University of California Berkeley 
 
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine 
 in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing 
 the words of the Lord." AMOS viii: n. 
 
 SPIRITUAL GIFTS 
 
 THE SEER OF PALMYRA. 
 
 A 
 
 SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS. 
 
 BY M. H.JJOND; 
 
 " Now concerning spiritual gifts, I would not have you ignorant." PAUL* 
 "If thou knewest the gift of God." JESUS. 
 
 "When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive, and gave gifts 
 unto men, 
 
 And he gave some apostles, and some prophets." PAUL. 
 
 " Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto 
 his servants the prophets." AMOS iii: 7. 
 
 PROVIDENCE, R. I. 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 'HEISTIC belief, notwithstanding the absurdities thai: 
 cluster around it and the difficulties that beset it 
 in our day, is still too precious in View of the 
 incompleteness of this life to relinquish without a most 
 serious and painful struggle. 
 
 With Prof. Clifford, " we have seen the spring sun shine 
 out of an empty heaven to light up a soulless earth ; we have 
 felt with utter lonliness that the Great Companion is dead." 
 " Without God and without hope " we once walked through 
 this world. 
 
 Now, all having changed with us, we desire to aid some 
 soul struggling in vain in the meshes woven by priestcraft, 
 to find a rational basis and practical ground and a faith 
 defensible from all assault. 
 
 Knowing the possibility of such attainment, our desire is 
 to humbly point the way out of the labyrinth of human 
 opinion up to the certitude expressed by the immaculate 
 Son of God when He said, " My doctrine is not mine, but 
 His that sent me. If any man will do His will he shall know 
 of the doctrine," by expressing what that doctrine is, obedi- 
 ence to which brings knowledge of the true character of 
 the "son of the carpenter," not only of what he is reported 
 to have done, but what he does, can and will do in keeping 
 with the statement of Paul, " Jesus Christ the same yester- 
 day, to-day and forever." 
 
 No claim of erudition is made by which the writer's 
 thought is presented ; towering rhetoric and glittering hyper- 
 
2 PREFACE. 
 
 bole may prolong the discussion, but truth. was and we 
 believe is to-day best served by straightforward and candid 
 statement. 
 
 If plainness of speech was warranted in Paul's day as 
 against Greek and Roman sophistry, we believe we shall be 
 able to show that the world's need is as great to-day in this 
 direction, as against the conflicting religious theories of the 
 day. 
 
 Carlyle has said that " the soul of all of nature's utterances 
 is perfect music." 
 
 Believing that Christianity proper, and as Christ taught it, 
 is not at war with itself ; that the God of revelation and of 
 the Bible is the God who created the natural worlds and is 
 always in harmony with himself; that Jesus Christ the same 
 yesterday, to-day, and forever was and is His chosen and 
 authoritative representative, and not the dead Christ of human 
 creed ; that the promises of God to the race through Him 
 are not yea and nay yes in the first century and no to-day, 
 but that "all the promises are yea and amen to the glory of 
 God " and to our satisfaction who, happily learning what the 
 will of God is, and doing it, are enabled to enter the portal 
 that leads away from doubt and tradition into the temple of 
 knowledge concerning spiritual things. 
 
 M. H. BOND. 
 
Spiritual Gifts and Spiritual Manifesta- 
 tions. 
 
 * 
 BY M. H. BOND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IN a day when science itself is grappling with professed 
 spiritual phenomena, and seeking in vain a natural solu- 
 tion of its mysterious and startling manifestations, igno- 
 rance is unwarranted and unbecoming in either believer or 
 skeptic who may have rational opportunity to obtain light, 
 the everlasting and undeviating harbinger, as well as the 
 faithful attendant and companion of truth. 
 
 Profitableness, or practicability in spiritual matters must 
 be the inevitable and solitary test which the rational mind 
 will bring to bear in solution of these questions. 
 
 It is not within range of practical discussion designed in 
 this pamphlet, and at this time, to enter into detailed exam- 
 ination of all the phenomena with which history has fur- 
 nished us 'that may have transcended rational explanation. 
 
 From the days of Egyptian necromancy every nation and 
 every tribe have had a revelation, and an oracle, and a 
 manifestation so sacred and. so entrenched in fond desire 
 of a preconceived hope, that they have builded for it an 
 altar and a covering from the light of criticism, and of sun- 
 shine, and of the day ; have placed a priest to guard the 
 place and presence of the shekinah, and have hastened to 
 pour out by armies their life-blood in defense of toe temple 
 which covered all. 
 
 Looking back over the waste of centuries, what shall we 
 say of this, to us, blind exhibition of misdirected force and 
 
 3 
 
4 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 apparent waste of human energy? Wnat profit for them 
 and what lesson to us ? 
 
 " The world by (its) wisdom knew not God," said Paul, 
 eighteen hundred years ago. Has the added experience 
 of centuries confirmed or denied its truth? Have the 
 representations of God, or manifestations of natural or 
 supernatural , power, given tests satisfactory to the highest 
 intelligence possessed by the nineteenth century? If so, 
 where shall we find these manifestations and tests, and 
 when found will they abide the full and free light of not 
 only the present, but the coming day, and the searching 
 analysis which has buried so many ghosts and fables of 
 human superstition and deception in the past? 
 
 " Canst thou by searching find out God ? canst thou find 
 out the Almighty unto perfection?" is the sublime language 
 of the friend of Job. " It is as high as heaven ; what canst 
 thou do? deeper than hell ; what canst thou know? " (JOB 
 ii, 7 : 8). And yet, is knowledge then cut off from higher 
 sources than man ? If so, our inquiry, our faith, our religion 
 is in vain, and our hope must end in blind desire, and vain, 
 though fond imagination. Marching on over the graves of 
 buried hopes and exploded myths of religious experiment 
 toward the day whose dawning reveals naught but the in- 
 tellectual light of criticism, shall the world assemble and hear 
 an eloquent burial service by some future Ingersoll of all 
 religions that postulate a theory covering more than the span 
 of life allotted to the natural man ? Is there, amid all the 
 starry worlds of this vast universe, an intelligence higher 
 than man ? and if there may be, is it in the eternal order of 
 things that man may know? Is the coming day to be a 
 burial or a resurrection morn of that hope of immortality 
 that forever and forever besieges the human soul ? 
 
 Supernatural or spiritual gifts or manifestations in the day 
 of Paul, and among the membership of that body or associa- 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 5 
 
 tion of religious believers called saints : founded and organ- 
 ized by Jesus Christ, called by His name, officered and 
 equipped under His own direction, were the gifts which He 
 promised to the believer in His mission to mankind that 
 should ever follow wherever his line of instructions should 
 be observed. (MATT, xxviii 120.) These gifts and the 
 physical or sensual manifestations or exhibitions of them, 
 partially, at least, were clearly defined to the unbeliever by 
 the scene upon Pentecost day, and subsequently following 
 the ministry of the church. They were to be sent by the 
 superior power in vindication of the promise " If I go 
 away I will not leave you comfortless. Nevertheless I tell 
 you the truth : it is expedient that I go away ; for if I go 
 not away, the Comforter, will not come unto you; but if I 
 depart, I will send Him unto you." 
 
 Jesus, who was called the Christ, departed from this 
 world one way or another as we may believe according to 
 our faith or our traditions. The testimony handed down to 
 us informs us that faith to withstand trials and death were 
 augmented, and comfort such as was promised by the 
 founder of the church received through the subtle processes 
 operating upon human minds and bodies through operation 
 of the spirit which was one, and called the Holy Ghost, 
 but diversified in its manifestations and gifts for the profit 
 of individual persons, adapted to their constitution.or nature, 
 and given, not as a sign to the curiosity or wonder-seeker 
 to inspire faith, but as evidence to follow the believer within 
 the magic' circle bounded by the line of obedience to the 
 command "to observe all things whatsoever " he had "com- 
 manded them," and as a fulfilment of his eternal pledge, 
 "Lo, I am with you always, EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE 
 WORLD." 
 
 An attempt to render this promise and word in such a 
 way as to circumscribe its fulfilment to the limits of that age, 
 
6 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 has only served to draw a pall over the world's hope inspired 
 by the fulfilment of the pledges made to the church by its 
 founder. 
 
 Much talk is made of this as a progressive age and day 
 of enlightenment. In things material, or that which min- 
 isters to physical ease and sensual delight, apart from the 
 discomfort that will always attach itself to high mental and 
 spiritual estates in the presence of the great questions that 
 spring out of the issues of life and of death as presented to 
 our consciousness still unanswered, I grant may be 
 true. Knowledge has increased according to the prediction 
 of the prophet, but that kind the world has to offer still 
 satisfies not. The railroad takes us no nearer heaven. The 
 telegraph has not connected us with the unknown. Hackael 
 or Darwin have not yet found the opening that leads from 
 death to life. Spencer no alchemy of mental or physical 
 force sufficient to form a lens whose rays shall penetrate the 
 gloom that covers the dark river and that forever separates 
 humanity from the unknown. Col. Ingersoll, with infinite 
 wit, or mental acumen, does " not know whether death is a 
 wall or a door," and the stricken heart of the world with 
 hands stretched across the new made grave of its incom- 
 pleted life and ideal, utters still the olden cry, " If a man 
 die, shall he live again? " 
 
 I am aware of claims set up by different parties opposed 
 to this view of the majority. Some of the principal ones 
 only, which claim our nearest attention, we briefly discuss. 
 
 First The Christian church or churches, so called, of 
 to-day, say to us that the pessimistic or skeptic view is 
 unwarranted by the facts of nature and of s revelation. That 
 nature teaches of a God, and of a bodily resurrection, and 
 revelation furnishes us with the superior moral code and 
 evidences of life beyond the tomb. 
 
 No stronger or more powerful advocate of the natural 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 7 
 
 doctrine in favor of the revealed religion of immortality 
 need we refer to than Wilford Hall ; and yet this champion 
 of religion, and professed defender of the Bible and of the 
 right of Jesus Christ to the claim of being the world's 
 authoritative teacher, says in his "Problem of Life," p. 26^ 
 that "The age of miracles is undeniably past." God, he 
 affirms, no longer works with His church as in the days of 
 Christ and his Apostles ; but the only remedy proposed for 
 the incoming tide of modern skepticism is an increased 
 store of worldly wisdom upon the part of Christ's ministry ; 
 meeting the assaults of infidelity with superior skill in 
 erudition ; keener logic and more subtile argument ; and he 
 admits if these fail that the decadence and overthrow of the 
 Christian church is only a question of time. 
 
 Human wisdom and sagacity aie thus still to be made 
 the only tests of religion, and of the truth or falsity of the 
 claim of divinity made for Jesus Christ and the gospel which 
 bears His name, and the war against infidelity still carried 
 on by a hundred different sects with as many different faiths, 
 with the patent of their name as authority to promulgate 
 whatever the fancy of theologians may dictate as gospel. 
 
 Is Jesus Christ to blame for all this confusion, and is the 
 system of test introduced by him to be thrown overboard 
 because men have changed and corrupted it, and its pro- 
 fessed friends deny the very and only methods authorized 
 by Him through which a KNOWLEDGE of God by and through 
 this man Christ Jesus was to be obtained ? " The world by 
 (its) wisdom knew not God ;" neither yet, confessedly, does 
 it know Him ; and there is something which amounts to 
 absurdity in the claim that this multiplied diversity of 
 human opinions, framed into creeds and canon laws and 
 articles of faith, with their kaleidoscopic and ever-changing 
 front, is a just, a faithful, and authoritative representation of 
 the everlasting and unchangeable gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
8 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 11 He that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth 
 not shall be damned." Believe what? Heaven help us ; 
 we have believed so much, and knew so little, that we don't 
 believe anything any more, and what is left of belief we have 
 to keep close and excluded, or it will be spoiled ; for the 
 image breaker is abroad in the land, and the history of the 
 religious world since the days of Constantine, especially, 
 must largely justify the reversal of the anathema by say- 
 ing, " He that believeth shall be damned, and he that be- 
 lieveth not shall be saved." 
 
 Spiritual gifts were the gifts of God eighteen hundred years 
 ago. Heaven proposed to reach men's consciousness through 
 adaptation of the message to their capacity a school in 
 which " by the church might be known the manifold wisdom 
 ofGod."(EpH. iii, 9:10.) Their office work was to minister, and 
 supply to, the wants of man that which earthly powers could 
 not then, neither can they now, supply. Their presence with 
 the church was the certain test of not only His love and will- 
 ingness to bless those who united their fortunes by obedience 
 to His law and commandments with Him in a service of 
 salvation toward and for the world, but also of supernatural 
 and extraordinary power exhibited and manifested in con- 
 firmation of the word which he commanded them to teach. 
 
 In the April number of The North American Review, 
 Robert G. Ingersoll opens his second article upon " Why I 
 am an Agnostic " by saying, "the Christian religion rests on 
 miracles," and that " in order for miracles to be of any 
 value, they would have to be perpetual." Now while this is 
 saying more than the truth, yet no unprejudiced reader of 
 the New Testament history can say that the truth is not in it. 
 Careless readers might believe Mr. Ingersoll meant that there 
 was little else but miracles as a foundation on which to 
 predicate faith in the system, but if Mr. Ingersoll meant to 
 say that the Christian religion proper, included miracles, he 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 9 
 
 would say right, and that historical and second-handed tes- 
 timony in regard to them was not contemplated by the 
 founder of the Christian religion as a test of the faith of the 
 true believer in Him. 
 
 But the Christianity that Christ taught did not nor does 
 not "rest upon miracles" alone. If it did, the claim of the 
 Catholic church to the truth of its dogmas, and the 
 authority alone to promulgate salvation or pronounce con- 
 demnation would be hard to overthrow. To prove our 
 faith by human affidavits and a historical gospel alone, is to 
 prove altogether too much, as a few references might show. 
 
 In a pamphlet entitled " Hell," issued by the " Vatican 
 Library" in New York, and written by the Rev. Father 
 Schouppe, are the authenticated accounts of miracles from 
 the days of the early fathers of the Christian (Catholic) 
 church up to the year 1860, A. D., as proving the exist- 
 ence of a hell, and of the particular kind taught by the 
 Romish church, also borrowed from her and defended by 
 Calvin and other successors in Protestant "Reformation." 
 
 While it may not be unreasonable to suppose or even 
 unprofitable to believe in the existence of a hell, yet, the 
 world stands confused in regard to the certainty of its local- 
 ity, the quality, grade, or duration of punishment, the 
 design of its establishment or the character of its author 
 and founder, represented or misrepresented, as the case 
 may and must be by somebody. At least it is as easy to 
 prove by theologians, who claim to be the only authority, 
 that there are more hells than one, and of different kinds, 
 as that there is any hell at all, and the most charitable con- 
 struction or explanation of these differences and contradic- 
 tions fail to justify us in believing an infinite, just, merciful 
 and all-wise and unchangeable being as the author of all, 
 or perhaps any of them. 
 
 Upon " the infallible word of God," says Father Schouppe, 
 
lo SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 " stands the dogma of hell." Quite likely, but even what 
 purports to be the speech of God upon this point eighteen 
 hundred or three thousand years ago has been so disagreed 
 upon by its expounders that it makes unbelief in authorita- 
 tive declaration easy in this age. But there is the supple- 
 ment, and, to the devout Catholic, proof of itself, in the 
 authenticated accounts furnished by the church, of the vis- 
 ible and sensible return of those who wore and are con- 
 signed to hell and its flames ; and while Universalists and 
 Liberals in religion may carry off honors in debate with 
 Father Schouppe, Calvin or Edwards, in regard to the letter 
 of a word that has killed so many, what shall we say of 
 human testimony and eye witnesses ; of revelations to Cath- 
 olic or Protestant, to the Maid of Orleans, Ann Lee, Swe- 
 denborg, the testimony of modern Spiritualism, etc. ? 
 
 In the pamphlet quoted on " Hell," page 49, we read : 
 "Not far from Lima (1590) dwelt a Christian lady who had 
 three maid servants, one of whom, called Martha, was a 
 young Indian of about sixteen years. Martha was a Chris- 
 tian, but little by little she grew cool in the devotion she had 
 displayed at first, became negligent in her prayers, and light, 
 coquettish and wanton in her conversations. Having fallen 
 dangerously ill, she received the last sacrament. After this 
 serious ceremony, during which she had evinced very little 
 piety, she said, smiling to her two fellow-servants, that in 
 the confession she had taken good care not to tell all her 
 sins to the priest. Frightened by this language, the girls 
 reported to their mistress, who, by dint of exhortation and 
 threats, obtains from the sick girl a sign of repentance and 
 the promise to make a sincere and Christian confession. 
 Martha confesses then, over again, and dies shortly after. 
 Scarcely had she breathed her last when her corpse emitted 
 an extraordinary and intolerable stench. They were obliged 
 to remove it from the house to a shed. The dog in the 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIOXS. n 
 
 court yard howled piteously, as if he were undergoing the 
 torture. After the interment the lady, according to custom, 
 was dining in the garden in the open air, when a heavy 
 stone fell suddenly in the centre of the table with a horrible 
 crash, and caused all the table equipments to spring, but 
 without breaking any article. One of the servants, having 
 occupied the room in which Martha had died, was awakened 
 by frightful noises all the furniture seemed to be moved 
 by an invisible forte and thrown to the floor. 
 
 " We understand how the servant did not continue to oc- 
 cupy the room. Her companion ventured to take her place, 
 but the same scenes were renewed. Then they agreed to 
 spend the night together there. This time they distinctly heard 
 Martha's voice, and soon that wretched girl appeared before 
 them in the most horrible state and all on fire. She said 
 that by God's command 'she had come to reveal her condi- 
 tion to them ; that she was dajnned for her sins of impurity 
 and the sacrilegious confessions she had continued to make 
 until death. 
 
 " The fire of hell is a real fire, a fire that burns like this 
 world's fire, although it is infinitely more active. Must not 
 there be a real fire in hell, seeing that there is a real fire in 
 purgatory?" (Pages 50, 51.) 
 
 In the year 1870 Mgr.de Segur relates : "On the 4th 
 of November, 1859, died of a stroke of apoplexy, at the 
 Convent of the Franciscians of Foligino, a good sister named 
 Theresa Gesta. Twelve days after, a sister named Anna 
 Felicia, who replaced her in her oifice, went up to the ward- 
 robe, and was about to enter, when she heard moans which 
 seemed to come from the interior of this room. Somewhat 
 alarmed, she hastened to open the door. No one was there, 
 but new moans resounded, so clearly articulated that, despite 
 her usual courage, she felt seized by fear. ' Jesus, Mary ! ' 
 she exclaimed, ' what is this?' She had not finished when 
 
12 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 she heard a plaintive voice accompanied by this mournful 
 sigh : ' Oh my God, how I suffer ! ' The shocked sister 
 recognized at once the voice of poor Sister Theresa. Then 
 the whole hall was filled with a dense smoke, and the ghost 
 of Sister Theresa appeared, moving toward the door while 
 gliding by the wall. Having reached almost the door, she 
 exclaimed forcibly, ' This is a sign of the mercy of God ! ' 
 and saying this she struck the highest panel of the door, 
 leaving hollowed in the charred wood a most perfect stamp 
 of her right hand*; then she disappeared." 
 
 The smell of charred wood and the impress of Sister 
 Theresa's hand was recognized by all the company that this 
 frightened sister called in in her astonishment and fright. 
 According to farther account, the next day she appeared to 
 her in her cell, calling her by name. "At the same time an 
 al] resplendent sphere of light appears before her, lighting 
 up the cell as if by noonday, and she hears Sister Theresa, 
 who with a joyous triumphant voice utters these words : ' I 
 died on Friday, the day of the passion, and behold on 
 Friday I depart for glory.' Then, adding affectionately, 
 'adieu, adieu, adieu,' she becomes transfigured into a thin, 
 white, dazzling cloud ; she flies away to heaven and van- 
 ishes." (Pages 52 and 53.) 
 
 One more account, among scores of like testimonies, and 
 the last in the book, tells us of a general of the Northern 
 army in the war of 1860, a devout Catholic, whose wife, a 
 fervent Protestant, was about to die. The general, with atten- 
 dants, began to draw their beads, and praying on their knees 
 for one hour, find her in syncope, without consciousness. 
 "At the end of some time," says the account, " returning to 
 herself and looking at her husband, she said to him in a very 
 intelligible voice, ' Call a Catholic priest ! I beg,' she says, 
 ' for a Catholic priest without delay.' ' But, my dear, you 
 would not have one.' 'Ah, general, I am entirely changed ; 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 13 
 
 God has shown me hell and the place that awaited me in 
 the eternal fire, if I did not become a Catholic? " 
 
 A literal hell of physical fire are among the literal cer- 
 tainties revealed with astounding and convincing occular 
 demonstrations according to this and other Catholic history 
 for those who neglect confession to their priests or who 
 renounce her dogmas. 
 
 Our experience laughs at, or our faith contradicts all this 
 testimony, but we swing over to an investigation of modern 
 spiritualism and find just as astonishing and astounding 
 things faithfully testified and certified to by intelligent, 
 conscientious witnesses, baffling modern science in their 
 attempts to explain the modern phenonmenon of meta- 
 physical, physical, or other force, claiming for its authorship 
 the presence of spirits that have inhabited bodies here upon 
 earth. Their testimony, however, while admitting the pos- 
 sible or probable return of the Catholic dead to this world 
 of ours, flatly contradicts the nations, opinions or statements 
 made concerning the orthodox hell, the causes which landed 
 them there, the punishment inflicted, duration, character, or 
 the means by which a soul may be delivered from the inter- 
 mediate state, (purgatory). 
 
 Immanuel Swedenborg has conversed with Plato, Des- 
 cartes and Jesus Christ, according to sober testimony. 
 Like other revelations from other sources, or more properly 
 speaking, through other sources or channels, however, the 
 supernatural conforms to the natural, and agrees to a dis- 
 tressing extent with the individual notion, preconceived 
 idea and former education. 
 
 The orthodox world say, there was a sign, a revelation, 
 a spiritual gift, with the church in the beginning, but there 
 are none now, none needed "ceased with the apostolic 
 commission," though denied by Wesley and other reformers. 
 
 The Catholic church still says that supernatural manifes- 
 
I 4 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 tation and the return of the dead have since, and now do 
 testify to the truth of her dogmas. 
 
 Spiritualism's messengers deny the dogmas but affirm the 
 return of the dead, and with physical " sign " and mental or 
 metaphysical " wonder " the " medium " and high priestess of 
 the new evangel undertake to, and do and will, as they always 
 have in all ages and among all religions when the " condi- 
 tions " are favorable, satisfy a hungry world a world hun- 
 gry and starving for more light, more facts, more truth, in 
 regard to the issues of life as they are presented to the cir- 
 cumscribed vision of mortals. 
 
 We say they are satisfied when the "conditions" "sur- 
 roundings" and circumstances are favorable. Of what faith 
 or belief, no matter how absurd it may appear in the light 
 which time and critical analysis affords, may not this be 
 truthfully said ? 
 
 What is truth ? Where is it to be found, and what are 
 the tests to be imposed ? so that not only in the end, but 
 now, we may be satisfied that the law of the survival of the 
 fittest in religion will find us possessed masters of the key 
 of eternal knowledge and of the fact that we have not been 
 deceived by mortals or immortals, men or spirits ; or must 
 we still go on and down to the grave with choice only 
 between entire negation and abnegation of hope or happi- 
 ness save that only which this brief span may be made to 
 furnish. Or, on the other hand, of a faith only, which the 
 light of the coming morrow may turn to fable ; a faith of 
 inferences, of human analogy ; a faith that stands in con- 
 stant need of shifting base, and argument and expedients 
 in order to maintain the hope which it is supposed to cover 
 or defend ? Will it always be true that 
 
 "Hope springs eternal in the human breast, 
 faan never is but always to be blest." 
 
 Nowhere has there been heralded the uncertainty that 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 15 
 
 prevades the intellectual world to-day in regard to re- 
 ligious questions more clearly than by the leading daily 
 journals in this country in their editorial discussion concern- 
 ing religious instruction in our public schools. S^ys one 
 of the leading daily journals of New England, in an 
 editorial, in opposition to the view of Cardinal Manning 
 in regard to this question : " If religion were a matter of 
 science, and consequently beyond dispute, the schools might 
 teach it as they teach mathematics and other subjects of an 
 equally certain character. But it is not. The interpretation 
 of Christianity is a matter of opinion, and a matter as to 
 which differences of opinion are strongly marked." 
 
 " What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him ? and 
 what profit should we have if we pray unto Him?" (JOB 
 xxi, 15.) "We know so little," says William Lloyd Garri- 
 son * "of the great mystery that surrounds us here and of the 
 laws which guide our footsteps, that to serious minds the 
 flippant assumptions of theology seem profane." 
 
 With these facts before us, may we not with Job be 
 tempted to say, "What profit should we have if we pray 
 unto him," or what is the use of being religious at ail? 
 It is certainly true that a candid survey of the field of 
 Letters in the religious and skeptical world certainly 
 tends to a confusion of the natural mind. The French 
 school states that mankind is approaching a period 
 of complete outgrowth of the religious idea, and that 
 man is destined to become a non-religious being. An- 
 other school of philosophers will insist upon the culti- 
 vation of the religious idea as really necessary to the 
 harmonious development of man in the employment and 
 discipline of all of the finer forces of his being. That 
 prayer, for instance, is not necessarily, or altogether, a vain 
 
 * Liberal Union Club, Boston. Speec.i on "What Religions Can 
 Liberals Give their Children?" 
 
1 6 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 exercise ; but rather a practical, mental, sesthetical and 
 moral gymnasium and drill, praying at a dead mark, with 
 the idea of an answer from any source, of course, excluded ; 
 but simply an echo of our own voices that may mark the 
 progress we may have made in the development of ourselves 
 by the aid of forces which lie within ourselves alone. 
 
 The adherents of both these modern schools of thought 
 are not only not insignificant in numbers, especially the lat- 
 ter, but in intellectual development, and even moral stand- 
 ing, commercial integrity and respectability, no longer rank 
 low in society to-day. 
 
 If infidelity, then, since the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century has made such rapid strides towards popularity, 
 what wonder that revolutionary France should be now rais- 
 ing a school of intellectual philosophers the first article of 
 whose creed should be, " No religion " that the time for 
 regarding worship as a waste of time and human energy had 
 come. 
 
 How is the ambassador of Christ to face these problems ? 
 and how may he expect to win proselytes to His name and 
 a church which is called after his name, in view of the wide- 
 spread and almost universal and now made popular 
 skepticism engendered, fostered, encouraged, and grown 
 by the terrible spectacle of religion, whose banners 
 His name has given prestige to, and enforced by the power 
 of a fleshy arm imposed by the very summit of the genius of 
 bigotry, cruelty, superstition, fanaticism and revenge. 
 
 If religion for sixteen centuries, according to the popular 
 verdict of the nineteenth century, has proved as much a 
 curse as a blessing as much of a bar, as an incentive to 
 human progress may and will not the coming man who de- 
 fends religion and churches and worship and prayers, have 
 to be possessed of better material for intelligent argument, 
 higher wisdom, better tests, or a better key to unlock the 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFES TA TIONS. 1 7 
 
 mysteries that now covers humanity like a pall, than his 
 predecessors ? 
 
 The Rev. Lyman Abbott, D. D., in reply to Mr. Ingersoll, 
 in the article refered to in the subsequent (April) number 
 of the North American Review * says that "Joseph Cook 
 and Dr. J. L. Wi throw have stood in the very forefront of 
 the conservative party in the orthodox church in its recent 
 controversies concerning the future of the heathen, and they 
 have both contended vigorously that an acceptance of 
 Christianity is not essential to salvation, that on the con- 
 trary, myriads of pagans will be found to have entered into 
 eternal life without any knowledge of Christ or his religion" 
 
 It might be well to contrast this statement of these cham- 
 pions of a "historical Christ" with the statements of Christ 
 himself : " And I give unto them eternal life, and they 
 shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of 
 My hand." (JOHN x, 28 : 29.) 
 
 If Plato or Buddah can do the same for humanity, what 
 pre-eminence substantially has the "Christian religion " over 
 other systems. 
 
 Again, " And THIS is LIFE ETERNAL, to know that the only 
 true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. (JOHN, 
 xvii, 3.) 
 
 "No man cometh unto the Father but by me." (JOHN xiv,6.) 
 
 " He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in 
 himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a 'liar; 
 because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son" 
 
 And this is the record, that God hath given unto us eternal 
 life, and this life (not some other life), 'is IN His SON." 
 (I JOHN v, 10 : n.) 
 
 It is evident that Mr. Ingersoll or some one else has 
 partly converted these befogged theologians, and that they 
 do not believe the record that God gave of His Son. 
 
 * Flaws in Ingersollism, page 447. 
 
*8 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 We will take the reader back in Bible history to a scene 
 in a city of Samaria called Sychar, and near to Jacob's welL 
 In his speech to the Samaritan woman, Jesus here says : 
 " But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him 
 shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall 
 be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life ; " 
 and also to her : " If thou knewest the gift of God, and who 
 it is that saith unto thee, ' give me to drink,' thou woulds't 
 have asked of him, and he would have given thee living 
 water" 
 
 " The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal 
 life through Jesus Christ our Lord" said Paul. Sin 
 also is defined by him as " a transgression of law," and 
 that " the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me 
 free from the law of sin and of death." (ROM. viii, 2.) 
 Death and sin are the terrible facts of our human existence. 
 The cure is to be found, not in the realm of no law, lawless- 
 lessness, but in knowledge of and obedience to law eternal, 
 unchangeable law. As God is eternal, so must his law be. 
 "There is a spirit in man." If so, rationally as well as 
 scripturally, there must be a law governing that spirit that is 
 just as authoritative and just as arbitrary as is the inexorable 
 law that governs the physical or material forces of nature. 
 That law is the law of the spirit, of life in Christ Jesus the 
 gospel. "Whoso looketh into the perfect law" said James, 
 "and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, 
 but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his 
 deed." (JAMES i, 25.) 
 
 " Go preach THE gospel to every creature ; he that 
 believeth (it) shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall 
 be damned, or condemned." It was authoritative, and no 
 hesitancy or juggling expedients were to be allowed in its 
 proclamation in order to enlarge the following or please the 
 people. Men were, as now, in sin and darkness, and igno- 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 19 
 
 ranee and death. There was no time to apologize for the 
 truth. It was open and fair as the day ; honest men could 
 test it. "If any man would do he should know." Jesus 
 Christ as the sent of God defined the terms upon which 
 knowledge and not opinion of his true character could be 
 had. And this knowledge was the key to life eternal in 
 contradistinction to all other forms of life, and upon obed- 
 ience to that apostolic commission (since so garbled and 
 abused) a constituency, a church and an organization 
 was founded by illiterate fishermen, whose influence has 
 stood the assault of centuries ; for, great as has been the 
 apostacy and corruption of the methods and work of Jesus 
 Christ and of his chosen apostles, still is it better than 
 something worse. Still brightly and transcendently beams 
 across this waste of blood nnd tears, of cruel bigotry and 
 religious persecution and intolerance, the sublimity and 
 grandeur of the moral character and unparalleled heroism 
 of this man of sorrows. 
 
 But, was he not and is he not to day something more 
 than a profound and practical moralist, a wondrous and 
 superlative combination and exhibition of human attain- 
 ment ? Men that talk that way and think that way do not 
 Itnow him, neither on the other hand could any man say, 
 now or then, that Jesus is Lord and not man, only through 
 the key of knowledge furnished by obedience to the com- 
 mission, " Go teach all nations., baptizing them in the name 
 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teach- 
 ing them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
 manded you, and lo ! I am with you always even unto the 
 end of the world." 
 
 And yet He was not to be with them. Why this 
 paradox? For "Now," said He, (JOHN xvi : 5, 6, 7, 13), 
 " I go my way to Him that sent me, but because I have 
 said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart ; 
 
20 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 nevertheless I tell you the truth ! It is expedient that 
 I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not 
 come unto you ; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you," 
 but " When He, the spirit of truth is come, He will guide 
 you into all truth and he will shew you things to come," 
 and not only was this to apostles but to the hearer, the 
 believer, the doer of the word, for said Peter on Pentecost 
 day, " This gift of the Holy Ghost is to you and to your 
 children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the 
 Lord our God shall call." (Acrs ii 38 : 39). 
 
 Is the Holy Ghost of the modern vestry that same influ- 
 ence or spiritual power that Jesus Christ promised to send 
 as his faithful representative ? Does the power sought and 
 obtained at modern religious revivals answer in physical 
 description, intellectual result or harmonious conformity to 
 the New Testament literature upon that subject ! Oh 
 no ! Said Peter, acting under the commission of the Mas- 
 ter : " Having received the promise of the Holy Ghost, he 
 hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear." 
 
 What did they see and hear in men under the influence of 
 the Holy Ghost eighteen hundred years ago ? Something, 
 certainly, that you do not see or hear in modern Christian 
 churches, who still absurdly claim that it is the same spirit, 
 representing the Father of Infinite Truth and Love, and 
 Jesus Christ, His Son. 
 
 Are and have the Popes of the Romish church been the 
 true apostles and representatives of Jesus Christ, and acting 
 under the direction of trie spirit of truth in publishing from 
 time to time the contradicting dogmas of that church as the 
 authoritative and infallible word of God. The most charitable 
 Protestant will not say that, and if they are not true apostles, 
 they are false ones. We safely say at least, they are and 
 were mistaken, but Mr. Abbot says that the Romish church 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 21 
 
 is Christian* "The Christian spirit," he says, "is the 
 spirit of loyalty to Christ." A common statement, but very 
 ambiguously defined. True loyalty and discipleship are 
 inseparable. " Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoevei I 
 command you," said He, and to those Jews which believed 
 on Him " If ye continue in my word, then are ye my 
 disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth 
 shall make you free" 
 
 What have we to-day, instead of truth? Error, falsehood, 
 belief at best, instead of knowledge, speculative theology, 
 changing creed and opinion, quarrel among the repre- 
 sentatives of Jesus Christ as to what he meant by what He is 
 reported to have said nearly two thousand years ago. No 
 authoritative declaration from pulpit that intelligent pew 
 renters feel bound to respect. Mr. Garrison says :" The 
 pews direct, and the preacher obeys." We are living at a 
 period that seems to mark the ebb tide of religious belief.f 
 The church may be moral but it is mysterious, and the 
 tendency of sentiment is that ignorance looks up to, and 
 intelligence looks down upon, the modern pulpit, and the 
 almost unseemly haste to abandon old positions under the 
 assaults of modern skepticism is proof of this. 
 
 The Rev. Lyman Abbott, D. D., says of Jesus Christ, in 
 reply to Mr. Ingersoll : " His message was very simple, 
 and yet the world has not yet become weary of listening to it, 
 and to-day, when a Henry Ward Beecher, a Philip Brooks, 
 a Dwight L. Moody, quietly ignoring the additions and 
 corruptions of a later scholasticism, goes back to the simple 
 teaching of this Galilean rabbi, throngs gather to hear the 
 teaching, as they did when it was first given on the shores 
 of the lake of Geneseret." 
 
 In view of the different interpretations which these noted 
 
 * North American Review, April Number, Page 456. 
 fSpeech at Liberal Union Club, Boston. 
 
22 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 divines have given us of the "simple teaching of this Gali* 
 lean rabbi," there seems to be more poetry than facts in this 
 statement. As a matter of fact they have fostered rather 
 than ignored the " additions and corruptions of a later 
 scholasticism," and it will be found that it is too soon to 
 say that " the world has not yet become weary of listening " 
 to the message of Jesus Christ, for it has not for centuries 
 had the opportunity, and we shall be bold enough to say that 
 the Christ himself, coming under guise of lowly and unpop- 
 ular surroundings as at first, hidden under garb of human- 
 ity, having as before, " no form of beauty or comeliness " to 
 attract the senses, organizing a church after primitive pat- 
 tern, a system of faith and obedience to certain principles, 
 and called " my doctrine" promising as a result that he who 
 should obey, should "know ;" that signs mentioned should fol- 
 low the believer as of old who does not know, or believe at 
 least, that there is not a church on earth, or popular min- 
 ister but that would reject him ? But, and if he should send, 
 by whom he would, in answer to Wesley's prayer, 
 
 "Almighty God of Love, 
 
 Set up the attracting sign, 
 And summon whom thou dost approve 
 
 As messengers divine," 
 
 and that, "according to the scripture " and as it is " written," 
 would it help matters ? Oh, no ; if they know not the 
 master how could they recognize his servants, for, " when 
 the son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy 
 angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his 
 glory ; and before him shall be gathered all nations ; and 
 he shall separate them," etc., " and shall say unto them on 
 his right hand, Come ye blessed and to them on the left 
 hand, Depart from me." Why ? " For I was an hungered 
 and ye gave me no meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no 
 drink ; I was a stranger and ye took me not in ; naked, and 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 23 
 
 ye clothed me not sick and in prison, and ye visited me 
 not." " Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, 
 when saw we thee an hungered or athirst and did not 
 minister unto thee?" Then he, the King, shall answer and 
 say unto them, inasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of 
 these, my brethren, ye did it not unto me." (MATT, xxv : 
 3 x -46.) 
 
 Where, to-day, are those "brethren" of Jesus Christ? 
 When the Lord comes, the world ("nations") will evidently, 
 if this be true, not know them, and we are commanded to 
 treasure up his words that we be not deceived. . Evidently 
 they are, or will be masquerading under the disguise of a 
 religion unknown and unrecognized in the popular religious 
 world to day, the religion of Jesus Christ. 
 
 With people who have become accustomed to the sound 
 of confusion wrought by modern Babel builders in their 
 efforts to penetrate the clouds with towering rhetoric and 
 laud with glowing panegyric the names of Christ and the 
 martyrs of truth, these statements may, some of them, seem 
 harsh or uncharitable. 
 
 We have no war upon men or societies, and it would be 
 as foolish as it would be unjust to fail to recognize the good 
 in both the splendid record of sacrifice, of moral and 
 physical heroism in both Catholic and Protestant history. 
 But it is one of the sublime and everlasting qualities of 
 "charity" as Paul has defined that term, or the greatest of 
 Christian graces, that it does not consist altogether in giving 
 our goods to feed the poor, or baring our backs to blows, 
 or burning, or death, but that it "rejoiceth in the truth." 
 'Thinketh no evil," nor is it neccessarily evil to think, 
 believe, know or even tell the truth. 
 
 The Romish religion is a "form" of the Christian religion, 
 says Rev. Lyman Abbott, D. D. , but " the church " Romish 
 
24 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 and Protestant, "is itself half Theseus, half Centaur."* What 
 a confession ! After sixteen centuries of improvement upon 
 the methods introduced by Christ to turn out this hybrid- 
 ious monster as a result, and though he prove to Mr. Inger- 
 soll or others that it is better than something worse, it does 
 not relieve him, as a professed representative of Jesus Christ, 
 of the charge of inconsistency, no more than will his " chari- 
 table " attempt to harmonize or eulogize Catholic or Pro- 
 testant churches as essentially Christian in the light of that 
 "word " by which himself and all are to be judged " in the 
 last day." The Romish religion is a " form " of the "Chris- 
 tian religion," and yet the Rev. Edward Beecher, brother 
 of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, to whose pulpit in Ply- 
 mouth church the Rev. Dr. Abbott has succeeded, says 
 that, "the iQth chapter of Revelations contains a prophecy 
 of the coming events in the twentieth century, and that 
 chapter opens with rejoicings over the downfall of a corrupt, 
 anti- Chf istian corporation, which is none other than the 
 Church of Rome."| The reader does not care to be 
 wearied with other citations irom Protestant sources high 
 and low to the same effect. 
 
 Gladstone and Bismarck have said "that the man who 
 gives his allegiance to Rome cannot be loyal to his own 
 government," and a hundred ex-priests and " reformed " 
 nuns, expose in pulpit and #pon platform to-day, the 
 unchristian character of the church whose only apostle sits 
 as supreme dictator in religious matters and authoritative 
 declaration in the seat in which St. Peter never sat at Rome. 
 And the mother church, through her faithful ministers, in 
 turn exposes the anti-Christian and anti-Bible position of 
 the Church of England, as well as other Protestant churches, 
 
 *Flaws in Ingersollism, North American Review, April Number, 
 current year. 
 
 fLecture on Papacy, Tremont Temple, Boston. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS, 25 
 
 which Mr. Gladstone defends, by saying, "It will be ob- 
 served that the religion of the Church of England is so far 
 from exhibiting that unity of doctrine which Mr. Gladstone 
 represents as her distinguishing glory, that it is in fact, a 
 bundle of religious systems without number." It comprises 
 the religious system of Bishop Tomline, and the religious 
 system of John Newton, and all the religious systems which 
 lie between them. It comprises the religious system of Mr. 
 Newman, and the religious system of the Archbishop of 
 Dublin, and all the religious systems which lie between 
 them. " All these different opinions ' are held, avowed, 
 preached, printed, within the pale of the church." 
 
 But what becomes of all Mr. Gladstone's exhortations to 
 unity ? Is it not a mere mockery to attach so much import- 
 ance to unity in form and name, when there is so little sub- 
 stance ? to endure with patience the spectacle of a hun- 
 dred sects battling within one church? 
 
 Mr. Gladstone seems to imagine that most Protestants 
 think it possible for the same doctrine to be at once true 
 and false ; or they think it immaterial whether, on a given 
 religious question, a man comes to a true or false conclu- 
 sian. She admits to her highest offices men who contra- 
 dict each other on the most vital questions of Christianity. 
 They profess to hold the real presence, transubstantiation, 
 sacramental confession, the sacrifice of the mass, purgatory, 
 the invocation of Mary and of the saints, and nearly all the 
 other doctrines that are contained in the Roman Catholic 
 creed. Others reject all these doctrines as damnable super- 
 stition. Now, by what effort of the mind can these two 
 parties be said to be one ? On what principle can it be 
 said that she has that unity which is essential to truth? 
 What idea of falsehood can we have if we hold the Church 
 of England is the one true church of Christ? " * 
 
 * "Is One Religion as Good as Another?" by Rev. John Mac- 
 Laughlin, pages 135, 139, 140. 
 
26 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 The Catholic church "subsists in all ages, teaches all 
 nations, and maintains all truth." . . . "She comes 
 down by a perpetual succession from the Apostles of Christ 
 and has her DOCTRINE, her orders, and her mission FROM 
 THEM." 
 
 " Can she err in matters of faith ? Ans. No, she cannot 
 err in matters of faith. 
 
 " Why so ? Because Christ has promised that the gates of 
 hell shall not prevail against his church ; that the Holy 
 Ghost shall teach her all truths and He himself will abide 
 with her forever. 
 
 " How shall we know the things which we are to be- 
 lieve? Ans. From the Catholic church of God, which 
 He has established by innumerable miracles, and illus- 
 trated by the lives and deaths of innumerable saints."* 
 
 Ah, how, indeed shall we know the things which we are 
 to believe? Not, to rational minds by the " infallible word 
 of God," as defined by the Pope. Neither does the testi- 
 mony of Catholics to "innumerable miracles," nor the fact 
 that good men and women have been found within her pale, 
 "estab ish " us upon an immovable foundation, nor guar- 
 antee safety in the acceptation of her decretals. 
 
 Thus with neither Catholic or Protestant church is the test 
 of certainty found. Has Immanuel Swedenborg dispelled the 
 cloud that covers the great mystery, or has he added to its 
 density? On the contrary, does not the abstruseness of his 
 most voluminous creed rather add to than diminish the 
 uncertainty concerning religious questions, and place him 
 among the rank of nobles and learned men who by their 
 " wisdom knew not God." And when we turn to the ques- 
 tion of his seership, still though astonished, we are not en- 
 lightened ; a sign, but not certainty, marks these revelations. 
 And if his spiritual agency or guide informed him correctly of 
 
 * Apostles Creed, and Catechism. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 27 
 
 the great fire in Stockholm, it certainly is no more wonderful 
 than the fulfilled predictions of other religionists with whom 
 he is at an entire disagreement in regard to other and more 
 important matters, and the statements concerning his inter- 
 views with dead Greek philosophers, and revelations con- 
 cerning the heavenly world or worlds, are so ambiguous and 
 and filled with prolixity, as to rob them even of the claim 
 of profundity, and rather suggest a species of hypnotism 
 whose revelations cannot be made subject to any rational 
 test as to their truth or falsity. 
 
 The "Shakers," with " Mother " Ann Lee as their high 
 priestess and head, claimed power to " heal the sick," 
 "cast out devils," and even raise the dead. Mother 
 Lee communicated with the dead, and, like Swedenborg, had 
 correspondence with angels, but they were Shaker angels, 
 as Swedenborgian angels, and with differences as strongly 
 marked in Bible interpretations, and to practical minds the 
 stream never rose much higher than the fountain of an inspi- 
 ration whose waters were so sadly corrupted with precon- 
 ceived absurdities and traditional belief as to make it entirely 
 vulnerable in its claims to perfect authorship. 
 
 Though attended by physical and metaphysical pheno- 
 mena, the same uncertainty marks the revelations of modern 
 spiritualism, and it is as easy to prove that there are lying 
 spirits, as that there are spirits at all. No intelligence existing, 
 or at least communicating higher than the "progressive" stage 
 that mortals once inhabiting this earth have already attained 
 to in spirit life and world ; and the rapidity also with which 
 all men, whether Christian, infidel or Pagan, are converted 
 to the peculiar tenets of spiritualism as soon as they pass 
 from earth life, gives it with the other revelations already 
 noticed a strong smack and flavor of the earth, which the 
 wonders of slate writing, or cabinet manifestations even, can- 
 not disabuse our minds of the possibility or even probability 
 
28 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 of the conscious or unconscious employment of metaphysical 
 or occult hypnotism upon the mind or body of the 
 " medium." The "conditi jns," also, upon which knowledge 
 is said to be furnished to the truth seeker often lacks the savor 
 of practical morality to inspire unlimited confidence in the 
 authorship of the revelation communications too often 
 conforming themselves to the opinions as well as passions of 
 the individuals. 
 
 Persons accustomed to high moral altitudes, and having 
 strict notions in regard to sexual purity, for instance, however, 
 are not liable to be shocked by a revelation which is certain 
 to be followed by rejection. But it would be contrary to the 
 logic of facts to say that the revelation has not in the past 
 conformed to a suspicious extent with the wants, desires, 
 preconceived opinion and moral status of the investigator. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 EVERY nation anciently, when it began to speculate 
 upon geographical matters, and to form surmises as 
 to the nature of the earth, regarded the world as a 
 vast plain, the centre of which was their own country. Fancy 
 filled the regions beyond with mythical beings and with 
 Utopias. The Greeks of Homer's time knew no more of 
 the world than the shores of Egypt and Asia Minor; 
 but they filled all the outlying regions with hydras and gor- 
 gons, with happy isles beyond the western seas with a race 
 of supremely wise, happy and long-lived mortals, with isles 
 of sirens, with fields elysian, and the abode of gods. Encir- 
 cling the world's plain flowed the ocean from which the 
 sun rose, and into which it set. 
 
 Still, all unconscious and unknown to us are we the sub- 
 jects of fond desire and fancy concerning 
 
 "A country where our fair hope abides," 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 29 
 
 which the light of the coming day may relegate with the 
 Greek tradition to the history room, where exploded myth 
 and fabled fancy entertains at once and mocks the hope to 
 guess the heavens, or penetrate their secret. And the 
 " Heavenly Jerusalem," the golden street, the harp and the 
 crown, may fade away from our hope as Christian mythology, 
 at least, as yet, has there been no revelation to the world 
 that the report of this vision, said to have been given upon 
 that island in the Mediterranean sea eighteen hundred years 
 ago, is authentic. No one who has possessed a harp, or wore 
 a crown, or whose feet have pressed the street of the Golden 
 City, ever returned to certify that it is so. Christians do 
 not claim it, but, on the contrary, deny any revelation but 
 the old letter since that time ; and those who do claim to 
 have come back, not only deny having seen it, but the prob- 
 ability of its existence. 
 
 " Far out of sight while yet the flesh enfolds us, 
 Lies the fair country where our heart abides; 
 And of its bliss is naught more wondrous told us, 
 Than these few words, ' I shall be satisfied.' " 
 
 Yes, we may be, but we cannot tell. It is good poetry, 
 but it is hypothetical poetry, and expresses less of rational or 
 even scriptural idea, as will be hereafter seen, than of hyper- 
 bole, and the world is already learning to say, with Mr. 
 Ingersoll, " Let us be honest with ourselves. In the pres- 
 ence of countless mysteries, standing beneath the boundless 
 heaven sown thick with constellations, knowing that each 
 grain of sand, each leaf, each blade of grass, ask of every 
 mind the answerless question, knowing that the simplest 
 thing defies solution, feeling that we deal with the super- 
 ficial and the relative, and that we are forever eluded by the 
 real, the absolute, let us admit the limitations of our minds 
 and let us have the candor to say, 'we do not know.' "* 
 
 *December Number, North American Review, 1889. 
 
30 SPIRITUAL GIF: s A:::) 
 
 And yet, if true, is this a comforting word? Has the 
 life we know enough in it to satisfy ? We think not. Pro- 
 fessor Clifford, the most able and scholarly atheist of the 
 century in his lecture upon, " Influence upon Morality of a 
 Decline in Religious Belief," says, "It cannot be doubted 
 that theistic belief is a comfort and a solace to those who 
 hold it, and that the loss of it is a very painful loss. 
 It cannot be doubted, at least, by many of us in this gen- 
 eration who either profess it now or received it in our child- 
 hood and have parted from it since with such searching 
 trouble as only cradle faiths can cause. We have seen the 
 spring sun shine out of an empty heaven to light up a soul- 
 less earth ; we have felt with utter loneliness that the Great 
 Companion is dead. Our children, it may be hoped, will 
 know that sorrow only by the reflex light of wondering com- 
 passion." 
 
 If the children of these great infidels and atheists of 
 modern times ever are made to look back in " the reflex 
 light of wondering compassion " upon the darkness that now 
 spreads itself like a pall upon the intellectual mind of the 
 nineteenth century, it will be because 1 they either have been 
 enabled to extract more from creeds and dogmas than their 
 fathers, or else shall there be a new light and a way pointed 
 out to them in which, walking, they find out more than has 
 or does the popular religious world furnish them with to-day. 
 
 " Canst thou by searching, find out God ? " In answer 
 to this question, it is not hard to* say that upon the premise 
 that there is a God and no one claims to know that there 
 is not that to travel toward Him in a straight line and long 
 enough, would ensure us of His presence and of His exist- 
 ence yes. But the natural mind would say, "the chasm is 
 limitless to the finite mind." So are the terms infinity or 
 eternity, but we cannot deny their probability of existence. 
 But is or has there been a revelation from Him who is sup- 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 31 
 
 posed to be the author of our existence that can be tested 
 satisfactorily ? Is there an infallible rule and /aw, given from 
 a perfect and infallible source, by which man may know that 
 he is at least in the way that will not lead to disappoint- 
 ment? And we answer, yes. What and where, then, is 
 the way ? and we answer, IT is THE WAY OF LIGHT. 
 
 " This then is the message which we have heard of him, 
 and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no 
 darkness at all. 
 
 " If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in 
 darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." (I JOHN, i : 5, 6.) 
 
 If this is true, what becomes of the rhymed and blinded 
 faith of that victim to the changing faiths of centuries. The 
 beautiful Quaker poet thus expressed : 
 
 " I falter, where I firmly trod, 
 
 And stretch lame hands of faith, and fall 
 Upon the world's great altar stair 
 That slopes THROUGH DARKNESS up to God." 
 
 Is the way to God the way of darkness ? If the way we 
 have largely trod for centuries is the way to God, we are 
 obliged to say, yes. If John, the servant of Jesus Christ, 
 told the truth, and the truth has not changed, we must say, 
 no ; for " God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all." 
 
 " But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we 
 have fellowship one with another. 
 
 1 ' That which we have seen and heard declare we unto 
 you, that ye also may have fellowship with us : and truly 
 our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus 
 Christ." (I JOHN i, 7 : 3.) 
 
 What fellowship hath modern theologians or the world 
 with the Christ of New Testament times, or what harmony 
 or agreement with his words ? 
 
 " Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, 
 If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed ; 
 
32 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make 
 you free. 
 
 " They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were 
 never in bondage to any man : how sayest thou, Ye shall 
 be made free ? 
 
 "Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
 Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." (JOHN, 
 viii, 31-34.) 
 
 What is sin ? It is a transgression of law. What law 
 has the world transgressed ? " The earth is denied under 
 the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the 
 laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting cove- 
 nant. Therefore hath a curse devoured the earth, and they 
 that dwell therein are desolate ; therefore the inhabitants of 
 the earth are burned and but few men left." (!SA. xxiv, 5 : 6.) 
 
 " This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you ; in 
 both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remem- 
 brance : 
 
 " That ye may be mindful of the words which were 
 spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the command- 
 ment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour : 
 
 " Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last 
 days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 
 
 "And saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for 
 since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were 
 from the beginning of the creation. 
 
 " For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the 
 word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth stand- 
 ing out of the water and in the water : 
 
 " Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed 
 with water, perished : 
 
 " But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the 
 same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the 
 day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 33 
 
 " But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that 
 one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a 
 thousand years as one day. 
 
 " The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some 
 men count slackness ; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not 
 willing that any should perish, but that all should come to 
 repentance. 
 
 " But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the 
 night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a 
 great noise, and the elements shall melt* with fervent heat, 
 the earth also and the works that are therein shall be 
 burned up. 
 
 " Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, 
 what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conver- 
 sation and godliness. 
 
 " Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day 
 of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, 
 and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ? 
 
 " Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for 
 new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous- 
 ness." (II PETER iii, i to 13.) 
 
 "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the 
 Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty 
 angels, 
 
 " In flaming fire take vengeance on them that know not 
 God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lortf Jesus 
 Christ: 
 
 "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction 
 from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power ; 
 
 " When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, 
 and to be admired in all them that believe (because our 
 testimony among you was believed) in that day." (II THESS. 
 i, 7 to io.) ^^ 
 
 * " Be filled " with fervent heat, etc. 
 
34 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 What shall we believe? "in that day," or, in the language 
 of the Catholic creed, "How shall we know the things 
 which we are to believe?" 
 
 " Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, 
 If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed ; 
 
 ' And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make 
 you free. QOHN viii, 31 : 32.) 
 
 The Catholic church having failed to continue in his 
 word, and Protestants as well, belief and tradition having 
 taken the place of KNOWLEDGE in spiritual matters, the neces- 
 sity for the restoration of that law and doctrine, anciently 
 promulgated, has become an actual fact before this infidel 
 world can be justified in the rejection of the idea that 
 Jesus Christ was the chosen and true representative of 
 God. 
 
 " Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into 
 the temple and taught. 
 
 "And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this 
 man letters, having never learned ? 
 
 " Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not 
 mine, but his that sent me. 
 
 " If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doc- 
 trine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. 
 (JOHN vii, 14-17-) 
 
 Will some theologian arise and tell us what particular doc- 
 trine which by " doing " according to their prescribed forms 
 of faith a knowledge concerning which, and of the true 
 character of Jesus, "The Son of the Carpenter," will be 
 furnished?" 
 
 On the contrary, is it not true that doctrinal belief has 
 become decidedly unpopular in the churches of to-day, and 
 if so, why, if not, because of the fact, that, as in Jesus' 
 day, they have been so long teaching for commandments of 
 G6d the doctrines of men, that, seeing the confusion wrought 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 35 
 
 by man-made doctrines, they have concluded to abandon 
 all doctrine ? And yet the beloved disciple says : 
 
 "And this is love, that we walk after His command- 
 ments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard 
 from the beginning, ye should walk in it. 
 
 " For many deceivers are entered into the world, who 
 confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a 
 deceiver and an antichrist. 
 
 " Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things 
 which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. 
 
 " Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doc- 
 trine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the 
 doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 
 
 " If there come any unto you, and bring not this doc- 
 trine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him 
 God speed : 
 
 " For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his 
 evil deeds. (II JOHN ii, 6-u.) 
 
 Worldly wisdom and erudition may supplement, but can 
 never be safely made to take the place of obedience to the 
 formulas prescribed by the Saviour of mankind by which a 
 knowledge of his true character, and of his doctrine may 
 be had. 
 
 " For after that in the wisdom of God the world by 
 wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of 
 preaching to save them that believe. 
 
 " For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after 
 wisdom : 
 
 "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a 
 stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness ; 
 
 " But unto them which are called, both Jews and 
 Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 
 
 " Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men ; 
 and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 
 
36 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 " For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many 
 wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, 
 are called : 
 
 ' But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world 
 to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak 
 things of the world to confound the things which are mighty ; 
 
 " And base things of the world, and things which are 
 despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, 
 to. bring to nought things that are : 
 
 " That no flesh should glory in his presence." (I COR. 
 i, 21 : 29. 
 
 And Paul, knowing the absolute necessity of continuing 
 in the word which the Master had commanded, urges Tim- 
 othy thus : 
 
 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appear- 
 ing and his kingdom ; 
 
 ' Preach the word ; be instant in season, out of season ; 
 reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 
 
 " For the time will come when they will not endure 
 sound doctrine ; but after their own lusts shall they heap to 
 themselves teachers, having itching ears ; 
 
 " And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and 
 shall be turned unto fables. (II TIM. iv, 2-4.) 
 
 What is truth? What is sound doctrine? Thy word, 
 said Jesus, is truth. Is it true that in these modern times 
 men's ears are turned away from the word of God, and are 
 being entertained by the wisdom of this world. Is it not 
 true that Christian and heathen mythological "fable," 
 (stories, see Smith's Bible Dictionary,) embellished with 
 erudition, oratory, and stage effect, in elocution and rhetoric, 
 are the means employed to fill the modern pew and replen- 
 ish the coffers of the church ? 
 
 What is sound doctrine ? It must be the doctrine of 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 37 
 
 Christ, " My Doctrine," transgressing which, and not abiding 
 in, we are informed, we have not God ; " but he that abideth 
 in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the Son." 
 We may be religious, but we may be seriously, and so far as 
 knowledge goes, fatally wrong, by being misled in these most 
 important matters. 
 
 " Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine ; con- 
 tinue in them : for in doing this thou shalt both save thy- 
 self, and them that hear thee. (i Tim. 4 : 16.) 
 
 Seeing then the importance and stress laid upon these 
 .matters in the early church, let us proceed to seek for a 
 clear definition of these doctrines, or the doctrine of Christ. 
 
 " Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of 
 Christ, let us go on unto perfection ; not laying again the 
 foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith 
 toward God, 
 
 "Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of 
 hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judg- 
 ment. 
 
 " And this will we do, if God permit. 
 
 "For it is impossible for those who were once enlight- 
 ened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made 
 partakers of the Holy Ghost, 
 
 " And have tasted the good word of God, and the pow- 
 ers of the world to come, 
 
 "If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto 
 repentance ; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of 
 God afresh, and put him to an open shame. (HEB. vi, 
 1:6.) 
 
 Another translation says, " Not leaving the principles of 
 the doctrine of Christ," etc., but the common version will 
 answer our purpose ; for it is not to be supposed that we 
 are to leave them, in the sense of a total abandonment, as 
 for instance : though the child may enter the way of com- 
 
3 8 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 mon learning by means of the alphabet, yet can the use of 
 the alphabet never be abandoned no matter to what 
 heights he may obtain. The use of the musical notes that 
 form the common scale will and must always be in use in 
 that system. No more can we either start right and con- 
 tinue safely so by abandoning the principles of the doctrine 
 of Christ. For, it is impossible for those who were once 
 enlightened by obedience to these doctrines and have 
 tasted of the heavenly gift spiritual gifts and were made 
 partakers of the Holy Ghost, and to have tasted of the good 
 word of God and the powers of the world to come, " to 
 renew them again unto repentance " concerning these 
 things. 
 
 " For sin shall not have dominion over you : for ye are 
 not under the law, but under grace. 
 
 "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under 
 the law, but under grace ? God forbid. 
 
 " Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves ser- 
 vants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; 
 whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteous- 
 ness? 
 
 " But God be thanked, that though ye were the ser- 
 vants of sin, ye have obeyed from the heart that form of 
 doctrine which was delivered you. 
 
 "Being then made free from sin, ye became the ser- 
 vants of righteousness. 
 
 " But now being made free from sin, and become ser- 
 vants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end 
 everlasting life. 
 
 " For the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is 
 eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Ron. vi, 
 14: 23.) 
 
 What form of doctrine ? Mr. Wesley said that " we are 
 but a band of brethren having a form of godliness, and 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 39 
 
 seeking the power." Have his professed followers found, 
 and do they now possess it, -or have they with the rest of 
 the daughters of "rrfystery," "Babylon," turned away their 
 ears from the truth and from submission to " that form of 
 doctrine" by which the Hebrew saints were enlightened and 
 enabled to be partakers of the heavenly gifts promised in 
 all ages to the believer in Christ's work ? 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 F THE doctrine, then, first a theoretical basis and 
 exposition briefly will be in order : 
 
 i st. According to Paul, repentance from dead 
 works, the result of faith in the doctrines and precepts of 
 men, was necessary, and in order to do this, the unprofi- 
 tableness of man-made *' forms " of worship, for which there 
 is no authority from Christ or no evidence of profit to 
 men, needs to be shown, though we may be deemed 
 uncharitable in so doing, and of supplanting this faith in 
 human dogmas or of " revelations " from any source not in 
 harmony with this law of his own establishment with a 
 "faith toward God." 
 
 "Or THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS." 
 
 Baptism here is spoken of as plural, though referred to by 
 Paul in Eph. iv, 5, as one, which in reality is one as having 
 one authorship, but two in the sense that, though John's 
 baptism was an authorized and heavenly baptism, neither 
 he or any other man on earth could do more than to 
 baptize with water unto repentance, or " for the remission 
 of sins, 1 ' (See Peter on day of Pentecost) ; and if skep- 
 ticism concerning the efficacy of the use of water in any form 
 of religious worship has been engendered,as it evidently has, 
 
4 o SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 and is being, in, as well as out of churches, it is not because 
 that John's baptism has ceased to be a heavenly baptism, or 
 that the command to, "Go teach all nations,baptizing them," 
 etc., is not binding to day upon the true ambassador of 
 Jesus Christ as of old, but because "faith cometh by hearing 
 and hearing by the word of God" in contradistinction to 
 the word of man. But, " How shall they hear without a 
 preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?" 
 
 " Faith, gospel faith, is an assurance of things hoped for 
 and an evidence of things not seen." The evidence having 
 been lacking in regard to the reasonableness or justice of 
 human creeds, faith in them could not be and is not j ustified, 
 " but justification through faith is a very wholesome doc- 
 trine and full of comfort," even to the intelligent mind if it 
 be faith in the truth. " Therefore, being justified by faith 
 we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" 
 and not through the doctrines of men. On the contrary, 
 Mr. Ingersoll says, and says truly, " their doctrines have 
 filled the world with woe." Instead of peace, discord, divi- 
 sion and doubt, and to believe which, no man is justified of 
 God in doing, and if no sign of profit or fruitfulness appears 
 in vindication of the practice of baptism in any form to 
 ra'tional minds, the consistent answer must be that dis- 
 obedience and apostacy from Christ's law having become 
 an established fact in history, it logically follows that Christ 
 is no longer bound to respect his part of the contract which 
 he made with men 1800 years ago, when he said, " If any 
 man will do (not simply believe), he shall know of the doc- 
 trine." And, we ask again, Do what? Why, "All things 
 whatsoever I command you," for : 
 
 " If you love me, keep my commandments. 
 
 "And I will pray the* Father, and he shall give you 
 another comforter, that he may abide with you forever ; 
 
 "Even the. Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 41 
 
 receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him : 
 but ye know him ; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be 
 in you. (JOHN xiv, 15 : 17.) 
 
 And " the spirit of truth " having departed with its gifts, 
 the world has been the blind followers of blind leaders. 
 But we ask, should not Jesus Christ recognize some form of 
 baptism if it be the correct one? And we answer, that dis- 
 connected from the other, or " all " of the commandments 
 or doctrine which he enjoined, No ! for James, speaking 
 even of the law of Moses, which was but a shadow of the 
 perfect law of liberty, says : 
 
 " For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet 
 offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 
 
 " For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, 
 Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou 
 kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. 
 
 " So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged 
 by the law of liberty. (JAS. ii. 10, n, 12.) 
 
 And if we are no longer under that law, but under grace , 
 it is not grace that permits a man to be utterly lawless in 
 religious matters, but on the contrary, Paul says in Heb- 
 rews viii, 28, 29 : 
 
 " He that despised Moses' law died without mercy 
 under two or three witnesses : 
 
 "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he 
 be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of 
 God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, where- 
 with he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done des- 
 pite unto the Spirit of grace ? " 
 
 And if we have broken this everlasting covenant, as- 
 Isaiah predicted (24th Chap.), is God bound to keep his 
 part of the covenant ? 
 
 "AND OF LAYING ON OF HANDS." 
 
 "Why, we lay on hands," says the Catholic or Episcopa- 
 
42 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 lian. Yes, but why are you in the same dilemma as others? 
 and we can only answer for you that it is not because 
 Jesus Christ is not "the same, yesterday, to-day, and for- 
 ever," but because Paul told the truth when he said that 
 " no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is 
 called of God as was Aaron." God neither has, in any 
 past age, neither will He in this age, respect the authority 
 or ministration of men who send themselves or are " called " 
 by the congregation, with the sound of the louder metallic 
 jingle. And if the Holy Ghost fell upon the Samaritans 
 whom Philip baptized, through the laying on of the hands 
 of Peter and John, it was because he had authorized them 
 so to do. Likewise, if the twelve Ephesians, upon whom 
 Paul laid hands, and as a result " the Holy Ghost came 
 upon them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied," 
 it was not because he was educated, and "called" as 
 modern ministers are, but because that he told the truth 
 when he said to the Galatians, i, 6 : 
 
 " I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that 
 called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel : 
 
 " Which is not another ; but there be some that trouble 
 you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 
 
 " But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any 
 other gospel unto you than that which we have preached 
 unto you, let him be accursed. 
 
 " As we said before, so say I now again, If any man 
 preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received 
 let him be accursed. 
 
 " For do I now persuade men, or God ? or do I seek 
 to please men ? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the 
 servant of Christ. 
 
 " But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was 
 preached of me is not after man. 
 
 " For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught 
 it, but by the revelation of y^esus Christ" 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 43 
 
 "AND OF RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD." 
 
 It is a sound and true doctrine, and shows the beautiful 
 consistency, harmony and provision made by the Creator, 
 and expressed by Paul in the Ephesian letter, i Chap., 8. 
 
 "Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom 
 and prudence ; 
 
 " Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, 
 according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in 
 himself : 
 
 "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he 
 might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which 
 are in heaven, and which are on earth ; even in him : 
 
 " In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being 
 predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh 
 all things after the counsel of His own will. " 
 
 The "wisdom and prudence " manifested in the creed of 
 Calvin and others is not the wisdom which the gospel of 
 "glad tidings to all the people " will reveal when preached 
 by those sent. If the doctrine of the resurrection of the 
 body is not true, then is Christ not risen and our preaching 
 and our hope is in vain, and the Bible is anything but the 
 true word of God, Job was mistaken, David in error, and 
 Jesus wrong when he said : 
 
 " All that the Father giveth me shall come to me ; and 
 him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 
 
 " For I came down from heaven, not to do my own 
 will, but the will of him that sent me. 
 
 " And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that 
 of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but 
 should raise it up again at the last day. 
 
 " And this is the will of him that sent me, that every 
 one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have 
 everlasting life : and I will raise him up at the last day." 
 (JOHNvi. 37: 40.) 
 
44 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 Through Jesus Christ nothing to man can or will be lost ; 
 human sorrow, trial, disappointment, death, shall only serve 
 to make eternal life more glorious, and fit us to finish our 
 incompleted work in a restored and perfect body, 
 upon the ground of its incompleteness and partial failure 
 failure at least so far as reaching even our poor ideals upon 
 this earth as in the day when " the meek shall inherit " it, 
 and " shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." 
 The possibilities of this perfect combination of spirit and 
 matter have never been realized upon this earth, and never 
 can unless permitted to return. For though we may be 
 possessed of the gifts of the gospel even, yet do we now 
 prophesy in part only, and know in part only, but when that 
 which is perfect is come, partial and incomplete things shall 
 be done away, and though " for the perfection of saints " 
 are the gifts of God instituted, yet, does our ignorance and 
 incompleteness mock, and our slowness of growth ridicule 
 the idea of anything like an attainment unto the stature 
 portrayed in Christ with the time and opportunities offered 
 to mortals in the brief span that lies between the cradle and 
 the tomb. 
 
 "AND OF ETERNAL JUDGMENT." 
 
 Our brief survey of the uncertainties that now prevail in 
 regard to the real or actual estate of the dead ; of the 
 future, of rewards and punishments for the human family 
 who have dwelt, or are now dwelling upon this planet, must 
 suffice to convince us that the majority of mankind at least, 
 are in the dark, and the best that all the various priests of 
 every altar and of every temple can -give us, is an opinion. 
 
 Once more we urge the neccessity of the return of that 
 ancient law and order and following as a neccessity as 
 does the day the night the return of the ancient promised 
 comforter, the "spirit of truth," to teach us concerning 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 45 
 
 these things and to " take away the vail " that is over the 
 minds of the world and of its self-appointed ministers, in the 
 reading of the scriptures, in regard to this principle of the 
 doctrines of Christ, even as in the days of Paul. 
 
 " But their minds were blinded : for until this day 
 remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old 
 testament ; which vail is done away in Christ. (2 COR, iii : 14.) 
 
 And after centuries of apostacy from primitive Aethods, is 
 it at all strange that the vail is over the Gentile nations and 
 clearly manifested in the contradictions of faith expressed 
 in human creed in their reading of not only the Old but the 
 New Testament? No revelation, no ray of heavenly lighter 
 intelligence, no more the spirit of truth to guide the servant 
 of Christ, but left to . quarrel over a doubtful translation of 
 words spoken hundreds or thousands of years ago and sub- 
 ject to the manipulation of men who make no claim of 
 inspiration or heavenly guidance, but by their wisdom direct 
 or misdirect, as the case may have and has been. Does not 
 God know whether angels, men or women, little children or 
 heathen are elected before they were born or created to 
 punishments defined by Calvin or Edwards? 
 
 Why didn't those men- made divines, who so recently were 
 assembled in the Metropolitan Opera House in New York 
 city, ask God to help them revise the Westminister Cate- 
 chism? Can he do it? Will he do it? Ask yourselves, 
 ask them. Isn't it true that the Pagan, Robert G. Inger- 
 soll, is doing more to " revise " the catechism than their 
 own God ? Is it not true that we are living close to the 
 day of the fulfilment of prophecy uttered by that servant of 
 the living God, Jeremiah, who spake not as men speak, but 
 as Peter tells us. (II PET. i : 21.) 
 
 " For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of 
 man : but holy men of God spake as they were moved by 
 the Holy Ghost." 
 
46 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 When he said, QER. xvi : 19,) "Oh Lord, my strength, 
 and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the 
 Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth and 
 shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity and 
 things wherein there is no profit. 
 
 Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no 
 gods?" 
 
 Only l&t evening, I heard an ex-Catholic priest, Father 
 Chiniquy say that the Romish Church was an idolatrous 
 church ; but how much better off in this respect is he as a 
 Protestant? "Thou shall have no other Gods before me," 
 was the ancient and authoritative voice and command. 
 That was the God who said in the beginning, " Let us make 
 man in our ownjmage." The God of whom Paul tells us, 
 (HEB. i : 3,) that Jesus Christ was the brightness of his glory 
 and the express image of his person. And if it be absurd 
 for a Catholic to suppose or maintain that by the power or 
 prayer of the priest a piece of bread or wafer is turned into 
 the literal presence, soul, body and divinity of God and of 
 Jesus Christ, is it not equally absurd and "idolatrous" for a 
 Protestant priest to borrow from the Romish church the 
 God that Constantine and his bishops made, and set up the 
 idolatrous worship of a "God without body, parts or pas- 
 sions," in the place of that "God with whom Moses spake 
 face to face as a man speaketh with a friend ?" To substitute 
 a God that can neither hear, see, nor speak, nor has not 
 spoken for centuries; "gods that are no gods;" made to 
 be mocked and jeered at by the victims of an unauthorized 
 priesthood, and an unproved and unprovable gospel. 
 
 Spiritual gifts are the gifts of God to men. "Now, con- 
 cerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you 
 ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away 
 unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. (I Cor. xii, 
 1:2.) 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 47 
 
 What is an idol ? It is a God : a false one. What is a 
 dumb idol ? It is a dumb God. What is a dumb God ? It 
 is a God who either cannot, will not, or does not speak. 
 What kind of a God do Catholics, Protestants or Pagans 
 worship to-day ? and does their worship consist in a worship "in 
 spirit and in truth," or has it been and is it yet largely a system 
 of "lies, and vanity, and things wherein there is no profit?" 
 
 "Ye worship ye know not what?" What would the 
 Christ say were he placed standing amid our modern Babel 
 of to-day ? Has he changed since he left us, or is he the 
 same yesterday, to-day, and forever? If the heavens should 
 part, and he should speak, would his speech be conformed 
 to everybody's "shibboleth?" "If Jesus Christ should 
 come to this earth to-day, would he attend our church ?" 
 was the text and theme of the Rev. David Utter, pastor of 
 the First Universalist Church of Chicago, in a sermon not 
 long ago. He is coming, and it will be reasonable to sup- 
 pose that he will attend his own church, if he can find it 
 upon earth. Can he do it? Can you do it, my reader? 
 With the New Testament in your hand, can you find it? 
 Will all the Catholic, Protestant, or Pagan churches in the 
 world to-day put together fill the pattern of that church 
 which he organized before he went away, and denominated 
 "my church?" Search the world through to-day, and 
 coming back disappointed, let me take you to the professed 
 standard of reference. 
 
 "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the 
 will of God, and Sosthenes our brother. 
 
 " Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them 
 that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with 
 all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ 
 our Lord, both their's and our's : 
 
 " Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, 
 and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
48 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 " I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace 
 of God which is given you by Jesus Christ ; 
 
 " That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all 
 utterance, and in all knowledge ; 
 
 " Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you ; 
 
 " So that ye come behind in no gift ; waiting for the 
 coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 
 "Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may 
 be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus/ Christ." (I COR. 
 i, i to 8. 
 
 " Unto the church of God which is at Corinth." No doubt 
 about the " orthodoxy " of this church, or that it was " evan- 
 gelical " then, and as no new revelation has been had, 
 according to modern teaching, the last testament in regard 
 to these things ought to be in force, with rational minds. 
 " By Jesus Christ ; that in every thing ye are enriched by 
 aim in all utterance." Written sermons may have been 
 unknown. " And in all knowledge," not credulity or suppo- 
 sition. " So that the testimony of Christ was confirmed in 
 you" What testimony ? Why the signs that were to follow. 
 The gift of that spirit that was to guide them into truth, and 
 not error, and was to confirm the word not only in the 
 day of the apostles, but " unto the end." 
 
 " Now ye are the body of Christ." (Chap, xii, 27.) We 
 have found then, not only the church of God but the " body " 
 or church of Jesus Christ. 
 
 " Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in par- 
 ticular. 
 
 " And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, 
 secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, 
 then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of 
 tongues." (i COR. xii. 27 : 28.) 
 
 " I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye 
 walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 49 
 
 " With all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, 
 forbearing one another in love ; 
 
 " Endeavoring to keep the the unity of the Spirit in the 
 bond of peace. 
 
 " There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are 
 called in one hope of your calling ; 
 
 " One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 
 
 "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and 
 through all, and in you all. 
 
 " But unto every one of us is given grace according to 
 the measure of the gift of Christ. 
 
 " Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he 
 led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 
 
 " (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also 
 descended first into the lower parts of the earth ? 
 
 " He that descended is the same also that ascended up 
 far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 
 
 ' And he gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; 
 and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; 
 
 " For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the 
 ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ : 
 
 " Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the 
 knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the 
 measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ : 
 
 " That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and 
 fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the 
 sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in 
 wait to deceive ; 
 
 " But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him 
 in all things, which is the head, even Christ : 
 
 " From whom the whole body fitly joined together and 
 compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according 
 to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh 
 increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. 
 
50 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 " This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye 
 henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of 
 their mind, 
 
 "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated 
 from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, 
 because of the blindness of their heart." (EPH. iv. i to 18.) 
 
 Please read Corinthians, the i2th chapter, which we 
 quote as fitting instruction, and as the original pattern in 
 church building. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OVV concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not 
 have you ignorant. 
 
 "Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away 
 unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. 
 
 " Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man 
 speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed : and 
 that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 " Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 
 
 "And there are differences of administrations, but the 
 same Lord. 
 
 " And there are diversities of operations, but it is the 
 same God which worketh all in all. 
 
 " But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every 
 man to profit withal. 
 
 " For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom ; 
 to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit ; 
 
 " To another faith by the same Spirit ; to another the 
 gifts of healing by the same Spirit ; 
 
 "To another the working of miracles; to another 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 51 
 
 prophecy ; to another discerning of spirits ;*to another divers 
 kinds of tongues ; to another the interpretation of tongues : 
 
 "But all these worketh that one and the selfsame 
 Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 
 
 " For as the body is one, and hath many members, and 
 all the members of that one body, being many, are one 
 body . so also is Christ. 
 
 " For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, 
 whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; 
 and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 
 
 " For the body is not one member, but many. 
 
 " If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I 
 am not of the body ; is it therefore not of the body ? 
 
 "And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, 
 I am not of the body ; is it therefore not of the body ? 
 
 " If the whole body were an eye, where were the hear- 
 ing ? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling ? 
 
 " But now hath God set the members every one of 
 them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 
 
 "And if they were all one member, where were the 
 body? 
 
 " But now are they many members, yet but one body. 
 
 "And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no 
 need of thee : nor again the head to the feet, I have no 
 need of you. 
 
 " Nay, much more those members of the body, which 
 seem to be more feeble, are necessary : 
 
 " And those members of the body, which we think to 
 be less honourable, upon those we bestow more abundant 
 honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant 
 comeliness. 
 
 " For our comely parts have no need : but God hath 
 tempered the body together, having given more abundant 
 honour to that part wh;ch lacked : 
 
52 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 " That there should be no schism in the body ; but that 
 the members should have the same care one for another. 
 
 "And whether one member suffer, all the members 
 suffer with it ; or one member be honoured, all the members 
 rejoice with it. 
 
 " Now ye are . the body of Christ, and members in par- 
 ticular. 
 
 "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, 
 secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, 
 then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of 
 tongues. 
 
 "Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? 
 are all workers of miracles ? 
 
 "Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with ton- 
 gues ? do all interpret ? 
 
 " But j covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I 
 unto you a more excellent way. (I COR. xii.) 
 
 What is the more excellent way? What did Wesley 
 say ? What does Paul say ? In the following chapter we 
 read : 
 
 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, 
 and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a 
 tinkling cymbal. 
 
 " And though I have the gift of prophecy, and under- 
 stand all mysteries, and all knowledge ; and though I have 
 all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not 
 charity, I am nothing. 
 
 " And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, 
 and though I give my body to be burned, and have not 
 charity, it profiteth me nothing. 
 
 " Charity suffereth long, and is kind ; charity envieth not ; 
 charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 
 
 " Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, 
 is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil ; 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFEST A TIONS. 53 
 
 " Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth ; 
 
 " Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all 
 things, endureth all things. 
 
 " Charity never faileth : but whether there be prophecies, 
 they shall fail ; whether there be tongues, they shall cease ; 
 whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 
 
 " For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 
 
 " But when that which is perfect is come, then that which 
 is in part shall be done away. 
 
 " When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as 
 a child, I thought as a child : but when I became a man, I 
 put away childish things. 
 
 " For now we see through a glass, darkly ; but then face 
 to face ; now I know in part ; but then shall I know even as 
 also I am known. (I COR. xiii. i :i2.) 
 
 Prophecies may fail, tongues did and may cease, know'- 
 edge, as they acquired it, might vanish away; but only 
 because it was partial and incomplete ; for when that which 
 is perfect is come, that which is in part will necessarily have 
 to give way. But we must not forget that the very means 
 that were designed " for the perfection of thef saints " in the 
 early church, and of bringing about that development and 
 perfection of human character, were designed and " set in 
 the church," and to continue until we all in the unity of 
 the faith not division of multiplied and different faiths 
 " come to a perfect knowledge of the Son of God, unto a 
 perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness 
 of Christ ; 
 
 " That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and 
 fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the 
 sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in 
 wait to deceive ; 
 
 " But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him 
 in all things, which is the head, even Christ. " 
 
54 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 Why are we tossed to and fro " with every wind of ' new ' 
 doctrine" that blows? Is it not because we have ceased 
 to speak the truth in love, and have turned away our ears 
 unto fables? 
 
 Does not charity rejoice " in the truth " ? And is it not 
 true that the world is in darkness? And is it not becoming 
 in us to seek for the true causes of failure ? And is it char- 
 ity to deny the po>ver of God as defined in the ancient 
 church and promised without reservation to the believer 
 wherever he may be found ? and does not Paul immediately 
 follow in his letter with this: "Follow after charity and 
 desire spiritual gifts : " 
 
 "How is it then, brethern ? when ye come together, every 
 one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, 
 hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be 
 done unto edifying. 
 
 " If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by 
 two, or at the most by three, and that by course ; and let 
 one interpret. 
 
 " But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in 
 the church ; and let him speak to himself, and to God. 
 
 " Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other 
 judge. 
 
 " If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let 
 the first hold his peace. 
 
 " For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, 
 and all may be comforted. 
 
 "And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the 
 prophets. 
 
 " For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, 
 as in all churches of the saints. 
 
 '' If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, 
 let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you 
 are the commandments of the Lord. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 55 
 
 ' Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not 
 to speak with tongues. 
 
 " Let all things be done decently and in order." 
 
 We are told that these gifts are done away, because " no 
 longer needed," and that they were given anciently for the 
 establishment of the church, and that Protestant, like Cath- 
 olic religion is " established " by the record of "innumerable 
 miracles and the lives and deaths of innumerable saints," 
 and not by the continual presence of Christ with the church, 
 as represented by the spirit of truth, the only way by which 
 he can be represented or saved from misrepresentation. 
 And when Mr. Ingersoll says that " in order for miracles to 
 be of any value, they would have to be perpetual," he says 
 the truth; and if God is no respecter of persons, Mr. 
 Ingersoll or myself are just as mu<*h entitled to the gifts of 
 God when the conditions are complied with, as were they 
 anciently, and if complying with the same law that the Cor- 
 inthians did, we receive not the same evidences in the 
 church, we shall be obliged to take Mr. Ingersoll's side of 
 the question so far as any certainty about the Christian 
 religion is concerned. If a record of miracles is enough to 
 *' establish " the church to-day, the first church should rea- 
 sonably have been satisfied with the recorded miracles of 
 the Old Testament, and upon that assumption the miracles 
 ot" Jesus and his followers were superfluous. " We know 
 that God spake to Moses," said they, " but as for this fel- 
 low, we know not whence he is." But, as a matter of fact, 
 they didn't or couldn't know any such thing ; it was faith 
 in a record or a tradition, and could not be made to stand 
 as proof of God's power or unchangeability toward them. 
 
 But the gift of God to the church is not one, but many, 
 and divided, severally, as he will, and according to his wis- 
 dom, and according to the capacity of the individual. 
 
 " Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 
 
56 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 "And there are differences of administrations, but the 
 same Lord. 
 
 " And there are diversities 'of operations, but it is the 
 same God which worketh all in all. 
 
 " But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every 
 man to profit withal. 
 
 "FOR TO ONE is GIVEN BY THE SPIRIT THE WORD OF 
 WISDOM." 
 
 Is wisdom, even wisdom which this world cannot give, 
 no longer needed in the church? 
 
 " AND TO ANOTHER THE* WORD OF KNOWLEDGE BY THE 
 SAME SPIRIT." 
 
 By this gift positive information concerning God and 
 spiritual things were to be revealed, but it was given, not 
 to be revealed as a law to the whole church, but for the 
 comfort of the individual and for his growth in heavenly 
 and divine things. As such it might be partial and incom- 
 plete, because the individual was such and not capable of 
 receiving only " in part." 
 
 "To ANOTHER FAITH BY THE SAME SPIRIT." 
 
 "Faith is an assurance of things hoped for and an evidence 
 of things not seen." It was the gift of God, especially to 
 individuals who obeyed Christ's law and were become a 
 part of the visible " body ;" all were to have it in some 
 measure or degree, but individuals were especially endowed 
 with this peculiar spiritual talent or gift, so that there might 
 be a diversity to edification in the church. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 57 
 
 "To ANOTHER THE GIFTS OF HEALING BY THE SAME 
 SPIRIT." 
 
 Fifty years ago it would have been a comparatively easy 
 matter to have drawn the line in regard to " gifts of heal- 
 ing," for the reason that these gifts were not claimed unless 
 in a very obscure way ; especially was this true of the popu- 
 lar church. But our day witnesses changes, and a man may 
 not be considered entirely fanatical who believes in " Divine 
 healing," and even " Christian " and " evangelical " minis- 
 ters lay on hands and anoint with oil in accordance with 
 the Apostle James' instruction to the church anciently for 
 the healing of the sick. While outside of the pale of 
 churches the very air has been full at times, and in some 
 quarters it has amounted to a popular " craze " of Chris- 
 tian science healing, or "faith cure," and the name of 
 Jesus Christ has been used as a cat's paw to pull the golden 
 " chestnut " out of the fire and into the pocket of the 
 " metaphysician," or to hedge against the increasing lifeless- 
 ness and apathy of the popular church by springing upon it 
 the question of faith cure and divine healing as against the 
 position which the orthordox Christian world had assumed 
 for centuries. 
 
 Beside all these has arisen an army of " mediums " and 
 professional " magnetic," "physiologic" and "mesmeric" 
 " healers,' . who " lay on hands " in a wholesale way that it 
 is probable that the Apostle James never dreamed of. 
 
 It will take but little thought or but little reading to dis- 
 cern the difference between "James, a servant of God" and 
 an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the members of the church, 
 those whom he addressed as " my brethren " in his advice 
 to them : " Is any among you afflicted let him pray. Is any 
 sick among YOU ? Let him call for the Elders of the church 
 and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the 
 name of the Lord ; and the prayer of faith shall save the 
 
58 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 sick, and the Lord shall raise them up, and if they have 
 committed sins they shall be forgiven him " QAS. v, 13: 15 ) 
 and this modern army and mongrel horde who for filthy 
 lucre's sake,, and for every reason but the right, rational and 
 properly consistent scriptural one, use this sacred name and 
 word to fleece the people, to disgust humanity and destroy 
 faith in any or everything. 
 
 The gift of healing was one only among the varied and 
 many graces and gifts of the Holy Ghost in the original 
 church, and not the all and in all upon which mankind were 
 to predicate a faith or to be the test of truth. 
 
 Dr. Cullis, of Boston, builds a faith cure home or hospital 
 for consumptives, cripples, and the sick generally, and as 
 prayer, no matter how faithless, is better than pills, and 
 faith, no matter how much it may savor of credulity, is bet- 
 ter than physic, good air, good food, good nursing better 
 than "scientific" drug medication, we need not be surprised 
 to hear of u cures " and of affidavits to that effect ; but what 
 may be said of " Dr." Cullis, is said of spiritualists, who " lay 
 on hands," and furnish affidavits along with the thousand 
 newspaper advertisements the "bitter" and " pill " alma- 
 nac certified wonders. 
 
 All these deny the existence, or practicability, or use, of 
 all, or most, of the other manifestations of spiritual power, 
 known and exercised in the ancient church. 
 
 In defense, however, of the necessity, or idea, that it was 
 designed for the church in all ages, we might speak of the 
 arguments put forth by professed representative ministers of 
 Christ, as well as others who claim that the gifts of healing 
 have been substituted by the attainments of medical science. 
 In reply to which, we offer : that the " science of medi- 
 cine," so far as our memory or experience goes, has proved 
 to be about as changing and unreliable as human theology, 
 and the cure of the body by the use of drugs is very nearly 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 59 
 
 as much of an unsettled problem as are the theological pre- 
 scriptions compounded by doctors of divinity for the relief 
 of the soul. At least it is safe to say and to quote reliable 
 and unquestioned authority of eminent medical practioners i 
 that "the science of medicine," as principally practiced to- 
 day, "is no science at all," but simply an experiment upon 
 the human body." This statement, beside others to the 
 same effect the writer has, not only in writing, but from the 
 lips of physicians, whose professional standing has never been 
 questioned. Men, Women, and children, sick, dying and 
 dead, all around us, which an increase of doctors, nor of their 
 learning, or systems, are not powerful enough to prevent, are 
 with us, as in the day of Christ and the apostles, and until 
 greater certainty marks the result of modern medical prac- 
 tice, it is too early to say that the gift of healing is no 
 longer needed, or longer to be sought after and " coveted " 
 by the church of God. 
 
 A careful observation, however, of all the conditions upon 
 which the promise and gift of healing is to be bestowed, 
 carelessness and failure to understand which has been the 
 cause of mistakes that engendered doubt and trial, should 
 be had by members of Christ's visible body. 
 
 Let us note the authoritative counsel of the apostle 
 James, QAMES v, 14 : 15.) 
 
 " Is any sick among you ? let him call for the elders of 
 the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him 
 with oil in the name of the Lord : 
 
 " And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the 
 Lord shall raise him up ; and if he committed sins, they shall 
 be forgiven him." 
 
 Let us remember that this counsel was given to an organ- 
 ized body of believers and called " the church," and to the 
 elders of that church, and cannot consistently nor scrip- 
 turally be construed into an authority for, or sanction of the 
 
60 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 heterogeneous mass of metaphysical healers, faith curists, 
 " divine healing " by the laying on of hands of not only 
 " elders," but women or anybody else who has learned to say 
 " Lord ! Lord !" 
 
 "And the prayer of faith " in connection with the rest, 
 " shall save the sick." What is faith ? is it the possession of 
 an intense desire for the sick to recover? Oh no ! Is it 
 even a persuasion or belief that they may or will ? No in- 
 deed ! Nor does the presence of the spirit, sometimes even 
 in great power and comfort warrant us in the conclusion 
 that the sick will always recover. * 
 
 Faith, that faith which did, and does now save the sick, 
 " is an assurance of things hoped for " and " an evidence of 
 things not seen." 
 
 As a novice in experience and early and first acquaint- 
 ances in the operations and workings of the spirit, even 
 in his eldership, the writer has made the quite common, but 
 troublesome mistake of reckoning the fact of the spirits pres- 
 ence in comfort and great power at the bedside of the 
 sick as reliable token of their recovery, while the fact was, 
 and often is, that the mind of the spirit, which alone can 
 convey that prophetic intelligence, " assurance," " evidence," 
 or " faith," referred to by James, may be wanting, and what 
 is true of the church, must certainly apply to the world 
 
 * To the church of which the writer is a member, we quote from the 
 Revelations given to the church of Christ in our days D. & C. 42, 12 : 
 "And whosoever among you are sick and have not faith to be healed, 
 but believe^ shall be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and 
 mild food, and that not by the hand of an enemy. And the elders of 
 the church, two or more, shall be called, and shall pray for, and lay 
 their hands upon them in my (Christ's) name; and if they die, they 
 shall die unto me, and if they live, they shall live unto me." And it 
 shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, 
 for it shall be sweet unto them." 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 6l 
 
 when we are led to consider the abuse that the word faith 
 has been subjected to. 
 
 A man or woman may have the gift of faith, intuition, 
 foresight or premonition at a sick bedside that is not always 
 shared by the eldership, which, however, is to be a guide to 
 them, and not an oracle infallible to or for others. 
 
 To say also that forgiveness of sins follow the administra- 
 tions of modern "healers" of every sort, who quote as much of 
 James, commission as authority for their work as suits their 
 convenience, is of itself sufficient repudiation of any right 
 to use this promise made to the ancient church as authority 
 or license to abuse or cover the scriptures with the slime of 
 their money making-traffic. 
 
 As a matter of fact, it is a hard matter to tell whether the 
 presence or absence of anything or nothing will kill or cure. 
 
 An elder or elders may be called and may administer, the 
 sick may recover, but there may be little or no evidence 
 that their recovery is due to any special interference of the 
 Lord or exhibition of the power of His spirit upon the body 
 of the afflicted. The chances are that in a majority of cases 
 they would recover anyhow ; nothing but the presence and 
 instruction given by the mind of the spirit could settle mat- 
 ters with the writer. Administration does not always cure. 
 Elders nor oil will have effect save by the attendant " prayer 
 of faith," and while it may be said that it will not kill, the 
 wise, cautious and intelligent understanding and use of 
 God's design in bestowing this gift of healing is greatly 
 needed, not only by the world, but by the church of Christ 
 itself. 
 
 " To ANOTHER THE WORKING OF MIRACLES." 
 
 It seems to be quite a prevalent idea that miracles were 
 common and of every day occurrence, and always to be had 
 for the asking in the days of Christ and his Apostles, and 
 
62 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 that notwithstanding the claim that they are no longer 
 needed, the gospel and church having been established 
 through them, or largely so, at least, yet it is one of the 
 most common things that the writer has ever met with, 
 especially among church people and ministers is a professed 
 willingness to believe, if a sign or a miracle is shown, that 
 which without a miracle or wonder transcending natural ex- 
 planation, would be rejected as anti-Christian or fanatical. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, we deny that Christ or the Apostles 
 designed to save men by the exhibition of miracles ; espe- 
 cially was this true when disconnected from His teachings. 
 The record must be and we believe is consistent with the 
 first commission. 
 
 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and 
 preach the gospel to every creature. 
 
 " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but 
 he that believeth not shall be damned. 
 
 "And these signs shall follow them that believe ; In my 
 name shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak with new 
 tongues ; 
 
 " They shall take up serpents ; and if they drink any 
 deadly thing, it shall not hurt them ; they shall lay hands on 
 the sick, and they shall recover. 
 
 " So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was 
 received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 
 
 "And they went forth, and preached every where, the 
 Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs 
 following. Amen." (MARK xvi, 15 : 20.) 
 
 The world having lost the theory, formula or doctrine of 
 the gospel of Christ, the "power" of true Godliness that 
 was anciently attached to it having necessarily been with- 
 drawn, the Lord could no longer consistently work with a 
 people who denied his doctrine ; substitute something else 
 as a rule of obedience, and thus foster false doctrine by 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 63 
 
 confirming in the minds of men something other than "the 
 word." 
 
 A wholesome rule of life was to precede ; a law of moral 
 reformation was necessary ; repentance from dead works ; 
 and useless, unprofitable and man-made ceremonies were 
 to be had. The believer was to be taught to observe "all 
 things" that He had commanded before He should justify 
 their faith in Him after his departure by confirming"the word" 
 with not only the gift of miracles in the church, but all' the 
 other gifts as well. In fact, Luke has forgotten to say in 
 connection with the last commission anything about physical 
 miracles, but has not forgotten that which, to the mind of 
 the writer, is fully as important, when he, in his history of 
 the gospel, writes, (LUKE xxiv, 44 : 47) : 
 
 "And He said unto them, These are the words which I 
 spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things 
 must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, 
 and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me. 
 
 "Then opened He their understanding, that they might 
 understand the scriptures, 
 
 "And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it 
 behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the 
 third day : 
 
 " And that repentance and remission of sins should be 
 preached in His name among all nations,beginning at Jerusa- 
 lem." 
 
 The presence to-day of a spirit which, possessed of, would 
 guide men into all truth, takes the place of the Master him- 
 self in so "opening the understanding" of men, especially 
 the benighted and befogged theologians of the day, " that 
 they" as well as the ancient ministry " might under- 
 stand the scriptures," and instead of the confusion wrought, 
 might see eye to eye in these important matters. 
 
 Says Paul, (I COR. i, 4 : 13) : 
 
64 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 " I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of 
 God which is given you by Jesus Christ ; 
 
 "That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utter- 
 ance, and in all knowledge ; 
 
 " Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you : 
 
 " S0 that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the com- 
 ing of our Lord Jesus Christ : 
 
 " Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may 
 be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 " God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellow- 
 ship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 " Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there 
 be no divisions among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined 
 together in the same mind and in the same judg- 
 ment. 
 
 " For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, 
 by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are 
 contentions among you. 
 
 " Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of 
 Paul ; and I of Apollos ; and I of Cephas ; and I of Christ. 
 . " Is Christ divided ? was Paul crucified for you ? or were 
 ye baptized in the name of Paul? " 
 
 But says one, " division is a sign of liberality, and agree- 
 ment an evidence of the loss of independence, freedom, 
 progress." 
 
 Oh ! no, this not necessarily true, for Jesus himself said, 
 (LUKE xii, 49 : 52) : 
 
 " I am come to send fire on the earth ; and what will I, 
 if it be already kindled ? 
 
 " But I have a baptism to be baptized with ; and how am 
 I straitened till it be accomplished ! 
 
 " Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth ? I 
 tell you, Nay ; but rather division : 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 65 
 
 "For from henceforth there shall be five in one house 
 divided, three against two, and two against three. 
 
 " The father shall be divided against the son, and the son 
 against the father; the mother against the daughter, and 
 the daughter against the mother ; the mother-in-law against 
 her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her 
 mother-in-law." 
 
 Was He justified in this statement? 
 
 As interpreted by man, no. As interpreted and explained 
 by Himself, yes. 
 
 As to-day, so then, the land was filled with religious error, 
 and certainty was nowhere. Doubt and distrust of every- 
 thing, or of anything as being the truth hung over the world 
 like a pall. " The religious world," according to Mosheim, 
 " were in a state of confusion and constantly showing their 
 fallibility by being divided into an innumerable number 
 and variety of sects." 
 
 "The truth shall make you free," said Jesus, and its 
 possession was worth the war a war not of carnal weap- 
 ons, by which the sword forged by men was to be used, 
 with this word as authority, to furnish the awful history 
 we have before us. Were the world already in possession 
 of the truth that saves, His declaration would have been 
 unwarranted. The war between truth and error was to be 
 waged. As the everlasting head and representative of 
 saving truths, He proposed no compromise ; He drew no 
 carnal weapon, but told with unflinching courage, the world 
 of its error, and illustrated with a wisdom and heroism un- 
 paralleled, the thorny, tearful, and unpopular way that led 
 to heavenly truth and everlasting salvation for the human 
 family. 
 
 The call to salvation was heeded, not by families or 
 flocks, but by individuals. The good He promised was 
 worth more than local friendships, " and a man's foes " be- 
 
66 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 came those " of his own household." They were his 
 enemies; he was not theirs. He proposed to follow the 
 Master to higher grounds, and even dared to believe that 
 He was wiser, more powerful, and could do more for him 
 than even father, mother, brother, wife, or any earthly friend. 
 His doctrine was rational, pure, holy, practical ; why should 
 he not obey even unto death ? To remain with friends in 
 error, was no lasting benefit to them, and to the truly brave 
 and wise, whether among men, with angels, or God, it would 
 be a spectacle of cowardice and of evident unfitness for the 
 society of Jesus Christ or of his cross-bearing and unpop- 
 lar disciple in any age. 
 
 The unity that Paul urged was the unity of the church, 
 and not an agreement that one doctrine was as good as 
 another ; that Paul was the best preacher, or Apollos' elo- 
 quence ought to command a higher salary, or that Cephas 
 (Peter) was better at lifting a church mortgage. They 
 were to be united upon the doctrine and leadership of Jesus 
 Christ alone, and in the continuance of the Master's com- 
 mission " to teach all things whatsoever I have commanded 
 you." Thus also wrote Paul to Timothy (II TIMOTHY ii, 
 i to 5.) : 
 
 " Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is 
 in Christ Jesus. 
 
 " And the things that thou has heard of me among many 
 witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall 
 be able' to teach others also. 
 
 " Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 " No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs 
 of this life ; that he may please him who hath chosen him 
 to be a soldier. 
 
 " And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not 
 crowned, except he strive lawfully." 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 67 
 
 The war of differences must be carried on lawfully and in 
 defense of " the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus." 
 only. To preserve this all-important message was salva- 
 tion ; to refuse to maintain it, even at the cost of local tem- 
 poral peace, was ruin. 
 
 " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which 
 shall believe on me through their word; 
 
 " That they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, 
 and I in thee, that they also may be one in Us : that the 
 world may believe that thou hast sent me. 
 
 " Sanctify them through thy truth : thy word is truth. 
 
 " As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I 
 also sent them into the world. 
 
 " And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also 
 might be sanctified through the truth." QOHN xvii, 20 :2i, 
 and i yth to iQth verses.) 
 
 We hear a great deal of the doctrine of " sanctification " 
 and " holiness " nowadays, with the question, however, 
 unsettled as to what the " word " or " the truth " is about it. 
 Sanctification was obtained, not by witnessing miracles or 
 the offer of money by Simon Magus, but by possession of 
 the spirit, and belief of and obedience to the truth as 
 taught by the Saviour of Mankind eighteen hundred years 
 ago. 
 
 " But there was a certain man, called Simon, which before- 
 time in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the peo- 
 ple of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one : 
 
 " To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the 
 greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. 
 
 " And to him they had regard, because that of long time 
 he had bewitched them with sorceries. 
 
 " But when they believed Philip preaching the things con- 
 cerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, 
 they were baptized, both men and women. 
 
68 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 " Then Simon himself believed also : and when he was 
 baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, behold- 
 ing the miracles and signs which were done. 
 
 " Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard 
 that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto 
 them Peter and John : 
 
 11 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that 
 they might receive the Holy Ghost : 
 
 " (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them : only they 
 were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 
 
 " Then laid they their hands on them, and they received 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 " And when Simon saw that through laying on of the 
 apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them 
 money, 
 
 " Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I 
 lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. 
 
 " But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, 
 because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be pur- 
 chased with money. 
 
 " Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter : for thy 
 heart is not right in the sight of God. 
 
 " Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, 
 if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. 
 
 " For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, 
 and in the bond of iniquity." (Acrs viii. 9 to 23.) 
 
 "To ANOTHER PROPHECY." 
 
 The Apostle Peter upon Pentecost day, affirmed the un- 
 changeability of God, and that he was no respector of per- 
 sons, but that in " every age " he that fears God by keeping 
 his commandments "and worketh righteousness," that righ- 
 teousness which is by faith in the truth and revealed alone 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 69 
 
 m the gospel was accepted with him when he . said (Acrs 
 ii. 14 : 18) : 
 
 " Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, 
 he this known unto you, and hearken to my words : 
 
 " For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is 
 but the third hour of the day. 
 
 " But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel ; 
 
 " And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I 
 will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and 
 your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see 
 visions, and your old men shall dream dreams : 
 
 ' And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour 
 out in those days of my Spirit ; and they shall prophesy' 1 
 
 Who shall deny the promise of God to the true " servants 
 and handmaidens" of the Lord in the last days? or what 
 shall prevent the fulfillment of this word? even though 
 Babylon's priests shall say : ' These things are done away 
 and are no longer needed." 
 
 To say that this prophecy of Joel's was fulfilled eighteen 
 hundred years ago, is but to say that we " do not know the 
 scriptures, nor the power of G0d," as even a casual read- 
 ing of the second chapter of Joel, from whom Peter has 
 quoted, will show : 
 
 "And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in 
 the earth beneath ; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke : 
 
 "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon 
 into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord 
 come :" (Acrs ii. 19 : 20.) 
 
 This did not take place upon Pentecost day, neither has 
 it yet taken place. No more has the spirit yet been 
 "poured out upon all flesh" for Paul says that: ( i COR. xv. 39. ) 
 
 "All flesh is not the same flesh : but there is one kind of 
 flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and 
 another of birds." 
 
70 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 Those 1 20 souls did not constitute all flesh, but the com- 
 plete fulfillment of Joel's prophecy is evidently to be at or 
 in the time spoken of by the prophet Isaiah in the 9th chap- 
 ter, 6th to loth verses, inclusive, when "The wolf also shall 
 dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the 
 kid ; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, 
 and a little child shall lead them." "And the cow and the 
 bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie down together ; and 
 the lion shall eat straw like the ox." "And the sucking 
 child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned 
 child shall put his hand on the adder's den." "They shall 
 not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountains ; for the earth 
 shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters 
 cover the sea." 
 
 Modern theologians would EMPTY the earth of all knowl- 
 edge concerning God by depriving mankind of the only 
 means by which he may be known. Remember Jesus 
 said, " and this is life eternal to know thee, the only true 
 God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." And Paul 
 has testified unto us that "no man can say," with knowledge, 
 "that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost," and the 
 Holy Ghost never has been neither can be known only by 
 the manifestation of its various "gifts " to men. 
 
 This acme and complete work of the spirit of Almighty 
 God is thus shown by Isaiah in its wonderful power to trans- 
 form not only mankind, but the brute creation, into the 
 ideal estate portrayed by this prophet of the living God 
 But its work commences with mankind even us who 
 through obedience to law having received of the " first fruits 
 of" this "spirit," "being" thus "made partakers of the 
 Holy Ghost and of the powers of the world to come," we 
 "prophesy in part" until with education by these heavenly 
 powers " we all come in the unity of the faith to a perfect 
 knowledge of the Son of God," unto a perfect man, " unto the 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 71 
 
 measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," and thus are 
 made fit for the seal of life eternal. 
 
 " This is that " (spirit) , said Peter, not that it was the ful- 
 fillment of Joel's prophecy, for, if those were " the last days," 
 what " days " are we living in ? The context in Joel also 
 clearly denies the assumption of fulfillment in Peter's day. 
 
 Jesus, speaking of the office work of his chosen and 
 authorized representative, says : "And he will shew you things 
 to come," this alone would show the necessity of the gift of 
 prophecy. 
 
 The testimony of John upon the isle of Patmos is con- 
 clusive ; 
 
 "And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said 
 unto me, See thou do it not : I am thy fellow-servant, and 
 of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus : worship 
 God : for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophesy" 
 (REV. xix. 10.) 
 
 " Here is the patience of the saints : here are they that 
 keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." 
 (REV. xiv. 12.) 
 
 " And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the 
 altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, 
 and for the testimony which they held." (REV. vi. 9.) 
 
 " And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to 
 make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the com- 
 mandments oj God, and have the testimony of Jesus 
 Christ:' (REV. xii. 17.) 
 
 Great care and caution, however, in the use of not 
 only the gift of prophecy in the church, as had among 
 its membership or laity, but of all the other gifts of the 
 Holy Ghost are necessary, for as in Paul and John's day, it is 
 evident that there are " many spirits gone abroad into the 
 world " to-day as it is that there are any spirits at all, and 
 there is a liability to deception through seducing, flatter- 
 
72 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 ing, and false spirits, by imitation or counterfeiting of the 
 gifts of the gospel ; for whether we deny the existence of a 
 " devil " or the agency of spiritual powers of an evil character 
 that are superior to the natural wisdom of mortals, or do not, 
 it is evident to the most "liberal" mind that admits spirit 
 agency at all, that two spirit powers disagreeing, both can- 
 not represent the real truth, though for purposes of decep- 
 tion there may be an admixture, and for this purpose was 
 the gift of " discernment of spirits " anciently bequeathed 
 by the head of the church to the body. 
 
 " There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Al- 
 mighty giveth him understanding," said Job (Joe xxxii, 8), 
 and it is that inspiration, in contradistinction to all others 
 that the truly wise will seek to possess, as well also will ex- 
 perience in, and not ignorance of spiritual gifts, tend to 
 avoid error as we become acquainted by exercise with and 
 observation of them in the church. This, I apprehend, is 
 the meaning of Paul when he says in i COR. iv. i : 
 
 " Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, 
 and stewards of the mysteries of God. " 
 
 Also in II COR. iii. 5 : 6. 
 
 " Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any 
 thing as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of God ; 
 
 "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testa- 
 ment j not of the letter, but of the spirit."* 
 
 These high attainments were not possessed at once in 
 full measure by the novice, but, as in our advent into this 
 world, so to him that is born again, not of corruptible seed, 
 
 * Tcf the church is given in our day additional and valuable in- 
 struction. Book of Commandments, Sec. 17, 9, says: "The elders 
 are to conduct the meetings as they are led by the Holy Ghost, accord- 
 ing to the commandments and revelations of God." 
 
 Again, Section 46-7 : "And the Bishop of the church, and unto 
 such as God shall appoint and ordain to watch over the church, and 
 to be elders unto the church, are to have given unto them to discern 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 73 
 
 but of the incorruptible " by the word of God which liveth 
 and abideth forever," " born of the water and of the spirit," 
 a growth and experience in spiritual things was necessary to 
 apostleship or leadership in addition to the natural talent 
 which God has given. 
 
 Mistakes in learning how to always use properly, and to 
 edification, even the gift of prophecy, by the inexperienced, 
 are not infrequent, even in the church. " But as he that is 
 spiritual judgeth all things," it will not be strange if those who 
 are not spiritual, either in the church or out, should be led 
 to make light of an endeavor to express the mind of the 
 spirit in language or manner not always calculated to charm 
 the purely sensual ear. If the correct idea is expressed, it 
 should satisfy those who have spiritual discernment, even 
 though the message of inspiration has to run the gauntlet of 
 human verbiage and language incomplete from the stand- 
 point of euphony or worldly wisdom. It is not the language 
 of God, but the speech of men, " and the spirit of the 
 prophets are subject to the prophets," or should be in the 
 church of God, their agency retained, and not delivered 
 over to the manipulation and use of spiritual forces unknown, 
 although they may in some respects transcend even the 
 wisdom of the agency through which they operate. False 
 spirits, however, without exception, will be found upon care- 
 ful investigation and inquiry to be anti-Christ, anti-Chris- 
 tian, opposed to his methods, his claim and his church, the 
 statements and claims of modern spiritualism and other 
 "spirit powers," to the contrary, notwithstanding. But, 
 
 all these gifts lest there should be any among you professing and yet 
 be not of God." ' 
 
 And again, Sec. 50-6 : "And as ye are appointed to the head, 
 the spirits shall be subject to you." 
 
 And in Luke x. 17, we read: "And the seventy returned 
 again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us 
 through thy name." 
 
74 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 "ever learning, and never able to come to a knowledge 
 of the truth," will men and women by the blandishment, 
 and entertainment of worldly wisdom, and error gilded by 
 the language and poetry of seductive spirits that obtain 
 "control" of human agency, deceive the ignorant, unwary, 
 disobedient, and lawless seeker after " signs and lying won- 
 ders," as a balm for the lack that is in the fashionable church, 
 or the world to-day. 
 
 " Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual 
 gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. 
 
 " Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other 
 judge. 
 
 " If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let 
 the first hold his peace. 
 
 " For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, 
 and all may be comforted. 
 
 " And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the 
 prophets. 
 
 " For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, 
 as in all churches of the saints." (I COR. xii, 12, and 29 to 
 
 33-) 
 
 "To ANOTHER DISCERNING OF SPIRITS." 
 
 As much as time and space will allow has already been 
 said in regard to the necessity for this gift of God through 
 the Holy Ghost in the church to-day as in ancient times. 
 
 That the world is filled with men and women who prac- 
 tice the appearance of honesty and virtue for selfish, base, 
 and wicked purpose, goes without saying. That spirits 
 if there are any or any such thing as disembodied intelli- 
 gence or spiritual agency, may be masquerading behind 
 human forms and faces, who thus become at once both 
 victim and tool of plausible device by appeal to the need of 
 the human soul, through play upon the strongest forces of 
 our nature, seems not unreasonable. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 75 
 
 You know a plausible, sleek, and trusted rascal by 
 acquaintance only, and the superior wisdom which experi- 
 ence with them alone brings ; but you need not have the 
 "delirium tremens " in order to know the evil effects of the 
 continued use of alcohol. No more need you spend your 
 time or money in running after " wizards that peep and 
 mutter," or " spirit " manifestations and wonders, to find 
 out only at last that outside of the law of God there is no 
 safety nor certainty. "Man" was "made," not as a de- 
 scendant from the pollywog, but "a little lower than the 
 angels," and he stands between the upper and nether world 
 of intelligences. There is that which is beneath as well as 
 that which is above him ; he may ascend or descend, as he 
 may elect, for his agency and his ^eing, and himself and 
 his destiny, are and will be eternally his own ; he is, as was 
 Lucifer, a son of God, and an intelligent product of the 
 Almighty and Everlasting Force, and learn he must, in the 
 unfathomable school and opportunity of God that the way 
 to the fulfillment of God's design concerning him is the 
 way of law known, fixed, unalterable, unchangeable, eter- 
 nal law. He may become more than man ; he may become 
 an angel, and God knows what beyond. He may become 
 less than man ; he may for opportunity will be offered 
 he may become, by his own will or volition, a devil. It is 
 idle and foolish in view of the stupendous wickedness that 
 mortals may attain to, and the depths to which men descend 
 even in this short life and opportunity, to believe that all 
 is solid and permanent beneath our feet ; that go which 
 way we will we cannot go down ; that though in a possible 
 future life we may or shall be happier, we shall never be 
 more wretched than here ; that though capacity and oppor- 
 tunity for enjoyment may be had in the future, yet the 
 capacity and limit of possible suffering has been reached, 
 or will be reached in this life. 
 
76 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 Sin is a transgression of law, and where no law is 
 (known), sin is not imputed," says Paul. That is, a child 
 may place its hand in the fire, yet no moral turpitude attach 
 to the act. But for the willful and persistent doer of that 
 which is known to be wrong, there must always remain the 
 deeper lesson, lessons which will reach all the intelligent 
 and constantly growing forces of the soul. 
 
 It is not unreasonable to suppose that there may have 
 been " angels who kept not their first estate," but who pro- 
 posed to indulge a lawless ambition or pleasure, and see if 
 they might not become Gods themselves by breaking the 
 law decreed by the Superior Power, and making a law for 
 themselves ; foolish enough to think or hope that life might 
 be continued to them In the pursuit of their own will, and 
 learning thus through the pain of hell and discipline of 
 disobedience, that which Paul learned in the gospel, that 
 "sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death ;" not annihi- 
 lation, not a blotting out of an existence and the sum of an 
 intelligence accumulated at such a fearful experience and 
 cost. Oh no ! God is not only too merciful, but too wise 
 to permit any such a " finale " to his work of creation. But 
 that punishment as well as reward, that pain as well as hap- 
 piness would be the everlasting attendant of the soul, the 
 sure and abiding testator and executor of God and of his law. 
 
 If there are angels, why not devils ? What do mortals 
 know about the possibilities wrapped up in the word " life ?" 
 
 We read in the book of Revelations xiii, 11-14, i n tne 
 vision of the Apostle John upon the isle of Patmos, concern- 
 ing things that were to come to pass after his day, that : 
 
 " And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth ; 
 and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 
 
 " And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before 
 him, and caueeth the earth and them which dwell therein to 
 worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 77 
 
 "And he doeth great wonders, so that he raaketh fire 
 come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 
 
 "And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the 
 means of those miracles which he had power to do in the 
 sight of the beast." 
 
 Also*ln Chapter xvi, 13, 14. 
 
 "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of 
 the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast 
 and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 
 
 " For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, 
 which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole 
 world" 
 
 Already kings and princes have been and are entertaining 
 and investigating the phenomenon and miracle working 
 power produced or exhibited by modern spiritual mediums 
 in Europe and all over the civilized world. 
 
 The newspapers were responsible for the statement that 
 shortly before the spiritualistic expose, made by Miss Fox or 
 Mrs. Margaret Fox Kane in eastern cities, that Victoria, 
 Queen of England, in conjunction with princes and lords, 
 some of whose names were given, had sent or were about to 
 send for this original modern spirit and wonder worker, in 
 order to test her powers of mediumship, and satisfy them- 
 selves in regard to the claims of her ability to communicate 
 with the dead.* 
 
 *Notwithstanding her " expose" the writer has reason to believe 
 this woman to be a genuine " spirit medium," though utterly lawless 
 and unreliable, and that her late public exposure of spiritualism by 
 the snapping of her toe joints, etc., is more of an evidence of spleen 
 against spiritualists, and a lawless and reckless desire to recuperate 
 her fallen fortunes and to secure public recognition in a new "role" 
 than an evidence that she is able to prove modern spiritualism to be 
 in toto the work of human tricksters. 
 
 There is evidence, however, that a host of gerfuine "mediums " do 
 alternate with spirit or supernatural "control," and when '-conditions" 
 
78 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 Why may there not be angels "who kept not their 
 first estate " deprived of the privilege of the wondrous gift 
 of the bodily power possessed by mortals through which to 
 express themselves, striving to and obtaining possession 
 and control of physical organisms through which and by 
 which they may do only that which mortals do ? only in a 
 far more intelligent, though subtle and crafty sense, and that 
 is to play their tricks of spiritual ledgerdemain, embellished 
 by poetry such as only fallen angels can invent upon the 
 spur and need of the moment, of art, of song, of music, of 
 preaching, quotation of scripture or even of prayer ? and all 
 of the needs of the human soul thus covertly appealed to 
 under guise, to satisfy a generation of religiously disap- 
 pointed, sign, wonder, or evidence-seekers concerning the 
 great mysteries that envelop the life of humanity. The 
 extremity of fierceness of this device to possess a body was 
 expressed in the Saviour's time in the incident recorded by 
 Matthew, 8th Chapter, 28-32 : 
 
 "And when he was come to the other side into the 
 country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two possessed 
 with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so 
 that no man might pass by that way. 
 
 "And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to 
 do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither 
 to torment us before the time ? 
 
 are not "favorable," show exceedingly clever work as prestidigitators 
 by entertaining the already half-blinded individual, who seeking, not 
 necessarily or exactly after truth so much as for something which was 
 before impressed by want upon a hungry heart, and now by the aid 
 of " favorable conditions " already half photographed upon the brain. 
 The finishing wo rk of producing a conviction in a mind that either is 
 already to believe that it may be so, or filled with an intense desire 
 that it be or is so, makes the work of conversion by the human or 
 spirit prestidigitator a comparatively easy matter, as their rapidly 
 increasing numbers attest. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 79 
 
 "And there was a good way off from them an herd of 
 many swine feeding. 
 
 " So the devil besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, 
 suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 
 
 "And he said unto them, Go. And when they were 
 come out, they went into the herd of swine : and behold, 
 the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place 
 into the sea, and perished in the waters. 
 
 " And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into 
 the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the 
 possessed of the devils." 
 
 The test of all these matters with us is, that in sober 
 interview and intelligent inquiry, these spirits will be 
 found opposed to the claim of the Messiahship of 
 Christ, and in conformity to the opinions of modern 
 atheism and skepticism upon these subjects. To Jesus 
 Christ, in His presence or the presence of an authorized 
 servant of His alone, are these spirits liable to betray their 
 true character? Outside of these and in the presence of 
 those who are strangers to the truth as it is in Christ and 
 the power of the spirit of truth, they are liable to profess 
 great respect, admiration and even love for His name ; His 
 power, and the presence of the spirit which He promised to 
 the true disciple, the power and the gift of " discerning of 
 spirits" alone they fear; His authority as the one chosen 
 representative of God is always denied ; His law, His gov- 
 ernment or His kingdom is either unknown to or opposed 
 by them ; He is a "medium," a "reformer," a " moralist," 
 a " profound religious philosopher," but never the Christ ; 
 
8o SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 He is a " Saviour," but only in the sense that all good men 
 are, a " Son of God " as all are, and no more. 
 
 We read, ACTS xix, 13-20 : 
 
 "Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took 
 upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the 
 name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus 
 whom Paul preacheth. 
 
 " And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and 
 chief of the priests, which did so. 
 
 " And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, 
 and Paul I know ; but who are ye ? 
 
 "And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on 
 them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so 
 that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 
 
 " And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also 
 dwelling at Ephesus ; and fear fell on them all, and the 
 name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 
 
 " And many that believed came, and confessed, and 
 shewed their deeds. 
 
 "Many of them also which used curious arts brought 
 their books together, and burned them before all men : and 
 they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand 
 pieces of silver. 
 
 "So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." 
 
 Infidelity, or agnosticism, may not be anti- Christ ; an infi- 
 del or atheist or unbeliever in any thing may foolishly, or 
 with vain oath, profane or make light of the name of a God 
 or a Christ whom they never knew save by the reputation 
 which the creeds have furnished of them. But the tre- 
 mendous danger that besets the honest seeker after truth 
 in . these last days the creed-disgusted, yet devout and 
 religiously hungry is that blinded by the absurdities of 
 "Christian " mythology, and with delineation and exposition 
 of the devils of Milton or of Dante in our minds ; the real 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 81 
 
 and actual devils being in truth, as much unlike the creations 
 of uninspired men as are their Gods finding the field clear 
 for operation and from suspicion of their real presence, are 
 thus enabled by the ignorance that is in the world, and in 
 the churches organized and carried on by men and popular 
 method of spiritual power of any kind they ply their ne- 
 farious, wonder-working, and sign-producing phenomena 
 disciples of " the prince of the power of the air," the 
 mysterious operations of forces of the air as exhibited in 
 "metaphysics," mesmerism, or trance; table tipping, slate 
 writing, "materialization," "mind reading" pschycometry, 
 etc., etc. 
 
 Whatever scientific and lawful investigation may develop 
 of real, lasting, and substantial benefit to man in the lawful 
 use of these forces in the future we do not propose to make 
 war against ; but prool that they are the attempts of the 
 spirits of dead men, women or children ONLY who have 
 come back to friends and place where they dwelt in the 
 flesh, to communicate in any way or manner they can, is to 
 the mind, and in the experience of the writer, wanting. 
 
 The spirits of dead men are to the modern spiritualist the 
 highest wisdom, goodness or authority communicating with 
 mankind, the highest intelligence accessible to mortals 
 struggling for light in all this vast and wondrous universe. 
 God, angels or seraphim, are all reduced to the " advanced " 
 stage that mortals have attained through a few years' expe- 
 rience in " spirit life." 
 
 We are aware of the claim made that the "Bible is the corner- 
 stone of spiritualism," from the fact that it is stated that 
 Samuel, a dead prophet of God, and a good man, appeared 
 to Saul, through the agency of the woman, or " medium " 
 of Endor, a statement which a critical analysis, however, 
 will not warrant us in accepting. Saul, a transgressor of 
 the law of the Lord, departing from the living God, deprived 
 
82 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 of counsel through the legal and appointed method, hungry 
 for information, having no doubt a historical or practical 
 experience with the powers that have always opposed the 
 kingdom and government of God, notwithstanding his for- 
 mer decree, made in a better hour and time, sought coun- 
 sel that he knew that earth could not give. With his face 
 to the earth he " perceived," by the medium's description, as 
 in modern times, "that it was Samuel." Not that Samuel 
 was necessarily there, or the " mantle " which he wore in 
 earth life, but a " materialization," through the mind of the 
 medium possibly, by the chemistry of forces known to the 
 " Prince of the power of the air " or his agents. 
 
 But did not Moses and Elias come back to earth? Yes, 
 with an authoritative message and commission in the inter- 
 ests of the kingdom and government of God. They came 
 in the interests of, acknowledged the work and authority, 
 and were associates with Jesus Christ ; knew, and pro- 
 claimed his Messiahship and his government that is to be ; 
 they were not antichrist. 
 
 The revelations of modern spiritualism betray ignorance, 
 or willful perversion of the intellectual, moral, or rational 
 and consistent interpretation of the prophecies of the old, 
 or the promises of the New Testament scriptures. 
 
 If Immanuel Swedenborg ever saw Jesus Christ, his reve- 
 lations do not show it. On the contrary his voluminous 
 interpretations show that he has as little acquaintance with 
 the Christ of the prophets and of the New Testament scrip- 
 tures as other mediums of less doubtful standing in the 
 orthodox world, and the result is that doubt and mysticism 
 is added to instead of being taken from the Bible, the 
 mission, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 " God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake 
 in time past unto the fathers by the prophets." (HEB. i : i .) 
 
 That's more ways than one. "But the manifestation of 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTA TIONS, 83 
 
 the spirit " and the revelation of God to men " is given to 
 profit withal" and placed under the safeguard of law and rule. 
 
 " Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, 
 whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he 
 made the worlds." (HEB i : 2.) 
 
 And as has been shown, the Saviour did not go outside 
 and beyond the rule of the Old Testament or of God's way of 
 communication to men, forlsaiah says, iQth chapter, 3d verse : 
 
 "And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; 
 and I will destroy the counsel thereof; and they shall seek 
 to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have 
 familiar spirits, and to the wizards." 
 
 And again : 
 
 " And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that 
 have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that 
 mutter ; should not a people seek unto their God ? for the 
 living to the dead." "To the law and to the testimony ; if 
 they speak not according to this word \ it is because there is 
 no light in them." (!SA. viii, 19 120.) 
 
 We have got this to learn that in entering into the realm 
 of spirit or of dealing with spirit intelligence we are as much, 
 nay more liable to be deceived than with embodied intel- 
 ligences with whom we are acquainted, and without law and 
 rule to govern, the chances for counterfeiting and deception 
 are increased, as, unguided or uncontrolled save by desire, 
 or hunger, or need of information we fall into the clutches 
 of a conglomerate mass of "familiar spirits " who are full as 
 likely to minister to your wants rather than to supply your 
 real and lasting need. 
 
 "To ANOTHER DIVERS KINDS OF TONGUES; TO ANOTHER 
 
 THE INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES: 
 
 " But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, 
 dividing to every man severally as he will. 
 
84 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 " For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all 
 the members of that one body, being many, are one body : 
 so also is Christ. 
 
 " For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, 
 whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; 
 and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 
 
 "For the body is not one member, but many." (i COR. 
 xii. 10 : 14.) 
 
 The gift of " tongues " and the gift to interpret the same 
 belongs to the body or church of Jesus Christ, wherever it 
 exists and in all ages. The writer having felt and witnessed 
 its power in instances most numerous, he has heard men 
 and women, with whom he is in personal acquaintance and 
 friendship, unlearned and unlettered, with poor knowledge 
 of even acceptable English, speak in language unknown, or 
 other than our common English, and witnessed to by dis- 
 interested Hebrew and Greek scholars, as on Pentecost day 
 "concerning the wonderful works of God." 
 
 "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were 
 all with one accord in one place. 
 
 "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a 
 rushing mighty wind, and it rilled all the house where they 
 were sitting. 
 
 "And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of 
 fire, and it sat upon each of them. 
 
 "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to 
 speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 
 
 "And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, 
 out of every nation under heaven. 
 
 " Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came 
 together, and were confounded, because that every man 
 heard them speak in his own language. 
 
 "And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying to one 
 another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans ? 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION'S. 85 
 
 "And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein 
 we were born ? 
 
 " Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers 
 in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, 
 and Asia, 
 
 " Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of 
 Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and 
 proselytes, 
 
 "Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our 
 tongues the wonderful works of God. 
 
 "And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one 
 to another, What meaneth this? 
 
 "Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. 
 
 " But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his 
 voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that 
 dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken 
 unto my words : 
 
 " For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is 
 but the third hour of the day. 
 
 " But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel ; 
 
 "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I 
 will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and 
 your daughters shall prophesy, and your men shall see 
 visions, and your old men shall dream dreams : 
 
 "And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour 
 out in those days of my Spirit ; and they shall prophesy : 
 
 "And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in 
 the earth beneath ; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke : 
 
 " The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon 
 into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come : 
 
 "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on 
 the name of the Lord shall be saved. 
 
 " Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and 
 having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, 
 
86 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." (Acxs 
 ii, i to 21 133.) 
 
 Are we not living nearer the "last days," spoken of by 
 Joel and Peter if indeed, the "signs of the times" do not 
 show that we are already in the midst of them than were 
 they ? If we are really, reasonably, scripturally, and in fact, 
 and in truth, the sons and daughters of God, through 
 adoption, by obedience to His law and seal of the spirit of 
 truth. If God is "unchangeable," and "no respecter of 
 persons" if we can, or expect to defend our claim to pos- 
 session of the Holy Ghost, by what law or rule are we 
 justified in saying that "these things are done away and no 
 longer needed?" 
 
 What evidence have we as professed believers in Jesus 
 Christ that he is not 
 
 "A dead fact, stranded on the shore 
 Of the oblivious years," 
 
 if He does not communicate with his church if He has one 
 as in days of old, not only to "edify" but to "profit," not 
 only through the gift of tongues, and interpretations, proph- 
 ecy, healing, etc., but the discerning of spiritual powers, thus 
 throwing around the true disciple a safeguard and protec- 
 tion against every intelligence, or sign that opposes itself to 
 God and the true interests of the human soul. For has not 
 the Saviour, according to Matt, vii, 13 : 29 forewarned us 
 by saying : 
 
 " Enter ye in at the strait gate : for wide is the gate, and 
 broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many 
 there be which go in thereat : 
 
 "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which 
 leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 
 
 " Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's 
 clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 87 
 
 "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather 
 grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? 
 
 " Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit ; but 
 a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 
 
 " A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a 
 corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 
 
 "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn 
 down, and cast into the fire. 
 
 "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 
 
 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall 
 enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the 
 will of my Father which is in heaven. 
 
 "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we 
 not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy name have cast out 
 devils ? and in thy name done many wonderful works ? 
 
 "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you : 
 depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 
 
 " Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and 
 doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built 
 his house upon a rock : 
 
 "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the 
 winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell not : for 
 it was founded upon a rock. 
 
 "And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and 
 doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which 
 built his house upon the sand : 
 
 " And the rain descended, and the floods came, and .the 
 winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell : and great 
 was the fall of it. 
 
 "And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these say- 
 ings, the people were astonished at his doctrine : 
 
 " For he taught them as one having authority, and not as 
 the scribes." 
 
 And reader, do not become frightened or fearful if this cry, 
 
88 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 11 Beware of false prophets," should be raised by some respect- 
 able "Pharisee," who does not believe in any kind of prophets 
 only dead ones, but with little heed, or reference to "these 
 sayings " of Christ, cry, Lord, Lord, with no expectation of 
 a consistent, clear or intelligent answer. But remembering 
 His word and instructions, we need not be deceived, for 
 "by their fruits ye shall know them," and if any man is to 
 be listened to it is not the one who denies the word of God, 
 or the signs of the presence of the spirit of truth. 
 
 Upon the other hand remember that 
 
 "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we 
 not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy name have cast out 
 devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 
 "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you :* 
 depart from me, ye that work iniquity." 
 
 Jesus "knew what was in men," and was not ignorant of 
 them, or of devils. But to be able to prophesy or even 
 profess to cast out devils in His name, or in any other way, 
 will not ensure the salvation He came to bring, but "this is 
 life eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
 Christ whom thoij hast sent," and "if any man will do," "he 
 shall know." Failing to do, or even to "continue in well 
 doing" after having known the way, we shall fail to "reap" 
 the reward, or receive the gift of life as it is in Christ only. 
 
 Paul in his second letter to Thessalonians 2d chapter, 
 1-13, says: 
 
 " Now we beseech you, brethern, by the coming of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, - 
 
 " That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, 
 neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as 
 that the day of Christ is at hand. 
 
 " Let no man deceive you by any means : for that day 
 
 * Another, and we believe more correct version says : " You never 
 knew me.'* 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 89 
 
 shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and 
 that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition ; 
 
 " Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is 
 called God, or that is worshipped ; so that he as God sitteth 
 in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 
 
 " Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told 
 you these things ? 
 
 " And now' ye know what withholdeth that he might be 
 revealed in his time. 
 
 " For the mystery of iniquity doth already work : only he 
 who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
 
 " And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the 
 Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall 
 destroy with the brightness of his coming.* 
 
 " Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan 
 with all power and signs and lying wonders, 
 
 * " Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some 
 shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doc- 
 trines of devils; 
 
 " Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having* their conscience seared with 
 a hot iron.; 
 
 " Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, 
 which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them 
 which believe and know the truth." (I TIM. iv. 1-3.) 
 
 This prophecy may have had partial fulfillment in the history of 
 Popery, but partially only. The chronology is, " in the latter times" 
 the people were to be apostates from the faith. The Romish church, 
 as an organization, never had it as referred to by Paul. The fulfill- 
 ment of this part of the prophecy can only, and rationally, be laid at 
 the door of Brigham Young and apostate followers. "Doctrines of 
 devils," polygamy, Adam God theory, "speaking lies in hypocrisy," 
 witness their juggling and equivocation, as well as the oath disclo- 
 sures made by some of them before the officers of the U. S. govern- 
 ment in regard to trials for the crime of polygamy. " Having their 
 conscience seared as with a hot iron." See Mountain Meadow mas- 
 sacre, etc. 
 
go SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 " And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them 
 that perish ; because they received not the love of the truth, 
 that they might be saved. 
 
 " And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, 
 that they should believe a lie : 
 
 " That they all might be damned who believed not the 
 truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 
 
 " But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, 
 brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the 
 beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of 
 the spirit and belief of the truth." 
 
 What is the use of crying Lord, Lord, while we refuse to 
 believe the truth, the word, and instead of trying to know 
 and maintain the righteousness which is " revealed " alone 
 to the obedient believer, or " doer of the word," insist as 
 did the ancient Pharisees, whom Jesus and Paul rebuked, 
 upon " going about to establish w our " own righteousness," 
 and refusing " to submit" ourselves "to the righteousness 
 of God." 
 
 "And for this cause " shall and has there been sent, or 
 permitted to be sent, the strong delusions of modern times, 
 " even after the workings of Satan, with all power and signs 
 and lying wonders." 
 
 " And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question 
 with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. 
 
 '/' And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth 
 this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, 
 There shall no sign be given unto this generation." (MARK 
 viii : 11-12.) 
 
 And again (MATT, xvi, i : 14) : 
 
 " The Pharisees also the Sadducees came, and tempting 
 desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. 
 
 " He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, 
 ye say, It will be fair weather : for the sky is red. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 91 
 
 " And in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day : 
 for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can 
 discern the face of the sky ; but can ye not discern the signs 
 of the times ? 
 
 " A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a 
 sign ; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign 
 of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed." 
 
 The sign of "Jonas " was a type of His death, burial and 
 resurrection, and, " according to the scriptures " of the 
 prophets, which, while reading every Sabbath, as does the 
 modern Pharisee, they neither understood, believed 01 
 taught. And we shall be soon prepared, if we are not 
 already, to acknowledge a man as being " orthodox " who 
 denies not only the truth of the " fish story," but of the 
 literal resurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as the existence 
 of any othep lawful " sign " promised to the true believer. 
 
 Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost prophesies 
 thus: 
 
 "This know also, that in the /#.$/ days perilous times shall 
 come. 
 
 " For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, 
 boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, 
 unthankful, unholy, 
 
 " Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accuser?, - 
 incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 
 
 " Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more 
 than lovers of God ; 
 
 " Having a form of godliness, but denying the power 
 thereof : from such turn away." (II TIM. iii, i :$.) 
 
 Are we living in the last days ? Did Paul tell the truth 
 or was he mistaken, and are the theologians right when they 
 tell us that the world is growing wiser in the things of God, 
 and better? Are we " lovers of pleasures more than lovers of 
 God?" and is the tendency of churches toward entertain- 
 
92 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 merit, instead of spiritual, profitable and edifying instruction 
 in true Godliness? Are the church "trustees" and even 
 the minister, vying with the theatrical manager in the 
 invention and procuring of " attractions," not for the pur- 
 pose of " saving " by gospel method, but of keeping even in 
 the race for popularity and filling the church coffer ? Does 
 the fashionable, popular church accept or deny " THE " 
 form of Godliness, as well as the power thereof, as mani- 
 fested in the Doctrine of Christ, and the gifts of the Holy 
 Comforter which He promised to the believer? 
 
 Let popular, gilded and apostate Babylon and her harlot 
 daughters answer these questions, for answer they must, 
 either here or at the bar of Him, whose "word sliall judge " 
 us " in the last day." 
 
 Remember, again remember, oh, reader, that it is the 
 word interpreted by the spirit which comes through obedi- 
 ence to law, and not a " sign " or a "wonder " though it be 
 but a fascinating imitation or dangerous counterfeit of some 
 of the gospel signs which were to follow the believer in the 
 word as taught by the preacher whom God has sent, which 
 is to confirm you by the spirit of truth as a sure and safe 
 witness that we are " built upon a rock " that the storms of 
 time, the persecutions of men or the deceptive power of 
 demons cannot overthrow, and which is to finally judge 
 you, and to be the test of your building in this life. 
 
 Remember, and do not forget the warning which Jesus 
 gave, and which we repeat, lest you do forget and are led 
 into deception, that " many will say unto me in that day 
 the judgment day Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in 
 thy name ? and in thy name have cast out devils ? and in 
 thy name done many wonderful works? " And yet are 
 deceiving and being deceived through " the workings of 
 Satan, who with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, 
 and with all manner of deceivableness," is attracting the 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 93 
 
 attention of a faithless and unspiritual world away from the 
 angel- restored gospel in our day. 
 
 " And for this cause " shall God send them strong delu- 
 sions. Why? because they are not willing to believe the 
 truth, when it calls upon men to forsake their sins, not only 
 of lust and immorality, but of unbelief in the word of him 
 they constantly and with vain and useless liturgical repetition 
 call Lord, Lord. 
 
 " What's the use of a man's repenting of his sins, of aban- 
 doning unholy thoughts, or carnal desires and fleshy lusts, if 
 they do not essentially ' war against the ' human ' soul ' 
 and its eternal interests, but only serve the purposes of edu- 
 cation and of ' advancement ' in knowledge, instead of 
 retarding his true and upward growth?" says some ' liberal ' 
 in religious matters. 
 
 " What's the use of being obedient to any law in spiritual 
 matters, seeing things are changed and the gift of God, or 
 something so near like it which will do just as well, ' can be 
 purchased with money,' and without the trouble of self 
 denial?" 
 
 " What's the use or sense of trying to believe in a God 
 whom Ingersoll says is a fiend, or the priests say is dead, or 
 at least dumb ? What's the use of repenting, when evil is 
 only a ' lesser good ? ' What if Moses or Christ did say 
 ' thou shalt not,' they were only men, and we'll please our- 
 selves. The ' hell ' we were taught to believe in, we know 
 now to be a cruel and unreasonable superstition and myth. 
 The gods we do not know, and we know as- much about 
 them as anybody, as the changing creeds show. Satan is 
 not, and all the devils there are, are in men. Hell is 
 nowhere, and heaven everywhere, and it is easier to SLIDE 
 down there, than to toil up the old-fogy, hard, thorny, straight^ 
 narrow, contracted way. 
 
 "What's the use of troubling ourselves about any theory, 
 
94 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 when our learned preacher says that it makes but little dif- 
 ference what we believe, only so we are ' honest?' And 
 doesn't even Rev Joseph Cook and Dr. Lyman Abbott 
 know, when they say that ' millions of heathen have entered 
 into life eternal without any knowledge of Jesus Christ.' " 
 
 "What's ' the use of being baptized, if it's not a saving 
 ordinance. '?' ' Except a man be born of water ' don't mean 
 water, and the preacher ought to know, for we pay him 
 well to tell us about these things. We havn't time to read 
 it ourselves, and wouldn't know anything much about if we 
 did, and as for the doctrine of the laying on of hands, and 
 the literal resurrection of the body, and of eternal judgment, 
 we never heard much about them, and, as a matter of fact, 
 we don't believe in anything very substantial but the dollar 
 that's now crowned king, and moves everything in this world." 
 
 " As a matter of fact, however," says he, " by the way, 
 I was a little interested in a 'seance,' which, in company 
 with my neighbor, who owns the pew next to mine in 'Dr.' 
 Blank's church up on Vanderbilt avenue, arid who, by the 
 way, is a ' liberal ' in his views, I attended the other even- 
 ing. ' The slate writing ' and ' mind reading ' experiments, 
 I confess, notwithstanding the ' spiritualistic expose ' and 
 ' medium frauds ' that I had read about rather startled me, 
 and Brown says he knows there's something in it besides 
 ledgerdemain, and swears that there's intelligence in the 
 ' raps ' even. In fact I really got so interested that I had 
 to tell my wife about where I had been. But she said it 
 was all of the devil, and that if I was dissatisfied with ' Dr.' 
 Blank's frozen erudition and poetic descriptions of nothing, 
 that I had better go where she had been visiting, down to 
 the ' faith cure ' meetings, as she thought they had more 
 life there, and though she felt ashamed to have one of Dr. 
 Blank's congregation to be seen there, yet Mrs. S, a f holi- 
 ness ' woman and a good neighbor that lives in the alley in 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 95 
 
 the rear, has said so much to our servant lately about the 
 ' power ' they have at their meetings, I thought I would go> 
 and see if the Lord did really heal people now days, and' 
 perhaps he might heal my back that's been troubling me. 
 ' I really can't see/ said she, ' why He won't, just the same 
 as the Bible says He used to do.' 'And there's my daughter, 
 well, but it beats all, she's just wild on " Christian Science," 
 and I'll be bound if I know what the world is coming to, 
 any way. But I guess, however, that " one world at a 
 time " will do, and that it don't pay to worry over religious 
 matters very much anyhow.' " 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 '* How TO BECOME A MEDIUM." 
 
 IN a pamphlet written by Prof. Cadwell, a mesmerist,, 
 medium and spiritual lecturer, entitled " Spiritualism 
 Versus The Bible," we have upon pages 40 to 48 instruc- 
 tions "how to become a medium." "If you are not a 
 medium and wish to become one," instructions follow by 
 which complying with the conditions you may become one. 
 " Your best and quickest way," he says, " is to be mes- 
 merized by any mesmerist that you may have confidence in, 
 requesting that as soon as you become unconscious he ask 
 some spirit to come and take control of your physical sys- 
 tem," etc.' 
 
 What do you think of it? Would you be willing with your 
 experience with embodied spirits to hand over your pocket 
 book to a stranger in a strange city and among a strange 
 people ? Do you hand over what is more valuable your 
 agency to &c\.for yourself in important matters especially ? 
 Do you ever employ and trust an agent with temporal affairs 
 
96 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 in a limited sense without credentials of honesty ? Do you 
 take your wife and daughter into any and every kind of 
 society without reference to or knowledge of their character ? 
 
 " One great hindrance to mediumship," says the Professor, 
 "with those who sit, is the fear of being made to say or do 
 something they may be ashamed of" " If you sit for spirits 
 to control you, let them do it the best way they can, and 
 not interfere too much" " If you wish to know whether you 
 are a medium for a partial or full form materialization, sit 
 with a few intimate friends, place a number of articles on 
 the table before sitting around it, and make the room per- 
 fectly dark during the first few sittings. There may be a 
 guitar or violin on the table, a small tea-bell, a glass partially 
 filled with water, and one containing a tea spoon. Sit with 
 hands joined a part of the time, and engage in light, but 
 not frivolous or excitable, conversation, and in singing some 
 well-known song, in which the majority or all should join. 
 About one hour is long enough to sit, unless the manifesta- 
 tions commence. Do not expect too much at first. Let 
 the same company sit, and in the same room at regular in- 
 tervals once or twice a week, for not less than eight or ten 
 weeks. Let no others join, unless known to be in PERFECT 
 SYMPATHY and very mediumistic. The probabilities are, 
 judging from my past experience, that five out of ten of 
 such circles will get MANIFESTATIONS within a month." * * * 
 "You may hold two slates tied together with a crumb of 
 pencil between them, and when sufficiently magnetized by the 
 hands, you may get writing between the slates." (Pages 
 44 to 46.) 
 
 For years the brain of Bishop, the "mind reader," was 
 positively electric with a nerve force that mirrored with the 
 most astounding accuracy the pulsations that were tele- 
 graphed to him through an infinitesmal and subtle force and 
 power the thought of another soul or spirit inhabiting a 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 97 
 
 body. What possibilities of deception, if we admit the ex- 
 istence of disembodied spiritual intelligences, may there not 
 be developed through mortals yielding up the agency of 
 their bodies to them ? 
 
 It is unnecessary for me to tell my readers the law by 
 which they may avoid deception, or become the victims of 
 fraud, and the dupes of a bad man or the flattering seductive 
 ways of evil women in this world. But it is a hard and too 
 oft a thankless task to undertake to convert or try to reason 
 with a man or woman, who, fleeing from "dead works " and 
 useless and unprofitable forms of worship in fashionable 
 churches to the modern seance room, fall into the clutches 
 of a very host of spiritual intelligences, whose feats of 
 mental and physical legerdemain, startle us into forgetfulness 
 of the necessity of asking for credentials, or even stopping to 
 think of the necessity of "trying the spirits." Indeed, 
 what we want most to know, after sixteen centuries of spirit- 
 ual starvation, and doubt and gloom, and experiment with 
 men-made Gods and gospels, is, whether there are any 
 spirits at all? And company that can give us assurance 
 that the dead are not dead, are to be welcomed with or 
 without credentials or character. 
 
 A fortune teller will flourish who tells us the thing we 
 want to know. 
 
 A "medium" will gather the golden harvest who can 
 produce a spirit that is able to " persuade " us that we are 
 better than we are, or that the conditions of purity and holi- 
 ness are not essential to prevention of deception through 
 " lying signs and wonders " wrought by the " prince of the 
 power of the air," the spirits that now entice the children of 
 the flesh, and of the world, and of disobedience. 
 
 A mother in search of a babe " forever lost " will not be 
 careful to scan the "revelation" that promises a reunion. 
 Only too willing is she to comply with any condition that 
 
98 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 promises, or any spirit that can be made to satisfy her that 
 it is a spirit she is willing to meet more than half way or 
 to believe their every tale. What, I ask, what will not a 
 man or woman, a husband or wife, a father or a mother, lay 
 upon the altar of affection ? 
 
 Oh, sin-stricken, faithless, hungry, thirsty, starving soul ! 
 Listen to one who has run the gauntlet, and whose heart 
 and brain and life has been tested in the crucible of forces 
 that are pressing upon human consciousness and human hun- 
 ger and human need to-day. 
 
 Listen ! while to-day I point you to the Immaculate Son 
 of God, and ask you once more, in this closing word and 
 appeal, to listen to the voice of God from the clouds, " This 
 is my beloved son, hear ye him ;" and while he talks to the 
 Samaritan woman, let us listen as perhaps we never listened 
 before. 
 
 " The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to 
 draw with, and the well is deep : from whence then hast 
 thou that living water ? 
 
 " Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us 
 the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and 
 his cattle ? 
 
 " Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh 
 of this water shall thirst again : 
 
 " But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give 
 him shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him 
 shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting 
 life." (JOHN 4, n : 14.) 
 
 There were two wells there where 1800 years ago Jesus 
 talked with the woman of Samaria. 
 
 The site of one is lost ; the other, the source of its won- 
 drous and life-giving power having become corrupted 
 through giving heed to doctrines of men and the more sub- 
 tle doctrines of devils, for centuries has been unknown. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFEST A TIONS. 99 
 
 The means by which that fountain of "living water" may 
 be reached, is in the fact that to the writer the cup has been 
 pressed to his lips through the restoration in our day,* 
 according to Christ's promise, of the law and the gospel, by 
 which and only through which the righteousness of God was 
 revealed to Paul is revealed to him and reader, may be 
 by your own act revealed to you. 
 
 Before we take our leave of you, we desire to call another 
 witness from the past, and we listen to 
 
 " Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to 
 them that have obtained like precious faith with us through 
 the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ : 
 
 " Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the 
 knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 
 
 " According as his divine power hath given unto us all 
 things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the 
 knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue : 
 (II Peter i, i to 3.) 
 
 Not only do we want and need to know of something 
 that pertains to our existence, but to Peter there was given 
 through a " divine power" " all things that pertain to life" 
 as well as Godliness. 
 
 It is not enough to satisfy ; it is not enough to know ; it is 
 not the design of God that we should be satisfied with life 
 as it comes to the animal creation, without will, volition, 
 desire, or intelligent action. Life in its abounding sense and 
 
 *" And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the 
 everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to 
 every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, 
 
 " Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for 
 the hour of his judgment is come : and worship him that made heaven, 
 and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. 
 
 " And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is 
 fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine 
 of the wrath of her fornication." (REV. xiv, 6, 7, 8). 
 
ioo SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 fullness is and can only be revealed as we walk the narrow 
 way which a divine, a " revealed " law points out to us in 
 which to travel. " Straight is the gate that leads to life," in 
 its full and complete sense ; there is no crookedness, nor 
 darkness, nor winding, deceptive, evasive, nor destroy- 
 ing agency, or opposite form of life that shall be able to 
 deceive or to mislead him who hath the wisdom and the 
 courage to tread this shining way of light. Light shining and 
 luminous with reason, virtue, intelligence, holiness, purity, 
 " all things" that pertain to a profitable and Godly existence. 
 
 " Jesus said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water 
 shall thirst again." 
 
 What fountain my reader have you been drinking from ? 
 How does it effect your growth ? and are you satisfied ? If 
 not if the doctrines of men and experience with spirit 
 agency has left a void in your soul let me beseech you as 
 one who loves your soul to come with me, and let me per- 
 suade you to let down your vessel into that well and test 
 that promise and see if it be not true that Jesus Christ is 
 the same, yesterday, to-day, forever, and " though having 
 not seen Him," know that He lives to redeem His promises 
 to-day to those who believe on Him and obey His law. 
 
 " For the promise (of the Holy Ghost) is unto you, and 
 io your children and to all them that are afar off, even 
 as many as the Lord our God shall call." (Acrs ii : 39.) 
 
 Reader, you are now called by God's chosen ministry. 
 Our life against its failure if you but comply with " the 
 law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus." 
 
 Possession of this power from God will place you not 
 only in possession of " some " things, but " all things that 
 pertain unto life." 
 
 "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and 
 cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and 
 drink. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 101 
 
 " He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out 
 of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 
 
 " (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe 
 on him should receive : for the Holy Ghost was not yet 
 given ; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (}OHN vii, 
 
 37:39-) 
 
 Have you been blessed with a portion of the spirit of God 
 in your religious experience that makes it hard for you to 
 yield to the persuasions of men or spirits that the name of 
 Jesus has not a different sound than other names, and 
 though even clouded by the creeds, is still to you " a name 
 which is above every other name ; " that the Bible still 
 must have something in it for you that neither priest or 
 atheist has ever been able to either fully explain or to do 
 away? Are you still groping in that partial "light that 
 lightens every man that cometh into the world," no matter 
 whether he be Christian or Pagan, and still unsatisfied, still 
 thirsting for the waters of a life yet higher, broader, deeper 
 than you have ever known? In other words, Have you 
 received the HOLY GHOST since you believed ? I mean the 
 ancient Holy Ghost, that absolute promise made by the 
 Saviour, and not that counterfeit imitation upon which you 
 have tried to feed your soul, but that " another comforter," 
 even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, 
 because, blinded by priestcraft and apostacy, and seducing 
 spirits and the flattering and plausible doctrine of devils, it, 
 "the world," " seeth him not neither knoweth him." 
 Whosoever drinketh of the corrupted fountains of the world 
 shall thirst again. 
 
 " But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give 
 him shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him 
 shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting 
 life." 
 
 Do you lack knowledge concerning heavenly gifts? 
 
102 SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND 
 
 Remember that if you are a member of Christ's body, " a 
 branch of the true vine," His words abiding in you, you 
 shall ask what you will, for you will riot then be disposed to 
 ask amiss, and He will give it unto you through His prom- 
 ised representative. 
 
 "Is any sick among you" the church "let him call 
 for the elders of the church-, let them pray over them, 
 anointing them with oil in the name" by the authority "of 
 the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick," for 
 to one, by this spirit of promise, " is given the gift of heal- 
 ing." " If any man" among you lack wisdom, let him ask 
 of God through this legitimate means, and not of "familiar 
 spirits " ; "for to one is given the gift of wisdom, to another 
 the gift of knowledge, to another the gift of faith, to another 
 discerning of spirits, to another the gift of tongues, to 
 another prophecy," etc., etc. "All, all things that pertain 
 unto life and godliness " are in the keeping of this promised 
 comforter. This is the well* and the fountain we call you 
 to drink of. Reader, will you come ? Once more we ask 
 you to hear his voice : 
 
 " At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O 
 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid 
 these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed 
 them unto babes. 
 
 " Even so, Father : for so it seemed good in thy sight. 
 
 " All things are delivered unto me of my Father : and no 
 man knoweth the Son^ but the Father ; neither knoweth any 
 man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the 
 Son will reveal him. 
 
 " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
 and I will give you rest. 
 
 " Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; for I am 
 meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest unto your 
 souls. 
 
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 103 
 
 " For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (MATE 
 n, 25 130.) - 
 
 And to the brethren of the Church of God and of Jesus 
 Christ in all the world, we send you our love and our assur- 
 ance of God's goodness, and of an eternal and abiding 
 faith in his wondrous and holy promises secured to us by 
 obedience to our glorious evangel the ancient gospel 
 restored in all its happy fullness to earth's afflicted sons and 
 daughters, and in the language of the beloved disciple, we 
 administer to you, as your fellow-laborer in the Lord, our 
 parting benediction and blessing. 
 
 "But the anointing which ye have received of him 
 abideth in you : and ye need not that any man teach you : 
 but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,, and 
 is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye 
 shall abide in him." 
 
THE 
 
 SEER OF PALMYRA, 
 
 OR 
 
 THE THREE WITNESSES. 
 
 A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIRTS. 
 
 BY M. H. BOND. 
 
 "Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, 
 
 saith thfe King of Jacob, 
 
 Let'them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen, 
 Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye 
 
 are gods." ISA. xli: 21-24. 
 
 "And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the 
 Lord hath spoken ? 
 
 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow 
 not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, 
 but the prophet hath spoken presumptiously: thou shalt not be afraid of 
 him." DEUT. xviii: 21, 22. 
 
PREFACE TO SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 'HE criticism that "Spiritual Gifts" is a sort of 
 cul-de-sac, i. e., a "blind canal" that leads nowhere, 
 has been impressed upon the mind of the writer, 
 or, in other words, that while many might agree that the 
 arraignment of popular religion for its inconsistency in 
 claiming sanction from either reason or the Bible was just, 
 and that the claim of Spiritualism that similarity of appear- 
 ance in exhibition of supernatural power through their 
 mediums to the phenomenon or "signs" promised by Jesus 
 and manifested in the early Christian church, was proof of 
 but one origin for both are evidenced to be unsafe and un- 
 warranted conclusions, yet have we, ourselves, failed to but 
 hint at the way out of difficulties that beset the dissatisfied 
 but earnest seeker after truth. 
 
 If any have been led to think thus, we have only this to 
 say : That our object first, in writing, was to stimulate 
 thought among people, both in the church and out, in re- 
 gard to the difficulties that beset the feet of the unwary and 
 the novice in the consideration of these things, and the 
 danger of confounding manifestations of occult force in their 
 application to religious truths, and the great care and dis- 
 crimination needed in dealing with the tremendous powers 
 which the age is fast discovering man to be subject to ; to 
 point to the consideration of the primitive and original 
 methods of obtaining light as revealed in reason and rational 
 scripture interpretation. 
 
 To the stranger to the gospel message as revealed from 
 heaven in our day, who may have read the book and felt dis- 
 
4 PREFACE TO SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 satisfied at the close, in that it, as before expressed, "led 
 nowhere," we offer as a necessarily brief apology and explan- 
 ation, this "Supplement." 
 
 And to members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we only 
 say : Believing that the complex grouping in which the In- 
 finite Spirit of God may formulate and postulate the glorious 
 evidences of our Evangel can never be exhausted in time, 
 nor, we believe, in eternity, we submit for their kindly 
 criticism our epitomized evidences of the truth of the Latter 
 Day Message. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
THE SEER OF PALMYRA, 
 
 OR 
 
 SEQUEL TO " SPIRITUAL GIFTS." 
 
 CHAPTER I. THE THREE WITNESSES. 
 
 " We have also, a more sure word of prophesy, whereunto ye do 
 well to take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until 
 the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." (II PETER, i : 19.) 
 
 "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be 
 established. " ( MOSES. ) 
 
 So says Moses, Jesus, Common Law, Common Justice, 
 Reason and Right. 
 
 The character of testimony admissible in courts of 
 common jurisprudence is thus defined by Worcester : 
 
 "Any matter of fact, the effect or design of which, when presented 
 to the human mind is to produce a persuasion affirmative or dis- 
 affirmative of the existence of some other fact. The means by which 
 facts are obtained for judicial purposes." 
 
 In other words, the preponderance of evidence is entitled 
 to the verdict. Upon this basis decrees are rendered that 
 may deprive a man of his life. 
 
 Our religion is upon trial in this nineteenth century ; the 
 world is summoned as a jury, and they will be charged with 
 the rendering of a verdict and judgment that the ages have 
 given sanction to : the judgment which unimpeachable 
 testimony of as many witnesses as the law may demand in 
 order to produce a preponderance of evidence, and to effect 
 a conviction in honest minds. 
 
 It will not be enough for us to say "We are not 
 
6 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 interested in religious matters, and especially in your 
 message." We are all interested, and involved in it 
 as we shall show, whether you realize it now or not and 
 when the evidence is all presented you will be called upon 
 to decide. 
 
 Eighteen centuries ago, there appeared among men an 
 obscure and unlearned Galilean. Whatever notoriety or 
 fame he may have obtained in his day among the popular 
 and fashionable world especially the religious portion of it 
 was the notoriety that attached to a malefactor. A man 
 "born of fornication," of lowly surroundings, and questionable 
 associations. A man m whom none of the rulers and public 
 teachers of the Pharisees believed as other than an imposter. 
 In his following were to be found few, very few, save the 
 poor, the illiterate, the unfortunate born and the poverty 
 reared ; and hung at last between thieves and the heavens 
 upon charges of blasphemy of their holy religion by the 
 Jew, and of conspiracy against Caesar's government by the 
 Roman nation. Hated and hunted to the death, was this 
 " man of sorrows," by the religious leaders of the day, 
 whose inconsistency, hypocrisy and apostacy from the faith 
 of God he denounced with a force and clearness that 
 rendered the employment of every species and every weapon 
 of warfare, save the truth, a necessity upon their part in 
 order to save their systems from overthrow. 
 
 With open scripture in his hand he quoted from the law 
 by which in pretense they claimed to be governed, and 
 read concerning himself, " It is written." His disciples and 
 followers after him, when brought before the judgment seat 
 of Jew or Gentile, for a reason for their faith, testified to 
 " none other things than Moses and the prophets said should 
 come." They affirmed, not as eye witnesses alone concern- 
 ing Jesus, that not only had they seen him alive, and that 
 he had manifested himself unto them " by many infallible 
 
CW, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 7 
 
 proofs," but that "he died, was buried, and rose the third 
 day according to the scriptures." 
 
 Did this array of rational argument and testimony con- 
 vince, convert, or reform the Jew ? Nay ! They were too 
 steeped in the fashion and pride of this world ; the prestige 
 of fleshy power was too dear ; the praise of men, the emolu- 
 ments of their priestly office, coupled with their rage at him- 
 self and followers because of their exposure of their true 
 position in the light of rational scripture interpretation, rea- 
 son, justice and truth, was too much for them to confess and 
 renounce. They said : " We are stronger with error upon 
 our side, than are these illiterate fishermen and tax gatherers 
 with truth upon their side," and discarding the warnings of 
 their prophets, refusing the message of the "base things of 
 this world," whom God in his own inscrutable wisdom had 
 chosen to represent his truth, they sought by slander, mis- 
 representation, ostracism and physical force to destroy from 
 under the sun the message of Jesus Christ. 
 
 So transcendently above the world was his doctrine, that 
 no wonder was his mission misconstrued. That God should 
 choose "the weak things of this world to " supersede "the 
 wisdom of the mighty" was not conceived of by them. 
 The very faults and human weaknesses and worldly ignorance 
 betrayed by the early saints, as witnessed in the Pauline 
 Epistles, made the Gospel message " to the Jews a stumbling 
 block, and to the Greek foolishness," and ignoring the 
 spirit, the power and the life that was in Moses and the proph- 
 ets, they placed the ban of popular ecclesiastical ostra- 
 cism upon it, and drove its adherents to prison and to death. 
 
 The war of differences was waged, "and a man's foes 
 were of his own household," and the followers of Jesus were 
 " hated of all men " because of the falsehoods and slanders 
 set on foot by the enemies of the Christian faith ; and 
 " authentic history " during the first and second century 
 
8 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 tells us that the early Christians "were haters of mankind," 
 and that the religion of Jesus, was, according to Tacitus, " a 
 destructive superstition." 
 
 Has human nature changed ? 
 
 Is human history repeating itself in our day in regard to 
 religion ? 
 
 Has the truths of God changed, or has God changed in 
 his manner of revealing his mind and will ? 
 
 If not with the history of the Jew, and his fate as a 
 nation, for the rejection of Heaven's message before us, in 
 the awful history of his suffering for eighteen centuries let 
 us proceed to our brief presentation of 
 
 THE LATTER DAY MESSAGE. 
 
 Was Joseph Smith a prophet of God, or an impostor ? 
 
 Is the religious system understood, or misunderstood, in 
 the world to-day as "Mormonism," from first to Jast, as 
 characterized by Joseph Cook, a " Latter Day Swindle ?" 
 Or is it, separated from the apostasy which polygamy and 
 other kindred evils which afflicted the early Christian Church, 
 a message to mankind which can no more safely be treated 
 with unfairness, unreason, or injustice, than could the Jew 
 and the world meet the message of Jesus and his followers 
 with a flat refusal to submit to honorable rules of warfare in 
 the discussion of religious questions without danger of ulti- 
 mate overthrow of their systems of religious faith? 
 
 2d. Is " Mormonism" in its origin an "avant courier" of 
 modern Spiritualism, and was Joseph Smith a prophet of 
 God in the same sense only as are all mediums who claim 
 supernatural direction and spiritual control ? 
 
 Our reply to both of these questions must be found in a 
 brief exposition and application to events that have tran- 
 spired and are now taking place in our day, of the text 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 9 
 
 quoted from in the beginning, and taken from the second 
 letter of Peter (II PETER, i, 19) : 
 
 " We have also a more sure word of prophesy." 
 
 This "word of prophesy," refers in comparison to some 
 antecedent testimony which we find by reading the three 
 previous verses to be a brief allusion to what our modern 
 spiritualistic friends would term a materialization of spirit 
 forms, the record of which event is alluded to by Matthew 
 in the iyth chapter of his testimony beginning with the ist 
 verse : 
 
 "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, 
 and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, 
 
 "And was transfigured before them; and his face did shine as the 
 sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 
 
 "And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking 
 with him." 
 
 "While ke yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; 
 and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." (Matthew xvii, 1:2: 
 3:50 
 
 As the differences between this supernatural manifesta- 
 tion and the manifestations of the modern seance room and 
 cabinet exhibitions have been referred to previously in the 
 pages of this book, we stop not now to analyze differences, 
 but proceed to call the attention of spritualists, and inves- 
 tigators of their claims and the lovers of truth everywhere, 
 to a class of evidences and testimony seldom seen upon 
 the witness stand in our day. 
 
 " We have also a more sure word of prophesy." 
 
 Peter's position is, we claim, in spite of the lack of his 
 ecclesiastical educational advantages, an impregnable one 
 grand, stable, intellectual, and abiding in the character of 
 its forcefulness and reasoning. Let us follow this authorized 
 representative of Jesus who was called the Christ, taking 
 along with us our "Three Witnesses," referred to in the 
 
io THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 > 
 beginning, lest we be deceived in this age of deception 
 
 and doubt. 
 
 Peter has been to what would, if given a modern name, 
 be called a " seance," and witnessed with James and John 
 and Jesus, a materialization of the spirit forms of Moses and 
 Elias, and in addition, has heard the supernatural voice 
 " This is my beloved son." Enough, we would say, to 
 satisfy, and perhaps convert, the Rev. M. J. Savage, Rev. 
 Heber Newton, the editor of the "Arena," Mary Livermore, 
 and others who have become interested in modern 
 spiritualistic phenomena, and who have signed an appeal 
 for the establishing of a " Psychic Investigation Association " 
 in the city of Boston in order to find a satisfaction and 
 evidence concerning heavenly things, which the theology of 
 Joseph Cook does not furnished them with, as well as thous- 
 ands of other honest yet dissatisfied investigators. 
 
 Leaving then, for the time, these manifestations, or 
 evidences for what they were in Peter's day, or may, or may 
 not, in our day be worth to mankind, let us follow him in 
 his argument. " We have also a more sure word of 
 prophesy." Strong as was the evidence apparently furnished 
 to Peter in the testimony upon the mount, his experience 
 and knowledge of the possibility of deception,when "visions," 
 " apparitions, " or occult manifestations were to serve as the 
 basis of men's faith, leads him to the higher intellectual and 
 moral ground to be occupied in the discussion of evidence 
 in regard to heavenly things as revealed in a correct under- 
 standing and proper interpretation of the " more sure word 
 of prophesy " concerning the truth of the message he was 
 called of Jesus Christ to deliver the world. 
 
 Rational and abiding ground for belief in the mission of 
 Jesus Christ was not alone safely to be predicated in the fact 
 that a vision, or similitude of the dead Moses and Elias had 
 appeared to him, but rather in the intellectual, rational, and 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL QIPTS. 11 
 
 permanent argument that should stand the wear and test of 
 the ages, that thousands and hundreds of years before his 
 existence upon earth men, under the movement and inspir- 
 ation of a power that was willing to write its own test of truth 
 upon enduring tablets and throw down the gauge and chal- 
 l^nge to every power to a disproof of its importance and 
 truthfulness, and had "shown before, the coming of the just 
 o;ie;" had anticipated his reception, and photographed 
 history upon the mind of men, ages before it was conceived 
 of, or born in human wisdom, or of human knowledge. 
 And, when, 3000 years ago, the King of Moab withstood 
 Baalam, Baalam the son of Beor took up in prophesy this 
 parable : 
 
 " He said, which heard the words of God and knew the knowledge 
 of the Most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into 
 a trance, but having his eyes opened. " 
 
 " I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh; 
 there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of 
 Israel. " " Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion," 
 etc. (NUM. xxiv, 15-19.) 
 
 " To Him gave all the prophets witness, " said Peter, 
 (Acis x : 43-.) 
 
 From Genesis to Malachi, the Infinite Spirit of truth, 
 impressing itself upon human agency and voicing itself in 
 human speech, sometimes, it is true/ less clear than at others, 
 but, altogether, in the chain of evidences extending over 
 ages of time, revealed, the one purpose of a superior intelli- 
 gence promising and. portraying events whose fulfillment in 
 Jesus' day and in his own person could by no possible 
 means suggest collusion or attempt to fulfill a promised pro- 
 gramme, by a life of suffering and self-denial upan the part 
 of the principal actors in order to carry out and perpetuate 
 a fraud upon the world. 
 
 The presence of John his forerunner, his nativity from 
 n virgin, as well as his human generation, his miraculous 
 
12 THE SEER OF PALMYRA; 
 
 power, his entry into Jerusalem, his betrayal, his insult, 
 buffeting and scourging, patience under suffering, his 
 prophetic character and priestly office, his stupendous claim 
 for himself, and bold promise of heavenly revelation to the 
 obedient to his law as regarding himself, his rejection by 
 Jew and Gentile, his betrayal, his trial, death with the 
 wicked, the parting of his vesture, his burial with the rich, 
 his resurrection, exaltation, ascension, etc., etc. This, to 
 Peter, and to us, was, and is, the second, and more stable, 
 far reaching, and important witness to the message of truth 
 which they had to present to the world than was the vision 
 upon the mount. 
 
 That men, in and of themselves, could write history as 
 faithfully as was portrayed in the Jewish scriptures ages 
 before its fulfillment, was, in human analogy and experience, 
 to Peter, as it is to us, unreasonable ; that they were the 
 result of but one mind and one plan was evident. 
 
 "For prophesy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy 
 men of God spake as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost" 
 (II PET. i, 21). 
 
 This was God's method of revealing his mind and will to 
 men prior to the advent of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ 
 himself, fulfilling the plan thus foretold by prophet and seer, 
 summoned Heaven as witness to his mission, and promised 
 the same testator in regard to himself and his gospel to every 
 one who should submit themselves to his law, and thus 
 bringing in the third witness to the truth, as referred to by 
 Peter in the closing paragraph of the text : 
 
 "Until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your heart." (II 
 PET. i, 19.) 
 
 There was the vision upon the mount, and the supernatural 
 manifestation, but, standing amidst a host of deceptive and 
 counterfeiting agencies, it could not introduce a rule itself, 
 isolated and alone by which to satisfactorily test and "try the 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 13 
 
 spirits" manifested in so many different and conflicting ways, 
 as revealed in Peter's, as well as in our day, unless we accept 
 the test referred to by St. John : " That every spirit that con- 
 fessed Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, was already come in the 
 flesh, was of God and consequently not a false or delusive 
 spirit or manifestation. (I Jonxiv, i : 4.) The vision upon 
 the mount had this advantage, as all similar ones must have 
 in the preponderance of evidence furnished to reason, in 
 that its manifestations and revelations were " according to 
 the scriptures," i.e., somebody, ages perhaps before, testified 
 of these things. But to Peter it was not alone enough to en- 
 gage the fordes of error in the world, and he summons there- 
 fore as his second witness " a more sure word of prophesy," 
 whereunto they did well to take heed, as unto a light shining 
 in a dark place. In other words, the power to foretell, as 
 manifested in the utterances of a David, an Isaiah, an 
 Ezekiel, or a Daniel, or a Zechariah, in the portrayal in 
 prophesy of the grand themes their revelations gave to the 
 world, was proof of the existence of God and of the Superior 
 Mind, as well as a willingness to communicate as well as 
 human weakness would permit, its witness to the world of 
 mankind. 
 
 But then there were false prophets and seers all along the 
 line of history from Baalam's day and Saul's. The worship 
 of Baal, etc., etc., whose cunning admixture of truth and 
 error in such proportions as was also seen in the Egyptian 
 and Grecian oracles, and which made them a source of 
 wealth to the priest who practiced enchantment, manipul- 
 ated consciously or unconsciously the powers of the air, and 
 summoned to their aid the language of the heavens to 
 astound the ignorant and unwary. 
 
 These powers, natural or supernatural, were not abated in 
 exhibition of their force and appeal in Peter's day. J-.sus 
 and his disciples were constantly met in their ministry by 
 
14 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 these opposing agencies, and which, it seems, could only be 
 exposed by heavenly authority and manifestation upon the 
 part of those whom God had commissioned as ambassadors 
 of his eternal truth. 
 
 Thus became it necessary for Jesus to warn them and the 
 world against false prophets, whose disguise the ignorant 
 and unwary would fail to penetrate. 
 
 False prophets were to arise, according to Paul, and lead 
 away many, and Peter forewarns the world, as shown in the 
 previous pages, that in the last days that wicked influence 
 should be revealed, whose coming and advent was to be 
 after the cunning and plausible power of Satan, with all 
 power of signs and lying wonders, to deceive those who 
 were not willing to receive the love of the truth, but would 
 be after a revelation that promised continued life, and lib- 
 erty without law and blessing without obedience. 
 
 These facts, then, made the introduction of the third and 
 final witness and rational test of Peter's religion a necessity, 
 which was this : 
 
 The revelation, by heavenly arrangement according to the 
 plan devised and offered in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, was 
 the promise and pledge of the Holy Ghost with all its 
 blessed and manifold gifts to man by Peter upon Penticost 
 day ; not to one, but to all, even as many as the Lord 
 "should call." 
 
 It was a simple reiteration of Jesus' promise, when he 
 said : 
 
 " My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent. me. If any man will 
 do the will of God he shall know of the doctrine, whether it is of God, 
 or whether I speak of myself." 
 
 The true nature and character of Jesus Christ, more 
 especially that concerning his nativity, could not be ascer- 
 tained by natural method. No man could say that Jesus 
 was other than man, with certainty, save but by the per- 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 15 
 
 sonal revelation of God through the . testimony of Jesus 
 Christ, the gift of the Holy Ghost. Upon the contrary, 
 they were likely to, and did say, that he was naught but a 
 man, and in most cases a very bad man. 
 
 But when this holy intelligence and influence was received 
 through obedience to the doctrine and commandments of 
 Jesus, not only was his divinity revealed, but by this 
 unspeakable gift to man, he was through conformity to law 
 and holy living, to be led into, guided and instructed in the 
 way of all truth. 
 
 These three witnesses then, we claim, have given us the 
 permanency and stability that ever belonged to the early 
 Christian faith. 
 
 By the sure word of prophecy and this testimony of Jesus 
 to them, they overcame the world and made human history 
 illustrious with its hope. 
 
 Signs and wonders might be counterfeited, and even 
 prophesy might be successfully imitated enough by satanic 
 force to deceive, besides leaving perhaps a man's moral 
 character untouched or unregenerated, but the spirit of truth 
 was culminative, and to those who continued in his word, 
 unerasable and unanswerable. The way to knowledge con- 
 cerning heavenly things was opened, and that was enough, 
 for Jehova had parted the vail that was in the temple which 
 had served only as a sensual figure or type to Israel of the 
 heavenly thing now to be manifest to men when on the 
 cross His Son said : " It is finished," and the way into the 
 Holy of Holies was opened once for all, and man might 
 without hindrance or let draw near to God. 
 
 This, then, we present as a postulate of evid nces in favor 
 or proof of original Christianity. 
 
1 6 THE SEER OF PALMYRA; 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " Surely, the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his ser- 
 vants, the prophets." (AMOS iii, 7.) 
 
 "Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the 
 God of Jacob." (IsA. xli. 21.) 
 
 PBOUT seventy years ago, in the western part of the 
 State of New York, a young man about fifteen years 
 of age, by the name of Joseph Smith, placed before 
 his father's family and startled the immediate neighborhood 
 by the statement that in answer to prayer he had received 
 the visitation of heavenly angels. 
 
 His own statement concerning these events, epitomized, is 
 something like this : That while deeply moved religiously 
 through revivals that were being held in his neighborhood, 
 and finding a conflict in his father's family as to which of 
 the religious sects or churches they should join, as he was 
 reading the Bible, his eye fell upon, this passage in James 
 
 GAS. i, 5) : 
 
 " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all 
 men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him," etc. 
 
 Being too inexperienced in modern ways of juggling the 
 scriptures to presume that the Lord did not mean what he 
 said, he proceeded to a piece of woods or grove, and 
 kneeling alone he prayed, and the angels' visit is thus 
 described by him : 
 
 "My object in going to enquire of the Lord, was to know which of 
 all these sects was right, that I might know which one of them to join. 
 I asked the personages who stood above me in the light,.- which of all 
 the sects was right, for it had never entered into my heart that all were 
 wrong, and which I should join. I was answered that I should join 
 none of them for they were all wrong, and the personage who 
 addressed me said that all the creeds were an abomination in his sight, 
 that the professors of religion were corrupt. 'They draw near me 
 with their lips, but their hearts are far from me ; they teach for doc- 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 17 
 
 trine the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they 
 deny the power thereof.' He again forbade me to join any of them." 
 HISTOEY OF JOSEPH SMITH. 
 
 From the minister to whom he confided his wonderful 
 experience, he received a contemptuous reply that he was 
 the subject of hallucination, and that it was all of the Devil ; 
 that there were no more such things as revelations or angels' 
 visits to men ; that they had ceased with and in the days of 
 Christ and his apostles. 
 
 Again, on the eve of September 21, 1823, another vision 
 was presented to Joseph Smith, in which a person, glorious 
 in appearance in the whiteness of his robes and the light 
 which accompanied him, who told him that he was a mes- 
 senger sent from God to inform him concerning the work 
 that the Lord had selected him to perform, giving him to 
 understand at the outset that his name should be had for 
 good and evil in all the world and among all nations, a thing 
 most unlikely to happen to an illiterate youth. He said that 
 there was a book deposited and written upon gold plates, 
 giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent 
 and the source from which they sprang. He also said that 
 the fulness of the everlasting gospel was contained in it as 
 delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants. 
 
 He also quoted from the Hebrew scriptures in regard to the 
 mission of Christ, and also opened up to this youth a vision 
 of the place where the book was concealed, so that it was 
 afterwards found by this means. 
 
 Subsequently, also, by angel ministry, and in fulfillment of 
 promises made by heavenly messengers to him that the time 
 had come for the Lord himself to work among men, and 
 that the ancient gospel with its gifts and the church of 
 Christ was to be restored to earth, and that he with others 
 was to be endowed with priesthood and authority to act and 
 administer in the name of the Lord ; that he would confirm 
 
IS THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 their testimony to the gospel with signs following, as in 
 ancient times, giving heavenly instructions in regard to the 
 work of organization and spreading abroad the ancient gospel 
 and kingdom of God among men. Also, the angel told him 
 that God was about to fulfil the covenants made in the 
 Hebrew scriptures to the Jew : "That the land of Palestine 
 was to be restored to its former fertility, and the Jew was to 
 be gathered back to this land in fulfillment of the covenant 
 which God had made with their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob, as well as all the prophets who had foretold of 
 these things, and that all these things were to take place in 
 this generation. 
 
 Now that a young man, or rather youth, should make 
 claim of angel visitation in our day, might, or might not be, 
 a strange thing. Joan of Arc saw visions; Immanuel 
 Swedenborg has impressed thousands with the testimony of 
 his seership ; and visions and revelations, as we have pre- 
 viously shown, are not things to be especially wondered at, 
 more especially since the time of the announcement of the 
 work begun through the instrumentality of this young man. 
 
 But the marked differences between the claim for their 
 origin and proof, as well as the results with which his work 
 has been characterized, and the work and character of the 
 manifestations wrought through Ann Lee, Swedenborg, 
 Catholic revelation or modern spiritualistic phenomenon, 
 are the objective points to which we wish to call the reader's 
 attention. 
 
 That this young man should say : First that an angel had 
 told him that his name should be spoken of in all the world 
 both for good and for evil, might be the result of wild fanati- 
 cism or mental hallucination, and if unproved by subsequent 
 events would certainly justify us in such conclusion. But 
 what are the facts in the case ? While men said that this 
 boy would never be known beyond his own immediate 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 19 
 
 neighboshood, history already for half a century records the 
 exact fulfillment of the prediction of this illiterate youth, and 
 the friends and enemies of Joseph Smith and " Mormonism," 
 are already in every part of the globe. 
 
 That he should write a book* giving a mythical history of 
 two or three separate and distinct nations or peoples 
 whose progenitors and founders emigrated to the continent 
 of America, beginning as far back in human history as 
 the time of the abatement of the flood, or about 2200 years 
 before Christ, and another just prior to the time of the 
 destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the 
 carrying away into Babylonish captivity of the main body of 
 Israelitish dwellers therein, or 600 years B. C., and still of 
 another people subsequent to the captivity. 
 
 These things might not of themselves prove any thing 
 
 * The Book of Mormon has been claimed by the enemies of 
 Joseph Smith and of the Latter Day work to be a revamped story 
 written originally by one Solomon Spa aiding, etc., the manuscript of 
 which was stolen by Smith and revamped by the aid of Sidney 
 Rigdon, a disciple minister, and palmed off upon a half million of 
 credulous people as a revelation from God. 
 
 To this stupid falsehood there is not, nor has there been attest 
 or shadow of reasonable testimony. 
 
 Born of the imagination of some one, as being the solution of the 
 origin of the Book of Mormon, this story, for want of a better explana- 
 tion, has obtained currency almost throughout the world, and popu- 
 lar encyclopedial literature furnishes, as in Jesus' day, stories concern- 
 ing the origin of a religion and a book that opposes priestcraft 
 statements substantiated only by the preface, " It is claimed, It is 
 supposed," etc. As a matter of fact, Sidney Rigdon never saw any- 
 thing of the manuscript of the B. of M. until a printed copy was 
 placed in his hand. Any amount of testimony of men now living 
 can substantiate this, the manuscript of the original Spaulding 
 story, having been by the Providence of God found in Honolulu, 
 Sandwich Islands, and now in the possession of James H. Fairchild, 
 President of Oberlin, Ohio, College, and a copy of which can be 
 procured by addressing the Herald, Lamoni, Iowa. 
 
20 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 extraordinary unless other evidence was had. But when 
 we take in our hand the Bible and find that the prophets and 
 seers of the Old Testament, as well as Jesus Christ himself 
 and his apostles in the New Testament plainly foretold off 
 and delineated these very things which Mr. Smith has in 
 his life work brought about and fulfilled to the very letter, 
 we begin to see room for just grounds for the claim of some- 
 thing more for the work of Joseph Smith and what the world 
 calls "Mormonism" than can be claimed by any other modern 
 prophet, seer, or professed revealer of the supernatural. 
 
 To demonstrate that we are dealing soberly and honestly 
 as well as truthfully in this, it will be necessary to open 
 briefly the pages of that which orthodox Jew arvd Gentile 
 receive as authority, the Bible. 
 
 ist, We stated that Joseph Smith startled his father's 
 family and neighbors by these statements concerning the 
 angel's message, and that the messenger had told him of a 
 book, written upon plates of gold, sealed up and hidden for 
 preservation in the ground centuries before by those whom 
 God had commanded to do this, and for purposes which 
 the book itself reveals. That it gave an account of the first 
 peoples who settled this continent, etc., etc. 
 
 Now we submit that this was a strange and unlikely story 
 for even wise men to tell, and the fact that they never have 
 told any such story is proof that Smith originated it, if the 
 angel story is not true. 
 
 This book which was first given to the world over sixty 
 years ago delivers an account of people who came from tha 
 tower of Babel at the time that God confounded their 
 language. 
 
 What does the Bible say? 
 
 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did 
 there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did 
 the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." (GEN. 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 21 
 
 America is a part of " the earth." 
 
 American archaeological research, testimony and author- 
 ity, confirm these statements. 
 
 Concerning the second emigration to this land as affirmed 
 in the book of Mormon, we call the Bible reader's attention 
 to the forty-eighth chapter of Genesis, where as seen in the 
 nineteenth verse, Jacob, a prophet of the living God, blesses 
 the two sons of his own favorite son, Joseph, whom his 
 brethera sold into Egypt ; and said of them : 
 
 "The angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and 
 let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth ; and of the 
 elder, (Manasseh) he said, he also shall become a people, and he also 
 shall be great, but truly his younger brother, (Ephraim) shall be 
 greater than he, and his seed shall become a rmiltit'ude of nations" 
 (GEN. xlviii, 16-19.) 
 
 Where, save in the remnant of one of Jacob or Israel's 
 scattered sons or tribes, as seen in the multitude of Indian 
 nations which Columbus discovered as possessing this land, 
 can we find a rational explanation or fulfillment of this 
 prophesy ? Certainly not in Palestine, the land covenanted 
 to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for there was not, nor is there 
 room enough in that land for its fulfillment, neither does 
 subsequent history record its fulfillment there. 
 
 Farther evidence and light is obtained by reading the 
 forty-ninth chapter, beginning with the first verse : 
 
 " And Jacob called his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, 
 that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days." 
 
 Blessings of various degrees and kind, and to modern 
 readers, without special significance, concerning Israel's sons 
 or tribes are here spoken of prophetically, but when we 
 come to the prophetic blessing of Joseph and his line, as 
 seen in the twenty-second verse, we have this : 
 
 "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough whose brandies 
 
 nm ovr the wall, Even by the God of thy father, 
 
 who shall help thee ; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with 
 
22 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, 
 blessings of the breast and of the womb." 
 
 ' ' The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of 
 my progenitors unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills; they 
 shall be on the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the head of him 
 that was separated from lus brethren." (22d to 2;th verses.) 
 
 Here it will be seen are blessings of a temporal character 
 of greater magnitude than was promised to Abram and 
 Isaac, Jacob's progenitors the land of Palestine (see Gen. 
 xiii, 14 to 1 8), and locates it through this prophesy 
 as " Unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills." A 
 choice land, blessed " with the blessings of heaven above, 
 and of the deep (seas,) " etc. 
 
 To Moses, a servant and prophet of God, and without peer 
 until the days of Christ, was this same thing also revealed, 
 as we have account in the book of Deuteronomy, Chap, 
 xxxiii, ist and i3th to i8th verses : 
 
 " And this is the blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God, 
 blessed the children of Israel before his death." 
 
 " And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land^ for the 
 precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth 
 beneath, 
 
 "And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the 
 precious things put forth by the moon, 
 
 " And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the 
 precious things of the lasting hills, 
 
 " And for the precious things of the earth and the fullness thereof," 
 . . . "let the blessing come upon Joseph, and upon the top of 
 the head of him that was separated from his brethren, 
 
 " His g4ory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are 
 like the horns of unicorns; with them shall he push the people 
 together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of 
 Ephraim, and they are thousands of Manasseh." 
 
 " The utmost bound of the everlasting hills," as described 
 by Jacob and Moses, could consistently be located in no 
 other place upon the globe than upon the land of America, 
 where, as upon no other part of this earth can these pro- 
 
Ok, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 23 
 
 phetic declarations, in regard to the favor of God, bestowed 
 upon our most glorious land as seen in " The precious things 
 brought forth by the sun," the divergence and plentiousness 
 of fruit and food produced in both Americas, "The precious 
 things of the earth and fullness thereof," " And the precious 
 things put forth by the moon," the action of tides, cleansing 
 our great coast cities, as well as supplying fish and food, 
 etc., etc. 
 
 " And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the 
 precious things of the everlasting hills." 
 
 See reports of the iron, copper, silver and gold, as taken 
 already from its " Ancient mountains and lasting hills." 
 
 Farther biblical evidence also is found in the book of 
 the prophet Hosea, concerning the Book of Mormon, as 
 found in the eighth chapter, and verse eleven and twelve : 
 
 " Because Ephraim hath made many a*ltars to sin, altars shall be 
 unto him a sin," 
 
 " I have written to him the great things of my law, but they are 
 counted as a strange thing." 
 
 The word of God and Gospel of Jesus Christ as delivered 
 to the forefathers of these Indian tribes of America, whose 
 ancestors came from the land of Jerusalem in pursuance of 
 a warning from God to their father Lehi just prior to its, 
 destruction in the days of Zedekiah, the King of Judah, 
 and recorded in the Bc**?k of Mormon, has been, and is 
 indeed to-day, " counted as a strange thing." 
 
 The prophet Ezekiel also has given us evidence concern*- 
 ing tins book, as we find in the thirty-seventh chapter^, 
 particularly iri the fifteenth to tw-enty- third verses : 
 
 " The word of the Lord came agaiij unto me, saying, 
 
 "Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon 
 it, for Judah and for the children of Israel his companions : then 
 take another stick; and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of 
 Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions : 
 
 " And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall 
 become one in thine hand. 
 
24 THE SEER OF PALI. 
 
 *' And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, say- 
 ing, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? 
 
 "Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take 
 the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes 
 of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick 
 of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine 
 hand. 
 
 ' ' And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before 
 thine eyes. 
 
 *' And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will 
 take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be 
 gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their 
 own land." 
 
 Writings were anciently called sometimes books, and 
 sometimes sticks ; i. e. written parchment fastened upon 
 sticks, and rolled or unrolled as they read, hence the term 
 " sticks " by Ezekiel. 
 
 Here are two sticks or books, one called the stick of 
 Judah, the Bible, and another, called the stick of Joseph, 
 which is to be found in the hand of Joseph's son whom, we 
 remember, was blessed of his grandfather Jacob, and in 
 which was to be found the great things of God's law and 
 which were to be " counted a strange thing." 
 
 And when the people enquire what these things mean, 
 we are not to say that it is the Spaulding story, but, " say 
 unto them, Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold I will take the 
 children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be 
 gone and bring them on every side, and bring them into 
 their own land," a thing that the Lord has been moving 
 nations and the heavens themselves ever since the coming 
 forth of this book to accomplish. 
 
 Still farther evidence is found in the " Stick of Judah ", 
 or Bible, by reference to the book of the prophesy of Isaiah, 
 twenty-ninth chapter, (see whole chap.) where a nation or a 
 people such as dwelt at Jerusalem should be laid against 
 with seige and fort and should be brought low ; also visited 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 25 
 
 with thunder, earthquake, tempest, etc., (see sixth verse,) 
 and the speech of these people should whisper out of the 
 dust, as literally fulfilled in the coming forth of this book and 
 the record that it gives of this people. 
 
 And the multitude of all the nations that fought against 
 Jerusalem Gentiles was, as to prophets and seers, to be 
 covered and hid. 
 
 What is the claim of these Gentile nations since the 
 days of Christ? No more prophets or seers; no longer 
 needed, we are told. 
 
 " And the vision of all has become as the words of a book which 
 is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, 
 I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed." (Eleventh 
 verse.) 
 
 The points of identification and comparison between the 
 claims of Joseph Smith and this prophesy of Isaiah are these : 
 
 i. Martin Harris, a farmer of Palmyra, takes to Prof. 
 Anthon, a noted scholar and linguist of New York City, a 
 transcript or copy of some of "the words of the book " for 
 information as an investigator. Martin Harris told the 
 writer in person that the conversation had with Prof. Anthon 
 was a literal fulfillment of the scriptures before he ever knew 
 it was in the Bible. 
 
 2. "The book," (twelfth verse), not the words of the 
 book,- is delivered to him that is not learned Joseph 
 Smitn, saying, "Read this I pray thee," and he saith, 
 *' I am not learned " the words of the illiterate youth to 
 the angel. 
 
 Then, for the first time after long centuries of silence, and 
 in spite of the learned ignorance of men, who said, as they 
 still say, "that God no longer will reveal himself that 
 scripture canon was closed on Patmos " God speaks as he 
 said by the mouth of Isaiah he would do ; thus, thirteenth 
 verse: 
 
26 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 "Wherefore, the Lord said, Forasmuch as the people draw near me 
 with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed 
 their hearts from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the pre- 
 cepts of men." 
 
 Was this true in the day when Smith claimed the fulfill- 
 ment concerning the book, and is it true to-day ? Look at 
 the fashion and form and empty professional and liturgical 
 worship in our popular churches to-day. Is it now, and 
 was it fifty years ago, especially true that our " fear toward 
 God was taught by the precepts of men," such as Calvin's 
 and modern defenders of a religious creed that, according 
 to Herbert Spencer, doomed untold millions to endless 
 tortures " for a small crime which they never committed ?" 
 Did not the pictures of an orthodox hell by the preacher 
 prove that " their fear toward God was taught by the pre- 
 cepts of men," as Isaiah said it would be at the time of the 
 coming forth of the book ? Twelfth verse. 
 
 " Therefore, behold I will proceed to do a marvelous work among 
 this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom <>f 
 their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent 
 men shall be hid." 
 
 How will God do or work ? 
 
 We can answer that best and safest, we think, by asking 
 how he has worked in the past. 
 
 Amos the prophet says, (AMOS iii, 7) : 
 
 " Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret 
 unto his servants the prophets" 
 
 And as the fashionable churches had long since recognized 
 prophets as unnecessary which God set in his ancient 
 church, the Lord was obliged to go outside of men-made 
 churches in order to keep his word which he made with 
 Amos: 
 
 " For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish." 
 
 Let us keep this in mind and see if the work inaugurated 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 27 
 
 through Joseph Smith has been and is fulfilling to-day this 
 prophecy. 
 
 For a half century a church without a college or theo- 
 logical school, with an illiterate ministry, has faced every 
 form of opposition that opposed the work of the early Chris- 
 tians. The ingenuity of men and of devils has been taxed 
 to invent and circulate falsehoods concerning the defenders 
 of this religion and the claims of Joseph Smith. 
 
 Hundreds of discussions have been had, and no matter 
 what others have done, public debate and open ventilation 
 of their claims has never been denied in any part of the 
 world, nor is it to-day by this people. 
 
 What is the result universally and always of these discus- 
 sions ? Hundreds, if not thousands, have been baptized at 
 the close of debate, and in every instance, so far as we know, 
 the defenders of the claims of Joseph Smith have done the 
 baptizing. 
 
 Is this evidence ? Nay, is it not proof of itself, that " the 
 wisdom of their wise men" have perished? 
 
 Again, seventeenth verse : 
 
 4 ' Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a 
 fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?" 
 
 " A very little while " only sixteen years after the coming 
 forth of the Book of Mormon, and the land of Palestine that 
 has for centuries lain a desert and waste, receives at the hand 
 of heaven the long, lost, early and latter rain, as is now too 
 well known to farther refer to, and is a most important testa- 
 tor to the truthfulness of the mission of the Latter Day Seer. 
 
 Again, i8th verse. 
 
 " And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and 
 the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness." 
 
 It is a well-attested fact that in our day, and that through 
 the power of God restored to His church, the blind have 
 been made to see, the lame walk, and the once deaf have 
 
28 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 been made to "hear the words of the book " of which the 
 world knows so little. 
 
 " The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor 
 among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." (igth verse.) 
 
 Conscientious, devoted, and spiritually-minded people 
 thousands of them have increased " their joy in the Lord" 
 through the teachings of this book, and the blessings which 
 the latter day message has brought to their creed- distracted 
 souls. 
 
 And as in Jesus' day, when John, while in prison, sent to- 
 him for evidences of his mission, Jesus sent back word that 
 among other evidences was the fact that " the poor had the 
 gospel preached to them." Because the poor are among 
 us, and are "rejoicing in the Holy One of Israel," is a 
 cause for popular disfavor, as in Jesus' day. 
 
 22d verse. 
 
 "Therefore, thus saitn the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, con- 
 cerning the house of Jacob, Jacob (Israel) shall not be ashamed, 
 neither shall his face now wax pale." 
 
 At the time of the coming forth of this book, over sixty 
 years ago, the Jew was despised, and had few favors at the 
 hand of any man, even in free America. What changes 
 have been wrought in favor of Israel \ How astonishingly 
 rapid has been the fulfillment of this prediction in the favor 
 shown to the Jew in most of the countries of the world ; 
 his advancement politically in England, France, Germany, 
 and in other countries ; his rapid accumulation of wealth, 
 etc., etc. 
 
 "They also that erred in Spirit shall come to understanding, and 
 they that murmur shall learn doctrine." (24th verse.) 
 
 The hypnotic and unbiblical manifestations exhibited in 
 modern religious revivals* are ample proof of present fulfill- 
 
 *We offer the following newspaper clippings : At a meeting of the 
 New York Medico-Legal Society, in January, the Committee on 
 Hypnotism, Dr. E. Morgan, Jr., chairman, reported that after a year's 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 29 
 
 ment of this part of Isaiah's testimony in our day that 
 those well meaning people, without lawful testimony or 
 guide, in seeking after supernatural manifestations from God 
 have " erred in spirit," and the object of the latter day 
 restoration is to bring them to a correct understanding, 
 through instruction of the promised comforter, even the 
 spirit of truth to those who are willing to obey the ancient 
 gospel. 
 
 And those also who have been murmuring at the incon- 
 sistencies of the creeds of men, have been, are learning and 
 may learn of the doctrine of Christ by obedience to his law 
 and receive according to his own promise a knowledge of 
 its truthfulness. 
 
 consideration of the subject, they regarded it safe to say that the fol- 
 lowing facts had been established : 
 
 First Hypnosis or artificial trance sleep is a subjective phenome- 
 non, and may be self-induced through expectation alone, through 
 fright, by religious ecstasy, or any enrapturing emotion. 
 
 Second Hypnosis is not in itself a disease. 
 
 Third Hypnosis is recognized in three stages lethargy, somnam- 
 bulism, and catalepsy. The transition may be immediate. 
 
 Fourth Hypnotism has been serviceable in medical and surgical 
 practice, both as a therapeutic agent, and in some cases as an efficient 
 and safe anaesthetic. 
 
 Fifth The illusory impressions created by hypnosis may be made ta 
 dominate and tyrannize the subsequent actions of the subject. 
 
 THE MUNCIE REVIVAL PEOPLE STILL CONTINUE TO FALL IN TRANCES 
 AND TO TFTVL BIG STORIES AFTERWARDS. 
 
 MUNCIE, IND., Fecember 15. People continue to fall in hypnotic 
 style by the dozen at the great revival being held here by the evange- 
 list, Mrs. Woodworth, and interest is growing intensly. Ministers are 
 here from several points in Ohio and Illinois taking active part in the 
 meetings. To-night, Miss Hughes, who was in a hypnotized state- 
 seventy hours, told her second vision in her five minutes' talk. She 
 said she was taken '.o I:.e:. -en by an angel. Her brother met her at 
 the gate, and bade her cor:e in, but the Lord said not, as she had 
 great work on erut" "ngel then escorted her to hell,, where she 
 
30 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 "They compass sea and land to make one proselyte," said 
 Jesus of the ancient Pharisee. 
 
 Discarding and refusing to "abide in the doctrine of 
 Christ," the ingenuity of the minister and the church trustee 
 is drawn upon to-day to sustain the church against the dis- 
 integrating forces at work, and a sensational emotional 
 preacher or "evangelist " is negotiated with, and secured at 
 generally a considerably higher salary than his professed 
 Master is supposed to have had, and one "whose latest 
 method and " success " in " converting " people is that 
 after a " touching" display of stage method and oratory an 
 
 saw a young man she knew pitched head first into the fiery furnace. 
 Mrs. Emma Richings, who was hypnotized twenty hours, said she saw 
 the gold brick paved streets with white marble buildings. While 
 visiting hell she saw the face of Mary in the audience before her there. 
 She was escorted on her journey by the wings of an eagle and begged 
 to mreain, but was told to return and exclaim to all the world what 
 she had seen. Both the women saw relatives with many stars in their 
 crowns. 
 
 A Pennsylvania woman has gone without food 250 days, and she 
 claims to see things taking place in heaven. 
 
 ONE YEAR IN A TRANCE STRANGE EXPERIENCE OF MISS GRACE GRID- 
 LEY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 AMBOY, ILL., February 5. Miss Grace Gridley, of this place, has 
 just awakened from a most remarkable and prolonged trance. As the 
 result of religious excitement, she went into a comatose condition 
 nearly a year ago, and continued in that state up to the present time, 
 taking no food during all that time except a little in liquid form. 
 
 NO USE FOR HYPNOTISM. 
 
 CINCINNATI, OHIO, Jan. 18, 1891. Dr. J. W. Prendergast, health 
 officer of this city, has influenced the authorities to refuse a license to 
 a lecturer on hypnotism and his entertainments have been stopped. 
 
 Dr. Prendergast takes the ground that hypnotism, when applied 
 indiscriminately, is injurious, as it affects the mental health of the sub- 
 ject. Upon his recommendation the council has passed an ordinance 
 to make it a misdemeanor to give hypnotic exhibitions. 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 31 
 
 invitation to those impressed to " come forward " is urgently 
 made. A cordon of sympathetic friends is placed around 
 himself and the seeker of religion. Then a circle of minis- 
 ters, if the revival is "big" enough to warrant their pres- 
 ence, and perhaps another wall of church members surround- 
 ing all, and this combination or battery of electric, psychic 
 or hypnotic force is started, crowding into its receptive 
 victim something that may be as foreign to a deliberate 
 rational conclusion as is the night from the day, and the 
 result is that a " Holy Ghost " is obtained whose influence 
 and manifestation may be as foreign to ancient Gospel 
 teaching as is the impressions of the ordinary professional 
 hypnotist or mesmerist upon the public exhibition platform, 
 and as far from the scriptures or the teaching of the "spirit 
 of truth" as light is from darkness. 
 
 We turn again to the prophet Zechariah, ist Chapter 
 1 4th and I5th verses : 
 
 " So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, say- 
 ing, Thus saith the Lord of hosts : I am jealous for Jerusalem . . 
 with great jealousy. 
 
 " I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease, for I 
 was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction." 
 
 God was displeased with Jerusalem and the Jews for their 
 rejection of Christ and the prophets ; but the heathen (Gen- 
 tiles) have " helped forward their affliction " by their long 
 persecution of the Jew. 
 
 "Therefore, thus saith the Lord: I am returned to Jerusalem with 
 mercies ; my house shalt be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, etc. 
 
 "Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, my cities through 
 prosperity shall yet be spread abroad, and the Lord . . . shall 
 yet choose Jerusalem. 
 
 '* Then I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold four horns. 
 
 " And I said unto the angel that talked with me, what be these? 
 And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, 
 Israel and Jerusalem, 
 
 " And the Lord showed me four carpenters. 
 
32 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 " Then said I, What came these to do? And he spake, saying, These 
 are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift 
 up his head, but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of 
 the Gentiles which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to 
 scatter it." i6th to I9th verses. 
 
 This work has already commenced since the angels' mes- 
 sage to Joseph Smith see 2d Chapter, ist and 2d verses. 
 
 " 1 lifted mine eyes again and looked and behold a man with a 
 measuring line in his hand. 
 
 "Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To- 
 measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof and what is the 
 length thereof." 
 
 Now, what was the use of measuring Jerusalem, while the 
 walls now standing mark exactly its measurement? Let us 
 see : 
 
 " And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth and 
 another angel went out to meet him, 
 
 " And said unto him, run, speak to this young man saying, Jerusa- 
 lem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men 
 and cattle therein/' verses 3 and 4. 
 
 Zechariah here predicts the final restoration of the city of 
 Jerusalem, the gathering of the Jews that had been cast out 
 by the horn or power of the Gentile nations. Its borders- 
 were to be enlarged with a new line of measurement because, 
 with the multitude of men and cattle that was to gather 
 there, they would necessarily have to go outside of the pres- 
 ent limits of the wall now standing, and thus Jerusalem is to 
 " be inhabited as towns without walls." 
 
 Notice of this wonderful and miraculous change in regard 
 to the Jew and his land is first given to a young man by an. 
 angel. 
 
 While Jerusalem was deserted almost, and Palestine a 
 waste, Joseph Smith declared and affirmed till the day of 
 his slaughter that the angel made this known unto him,, 
 when as yet he knew nothing of the prophecy as recorded 
 in the Bible. Was not this a strange prediction for a youth 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 33 
 
 to make, and is it not rationally easier to believe that 
 God, who changes not, and who by the Holy Ghost inspired 
 Zechariah to make this prediction, sent also his angel to 
 Joseph Smith to fulfil it, rather than that this " young man '* 
 invented it? 
 
 David, also in the 85 Psalm gives us prophetic light upon 
 this same subject, seventh verse L 
 
 "Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. . . . 
 " I will hear what God the Lord will speak : for he will speak 
 peace unto his people, and to his saints : but let them not turn again 
 to folly. 
 
 " Surely his salvation is nigh unto them that fear him: that glory 
 may dwell in our land. 
 
 " Mercy and truth are met together : righteousness and peace have 
 kissed each other. 
 
 " Truth shall spring out of the earth; righteousness shall look down 
 from heaven. 
 
 Yea the Lord shall give that which is good ; and our land shalt 
 yield her increase, 7th to 1 2th verses. 
 
 Here then, we claim, are three witnesses to the Latter Day 
 work which have been upon the stand for over a half century 
 and have stood the fire of the world's cross examination, and 
 all attempts at impeachment have thus far proved abortive. 
 
 Truth was to "spring out of the earth;" what is truth? 
 Jesus said, "Thy word is truth." The word of God or great 
 things of his law written to Ephriam upon this continent, 
 sprung " out of the earth," when the sealed book was given- 
 to this generation : 
 
 "Righteousness shall look down from heaven." 
 
 The angel flight to Joseph Smith with the everlasting gos- 
 pel, in fulfillment also of Revelation 14 :6, and which alone 
 reveals God's righteousness, gives us the only rational inter- 
 pretation that can be placed upon this prophecy. 
 
 And with this testimony of earth and of heaven comes 
 the third witness : 
 
 "And our land shall yield her increase.'* 
 
34 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 Also in the 5oth Psalm, ist and 3d to 6 verses: 
 
 4 'The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the 
 earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof." 
 
 "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence, a fire shall devour 
 before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him." 
 
 Here is a description of the Saviour's coming, as given by 
 himself and his apostles, Peter and Paul. Prior to his com- 
 ing he told his disciples : 
 
 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for 
 a witness, and then shall the end come." (Matt. 24:14.) 
 
 Although men have said God would no more speak, 
 David affirms that he will "not keep silence," but that "the 
 heavens shall declare his righteousness." Then must the 
 Gospel be again revealed. And he is also to " call to the 
 earth" for a testimony, why ? "That he may judge his people." 
 
 Could God consistently judge and condemn the world for 
 rejecting a gospel that has for centuries been undergoing 
 repairs at the hands of theological tinkers, and is now so full 
 of patches that the original is about out of sight ? God has 
 called to the heavens, and they have answered by the angels 
 flight, 
 
 "And to the earth." 
 
 And the earth has answered, and yielded her treasure of 
 witness to the truth of the Bible and the gospel of Jesus 
 Christ, in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. 
 
 Turn also to Leviticus, 26th Chapter, 3d verse, where the 
 Lord warns Israel, through Moses, in regard to their future, 
 thus : 
 
 "If ye walk in my statutes and keep my commandments, and do 
 them: 
 
 " Then will I give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield 
 her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit." etc. etc. 
 
 But if they refuse to hear, the Lord says 
 
 "I will make your cities waste " . . . " And I will bring the 
 land to desolation" . . . "Then shall the land enjoy her Sab- 
 baths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land." 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 35 
 
 But 
 
 " If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their 
 fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that 
 also they have walked contrary to me " . . . "If then their 
 uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept the punish- 
 ment of their iniquity" . . . "Then will I remember my cove- 
 nant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac", und also my cove- 
 nant with Abraham will I remember; and I u>ill remember the land." 
 (LEV, xxvi, 3-4 and 31-42. 
 
 How literally this prophecy has been fulfilled upon the 
 race of the Jews and upon their land, we all know. Jesus 
 said that " Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gen- 
 tiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."* (LUKE 
 xxi, 24.) Paul said ROM. xi, i to 25.) " Hath God 
 
 *The latest among a score of clippings from current newspaper 
 articles, confirmatory of this and for want of space, must suffice as the 
 only one we present from editorial of Boston Globe, three days ago, 
 March 10. 
 
 PALESTINE FOR THE JEWS. A memorial was presented to the pres- 
 ident last week, asking that the government "use their good offices 
 and influence " to bring about an international conference among the 
 European powers looking to the restoration of Palestine to the Jews. 
 
 Palestine has attracted unusual interest of late, which interest has 
 been much stimulated by the recent persecution of the Jews in Russia. 
 There seems to be a singular concensus among biblical scholars, nota- 
 ble among whom is Prof. Totten, of Yale, who declare that the proph- 
 ecies point to this as the time when Palestine is to be restored to the 
 Jews. Somewhat interesting is the fact that Consul Gillman, the 
 United States representative at Jerusalem, in speaking of the new rail- 
 way from Jerusalem to Jaffa, quotes the prophecies as foretelling the 
 introduction of the first locomotives into Palestine as follows : 
 
 " The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his prep- 
 aration. . . They shall seem like torches; they shall run like 
 the lightning." (NAHUM ii, 3 :4.") 
 
 But modern statesmanship is not usually guided by prophecy. The 
 practical fact is that 2,000,000 Jews are being persecuted and driven 
 out of Russia. Palestine, which at present contains but about 400,000 
 people, would easily sustain 4,000,000. It is a country* of great natu- 
 
36 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 cast away his people ?" God forbid ! but " that blindness 
 in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gen- 
 tiles be come in " . . . <r and then all Israel shall be 
 saved."" How? By the preaching of orthodox ministers?* 
 Oh no! but "as it is written 1 ' and as the angel told Joseph 
 Smith, and in no other way. The cessation of Gentile 
 oppression in Jerusalem will be the fulfillment of this proph- 
 ecy in part at least, and the rejection of the Gospel by this 
 
 ral resources, now languishing under the dead weight of the Turk. 
 Only recently has a railway been introduced, and electric lighting and 
 other modern appliances have been started in Jerusalem. Fifty new 
 houses have been built within the past year. 
 
 The time certainly seems to be opportune from one point of view, 
 for the banished Jews to re-enter the land of their fathers and build up 
 a modern civilization. Of course they would require generous, and 
 perhaps long-continued assistance, and perhaps this would be forth- 
 coming. All that the Christian powers of Europe could do would be 
 to guarantee protection. 
 
 But any proposition on the part of the " powers " to send the Jews 
 into Palestine and shut them up there by force is out of place when 
 dealing with so intelligent a people. Like the proposition to 4l send 
 the Africans back to Africa," it is a piece of impertinent assumption 
 which belittles and degrades. The Jews are already immigrating into 
 Palestine very rapidly. The latest consular reports from Palestine 
 present a very^ flattering showing of the resources of that country. 
 Cereals, fruits, vegetables and the vine flourish there, the orange and 
 the olive being especially prolific. All the country wants, it is said, is 
 the introduction of manufacturers, and Palestine may yet be aroused 
 from oriental slumber to take a high rank among the prosperous and 
 progressive nations of the earth. 
 
 *Rabbinowitz and other converted Jews keep themselves aloof from 
 all the creeds, pointing their followers to none of the so-called Chris- 
 tian churches whose divisions as well as uncertainties of doctrine so 
 little conform to Bible teaching. In connection with this read Jer. 
 i6th, 1 4 to 21 especially the igth. "Oh Lord, my strength and my 
 fortress," . . . "The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the 
 ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies 
 and vanity, and things wherein there is no profit." 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO S>' . fZ GIFTS. 17 
 
 Gentile nation will be the signal of God to them that their 
 time is " fulfilled/' and that " upon whom this stone (Christ) 
 shall fall, it shall grind him to powder." (MATT, xx, i&), for ? 
 
 " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty 
 angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon those that know not 
 God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 (II THES. i, 7 :8.) 
 
 The Jew rejected this "stone," fell upon it, and was bro- 
 ken and scattered as the prophets, and Jesus predicted, 
 This broken remnant are to be gathered again. 
 
 *' But upon whom this stone shall fall it shall grind him to powder 
 
 Let then this generation beware and be warned by the 
 rational message of the servants of God in these last days, 
 for if the blood of all God's servants, " from the blood of 
 righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, 
 whom they slew between the temple and the altar" (MATT. 
 xxiii, 35), was required at the hand of that generation for 
 rejection of the prophets and himself, what shall we say of 
 this Gentile generation of blind followers, of blind leaders if 
 they reject not only the teachings of Moses and the 
 prophets, but Christ and his apostles, and persecute, slander 
 and slay the servants whom he has sent to >warn them ? 
 And also, "if they hear not Moses and the prophets," nei- 
 ther Christ nor the apostles, neither will they * repent " or 
 "be persuaded, though one rose from the dead" (LUKE xvi, 
 3 1 ), or if all their departed friends return from the " spirit 
 world." This is our experience at least. 
 
 Thus, while the world is pointing the finger of scorn at 
 Joseph Smith and the defenders of his claims, God, through 
 his holy and unchangeable word, points with the finger of 
 unerring certainty, the lover of truth, to the fulfillment of 
 the " sure word of prophecy " as culminative proof of the 
 mission of the Palmyra Seer. 
 
 Again, Joseph Smith claimed to be the chief instrument 
 in the hand of God in the restoration of the church and 
 
38 THE SEER OF PALMYRA; 
 
 kingdom (synonymous terms) of God to earth in our clay. 
 
 Did he in this speak, as did his Master when on earth r 
 with authority of a commission from God, or did he assume 
 that which facts and scripture will not warrant ? His tradi- 
 tions were, until the angel visit dispelled them, those which 
 the priests had taught and still teach, that all the churches 
 evangelical, constitute the church of God. Let us see " To- 
 the law and to the testimony." 
 
 In the book of the prophet Daniel, second chapter, we 
 have the interpretation of the king of Babylon's dream con- 
 cerning that which God showed him should " be in the latter 
 days" (28th verse) and in the interpretation of this dream 
 of the image Daniel says, 44th verse : 
 
 " And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a 
 kingdom which shall never be destroyed." 
 
 This kingdom, or stone, as it is called in the 34th and 
 35th verses, which was to smite the image on its feet, 
 " became a great mountain and filled the whole earth," 
 (35th verse). 
 
 Now this could not reasonably compare with a mountain 
 of earth and of stone, for such a mountain must have cor- 
 responding valleys to make it such, consequently could not 
 as such fill the earth. 
 
 The prophet Micah gives us explanation in the 4th chap- 
 ter of his prophecy, ist verse : 
 
 " But in the last days " (chronology the same as Daniel) " it shall 
 come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be es- 
 tablished in the top of the mountains," etc., etc. 
 
 What is the house of the Lord ? Paul tells us in i Tim. 
 iii. 15, that it "is the church of the living God." Daniel 
 tells us that in the days of these kings not the days of 
 Caesar's government, when as yet neither the legs nor toes 
 of Nebuchadnezzar's image were in existence should " the 
 God of heaven set up a kingdom." And if "the church of 
 the living God " and of Jesus Christ was the kingdom of 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 39 
 
 God in their day, as they taught, and has gone into the 
 wilderness (see Rev. xii, 1-6) if this kingdom or church 
 suffered violence, and the violent have taken it by force, as 
 Jesus said they would do, or, in other words, destroy from 
 the face of the earth the ancient church organization 
 (which we know has been done), and if Daniel and Micah's 
 prophecy is to be fulfilled in the last days, we shall have to 
 know that the original pattern which God gave of church 
 government as shown in the Bible will have to be restored 
 to earth again through some means or somebody. 
 
 Again. When asked by his disciples what should be the 
 sign of his second coming, he replied, " this gospel of the 
 Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness" 
 (Matt, xxiv, 3, 4, 14.) 
 
 The kingdom, then, was among, or in the midst of them,, 
 the Jews. Its officers were as God and Christ placed them 
 in it : first, apostles ; second, prophets, with spiritual gifts,, 
 etc., etc.' Its reproduction in our day through the instru- 
 mentality of "the weak things of this world" is evidence- 
 that God is working through former methods, and in his> 
 own unchangeable way. 
 
 This gospel was also to be as Paul said (Rom. 1-16)%. 
 " The power of God unto Salvation." But Paul also pre- 
 dicted that " in the last days perilous times should come." 
 
 "Men should be lovers of themselves," . . . and 
 " having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof" 
 (II Tim. iii, i to 6.) 
 
 Has time confirmed or denied the truth of Paul's predic- 
 tion? "No more Apostles, No more prophets," says the 
 world ; 'No more the gifts of the gospel.' Its power denied 
 by popular ministers, as Paul said it would be in the last days*. 
 
 Who was right in this, and in agreement with the word of 
 God ? Smith, or the men that have since persecuted him 
 and his adherents ? 
 
/4D THE SEER OF PALMYRA; 
 
 Again, in the revelation which John was given on Patmos, 
 in which history for centuries was unrolled to his gaze, he 
 saw concerning things which were to transpire after his day 
 "Another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the ever- 
 lasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, 
 , and to every nation, and kindred, and tongues, and people, 
 " Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to 
 I him; for the hour of his judgment is come. (Rev. xiv, 
 
 6: 7 .) 
 
 Have we not shown that that Gospel which " is the power 
 of God " was not here ? Hence the necessity, of its restora- 
 tion, and under circumstances that will make good the word 
 of God, and prove itself to be according as " it is written ?" 
 
 Who claims a gospel restoration at the hands of an angel 
 but Mr. Smith ? Does the Pope, or any of the protestant 
 : reformers? 
 
 Note also this message was to be delivered in " the hour 
 of God's judgment." While the world was crying " peace 
 and safety," Joseph Smith, by proclamation to all the world, 
 and to kings and rulers, declared the message of God that, 
 " after the testimony of his servants should come the testi- 
 mony of destruction by storms and tempest and vivid light- 
 ning " by war in our own lands, as well as in foreign coun- 
 vtries.* 
 
 What was *the pious and popular ministers doing all the 
 while but crying " peace and safety ;" that the millennium 
 
 *"The judgments of God are almost ready to burst upon the 
 nations of the earth. . . . And now I am prepared to say by the 
 authority of Jesus Christ that not many years shall pass away before 
 the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not 
 a parallel in the history of our nation." Letter of Joseph Smith to N. 
 .Seaton, of New York, Jan. 5, 1833. 
 
 " Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly 
 come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will 
 veventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls. The 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 41 
 
 was to come, if at all, by the preaching of the various gos- 
 pels they had formulated, and through them the world was 
 to be converted to God, etc., etc , and, like their predeces- 
 sors in Christ's day, paying little attention to the warning of 
 God's servants and prophet, save by endeavor to throw 
 dust in the eyes of the people and crying, " Beware of false 
 prophets." 
 
 Let us see farther : 
 
 " Jesus said, As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the day 
 of the coming of the Son of man." 
 
 How was it then ? 
 
 Did God destroy the people without warning? No, for 
 ** he doeth nothing, save he revealeth his secret unto his 
 servants the prophets." 
 
 days will come that war will be poured out upon all nations beginning 
 at that place, for behold the Southern States shall be divided against 
 the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other 
 nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they 
 shall also call upon other nations in order to defend themselves 
 against other nations, and thus shall war be poured out upon all 
 nations. And it shall come to pass after many days, slaves shall rise 
 up against their masters, who shall be marshalled and disciplined for 
 war. And it shall come to pass, also, that the remnants* who are left 
 of the land shall marshal themselves and shall become exceeding 
 angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation ; and thus with 
 the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn, 
 and with famine, and plague, and earthquakes, and the thunder of 
 heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightnings also, shall the inhabitants 
 of the earth be made to feel the wrath and indignation and chasten- 
 ing hand of an Almighty God until the consumption decreed hath 
 made a full end of all nations, that the cry of the saints and the 
 blood of the saints shall cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of 
 Sabbaoth from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies. Wherefore 
 stand ye in holy places, and be not moved until the day of the Lord 
 come; for behold it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen." Rev- 
 elation given through Joseph Smith in the year 1832. 
 
 *Indians. 
 
42 THE SEER OF PALMYRA; 
 
 Could God consistently bring wholesale catastrophe upon 
 the world that had been blinded 6y priestcraft and ecclesi- 
 astical tyranny for centuries without intelligent warning? 
 Oh, no ! Then,as in the days of Noah, he must send a 
 prophet to warn the world. 
 
 The world said that the Gospel was to be preached to 
 convert it to Christ, Jesus said that the Gospel which was 
 then preached, was again to be preached as a witness and 
 was to be the "avant courier " or sign of his second advent. 
 
 In Matt, xx, we have also an account of prophecy con- 
 cerning the kingdom of God in parable by the Saviour, 
 where at the first, third, sixth and ninth hour of the day, 
 servants of God are sent out into the vineyard, or field, 
 which, he tells us, "is the world"; and lastly, at "about" 
 the eleventh hour just before the close of day, or time of 
 work or labor he calls again servants not called of them- 
 selves, nor of their fellow-servants. The leader will per- 
 ceive that there are hours in the day, or world's history, in 
 which no servants are called. 
 
 This is confirmed also in Luke xiv, 12 to 24, where, in 
 contradiction of the popular clamor, that God sends no- 
 more servants, (" his servants the prophets," to reveal his 
 mind and will), Jesus here says that "a certain man made 
 a great supper and bade many," " and sent his servant, at 
 supper time" about the close of the day, etc. 
 
 This supper evidently refers to the wedding feast, as we 
 read in Rev. xix, 7-9, and called " the marriage supper of 
 the Lamb." (pth verse.) 
 
 Also referring to Matt, xxv, i, 2, which also proves that 
 the kingdom will be here upon earth when the Saviour 
 comes; and that the bride the church will go out to 
 meet him; which disposes of the claim of Advents and 
 others that he is going to bring the bride with him, foolish 
 virgins and all ; or, in other words, that the kingdom which 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 43 
 
 Daniel saw will not be set up until after his coming, for 
 Daniel, you remember, says that "in the days of these 
 kings " not after they are destroyed " shall the God of 
 Heaven set up a kingdom," etc. 
 
 And now to the third and last witness to the Latter Day 
 Mission. 
 
 Joseph Smith stood before the world with his brethren 
 and boldly made this proposition : That no matter what a 
 man or woman might, or might not think of him ; if they 
 would repent of sin, be baptized for the remission of them, 
 receive the interposition of hands of the eldership of the 
 church that God himself would reveal to them through the 
 ancient " comforter " the truthfulness of his mission.* 
 
 The fact that though the Pharisees perceived that Peter 
 and John were ignorant and unlearned men, it did not pre- 
 vent their boldness when they said, 
 
 " And we are his witnesses of these things, as also is the Holy 
 Ghost which God gives to them that obey him." (ACTS v, 31 : 32. 
 
 Has the gift of the Holy Ghost descended upon men and 
 women in our day, even the spirit of truth, as in contradis- 
 tinction to other spirits ? 
 
 Does it testify of Jesus Christ and of the fulfillment in our 
 day of that which the prophets and himself predicted ? Has 
 the power of Godliness which the world denies been con- 
 firmed upon men in our day ? Let the sufferings and testi- 
 mony of thousands of honest and intelligent men and women 
 who have been driven from their homes, ostracized, slan- 
 dered, hated, persecuted, and some of them slain for the 
 
 *Assuming this to be true is to account for the trouble the U. S. 
 Government has had and is having with apostates from the primitive 
 " Mormon" faith in the Territory of Utah. They know more of both 
 the religion of God and of the Devil than do the people that are trying 
 to regulate them. Hence, the difference of opinion among " Gentiles" 
 as to their treatment, and the difficulty of solution of "the Mormon 
 problem" in Utah. 
 
44 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ make answer 
 to thoughtful minds. 
 
 God is unchangeable, and is known, if revealed at all, by 
 his unchangeability. 
 
 We summon then to the truth of the mission of Joseph 
 Smith and of the latter day work, the same number and 
 kind of witnesses as did Peter in proof of the mission of 
 Jesus Christ, the points of identity so strongly marked as to 
 leave intelligent and honest seekers after truth without 
 excuse. 
 
 Evidences of supernatural character were had then and 
 are had now for what they may be worth. The vision upon 
 the mount was one. 
 
 When John was in prison he sent to Jesus for evidence of 
 his mission. "Tell John," said Jesus, how that " the blind 
 see the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and 
 the poor have the gospel preached to them." 
 
 The faith to raise the dead is not claimed by this people. 
 Tradition and opposition might alone prevent, for if Jesus 
 could do no mighty works in his own country because of 
 their unbelief, what ought in reason to be demanded of his 
 weak servants after centuries of tradition that these things 
 are done away, and the constant pressure of a faithless gen- 
 eration of sign seekers ? But that the gifts of the Gospel are 
 among this people, and do follow the believer in the ancient 
 gospel, is as well proven as were the miracles in Jesus' day, 
 through himself and his disciples. 
 
 2d. Jesus' mission was outlined centuries before by the 
 prophets. 
 
 The work of Joseph Smith is j.ust as clearly delineated in 
 both old and new testament scriptures, as we have conclu- 
 sively shown, and himself and his brethren go before the 
 world with this unanswerable argument " it is written." 
 
 The rising of the day dawn in the heart of the obedient is 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 45 
 
 as much a fact to those who obey, as in Peter's day. The 
 judgment being satisfied, the honest impulse of a man's 
 life should force to action, for, "with the heart man 
 believeth unto righteousness." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 "Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing-,, 
 but inwardly they are ravening wolves, Ye shall know them by their 
 fruits." (Matt, vii, 15: 16.) 
 
 Jesus said again, " If a man come in his own name, him 
 ye will receive." The failures of the adventists does not 
 hinder their popularity. False prophets are always, as a 
 rule, popular. 
 
 " Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you! for so dicD 
 their fathers to the false prophets." (LuKE vi, 26.) 
 
 The Lord said through Moses, Deut. 18, 21-22, that the 
 test of a false or a true prophet was that the thing did, or 
 did not come to pass, of which they prophesied. 
 
 Joseph Smith said 60 years ago that the churches organ- 
 ically were all wrong. They said we are all right. 
 
 He was the principal instrument of God in forming the 
 Church of Jesus Christ in these last days. It has not 
 been obliged to change its doctrines or church government 
 in over half a century, nor will it have to, as it is organized 
 after the perfect pattern. On the contrary, the doctrines 
 and forms of popular church government have been under- 
 going repairs from that day till this. 
 
 Joseph Smith said the gifts of the gospel were to be had 
 by the true believer as in Christ's day. The religious teachers 
 made ridicule of this claim, that they were done away, etc, 
 Many of them are now crawling around to the position 
 assumed by Smith, and ministers and women are laying ore. 
 hands for healing, etc. "Beware of false prophets."' 
 
46 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 Joseph Smith said that the Jew was to obtain favor with 
 God and man. The world said, no. Who was right? 
 
 He prophesied of the increase of war, earthquakes, tem- 
 pest, tornadoes ; that the sea should heave itself beyond its 
 bounds, etc. The world said tornadoes were local and con- 
 fined to the torrid zones ; that the crust of the earth was 
 thickening and earthquakes must diminish. Look at the 
 history of tidal waves, cyclones in northern climes, history 
 of earthquakes as compared with former times, and " Beware 
 of false prophets." 
 
 Reader, are you disgusted with the form and fashion of a 
 Godless and powerless religion ? Are you tempted to leave 
 your church home in search of truth and rest? Take heed 
 that no man deceive you. Beware of seducing spirits. 
 Beware of false prophets that come to you in sheep's cloth- 
 ing, and remember this also that a wolf has certain points of 
 similarity when covered with the outward appearance or 
 clothing of a sheep, and may deceive you. And if even 
 spirits with sign and unexplainable wonder purporting to 
 be the spirit of your mother that lived and died in the faith 
 of Jesus Christ, tell you that he is not what he claimed to 
 be not what the prophets said of him : That he is not " the 
 only name given under heaven or among men whereby we 
 must be saved." That he was mistaken when he said : "No 
 man cometh unto the father but by me." " I am the way, 
 etc." That ignore his church government and the blessings 
 of its discipline, that instead of signs following the believer 
 in a gospel of faith, repentance and baptism, and a holy life, 
 etc., etc., that signs go before the unbeliever, that about all the 
 Holy Ghost there is, is in the revelations brought to you 
 through mediums of various grades of character, from your 
 dead friends, that deny the kingship or special authority of 
 Jesus Christ, that ignore his law, and laugh at the absudity 
 of his command to baptize anybody. Beware of them, and 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 47 
 
 don't forget the absurdity of their claim that they are not 
 only his best friend, but an exponent of his doctrines. 
 
 You will be called foolish and uncharitable, I know, by 
 those whom they have deceived by fair speech and honeyed 
 and flattering promise, but don't forget this earnest warning 
 and beware of seducing and anti-Christ spirits. 
 
 Sixty years ago the world was lying in darkness, woven by 
 priestcraft and traditions, into which, since the days of 
 Constantine, apostacy from the government of God and 
 gospel of Jesus Christ had led them. 
 
 Centuries had rolled away of Catholic supremacy and domi- 
 nation in and regulation of men's ideas of God and of relig- 
 ion. The moral light of the reformation left men freer, but 
 still under the shadow of the traditions and doctrines of the 
 church of Rome, and many were looking, as said Elder Rob- 
 inson to the Plymouth flock on their embarkation to the wilds 
 of America, " for more light to break forth out of the word 
 of God."* ' And John Wesley had wrote and sung, 
 
 " Almighty God of love 
 Set up the attracting sign, 
 And summon whom thou dost approve 
 As messengers divine." t 
 
 *See farewell sermon of Elder John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrim 
 Fathers, upon their embarkation at Deltham, .A. D. 1620, History of 
 Massachusetts. , 
 
 tjohn Bovee Dods, in his book entitled "Spirit Manifestations 
 Examined and Explained," in which he undertakes to refute Judge 
 Edmonds, upon pages 119-20, says: "I do not mean new revelations 
 of any doctrinal truth as additions to what are already in the Bible, 
 but a revealment of the true meaning intrinsically involved in those 
 doctrines already recorded in the Scriptures, and concerning which the 
 whole Christian world are divided and split up into sects. . . All these 
 doctrines must be made to harmonize with nature, with reason, with 
 the soundest principles of mental philosophy. . . And even the power 
 invested in the apostles to work miracles of mercy will be again in- 
 vested in men to do the same. . . Was not Jesus Christ as the Son 
 
48 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 The time was fulfilled ; history was ripe for the vindica- 
 tion of God's word, the fulfillment of the " sure word of 
 prophesy " and the answer to Wesley's prayer. " Truth 
 sprung out of the earth " and the sealed book of Isaiah's 
 prophesy, containing the word of God to his people upon 
 this continent is revealed ; righteousness looks down from 
 heaven, and the everlasting and unchangable gospel that 
 can alone reveal it is delivered according to the promise of 
 the prophets, of Jesus, and of John on Patmos Isle, by angel 
 ministry to Joseph Smith. 
 
 "Our land," the land of David and his forefathers, the land 
 of Palestine, after centuries of curse and waste and Gentile 
 devastation, again through the miraculously restored early 
 and later rains " yields her increase. " 
 
 of God, and the true light of the world, better qualified to reveal the 
 duty, interest, and destiny of man than mesmeric clairvoyants? Was 
 he not better qualified for this work than the psychological mediums of 
 the present day, or the spirits they invoke?" 
 
 Page 174: "All future revelation, therefore, must regard the mak- 
 ing known to mankind how the doctrinal truths recorded in the Scrip- 
 tures are to be understood? . . On this subject Emmanuel Sweden- 
 borg was consistent, who undertook to explain how the Scriptures 
 should be understood by man. And although I am not of his faith, 
 yet I confess that his powers were immense as his gifts were wonderful. 
 
 "I entertained strong expectations that Mr. Davis (Andrew Jack- 
 son) would follow on, and advance the work, but was disappointed 
 when his 'Nature's Divine Revelations' appeared, and I am moreover 
 satisfied that some neit revelation, as regards the true understanding of 
 the doctrines oj the Saviour, will be revealed to the world. " 
 
 NOTE BY THE AUTHOR The reader is here again earnestly urged 
 to compare the prophecies and Scriptures referred to in support of the 
 claims of the Palmyra Seer, with the explanation of the same texts 
 given in his own works by Emmanuel Swedenborg, as well as the 
 mixed and uncertain revelations of A. J. Davis and other modern 
 "Seers." 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 49, 
 
 A wicked and an adulterous generation : a generation of 
 of hypocritial professors of religion failing to note, or to dis- 
 cern these significant "signs of the times," heaping to them- 
 selves teachers having itching ears and turning away from 
 the truth of God's word as written in their law Bible and 
 sounded by the servants of God,, placing their fingers in their 
 ears and shouting, "J oe Smith," Mormon delusion, beware 
 of false prophets ! 
 
 And for this cause has God permitted strong delusions in. 
 these last days to be sent among them, that they might be 
 led to believe a lie that they might be dammed, " because 
 they have pleasure in unrighteousness," i. e., to say they 
 are not willing to submit to the righteousness that is in the 
 gospel, but having gone about, as did the Jew in Paul's day r 
 to establish by any kind of method "their own righteousness," 
 the religious world is now being subjected to every form 
 of deception in the employment of forces occult to human, 
 minds, but known to the " Prince of the power of the air,* 
 
 * PSYCHIC INVESTIGATION ; A NEW ASSOCIATION FORMED AT BOSTON, 
 BOSTON, Feb. 10, 1890. A movement has been started in Boston by 
 men of high standing for the investigation and study of physic phenom- 
 ena. A prospectus has been issued signed among others by Rev. 
 M. J. Savage of the Church of the Unity, Rev. E. A.Horton of the Sec- 
 ond Congregational Church, Rev. Heber Newton of All Souls' Epis- 
 copal Church, New York ; Rev. E. E. Hale of Boston, Mary A. Liv- 
 ermore of Melrose, B. O. Flower, editor of the Arena, and Rev. T. 
 E. Allen, of the Fourth Unitarian Society, Providence. 
 
 The prospectus states: "We only propose to concentrate our 
 efforts on the narrower field of spiritualism, pure and simple. 
 That modern spiritualism has votaries in all parts of our coun- 
 try, and that it has the power to influence the thought and action 
 of those who believe its teachings, are indisputable facts. Is 
 the movement founded on fact or delusion? Does the world 
 know? And if it does not know, is is not time for a few truth- 
 loving persons approaching the subject in a serious frame of mind te>. 
 
50 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 the spirit that now worketh in the hearts of the children of 
 disobedience." (Epn. ii, 1:3.) 
 
 It will be seen by this reference that the heavens are now 
 to be penetrated, if at all, " by a purely scientific method. 
 Correct : "If any man will do . . he shall know," that's 
 all that Franklin, Morse or Edison has done, but they 
 -didn't establish the laws themselves or make them, they 
 simply discovered and conformed to them God's law in 
 nature and the ph} T sical world. But it makes all the differ- 
 ence in the world what law we apply in spiritual things. 
 Natural law cannot solve spiritual problems. For 
 
 " After that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not 
 <God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that 
 believe." (I COR. i, 21.) 
 
 Jesus Christ promised the world through revelation to hi s 
 servant John, that an fingel would fly to earth " having the 
 everlasting gospel to preach to men that dwell on the earth." 
 
 Our proclamation to these men, and to all the world, is 
 that the angel has flown, and that we are appointed to 
 declare this message, and to offer, not simply a " sign " to 
 disobedient or unbeliever, but a law of test by which in 
 the rational employment of all the forces of the soul, the 
 intellectual, moral and spiritual in man, he may as certainly 
 test the truth of the propositions that we present as Morse 
 <or Edison may test their applications of natural law. 
 
 investigate it, guided by a purely scientific method? Is it not in the 
 ibest interest of humanity that this matter should be settled, if possible, 
 once for all? If it be delusion, the contagion has spread quite far 
 enough, and done damage enough already. If there be truth in 
 it, the world will be benefited by the knowledge. With this feeling 
 the signers have decided to issue this appeal, asking you to join with 
 them in carrying on the work of the Psychic Investigation Association. 
 <(See also Appendix.) 
 
OR, A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 51 
 
 " If any man will do, he shall know," so say we we 
 challenge the world to proof of a single failure can we say 
 more? 
 
 " He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that 
 loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I 
 will love him, and will manifest myself to him." JOHN xiv :2i. 
 
 "And I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter 
 that he may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the 
 'world cannot receive, i6th verse. 
 
 The reception of this power and gift by the waiting 
 disciples 1800 years ago was proof of Christ's mission. 
 
 "Judas said unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt 
 manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" 
 
 That is the question the world with Judas is asking 
 to-day. How does, or will, God if thereis one manifest 
 or reveal himself ? " 
 
 "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me he will keep 
 my words," and not forget or ignore them, "and my Father will 
 love him, and we will take up our abode with him." JOHN xiv: 22-23. 
 
 Reader, what company do you entertain ? What kind of 
 men or spirits. Who or what do you harbor within your soul 
 as companions or teachers ? 
 
 Take heed that no man deceive you ; and beware of 
 seducing spirits ! 
 
 How common a thing to hear it said, " I know that my 
 Redeemer liveth." How do they know? How may we how 
 do we who have obeyed the latter day message know that 
 our Redeemer liveth? " Answer : 
 
 Because we have heard from him in this generation. 
 The wires of communication that Constantine and the Popes 
 have thrown down, and Protestant refuses to put up, saying 
 they are not needed, or are seeking through familiar spirits 
 to satisfy the lack of gospel revelation to themselves are 
 again in order and we know who is at the other end of the 
 
$2 THE SEER OF PALMYRA ; 
 
 line, for it is the voice of the Good Shepherd, who in con- 
 tradiction of men and seducing spirits says, 
 
 " If ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed, and 
 ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. " 
 
 ' SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 NOTE. We have referred for proof to a few only of the many 
 Biblical and to none of the multiplied archaeological evidences which 
 a study of American prehistoric ruin furnishes. 
 
 These may be obtained by addressing Herald office, Lamoni, Iowa, 
 in " Baldwin's Ancient America," " Presidency and Priesthood," by 
 W. H. Kelley, and other similar works. 
 
APPENDIX, 
 
 IN the Banner of Light, a paper devoted to, and pub- 
 lished in the interest of spiritualism, among the ques- 
 tions answered through the trance mediumship of Mr. 
 W. J. Colville, is the following by M. Hamilton. " Question : 
 It is claimed by some that the Book of Mormon is divinely 
 inspired, and that Joseph Smith was ordained to the Aaronic 
 priesthood; is there any truth in these statements, and if 
 Smith was ordained, by whom was it done ? Answer : If 
 Smith was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood, he was or- 
 dained to the priesthood of a by gone dispensation ; therefore 
 ordained to something thousands of years behind his time. 
 If he was ordained to this priesthood by anyone, he could 
 have been ordained only by the spirits of departed Jews, 
 who had not unfolded out of the Israelitish sphere into the 
 sphere of the universal heavens. Undoubtedly Joseph Smith 
 was a medium, and reflected the ideas of a company of 
 spirits in spirit-life, who were ancient polygamists. No 
 doubt they were those connected with the Israelitish dispen- 
 sation, as polygamy was undoubtedly the practice of Solomon 
 and many of the leading kings of Judea. We regard Joseph 
 Smith as a medium ; and the Book of Mormon as inspired, 
 yet not inspired by the highest spiritual intelligence not in- 
 spired by intelligence equal to your degree of intelligence 
 here in this mortal body, in the nineteenth century, in 
 Boston." 
 
 In the above communication is revealed something of the 
 uncertainly that characterizes a great many communications 
 professedly, (and really, I believe), from spirit source ; un- 
 
54 APPENDIX. 
 
 fortunately, however, these spirits seem to have progressed 
 in a crab fashion, (backward), sort of a way, or they should 
 have learned what a great many mortals have learned, and 
 others might learn, by a little personal investigation of the 
 revelations of Joseph Smith, or the Book of Mormon ; that 
 Joseph Smith if a medium, reflected in his spiritual claims 
 something other than " The ideas of spirits in spirit life, who 
 were ancient polygamists," as it is well known to readers of 
 the Book of Mormon that there is not a religious volume in 
 the world that condemns in stronger terms, than does this- 
 book, the crime of polygamy. 
 
 It was time for God, if there was any, to speak. He has- 
 spoken ; but Joseph Smith, nor any of the servants of God,, 
 have not only had men and doctrines of men, but devils and 
 doctrines of devils to contend against. If there are spirits 
 at all, why may there not be seducing spirits with seductive 
 doctrines to contend against? Any day or night, in the 
 city of Boston, you can get a revelation from the " angel 
 world," to dovetail with the moral status and desire of the 
 individual, attended, too, with "signs" and "phenomena,'*" 
 that will make the hair of the uninitiated stand on end. 
 Spiritualism is making thousands of proselytes, devotees too,, 
 who do not appear at their public meetings or lectures, but 
 are seen Sunday in the fashionable churches ; but who, sub 
 rosa, consult familiar spirits, ordered up on short notice by 
 the payment of the necessary fee, in regard to dead friends, 
 lost property, bodily sickness, etc., "Signs," which Jesus- 
 said an adulterous and wicked generation sought after, and 
 which should be given, though "not unto salvation." I 
 admit that spiritualism has produced an argument which 
 may be nard to explain on any hypothesis but that of 
 immortality, or life after death ; but under what condition, 
 or rule, or estate, is life in the future to be administered ? 
 The revelations through mediums from Maine to California,. 
 
APPENDIX. 55 
 
 are as vague, dreamy, unsubstantial, contradictory, so utterly 
 unlike the hopes of the prophets, Jesus, his apostles, and of 
 the final " inheritance " that their appeals to scripture 
 support only reveals to the true Latter Day Saint their real 
 character. I recognize their power of seership and reality 
 of " signs " and " wonders," performed through trance 
 speakers and physical mediumship. Nations and rulers of 
 nations have entertained themselves of them. Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, king of the earth, did not retain them at his court 
 simply as performers of ledgerdemain, or slight of hand ; 
 no more does England's queen to-day, but to confound 
 them with the seership or mission of Joseph Smith, is 
 ignorance ; to place their revelations thousands of years in 
 advance of his calling, is the baldest absurdity, and reveals 
 to me, either that those spirits, if other than men, instead of 
 being " advanced," are altogether too ignorant of known facts 
 to be valuable instructors ; or that they belong to that order, 
 who, having "kept not their first estate," are roaming 
 unseen, as subjects of the " Prince of the power of the air," 
 whom Jesus referred to, when he said, " I saw Satan fall 
 as lightning from heaven," and who having failed there, 
 his next theatre of action was this globe of ours. 
 
 " Beware of false prophets that come to you in sheeps' clothing." 
 Spiritualism and " Mormonism " are no more alike in 
 reality or internally than are the two animals designated. 
 The angels or spirits proposing to give the world infor- 
 mation through spiritualistic mediums concerning Joseph 
 Smith and the Book of Mormon, have either purposely or 
 ignorantly taken their cue from popular stories and litera- 
 ture against the " Mormons," and evidently either know as 
 little concerning that which the Scriptures reveal regarding 
 the work of Joseph Smith, as they do of the prophecies in 
 relation to Jesus Christ ; or knowing, are careful and cer- 
 tain to give to the world through their " control " or " me- 
 
56 APPENDIX. 
 
 diums," any plausible, or even patronizing explanation that 
 avoids the truth, or that shall reveal their hostility to the 
 mission of Jesus Christ or his servants. 
 
 While at Lake Cassadaga, in western New York, last sum- 
 mer, I listened to eulogies of heathen philosophers and even 
 Protestant reformers, but not a word of rational explanation 
 of the mission of a man whose claims to marvelous, 
 miraculous and unique manifestation so far transcends 
 the history of any modern seer or " medium " as a 
 spiritual marvel or phenomenon as should challenge 
 or demand from these " advanced spirits " a rational 
 and truthful explanation of the real design and char- 
 acter of the work of the Seer of Palmyra. Let not the 
 reader be deceived. The gracious and patronizing air 
 with which these " spirits," when pressed for explanation of 
 the mission of Joseph Smith, relegate him to the ranks of 
 a fourth-rate mediumship that reflects only stale and ex- 
 ploded myths of ancient Bible literature and of the claim 
 of divinity for the mission and doctrine of Jesus Christ, is 
 a trick of the adversary of men's souls, and should deceive 
 only the ignorant or wilful, and not the lover of or honest 
 seeker after truth. 
 
 While visiting friends at this great camp of honest spirit- 
 ualistic believers, humbugs, and creed-disgusted investi- 
 gators, myself and Mrs. Bond attended, one evening, a 
 "seance" of Mr. Keeler whose gospel, like the popular 
 orthodox ones, is not without money or without price and 
 were treated to a clever piece of juggling, whether of men, 
 or spirits, or both, we need not here say, (as to the mind 
 of the writer no amount of signs or wonders can be safely 
 made to take the place of facts, and that humbuggery, 
 through either men or spirits, are to be equally avoided), 
 but which we paid for, as a joint exhibition of Mr. Keeler, 
 
APPENDIX, 57 
 
 who resides in the flesh, and his spiritual partner, George 
 Christy, who, though long since gone to the angel world, is still 
 in the minstrel show business at the old price, fifty cents a 
 head admission, with Mr. Keeler as manager, treasurer and 
 banker on earth, etc. 
 
 Of what we saw and heard we can write but little. It is 
 not our purpose. We saw, however, what others saw and 
 handled, and said were spirit hands, etc. We, however, 
 got no opportunity to shake hands with friends who 
 have passed over. Evidently we hadn't faith, or the spirits 
 thought they couldn't trust us. I'm afraid they couldn't ; 
 for we had made up our mind that if we got hold of that 
 spirit hand, we should have retained it long enough, and 
 familiar enough to perhaps have bred contempt and 
 unpleasantness. 
 
 After the "seance," and while going to our lodging place, 
 we were accosted by a gentlemen and lady who had also 
 attended the exhibition of Mr. Keeler that evening. A con- 
 versation ensued regarding what was seen, the probable 
 nature and character of the manifestations, etc., etc., and 
 the gentleman who proved to be a firm believer in spiritual- 
 ism, but whose wife was not, after learning that I was an 
 unbeliever, enquired as to what explanations I could give in 
 regard to what I had seen, etc. While not anxious for a 
 controversy, I considered his question a fair one. and be- 
 lieving him to be what I afterwards learned to be true, 
 that he was an honest as well as an influential man, I frankly 
 told him my belief, and my occupation as a minister of 
 Jesus Christ, and declared to them my belief that if they 
 were manifestations of spirits at all, they were the anti- 
 christ spirits of devils, and not dead men who were work- 
 ing miracles in these last days to deceive the honest and 
 unwary, and that as an authorized minister of Jesus Christ 
 it was given us to understand who and what these spirits were, 
 
58 APPENDIX. 
 
 with their tricks, etc. Immediately this gentleman became 
 seized with a power or control, and broke forth in a violent 
 and, to all save myself, unknown tongue, causing him also 
 to gesticulate violently and threateningly toward me, and 
 totally unlike the demeanor of the man who naturally de- 
 ported himself in a very quiet and gentlemanly way. 
 
 As the harangue which this power delivered to me through 
 the control of this man proceeded I perceived its nature 
 and interpretation, which was concentrated in a word and 
 in import, simply the speech of the devils to Jesus Christ. 
 "Why art thou come to torment us?" "Why are you here 
 upon these grounds to molest and to make us trouble, etc, 
 etc." 
 
 This gentleman immediately upon being loosed from 
 this control began an apology to me for his violent manner 
 etc., when he was seized again in the same manner, and with 
 difficulty was enabled to cease, breaking out at intervals 
 as we walked along. He again with his wife, who was a 
 church member, apologized before we parted, and again 
 also the next morning came to our cottage with further ex- 
 planation and apology, which we assured him over and again 
 was unnecessary, as that, no matter how hostile was his 
 guest that he had entertained the night before, to us, to 
 honest men everywhere, no matter what their belief, we 
 were, and are, sincerely their friend. 
 
 M. H. BOND. 
 
 PROVIDENCE, R. I., March 13, 1891.