "No
man cometh unto the father but by me." " I am the way,
etc." That ignore his church government and the blessings
of its discipline, that instead of signs following the believer
in a gospel of faith, repentance and baptism, and a holy life,
etc., etc., that signs go before the unbeliever, that about all the
Holy Ghost there is, is in the revelations brought to you
through mediums of various grades of character, from your
dead friends, that deny the kingship or special authority of
Jesus Christ, that ignore his law, and laugh at the absudity
of his command to baptize anybody. Beware of them, and

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 47

don't forget the absurdity of their claim that they are not
only his best friend, but an exponent of his doctrines.

You will be called foolish and uncharitable, I know, by
those whom they have deceived by fair speech and honeyed
and flattering promise, but don't forget this earnest warning
and beware of seducing and anti-Christ spirits.

Sixty years ago the world was lying in darkness, woven by
priestcraft and traditions, into which, since the days of
•Constantine, apostacy from the government of God and
gospel of Jesus Christ had led them.

Centuries had rolled away of Catholic supremacy and domi-
nation in and regulation of men's ideas of God and of relig-
ion. The moral light of the reformation left men freer, but
still under the shadow of the traditions and doctrines of the
church of Rome, and many were looking, as said Elder Rob-
inson to the Plymouth flock on their embarkation to the wilds
of America, " for more light to break forth out of the word
of God."* ' And John Wesley had wrote and sung,

" Almighty God of love
Set up the attracting sign,
And summon whom thou dost approve
As messengers divine." t

*See farewell sermon of Elder John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrim
Fathers, upon their embarkation at Deltham, .A. D. 1620, — History of
Massachusetts. ,

tjohn Bovee Dods, in his book entitled "Spirit Manifestations
Examined and Explained," in which he undertakes to refute Judge
Edmonds, upon pages 119-20, says: "I do not mean new revelations
of any doctrinal truth as additions to what are already in the Bible,
but a revealment of the true meaning intrinsically involved in those
doctrines already recorded in the Scriptures, and concerning which the
whole Christian world are divided and split up into sects. . . All these
•doctrines must be made to harmonize with nature, with reason, with
the soundest principles of mental philosophy. . . And even the power
invested in the apostles to work miracles of mercy will be again in-
vested in men to do the same. . . Was not Jesus Christ as the Son

48 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

The time was fulfilled ; history was ripe for the vindica-
tion of God's word, the fulfillment of the " sure word of
prophesy " and the answer to Wesley's prayer. " Truth
sprung out of the earth " and the sealed book of Isaiah's
prophesy, containing the word of God to his people upon
this continent is revealed ; righteousness looks down from
heaven, and the everlasting and unchangable gospel that
can alone reveal it is delivered according to the promise of
the prophets, of Jesus, and of John on Patmos Isle, by angel
ministry to Joseph Smith.

"Our land," the land of David and his forefathers, the land
of Palestine, after centuries of curse and waste and Gentile
devastation, again through the miraculously restored early
and later rains " yields her increase. "

of God, and the true light of the world, better qualified to reveal the
duty, interest, and destiny of man than mesmeric clairvoyants? Was
he not better qualified for this work than the psychological mediums of
the present day, or the spirits they invoke?"

Page 174: "All future revelation, therefore, must regard the mak-
ing known to mankind how the doctrinal truths recorded in the Scrip-
tures are to be understood? . . On this subject Emmanuel Sweden-
borg was consistent, who undertook to explain how the Scriptures
should be understood by man. And although I am not of his faith,
yet I confess that his powers were immense as his gifts were wonderful.

"I entertained strong expectations that Mr. Davis (Andrew Jack-
son) would follow on, and advance the work, but was disappointed
when his 'Nature's Divine Revelations' appeared, and I am moreover
satisfied that some neit revelation, as regards the true understanding of
the doctrines oj the Saviour, will be revealed to the world. "

NOTE BY THE AUTHOR — The reader is here again earnestly urged
to compare the prophecies and Scriptures referred to in support of the
claims of the Palmyra Seer, with the explanation of the same texts
given in his own works by Emmanuel Swedenborg, as well as the
mixed and uncertain revelations of A. J. Davis and other modern
"Seers."

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 49,

A wicked and an adulterous generation : a generation of
of hypocritial professors of religion failing to note, or to dis-
cern these significant "signs of the times," heaping to them-
selves teachers having itching ears and turning away from
the truth of God's word as written in their law Bible and
sounded by the servants of God,, placing their fingers in their
ears and shouting, "Joe Smith," Mormon delusion, beware
of false prophets !

And for this cause has God permitted strong delusions in.
these last days to be sent among them, that they might be
led to believe a lie that they might be dammed, " because
they have pleasure in unrighteousness," i. e., to say — they
are not willing to submit to the righteousness that is in the
gospel, but having gone about, as did the Jew in Paul's dayr
to establish by any kind of method "their own righteousness,"
the religious world is now being subjected to every form
of deception in the employment of forces occult to human,
minds, but known to the " Prince of the power of the air,*

* PSYCHIC INVESTIGATION ; A NEW ASSOCIATION FORMED AT BOSTON,
BOSTON, Feb. 10, 1890. — A movement has been started in Boston by
men of high standing for the investigation and study of physic phenom-
ena. A prospectus has been issued signed among others by Rev.
M. J. Savage of the Church of the Unity, Rev. E. A.Horton of the Sec-
ond Congregational Church, Rev. Heber Newton of All Souls' Epis-
copal Church, New York ; Rev. E. E. Hale of Boston, Mary A. Liv-
ermore of Melrose, B. O. Flower, editor of the Arena, and Rev. T.
E. Allen, of the Fourth Unitarian Society, Providence.

The prospectus states: "We only propose to concentrate our
efforts on the narrower field of spiritualism, pure and simple.
That modern spiritualism has votaries in all parts of our coun-
try, and that it has the power to influence the thought and action
of those who believe its teachings, are indisputable facts. Is
the movement founded on fact or delusion? Does the world
know? And if it does not know, is is not time for a few truth-
loving persons approaching the subject in a serious frame of mind te>.

50 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

the spirit that now worketh in the hearts of the children of
disobedience." (Epn. ii, 1:3.)

It will be seen by this reference that the heavens are now
to be penetrated, if at all, " by a purely scientific method.
•Correct : "If any man will do . . he shall know," that's
all that Franklin, Morse or Edison has done, but they
-didn't establish the laws themselves or make them, they
simply discovered and conformed to them — God's law in
nature and the ph}Tsical world. But it makes all the differ-
•ence in the world what law we apply in spiritual things.
Natural law cannot solve spiritual problems. For

" After that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not
<God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe." (I COR. i, 21.)

Jesus Christ promised the world through revelation to hi s
servant John, that an fingel would fly to earth " having the
everlasting gospel to preach to men that dwell on the earth."

Our proclamation to these men, and to all the world, is
that the angel has flown, and that we are appointed to
•declare this message, and to offer, not simply a " sign " to
•disobedient or unbeliever, but a law of test by which in
the rational employment of all the forces of the soul, the
intellectual, moral and spiritual in man, he may as certainly
test the truth of the propositions that we present as Morse
<or Edison may test their applications of natural law.

•investigate it, guided by a purely scientific method? Is it not in the
ibest interest of humanity that this matter should be settled, if possible,
•once for all? If it be delusion, the contagion has spread quite far
• enough, and done damage enough already. If there be truth in
it, the world will be benefited by the knowledge. With this feeling
•the signers have decided to issue this appeal, asking you to join with
them in carrying on the work of the Psychic Investigation Association.
<(See also Appendix.)

OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 51

" If any man will do, he shall know," so say we — we
challenge the world to proof of a single failure — can we say
more?

" He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that
loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I
will love him, and will manifest myself to him." — JOHN xiv :2i.

"And I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter
that he may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the
'world cannot receive, — i6th verse.

The reception of this power and gift by the waiting
disciples 1800 years ago was proof of Christ's mission.

"Judas said unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt
manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?"

That is the question the world with Judas is asking
to-day. How does, or will, God — if thereis one — manifest
or reveal himself ? "

"Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me he will keep
my words," — and not forget or ignore them, — "and my Father will
love him, and we will take up our abode with him."— JOHN xiv: 22-23.

Reader, what company do you entertain ? What kind of
men or spirits. Who or what do you harbor within your soul
as companions or teachers ?

Take heed that no man deceive you ; and beware of
seducing spirits !

How common a thing to hear it said, " I know that my
Redeemer liveth." How do they know? How may we — how
do we who have obeyed the latter day message — know that
our Redeemer liveth? " Answer :

Because we have heard from him in this generation.
The wires of communication that Constantine and the Popes
have thrown down, and Protestant refuses to put up, saying
they are not needed, or are seeking through familiar spirits
to satisfy the lack of gospel revelation to themselves — are
again in order and we know who is at the other end of the

$2 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ;

line, for it is the voice of the Good Shepherd, who in con-
tradiction of men and seducing spirits says,

" If ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed, and
ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. "

«' SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES."

THE END.

NOTE. — We have referred for proof to a few only of the many
Biblical and to none of the multiplied archaeological evidences which
a study of American prehistoric ruin furnishes.

These may be obtained by addressing Herald office, Lamoni, Iowa,
in " Baldwin's Ancient America," " Presidency and Priesthood," by
W. H. Kelley, and other similar works.

APPENDIX,

IN the Banner of Light, a paper devoted to, and pub-
lished in the interest of spiritualism, among the ques-
tions answered through the trance mediumship of Mr.
W. J. Colville, is the following by M. Hamilton. " Question :
— It is claimed by some that the Book of Mormon is divinely
inspired, and that Joseph Smith was ordained to the Aaronic
priesthood; is there any truth in these statements, and if
Smith was ordained, by whom was it done ? Answer : — If
Smith was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood, he was or-
dained to the priesthood of a by gone dispensation ; therefore
ordained to something thousands of years behind his time.
If he was ordained to this priesthood by anyone, he could
have been ordained only by the spirits of departed Jews,
who had not unfolded out of the Israelitish sphere into the
sphere of the universal heavens. Undoubtedly Joseph Smith
was a medium, and reflected the ideas of a company of
spirits in spirit-life, who were ancient polygamists. No
doubt they were those connected with the Israelitish dispen-
sation, as polygamy was undoubtedly the practice of Solomon
and many of the leading kings of Judea. We regard Joseph
Smith as a medium ; and the Book of Mormon as inspired,
yet not inspired by the highest spiritual intelligence — not in-
spired by intelligence equal to your degree of intelligence
here in this mortal body, in the nineteenth century, in
Boston."

In the above communication is revealed something of the
uncertainly that characterizes a great many communications
professedly, (and really, I believe), from spirit source ; un-

54 APPENDIX.

fortunately, however, these spirits seem to have progressed
in a crab fashion, (backward), sort of a way, or they should
have learned what a great many mortals have learned, and
others might learn, by a little personal investigation of the
revelations of Joseph Smith, or the Book of Mormon ; that
Joseph Smith if a medium, reflected in his spiritual claims
something other than " The ideas of spirits in spirit life, who
were ancient polygamists," as it is well known to readers of
the Book of Mormon that there is not a religious volume in
the world that condemns in stronger terms, than does this-
book, the crime of polygamy.

It was time for God, if there was any, to speak. He has-
spoken ; but Joseph Smith, nor any of the servants of God,,
have not only had men and doctrines of men, but devils and
doctrines of devils to contend against. If there are spirits
at all, why may there not be seducing spirits with seductive
doctrines to contend against? Any day or night, in the
city of Boston, you can get a revelation from the " angel
world," to dovetail with the moral status and desire of the
individual, attended, too, with "signs" and "phenomena,'*"
that will make the hair of the uninitiated stand on end.
Spiritualism is making thousands of proselytes, devotees too,,
who do not appear at their public meetings or lectures, but
are seen Sunday in the fashionable churches ; but who, sub
rosa, consult familiar spirits, ordered up on short notice by
the payment of the necessary fee, in regard to dead friends,
lost property, bodily sickness, etc., "Signs," which Jesus-
said an adulterous and wicked generation sought after, and
which should be given, though "not unto salvation." I
admit that spiritualism has produced an argument which
may be nard to explain on any hypothesis but that of
immortality, or life after death ; but under what condition,
or rule, or estate, is life in the future to be administered ?
The revelations through mediums from Maine to California,.

APPENDIX. 55

are as vague, dreamy, unsubstantial, contradictory, so utterly
unlike the hopes of the prophets, Jesus, his apostles, and of
the final " inheritance " that their appeals to scripture
support only reveals to the true Latter Day Saint their real
character. I recognize their power of seership and reality
of " signs " and " wonders," performed through trance
speakers and physical mediumship. Nations and rulers of
nations have entertained themselves of them. Nebuchad-
nezzar, king of the earth, did not retain them at his court
simply as performers of ledgerdemain, or slight of hand ;
no more does England's queen to-day, but to confound
them with the seership or mission of Joseph Smith, is
ignorance ; to place their revelations thousands of years in
advance of his calling, is the baldest absurdity, and reveals
to me, either that those spirits, if other than men, instead of
being " advanced," are altogether too ignorant of known facts
to be valuable instructors ; or that they belong to that order,
who, having "kept not their first estate," are roaming
unseen, as subjects of the " Prince of the power of the air,"
whom Jesus referred to, when he said, " I saw Satan fall
as lightning from heaven," and who having failed there,
his next theatre of action was this globe of ours.

" Beware of false prophets that come to you in sheeps' clothing."
Spiritualism and " Mormonism " are no more alike in
reality or internally — than are the two animals designated.
The angels or spirits proposing to give the world infor-
mation through spiritualistic mediums concerning Joseph
Smith and the Book of Mormon, have either purposely or
ignorantly taken their cue from popular stories and litera-
ture against the " Mormons," and evidently either know as
little concerning that which the Scriptures reveal regarding
the work of Joseph Smith, as they do of the prophecies in
relation to Jesus Christ ; or knowing, are careful and cer-
tain to give to the world through their " control " or " me-

56 APPENDIX.

diums," any plausible, or even patronizing explanation that
avoids the truth, or that shall reveal their hostility to the
mission of Jesus Christ or his servants.

While at Lake Cassadaga, in western New York, last sum-
mer, I listened to eulogies of heathen philosophers and even
Protestant reformers, but not a word of rational explanation
of the mission of a man whose claims to marvelous,
miraculous and unique manifestation so far transcends
the history of any modern seer or " medium " as a
spiritual marvel or phenomenon as should challenge
or demand from these " advanced spirits " a rational
and truthful explanation of the real design and char-
acter of the work of the Seer of Palmyra. Let not the
reader be deceived. The gracious and patronizing air
with which these " spirits," when pressed for explanation of
the mission of Joseph Smith, relegate him to the ranks of
a fourth-rate mediumship that reflects only stale and ex-
ploded myths of ancient Bible literature and of the claim
of divinity for the mission and doctrine of Jesus Christ, is
a trick of the adversary of men's souls, and should deceive
only the ignorant or wilful, and not the lover of or honest
seeker after truth.

While visiting friends at this great camp of honest spirit-
ualistic believers, humbugs, and creed-disgusted investi-
gators, myself and Mrs. Bond attended, one evening, a
"seance" of Mr. Keeler — whose gospel, like the popular
orthodox ones, is not without money or without price — and
were treated to a clever piece of juggling, whether of men,
or spirits, or both, we need not here say, (as to the mind
of the writer no amount of signs or wonders can be safely
made to take the place of facts, and that humbuggery,
through either men or spirits, are to be equally avoided), —
but which we paid for, as a joint exhibition of Mr. Keeler,

APPENDIX, 57

who resides in the flesh, and his spiritual partner, George
Christy, who, though long since gone to the angel world, is still
in the minstrel show business at the old price, fifty cents a
head admission, with Mr. Keeler as manager, treasurer and
banker on earth, etc.

Of what we saw and heard we can write but little. It is
not our purpose. We saw, however, what others saw and
handled, and said were spirit hands, etc. We, however,
got no opportunity to shake hands with friends who
have passed over. Evidently we hadn't faith, or the spirits
thought they couldn't trust us. I'm afraid they couldn't ;
for we had made up our mind that if we got hold of that
spirit hand, we should have retained it long enough, and
familiar enough to perhaps have bred contempt and
unpleasantness.

After the "seance," and while going to our lodging place,
we were accosted by a gentlemen and lady who had also
attended the exhibition of Mr. Keeler that evening. A con-
versation ensued regarding what was seen, the probable
nature and character of the manifestations, etc., etc., and
the gentleman who proved to be a firm believer in spiritual-
ism, but whose wife was not, after learning that I was an
unbeliever, enquired as to what explanations I could give in
regard to what I had seen, etc. While not anxious for a
controversy, I considered his question a fair one. and be-
lieving him to be what I afterwards learned to be true,
that he was an honest as well as an influential man, I frankly
told him my belief, and my occupation as a minister of
Jesus Christ, and declared to them my belief that if they
were manifestations of spirits at all, they were the anti-
christ spirits of devils, and not dead men who were work-
ing miracles in these last days to deceive the honest and
unwary, and that as an authorized minister of Jesus Christ
it was given us to understand who and what these spirits were,

58 APPENDIX.

with their tricks, etc. Immediately this gentleman became
seized with a power or control, and broke forth in a violent
and, to all save myself, unknown tongue, causing him also
to gesticulate violently and threateningly toward me, and
totally unlike the demeanor of the man who naturally de-
ported himself in a very quiet and gentlemanly way.

As the harangue which this power delivered to me through
the control of this man proceeded I perceived its nature
and interpretation, which was concentrated in a word and
in import, simply the speech of the devils to Jesus Christ.
"Why art thou come to torment us?" "Why are you here
upon these grounds to molest and to make us trouble, etc,
etc."

This gentleman immediately upon being loosed from
this control began an apology to me for his violent manner
etc., when he was seized again in the same manner, and with
difficulty was enabled to cease, breaking out at intervals
as we walked along. He again with his wife, who was a
church member, apologized before we parted, and again
also the next morning came to our cottage with further ex-
planation and apology, which we assured him over and again
was unnecessary, as that, no matter how hostile was his
guest that he had entertained the night before, to us, to
honest men everywhere, no matter what their belief, we
were, and are, sincerely their friend.

M. H. BOND.

PROVIDENCE, R. I., March 13, 1891.