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A^'l> ^i-l '*> :ii ^:n>lion, i\ ( > k I I., P i. H ). I sH i: K, '",3, / ^} //' / /// HOW AND WHEN The World Will End: BY REV, JOSEPH WILD, M.A.D.D. Pastor of Bond Street Congregational Church, Toronto; Author of Works on "The Lost Ten Tribes and 1882," " Manasseh AND THE United States;" and so on. Jfottrtk (Edition. TORONTO : GEORGE VIRTUE, PUBLISHER. '"jif^. TORONTO : C. BLACKETT ROBINSON, PRINTER, JORDAN STREET. '# ^y t) ; PREFACE. 'vx■^•v^^.Nxx^^^^^\M I'his Fourth Edition is sent forth to the public with gratitude. Like most Authors I am vain enough, or reasonable enough, to feel pleased with the generous reception this, and my other books, have had. This work has passed through several editions, in a few years, in the United States, Britain and Australia. God be praised ! I trust the readers have been benefited. I am a firm believer in the Ten Lost Tribe theory. The twelve tribes of Jacob were divided into two Houses, two Governments, two People, as we read in I Kings xii. One was called the House of Judah, the other the House of Israel. From that time to a future point each House had a distinct mission — pro- phecies, both temporal and spiritual, apply to them separately and jointly, and should not be confounded. The House of Judah is found to-day in the Jews, and the House of Israel in an organized form in Great Britain and the United States. One tribe of the House of Israel had to have in the latter day a separate organization ; this ,^as the IV. PREFACE. tribe of Manasseh. Jacob said, as we read in Gen. xlviii. 19, that it was to be a people and be great ; so now is this propliecy fulfilled in the United States. It will be necessary for the Canadian reader to remember that these sermons, or Sunday evening lectures, were delivered in the Union Congregational Church of Brooklyn, New York, while I was the pastor. The church, though large, was always filled to overflowing to hear them, though the church was wedged in between Beecher'sand Talmage's churches. Of course many of the illustrations and much of the language is American. A person of another country reading this book must keep this in mind. Also it is well tQ remember that the language is sermonic. There is a difference in style between speaking and writing directly to a people. There is no difference in the subject matter of this edition and the others, save in this Preface and the leaving out the Prefaces to the other editions. I pray the good Lord to bless the reading to one and all. — Amen. JOSEPH WILD. Toronto, yuly 1st, 1886. CONTENTS. DISCOURSE I. THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. PAGE The Rephaim — Who they were — The Nephilim — Who they were — Geology, archaeology and Scripture harmonized — Problem for Atheists — Who built and dwelt in the cities of Bashan — American Pre- Adamic relics — Remains of giants — The Irish mixed with giants 15 DISCOURSE II. MORE ABOUT THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. The Nephilim, Rephaim and Gibborim — Forcible intermarriage — Population before the flood — Who Cain's wife was — Pre-Adamic civilization — The ' Bible and science — Materialism and Spiritualism — Destruction of the Nephilim — Who tempted Eve — Origin of idolatry, mythology and Irish giants — Spiritual likes and dislikes — Why mad dogs dread water 28 DISCOURSE III. THE NEGRO. His origin — Why he is black — Common human kin- dred — Great negroes of antiquity — The mark of Cain — Evolution analyzed — The colour of Adam — VI. CONTENTS. PAOK Climatic influence on plants and men — Colours of Shein, Ham and Japheth — The confusion of tongues — Miscegenation impossible 43 DISCOURSE IV. THE NliGRO gUESTION. Meaning of Ethiopia — Duty of the negroes — Send them to Africa — The cost less than keeping them — God's law of retribution — Our Indian policy — California and the Chinese — Hen Butler and Zach Chandler as philanthropists — The national col- oured convention — Bishop Haven and miscegen- ation — Morley Funshon's marriages — Real cause of the rebellion — Napoleon the Great and Prussia — Moral ideas must rule material one,; — Russia and Turkey — Disraeli in "Tancred" — Africa England's future market 57 DISC0URS2 V. COMMUNISM. The first commune — Extent and power — No special legislation against race or colour— -The Monroe doctrine — What the liquor traffic costs the nation — Level the poor upward, not the rich downward — Differences of communism, socialism and nihil- ism 73 DISCOURSE VI. MANASSEH AND COMMUNISM. Time of the millennium— Communism of the Gospel — The future system of government — The three heads of Israel and Judah — America a type of the Millennial government — Growth of socialism — True relations of employer and worker 87 CONTENTS. Vli. DISCCURSE VII. KING, PKOPLK AND GOD ONK. PACK Modern science to be excelled by the Urim and Thum- mim — Solution of coninmnism — True principle of taxation — Level people upward — Monopolists "are one with the devil " — The church should have no poor— Kin};s disappearing — Tribute to Mr. Hergh — The great Christian commune coming loi DISCOURSE VIII. SPIRITUALISM. Its rules and evidences — What it means and teaches — Fastidious mediums — Molly Fancher — A. J. Davis— Seeing the mvisible — The fiasco in Everett Hall — Jugglery, sleight-of-hand and spiritualism — Relation of spirit and matter — the theory of vision -r-The power of absolution — What spiritualists should accomplish ii6 DISCOURSE IX. MORE ABOUT SPIRITUALISM. Spiritualisni of John — Spiritualism from Adam to John — Spiritual power should be proved Ly miracles — Our relations with the invisiole — Spirit space — Nature's freaks — Prodigies — Personal mysterious experience — Somna mbulism — personal identity — Freaks of memory — Touching illustration — Future of spiritualism — Its mysteries 130 DISCOURSE X. SPIRITUALISM AND PHILOSOPHY. The spirit in man — Trinity in humanity — Breath not the spirit — The change at death — Philosophy of i I n vui. CONTENTS. PAGE dreams — What Scripture teaches — A wonderful drodm — Experiments to produce dreams — Mes- merism — Telephonic communication — Art of pocket-picking iUustrated ; 145 DISCOURSE XI. SPIRITUALISM FINISHED, The known and unknown — Material and spiritual changes — Truth and reason clearing away super- stition — John Wesley's " Invisible World " — Mo- hammedanism — Mormonism — Ann Lee, Johanna Southcott and Swedenborg — Assertions no proof — Schroederites, Shertzites and Buchananites — Special revelations delusive — The Bible sufficient — Christ in the grave 160 DISCOURSE XII. Christ's w^ork in hades. ♦' Standard " Theology — W^hy Jesus remained in the grave three days— AVhere He went and what He did — Jewish traditional notions of death — French horrors — Location of Hades — Thief on the cross - here he went — Binding Satan — Conquermg Dc^th— Theological and Devilological extremes — " Give the devil his due " — Work of the Holy Spirit 175 DISCOURSE XIII. Christ's forty days' work. God no respecter of persons — Law of entail — Give the poor the advantages of the rich — Sons of God — The two Adams — No Herodic theology — Salvation for children, insane and heathen — Obligation to christianize the heathen — What Christ did after His resurrection 1S9 CONTENTS. IX. DISCOURSE XIV. THE JEWS. PAGE Balaam's prophecies — The freedman's exodus — An- cient generalship — The twelve tribes and the Zo- diac — The stars proclaim salvation — The prayer of blood — How it was answered — Return of Israel and the Jews to Palestine — Conquest of the world by Israel approaching — Numerical power of Israel and Judah — Slaughter at the siege of Jerusalem —Attempts to rebuild Jerusalem — Gen- tile persecution — Rothschild, Disraeli, Gambetta and Bismarck — Coming union of Judah and Israel — Jews revolutionary leaders — Judah's wail 203 DISCOURSE XV. EYE TO EYE. Denominationalism foretold by the prophets — Its uses — Sectarian pomp — Professional duties- -Criticism of Rev. H. W. Beecher — Cause of his successes and failures — Dr. Talmage — Mr. Beecher's im- provement in theology and morality — " The par- alyzed arm " — Gough on temperance — Growth of liberality among the clergy — The empty boasts of Rome — Hell better than the inquisition — Finding the lost tribes and occupation of Palestine — Pro- gress of Israel's identification 219 DISCOURSE XVI. TIME OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. Pure language and one consent — Nature of the mil- lennium — How it will come — Rosh Hashana — The Pyramid — Unfulfilled prophecy — The work before us in 1879-^Bible promises — Cui bono — The Revo- lution and the ivt^elUon — Abraham Lmcoln's political ideas— God's purpises 233 1 X. CONTENTS. DISCOURSE XVII. THY WILL BE DONE. PAGE How to pray — Vain repetitions — The ten tribes and the gospel — Eccentricity of a bachelor minister — Shape of Noah's ark — Seward and Lincoln — The polar expeditions — Their benefits — Political bear- ings of lost Israel's discovery 247 DISCOURSE XVIII. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. Oriental braijds — The Christian brand — Weights and measures which rob the poor — French revolution- ists and infidels — Warning to workingmen — The metrical system the offspring of infidelity — The question in Congress — Cost of the imposition — Profits for new rings — The metric congress of 1875 — Pyramid measures — Standards of Israel — Why God is not in the constitution 261 DISCOURSE XIX. JUST WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. Theoretical and practical religion — Christ on earth — The Bible on weights and measures — What con- stitutes just weights and measures — Advantage of uniformity — Origin of the music scale — Porphyry coffer — Our measures based on natural propor- tions. — Infidel measures — Justice to the poor — Dollars and cents — Pyramid measures 275 DISCOURSE XX. ARK OF THE COVENANT. Dr. Wild's visit to Tara — Ancient Irish History — Palace of Tea Tephi— The harp of Tara and the CONTENTS. XI. PAOU harp of David — Description of Tara — The patriots' monument — Why Tara is not explored — ReUcs of ancient skill — An exploration society formed — Questions for the Church of Rome — Tara once the religious capital of the world — Whereabouts of the ark of the covenant — Porphyry coffer — Wonderful comcidence — Description of the ark — The Irish mile — Whence it came— Freemasonry — Origin of its traditions and mysteries 289 DISCOURSE XXI. THE ARK AND MASONRY. Difference in the fear of God and the fear of men — Pinnock's Catechism — Origin of the Irish people — Tara destroyed by Rome — The reason why — Catholics begging and the pope dying with thirty millions — The war between Rome and Constanti- nople — *' Spiritual obligation to a foreigner is political insecurity " — Abyssinian claims — The ark in Tara — The proofs — Freemasonry — Ben- hadad and Ahab masons — Why Rome opposes masonry — Jeremiah founded the ninth degree — . The Jesuits — Jacob's pillar 303 DISCOURSE XXII. JACOB S PILLOW. Legal punishment in olden times — Faults of modern preaching-Valuable stones--The Koh-i-noor--The Millearium-- Egyptian obelisks— Cleopatra's needle — Jacob's stone Historical references to it — Once in Ireland — Stolen by Scotland and then by Eng- land — The coronation chair in Westminster — De- scription of Jacob's stone — Ancient names of Ire- land — The Blarney stone — How it originated 320 Xil. CONTENTS. DISCOURSE XXIII. THE CORNER. PAGE The coronation stone — Jacob's pillar — Joshua's cove- nant — What a corner means — The Bible and Hebrew meaning — Commercial corners — The next President — Philosophy in hospitality — The first degree — The north-east corner— Solar and polar forces — Barbarous ancient customs — The Jewish return — The Pope's checkmate — English oppres- sion — Roughshod conquest — Our Indian policy... 334 DISCOURSE XXIV. IDENTIFICATION AND REV. MR. BEECHER. Dr. Wild on H. W. Beecher — "A little river in mid- "^ ocean " — What the Scriptures teach of the lost tribes and their whereabouts — Herodotus, Dio- dorus, Josephus and many other historians versus Mr. Beecher — The scattering and gathering of Israel — A flippant remark and " toss of the head " no argument — Fair discussion — The Bible the authority and no man 349 11 !' DISCOURSE XXV. ^ PROPHETIC CONFERENCE. The late prophetic conference — Its mistakes, its suc- cess and failure, its make-up — Bishop Nicholson and others 363 DISCOURSE XXVI. THE FIRST RESURRECTION. Dr. Gordon's essay — The blindness of the conference on some important points 377 CONTENTS. xin. DISCOURSE XXVII. / 'TRANSLATION. PAGE The conference muddle — Clothing the truth "with mystery and division " — Objects of Christ's ad- vent — Transfiguration, transubstantiation and translation — How the world will end 392 DISCOURSE XXVIII. )rde HOW THE WORLD WILL END. An orderly and reasonable close — " Poisonous and subtle " theology— Christ present to the end- Origin of sin — Power of good and evil — Infidel scientists — Vorticose motion — The last man — Monkey evolution — Manasseh's future — Signs of the Millennium 405 THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. DISCOURSE I. THE REPIIAIM — WHO THEY WERE — THE NEPHILIM — WHO THeY WERE — GEOLOGY, ARCHEOLOGY, AND SCRIPTURE HARMONIZED — PROBLEM FOR ATHEISTS — WHO BUILT AND DWELT IN THE CITIES OF BASHAN — AMERICAN PRE-ADAMIC RELICS — REMAINS OF GIANTS — THE IRISH MIXED WITH THE GIANTS. Text— Job xxvi. 5.^^ " Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof." F you examine this text, you will find the word thiitgs in italics ; and it is so for the purpose that you may know that it is not in the Hebrew, but was put there by the translators of the Bible to make the sense of the Hebrew plainer. All the italicized words of the Old and New Testaments are simply supplied by the translators to make the sense of Hebrew and Greek more complete when conveyed in English. Languages are seldom equal in letters, i6 THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. ! '■• I'l I ' I,' sound or ideas ; it is, therefore, very difficult some- times to express the exact thought of one language in another. To overcome the difficulty certain words are supplied. In the Bible all the words so supplied are printed in italics. A language may very appropriately be compared to a suit of clothes. The Hebrew language fitted on the Hebrew mind very nicely, but when you come to cut out a suit in English by the exact Hebrew pattern, then you will find it will not fit on the English mind at every point ; to make it do so you supply some pieces of English. Now, that you may know when these English pieces are supplied, the translators marked them by having them printed in italics. In other books and writings the authors use italics to em- phasize some particular word or idea they wish the reader to specially notice. It is very important, in translating Hebrew or Greek into English, that we convey nothing more nor less than the original idea, for the Scriptures are a divine revelation. Inspira- tion was and is responsible for the manner of their first form, but not for tiunscribed or translated forms. It sometimes happens, however, that the itali- cized words supplied by our translators do not now convey the original idea. In the course of years words change their meaning, and some become obsolete. In Rev. :iLyi\\. 2, we read that the tree of life bears twelve manner of fruits. The natural inference ' from such a reading is, that this tree of life bears twelve kinds of fruit. The Greek idea. i:i THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. 17 however, is, that the tree yielded twelve crops per year ; as explained in the same verse, " yielded her fruit every month," there being twelve months in a year. You will sec that the words tnanner of are in italics. In the new translation, soon to come forth, it is to be hoped that these and other defects will be remedied. Much confusion prevails at this day, in theological circles, because our translators did not follow a uniform rule in rendering certain Hebrew and Greek words. Nay, I know certain sects and denominations which had their very origin in th?se deficiencies. And quite a number of theo- ries now stoutly preached and maintained are supported from these defects. If one be learned and generous, in and with the originals, these faults of our translation will do such a one no harm. But the fact is, most of the sects, denominations and theories had their origin with men and women who were ignorant of the original languages of the Bible ; so much so, in many cases, that learning was at a discount with them, and ignorance was both a glory and a qualification. Once these sects, denominations and theories are established, they produce from among themselves those who are learned, and who from a sense of honour and obliga- tion become defenders ; as naturally so as children of humble birth cover over or defend their parents once they become rich and fashionable. It is unfortunate, for the common reader, that the word dead should be the corresponding term of several Hebrew words ; and that these Hebrew B Illl i8 THE MEN HEFOKE ADAM. I I'm ;^^; i words have very different meanings, while the English word dead carries but one meaning, and cannot therefore convey to the reader's mind the Hebrew idea. The word dead in the text is from the Hebrew word Rephaim, and this word Rephaim is the name of a certain order of creatures who inhabited this world long before Adam ; some of which continued to live as late as the reign of King David, say about the year 1050 B.C. So the text, when properly read, will read, " The Rephaim were formed from under the water with the inhabitants thereof" But man, of our kind, was formed of the dust of the ground. The Rephaim gave their name to a valley near Jerusalem. In Joshua xv. 8, as you will see, it is called "The Valley of the Giants." You ask who these Rephaim were, and we answer you in the best and shortest way we can. In doing so we desire to impress on your minds the importance of a knowledge of this people ; also of another race of creatures, brought to our know- ledge in the book of Genesis, called in the Hebrew Nephilim — both of these people preceding Adam on this earth. A better knowledge of these races will help us wonderfully in understanding the Scrip- tures, especially the books of Moses. We will see how science and theology are mutually related and confirmatory one of another, instead of being op- posite and antagonistic, as they are oftentimes by many supposed to be. Geology, archaeology, eth- nology, philology, history and inspiration are made to converge to one glorious centre of harmony and THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. 19 unity. The first man Adam, the time of his begin- ning, his line of march, his successors and their work and number, have constantly been in opposi- tion to the teachings of these several sciences — so much so that science and religion have been well- nigh divorced. Geology wanted time, vast and almost incomputable, in which to construct the earth ; beginning far back in time long ago, at a very small point, and coming slowly up through the successive ages, evolutions and epochs to the present day. Theologians were, as a rule, unwilling to allow so much time. They were greedy and jealous for the name and honour of the Creator, under the conviction that the Bible only allowed about 6,000 years for all the accomplished facts of nature and Providence. When pressed to the wall, then they read anew the opening verse of Genesis, which, to the surprise of many, flung back a gift of time, liberal enough and equal to the most extravagant demand. " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Ah ! who shall tell us, in days, months, or years, the measure of the distance from that beginning till now ? Heaven kindly in- forms us what He first began to do, but leaves untold the tale of time. The first few days, surely, were Lord days — not sun, nor stars, nor earth days. Who, then, shall resolve them into earth time? Divine problems are hard to solve. *' What shall it profit a man if he lose his own soul and gain the whole world ? " Answer some of you, who are so precise and exacting. What is the difference, and ~ 20 THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. ii '\ what is the quantity of this unknown value ? Or, if this simple problem of difference cannot be found, perhaps you can tell the careless and unbelieving how they can escape '* if they neglect so great a salvation." It would be worldly wealth in your hand, praise on your head, confusion and ruin to the church of Jesus — three things for which some long, aim at and desire. Archaeology has had its complaints and objec- tions, which of late years it has urged with great force against the chronology of the Bible, and unity of the human family. Evidences of an older race than the Adamic it has found in caves, lake dwell- ings and instruments, and had therefore hastily concluded that the Scriptures were not inspired. But, lo and behold ! what shall be done now, for it plainly appears in the Bible, and has been taught there for centuries, that other races have inhabited this earth than the race of Adam ; that they pre- ceded Adam in time, and some of them were con- temporary with Adam's descendants for hundreds of years. We know now who built and dwelt in the giant cities of Bashan. We now understand how it comes to pass that the houses and forts in these long-desolate cities are so large, strong and massive ; and why the doorways are some fourteen leet high and six feet broad. Here lived the Rephaim. In Bashan at this very moment are scores of deserted cities. They were so solidly and massively constructed that though they have been deserted for four thousand years by their first THK MKN KKKORK ADAM. 21 owners, they arc not in ruin. Any one of you, with a little cleaning, could move immediately into one of these houses. The walls, jointing, doors, and so on, are all perfect. If you were some hnc, clear morning to go on the top of the roof, sup- posing your house to be in the old deserted city of Salcah, you would be able to see not less than thirty of these lonely and desolate cities. Will you then wonder any more at the extravagances of Mo.ses, in Deut. iii. 4, where and when he says in speaking of his conquest over Og. the King of Bashan : ** And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, three score cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars ; besides unwalled towns a great many." These remains tell us of a time long ago, of a people that have entirely become extinct on earth. Of these strange folks the Bible takes notice, and gives just enough of information concerning them to enable us to locate them, and separate their works from the Adamic ruins. The researches and teachings of archaeology do not therefore upset Bible history and Bible teaching, *as some think and proclaim. All over the world the remains and evidences of a distinct civilization from that of Adam and his descendants have been found. None, however, have been found above ground that demand more years than to the time of the Noahic flood ; while in caves, in the bottom of lakes and buried under- "T •J win^ii ^ifi.iii i F ' 22 THE MEN HEFORE ADAM. i i III' \ i!! 1 ground, ruins have been discovered that in time and nature antedate the creation of Adam. On this continent we have proofs of the Rephaim and Nephilim. Their skeletons have been found and forts of gigantic proportions in dimensions and material ; the doors, outlets and inlets always cor- responding to the stature of these Rephaim and Nephilim giants ; or as sometimes called in the Scriptures, " men of renown." Mementos of these people a few years ago were numerous. As our civilization moved westward they were plentifully discovered. Some of the movable kind were deposited in the various museums of the world, but by far the greatest portion of them have been destroyed. The barrows, cairns, tumuli, and mounds, where were deposited their dead, have been ruthlessly despoiled. The skeletons, when exposed to the air, soon dissolved into dust. Several hundred of their graveyard mounds have been found in the Mississippi valley. From the quantity of skeleton dust in some of them, we know millions must have been buried. There was one of these large mounds near Wheeling, on the river Ohio ; it was fifty rods in circumference and ninety feet in perpendicular height. At Marietta, on the Ohio, was found one of their forts protected by gateways, moats and walls for several miles. The main fort itself inclosed some fifty acres of land. Over all this, when first discovered, was a forest of trees growing, and which, to all appearance, had lived and grown there for two or three thousand THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. n years, for the soil was on an average twenty feet deep. Indeed, the entire banks of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers were dotted with forts. The whole valley of the Mississippi was diked, and cul- tivated like a garden, and the great Mississippi was made to do duty like the Nile in Egypt, namely, water and manure the land. The whole pre-Indian history of this continent gives confirmatory testi- mony in favour of the Genesis history of the Bible. The Rephaim and Nephilim were giants ; and so, wherever we find traces of their occupation, there we find corresponding greatness in what they left. Their houses were large, their graves were large, their very staffs were large, being some fourteen feet in length and proportionate in thickness and weight. At Eagle Point, on the Mississippi, some few years ago, was found a double-chambered house or temple. In digging for the Dubuque and Min- nesota Railway the workmen came upon it. In the second room, which was about thirty-six feet long, they found twenty-four human skeletons sit- ting in a half circle ; just like the circle made by the first quarter of a new moon. In the very centre sat a chief, as was evident from his position, his size, and the large sceptre which he held in his right hand. This sceptre was made of brass and tin, finished with gold. The chief must have been some twelve feet in height and equally well propor- tioned. The twenty-four were about ten feet. An effort was made to preserve these remains, but in a f" w } ! i ' i t ;l ^! \U !.l 1-r !'■; 24 THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. very few hours they turned into fine dust. The sceptre, some linen and some few metallic remains are all that have been preserved, most of which are lodged in the Iowa Institute. These skeletons were doubtless .some of the Rephaim or Nephilim, who perished at the time of the flood. It may strike you as curious or as a strange coincidence to read from Rev. iv. 4, that "round about the throne were four and twenty seats, and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting." And in their centre sat the chief One, the Saviour on His throne. Of course the very nature of the flood will naturally forbid many of the antediluvian remains being extant at this day, either of the Adamic or the Rephaim. Let me call your attention to what Job, xxii. 1$, says: " Hasi thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden ? Which were cut down out of time^ whose foundation was overflown with a flood'' Take it, my friends, for an accepted fact, that the Bible is commensurate with all truth, and freely and intelligently responds to all truthful discoveries in geology, archaeology, or any other ology. Some think that the flood was not universal. Well, on this matter I am ready to believe that it was not universal in equal intensity. It was a catastrophe specially permitted to destroy the de- scendants of Adam and the mixed races who had come from a union of the Nephilim and Rephaim and the daughters of Adam. But it is well known that a disorganization of the extent and nature of THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. 25 the flood could not spend all its force in the East. The irregularity and disorganization incident to such a flood must, in the very nature of things, have affected more or less the whole earth. I believe it destroyed all the Adamic race but Noah and his family. And more, I believe it destroyed entirely the whole race of the Nephilim, so that none of these survived. But of the Rephaim, some lived on past the flood, while many were cut off", leaving, however, a small remnant. This remnant appeared in the times of Moses to be living in and about Canaan. Their clan-tribal names were Ana- kims, Emim, Zamzummim, Gibborim, Horims and Avims. Moses — Deut. ii. 9 — in speaking of the country of the Moabites, says : " The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims, which also were accounted giants as the Anakims ; but the Moabites called them Emims." Then he tells us that the children of Esau destroyed the Horims. And of the land of Ammon he says : " That also was accounted a land of giants : giants dwelt therein in olden time ; and the Ammonites called them Zamzummims ; a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims." The Avims, which dwelt in Hazerim, the Caphto- rims destroyed. " Og, the king of Bashan, which was of the remnant of the giants ; he reigned in Mount Hermon and in Salcah." — Jos. xii. 4. And in Deut. iii. ii, Moses tells us that his bedstead was preserved in Rabbath, of the children of Ammon. " Nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits If 26 THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. II J, t I:: 'i '4'" ■i:iit 1 the breadth of it." It is very reasonable that the houses in old Salcah, where he reigned, should be large ; and so they are. In this ungodly and dis- believing age the tenantless houses, forts and gates of old Salcah bear witness for God and the Bible. King Og was one of the Rephaim, of whom Goliath, of Gath, was a lineal descendant. The word Goliath means an exile. The Rephaim, when driven out of their own land, went and joined in with the Philis- tines ; so he was an exile. He must have been a noble successor of King Og. It must have been a grand sight to have seen him, clad in his coat of mail that weighed 5,000 shekels of brass, with an helmet of brass on the head ; his legs wrapped in greaves of brass, with a target of brass between his shoulders, and in his hand a spear like a weaver's beam, the head alone of which weighed 600 shekels of iron. But with all his greatness and protection he fell before the stripling son of Jesse. It was ordained of heaven that both the Nephilim and Rephaim should perish from earth. Thus were the children of Israel commanded to destroy them. We have said that the remnant of the Rephaim took shelter among the Philistines. Among this people they lingered for a time, then finally dis- appeared. In 2 Sam. xxi. 1 5, we have an account of the slaying of Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant. Then Sibbechai the Husha- thite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giants. Elhanan, the Bethlehemite, slew the giant brother of Goliath, the Gittite. " And there was yet ill THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. 27 a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number ; and he also was born to the ^iant." He was slain by Jonathan, the son of Shimeah. Thus passed away the giants, or Rephaim ; the traces of which we have in the Irish giants ; for a portion of the Irish nation are the ancient Philistines. Of Irish, or of Irish parentage, more giants have been born than of any other race. This same fact is a link in the chain of their descent in favour of their Phoenician origin, as they, or part of them, proudly claim. i i 1: 1 f" I ! i ' !;!,: !li^'!:: MORE ABOUT THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. DISCOURSE II. THE NEPHILIM, REPHAIM AND GIBBORIM — FORCIBLE INTERMAR- m RIAGE — POPULATION BEFORE THE FLOOD — WHO CAIN'S WIFE WAS — PRE-ADAMIC CIVILIZATION — THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE — MATERIALISM AND SPIRITUALISM — DESTRUCTION OF THE NEPHILIM — WHO TEMPTED EVE — ORIGIN OF IDOLATRY, MYTH- OLOGY AND IRISH GIANTS — SPIRITUAL LIKES AND DISLIKES — WHY MAD DOGS DREAD WATER. Text — Isaiah xxvi. 13, 14. « " O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dom- inion over us ; but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They are dead, they shall not live ; they are deceased, they shall not rise : therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish." AST Sunday evening I called your attention to the Scriptural history of the Nephilim, Rephaim and Gibborim. They were a peculiar class of persons who lived on this earth long before the time of Adam, excepting the Gibborim, for they were the children of intermarriage between the Rephaim, MORE AHOUT THK MKN 15EFORK ADAM. 29 Nephilim and the fair daughters of Adam. As the word Gibborim means, they were great, strong, and violent. In our translation they are called "mighty men" which were of old, " men of renown." The word Nephilim comes from the Hebrew word Naphal, and means to fall. Hence the Nephilim were a race of creatures who had fallen away, by violence, from some high estate. They were prob- ably the angels which kept not their first estate, referred to by Jude in his general epistle, and also by Peter in his second epistle. They are called sons of God and giants in the Bible. As " sons of God they saw the daughters of men that they were fair ; " that is, the daughters of Adam ; " and they took them wives of all which they chose." The real meaning of this passage is that the Nephilim took wives from among the descendants of Adam by force and violence at first : then the Adamites began to consent to such intermarriages, and this was dis- pleasing to God. " And the Lord said. My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh." — Gen. vi. 3. From this we learn that even the descendants of Adam had become corrupt and fleshly in their desires and pursuits. " There were giants (Nephilim) in the earth in those days ; and also after that, when the sons of God (Nephilim of God) came in unto the daughters of men (daughters of Adam), and they bare children unto them, the same being mighty men (Gibborim) which were of old, men of renown." God seeing the combined wickedness of the people, He resolved to destroy the earth. ffl p ' I'' liii II; ill 1 ! ■ li I- ; 30 MORE ABOUT THE MEN HEFORE ADAM. From the divine record we learn why the Noahic flood was sent. It was sent to destroy from the earth the Nephilim, Gibborim and all the descend- ants of Adam, excepting Noah and his family. The sweep of these avenging waters was to be from man to beast, and creeping things and fowls of the air. The destruction at this time must have been terrible, for the number of inhabitants must have been very large. It is impossible to tell the number of the Nephilim; doubtless they were very numerous and widely scattered over the face of all the earth. Their universality and number are witnessed to in a striking manner by their remains and mementos. On the Adamic line there must have been a vast population, far exceeding the common estimate ; not, however, as large as Dr. Gurney and some others reckon, for they think that the population before the flood exceeded the population of to-day by many times. We know that from the patriarch Jacob there sprang some 3,000,000 in the space of 450 years, notwithstanding the Egyptians slaugh- tered the children of the Hebrews. The average of life then was about forty years. If two persons in 450 years give us 3,000,000, life's average being forty years, how many would two persons give us in 2,000 years, life's average being 400 years? Allow five to a family ; some allow seven. This mode of calculation will convince any one how possible and even probable it was that the antediluvians were quite numerous ; but especially so when we add to the Adamites the Nephilim, It is not ^n im- MOKE ABOUT THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. 3 1 probable suggestion to say that Cain, wandering from the presence of the Lord, went among the Nephilim in the land of Nod, and, being evil dis- posed, he took a wife from among them. Anyway, Cain confessed that he was afraid to go abroad, for, as he says, " every one that findeth me shall slay me." Of whom was he afraid ? Why, he was afraid of the Nephilim. But the Lord made a sign unto Cain that it should not so be ; it is not that He set a mark upon Cain. But as the rainbow was made and set for a sign to Noah that God would not any more drown the world, so He gave Cain a sign or token that no one should kill him. Seeing so many people lived before the flood, you very reasonably ask why we have not more traces . and evidences of these ancient folks and their civilization ? The answer is that the violence and extent in time and territory of such a catas- trophe renders it impossible. Science teaches us that the present beds of the seas and oceans were the uplands of antediluvian days ; that, in fact, the ocean changed its place entirely. On the highest hills and mountains we have marine deposits, going to show that these hills and mountains were once under water. Be as conservative as we may in limiting the force and extent of the Noahic flood, we are nevertheless driven to the conclusion that it was very destructive, and that it wrought wonderful changes on this earth. Listen to Job xxii. 1 5 : " Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden ? Which were cut down out of time ; ffTT I I t . li. ; i' i i!'l'!- i!.i'l! 1,1! I 1';;' 32 MORE ABOUT THE MEN HEFORE ADAM. whose foundation was overflown with a flood." Still, as we pointed out to you last Sunday, we have scientific proof of such a catastrophe, and more, we have abundance of evidence in the depart- ment of archa-'ology of a pre-Adamite civilization — a peculiar civilization, just such as the Scriptures would warrant ; a civilization that was not only pre-Adamic, but conterminous with the Adamic up to the flood. The most formidable objections against Christianity and the inspiration of the Bible arc at once both baseless and unreasonable. It is this all-comprehensive feature of the Bible that proclaims it to be of divine origin. It is equal to all discoveries, all developments and all progress. It responds to the growth of mind and pure demands of the age, as the forces of nature wait the develop- ing genius of man. Electricity is as old as Adam, but it was in the earth and air, silent and inopera- tive, so far as being voluntarily controlled, until man had grown able to recognize its presence and enlist its services. Thus the Bible awaits the growth of mind. And as surely as men grow wiser, so most assuredly will the Bible be better and better under- stood. I am sorry to say that many professed Chris- tians wilfully set themselves against this law of Bible expansion and do their very best to limit it, just as some men set themselves against the improve- ments of the age ; while, on the other hand, some of our scientific men hate to acknowledge that the Bible is so all-comprehensive, for it breaks the springs of their infidelity and makes vain and void MORE ABOUT TIIK MKN HKKOKK AIMM. 33 their boasting and claims. Tlic Bible is a grand, good old book, and there is more in it than the wisest of us have as yet got out of it. The book of Job is accounted by all to be very old. Have you ever studied over the pages of this book ? If you have you surely must have frequently wondered how the author knew so much in that dark age and supposed infancy of man. Let me quote a few lines of a scientific cast from chapter xxxviiii. 30 : " The waters are hid as with a stone when the face of the deep is frozen." Is not that precise and expressive for a man in that far-off age and country, in which ice was very rare, if there at all. Again : " Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion ? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons." Those are profound questions of a scientific kind ; the language is beautifully astronomical. The very questions convey some of the sublimest truths of astronomical science. Take the first question. "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades ? " The Pleiades are the seven stars, called in Hebrew cimah, which means an axle, that on or around which something turns. Now, a few years ago, Professor Madler, the German astronomer, was awarded a gold medal by the scientific societies in Europe. And why ? Because he was the first to advance the hypothesis of the existence of a central body in the stellar universe, about which ail else in our system revolved. He fixed as that preponderating C "flf I u Mill ; ! I'l ii 34 MOKK ABOUT THK MKN BEFORE ADAM. mass upon the Pleiades, and upon the brightest star of that group, namely, Alcyone, as the very centre. Yet from Job we learn this scientific fact, and Professor Madler had no special claim for such a discovery, nor had he any right to such a medal, unless he was a lineal descendant and heir of Job. The real ^ruth of the matter is, that the church in past time got so completely into the habit of spiritu- alizing everything in the Bible, that nobody expected to find it a book of material facts. But heaven be thanked for this improved day. It is very curious to note that the ground long ago abandoned by the church has been taken up by our Spiritualistic friends. They are going in earnest to materialize spirits, while the churches, in a majority of cases, are busy spiritualizing the material. Our spiritu- alizing fathers were quite cunning after all, for on the hell side they had things pretty solid. The pit was deep, wide and strongly built ; the fire was large, real, hot and searching ; the brimstone was plenty and good ; the devils were fierce, powerful and numerous. In this liquid lake-pit of fire and brimstone were writhing and groaning, wailing and burning, sinking and rising, myriads of souls of all ages, countries and kindreds. To this hellish hell they had been foreordained, predestinated, elected and reprobatively remanded and consigned from all eternity for the glory of God. This was, and is, the material theology of some. This was theology and materialism with a vengeance ; a theology whose vengeance and materialism is only equalled by its ignorance and lack of charity. MORE ABOUT THE MEN BEFORE ADAM. 35 ire was A brother minister who was present last Sunday evening has written to me his opinion. He thinks that I take the Bible too much in a literal sense, and this view he has heard several other ministers maintain. In my sermons on the ten lost tribes that was the one great fault. In answer, I take the liberty to say that my constant aim is to get at the goldon mean, which I suspect lies somewhere between the two extremes taught and defended by the old school theologians and the Spiritualist.s. If my friend and brother will think the matter over carefully, he very likely will change his vic'y< , be- cause he will discover a positive unfairness in the old school mode of interpretation. How came it about that these very orthodox teachers could make hell so literal and material, and heaven so spiritual and finely ethereal ? Perhaps my friend sees no- thing unfair, but I do, in making out the Jews and their prophecies literal, so far as curses and punish- ments go, and then, calling himself a Gentile, steals the good part of the prophecies by spiritualizing them. All the bad belongs to the Jews, and all the bad is literal ; but all the good belongs to the Gentiles, who are spiritual Israel, and all the good promises are spiritual, and, therefore, belong to spiritual Israel. Let me say that I hope the day is not far distant when such a disingenuous mode of interpreting the Scriptures will not be practised. The Noahic flood was a divine remedy, and though it was a calamity, it was at the same time a benevolent visitation. The supremacy of evil and wi;i>f i4yi<>)«inm>w ■piwi^Fi*!'' i.ij^yi«««;nnpn9«nds. Now there are plenty of people who thi sk iiis restric- tion silly, and I am one of the pltiity. But how would you reconcile the following.^ Eight years ago next May the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church was held in the Academy of Music in this city. I was a delegate to it from Canada. The Rev. Morley Punshon, the English Methodist orator, was there also from Canada. Dr. Punshon had married his deceased wife's sister, and left England for Canada to evade the law. This estimable lady has since died, and the good doctor returned to England, and there being no more sisters left he married, the third time, somebody else. I was at a dinner party in one of the mansions of this city during the confer- ence. At this party we had several distinguished Methodist ministers. In the after-dinner conver- sation the question of Punshon's marriage came up for social debate. Out of eleven of us eight thought the English law of restriction was bad, and three thought it was just and good. But what surprised E I'! ' ' II i'll PJI :!li \M f i-i 1 i. i i ,'•'1 i;:|fl 'Hii '~{ ('■ji i.M Hi if li , iiili 66 THE ne(;ro question. me was that two of the three believed in the mix- ture and intermarriage of blacks and whites, and they thought that Congress was right in passing a general law on this subject overriding all State laws so as to make such marriages legal. Now, for the life of me, I cannot understand how a man can think it unlawful for a widower to marry his wife's sister, and right for a black man to marry a white woman. I am certain of this, that if I were a widower I would rather marry my wife's sister than the best and blackest negress I ever saw. As a minister I will never perform the mar- riage ceremony between a black and a white person. I had the chance but once, and that was in Canada, and I had asked them three Siindays ; that is, I had published the banns of marriage for them. This saved them paying six dollars for a license. I went on the Monday to the house, and found a mixed gathering ready to witness the wedding and take part in the marriage festivities. But on learning that the man was black and the woman white I refused to wed them. But that didn't prevent them, for they went right off to a Presbyterian minister and got the job done. ** There is a nigger in the fence." By this saying people generally mean that there is something hid- den, something black. When a party advocates and talks loud about one thing, and still means and ai is at another, then there is said to be a nigger in th * fence. The thing hid wouldn't do to bring to the surface. So in connection with this whole coloured THE NEGRO QUESTION. 67 question, there is a nigger in the fence. I am hardly prepared to believe that Ben Butler is so in love with the coloured people that from pure attachment to them he gives 20,(X)0 acres of land. Now, in many things I admire General Butler, especially for his independence. But after all there are few per- sons whose independence is so independent as not to contain some little political craft. I think that Senator Chandler gives 100 homes with the con- sciousness that the gift is good policy. Because if these two men were moved to deeds of charity by distress and suffering, they would ere this have raised their voices on behalf of the poor Indians, who have passed through sufferings twice told those of the negroes. I wish to God some leading poli- tician would get the Indians a vote, for in my opinion he then would procure them protection and respect. It is because the black has a vote, and the red and olive have not, that the black is a prominent and preferred colour. Had not the fathers given to the slaves of the South a political quality, making three negroes equal to one white man, slavery would have been in existence to-day. This thing God permitted to the intent that the very precaution taken to protect and propagate this evil should in due time be the cause of its overthrow. And so it has come to pass. The Southern legislators wished to keep equal voting powers with the North so as to control the Government and protect their interests in the special direction of slavery. The slaves couldn't 68 THE NEGRO QUESTION. i t ' dominion after the model of the Dominion of Canada. Advocating this very thing, a new book, by Major-General Sir Arthur Cunynghame, has just been issued in England. The author has had great experience in African colonies. " There is a nigger in the fence," but he will be got out by- and-bye. May the day hasten that shall bring them peace and prosperity. ii • III ' I m MM COMMUNISM DISCOURSE V. THE FIRST COMMUNE — EXTENT AND POWER — NO SPECIAL LEGISLA- TION AGAINST RACE OR COLOUR — THE MONROE DOCTRINE — WHAT THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC COSTS THE NATION — LEVEL THE POOR UPWARD, NOT THE RICH DOWNWARD —DIFFERENCES OF COMMUNISM, SOCIALISM AND NIHILISM. Text — Acts ii. 44. "And all that believed were together, and had all things common. ERE we have a short account of a com- mune that came into existence in Jeru- salem a few days after the memorable feast of Pentecost. At this time the Holy Spirit had manifested itself through human agencies in a remarkable degree, imparting pecu- liar power and gifts unto the followers of Jesus. Now, it is our intention to bring the commune question before you in two or three sermons : to trace the origin, aims and probable results of such an organization. The importance of this question at this time none will deny. In the past it has 74 COMMUNISM. - t , ' i; 1 , : 1:' t ,1 , 1 '1 !.^i i'll 1 '1 ii I 1 . ' i • ! 1 ' ' ■ I ■ ■ 'li i;; li':' ■ i'ii • '„ ^ '"'• ■' ' ..Hi.! ' ■ 1 11 i ^ii': |:'! i 'tll I-' i:\ 1 ;., !• ."r 1 • :'■ 11 ■ ■ i 'I'':!'; 1 .■' 1 1 il , i 'lii ■ m played an important part in the rise and fall of nations ; affecting, and materially shaping, the social, religious and political conditions of societies, churches and states. And now it is a factor of no mean proportion in the state, church and society. At present it is the problem that puzzles the governments of Europe. It threatens their very existence. It produces disquiet and uncertainty for to-day, and is prophetic with terror for to- morrow. Its forces and agents are widespread, and yet at the same time very largely hidden. But enough is known and seen to enlist the careful consideration of the thoughtful and intelligent of every nation. In the United States we are not so completely isolated as we are apt to think from the politics and governments of Europe. Our ill-begotten and worse continued policy of protection does not pro- tert us from foreign influences that are antagonistic to our welfare and prosperity. The foreigner brings to this continent more than his clothes, old chests of tools and money. He brings quite fre- quently his infidelity, his antipathy to all govern- ment restraint, his reckless ideas of socialism and liberty. Many of them are like slaves set free ; they know not the price and use of liberty ; hence they confront both God and the law of the land in violating the holy Sabbath, and in their demands and claims of political freedom. True, they have been as slaves, many of them, in their own country. There they have been counted as minors, as COMMUNISM. 75 children, in politics and religion ; for the church and state nave be *n leagued together ; and by- means of a select few, the many have been gov- ern* I, having neither voice nor vote in the making or changing of laws. No wonder then that once they are settled here they should go to such extremes. They are to be pitied ; but we are to be on the alert to keep society pure, the cliurch free, the Stages strong and the p^overnment compact. Through these people the accumulated wrongs of generations cry for revenge. They want no church, because the church oppressed and persecuted their fathers in times gone by ; they want no rulers over them, because the rulers under which their fathers lived tyrannized over them, They ask a freedom which would virtually destroy freedom and bring ruin to the church, and war and confusion in the state, and uncertainty and insecurity to the social relations of society. This country has a high commission and a great work to perform on behalf of coming generations and the whole world. It has rated man at a higher valuation than ever before. It has enlarged his status, increased his privileges and augmented his power. Every citizen is made a guardian ; the people are sovereign. Hence our danger if we are not careful, and our security and strength it we are. We give to each man a double-edged sword, not to make an on- slaught upon our liberties, but to defend them. Let us be true to our commission ; and as we have proclaimed the brotherhood of man over colour 76 COMMUNISM 1 i V 1 ■ i! ii 1 '■I, r ' j ■ , M i-l. ,(j 1 1 1 1 ; 'Ii m lii: \Ui ^>Mr. .:-! ! I If::;! ,i'l and race, let us not go back upon our own record. For all communes must start here and end here ; equality of birth and equality before the law, both of heaven and earth. The atonement has been offered ; the price paid for the redemption of citizenship in this country. It was a big sacrifice of tens of thousands of white men, for negroes to become, and be accounted in status and law, black men. The burden of the price is on us, and will be on the next generation, in our debt and taxes, a debt of some two thousand millions. In 1865 the annual interest was ii$ 1 5 1 ,ooo,chdo ; the debt equal to $yS per head. This year it is $94,000,000 ; the debt $41 per capita. Thirteen years ago the annual interest per capita was $4.25, now it is only $2. But this tells us the cost of raising one portion of the human family into the brotherhood of equality. Our religion costs us per year a little less than a dollar per capita. So far then the first principles of a true commune are established in this land. So far as we can be, we are all free- born, of equal standing before the law, and in the security of life and in the pursuit of happiness. What more ? But what means this cry from the golden State of California, " down with the Chinese " ? Who are the Chinese ? What have they done ? How comes it that special legislation is asked for, and against this people ? How is it that a tax is put upon their right of sojourn in our land, and that before they can labour they must have a license and pay a :iH COMMUNISM. 11 special tax ? Commune men, is this freedom? Is this what your labour reform means — special legis- lation, special taxation on colour and race, license to labour ? Oh ! shame on you and any of your ilk that will try and throw us back against our own bloody record ; that will wade through seas of blood to redeem the black, and then curse the olive! Boast not again that you are Irishmen ; for Irishmen have too often and long been unjustly discriminated against. Tarnish not the beautiful record of your countrymen, whose name has ever been synonymous with charity, courage and fair play. Let the wrongs done to your fathers by special legislation and discrimination of race appeal to you on behalf of the poor Chinaman. Seek no reform, advocate no cause, stand by no organization that shall make colour again a test of humanity and race a qualification for right to labour. You accuse the Chinaman of labouring too cheaply. Never mind, but remember this that cheap labour means cheap living. Go in for making things so cheap and plentiful that the poor may have what now only the rich can get. Be a true labour reformer, a true communist, for such I proclaim myself to be. The religion I profess, the gospel I preach forces me to be. I do not understand the gospel, or the system of communism, that to be great myself I must belittle others ; that to give myself a time, place and reward for labour, I must debar others from working. I do not understand the spirit and intent of the gospel of Jesus, that either in China or ■il(,i;:ili::|j ' i\}it iSI )''■■'( i?i\i/\(': ■:M/' -':^ 78 COMMUNISM. America one man shall pay a tax to be a citizen, and get a license ere he can labour, while another, who is foreign-born also, shall be free. In the com- mune at Jerusalem they had all things common. It is the duty of the pulpit as well as the State to study this commune question ; to study it while it is in a formative condition, so as to incorporate into its very being those great principles of the gospel of Jesus and brotherhood of man, as made manifest by the Saviour, who proclaimed Himself one with the Father and His true followers, one with Him as He was one with the Father. Thus does the gospel teach that we are children of one Father and brethren in the household of faith. It is our duty to care one for another, and seek each other's interest for time and eternity. Sub- scribing to the doctrine of the brotherhood of man, in the fatherhood of God, we send the gospel of Jesus to the heathen, making known unto them their high privilege and relation in Christ. So Paul taught and preached in Athens, when he said unto the Athenians that God had " made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation." — Acts xvii., 26. Here Paul teaches the oneness of the human family ; the rights of this family — all nations to dwell on all the face of the earth. The times and bounds are reserved in the hands of God. If we leave this commune question and agitation to its present leaders, we ,:l ■ 'I Mtm mm COMMUNISM. 79 have in reserve a terrible future ; yes, even in the United States. The famous Monroe doctrine, that we take no part in European affairs, is like a jug- handle, very much one sided. It says what we will do, but takes no note of what they will do to us. One form of communism is called the Inter- nationale. In this form it is to be dreaded. It is here that it can, and will crowd the United States in a few years, for the Internationale is the fed- erated form of national commune. This Inter- nationale seeks to federate the communism of France, the socialism of Germany, the Nihilism of Russia, the Chartism of England and the labour- socialism of America. The headquarters of inter- nationalism, at present, is in Italy. By yesterday's despatches we learn that trouble was created in Florence because a leading member of the Inter- nationale was killed in a duel, and that the soldiers had to be kept in for fear of the populace. Italy largely owes its unity to this society, for this society aided her in her struggles with France, Austria and the chui :h of Rome to independence. In studying the commune question we find it very diversified, widespread and successful at times through the last two thousand years. It is by no means a new thing, nor are we for a moment to suppose that there is no reason for such a thing, or to think that all its aims are violent and revo- lutionary. Our ideas of communism are very apt to be coloured by the blood and revelry of the com- mune of Paris. We think of the reign of terror \ 'i ■1 II "lil'lll li! :■ 1 ' 'i ' III! it|i! ii!?:' -I! :;;r m'^ 80 COMMUNISM. of 1 79 1 and 1 87 1, in Paris, when the communists ran riot, when laws were suspended, and com- munistic vengeance sallied forth to be revenged on kings, priests and royalists ; when men and women were slaughtered as cattle ; when the Jacobins, Montagnards and Girondists were a trinity, led by such men as Robespierre, Danton, Manuel and Tallien. Or when in 1871 the people ran wildly through the streets of Paris, crying Vive le Commune, and men like Blanqui, Varlin, Duval, Pyat, Grousset, Flourens and Cluseret, urged them on to revolution and death. If this were all communism had to show, or all it aimed at, then we might reject it and cast it out as a thing unfit for society. But, properly expounded and carefully analyzed, we will find communism to be worthy of our notice, not simply from fear, but from the good that it contains and fore- shadows. The world is in a bad state. There are too many poor and too few rich folks ; there are too many ignorant, starved and cruelly treated, for the -^w that are wise, well-fed and free. Nature and labour are easily equal to our necessities, especially with the improvements of this day, yet too many cannot find work, and the few who do work have more than their share, and are poorly paid often ; while the rich are slothful and eager to escape their share of the burden of life ; and their in- dulgence, luxury and passion of fashion imposes upon society a great quantity of work that were COMMUNISM. 8l better undone than done, but which to perform calls off men from the callings that are essential and profitable. If society could resolve back to primitive simplicity, or accept the principles and conditions imposed by the gospel, the whole world might soon have plenty to eat, drink and wear ; with little labour all might easily be placed in a condition of education, plenty and comfort. Two-thirds of the world's labourers are engaged in that which, considered by the standard of essen- tials, are needless. Take, for instance, the drink- ing customs of the age, and calculate the loss to society thus entailed. I am not now pleading temperance, but simply mean for you to consider that which is consumed in mere indulgence ; the unnecessary, as judged by any rule where men dnnk to drunkenness and drink for pleasure and habit. The cost of the drinkincr habits of this country alone, as furnished by the government return, is five hundred and ninety-five million dollars, which simply means thirteen dollars for each person in the whole country. Now what is drank unknown to the government is no small portion ; so much, I believe, that this vast amount may all be reckoned as superfluous. Then our smoking, chewing and snuffing costs us some ten dollars apiece. Thus we have twenty-three dol- lars for non-essentials. In the Shaker societies, thirty-three dollars is all that is allowed a woman for dress for a year. But this is not the whole cost by a long way ; for it is easy to sec that a F " \m M • I f. » i: III 1 4 p 1;-:' ! , :, i!:iM '!ii.:,! -'i 1 :l i* 1 Wi4 'iV\' I ^ :' *i'illi iii:;i,r" 'li 82 COMMUNISM. man who spends his money thus, deprives him- self of food, clothing and house furniture of the quality, quantity and variety he would have did he not so spend his means. Thus, if he didn't smoke and drink to excess, many million bushels of wheat, and much more of meats and vegetables would be demanded ; and manufactories would have one-third more to do than now in every essential department ; taxes would be greatl^ les- sened by diminished crime. In New York city alone the licenses yielded $300,000, and 'the pau- pers cost $7,000,000. The whole estimate for edu- cation was only about $3,000,000 ; and for the whole State of New York, for the year 1878, about $11,000,000. But at the same time $7P,ooo,ooo were spent for liquor ; and of drinkers some 63,000 are arrested per year. Thus it will be seen that these customs deprive the country of much valuable labour and lessen the demand for the articles of essential trade and commerce, and foist on the good and upright the necessity and expense of taking care of them. Is it any wonder the world is in a bad state, and that men long for a change ? Think of the millions of men called off from the useful pursuits of life to be soldiers, and of the cost ; and their part of useful labour has to Ijc done by others ; and in such countries as Germany, Russia, France, England, and so on, the cost of government and state pride. Tt is astonishing that the masses are as quiet and obedient as they ^ii ' 111 ^';ia(al:li,,:|i,i.:ii' »,S*'>'?t»«*r''>'«J"''P'Jiv'' COMMUNISM. 83 are. Such impositions and ungodlike extremes on and in a portion of the human family, Christ came to destroy. Not that we are to destroy these dis- tinctions by physical force, but by the power and love force in the gospel, as in Jerusalem. The commune spoken of in the text was the result of the terchings of Christ. The love of Christ con- tains the true elements of a commune. And when the principles of the doctrines of Christ are accepted and His love experienced, then the world will be one vast commune, having all things common that a purified society will need and command. The communists of our day seek to equalize men and things by leveling down and dispersing ; to bring the rich man down to the poor man, distributing the lands and wealth of the rich, and so making all equal, which, indeed, if done to day would be undone to-morrow. To equalize men without, and not first equalize them within, is nonsense. Daniel O'Connell's scheme of free lands and free and equal tenants proved the folly of such a policy. The gospel levels upwards ; for the poor and masses need to be lifted higher up than the rich need bringing down. The spirit of the gospel com- mune will cut off from the rich the nonsensical and useless and sinful indulgences, and it will give honesty, sobriety and opportunities of wealth to the poor. Thus will the rich and poor meet to- gether on the platform of the golden mean of human need and pleasure. The reformers and 84 COMMUNISM. I ,1 'i^i u 11 ■ '1 m -■I ill I, ;^i . agitators of to-day should study well the origin and principle contained in the commune at Jeru- salem. This commune was voluntary ; it was an out-growth 'id embodiment of the love of God. The Great 'i acher had taught charity, brotherly love and good-will towards men. For He, though He was rich, had for their sakes and ours become poor that He might bring us all to God. He had taught them that he who would be greatest in His kingdom should be the servant of all. His doc- trines are emphatically the doctrines of peace and good-will. The burden and waste of society are the price of sin ; and to lighten our burdens in taxes or labour, to make the rich man more generous or the poor man more noble, we can best do so by teach- ing, and preaching and practising the doctrines of Christ. As a country we pay $29,000,000 in pen- sions per year ; and why, and what for ? For the waste and burdens of the late war. More than half of our revenue goes each year to pay interest on debt incurred. Think that for the past forty years we have spent on an average, each year, $12,000,000, or $480,000,000 in all, in killing and keeping the Indians in subjection. Surely it is not difficult to see where much of the waste and burden of society comes in, nor is it very difflruH to see the best and grandest remedy. Jesus Hf Nazareth was no iilean reformer. His principles were not unreasonable or inapplicable. I do not COMMUNISM. 85 argue that the churches of to-day are all exponents of His life and doctrines. No ; but this I do argue — that, as yet, no better or more effectual doctrines have been taught. Ferdinand Lasalle or Karl Marx are not to be compared with Him, or their teachings with His. Communism in its present shape I freely avow I do not like. I am a workingman myself, am in- terested in all that pertains to a workingman.. I have made this commune question a matter of study, and I find, to my sorrow, that wherever it is organized and has leaders, the great factor of Christianity is left out. For this very reason the organization in its present shape is dangerous and threatening to the peace and security of society. The communists hold that all property should be held in common and divided equally among the people ; no one permitted to accumulate wealth. This is the chief feature of cummunism as taught in France. The socialism of Germany is only another name for the commune, and, after all, communism in Germany is different from com- munism in France. The socialists of Germany not only believe in a division of property, but they believe in the abolition of marriage and equality socially. The Nihilists of Russia are communists, l)ut while they believe all of what French and Ger- man communists do, they go farther. They be- lieve in an equal division of property, abolition of marriage and social equality, and annihilation of \ '1 i "i !1 :: 86 COMMUNISM. religion and worship. Thus they are fitly called Nihilists, for they seek to destroy all the props and stays of society. American communism is as yet only developing, and what it will be in maturity it is difficult to define. We will see what socialism in America is likely.to be next Sabbath evening. :'• i MANASSEH AND COMMUNISM. DISCOURSE VI TIME OF THE MILLENNIUM — COMMUNISM OF THt r.OSPEL — THE FUTURE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT — THE THREE HEADS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH — AMERICA A TYPE OF THE MILLENNIAL GOVERNMENT — GROWTH OF SOCIALISM — TRUE RELATIONS OF EMPLOYER AND WORKER, Text — 2 Tim. iii. i. \ J "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." \\ TAKE it for granted that the last days spoken of in the text answer to the present times. These last days are the days that immediately precede the mil- lennium. The exact time of the millennium no one can definitely fix. The best any one can reasonably do in this matter is to approximate the beginning of this glorious day. " For of that day and hour knovveth no man ; no, not the angels of heaven," said the Saviour to his disciples. But, though the day and hour are hid, the approach and nearness of such a time may be discerned and accurately known ; this the Saviour Himself taught the dis- 88 MANASSEH AM) COMMUNISM. Ill ^ ■II i; si i: m ■I" i..'^- ffa ,i:l .11 .^ }-lP 'm: ciplcs. "And He spake to them a parable: Be- hold the fig tree and all the trees ; when they shoot forth ye see and know of your own selves that sum- mer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye sec these things come to pass, knozv ye that the King- dofn of God is nigh at Jia^id'' — Luke xxi. 29. Tho generation which the Saviour was then addressing would not pass away before all these things began their fulfilling. The very seeds of the millennium were then being planted ; the spirit and laws were being imparted and enacted that would shape the destiny of nations and ultimate in a regenerated earth and millennium day. Heaven and earth might pass away rather than that these words spoken by the Saviour should fail of their fulfil- ment. At the day of the Pentecost the first fruits of these seeds and expression of spirit and manifesta- tion of laws were all made to appear by a special and supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. " And when they had prayed, the place was shaken whc re they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God vith boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul ; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed were his own ; but they had all things common, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all. Neither were there any among them that lacked, for as ■I. i, MANASSEH AND COMMUNISM. 89 many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them, and broup^ht the price of the things that were sold and laid them down at the apostles' feet ; and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." — Acts iv. 31. In science, plants have been produced from seeds in a few hours by means of extra- 'rdinary agencies and forces of elec- tricity and a combination of needful gases, so that a plant has been produced in a few hours that ordinaril) takes several weeks. Crystals that ask centuries in which to mature by the laws of nature are produced in a few moments by the art of chemistry. We have a factory in Brooklyn here which makes an ai:ificial stoic — the coignet, which is quite generally used tor the front of first-class houses. This sLone is said to be equal to any natural stone, and much superior in many points, because it can, in the making, be moulded to any design and shape. The natural stone is the growth of years ; this is only the product of a few hours. To understand the intent r.nd signs of the da>' of pentecost wc must remcmbsjr that while they were supernatural they were at the same time natural. Science and art in the things referred to do not despise the laws of nature, but quicken them, and speed them to their results. So the extraordinary outpouring of the Holy Spirit at pentecost did not override 6r destroy laws, but hasten them to their sequence. If ever again the world shall possess the same measure and power of the Divine presence, either by a sudden outpouring or the slow accumu- ' >»i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) ^ .**> 1.0 I I.I |jo '^^" S^^ lU £0 12.0 IM ||L25 III u ^ < 6" ► Photographic Sdeoces Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.y. UStO (7!6) S72-4503 '# ;\ ^ ^^> ■ ■ ^ O^ %» I In t : 'I 1 -'^ |i,.m:i;! ■'^"MT i ^':'f \.\ : ' : W I •<: II.;' 90 MANASSEH AND COMMUNISM. lation of ages, then again we will have the same manifestation, the same spirit, the same laws, the same charity, the same brotherly love, the same com- munistic state of society. For the doctrines of Christ and the love of Christ could have none other effect. It is as plain to me as noonday, that if we deny the doctrines of Christ and be void of His love, then we cannot establish a commune that will stand or be just. The love-power of the father and mother pro- vide better for the children than any and all laws could make them. Let the human family become one in Christ, having His spirit, being children of one Heavenly Father, then the same operative force of love will constrain men to mind the things of each other, to help each other, to provide one for another as competence and need agree. The day of pentecost was a typical beginning of a grand end. It was in miniature what the world will be in its ripened fulness ; it was an exhibition and production of that power of the gospel ; it revealed the power, and showed what the gospel could make men be and do. They had all things common, and that common was plenty and good ; so it will be in the millennium coming. They were all of one mind ; so it will be again. There were strangers from many countries, of many languages, yet they were of one tongue and one consent ; so it will be again. After the battle of Arrnageddon, God promises to " turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent." — Zeph. iii. 9. The m: MANASSEH AND COMMUNISM. 91 promises of a regaling plenty are time upon time repeated by the prophets. After this battle and the gathering of Israel and Judah there is to be no more famine. Increase in the stall, orchard and field are specially characteristics of those days. " They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd ; and their souls shall be as a waterec^ garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all. And I will satiate the souls of the priests with fat- ness, and My people shall be satisfied with My good- ness, saith the Lord." — Jer. xxx. 12. What more could anybody ask than God promises for the days to come ? People to be of one mind, one soul, one language, plenty and gladness, freedom and security in the fullest form. No famines, no pestilence, no wars ; all men, that is, each head of a family, a land owner. The whole world will then be one vast com- mune, having only one king, one throne, and he who reigns will reign in righteousness, chosen of Heaven and guided by God. The United States, England, France, Prussia, Austria, Russia and all nations will federate to this throne : In Washington there will be a president, also in London, and Paris, and Berlin, Moscow and all of the great centres left. That the kingly power will be removed from each country, I do not mean to say ; nor that these countries will have no rulers, or that such rulers will live in these cities ; but I use these cities as standing for the countries. No doubt America will have another 1^^ ') It ! 1 1 1 1 1 i |h> 1 1 . ■ 'i 1 ■■:"• 'I'M ill ir j1 r; ' .it.: ,'.lr: 1 ■■■;■! '!-''.ii' ,1 1 t :i 1 ) • ,i r |. 1 1:M:lp..: i 92 MANASSEII AND COMMUNISM. j 1 i lip" i til :;%. 1" inn capital ; one more centra! to the increased represen- tation and enlarged territory. The English throne is the only throne that will be preserved, because it is a continuation of David's, and it will move from London, and in place of it and the king there will be a chair with a president in it, who will be elected by the people. For when God does the great things promised, or " that good thing I have promised ; " thus saith the Lord, as the prophet says, "I will re- store thy judges as at the first, and thy councillors as at the beginning." — Ls. i. 26. Ranks and titles will be done away. The privileged nobility in every country will be reduced to the rank and level of the establishment of a republic. At that time "their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them ; and I will cause him (the king) to draw near, and he shall approach unto Me, for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto Me ? saith the Lord." — Jer. XXX. 21. It is en this line of thought we may see the Di- vine intention in His promise to Manasseh. For I am one of those who believe in the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons and their posterity. I believe both in the spiritual and in the temporal portion of those promises, neither do I wish to eclipse the temporal by the spiritual, nor the spiritual by the temporal. Old Jacob blessed Man- asseh as well as Ephraim. He said that Manasseh should become a people, and he also was to be great. Jacob said of Ephraim and Manasseh that they were MANASSEIl AND COMMUNISM. 93 ■J t to grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Judah v/as selected as the head, on the spiritual line; from him was to come the great Ruler, Christ. Reu- ben was naturally the heir on the temporal side, but he was cut off for unbecoming conduct, and his birth- right privileges given over to Joseph's sons. " Now the sons of Reuben, the first born of Israel (for he was the first born ; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel — and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright — for Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler, but the birthright was Joseph's)" — i Chron. v. i. The fact is plain ; there are three heads. Judah's is on the throne of E|avid, and the throne of Christ, for of Him is the chief ruler in Heaven and earth. Ephraim, as one of the sons of Joseph, was to be a head, namely, of a nation peculiarly his own and a company of nations. Manasseh was to be a great people also. The headships I find just as fore- told by the old patriarch. Judah is chief ruler on the throne of England, as Victoria is of the tribe of Judah by the flesh. On the spiritual side of Judah's headship Jesus Christ is in Heaven head over all, for all power is His in earth and in heaven. Ephraim I find to be a nation in England and a company of nations in her colonies. Manasseh I find to be a great people in the United States. These two tribes were to dwell together in their island home. There they were to renew their strength and multiply ; the place was to become too small for them, hence Man- U |i ,5 f ti 94 MANASSEH AND COMMUNISM. m 'M m if -.i ; 1. i.-' 1 j;:^. ii; IP asseh will leave and become a distinct people ; then after he has left, the people shall multiply, so as to again ask for room to dwell ; thus shall Ephrrim begin to colonize. " P'or thy waste and desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow, by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ear, the place is too strait for me ; give place to me that I may dwell." — Is. xlix. 19-20. Ephraim stands for the ten tribes, but Manasseh represents himself . The tribes first fought their way to Britain and destroyed the early Britons. The people who had oppresed them they left behind in the East, hence it was called the land of their destruction, and they that once swallowed them up were then far away. America has a grand commission, a glorious work to perform, and victory will perch upon the banner of Manasseh at last. She will, as "the daughter of my dispersed," carry a noble offering unto the Lord of Hosts. But for us and our chil- dren much remains to be done. We have much to learn and unlearn. We especially need to know our providential place and functions. The United States are God's great providential stomach, in which He intends to eat up much of the past. As the fleshy stomach performs the office of digesting the mixture of foods and drinks, and making one body from the whole, so Provi- dence intends that this country shall digest the MANASSEH AND COMMUNISM. 95 conflict of ages. Into this stomach shall be poured all the climatic races of men — the black, red, olive and white — and they are to become one — E Pluri- bus Unum. They are to become one politically, religiously and socially, as guided by an intelligent instinct. It was hard for us to digest the black man ; it gave the country a terrible and agonizing fit of dyspepsia, but, thank heaven ! he was eaten, swallowed, digested, and incorporated into the body of the brotherhood of man in God. Now the Chinaman is given us to eat ; he, too, is tough and sticks in the throats of some, but he will be digested in due time, and so with the poor Indian. It is the special providence of this country that all men, of every country, race and colour, may dwell together in peace and harmony, and on this grand, small scale, give to the world a type of the mil- lennium day ; how, by separate States with one head, chosen from the people and amenable to the people, a country can be ruled. Seeing the end and design of Providence in our very existence, let us not flinch from duty, or turn aside from fear. Let us remember these are the last days, or troublesome times. The few verses following the text will %\\q. you some idea of the next few years to come. Nineteen virtues eradicated out of a majority of society, and as many opposing vices installed in their place — for if the light is gone, we have darkness left. The signs of a fierce struggle are visible in our national sky, and of a fearful upturning of the 96 manassp:h and communism. ' M ,1 -i;Kf 'Si 11 "'I:.;'!' l4 .• irWl ■ ill foundations of society. A storm is brewing that will burst upon us ere long. We need not be gifted with a prophetic mind to descry some things that are ahead. We see that communism in France means an equalization of property — that the gov- ernment own all, and the people be the govern- ment. The chartism of England means very nearly the same. The English government have already conformed to this principle in some meas- ures. They have possessed themselves of the tele- graph, and very largely of the railways ; in such cases the profits go to the people. In Germany, however, communism is called socialism, and it means the abrogation of the marriage relation — society put on a level, socially. In that respect, they are like the Oneida community in this State. Communism is at present the farthest advanced in Germany. It is looming up, as I forewarned you some few years ago. In i860 it could hardly be said to have an existence, but at the last elec- tion one-tenth of the votes cast were socialistic, they are both bold and strong in the Reichstag. The following quotation will show you something of its spirit, taken from a speech of Herr Hassel- mann, a leading socialist : — London, October II. A Berlin dispatch to the Times says : " In the Reichstag, yesterday, during debate on the anti- socialist bill, Herr Hasselmann, a well-known socialist agitator, made a violent though clever •iin MANASSEH AND COMMUNISM. 97 speech, beginning- and ending with threats of vio- lence and bloodshed, as results of repressive legis- lation. He said that the people would hold those responsible for the bloodshed who helped to frame and carry the bill. In concluding his speech Herr Hasselmann declared that if the pacific endeavours of socialism were repressed the day would come when the socialists would take up arms and fight against their tyrants. The president of the Reichs- tag interrupted Herr Hasselmann, called him to order, and said that the speech was an incitement to rebellion. Herr Hasselmann repeated his words and was again called to order amidst loud and indignant protests. He went on to say : ' I am not personally in favour of revolution. I prefer pacific means ; but if we are forced to fight we shall know how to fight, and I shall be proud to lay my life on the field of honour. Let Prince Bismarck remem- ber the i8th of March, 1848.'" The ladies have taken hold of it there. In the Spring of this year the lady socialists of Berlin held a conference of some 1^200 representatives. Frau Hahn was chosen chairwoman. One of the mem- bers of the national legislature, Herr Most, made a speech, which was revolutionary in its aims, and appeals against the sacred relations of society and the church. In Paris, a short time ago, as many as 100,000 persons followed, in funeral march, one of their order to the grave. And in Berlin, when Augustus Heinsch was buried, 10,000 persons were in the possession, and he was buried in a cemetery G V'ff f 98 MANASSKH AND COMMUNISM. ii i :■'« '■;( ■',. 1 ■ 1: I u t 1 :4 over whose gate was written : *' There is no here after, and no meeting again." The Nihilists of Russia seek to level property and society socially, and do away with religion altogether. This society is at once the weakness and dread of Russia. Its strength is seen, when a jury refuses to convict Vera Sassulitch, who assas- sinated Gen. Trepoff. The internationalism of Italy seeks to federate all these societies together and force a state of government and society agree- able to their desires, which is to take possession of the world. Seeing what communism under differ- ent names is abroad, we surely are not incurious of its aims and conditions in our own land. In the United States it is yet in its infancy, and it is an uncertain quantity, still it is here and it is fed from importation and contagion. Outwardly, it is hete- rogeneous, but really when carefully analyzed it is homogeneous. By all fair reasoning this country ought to be as unfriendly and destructive to com- munism, as taught abroad, as Ireland is to venom- ous reptiles. But it is not with what ought to have been we must deal, but with what actually is. It is patent to every serious observer that every shade of communism, as taught abroad, has a standing and representation here. Of communes of a religious character we have more than all the world put together, yet only one was started by an American, namely the Oneida commune, by Mr. Noyes, the Amanaites, Harmonists, Separat- ists, Shakers, Perfectionists, Icarians, and many MANASSEH AND COMMUNISM. 99 others as described by Charles Nordhoff, in his work entitled " The Communistic Societies of the United States." Why should this country be un- friendly to communism ? because here the very liberty claimed and sought after by such societies is enjoyed. We have none of the abominations and excesses of aristocracy-titled families and costly royalty en- tailed upon us. We have rated man high and trusted him with much. Even ignorance, poverty and immorality do not debar a man from being an individual sovereign — having a say in making laws and rulers by his voting power. In this thing we have gone to an extreme, and in it is our danger. For we have put into the hands of ignorance, pov- erty and immorality the use and keeping of very precious gifts. Let us haste to enlighten, to enrich and ennoble the masses, that these gifts may be rightly and wisely kept and used. To-day a socialistic picnic has been held in Ridgewood park, under the patronage of the Social- istic labour party of Brooklyn. This irreverence and Sabbath-breaking is a bad feature of American communism. Workingmen have nought to gain, but much to lose, by doing anything to lessen the power of Christianity in the land. True, there are many needful reforms to be brought about ; yet capital and labour will have to understand each other better, and take each other into a more inti- mate relation. Our government has been very imprudent and improvident in creating monopolies W ' '1^1 100 MANASSEH AND COMMUNISM. 4': V:i ^li and wasting the heritage of the people's land. We cannot expect a railway to pay which cost eighty million dollars, when the stockholders double that amount ; that is, water their stock one-half, and then expect seven per cent, interest on one hundred and sixty million dollars. And, because their profits in hard times won't pay that interest, they fall back upon the workingman and lower his wages. True, again, many bought these stocks at advanced prices ; still it is no reason why the workingman should be made to pay. I presume there is hardly a railway in the country but what would pay interest upon the bona fide investments. To adjust the accumulated grievances of the past is going to tax the best talent in the country, and the best and wisest legislation. We need the mo.st vigorous and prompt attention to the education of the young, and the boldest, and yet most loving, efforts of the church. Manasseh is going to be severely tried by political factions, monopolists and communistic elements. Let us prepare for the day, and be found on the Lord's side — especially you who are of the working class. In God you have a true friend ; in His religion, the true spirit and principles of a world-wide commune. Next Sunday evening we will notice the com- mune that will finally be established, and how and where, KING. PEOPLE AND GOD ONE. DISCOURSE VII. MODERN SCIENCE TO BE EXCELLED BV THE URIM AND THUMMIM — SOLUTION OF COMMUNISM— TRUE PRINCIPLE OF TAXATION — LFVEL PEOPLE UPWARD — MONOPOLISTS " ARE ONE WITH THE devil" — THE CHURCH SHOULD HAVE NO POOR KINGS DISAPPEARING — TRIBtrTE TO MR. BERGH — THE GREAT CHRIS- TIAN COMMUNE COMING. Text— Zachariah xii. 8. "In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jeru- salem, and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David ; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them." |HE word David in the tpxt is used in a generic sense ; just as we use the words king, emperor or president ; like as the Egyptian ruler was called Pharaoh. It is a title given in prophecy to the successor of David on the throne of David. At the time spoken of, a king will reign in righteousness ; he will be firmly established upon his throne in Jerusalem, with most of the nations of the earth federated to it. Being in the heavenly line of kings, he will be emphatically a king by divine right ; a successor of David and a WW Ij;., I 02 KING, PEOPLE AND GOD ONE. } I , ■m u . i: ■:,'; ;l'':^ 1 : .^^ :.::|Ji: i 1 ■ forerunner and type of Christ. " Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute justice and judgment in the earth." — Jer. xxiii. 5. This king will be instructed and guided by heavenly wisdom and light, like as in the kingdom of Israel and Judah in olden times. The ark of the covenant and in the Urim and Thummim, now buried in the ruins of Tara, in Ireland, or some- where else, will be brought to view and used for sacred purposes. For this end these things were hid by the prophet Jeremiah from the greed and destruc- tion of Nebuchadnezzar, when he destroyed Jerusa- lem and despoiled the temple of its rich and precious furniture. In that day a new temple will have been built, as laid out by Ezekiel in the last chapters of his prophecies, and these Mosaic instruments and symbols of the divine presence will again be installed in theii ght place to fulfill the functions originally intended. They will constitute and be a phonograph far surppassing Prof Edison's and an agephone greatly exceeding that of Israel D. Jewett, and a telemachon much in advance of Prof C. W. Siemen's. Spiritualism, pure and undefiled, will then be an established fact ; heaven and earth will be near each other, and God and man will be en rapport. The gleaming, visible majesty of the Divine presence will again rest between the cherubim on the mercy- seat. The shekinah shall once more write, speak and execute the will of heaven on earth. That por- tion of the Lord's prayer in which we ask that the klNC, I'KOPLK AND GOD ONK. 103 will of God may be done on earth as in heaven, will then be well nigh answered. In the text we learn that God, the king and the people are to be one, a three-fold cord. The king is to be to the peoi51e as the angel of the covenant, which led and defended the hosts of Israel and Judah through the wilderness. The poorest, nay the feeblest among them, shall be equal to the king; equal rights and privileges accorded to all — as in the beloved gospel of Jesus — "the rich and poor dwelt together, the Lord is the maker of them all " ; so at this time the king and people shall be equal. A commune is yet to be established that shall be as safe as it will be generous, and as gener- ous as the needs of humanity. It will not take much to run a world, in labour or law, when every man becomes willing to assume his share. Ten thousand laws and ten thousand luxuries will then become obsolete. A person honestly disposed can easily keep the laws of this country, though he be ignorant of nine-tenths of them. The better a man is, the less are his claims, for he throws away all useless luxuries and extravagances ; the more honest a man is the more does he retire laws ; for of the many laws, few will ask aught at his hands. In the communistic societies of this country we have some remarkable examples of what joint labour and brotherhood can accomplish. Take the Shakers, and we see what a little toil will produce, when divided according to the ability. Leaving out their idiosyncrasies of faith — looking at them r 1 r 1 :';! 1 1 1 1 1 if ii'l ■ ■ ■■";■! ■1 ■']' 1 ■;■■ 104 KING, PEOPLE AND GOD ONE. as a family from a material point, and we see the commune question solved. Superintendent Pils- bury reports the receipts of the state prison, Sin^ Sing, for the past year to be $43,000 over expendi- ture. Four years ago, when this* prison was under political inspectors, the deficit used to be $50,000 or so per year. Here, in a commune, or brother- hood of prisoners, we see how joint labour can be made productive. Our marvellous progress in the arts and sciences, as indicated in modern inven- tions and appliances, is fast reducing labour to exercise, and toil to business. If the next fifty years be as fruitful in inventions as the past fifty, labour and toil will be reduced to a very low point. The coarser quality of toil and the burden of labour will be entirely removed from muscle to steam, from brain to machinery. Man will be displaced by nature, that he again may become its lord — at least • its servant — rather than its slave as heretofore. By means of machinery now one man in iron and steel work can produce as much as eighty did fifty years ago ; in mining, as much as fifty ; in navigation and transportation, as much as one hundred and seventy-five ; in sewing, as much as sixty ; in shoemaking, as much as four hundred ; in knitting, as much as two thousand ; in weaving, as much as three hundred ; in printing, as much as five hundred ; in farming, as much as seven. And so in every department there is an enormous displacement of human labour by the use of ma- chinery. This improvement will continue until .■>.•■■■.;->.■.'■ KING, PEOPLK AND GOD ONE. 105 man's needs will be easily supplied. Then it will not be necessary to en.^lave the many to keep the few. Then, rare things, and needed things, and precious things, will become so plentiful and cor- respondingly cheap, that the poor will be able to have what now only the rich can get. Taxes will then be much less, and a better and wiser means of raising them will be adopted. Taxes will be light, and thus things will be cheaper ; hence the con.-5umption greater. The little tax on much will raise more for the revenue than the much tax on the little. This problem the English government solved a few years ago ; taxes were decreased and the revenue correspondingly increased. Then, for the first time, the English exchequer had a surplus of income over its outgo. People v/ill use more and a better quality if things are cheap. Every thing we need wants to be produced so cheaply and plentifully that all can have that need, like corn and wheat in the Western States : a bushel of corn for ten cents, a bushel of wheat for twenty cents ; then all may have bread. Charity would then have her binding bands loose ; for to feed a destitute family would be no great sacrifice with grain so cheap and plenty. I am a communist. I do not, however, wish the riches of the rich divided to me, but riches so multi- plied that I become rich. I would rather level society upward than downward. I do not want the intelligence taken from the learned and divided among the ignorant, but the ignorant instructed, n. 'Hi 1 ' u ■'p^c^'T"Tr^^«V*r^ ^*'!- M,-^(."- ' T 1 06 KING, PEOPLE AND GOD ONE. i'^:!| I ::! ill :■ • i and so made equal to the learned. I believe in levelling upward. In God's rich earth, air and sun, there is enough for all. If workingmen who are now complaining of hard times understood the secret of their power, the times could soon be made better. We are afflicted as a nation, like other nations in Europe, with having too many mechanics, and by far too few farmers. Every country should do that which it can do the best, the easiest and cheapest ; if so, our special province and work is clear. Away with protection. Let us feed the world ; for this we can do. Chicago, in 1838, ex- ported seventy-eight bushels of corn, now she can export corn and wheat by the millions of bushels. We are now only poor comparatively. Think of the world a hundred years ago. The following from a paper of that time will give us some idea of hard times : In 1776, Dunlop's Weekly Packet, published in Philadelphia, contained a brief advertisement to the effect that the city cart for broken victuals made its rounds every evening, and householders were urged to contribute, as the need of the pris- oners was great. Our exchanges for the same week in 1876 contain the brief announcement that the wheat crop of the West promises to be fair. It is worth our while to look into the meaning of the two notices. The prisoners were in truth near starvation, their allowance being half of a four- penny black loaf per diem ; for all else they were dependent on the refuse from kitchens, collected t( : I KING, PEOPLE AND GOD ONE. [07 each day in a barrow. Prisoner.s in England at that date were worse off, being chained in cages and left to beg loudly for food from passers-by. Fifteen years later, during Washington's adminis- tration, the need of the poorer classes in the capi- tal of the new Republic was so great that footpads attacked men on the principal streets. In London, hangings of the purloiners of loaves of bread were frequent. The rich as well as the poor lived on oats and barley, and they were scarce enough. "Only a wealthy family," says Eden, in 1797, ''could afford in Cumberland a peck of wheat flour yearly, and that at Christmas. Not a penny white loaf was to be found in towns as large as Carlisle." Meat was a luxury almost unknown to the English and French peasant. In short, there was not enough food in the civilized world for its inhabitants. The gnawings of hunger drove as many emigrants to our shores as did religious per- secution ; and if Louis XVI. could have filled the empty stomachs of the Jacquerie, there is every probability that he might have died comfortably in his bed. America brought very little food then into the world's market ; the narrow strip of soil rescued from the forest, along the sea coast, barely sufficed to feed her own colonists, and that so scantily that the influx of a small number of troops into a province produced a famine. In Asia, the need of new producing fields was felt more sharply then than in Europe ; and it has in- creased with every year since. So near to famine 1 1 ■;1 1 08 ' '11 1 1 ■ i| n ,.' 'imk u liillj KING, PEOPLE AND GOD ONE. does the overcrowding of population bring the poorer classes of China, that the practice of in- fanticide pleads a horrible sort of quasi justifica- tion on the ground of humanity. Thousands of families live the year round on the yield of a scanty rice field. Manasseh should become the great bread sup- plier of the world ; he should not try to be a world in himself The aristocratic families of Europe have long and persistently tried to be a distinct world of themselves, and married and intermar- ried ; but Heaven soon bars their way by making them childless, first warning them by feeble and imbecile heirs, then He finally cuts them off. We need not, and ought not, to be suffering as we are. A country whose food products surpass her de- mand ought to be impregnable to crises like what we are now passing through. But the affliction is Heaven's warning against our selfishness, extrava- gance and corruption. Take China as an example. Fifty years ago we exported to that country over $6,000,000 worth, and last year only about a mil- lion. Oh ! for some christian statesman who will lead the people, and shape the policy of this country agreeably to its divine intent. A sick man will keep experimenting in medi- cine because he is sick ; so men will keep organiz- ing and agitating as long as the country is sick. And surely the country is sick, when for the nine months of this year we have had 8,678 failures with liabilities at $197,000,000. While some of KING, PEOPLE AND GOD ONE. 109 these failures are honest, we know that many of them are the result of a rascality unprecedented. No wonder that Kearneyism, or any other ism that proposes a change, should find favour with the masses. Nor do we need to wonder that the working-class is being estranged from the masters and rich folks when we think of the swindling of the past and laxity of the law. The position of the ruling class in the country is one of insecurity and danger. The masses will not much longer go hungry and idle in the midst of plenty. The past two summers we had warning of the temper and spirit of society. The wild yell of an enraged mob will be heard in the street ere long if master minds and loving hearts do not take matters in hand. The leaders among the working-class, as a rule, are unsafe ; they are dangerous. The work-people — the people who need assist- ance — need to be taught many things ; especially do they need to be taught better and more rational feelings towards society, or the rich. * * * They are as sheep that have no shepherd. Nobody cares to teach or guide them, except those who are labouring for a complete re-organization of society on a plan which rejects the results of the world's experience, culture and civilization ; and which seeks the abolition of nationality, art, religion, sci- ence and individual property. Christianity intro- duces a higher element into human society, and substitutes fraternal justice for the other law. The potion needs will, spirit, life — a conviction of the IIO ' f :> -i if; :. ■ f .' 'II It / I ' 1, '; < ii 1 ; . : i; i'i| KING, PEOPLE AND (iOI) ONE. imperative necessity of strenuous work for self- preservation on the part of the superior and culti- vated classes. The fraternal relations of the people need to be strengthened, or else the times will grow worse for all classes, until all the people will suffer the effect of the evils which now press most sharply upon the workingmen. We are afflicted in this land, as well as they arc in some other lands, with too many princes and kings. We have railway kings, iron kings, silver kings, political kings, bank kings, and kings of many kinds. They are not like the king spoken of in the text ; they are not one with the poor and feeble, neither are they one with God. But they are one among themselves and one with the devil. Civilization, especially Christian civilization, as it progresses destroys gods and kings. The next fifty years will be specially devoted to this work. When a missionary goes to the heathen, his first, continued, and last work, is to destroy gods by the substitution of the one true and living God in their place. Men are not naturally infidels ; they do not go without a god. Infidelity is only a product of a superior civilization, and comes as naturally as the gout to the nobility, the lazy and well-fed. The heathen, not knowing the true God, yields to the instinctive promptings of his nature, and makes one ; or installs the sun, moon, stars, winds, beasts, rivers and mountains into gods. So men feel the instincts of brotherhood, and, not being guided aright, they club together in iniquity. Others, more a-'ii : KING, PEOI'LE AND GOD ONE. I I I zealous and intelligent, seek to realize a brother- hood ; hence the many efforts to form communistic societies. The best form of brotherhood ought to be found within a church. The church, sincere and saved of Christ, should approach quite near to Pen- tecostal times. There should be no real want of the essentials of life among members of a church. Church membership should put a man of honest and loving endeavour beyond want. No man should say he lacks aught of the essentials, if a church membe , Every church should keep its own poor. I would not serve any, for any price, that would let a member perish, or be forced to go to the world or corporation for relief. The rich in Christ must help the worthy and needy poor. In the church, the true commune should start and perfect itself. Of course such a rule of charity practised will render it necessary for the minister and members to be careful who they admit, and how each and every member walks and lives. It is a shame for any church or minister to permit one of their own fold to go to the ungodly to beg bread. Every corpora- tion should look after the sinner, and every church after the saints. This part of Christianity our Quaker friends have finely exemplified. This part also our brethren of Judah have well kept. The late Pope Pius would not have died with $30,000,000 in the bank if this principle had full sway in the Catholic church. Roman Catholicism is a failure, because it impov- erishes and keeps poor the poor of its persuasion. .mi ^1" iiiv^M^i^^p^w ip^iP»T''^i"np*«wiwr I 12 KING, I'EOPLK AND GOD ONK. '.k, V'l I ,1 '* :■'(:,,! /■:! ■ X As the kin^ in the text is to be one with God, and the feeblest one with Him ; so the Pope, professing to be just this, namely, God's vicegerent on earth, should have been more exemplary. The Czar of Russia, the Emperor of Prussia, the Queen of Eng- land, each of which professes to be heads of tbe Church, namely, the Greek, Lutheran and P^pisco- palian, should draw nearer to God and the people to answer the meaning of the text. Thank heaven that there is coming a time when the earth shall be content with one king. This work I see is nobly pushing on. In Christendom there are thirty-six reigning sovereigns. Ten of these are Roman Catholic ; of the remaining twenty-six, two of them, the Czar and the King of Greece, belong to the Greek Church ; twenty- four of them are Protestants, namely, sixteen Lutherans, and three belong to the Reformed Church, and one, the Queen of Eng- land, to the Episcopalian. She has, however, under her a great number of Catholics and Hindoos, and she has more Mohammedan subjects than Protes- tants. The Emperor of Russia and the Queen of England have been used very extensively to be- head kings and queens, and the work must go on until there will be only one left. Take India, for instance. Here are sixteen large nations, of many different languages ; now these sixteen kings have been destroyed, and the Empress of India, the Queen of England, has been installed in their plact. The Indian nations con- quered are : KINfi, PFOPLK AND COH ONK. 113 1. The Bengalesc nation, 36,003,000 of a popu- lation. 2. The TelufTus, with a population of 14,000,000. 3. The Tamils, who numbered 16,000,000. 4. The Malayan counted 3,000,000. 5. The Canarese, 8,000,000. 6. The Mahrattas, 13,000,000. 7. The Oriya, 5,000,000. 8. The Santhals, 5,000,000. 9. The Guzarathis, 6,000,000. 10. The Sindis, 1,000,000. 11. The Shihks and Punjabis, i.?,ooo,ooo. 12. The Hindusthanis, 80,000,000. 13. The Burmese, 3,000,000. 14. The Assamese, 3,000,000. 15. The Cingalese, 2,000,000. 16. The hill races, 1,000,000 ; a total of 208,- 000,000. Besides, in many of the fifty-six colonies of the British Empire, kings were wont to reign. Again, take Germany, and here many kings have been destroyed, and many more will soon be. Of all the countries of the world, none is so afflicted with kings, princes, dukes and titled lordlings. From this king-bed nearly all the kings and princes and rulers of Christendom have come. Germany, at present, has twenty-four sovereign kings, dukes, and princes. This does not include the Emperors of Prussia or Austria. In the late war with Austria, Prussia took the heads off four kings, namely, Hanover, Hesse, Hamburg and Holstein. Of course, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Mecklenburg, Baden H t t .'.-'it '. s!lut: ■3 •» ii \ ijiiji t^lj! \. organization. All the spiritual phenomena of the Bible peculiar to seeing are thus explained. To see spiritual visitors, as in the case of the patriarch Abraham and other noted instances, was only to be made independent of the usual mode. The same God who could give us power to see through the matter of the eye could permit His servants to see independently occasionally. Thus the prophet EHsha prayed for his servant that he might have this privilege, and it was granted. The young man saw with his natural eyes the Syrian host around the tent, but he saw not the heavenly host camping around. His sight was grooved to matter. In answer to Elisha's prayer the sight wa ) made free. " And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man ; and he saw : and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." — 2nd Kings vi. 17. Bible spiritualism was exceptional, and always for some benevolent purpose. It was on the line and aimed at the same end as all other kinds of divine lessons and training. What was miraculous in the cases recorded in the Bible some have had born in them in a lesser degree. While they have not been able to see spirits, they have been enabled by some strange constitutional idiosyncrasy to read another's thoughts, to enter into the privacy of another's mind. Take Professor Brown, the mind-reader, as an example on this point. In his exhibitions Jie certainly acts very fair, open and honest. The SPIRITUALISM. 127 results are really astonishing, still he does not claim any spiritual aid or interference. Had he been mindful to do so when he first went before the public, he would have ranked as a first-class medium. Now this species of mind-power is some related to the power Peter had, as a divine gift, when he could look inside of Ananias and Sapphira and declare their hidden thoughts. This gift our Shaker friends say they have now. Paul could speak many languages which he had learned by hard study, and there were many at Pentecost who got in a moment what it took Paul years to learn — they had the gift of tongues. Among the fourteen special and miraculous gifts at Pentecost, one was to discern spirits. This gift eminently qualified the apostles to pronounce on a man's sins whether they were forgiven or not. If persons acted hypocritically and claimed to be forgiven when they were not, such hypocrisy would be detected by the apostles, so the apostles would not forgive them. True, many arrogate to themselves this power to-day, among whom we may mention the Roman Catholic priests. But it is very clear that no one should assume such a divine preroga- tive unless they have the divine seal of commission in the gift of discerning of spirits. The disciples had the miraculous endowment of healing the sick ; and any in our day assuming to be likewise endowed must give proof of such endowment by healing the sick also. I hold it to be agreeable with the rules of com- mon-sense interpretation that ^nv person or class m ' f-^1.5^* J * 1 ofeA,-£-jJM-% "■ ^■iwjiifliiiw»«iri"iflFfWPPfpp^ 128 SPIRITUALISM. Is 1 ■ . i' t 1 ' 'l' '' (1 ,1 ' V ' ; H 'im'f of persons, proclaiming to have a new and superior revelation, or to be divinely and specially endowed, must give suitable and corresponding proofs of the same. Spiritualism or any other ism must be sub- ject to such a rule of judgment. If our spiritualistic friends ^laim to have a new and valuable revelation, they are in all fairness obligated to make known something new : something that could not and would not otherwise be known. To confirm the individuality and distinctness of such revelation, they must reveal some individualism of truth or truths. And if they wish to confirm the existence of such revelation by exhibited experiments, then they must do something that cannot be done by the art of jugglering, by sleight-of-hand, by necro- mancy, by astrology, by mesmerism, by clairvoy- ancy, by hysteria, by epilepsy, by catalepsy, by syncope, by trance, by peculiar and varied idosyn- crasies of lunacy, by mind-reading, by magnetism, by electricity, or by any and every force and agency outside of their claimed revelation. For it is evi- dent that we should not find a new father for things already fathered, nor claim that to be new which is old, nor attribute a supernatural origin to an effect that is known to be natural ; and if any- thing occurs for which we cannot find an adequate natural cause, we must not hastily conclude that it is of supernatural origin. Indeed, we have no right to account for any given fact by saying it is supernatural until we have exhausted all natural resources. Prove all things is the divine injunction. Sri RITUALISM. 129 The subject of spiritualism is now an important one to consider : important from what is claimed and proof submitted, and from the millions of intelligent, earnest and sincere followers. It is not to be judged by its faults, nor by the hypocritical and mercenary parasites attaching themselves to it ; nor have we so judged it, but by what the best and purest of its followers say it is. Next Sabbath evening we will compare some of the mysteries of human nature with the teaching of spiritualism. I K il*^. .■.VC.-j. i". I I t I! MORE ABOUT SPIRITUALISM. DISCOURSE IX ii'? '^■'■f. SPIRITUALISM OF JOHN — SPIRITUALISM FROM ADAM TO JOHN- SPIRITUAL POWER SHOULD BE PROVED BY MIRACLES — OUR RELATIONS WITH THE INVISIBLE— SPIRIT SPACE— NATURE'S FREAKS— PRODIGIES — PERSONAL MYSTERIOUS EXPERIENCE- SOMNAMBULISM — PERSONAL IDENTITY — FREAKS OF MEMORY — TOUCHING ILLUSTRATION — FUTURE OF SPIRITUALISM — ITS MYSTERIES. Text — ist John iv. i. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God ; because inany false prophets are gone out into the world." ISTORY and tradition agree in fixing the death of John about the close of the first century. Many years he survived ail the other apostles. He was a man of wealth, of a loving disposition, and of great influence. The night before the crucifixion of our Saviour, we find him present in the palace of the high priest, while the Saviour was being accused and tried before Annas. Among the angry and impatient multitude who crowded the hall, John appears. MORE ABOUT Sl'IRITUALFSM. 131 His goodness, influence and wealth command their respect, and shield him from insult or arrest. His power is seen by the little incident of Peter's intro- duction, John, learning that Peter was at the door, immediately went and passed him in. As recorded in his own language — John xviii. 16: "But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter." To John the Saviour committed the keeping of his mother, Mary. Through this apostle the divine volume of inspiration is fittingly closed. John was, indeed, a spiritualist of the highest order. To him, on the Isle of Patmos, was granted visions and revelations of surpassing grandeur and of thrilling interest. He was, in- deed, a seer, permitted to be en rapport with heaven, spirit-land and spirits. Down through the centuries, to the end of time, this seer saw the rise and fall of empires, the creation and demolition of thrones, the march and strife of nations, the con- flicts and war of races, the varying and checkered career of truth in contest with error and supersti- tion, and finally the conquest and universal victory of Jesus and His kingdom. Thus was he pre- eminently qualified to advise the church of God. In his day the spirit of anti-Christ had begun to develop, and the spirit of superstition to prevail. No wonder, then, that he should send forth his warning voice, cautioning the infant church, say- ing : " Beloved, believe not every spirit." But he 132 MORE AIJOUT SPIRITUALISM. ''■i 'A bids them try — that is, examine and test the spirits, because many false prophets, or teachers, were gone abroad. He then submitted a simple rule, by which they were to know the good spirits from the bad : " Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." By this rule we, in this day, must test the claims and manifestations of spiritualism. This is the rule that Christians and all believers in the inspiration of the Bible must use. Those who do not so believe will then test and try spiritualism by the rules of science. One or other of these modes all must accept, and abide the decision. Spiritualism in the c^nb before Christ was in- tensely and generally prevalent ; and not less so in Christ's time, any one familiar with the Old Testament and the life and work of Christ will admit. Good and bad angels, demons, or the spirits once human, and Satan and his angels are often brought to our notice as agents of mercy or messengers of wrath. Their work and visitations are curiously interwoven into Jewish history. But Paul, when speaking of the v/orV^^ or age we live in, gives hints of some radical rh; i? e between this dispensation and that. " For unto iiie angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak." — Heb. ii. 5. How, then, and by what method, does Providence administer, if not by MORE ABOUT SPIRITUALISM. 133 angels and spirits ? The answer is clear. It is by human agencies. This human agency was, how- ever, in the beginning of the Christian dispensation strangely supplemented by miraculous endow- ments, comprising some fourteen distinct gifts. By this means the apostles and many of the early followers of Jesus were enabled to establish their divine commission, and prove the spiritual by the miraculous, natural — as the Saviour did on one occasion to convince the Jews ; for He said unto them, " That ye may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, He said unto the sick man, ' Arise, take up thy bed, and walk.' " Of course, the people could not see whether He forgave sins or not ; this, indeed, they doubted ; but to convince them that He could. He did some- thing which they could see, which was equally as impossible. So Paul tells us that God gave witness "both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will." Heaven sealed humanity with a divine seal, to the end that they might plant and set up the kingdom of Christ. And after it was once fairly established, then the extraordinary gifts and endowments were withdrawn. God miracu- lously endowed Adam with speech, but Cain had to learn from Adam. So at first the church had neither time nor means to learn language, hence God gave them languages. But their successors would have to learn them. So the church, in its missionary department, is learning ; hundreds of students are now at work preparing. m If 1 1 M j M ' i 1 1 l-'^i ^' n i 134 MORE ABOUT SPIRITUALISM. M '.m While, then, we admit spiritualism to have been a fact from Adam down to John, does it follow, and have we reason to believe that it is a fact now ? This I would answer by saying : Certainly not, in the same sense and fulness. The old dis- pensation was displaced by the new ; but by this we do not understand that none of the old is incorporated into the new. We have forms and ceremonies now, but not of so intense a character as of old ; we have priest and sacrifice — Temple and Shechinah, but not so visible and distinct as the Hebrews had. Their Shechinah they could see ; our Shechinah, the Holy Spirit, we cannot see, yet the latter is as real as the first, and touches every man that cometh into the world ; for a measure of divine influence is manifestly given unto all, that if they will they may profit thereby. The Holy Spirit is a guide, instructor, memory prompter, comforter and helper. And as the spiri- tual is superior to the material, there may be within certain limits, times, persons and peculiar circumstances, distinct spiritual agencies employed even now. Paul tells us, in the last verse of the first chapter of Hebrews, that angels are " minis- tering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." So far I can consci- entiously go with our spiritualistic friends, and I can join hands and heart with them in searching after truth ; and with them I long to get nearer the spiritual world. And I am willing that weak human nature shall be aided lawfully by any new MORE ABOUT SPIRITUALISM. 135 source of power, visible or invisible. I am also willing to admit that there are some rare and varied phenomena lying between the positive known world and the greater unknown ; things we dimly see, touch and hear — so dimly, indeed, that we cannot as yet know to which world they belong, the visible or invisible. In this we have nothing strange ; for science is equally as well puzzled to define the connecting links between the vegetable and animal, or between the animal and man. No one knows, as yet, whether the common sponge is a vegetable or an animal. Human nature is not yet wholly fathomed nor its powers completely defined. How much we touch, how far we reach, and what is the measure of the sceptre power we hold in ourselves, we yet wait to know. The mode and manner of a spirit's existence, its relation to time and space, have, as yet, been illy defined and poorly understood. It is easy for a person to say that he does not believe that seven devils or demons could enter into Mary Magdalene ; but any one denying it should first prove how much space a spirit takes, and then prove the contents of space in a body. Denial is no argument. A man's ignorance should not be the groundwork of his belief The byways and possibilities of nature are beyond computation. Had some persons seen Adam made, they would, scientifically, have jumped to the conclusion that all else of hh kind would so come into the world. But we should always remember that the Divine ■5 * < ■n •■} '■i. i u MiA*l,iP,WI«RWWI»fW-WyvilW«^.H"«*'«l!IW»J|||W^ 36 MORE AHOUT SPIRITUALISM. i ! 1 :;|.<6.!,/ is not circumscribed and limited by revelations ; equal results and sequences are attained by diver- sified methods. Hence Eve was human, but not made like Adam. Cain was born, yet he was a man like Adam. And Christ in His incarnation is humanity produced again in a different way from the others. The last manifestation limits our vision, but we should be wise enough not to make the same the limitation of created energy. Look at the St. Benoit twins, and then find the law for such a production ; the Siamese twins and thousands of nature's byway productions, and because they are uncommon we have no law that will account for them. Prior to such births, science would have declared them impossible. If one knew only a simple birth, they would not guess or suppose that four could be born at once. Thus we judge that because, as a rule, only one spirit lives, hides and abides for a time in these bodies, therefore seven spirits could not be in one body at the same time. But any man making such a decla- ration is either very ignorant or superlatively wise. Nature has played some curious and gigantic freaks since she first began— monsters in every depart- ment, intellectually, morally, spiritually. Take as ^n instance the boy Holland, of Monroe County, Kentucky. In him you have a mathematical pro- digy. He could solve more easily and correctly mathematical problems than any mathematically- trained student ever did. This he could do before he could write or h^d learned figures. When asked ll' i|illj!|.|il||,jii|i||.lllMi |lltj,(i|||ij||nMI "M T1 MORE ABOUT SPIRITUALISM. 137 a question he closed his eyes and then told it off. When asked how he did it, he said he didn't do it, but that he saw it in the realm of the mind. Now nature produced this prodigy by making the boy epileptic. It is remarkably strange that nature's defects are our most perfect wonders. Blind Tom, the African musician, had born in him rhythm, melody and musical aptitude. In all other facul- ties he was defective. For several years I myself had the ability to read figures, and quote who'e pages from books read years before. This I did by closing my eyes. Then on a sort of front view the figures or book would appear ; ihe same I would then read off. In quoting figures and dates I often resorted to this source. Now I am not, nor ever was, an epileptic, but I had in a lesser degree the same faculty the boy Holland had. And stranger still is the fading away of this power. Some few years ago I narrowly escaped from a house on fire. The nervous shock I then received left my mind as other men's in this respect. But beside this I suf- fured a more serious deprivation, which I now for the first time make known. Before the fire I was quite familiar with Latin, Greek, Hebrew and some German, but after, I found the German entirely gone from my command, and but faint traces of the other languages left. In Greek and Hebrew, by hard study, I am somewhat restored. I do not think these things are gone forever ; they are not annihilated, they are yet a part of myself, although not voluntarily at my command. But supposing I I i '' " I I ' If n :•!.•!■ 1 I : w J 7i5'- '4m\m ■-y^:) ; 1 I3« MORE AHOUT SPIRITUALISM. was put into an abnormal condition, then these hidden facts nnight be the most prominent and perfect. In the raging of a fever or wounding of the body, especially the head ; or if I were thrown into a mesmeric or a clairvoyant state ; or if I had faith so as to concentrate the forces of the mind by believing myself en rapport with some departed spirits — it would not be necessary that I was really en rapport with a spirit, but only that I believed myself to be so ; the spirit is not essential, but the faith is. The somnambulist can walk dizzy heights and perform feats which in a wakeful state he neither dares to undertake nor accomplish, for the reason that the faculties of the mind in such a sleeping condition are centralized. I believe personal identity implies continuity, though in a healthy condition the whole line of the continuity cannot be seen at one time, or be pro- duced at the will of the memory. Identity includes all we ever came in contact with, both visible and invisible, voluntarily, or involuntarily. A case in point to illustrate this is the following : The Rev Mr. Evans, the noted Welsh preacher, had for many years a poor illiterate woman as a servant. Some time after she had left Mr. Evans she was taken sick and put into a hospital. In the par- oxysms incidental to her disease, she would read off passages from the Bible by memory, both in the Hebrew and Greek, with a readiness and per- fection that was marvellous. Her former illiterate condition being well known, these paroxysmal ex- m 1 1 'r! MORE AnOUT SPIRITUALISM. 139 hibitions were looked upon as being miraculous ; by some she was thought to be en rapport, with spirits. A number of learned gentlemen interested in the case tried to solve the mystery. They traced back her career to the time when she was a servant for Mr. Evans. They found that her sleeping- room was next to the preacher's study, and that he was in the habit of reading aloud in the stillness of the night from the Bible in the Hebrew and Greek languages. The hearihg from room to room was quite easy. The explanation to this strange phenomenon is that the reading was imprinted upon her mind by some process as yet not fully understood ; and with her it was both involuntary and unperceived. The state into which she was thrown by the paroxysm of the disease, persons can be thrown into scores of other ways, both vol- untarily and involuntarily. In such states they can reveal and do wonders to themselves and others, manifesting an ability which in % normal state they would be utte ly strangers to. The servant- woman we have spoken of could not, before or after her sickness, read Hebrew or Greek, and what is more, she didn't know anything about them. Science teaches us that the human body is an epitome of the material world ; that we have in the body, in more or less quantity, all the elements composing the earth — oxygen, carbon, iron and so on. Not disputing this point, allow m.e to say that I believe the Ego, the spirit, the man — that is, the '1 4 ; \:\ I mr 140 MORE AHOUT SI'IRITUALISM. It H ;1 \i i ;l:1 whole personnel of one's being — includes all we ever came in contact with, by touch, taste, sight, hearing or smelling, and all we ever thought within, and that our memory or faculty of recollec- tion, in the best of us, can discern or reveal but a very small percentage of the same in our natural state. The first two years of our life we learn a great deal ; on the knowledge then gained we plant all the rest. But much we then learn we are not conscious of; neither is it subject to memory or recollection. A person drowning or falling from a building will instantaneously see the whole line of identity and continuity, even back to the first thoughts. I know a man myself, who fell from the roof of a house and had such a revelation, and the beauty of it was that, when he got better, he found his mind and memory of persons and things much clearer and stronger. My honoured father, now in heaven, told me of a remarkable case that will bear out the^ame idea. A friend of his had a deed to a valuable piece of property put in his keeping. The property became subject to law. The person who owned the deed requested the friend to produce it. He began to hunt for it ; being precious, he had put it away carefully, and had forgotten where. He failed, however, to find it at that time. The case in court was lost, and all be- cause this deed was not produced. Father's friend was sorely blamed, and even charged with bribery. Years passed away, and by accident this friend was nearly drowned. While drowning he had a MORE ABOUT SPIKITHALISM. 141 revelation of his whole life, and he saw himself putting away the deed. On being restored, he went to the place and found it. The unconscious part of our being, I think, is larger than the conscious ; by ordinary methods it is unexplorable, but by extraordinary means it is sometimes brought to light ; and it is facts like these that strip spiritualism of £ome of its most wonderful features. At an after-dinner chat on board the Great Eastern in the fall of 1862, I thiqk — anyway, it was while returning from a visit to Europe — a lady repeated the following incident, and asked me for an explanation. She said her mother died when she was a few months old, the father immediately emigrating to America. She had been on her first visit to England. Soon after leaving London on the cars, everything began to look natural, as if she had passed that way hun- dreds of times. She could anticipate the buildings and scenery miles ahead. The old homestead she had never seen ; and her father died in New Orleans when she was less than three years old, so she could not have had the place described to her by him. She only knew the name of the rural village where she was born. But on landing there, she walked straight to the house and knew it, and the several rooms, especially the one where she was nursed most. They were distant relatives living there. She missed from the dining-room an old mahogany cupboard, and asked where it was. They told her that a cupboard they once had, and '5 J 1: M ,1! 1: till It: ^rm'iiMP«'iii''"|^w 142 MOkK AllolIT sriKJTUAI^lSM. Ill nil ■111 I fl , ■(.., > it stood where she pointed out. My answer was, that this cupboard, rooms, hou.w and scenery she saw when a baby, and that that part of the mind was opened up by excitement and interest. The late Charles Dickens mentions a case somewhat similar in his own experience, and quotes several others. On this principle many of the mysteries of death are made plain, and some argue our pre- existence from such facts In Canada I knew a little girl that was sick nigh unto death. She had been adopted. Her mother died when she was a few months old ; her father migrated to the Western States. The adopted parents never wished the child to know aught but that they were its real parents. During the little girl's sickness, at the time she was thought to be dying her face brightened and she seemed charmed, and her pale little face became radiant and angelic. She seer^ed enchanted with some- thing she' saw, but w) we who were by could not see. She from that time rallied and got better. On my next visit I spoke to her about the beauti- ful trance-like state we thought she had passed through. She then repeated to me what she saw. One figure had attracted her attention more than all. It was the figure of a woman that was more beautiful than she could describe. All the time this figure seemed to call her and invite her, and she says, " Oh, I did long to go to her. I believe she would have been my mother in Heaven." Now, the fact is, from the description the girl gave III MOUK AISOUT SI'IklTUAMSM. «43 of the woman, it was her real mother. And to prove this, a friend had her likeness, which we put among a number of others some time after she was well, without her knowing our intention ; we showed them to her one day. On picking up the likeness of her dead mother, she turned pale and seemed frightened, and then exclaimed, " Why, that is the woman I saw when sick ! " Now, in a case like this, I recognize spiritualism ; a spiritual- ism that neither offends our affection nor staggers our faith, nor opposes reason, nor confronts the teachings of the Divine Word. That which can be accounted for on natural principles we receive as such, and that which contains a divine element we as cheerfully accept. I presume we have much to learn. In science new forces and a more practical application of old forces are being discovered. So perchance, the testing and experimenting in the circles of spiritualism may discover something new, or improve the application of some old things. Scientific investigators often stumble upon some- thing they are not seeking, while seeking after that they do not find. Spiritualism has to grow and become a power in the world, for it is one of those forces that is to contribute to, and ally with anti-Christ at the time of the battle of Armageddon ; hence its growth is certain. And what is more, it will have to divide into two factions or parties, one of which will be very conservative and respectful and reverential toward Christianity and the Bible ; the other will I w 144 MORE ABOUT SPIRITUALISM. 1 ' 4i i li M : ' 1 i i' iii li 1., li i '' reject the Bible as an authority, and Christianity as a fraud. They will believe in and have com- munion with evil spirits. I wish, in no wise, in this course of sermons, to speak unkindly of any. I do not wish to stand in the way of any sincere effort to develop the mind and bring Heaven and earth together, and spirits living in time and eter- nity near to each other. But with all my liberality I shall preach as I believe, to the end of your salvation. Next Sunday evening we will consider some- thing of the mysteries of spiritualism. : t&l iJMii: : '. m I, ■:*'::" SPIRITUALISM AND PHILOSOPHY. DI SCOURSE X. THE SPIRIT IN MAN — TRINITY IN HUMANITY — BREATH NOT THE SPIRIT — THE CHANGE AT DEATH — PHILOSOPHY OF DREAMS — WHAT SCRIPTURE TEACHES — A WONDERFUL DREAM— EX- PERIMENTS TO PRODUCE DREAMS— MESMERISM— TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION — ART OF POCKET-PICKING ILLUSTRATED. ' < Text— Job xxxii. 8. " But there is a spirit in man : and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." |AN on completion is a trinity, whose parts are body, soul and spirit. The first man was both made and created. The Adam, or body, was formed from the dust of the ground ; the soul and spirit were* created. The making and creating are beautifully expressed in the following language of inspiration : " And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, ana man became a living soul." — Gen. ii. 7. The word /ife in the Hebrew is in the plural — it is L U' f vwrrwtf'^^^^rfljvmfB mvLU'ww^vmWWT!^ JilTOPW 146 SPIRITUALISM AND PHILOSOPHY. IS' ii ■i ■X If '■ : i'i ■ ■■": i 1 "V: ^'i : . i; ; -^ ■'■1 1 chayyim — for in completeness man has bodily life, soul life and spirit life. There is something very singular in this trinity rule that permeates all the known forms and kinds of material life. The ^^'g has two coverings, with the life principle hid in the yolk. The outer covering may be said to be more material, rougher and less organized than the sec- ond. The third, or principle of life, mostly evades sight, but not locality. We cannot find the exact point of life in the yolk of the egg, yet we know it to be there, and by the mother hen it can be warmed into existence, visibility and individuality. In trinity form the earth was finished and laid out. First, the rough and larger outer world. Second, we have the region of Eden, which in clime, soil and production was superior to the outer world. Then, in the third place, we have Paradise ; here all nature culminated into a sublime equilibrium and fulness. The same trinity rule was observed in the construction of the tabernacle and temple. First, we have the outer court, common and open to all. The second court was elective and selec- tive ; only they of Jewish faith could enter there. But the third court, or holy of holies, was more select still ; here the high priest, and he alone, could enter. God communed with one at a time through the Shechinah. The outer court had all light, the second was lighted by two windows, but the third had no light from without ; it was illu- mined from within. God met man in the holy of holies to instruct him. He came to man that way, SIMKITIJALISM AMD IM III-C )S( )IMIN . 147 but man approached Him through the two courts. Now apply this trinity rule to man, and you will the more readily see his dignity and relation to the universe and his Creator. Man is the true temple of which the temple and tabernacle of old were but faint types. His body is the outer court, the outer world, the shell. It is open to all, and the light is not measured to it through windows ; it is rough and less organized than the soul, for in the body we have the seeds of disease, as in the world outside of Eden there were thorns and nox- ious weeds. The soul, however, is an advance on the body, as was Eden to earth, and the second temple court to the first. The eyes graduate the light — they are the two windows through which the soul is lighted ; and by the lids of the eyes the soul may be selective and elective of men and things. The spirit corresponds to the life-centre of the egg, the paradise in Eden, and the holy of holies in the temple. And as Jehovah entered "the temple through the holy place, so now He enters into man and communes with him in and through the spirit. Men entered the temple the other way ; so must they enter into spiritual commune one with another. God alone met the high priest, and God alone can move and commune with our spirits in- dependently of material things and senses of the body. All earthly things must approach us from without, but God meets us from within. The light of the holy of holies was the Shechinah, or divine presence, so the light of the spirit is now by divine Tf 1^^ »||UW<)W^,I«» "» WWI'"|i"W4WW!^k«!'i^vrwwB»i!"'iTw< .niki^iiwiumpipiliiii^iil HI i : 15 ; T- 1 150 SPIRITUALISM AND PHILOSOPHY. infant respond to breath for the first time, in its new surroundings, or as the eyes gradually open to the light. And as the lungs are ready, and waiting birth to be active, so now, in us are the forces and faculties of the soul waiting the second birth, which we call death. The centre of the body is the fleshy heart. The centre of the soul is through the brain, and the spirit is centreless. If a person be struck a sudden blow, the vibration ends in the heart, for the first centre, then passes to the brain. If a person be frightened, the brain is first affected, then it passes the wave of palpitating sympathy to the heart. The mind can be moved from without through the various channels of the senses. And it can origi- nate thoughts from within — this we all know by experience. These centres Daniel refers to when he says : " I (Daniel) was grieved in my spirit, in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me." — Dan. vii. 15. Here Daniel locates two centres — midst of body, the heart, and the other in the head or brain, but the spirit is assigned no special locality. Bego Nedaneth. The soul shook in his body like a sword in the scabbard. Sensa- tion belongs to the body, will to the soul, and reason to the spirit. As to spirit, no one can say more, or give a better exposition of it, than by saying it is what it is, namely, spirit. It is a creation, not being made ; it can only be described by itself. This simple definition may not be enough with some. ¥. ■!■ SPIRITUALISiM AND PHILOSOrHY 151 but whether it is or not we are all aware of the impossibility of describing an essence or element, except by its properties or by comparison. Gold is gold. Am I asked what gold is, I can but say it is gold. If asked of what it is made, I again answer that it is made of gold. I could say what it is like, and tell some of its properties ; that is all. The essence even of matter no one yet knows ; the properties and peculiarities we may explain. And by the comparison of the soul we can define the domain and difference of the one from the other, just as we can by comparison tell the difference of gold and iron. Thank God for the fact that our intuitions and conceptions are superior to reason and explanation. We know more than we can ex- plain, and are persuaded of things undefinable. Elihu, when speaking to Job, in the words of our text tells us that there is a spirit in man. This expression we can as easily understand as if he had said the holy of holies was in the temple. And his saying, that the inspiration of the Almighty gave it understanding, is as readily comprehended as if he had said that the Shechinah was the light and guidance of the holy of holies. I accept, and most surely believe, that it is possible for a person to be, in this life, in a state of en rapport with the divine, and that the better and purer we are the more distinct and intense will such rela- tion be. This shade of spiritualism the Scriptures teach and human experience confirms : "The secret of the Lord is with the righteous ; " and again, ».""iH"tnjit!ir^w"W(»pfHjpj.»iwii \m 152 SPIRITUALISM AND PHILOSOPHY. ■1 I ;'; : i-; )U:rJ- I:: " What man is he that feareth the Lord ? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose." It is, however, very difficult to separate the divine part from the human, for what the Divine does He docs it so kindly and naturally. Divine energy mixes .so delicately with human energy that it really appears to be all human. In a person that is truly good the divine and human blend so completely that there is no jarring, and the effect in our expe- rience is to but one identity. As gently as the flower-bud drinks in sunlight and heat, the good and pure-minded sip of divine inspiration ; as naturally as the rose makes fragrant the air, the good man makes known the divine. The colours and aroma are but another form of the sun's visi- bility in copartnership with the flower. So the beauties and graces that most adorn and ennoble humanity are the result of a copartnership between God and man. In nature this copartnership is very manifest, both in the vegetable and animal kingdoms. Look, for instance, at the potato. In its natural state it is a pulpy bulb, and of no great service. Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1586, took some of these plants from Virginia to England, and there began to experiment on them — that is, he began to co-work with God ; to infuse into a divine sequence a human quantity, and he succeeded. Now, then, look at this pulpy bulb when the divine and the human dwell together in it, and you will see a vast difference. Even wheat in its natural state is a mere grass, the grain or seed being soft SPIRITUALISM AND PHILOSOPHY. 153 and pulpy ; but when man joins the divine, by creeping into these head-seed, how different in value and appearance. Man naturally and alone is very different from man en rapport with God. The divine quantity and presence may be dis- cerned in conjunction with the human, but how it enters or the exact measure of that quantity is a problem to solve of greater difficulty. I will submit a dream of mine as an illustration. On the 2nd of August, 1862, I intended to leave Gla.sgow, Scotland, in a steamship for Quebec. I was to meet there the Rev. W. Halstead, a minister now living and preaching in Canada. We started from Canada together, and had travelled together considerably in Europe. The night of August 1st, I was sleeping in the old homestead for the last time, as I thought That night I had a dream, which I told to my dear old mother, and she refused to let me leave. I dreamed that the ship left Glasgow all right, and proceeded on its way safely, till, in the middle of one night, it ran on a rock near the Straits of Belle Isle. I thought I was asleep, and was suddenly awoke by the sudden crash. I leaped from my berth, and started for the deck. The first thing happening was a splash of cold water covering me. I rushed out on deck and ran against the captain, who was standing against one of the masts, and I heard him exclaim distinctly, *' Oh, God ! " I saw the island rock looming up in the darkness, while the vessel was stranded on a ledge of the same. The captain ordered the passengers to be transferred to ,i|iii-iiMia 'mmmmw ;;1 !!; . I!B!- i i i': '■i ;,.■) T54 sr'iRrruAMSM and jmmlosoimiv. the island. When my turn came, I slipped in get- ting into the small boat and fell into the water, and so awoke out of the dream. The dream itself I cared but little for, and had no sjxicial faith in it, but out of deference to my aged jiarents, I con- sented to stay. I wrote a letter to Mr. Halstcad to meet him in Canada, telling him why I was stay- ing behind. Now, strange to say, what I had dreamed was the literal experience of Mr. Halstead. except the falling in the water. The vessel stranded at the place I .saw, at the time, and under the con- ditions of the dream. He was wet with the splash of water ; he ran against the captain, and heard him exclaim, ** Oh, God ! " Before he reached his home or had received my letter, he wrote one to meet me, giving these particulars. Thus our letters confirmed one the other. And an interview after- ward made the whole still plainer and clearer. The vessel and passengers were all finally saved. Now it is pertinent to the subject to ask how that dream was produced. Was it by a divine impression, or some spirit, or by the concatenation of related events in the relation of cause and effect, like as the barometer forecasts a weather change ? Many of the scientists would choose the latter mode as an answer. Spiritualists would prefer the second. I prefer to believe it to be the divine direct ; and more, I believe if I had gone that I would have bfeen drowned — that the slip I made in getting into the little boat would have ended in my being lost, as it was dark and rough. There is ill SPIRITUALISM AND PIIILOSoniV. 155 a passage in Job xxxiii. 14 meets the point exactly : " For God speaks once, yea twice ; yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed ; then He openeth the cars of men, and sealeth their instruction, that He may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his .soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword." We should not forget that when the Divine does interfere with us. He accepts the laws of His own creation, and subjects His action of interfer- ence to the laws embodied in our being. Hence if He instruct us by a dream it will be as a natural dream. If He give us new thoughts, they will be produced as naturally as other thoughts, just as if we had done it all. A certain French savant has been experimenting on dreamology, and he has succeeded in producing quite a number and variety of dreams. By touching some part of the face with something hot he gets a certain kind of dream, and by laying a piece of cold steel on the forehead another kind, and by wetting the lips with acids or sweets, other kinds, and by tying and compressing different parts of the body a responsive variety of dreams is the result. I presume the process is very similar to phrenological manipula- . tions by a mesmerizer upon the person of his subject. The Divine and the human use the same set of organs or faculties, in producing results. One man can act on another, but what is the medium on 156 SIMKITUALISM AND I'lIILOSOPHY. 1 5 1 ■ i i \i s -■■ !■• ' which floats the wave impulse of volition we do not know. The real orator, by self-action, pro- duces a surplus of energy, and it is conveyed from him to the vast audience. His soul overflows, and as noiselessly as oil runs from vessel to vessel so the overflow passes from soul to soul till they arc all of one mind, and that is simply the mind-state of the orator. He weeps, so do they ; he is angry, so feel they. An orator in such a case may very appropriately be compared to a magnetic machine, which, when put in operation, generates its own electricity enough to fill to overflowing hundreds of persons. This oratorical state is oftentimes unwittingly produced. Two persons together in quiet and meditation think intensely, and, to the surprise of both, they are about to ask each other the very same question. The explanation is that the strongest of the two flowed over, imperceptibly, into the other, and thus the unity. Some people can telephonically communicate one with another miles apart, even over the sea. When I was a boy, about fourteen, I was going part of the way home — for part of the way was lonely — with the Rev. George Herod ; he was a primitive Metho- dist preacher in England, and died a couple of years ago. At this time he had been preaching at a week-night service. We were journeying on quietly together, when he stopped suddenly and stood, as if in agony and pain, a few moments, then breathing heavily he exclaimed : " Thank God, my dear daughter is safe ! " I asked him, SPIRrniAI.lSM AND I'llILOSOI'HV '57 somewhat timidly, what was the matter. " Oh, nothing special," he said, " save my daughter, Mrs. So-and-so, has just been delivered of a child." We were then in Lancashire, in Kngland, and the daughter was in Ireland. The reverend gentle- men told me that he and his daughter often com- municated one with the other, I was interested to know if the incident he spoke of was a fact, and, to my surprise, found it to be so. Agreeable with this very line of thought is an incident in my own experience. A few years ago I was walking down Broadway in company with the Rev. Mr. Moment, now pastor of Spring Street Presbyterian Church, New York. In my overcoat I had a little outside ticket pocket, in which, alter making a small purchase, I put the change from a five-dollar bill. It was afternoon, and the usual crowds were wending their way up street and we were going down, when, over against St. Paul's Church, I saw, some little distance in front of me, a stylish young gentleman. In an instant my mind singled him out from all the rest, and at the same time something seemed to say within me. " He is going to pick your pocket." The time was short. He passed by. I felt a slight touch on the side, and was about to lift up my cane to strike him, but the crowd barred the way. We walked on a few steps, and then stopped and searched the pocket. Sure enough, it was empty, except a few loose cents. The explanation I have for this is that this young man saw me make the « • • 1 1 ■ ! , ■ **!l| •^ *^i >..f*»fli.j|)l||iiwii ipiipji niiiiJiimii I *iiui.M,'^«^l!ii}»J 158 SPIRITUALISM AND IMITLOSOPMY. ; '1' iv:.! i! ;-.| '■ ;.ri purchase, for I made it at a little stand on the side- walk, and put the money in this pocket. On ap- proaching me the intensity of his purpose over- flowed his mind and entered into me. This is the only time I ever had my pocket picked, and I naturally hope it will be the last. There are certain other phenomena connected with my experience which I dread to be familiar with, nor am I able to account for them satisfac- torily. Take the following as a sample : Often- times when I go into the presence of a sick person, on my first visit, I am immediately told whether they will live or die ; but such information is always contrary to the opinion of physician and friends. That is, when all parties think the sick one will get better, I will be told they will die ; and when all parties think the sick one will die, 1 will be told they will live. The same thing will occur when I am baptizing a child that is sick. A few weeks ago I was called from a wedding to baptize a child that was supposed to be dying. In the very midst of the ceremony we stopped, think- ing the child was gasping its death gasp. I after- wards proceeded. Now, while they were so ex- cited in fear and sorrow, I could hardly keep from laughing at the secret communicated to me that the child was to live. In these cases I am afraid to say anything. In this last case I did put my hand on the head of the child and said to the mother, " Your child will live." But what I most dread and dislike in this kind of previsionary SFMRITUAIJSM AND PHILOSOPHY, 159 knowledge is that while preaching, at certain times, a funeral sermon, the next person comes in my mind that I will have to do it for, and at that time they will be well. Humanity is nature's grandest puzzle and great- est enigma of created things. I believe in souliza- tion, and that persons thrown into an abnormal state, either voluntarily or involuntarily, can see and act independently of the body. That spirits can materialize, I do not think has yet been proved. Spirits may affect my spirit, and thx- move me through soul and bodily organizati' n ". good or bad results. 'ili «i • ■■ WljllJIIJ P^'Mli'-iW I '!•' I .1 II 'I SPIRITUALISM FINISHED. DISCOURSE XI. THE KNOWN AND UNKNOWN — MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL CHANGES — TRUTH AND REASON CLEARING AWAY SUPERSTITION — JOHN WESLEY'S "INVISIBLE WORLD" — MOHAMMEDANISM — MORMONISM — ANN LEE, JOHANNA SOUTHCOTT AND SWEDEN- BORG — ASSERTIONS NO PROOF — SHROEDERITES, SHERTZITES AND BUCHANANITES — SPECIAL REVELATIONS DELUSIVE — THE BIBLE SUFFICIENT— CHRIST IN THE GRAVE. -. Ill ■ I ::ll »ll Text — ist Cor. xiii. 9. " For we know in part, and we prophesy in part." |HE world in which we live is geo- graphically divided into two parts : the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere. The world of truth is divided into two parts : the known and the un- known. Reason holds sovereign sway over tlie known, and faith commands the unknown. In the two geographical hemispheres the solid material is unequally divided : in the northern there is m* re than in the southern. This unequal distribution t f the more solid material gives rise to the complex and irregular motion of the earth on its axis. If '^;i 1 SPIRITUALISM FINISHED. I6l the solid material of the earth were equally allotted to the two hemispheres, then the revolution of the earth on its axis would be perpendicular with the ' plane of the earth's orbit, and we would have equal day and night and equal seasons all round the world. The northern half, being heavier than the southern, tilts the axis of the earth and thus pro- duces the extremes of heat and cold, and so affects the vegetable and animal. But science teaches us that this difference in weight in the two hemi- spheres is gradually disappearing. The southern half is gaining on the northern half The oldest land is north, and the newest and youngest is south. Well, to the north the land is old and settled, the fires have gone out ; but to the south the land is in a state of unrest, the volcanoes are numerous and active. In consequence of this un- equalization remarkable climatic changes are visible. The fauna and flora circles of southern latitudes are extending northward. The ministers and forces of nature are busy converting the invisible into the visible. Every living thing, both in the vegetable and animal domain, is contributing to this end, more or less. The plant feeds upon the volatile gases and invisible elements, some of which have been in plant-life before, and some have not ; it drinks in sunlight and sunheat, and by the law of growth and death makes visible the invisible. Sun- light and heat are solidified ; thus the solid is increasing, and the invisible is decreasing. It is no exaggeration to say that a lump of coal is a piece M ' 'I ■ -t U I fkw "->»; IM« « ;jnipimci|i^w.ii^(jj(i>u!ow^ •. ".*"^'*w^w|wlll^Jlwl^^) *i ii^Mf{P-"», 162 SPIKI'lUALISM FINISHED. 1 '™H"^ ( ;; M ••■III mil of cold sun. In such a piece we have light, heat and force in a latent condition. A piece of chalk is composed of a number of minute marine crea- tures. Chalk, when analyzed, is found to be carbonic acid and quicklime ; but it cannot as yet be produced from them except in God's appointed way. It is the production of marine globigerina, the innumerable skeletons of which form a large part of the bottom of the great Atlantic. They make and produce what science cannot, even when it has the material on hand. Innumerable coral are at work on the same line in many parts of the great oceans and seas. If these marine creatures are put into a vessel of filtered water, they still go on to build themselves up and multiply ; when dead, their tiny bodies make the coral rock. Of some kinds we have the beautiful coral necklace. Where and how they get the material none can say, except that their tiny organs lay hold on matter which to us is invisible, and thus in their bodies solidify the imponderable and unseen. What they do, every living thing does. It is plain that solid matter is increasing, and this means that matter invisible is decreasing. The first visible form of the earth was an ocean, or globe of water, as seen by Moses. Here the laws of visible creation start, and they will go on until they reach the points seen and foretold by the apocalyptic seer, when he said, " and I saw a new heaven and a new earth ; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away ; and there was no more sea'' Impor- H: SPIRITUALISM MNISIIEI). 163 tant changes are taking place in the nnaterial realm ; and the changes taking place in the spiritual are no less important. The hemisphere of the known is enlarging, the sovereignty of reason is expanding, becoming more glorious and visible every day. As the missionary destroys gods many among the heathen, that he may make known the one true God and Father of all, so reason is destroying spirits, supernatural phenomena and the multiplied sources of superstition, making known that there is but little of the supersensual, supernatural or super- spiritual connected with this life. But as the destroying of heathen gods does not imply there is no God at all, neither are we to infer that there is none of the supersensual, supernatural or super- spiritual connected with this life. But while reason is clearing these cobwebs of superstition away, and purifying the air and earth from spirits, the spiritu- alism of this day, I have no hesitation in saying, is busy at work in an opposite direction, in a majority of cases. No one in these days need really believe that Luther really saw the devil, although he did hurl his inkstand at his sable majesty. No one need to believe one-quarter of what Mr. Wesley wrote in his book called "The Invisible World." No doubt John Wesley was j;rue to his convictions ; and many of the weird occurrences which took place in the famous parsonage at Epworth, while they were marvellous and peculiar, could now be easily explained without having recourse to in- visible spirits. When a boy I read his " Invisible '• II- 'm I: ■• m »MV!MW w » I lauiniif.i P' «mm> .1 164 SPIRITUALISM FINISHED. ii ; World," and well do I remember one night being left in the room alone reading from it, until my hair fairly stood on end, and I walked backward to my bedroom. This work some few years ago was bought up by Mr. Wesley's followers and destroyed ; so there are few copies at present in existence. Is it any wonder one of the Wesleys should have poetized these views and their sequences ? Of these angels he sings : Angels our march oppose, Who still in strength excel ; Our secret, sworn, eternal foes, Countless, invisible. From thrones of glory driven. By flaming vengeance hurl'd. They throng the air, and darken heaven, And rule this lower world. It had been better still if, besides buying up the book spoken of, they could have erased from memo- ry and propagated experience its unwholesome effects. In this theory there is a golden mean, which infidels and the superstitious do strangely miss, and missing, go to disgusting extremes. It should be our duty and delight to teach the coming generation wholesome and conservative truths on this point* ist — That the Scriptures teach us that the devil and his angels are not now permitted to roam the earth to scare and torment its inhabitants. On this point let us make the rising race free ; give them a wide berth, a pure air and a free earth, both in daylight and dark- ii .SPIRITUALISM KINISIIEI). 165 ness. Let them, by trainini •iii"ii»ifTf»^^^"ii ii.^(iiiiipww^wipiiiw«wr*» ^,w»..iii II 1 66 SIM RITUALISM KINISIIKD. I 1 i I \-4 iiii Ml himself to be God's chosen prophet, and his own ideas and teachings to have come from God. It is plain that any so believing him would believe that resistance to him would be resistance to God. On this false foundation millions rest their faith. * Mormonism, like Mohammedanism, is founded on pretended spiritual revelation. Joseph Smith, the Vermonter, and New York farmer, claimed to have had visions and special revelations. He was accus- tomed tobe en rapport with spirits. In one of his visions two angels appeared to him denouncing all existing denominations, and giving him direc- tions as to how and when to form a new church. Thus the vain and corrupt visions of this Spiri- tualist became tfie chief corner-stone of a new religion. Ha^'ing persuaded others that he was chosen of heaven, they could not readily refuse his teachings ; for what heaven teaches, be it black as midnight, loathsome as leprosy, or cruel as death, it must be right. Thus we have at this moment Mormon wives and Mormon daughters pleading before Congress the righteousness of their cause, and for the recognition and continuance of the same. The strength of a false faith is clearly seen in its power to displace the true, to change laws and customs. It surely is a thing of power that will make a woman willing to take a half, or quarter, or, for that, a twentieth part of a man, and be as content with such a fractional part as if she had the whole. It cannot be that this offspring of super- stitious pride and lust will much longer remain. SI'IRITUALISM KINISIIEI). 167 There are many sects, societies and churches who claim distinction and authority from no higher source than the Mormons, to whose moraUty none can object, and many of whose doctrines we accept. But we must repudiate their authority, and reject their specialties and discriminating distinctions. Take as an example the Shakers. To the morality and honest endeavour of this people we offer no objections ; but we do protest against their special claims to inspiration, either by visions or by Spiri- tualism. We do not accept their utterances,although they claim inspiration for them, as being supple- mentary to the divine word, the Bible. We know that Mother Ann Lee, in the year 1770, gave out that she had been favoured with a revelation from heaven. This some believed ; hence rose Shaker- ism in its present form. We do not believe she had such a revelation ; for if we were to believe her, we would soon be on a sea of confusion. The confusion would not be so great if she were the only one demanding our faith ; but the fact is that scores of others set up just such claims, and, judged by the laws of evidence, one claim is equally as valid and trustworthy as another. Johanna Southcott began her public mission about the same time Mother Ann Lee did. So at the same period England had two female prophets, one busy in the great centre, Manchester, and the other in London, and both equally arrogating to themselves the spirit of inspiration. Ann Lee taught that in her the female part of Christ was 1 68 SI'IRI'I'UALISM KINISIIKI). I « » I i I ' I K 1 'S''! ■ [ I 1 I- 1' i; ! , , I'- .. ^« incarnated. Johanna Southcott at the same time would have her followers and the world believe that Christ W(juld come a second time by beinj; born of her. In comparinj^ these two wonderful characters we are obli^^ed to credit Mother Lee with the greatest shrewdness, i'he manner of Christ's incarnation in her was of such a nature that none could disprove it. liut the child Christ, born of Johanna Southcott, turned out to be a girl, and this slight miscalculation upset her claims and threw her followers into confusion. The golden cradle they had prepared for the infant Christ was rudely confis- cated by some of her disappointed adherents. But even after this sad mishap the society did not be- come extinct. Human nature will take in a wonder- ful amount of humbuggery when presented in the name of religion. Men seem greedy in accepting ,'! y kind of a belief if it will free them from the pure and simple doctrines of practice and experi- ence taught by our bl( ssed Lord. Faith on the line of the ridiculous and superstitious is easily commanded. Thus it comes to pass that some men are giants in the faith of disbelief, and weaker than babies in gospel faith. If asked to support the mission cause they arc cranky, and at once make haste to avow their disbelief or plead an extra- ordinary poverty. They think it weak and simple for people to believe in the inspiration of the pro- phets and apostles, and commendable and a sign of a strong mind to take in the maudlin utterances of mediums and scientific humbugs. For such things SPlklTUAMSM KINISIIKI). 169 'C the}' have I'luch faith, much praise and inucl\ muncy. If I had to selcr a leader from the vast array of iispirational claimants, my choice would be the Swedish seer of Stockholm, Emanuel Swcden- borg. But believing, as 1 do, that the days of special inspiration ended with the apostles, and that we have in the Old and New Testament a full and a sufficient revelation, I cannot allow even the claims of l.manut ' Swedenbor^. I look upon him as being by far the best and most prof- itable clairvoyant the world has ever bad. Many of his works 1 have read with care and to great profit. Still, I cannot consent to enroll him among the prophets and apostle.s. His travels through other worlds and visits to heaven were extensive and numerous, according to his own telling. Of cout'sc, not having been there, I can- not disprove ; but at the same time 1 can and do disbelieve him in these things. A man may make statements and set forth an array of supposed facts which are entirely beyond disproof, and that can only be simply believed or disbelieved. If a person assuming to have been to heaven, and there to have seen the angel Gabriel, should tell me that Gabriel had four big toes and four thumbs, what could I do with such a statement, •myself never having seen Gabriel ? All I could do is to disbelieve, of course ; I could not, from the very nature of the fact disprove it. And, strange to say, many think if you cannot disprove a thing, that the thing must be true. Such, how- ever, is not always the case. « I70 SI'IklTUALiSM IINISIIKI). % . \ \ ; . t This doctrine of the supernatural,- as affectinj^^ individuals, is without doubt the most dangerous of all doctrines. Ncjnc has been so absurd, so mischievous, so destructive and so obstructive to the spread of the gospel of Jesus and the recep- tion of true inspiration. If we once open the door and allow such things, then we have to admit a motley crowd of fanatics and humbugs of every kind and nature, very sparingly interspersed here and there with an intelligent one. Look right around us, go over into New York city, and dur- ing the past year we have three new societies coming into existence, all basing their claims on the supernatural. First — Henry Schroeder's new millennial church was launched into existence a few months ago. It is fully equipped with articles of faith, and laws and rules of service. Hut what does he claim ? you ask. Why, he teaches that he is especially called of God, and by supernatural visitations he has been qualified. Hear him speak : " It has been revealed to me that all crimes, suicides, insanities, idiocies, arc the result of absence from God. We are surrounded by numberless evil spirits who influence us more than most people dream of By earnest prayer my body has devel- oped, until gradually my body has been brought * to such a condition that I can feel the presence of spirits about me. They take me by the hand as genially and heartily as can any of you. They touch me on the shoulder, greeting me in various SI'IKITUAMSM KFNISIfKI). 17' ways, and accompanyinjij mc from one place to an- other. Not infrequent!/ evil spirits come to annoy mc, and I have to drive them from my house." God first appeared unto him in his house, by three distinct knocks on a table. Admitting such reve- lation, we must admit his teachings. Second — We have the society presided over b)' a Mrs. Catherine Schertz. It with the one just established in Boston are modelled after, and come from, one in Kngland. They are called " Christian Israelites." On the lost tribes they have some peculiar views. They are the nucleus of the one hundred and forty and four thousand that are to j^ather to receive Christ, whom they expect will .soon come for them, not for any other. You naturally suppose I would be interested in this society, as they claim to be Israelites. Hut I have not much faith in their views, for as in other cases, the founder, who was an Englishman, will have us believe that his spiritual vision was enlarged by a .special Providence in the year 1822. I confess I shy off from any one immediately they begin to tell mc they are special favourites with God and are permitted to have remarkable visions and visits from spirits. My confidence in the Bible, as a sufficient revelation, naturally predispcses me to reject such claims. Third — We have the " Woman's church," a new religious organization just formed in New York under the lead and by means of the instruction of Prof. Dr. J. R. Buchanan. The doctor is at the till' I, lit.; 4 Hi! Ill Mmi w 172 SPIKITUALISM FINISH Kl). •m 3:': ill *' II ii ■ ;' 1/ ',■ "'.■'■'' ■'■ I'l head of the New York Psychometric Society, and from this society most of the ladies come who make up the number of the new church. They have no creed but the " Divine Spirit." As it directs, so will they walk, talk and live. Dr. Bu- chanan is a leader among our Spiritualistic friends. In speaking of this new society, he says : " This is the first organization in the society of divine love and wisdom which we expect will, in due time, if its course is wise, embrace the best and wisest of both sexes throughout Christendom. It does not propose to antagonize or destroy other denominations." With this slight mooring it is hard to say whither such a society will drift, and what it will accomplish. Past examples, founded on like foundations, guarantee but little. When people believe that they can have private and preferential instruction from God or spirits, it is impossible to tell what their utterances will be ; and no matter how contradictory one may be to the other and contrary to common sense, if each is endorsed by heaven then there must be conflict and contention. If we believe all that this class of people say, then our ideas of the Divine want remodelling ; for the queerest and most unreason- able things have been attributed to God by this kind of folk.s. In what are called the orthodox bodies this thing of special revelation is at times very hurtful. I heard, not long ago, a lady, who is actively en- gaged in the temperance cause, state that one •y.'i SPIRITUALISM FlNISIIt;D. 173 Sunday, during a sacramental occasion in Dr. Bud- dington's church, she had a special revelation for- bidding her to take of the wine. This she be- lieved and meant to always carry out, and she was commissioned to make it known unto others that they might do likewise. Last December a holiness convention was held in the Johnson Street M. E. Church. But their special profession of entire sanctification and divine guidance did not .save them from confusion, and what I would call unholy conduct and conversation one toward an- other ; so much so, that the second day they split into two. And then, a day or two after, we had them in the public journals, each trying to justify himself, contradicting one another. The fact is, it is not possible for such a society to be built up. They are a nuisance, as a rule, in any church ; but they prosper better within some church than they would if alone. They get it into their head, not heart, that they are better than others ; and being perfect and divinely guided, neither minister nor anybody else can Jo aught with them except dis- pute. They take offence the easiest, get vexed the soonest, of any class of people I ever met. True, I have met a few that I have thought were as perfect and good as humanity can well be in a world like this ; but they did not intrude their goodness on the public by loud confessions, show, and odious comparisons, but were rather of a retir- ing disposition, and full of charity. Let us remem- ber that we are all children of one Father, who is .,,i( « *i :l! ' I J i -If '>n«i i !,w|FfJ^wpi,iH kU)l jMPI l;Ul..,»,l|i!p(I^B^f5(JH,||IIM.upilfll*"WWMi 174 SJ'IRITUALISM FINISHED. if ' •sii It ■li # no respecter of persons ; who giveth to all freely, and upbraideth not. His Bible and the Holy Spirit are a sufficient revelation and guide, without any supplements. Next Sabbath evening I will answer the ques- tion, " Why Jesus remained in the grave three days, and what He did in that time." .4 •III iiii •III 4 nil {III III mm ■III Will will ■"» CHRIST'S WORK IN HADES. DISCOURSE XII. STANDARD THEOLOCiV — WHY JESUS REMAINED IN THE GRAVE THREE DAYS — WHERE HE WENT AND WHAT HE DID — JEWISH TRADITIONAL NOTIONS OF DEATH — FRENCH HORRORS — LOCA- TION OF HADES — THIEF ON THE CROSS — WHERE HE WENT — HINDING SATAN — CONyUERIN(i DEATH — THEOLOGICAL AND DEVILOLOGICAL EXTREMES — " GIVE THE DEVIL HIS DUE " -WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Text— Col. ii. 15. " And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." T is important that we should have a proper estimate of the Saviour, and correct views of His mission, work and life. And so it would be with men of common sense, if our mode of instruction was better adjusted to human need and liberty. The theological schools and colleges of the land, as a rule, do not teach the students how to think and judge for themselves. They prefer rather to do the thinking for them, and foist upon them the formulated inferences and deductions of the sect i it llll ;) ' -f !;■■» 11 M., Il m^ 176 CHRIST'S WORK IN HADES. i '^? 1:' •iiii lie 4 III :*l ttill ■III .Will or denomination to which they belong, which, if one go back a little, they find to centre in two or three leaders who had most to do with the origina- tion of such sects or denominations. The utter- ances of such men are called "standards." The student accounted best qualified is the one who most faithfully accepts the standards, and can best preach them and defend them. In the course of ages the standards are enlarged by some all-power- ful individual. Thus, if we look at a school of some old denomination, we will find the standards large and contradictory, and ill adapted to the present times. Look, for instance, at the Catholic church as one of the oldest organizations, and you will find their standards wonderful and varying, contradictory and opposite as light and darkness. The saints, feast and fast days, times and rules of prayers, orders and authorities, are as numerous as the days of the year. A student in one of their schools has got something to do to know all, so as to teach all the standards contain. If the Philip- pian jailer had fallen upon our times with his simple, earnest question, asking, " Men and brethren, what shall I do to be saved ? " he would have been as surprised as unfortunate when he got the answer. If we only had one man from each church deputed to answer him, what a babel of answers there would be. Why, it would take some of the deputies weeks to get through. Thank heaven for the sim- ple and refreshing answer given by Paul : " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." 'iSt;! . CHRIST S WORK IN HADES. 177 So I wish you to believe what the divine word teaches ; to take it as the standard, your guide and authority. Let me simply teach you to the end, and in such a manner that you may teach your- selves, and be ready at all times to give them that ask, a reason of the hope within you. In nis discourse I wish to ask and answer the question : Why Jesus remained in the grave three days? and where He went in spirit? and what He did? It was a part of the traditional faith of the Jews that it took the spirit three days to fully vacate the body. They believed that the light of three dif- ferent days must touch the corpse or tomb. With the dawn of light of the third day the spirit was entirely freed. Their faith did not require three days of twenty-four hours, but three daylights. So if a body was buried on Friday afternoon and raised on Sunday morning with the dawn of light, it would, by their law of traditional faith, have been really dead, and would be spoken of by them as having been dead and in the grave three days. To this end Christ delayed the raising of Lazarus out of the grave till the fourth day — till even the body was known to be corrupt — that He might fully prove His resurrection power. The daughter of Jairus, and the widow's son at Nain, He had raised, but the three days not having been fulfilled in the time of their death, these cases could not be submitted as full proof Thus He goes in Lazarus' case beyond the allotted time. From whence the ; i^i Milt ' !' I 1 iitiiwii 1 ijr i^ M i:' £ km *tll ■11 mi «| «ii'i anil 178 CHRIST'S WORK IN HADES. Jews got this idea, or the reasons on which they relied, I am not able to inform you. Such an idea they had. To meet this idea and to prove His death to be real, as ji Iged by their own law, our Saviour met and complied with the same. Though He was pronounced dead by the soldiers when upon the cro.ss, yet they believed that a body might revive any time before the light of the third day of its own accord — not after that. Thus judged by the extreme law of tradition, the Jews could not gain- say the real death of Christ. Tradition is oftentimes very fanciful and curi- ous, but generally originates in .some fanciful or reasonable cause, the effect remaining long after the knov/ledgc of the cause has been forgotten. The simple statement made by Matthew (xxiv. 27) has been carefully incorporated into architecture, for it gave orientation to churches and cathedrals by causing them to stand east and west. It fixed the place of the sacred altar. It entered the graveyard and determined our position there. " For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Hence we are buried with our feet to the east, that we m^y arise in due form lu .see and meet the Lord at His coming. The bodies of the good and had are planted in sure ami t iM Ullli hope of a resurrection ; and eacb in its place made to silently poim the way of His return to raise the dead and judge the world. The Swedenborgians teach that the spirit remains in the body for a ^ li CHRISTS WORK IN HADES. 179 short time after death — about three days — some- times more, sometimes less. Swedenborg himself says : '* The spirit of man, after the separation, re- mains a little while in the body, then the spirit is resuscitated by the Lord." The manner and mode of the spirit's exit from the body, both science and theology have tried to determine. So far little light has been thrown on the subject. It yet re- mains as one of those problems which experience alone can solve. We entered this life unconsciously and by a way we knew not at the time ; so I think death is but another birth, carrying us higher up on the plane of existence, and the ways and man- ner of this birth will not be well understood till we have passed beyond. In the time of the French revolution — 1793 — when the Jacobins were rioting and revelling in blood, a nuj liber of savants banded together to test by experience how long it took a person to die. The victims of the guillotine were subjected to shameful and outrageous treatment. The head of the famous Charlotte Corday, the assassin of Murat, was picked up for test immediately it fell from the blocR. One of these worshippers of reason held it by the long flowing hair till others smote the cheek and spat in the face, and in other ways disgustingly tempted the departing spirit. The countenance responded with the blush of shame, re- venge and disgust, as the several insults demanded. For thirty minutes consciousness seemed present in It 1 M*„, 1 '% J a ■'? Inl uji|WH'l;> ■M'.M ■ I 80 CHRIST'S WORK IN HADES. 11; 'i t0 'mm mm the bodiless head. But with all that was done, little, if any, further light was thrown on the mode and manner of the spirit's departure from the tem- ple-house of clay. But on the death of Christ, where did He go in spirit ? The catechism says '* He descended into hell." The scriptures teach that He went into the invisible, or the world of spirits. It is well to remember that the heaven and hell of this present time are neither the same in condition or location as the heaven and hell of the Old Testament. That invisible world to which Christ went is not the Shummayim, or, as wc translate it, the "heaven." From this heaven He came with attending angels to be incarnated at Bethlehem, and to this heaven He ascended from the Mount of Olives when He had finished His work. The name of this invisible world to which He went, in Hebrew is Sheol ; it is translated in the Old Testament, "hell," "grave," " pit," and " suffering." It means the place and state of departed spirits — good and bad and un- judged angels. They all seemed to have dwelt together, the distinction simply being in state — that is, the experience of each. It was not neces- sary — neither were they — that Paul and Silas should be miserable or equal to the other prisoners in the Philippian jail. The same condition and pro- miscuous mingling of the good and bad of human kind and bad of the angel kind prevailed on earth. Evil spirits took actual possession of some folks T Christ's work in hades. l8[ I in those days ; throwing them into paroxysms of savage revenge, causing them to afflict them- selves and others and to dwell among the tombs. The Jews believed that, as to location, Sheol was inside of the earth. They also believed that Sheol was divided into three departments or chambers. In the first the good of human kind lived, in the second the bad, and in the third the devil-angels. The first place was spoken of as Paradise ; the second was called Gehenna, or place of burning ; the third was called in the Hebrew, Tophet, and in the Greek, Tartarus, a place of darkness. To each of these departments the admittance was through a door or gate. Hence the frequent reference in the Bible to the gates, doors and chambers of death, and the constant idea of going down when one died. No one can read the Bible intelligently unless they understand the primary ideas of the Jewish mind. The Divine conforms to these ideas in His revelation ; but it docs not follow that they are literally true, but true in such a sense that truth of greater importance can be conveyed by them. When the sacred writers represent God as speak- ing, saying Ujx instance, " And God said, let there be light," we understand the meaning. So when the sun is spoken of as rising and setting, it does not follow that God did literally speak, or that the sun does rise and set, but by speaking of these things in this manner the truth designed is more ■•II ' 1 I ! •t{ %:\ T* '» » , » c 4 ^ , ■• I i I82 Christ's work in hades. 1 I! Ill I] .C: b c: ml. nit ml' easily and more correctly imparted. How easy to understand passages like the following : " Thuugh they dig into hell, thence shall My hand take them. Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming." And take Eph. iv. 9: Paul, speak- ing of Christ, says, "Now that He ascended, what is it ; but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth." Christ, in Revelation, is declared to be alive forevermorc, and to have the keys of death and hell. That memorable, and with many, difficult passage, where Christ on the cross said in answer to one of the thieves, " This day shalt thou be with Me in paradise," is at once understood if we keep in mind the Jewish ideas of the invisible. In going to the chamber or depart- ment of devils, Christ would naturally pass through paradise, and so leave the thief there. Into the heaven tliat Christ promised to prepare, that where He dwelt His people might also dwell, no one of human kind had up to that been. In this sense Peter says of David at Pentecost, that he had not ascended into the heavens. Jesus said to Nicode- mus that " no man had ascended up into heaven but He that came down," namely, Himself. The fact is, as I have said before, the Bible is a book that beautifully responds to the laws and rules of common sense, and if men would only read and interpret it in a common-sense way in- stead of by their preconceived ideas, they would rejoice in its simple, but at the same time sublime W' CKkIST's WOftK IN HADF.S. 1«3 teachings. 1 trust you now understand the place and the supposed location where Christ went while His body slept in the tomb. Let us now ask what He went into Slieol for, And we shall rtnd the Scriptures ready with an answer. The passage most to the point is that in Heb. ii. 14, which reads as follows: "Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, I fe also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that ha(l the power of death — that is, the devil." In this statement you have two distinct items : first, to destroy the levil, and .ccond, to destroy his power over death. Il does not mean that the sequence of the dew., or death, will cease on earth ; for the devil's influence is now in the world, and will be for some time, "working in the children of disobedience." And death continues on as ever. But it means that Christ conquered the devil and took him an J his angels and bound them, removing them, and so completely restrained them that they were no longer left free to roam the earth, to posses.-; men, women and children, or to dwell in tombs. In that death-land Satan seems to have had great power and liberty, as he had in life- land in those days. Because of this power Satan is spoken of as having power over death, the meaning of which is that he had power over and in death-land. That power and his cor- responding power on earth was taken from him. Christ took the keys of death and hell. In Christ's M i""' V?k .^-*%.t In .0 *. "%^^ 1^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /> 1.0 |45 i Ui tti 12.2 nil 1.1 Hf Gift ^- us L£ 12.0 1^ !l^ 1.4 |,.6 ^^ <% PJ^ /AW .g^ '/ y^ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation «% ;V \ :\ 23 WEST M\IN STREET WEBSTEi.K.Y. 14580 (716)S72-4S03 '■^■■,>7^;! '."fiTfTiw" I'iiRT.icTf^' ..?c^''V«:-C\i ^■■'^ '-, O^ ■ «|lf,l J|||||lll .All 184 CHRIST'S WORK IN HADES. ■t«i 1 1 .1 ♦r;'-' i:i' »ii!l 1H( i! r .mi'' ■*n> <■■•'' hand is all power in heaven and on earth. This sovereignty of Jesus Charles Wesley has neatly set forth in one of his hymns, where he sings : Jesus — the name high over all, In hell, or earth, or sky ; Angels and men before it fall. And devils fear and fly. Death itself and its effects were not destroyed till Christ rose from the dead. He went beyond death and came back, not only having conquered the retaining power of death, but He vanquished the very effects. Christ being spotless and pure, without the seeds and sequences of death in Him, He could not have died a natural death, so He died a voluntary one. He laid down His life. " No man taketh it from Me," He said ; and as He laid it down so He took it up. It was not enough for Him to conquer death in and over Himself; but He must and did, thank heaven, conquer it in man, for man, and over man. All this He did ; for thus we rea'd Matt, xxvii. 52 : "And the graves were opened ; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection." The connecting dispensations of a providence that hinge on to a universe so vast and complex, and that are timed by dial hands adjusted to an eternity is, and naturally must ever be, beyond our power to solve and wholly comprehend. Who this lordly chief of spirit-land was and where he origin- ated, how he became rebellious, and why and how, CHRIST'S WORK IN HADES. 185 when fallen, he should be permitted to have such privileges, power and influence, I know not, ex- cepting so far as revelation informs me. He was a chief, ruling over principalities and powers ; these Christ spoiled, and dethroned him. He and his influences were contrary to man's spiritual welfare, and as Christ had come to redeem man from evil, without and within, it is reasonable that He should destroy these principalities and powers. Jesus had at least once before contended with this great chief; for He says to the seventy disciples, who were filled with joy because the devils were subject to them, " I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." Perhaps the Saviour here refers to the time when jvar raged in heaven. One thing is certain : both the devil, his angels and demons knew the mission and purpose of Jesus ; for they would confess His Sonship and acknowledge His sovereignty, saying, " What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God ? Art Thou come hither to torment u^ before the time ? " — Matt. viii. 29. Some deny the existence of such a personage altogether, as they do, or are tempted to do, every- thing they do not understand ; for we have men who presume to think that the Almighty would do nothing beyond their comprehension. The- ology has gone to forbidden extremes on devil- ology, as on many other ologies, and by this means has provoked opposition, which, because it had to contend with an extreme, went to an extreme also. There are few things more offensive, to my w I ! i' " i.1 186 CHRIST'S WORK IN HADES. experience and ideas of honour, than to hear pro- fessed Christians talk in fellowship-meetings the way they do about the devil. It is a current say- ing, " Give the devil his due," but the fact is they give him more than his due. If they have been cold and indifferent, or have been guilty of some overt folly, they invariably say that they have been sorely tempted of the devil. Such folks haven't at heart enough of the truth to tell the truth. They are not honourable enough to father their own sins. They forget that " every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren." — James i. 14. The Jews of old had a scapegoat, on which they laid all their sins ; and many of our Christian friends of to- day make a scapegoat out of the devil. One would fancy some people to be very important, if we judge them by the fact of the devil's anxiety to get them, and the good Lord's fear of losing them ; for, according to their story, the Lord is always busy trying them, passing them through the deep water, hot fires and terrible afflictions. They are shuttlecocked between God and the devil in a shameful way, according to their own telling. They are not aware that such confessions demean Christ and His work. Christ took on Him flesh and blood that He might die, and enter the spirit- realm that way ; and there destroy Satan — and I believe He did, " Or else, how can one enter into %-iyAi: ( t- .A CHRISTS WORK IN HADES. 187 a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man ; then he will spoil his house." — Matt. xii. 24. As the blessed Saviour neared the death hour, He foresaw the struggle into which He had to enter. He saw the house and the strong man in it. Heaven even became audibly interested. '* Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say ? Father, save Me from this hour ; but for this cause came I unto this hour." Thus we hear Him confess the purpose of His mission. A voice from heaven spake good cheer to Him. The people could not make out what the voice was. Some thought it was thunder ; others said an angel spake to Him. Jesus answered and said, " This voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world ; ?tow shall the prince of this world be cast out!' — John xii. 27. That is, the voice came to strengthen Me while I fight out a deliverance for you. " Hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me." That Christ did cast the devil out I do believe, in spite of all the multitude of confessions to the contrary. The Holy Spirit came to take the place of the devil, for he was sent because Jesus had gone to the Father, and the prince of this world had been judged. (See John xvi. 8.) Now, to do the work assigned, it was necessary, as we have seen, that Jesus should die, that so He might enter spiritland on the same plane that the \ I t • II ■•l r» < •1K> » . r I. ' 1 88 CHRISTS WORK IN HADES. bodiless spirits had. It was during the time of death that He conquered the devil, the principali- ties and powers. When he rose from the grave He began another work on the same line and next in order. This work it took Him forty days to perform. Next Sunday evening we will ask and answer the question : Why Christ remained forty days on earth after His resurrection, where He went, and what He did ? i ■ ■ '!, :■■■ : i ■ ^' r' ■ ■■ !*• . f m I f I'"' 190 CHRIST S FORTY DAYS WORK. ^4" W0] vtt\ ir: C a Christian age. At the same time there was born another person in the jungles of Africa, of pagan parents, in a heathen land, and to him an idola- trous age. We were both born without our indi- vidual consent being solicited as to the place, conditions and age. These things were in the hands of Providence, and, at first sight, seemr. to affirm of the Almighty that He is a respecter of persons. But in His word we are assured that He is not ; for there we learn that accountability, judg- ment and compensation in the life to come are adapted to, and commensurate with, this diversity of age and individual condition. It is written, " Surely the Judge of all the earth will do right." Comparing individual with individual, country with country, and age with age, we have in this life and this world the inferior and the superior ; but the very aim of the government of God, as adminis- tered through Christ, is to destroy the inferior and restore man and nature to the superlative status of the original design of creation, hence, " God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." When man and nature are fully reconciled and restored they will have been under three distinct forms of government. The first, that which pre- vailed in Eden ere sin entered ; the second is the one now in operation — it is temporary, remedial and provisional ; the third will be inaugurated after the general judgment. Up to that point Christ will bear rule. " Tken cometh the end^ when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, CHRIST'S FORTY DAYS' WORK. 191 even the Father ; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power ; and when all things shall be subdued unto Him ; then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all^ — ist Cor. XV. 28. Then there will be a new heaven and a new earth, in which will dwell righteousness, as recorded by Peter. Then there will be no in- ferior dispensations. The inferior dispensations of the present government are the results of sin. Christ tells us that it was the will of His Father which sent Him, that of all which was given Him He was to lose nothing, but to raise it up again at the last day. — John vi. 39. If one would study theology to advantage, he must study the office and relations of the two Adams to the whole human family. The second Adam, Christ, seeks to remedy the defects and sequences entailed by the first Adam. This law of entailment seems unjust to many ; and because it is not rightly understood, much confusion and error prevails. We accept it in nature and in families. We there perceive it to be operative, and, though oftentimes cruel, yet we know it is natural, and therefore right, in the present state of things. The children of the rich inherit superior conditions to those of the poor ; the children of the good have a great advantage over the children of the wicked. All this is patent to the most cursorv observer. The best remedy for such entailments is not to de- stroy the law and isolate man from man and law T 1 t : ^'^fHf 1 ifl^^i , 1 It' *'■ -•i i *' * r M.* «:: krt i'i 1 X t; 1 i ad' : 1 v«l! • ] IfVII ! c: •ll'll i^ 192 CHRIST'S FORTY DAYS' WORK. from nature. We must have an established order of sequence. Twice two make four ; wheat planted brings forth wheat. Now, if the law of sequence were not in existence, we would be in utter con- fusion. If, for instance, twice two should some- times make five or eleven, or wheat when sown should produce potatoes or nuts, then business would be brought to ruin and education would be impossible. Peace, harmony and progress are bassed on the established laws of cause and effect. And if such entailment be necessary and advanta- geous in temporal things, surely it would be more so in spiritual things. " Be not deceived ; God is not mocked ; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting." — Gal. vi. 7. What, then, is the best remedy ? Most certainly not to destroy all to- gether, nor to equalize by mixing the poor child's condition with that of the rich, so that they meet half-way ; it is not to get a morality from the compounding of the good and bad together. But the best and wisest remedy is to give the poor children the advantages of the rich and make the bad as good as the good. This is the very remedy proposed by the Gospel of Jesus. It is to make all good, happy and safe. Whatever came upon the human family through the first Adam will be adjusted in due time by the second Adam. All sufl*ering that is entailed by riiRisT's lORTv days' work. '93 all the earthly Adams going before us, and all en- tailer' inferiority of conditions and inequalities, will be removed, and the individual rewarded and judged agreeable to a law that will take into con- sideration the full force of the law of sequence. ** As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." It is not our fault we die, neither does it depend upon our merit that we be made alive at the resurrection. We are born in sin and shapen in iniquity ; but this kind of sin will not condemn us, nor will this iniquity of shape exclude us from heaven. " Because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead ; and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again." — 2nd Cor. v. 14. No man will be damned in eternity who did not damn him- self on earth. Every one lost in eternity will have first been lost in time, not because of Adam, or any other person, but because they prefer darkness to light, and take their pleasure in unrighteous- ness. So far as damnation goes, every person is as isolated as was the first Adam ; and as literally and as really as he did, so must they choose their own condemnation. I thank my God that I have as much faith in the second Adam, Jesus, as I have in the first. And I believe that the fortune of wealth entailed by the second Adam is equal to the poverty entailed by the first. The first Adam did succeed in making us sons of men ; the second Adam did indeed become a son of man, that we O : h i 'II 3 194 Christ's forty days' work. I. ' »:; x: I!' 3 %0l V0W f might again be made the sons of God ; " which was the son o( Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God." — Luke iii. 38. Had Adam not sinned, we would have been born the sons of God ; by sin He made us sons of men. The second Adam, how- ever, makes us sons of God again. This federating of the whole human family in the two Adams was a wonderful device of Him who is strong to deliver, and fruitful in making a way for our escape. It is ignorance of the rela- tion of these two Adams that leads msn to make such fearful and uncharitable mistakes in theology. Why, last week, should a conference of ministers in New York city have before them the question of infant salvation, and find themselves unable to agree, and so retire the question, stating that it was one of those mysteries wh'ch God did not mean we should understand ? Might they not have known that infancy, death, and limitations of knowledge in the child were the sequences of the first Adam ; but in the second Adam, the Blessed Lord, they have life, maturity and heaven.? "Where there is no law there is no transgression;" and we also read that " Sin is the transgression of the law." " Except we be converted and become as little children, we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." Did we know better the relation the two Adams sustain to us, we would be spared those ignorant, harsh, unchristian and un scriptural har- angues that we are so often treated to at missionary CHRIST'S FORTY OAVS* WORK. 195 meetings, where the sympathies of the people are moved and their feLrs excited by portraying to them the terrible condition of the pagans and heathens, who are being swept from time, millions per year, by an avenging God, into hell. Why men are so impatient and anxious to multiply the lost and crowd the regions of the damned, I know not. They give to God, Jesus and heaven but a small number. They strangely demean the work and wisdom of God by allowing the devil and hell such success and number. I want nothing to do with a theology that savours of Herodianism by slaughter- ing the infants ; that will send all or any of the insane, who were born so, to the place of despair, and that will so unmercifully condemn the pagan. I look upon the Gospel in its purchase and appli- cation as the very essence of equity and love. I say with Paul — Roms. ii. 10 — " Glory, honour and peace to every man that worketh good, for there is no if^pect of persons with God." And here, in this very chapter, Paul gives us the law of judgment in such cases. The Gentile or heathen are ju^lged by the laws of nature as within them and without. The Cnristian is judged by the law of revelation. He is amenable to both kinds of law ; " For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law ; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified ; for when the Gentiles, which have not the law — that is, Bible law — do by nature r 1 1 I « t '' ! ■1 }■ 1; j t 196 CHRIST'S FORTY DAYS' WORK. t «: ♦ I naiiii the things contained in the law, these, having not the lav/, are a law unto themselves, which shov/ the work of the law written in their hearts, their con- science also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another). In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." The plain teaching of the Scrip- ture on this point is that the heathen are judged by a law suited to them — not one suited to us. By that law they stand or fall as we stand or fall by our law. They will be amenable to that law until we give them the law of the Gospel ; then they will stand or fall as we do. On the side of wrong this is heaven's rule : " He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he has done ; and there is no respect of persons." — Col. iii. 25. This plea for children, the insane, and the hea- then, will s^^ewhat expose me to the shafts of those ortho^ ox brethren whose zeal runs before reason, and whose anxiety sours their love. But whether it does or not, if error be within the range, I much prefer to err on mercy's side. A few lines from Lord Byron's poem on the visions of judg- ment are to the point. This poem was really a satire on poor King George the Third : God save the King ! It is a large economy In God to save the like ; but if He will Be saving, all the better ; for not one am I Of those who think damnation better still. Know this is unpopular. I know 'Tis blasphemous; I know one may be damn'd For hoping no one else may e'er be so. CHRIST'S FORTY DAYS' WORK. 197 The plain matter of fact is that more have gone to heaven without faith than with faith, since Christ's death. To the best of us, Christ is righteousness, wisdom and sanctification, without which none of us could meet the standard of heavenly qualifica- tion of Tightness, wiseness and pureness. We all of us must partake of the pious qualification in Christ, more or less. The amount assigned by the good Lord to any individual has respect to his ability, opportunity and condition. So if a child, a hea- then or a Christian live up to these conditions, they will be saved, however limited in rightness, wiseness or pureness. After the best endeavour of any human creature has been put forth, then to all such Christ stands good to qualify them for heaven. Whether they have had faith or no faith, or whether they have had a Bible or no Bible, or whether they have known of Jesus or not known, if they did the best they could they will be saved. For " God will render to every man according to his deeds " ; or, as stated in other words by Peter, " The Father who, without respect of persons, judgeth accord- ing to every man's work." The mother covers the weakness and ignorance of her child ; she is its wisdom and strength, till strength and wisdom are developed for self-protection and qualification. So God, in His infinite love in Christ, covers every child of Adam. In His hands none are lost, but when old enough and self-qualified, many, prodigal- like, take themselves from His care. Some may argue from what I state that if many 198 CHRIST'S FORTY DAYS' WORK. of the heathen are being saved now, why send them the Gospel ? The answer is, because they have a right to its superior power to bless and de- velop them. Of course, when they get the Gospel some will be saved and some lost, as now ; but childhood and heathenhood are not permanent and stationary conditions. The child is designed for manhood, and the obligation of training is on the parent, not on the child. So obligation of training the heathen into the manhood of Christianity is on the Christian Church. The child will not ask to be seui to school, neither will the heathen ask for missionaries ; but the child and the heathen must be taught. Because we know that some of the present number of children will turn out bad — some will no doubt grow up to be hung — still, whatever the consequence may be, we must train them up to manhood ; they have a right to be men, and it is our duty to train them. Thus it matters not to the Church whether some of the heathen, if Christianized, will turn out bad and be lost ; it is the Church's duty to give them the Gospel. We should send them the Gospel because it is our duty, and because they have a right to it from us without their asking for it, and irrespec- tive of the use they will make of it. These are the reasons for sending the Gospel to heathen lands ; not because, as some teach and plead, that the poor heathen are being damned ; that God, in His providence, has made no provision for their sal- vs^tion in their present state. Such pleading is a i CHRIST'S PT'RTY DAYS' WORK. 199 libel on God, and a shameful subterfuge made use of to extort more money for missionary purposes. God's ways and methods will finally prevail, and, if presented to the public, will produce a more liberal response. We have now seen how vast and complete the provisions of the atonement are for this life, since Jesus rose from the dead. And the apostle tells us in the text that this earth-rule was applied to all those who died before His resurrection. To them the Gospel was preached that they might be judged according to or like men in the flesh. But when was this Gospel preached and by whom ? We answer it was preached by Jesus during the forty days that intervened between His resurrec- tion and ascension. The ministers employed by Him were certain chosen ones, representatives of the different nations and people. These parties were raised from the dead by Christ immediately after His own resurrection, as recorded in Matt, xxvii. 52, "And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of their graves after His resurrection." This is the first resurrection about which people blunder so much. It is the "better resurrection," which some of the worthies attained to, as spoken of in Heb. xi. 35. These are the ones whom John saw on the thrones in heaven, to whom judgment had been given, and are now reigning with Christ. The thousand years spoken of means a complete dispensation ; here it means the dispensation of ir ( 'I I I M 14 « 1 i* r WHU Cia ami,-: <: f^-Mf 200 CHRIST'S FORTY DAYS' WORK. Christ. A day with God is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day, because a day is a complete fact, implying a beginning and an end. So these worthies began with Christ to reign, and will reign until the end, or judgment day. Last Sunday evening we saw Christ entering the invisible world to conquer death and the devil. Then, when this conquest was complete. He went to the invisible again. Now, the work of redemp- tion being complete, the atonement made, the same could be preached to the dead, as the text tells us, that they might be judged by the same law as we are ; for Christ was " put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison." — i Peter iii. i8. The atonement was for sins past as well as to come; for God set forth Jesus "to be a propitia- tion through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." — Romans iii. 25. Having bound the strong man, the devil, then Christ began to spoil his house. It is fair to conclude that all who died before the work of the atonement was complete should have the Gospel offered to them, and by it stand or fall. All the old patriarchs died in the faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them." And, as said in another place : " And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise ; God having provided some better thing for us, w CHRIST'S FORTY DAYS' WORK. 20 1 that they without us should not be made perfect." — Heb. xi. 40. None who died before Christ's resurrection went into heaven. To have gone into heaven before would have been to go in on credit, for the way into the holy of holies, or heaven, had not yet been opened up. So Paul tells us, Heb. ix. 15: "For this cause He is the Mediator of the New Testament that, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." The teachings of the Bible on this point I take to be, that all who died before Christ's time had tlie offers of the Gospel ; that the Saviour took forty days in which to do this work ; then all who accepted Him went with Him to heaven. " He led captivity captive, and gave gifts even unto the rebellious." The Saviour told His disciples before His death that He would go and prepare a place for them ; " that where I am there ye may be also." Now we know the Saviour said He came forth from the Father, and He told the disciples that He would return unto the Father. He offered this prayer : '* Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me." — John xvii. 24. To have clear views of the mis- sion of the Saviour's forty days' work helps won- derfully to open u~p Old Testament history, and reconcile many apparent difficulties. It shows us how rich and grand, how complete and equitable, I 202 CHRIST'S FORTY DAYS* WORK. the Gospel of Jesus is to all in every condition, age and nation. The forty days gave one day to each century from Adam down to that time. Each day's work covered a century, and doubtless the order of appeal of Christ and His resurrected min- isters was beginning with the first century, so down to the last. From that point time renumbered. It was written by the prophet that the Saviour should see the travail of His soul and be satisfied. Some people try to give Him but few souls. I believe He will have many, and that He would not be satisfied if hell had so many and heaven so few. It is well that John tells us that outside of the direct seed of Abraham he beheld in heaven "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues." Let us remember this : that the salvation provided in Christ is a great one, and those who neglect it will find their lot with a despairing minority. :!;. ,1 THE JEWS, DISCOURSE XIV. BALAAM'S PROPHECIES — THE FREEDMEN'S EXODUS— ANCIENT GEN- ERALSHIP — THE TWELVE TRIBES AND THE ZODIAC — THE STARS PROCLAIM SALVATION — THE PRAYER OF BLOOD — HOW IT WAS ANSWERED — RETURN OF ISRAEL AND THE JEWS TO PALESTINE — CONQUEST OF THE WORLD BY ISRAEL APPROACH- ING — NUMERICAL POWER OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH — SLAUGHTER AT THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM — ATTEMPTS TO REBUILD JERU- SALEM — GENTILE PERSECUTION — ROTHSCHILD, DISRAELI, GAMBETTA AND BISMARCK — COMING UNION OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL — JEWS REVOLUTIONARY LEADERS — JUDAH S WAIL. Text — Matt, xxvii. 25. "Then answered all the people, and said His blood be on us, and on our children." ALAK was the king of Moab at the time the children of Israel were pass- ing through a portion of that country on their way from Egypt to Canaan. He sought to stay them in their march, and turn them aside from their God-appointed route. To this end Balak sent for the famous prophet and medium of Pethor. The Elders of Moab and Median "departed with the rewards of divination 4 if; I:: I ^ ! I 1 '"ff^^Hr hi Mi* 1 1 > 1 I'" !itt!i 204 THE JEWS. in their hand ; and they came unto Balaam and spake unto him the words of .Balak." At first Balaam refused the invitation, but tempted by per- suasion and a bribe he finally consents, with the agreement that he is only to prophesy what the Lord puts in his mouth. The vision of an angel and reproof of the beast on which he was riding are given to convince him of wrong. Balaam repents, and God permits him to visit Balak with the understanding that he should speak only what God would put in his mouth. Balak made every provision by building altars, sacrificing and other- wise, then he took Balaam on one of the high places of the mountains of Moab, from whence he could see the encamped hosts of Israel, and bid him curse them. Balaam went into his usual trance state, but the Lord directed his tongue and instead of curses he uttered prophetic praises. He said that the hosts of Israel would dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations, and that Jacob and Israel would be numerous. Balak changes Balaarrt's position to where he could not see all the tents of Israel, thinking this would help the prophet to boldness, but the change was not suc- cessful, for Balaam declared that they had the shout of a king in their camp, that enchantment and divination could not prevail against Jacob and Israel ; that the people were to be as a lion, cour- ageous and strong. Again Balak changes Balaam's position ; this time he is to try to curse Israel from the top of Peor. This third time Balaam left off |ii 1 1 1 THE J i:\vs. J05 the enchantments. This is beautifully put by the sacred writer when he says : "And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face to- ward the wilderness. "And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes ; and the Spirit of God came upon him. " And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open had said : "He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open : " How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel ! " As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. " He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. " God brought him forth out of Egypt ; he hath as it were the strength of a unicorn ; he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. " He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion ; who shall stir him up .? Blessed is he f II 2o6 THE JEWS. * • ... i| f •» I. r* III p; »!• . • I III- ' I •;. . .1 t weiPK Mm Haul r m fi*i ^ii that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee." — Numb. xxiv. 1-9. To properly understand this beautiful descrip- tion of tented Israel, let me invite your attention to the very remarkable mode and rules governing their encampment. Keep in your mind that here were some three millions of people; a nation in- deed on the march, with enemies before and be- hind — an exodus of freedmen, to which the exodus of coloured folk now going on from the South to the West is a small affair. We talk of great gene- rals, but who will compare to Moses ; we praise the commissary department of this scientific day, but what country has one to compare with that of Israel ? We think ourselves wise these days, but we should not forget that much of the wisdom of to-day is the forgotten knowledge of our fathers before us. The fathers of these wandering children had long before mapped out the starry heavens. The twelve zodiacal signs and twelve Hebrew tribes are not accidental by any means. It is as curious as it is wonderful that the tribes represent these signs, and that when they were encamped they actually cut the figure on earth of the zodiacal figure of the heavens. Each tribe knew its place in camp or on the march, by the zodiacal signs in the night sky above it. You need not wonder at the lavished praise of Balaam when looking from the top of Peor on the plains of Moab when he says : " How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel." To the zodiacal signs -?'; THE JEWS. 207 there is a fine reference in the question put to Job by the Lord, ** Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season ? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons ? " And who but the God-directed and guided Moses could bring forth Mazzaroth from Egypt and guide Arcturus through the wilderness ? Both Mazzaroth and Arcturus mean the twelve zodiacal signs. In this proud and boastful day we know but little of the scientific teachings and meanings of the Bible. We carelessly and ignorantly use the things and facts as if we had originated them. Is it not marvellous that the twelve sons of Jacob each had, as his private signet, one of the signs of the zodiac, and these signets became tribal ? For instance, the figure of Aquarius, the first of these signs, stood for the first-born, Reuben. The special time and nature represented by these signs are all taken notice of in the patriarch's blessing of his twelve sons. The signet of Reuben was Aqua- rius, which means water. So Jacob said of Reuben that he would be as unstable as water. The twelve signs are as follows, with their meaning : Reuben — Aquarius, meaning water pouring. Simeon — Pisces, means fishes ; which stands for multitude. Levi — Libra, means scales ; and stands for weighing. Judah — Leo, means lion ; in Hebrew, distinction. Dan — Scorpio, a scorpion ; in Hebrew, conflict. Naphtali — Capricornus, a goat ; in Hebrew, cut off. < i t «J 20« TUK ji-:\vs. • I ■•f i:* If • ( • * « • • 4 I >, c .1 r CM I'l JC"" Gad — Aries, a ram ; in Hebrew, sent forth. Asher — Sagittarius, an archer; in Hebrew, a destroyer. Issachar — Cancer, a crab ; in Hebrew, holding fast. Zebukm — Virgo, a virgin ; in Hebrew, purity. Joseph — Taurus, a bull ; in Hebrew, coming. Henjamin — Gemini, twins ; in Hebrew, united. Had I time I could show you how each of these signs enter into the prophetic blessing of the twelve sons. To understand these signs, look at your almanacs. Now, was it not suitable that to Levi should be assigned Libra, the scales, to the tribe that would be expected to teach the law } Was it not natural, knowing what we now know, that the sign of Dan should be the scorpion, which means conflict ? Has not this tribe had conflicts } Their history says yes, with emphasis. And so with all there is an appropriateness. In a higher sense, also, did the signs of the zodiac teach, for they taught the whole plan of salvation in Christ, the whole Christian dispensation from the insta- bility of Reuben, as found in Adam's fall, to Gemi- ni, of Benjamin. Gemini, meaning twins, it teaches that we will all be united in one person named Christ. Benjamin was both the son of sorrow and son of my right hand or deliverer ; so was Christ. Joseph has Taurus, or bull, which means coming. You ask what is coming ; I answer, the millennium is coming, for the sign of unity is last, and it has to be brought about by England, or the Saxon race, THE [KWS. 209 for the comitifj is throu^li the bull. It was because the zodiacs taught the plan of salvation that the wise men knew the star and coming^ of Christ. Faul in his noble defence before Agrippa said of a certain thing that it was not done in a corner. So we say the plan of salvation has not been hid away in a corner ; it is not a private affair, either in its provisions or evidences. By signs in heaven and multiplied evidences on earth, with the state and expectations of the nations, the Jews might have known that Jesus was the Christ. He was true to prophecy in person, time and place. But they rejected Him, they hated His person, and feared His influence. When the royal gift of pardon was put in their hand by the dream-awed Pilate, in their madness they chose Barabbas, the notable prisoner and robber, in place of the meek and lowly Jesus. From the record given us by the Evangelist Matthew, we learn that the Roman governor Pilate was desirous of liberating Jesus. When all means of doing so had been exhausted, he flung both himself and his noble prisoner on their clemency, saying to the blood-thirsting and impatient crowd, " What shall I do, then, with Jesus, which is called Christ .!*" They all say unto him, "Let Him be crucified ! " One more plea Pilate put before them by asking, "What evil hath He done V But they cried out the more, saying, " Let Him be cruci- fied !" When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he ;took water and washed his hands before the multi- WW ,(, ■ ■ 'i ' rf •1: '' ' Ulii III K imfflfPT^ '■»■ ' R.{^^ ^ ■ w litH ■ {.*. ■ 1 1 I^V " r.i. '- , 1 ."» * "u ' 1 ' ■I ;. ■ •'■:■ ■ v^'!:' !• ,, ■,;;:.', :*■■ '■; 'i '"','■ : » ■}■■:, ■ J-: '' ■ -««« 1 1 c nail WHlEa ^1 'Will' 2IO THE JEWS. tude, ''saying, " I am innocent of the blood of this just person ; see ye to it." Then answered all the people and said, " His blood be on us, and on our children." What a prayer, what a request ! What a legacy asked for entailment upon the chil- dren ! This prayer was a fact, but whether it was or not, this we all know, the answer has been most terribly fulfilled. From that moment a wall of blood was built, which since then to now has been a wall of separation. The hound follows on the scented trail of the fox, and so on the scented trail of blood may the Christian student follow the Jews in their course down the ages and wanderings to and fro on the earth. A testimony sealed with biood this people offer to all the world in favour of a God, a Providence, the Bible and Jesus. None of the learned theologians of our day are bold enough to symbolize or spiritualize the curses al- lotted to Judah in prophecy. Nay, they all rather take a pride in havmg so material and tangible a proof for reference and confirmation. Ignorance is not so ignorant as to overlook this fact. But it is passing strange that the prophetic blessings fall- ing to the Jews now and in the future have both by the learned and the ignorant been spiritualized and immaterialized. Not content with appropri- ating the curses to Judah, they have unbecomingly taken to themselves his blessings. Most people and teachers have a faint idea that somehow, some time, the Jews will be gathered back to Palestine. But I am at a loss to see how Judah ca.i return THE JEWS. 211 without Israel. The prophecies generally yoke them together in any such enterprise. "Lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it." Scores of ti-nes, directly and indirectly, do the Scriptures teach the return of these two houses and people. Yet the pulpit is guilty of making these two houses one, these two peoples one, and the blessings and curses are indiscriminately given to one or the other. Hosea i. 2 says : " Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel." I repeat what I have said before, that no man can read the Bible intelligently or in any great degree interpret prophecy who does not and will not accept the God-revealed dis- tinction between the house of Judah and house of Israel. A writer would be no more guilty, or less ignorant as to real fact, who should write the history of our country for the last twenty years, and use the house of the Yankees and the house of Indians synonymously, than are those who in writing and speaking confound the two people^ Israel and Judah. "The Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants, the prophets." — 2 Kings xvii. 23. But Judah was to be scattered abroad in the face of all nations. Judah never was li'-r ' ,«!« •wKi LiL ' * - « .,'i 1 f 1 ' i • fit; ■i' / B' 1 ' »»*:«/ 1 ■ •i ,,.'i; '!• . «:-|ij , ■:-.jN' 1 p III'- li ■ t-'^ '■ mS' eloquent, earnest and successful. Without dcu- ^ every im- partial man will acknowledge that the negroes are as much indebted to him as any other man of this country. And besides this slavery question, another factor of Dower slipped out of his hands at the same time. The Republicans came into office and EYE TO EYE. 227 with them he was in intense sympathy. He had been accustomed to lash with unsparing and inimit- able eloquence, and criticise with fearless vehemence, the Democrats. Of course when his own party were in power he had not the same freedom in criticising anyway ; he didn't use it if he had. He made one bold effort to be free in the time of John- son's Presidency, but his congregation and friends warned him to be still. Mindful of their warning he retired from the throne of government criticism. The Credit Mobilier scandal was before the public a few years ago. I then listened for his voice but heard it not. Speaker Colfax retired under its weight ; he was an intimate friend, but not a word in defence or excuse. My neighbour, Rev. Dr. Talmage, I remember, ran into the arena and shouted aloud the innocence of Colfax, and a few Sundays after he ran in again and proclaimed that Jay Cooke was a Heaven-chosen man. I simply thought that my friend Talmage had chosen a poor time to sound the praise of these two men. Now, to judge Mr. Beecher on the slavery and Democratic line, we will have to conclude that he has waned in preaching power ; but if we judge him on the theological or moral line, I think he has improved. If the Democrats should get in power next general election, then life will, in some degree, flow into the paralyzed arm of Mr. Beecher. It is with him as it is with J. B. Gough, the great temperance orator. They both are at home on a special subject. Mr. Gough is nothing extra when *ll4 m I 228 EYE TO EYE. he undertakes to lecture on any other topic than temperance. I heard him some two years ago on another subject ; the effort was weak, the matter dry and uninteresting, except at one point where he touched on the drunkard's home ; then I saw Gough. Gough in the flash of the eye, Gough in the arms and legs. And Gough I heard and felt in the voice. Ah ! it was the same Gough I had heard in England when I was a young man. I was really glad just to get a glimpse of him once more. And just so the Beecher of another day may be seen occasionally in Plymouth Church. Now, of course, on the slavery question Mr. Beecher and other watchmen on the walls of Zion see eye to eye. The material fact of the text, on which is grafted a spiritual idea, is as follows : Ancient cities were walled around ; on the walls watchmen were sta- tioned through the night to guard the city. The respective portion allotted to each was the half way between certain towers built on the walls. When it was dark each watchman left his tower and walked till they met each other, then they knew there was no enemy between them. As the light dawned they would not need to walk the entire distance between them, because the light would enable them to see that there was no enemy. Thus they had less and less to walk as the light increased, until, in the full light of day, they could sit in their tower and see " eye to eye." The pro- phet likens the church to a city with its walls and watchmen. This church-city he calls Zion. The iiifi EYE TO EYK. 229 priests or ministers are the watchmen. In the darkness of the ages past they have not been able to see eye to eye. As it often happened with watchmen, darkness generated fear, and fear gene- rated imaginary enemies, so the hmited know- ledge and charity of the past have given rise to fear and imaginary foes among the ministers. But with increasing light comes clear sight and greater confidence. Ministers are beginning to see eye to eye ; a better day is dawning upon the church. Men cannot and dare not be as illiberal as they were a few years ago. For centuries the two great churches claiming jurisdiction over the civilized nations and parts of Asia loved darkness rather than light. The Latin and Greek churches rest under a fearful condemnation for those dark cen- turies. Take, for instance, the claim of the Latin, or Catholic, Church. This church asserts that it has been in existence and jurisdiction from the Saviour's time till now, and that for centuries they were the only church in existence, and had sole charge of Europe. Allowing this boastful claim, then I ask what sort of a church was that which could permit such darkness, that did so little for the people ? It is a sorry total this church has to show of eighteen hundred years of rule. Did not they make this claim, and here and there an his- torian tell us that the church was in existence, we surely would not suspect its presence. One would almost as soon look for and expect to find an orthodox church in hell as in Europe during the 'j^^ m^m'.mtgfimf&^'fmim^mmmm^^K'.wmi^^^ '11 Mill .J 1*1 [ r T ¥ H 3' ll» nil iiii 230 EYE TO EYE. dark ages. And many poor souls were better off in hell, if to hell they went, and there the church assumed to send them by the thousands, through the flame, stake, inquisition and dungeon. It is no compliment to our Catholic friends to tell and persuade us that they were in existence then, nay, more, that they had all power, being the only church. A Jew would cover himself with as much glory who should prove to me that he was a direct de- scendant of Judas Iscariot, and he would equally commend himself to my favour. The ignorance of the populace (and even not half of the priests could read or write, according to the historians), the pov- erty and degradation of the multitude, is terrible to read of A church or Christianity that could create no better conditions than these should cease to exist ; at least it should not claim patronage and honour at our hands. Thank heaven the past is past, and the cheer- ing present is our portion and an inviting future. The prophet declares that we are to see "eye to eye." You ask, When shall we see "eye to eye"? The prophet says when the Lord shall bring again Zion. What does bring again Zion mean ? It means the return of the Jews and Israelites to Palestine. It is the time referred to by the pro- phet Hosea, when he says : " Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land ; for great shall be the day of Jezreel." The finding and identifying l«g,g|^K i,rf*- jJ ii %i^i. »^& EYE TO EYE. 231 of the ten lost tribes of Israel is the work set oppo- site this age. One truth presupposes another, and consequently one truth must go before another. A man must learn his alphabet ere he can set up for a good reader ; a man must be somewhat of a mathematician before he can become an astrono- mer. There is a time for our first set of teeth, and equally so for the second. There was to be a time for these tribes to be out of sight, literally lost to themselves and others ; and surely there is to be a time when they are to be found. It is the finding of them that will overwhelm the world with a con- viction of God's faithfulness, wisdom and love. His word and providence and the condition of things will be a trinity of light ; and this light will be so clear and commanding that all men will see the will and purpose of heaven. "And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people ; all that see them shall acknow- ledge them — that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed." — Isa. Ixi. 9. It is not the seed which He cursed — the Jews — but Israel whom He hath chosen ; His inheritance that are to be found, known and acknowledged. The Jews have never been lost ; everybody admits that they are Jews. The blessings next in order and the work of the church all hinge on the identification of Israel. We are right abreast of it, and cannot move suc- cessfully except on this appointed line. The church and ministers have long been praying and labour- ing that we might see eye to eye ; the time, work r^^ '■■'<;. i: ■ii|v*^' i^f'^i 232 EYE TO EYE. and condition preparatory to this glorious state they refuse to accept. They cannot much longer refuse, I think. Some ministers think I ought to be put down — that is, stopped from advocating this theory. The very effort they are making is only putting me up, and, what is ten thousand times better, advanc- ing this glorious cause. The New York Indepen- dent must give another call lor volunteers to do this work. "Oh! for harmony!" cries one ; "Oh! that we may all be united," says another. Such persons forget how and when the desire of their souls will be gratified. Hear the words of Zephaniah : ''For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve Him with one consent!' When is this ''for then''? It is, my dear friends, just after the battle of Armageddon. Supposing this theory to be true, what profit? This I will answer more fully next Sabbath. i:" ! : *!! ' 'W^V TIME OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. DISCOURSE XVI. PURE LANGUAGE AND ONE CONSENT — NATURE OF THE MILLEN- NIUM — HOW IT WILL COME — ROSH HASHANA — THE PYRA- MID —UNFULFILLED PROPHECY — THE WORK BEFORE US IN 1879— BIBLE PROMISES— CUI BONO — THE REVOLUTION AND THE REBELLION — ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S POLITICAL IDEAS — god's PURPOSES. Text — Zephaniah iii. g. "For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent." T surely will be . blessed day when the numerous and various creeds of Christendom and the world shall be- come one, and that one pure and free from error, and when all Christians shall work shoulder to shoulder. The word language in the text means a pure confession, or, as it is in Hebrew, clean lips. The word consent means united action, and in Hebrew it is shoulder. The idea of united action is very nicely conveyed by the word shoulder. This pureness of creed and concert of effort are to I ; ■hV 1^1 '•:1 i \'i' ■' r'*''' 'if ill! r*' l!>ll ■♦• ■ , '':f IKII ■Itll Will i«lll 234 TIME OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. characterize the whole church of God at a given time as expressed in the phrase : ''For thai ivill I turn to the people!' God promises to bestow this gift of union on the church. For such a period every Christian can sincerely pray and labour to hasten it on. It is a fallacy entertained by many who suppose they cannot do aught to aid Provi- dence. They forget that God works by means, and so far as man is concerned, these means can in a measure be aided or retarded as they pass through the sphere of man's freedom. This idea Peter accepts and expresses when he exhorts us to look for this millennial day and hasten its coming. The millennium is an individual fact ere it can be col- lective and universal. The millennium in a man is when he is sanctified wholly, body, soul and spirit, in a Christian sense. The millennium in the world, in its highest type, is when all men are sanctified. It is not an event that will be forced upon us. Neither is it an event that is disconnected from, or independent of, man's freedom. It will be a natu- ral sequence coming into existence reasonably and gradually. It will be the completion, reward, suc- cess and crown of the multiplied agencies and means that have gone before. It will dawn on the world as naturally as the quiet and serenity of a summer's morn after the thundering, darkness and rain of the night past. The error of the Milllennialists has been, and still is — they have looked upon this great fact as an effect without cause, a result indepen- dent of means and not at all conditional on human TIME OF CIIKIS'IIAN UNITY. 235 freedom. As a gift they have believed that God could consistently bestow it upon the world at any time, cither past or present, say for eighteen hun- dred years. And as a state they have believed that the good Lord could have produced it at any moment quite irrespective of means, the state of the world or human freedom. It is with them an event entirely independent of worldly conditions, an event which God could precipitate upon the earth at any time. Hence, with these views, they have been in a waiting and expecting attitude for eighteen hundred years. And millions of them have died disappointed, as millions more will, for the simple reason they have had to die and go to Christ instead of His coming to them and for them. On this matter of the millennium, it does seem to me that the Scriptures teach plainly. Does not common sense teach us that the millennium is both a gift and a result — a result on man's part and gift on God's part ? As a result it is preceded by certain other results and conditions, of which are the appearance of Anti-Chriet, the two witnesses, the finding of the ten lost tribes, and they along with the Jews restored to Palestine, and the great and terrible battle of Armageddon, and unusual and unexampled commotions in nature of earthquakes, storms, floods, crime, pestilence, famine and death. Of course, some are ready to argue that many of these facts have transpired ; for instance, they say Anti-Christ has appeared, and so also have the two witnesses, there have been famines, wars, crime, pesti- Hi ., I,, in i ill • , ,, ! \>l ii>|ii r ,! Mil MHI r inhk 1 1 ei Nil ! li /! 236 TIME OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. lence and earthquake. Now, suppose we grant all this, yet it is plain that some of these facts are not yet fulfilled. Most certainly no one will argue that the battle of Armageddon has taken place, and if they should, yet surely they will admit that the ten lost tribes are not found, and if this is not true no one can say the Jews have been restored to Pales- tine. Last Thursday, September i8th, 1879, was the first day of the year of the world 5640, accord- ing to the calculation of our brethren the Jews. On that morning they began to keep the festival of Rosh Hashana. To the nine million Jews scattered over all the face of the earth it was a welcome and sacred day. It reminded them of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai some three thousand three hundred and one years ago. In the various syna- gogues the ram's horn was blown, calling these scattered children to worship In like manner it has been blown 3,301 times ; is yet to be blown fifty-six times more ; then shall Judaism cease in Judah as it did in Israel 1879 years since. Till then the world shall *have two Sabbaths and two modes of time counting : then the year of the world shall change into the year of our Lord, and the last day of the week shall become the first with our brethren of Judah. Could any one pass these people in their holiday attire on our street last Thursday, and not feel and see the presence of God in history? I think not. In Egypt God has a witness that stands in majestic grandeur and solemn silence, a very marvel in construction, form and TIME OI- CHRISTIAN UNITY. 237 age ; I mean the great pyramid of Gizeh. But sub- lime as this witness is, the black-haired, dark-eyed, Hebrew-tongued and miUion-headed Jew is still more so. Oh, what a monumental fact these wan- dering, homeless, nationless and governmentless people are ! That they are indeed the children of Abraham and the followers of Moses none can deny. One might as well talk of a starless sky, a day with- out sun, or a tideless ocean, as talk of Christ's coming or the millennium day while Palestine lies desolate, Israel unfound and the Jew ungathered. Why should any man of sane mind, professing to have an acquaintance with the teaching of the Bible, tell us that Armageddon is past ? Because it is plainly taught by the prophets and the New Testament authors that it is to be the last great battle, and that it takes place in Palestine at a time when Israel is found and acknowledged, the Jews settled, nay, the very face of the country is to be geographically changed by the earthquake attending the same. Let me say again that the work assigned to this generation and the fact oppo- site 1879 is the finding and acknowledging of Israel. All the other great facts are in abeyance, waiting for the fulfilment of this. This is the Red Sea before us. There is no retreat or escape. Forward is the command, and duty's way is through this sea. There is no union promised to the Church except the other side of these waters. We are to see eye to eye, but not tnl God shall bring again Zion. Why do men pray and labour for a union that is \-M ■ '*iww: C"Orar>sf)ti^iaty iftJt^-j^jr^tpt^-'^^t/^'ai^^-ff'Jtt-i^^'^'ift^^-'^- ^1 238 TIME OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. s '.» T\t. I ■: i5;i/'i I ^4 : i-i-i ^ 1 ' ; t ■ ■ ' inwil 'loiii "ftmi 'N( Siii llMlll llllil 111:111 Siiii not now in order ? Why should we strive to fore- stall Providence and change the order of providen- tial precedence? As we cannot have the desired clearness of sight, the union of denominations, the merging of all creeds into one, the shoulder to shoulder effort, the time of no sorrow, of universal peace and safety, of plenty and good-will to all until Israel is found and acknowledged, why not at once labour to find and make known this people whom God said He had formed for Himself to show forth His praise ? Is it not strange that Christians don't want to be Israel ? They forget that to Israel all the great promises and blessings of the patri- archs pertain. They prefer to remain Gentiles. Perhaps they are loath to being called Israel be- cause they know that a responsibility equal to the promises would rest upon them. Let me speak to you, Saxons and Christians : " Hear ye this. Oh ! house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel," as Isaiah says, xlviii. i. But what shall we hear ? you ask. I answer, hear the word of God, when He says of Israel through Jeremiah xxxii. 37, " Behold I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in Mine anger, and in My fury and in great wrath ; and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely ; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God ; and I will give them one heart and one way^ that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will 't: :' TIME OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 239 not turn away from them to do them good ; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with My zvhole heart and with My whole soul. For thus saith the Lord : like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them." Could language be more em- phatic, clear and assuring. I trow not. I care not who takes up this subject, they will find them- selves embarrassed by the number and richness of Bible passages confirming the same — passages that are simple, plain and open, which none can well misunderstand, for their meaning lies on the face of them. To comprehend the word on this sub- ject one needs no theological acumen, no equivo- cating, no humming and hacking, no falling back on supposed mistranslations, and no random spiri- tualizing. I have no hesitation in saying that there are laymen in this church who would confound in scriptural argument any Doctor of Divinity in this city. The thing has already been done several times. Let any person, for instance, take the passage just quoted. God speaks of Israel and Judah in that chapter. He speaks of them as scattered into all countries, driven forth from their own land by the fury and anger of God. Then this same God says He will gather them and put them in their own land, and cause them to dwell safely, , . ' i ii': . ■ t 1 ■ ■ , :: ■ if: ■■'.■■ 1 *■ ■^1 If .»■ ^ • ■■' i ■:■,•:' n 1 240 TIME OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. and that Judah and Israel then should be of one heart and of one way, and should be a blessing for them and their children after them. Then He says He will make an everlasting covenant with them, the consequence of which is to be they will never more depart from God, and God will rejoice over them to do them good, for He will plant them in their own land, as He says, assuredly with His whole heart and whole soul. And just as certainly as He had visited them with the evils He pro- mised, so as certainly will He bring upon them all the good He had promised them. I ask in the name of common sense could language be more emphatic and plain ? We are to see eye to eye when God brings them to Zion, and more, we are to have a pure language and a oneness of consent in calling upon God, and yet more, we are to be of one heart and one way. With Israel lost, and Judah scattered, both away from their own landy ministers and laymen are praying for and labour- ing for, and waiting for, an eye to eye condition, for a shoulder to shoulder effort, for a pure language and union of confession, and for a oneness of heart and way. Could you well suppose anything more contradictory ? They whine about and scout at the idea of their being Israel. They would much rather be Jews, spiritually, handsomely handing over the material promises of punishmeilt to the poor Jew, and stealing, by a process of spiritualiza- tion, his promised blessings. They won't be Jews, materially, but, as there are some fine promised TIME OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 241 blessings in the future falling to the lot of Judah, they have no objection to being considered Jews, spiritually. Noble-minded heroes, magnanimous brethren ! But it is a pity, my dear brethren, that even those great spiritual blessings which you so much desire, and so commonly appropriate to your- selves by being spiritualized Jews, cannot be attained till Israel is found, acknowledged and representa- tively planted in the land of Palestine. So, even your theory binds you to labour with me and others to find these lost tribes, for everywhere the Bible teaches that Judah and Israel return together, and that the grandest blessings ever to fall upon the church and the world are held in abeyance till then. Cui bono — what profit is this theory ? Much every way, as you see ; for the blessings in reserve are those the church aims at, that Providence is preparing the world to receive — to receive, how- ever, in His own appointed way. And surely it is profitable to harmonize with the Divine, as much so in the spiritual as the material realm. That farmer is w ise who works to harmonize with God in nature. So, spiritually, they are the wisest who harmonize with God in Providence. The practi- cal bearing of this subject is manifold ; it is full of wealth and comfort, of strength and security. People do blindly and ignorantly very often that which could have been done clearly and know- ingly much better some other way. The way we freed the slaves of this country is not the only way they could have been freed ; nor are we ob- R ■ ■r»*JT»TFWT^ jfiii.lJ>ip(miir^in«!KSiMPIHin*P 4 #1 517 . I' I f , i if J! If I , Hi J:" ' ^I'l ""(Mm «*•-., Ik, II»||I' >iaiii> k|il kii I 11*1'' I Kill'' l**l|ll 242 TIM?: OK CHRISTIAN UNITV. liged to believe it was the best way. I grant it was the best way under the circumstances ; the circumstances, however, were not the best. Now, had we known the mind of God we would have seen a more excellent way, as revealed in this very subject. For instance, had the English known that they were Israel, or the ten lost tribes, then they would easily have seen that the tribe of Manas- seh had to have a distinct identity and nation- ality, that they were in the latter days to be a separate people — a great people. If so seeing, then they would not have gone to war with the American colonists, for they would have seen the mind of Providence in the matter, and hence would not have arrayed themselves against God and their brethren of Manasseh. In this day both English- men and Americans see and confess the error and blunder of that war. The lives lost, treasure spent, and hate engendered — all might have been spared had they known that they were Israel, and that the time appointed of God was at hand for Manasseh to go forth. Ignorance here was costly. Will you yet say, Cui bono — what good is this theory ? How the mysteries of that day are revealed ! England then had conquered several colonies, and many more since. She has only, however, lost one, and that is this country. Then, as now, she could bid defiance to the world, sweep the seas, intimidate Europe, overawe the heathen nations — indeed dic- tate to the whole world ; but when she sought to fight againsc Providence, her navy and veteran regi- ibilllil TIME OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 243 ments were of no avail. Long ago the destiny and results had been foretold. Jacob had said that Joseph should run over the wall, and that Ephraim should be " a nation and a company of nations," and that Manasseh should be " a people and a great people." So England failed, and the patriarch's words became true. Our late civil war could not have occurred had this theory been known and accepted. All would have seen that it was impossible to make two na- tions out of Manasseh. We must not persuade ourselves that these things had to be, but simply they have been. The a la Talmage theory is in suspense. Many do not believe that one needs to do evil in order to know what evil is. Nay, the fact is, so closely does public opinion cut at this point that many good people doubt even the pro- priety of going to see evil, and some even go far- ther and believe my friend and neighbour. Dr. Tal- mage, did wrong ^'n visiting those places of incest and ill-fame in New York. For myself, I had rather known the joys of temperance by living a life of temperance than to find it out by intemperate ex- perience. Thus it were not needful for this country to go to war to know the mind of God. True, by means of the war the finger of God was made very manifest. Have you ever thought that the two special things sought were a division of the country and the maintenance of slavery ? In both the war was a failure. From prophecy two things are clear ; first, that Manasseh was to be only one nation, and 244 TIME OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. »!■ t, ''3 •'«|in :1;* ' ■ C' I' second, that one of Israel's as well as Manasseh's special duties was to liberate the slave, not only in his own borders, but in all the world. This, of course, they have very nearly accomplished, but it is as interesting as curious to see how Providence forced the issues, and what chief agents he selected for the work. Take for instance the honoured Abraham Lincoln. When he was elected President he was a thorough believer in the right of rebellion, and a pro-slavery man south of Mason's and Dixon's line ; that is, he believed in the rights of the South- eners and slavery as it was, but not in its extension. These were his ideas even after the war had begun. He commanded both Generals Fremont and Hunter to restore to their owners certain coloured " contra- bands " whom they had freed in the south-west. Lincoln's one aim at the beginning of the war was to preserve the Union. That he believed in rebel- lion let me prove from two of his speeches. In the first session of the Thirtieth Congress, during the Mexican war, he said : " Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing gov- ernment, and form a new one that suits them bet- ter. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right — a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to sole cases in which the whole people of an existing govern- ment may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can may revolutionize and make their own of so much of the territory as they in- TIME OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 245 habit. More than this, a majority of any portion of such people may revolutionize, putting down a minority, intermingled with, or near about them, who oppose this movement." The last clause, you see, favoured llnited States interference in the Mexican strife. That you may see that Mr. Lin- coln had not changed his mind on the right of rebellion, I will quote an extract from his inaugural address of March 4th, 1861 : "Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight always ; and when after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you. This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending, or their revolu- tionary right to dismember or overthrow, it." How marvellous the ways of Providence ! The very man who believed in the right of rebellion is made to crush out one, and he who would not allow half a dozen contrabands to be made free by Generals is to-day held in grateful remembrance, if for one thing more than another, that he issued a proclama- tion freeing 4,ooo,cxx) slaves. The lesson these events and examples teach is valuable. They should convince us that whether we as individuals let, or will, the counsels of Heaven stand secure. We may surely learn how valuable this theory of Israel's identification is, especially to us. If we fail to recognize it we will have again mi "1 * I ' r'll, M'-' !:i r*.! Kl: ii:! '■! 246 TIME OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 1 1 !••• to pay dearly for our ignorance. God's purpose will be fulfilled though we may be ignorant or wise, for or against. But to be wise is far better than being ignorant, and to do the will of God in His own way is better than that He should bring to pass His purpose against our wills. Let us all say, " Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven." THY WILL BE DONE. DISCOURSE XVII HOW TO PRAY — VAIN REPETITIONS — THE TEN TRIBES AND THE GOSPEL — ECCENTRICITY OF A BACHELOR MINISTER — SHAPE OF NOAH'S ark — SEWARD AND LINCOLN — THE POLAR EXPE- DITIONS — THEIR BENEFITS — POLITICAL BEARINGS OF LOST ISRAEL'S DISCOVERY. Text — Matt. vi. lo. " Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." UR text is a part of the Lord's prayer. From Luke we learn |:hat the disciples asked the Saviour to teach them how to pray, as John the Baptist had taught his followers. The Saviour gave them a sample, in this memorable prayer, for the very purpose that their prayers might be short and pointed. He wished them to avoid length and "vain repetitions," to stand in simple and direct contrast to the heathen around them. However, in this, as in many other cases, the Saviour's meaning has been perverted by the very opposite being done of what was intended. Out of good men often make evil, while out of evil Ii .1 r ' ;1 i ' ' •i i! ■iji : i 1 Hi ; i|,.. 'Ik "i ■ hl\ »u 1 ''■ .; i' :}: ■' I'^'l' , i **''l''' 1 " ( 1 ' r \ ! ' ittii 1 ■ ci ; 1 "M,i . \ 1 !■ . J" • "••■r. ,1- ' :■ .. ", ^ i;. 1^ :'"»;,!' .1 i , «, Ik 248 THY WILL WK DONE. God often brings good. Instead of the prayer being taken as a sample, it has been accepted /// toio, and it has been oftener repeated than any other. Imagine what a beautiful example of consistency we have in the venerable divine who closes up a long and tedious prayer by the Lord's prayer, who persists in repeating it at every turn. Some rituals provide for its repetition a dozen times a Sabbath. It is terrible what humanity we crowd into our religious services, and how much of the Divine we leave out. " After this manner therefore i)ray yc," not after the manner of the heathen, vainly repeat- ing, and who are foolish enough to think that they will be heard because of their much speaking ; nay, nor after the prescribed forms of the hierarchy. Our prayer should be measured and qualified by our real wants and gratitude. It does not take the writer long to record the agonizing prayer of the sorrowing Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion. Voluble and confident Peter Was not long in formulating and uttering his petition when he felt himself sinking in the troubled waters of the Sea of Galilee ; and be- ginning to sink, he cried, saying, " Lord, save me." The conscience-smitten gaoler of Philippi was not long in voicing into prayer his plea for salvation — " Sirs, what must I do to be saved." The muc/i of the Pharisee's prayer was /iU/e, but the /tU/e of the Publican's was 7nuc/L When men have the sincer- ity of Peter, the conviction of the gaoler, and the sorrow of the Publican, they will neither be long THY WILL I!K DONK. 249 nor tautolo^Mcal in i)rayin^, but they will be sim- ple, plain, pointed and direct. Prayer to be avail- ing on our i)art must be the real exponent of our faith, desire and condition, and on the Divine side it must be in accordance with the will of God. "This is the confidence that we have in Ilim, that if we ask anything acctjrding to His will. He heareth us." — I John V. 14. Our hopes and fears, desires and affections, should all be bounded b^ the will of God for time and eternity. This, you think, is a true and simple statement, one that all Christians will readily accept. Don't be in a hurry, my dear friends, in your con- clusions. The last two .Sunday evenings I have pointed out to you that such is not the case, (jod, indeed, has plainly taught us when and how the great blessings we so much desire and pray for can be attained. Oneness of heart, oneness of spirit, oneness of way, oneness of consent, oneness of effort, and oneness of language. More, we are plainly in- structed as to the preparatory means and condi- tion going before and preceding these grand facts. Among these prei)aratory facts are the finding of Israel, or the lost tribes, and the gathering of the Jews into their own land. Then, and not before, may we expect the great blessings enumerated. Then will be the time of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Judah, Israel and the world. "When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations ; r^ :;l Ml ,#ii» '•»» i h;:i 4: • l.l ;f:; 'j I hi . J" m i! "SI , J**: (siiii m ' r . Dl '"•I .mil [ "ill HIM '*'"t. 'Siiiiliii illill lllllll 2; i^iiiiii I, ll>«|il|lll ^ Millillll Si ilil •i li. I 11; 250 THY WILL BK DONE. then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen ; but I have gathered them into their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide My face any more from them, for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God." — Lzek. xxxix. 27-29. Pentecost was a type of the out- pouring of the last days. Then is the time that God will make a new covenant. /' Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Lsrael and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to destroy, and to afflict, so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and the house of Judah, not accord- ing to the covenant I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt ; which My covenant thej^ brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Loi^. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel ; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people." — Jer. xxxi. 27-33. And so the prophet goes on testifying in full assurance. The gathering could not be plainer, nor assurance more complete. And yet, strange to THY WILL BF DONE. 251 say, the majority of Christians s.iy they won't have it so. They repeat tlie Lord's prayer, asking that the will of God may be done on earth, as it is done in heaven. But when that will is pointed out to them, as revealed in the order of Providential pro- cedure, they refuse obedience, and ^o so far as to speak harshly of us who are willing that God's will should be done. We are not going to get vexed because God has "chosen Israel as Mis inheritance," and that Me has "formed this people for Himself, that they might show forth His praise." We simply believe that He has not cast away Israel forever. *' God forbid," for " I am also an Israelite." The Jews would not receive Christ. " He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" Who were His own ? The Jews, in a literal sense ; for as Paul says in Hebrews, " It is evident our Lord sprang out of Judah." Christ came to those who received Him. God foresaw and foretold that Israel in Benjamin would accept Him ; hence the remarkable saying of the Saviour, " I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Shall we say Jesus was faulty in seeking out the Israelites ? Shall we call him heterodoxical ? Not so, say my brethren. But then if Christ was not heterodoxical in seeking out lost Israel, how is it that I am charged with heterodoxy for following in His footsteps in this matter? Have I, and others of like mind, mistaken the instruction of the blessed Master, which is, " But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel"? So, indeed, said !•«< ^ .■'^' 1:* «•!• "«i '•XllllH !l'^ 252 THY WILL BE DONE. Jesus to His Disciples. What do I understand by this command? Why, I simply take it to mean that the Gospel was first to be offered to the lost sheep of Israel, and Lirough them to all the world. *' Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. But go rather (that is, first) to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." — Matt. x. 6. This commission the Jews actually understood, for at the time the Saviour threatened to hide Himself from them, they sur- mised as to where He would go. Then said the Jews among themselves, " Whither will He go that we shall not find Him ? Will He go unto the dis- persed among the Gentiles?" — John vii. 35. But v/hat objection, had even the Jews against His visiting the lost ones of Israel ? Why, namely, that if he went teaching these scattered ones His doc- trine, the Gentiles would perchance learn it, and that would be awful in their estimation. But that was the very order of Divine procedure then and nov/. Gentile perfection, spiritually and tempo- rally, socially and morally, and politically and com- mercially, must come through Israel. Britain and America are responsible to the nations of the earth for the performance of these great things ; and accountable to God for the same. To be of Israel means something. It is a title of honour and dig- nity, and also of labour and responsibility. In that time-honoured institution, the Fulton street noonday prayer-meeting in New York, the past week, a bachelor reveretid brother arose to y- THY WILL BE DONE. 253 speak, and said : " Brethren, we must preach Christ and not any new-fangled notion. Why, in the neighbouring city (that is, Brooklyn) a minister has been preaching on the prophecies for the past three years, and all this time only two or three souls have been converted." Now this dear bachelor brother knows about as much of the Gospel as he does of married life. He has not yet learned that " the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." — Rev. xix. 10. So that those who bear b. * nd noblect testimony for Jesus are those wh. do so through prophecy. Let me kindly commend the following portion of Holy Writ to him and his friends : " We have also a more sure word of pro- phecy ; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that siiineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scrip- ture is of any private interpretation. For the pro- phecy came not in the olden time by the will of man ; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." — 2 Peter i. 19. Hope my brother will not be alarmed because he now learns that the prophecy is from the will of God, and good men wrote the same under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and that therefore it is a more sure Vv'ord. I trust that the propheci^^s will be to him as a light that shines in a dark place. And I take great pleasure in informing him and all others that this prophecy work is not patented, that it is not a thing of private interpretation. So wade in, ^ »l. \¥ \ : •i,i., 1 1 « 111 ^^ •K l,]-^ M n •41 IW I ' 254 THY WILL BE DONE. dear brethren, and bear testimony for Jesus ; and then, instead of two or three souls being converted in three years, you may be as happily rewarded as myself, and have near a hundred. Let us all repeat the Lord's prayer, especially the text part, and then let us be as willing in our hearts, as with our lips, for the Lord's will to be done. It is poor policy for any one to dispute the Divine method of doing things. When God laid out the Garden of Eden, it is likely it was well done. Albeit I can but think that if some of my brethren had been there, they would have demurred at some parts. It is fair to presume that Noah's ark was well constructed, although it was wrong side up as judged by the ships of our day. I mean it was flat-bottomed and roofed, the top being like the under side of our big boats. But it was all right for the time, place and purpose. Some of our reverend carpenters no doubt could have suggested some improvements. In the construction of the tabernacle Moses was pinned down to a Divine plan, for " See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee on the Mount." — Heb. viii. 5. It was needful for Moses, as well as for us, to learn that God has a will as to how things should be done, and more, we should not only learn His will, but be ready to do it. If God chose to call Abraham, and from him raise up a distinct people, that branched off into twelve tribes, well and good ; and equally so if He gave to these tribes a distinct place in time and work. Let THY WILL BE DONE. 255 US count it all right that He selected the land of Palestine. The earth is the Lord's, and therefore He has a right to first choice. It is nothing against this choice if a citizen of the proud commonwealth of the little State of Rhode Island should think the Lord might have done better had He waited for his State. And just so, if God intends to bring to light lost Israel, and through them evangelize the world, and restore the Jews again to their fathers' land. Why should we grumble because He has made so much of the glorious future, to bring about the recognition of Israel and restoration of the Jews? Have I not shown you by a score of proof texts from the Bible what the pleasure of the Lord is in this matter? Then shall we not be willing to say, "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven"? Whether you or I take part in this great work or not, it will be done. " Judah shall yet be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely." " Therefore behold the days come," saith the Lord — not Dr. Wild, Edward Hine, or Philo-Israel, but the Lord — " that they shall no more say. The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ; but, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them ; and they shall dwell in their own land." — Jer. xxiii. 7, 8. I am well aware that this work will not be ac- complished in a day. The bondaged tribes in Egypt would not accept the Lord's deliverance Wf. ;, •I •« M ••w -I li 1 1 . y ill 1 1 I" ■sill ■I I ' r- i 1?*>I 1*1 'I ^: V. iyr'i! C-M, ifll . i,ii!;l 1, :iri . i ; li 'i lU' Li »l*ll • Ill 'M it •45! i' fl I'" ' ,~,! Kill I El'! ' .11' H|t|:' I I ^,l.!:l li-i ■t;.: fal ■>'• ■ 256 THY WILL HE DONE. through Moses when he first went among them ; still, it was as much the foreordained will of Hea- ven that they should be freed, as that the)' should be in bondage. And, just as surely as Israel have been lost, so surely shall they be found. More than forty years Moses and others had to work and wait ere the people were willing to accept the proffered deliverance. Let us remember that God in Providence works two ways ; His sword is two- edged. Man can only, as a rule, work one. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles ; and Peter, who was set against them, was instrumental in bringing the Gentile question into the Jewish council of his brethren in Jerusalem. The case would indeed have been very much prejudiced had it been forced in through Paul. Peter's dream and Cornelius's were set one against the other. An out-and-out Gentile, and an Italian soldier at that, was Corne- lius. Peter was an out-and-out opponent of the Gentiles, but our Heavenly Father brought them peacefully together. And, strange to say, it is the great opponent of the Gentiles who first extends to them the hand of brotherly love and equality. It is he who is arraigned before the council, and it is the narrow-minded Peter that was caused to say in self-defence : " Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as He did unto us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I, that I could with- stand God?" — Acts xi. 17. Now, Peter had with- stood God, Paul and others on that point up to that time : at last his self-will yielded to the will of (31" THY WILL BE DONE. 257 lem ; Hca- lould have More work )t the God , two- Paul lO was \g the 3f his ndeed forced eUus's id-out orne- )f the them is the ids to It it is ay in them n the with- with- p to ill of God. So on this important question Providence is working double-handed. The Hon. William Seward was a superior man in intellect, influence, and on the slavery question, to Abraham Lincoln, but when the choice of a candidate fell to the lot of the anti-slavery party for the first time, poor and almost unknown Lincoln was chosen instead of the well- known William Seward. Mr. Lincoln was only an abolitionist north and west of Mason's and Dixon's line, but Mr. Seward was an abolitionist both North and South. There would have been no war had Seward been elected, for the North would not at that time have sustained one simply to free the slaves. But Mr. Lincoln being half-and-half, the rising of the South was the more offensive to the North, for though slavery was the prime cause of the war, it was not the front or apparent one. Slavery thus hid, the dismemberment of the Union was the cause apparent ; this gave union at once to the divided North, and so brought on the great struggle. This result was to show Manasseh that he could not be two nations, and the retired issue was brought to light, and the slaves were made free. Last Sunday evening we pointed out to you how a knowledge on this identification question would have saved us from that war. Cm bono, what is the good of this theory ? For upward of 400 years men have been trying to find a north-east or north-west passage, that is, to pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans S ■ 1 jo! 1 ii ' ■ ■ H >} *%i 1 Mil j' »' 1 . , ! ■ ■' ' Vi'- I 111 > ' J 1 ■ 4 : '] \ ' i." •»! : ■!■*!' ••It ' V' ■ii:' M ... ' 1 1 •l.l , « , '■tgij ^.►, li iJ ':if > li'*" IV 'i ( ;i-i,- ' 1!' I ,11" ...li' Iv V 'I, ;ii!i 1 1* HnHlIll' u -♦1 4i'' >f. *iii rtRS ■;»; Vi" '{; mill ►■*! |i'' %i mil'' 'I Si Hill' 258 TIIV WILL HE DONE. through the island seas surrounding the North Pole. Numerous expeditions have been fitted out by pri- vate enterprise, as well as by the various Govern- ments of the world. Our enterprising neighbour, the Herald man, Mr. Ben net, who so grandly open- ed up the dark continent of Africa through a Stanley, has sent forth the Jeanette to pierce the Pole, and plough a way through these northern seas. We can but hope that his noble efforts will meet with great success. England, France, Swe- den, and latterly this country, have vied with each other as to who should first find a passage-way. Many vessels and lives have been lost in this effort, and millions of money spent. Cui bono! What is it all about } What good is it .? Much, every way, yet with the mass of people it will be a long time before they can understand this good. It was won- derful news to the scientific world that came a few weeks ago, that Professor Nordenskjold, under the direction and patronage of the Swedish Govern- ment, had succeeded in passing through the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The efforts of hundreds of years have at last been crowned with victory. The Swedish Government has won an honour that any of the other Governments could reasonably covet, especially England, which has spent so much blood and treasure to accomplish the work. Thousands of bodies, besides Sir John Franklin's, are preserved in those ice-covered val- leys and bays. The work j^roposed, however, is !„! ';■' i ■ I iil THY WILL HK DONE. 259 only half-done. The North Pole must be reached at all hazards and costs. Including all the best efforts, we have not reached it nearer than a thou- sand miles. But one expedition after another keeps penetrating a little further, and some day, ere long, I think, the work will be done and the prize gained. And what then .-* you say. It is hard to say, for the benefits to be derived are numerous, some of which will be purely scientific ; others commercial, and some theological. I suppose some of you ladies know what soda is, and the different forms in which it is used. We use it in soap, and in making of biscuits, and so on. In the whole world there has only been found one kryolite mine, and that is at the very north end of Greenland. Now kryolite yields the natural commercial soda. Half of what this mine produces comes to this country, and is manufactured. The Pennsylvania Salt Company of Pittsburg have a monopoly in this business. In this mine more than one hundred men are at work, and the portion which the Danish Government allows to come to this country employs some twenty vessels to carry the same from Iviktut to Philadel- phia. Of course commercial soda can be, and is, made by artificial means. This mine, you see, gives us the natural article, hence it is cheaper for us, and besides it aids trade, and by this means the kryo- lite mine enters into our interests. This I just call your attention to, that you may not think this north is wholly separated from us. This question of •1 ^■w-"ptt«±i■h-#f^■'if^ ■ ,..,.»^i...i^.,^-,fi U !'■■ I: »rt, tiii f, *' '^-iKIllll 260 THY WILL BE DONE. Israel's identification is more intimately inwrought in our spiritual, social, commercial and political well-bein<4 than many are apt to think. Next Sun- day evening I will call your attention as to how it is going to force us all to consider it, whether we will or not. It is coming up in a political shape, as you will see. ^fe^^^^y^ I ,'' I' WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. DISCOURSE XVIII ORIENTAL BRANDS — THE CHRISTIAN BRAND, WEIGHTS AND MEA- SURES WHICH ROB THE POOR — FRENCH REVOLUTIONISTS AND INFIDELS — WARNING TO WORKINGMEN — THE METRICAL SYSTEM THE OFFSPRING OF INFIDELITY — THE QUESTION IN CONGRESS — COST OF THE IMPOSITION — PROFITS FOR NEW RINGS — THE METRIC CONGRESS OF 1875 — PYRAMID MEASURES — STANDARDS OF ISRAEL — WHY GOD IS NOT IN THE CONSTI- TUTION. Text — Rev. xiii. 17. " And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." ITH the Orientals it is an old and very general custom to mark or brand one another. The forehead and hand were the parts of the body chosen for this purpose ; their manner of dress sanctioned this choice. The forehead was an open and conspicu- ous part of the face, made the more prominent by the turban they wore. With the men the rest of the face was covered by the beard, which was luxu- '^4 if h i I Mm I "ill' ,^M-'l| ■•-. ! T I r 1 ;< ill ;i ill:-: «;, \, «;.i 262 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. riantly cultivated and prized in the East ; the women were wont to veil their faces, all but the forehead. Slaves were so marked with thfe number or sign of their master, and the idolatrous enthu- siast would in like manner carry the sign-mark of his favourite god. The sign was at once an evi- dence of subjection and ownership. Slaves of higher rank and the more modest devotees of the gods were marked in the hand,:;o that their owner- ship and subjection were not so boldly proclaimed. The branding was done with a red-hot iron, having on it the letters or sign. These were burningly stamped in the flesh, and immediately some indel- ible liquid was poured into the scorched furrows. Soldiers, in loyalty to a beloved general, would have their motto so stamped, and generals would ex- press their fidelity to the king in like manner. These marks o signs were widely different. The slaves of Caesir were marked with an olive, leaf ; some adopted certain numbers ; in such cases they would speak of such signs as being the number of such and such a man. Persons marked both on the forehead and hand pledged themselves in a double sense to the effect that they would openly and secretly further the interests of their master or god. These preliminary remarks, I hope, will help you to a better understanding of the sacred writers when and wherever they graft a spiritual idea on a natural one. I will cite a few passages to make this clearer : The prophet Zechariah refers to a time when I! :i': WEIGHTS AND MEASURKS. 263 certain false prophets would be exposed. These prophets, when exposed, would fain hide the mark in their hand. lie rc[)rescnts one oi them as being asked if he were a ^ rophet, and he answers and says : " I am no prophet ; I am a husbandman ; for man taught nie to keep cattle from my youth. And one shall say unto him, What arc these wounds (that is, marks) in thine hands ? Then he shall answer, "'hose with whu h I was vvounded in the house of my friends." — xiii. 5. Thus, you see, with a knowledge of Oriental customs a passage like this is made the clearer. The false prophet, in time of danger, wishes to deny that he ever was an idola- trous prophet ; he avows he was an husbandman even from his youth ; and when the very sign of his prophetic office is pointed out to him he tries to get out of the difficulty by saying he was wounded in the house of his friends — that is, his friends at some time marked him against his own will. To this custom Ezekiel refers where he says : " Go through the midst of the cit}', through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the fore- heads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof." Whenever these facts are used in a figurative sense you will find that only the forehead is used to symbolize that which is good. Christians are not marked in the hand, but in the forehead. Chris- tianity is neither a private nor secret fact ; a person cannot be a Christian privately. Thi"^, in Revela- tion, it is said : " Hurt not the earth, neither the »4 ill :m 9 vF 264 WKKIMTS AND M HAS U RES. Ill- ■ 1 .'-: » in ■ !••• 'ti, •c: k'M mill' kill" ' <»i*:ii'' sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads" — not privately on the hand. Sin, however, is symbolized both by the open mark of the forehead and the hid- den sign of the hand, because sin is both openly and secretly done. I am sorry to say, and more so to be forced to believe, that many professing Chris- in these days are hand-marked sinners. Privately they have the devil's mark in their palm. If all members so stigmatized, whose names are on our church rolls, were erased, I am afraid the total would be greatly diminished. The revelator points out a time when Anti- Christ and the beast shall form an alliance, and then they will seek to control the course and modes of commerce. They will seek to make all trade and traders conform to a standard of their own be- getting. They will have a system of weights and measures peculiar to themselves, one that will rob the poor and make the rich richer, and one that will fit nicely on to their infidel ideas. Avarice will be their motive power, and their standard a varying and uncertain quantity that will ignore the existence of God, and the finished, unvarying, honest, equal, impartial and ultimate God-given standards of nature. They will even venture to take a straight measure from the fourth part of a varying circle, in preference to the fourth part of a straight line that is ever unchangeable. Such a course, you are ready to say, would be silly and ridiculous in the extreme, for any schoolboy would ll 'M WKRillTS AND MKASURKS. 265 know better than that. Will it change your opinion, or in any wise mend the matter, if I tell you that such a thing has been done, and doi ^ by men claiming to be superior scientists, by savants who dethroned God, and fell at the feet of a "God- dess of Reason " and said : This be our God ? In the citj^ of Paris, France, in the year 1792, these God-orphaned children met in council to devise a better system of measures of length, liquids, weights and time. They wished, because they had just freed themselves from the tyranny of a long line of kings, to be equally free from the King of kings, the Lord of earth and heaven. On January 21st, 1793, they brought forth from prison their unfortu- nate King Louis XVI. to the guillotine. Then v as established the famous " Republic," which, meteor- like, sped its way and ran its course in fourteen years. On the guillotine of reason they proudly proclaimed to the world that they had also be- headed the Christians' God. In their measure of time they divided the year into twelve months of thirty days each, and these months they deci- maled, and so had the week to consist of ten days each, the last to be a rest day. This division of the year left them five days on hand ; these they generously disposed of by constituting them into festival days, which they scientifically called san cullotidides. The royal King David once brought down on himself the displeasure of Heaven, and God, through the prophet, gave David a choice of punishment, 4 H '^ 1 iii . 91 \\ H ' ' SU ^Ksi 1 n m m •HI IfTT i ii ill 'I ilMJ till ■«n:: rll I f. tl I"' I li"| ■li '1.1 i;, iii«i miHii !!• 1 :" i ' ; ' i ! 1 1 ' i ; i 266 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. that he might fall into His liands, or into the hands of men. David's experience with both parties soon fixed his choice, for he chose to fall into the hands of God, rather than into the hands of man. And so may we choose and prefer. Think of a repub- lic offering- to the workingman thirty-six rsst days instead (;f the God-appointed fifty-two. The pro- visions of a just God are more liberal than the free- will offering of a Godless republic. The experience of the past should give us, especially the working- class, the Davidic wisdom of choice. And I warn you now, as I have heretofore the working-class of this country, to beware of such pretenders. God- less agitators are burden-bringers, tax-imposers and liberty-crushers. The republic of 1792 is gone ; it surged to view and identity on a tide of blood, and after a few brief years it sank from sight in its own gory v/aves. But not so with its new measure system. Thank heaven, part of that sank with it ; and pity the earth that any should still remain. What the French savants did is nothing to you, I suppose some of you will say, and hastily you may declare your indifference about the metrical system of measurement. One thing, however, is very certain : you cannot much longer rcmiiin in- different. Very soon you will be forced to con- sider this question, for it will soon enter into every home and every pocket. Already you have paid taxes for it, but only as a drop to a shower if you do not arouse to resist. This infidel metric sys- tem was before our Congress at its last session. WF^GHTS AND MEASURES. 267 Committees were busy getting information on the subject, and large rings are already formed to push it through Congress and make this system com- pulsory. It is legalized already. . This was done in 1866 for this country, and in England in 1864. This French metric system has been adopted and made compulsory in France, Belgium, Holland, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Colum- bia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Chili, and the Argentine Confederation and Uruguay, In Austria, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden it is partly in use. So you see the spirit of Anti-Christ is in the world. In these countries no man can buy or sell unless he has the mark — the name or number of the beast. The promoters of this sys- tem have worked stealthily, having, as we see, gotten it legalized. Not one in a thousand knows anything about this question, its import, purpose and aim. If the day ever comes that it shall be made compulsory in this country, then the multi- tude will awake to a realization of the tyranny, cost and imposition that will have been forced upon them. Then the arithmetic you have learned shall be of no use any longer. You go to the grocer, and he begins to talk of decas, hcctos, myrias, steres, and of litres, metres, millimetres, centimetres, and so on. You will be for some time a little puzzled, and perhaps you w'lll want him to accommodate you by selling to you in the old way. He will answer you that he dare not ; his measures then will be altogether different. The old ones he '^ r BM VI '||ffl i '•'tl H^ m '*# mt 9K. ■n ♦It C *l ■« j .!;',i;..U 'if i',?! t. ,,,■•11! „ 1 -It' ,,,,. !>|ii:» 'V |i'"-' ►yinii'i'"' 11' ',."3' ^« ' Ho, (i; 268 wp:ights and measures. will have to give up or destroy. You may buy from him a litre or delitre of potatoes, but no longer a bushel or half-bushel. If you go to a store to get a yard of cloth you will find it impossible, but they will sell you a metre or a centimetre. Yards, feet, inches, gallons, quarts, pints, tons, pounds and ounces will be no more. The change proposed is as radical and confusing as the difference between Christianity and infidelity. The bewilderment of the country on the adop- tion of this Gallo-metricalized system is finely illus- trated by ^Professor Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal of Scotland, in his grand work, "Our In- heritance in the Pyramid." I will borrow a point from him to show the absurdity of this system. An old lady inquires at some milk store the price of a pint of milk, and is told by the storekeeper that he " dare not sell her that measure for it is against the law." He, however, sets to work and makes a calculation and he finds he can sell "o'028 of a litre, which is not far from half-a-pint, and that its price is only 0'o666, etc., of a franco- bungus, or positively dirt-cheap, if she can only see it." Will not the old lady be appalled ? and how ever will '^he be able to perceive all the bear- ings of this state of affairs so instantly as to make her small means go to the same distance in mar- keting, for a Icfrge family, as they had been wont to do before ? The fact is it will not only confuse old ladies, but the whole community. It will revo- lutionize every machine shop in the country, and WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 269 necessitate a change in the gauge and stroke of the engine and the lathe. Our children will require new text -books, the grocers and druggists new measures, the mechanic new tools. If it should become the compulsory law of this land it will cost the country- millions of dollars. The House of Representatives, in November, 1877, asked three questions from the various heads of departments of the Government. First — What objections are there to making the metrical system of weights and measures obliga- tory .-* Second — How long a preliminary notice is necessary for the same without detriment to the public service ? Third — What objections are there, if any, to making the same system obligatory be- tween individuals, and what is the earliest date that can be set for such obligatory use throughout the United States ? The various officers responded, each and all condemning, in part or whole, in their answer. Not one of them was out-and-out in favour of such a change. This being so you are tempted to conclude that there is no danger of it ever be- coming law. If you hastily so conclude it must be that you are ignorant of the strength and organized design of the promoters of this system. Already great trade rings are formed to make this system compulsory. They have lots of money and influ- ence. These rings expect to receive the mark and number of the Government to manufacture, for all these new standards will needs be made under Gov- ernment supervision and sanction to the end that there may be uniformity. Some Mr. Fairbanks nm '■■hi ''>■ im 1^ n il''' c 270 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. itti r ^ «i 'iiiif »*«i.i(iiili 111 m will have a fine job in making the new scales, some book firm in issuing new school-books, and some glass factory in producing new drug glass measures_ The change will be enormous, the rings strong, the monopolies great. The Postmaster- General says in his report that the expenses immediately would be $124,000,000. This gigantic fraud threatens to unsettle the commerce of this country and force us into a mode of doing business that will deny our origin. Unto whom or what shall we liken the men who invented this system, as well as those who accept their Godless conclusions ? I have read in ancient history, of -one Pygmalion who was so enamoured with his maiden love that he, at great cost of time and labour, had her image carved in snow-white marble and placed in his studio. It came to pass that he forgot the living maiden and satisfied him- self with the statue. He exchanged the living beauty for a cold marble figure. So these Pygma- lion scientists pretend to be satisfied with the meteric system. They exchange the man-com- mensurate and earth-commensurate and God-given system we now have, for one that is lifeless, non- commensurate and ill-suited to man. A boy has some notion now what an inch is, as the breadth of his thumb, or what a foot is, or cubit from tip of fingers to elbow, and the sacred cubit the length of the arm. A yard is a stately step, two of which are a fathom, and that is again the height of a '^ood- sizcd man. Neither in man or nature arc metres t ■ . 'y'r,: Wi^^ttf'A WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 271 or litres found. A half a metre is no quantity no nnore than half a litre. Still a boy would have some idea what a half a foot was, or half a yard. Let us stick close to God and nature and refuse these man-begotten systems. This question, coming up at this time, is not an accident, for as the tiuie of Anti-Christ is nearing, so the preparatory signs are appearing. And is it not strange that Israel England stands out boldly refusing to accept this system ? At the Metrical convention of December, 1875, called together by ?Vance, there were present twenty-two nations. There was one lacking that spoiled all, namely, England. She had no accredited agent. The Uni- ted States were represented by Hon. Mr. Noyes, our ambassador at Paris at that time. It was con- cluded forthwith to establish an International Metri- cal bureau at Paris. This part our Government has not yet sanctioned, and I hope never will. The president of that International committee said more than he knew when writing complainingly to Mr. Noyes. He, Mons. Iba/ie::;, said, " It would be greatly to be regretted if the Anglo-Saxon world determined to maintain, definitely, a separate posi- tion in regard to weights and measures." He knew not, being ignorant that these Anglo-Saxons are God's chosen people,. Israel, and therefore it is not for them to deny Him in their business. To their fathers God long ago said : " Ye shall do no un- righteousness, in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight or in measure ; just balances, just weights, a just P. Wi ■•iprj fltt i-'i;. ■i iiiijiiii ''l; -ii..:!'*!! •^I i«li "M W 272 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. ephah and a just hin shall ye have. I am the Lord your God which brought you out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall ye oh erve all my statutes and judgments, and do them. I am the Lord." — Lev. xix. 35. From the Divine word we learn God had regulated weights and measures by statutes. This simply implies that they had certain ultimate standards to appeal to, so as to adjust those they were daily using. How and when they got their standards I know not. The architectural measure- ment of the tabernacle and the temple came from God ; the pattern was from heaven. The Jewish system of weights and measures is in close affinity with ours now in use, and they both plainly refer to the great pyramid. The difference between ours and theirs is just what the greed of the ages would warrant. Our inch is a thousandth part less than the pyramid. Our pint measure is a little less. The porphyry coffer in the pyramid is an earth, man and God-commensurate standard. It is not to be accounted for on the line of accident. The point is too fine and scientific that this porphyry coffer, or stone trough, in the pyramid should be of the same cubical contc nts as the ark of the cove- nant in the Holy of Holie*; Who'^ver mude one made or knew of both. Where, 1 ask, were the standards of Israel kept .-* The true answer is, they were kept in the Holy of Holies. That famous Aaron's rod was like our yard stick in purpose. The pot of manna uas the liquid standard measure. The English nation have been wont and do now 11 ii J WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 273 keep their standards in that sacred and holy place, Westminster Abbey. ** Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small ; but thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shall thou have, that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God." — Deut. XXV. 13. On honest dealing God speaks plainly : " A false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight." — Prov. xi. i. Just as the blessed Jesus is man's standard in all spiritual matters, and he was God, man and earth-commensurate. He touches all, and is rela- ted to all. He is the heaven-given standard. The French of 1792 rejected Him also. We in this country are divided between the French system and that of Israel. As introduced by Thomas Jefferson, we have the decimal system in part. The French idea also crept into our Constitution and left it Godless. Facts are stubborn things. It is marvellous how manifest the spirit of prophecy is m Ihe history, place, condition, agitations, relation and evpn idiosyncrasies of the nations of the earth. What Is the profit whether we be Israelites or not.-* You surely will see with me it is of great importance. .Vnd they who set at naught this theory to-day will in the course of a few years be forced to consider it. *'i 1 ii! 1 1 \Mw: !'•' 274 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. A pamphlet has been written that ought to be put into every politician's hands. It is by Chas. I ati- mer, civil engineer, of Cleveland, Ohio, entitled : " The French Metric System, or the Battle of Stan- dards." More next Sunday evening. Pi .6 1111*1' I iHiiii""' " ■, It: , JUST WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. DISCOURSE XIX. THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL RELIGION — CHRIST ON EARTH — THE BIBLE ON WEIGHTS AND MEASURES — WHAT CONSTITUTES JUST WEIGHTS AND MEASURES — ADVANTAGE OF UNIFORMITY — ORIGIN OF THE MUSIC SCALE — PORPHYRY COFFER — OUR MEASURES BASED ON NATURAL PROPORTIONS — INFIDEL MEA- SURES — JUSTICE TO THE POOR — DOLLARS AND CENTS — PYRA- MID MEASURES. Text — Leviticus xix. 35. "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight or in measure." II I'l \ * i< i" A T is the will of heaven that men should deal honestly one with another, that right, not might, -^hould govern all human intercourse and trade. When a man has a theory he naturally desires to apply it, and he will seek the best time and place for such application. So if a man construct some valuable machine, he will desire to have it operate where it will be most successful, in the grandest, greatest and most useful sphere. Christianity is no ejccep- »i :. ., (Ill" I •MI ■ c • »l ■III ■ ' r" I' If >ttl, H»|' I' :l .'I I; ; .1 HI « «iiii .1 >.• ■C: ,|,ll'»i'!'l ,1111)111'"' „llMl"" liiian' »i.ll3l"l' ' c ■|i...«lli;: ■11 ^ ' /* •I-'-',, 276 JUST WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. tion to this general rule, although many try to per- suade themselves that it is. As a system it is both theoretical and practical ; it is both a fact of faith and practice. It is not so much the theoretical part of a man's religion that I am interested in and rela- ted to as the practical, because no man can be wholly isolated in this life. I am interested in the religion of everybody, especially in the practical part, and as sure as I have, or any one else has, religion, so surely should we seek to operate the same in the most important department of life, where we will have the best and greatest opportu- nities for its exercises. Accepting the departmental division of life, may I not ask which is the best and most important in a practical sense ? That of the the family, church, or commercial ? To find out which of these three is the best for the purpose spoken of we must ascertain which commands and gets the most of our time, thought, labour and capital. For myself I believe the commercial to be the first and most important, taking the average of society at large. A majority of men spend more time, exercise more thought, bestow more labour and invest more capital in the commercial depart- ment than any other ; this is especially true of the poorer and working-classes. Here, then, is the best and grandest field for the practice of Christianity: here we will find the finest opportunity and the best chances for the display of Christian virtues. Because this is so, here also Christianity is put to its greatest test. In this department it has been JUST WKfCIHTS ANP MRASURHS. 277 a lamentable failure. Is inhere else has the Chris- tian profession been so dishonoured and put to open shame. The past few years have furnished some most appalling instances. The very pillars of justice seemed honeycombed. Staid, Puritan and heretofore honest New Enp^l ind has of late tellingly, vcngefully and frequently assaulted the tame and good name of the Pilgrim P'athers. in the family, affection .iclps each member to practise the golden rule one toward another ; in business this motive aid is absent. In tUc church association, the time and quiet of the sanctury, the Sabbath with its ministrations, ill contrib .te toward helping men to be good. On Mondav morn- ing these aids to a better life are retired, .v. id men go forth to labour, dependent on jusiice alone. Oftentimes the whole of the association of their business is against them. Mercy and love are not wanted. Justice, stern and cold, as defined by law and custom, now holds sovereign sway. The humble and devout worshipper of yesterday has not only changed his clothins^ but his very look, voice and demeanour ; all are changed. The loving husband, the tender and mild-mannered father, it is hard to discern, sometimes, in the exacting, rough and thorough plodding business man. So defective have Christians been in this department that business men don't give a straw's weight or value to a man's profession and church relations these days. It has come to be quite generally un- derstood that religion haa nothing to do with 1 : II * i ^(1 i . ■ M". iiiiii 5 : IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 1^128 mrs £ 1^ 12.0 J^'S \^- Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SE0 (716) R72-4S03 ^ c^> ^\^ :^' ^ ^ s .KvSfe-,: ip- '.'■•!' rpr 278 JUST WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. nt|, ,» iii'i !^".':'!t; «t I I' ill I pi. ■l-^:'if :;; * •iiii^pni'!' w, 't ;■■' ! ?s" ■>» «iii,»'«^ mill') Di ^" ■0' I; |1.- 4.;i ":1 ill- lK i ill business, no more than politics. This opinion a portion of the Church help to confirm, for they talk and harangue men on Sundays and at prayer- meetings to get religion instead of doing religion. Most churches are plagued with such bores, per- sons in whom no confidence is placed whatso- ever by those who know them. Any one of us, acquainted at all with men and things, knows per- fectly well that religion theoretically is a long way off religion practically. We need to urge men, by exhortation and example, to practise what they already know. A man's religion should be equal to his life in time, place and doing, so that at no time or place a man can be found without his re- ligion. Well do I know that this sermon will be spoken of as being non-spiritual, lacking the ele- ments of a true gospel discourse, by this pious class of folks. Thank heaven, the Union Congregation Church has but few of these in her fold, and they are seldom present when I preach, and rarely visit a prayer-meeting that I lead, and when they do they are mute, critical observers. By this state- ment I do not wish the stranger in my hearing to suppose our prayer-meetings are dull, prosy, or poorly attended ; on the contrary, they are large, lively, and intensely spiritual and profitable. Our church will grandly compare with any in the country for honesty, integrity and piety in its member- ship. We try in this church to approach the bles- sed Jesus through humanity ; through humanity sick, weary and carewcyn, distressed and despised. JUST WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 279 We believe Him. easier found this way, and better pleased when so found. We give the cup of cold water in His name and hear Him say through the thirsty one ; " Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of one of these, ye did it unto Me." My dear friends, Jesus is yet in the world. He is still going to and fro in the earth. He is incarnated on earth as well as in heaven. Ecce Homo. Behold the man. Behold Him in that careworn widow, in that helpless and suffering neighbour, in that afflicted wife of a drunken husband, in those half-clad or- phans, in the patient prisoner. Jesus is sick and in prison, visit Him ; He is hungry and naked, feed and clothe Him. He is a stranger and thirsty, take Him in and treat Him kindly, and give Him to drink. Ecce Homo. Behold the man, not best and oftenest in "a private prayer-meeting where all present are of good reputation, well fed, richly clothed, kindly housed, and have money in bonds and in the banks, as some of you have. Remember he is no respecter of persons, though you are, and court Him and approach Him as if He were. No, no, my friends, go tell them in that fashionable ari.d very select prayer-meeting that Jesus whom they seek is not there. He is gone on before unto Gali- lee. This Galilee country was a poor country, never- theless Jesus says, " Go tell My brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see Me." Oh, for a practical gospel. Let us look our religion in the face and see how and where it will best suit. The text gives i l1 • ,11'' !''" ■■'> it I'fi.irs-il •■■« ,iii,llM'""' '1 lO! ,CI l< S.tt;l» IMi '! i ii: 280 JUST WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. US the mind of God. The Hebrevv nation heaven designed should be a model one ; for th's reason God devised through inspiration its form of gov- vernment. This government did not recognize any religion for the simple reason it was religion. The Hebrew religion can only be seen and under- stood by taking in the whole life of the nation. They were religious in eating, drinking, working, socially, civilly, ecclesiastically, politically and sani- tarily. They had no interest or relations but what were provided for and contained. The Hebrew religion was not an afterthought imposed upon the people. They could not in the strictest sense be Hebrews and be irreligious, neither could they be religious and not be Hebrews. There were no church and state with them, for the church had no existence of itself, neither had the state, both these factors it took to make the Hebrews. It is no won- der then that Jehovah should so minutely provide for every shade of interest and intercourse. And when we remember that much of a nation's life is a trade life, we shall be prepared to expect provision and rules for the regulation of the same. These provisions would of necessity conserve the people's interest, and God-like, they would be righteous, equitable, and impartial ; they would not favour the rich at the expense of the poor — in their applica- tion they would rest justly and fairly on all. But if this people were to do no unrighteousness in judgment, mete-yard, weight and measure, it is at once evident that they must know what right was i-5 J«!-;H1' i JUST WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 281 in this matter. It would not do for every one to have a mete-yard, or measure, or weight of their own. To the end that trade might be honestly and fairly conducted it would be necessary that they should have some standard. All weights and measures conforming to such a standard would give uniformity and impartiality in all their trading. Frequently Jehovah appeals to the people to be honest in these matters, to accept the appointed standard, and not in anywise to deal unfairly one with another. He said to them, "Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have." And he even adds to the fulfilment of this precept a promise, " That thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." And further. He expresses His dis- pleasure against any double dealing. " For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God." — Deut, XXV. 13-16. Finding Jehovah is so particular about His peo- ple having just weights and perfect measures, we are naturally forced to ask what constituted a just weight and a just measure, The answer to this question is, that the weights and measures used by the people were such as agreeid with some stand- ard, and this standard would be carefully preserved in some appropriate place. From time to time ! « )U|i tiitiiiiti{ » ■•p 294 ARK OK THE COVENANT. i' of the dust of these marvellous remains. See over to the right, there, some men have been quarrying ; ney ound, however, the stone loose, cut and shaped ; or aey were quarried long ago, and built in walls now alien in. That knoll in the centre is called " Croppy hill," for there are buried a large number of the insurgents of the rebellion of 1798. The big, square stone, or monument, is the only tombstone that marks the resting-place of the slaughtered patriots. It is about four feet square, and some seven feet high, and it is equally as deep in the ground as out. This remarkable stone stood on one of the other hillocks for centuries. When, how, and why it was first put there, no one seems able to tell. Whatever the original design was, it has been lost sight of. It doubtless was an important witness, and had a secret and a story that one would like to have heard and known. The brave Croppies, however, have changed its mission, and it now points out to the traveller their resting place. Many wonder why these ruins are not at once explored. In connection with this wonder, we should remember that it is now private property and that the owners, as well as the tenants, are averse to such proceedings. Here, in former years, explorations were conducted on a small scale, and many curious and antique ornaments, instruments and implements, made of gold, and silver, and bronze, were found attesting the wealth and splendour of this ancient city. The tumulus of New Grange — that is the name given now to one of these little ARK OF THE C0VF:NANT. 295 hills — covered about two acres, rising some seventy feet in height. It was long resorted to as a quarry- by the settlers round about. This mound appeared to be the ruins of one vast building, covered with a thin costing of soil. The stones were massive in size, weighing from ten to twelve tons each. There are no natural quarries near by, so that these must have been carried there from a distance. This mound was first opened up in 1699 by a road- master, who began to dig in it for stones to repair the road. While so doing he came upon a gallery pathway sixty feet in length, twenty-four inches in breadth, and eighteen inches in height. This pass- ageway was roofed with enormous slabs. At the end of the passageway was a chamber, which, from its shape and furniture, indicated that it was but an ante-room of some large temple. I apprehend that the day is not far distant when these ruins will be thoroughly explored, and the secrets and wealth so long buried brought to light. In England a society has been formed with this object in view, and are receiving voluntary contributions for this purpose. Of course it will be an expensive undertaking. Governmental permission, as well as private consent, will have to be gained. And it is known that the Catholic Authorities are much opposed to such pro- ceedings, and they will very naturally oppose it all they can. This grand old city, which for more than a thousand years was the capital of Ireland, and more, the successor to Jerusalem, and thus the reli- gious capital of the world, on whose throne sat to M i^iVJipiJWPHiqiiPP m 1 1 r Mil) , Jl»'i ' ii|i V- 1, ;s l.!l li|» l« »l w «tl> » if 296 ARK OF THE COVENANT. rule and reign 142 monarchs of the Fir-Bolgo, that is of the tribe of Dan. Do you ask why such a city was destroyed } Well you may ; but who shall answer you ? Let me give you a little advice, and at the same time solicit a favour, especially some of you, my Catho- lic friends, whom I am pleased to see present with us this evening. Ask the priests and Catholics of the 1 7th of March why Tara is no more ? Ask these one-day-in-the-year panegyrizers and poor practisers of the faith and princely charity of St. Patrick why the city in which he spent so much time and loved was destroyed ? When you hear the eloquent priest quote the lines, " The harp that once through Tara's halls," ask him why it does not sound there now ? Ask these boastful successors of St. Peter and brave defenders of St. Patrick, by what authority, and at whose command, and for what reason the so-called Si. RtiadJiam and the bishops, in the year 565, took their bells " which they rung hardly," says the historian, " and cursed the king ?ind place, and prayed God that no king or queen ever after would or could dwell in Tarace ; and that it would be waste forever with- out court or palace "? Perhaps these real successors of Ruadham may teel that the very suggestion of these questions will put them in a suspicious posi- tion before the public, and their impatience may prompt them to give an early answer and not wait the coming 17th of March. If so, well and good. Give us the answer through press or pulpit ; or, L^^