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TESTS 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
 i 
 
 < 
 
 I DIVINE INSPIRATION f I 
 
 5 ' 
 
 on, THE 
 
 RUDIMENTAL PRINCIPLES 
 
 BY TVUIOH 
 
 
 TRUE AND FALSE REVELATION, 
 
 f 
 
 IN ALL ERAS OF THE WORLD, 
 
 CAN BE UNERRINGLY 
 
 DISCRIMINATED 
 
 ? 'The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.** — Rev. xim. 10, 
 
 BY P . W. EVANS. 
 
 NEW LEBANON: 
 
 s 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE UNITED SOCIETY CALLED SHAKERS. 
 
 1853. 
 
TESTS 
 
 OF 
 
 DIVINE INSPIRATION; 
 
 OK, THE 
 
 RUDIMENTAL PRINCIPLES 
 
 BY WHICH 
 
 TRUE AND FALSE REVELATION, 
 IN ALL ERAS OF THE WORLD, 
 
 CAN EE UNERRINGLY 
 
 DISCRIMINATED. 
 
 'The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." — Rbv. xix. 10. 
 
 BY F. W. E VAN S. 
 
 NEW LEBANON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE UNITED SOCIETY CALLED SHAKERS. 
 
 1853. 
 
OLW 
 
 U 
 977! 
 
 <;^ 
 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 The following Tests are offered to the Public, as an explanation of 
 the great enigma and paradox of the age — Spiritual Manifestations ; 
 and also as a solution of what has often, and not inappropriately, 
 been designated the " great problem of the age," — a social organ- 
 ization that shall secure, not merely " the greatest good to the greatest 
 number, " but also the greatest good to the whole number of its mem- 
 bers. 
 
 This is done by unfolding and illustrating those radical principles 
 upon which alone such organization, or system, can ever be based ; 
 as is demonstrated by the successful experiments of some eighteen 
 different bodies of persons, in various States of the Union, covering 
 or extending over a period of more than seventy years, by the often- 
 persecuted, greatly-misrepresented, and little-understood people called 
 Shakers. 
 
 ¥. W. EVANS, 
 CALVIN GREEN. 
 
 Sept. 1853. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ART I. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 Chapter. Page. 
 
 I. RUDIMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE PATRI- 
 ARCHAL ERA, . . . . . 1 
 
 " SUMMARY, 14 
 
 II. GOD'S LAWS, ORDINANCES, &c, . . 15 
 
 " Summary, 17 
 
 IH. SUBJECT CONTINUED, 18 
 
 " SUMMARY, . . . .22 
 
 SECTION II. 
 Chapter. Page. 
 
 I. ESTABLISHED LAWS AND RULES OF THE 
 
 SECOND, OR MOSAIC ERA, ... 24 
 
 " - Summary, 27 
 
 II. THE CONSEQUENCES OP BEING GUIDED BY 
 
 FALSE REVELATIONS, . . . '. . 28 
 " Summary, . . . .31 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 Chapter. Page. 
 
 I. THE LAW OF CHRIST, CONTAINING THE 
 
 RULES OF THE FIRST CHRISTIAN ERA. . 33 
 " I Summary, . 34 
 
 II. JESUS CHRIST THE DIVINE TEACHER, . 35 
 
 " SUMMAET, . . . . 37 
 
 IH. SUBJECT CONTINUED, . ... 38 
 
 " Summary, . . . .40 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 Chapter. Page, 
 
 I. THE DIVINE LAWS OF CHRIST, AS DEFINITE 
 
 RULES OF JUDGMENT, PERFECTED IN 
 SECOND CHRISTIAN ERA, OR FOURTH 
 AND LAST DISPENSATION, . . .42 
 " Summary, 45 
 
 II. SHOWING THAT THE TRUE CHURCH IS 
 
 BASED UPON REVELATION, . . .47 
 
 " Summary .50 
 
 III. SUBJECT CONTINUED, . .... 51 
 
 " Summary, . . . -59 
 
 SECTION V. 
 Chapter. Page. 
 
 I. AFFINITIVE RELATIONS OF THE DIVINE 
 
 WORK OF THE FOUR DISPENSATIONS, . 62 
 INTRODUCTION TO PART II., . . . . 67 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 TESTS OF DIVINE REVELATION. 
 
 Page. 
 
 I. 
 
 FAITH, 
 
 72 
 
 a 
 
 Summary, . . . . 
 
 . 73 
 
 II. 
 
 BAPTISM, .... 
 
 . 73 
 
 a 
 
 Summary, 
 
 n 
 
 ill. 
 
 SIN, . .... 
 
 . 75 
 
 a 
 
 Summary, .... 
 
 . 75 
 
 IV. 
 
 SALVATION, 
 
 . 75 
 
 it 
 
 Summary, , 
 
 76 
 
 v. 
 
 LOVE OF GOD TO MAN, . 
 
 . 76 
 
 ct 
 
 Summary, . . . . 
 
 . 77 
 
 VI. 
 
 LOVE OF GOD IN MAN, . 
 
 . 77 
 
 u 
 
 Summary, . 
 
 . 78 
 
 VII. 
 
 LOVE OF MAN TO MAN, . 
 
 . 78 
 
 u 
 
 Summary, . . . . 
 
 . 83 
 
 VIII, 
 
 FORSAKING ALL, 
 
 . 84 
 
 u 
 
 Summary, . 
 
 . 85 
 
 IS. 
 
 VIRGIN PURITY, 
 
 . 85 
 
 u 
 
 Summary, . . 
 
 88 
 
 X. 
 
 PEACE, . .... 
 
 . 90 
 
 « 
 
 Summary, .... 
 
 . 94 
 
 XI. 
 
 TRUTH, 
 
 . 95 
 
 XII. 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAN, .... 
 
 . 102 
 
 xni. 
 
 CONCLUSION, 
 
 . 107 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 '• Try the Spirits." The basis and beginning of all 
 knowledge, is a consciousness of our own being. To learn 
 anything, we must first know something. The less a being 
 knows, the more difficult it is for it to receive knowledge ; 
 and the more it knows, the easier it can add thereto. " As 
 the mouth tasteth meats, so doth the ear try words." 
 
 "How can we reason, but from what we know?" 
 
 Man can only try propositions presented to him, by the 
 truth already in his possession. 
 
 Error is the result, either of admitting ' that to be self-evi- 
 dent or true, which is not, or of false deduction and illogical 
 reasonings from that which is self-evidently true. 
 
 In a paper, published in Auburn, devoted to the Spiritual 
 manifestations, the principle of trying the spirits by some 
 rules, doctrines, and principles, was adopted ; and those 
 spirits whose revelations and communications were founded 
 upon, and reconcilable with, such principles and rules, were 
 to be accepted and believed as true ; and those revelations 
 and communications which were not so founded, or that con- 
 flicted with such rules, principles, and doctrines, were to be 
 rejected as false. 
 
 This was a true and correct principle, and a proper man- 
 ner of proceeding ; and is the only one in which men, as 
 rational, accountable beings, can possibly proceed and be 
 
8 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 justified. For it is certain, that no portion of the human 
 family are so lost and degraded, as not to be in possession 
 of some truths, by which .they can try their ministering 
 spirits. The danger is (as was the case in the above in- 
 stance), that rules and doctrines which, equally with the 
 spirits, require to be tested and proved, will be adopted as 
 the standard of judgment, by which to " try the spirits." 
 
 The Auburn company laid down the doctrines of the 
 Trinity, the Deity of Jesus Christ, his vicarious sufferings 
 and death, the resurrection of the body, &c, as infallible cri- 
 terions of judgment, and all spirits who did not subscribe 
 to this standard, were at once proscribed and banished. 
 
 So that, as all these doctrines, and almost every other 
 rule adopted by them, were taken for. granted as true, and 
 no attempt at proof having been made, though each one was 
 in itself evidently erroneous, it was therefore impossible for 
 those persons to have communications from any very enlight- 
 ened and true spirit. The mathematician first begins with 
 self-evident propositions, such as all men would admit ; as 
 that one and one make two ; that the two equal parts of an 
 apple are equivalent the one to the other ; and then he pro- 
 ceeds logically, step by step, to the deepest and most sub- 
 lime problems. This, as far as the nature of the subject 
 will admit, is designed to be the method of procedure in the 
 following treatise ; and then the resulting doctrines are 
 adopted as a standard by which to try the spirits, and all 
 spiritual manifestations, revelations, gifts, or visions that may 
 come, or purport to come, from the spirit world. 
 
PART I. 
 
 RUDIMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE 
 PATRIARCHAL ERA. 
 
 ' For the Lord hath made all things for their use." — Ecclus. xxxix. 2. 
 
 SECTION I 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 USE. 
 
 Man : — Is he the product of Nature, or of a Supreme 
 Being? He is now in a fallen condition. Nature is either 
 perfect, or imperfect. If Nature be the author of man, and 
 she be imperfect, then there is no rational hope that he 'will 
 ever be raised from his present fallen condition. If Nature 
 were the author of man, and she be perfect, then it may with 
 propriety be asked, how her child — man — became imperfect ? 
 also, how it happened, that Nature, which possessed the 
 power to bring man into existence a perfect creature, should 
 ever have suffered him to become any thing other than what 
 she at first made him ? And, again : If she, Nature, lacked 
 the ability to keep him perfect when he was so, how can she 
 2 
 
10 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 possess sufficient power to restore him to that condition ? or 
 to keep and preserve him in it, supposing him to be so re- 
 stored ? The product of Nature, man, could not have fallen, 
 unless. Nature also fell, for he would not have been a free 
 agent ; as Nature could not bring a free agent into being ; 
 for free agency presupposes the existence of two opposite 
 powers, controlled and directed by two primary antagonistic 
 intelligences, or Beings. 
 
 Therefore, none but a free agent could fall, or be again 
 raised after it had fallen ; for to rise, also presupposes the 
 existence of a superior intelligent power and Being, by whose 
 agency the resurrection is effected. It is, therefore, clearly 
 demonstrable, that Nature was not the originator of the 
 human race ; and that there is a Supreme Being — God, an 
 invisible Power and Wisdom, the Author and Creator of 
 man, and of all good things, (Gen. i. 31,) as may be plainly 
 seen by the visible creation. " For the invisible things of 
 Him from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being 
 understood by the things that are made." 
 
 Creation consists of two parts : the outward and visible, 
 which may be denominated the body ; and the interior and' 
 invisible, — spiritual part. — which may be designated the soul. 
 
 The outer, visible body, with all its elements, must be di- 
 rected and governed by the living power of the interior, or 
 spiritual part, — the soul. 
 
 Man, male and female, was brought forth as the highest 
 production of the elements of this world, and represents both 
 parts : his outward, or animal, being the visible body, — a 
 macrocosm of the outward earthly world ; and his interior, 
 or soul, a microcosm, — an organization of the invisible or 
 spiritual world. 
 
 The order of his creation was, for the animal organization, 
 which connected him with the external world, to be directed 
 and governed by the powers of his superior part, or living 
 soul ; and for this spirit part to be under the guidance of 
 the Divine laws of his being ; through the medium of which, 
 
INSPIRATION. 11 
 
 he was rendered accountable to his Creator for all his goings. 
 All the faculties of man were originally good, and innocent, 
 not excepting that of procreation. 
 
 These, through the insinuations of a foreign evil influence, 
 he was led to corrupt, by making pleasure, not use, the end 
 of their action and exercise. This is lust. 
 
 Man, in his sphere, was not a machine, but a free agent, to 
 choose between obedience and disobedience to good or evil. 
 For it is impossible for man to be a living, rational being, 
 without having sensible self-acting life; and the power of 
 choice must be the result. 
 
 The ability to receive, and the desire of, knowledge in man, 
 were necessary for the development of all the faculties per- 
 taining to his physical and spiritual organization ; and in 
 themselves were perfectly innocent. By these, he would 
 have increased in his understanding of the order of his crea- 
 tion, and of the will of God respecting him ; — how to subdue 
 or govern the world, and to keep it and himself in order. 
 
 But, under the instigation of evil, the innate love of know- 
 ledge was used to "seek out many inventions," — knowledge 
 of evil things ; and it thus became the medium through which 
 the tempter inspired his own principles of life, by which man, 
 not waiting to be appropriately developed, or to be guided 
 ' by superior wisdom into the appointed time and season for 
 procreation, was untimely led into the work of generation. 
 And thus was implanted in man the principle of lust. 
 
 Without revelation from the spirit world, man is ever li- 
 able to mistake the Divine agency, by which all the opera- 
 tions of the visible worlds are effected, and to ascribe them 
 to some mysterious imaginary power which he calls Nature ; 
 but respecting which, he can give no intelligent information. 
 All effects, whether they be natural or spiritual, are often 
 thus referred to this unknown and unintelligent cause ; which 
 yet leaves the mind of man in a state of doubt and uncer- 
 tainty, and also with an undefined dissatisfied feeling. 
 
 But the unchangeable nature of the constituent elements 
 
12 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 of the visible worlds, and the regularity and harmony of the 
 laws by which they are governed, resulting, as they do, in 
 nought but useful ends and purposes, clearly reveal to the 
 rational mind, a Supreme Intelligence, of omnipotent power 
 and wisdom, possessed of a superior organization to all other 
 subsistences ; for it is self-evident, that no intelligent organi- 
 zation could be derived where no intelligent organization ex- 
 ists. " Understand, ye brutish ; and ye fools, when will ye 
 be wise ? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear ? and 
 he that formed the eye, shall he not see ? He that chastiseth 
 the heathen, shall not he correct? He that teacheth man 
 .knowledge, shall not he know ?" (Ps. xciv. 8 — 10.) As no 
 visible thing has power to organize itself, of necessity, all or- 
 ganizations are, by gradation, derived from an unoriginated 
 primary intelligent Being, or Organization. And, as no de- 
 rivative can equal the original, all visible organizations must 
 be inferior to the original Supreme Organization, or Being. 
 
 In a recent " Treatise on Revelation,"* the object is to 
 prove the existence of a communication between the natural 
 and spiritual worlds, continuously, from the creation of man 
 to the present time. Whilst the object of the present Treatise 
 is to establish a standard, or rules, by which all men may 
 judge or discriminate between the true and false, the good 
 and evil, in all such communications. 
 
 In order the better to attend to this principal object, cer- 
 tain points will now be assumed as true as that, there is a 
 God ; a spirit world, which to the natural man is the pro- 
 totype and a transcript of this ; and that in all ages there 
 have been intelligent communications, from one to the other, 
 which have been both true and false, good and bad, and 
 sometimes a compound of all ; and that the Bible contains 
 the most authentic record of such spiritual intercourse — es- 
 pecially of that which has come in the most direct line of the 
 Divine order, but not the ten-millionth part of all the reve- 
 
 * By Elder William Leonard of Harvard. 
 
INSPIRATION. 13 
 
 lations that have been made to man, individually and collec- 
 tively. An Apostle declared, that, if all that Jesus alone 
 said and did had been written, " the world could not have 
 contained the books." How much less, then, would it con- 
 tain a record of all which has passed between the natural 
 and spiritual spheres ? 
 
 No truth can be more certain, than that God is a God of 
 order, and not of confusion. (See 1 Cor. xiv. 33.) The ex- 
 ternal creation alone demonstrates it. Astronomy, natural 
 philosophy, and chemistry, are witnesses of it ; as are all 
 the sciences, which bring to light the laws of God as they 
 exist and are immutably established in the physical world. 
 Every thing, even to the minutest particle of sand, derives 
 its form from, and is governed by, some law inherent in itself. 
 So true is it, that even the smallest atom, equally with the 
 most stupendous world, is embraced within the circle of 
 cause and effect, originating in the Divine mind. 
 
 It is in this light that the very hairs of our head are all 
 numbered, and that not a sparrow falls to the ground by 
 chance. " He" that " hath weighed the world in a balance, 
 by measure hath he measured the times, and by number 
 hath he numbered the times. And he doth not move nor 
 stir them, until the said measure be fulfilled." (2 Esdras, 
 iv. 36, 31.) The vegetable world shows forth order, in all 
 the infinite variety of its productions. There is not a plant 
 so vile as not to exhibit system and beauty in its organiza- 
 tion : each branch, and twig, and leaf, is but an outward 
 manifestation of an invisible and eternal law. 
 
 The animal kingdom, from the microscopic insect to the 
 half -reasoning elephant, is also subject to, and governed by, 
 laws, called instinct, far more enduring and unchangeable 
 than the "laws of the Medes and Persians," and which lead 
 them (in a state of original freedom) to do, in all respects, that 
 which is for their best present good and future welfare. " This 
 also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful 
 in counsel, and excellent in working." (Is. xxviii. 29.) And 
 
14 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 of man, who is " so fearfully and wonderfully made," that, 
 in his outward form, he is in truth a perfect organization of 
 all the principles of law, order, and beauty, pertaining to our 
 world, can we rationally believe, that he was not designed to 
 be governed and regulated by fixed and permanent laws, in 
 his moral and spiritual nature and experience ? 
 
 "God made man upright" (Eccles. vii. 29) throughout. 
 And, while upright, he was obedient to the physical, moral, 
 and spiritual laws of his being : every thought, word, and 
 action, was but the effect proceeding ■ from these invisible 
 causes, and tended towards the health and strength of his 
 body, mind, and soul. The whole creation, while it abode 
 in its original integrity, was justly pronounced " very good." 
 But how widely different from that is its present condition, 
 let the general verdict of all classes, — religious and irre- 
 ligious — determine. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 The natural creation, governed by fixed immutable laws, 
 all of which tended towards some useful end and purpose. 
 
 Man the microcosm of the world, and the product of 
 nature, under God. 
 
 By the insinuations of evil, operating upon his innate love 
 of knowledge, man was induced tp violate the great law of 
 use, the first law of creation, by perpetrating a premature and 
 untimely act of generation. 
 
 Thus the fall of man was effected by his rejecting the 
 teachings and influences of Divine ministering spirits, friends, 
 who would have kept him in subjection to all the physical 
 and moral laws of his nature ; and by listening to, and obey- 
 ing the whisperings and suggestions of, evil spirits, whereby, 
 in his actions, he began to seek, as an end, gratification, and 
 not use. 
 
INSPIRATION. 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 I.AW. 
 
 Br dividing the spiritual history of the human race into 
 four great Eras, — the Patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the First 
 and Second Christian, we can the more easily trace the cre- 
 ation, the fall, and the rise of man. 
 
 In the First Era, previous to the fall, man is represented, in 
 the Scriptures, as enjoying easy and uninterrupted com- 
 munion with spiritual beings. But, since that event, angel 
 visits have been "few and far between." And in what way, 
 and by what means, man has fallen to his present degraded 
 and deplorable state, is vividly portrayed and set forth, by 
 the Prophet Isaiah, (xxiv. 5, 6.) " The earth also is defiled 
 under the inhabitants thereof, because they have trans- 
 gressed the laws, changed the ordinances, and broken the 
 everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured 
 the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate." 
 
 Thus, it was disobedience to well-known laws, and esta- 
 blished ordinances, and the breaking of a solemn covenant, 
 which God made with all his creatures, when he directed 
 them to "multiply and replenish the earth," and which was 
 pre-eminently designed to be an " everlasting covenant," for 
 the regulation of man, in the chief and most important ope- 
 ration of nature — procreation — that constituted him a. fallen 
 being. This " everlasting covenant," which God made with 
 his creatures, was, that no animals should use their reproduc- 
 tive powers and organs for any other than the simple purpose 
 of procreation ; and was the sole condition upon which God 
 would impart to them the power to bring forth offspring in 
 their own likeness, and after their own kind, in the primitive 
 Divine order of "very good." 
 
 The violation of this covenant, which man, on his part, 
 
16 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 accepted by marriage, and to which he, as the head and lord 
 of all creation, should have yielded the most implicit obedi- 
 ence is the root of the transgression of every other law and 
 ordinance, that has ever been broken by man, and it was this 
 act that originated and implanted the principle of lust in him ; 
 and when lust was thus conceived, it brought forth sin ; and 
 when sin was finished, it brought forth darkness of mind and 
 soul, and even death; so that his intercourse with good 
 spiritual friends was interrupted and confused, by the evil 
 spirits to whom he had hearkened, and whose counsel he hafl 
 followed ; and therefore " his servant he became unto whom 
 he had yielded himself a servant to obey ;" (Rom. vi. 16 ;) so 
 that gradually he lost the knowledge of those laws and 01 di- 
 nances, and of the covenant that he had so shamefully broken. 
 
 " Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him 
 not as God, neither were thankful ; but became vain in their 
 imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Where- 
 fore, God gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of 
 their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between them- 
 selves. God gave them up to vile affections. God 
 gave them over to a reprobate mind. Being filled with all 
 unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness ; 
 full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity ; whisperers, 
 backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inven- 
 tors of evil things, covenant breakers," &c. &c. (Rom i.) 
 
 These various evils, with very many others, are thus 
 set forth as being the necessary effects of the human race 
 having once broken and departed from the original law and 
 design of God in creating them male and female (i.e. that 
 they should copulate, for procreation only, and not for 
 gratification); and they found no stopping- place in their de- 
 scent into the hell of lust, which is truly a bottomless pit. 
 
 And thus the human race in the First Era, having once 
 entered upon a course of evil, that is, of making sensual plea- 
 sure, and not use, the end and object in their every action, 
 did not cease, in their insane career, until they had " filled 
 
INSPIRATION. 17 
 
 the earth with violence ;" finally attaining to that degree of 
 lawlessness, that " every imagination of their hearts was evil, 
 and that continuously." (Gen. vi. 5.) " God was not in all 
 their thoughts." How then could man continue to exist while 
 living in perpetual disobedience to the laws of his existence ! ! 
 
 " For God made not death ; neither hath he pleasure in 
 the destruction of the living. For he created all things, that 
 they might have their being : and the generations of the 
 world were healthful ; and there is no poison of destruction 
 in them, nor the kingdom of death upon the earth. But un- 
 godly men with their works and words, called it to them ; 
 for when they thought to have it their friend, they consumed 
 to nought and made a covenant with it." (Wisdom of So- 
 lomon, i. 13-16.) 
 
 Thus man, who was originally good, and (so long as he 
 was a law-keeper) in daily communion with the spirit world, 
 and entirely under the Divine influence, when he broke the 
 first and most important law pertaining to the propaga- 
 tion of his race, opened the way for evil of every name 
 and nature ; and began to cut himself off from all spiritual 
 intercourse, except that which was from an evil source. 
 " Darkness commenced to cover the earth, and gross dark- 
 ness the people." (Is. lx. 2.) So that each succeeding 
 generation came into being under increasingly perverted and 
 corrupt influences, until they degenerated into a state of the 
 most profound spiritual ignorance, even denying the exist- 
 ence of the spirits of evil that led and governed them daily ; 
 as they also denied the spirits of good, by which alone they 
 could have been saved from the destruction that awaited 
 them. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 Before man fell, he had easy and uninterrupted commu- 
 nion with good spirits. 
 
 God made an everlasting covenant with all animals, that 
 they should not use their reproductive powers for any other 
 
 2* 
 
18 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 than the simple purpose of procreation ; and the laws of this 
 covenant were primitively implanted in man as in all other 
 animals. 
 
 This covenant man broke ; and thus opened the way for 
 the transgression of every other law that pertained to that 
 Era. For man became a servant to those evil spirits unto 
 whom he had yielded himself a servant to obey, until he was 
 only evil. Then came the flood ; for it was impossible for 
 man to continue to exist in perpetual and entire disobedience 
 to all the laws of his existence. 
 
 Man, when under Divine revelation, kept all the laws of 
 his Era ; and had happiness — life. 
 
 When under false and evil revelations, he broke all the 
 laws of his Era ; and had misery — death. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TESTS. 
 
 To the present existing generations of men upon earth, 
 upon whom the spiritual light of God has never yet shone, 
 the assertions and denunciations contained in Romans, i., &c. 
 cannot in full be applied ; for they never " knew God" aright. 
 In the earlier ages, men possessed a knowledge of God, and 
 of his laws pertaining to their order, but lost it by wick- 
 edness. " They did not love to retain God in their know- 
 ledge." While the present generations must be brought to 
 a knowledge of God, and of those laws, before they can be 
 judged by them and reclaimed from their wickedness. 
 
 The last and only hope of man is Revelation ; for he finds 
 himself born into a deranged, disordered world ; and pos- 
 sessed of an inherent constitutional proclivity to evil ; and 
 that himself has also inherited in his own person, from hia 
 progenitors, its accumulated fruits; 
 
INSPIRATION. 19 
 
 Both the evil and its effects, are, in the premises, inde- 
 pendent of his own volition and free agency. 
 
 It is, therefore, only through the medium of Bevelation 
 that he can be brought to understand the causes that have 
 worked his ruin, and thus come to a knowledge of the pri- 
 mary fundamental laws of God and Nature ; by the continued 
 violation of which, he has been reduced to his present de- 
 plorable condition : for the experience of thousands of years 
 has proved that Nature cannot impart that knowledge. . 
 
 Revelation, therefore, is the rock, the foundation, upon 
 which he must build, or never be saved from the effects of 
 the fall, and find eternal life. And here is the trying point ; 
 for the prediction of Paul is fulfilled : " This know also, that, 
 in the last days, perilous times shall come. For men shall 
 be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blas- 
 phemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without 
 natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, 
 fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high- 
 minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God," &c. 
 (2 Tim. iii. 1-4.) 
 
 It is sin: — such things as these — that separate between the 
 soul and good ministering spirits ; and that unites the soul 
 to, and invites the ministrations of, dark and evil spirits. 
 Consequently, when the spiritual faculties in man (which 
 have become dormant) are quickened and developed by the 
 ministrations of good spirits, evil ones stand ready to occupy 
 the avenue thus opened, and a mixture, in their communica- 
 tions, of truth and error, good and bad, is the result. 
 
 Hence the necessity for a higher standard' of judgment, 
 which was set up in the third Era, in which time mankind 
 were brought into a nearer relation to a higher order of 
 spirits than theretofore had ever had any direct access to 
 them. And with whom they were thenceforth to hold com- 
 munion, and travel in that Gospel, (" which the angels desire 
 to look into ") by which they expected to be judged with 
 men, and, through obedience thereto, be participators with 
 
20 TESTS OF DIVINB 
 
 them of its salvation > these were the justified spirits of men 
 which constituted " the Church of the first-born which are 
 written in heaven," or first Christian Church existing in the 
 spirit world. 
 
 And even there the spirit of error, or antichrist, was also 
 liable to work, though perhaps with less power than among 
 those in the Church upon earth. Therefore, that faithful 
 watchman, Paul, after saying to his brethren, " Ye are come 
 unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the 
 heavenly, (or rather spiritual Jerusalem, and to an innu- 
 merable company of Angels," (Heb. xii. 22), sounded the 
 trumpet of alarm in the holy Mount of Zion upon earth, 
 when he, after referring them to the well-known Gospel doc- 
 trines of Christ, said, " 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." (Gal. i. 8, 9.) How imperatively essential, 
 then, is it, that man should be possessed of some impeccable 
 rule, or test, by which to protect himself from the shafts of 
 evil thus projected from the spirit spheres ; and projected, 
 too, through the operation of those very faculties by which 
 alone his resurrection can ever be effected. To this end, 
 must he not receive a knowledge of the original laws of God, 
 as established in nature, and of the great fundamental law of 
 animal being in particular, in the breach of which consisted 
 the very first transgression ? 
 
 This knowledge would operate as a key to the human 
 mind, by which to unlock the mysteries of iniquity, whether 
 they be of ancient and venerable date, and covered over with 
 the moss of antiquity, or the product of more modern spirit- 
 ual manifestations ; and would thereby enable man to burst 
 the bands of daikness and death,, and to " cut the cords of 
 sin," that now hold and fasten him to the earth ; by causing 
 him to return to first principles, and thus to " discern be- 
 
INSPIBATION. 21 
 
 tween the righteous and the wicked, between him that serv- 
 eth God, and him that serveth him not ;" (Mai. iii. 18) ; and 
 that he may not only " try the spirits," and all teachings and 
 doctrines, purporting to come from the invisible world ; but 
 also be in possession of an infallible standard, or criterion, by 
 which he can judge them with a righteous judgment. 
 
 Every dispensation of the work of God, commenced in 
 Divine revelation, by which its foundations were laid. And, 
 to support and perfect the work of each Dispensation, a con- 
 tinued revelation was also indispensably requisite ; for, when- 
 ever (from whatever cause) the gifts of the Divine Spirit 
 ceased, a "falling away'' among the professors of that order 
 was the inevitable result. " Where there is no vision, the 
 people'' soon " perish." (Prov. xxix. 18.) Such a "falling 
 away" and "perishing," have befallen the Church of each 
 of the three first Epochs, or Eras. 
 
 But, although a continued revelation was always needful, 
 by which to know the then present will of God ; yet an all- 
 important principle has ever been paramount to all others, 
 in every age of the world ; and that is, an unerring rule, 
 by which to judge, distinguish, and know divinely-inspired 
 revelations from those which are spurious and false. And 
 such rule has been given in the established principles which 
 formed the foundation of each Dispensation. 
 
 For all revelation, however high its pretensions, that did 
 not conform to, and was not in accordance with, those per- 
 manent rudimental principles, was, by reason as well as by 
 Divine appointment, to be utterly rejected. And, in all ages, 
 the blessings and cursings, or judgments of God upon the 
 children of men, we're in proportion to their obedience or dis- 
 obedience to this rule. 
 
 In the Dispensation of the Patriarchs, the well-defined 
 principles of the moral law of nature (as already set forth) 
 formed the foundation of that Dispensation, and became the 
 rule by which to try all future revelations or principles in 
 that Era, through whatever spirit, or from whatever source 
 
22 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 they might come. Hence, all who conformed to this law 
 and rule were blessed of God, in their day and generation. 
 
 The line of the Patriarchs was noticed and blessed of God 
 for their obedience thereto. Enoch and Noah were particu- 
 larly distinguished therein, especially with regard to the law 
 of procreation : they " walked with God." 
 
 " Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations." 
 And for this cause God's covenant was established with him, 
 and he was preserved from " perishing with the world of the 
 ungodly." (2 Pet. ii. 5.) It is therefore evident, that, what- 
 ever revelations he received were in conformity with the fixed 
 foundation principles of that Dispensation. 
 
 On the contrary, the posterity of Cain, (who was the seed 
 of lust, and appears to have been the first fruit of trans- 
 gression,) designated " the sons and daughters of men," and 
 also the apostates from the Patriarchal order, who violated - 
 the Moral Law, and would not hearken to the revelations en- 
 joining obedience thereto, incurred the Divine displeasure, 
 and were overwhelmed by the destroying deluge. 
 
 SUMMART. 
 
 Men gradually lost the knowledge of those laws of life 
 that they would not keep. 
 
 The present generations are begotten, bom, and brought up, 
 in ignorance of the essential laws of their own order — the 
 generative. 
 
 They have lost the true Divine revelation that they would 
 not obey ; and are now in gross darkness. 
 
 Sin is the cause of the universal spiritual ignorance which 
 now prevails on the earth among all people. And mankind 
 universally are so lost, ignorant, and wicked, that when good 
 spirits open a communication, evil ones also use it. 
 
 Therefore man needs tests, or unerring rales, by which to 
 " discern between the righteous and the wicked" spirits. 
 
 For this purpose, he must have a knowledge of the laws 
 
INSPIRATION. 23 
 
 of God, and of nature, as pertaining to each of the Four 
 Eras ; and especially of the great fundamental law of animal 
 being, that permits sexual union for procreation only. 
 
 This is the key to, and root of, the whole " mystery of ini- 
 quity" — all the wickedness among mankind. 
 
 "Where there is no vision" — revelation, — "the people 
 perish." 
 
 The rudimental laws of each Dispensation were the rules, 
 or tests, by which to judge all spiritual communications. If 
 any spirits taught disobedience to them, it was " because 
 there was no light in them ;" — they were evil. 
 
 In the First Era, those who stood in the Drone revelation, 
 were such as obeyed all the laws of that Era. Thus, in and 
 while fulfilling the great innate law of animal being, (for 
 every species to multiply and replenish the earth with its 
 kind,) they " walked with Bod," because they were perfect 
 in their generations, — the work of generation — the central 
 impulsive object of that Era. 
 
24 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ESTABLISHED LAWS AND RULES OF THE SECOND, OR MOSAIC 
 ERA, AND MEDIUMS OF TRCE REVELATION. 
 
 The next great Revelation of God, constituting the Second 
 Era, commenced in Abraham : the object of which was to 
 renew, enter into, and ratify the original covenant pertaining 
 to Generation, which had not only been broken, but even the 
 knowledge thereof was lost from among the children of men. 
 Of this covenant Abraham received the seal, — circumcision 
 — which was also the sign of the covenant pertaining to rege- 
 neration, or virgin purity, that God would make with the 
 " Everlasting Father" of the new creation, in the third Era, 
 or first Christian Dispensation. Therefore Abraham is termed 
 the " father of the faithful," in both the typical and spiritual 
 Israel. 
 
 This two-fold object of the covenant with Abraham, was 
 also expressed in the Mosaic law, that was added, (first) 
 " because of transgression" by man, to teach him what the 
 original law of the preceding Dispensation was that he had 
 transgressed ; and to restrain him within certain bounds in 
 future. 
 
 " By the law was the knowledge of sin," (see Rom. iii. 20,) 
 and of what was sinful. And from its requirements, (see 
 Lev. xv. 16, 18,) men learned the depravity of their na- 
 ture, and that they could not cohabit, even in the marriage 
 state, though simply to propagate their species, without 
 committing sin at the same time ; and that, for every child, 
 however legally brought into existence, a sin-offering was re- 
 
INSPIRATION. 25 
 
 quired to be made before the Lord as an atonement. (Lev. xii. 
 6,8.) 
 
 Again, another object of the law was to prepare men 
 for the work of Christ in the Third Dispensation. " The law 
 was a schoolmaster to bring souls to Christ." (Gal. iii. 24.) 
 This was done by types and figures, which were but shadows 
 of good things to come. By circumcision, or the cutting off 
 a portion of the organ of generation in man, and the days of 
 separation from the camp of the saints required of the female, 
 (see Lev. xii. 1 — 5) were foreshown the cutting off and separa- 
 tion of the work of propagation from all that are in Christ. 
 
 If man could not, even under the restraints and purifica- 
 tions of the Mosaic law, and that after he was circumcised, 
 generate offspring without committing sin ; then Christ cer- 
 tainly could not save him from his sin without, at the same 
 time, cutting him off, and severing him from, the work of 
 generation. For, if " Christ came to fulfil the law, and not 
 to destroy it," both himself and his followers must needs 
 abstain and cease from all those things that the law of 
 Moses condemns as sinful, and for which it requires a sin- 
 offering. 
 
 Now, although Moses was ministered unto by angels, and 
 the people obeyed him as an inspired leader ; yet, be it ob- 
 served, that his revelations formed a complete system of 
 laws, statutes, and judgments, all of which were recorded ; 
 that the ten commandments were written upon tables of 
 stone ; and that these laws were taught to all the people, 
 old and young ; so that every one knew what to depend upon. 
 And, be it further observed, no human governments are so 
 unjust as not to publish their laws, that the people may 
 know what they must do to live. 
 
 Yet, Moses did not claim the exclusive right to inspiration ; 
 for he said that " he would that all the Lord's people were 
 prophets ;" knowing that, if they were all true " prophets," 
 there would be no clash or confusion. 
 
 Yet it was said to them, " If there arise among you a pro- 
 
26 TESTS OF. DIVINE 
 
 phet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a won- 
 der, and that sign or wonder come to pass whereof he spake 
 unto thee, saying," let us do so and so, (anything contrary to 
 the laws and statutes of Moses, with which every one was 
 acquainted,) "they should kill him." For the injunction was, 
 " Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or 
 that dreamer of dreams ; for the Lord your God proveth you 
 to know whether ye love the Lord your God, with all your 
 heart and with all your soul. (Deut. xiii. 1, 5, & 9.) From 
 these passages, it is evident that a false prophet might have 
 as real a spiritual ministration to him, as a true one, as in the 
 case of Balaam ; but a criterion had been given by which he 
 could be known ; and that was " To the law and to the testi- 
 mony ; if they" (the spirits) "speak not according to this word, 
 it is because there is no light in them." (Is. viii. 19, 20.) 
 
 And when they were desired to seek unto them that had 
 " familiar spirits, and imto wizards that peep and that mut- 
 ter," this was their answer, " should not a people seek unto 
 their God," in the order of his appointment? "for there 
 were false prophets among the people," (2 Pet. ii. 1,) who 
 taught them to go after, and serve other gods, and forsake 
 the true God, and who had access to spirits that were not 
 within or under the Divine influence. 
 
 And, although God raised up a succession of prophets, 
 whose revelations were in full accordance with the established 
 principles of the law, and who proved the truth of their mis- 
 sions by the godliness of their requirements, and the fulfil- 
 ment of their predictions ; yet such was the influence of the 
 false prophets, and their spurious revelations, upon the people, 
 that ofttimes they refused to hearken to and obey the true 
 messengers of God, whose revelations were invariably crossing 
 to their natural and corrupt propensities. 
 
 Witness the numerous prophets of Baal, and the false pro- 
 phets, Hananiah, Ahab, Zedekiah, and Shemaiah ; and the 
 judgments which followed them. (See 1 Kings, xviii. and 
 xxii. ; and Jer. xxviii. and xxxix.) 
 
INSPIRATION. ■ 27 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 The revelations of this Era were designed to effect two 
 objects. 
 
 First: To re-reveal the laws of the First Era, which had 
 been broken and were lost ; and, 
 
 Secondly : To foreshadow, by types and figures, the laws 
 of the Third Era. 
 
 Thus the confessions to the priests, exclusion from . the 
 camp, washings, &c, consequent upon all generative works, 
 were, for the time being, effectual restraints under the law 
 of Moses. 
 
 And circumcision was the sign that generation itself would, 
 in the next Era, be cut off by Christ the Messiah. 
 
 And the Jews learned, that, even under the cloak and 
 sanction of marriage, they could not cohabit, though simply 
 to procreate, without committing sin at the same time. For 
 a sin-offering was required for the very act and fact of beget- 
 ting and bringing forth a child. 
 
 " Christ was the end of the law," by fulfilling it : for it 
 was made for those who break, not those who keep it : and 
 he could not keep — fulfil — it without refraining from the 
 work of generation. 
 
 The Law pointed out the sins that Christ would save his 
 people from. 
 
 The laws, statutes, and judgments, were recorded on parch - 
 ment or stone, and taught to all the people. 
 
 These were the Tests of Revelation in that Era, and were 
 in every man's possession. 
 
 Any " dreamer of dreams," or prophet, whose teachings 
 and requirements conflicted with them, was, by all the peo- 
 ple, judged, condemned, and " killed." 
 
 The whole nation were to seek unto God in the order of 
 his appointment, {i.e.) from "between the cherubims" — 
 two golden images of male and female. These were the ma- 
 
28' TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 diums of all Divine spiritual manifestations to Israel. All 
 other mediums must be in subjection to, and in union with, 
 them. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SHOWING THK CONSEQUENCES OF RECEIVING AND BEING 
 GUIDED BY FALSE REVELATIONS. 
 
 The false gods of the heathen were worshipped almost 
 universally by acts of sensuality, in some form or other ; this 
 was the true reason of the continual tendency of the Israelites 
 to idolatry. It was not the dumb idol, nor the stupid and 
 foolish teachings of the idol-priests, that thus attracted 
 them ; but the worship, that allowed and encouraged a full 
 gratification of their sensual appetites. 
 
 The following, which is extracted from David Benedict's 
 History of all Religions, is a brief statement of some of the 
 abominable indecencies and impurities connected with Pagan 
 mythology. 
 
 " There is scarce a deity (idol), male or female, in ancient 
 Pagan mythology, whose history does not disclose something 
 lascivious and impure ; and among the Hindoo gods, we are 
 continually presented with debaucheries and crimes. So 
 shockingly obscene and impure is their worship, that Gopula, 
 a pundit employed in the Serampore printing office, a very 
 respectable man among the Hindoos, declared, that a man of 
 character was often ashamed of being present, and that if ever 
 he remained, he concealed himself in a corner of the temple. 
 He added, that a song was scarcely tolerated which did not 
 contain the most marked allusions to unchastity ; while those 
 which were so abominable that no person could repeat them 
 out of the temple, received the loudest plaudits. All this 
 was done in the very face of the idol. 
 
 There is another feature in this system of idolatry, which 
 
INSPIRATION. 29 
 
 increases its pernicious effects on the public manners : the 
 wars, quarrels, and licentious intrigues of their gods are all 
 held up, in images, recitations, songs, and dances, at the pub- 
 lic festivals." 
 
 "In 1806, says Ward, (in his Views, &c.,) I was present 
 at the worship of the goddess Doorga, as performed in the 
 house of Rajah Chrishnu at Calcutta. After describing the 
 greatness of the assembly, and profusion of the offerings, and 
 the many strange peculiarities of their worship, he observes : 
 ' The whole produced on my mind sensations of the greatest 
 horror. The dress of the singers ; their indecent gestures ; 
 the abominable nature of their songs ; the horrid din of their 
 miserable drum ; the lateness of the hour ; the darkness of 
 the place ; with the reflection that I was standing in an idol 
 temple ; and that this immense multitude of rational and im- 
 mortal creatures, capable of superior joys, were, in the very 
 act of worship, perpetrating a crime of high treason against 
 the God of Heaven, while they themselves believed they 
 were performing an act of merit ; excited ideas and feelings 
 in my mind, which time can never obliterate.' 
 
 " ' I should have given in this place, a specimen of their 
 songs sang before the images, but found them so full of broad 
 obscenity, that I could not copy a single line. All those ac- 
 tions which a sense of decency keeps out of the most inde- 
 cent English songs, are here detailed, sung, and laughed at, 
 without the least sense of shame. A poor ballad singer in 
 England would be sent to the house of correction, and flog- 
 ged, for performing the meritorious actions of these wretched 
 idolaters !' 
 
 " The reader will recollect that the festivals of Bacchus 
 and Cybele were equally noted for the indecencies practised 
 by their worshippers, both in words and actions. 
 
 "The Hindoo Brahmins have contrived to unite balls and 
 theatres, and sacraments, in the service of their gods ; so that 
 the gay and giddy, the thoughtless and profane, find in their 
 temples gratification and enjoyment. 
 
80 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 " The lingu worship seems the olimax of depravity and 
 abasement, in this system. The lingu is an image of Shivu, 
 in the form of a sugar loaf, with a projection at the base, like 
 the mouth of a spoon. An account of the origin of this wor- 
 ship, even when refined as much as possible, is too gross to 
 meet the public eye ; yet the daily number of the worship- 
 pers of this scandalous image (even among the Hindoo wo- 
 men) is far greater than the worshippers of all the other gods 
 put together. 
 
 " Well might Buchanan say, ' The peculiar attributes of 
 heathenism are obscenity and blood.' 
 
 " If the whole "world as known to us, were divided into 
 thirty-two parts, not less than nineteen of these parts are still 
 inhabited by Pagans and idolaters." (See History of all Be-* 
 ligions, by David Benedict — pages 24 to 26.) 
 
 They were " drawn away of their own lusts and enticed," 
 as witness Aaron's having made a golden calf when Moses 
 delayed his return from the mount. " The people sat down 
 to eat and drink, and rose up to play," original, to commit 
 fornication. (Exodus, xxxii. 6 ; and see Adam Clarke.) 
 
 The same things are practised to this day in Abyssinia and 
 other heathen countries, as common occurrences. (See 
 " Brace's and Ward's Travels.") 
 
 Balaam caused Israel to sin after the same manner, by in- 
 troducing the daughters of Midian into the camp of Israel. 
 (Num. xxv. 6, and xxxi. 16.) - 
 
 Thus the people often went after false gods, and became 
 corrupted with all manner of abominations, until they brought 
 destruction upon themselves, which carried off thousands of 
 them at a time ; (see Num. xxv. 6, 9 ; and 1 Cor. x. 8 ;) for God 
 said unto them, " You of all the people of the earth have I 
 known ; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." 
 (Amos, iii. 2.) The violation of the law, in the abuse of the 
 faculties of reproduction, as it was the first, so has it ever 
 been, and is now, the most universally seducing and besetting 
 sin of the human race. 
 
INSPIRATION. SI 
 
 God is a God of order, and not of such confusion as has 
 been the result of man's seeking gratification by corrupting 
 the fountain of his existence.' 
 
 Therefore Moses pronounced the following curses upon the 
 Israelites, which should result as a consequence of their dis- 
 obedience to the rudimental and focal law of their Dispen- 
 sation : — 
 
 " The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and re- 
 buke, in all thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou 
 be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly, because of the 
 wickedness of thy doings. 
 
 " The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, 
 and astonishment of heart ; and the heaven that is over thy 
 head, shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be 
 iron. 
 
 "The Lord shall make thy plagues wonderful, and the 
 plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long con- 
 tinuance, and sore sicknesses. He will bring upon thee all 
 the diseases of Egypt which thou wast afraid of; and they 
 shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness and every plague 
 which is not written in the book of this law, them will the 
 Lord bring upon thee, untilthou be destroyed. 
 
 " And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from 
 the one end of the earth even unto the other ; and thou shalt 
 become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word among all 
 nations." (Deut. xxviii.) 
 
 These are the terrible consequences of forsaking God, 
 transgressing the laws of Moses, changing the ordinances, and 
 breaking the "everlasting covenantr And how literally and 
 perfectly these threatened curses and judgments have been 
 executed and fulfilled, the past history and present condi- 
 tion of the Jewish nation and people, furnish irrefragable 
 evidence. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 Divine revelation always taught fallen man self-denial, and 
 tended towards perfect purity, justice, and love. 
 
82 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 But the false revelations of the heathen led them to wor- 
 ship their gods hy acts of sensuality and self-indulgence. 
 Idol worship is devil or demon worship. (1 Cor. x. 20.) 
 
 This was the true cause of the dereliction of Israel from 
 their own religion to idolatry. 
 
 All revelations from evil spirits — false religions — termi- 
 nate in the violation of the law, and the abuse of the faculties 
 of reproduction. As this was the first, so is it the most be- 
 witching, deceptive, and universally besetting sin of the 
 human race. 
 
 The destruction of Jerusalem, and the scattering of the 
 Jews over all the face of the earth, resulted from their heark- 
 ening to, and obeying the insinuations of, wicked ministeriDg 
 spirits. 
 
INSPIBATION. 88 
 
 SECTION III 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE LAW OF CHRIST, CONTAINING ME RULES OP 
 THE FIRST CHRISTIAN BRA. 
 
 The most general influx of demons or disorderly spirits, in 
 every Dispensation, was always at the latter end of it. 
 
 Thus, at the time of Christ's first appearing, an almost 
 universal state of communion between the visible and invisible 
 worlds existed ; so that it was quite common, in Judea, for 
 individuals to be obcessed, and even possessed with spirits, 
 both good and bad.* 
 
 In reading the New Testament, one cannot but be struck 
 with the frequency and familiarity with which spirits and 
 spiritual things are spoken of. It appears that, for any one 
 to be possessed of spirits, improperly called devils,^ was as 
 common an occurrence in those days, as in our days it is for 
 a person to have a fever : from which it is evident that the 
 evil predominated. Hence, it became an important part of 
 Christ's mission to close the door of that Dispensation, by 
 casting out such spirits, and prohibiting their return. This 
 power he not only exercised himself, but he also delegated 
 the same to his disciples. (Mark, xvi. 17.) 
 
 All spirits, in every Dispensation, should be subject to the 
 established order of God, that is, to the true Church of that 
 Dispensation. 
 
 In each Dispensation there was an increasing development 
 of the eternal principles of truth, produced by greater dis- 
 
 * See Lightfoot. + H. "W. Beecher. 
 
 3 
 
34' TEST3 OF DIVINE 
 
 plays of the Divine Spirit and Power ; and also, a further 
 manifestation of purity, justice, and holiness, in the character 
 of its recipients : each one not only confirming the truth of the 
 revelation of its predecessor ; but also preparing the way for, 
 and becoming a stepping stone to its successor. (Matt. v. 
 IT— 20.) 
 
 It was Jesus who closed the door to the Second, and 
 opened the door to the Third, Dispensation, in which the 
 spiritual influx far exceeded what had yet been upon earth. 
 Good spirits had the lead and ascendancy for a season : the 
 dead were raised to life ; the blind were restored to sight ; 
 the sick were healed ; the lepers were cleansed ; and, better 
 than all, the poor had the Gospel preached to them : 
 (seejMatt. xi. 4, 5 :) and finally, so great was the outpouring 
 of the spiritual elements, that many really began to love one 
 another in deed and in truth : and this love they exhibited 
 by selling all they possessed, and forming a united interest 
 in temporal things (see Acts, ii. 44, 45.) Thus Revelation 
 was the Foundation, Love the Life, and Community op 
 Property the outward Form of the Church of Christ 
 in the beginning of the Third Dispensatio . 
 
 summary. 
 
 All spirits should be in subjection to the Church of their 
 Era. 
 
 The Mosaic Church fell, and thus lost the power to regu- 
 late or cast out evil spirits. Therefore, at the end of the 
 Second Era, there was a great influx of spirits in Judea, over 
 whom no one had any control. 
 
 Jesus opened the door to the third Era : by which, hosts 
 of better and higher spirits, were admitted to earth. It was 
 by their assistance that he and his. disciples cast out evil 
 and ignorant spirits ; and by their power it was, that the 
 blind saw, the lame walked, the dumb spake, the dead were 
 raised, and that "even devils were subject unto them." 
 
INSPIRATION. 35 
 
 Thus, a further Divine revelation was the foundation of 
 the Third Era. Love was its soul, or life ; and community 
 of property its body, or outward form. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ANTICHRIST. 
 
 When Jesus Christ was ushered into the world, the testi- 
 mony that he was the true Messiah — the Divine Teacher 
 sent of God, — to reveal His will to man, in a far higher 
 order than had yet existed on earth, formed the basis upon 
 which rested the whole superstructure of principles, pre- 
 cepts, and practice, of that Dispensation. 
 
 As these were inspirations from his Heavenly Father, 
 "who gave him commandment what he should do, and 
 what he should speak," (John, xii. 49,) this system of faith, 
 principles, precepts, and practices, as first exhibited in his 
 own person, and then embodied in the Church, brought forth 
 by the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, sent to guide them into 
 all truth, — temporal and spiritual, — formed the standard 
 (or rule) by which to judge and " try'' all succeeding reve- 
 lations, as well as the teachings and influences of every 
 spirit, whether in or out of the body, throughout all the 
 ages of that Dispensation, down to the time of Christ's 
 second appearing. 
 
 And any spirit, or angel, or man, that taught or teaches 
 any other gospel, or principle, or practice, than what had its 
 foundation in that Church, was and is antichrist. (See Gal. 
 i. 8.) John says, " Little children, it is the last time : and as 
 ye have heard that antichrist shall come ; even now are 
 there many antichrists." (1 John, ii. 18.) "For many de- 
 ceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that 
 Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." (2 John, i. 7.) He also 
 
36 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 exhorted his brethren to " Believe not every spirit ; but try 
 the spirits, whether they are of God ; because many false 
 spirits are gone out into the world." (1 John, iv. 1.) Thus, 
 every spirit must be judged and tried by the standard and 
 rules appropriate to each particular Era. 
 
 All who confessed, by a life conformable thereto, that 
 Jesus Christ had come into the world, and that he taught 
 the true principles of godliness for the salvation of men, 
 were of God. But those who denied this, in word or works, 
 were "deceivers and antichrist." 
 
 Christ declared himself to be " the way, the truth, and 
 the life," and said, " No man cometh to the Father but by 
 me." (John, xiv. 6.) Therefore Christ, (i. «.,) his actual life 
 and doctrines, are the only infallible rule, — the straight 
 edge, — by which the crooks and turns of all and every spirit, 
 in or out of the body, may be discovered. All in the primi- 
 tive Church who walked by this rule, were blessed and pro- 
 tected of God ; and if it cost them their lives, " white robes 
 were given them," as the reward of their faithfulness. 
 
 Not many, however, could endure the cross necessary to 
 walk by this rule, and to obey the spirits that testified of 
 these principles of true godliness ; but, after running well for 
 a season, they listened to the false spirits that were " gone 
 out into the world," and, through false teachers, (whom 
 Peter and other of the Apostles foretold would arise) had 
 been led to believe that they could be saved by a profession, 
 without actually living out the pure and self-denying princi- 
 ples of the Gospel which Christ had declared. 
 
 This being agreeable to their corrupt propensities, they 
 followed those false spirits and their revelations, and rejected 
 the true. And, in a short time, to rid themselves of annoy- 
 ance, by those teachers who brought forth true revelations, 
 enforcing Christ as an example, and faithfully preaching his 
 word of self-denying power and life, the ecclesiastical coun- 
 cils, under the great antichrist Constantine, decreed that all 
 revelations ceased with the Apostles ; and that thenceforth 
 
INSPIRATION. 37 
 
 they must depend solely upon the letter, which, Paul said, 
 " Mlleth ;" and which did accordingly kill the Christ Spirit 
 in them, and " afresh crucify and put him to open shame " 
 before all the heathen nations of earth for the last thirteen 
 or fourteteen centuries. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 It was the faith of Jesus and his followers, "not to 
 believe every spirit ; but to try the spirits." 
 
 The grand test, by which to try them, was, that they 
 should believe and confess that " Christ had come in the 
 flesh," or in Jesus of Nazareth and in his true Disciples. 
 Every spirit that could stand this test was of God. But 
 every spirit that denied this truth, either did not know,, and 
 therefore was ignorant ; or did know it, but was false. All 
 such spirits were antichrist. 
 
 The principles, doctrines, precepts, practice, and actual 
 life of Christ Jesus, together with the principles and laws, 
 (or tests) of the two preceding Eras, formed the infallible 
 criterion and test of all doctrines, creeds, and religious sys- 
 tems, whether purporting to come through spiritual commu- 
 nications, or emanating from councils and ecclesiastical 
 bodies. 
 
 When the first Christian Church, or Church of the Third 
 Era, fell ; and the antichristian kingdom of the beast was 
 fully set up, under Constantine ; then every great principle, 
 doctrine, and test of the First two Eras, were entirely abro- 
 gated, denied, and denounced, by the Nicene and other 
 subsequent councils. 
 
 They first destroyed the foundation of the Church, by 
 voting and decreeing that revelation had ceased, and 
 that the canon of Scripture was closed ; and then they 
 decided that thereafter nothing but the " letter" (bible) that 
 " killeth," should remain as " the rule and guide of faith and 
 practice" to Christendom. And thenceforth " they would 
 no more endure sound" Spiritual " doctrine-." 
 
38 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 Thus the Church was cut off from all Divine communica- 
 tion and was prepared to enter upon a course, and to enact 
 scenes of persecution and bloodshed against all who should 
 not conform to its orthodoxy. 
 
 The " man of sin" was now in the temple of God, or 
 Church, or people. Concupiscence, or the lust of the flesh,, 
 is the " man of sin," that sitteth in the heart of every pro- 
 fessor of Christianity in all the various sects and denomina- 
 tions of the so-called Christian world ; and is the " abomina- 
 tion of desolation" that occupies the heart of each individual 
 heathen, and every heathen temple. 
 
 Christ had gone to be (and was) absent for more than 
 twelve hundred and sixty years. And thus is seen how 
 complete and consummate was the falling away of the first 
 Christian Church, (even by the time of the Emperor Con- 
 stantine,) which was certain to precede the second appearing 
 of Christ, at the end of the prophetic period. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BUBJECT CONTINUED. 
 
 Feom this time, they would no more " endure sound doe- 
 trine ; but, having itching ears, began to heap to themselves 
 teachers after their own, lusts," (2 Tim. iv. 3) by establishing 
 theological institutions, to qualify, by a vain and false phi- 
 losophy, carnal young men to interpret the Scriptures by 
 human wisdom, in a way pleasing to the basest passions of 
 man's fallen nature ; and entirely doing away, and making 
 the cross of Christ of no effect by their traditions, creeds, 
 and dogmas, and by their comments and commentaries on 
 Holy Writ. 
 
 And, inasmuch as the great body of professed Christians 
 followed the " pernicious ways" of those " false prophets 
 and teachers," to whom Peter alludes, (2 Peter, ii. 1, 2,) the 
 
INSPIRATION. 39 
 
 Church lost the true spirit of revelation ; and cut itself off 
 from all communion with Christ its Head, by rejecting the 
 ministrations of all those spirits who were sent forth to 
 "minister," individually and collectively, to all them who 
 should be called to be the '* heirs of salvation." (Heb. i. 14. 
 
 Thus was consummated the "falling away," spoken of by 
 the Apostle, that should certainly precede the second coming 
 of Christ ; in which should be revealed " the man of sin, 
 the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself 
 above all that is called God, or that is worshipped ; so thaj, 
 he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself 
 that he is God." (2 Thes. ii. 3, 4.) " Know ye not that ye 
 are the temple of God ? and, if any man defile the temple of 
 God, him shall God destroy ; for the temple of God is holy ; 
 which temple ye are." (1 Cor. iii. 16, 17.) " Your body 
 is the temple of the Holy Ghost." (lb. vi. 19.) 
 
 Therefore, as man individually, and the Church collec- 
 tively, under the Gospel, is that temple, it is thus incontro- 
 vertibly proved, that the "man of sin" is something in the 
 very heart of the professors of Christianity that they highly 
 esteem " above God," although it " is an abomination in his 
 sight." 
 
 And, notwithstanding that such persons may "justify 
 themselves before men, God knoweth their hearts' " lust. 
 (Luke, xvi. 15.) "For the bed is shorter than a man can 
 stretch himself on, and the covering narrower than he can 
 wrap himself in," (Is. xxviii. 20,) and hide from the All- 
 seeing Eye. " For though thou wash thee with nitre, and 
 take thee much, soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, 
 saith the Lord," (Jer. ii. 22,) " neither is thine iniquity hid 
 from my eyes." (lb. xvi. 17.) 
 
 It is therefore as plain as the sun at noon-day, that Con* 
 cupiscence, or the lust of the flesh, is the god, — "the man of 
 sin" — which all Christendom has bowed down to, and wor- 
 shipped, in preference to worshipping the true and living 
 God of purity. And this, top, is the same influence, or 
 
40 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 power, or goddess of lust — Venus — that is and always has 
 been so potent in the heathen temples, whose worship oft- 
 times attracted the figurative Israel, to their shame, confu- 
 sion, and final destruction. 
 
 This was also alluded to by Jesus, in his parable of a king 
 going to a far country, and returning again, and finding his 
 kingdom in the hands of his enemies, who, in the interim, had 
 killed his son, and then given themselves up to a riotous, 
 self-indulging life, until the king suddenly returned, and exe- 
 cuted upon them a work of judgment. (See Luke, xix. 12 — 27.) 
 
 Also the prophecies of Daniel and of John,. both of whom, 
 not only agree in the great event of supplanting the Church of 
 Christ by an opposite power, under different names and sym- 
 bols, as " a beast that made war with the saints, and overcame 
 them;" — " the abomination of desolation standing where it 
 ought not ;" — " the whore of Babylon which would reign over 
 the kings of the earth," &c. &c. ; — but they also agree, that 
 the time or duration of the reign of this antichristian power, — 
 inwhich there would be no true Church of Christ upon earth — 
 would be 1290 years. At the expiration of which period, the 
 sanctuary, or temple, or Church, "should be" progressively 
 " cleansed, and an end made of sin, and everlasting right- 
 eousness brought in ;" or, in other words, Christ, who had 
 been all that period absent, would " make his second appear- 
 ance" on earth " to those who look for him, without sin unto 
 salvation." (Heb. ix. 23.) 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 After antichrist had gained the ascendency, men would 
 " no longer endure sound doctrine," and " the cross of 
 Christ was made of none effect" by the commentaries of doc- 
 tors of divinity, who derived their authority from .hierarchi- 
 cal councils and ecclesiastical institutions, by which revela- 
 tion was denied and denounced, and sin declared to be the 
 necessary and inevitable concomitant of Christianity ; to 
 eradicate which, the Church possessed no power. 
 
INSPIRATION. 41 
 
 Thus the Church cut itself off from a living communion 
 with the spirit world, and thereby consummated the " falling 
 away ;'' and thenceforth the " man of sin" sat in the temple 
 or Church of God. — And, as the people was that Church, 
 or temple, it was in the heart of each and every individual 
 thereof that the " man of sin" sat enthroned. 
 
 This " man of sin" is represented, under different appella- 
 tions, by Daniel and John, viz : " the beast," " the image of the 
 beast," "the whore of Babylon," "the mother of harlots 
 and of the abominations of the earth," &c, as a power that 
 would rule the nations until Christ should make his second 
 appearance in them, to " destroy it with the Spirit of his 
 mouth, and consume it with the brightness of his appearing." 
 
 3 # 
 
42 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE DIVINE LAWS OF CHRIST, AS DEFINITIVE RULES OF JUDG- 
 MENT, PERFECTED IN THE SECOND CHRISTIAN ERA, OR FOURTH 
 AND LAST DISPENSATION. 
 
 " As the times of the Highest have plain beginnings in 
 wonders and powerful works, and ending in effect and signs," 
 (2 Esdras, ix. 6,) so, in the latter end of the Third Dispensa- 
 tion, Jesus informs us, there would be a general rush of 
 spirits, — both true and false, and good and bad, — upon 
 earth ; and ,that, near the close of the first Christian Era, and 
 about the time of his second coming, or the opening of the 
 Fourth and last Dispensation or Era, "many false Christs and 
 false prophets would arise, who would show great signs and 
 wonders, insomuch, that if it were possible, they would de- 
 ceive even the very elect ;" (Matt. xxiv. 24 ;) that is, they 
 would draw them away from those purifying principles which 
 constituted the foundation of his first Church, and upon which 
 would also be built the Church of his second coming. 
 
 Consequently, however high might be the professions, 
 or marvellous the wonders and signs of these false Chris- 
 tians; to those who would hearken to the good and the 
 true spirits — the ministers of the shining light that would be 
 the harbinger (see Mai. iii. 1) of Christ's second appearing — 
 the warning word is, " Believe them not;" — "Go not after 
 them." (Matt. xxiv. 23 ; and Luke, xvii. 23.) " By their 
 --fruits ye shall know them, for 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." (Matt. vii. IT, 18, 20.) 
 
INSPIRATION. 43 
 
 Again, the Bevelator says, " And the sixth angel poured 
 out his vial, 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. They are 
 the spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto 
 the kings'' (or leading minds) " of the earth, and to the 
 whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day 
 of God Almighty." (Rev. xvi. 12—14.) 
 
 This will be the last tremendous struggle between the pow- 
 ers of antichrist and all other corrupt powers of the world, 
 and those powers or principles that are preparing the way for, 
 and will have a place in, the kingdom of God upon earth. In 
 which a final separation between the elements of good and 
 evil, and between true and false revelation proceeding from 
 these two sources, will be effected. 
 
 And, is it not manifest, that in our day, there is an unex- 
 ampled influx of spirits from the spirit world to earth ? evi- 
 dently betokening that it is the end of the Third Dispensation, 
 and the beginning of the Fourth ; and that a condition of things 
 precisely similar to what existed at the close of the Second 
 Dispensation, when Christ made his first appearing, is the 
 order (or rather disorder) of the day. 
 
 When men or women, in any age, invited the presence 
 and familiarities of spirits, and tampered with them, for 
 worldly gain, or from sinister motives, and out of the 
 Church's order, they were liable to be obcessed ; and it often 
 happened that thus the spirits gained possession of persons 
 who could not disengage themselves from them. 
 
 And, as the Church of each Dispensation, while standing 
 in its true order, possessed the power to cast out these 
 spirits, and thereby release such souls ; it followed that, by 
 this power, or test, the true Church of each Era could be 
 known. 
 
 The heathen, and false religionists, attracted spirits by 
 their sorceries and incantations ; but had no power to expel 
 them. The superior alone could govern the inferior. 
 
44 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 There was a class of persons in the Jewish Church, called 
 exorcists, whose profession was to cast out spirits. — Adam 
 Clarke says, " They were termed Masters of the Name, that is, 
 the name of Jehovah; by a certain pronunciation of which, 
 they believed the most wonderful miracles could be wrought. 
 And, when they could not deny the miracles of our Lord, 
 they attributed them to his knowledge of the true pronun- 
 ciation of this most sacred name." 
 
 When the Jewish Church lost its Divine character, these 
 also lost the power of exorcism. 
 
 This power was again revealed in, and possessed by, the 
 first Christian Church. The same author says : 
 
 " Exorcisms, or adjurations of evil spirits, were frequent 
 in the primitive Church ; the name of Jesus was that alone 
 which was used. The primitive fathers speak strong and de- 
 cisive words concerning the power of this name ; and how 
 demons were tormented, and expelled by it, not only from in- 
 ' dividuals, but from the temples themselves. Exorcists formed 
 a distinct class in the Church : hence we read of Presbyters, 
 Deacons, Exorcists, Lectors, and Door-keepers." (Com- 
 ment. Acts, xix. 14 & 17.) 
 
 When " 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, 
 
 " 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 also of them which used curious arts 
 
INSPIRATION. 43 
 
 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." (Acts, xix. 13 to 19.) 
 
 Thus it appears that the power of casting out spirits had 
 departed from the Jewish Church, and had passed over to, 
 and rested upon, the Church of the Third Era. 
 
 And the people were convinced that that which had been 
 glorious in its day, " was no longer glorious, by reason of the 
 glory which excelleth." 
 
 It is by no means improbable, that again, in the progress 
 of the work of the present spiritual manifestations, men and 
 women will become possessed by spirits from whom they 
 will not be able to free themselves. And, should that be 
 the case, it is very certain that neither Catholic nor Protest- 
 ant churches possess the power to cast out such spirits or 
 demons. 
 
 It has been stated, upon the authority of eye-witnesses, 
 that, in the recent case of Dr. Phelps' son, at Stratford, 
 Conn., a meeting of priests and deacons was called to exor- 
 cise him ; but the spirits prevailed against and broke up the 
 meeting, by throwing the Bibles, (their talisman,) with 
 which said priests and deacons were furnished, at the heads 
 of these exorcists. 
 
 Therefore, if the power to cast out spirits be needed, it 
 must be sought, not in the mere record of by-gone Divine 
 revelation, but in the Church of the Fourth Era, which ori- 
 ginated in, is based upon, and stands by, the power of Divine 
 revelation itself. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 As each Dispensation possessed a Church which rested 
 upon Divine revelation, and was the only proper avenue to 
 the spirit world ; and also possessed the power to regulate all 
 other revelations ; — when such Church fell from its union 
 with God, then no power remained upon earth to keep the 
 "principalities and powers'' (Eph. vi. 12) of the spirit world 
 
46 TESTS OP DIVINE 
 
 in order ; consequently, all_became confusion ; and the whole 
 race of man rapidly progressed towards utter destruction. 
 
 Therefore, when the Mosaic Church had become corrupt, 
 ed, we see Saul, its head, "seeking unto witches," (whom it 
 was his duty to have destroyed,) because he could obtain no 
 response " from between the cherubims." Evil spirits had 
 obtained possession of the earth, Church and all. 
 
 In the end of the Second Era, the destruction of Jerusa- 
 lem corresponded to the flood at the end of the First. 
 
 The Lord said, " You, of all the nations of the earth, have 
 I known. I will therefore punish you for all your iniquities." 
 Other nations, born in ignorance of the laws of their creation, 
 were not so wicked, though equally lost, as were the ante- 
 diluvians and the Jews, unto whom those laws had been 
 made "known," by revelation. 
 
 Jesus, by casting out evil spirits before they had obtained 
 entire possession and control, saved many individuals from 
 death. But, when the spirits entered into the swine, their 
 union was so complete, that death inevitably ensued : for it 
 is the nature of evil to destroy life, as it is of good to pre- 
 serve it. 
 
 And, unless there be some good in a man, an evil spirit 
 cannot be cast out of him. 
 
 There is no contradiction in the truth — God. 
 
 Jesus came not to destroy or change any law, or rule, or 
 test, of revelation that belonged to any previous Era ; but to 
 add thereto his own life and doctrines. For, not only did 
 each Era retain all the righteous principles of the previous 
 ones ; but itself possessed more laws, rules, and tests than 
 they did. 
 
 Thus the tests accumulate in each succeeding Dispensa- 
 tion ; and of consequence, the spirituality of the work of God 
 increases. 
 
 Jesus predicted that, at the end of the Third Era, there 
 would arise many false Christs and false prophets, who 
 would show great signs and wonders. 
 
INSPIRATION. 47 
 
 And John said, that three unclean spirits, like frogs, 
 (amphibious ; that is, they would mix up the earthly order 
 of generation, and the spiritual order of regeneration to- 
 gether — land and water) would go forth to the kings of the 
 earth, and all the powers of the world, and would gather 
 them together to the great battle between these two orders, — 
 the earthly and spiritual ; — and then would come the final 
 trial and struggle between good and evil, and between true 
 and false revelation. Then would be the greatest spirit- 
 manifestation the earth ever witnessed. (See Eev. xvi. 13 
 to end.) 
 
 This has now commenced, and, as before remarked, is the 
 order, or rather disorder, of the day. 
 
 Consequently, there never was a time when an unerring 
 rule, or test of revelation, was so imperatively demanded, or 
 so essential to man, as the present. 
 
 For many sincere, honest-minded persons are bewildered 
 and confounded, by the innumerable spiritual phenomena 
 that surround them ; of which their Churches or spiritual 
 guides can give no explication. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ALL NATIONS BLESSED THROUGH THE CHURCH 
 OP THEIR ERA. 
 
 Now, although between the destruction of the first Gospel 
 temple, or Church, and the rebuilding of the second Gospel 
 temple, or Church, (of which the two temples of Solomon 
 and Zerubbabel were striking figures,) there was evidently 
 no place for a true Christian Church ; yet Revelation, not- 
 withstanding it was denied and rejected by the false Church, 
 was not entirely driven from the earth. "The spirits of the 
 
48 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 heavens" (Zach. vi. 5) caused the " two witnesses," in a suf- 
 fering state, to prophesy of the Church which had been, and 
 of the Church which was to come ; nothing more, except to 
 testify against that which then existed as antichrist. And 
 however bright and shining might have been the light in 
 which they rejoiced, it could only be for a season, for there 
 was no basis for them to build upon — the foundations of the 
 first Gospel temple having been razed, and those of the se- 
 cond not being yet laid. Therefore, " if the foundations be 
 destroyed, what can the righteous do? " (Ps. si. 3.) 
 
 And, in this day, any sect or body of people, however 
 much of the Spirit and truth they may possess, who are not 
 prepared to claim that they are in the Fourth and last Dis- 
 pensation, and that Christ has made his second appearing in 
 them, must needs be' content with the character of " witness- 
 es," who pray for the kingdom of God "to come." And all 
 such may rest assured, that something better awaits them in 
 the future, than anything yet in their possession: for every 
 degree of goodness and truth in any people, is of God, and 
 leads towards Him. 
 
 Revelation is the " rock" upon which the true Church of 
 Christ is built. And this Church is the most direct emana- 
 tion from God that has yet been upon earth. It is the 
 " kingdom" which the God of heaven has " set up ;" (see 
 Dan. ii. 44, and vii. 27,) and which will finally supplant all 
 human systems, " not" indeed " by might or power" {carnal 
 weapons), but by " God's Spirit." In it, " righteousness and 
 peace have met together ; and mercy and truth have kissed 
 each other;" (Ps. lxxxv. 10); and from it goes forth the 
 law of the inherent rights of man to all parts of the world : 
 and the living Word of the Lord from thence, is the Angel 
 that is enlightening the earth. (See Rev. xiv. 6.) 
 
 This, " the new Creation," is the most beautiful and perfect 
 system of principles and order, in both temporal and spiritual 
 things, that has been witnessed by man since the world be- 
 gan. A new earthly order, for the supply of his physical 
 
INSPIRATION. 49 
 
 wants ; and a new spiritual order, for the satisfying of his 
 spiritual nature : a Millennium. Therefore, it is a system of 
 ■which the natural creation, with all its laws and principles, 
 and its immutable and unchangeable order, is the most direct 
 and perfect type. 
 
 And although, as has been observed, the Church origin- 
 ated from, is based upon, and sustained by, Divine revela- 
 tion, in a much higher sense than was the Mosaical one ; yet, 
 like it, there are certain first principles in it which are clearly 
 understood by every individual member of the body, " from 
 the greatest of them even unto the least," as was promised 
 of the Lord, when he said, He would " make a new covenant 
 with the house of Israel : not according to the old covenant," 
 (which he made with the natural man, in the earthly order 
 of the first Adam, and renewed under the Mosaic economy, 
 respecting the work of procreation^) " which my covenant 
 they brake, saith the Lord. For I will put my law into 
 their inward parts, and write it in their hearts ; and will be 
 their God, and they shall be my people. For I will forgive 
 their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jer. 
 xxxi. 31 to 34.) 
 
 And, " if there should arise a prophet, or a dreamer of 
 dreams," who should shew signs and wonders, which should 
 even come to pass, or one that should have visions, or reve- 
 lations, which tend to cause any soul to violate the least of 
 these well-known principles ; then, although it should be the 
 highest member of the body, spiritual death and separation 
 would be the inevitable consequence. For the true " elect" 
 cannot be deceived by either evil or seducing spirits, because 
 they are the children of Revelation, and are familiar with 
 spirits and " spiritual manifestations," in all their forms. 
 
 How, then, can dark, ignorant, or evil spirits deceive those 
 who are always accompanied by angels of light, and by the 
 spirits of those who, while on earth, were made perfect by 
 the cross of Christ ? (See Heb. xii. 22, 23.) Herein is seen 
 the fulfilment of the ancient prophecy : " And Saviours shall 
 
50 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 come up on Mount Zion, to judge the mount of Esau ; and 
 the kingdom shall be the Lord's." (Obad. 21.) It is thus 
 that "judgment shall be given to the saints of the Most 
 High;" and that "the saints shall judge the world;" yea, 
 and " judge angels," that is, every spirit that speaks to or 
 through man. (See Dan. vii. 22 ; and 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3.) 
 
 And herein is the oracle of the " Urim and Thummim" re- 
 stored in its true spiritual order; by which judgment can be 
 rendered in righteousness and truth. 
 
 But no individual can possess this, except he be in union 
 with the Church of the living God, as established in this 
 " latter day of glory." 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 There had been two Jewish temples prefiguring the two 
 Christian Churches. And as both the temples were destroy- 
 ed, so was the first Christian Church, to which properly be- 
 longed the power to open and shut heaven — the spirit world. 
 
 That power continued partially to rest upon the " two wit- 
 nesses," who existed (and could only prophesy) between the 
 destruction of the first and the establishment of the second 
 Christian temple. 
 
 These witnesses could and did torment with the truth the 
 subjects of the beast; but could not build; for the beast 
 reigned, and he destroyed whatever (and as fast as) they 
 built. And therefore, the foundations being destroyed, even 
 the righteous witnesses could not do any thing besides de- 
 liver their testimony and suffer martyrdom ; or be overcome 
 by the beast or his image, and thus lose their spiritual life. 
 
 But, now that the second Christian temple is being built, 
 the foundations of which are firmly laid in the power and wis- 
 dom of God, the witnesses have all become dead bodies, and 
 constitute the " image of the beast" — Protestant sects — and 
 a general influx from the spirit world has begun upon earth, 
 with neither Church nor even witnesses to regulate it. 
 
 And there will yet be such a time of trouble to the gene- 
 
INSPIRATION. 51 
 
 rative man, aa has never been upon earth before. (Mat. xxiv, 
 21.) 
 
 And finally, men will learn that the Church of the Second 
 Appearing of Christ is the true Church of the Fourth Era, 
 to which rightfully and exclusively pertains the ordering and 
 regulating all spiritual powers and beings. 
 
 For, in and through that Church, if at all, every nation of 
 the earth will be blest : for " the law will go forth from 
 Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem," to all peo- 
 ple, according to the figure of the natural Israel. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 UBIM AND THUMMIM. 
 
 Jesus Christ testified, "I am not come to destroy the law, 
 but to fulfil it," that is, the spirit and righteous principles of 
 the law ; and to advance them to far higher degrees of per- 
 fection, by a fuller display of Divine revelations and power. 
 Thus also, in this Dispensation, his Divine Spirit embraces all 
 the righteous principles of the three former Eras ; and, by 
 increasing the inspired revelations, and giving a. superior flow 
 of Divine light and power, he carries them out in their per- 
 fected order : thus completing the foundation and work which 
 God began in him, in his first appearing. (See Eph. ii. 20.) 
 The leading principle of this foundation is, — " Christ has 
 appeared the second time, without sin, unto salvation ;" and 
 the seal of judgment is, — " the Lord knoweth them that are 
 his," and " Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, 
 depart from all iniquity." (2 Tim. ii. 19.) All professed 
 revelation or inspiration, whatever its source, must be judged 
 by this rule. And any revelation that sanctions the violation 
 of the law of nature, as already set forth, is not of God; but 
 
62 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 is from false or ignorant spirits, who are still in the lost and 
 benighted elements of the world. 
 
 For it is the breach of this law that produces those "fleshly 
 lusts which war against the soul" (1 Pet. ii. 11 ;) which lusts 
 led to the destruction of the old world ; and to the overthrow 
 of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah ; and lie at the bottom 
 of all the abominations of the heathen nations. It was a 
 " generation who had eyes full of adultery, and that could not 
 cease from sin," (2 Pet. ii. 14,) that " killed the Prince of life." 
 (Acts, iii. 15.) And from this foul source, according to the 
 Apostle James, (iv. 1,) "proceed all wars and fightings," 
 private and public. 
 
 This it was that caused the fall of the primitive Church ; as 
 is evident from the reproofs given by the Spirit to the " seven 
 Churches in Asia ;" (see Rev. ii. & iii. ;) and this it is which, 
 ever since that event, has been, day and night, accusing the 
 servants of God before Him. (See Rev. xii. 10.) And how 
 frequently it brings even the professed " ministers of Christ" 
 in the kingdom of the beast, into public disgrace, let the 
 daily prints declare. Therefore, any person bringing forth 
 a revelation teaching that a true Christian can still follow 
 the first Adam in the work of generation, is either deceived, 
 or is a deceiver ; as also is he who teaches that he can 
 indulge in ambition, pride, or the vain-glory of the world. 
 
 For, in the Church of Christ, there is a revelation of meek- 
 ness, humility, and of mortification to the proud and lofty 
 nature of man ; also to the self-exalting principles of a false 
 philosophy, which no doubt is often derived from a class of 
 materialistic and infidel spirits in the lower spheres of the 
 spiritual world, who have never found a relation to the true 
 resurrection work of God ; but are some of " the dead," 
 who have not yet believed in Christ, nor have ever heard 
 " the voice of the Son of God." " Marvel not at this; for 
 the hour is coming, in the which, all that are in the graves" 
 (in the spirit world) " shall hear his voice, and shall come 
 forth ; they that have done" and continue to do " good, unto 
 
INSPIRATION. 58 
 
 the resurrection of life ; and they that have done" and con- 
 tinue to do "evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." 
 (John, v. 28, 29.) 
 
 Therefore, when Jesus was " put to death in the flesh, he 
 was quickened by the Spirit ; by which also he went and 
 preached to the spirits in prison who were disobedient to 
 Noah's righteous preaching." (1 Pet. iii. 18, 19.) From 
 which fact it appears, that the wicked antediluvians, " every 
 imagination of whose heart was only evil," and who had been 
 tormented for centuries by their own ungodly lusts and 
 wicked passions raging within and among them " like un- 
 quenchable fires" — were yet in a salvable condition ; as it is 
 certain that our Saviour would not have preached to them, 
 had it not been possible for them to obey. 
 
 As saith Isaiah, (chap. ix. 2) "The people that walked in 
 darkness have seen a great light; and they that dwell in the 
 land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined " 
 And " for this cause was. the Gospel preached also to them 
 that are dead, that they might be judged according to" (or 
 in the same manner as) " men in the flesh," but " live accord- 
 ing to God in the spirit;" (1 Pet. iv. 6) ; that was the object. 
 
 But what ministers of error and evil such lost, degraded 
 spirits can be, to those who are accessible to them, it is 
 needless to expatiate upon. Who is it. that is not in danger 
 of being led astray by some of them ? None but the " elect" 
 are safe, who, "lest" even "they enter into temptation," must 
 watch and pray," to "make their calling and election sure." 
 (2 Pet. i. 10.) 
 
 For the false philosophy emanating from these infidel 
 spirits is "after the rudiments of the world, and not after 
 Christ,'' (Col. ii. 8) which philosophy leads souls into 
 a labyrinth of darkness ; and, under the sanction of a 
 pretended Divine inspiration, teaches that there is no evil 
 spirits, nor evil of any kind, except such as has been created 
 by God, or man ; and that, after death, all will be happy, 
 without any reference to, or being made partakers of, a work 
 of true repentance (which leads souls to confess and forsake 
 
54 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 all sin) ; without suffering with Christ, and dying to a sinful 
 nature, as he died to it ; and without finding salvation as the 
 effects of their own true travel of soul: forgetting that, " into 
 the holy city nothing can enter which worketh abomination, 
 or that loveth or maketh a lie." (Rev. xxi. 27.) 
 
 The doctrine that " there is no evil," entirely abrogates the 
 teaching of Jesus Christ, which was exemplified by his life, suf- 
 ferings, and violent death, and which showed that both good 
 and evil had a positive eternal existence ; and that, as the ele- 
 ments of good concentrate in and proceed from an absolutely 
 good Being, so do the elements of evil concentrate in and pro- 
 ceed from a being absolutely evil. And it was equally impos- 
 sible for the good Being to create, or originate (directly or in- 
 directly) an antagonistic being or element, as it was for that 
 antagonistic being or element to create the Author and ele- 
 ment of all good. For the same fountain can not send forth 
 sweet water and bitter. And Jesus affirmed, that " men do not 
 gather grapes ofcthorns, or figs of thistles," for the simple, 
 though cogent, reason, that " an evil tree cannot bring forth 
 good fruit, any more than can a good tree bring forth evil 
 fruit." As also in his parable of the earth, which he repre- 
 sents as a field, in which good seed was sowed, but in which 
 tares, or evil seed, was also sowed, by an enemy. Thus 
 arguing, that, if there had been no foreign enemy to God in 
 existence, no such evil seed would or could have been found 
 in the earth. Nor, indeed, would the idea of evil, had there 
 been no antitype thereof, ever have entered the human 
 soul. 
 
 A writer, recently, in attempting to prove that there is 
 no such thing as evil in or out of this world, observes, " If 
 we admit the existence of evil at all, we must admit that 
 God is the Author of it," and " that what is called evil is 
 comparative good, or good in its incipient, incompleted, and 
 undeveloped forms." These remarks he grounds upon the 
 fact, that mankind can and may progress from bad to better, 
 and so onward. 
 
 But if that which does not possess an acrid quality cannot 
 
INSPIRATION'. 55 
 
 impart or transmit it, so neither can God, who is essential, 
 absolute, and unadulterated good, ever exhibit outwardly, in 
 his creation, that which is opposite to, and has no existence 
 in, Himself — evil. 
 
 Again, good cannot be evil, nor can evil be good, even in 
 an incipient state ; nor can good change to and become evil, 
 or evil change to and become good ; any more than dark- 
 ness can become light, or than light can become darkness. 
 Darkness may give place to light, and evil may be removed 
 and give place to good, but cannot possibly mix therewith. 
 For the principles or elements of good and evil are always 
 necessarily distinct and antagonistic, being never in union or 
 assistant of each other, .any more than are light and dark- 
 ness, truth and error, ease and pain, or life and death. 
 
 Man, having been originally created " very good," if he 
 had never yielded to the evil suggestions of a foreign enemy, 
 and thus become a subject of moral and spiritual darkness 
 and evil, — sin, sorrow, and sickness, sighing and tears, war 
 and slavery, and famine and pestilence, together with all the 
 thousands of secondary sources of human misery, would have 
 been as far from mankind as they ever will be, in the con- 
 summation of the work of redemption — the Millennium. 
 
 Many minds, well intentioned, have conceived the idea 
 that, if mankind had been created entirely and positively 
 good, they could not have progressed. Every thing in na- 
 ture testifies against this error ; and the unlimited faculties 
 of the human soul especially bear witness to the truthless- 
 ness of this position. Good may be good, without any mix- 
 ture of evil, and yet be eternally expansive and progressive 
 in its nature and growth. 
 
 And shall we say, that, because good can expand, increase, 
 and continue its augmentations, it therefore is or was incipi- 
 ent evil ? 
 
 Good is good in all the different stages and processes 
 through which it may pass ; as is proved by its happifying 
 effects upon all sensuous existences, from the embryo to the 
 
56 TEerra of divinb 
 
 highest state of physical, intellectual, and spiritual develop- 
 ment. So also is evil evil in all the different stages through 
 which it may progress ; as is evidenced, by the pain, suffer- 
 ing, and unhappiness, to which all things and persons are 
 subject, in proportion as they are under its influence. 
 
 The practical effects of charging upon God the creation of 
 evil, or (which is tantamount) disbelieving in and denying 
 the existence thereof, must be, to throw souls off their guard 
 in relation to its pernicious influences and wily machinations. 
 If a disease that is well known is thereby half cured ; then 
 the converse of this proposition is also true ; and so dread- 
 ful a disease as evil being totally unknown, and even mis- 
 taken for positive good, by intelligent souls, must be tenfold 
 more dangerous to them, as free agents, who are really 
 placed between, and subject to, the suggestions and draw- 
 ings of intelligent agents in both elements, — good and evil, — 
 then it would be to such as are fully enlightened in regard 
 to their true position. 
 
 It is a question, whether the doctrine of no evil be not one 
 of the most radically dangerous that has ever been broached 
 to or by the human mind. It certainly is the antipodes of 
 what Christ and his Apostles taught upon that subject. 
 
 Jesus said : " What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch 
 and pray, that ye enter not into temptation ;" and " Except 
 a man deny himself, and take up his cross daily," and even 
 " hate his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." To 
 the Jews he said, " Ye are of your father the devil ; and the 
 lusts of your father ye will do." The Apostle exhorts, 
 " Be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary, the devil, goeth 
 about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." 
 " To him that overcometh," said Jesus Christ, " will I give 
 to eat of the tree of life." These, ancfmany other texts of 
 similar import, possess no sense or meaning at all, except 
 upon the assumption that two opposite powers and principles 
 do exist. And that man is not merely a non-progressed 
 being in good ; but that he is a bona fide free agent, standing 
 
INSPIRATION. 57 
 
 between, subject to, and continually operated upon by, two 
 antagonistic elements and beings therein — good and evil. 
 
 It is not possible to conceive of a greater insult being 
 offered to the human understanding, than is the attempt 
 that is now so sedulously, ingeniously, and extensively being 
 made, to convince and satisfy it, that all the evil of lying, 
 robbery, murder, and rapine ; all the perfidy and oppression ; 
 all the gluttony, drunkenness, and lechery ; the riches and po- 
 verty ; the luxury and starvation ; and the impiety and ungod- 
 liness, that the past and present history of mankind unfold, 
 are, and always have been, from a perfectly good source ; 
 or that they are merely the result of non-development in 
 good, — a necessary state and stage in the process of pro- 
 gression Godward ; and are therefore the seed— the germinal 
 sources and incipient stages — of peace, purity, righteousness, 
 and love — true religion. 
 
 This is really commingling and confounding opposite and 
 contrary qualities and things ; if not overturning the founda- 
 tions of sanity in the human mind. 
 
 Good and evil exist abstractly, and also manifestly. 
 There are principles of good and evil ; and these are reduced 
 to actions — facts — by intelligent beings. There is the same 
 amount and kind of evidence in proof of the existence of the 
 one that there is by which to prove the existence of the 
 other. Love and hatred, peace and war; forgiveness and 
 revenge, benevolence and cupidity, chastity and lust, <fec. <fec, 
 have each and all an equally positive and tangible existence. 
 Persons subject to these passions and principles are real en- 
 tities. 
 
 Upon the hypothesis that either one of these had a be- 
 ginning, the other must have created it out of nothing ; for 
 it is equally as absurd to suppose that real evil could be 
 made out of real good, as it is to suppose that real good 
 could be made, out of real evil. 
 
 Also, it is not a whit less illogical to assume, that the evil 
 principles and elements do exist, but that there is no unori- 
 
68 TESTS OF DIVINB 
 
 ginated evil being in them, than it would be to suppose that 
 the good principles and elements exist, but that there is no un- 
 originated good Being therein, who directs and controls them. 
 
 To attempt to evade the absurdity of the proposition, that 
 either of these principles or beings created its own opposite 
 out of nothing, by saying they first produced good or evil 
 beings, and that these created their own opposites, is un- 
 reasonable and disingenuous. 
 
 If evil be evil, then it was an evil thought and design, tn 
 the mind of the Creator, — God — out of which He created it, 
 and first brought it into existence ; whether He Himself did 
 it directly, or whether He did it by producing another being 
 — man — to do it for Him. 
 
 An acorn could just as easily develop itself into an apple 
 tree, as (if no independent principle and being of evil have 
 any existence) can man progress or develop himself into 
 a being, the germinal principles of whose character God had 
 not thought of, nor planted in him. 
 
 Thus " saith the Lord : They have built the high places 
 of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to 
 burn their sons and their daughters in the fire ; which I com- 
 manded them not, neither came it into my heart." (Jer. 
 vii. 30, 31.) He never thought of it. 
 
 But, upon the hypothesis, or fact, that the principles, ele- 
 ments, and unoriginated beings, (good and evil,) exist, there 
 is no contradiction, confusion, or absurdity, that necessarily 
 follows. For as " God is of purer eyes than to behold ini- 
 quity;" so also is He of too pure a heart to think iniquity. 
 
 Just so far as man is in evil, is he actually out of God 
 and Christ. " He that sinneth, hath not seen Christ, neither 
 known him." "Then will He say unto them, Depart from 
 me, ye workers of iniquity ; I never knew you." 
 
 God exists only in his own elements. Yet He could create 
 beings with a capaeity for receiving evil influences, as easily 
 as a man can make a vessel out of the most pure material, 
 capable of bolding the most noisome and poisonous fluids. 
 
INSPIRATION. 59 
 
 It is very problematical whether a being thus " made up- 
 right" and " very good " in all his faculties and capacities, 
 who, in the exercise of his free agency, prostitutes them un- 
 der and to the influences of evil, is not more unhappy than 
 one whose very being is only evil ; of whom a figure is seen 
 in the snake, tiger, hyena, vulture, &c. &c. For misery is 
 the result of a creature getting out of its own — its native — 
 element. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 The fourth Era, again, and the Church pertaining to it, 
 like all the preceding ones, had its origin in .Divine Revela- 
 tion, and is the second revelation and manifestation of Christ, 
 in the female order, as the first was in the male order. 
 
 As Jesus was anointed and filled with the Christ Spirit, 
 so was Ann Lee. Neither of them, however, is an object of 
 worship, any more than are those who follow them, (who are 
 also baptized with the anointing or Christ Spirit) objects of 
 worship. " Know ye not that, except Christ be in you" all, 
 "ye are reprobates?" (See 2 Cor. xiii. 5.) 
 
 Thus, in each succeeding Dispensation, the lievelation is 
 more directly from God : that is, the mediums, or messen- 
 gers, thereof sent to earth are of a higher order. But, in all 
 cases, it is a man or woman that receives the revelation from 
 the messenger. 
 
 The First Era commenced in Adam; — the Second in Abra- 
 ham ; — the Third in Jesus ; — the Fourth in Ann Zee. 
 
 In this Fourth Dispensation is established the final Church 
 and kingdom of Christ, which possesses the " Urim and 
 Thummim ;" and therefore it cannot be deceived or over- 
 thrown by evil or ignorant spirits ; for its communicants 
 are familiar with spirits and spiritual manifestations in all 
 their phases and forms. 
 
 This Church has its laws, statutes, and rules, as had the 
 Adamic, Mosaic, and first Christian. 
 
 And these laws, with the " new covenant" of regeneration — 
 
60 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 virgin purity, — are put into the heart of every individual, and 
 form the touch-stone or test of all revelation. 
 
 The faithful persons, therefore, who compose this Church, 
 are the " very elect," who cannot be deceived. 
 
 Thus, all the righteous laws of the Four Dispensations, 
 culminate in this Church of the Fourth Era, uniting in a con- 
 centration of spiritual light ; and form the " Urim and Thum- 
 mim" which all the dark spirits in existence, on earth or in 
 the spirit world, cannot either dim or becloud. 
 
 The practical fruit of this Church, is the entire banish- 
 ment of poverty and want, and sin and misery ; and a full 
 supply of physical and spiritual necessaries, for the body 
 and soul of every one of its members. 
 
 He who teaches that Christ and generation can coalesce, 
 is deceived, or is a deceiver. 
 
 No law of any previous Era must be violated. The Mo- 
 saic law was from God ; and Christ said. " Heaven and earth 
 should pass away ; but not in any wise should one jot or 
 tittle of the law pass therefrom, until it be all ful611ed," or 
 kept ; (see Matt. v. 18;) then it will cease and pass away ; for 
 it was made only for sinners, or transgressors. And, there- 
 fore, if the professed Christian sin, he must pay the Mosaic 
 penalty ; as, in sinning, he breaks or transgresses the law of 
 Moses ; for sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John, iii. 
 4.) Every spirit that denieth this is false. 
 
 The lust of generation is the one great evil that marred all 
 the designs and woTks of God in the first three Eras. But 
 it is utterly destroyed in the Fourth, by the cutting off of the 
 work of generation itself. 
 
 Lust caused the flood. By it the primitive Church fell. 
 It has accused and condemned the " two witnesses," day 
 and night before God, during the last eighteen centuries ; 
 and has caused the stars, (priests and teachers) of the old 
 heavens (Christendom) to fall to the earth, and wallow in the 
 filth-of sexuality. And from it have proceeded all " wars and 
 fightings," Heathen and Christian. 
 
INSPIEATION. 61 
 
 The Gospel, or law of the Fourth Dispensation — will be 
 preached to all people, nations, kindreds, and tongues, on 
 earth and in the spirit world. 
 
 Jesus preached it to the antediluvians. (See 1 Pet. iii.lS — 
 20.) But there is a class of materialistic infidel spirits, — advo- 
 cates of a vain and false philosophy, — who find many willing 
 proselytes, unto whom they minister, and teach that there are 
 no evil spirits, nor any evil ; and that after death all will be 
 happy ; that, in the beginning, there was nothing but God ; 
 and that there will be nothing but God in the end. 
 
 But it is hoped that these Tests will prove a sufficient guard 
 to every soul, who will abide by them, against the machina- 
 tions of all kinds and classes of spirits, and also from all er- 
 ror and false doctrine. 
 
62 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AFFINITIVE RELATION OF THE DIVINE WORK IX THE FOUR DIS- 
 PENSATIONS. 
 
 1. All the works of God are intimately connected, by va- 
 rious degrees of affinitive relation ; and are arranged in cir- 
 cles, or spheres of order ; the larger or general circles being 
 drawn round lesser and lesser circles, down to the spheres of 
 individuals, which revolve in their respective circles, in the 
 progressive development of the providential and divine work 
 of God, like wheels within wheels ; and, into each circle, the 
 Divine and ever-living Spirit is diffused with power and light, 
 to move, guide and direct all their operations according to 
 the Divine will. For the Eternal Spirit has his throne above, 
 upon this order of his workmanship ; from whence, by his 
 Divine Power and Wisdom, He governs and directs the 
 whole, progressively to fulfil his purposes. 
 
 2. And each individual connected with any of these or- 
 ders of circles, has his peculiar sphere of operation ; and to 
 each is given an eye of light to discern the present degree of 
 the progressive work of God, in which he is called to labor. 
 
 3. This affinitive connection and progressive movement of 
 the Divine order, in each dispensation of the providence and 
 grace of God to man, was shown by the visions of the 
 ancient Prophet Ezekiel, (see chaps, i. & x.) wherein he saw 
 "four living creatures," or powers, joined together, which 
 were called Cherubims ; and over and upon them was the 
 " appearance of the likeness of a throne," and above and 
 upon it was " the likeness of the glory of the God of Israel," 
 from whence came the directing Voice. 
 
INSPIRATION. (J8 
 
 4. And their figurative "appearance was like burning 
 coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps; and it went 
 up and down amongst these living creatures." These Che- 
 rubims evidently represented the Four general Dispensations, 
 through which the whole work of God has been, and will 
 be, displayed to man ; and here they were shown to be all 
 joined together ; for each rose out of the preceding one, un- 
 til the Fourth and last, in which the whole will be completed, 
 and then all will be perfected and joined in one union, ac- 
 cording to the directions of the Almighty Spirit : for 
 " whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went," and turn- 
 ed not as they went, " they went every one straight for- 
 ward." This shows that the progress of the orders of God's 
 work is straight forward to accomplish his purposes ; and 
 turns not to the right nor to the left. Each cherub had 
 four faces of the same appearance ; thus showing that they 
 all looked to the connective work of God in each of the Four 
 Dispensations, and were proceeding on in affinitive relation. 
 
 5. Their four faces were the same as were seen by St. 
 John (see Rev. iv. 1) on the four living creatures, (impro- 
 perly rendered " beasts") that were " full of eyes, before and 
 behind ;" which shows that these represented the same 
 orders ; and also, that each one was in affinitive relation to 
 the other three ; and all their circles were joined in one uni- 
 versal order ; for they all moved together. And by each 
 cherub was one wheel ; and the work of the wheels was one 
 likeness : and their appearance and their work was, as it 
 were, "a wheel in the midst of a wheel." " When they went, 
 they went upon their four sides ; they turned not as they 
 went :" that is, they moved unitedly alike, and turned not to 
 the right nor to the left ; but to the place whither the head 
 looked, they followed it. Thus they turned not from their 
 straight course after the living creatures ; "for the spirit of 
 the living creatures;" or powers, " was in them." 
 
 6. These wheels represented the body of people who were 
 chosen in the covenant relation of God, in each Dispensation 
 
64 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 of his work ; and were moved upon by the living Spirit of 
 light and power, according to the order of that day ; and 
 ■which, by the operations of the same Spirit, in the last Dis- 
 pensation, are unitedly rising and progressing into higher 
 and higher degrees of perfection. The wings of the cheru- 
 bims signify, that they are destined to fly above the attrac- 
 tions of the earthly sphere. Therefore, " when they 
 lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same 
 wheels also turned not from beside them." But, " when they 
 stood, the wheels stood ; and when they were lifted up, 
 these were lifted up," showing that there are times of still- 
 ness, and times of rising into higher degrees in the Divine 
 system of operations. (See Rev. viii. 1.) 
 
 1. This order of wheels moves in the circle of the wheels 
 of the "Ancient of Days," which were to roll through the 
 earth like burning flames ; to cut down all earthly thrones, 
 and to consume and destroy all the corrupt institutions and 
 oppressive powers of the world. (See Dan. vii. 9, 12.) 
 These wheels are rapidly rolling on by the light and power 
 of Divine Revelation, in the providential and spiritual orders ; 
 and are progressively effecting this work throughout the 
 world. 
 
 8. But it is evidently the work of this present Dispensation, 
 or " days of the voice of the seventh trumpet" (see Rev. x. 
 1), to progressively rise higher and higher from the earth ; 
 that is, from all the propensities and ties of the earthly fallen 
 nature. These " wheels and their whole body, and their 
 backs, and their hands, and their wings, were full of eyes 
 round about." This signifies that every soul that is joined 
 to the Divine order of God's work revolves in a connected 
 circle around the progressively-increasing and living work of 
 each successive degree and day of the Dispensation. And 
 all are directed by an emanation, in degrees of order, from 
 the throne of the Almighty Spirit. 
 
 9. And all, both cherubims and wheels, being in all parts 
 " full of eyes," bhow that all souls in this circle of wheels 
 
INSFIBATIOK. 65 
 
 Lave a peculiar sphere adapted to their order and genius 
 to revolve in ; and that Divine light from the living Spirit 
 is dispensed to them severally, sufficient to discern the pre- 
 sent order and work of the day in which they are called to 
 unite. 
 
 10. In this manner, everyone has Divine revelation in his 
 own soul, by which to know the true work of God. But 
 " these wheels followed to the place whither the head 
 looked." This signifies that all souls in these circles must 
 be led and guided by the revelation of primary and fixed 
 foundation principles, that are fully known and clearly under- 
 stood by every individual member in this Divine system, 
 from the greatest even to the least ; which forms the basis 
 of the circle in which they are called to move ; and which- 
 ■will thus serve as an infallible standard, by which to judge 
 all revelation, and to " try the spirits, whether they be of 
 God." 
 
 11. This "knowledge of the Lord" constitutes these eyes 
 in the body of Christ, it being composed of such spirit- 
 ually intelligent members. And thus, as " the light of the 
 body is the eye ;" and the whole body being " full of eyes," 
 in every part, it is full of Divine light ; and therefore cannot 
 be led astray by any inspiration from the powers of darkness. 
 
 12. And, although every succeeding true revelation brings 
 an increasing degree of purity and order (for " of the in- 
 crease of Christ's kingdom, to order and establish it, there 
 shall be no end," Is. ix. 7) ; yet, all such revelations confirmeth 
 rudimental principles of every preceding Divine revelation in 
 all former Dispensations ; and every spirit that speaks to the 
 contrary is false. It is thus that " the testimony of Jesus is 
 the spirit of prophecy" or of inspired Divine revelation, both 
 in the general and governing circle, and in the Divine sys- 
 tem ; and also in the subordinate circles, which by affinitive 
 relation, enlighten the sphere of each individual being, in 
 whom is " the Spirit of the living creatures," or powers. 
 
 13. The " burning coals" signify the refining work that 
 
06 TESTS OF DIVINH IN6PIRATION. 
 
 souls must pass through, to become living members of this 
 Divine order. And the " lamps of fire that went up and 
 down among the living creatures" signify the central light of 
 revelation, to direct all the circles of this system of the work 
 of God. And " the hands of a man which appeared under 
 the cherubims' wings, on their four sides," signify that all 
 these operations will be effected through the medium and 
 agency of man, in the four quarters of the earth. 
 
 14. Thus, according to the foregoing principles, all things 
 and all beings, in the various circles of the Divine order, do, 
 and forever will, revolve in their respective spheres, like 
 wheels within wheels ; all being directed by the primary re- 
 velations from the spiritual powers above ; and governed by 
 the Divine Voice from the Eternal Throne, which is above 
 all, and which rests upon the Divine order of the Cherubims 
 of his glory. 
 
INTRODUCTION TO PART II. 
 
 We can have no greater evidence that any principle, or 
 system of principles, originates in spiritual evil, or is of 
 human origin, than the fact of its being of corruptive and 
 degenerative tendency ; as also of its being unprogressive, 
 inert, and fixed in its character ; as witness the dogmatical, 
 antichristian orders and churches, which prohibit human 
 progress, by shutting up the doors of a continuous revelation 
 of God's will to man ; and thus forbid tlie travel of the soul 
 into a more perfect state ; — the only purpose for which any 
 Divine revelation was ever given. 
 
 We are aware that the prophecies and visions recorded in 
 Scripture, have been and are, by different expositors, vari- 
 ously interpreted, according to the degree of spiritual light 
 and understanding, and state of the interpreter. And, inas- 
 much as the people called Shakers differ, in all these partic- 
 ulars, from most of the readers of this work, it is not to be 
 expected that any will, at first and in all respects, see eye to 
 eye with them. 
 
 But let every one, unbiassed by educational prepossessions, 
 sectarian prejudices, or a dogmatic love of, and adherence 
 to, their own previously acquired and preconceived opinions, 
 decide any point of difference that may arise, according to 
 his best light, in view of the evidence herein laid before him. 
 
 It is quite certain, that the general plan and order of pro- 
 cedure in the Divine economy, in relation to the redemption 
 of the human race, have frequently been pointed out by four 
 figurative representations. And the " four spirits" of the 
 
68 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 heavens, spoken of by Zachariah, (vi. 5,) undoubtedly refer 
 to the light and life of prophetic revelation emanating from 
 Four Dispensations ; for, although the Fourth had not yet 
 come, yet its order, power, and spirit, was the theme of all 
 the prophets, as being the ultimate and finishing work of God 
 with the human family. 
 
 The Prophet Ezekiel saw, in vision, these Four Eras, by 
 the four successive risings and admeasurements of " the holy 
 waters which issued out from under the threshold of the 
 sanctuary," — temple, or Church of the Era. 
 
 In the first of these admeasurements the waters came up 
 only to a man's ankles ; in the second, to his knees ; in the 
 third, they took in the man to his loins ; but, in the fourth 
 and last, they became an impassable river, which carried 
 whoever entered into them clear above the earth. 
 
 This shows the progressive increase of the Sowings of the 
 waters of life in each succeeding Dispensation, which con- 
 centrated and were completely developed in the fourth and 
 last ; in which, every thing that had life was healed, whither- 
 soever the waters of that impassable river came ; betokening 
 that every intellectual and intelligent being, that received 
 the life-power of the Church of the fourth Era, would be 
 made alive in the true order of God. 
 
 For "these waters go" (from the Church) "down into 
 the desert;" that is, the spiritually-barren or desert-like 
 state of the Churches ; "and thence into the sea" (world) ; 
 " and, being brought forth into the sea, the waters thereof 
 were healed :" this " sea" is the great source of human na- 
 ture, whence all natural beings are brought forth, full of 
 corruption, infirmity, and spiritual death ; which plainly 
 shows the state of the fountain from whence they flow. 
 (See Rev. xvii. 15.) 
 
 Thus, the waters proceeding from this corrupt sea, are 
 " peoples, nations, kindreds, and tongues," which carry " the 
 whore of Babylon," with all " her abominations," that is, all 
 the civil and religious or ecclesiastical systems of the world. 
 
INSPIRATION. Oy 
 
 And the waters of this " sea" must be cleansed and 
 purified by these waters of life, before they can ever bring 
 forth living souls that are prepared for the Gospel net, 
 which souls are the " fish" that should be in great multi- 
 tudes in those "healed waters." (See Ezek. xlvii. 1 to 12.) 
 
 The same general plan, or order, is again- exhibited in the 
 vision of the " four horns of the Gentiles, which scattered 
 Judah and Israel," God's figurative covenant people. This 
 also shows the scattering of the spiritual Israel, or first Chris- 
 tian Church. 
 
 Then came "four carpenters," (builders) "to fray and 
 cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lift up over the 
 land of Judah to scatter it;" (Zech. i. 18 to 21) ; that is, to 
 " divide the land for gain," which the Lord gave for the one 
 common inheritance of his people, to be by them equally 
 occupied and improved ; (see Num. xxxiii. 54) ; and there- 
 by to " scatter'' every man's private individual inheritance, 
 and occupy the land ; after the unequal and oppressive 
 manner of the nations of the earth. 
 
 Not only was the land equally divided among the tribes 
 and families, and individuals in Israel, but there were also 
 established four concrete, consecutive, ascending orders of 
 sabbaths, prefiguring the Four Dispensations ; by which a 
 progressive curtailment of the corrupt and selfish principles 
 of fallen nature, that disinherit man of the earth, thereby 
 producing among them inequality, poverty, and slavery, 
 were effected, on the one hand ; and, on the other, a succes- 
 sive and increasing development of the eternal principles of 
 right and truth, ultimating in the setting up of the kingdom 
 of heaven upon earth, in the Fourth and last Dispensation ; 
 in which, each and all are not only the equal objects of 
 God's love and care, but are also the objects of the equal 
 love and care of each other. 
 
 These four horns, that thus scatter Israel, destroy unity, 
 
 and cause every man to " seek his own gain from his own 
 
 quarter," are the leading powers of the generative man; 
 
 "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of 
 
70 TESTS OF DIVINH 
 
 life," and the selfish ambition of the world ; which induce 
 men to contend for, and strive to excel in, the possession of 
 the earth, and consequently in power and dominion over their 
 fellow-men. And by this are created those giants in wick- 
 edness, — the warriors and conquerors of the world ; for, to 
 rob men of their inalienable right to the earth, and enslave 
 the people, is the leading object of all wars. 
 
 Religious ambition, or seeking the pre-eminence, working 
 in union with the three other " horns of the Gentiles," did 
 also overthrow and " scatter the power of the holy people," 
 destroy the united inheritance of the primitive Church, and 
 tread down the holy " city," and its sacred order of love and 
 union. (See Rev. xi. 2 ; and Dan. xii. 7.) 
 
 Thus the gentile system of generation and selfish individ- 
 ual possessions, or " dividing the land for gain," is, to this 
 day, the order, in Babylon, of all the nations professing the 
 Christian name, and of all their institutions. 
 
 These " horns of the gentiles," or earthly powers of the 
 corrupt world, — religious and irreligious, — can only be over- 
 thrown and cast out by these " four carpenters," or builders, 
 that have come forth in the spirit and power of the Four 
 Dispensations, who are united and their work perfected in 
 the Fourth and last. 
 
 By this power, these builders will " cast out those horns," 
 or worldly powers of the Gentiles. And, as fast as this is 
 effected, they will also proceed to build the " city of the 
 Most High," by the principle of love, purity, meekness, and 
 unity ; for they are the four rudimental foundation pillars of 
 the kingdom of heaven, which can alone secure to each indi- 
 vidual his just and equal inalienable rights, and at the same 
 time effect a united interest in all things, both temporal and 
 spiritual. 
 
 This forms the true Christian order ; and is a criterion and 
 test which makes the labor of proving the quality of (and 
 the source from whence has proceeded) every revelation 
 eomparatively light and easy. 
 
 Other kits and evidences, by which to discern and detect 
 
INSPIRATION. 71 
 
 true or false spirits, and true or false revelation, consisting 
 of doctrines that result from the principles made known to 
 man by revelation, in each of the Four Eras and their 
 Churches, will be subjoined. 
 
 These Tests, we are fain to believe, will, if onee under- 
 stood and digested, be a talisman, or charm, against the 
 spells of all witches, wizards, familiar spirits, necromancers, 
 soothsayers, dreamers, and " false prophets and false Christs ;" 
 and will thus prove a perfect guard and protection, against 
 the influences and machinations of all seducing, deceiving, 
 and evil spirits, and their spurious revelations and lying 
 wonders, whether they be in the visible or invisible world; 
 and whatever name or character such spirits may assume, for 
 the purpose of imposing upon the credulity of the simple 
 and honest, or of the ignorant and unwary, even though it 
 be the name and character of an " angel of light." 
 
PAET II. 
 
 THE FOLLOWING CODE OF DOCTRINES, TOGETHER, MAT 
 SERVE AS ADDITIONAL AND SPECIFIC 
 
 EULES FOE TESTING DIVINE EEVELATION. 
 
 FAITH. 
 
 From the foregoing Part, it will be seen, that every dis- 
 pensation has its foundation principles. The Patriarchal 
 had its moral law of nature, for the regulation of man in the 
 animal work of propagating his race. The Mosaic had its 
 laws, statutes, and judgments, with the twofold design of 
 reproof and instruction, and its hieroglyphical prophesyings 
 of the future. The first Christian Era was also possessed 
 of certain definite and eternal principles, which are contained 
 in the life and doctrines of the Messiah, who was the true 
 embodiment of that dispensation; and whose doctrines formed 
 the foundation of the first Gospel temple. " And other 
 foundation can no man lay than that which is laid." (1 Cor. 
 iii. 11.) " Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone," 
 (Eph. ii. 20.) 
 
 For " thus saith the Lord God, Behold I lay in Zion, for 
 a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner- 
 stone, a sure foundation ; he that believeth shall not be 
 confounded," (Is. xxviii. 16 ; and 1 Pet. ii. 6,) by any 
 spirit, whether upon earth or in the spirit world. The word 
 of Christ to his disciples was, " Go ye into all the world, and 
 preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and 
 
TESTS OF DIVINE INSPIBATION. 78 
 
 is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be 
 damned." (Mark xvi. 15, 16.) 
 
 Here arises the question, What is that gospel? The an- 
 swer is, it is composed (as above stated) of certain specific 
 doctrines and laws, which doctrines and laws are deduced 
 from the words and works, or life of Jesus Christ ; nor car, 
 any doctrine be received as Christian, that is not attested by 
 these two witnesses. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 Every principle, or doctrine, that can positively be demon- 
 strated as true, becomes a proper test of spirits and of their 
 real character. ' 
 
 All truth will agree and harmonize ; and any spirit that 
 attempts to pervert or gainsay what is known to be positively 
 true, cannot itself be true. 
 
 As has already been remarked, faith in Christ is one good 
 and unerring test of spirits. 
 
 BAPTISM. 
 
 What is Christ's baptism, without which no soul can be 
 saved by his Gospel ? The baptism of Moses was with water. 
 After every act of defilement, the Israelites were to bathe 
 and wash their bodies clean with water, as a type of the 
 washings of the regeneration by the waters of life, with which 
 their souls should be baptized under the Gospel Dispensation, 
 (see Lev. xv. 16 and 18); and by which they should be puri- 
 fied and cleansed from all unrighteousness. 
 
 John the Baptist never embraced Christianity, nor entered 
 the kingdom of heaven. For Jesus said, " He that is least in 
 the kingdom of heaven, is greater than he," (Matt. xi. 2.) 
 
74 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 John, who was still under the law ; yet, many of his disciples 
 left him and followed Jesus : and John himself testified, "I 
 indeed baptize you with water unto repentance : but he that 
 cometh after me, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, shall 
 baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire," (Matt. iii. 
 11.) " But Jesus himself baptized not" with water (John, iv. 
 2) ; although in some instances " his disciples" did ; as also 
 they occasionally circumcised, and practised other Jewish 
 ceremonies. (See Acts, xv. 1, 3, and xxi. 23 — 26.) Jesus him- 
 self was baptized with the Holy Spirit, (see Matt. iii. 16.) 
 
 It therefore remains true, that none can be saved, unless they 
 become baptized with the fire of Christ's Spirit. For " who 
 may abide the day of his coming ? and who shall stand when 
 he appeareth ? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' 
 soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he 
 shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and sil- 
 ver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteous- 
 ness. (Mai. iii. 2, 3.) " In those days, and in that time, saith 
 the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there 
 shall be none ; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be 
 found ; for I will pardon them whom I reserve." (Jer. 1. 20.) 
 "Thy people shall be all righteous." (Is. lx. 21.) "And it 
 shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion and he that re- 
 maineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy ; even every one 
 that is written among the living in Jerusalem." (Is. iv. 3.) 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 No enlightened and good spirit will controvert the doctrine 
 of spiritual baptism being essential to salvation from sin, and 
 from that nature that produces sin. 
 
INSPIRATION. 75 
 
 SIN. 
 
 Every thing contrary to the doctrines or life of Jesus 
 Christ, always was, is, and always will be sin abstractedly, 
 whether committed in ignorance or knowledge. 
 
 By the law of Moses, was given a definition and the know- 
 ledge of sin; therefore "sin is the transgression of the law" 
 of Moses; for the law is righteous, holy, and good, (see 
 Eom. vii. 12.) 
 
 By the law of Christ, as contained in his commandments, 
 is given the knowledge of the law of righteousness. The 
 first of which is, " Be ye perfect, even as your Father which 
 is in heaven is perfect." (Matt. v. 48.) He, Jesus Christ, 
 was perfect. He was the Son of God (Matt. hi. 1*7 ; and xvii. 
 5.) "And to as many as received him, to them also gave he 
 power to become the sons of God;" (John, i. 12) ; and "every 
 one that is perfect shall be as his master." (Luke, vi. 40.) 
 So " that both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sancti- 
 fied are all of one ; and he is not ashamed to call them bre- 
 thren." (Heb. ii. 11.) By this law, every follower of Christ 
 must "walk as he walked," (1 John, ii. 6;, and live as he lived. 
 He is the Rule by which their character must be squared. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 Any ministration from the spirit world, that does not re- 
 cognize the existence of evil — wrong — sin, must itself be 
 from a dark and sinful spirit. 
 
 SALVATION. 
 
 Therefore, what being saved by the bapt'sm of Christ sig- 
 nifies, may be learnt from the very name of Jesus. " Thou 
 
76 TESTS OP mVINB 
 
 shalt call his name Jesus, because lie shall save his people 
 from their sins ;" (Matt. i. 21); " Jesus," therefore, means Sa- 
 viour. Thus showing that being saved has not a special re- 
 ference to a future world or state; but to the present actual 
 condition of those who, while on earth, believed and are bap- 
 tized. So that none are his people who are living in their 
 sins. Thus salvation from sin is the first Christian doctrine. 
 " For this very purpose was Christ, the Son of God, mani- 
 fested, that he might destroy the works of the devil," " for 
 the devil sinneth from the beginning." (1 John, iii. 8.) 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 Every intelligence from the realms of light and purity 
 will surely teach men the necessity and possibility of salva- 
 tion from sin. 
 
 LOVE OF GOD TO MAN. 
 
 The love of God to man is proved from the fact of crea- 
 tion. How can God but love the work of his own hands ? 
 And, notwithstanding they rebelled against him by the fall, 
 the love of God is proved by all the dispensations of his grace 
 to man. It was this love that raised up prophets in eveiy 
 age, to instruct, reprove, warn, and save from present afflic- 
 tion, and to comfort with the hope of future good, the poor 
 afflicted children of men. And, finally, " God so loved the 
 world" of mankind, " that he sent his only begotten Son, 
 that the whole human race might through him be saved." 
 (John, iii. 16, 17; and 1 John, iv. 9.) For " God hath no 
 pleasure hi the death of the wicked ; but rather that they 
 should turn from the error of their ways, and live." (See 
 Ezekiel, xviii. 23.) 
 
INSPIRATION. 77 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 All true and good spirits are witnesses, in their commu- 
 nications, at all times, of the love that God bears towards 
 the human race, which causes him to provide the fullest 
 means for their final and perfect happiness. 
 
 LOVE OF GOD IN MAN. 
 
 This is the first principle of goodness in man, from which 
 every virtue and all truth and righteousness proceed and 
 grow, as from their proper root. Hence the first command- 
 ment from God to man is, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart, thy mind, thy soul and thy strength. 
 (Deut. vi. 5 ; and Mark, xii. 30.) And, again, " Thou shalt 
 have no other gods (idols) before me." Nothing upon 
 which man's affections can be placed, should be otherwise 
 than secondary to the love of God, in the human soul : or 
 that they would not sacrifice to do the will of God — " Love 
 is the fulfilling of the law." (Bom. xiii. 10.) 
 
 To the wicked Jews, Jesus said, '' I know you that ye 
 have not the love nf God in you." (Mark, v. 42.) In Jesus 
 was the love of God perfected, for the first time in any hu- 
 man being. " This is the love of God, that ye keep his com- 
 mandments." (1 John, v. 3.) " I came not to do mine own 
 will; but the will of Him that sent me." (John, vi. 38.) 
 Again, Jesus affirmed, " Therefore doth my Father love me, 
 because I do always those things that please Him." (John, 
 viii. 29.) And he continued to prove his love to God by his 
 " obedience unto death, even the death of the cross." (Phil, 
 'ii. 8.) And greater love to God cannot be, than that a being 
 lay down his life in obedience to Him. 
 
78 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 It is plain, then, that God loves his creature man, and 
 seeks, through the influence of many means, to do him good, 
 by inducing man himself to become good. And therefore 
 this is one test of revelation, as to whether it be of evil or 
 Divine origin. 
 
 LOVE OF MAN TO MAN. 
 
 "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Mark, xii. 
 31.) "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, 
 if ye have love one for another." (John, xiii. 35.) "If a 
 man love not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he 
 love God whom he hath not seen?" (1 John, iv. 20.) 
 Again, " Let us not love in word, but in deed." ( 1 John, 
 iii. 18.) Now, how can any soul consistently profess to have 
 the love of God, and to love his neighbor as himself, when 
 he is not willing to give him an equal inheritance with him- 
 self in even those things that perish with the using — the tem- 
 porary things of earth ? 
 
 Therefore, whenever men see a body of people, compris- 
 ing the high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, 
 white or colored, male and female, of all classes and 
 nations, who are all enjoying one united interest in things 
 spiritual and temporal, as brethren and sisters in Christ ; 
 and who "have proved themselves in these principles for 
 a goodly period of time, they may know that it is the 
 true Church, or body of Christ, — the Zion of God to which 
 "all peoples" may freely "flow," as to an ark of safety, a 
 fountain of love, and work of salvation. 
 
 This order of the kingdom of God upon earth, is inimit- 
 able by all the wisdom and powers of natural man ;as was 
 
INSPIRATION. 79 
 
 shown to the prophet in his visions of God, of the spiritual 
 building of the " latter day," when he was commanded to 
 go into the field, where no foundation of any building was, 
 and it was said unto him, " In the place where the Highest 
 beginneth to show his city, there can no man's building be 
 able to stand." , (2 Esdras, x. 53, 54.) 
 
 The time when the Highest began to show his spiritual 
 City, was, at the day of Pentecost, by the operative influence 
 and teachings of his Spirit ; which resulted in a perfect one- 
 ness of feeling internally, and a community of all their earth- 
 ly goods externally. This was effected not as an ultimatum 
 to which they had deliberately set out to attain ; but it was 
 unexpected and unlooked for, though a necessary conse- 
 quence of their own individual spiritual state and condition. 
 
 It was the labor of Jesus to root up and destroy, in his 
 disciples, all the principles of sin ; and, in pursuance of this 
 object, he thus attacked their selfishness and distrust of 
 God : " Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, 
 where moth and rust do corrupt, and where thieves break 
 through and steal." (Matt. vi. 19.) And again, " There- 
 fore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye 
 shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, 
 what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and 
 the body than raiment ? Behold the fowls of the air ; for 
 they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; 
 yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much 
 better than they ? Which of you by taking thought can add 
 one cubit unto his stature ? And why take ye thought for 
 raiment ? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; 
 they toil not, neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto you, 
 that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one 
 of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, 
 which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall 
 he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith ? There- 
 fore, take no thought, saying, What shall we eat ? or, What 
 shall we drink ? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed ? (for 
 
80 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 after all these things do the Gentiles seek :) for your heavenly 
 Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But 
 seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness ; and 
 all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt. vi. 25-33.) 
 Thus did Jesus strive to detach their minds entirely from 
 this world, to out them off from the cares of supplying even 
 the necessaries of life ; thereby leaving them to depend and 
 trust entirely upon Divine Providence for the supply of all 
 their bodily wants ; even as David prayed, " From my 
 necessities, Lord, deliver me." " For afier all these things 
 do the Gentiles seek." And, when he sent them out to 
 preach the Gospel, " he commanded them that they should 
 take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no 
 bread, no money in their purse :, but be shod with sandals ; 
 aud not put on two coats." (Mark, vi. 8, 9.) 
 
 It was thus, that he would have them practically " seek 
 first the kingdom of heaven, and its righteousness," by ac- 
 tually leaving the temporal entirely out of the question for 
 the present, and as a preparation for that which was to follow. 
 For Jesus designed, in and through them, to create new 
 heavens and a new earth ; and by creating the " new heavens," 
 the spiritual, or soul, first; that would bring forth the " new 
 earth," or its body in temporal things. And in this way God 
 would indeed " add unto them all those things," that he 
 knew they would have need of. " Their strength was to sit 
 still," (Is. xxx. 17) and let God work by his Spirit to will 
 and to do according to his own wisdom. 
 
 It is therefore evident, that a community was not only 
 not anticipated, and unexpected, but also unthought of ; and 
 of course undesigned by the Apostles ; but they, after having 
 been together in one place in deep tribulation of soul and 
 fervent prayers to God, were baptized with the Holy Spirit 
 to such a degree as wrought them up to, and induced in 
 them, the highest state of spirituality of which they were 
 susceptible. This caused them to feel the strongest convic- 
 tion, and deepest abhorrence of sin, and of the nature of sin, 
 
INSPIRATION. 81 
 
 by opening to their view their own actual state of soul, as 
 contrasted with the infinite purity and perfection of the Di- 
 vine Spirit and presence, with which they were thus tempo- 
 rarily baptized for that very purpose. Under this influence 
 many began to cry out in very agony of soul, " Men and 
 brethren, what shall we do" to be saved ? (Acts, ii. 37.) 
 
 Then it was, and not before, that God could " begin to 
 shew his City," for He had now suitable materials with 
 which to commence to build. He could now work to the 
 establishing of that order in temporal things by which to 
 supply the physical wants of his people ; which he had de- 
 signed from the beginning. 
 
 For the people received that conviction for sin that led 
 them to " shew their deeds'' to the Apostles. In other 
 words, they confessed and forsook their sins ; and, as a con- 
 sequence thereof, became so " kindly affectioned one towards 
 another," and. experienced for each other such a depth of 
 brotherly love, that it was soon found that the highest de- 
 light and happiness of every one was best promoted by ad- 
 ministering to the comfort and consolation of every other 
 member of the body of Christ in all things — temporal as 
 well as spiritual. 
 
 It was in this manner that the love of God and of man 
 burnt up and destroyed the love of sin and self; and com- 
 munity was the necessary result. So that " all these things" 
 were added to the " one thing needful," which they had 
 sought and found. Here, then, was the place where the 
 Lord^God began to " shew the city" which he would build 
 in Christ's Second Appearing, as a permanent city of peace, 
 love, and plenty. And, although this order was soon lost in 
 the fall and final overthrow of the primitive Church ; yet 
 man; seeing the temporal advantages to be derived from such 
 a system, has never ceased the attempt in any age to build 
 upon the foundation then laid by the Spirit. But no such 
 " building" of man's has ever yet, be< n '' able to stand." 
 
 In a thousand ways and forms, this principle of unity of 
 
82 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 purpose and effort has been adopted and applied amongst 
 men to nearly all the common pursuits of life, from a Cotton- 
 factory to a Fourier's association, or an Owen's community- 
 In all these, however, the object aimed at has been the anti- 
 podes of that sought by the disciples on the day of Pente- 
 cost. It has been either naked and direct self-aggrandize- 
 ment, as in companies and corporations ; or else to form a 
 community as an object, merely for the supply of physioal 
 wants and comforts ; exclusively seeking what and how they 
 should eat and drink and be clothed, and how they should 
 "lay up treasures upon earth" to the greatest amount and 
 extent. And this as the sole and main end of their being 
 either by putting the kingdom and its righteousness last, or 
 omitting it altogether. Thereby exactly reversing the counsel 
 of Jesus to his followers. 
 
 It may be objected, that the condition of Christ's follow- 
 ers when having " all things common," where every want 
 was easily and quickly supplied, was widely different from 
 that state set forth in the scriptures above quoted of " Take 
 no thought," &c. This is granted : so was the state of 
 Israel, when compelled by outward circumstances to depend 
 from day to day wholly upon God for their daily bread 
 while on their way to the promised land, different from what 
 it was when they reached that " glory of all lands, flowing 
 with milk and honey," and fertile beyond any thing now 
 known upon earth. 
 
 Yet, it was the one state that prepared them for the other. 
 They learned in the wilderness, dependence, faith, obedience ; 
 all of which they needed, to enable them to make a right use 
 of the good things that they were afterwards entrusted with 
 in the promised land. And thus, when Christ led his disci- . 
 pies about, or sent them off on a journey without any visible 
 means of support, they were often fed in a miraculous man- 
 ner; but even then he promised a different order " now in 
 this life," in the future, where, as Israel did in Canaan, they 
 must live by the labor of their " own hands." 
 
INSPIRATION. 83 
 
 The true Spiritualist (Christian), in seeking God and sal- 
 vation, finds the kingdom of heaven to be where love pro- 
 duces community ; — while the natural man, attracted by his 
 earthly selfish instincts, seeks to build upon God's founda- 
 tion that which is not " able to stand." It is as those who 
 followed Christ for the loaves and fishes, which were the 
 results of his miracles. Whereas, others followed him 
 through love, and to witness his miracles, who therefore 
 rightfully and justly partook of the fruits thereof; as for 
 them it was that the miracles were wrought. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 - By this " we know that we have passed from death unto 
 life, because we love the brethren." 
 
 The absence of true love amongst men has produced the 
 present evil condition of human society, in all its relations, in- 
 ternal and external. By love, therefore, the inhabitants of 
 the new heavens and earth were to be pre-eminently dis- 
 tinguished. 
 
 If a man really do love his neighbor as himself, it vri]\ first 
 (as the outward and inferior) be visible to " all men," by their 
 equal participation between them of all earthly goods and 
 substances ; yet this is but the fruit and evidence of their 
 equal participation in spiritual treasures pertaining to salva- 
 tion. 
 
 If communion of earthly goods be sought as an end, it is 
 of man ; but, if it follow as a consequence of an inward prin- 
 ciple — love, — it is of God. 
 
 A baptism of the Holy Spirit effected it in a short time, 
 within the first century of the Christian Era, by withdrawing 
 man's affections from things below, and placing them on 
 things above. 
 
 Jesus taught men to " take no thought" as to what they 
 should eat, drink, or wear, as a first object, but to " seek first 
 the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness;" and promised 
 that inferior, necessary things, " should be added." 
 
84 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 A strong desire for salvation from sin, is the best prepara- 
 tion that a soul can have for community of interest in earthly 
 things. 
 
 Sin and self produce priv a te property. 
 
 Innocence and self-denial produce community of property. 
 
 The first Christian Church set before men an example of 
 love — a oneness of interest in all things. And, although the 
 order was lost with the fall of the Church ; yet men 
 have never ceased to admire and try to imitate it, for the 
 sake of temporal advantage — the loaves and fishes. 
 
 In all ages, and in a thousand- ways and forms, the principle 
 has been adopted and applied among men ; but especially in 
 our own day, and by our own generation. Yet the object 
 aimed at has invariably been diametrically opposite to that of 
 the men of Galilee. They have sought first what they should 
 eat and drink, and how they should be clothed. 
 
 The kingdom of heaven is where love produces community ; 
 but, when man, from a selfish motive, seeks to build upon 
 the foundation of '' all things common," his building is a 
 " man's building, and it is not able to stand." 
 
 Love to man is therefore a sure and certain criterion of all 
 Divine Revelation. Any thing contrary to, or short of, this 
 test — love to man, — emanating from the spirit world, is 
 proof that it comes from an order of spirits that is not joined 
 to the Church of Christ in that world, and who, therefore, are 
 not proper ministers to " the heirs of salvation," who belong 
 to the Church of Christ upon earth. 
 
 FORSAKING ALL. 
 
 " It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, 
 than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God," in 
 which they have " all things in common, and no one saith of 
 
INSPIRATION. 85 
 
 ought he possesses, It is" mine. (Matt. six. 24, and see Acts, 
 ii. 44.) "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into 
 the kingdom of God!" (Mark, x. 23.) "Except a man 
 forsake all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke, 
 xiv. 33.) Of course, then, he cannot enter the company of 
 the saints, among whom each one seeks " another's" wealth, 
 and not his own ; (1 Cor. x. 24;) where the all of all is 
 consecrated to God and each other, there can be no " rich 
 man." 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 This radical doctrine establishes beyond dispute, that pri- 
 vate selfish property, to any amount, is incompatible -with 
 Christianity, and is also a sure test of the quality, standing, 
 and truthfulness of all spirits, and of their communications. 
 
 VIRGIN PURITY. 
 
 Virgin purity arises from the pure nature of Christ, and is 
 the foundation principle of the Gospel of salvation ; the 
 work of regeneration being the opposite of the principle of 
 generation, which is the foundation principle of the world, or 
 of man in nature. 
 
 As private or individual property forms the basis of, and 
 is essential to, the marriage or generative relation, and its 
 consequences ; so is virgin purity the basis of, and essential 
 to, a community of property ; without which it cannot be 
 supported. 
 
 Generation baing the life of the inferior order — the world > 
 man cannot, any faster than he dies to it, rise into the superior 
 or real spiritual life. " Blessed are the pure in heart ; for 
 they shall see God," (Matt. v. 8,) our Saviour said; and he 
 also declared, that, "he that looketh upon a woman to lust 
 
86 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his 
 heart," (ib. v. 28,) whether he be married or unmarried. 
 Thus showing that lust is an adulterous nature, that attracts 
 the human race, by carnal pleasure ; thereby causing the 
 violation of the covenant, by which God joined male and 
 female together for a use. Moreover, he affirms " that there 
 be eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the 
 kingdom of heaven's sake ; he that is able to receive it, let 
 him receive it." (ib. xix. 12.) All who have been baptized 
 with Christ's baptism, of fire and the Holy Spirit, are able to 
 receive this saying. 
 
 Thus the twelve Apostles, and all who stood in a true and 
 near relation to Christ in that day, did make themselves 
 eunuchs, by forsaking all earthly, natural and partial connec- 
 tions and relations, according to Christ's own example, and 
 positive requirement, that " except a man did forsake father, 
 mother, '•wife, children, and houses and land," with all their 
 concomitants, "he could not be his disciple." (Mark, x. 29, 
 30.) This constituted them " a kind of first fruits" of the 
 gospel of Christ's second appearing, wherein all who had 
 wives would make themselves eunuchs for the sake of an in- 
 heritance in the kingdom for which Christ taught men to 
 pray, until it should come upon earth. And thus " those who 
 might have wives be as 'though they had none," even 
 as those who might possess property, would be as though 
 they possessed it not. (l" Cor. vi. 29, 31.) It was this 
 principle of virgin purity that enabled Jesus Christ and his 
 Apostles to have all things common. And he that doeth or 
 teacheth any thing against this law of purity is less than the 
 " least in the kingdom of heaven," whether it be under the 
 sanction of the outward law of " the children of this world, 
 who marry and are given in marriage," or that inspiration be 
 taken as a cloak for such licentious and carnal gratification. 
 
 The principle of purity is operating in a greater or less 
 degree in the world, more perhaps in the present day, than 
 at any former period ; and some are thereby enlightened to 
 
INSPIBATION. 87 
 
 see the depravity of the fallen generative nature in all its 
 workings (except for producing offspring,) even in the mar- 
 riage state; and are led to seek a reformation in these re- 
 spects. And a few, at times, realizing, as did the Apostles, 
 that this nature " is not subject to the law of God, neither 
 indeed can be," (Rom. viii. 11,) have abstained from all its 
 gratifications ; and for a time have run well. 
 
 But, unwilling to continue bearing a full cross, they have 
 sought to blend the flesh and spirit, and have introduced what 
 they call "spiritual marriage," or community of wives; teach- 
 ing that this corrupt nature is thereby sanctified. And they 
 profess to support this doctrine by revelation from spirits, 
 which is utterly contrary to all the manifestations of God in 
 every dispensation of his Divine light to man ; and repugnant 
 equally to the order of nature and reason. 
 
 This doctrine of spiritual marriage is a vile prostitution of 
 the principle of virgin purity, and a hateful abomination to 
 the Holy Spirit of Christ, as declared in his reproof to the 
 Churches of Ephesus and Pergamos. (See Rev. ii. 6.)" To 
 the former he saith : " This thou hast, that thou hatest the 
 deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate ;" and to the lat- 
 ter, " So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the 
 Nicolaitans, which thing I hate." (v. 15.) The doctrine of the 
 Nicolaitans, so hated by Christ, was a community of wives, 
 or pretended "spiritual marriage." Therefore, whatever 
 revelations teach or support it, proceed from false spirits. 
 , Also, the Spirit, reproving the Church of Thyatira, saith : 
 " I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest 
 that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to 
 teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and 
 to eat things that are sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her 
 space to repent of her fornications, and she repented not 
 Behold I will cast her into $, bed, and they that commit 
 adultery with her, into great tribulation, except they repent 
 of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death ; 
 and I will give unto every one of you according to your 
 works." (Rev. ii. 20—23.) 
 
88 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 Thus all prophets and prophetesses — the true descendants 
 of this unclean Jezebel — who teach the flesh-pleasing and 
 carnal doctrines of "spiritual marriage" and community of 
 wives, their light having become darkness, and having turned 
 " the grace of God into lasciviousness," both they and their 
 followers are " killed with the second death." 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 Virgin purity, or total abstinence from all generative and 
 carnal works, arises from the progressive nature of man ; as 
 is evident from the fact, that the sphere or plane of repro- 
 duction is the first and lowest of all rational and intelligent 
 existence. 
 
 And also from the power which man possesses to rise into 
 and enter upon the resurrection state or sphere while he is 
 yet in his first body and on the earth. 
 
 " The pure in heart shall see God." 
 
 Virgin purity is the root of religious communion. Sexual 
 relations confine the love principle in man to a small circle, 
 of which self is the centre. 
 
 A natural man first loves himself — then his wife, — his 
 children, — his neighborhood, — his state, — his country, — 
 his race. But, when he receives the love of God in Christ, 
 his love extends to all the intelligent creation of God, 
 whether in or out of the body. 
 
 This love leads him to " hate his wife, his children, and 
 his own life also." (See Luke, xiv. 26.) 
 
 If the natural man is thus to '' hate his own life," as Jesus 
 said all who come to him must do ; it is very important to 
 know what that referred to. 
 
 The life of the natural man is the generative power, by 
 which he propagates or transmits his own life to other beings. 
 This is therefore " his own life," which he must hate. In 
 which case, to be consistent, he will hate also, the products 
 of that lustful life- principle that caused him to " make pro- 
 
INSPIRATION. 89 
 
 vision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof," by converting 
 a woman into a wife, and the wife into a mother; the wife and 
 mother he will hate with vehement indignation, but -not the 
 woman ; so also of children, houses, lands, &c. He will feel 
 that such generative connections, however much increased and 
 ramified, form by far too small and antagonistic a sphere for 
 the operation of the principle of universal spiritual Gospel 
 love. 
 
 Thus he becomes a virgin character, — a spiritual man ; 
 and is a religious communist — a Christian. 
 
 Such were Christ and his twelve Apostles ; and such 
 thousands have tried to be, but failed ; because the time or 
 " day of full salvation, strength, and power" had not come. 
 Christ had not made his second appearance, to set up the 
 kingdom of God upon earth, in which all men who even 
 already " had wives, should be as those who had none." 
 
 As this is the order of the " angels in heaven, who neither 
 marry nor are given in marriage," it is an infallible test by 
 which every spirit who opposes virgin purity, " and teaches 
 men so," is proved to be less than the least in that angelic 
 or heavenly order ; and that they have not yet risen into the 
 resurrection state or sphere. 
 
 Light upon this subject is increasing among mankind. 
 Many of the most enlightened physiologists affirm that it is 
 a violation of natural laws, and injurious to both the physi- 
 cal and intellectual faculties, to use the reproductive powers 
 for any other than procreative purposes. 
 
 And, when persons see that this is the law of nature, it 
 will be manifest to them that it is but a short step to the 
 full and perfect cross of Christ. 
 
 With such mighty power is this truth working its way 
 among men, that many who received the light and refused to 
 obey it, have abolished marriage, and adopted the abominable 
 and damnable " doctrines of the Nicolaitans" and " Jezebel," 
 and practise promiscuous whoredom ; claiming that to be 
 
90 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 the resurrection state, in which they " neither marry nor are 
 given in marriage." 
 
 And as spiritual light continues to increase, thousands 
 more will be forced to choose one of these two alternatives ; — 
 either to follow the " Perfectionists," in the wake of Jezebel 
 and Nicolas ;* or to become perfect Christians by making 
 " themselves Eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake." 
 
 The former having (by the truth) once been made alive 
 from the death and darkness that all are under by nature, 
 and then having " crucified the Son of God afresh, and put 
 him to open shame,'' by their filthy and obscene practices 
 in his name, are really and truly partakers of " the second 
 death." 
 
 While the latter, having " crucified the old man with all 
 his affections and lusts," by the cross of Christ, after the ex- 
 ample of the Founders of the first and second Christian 
 Churches, are thereby made partakers of eternal life ; and 
 over whom " the second death hath no power." 
 
 PEACE. 
 
 It has been a common and universal error, in all ages, 
 among those who were not spiritually educated and en- 
 lightened, to imagine that the spiritual messenger who held 
 immediate intercourse with them, and who was " their God," 
 was the Creator of the universe ; and therefore, that what- 
 ever they were indulged in, or permitted to practise, was 
 per se good and true. 
 
 And consequently, when, in different ages, the require- 
 ments of God varied, so that what was, by " the Lord thpir 
 
 * Nicolas was one of the seven deacons in the primitive Church ; he 
 it was who introduced the doctrine of community of wives, because 
 they had community of property. 
 
INSPIRATION. 91 
 
 God," allowed in one age, was prohibited and condemned 
 in another ; and they could perceive that the last given laws, 
 judgments, and decisions of "their God" were always the 
 most true, and right, and good ; they then came to the sa- 
 pient conclusion that " their God" had progressed, and was 
 all the time changing for the better. 
 
 This was about as abnormal an inference as it would be 
 for travellers in a car, going at the rate of fifty miles an 
 hour, to believe that they were stationary, and that the 
 fences, and fields, and buildings, &c. were passing by them 
 at that rate of progress. 
 
 It is from these erroneous and absurd premises, assumed 
 by the professors of religion themselves, together with the 
 inhuman persecutions and cruelties practised by them, that 
 infidel writers have treated them, their God, and their theo- 
 logical systems with so much ridicule and contempt. 
 
 Religion has been more wounded, in the house of its pro- 
 fessed friends, by illogical doctrines, flowing from persons 
 whose minds were beclouded and darkened by their sensual 
 and wicked lives, than by all the infidel writers in the creation. 
 In fact, a great part of the deductions of these writers were 
 correct, according to the premises religionists had given them. 
 
 If all that the Jewish nation did in the name of their God, 
 was in obedience to a direct emanation from the Divine mind ; 
 we can only say, that God has a right to do wrong. For, in 
 that case, that which was right two thousand years ago, is, 
 beyond all controversy, wrong now, in the light of the Fourth 
 Era, or second Christian Church. 
 
 It is the human race who have progressed — travelled, — 
 changed — not God. 
 
 Moses was as God to Aaron ; and Aaron was his priest to 
 Israel. (See Ex. iv. 16.) 
 
 * If the Great Creater of all things, in the first and second 
 Eras, spoke to Adam, Noah, Abraham, and others, face to 
 face, how happens it, that in the Third and Fourth Eras Jesus 
 Christ was sent to be the Me liator between God and man ? 
 
92 TESTS OF DIVINK 
 
 V 
 
 and that Jesus said, " He that receiveth you, receiveth me ; 
 and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me?" — 
 thus clearly exhibiting the doctrine of mediatorship, and the 
 office of medium between himself (Christ) and the different 
 classes of character among the human family. 
 
 And therefore, upon this principle, it is obvious that the 
 very best saints and Christians on earth are not now so near 
 to Christ as the stiffnecked, lustful, butchering, and rebel- 
 lious Jews were to God the Creator of all ! 
 
 The truth is, as John said, " No man hath seen God at 
 any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of 
 the Father, he hath declared Him." 
 
 When the Revelator, John, fell down to worship an angel, 
 he commanded him to desist, saying, " I am also of thy fel- 
 low-servants the prophets." 
 
 The Apostle Paul saith, " The law was ministered by an- 
 gels." 
 
 The more animal or sunken any people are, the greater is 
 the number of mediums between them and the original Foun- 
 tain or Source of good — God. 
 
 As in a Lancasterian School, where there are a great num- 
 ber of classes, each hawng a monitor, and none but the first 
 monitor of the highest class having direct access to the school- 
 master, the scholars in the youngest and lowest class have 
 the greatest number of monitors, or mediums between them 
 and the principal teacher ; so is God's government of this 
 world. 
 
 And, as many things would be allowed to the younger 
 classes by their monitors, which would be condemned and 
 cut off when they rose into the higher classes ; so it is with 
 men ; for their God, or spiritual monitor or mediators, would 
 allow and bless them in that which would be condemned and 
 cut off in the class or order above. 
 
 Jesus said, " Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, 
 Buffered you to put away your wives ; but from the beginning 
 it ti>a.i not so." Moses said, " An eye for an eye, and a tooth 
 
INSPIRATION. 93 
 
 for a tooth ;'' but I say, " Resist not evil : if a man smite thee 
 on one cheek, turn to him the other ;" " love your enemies" — 
 not hill them. Moses taught war ; Christ taught peace ; — 
 was the Prince of peace. 
 
 But we see that mankind were not able to receive him, his 
 life, or his doctrines ; and have gone in direct violation of 
 them all — especially in regard to peace and virgin purity — 
 up to this day, even though professing to be his followers, 
 and guided by his Spirit. 
 
 Is it, then, any marvel, if professed Christians, who have 
 for fifteen centuries waged bloody and relentless wars 
 against each other, under the banner and in the name of the 
 " Prince of Peace," that the Jews, " because of the hardness 
 of their hearts," should be directed of Moses to exterminate 
 the wicked and abominable inhabitants of the land of Canaan? 
 
 But Jesus Christ said, " My kingdom is not of this world. 
 If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants 
 fight." (John, xviii. 36.) Consequently, those who fight, 
 and all who aid or abet war, in any way, are not Christ's 
 servants, whatever their profession. Contrariwise : He said, 
 " Love your enemies ; bless them that curse you ; do good 
 to them that hate you ; and pray for them which despite- 
 fully use you and persecute you ; that ye may be the chil- 
 dren of your Father which is in heaven, who causeth his sun 
 to shine upon the evil, and upon the good ; and who send- 
 eth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matt. v. 44, 45.) 
 " If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him 
 drink." (Rom. xii. 20.) "Overcome evil with good" (v. 21.) 
 " If a man smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the 
 other also." (Matt. v. 39.) 
 
 And Jesus declared, that "they that take the sword, 
 should perish by the sword." (Matt. xxvi. 52 ) There- 
 fore every spirit or influence that teaches that violence and 
 war, can have any part in the Gospel of Christ, either in his 
 first or seeond appearing, is false, and under the darkness of 
 this fallen world. For the Lord by his prophets declared, 
 
94 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 that in the restoration of the Church, of the latter day, — 
 " the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel," 
 — " Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, nor wasting 
 nor destruction within thy borders." (Is. lx. 8, 14.) Again, 
 the Lord declares that he (Christ) "shall judge among the 
 nations, and shall rebuke many people ; and they shall beat 
 their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning 
 hooks ; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither 
 shall they learn war any more.'' (Is. ii. 4.) For " they shall 
 not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain ; for the earth 
 shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters 
 cover the sea." (Is. xi. 9.) 
 
 Thus, in Christ, is confirmed the principle of peace, no 
 less by his works than by his words ; for, when he was re- 
 viled, he reviled not again." (1 Pet. ii. 23.) All his precepts 
 and his life, ending as it did, with a prayer for those who 
 slew him, is a rebuke of war and bloodshed, and prove him 
 to be the first of that company so beautifully and touchingly 
 described in his own words : " Blessed are the peacemakers, 
 for they shall be called the children of God." (Matt. v. 9.) 
 
 SUMMARV. 
 
 God cannot minister good and truth to the human race, 
 except as they become recipients thereof by a progressive 
 development of their faculties and understandings. 
 
 It is man — not God — that changes. And all have to be 
 blessed in that measure of light, and good, and truth they 
 can bear, and by which they can be profited. 
 
 Therefore, if any spirit sanction war, in any of its phases, 
 or under any circumstances whatever, it is a positive and in- 
 dubitable proof, that such spirit is either knowingly wicked, 
 or is an ignorant spirit, of a low class and order, and is under 
 one of the first two Eras, and that " he hath not yet seen 
 Christ, neither known him," in either his first or second ap- 
 pearance. 
 
INSPIRATION. 95 
 
 TRUTH. 
 
 God is a God of truth. " It is impossible for God to 
 lie." (Heb. vi. 16.) Any spirit that teaches contradictory- 
 doctrines, or which teaches contrary to Christ, who is " the 
 trutlt," is not of God. For " He is the same yesterday, to- 
 day, and forever." (Heb. xiii. 8.) And God promised, by 
 the prophet Isaiah, that " in the day when the Redeemer 
 should come to Zion, and to them that turn away from un- 
 godliness in Jacob : As for me, this is my covenant with 
 them, saith the Lord : My Spirit that is upon thee, and my 
 words which 1 have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out 
 of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of 
 the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from hence- 
 forth and forever." (Is. lix. 20, 21.) This shows the con- 
 tinuance and perpetuity of the law of Christ, (which was 
 revealed in part in his first appearing) as being fully carried 
 out in the time of his second appearing. 
 
 Consistency, or truthfulness, on the part of spirits who 
 claim to be sent of God, cannot be dispensed with ; for all 
 spiritual revealments, coming from one and the same source, 
 confirm and sustain each other, though thousands of years 
 intervene. 
 
 Many of the spirits speak lightly of the Scriptures, or 
 records of former Divine revelations, because there is no 
 true light in themselves, rather than because they have so 
 superior an insight into, and greater depth of, revelation, 
 that they can detect the errors (if any) contained therein. 
 
 These Tests, however, are designed to show — that reve- 
 lation and progress in the work of God, in each of the Four 
 great Eras, involving (as they do) great and important radi- 
 cal changes, are all perfectly compatible with each other ; 
 notwithstanding the hatred and determined opposition with 
 whbh those in the Mosaic Era had to contend, from the 
 
96 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 leaders in the Patriarchal ; and those of the first Christian 
 Era, from the leaders in the Mosaic ; and those of the second 
 Christian Dispensation from the hierarchy of the professed 
 Christian world. Each of these classes of opposers of pro- 
 gress (in their respective time) supposed the revelation of 
 the coming Era would be subversive of, and conflicting to, 
 the revelation of the one in which they lived. 
 
 Yet the authors and leaders of each succeeding Dispensa- 
 tion did invariably bear testimony to the Divine origin of its 
 predecessor. Thus, Jesus said unto the Jews : " Do not 
 think that I will accuse you unto the Father : there is one 
 that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For, had 
 ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me : for he wrote 
 of me. But, if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye be- 
 lieve my words ?" (John, v.) Therefore, he exhorted them 
 to " search the Scriptures'' of the past Dispensation, and 
 said, " In them ye think ye have eternal life ; and they are 
 they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that 
 ye might have life." Consequently, as the Jews thought 
 that eternal life could be found in their Scriptures, they 
 would not seek it in Christ, where only it can be obtained. 
 
 The ignorance, or pride, or selfish ambition of man has 
 caused all the apparent contradictory opposition of one Di- 
 vine revelation to another, in the different Dispensations, or 
 in the various degrees of the same Dispensation. 
 
 In most of the instances in which great men, long since 
 departed from this earth, have been announced as being 
 present at the spiritual circles in the land, it is not true, as 
 many suppose, that they are really present. 
 
 If the manifestation be genuine, then it is an emanation 
 from the person named, proceeding through a greater or 
 lesser number of spheres and mediums in those spheres, 
 according to the distance that such person has progressed 
 from the condition or state of the person or persons who are 
 the receivers of the communication. 
 
 If, for instance, men think of Franklin, or of any.othpr dis- 
 
INSPIRATION. 97 
 
 tinguished persons, they form their ideas of him, or them, 
 from their history and character as known to them when 
 upon earth, either directly or indirectly, as the case may he. 
 
 Therefore, provided Franklin have remained perfectly sta- 
 tionary, in and as to his spiritual travel and state, from the 
 day of his death until now, then it is a supposable case that 
 he should appear at a circle of persons whose state and con- 
 dition is similar to his own. 
 
 But, if Franklin has been progressing from faith to faith, 
 and from one order to another in the invisible world, then, 
 and in that case, a real manifestation of his present self would 
 not be a manifestation of Franklirj at all, as he now exists in 
 the minds of mankind upon earth ; and therefore he could 
 not be known. Thus, if we were- particularly and intimately 
 acquainted with a boy seven years old, and should see him 
 no more until he was sixty years of age, how little we should 
 know of the person or real character of that man ! 
 
 And, as Jesus assumed different appearances, to adapt 
 himself to the state of his disciples after his exit from the 
 body, so do those spirits for whose name men feel a venera- 
 tion, (and under the sanction of which, they will receive 
 truth that would otherwise be unpalatable) commission, 
 when permitted so to do, for good and wise purposes, some 
 other spirits, whose sphere and state are favorable, to impart 
 it in their name, and to personify their peculiar characteristics 
 when upon earth. It is also clearly demonstrable, that spirits 
 often falsely assume the name of some highly distinguished 
 and esteemed character, to give weight and authority to 
 communications which in themselves are untruthful or evil. 
 
 All men (if worthy) have guardian angels, and sometimes 
 ministering spirits to do their bidding, as in the instance of 
 Jesus, who, when the centurion besought him to heal his 
 servant, offered to go and do so ; " but the centurion said, 
 Lord, speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 
 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me ; 
 and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth ; and to another, 
 Oome. and he cometh ; and^to my servant. Do this, and he 
 
98 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 doetli it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said, 
 Verily, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." 
 (Matt. viii. 5 to 10.) 
 
 These remarks of "the centurion implied that he thought 
 Jesus had many spirits who would come at his call, and go 
 and do whatever he desired. This belief was common to the 
 Jews. (See Acts, xii. 15.) 
 
 On another occasion, Jesus stated that he could ask for 
 and receive "more- than twelve legions of angels." 
 
 An instance is known to the writer of a spirit that com- 
 municated for a great length of time in the name of a certain 
 person, and then stated that he had never even seen that 
 person, but was only his emissary, satellite, or ministering 
 spirit — a medium between that person and his friends in^the 
 body. 
 
 The physical manifestations, now so common, are, in all 
 probability, produced entirely by a low class and order of 
 spirits, who are themselves but a small remove from the state 
 of the world unto whom they are appointed or allowed to 
 minister. Thus showing the correspondence to be between 
 the world of mankind out of the body, and the world of man- 
 kind in the body ; — all being in the same spiritual state and 
 sphere, and under the influence of the same passions, appe- 
 tites, affections, and desires. 
 
 They are only to be depended upon as clearly demonstra- 
 ting the immortality of the soul, the existence of the spirit 
 world, and a probationary state therein. But, beyond that, 
 it is a great question whether they can be any more relied 
 upon, than could the same number of worldly spirits in the 
 body who are still in the generative order. 
 
 It is also a question, whether those who are not of the 
 world, and who therefore do not need physical manifestations 
 to convince them of the above truths, would not be. in dan- 
 ger of losing the good already in their possession, instead of 
 gaining more, by coming in contact, unnecessarily, with that 
 class of spirits. 
 
 A late writer thus intelligently discourses upon this ab- 
 
INSPIEATION. 99 
 
 struse subject : " The craving want of the human mind, at 
 present, is a pneumatology, or a science of spiritual life ; for 
 the evidences of an intimate connection between matter and 
 spirit are daily becoming more marked and distinctive. The 
 facts, however, are far ahead of the principles, as is evident 
 from the various and conflicting opinions that are indulged ; 
 and the mind is waiting foTsome special law by which these 
 developments, or spiritual manifestations, may be resolved 
 and known. 
 
 " This law, in the meantime, is known to the spiritually in- 
 telligent, and can be made the subject of rational thought. 
 The intermediate principle, or that ground common to spirit 
 and matter, is the circumambient accretion ' which goes with 
 the spirit into the spirit world, and which forms the cuticle, 
 or envelope, of- the spiritual body. It is this surrounding or 
 clothing principle, composed of the ' finest parts of nature,' 
 which recedes at the death of the natural body, and forms 
 the continent or cuticle of the spiritual organization. This 
 envelope is composed of natural, not material, substances, 
 and is that principle in the spiritual world which retains or 
 gives form to the body, and which, at the same time, is the 
 intermediate between the two worlds. 
 
 " Hence spirits act upon material things by touching the 
 first principles or subtile forces of nature, and thus obtain a 
 leverage of which man in the body is incapable. And this 
 retroactive tendency is in proportion to the affinity with the 
 affairs of the natural world which the spirit may have retain- 
 ed at death. 
 
 " Spiritual physical communications are numerous in pro- 
 portion as the state of man is low. This is verified by the 
 experience of past ages, and especially in the case of the 
 Egyptians, and even of the Jews. When sought for by man, 
 these communications have beerl generally evil in their influ- 
 ence ; and hence they are strictly condemned in the Scriptures. 
 
 " They imply the defect of angelic communications through 
 the existing formal churches and want of faith in the Scrip- 
 
100 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 tures ; and are thus of permission, in certain states of the 
 human mind, in order to confirm the truths of revelation on 
 the mere natural or sensuous plane. 
 
 " It has been remarked, by a physiologist, well qualified 
 to speak on this subject, from his knowledge of pneumatolo- 
 gy, that some men are only half dead when they leave the 
 natural world, and that, consequently, their minds are mun- 
 dane still. Hence their apparitions are the re-appearance of 
 the soul in nature, as the more appropriate sphere. He com- 
 pares their life in the other world, to foetuses in this world; - 
 and, as birth here is sometimes incomplete because the bodi- 
 ly changes have not properly occurred ; so is birth into that 
 world from this, or death as we term it, incomplete for the 
 same reasons in the spiritual view of the case ; and haunting 
 is the oscillation between the mundane and supermundane 
 spheres. 
 
 " This is certainly a good illustration of the subject. In 
 proportion as death is perfect, this earthly sphere perishes 
 from the mind ; and, as men leave the world without dying 
 to it, or leave it reluctantly, they are still haunting it and 
 struggling earthward again. This may be verified by com- 
 mon experience in earthly life, as when, for instance, men die 
 to certain states of mind, and succeed to others of a higher 
 degree, the affinity for the former state is gone, and there is 
 no real connection left between them ; nay, there is an actual 
 antipathy between them ; and the death of the former states 
 may then be said really to have taken place. 
 
 " In this point of view, vast numbers who are now leaving 
 the world, do not fairly die, or they die very hard. Their 
 thoughts and feelings are all here ; and is it any wonder that 
 they should haunt their former states, and struggle hard to 
 communicate with earth, in order to find subjects here by 
 which to ultimate their ruling loves ? They are mere abor- 
 tions among spirits, and their communications to us from that 
 world consequently partake of the quality of their life. 
 
 " We have heard of a society who have gone to some part 
 
INSPIRATION. 101 
 
 of Virginia, to live according to laws which this class of spirits 
 shall dictate. Nothing but insanity, or the most vapid folly, 
 can possibly result from such an irrational mode of proceed- 
 ing as this. 
 
 " Upon the principle here adduced, it is easy to see what 
 quality of spirits seek generally to hold intercourse with the 
 natural world. They are spirits who are hanging upon the 
 confines of this earthly scene, and who are not yet fairly con- 
 scious of their birth into that other world. They have their 
 philosophies, their insanities, their false dogmas, and all their 
 earthly views and tendencies in full activity, as their vapid 
 communications abundantly testify. 
 
 " Though these are foolish and insane, however, as to any 
 thing that is good, they are not wanting in the subtlety and 
 malignity which pertains to the e,vil ; and in this point of view, 
 there is no limit to the danger of consulting them. The hells 
 we know are relentless ; and these spirits may thence be made 
 the fitting mediums to confirm and establish the direful per- 
 suasions of what is false, as well as to manifest the atrocious 
 quality of what is evil. 
 
 " There is a lesson to be learned here by the earthly and 
 sensual classes of society. If you are accumulating wealth, 
 without reference to any uses to be performed, but only with 
 the view of seeking honor and ease among men, you are edu- 
 cating for a sphere where you will be continually agitated by 
 these ruling loves, only to be eternally thwarted and disap- 
 pointed . 
 
 "If you are now seeking merely the indulgence of the 
 senses, you will live only in phantasies hereafter, where 
 you will be forever duped and tormented by these very senses 
 in fitful visions. If you are seeking to rule from self-love, 
 and to gain dominion for the sake of that love, you will be- 
 come the vile slaves of others by turns, who are in the lust of 
 the same direful passion. And if malignant passions more 
 especially rule,by habits of malice and uncharitableness acquired 
 here, you will feel the torments of that hell where each spirit 
 
102 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 is felt to be the enemy of the other, and where all conspire 
 to swell the vast sea of conflicting and tormenting passions. 
 
 " Like seeks like in the world of spirits ; and men wake up 
 there as they go to sleep here." 
 
 Consequently, if those who are " in the resurrection," de- 
 rive any proper spiritual food, through the medium of the 
 material or rapping spirits, it must first emanate from their 
 own proper guardian spirits, who also employ and supervise 
 those material or worldly spirits in its ministration ; which 
 spiritual food and its ministration, must either accord and 
 fully agree with all the tests and criterions of all the Eras, 
 as set forth in this book, or good and unanswerable reasons 
 and evidence be given for such disagreement with any par- 
 ticular test or principle, amounting to a refutation or dispro- 
 val of the same. 
 
 THE SPIRITUAL MAN. 
 
 And, finally, the greatest evidence that can ever be given 
 to man of the eternal truth and unchangeable principles of 
 godliness, is given when he finds in his own soul that abiding 
 revelation by which he is freed from all doubts and uncer- 
 tainties as to his present and future state ; and of the duty 
 which God requires of him. And when he experiences the 
 operation of that Spirit which enables him to live a perfect 
 life, so that he can stand in justification, " having a conscience 
 void of offence towards both God and man," according to the 
 pattern exhibited in the Lord Jesus, " the Captain of our 
 salvation." 
 
 Thus being not conformed to the world, but transformed" 
 therefrom, into the image of Christ, he will be in posses- 
 sion of the infallible standard of revelation, which, when 
 
INSPIRATION. 103 
 
 uprightly applied, will never fail : for herein are the words 
 of Christ verified : " If any man will do my Father's will, he 
 shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether 
 I speak of myself." (John, vii. 17.) 
 
 And every thing in any soul short of this point — " As 
 Christ is, so are we in this world," (1 John, iv. 17), will not only 
 fail to give boldness and confidence, in thegreat " day of judg- 
 ment," but it will also leave such soul in a state of spritual 
 darkness that will utterly disqualify it to "try the spirits." 
 
 This Christ state being attained by all those individuals 
 who compose the collective body Or Church of Christ's Se- 
 cond Appearing, the following expressive prophecy is ful- 
 filled: " The Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him 
 »rom the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore, 
 they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow 
 together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for 
 wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the 
 herd : and their soul shall be as a watered garden : and they 
 shall not sorrow any more at all. Then shall the virgin re- 
 joice in the dance, both young men and old together ; for I 
 will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and 
 make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will satiate 
 the soul of the priest with fatness, and my people shall be 
 satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord." (Jer. xxxi. 11 — 
 14.) _ 
 
 This could never have been testified truly of the work 
 of any preceding dispensation ; for, although the faithful sub- 
 jects therein found justification according to the order and 
 work of their day ; yet they all acknowledged a lack of that 
 perfection which only could have satisfied their souls. But 
 these promises evidently point to the Fourth and last Era, 
 wherein "Christ should make an end of sin, and bring in 
 everlasting righteousness," (Dan. ix. 24,) and in which no 
 prophets should be required to teach the knowledge of the 
 Lord ; " for all should know him, from the least of them unto 
 the greatest of them." (Jer. xxxi. 34.) 
 
104 TEST8 OF DIVINE 
 
 And in that era, the universal testimony of all is, that the 
 " serpent's head" (the lust of the flesh) is bruised in them; 
 and that " Now is come salvation and strength, and the king- 
 dom of our God, and the power of his Christ." (Rev. xii. 10.) 
 Thus, in Zion only, to which all the preceding Dispensations 
 referred, and of which all the prophets and righteous have 
 spoken since the world began, " has God placed salvation for 
 Israel his glory ;" (Is. xlvi. 13 ;) whilst the most godly in for- 
 mer ages, all came far short, in their personal experience, of 
 a work of redemption; and says Isaiah, (xxvi. 28,) "We 
 have been in pain ; we have, as it were, brought forth wind ; 
 we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth." 
 
 The Apostles also, (who stood in Christ's first Church, j 
 inform us that " David" (the man after God's own heart) 
 " had not yet ascended into the heavens." (Acts, ii. 34.) 
 Therefore, if he, David, ever did ascend into the heavenly 
 state, it must have been in consequence of hearing the ever- 
 lasting Gospel preached to him in the spiritual world, (see 
 Dan. xii. 13); they also confessed that they themselves only 
 " knew in part, and prophesied in part, seeing only as through 
 a glass darkly ;" expecting that, when that which was perfect, 
 for which they were looking, should come, " then that which 
 was in part should be done away." (See 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 10, 12.) 
 
 They acknowledged that "the whole creation groaneth 
 and travaileth together in pain until now," (Rom. viii. 22,) 
 from the effects of the fall, and from which they were 
 not then saved. "And not only they, but we ourselves 
 who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we groan within 
 ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of 
 our body," that is, the Church. (Rom. viii. 23 ) From this 
 and very many other similar Scripture passages, it is evi- 
 dent, that, as the righteous of former ages looked towards 
 the Messiah as the end of their faith ; so did the most holy 
 men in the first Christian Church look for a more perfect sal- 
 vation in a future day, in which they should receive that 
 ' lorious reward " which the Lord, the righteous Judge, 
 
INSPIRATION. 105 
 
 would give to all those who love his second appearing." 
 (2 Tim. iv. 8.) 
 
 " The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy ;" (Rev. 
 xix. 10); therefore, all who stand in it are themselves pro- 
 phets in the highest and best sense of the term ; that is, in 
 the same order and sense that Jesus Christ was a prophet, 
 " who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins, and hath 
 made us" prophets, and " kings, and priests unto God." 
 (Rev. i. 5, 6.) Such a standing Revelation, and abiding 
 spirit and power of Divine prophecy is given in this last, 
 final, and perfect Dispensation. 
 
 Hitherto, all prophets were " thieves and robbers," (John, 
 iv. 8,) not even excepting Moses himself; for he said to the 
 people, " Hear now, ye rebels, must we fetch you water out 
 ofthisrock?" (Num. xx. 10.) They were " yet in their sins," 
 and in possession and under the power of a sinful nature. 
 Thus, not only Moses, but all the prophets without exception 
 (in a greater or less degree) appropriated the gifts of the 
 Spirit to feed their fallen corrupt natures ; and by this they 
 "robbed God," (Mai. iii. 9,) which is the true reason that 
 none, before Christ, had ever entered or ascended into hea- 
 ven ; agreeable to his testimony, which may not be disputed, 
 that " no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came 
 down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." 
 (John iii. 13.) 
 
 Therefore the Apostle, speaking of all the prophets and 
 righteous men of the former Dispensations, concludes that 
 though " these all through faith, obtained a good report, yet 
 they received not the promise, God having provided some better 
 thing for us, that they without us, should not be made per- 
 fect." (Heb. xi. 39, 40.) The Apostles received ("in part") 
 that " better thing," the object of the faith of the prophets — 
 the salvation of their souls; of which salvation diligent 
 search and inquiry was made by those who prophesied of 
 this grace that should come unto them; " searching what or 
 what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, 
 6 
 
106 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 did signify. Unto whom it was revealed, that, not unto 
 themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which 
 are now reported unto you by them that have preached the 
 Gospel unto you." (1 Pet. i. 11, 12.) 
 
 All the prophets were occasionally baptized with the spirit 
 of prophecy, as a gift ; and they wrote and spake as they 
 were moved by the Holy Ghost ; but Jesus was the first up- 
 on whom the Spirit descended and abode. They were not 
 prophets in the full meaning of the word, any more than the 
 dumb animal that spake was a man, because he once had 
 the gift of speech. But Christ declared that " as the Father 
 hath life in himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life 
 in himself." (John, v. 26.) And to his disciples he said, 
 "Because I live, ye shall live also." (John xiv. 39.) 
 
 Therefore, as Jesus was a prophet, so aluo are his followers 
 prophets, for, " As he is, so are we in this world ;" (1 John, ' 
 iv. 17 ;) and the glory which the Father gave to him, he 
 gives to his followers. (See John, xvii. 22.) All other 
 prophets and spirits must be subject to these true and genu- 
 ine prophets ; for " the spirits of the prophets are subject to 
 the prophets." (1 Cor. xiv. 32.) For Jesus Christ left, as ale- 
 gacy to his brethren, the "Spirit of Truth," which should not 
 only call past things to their remembrance," but also " show 
 them things to come." (See John, xiv. 26 ; and xvii 13.) 
 
 Thus did Jesus permanently endue his followers with 
 the spirit of prophecy which constituted them emphati- 
 cally " the prophets," and they became so initiated into 
 the very spirit, and so grounded and established in the 
 constituent principles of his spiritual kingdom, that .they 
 could intuitively perceive " things to come " from the 
 ground of their knowledge of first causes, which must 
 of necessity, and inevitably produce their legitimate ef- 
 fects. These were a kind of first fruits of the spirit and 
 principles of Christianity, or of the " testimony of Jesus." 
 But tiue Christians (in the proper acceptation of the term) 
 are those who have received Christ in his second advent 
 
INSPIRATION. j 107 
 
 upon earth, in and through the order of the female, and are 
 now standing in the testimony of Jesus, loving not their car- 
 nal generative lives unto the spiritual death of their souls. 
 
 These are the " first ripe fruits" of the Four great Dispen- 
 sations of God's grace to man; and they are only created 
 and brought forth by the Fourth and last of these Eras ; unto 
 which the prophets and Apostles of the preceding Dispen- 
 sations must all find a true relation, and be subject in the 
 spirit of true obedience to its light and order, or never be 
 "made perfect." 
 
 Thus is fulfilled the saying of Christ, " The first shall be 
 last, and the last first ;" proving the truth of the Angel's 
 words to Esdras, that God's judgments and works are like a 
 ring. " And that as there is no swiftness to the first, so there 
 shall be no slackness to the last." (2 Esdras, v. 42.) 
 
 CONCLUSION- 
 
 The conclusion, therefore, is, — that there are four Eras, or 
 steps in the work of God with man ; — that it is man who 
 takes these four steps towards God, not vice versa ; that each 
 of the first three Eras was possessed of certain fixed princi- 
 ples and laws, peculiar to themselves, that regulated the 
 people, and formed the standard of judgment to them. 
 That all those fixed principles and laws are added to, and 
 included in, the order and governing principles and laws ap- 
 propriate to the Church of the Fourth Dispensation ; — and 
 that, as it pertained to the first three Churches, to be the 
 Divine channel, or medium, of revelation, and to superintend all 
 spiritual manifestations, in those Eras ; so the principles and 
 laws of the Church of each particular Era, were the tests by 
 which to determine the verity and tendencies, as well as the 
 falsity and effect of every communication from the invisible 
 world ; and to dispose of them accordingly. 
 
108 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 The wickedness of the people caused the fall of the first three 
 Churches successively ; and the fall of the Churches left those 
 Dispensations without any head ; the result of which was great 
 "spiritual wickedness in high" and low "places," and confu- 
 sion of faith and doctrines among men. And therefore the 
 foundations of each succeeding: Church, were laid in " trou- 
 blous times." (Dan. ix. 25.) 
 
 The Fourth Era has commenced, and the Church thereof is 
 now established upon earth. 
 
 Each Church had a human being as the instrument in the 
 hand of God, for its founder; namely, — Adam, — Abraham, — 
 Jesus, — Ann. 
 
 And, as the oak in the acorn, — so this last and final 
 Church is constituted of all the truths ever yet revealed or 
 to be revealed to man, though very many of them are in an 
 embryo or latent and undeveloped state. " All the treasures 
 of wisdom and knowledge" are either stored up, or are 
 as yet) hid in this Church of Christ. 
 
 The " elect" of God, gathered " from the four winds, from 
 the uttermost pirts of the earth," into this Church, and who 
 have made, or are making " their calling and election sure," 
 by obedience to the "whole truth of God," as revealed 
 and taught therein, cannot, by all the confused and conflict- 
 ing revelations and spiritual manifestations of the day, be in 
 the least " deceived." 
 
 From these views, it is plain that the work of God has 
 been progressively ascending, and raising the standard of 
 holiness higher and higher among men ; and that the latest 
 Dispensation always possessed the largest measure of the 
 Holy Spirit, and the greatest number of Divine truths. 
 
 In the perusal of the foregoing wora, it will be seen, that 
 heaven and hell are not local places merely, but also states. 
 Consequently, it is neither necessary nor consistent, to be- 
 lieve there is only one heaven and one hell, into one or other 
 of which all souls enter at death, whatever Dispensation they 
 might have lived under, and however small or great were 
 the degrees of light and power in which they stood, or how 
 
INSPIRATION. 109 
 
 near soever to infinity might have been the degrees of their 
 obedience or disobedience. 
 
 Both reason and the Scriptures instruct and teach us that 
 each Dispensation possessed a heaven and a hell peculiar 
 and appropriate to itself — the receptacles of its own subjects ; 
 and also that all souls must ultimately progress to the final 
 heaven or bell of the last Dispensation.* 
 
 And it is a great mistake, and no less contrary to reason - 
 than to the Scriptures, to imagine, as large classes in Christen- 
 dom have hitherto done, that the everlasting state of souls 
 is irrevocably fixed and determined at the instant of death ; 
 and that all souls — Christian and heathen, old and young, 
 sane and insane, wise and ignorant, good,, bad, and mid- 
 dling — go immediately to one or other of those two places 
 of eternal happiness and misery ; there to remain until the 
 day of judgment, or the resurrection ; and then to return : 
 and, after again entering their natural bodies, (which for 
 that purpose must be recreated,) to stand before " the great 
 bar of God," to again receive another everlasting sentence to 
 one or the other of those places. For, be it remembered, 
 that, when any one dies, the clergy say, " He is gone to ap- 
 pear before his Judge and Creator, to receive his final re- 
 ward," &c. 
 
 It may pertinently be asked : If souls, at death, go direct- 
 ly to their final destination, what is the use of, or occasion 
 for, the great day of judgment, and the resurrection of the 
 natural body ? For, if an intelligent being of this earth can 
 go to heaven without his natural body, and enjoy its unut- 
 terable happiness and ineffable felicity, for thousands of 
 years, what will he gain by being again united to " flesh and 
 blood," and taking it to " inherit," contrary to the Apostle 
 
 * It may here, perhaps, be proper to remark, that it is not by any 
 means to be supposed, that all who are in any particular heaven or 
 hell are in one homogeneous state. " One star differeth from another 
 star in glory." There are, doubtless, gradations and orders without 
 number, in both happiness and misery. 
 
110 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 Paul's testimony, that home of the spirit, " the kingdom of 
 God ? " 
 
 On the other hand, what would lost souls, from their " lake 
 of fire and brimstone," be advantaged by such a judgment 
 and resurrection ? 
 
 These views and doctrines appear to be at variance with 
 the teachings of all past and present Divine revelation. As 
 .is also the supposition, that, because there is no salvation 
 except through Christ, therefore the millions of sentient in- 
 telligent beings who existed before and since Christ's first 
 advent upon earth, and who never so much as even heard 
 the sound of his name, are forever doomed, without remedy 
 or hope, to the awful fate of an eternity of misery, notwith- 
 standing that they never possessed the power of choice, or any 
 possible means of escaping so dreadful a catastrophe. 
 
 To this innumerable company of lost souls must also be 
 added the millions upon millions of infants whom the Cal- 
 vinists (by " decree") sentence to destruction : also,- all those 
 whom the Romanists and Protestants cut off because they 
 were not baptized with water before they died.* 
 
 If these were all doomed to an endless, hopeless place of 
 undeserved punishment, it may well be asked, Where is the 
 justice and righteousness of " the Judge of all the earth ?" 
 And, who shall justify such ways of God to poor mortal man ? 
 
 No doubt the hackneyed but ill-understood case of the 
 thief on the cross, who Jesus said should be that day with 
 him in paradise, will here be brought up as an objection to 
 the doctrine of a probationary state being continued in the 
 spirit world. But, let the candid reader duly consider, that 
 each Dispensation had its own heaven and hell. The Jews 
 believed in Hades; (a place of departed spirits;) and that in 
 
 * It is the established faith of all Catholics, and of all orthodox 
 Protestants, that no soul can possibly be saved, unless he has been 
 sprinkled, or baptized in some way, with water. Therefore the Sor- 
 bonne (the highest ecclesiastical court in France) proposed to devise 
 some means of baptizing infants before they are born. 
 
INSPIRATION. ' 111 
 
 Hades there was a place called gehenna, or hell, for the 
 wicked ; and a place called paradise, or heaven, for the 
 righteous. These are the heaven and hell of the Second, 
 or Mosaic, Dispensation. 
 
 Now, what is called the "Apostles' Creed," declares that, 
 when Jesus died, " he descended into hell" instantly, where 
 he remained three days. And he himself said : " As Jonah 
 was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so the 
 Son of man should be three days and three nights in the 
 heart of the earth;" which may be thus explained : — 
 
 When Jesus left the body, he pissed through the spirit- 
 world of the Jewish Dispensation; for it was first in his 
 way ; and he left the thief in paradise, while he himself de- 
 scended to hell, or gehenna, to labor among the wicked 
 Jews : from thence he passed on, as Peter states, to the 
 heaven and hell of the antediluvians, or First Dispensation. 
 " He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who were 
 disobedient to the preaching of Noah," and who had ever 
 since been suffering the consequences of that disobedience, 
 and of their other manifold sins, which finally brought the 
 " flood upon the world of the ungodly." 
 
 Is it reasonable to suppose, that Jesus would have gone 
 to the heaven and hell of the antediluvians, and preached to 
 them, had it not been possible fur them to believe and obey, 
 and thus to rise into the paradise of the order above them, in 
 which Jesus had left the repentant thief '? It surely is not !| 
 " For for this cause was the Gospel preached to them that 
 are dead, that they might be judged according to men in 
 the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." (1 Pet. 
 iv. 6.) They were to be judged by the Gospel, just as 
 souls in the body are to be judged by it.* 
 
 * Paul was caught up to the third heaven, i. e., to the heaven of 
 the Dispensation in which he lived. Frequent mention is made, in 
 the Scriptures, of a plurality of heavens: — Deut. x. 14, "Behold, the 
 heaveii, and the heaven of heavens, are the Lord's thy God;" — 
 1 Kings, viii. 27, Solomon, in consecrating the temple, said: "But 
 
112 TESTS OF DIVINE 
 
 It is a very cheering fact, that the Scriptures do not teach 
 any such inconsistent, unjust, irrational doctrines as are now 
 being received, which is made evident in the foregoing 
 treatise. 
 
 On the other hand, it is not any more consistent, or in ac- 
 cordance with reason and the Scriptmes, to conclude, as 
 some have hastily done, that all, in every age and Dispen- 
 sation and sect, will indiscriminately go to one heaven, and 
 thus be blessed with the salvation of the last and final Dis- 
 pensation ; and that, too, with many millions who never 
 came into any knowledge of, nor were ever obedient to, its 
 light and principles. For every man will receive only ac- 
 cording to his own works : as saith the Spirit, " I will give 
 to every man according as his works shall be." 
 
 It is well known that no scholar could, in mere rudimental 
 schools, obtain that complete and finished education which 
 is dispensed, or to be obtained exclusively in the highest 
 seminaries of learning. 
 
 Now, the First Dispensation was but as a schoolmaster to 
 the Second ; and " Moses was only a schoolmaster, to bring 
 souls to Christ ;" just as the first Christian Dispensation was 
 only " in part," and served as a stepping-stone, or " school- 
 master," to fit and prepare its subjects for the second Chris- 
 tian Church, or Fourth, last, and final Dispensation, in which 
 the great "mystery of godliness," which has been "hid 
 from the foundation of the world," is fully revealed and 
 finished. 
 
 will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and heaven 
 of hea-^ns cannot contain thee;' — Ps. cxv. 16, "The heaven, even 
 the heavens, are the Lord's." Consequently, God is not exclusively 
 in any of the heavens of the Dispensations to which the human family 
 will only attain. When Christ had done his work among the souls 
 and spirits of the first and second Dispensations, he ascended to his 
 Father, "far above all heavens," from whence he came; for "-he" — 
 the Christ, not Jesus — " that ascended, was the same that also de- 
 scended." 
 
INSPIRATION. 113 
 
 This system effectually destroys all Sectarianism ; for it 
 unfolds the progressive nature of the work of God with man, 
 from age to age ; and explains why man must progress, or 
 change, from " faith to faith," slep by step, from one Dis- 
 pensation to another, until he comes to the last, or " perfect 
 day," in which there is no darkness, or error ; and in which, 
 all the isolated truths of all sects, nations, kindreds, tongues, 
 and people, are united; and in which it is entirely in the 
 power of every individual to work out his own full salva- 
 tion and perfect redemption from the nature and effects of 
 the fall of Adam and of himself ; " for all have sinned after 
 the similitude of Adam's transgression." 
 
 God is not an arbitrary being : but " that which a man 
 sows, he will also reap," and nothing else. 
 
 But, if there be no foundation, or " if the foundation, be 
 destroyed, what can even the most righteous do?" How 
 could any individual soul, under a dark germinal Dispensa- 
 tion, however faithful he might have been, arrive at that 
 exalted state and condition that is only the fruit of obedience 
 to one in which " the light of the moon'' (reason) ''is as the 
 the light of the sun" (revelation,) " and the light of the sun 
 as the light of seven days ?" 
 
 Individuals, living under an imperfect or evil system, 
 may desire to be better than that system ; even as individu- 
 als, living under a perfect system, may come short of per- 
 fect obedience thereto. And herein the wisdom, as well as 
 the goodness of God is manifested, in calling individuals out 
 of the Babylon system of the world, wherein " he who de- 
 parteth from evil, maketh himself a prey," saying, " Come 
 out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of' her sins, 
 and that ye receive not of her plagues." 
 
 Therefore, never, until individual man shall be placed 
 under the influence and operation of a perfect system, can he, 
 either in this wot Id or the next, so sin, or fall, or be lost, as 
 to be beyond the power of such perfect system to resurrect 
 him. 
 
 8* 
 
114 TESTS 0/ DIVINE INSPIRATION. 
 
 And now we affectionately, but confidently, recommend 
 to all honest inquiring minds, of every class and party, to in- 
 vestigate the faith, principles, and doctrines of the Church of 
 Christ's second appearing. 
 
 For God is no respecter of persons, but, rather, "has con- 
 cluded all" nations, and people, and tongues, "in" a state 
 of " sin" and spiritual darkness, and in unbelief of the Fourth 
 and last Dispensation, and of its true Church; that, through 
 it, he might, in the end, " have mercy upon all." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Sects. — A sect is an ecclesiastical body having its origin 
 in Divine revelation, and existing upon the record thereof. 
 In this sense, the general Christian Church (Christendom) 
 is a sect. It professes to have descended from, and to be a 
 continuation of, the primitive Church, which was founded by 
 and upon Divine revelation; — revelation was the life-blood 
 by which its existence was continued. 
 
 But this great sect acknowledges, and even authoritatively 
 affirms, that revelation ceased soon after the days of the 
 Apostles ; thereby effectually cutting off its own claim to be 
 a living body, or church, — any thing, indeed, but a dead 
 body, a mere sect, that only lives upon the remembrance or 
 record of the original and by-gone revelations contained in 
 the Bible. 
 
 A sect looks bach ; a Church looks forward. The highest 
 aspirations of the former never ascend above the measure of 
 its founders, while those of the latter reach to God, by an 
 endless progression, through the means of continual revela- 
 tion, or intercourse with the spirit world, in the Divine order. 
 Christ, in his first advent, established a Church upon 
 earth, of which Jesus was the visible Head, (Peter and 
 others were his successors,) and the Apostles were members 
 thereof in common with other believers. This was not a 
 sect ; but a true living Church. 
 
 Sectarianism is defined, by Webster, as being " a disposi- 
 
116 ' APPENDIX. 
 
 tion to dissent from the established Church, or predominant 
 religion." This was just what the Jews charged the first 
 Christian Church with. They called it a " pernicious sect," 
 which was "turning the world upside down." 
 
 But Jesus and his followers assumed that they actually 
 understood, believed, and carried into practice, the genuine 
 principles of the law of Moses, as did none of the Jews 
 themselves. In truth, they claimed to be " Israelites indeed," 
 inwardly ; being circumcised in heart and in spirit by the 
 truth — " the testimony of Jesus." 
 
 And, as all were not Israelites who were of Israel, (for, if 
 they had believed Moses, they would also have believed and 
 followed Christ) so did Jesus foresee it would be with Chris- 
 tians. Many would say, " Lord, Lord," and " name the 
 name of Christ," without " departing from all iniquity," who 
 consequently nevei'knew Christ, and unto whom he would 
 say, " Depart from me ; I never knew you." 
 
 Jesus also foresaw that the Church itself would be de- 
 stroyed, and " trodden under foot of the Gentiles forty and 
 two months ;" and that, during that period, or night, of anti- 
 christ, (i. e.) until Christ should make another — his second — 
 appearance, and set up a more perfect Christian Church, 
 "witnesses" would arise, who would "prophesy in sack- 
 cloth and ashes," that is, in a state of suffering and mourning. 
 
 When revelation ceased in the Church, it fell — perished ; 
 and then the Spirit began to raise up and bring forth " wit- 
 nesses" (heretics) one after another, in every age and genera- 
 tion, who exceedingly troubled the repose of the now dead 
 false church, or " beast," or " whore of Babylon," millions 
 of whom suffered martyrdom at her hands, by rack, faggot, 
 and gibbet, and by the various devilish machinery of the in- 
 fernal Inquisition, for the testimony which they bore against 
 the errors and abominations of that " mother of harlots," the 
 Roman Catholic Christian Church. 
 
 Many of the orders in that Churoh were founded by 
 " witnesses," who had received a revelation of some truth, 
 
APPENDIX. 117 
 
 or truths, by which they were impelled to live a more holy 
 and self-denying life than the great body of the subjects of 
 the " kingdom of the beast" were wont to live. These, so 
 long as they received outward persecution, prospered in the 
 Spirit. But, when the " beast" canonized them, " their testi- 
 mony was finished ;" and " the beast, which ascendeth up 
 out of the bottomless pit" of ease, worldly honor, fleshly 
 lusts, and self-indulgence, " made war with them, and over- 
 came them, and killed them ;" and their " dead bodies" 
 (sects) lay above ground unburied : for now, being enrolled 
 among the powers and orders of the false church, " they 
 give their power'' and influence, which had been acquired by 
 their previous gift of Divine revelation, " unto the beast." 
 
 This was the true origin, not only of the hundreds of sects 
 which "lie in the streets of the great city, which spiritually 
 is called Sodom and Egypt" — Babylon, confusion — in the 
 " kingdom of the beast" — Catholicism ; but also of the 
 hundreds of sects in the kingdom of the " image of the 
 beast" — Protestantism. These are the " dead bodies" of 
 " witnesses," (who have delivered their message, or " testi- 
 mony,") which their destroyers "will not suffer to be put 
 into graves," out of sight. They are those whom persecution 
 failed to kill ; but who were overcome and destroyed by the 
 flattery, kindness, and friendship of the spirit of the world, 
 and who thence became the chief and warmest supporters 
 of the governments of " this world ;" for false civil govern- 
 ments can only be sustained and continued by false religions, 
 and therefore the only hope of true liberty of faith and con- 
 science, of speech, and of the press, lies in an entire and 
 perfect separation of Church and State — pure Republican- 
 ism. 
 
 Each of the " witnesses," as, for instance, the Moravians, 
 Dunkards, Swedenborgians, Methodists, Quakers, &c. &c, re- 
 ceived and proclaimed some one or more of the truths which 
 compose the "testimony of Jesus," as it is set forth in the 
 foregoing " Tests.' 1 '' And thus " God has not left himself 
 
118 APPENDIX. 
 
 without a witness" to nearly every one of the doctrines that 
 form the system of the true Church of Christ in his second 
 appearing. 
 
 War, slavery, temperance, dress, language, civil govern- 
 ment, private property, and even the virgin life, &c. &c, 
 have all been recognized by one or other of the " witnesses," 
 during some periods of the apostacy. 
 
 The joyous manifestations of the Spirit, at even a tempo- 
 rary and partial deliverance from sin, have, by some, been 
 exhibited in shouting, leaping, dancing, singing, &c. ; thus 
 foreshadowing even the form of worship of the true Church, 
 wherein " the virgin should rejoice in the dance, both old 
 men and young together." 
 
 Parties. — The natural reformers of the day are rather 
 parties than sects. These are the earthly man ; and are 
 mostly composed of those who have received some of the 
 testimonies which the " witnesses" have delivered ; as, for 
 instance, the Peace Societies, Abolition Societies, Temper- 
 ance Societies, Land Reforms, &c. ; which testimonies origi- 
 nated in Divine revelation through some of the " witnesses,'' 
 who are now themselves " dead bodies" of people, even in 
 relation to these very reforms. 
 
 Thus do the great radical and beautiful truths, which 
 formed the perfect " testimony of Jesus Christ, in whom are 
 hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," ready to be 
 revealed and brought forth in his Church, like the materials 
 for Solomon's temple, lie on the mountains of a foreign land 
 — the world. Here and there, stones and timbers are wait- 
 ing for the great Master Builder, Christ, to come and give 
 the word of command to build the temple of the Most High 
 God. " And the time is come for the Lord's house to be 
 built:" the Master has appeared, and has pointed out to the 
 builders the corner stone ; * and the temple goes bravely 
 
 * According to a Masonio tradition, " after the materials (which 
 
APPENDIX. 119 
 
 up, although it be in " troublous times," and surrounded by- 
 enemies. (See Nehemiah, iv.) 
 
 Now, with what propriety shall a system, composed of 
 such universal principles and truths, some of which may be 
 found in every combination of human beings upon earth, and 
 more or less in every individual of each combination, be de- 
 signated sectarian ? — a system adapted to the primitive cre- 
 ation of man ; meeting, comprehending, providing for, and 
 supplying all his real rational wants of both soul and body ; 
 which looks upon all men as brethren ; and considers the 
 whole human family, (without exception) whether in this or 
 the spirit world, as being in a solvable state, and capable of 
 hearing, receiving, and obeying the truth — even "the whole 
 counsel of G jd." 
 
 If this — the most merciful and catholic religion — consti- 
 tutes those who live it a sect, why then it is, or will be, a 
 sect just as Moses' rod was a serpent, and will remain so 
 only until it has swallowed up every other sect. 
 
 For this Church will own and bless all the good and all 
 the truths that are in every sect, and in every reform ; and 
 it will absorb and embody within its world-wide system, 
 every one of these ; and thus it will " gather together, in 
 Christ, all things, both which are in heaven and upon earth," 
 necessary to the building of the "house of the Lord," which 
 is yet to be " a house of prayer for all nations." 
 
 had been previously prepared) for Solomon's temple were upon the 
 ground, and the workmen were ready to commence building, the 
 corner stone could not be found ; for the stone which had been pre- 
 pared and marked for that purpose, was utterly rejected by them all ; 
 it being thought impossible (from its uncouth and uncomely appear- 
 ance) that it could be the chief stone in so glorious a building, But 
 when Solomon, who had been sent for, came, that which had been so 
 despised and rejected, proved to be the very chief corner stone. 
 
 Thus, even in the figurative building, " the stone which the builders 
 rejected, became the head stone of the corner." (See Ps. cxviii. 22 ; 
 and 1 Pet. ii. 6—8.) 
 
120 APPENDIX. 
 
 Organizations. — There is, in the present day, among 
 many of the true friends of progress, a strong feeling to de- 
 nounce and destroy sectarianism. It carries some so far as 
 to lead them to oppose all organizations, civil and religious. 
 This, too, is (in a measure) the result of the testimony of a 
 'witness;" for " Bahylon is fallen, is fallen;" and it is hy 
 the operation of this very spirit of disorganization that she 
 does fall." " God has put it into their hearts to hate the whore, 
 strip her naked, and to burn her with" the " fire" of truth. 
 
 The work which is given them to do, is to pull down and 
 destroy all false systems and organizations ; and, in doing it, 
 they become so zealously engaged, that they forget that God's 
 design is only that a true organization may have a place 
 wherein to exist. But the process and work of tearing down 
 old buildings, and clearing away the rubbish, is not usually 
 committed to those who possess a capacity for building. The 
 axe, the hatchet, the pick, and the crowbar, with which to 
 demolish, are in the hands of some ; while the line, the plum- 
 met, and the square, with which to organize and build, are 
 in the hands of others. 
 
 Because there are, as Jesus said there would be, " many 
 false Christs and false prophets," at about this time of his 
 second coming, that is an evidence for — not against — the fact, 
 that there are, or will be, a true Christ and true prophets, — 
 a true organization, — whether denominated a Church or Sect. 
 And it will surely swallow and absorb the life of every other 
 sect and church in existence : and, if the primitive Church of 
 Christ itself had stood, and were now standing, in all its pris- 
 tine glory, even its life, principles, and faith, would be re- 
 ceived into, and be appropriated by, and its organization 
 would give place to, the superior light, power, and perfec- 
 tions of the Church of the Fourth and last Dispensation, to 
 be manifested in the present day. 
 
 For, as the Prophet declared, " In the days of these kings, 
 will the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never 
 be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other 
 
APPENDIX. 121 
 
 people ; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these 
 kingdoms" (sects) ; " and it shall stand for ever." (Dan. 
 i. 44.) 
 
 As the Dispensations supplanted and succeeded each other, 
 even so did the " witnesses" supplant and succeed each other. 
 There could be no increase in any other way ; as each one 
 (although originating in Divine revelation) disbelieved in its 
 continued and increasing operation : — -They invariably looked 
 back to their founders, Moses, or Calvin, or Wesley, or Fox, 
 or some one else, even as each individual of them also looks 
 back to his former spiritual experience (if he ever had any) ; 
 and this the Protestant tells in meeting, as worship, even as 
 the Catholic tells his beads. 
 
 It is not thus with the just and true Church : its path is 
 that of the individual perfect man and woman, of whom it is 
 (or will be) constituted, and "shines brighter and brighter 
 unto the perfect day," when God will be all and in all. 
 
 It is therefore clearly impossible for that kingdom to \>e 
 ever " given to another people." For " the horn made war 
 with the saints, ("witnesses,") and prevailed against them," 
 only "until the Ancient of Days," (Christ) "came; and 
 judgment was" then " given to the saints of the Most High," 
 whose transcendent privilege it shall be, to " possess the 
 kingdom for ever and ever." 
 
 The rise of this glorious kingdom, in its earlier stages, is as 
 " the day of small things," and is prefigured by " a little 
 stone," " a grain of mustard seed," "a little leaven," &c. &c; 
 yet is it very expansive and progressive in its nature and 
 character. 
 
 Moreover this, the true Church, is to be a normal growth and 
 outbirth of the great humanity, — the end of Sectarianism, — 
 the culmination of all reforms, — the ultimatum of the uni- 
 versal desire and deeply-rooted hope for something better 
 than mankind have yet realized upon earth ; — and not some 
 violent disruption of the eternal connection existing between 
 cause and effect, as is orthodoxly believed ; which belief the 
 
122 APPENDIX. 
 
 Second Adventists labored most assiduously, though quite 
 sincerely, to incarnate and bring to pass ; against which, may 
 be received, as evidence, the general tenor of Scripture pro- 
 phecy. 
 
 Thus, by Isaiah, the Lord saith : " Behold, my servants 
 shall sing for joy of heart;" and " he who blesses himself in 
 the earth, shall bless himself in the God of truth ; because 
 the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid 
 from mine eyes. For, behold, I create a new heaven and a 
 new earth • and the former shall not be remembered, nor come 
 into mind. But, be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which 
 I create ; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her 
 people a joy. And they shall build houses and inhabit them ; 
 and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall 
 not plant, and another eat; they shall not build, and another 
 inhabit. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth fo r 
 trouble. For they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord. 
 And it shall come to pass, that, before they call, I will an- 
 swer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." (Is. lxv.) 
 
 This will put an effectual end to sectarianism, as it is de- 
 fined in the beginning of this article. 
 
 Thus it is seen that the relation subsisting between God 
 and the true Church on earth, is, or will be, that of a living 
 Father and Mother to their living sons and daughters ; and 
 is sustained by a perpetual and practical revelation, through 
 which is effected such a development and exhibition of spiri- 
 tual light and power, as will redeem, shield, and protect their 
 recipients from the power and influence of evil to an extent 
 that is, by the Spirit, with great force and propriety called 
 " a new heuvenP 
 
 And also is seen, that establishment of those just and 
 righteous principles, which regard the distribution and use of 
 all the elements essential to man's existence and subsistence 
 in this physical world ; which the same Divine spirit of pro- 
 phecy fitly and appropriately designates "a new earth," in 
 which should dwell righteousness and peace. 
 
APPENDIX. 123 
 
 Thus it is not names or profession, but principles only that 
 must determine and decide what is, and what is not secta- 
 rianism. " By this," said Jesus, " shall all men know that ye 
 are my disciples, if ye have love one for another," — a prin- 
 ciple. 
 
 So that, whether the desire of any persons be to find the 
 true Church of Christ, if it be in existence, or to establish it 
 if it be not, it is absolutely necessary that they know its real 
 marks, — characteristics, — or principles ; that, by them, they 
 may judge, decide, or work. One tiling is certain, and that is, 
 that the subjects of that salvation Church will "be an afflict- 
 ed and poor people;" (Zeph. hi. 12 ;) to redeem themselves, 
 and others, they will have to suffer, as Jesus and his 
 Apostles suffered; to die, as they died; and be made alive, 
 as they were made alive. 
 
 And, if in them be truly concentrated all the light and 
 the Spirit of the Primitive Church, and of the " witnesses," 
 ■ — in them also will arise all the temptations of the Primitive 
 Church and Witnesses ; and where these were tried, and fell, 
 — those will also be tried, but must stand. 
 
 This will make " a straight and narrow road,'.' not for the 
 Church collectively only, but for every individual member 
 thereof; for into it will '* many be called, and few chosen :" 
 that is, but few in proportion to the number called will enter 
 and " make their calling and election sure" by obedience to 
 its principles ; for, " through the gates into that holy city, 
 can nothing enter that worketh abomination, or that loveth 
 or maketh a lie." (Rev. xxii. 27.) 
 
124 APPENDIX. 
 
 SHAKERISM. 
 
 extract from " hints towards reform," by h. greeley, 
 (pp. 278-280.) 
 
 " With the Shakers, so nick -named, I have some personal 
 acquaintance, and I am not ashamed to own that I have been 
 instructed and cheered by them. They have never been 
 fairly appreciated by the world. Tbeir utter condemnation 
 of marriage and of individual property, the grotesque cere- 
 monies of Divine worship, and their incessant declamation 
 against all departures from celibacy as impure and sinful 
 have repelled and disgusted nearly all who are not of their 
 own body. But, might not a more expansive philosophy, a 
 more liberal culture, discover in these very excesses a moral 
 worthy of the gravest attention ? 
 
 Are our relations as men and women so universally pure 
 and exalted that we may rightly despise those who, unable 
 to separate the palpable evil, from the latent good, reject 
 both together ? Is exclusive property so beneficent a feature 
 of our social order, as practically exemplified around us, that 
 we may fairly stigmatize those who, not needing its incite- 
 ments to thrift or industry, see fit to decline them ? 
 
 The peculiarities of Shaker worship I readily abandon to 
 the ridicule of the caviller, only wishing that theirs were the 
 only absurdities committed in attempting to honor our Fa- 
 ther in Heaven, and that no Religious errors more popular 
 and more enduring than theirs were worse than simply ridi- 
 culous. 
 
 When all that may be said against these simple-minded 
 ascetics has been freely admitted, there is yet left enough in 
 their character and history to challenge our admiration. 
 
 They present the sublime and hope-inspiring spectacle of 
 
APPENDIX. 125 
 
 a community founded and built up on the conquest of the 
 most inexorable appetites ; lust, avarice, ambition, re- 
 venge, — these are not merely discountenanced by the social 
 economy of the Shakers, but this economy is based on their 
 entire crucifixion. Nor can I see how any man can rationally 
 conclude, as some have nevertheless asserted, that all this 
 show of subduing the appetites is hypocrisy and a delusion. 
 I can conceive no earthly motive for practising so much out- 
 ward self-denial, at so great inconvenience, and with no hope 
 of honor, or popularity, but a certainty of the reverse, if not 
 based on obedience to an inward conviction. 
 
 The uncharitable theory supposes a refinement of absurdi- 
 ty and self-annoyance which never yet possessed for any pe- 
 riod the brain of any one sane man, much less of a whole 
 community for ages. 
 
 Let us, then, profit by the lessons which these enthusiasts 
 read us, while discarding their unpardonable errors. Let 
 us remember that they have solved for us the problem of 
 the possibility, the practicability, of a social condition from 
 which the twin curses, pauperism and servitude, shall be 
 utterly banished. They have shown how pleasant may be 
 the labors, how abundant the comforts, of a community 
 wherein no man aspires to be lord over his brethren, no 
 man grasps for himself, but each is animated by a spirit of 
 devotion to the common good. 
 
 When I have stood among the quiet homes of this un- 
 aspiring, unpoetical people, and marked how they have 
 steadily, surely, advanced from abject poverty to amplest 
 competence; when I have observed how their patient but 
 never excessive toil has transformed rugged barrenness into 
 smiling fertility and beauty, how could I refrain from think- 
 ing lightly of that blind dogmatism which asserts the im- 
 possibility of inducing men to labor except for their own 
 selfish gratification, and affirms the necessity of the stimulus 
 of personal acquisition to save mankind from sinking back 
 into the darkness and destitution of barbarism ?" 
 
LOCATION OF THE SOCIETIES. 
 
 Persons desirous of visiting any of the societies of Shakers 
 may be informed that there are three of them in the State 
 of New York, viz. 
 
 The first and largest at New Lebanon, County of Colum- 
 bia, 21 miles South of Lebanon Springs. 
 
 One at Watervliet, 1 miles N. W. from the City of 
 Albany, in the same County. 
 
 One at Groveland, Livingston County, 4 miles S. of 
 Mount Morris. 
 
 Four in the State Of Massachusetts, viz. 
 
 One at Hancock, Berkshire County, 5 miles W. of 
 Pittsfield. 
 
 One at Tyringham, Berkshire County, 3 miles S. of 
 South Lee. 
 
 One at Harvard, Worcester County, 30 miles N. W. of 
 Boston. 
 
 One at Shirley, Middlesex County, 7 miles W. of 
 Harvard. 
 
 One in the State of Connecticut, at Enfield, Hartford Coun- 
 ty, 4 miles E. of Thompsonville, and 8 miles S. of 
 Springfield. 
 
 Two in the State of New Hampshire, viz. 
 
 One at Canterbury, Merrimack County, 12 miles N. by 
 E. of Concord. 
 
LOCATION OF THE SOCIETIES. 127 
 
 One at Enfield, Grafton County, 12 miles S. E. of 
 Dartmouth College. 
 
 Two in the State of Maine, viz. 
 
 One at Alfred, York County, 30 miles S. W. of the 
 City of Portland. 
 
 One at New Gloucester, Cumberland County, 25 miles 
 N. W. of Portland. 
 
 Four in the State of Ohio, viz. 
 
 One at Union Village, Warren County, 4 miles W. of 
 Lebanon, and 30 miles N. by E. of Cincinnati, (this 
 is the first and largest Society in the Western States.) 
 
 One at Watervliet, Montgomery County, 6 miles S. E. 
 of Dayton. 
 
 One at White Water, Hamilton County, 22 miles N. 
 W. of Cincinnati. 
 
 One at North Union, Cuyahoga County, 8 miles S. E. 
 of Cleveland. 
 
 Two in the State of Kentucky, viz. 
 
 One at Pleasant Hill, Mercer County, 7 miles E. of 
 Harrodsburg. 
 
 One at South Union, Logan County, 15 miles N. E. of 
 Russelville. 
 
 These are all the established Societies now existing as 
 branches of the community, and are easy of access, most of 
 them being located near to Railroad Depots. There are 
 also individual members in fellowship, who reside apart from 
 the above-named settlements. 
 
V 
 
 A LIST of Standard Worts, pa.Mfar.ed by the United Society of 
 Be/levers, called Shakers, which Amy be had of Fowlers & Wells, 
 181. Nassau St. ; and Partridge i Brittnn, 300, Broadway, New 
 York. 
 
 Tin: Manifesto ; or. a Declaration of the Doctrines and Practice of 
 the Cnnrch of Chrte. By John Dunlavy. Medium 8fo. pp. 480. " 
 
 Tun Testimony ov Christ's-; Second Appearing, containing a general 
 Statement of the Faith and Practice of the'Church of God in this 
 latter day ; also a cpnroendious History of the Primitive Church of 
 Christ, and of the Establishment and Rise of the Papal and Protes- 
 tant Systems of Religio.i. Medium 12mo. pp. 574. '-'■' 
 
 A Summary Fjewfiflhe Mim/ennjal Chckch, or United Society nof , 
 Believers, comprising the Rise. Progress; and Practical Order of 
 the Society; together with the general Principles of their Faith 
 and Testimony. Medium 12mo. pp> 320. 
 
 A Brief Exposition of the established Principles and Regulations of 
 the United Society of Believers. Pamphlet, medium 12mo. pp> 38. 
 
 Plain Evidesces-; .by which ihe true Church of Christ may be known 
 and distinguished from a^&thers. Extracted from the Manifesto. 
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 Three Discourses : On Bivine Revelation ;and Inspiration ; — On the 
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 a United Inheritance in all things. By Wm, Leonard. Pamphlet, 
 . medium 12mo. pp. 88. 
 
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*