1 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 i Shelfd 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
THE 
 
 BEGINNING OF TffE END 
 
 THE MYSTERY. 
 
 \> 
 
 BY 
 
 E. II. LEONAED, 
 
 KNOWN AND CALLED IN HEAVEN " THE CHILD OP THE 
 WILDERNESS. " 
 
 L 
 
 RICHMOND, VA. 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, 
 
 By Whittet & Shepperson. 
 
 1884. 
 

 Copyright, 1883, 
 
 BY 
 
 R. H. LEONARD. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 MY readers will marvel at the title I have given 
 my book, and surely not without reason. The 
 facts that are related in it are as much a marvel to 
 the writer as to any one; but, though marvellous, 
 they are nevertheless true. I have written nothing 
 in the following pages but w r hat is in every sense 
 true, having weighed well every word before using 
 it, and should not have written it only from impera- 
 tive duty, which I could not avoid. As no one can 
 disprove what I have said, so between me and my 
 Maker, to whom I must give an account for all, and 
 also for the way in which I have discharged my 
 duty, rests my responsibility. Had I been writing 
 to suit my own purposes, I .should have omitted 
 many things 1 have said, and veiled other parts in 
 different language. 
 
 I have given this title to my little book because I 
 believe it to be the exegesis and fulfilment of the 
 prophecy of Rev. x. 7-11, — the closing of a period 
 
* PEEFACE. 
 
 of nearly eighteen hundred years, in which God, 
 though guiding and governing the affairs of this 
 world, has not till now manifested Himself, nor has 
 His voice been heard. 
 
 In the last eighteen hundred vears what wonders 
 and changes have taken place! Christianity has 
 triumphed and spread, and millions have been saved 
 by faith in its teachings, through the merits of the 
 blessed Redeemer. Many means have been used by 
 Almighty God for the preservation of His Church. 
 Nothing has been able to prevail against it; and 
 though now vain philosophy is trying to do without 
 God in the creation and preservation of the universe, 
 and the ologies and isms of the day are attempting 
 to disprove and cast unbelief and contempt on His 
 word, and the need of the atonement, and the efficacy 
 of Christ's blood; and when the Christian world is 
 filled with anxiety at the tremendous strides that un- 
 belief is making, and wondering what course God, 
 in His mercy, will take to perpetuate His Church, 
 and preserve His Holy Word, in the midst of these 
 things God has again unveiled His holy presence, 
 and once more spoken to man. 
 
 Part I. of my book treats of the creation, and is 
 intended as an answer to the various theories that 
 have been put forth by the believing and unbelieving 
 world. In reference to this I have only to say, that, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 in preparing this discourse, when I had in view the 
 scene of the praying Christian in the testimony of 
 the rocks, on page 44, and having pictured to my 
 mind's eye the rock by which the Christian knelt 
 and gave thanks to God for the gift of His Word, 
 my mind being directed, I say, to the place, God 
 Himself struck over near the place a flash of the 
 lightning of His love; and this was the language of 
 the lightning, " God's love." In this, though, there 
 was no intimation of the correctness of my conclu- 
 sions in the discourse on the creation, but simply, as 
 I conceive, His approval of my labor. 
 
 Part II. is my own experience and observation. 
 Great care has been used by me not to overstate 
 anything that has been written in this. As I said, 
 every word has been w T ell weighed before using it. 
 I expect to meet with many friends through life and 
 with many enemies, and perhaps this may subject 
 me to much persecution ; yet it cannot change the 
 truth of the matter. Having passed the swelling 
 flood, but without tasting its waters; standing as it 
 were upon the shores of eternity, and speaking back 
 to time, Christianity, as taught in God's Holy Word, 
 the Personality of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, 
 the Triune Majesty of Heaven, are not to me mere 
 matters of belief, but of absolute Knowledge. 
 
 Part III. of my book is a discourse that treats of 
 
u PREFACE. 
 
 the satanic phenomenon called spiritism, in which the 
 great enemy of man and his (Satan's) angels, also 
 the archangels and angels of light and glory, are de- 
 scribed by an eye-witness. Let him deny it only 
 who can refute it. Sufficient has been said in the 
 contents as to render it unnecessary in this preface 
 to say more. I have this further to say: that, hav- 
 ing in my boyhood been a Christian, and being de- 
 stroyed in a marvellous manner, by having lost my 
 goodness in a way that I could not help, God had 
 mercy on me; and though I had left His service, 
 and was doing much evil in spreading the literature 
 and teaching the terrible delusions of spiritism, yet 
 He would not let me be lost to Him. In my youth, 
 when His worshipping child, He had given me the 
 promise of eternal life, and that, though I would 
 forsake Him, yet He would bring me back to Him ; 
 and this promise He would now fulfil. He punished 
 me severely for my sins, but blessed me with His 
 love, visiting me witli His own right hand in His 
 displeasure for my sins. O what terrors came over 
 my poor soul! For joining the world, and denying 
 and casting unbelief on that passage wherein Joshua 
 commanded the sun to stand still, God visited me 
 in person, and said, "The sun stood still." For 
 joining and advocating the geological theories in 
 contradiction to God's Holy Word, He caused me 
 
PREFACE. ( 
 
 to stand in the earth, and showed me the forma- 
 tion of the rocks. For my other sins He suspended 
 me in space, and for my sins in spiritism He per- 
 mitted Satan, the author of all spiritism, to take pos- 
 session of my body; but, blessed be His Holy Name, 
 though He punished me, He loved me, and I am to- 
 day the great monument of redeeming love. May 
 His love, kind reader, be with you. 
 
 R. H. LEONARD. 
 
 Beaumont, Sept. 3, 1883. 
 
RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 Beaumont, Texas, September 18, 1883. 
 Messrs. Whittet & Shepperson, Richmond, Va. : 
 
 Dear Sirs, — Mr. R. H. Leonard sends you a work of 
 which he is the author. Its contents may strike you as ec- 
 centric and peculiar, but they are simply the outcome of his 
 own bitter experience, as can be verified by this community. 
 Having been raised under spiritualistic influence, and 
 studied the matter carefully nearly all of my life, I am con- 
 vinced that what might be called Mr. Leonard's "theories" 
 are truly an expose of fallacies of spiritists, and I am in- 
 clined to believe that his work will do much good towards 
 the obstruction of Satan's work in blinding the people 
 through the so-called spiritualistic mystery. 
 
 . Mr. Leonard is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church 
 here, and is regarded as a devoted Christian man. 
 Very respectfully, etc., 
 
 Henry C. Weymouth, 
 Pastor Baptist Church. 
 
 Beaumont, Texas, September 26, 1883. 
 Messrs. Whittet & Shepperson, Richmond, Va. : 
 
 It is with pleasure that I recommend to you our esteemed 
 friend and brother, Rev. R. H. Leonard, as being in every way 
 worthy of your highest confidence. He is a remarkable man, 
 with a most remarkable experience, but nevertheless a true 
 man and a true Christian. 
 
 He was born in England nearly fifty years ago, and was 
 reared a good, pious boy; but moved to Beaumont, Texas, 
 when a youth about twenty years old, and has made this his 
 
10 
 
 RECOMMENDATIONS- 
 
 home ever since. Here (Beaumont) he selected law as a pro- 
 fession, which he prosecuted with great energy and success. 
 As a lawyer, he is respected both for his learning and his 
 ability as a practitioner. He has a lucrative practice and no 
 mean reputation. He feels the truth of the lines — 
 
 " God moves in a mysterious way 
 His wonders to perform " — 
 
 has been verified in him. 
 
 I will now pass over his experience, as that subject is 
 treated by himself in his book. He feels called by God to- 
 preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that he has undertaken 
 to do. And this brings me to contemplate the man as a 
 Christian and a preacher. That he has been converted is be- 
 yond a doubt. No one has ever doubted it here. If turning* 
 from bad to good- — from a hater of religion to a lover — evi- 
 dences a regenerated heart, he certainly has one. And if a 
 long and bitter repentance is a sign of being " born again," 
 he surely has been " born again." If loving God's sanctuary, 
 constant attendance on public worship, delighting in prayer- 
 meetings, class-meetings, and love-feasts, and proclaiming 
 God's wondrous love and mercy, and the miracles of His 
 grace, and the great things God has done for his soul, — if all 
 these things are the signs of a Christian, he is certainly a 
 Christian. He is well informed in all the leading schools of 
 theology, but he is a Methodist throughout. He preaches 
 with acceptability. He being in my charge, I can safely say 
 he is a man of purest motives. 
 
 To conclude : As a man, he is respected ; as a lawyer, he is 
 honored ; as a Christian, he is beloved ; and as a preacher he 
 bids fair to accomplish much good. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 J. T. Bbowning, 
 Pastor Methodist Episcopal Church South, Beaumont, Texas. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 The various creeds and philosophies. — The mechanical phil- 
 osophy. — Nebular theory. — The Holy, Blessed, and Glorious 
 Trinity. — The creation of the heaven and earth. — Heaven 
 and where situated. — " The Spirit of God moved upon the 
 face of the waters." — "Let there be light." — The coal bed 
 theory. — Theory of the rocks. — The flood. — Third day. — 
 Fourth day. — When the morning stars sang together. — Fifth 
 day. — Sixth day. — Man created in the image of God, 13 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 Early experience. — Walton Common. — Shining host of hea- 
 ven. — Destruction of my goodness. — God's mercy. — Spirit- 
 ism and mediums,— Possession and suffering.— Grand As- 
 size.— Voice of Almighty God.— God's love.— "Sealed in 
 heaven." — "Worthy the Lamb." — Angel's visit. — The pro- 
 mise " Shall be." — Satanic possession. — The word of the 
 
 • Lord.— Blasphemies of Satan. — The Lord. — "The Lord's." 
 
 Formations of Satan.— Passage through Satan's body. — The 
 woman and her child. — Triune Majesty of heaven. — Angels' 
 flight and speed.— The Lord of Hosts (appearance of).— 
 Colors.— Angels.— Archangels.— Eaphael.—" To die," "To 
 die." — " I have borne you in My arms/' etc. — " I love him." 
 
12 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 — "The advent." — Swedenborgiariism. — Prayers answered 
 at once. — Satan punished. — " From the throne," — Vision 
 of the Almighty and adoring angels. — Heaven uncovered, 
 and hosts of the redeemed. — Call to the ministry. — God's 
 goodness to me. — Victory in Grod's justice. — Verdict. — Satan 
 the greatest of all created beings. — Formations, etc. — Reve- 
 lations from Grod.— My Redeemer. — Spiritism. — Heaven. — 
 Hell, etc., etc., 59 
 
 PART THIRD. 
 
 The satauic phenomenon called spiritism, etc. — Various the- 
 ories. — Idolatry. — Character of our Redeemer. — Who is Sa- 
 tan ? — Various theories concerning him. — What is he ? — The 
 question fully answered. — A true description by an eye- 
 witness. — Angels and archangels and the spirits of devils, 
 by an eye- witness. — Theory of the haunted house. — Spirit- 
 ism from its earliest ages up to the present time. — All its 
 phases accounted for. — Many scenes in spiritism. — Conver- 
 sations with Satan. — Extract from Adam Clark. --St. Augus- 
 tine. — Prayer of St. Augustine, etc., etc., . . 101 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 OE THE MYSTERY. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 THEORIES OF THE CREATION. 
 
 THE CREATION OF THE HEAVENS AND EARTH.— 
 
 "THE SPIKIT OF GOD MOVED UPON THE 
 
 FACE OF THE WATERS," Etc., Etc. 
 
 IT lias been observed by a learned writer, that the 
 time is perhaps nearer than we anticipate when 
 natural science and theology will unite in the con- 
 viction that the first chapter of Genesis stands alone 
 among the traditions of mankind in the wonderful 
 simplicity and grandeur of its words, and that the 
 meaning of these words is always a meaning ahead 
 of science, not because it anticipates the result of 
 science, but because it is independent of them, and 
 runs, as it were, round the outer margin of all pos- 
 sible discoveries. But again, this writer says that 
 " Christians have been .accustomed to rest on the cos- 
 mogony and prophecy of the Bible." But we are 
 now frankly told that these are valueless, and that 
 even ministers of religion more or less sacrifice their 
 sincerity in making them the basis of their teach- 
 ing; and it must be confessed that this dereliction 
 
14 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 on the part of gospel ministers, this pandering and 
 yielding to the so-called scientific world, and these 
 concessions to the so-called scientific discoveries, have 
 been the cause of more/ infidelity, more open hos- 
 tility to the Bible, and the most fruitful source of 
 the scoffer's fund, than any other; and so general has 
 this belief become, that you will find men who 
 scarcely have learned to read and write boldly to 
 tell you that the Mosaic record, as to the six literal 
 days of the creation, cannot be true, as, they say, 
 the rocks demonstrate that the world must have 
 been created millions of years ago, not willing to be- 
 lieve that those things that would have taken millions 
 of years for their accomplishment by the ordinary 
 course of nature, by the power of Omnipotence find 
 their consummation in a moment of time. 
 
 Knowing as I do that the Bible is God's Holy 
 Word, and therefore true; believing in the six literal 
 days of creation ; believing that there is but one way 
 as yet known to man by which all things might 
 have had their beginning, and that man, with all his 
 philosophy, has not been able to devise any other 
 that will stand the test of science, all theories and 
 dogmas to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 
 Believing also, as I do, that He who created the 
 molecule could as easily have spoken to eternity, and 
 a world, with its hardened crust and fiery core, 
 rounded in form, flashing in beauty, blooming, blos- 
 soming, and fruiting like a paradise, would hnvc 
 rushed into being, the fit abode of man, rejoicing in 
 its appointed way, and singing like the morning 
 star, with all that celestial host now sphered in 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 15 
 
 radiant glory throughout the vast magnificence of 
 heaven. 
 
 Regarding it as the great central truth, that "in 
 six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and all 
 that in them is," and upon which all true philosophy 
 must converge, and will for ever harmonize; * having 
 considered the importance of this subject, — the Crea- 
 tion, — both in its scientific and religious points of 
 view, yet not without considering how some might 
 think it the height of presumption on my part (one 
 unknown to the scientific world) to presume an ad- 
 dress upon a subject so vast, and upon which the 
 greatest minds, having engaged all their energies, 
 do find that, as a physical subject, it is unapproach- 
 able in its grandeur and magnitude, and too vast for 
 the finite grasp of one, and of all men; yet, never- 
 theless, I think it my duty, notwithstanding these 
 objections, to forward the truth, and still think it 
 my duty to address you upon the subject of the 
 creation (orthodox), being innocent, I trust, of any 
 vain presumption, wishing you to understand that I 
 do not sit in the* seat of the scornful, and all theories 
 not in accordance with God's Holy Word 1 reject 
 as unworthy the consideration of any man, and ut- 
 terly worthless in every point of view, both morally 
 and scientifically. Should I find an answer to any 
 of the infidel questions, though accurate in every 
 and all my premises, deductions, and inferences, I 
 do not say that this is so and so, and this must be 
 so, and this is the reason why the Almighty did so, 
 
 * First delivered for the benefit of the Episcopal Church. 
 
16 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 believing, as 1 said before, that there are many ways 
 in His infinite wisdom in which the world might 
 have had its beginning, yet there is but one way 
 in which all things had their beginning. The out- 
 line of this divine formula is given in the word of 
 God, written by His servant Moses, and contained 
 in the first and second chapters of the Book of 
 Genesis. 
 
 Being one of those who reverently investigate the 
 phenomena of nature, never looking upward and 
 asking why God made things thus and so, but with 
 the greatest reverence, seeing His wisdom and good- 
 ness in all, fully believing in the divine inspiration 
 of the Scriptures, and that in the end all will be 
 understood and consummated, and that then it will 
 be that "All Thy works shall praise Thee, O Lord, 
 and Thy saints shall bless Thee." Feeling an ab- 
 horrence to the atheistic views of the materialists 
 and the mechancial philosophies, a deep seated antag- 
 onism to the Nebular theory, which is now being 
 taken by many as the basis or standpoint in the pre- 
 sentation of all astronomical and geological data, I 
 say by many, for I find that in the school books a 
 Nebular system is advanced, in which the sun is 
 made and set in the heavens before "the world was 
 created, but whose rays could not thereafter pene- 
 trate through the mists arising from a cooling world, 
 in antagonism to the record of the fourth day's crea- 
 tion, when the sun, moon, and stars were created. 
 
 But at the same time this Christian author, kindly 
 looking towards God, the Author of all things, Chris- 
 tian like, desiring and looking forward to that day 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 17 
 
 when science and religion, reconciling their differ 
 ences, shall clasp hands in friendship, ascribing to ' 
 our great Author, and laying their united achieve- 
 ments on the altar of His love. This will be so, this 
 union had, when science, divested of all its infidel 
 tendencies, and in strict accord with God's Holy 
 Word, shall shine a science truly, and when religion 
 can look down upon it without fear of contamination. 
 While some are deploring the separation of what they 
 call science and religion, I deplore man's infidelity; 
 for science, true science, and religion, I am per- 
 suaded, will ever pleasantly dwell together in the 
 same person ; but the hypotheses that are advanced 
 contrary to God's Holy Word can never be received 
 as science by the Christian mind, and will, upon in- 
 vestigation, be found to be as baseless and as vision- 
 ary as the puerile thought that this world is built 
 and sustained upon the back of an elephant. 
 
 "A review T of the history of the sciences, the one. 
 atheistic and the other religious, it has been said, pre- 
 sent to us three distinct chronological stages. The 
 first is called a healthful separation and progress, 
 marked b} T ascertained facts and truths. The sec- 
 ond, a stage of mutual avoidance, filled with various 
 hypotheses and dogmas. The third, a stage of open 
 rupture, issuing in antagonistic speculations and 
 creeds. Science, so-called, without religion, flound- 
 ering among Nebulae and the spontaneous growth of 
 worlds out of this Nebulae, by what is termed evolu- 
 tion, by means of its own laws, from an indefinite an- 
 tiquity of Eons of ages past ; this is called the ma- 
 terialistic and Nebular system of creation ; the first 
 
18 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 formulated by Democritus, two thousand years ago, 
 whose creed, or the elements of whose system, are as 
 follows : 
 
 First, From nothing comes nothing ; nothing that 
 exists can be destroyed ; all changes are due to the 
 combination and separation of molecules. 
 
 Second, Nothing happens by chance ; every occur- 
 rence has its source from which it follows by neces- 
 sity. 
 
 Third, The only existing things are the atoms and 
 empty space ; all else is mere opinion. 
 
 Fourth, The atoms are infinite in number, and in- 
 finitely various in form; they strike together, and 
 the lateral motions which thus arise are the begin- 
 nings of worlds. 
 
 Fifth, The variety of all things depends upon the 
 variety of their atoms, in number, size and aggrega- 
 tion. 
 
 Sixth, The soul consists of tine, smooth, round 
 atoms, like those of lire ; these are the most mobile 
 of all ; they impenetrate the whole body, and in their 
 motions the phenomena of life arise. 
 
 Thus investing inanimate matter with the attri- 
 butes of motion, life, power, and intelligence ; thus 
 denying and ignoring our great Creator's agency 
 in the creation and government of all tilings, and 
 who, standing behind immensity, gives form, life, 
 power, motion, and intelligence to all, directing, 
 maintaining, and sustaining, by the word of His 
 power, the worlds, as well as the molecule. Thus 
 denying, I say, His being, and many blasphem- 
 ing His Holy Name, denying the existence of angel 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 19 
 
 and of spirit, denying the resurrection of the body to 
 ljfe, the rewards of virtue, and the punishment of vice. 
 
 Analogous to this, in some particulars, is the La- 
 place theory of a universal fire mist, condensing and 
 eddying into a central igneous body like the sun, 
 breaking into rotating rings, and cooling into spheres 
 and worlds. 
 
 On the other hand, the religious world, taking the 
 Holy Bible as true, present the dogma of immediate 
 creation, or the instantaneous starting forth of the 
 heavens and earth, and all that in them are, at the 
 fiat of our great Jehovah ; while some of the Chris- 
 tian world have conceived that the word " days," 
 mentioned in Genesis as the creative days, means 
 vast periods of time, measured by millions of years ; 
 others, again, believing in the six literal days of cre- 
 ation, have taken shelter at times from the storm of 
 so-called scientific men, who pretend that they do- 
 find in the geologic structure of the earth such data 
 as disproves the six literal days of creation. With all 
 who do not believe in the six literal days of creation 
 I beg to differ, and to present my reasons therefor. 
 
 Believing, first, that when God says that on the 
 fourth day He created the sun, moon, and stars, 
 and appointed the sun to rule the day; that they 
 were created on that day, and that that day meant 
 the time as now, between morning and evening; and 
 that the words had a retrospective application to the 
 division of time called day and night, mentioned at 
 the end of the first day's creation ; or in other words, 
 the sun and moon were made to rule the divisions 
 of time made on the first day, and called day and 
 
80 mi BBGINNING OF niK KND 
 
 night I also suggest that the words, M Lot them be 
 for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and tor, 
 ■■s." have some reference to the meaning of the 
 rd day, I also look at the Lord's repeated ad- 
 monition to the Jews to observe the Sabbath and to 
 keep it holy, declaring the punishment of death to 
 those that violated its sat Riling it a covenant, 
 
 xt Him, the Lord, and the children of 
 Israel: "tor in six days the Lord made heaven and 
 earth, and on the seventh day lie rested, and was 
 df and also in the fourth commandment, 
 tching and commanding them to keep it holy for 
 the sar. - that in six days the Lord 
 
 made heaven and earth. . md all that in them 
 
 sled the seventh day, wlu the Lord 
 
 blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it." Which 
 words I do interpret to mean, that when God says 
 He :he heavens ami i.and all things 
 
 therein, in six rs, He. in effect, says that He 
 .toil all things contained in heaven and earth, 
 heaven ami earth also, within those six days; 
 and thus we find r. strei gth in the rendition that 
 "in the beginning" means once npon a time. Or at 
 the beginning of the time. Relieving also that I do 
 - Jieitude on the part of our Creator, that 
 Id believe in His holy sabbaths, and in the 
 \ literal nd whilst I thus be- 
 
 D, I do reverently pause to consid* hen 
 
 looking upon the heavens, and its immensity, the 
 
 lis hands. 1 do admire: when He ri 
 the world with tempest 1 do tremble; so when my 
 - I do reverentially listen, and when 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 21 
 
 He commands, I trust I do obey. You will join 
 witii me, my friends, in saying, whatever may be your 
 religious belief, that when the Almighty speaks it is 
 proper for man to attend. 
 
 Some time in the year 1874, Professor Tyndal, 
 who is claimed to be a great light in science, a great 
 meteor indeed upon the horizon of intellectuality, in 
 what is called his Belfast address, after wandering 
 through the mazes of materialism, or such parts as 
 suited his judgment, presents the following as his 
 conclusion, and as a confession of his faith. He 
 says: "Abandoning all disguise, the confession I 
 feel bound to make before you is, that I prolong the 
 vision backward across the boundary of experiential 
 evidence, and discern in that matter, which we in 
 our ignorance, and notwithstanding our professed 
 reverence for its Creator, have hitherto covered with 
 opprobrium, the promise and potency of every form 
 and quality of life;" and again, showing what are or 
 may be his opinions, propounds the following ques- 
 tions: "Did Kant, Laplace, and William Herschel, 
 quit their legitimate spheres when they prolonged 
 the intellectual vision beyond the boundary of ex- 
 perience and propounded the Nebular theory P 
 
 Before we consider this last question, let us re- 
 turn to the "promise and potency to give form and 
 quality to life, to be found in matter," in which I beg 
 leave to borrow the words and wisdom of others. 
 
 " What am I then, and from whence? I nothing know. 
 But that I am, and therefore do conclude that some one eternal 
 must be ; 
 
 Or else from whence, from shapelessncss, these forms so 
 glorious ? 
 
22 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 From repose, profound, these boundless flights ? 
 Has matter done it all ? Has matter judgment and genius ? 
 Is it deeply learned in mathematics, and framed such laws 
 As Milton, merely to guess at, made immortal ? 
 If so, how each atom now at me laughs, 
 Who thinks a man superior to a clod ; 
 What art to frame, what council to conduct, 
 With greater far than human skill ;" 
 "But if this be so, then whence this paradox, 
 That I, its crowning glory, feel such limitations? 
 Why I so finite and so feeble, while it so great ? 
 Is a part greater than the whole? is each 
 Separate atom of my body greater by itself 
 Than when in union blended ? If this be so, then what con- 
 tradiction, 
 What sport, what jest to make me. 
 And if thus, then, 
 
 Let her who is the beginning and womb of all, 
 Great nature, take and forcing wide apart 
 Those blind beginnings that have made me man ; 
 Dash them anew together, at her will, 
 Through all her cycles." 
 
 Whilst some are looking into the inferior types of 
 animal life, some to the egg, the molecule, the ap- 
 petences, the internal moulds, and into the entombed 
 dynasties of the past for the origin of human life; 
 some tracing and unfolding human speech into its 
 elementary phonetic and rudimentary types, as it 
 were, ere civilization had begun, and whilst in the 
 philosophy of some there is but one continued cosmic 
 growth, from nebula to planet, and from planet to 
 nebula, from cosmos to chaos, and from chaos to 
 cosmos, we can all agree that, " let science do her 
 utmost, let her climb step by step the rounds of the 
 ladder of knowledge, there is still one step higher to 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 23 
 
 which she has not yet attained — the great First 
 Cause has not jet been reached'';" "and let science, 
 if she can, resolve the whole course of nature into 
 one continuous process of correlative forces" — their 
 investiture is from on high — content am I to know 
 that there is a world not so far away as some have 
 supposed, as real and substantial, more beauteous, 
 richly diversified and adorned, possessing principali- 
 ties, thrones, and dominions, having seas, rivers, and 
 cities, with millions of happy living beings, not sub- 
 ject to the laws that govern this universe, and into 
 which the philosophy of man has never entered, and 
 that the true philosophy will ultimately blend and 
 unite science and religion, and in all and through 
 all will be seen, felt, and ultimately understood 
 the sure presence, work, and logic of one Almighty 
 Mind ever running through the whole creation, 
 ever flushing with life all living creatures; and 
 should it not be an idle dream, but find its reali- 
 zation in the future, that science may ultimately 
 carry its torch to the very verge of the knowable, 
 until it be quenched in the great sea of the unknow- 
 able, and science has no more light to shed ; thought 
 then poised on the wings of knowledge that science 
 has afforded, God acknowledged in all, philosophy 
 by religion led, now on the verge of time, now 
 bordering on eternity, now piercing that spiritual 
 realm beyond that faith has peopled, by God's love 
 redeemed, ever back from its echoing shores the glad 
 answer is returned, the vast ocean of knowledge, the 
 vast ocean of love is beyond. 
 
 The Christian believes in the creation as revealed 
 
24 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 in holy Scripture ; others believe in the atomic the- 
 ories, and the evolution of worlds therefrom; some 
 believe that, through the refinement of man's intel- 
 lectual nature, man may ultimately penetrate the 
 veil and commune with our Maker ; some believe in 
 a continued and ascending line of creation from man 
 to the powers and principalities, to the angel and the 
 archangel and the grand hierarchies of heaven, from 
 earth to heaven, and from heaven to the heaven of 
 heavens, and onward to the throne of our great and 
 glorious Lord God. 
 
 While others again are denying the Being of God, 
 some acknowledging Him, but denying our Re- 
 deemer and His Divine nature, and so*me His per- 
 sonality, some denying the being and personality of 
 the Holy Spirit, grateful am I to know (eschewing 
 the word " belief" from my vocabulary,) that there 
 is a Holy Spirit, distinct in His personality from the 
 Father Almighty and the Son — a beloved Saviour, 
 distinct in His personality from the Father and the 
 Holy Spirit — and that, distinct in His personality, 
 there is one whom we call God the Father Almighty, 
 undefinable, incomprehensible, eternal, and unap- 
 proachable, who only hath immortality dwelling in 
 the light, whom, says the apostle, no man hath seen 
 nor can see, and upon whom, it is believed, no cre- 
 ated eye of man or angel could ever look, until He 
 shall so subdue the unendurable majesty of His pre- 
 sence that man may penetrate the glory to the blest 
 abode. 
 
 This was so at the time of the apostle Paul, and 
 so continued until the time of the apostle St. John, 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 25 
 
 who saw the great white throne and Him who sat 
 thereon ; and then again, until the phenomena to 
 which I have referred, when the mystery of God was 
 fulfilled, and God again spake to man, and I beheld 
 Him in His goodness, in His majesty, in His beanty, 
 in His love, and in His loveliness. 
 
 Oh! Thou beloved Being! Author of my life ! 
 Lover of my soul ! Father of my dear Lord and my 
 Redeemer ! Thou tender Parent of all ; Source of 
 all goodness ; I should indeed do violence to my feel- 
 ings did I not 'pause to bless Thee. To bless Thee, 
 O ! my great and beloved Creator. To bless Thee, 
 O ! Thou loved Saviour and Redeemer of the world. 
 To bless Thee, O ! Thou sweet and Holy Spirit. 
 To bless Thee, O ! Thou great and glorious Trinity ; 
 man's great, man's exceeding great reward to all 
 who love Thee, and who has taught us to glory, not 
 in our wisdom, not in our might, not in our riches, 
 but to glory in that he, man, understandest and 
 knowest that Thou art the Lord, who exercises lov- 
 ing kindness, judgment and righteousness in the 
 earth, for in those things Thou dost delight. I do 
 bless Thee, O Lord, that I have thus known Thee. 
 O ! that I had sweeter words wherewith to bless 
 Thee. Blessed be Thy holy name for ever. 
 
 We will now return to the question, did Kant, 
 Laplace, and William Herschel quit their legitimate 
 spheres when they prolonged the intellectual vision 
 beyond the boundary of experience, and propounded 
 the Nebular theory ? and without answering the 
 question, will proceed to consider the Nebular theory, 
 which has for its basis the presupposition of a crea- 
 
2b THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 tion, or a pre-existence of a vast nebula of matte: [ 
 in a highly heated gaseous state, filling the entire 
 solar system ; this being put in a rotary motion, 
 seeking a centre; by what means we cannot tell, nor 
 in what manner it overcame its inertia, we arc not 
 informed. As this motion increased, the centrifugal 
 force overcame at the exterior the attraction of 
 gravitation, and so cast off a ring into space; cen- 
 turies elapsed, and another ring was cast off. etc., 
 all revolving in the same plane, and in the same 
 direction. Thus our earth, and all the planets, were 
 cast off from the parent Nebula, thus presenting you 
 with a system opposed to Divine revelation, and 
 which, with all other material systems, they say is 
 doomed to decay by the radiation of its heat; that 
 the time cometh " when the earth, cold as an icicle, 
 will flutter on its axis, a dying world, ever turning 
 ito pale face to the sun ; that the moon is but a 
 charred cinder of the earth; the earth but a dying 
 ember of the sun; the sun but a fragment of the 
 stars; the stars but dying suns, doomed with all their 
 galaxies to pale and to wane, in universal night and 
 death." 
 
 We will now consider the Nebular theory in a 
 scientific point of view. The former being its pre- 
 mises, we will carry its deductions a little further 
 and see where they lead : 
 
 When a boy, I remember seeing a small apparatus 
 designed to show the indentation of the poles of the 
 earth, and the reasons for the same. This apparatus 
 consisted of two upright pillars, in which was placed 
 a small hardened ball of ivory or brass, being made 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 27 
 
 to fit nicely so as not to touch the sides ; a needle 
 passed through the centre of this ball, the place of 
 entrance and the opposite side representing the axis 
 of the earth. It was observed that when this ball 
 was put in rapid motion, it so cast its volume for- 
 ward that where the ball fitted nicely against the 
 pillars you could have inserted a good thick knife ; 
 by this means it is supposed that the earth is in- 
 dented at the poles, and the circumference is in- 
 creased twenty-three or more miles. This is what 
 takes place in a hardened body. We will now take 
 up one of these concentric rings cast off from the 
 parent nebula of the Laplace theory, and set it in 
 motion, or rather continue it in its motion, and see 
 what becomes of it, as it is in a gaseous condition ; 
 and thus we see, by reference to the problem ex- 
 plained by the apparatus, it being in a gaseous con- 
 dition, and set in rapid motion like the earth, like 
 the water on the grindstone when in rapid motion, 
 it will so cast its volume forward, will so waste or 
 lose itself in space, or, adhering to itself, it will, in- 
 stead of being a rounded body, be as flat as a beaten 
 dollar. So, then, demurring to the evidence of the 
 Laplace theory, it being opposed to Holy Writ, no 
 moving power to disturb its inertia, no centre known 
 to which it was tending, its legitimate deductions 
 destructive of its premises, and which emphatically 
 destroys its premises, we now ask, without the fear 
 of an answer or of a derisive smile, Where is its 
 philosophic life, its beating pulse, or throbbing fibre ? 
 And whilst we do show whither its deductions lead, 
 let us see if it does not aid us in the solution of the 
 
28 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 question, Why was not the sun created until the 
 fourth day ? I answer, Because it was needful that 
 the earth should be cooled and its outside hardened 
 before it began its course, or the like results would 
 have happened as in the Laplace theory ; and I mean 
 further, that a body in a gaseous state, or any other 
 state, being put in rapid motion, by the laws of na- 
 ture, can never acquire a rounded form through all 
 eternity of time. And this we may say is, perhaps, 
 one of the reasons, or the reason, why the sun was 
 not created until the fourth day, and the necessity 
 for the same ; but it being created, the earth rolled 
 on, and still continues to roll, and will continue to 
 roll, we are assured, until that day when it shall flee 
 away from the face of Him who sitteth upon the 
 great white throne. To the consideration of this 
 glorious Person — first Person of the ever blessed and 
 glorious Trinity — we now come. 
 
 God the Father Almighty. 
 That there is a Supreme Being, most all people 
 and all nations do agree, and that as to His attri- 
 butes, from the harmony of all things in nature, 
 they do gather that He is good, 4ill-wise and all- 
 powerful, — a Being of infinite perfections. But it is 
 from His Holy Word, the gift of His love to man, 
 and in the description of Himself, we do find the 
 most satisfactory evidence of His goodness. Thus 
 the Lord proclaims, " The Lord God, merciful and 
 gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and 
 truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving in- 
 iquity, transgression and sin, and who will by no 
 
Or THE MYSTEKY. 29 
 
 means clear the guilty." Thus a Being infinitely 
 wise, infinitely good, and strictly just, superlative in 
 all His attributes, who rather than that ail men in His 
 justice should die for their sins, gave up the Jewel 
 of His house, His beloved Son, to die for us, so that 
 by His, the Saviour's, death we might be saved to 
 life for ever. 
 
 The Saviour. 
 The Saviour, the second Person of the ever blessed 
 and Holy Trinity, the great Redeemer of man, 
 superlative alike with the Father in all His at- 
 tributes, Almighty, infinitely wise, infinitely good, 
 and strictly just. Being in the brightness of His 
 Father's glory, and the express image of His person ; 
 who at the appointed time offered up Himself for 
 our sins, and died upon the cross; who being reviled, 
 reviled not again ; blessing little children and declar- 
 ing their general salvation ; weeping pathetically over 
 Jerusalem, and compassionately at the grave of 
 Lazarus; stopping in the midst of His dying agonies 
 upon the cross to pardon the dying thief, one of the 
 revilers of His life and sufferings; sweet to con- 
 template, the idol of every Christian heart, before 
 whose loving presence even mercy must blushing 
 hide her coronelled brow, and retiring tell, thy 
 Saviour's love is there. 
 
 The Holy Ghost. 
 The Holy Spirit, the third Person in the ever 
 blessed and Holy Trinity, Almighty, infinitely good, 
 infinitely wise, and strictly just, superlative in all 
 His perfections, purifier of the human affections, 
 sanctifier of the human soul; whose offers we are 
 
30 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 admonished to receive, and His Holy Spirit not to 
 grieve. 
 
 The Holy, Blessed and Glorious Trinity. 
 
 Superlative alike in their attributes, each Al- 
 mighty, all-wise, ever-present, abundant in mercy, 
 strictly just,, and ever agreeing in all things, and 
 ever moving to the same consideration; and in this, 
 and in the semblance of their attributes, consist their 
 unity. Such is my faith. 
 
 We proceed, reverentially quoting the first words 
 of our beloved Creator's Holy Word (the Bible), 
 His will and testament to man, the Christian's love, 
 the Christian's faith, and wherein are found His 
 hopes and fears, how He was lost, how He is saved, 
 and blessed through all eternity. 
 
 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and 
 the earth." Most all commentators and philologists 
 agree, that the Divine name Elohim, in the original 
 Hebrew, is in the plural number, some say that this 
 is because of the unity of the blessed Trinity; others 
 say it is because the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
 were all present and active agents in the creation; 
 others say it is to give emphasis to the Divine name, 
 our Great Jehovah, Sovereign Lord of all. Accepting 
 the first, while admiring the others, I proceed: It 
 having from all eternity been decreed that the world 
 should be created at the appointed time, and which 
 time now arrived, and which time, according to 
 Archbishop Usher's chronology, and which received 
 the sanction of the British Parliament, happened on 
 the 25th day of October 4004 years B. C— 5S86 years 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 31 
 
 ago, ending on the 24th day of October, 1882. At 
 this time we may imagine Infinite Wisdom to In- 
 finite Wisdom speaks: "The time lias arrived for 
 the creation of the heaven and the earth, and all 
 things in their order." "The time has arrived! the 
 the time has arrived ! " was the unity of the 
 response. "Let it be done! le.t it be done! let it be 
 done!" the Triune will; and forthwith our great Re- 
 deemer, the beloved of heaven, in His Father's love, 
 and by His Father's will directed, and in all their 
 wills united, of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, our 
 great Redeemer the acting agent of the Almighty in 
 the creation of all things, by whom St. Paul says, 
 He, the Father, made the worlds; and again, "By 
 Hi in were all things created that are in heaven and 
 that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they 
 be thrones, dominions, principalities or powers; all 
 things were made by Him, and for Him; and He is 
 before all things, and by Him all things consist;" and 
 St. John says, "by whom all things were made, and 
 without Him was not anything made that was made." 
 Now by the power of His word, now speaks into 
 existence out of nothing, and from nothing having 
 substance, sign, form, or shadow, heaven and the 
 elements of which the earth is composed, or which, 
 perhaps, are now upon its surface, water included, 
 except the additional waters -occasioned by the flood, 
 which were rained upon the earth when the windows 
 of heaven were opened, and all life was destroyed 
 from off the earth, except those saved in the ark ; 
 heaven being created entire, that is, as the particles 
 were created they entered at once into the forma- 
 
32 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 tion of its cities, etc. ; not like the earth, its particles, 
 atoms and elements being in chaos laid, the earth 
 being without form and void ; but heaven was com- 
 plete in all its parts, its cities, or its city, with its 
 twelve foundations movable, its mansions not made 
 with hands, etc., its rivers, its seas, its divisions of first, 
 second, and third heavens, and the heaven of heavens, 
 wherein is the great white throne, and wherein are 
 interspersed in great profusion, loveliness and mar- 
 vellous beauty, all things to the glory of God, and 
 for the happiness of His people the redeemed of 
 earth, as eye hath not seen, as ear hath not heard, 
 neither has it entered into the heart of man to con- 
 ceive. This heaven is called, in contradistinction to 
 the great white throne, the throne of God, and 
 wherein He doth manifest His greatest glory to His 
 saints and angels. This heaven, as I have reason to 
 believe, is situated in what we call space, its man- 
 sions, its rivers, and the great white throne, not 
 having foundations like the structures of earth, 
 built upon other foundations, but being centred and 
 sustained in space; hence St. John speaks of the 
 New Jerusalem coming down as a "bride adorned," 
 and the coming of the great white-throne in the day 
 of judgment. As .to its locality, I have, also my 
 reasons for believing that it is situated not so far 
 away as some have supposed, but is only separated 
 from earth by the space that intervenes between us 
 and that which is called the firmament ; and this firm- 
 ament itself, which was created on the second day, and 
 added to the heaven of the first day's creation, and 
 called heaven also, and is but the arch that spans 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 33 
 
 the orbit of the earth around the sun, whilst all, 
 perhaps, beyond is heaven, except Abaddon's realm ; 
 this firmament being a substantial structure, or 
 chamber created at the separation of the waters that 
 are and were, as I believe, above where the firma- 
 ment now is, and is not the vapor, as some have in- 
 terpreted it, that floats in the expanse above, but I 
 mean that the waters that flow through heaven, and 
 whereof the Psalmist says (Psalm 148) : " Praise ye 
 the Lord, praise ye Him ye heaven of heavens, and 
 ye waters that be above the heavens,'' were before 
 the separation on the second day united with the 
 waters of earth, the earth being pendant in space, 
 and near unto where the firmament now is, and 
 afterward shot off into its orbit by the repellant force 
 of the sun created on the fourth day, the earth then 
 being created in space, perhaps, a million or more 
 of miles from where it now is, and, as I believe, 
 nearer the firmament above, and that before the 
 creation of this firmament, and the separation of the 
 waters, the waters of earth and the waters of heaven 
 were united, and flowed on together, the earth at 
 that time being motionless, no sun or other body 
 being created that had attracting or repelling powers; 
 and the earth's own attracting and repelling powers 
 reaching out in all directions alike, nothing as yet 
 had disturbed its inertia or repose, nor was that 
 inertia ever disturbed until the earth had received 
 its rounded form, and the waters had cooled its out- 
 side shell, which enabled and has enabled it to re- 
 tain its entirety whilst rolling around the sun at the 
 rate of nearly nineteen miles per second ; hence we 
 
34 THE BEGINNING TO THE END 
 
 may see in this one of the reasons why the sun, w ; .th 
 its attracting and repelling powers, was not created 
 until the fourth day. 
 
 We now come to that state of the earth after its 
 atoms and elements had been created, according to 
 some, in an aqueous condition, in which the waters 
 and the earth were commingled ; according to others, 
 one boiling, fiery mass ; may be that both these con- 
 ditions existed at different places, and both existed 
 everywhere upon the earth's surface at nearly the 
 same time; for we must remember that this condition 
 may not have existed comparatively but a moment, 
 and the chimes of time were being measured by 
 Omnipotence ; that it was a fiery ma?s there can be 
 no doubt, both from its necessity and from the evi- 
 dence we have in its internal heat, shown in the vol- 
 canoes, earthquakes, geysers, and the heat of mines 
 increasing the deeper we descend ; that it was a boil- 
 ing fiery mass we believe; and by our knowledge ot 
 what is the consequence when water is turned upon 
 such a fiery mass, that this condition continued long 
 we cannot believe, from this and from the quantity 
 of water that then submerged the whole earth. This 
 then was the condition when the earth was without 
 form and void, and darkness was upon the face of 
 the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the 
 face of the waters. 
 
 Some commentators say that what is meant by the 
 words, " And the Spirit of God moved upon the face 
 of the waters/' is a violent wind ; others, elementary 
 fire ; others, the sun penetrating and drying up the 
 earth; others, angels, agents in the creation ; and 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 35 
 
 others, the occult principle, the amma mundi ; and 
 others, the magnetic attraction, by which all things 
 are attracted towards a common centre ; some say 
 it is the Holy Spirit, — " moved," the original word, 
 meaning to brood, and is used to illustrate the trem- 
 ulous motion of a parent bird over her eggs, or in 
 fostering her young ; its meaning, they say, is the 
 giving or imparting a vital or prolific vital principle 
 to the waters. 
 
 My belief that what is meant here is, that it was 
 the Spirit of God, the Almighty power, the Holy 
 Spirit, visiting the earth at intervals, in different 
 places, regulating, forming, and kneading the earth 
 iuto its rounded form, ere the waters had cooled, 
 and hardened its crust. 
 
 I am aware that there is a scientific thought that 
 the world received its rounded form the same as the 
 tear from the eye, or the dewdrop on the bush, by 
 the attraction of gravitation ; but we must remem- 
 ber that at this time there was not another particle 
 of created matter in the universe having attracting 
 and repelling power, heaven being governed by a 
 different power, and the earth's own attracting and 
 repelling powers were reaching out in all directions 
 alike, so that with regard to the earth there is no 
 place on which to bestow the scientific thought. 
 
 Let us contemplate the scene for a moment when 
 darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the 
 Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 
 The darkness was absolute, for as yet "no beam had 
 shot athwart the gloom," nor life of light created ; 
 the deep one vast boiling, shoreless ocean, covering 
 
36 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 the entire earth, lashed by continual tempest ; ter- 
 rific now is the contest for supremacy between the 
 surging flames and the watery flood ; red gleams the 
 fire from the yawning chasms and the molten islands; 
 tempestuous flash the elements, making their escape 
 from the bestowed and rounding earth, now meeting 
 with their affinities, or repelled by their repellants; 
 incessant flash the lightnings, while the thunders, 
 echoing and re-echoing, peal upon peal the entire 
 earth around. Omnipotence was indeed abroad in 
 creative majesty, and " the furrows and valleys must 
 deepen, and the mountains must rise." For now, 
 anticipating all forms, all motion, all life, and all 
 conditions, Omnipotence had so ordained that the 
 invisible things of Him from the creation of the 
 world should be clearly seen, being understood by 
 the things that are made, even His eternal power 
 and Godhead ; now unfolding Himself to the coming 
 generations; now preparing all tilings for His intel- 
 ligent beings yet unborn, fixing systems upon sys- 
 tems, of worlds upon worlds, that shall flame, that 
 shall flash in fixed orbits, clothed in form and fashion 
 beauteous, the delight of intelligence. His intelli- 
 gent beings beholding these things, comprehending 
 nature's divine order of law upon law, contrivance 
 upon contrivance, design upon design, founded in 
 infinite wisdom, designed in infinite goodness, accom- 
 plished by infinite power, fixed by continued neces- 
 sity from absolute requirements; these, and the 
 amazing adaptation of all things to all things, all 
 things to nature, nature to nature, a supervening 
 and pervading good again uniting in one harmoni- 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 
 
 37 
 
 ous chain, all things to the loving hand of a Dviine 
 Creator, now radiating upon the universe, and 
 through the infinite depths of infinite space His in- 
 effable glory through all His existence. His intelli- 
 gent beings, I say, beholding these things, examin- 
 ing themselves, contemplating their own forms and 
 attributes and His goodness thus displayed, viewing 
 the fruits of the earth in their season, considering 
 the lilies of the field in their gorgeous attire with 
 rapturous emotion and with glowing affection ; thus 
 reviewing His perfection, shall trace His power, 
 shall see His wisdom, shall delight in His order, and 
 shall revel in His glory. 
 
 Oh, then, ye clouds that onward sweep. 
 
 Yd winds, on pinions light; 
 Ye thunders, echoing loud and deep, 
 
 Ye lightnings, wildly bright 5 
 Ye floods and ocean billows, 
 
 Ye storms and winter snows • 
 Ye days of cloudless beauty, frost and summer glow, 
 
 Ye planets, beaming on your heavenly way, 
 Ye shining constellations, join with us and say, 
 
 Ye angel choir on high, echo, yea, re-echo through the sky, 
 To God, who all creation made, 
 
 The frequent hymn be duly paid. 
 
 It was at this time that the Archean rocks were 
 formed, and which those geologists who diner with 
 those who believe in the six literal days of creation, 
 and are either those that believe in the six epochs 
 called the ineffable days, the births or pauses of the 
 Almighty Power, the boundaries of periods in the 
 vast evolution of worlds, these epochs or periods be- 
 2 
 
38 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 ing millions of years, according to their fancy, or are 
 those who disregard the Divine revelation, and 
 try, as many do., to find, as has been said, to extract 
 a register from the rock that shall contradict the 
 Mosaic record ; both these classes having left their 
 charter (the holy Bible), some beginning at the 
 top, others at the bottom of the rocks, declare to 
 you, in the most self-sufficient manner, that it must 
 have taken millions of years as the proper time for 
 their formation. These formations have their layers 
 at right angles with the centre of the earth ; that is, 
 their layers are vertical. Whilst, concerning the 
 other superincumbent rocks, whose strata are either 
 horizontal, anticlinal, or synclinal, they form various 
 notions and conjectures ; while their theory, with 
 regard to the coal beds and their formation, and 
 bituminization of coal, is most inconsistent, absurd, 
 and incapable of reconciliation, their premises re- 
 futing their deductions, and vice versa. 
 
 The earth being intended for the abode and hap- 
 piness of man, plains and valleys were necessary for 
 the tiller of the soil, while the mountains, most use- 
 ful otherwise, added to the diversity and beauty of 
 its surface ; hence the kneading during the cooling 
 and rounding period; and although Omnipotence 
 could have clasped its entire circumference, rounded 
 its form, and extinguished its fires in a moment, 
 yet all things were to be done in a more natural 
 manner; and while this forming and cooling pro- 
 cess was going on some portions of the earth was 
 settling and cooling into the various soils for the use 
 of man, and which diversify its surface; at other 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 39 
 
 places, great upheavals, caused by the pent-up gases 
 balow; at these upheavals the contents, being cast up 
 into the water that then covered the earth, became 
 hardened, some into rocks, and some settled into the 
 form of the various soils, the valleys and mountains 
 cooling at the same time ; at other places the gas 
 beneath was forcing its way up perpendicular to the 
 centre of the earth. As the gas made its vents 
 or floes through the liquid fiery mass, the air or 
 water rushed in, and hardened the walls of these 
 apertures, and in this way was formed the layers of 
 the Archean rocks ; some portions, also, of the boil- 
 ing mass being cast up like bubbles on boiling mo- 
 lasses, and settling down in horizontal folds, and be- 
 ing caught by the water before it could reunite or 
 settle back, became hardened by the air or water ; 
 and thus was formed the horizontal layers of the 
 primary rocks — and thus arose the phenomena as at 
 Montmorency. 
 
 The waters also having now obtained the supre- 
 macy in the conflict with the surging flames, by 
 forming a hardened crust on the surface of the earth, 
 the tumultuous waters now ceased their commotion, 
 and the screaming hurricane was hushed above, the 
 crested waves settled into pacific swells, and the 
 sediment held on the bosom of the troubled w r aters 
 settled horizontally, the heaviest first, fold upon fold, 
 upon the primary beds, and now hardening, during 
 convulsive throes, into rocks; and in this manner, 
 and by the receding waters of the third day, when 
 they, hissing and seething, fled to their appointed 
 places at the command of Him whom all things must 
 
40 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 obey ; and by the 'receding waters of the flood was 
 formed the horizontal, anticlinal, and synclinal strata, 
 and the apparent recession at Niagara ; so that, in- 
 stead of its taking millions or even thousands of 
 years as the proper time for these formations, it was 
 of necessity but the work of a few hours. I say, of 
 necessity ; I make this observation with reference to 
 the well-known observable action of water when poured 
 on heated matter, and to the necessity of the shell of 
 the earth being hardened before put in motion. 
 
 I proceed now to the consideration of the coal 
 beds, and to what is called the bituminization of 
 coal, which is, they say, the process by which vege- 
 table matter, being secured with moisture and ex- 
 cluded from air, so that its more volatile principles 
 are prevented from escape, pass by chemical changes 
 into coal, and in these coal beds, formed from the 
 growth of vegetable matter, they say they do find 
 fossal remains, which indicate that, away back ages 
 upon ages ago, ere the mountains above them were 
 formed or began to form, mankind had been created 
 and found his habitation upon the earth. I am in- 
 formed by a friend, who tells me that he worked a 
 coal mine, that evidences of the same vein of coal, 
 running under and through the mountain, are to.be 
 found a distance of two hundred miles; that this 
 coal mine, or strata, is pure to the deptli of some 
 three feet; the rest is impure, coal mixed with other 
 matter; the whole mine, pure and impure, being 
 some eleven feet in thickness. We will examine by 
 the light that they give us of the required conditions, 
 viz: exclusion from air, required moisture, retention 
 
OF r JJHE MYSTERY. 4l 
 
 of its volatile principles, and when it was or could 
 have been, that the sterile rocks upon which these 
 coal beds are found could have produced such abun- 
 dant vegetation; and surely if there is no broken 
 link in the great vein to which I refer, then by ne- 
 cessity to support their theory it must have been one 
 great tree, one vast monarch, two hundred miles in 
 diameter, disproportionate in height ; there being 
 n>o break in the vein, it must have been one, or the 
 trees have grown so near, together that when fallen 
 they formed but one mass, which, being consolidated, 
 make eleven feet of coal, requiring fifty feet of solid 
 vegetable matter — five feet of vegetable to make one 
 foot of coal. 
 
 When this event must have happened, by their 
 theory they cannot tell, their theory being opposed 
 to their deductions; for they say that if the deposit 
 of vegetable matter is not excluded from air, and 
 moisture found, it loses the volatile principles and 
 becomes a pulverulent, blackened mass of earthy 
 matter ; therefore, to support their theory, it must 
 have been that the great tree or great forest must, 
 by some great cataclysm, have fallen, and been 
 submerged as soon as fallen ; for it must have 
 been all at once to be one vein and all of one 
 growth, because it cannot be permitted in this dis- 
 cussion for truth to allow any of the trees that 
 formed the coal vein to remain uncovered upon the 
 earth, for then, instead of coal, it would only have 
 returned to a kind of black fertilizing soil ; and, be- 
 sides, forests do iiot grow on naked coal beds ; and 
 thus we see that the evidence does not support their 
 
4:2 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 theory, and the legitimate deductions are destructive 
 of their hypothesis. Geologists, to support their 
 theory, and to give origin to their data of time and 
 event, suppose that some great upheaval of the earth 
 occurred, by which vast rocks have been displaced, 
 and removed many miles from their original beds. 
 Can it be supposed that the earth, plunging through 
 space at the rate of over eighteen miles per second, 
 met with some obstruction, and suddenly recoiling 
 itself upon itself, sent the rocks reeling one after the 
 other upon its surface ; or that the other part of the 
 earth, having received instant and accelerated mo- 
 tion, rolled itself upon itself, and caused the same 
 phenomena; or that some great upheaval, or mighty 
 convulsion in its centre, may have produced the 
 same result ; it' so, the evidence is lost, as the earth 
 is rounded still, and no evidence of such a phenom- 
 enon exists. 
 
 For the purpose of explaining some of this phe- 
 nomena, we will make a witness of one of these 
 rocks or rocky shafts, cast out of the fiery mass be- 
 low, by propounding a question or two. 
 
 Testimony of the Rocks. 
 
 Quest. From whence comeet thou, Mr. -Rocks? 
 
 Ans. When my thoughts first dawned upon my 
 first stage of existence, and I found myself, that is, 
 the substance of which my body is now composed, 
 and the members also that I lost during the great 
 trouble, I was a fiery mass, associated with the fiery 
 mass below, but being east out from my associations 
 below by the explosive throes of the pent up gases 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 43 
 
 lower still, I found myself immersed in water, and 
 before I could return to my former state, the water 
 had so cooled and hardened my body that I could 
 not return, but found myself transfixed in this form 
 and condition, except the change occasioned by the 
 loss of my members, and the wounds of my body that 
 I received during the great trouble to which I refer. 
 Water, they say, in cold climates, when. thrown in the 
 air hardens in the same manner as my body did. 
 
 Quest. I wish you to tell me, Mr. Rock, all you 
 know concerning yourself, when these troublesome 
 times were, to which you refer, and you will, I trust, 
 in all things speak the truth ? 
 
 Ans. Oh! yes; I never told an untruth in my 
 life; and though some may have taken advantage of 
 my silence and interpreted my testimony wrongly, 
 it was not my fault; my very countenance will tell 
 you that I have told the. truth concerning my birth. 
 The troubles to which I refer are, first, w T hen, the 
 next day after my transformation in the water, 
 which I spoke of, God caused the waters to be 
 gathered together and the dry land to appear, and 
 it was so. Ah ! there was trouble and hurrying 
 then, I assure you. Many of the rocks that had been 
 cast out, as I had, went rolling by in great haste, 
 some striking against me and breaking off my limbs 
 and cutting into my body,*and by which they re- 
 ceived many wounds themselves. There was indeed 
 great trouble, for the waters fled as though af- 
 frighted, — roaring, foaming, a id hissing by as 
 though in terrible dismay. Some of the people that 
 came to visit me are called Christians, and have a 
 
44 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 book with them that they call the Holy Bible, or 
 the Word of God. I love these Christians, they are 
 such kind truthful people, and sometimes when no 
 one else is near, they kneel and pray to God, and 
 thank Him for that book. (It was here that the 
 lightning of Divine love fell.) I believe this book 
 too, because it was many hundred years after the 
 second great trouble before I ever heard of tins 
 book, and when I did hear it read, it spoke so truth- 
 fully of tilings that had happened in my own ex- 
 perience, that I could not believe that it was the 
 word of mere man. It speaks of man being upon 
 the earth, and giants in those days, which I recollect. 
 It also speaks of what they call the flood or deluge, 
 when the fountains of the great deep were broken 
 up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and it 
 rained upon the earth, and the great mountains were 
 covered, which, some say, are over five miles high, 
 and all men and all life were destroyed from off the 
 earth. I recollect this also. Ah! there was trouble 
 again. Then, too, I remember the great wind that 
 they say God caused to blow, and by which the 
 waters were caused to subside. Oh ! how it screamed, 
 and howled, and hissed, over my head, and how the 
 rocks, and trees, and dead bodies rushed by me, the 
 rocks wounding me again and again, and they being 
 wounded also. These rocks arc called erratic rocks, 
 and show their wounds still! Thus my very ex- 
 istence bein^ in danger, thus the face of the earth 
 was changed; and where you see yon mountains 
 now, there used to be a small hill ; but great bodies 
 of timber, driven by the wind and waves, riding one 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 
 
 45 
 
 upon another, and the mass being caught and held 
 there by the hill, it increased in size and bulk, and 
 being covered with dirt, mud, and rocks, washings 
 of the mountains, and deepening of the valleys, 
 caused by the rushing waters, so that when the 
 waters subsided, there were large mountains; and 
 where the trees were gathered together, and 
 covered with dirt, etc., coal is now to be found. 
 The dirt and mud have hardened, some of it, per- 
 haps, into rocks. And this is the way, I believe, in 
 which the coal beds were formed, in the subsidence 
 of the waters of the flood, caused by the waters of 
 heaven being rained upon the earth, not the rain 
 caused by evaporation and descending again upon 
 the earth, but that the windows of heaven were 
 opened, and the waters that were above the firma- 
 ment, which I mentioned before, were rained upon 
 the earth, and the great oceans again rolled from 
 their beds in great waves, and thus the foundations 
 of the great deep were then broken up, and by which 
 all the phenomena attributed to upheavals were 
 caused, and by which, perhaps, the earth became so 
 much cooled that the northern and southern parts 
 could no longer sustain the life of the now tropical 
 beasts, the remains of which are now found buried 
 beneath its snows, and by the great weight of its 
 waters and the cooling of the earth, the earth was 
 driven out of its original orbit, never again to find 
 it for ever. 
 
 I now return to the text — "And the Spirit of God 
 moved upon the face of the waters " — and should I 
 have been in error in my conclusions as to what I 
 
46 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 have said concerning the' visitation of the Almighty 
 Power, and should the clause properly belong to the 
 succeeding clause, or embrace both clauses, and read 
 thus, "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face 
 of the waters, and God said, Let there be light," etc., 
 because when first written there were no commas, 
 colons, or periods, to mark their connection or sepa- 
 ration, then we may conclude it was the Spirit of 
 God, moving in creative power, who then out of 
 darkness called forth light. 
 
 Some time since I attended the delivery of some 
 scientific. lectures, in which it was stated by the pro- 
 fessor that the scientific world had finally settled 
 upon the definition of light, and this was the defini- 
 tion the professor gave: "Light is the reflection and 
 refraction of luminous bodies infinitely multiplied;" 
 an examination of this definition will show, that it 
 does not describe or define the source from whence 
 these luminous bodies obtain their illumination, and 
 if infinitely multiplied, from whence is derived the 
 divisions of day and night, of light and darkness. 
 A scientific definition, in my opinion, must be both 
 positive in its language, and in its averments ab- 
 solutely true; this, therefore, may be the definition 
 of scientific men, but is not a scientific definition : 
 however, if there be any light derivable in this way 
 it is not the light whereof I now come to speak, 
 neither is it the light of the nebulist, which they say 
 was produced in that far off dim border land 
 wherein the two sciences of astronomy and geology 
 meet, and in the first motion of nebular matter, in 
 which they say light was developed. 1 do not mean 
 
of The mystery. 47 
 
 this light, if any there were, but I mean the great 
 light that spanned the universe, created at the word 
 and fiat of our great Creator, and which, were it 
 produced by the attrition of particles, it must neces- 
 sarily cease to exist as soon as the particles ceased 
 to move, unless indeed something is found upon 
 which to feed its continuance. 
 
 Nothing can be more dignified than this expres- 
 sion, "Let there be light, and there was light." It 
 passes at once beyond the sublimity of man's elo- 
 quence into the majesty of the Divine diction; it 
 argues and suggests at once uncontrollable authority, 
 and Omnific power. These words belong to Omnipo- 
 tence alone, and whilst the volume, diffusion, and 
 velocity of light demonstrate the being and wisdom 
 of God, its production declares His wondrous crea- 
 tive skill and power. 
 
 Nothing so grand, nothing so dignified, nothing 
 so expressive, then, as the words, "Let there be 
 light, and there was light;" nothing so grand, per- 
 haps, in all creation's created wonders, as the ma- 
 jestic scene of its creation, " Let there be light ;" no 
 brooding now in the sense of tarrying, but in glori- 
 ous majesty Omnipotence moves along the heavens, 
 and to eternity speaks the portentous fiat, Omnipo- 
 tent decree, and from its wondrous depths, east, 
 west, north and south, and from the zenitli to the 
 nadir comes forth the glorious flood, crowning glory 
 of the materialistic worlds, or from His glorious 
 Person, shoots forth the purest essence of its purest 
 ray, or perhaps from both; and whilst from His 
 Divine and loving presence billows on billowed 
 
48 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 glory, serenest rays went forth, eternity, lit np with 
 lurid glare, sent forth its lightnings, the lightning 
 beyond, with lightning driven, and lightning still be- 
 hind, glassing itself through all eternity, a fearful 
 scene. The grand, omnific words, "Let there be 
 light" had been spoken, and infinitude proclaimed 
 there is light; hence jetting and sparkling, thence 
 mingling and commingling, penetrating and pervad- 
 ing, the primordial light was now created. Infi- 
 delity asks, where is that light now ? I answer, the 
 sun, more glorious in its beams, or more piercing in 
 its ray, obscures or hides that light. Extinguish 
 the sun, or shut her glories in, and you will, I be- 
 lieve, see the original, primordial light, as when first 
 created, and perhaps is that light that trembles upon 
 the horizon at even after sunset, or lights up the ho- 
 rizon at dewy morn, and known by the name of the 
 zodiacal lights, supposed by some to be a nebula 
 around the sun, by some a nebula around the earth 
 within the orbit of the moon. 
 
 The Plants, Etc. — Third Day. 
 
 As these, the plants, were created, every plant ere 
 it was in the earth, and every herb before it grew, 
 we can, at best, only arrive at a probable conjecture 
 whether the substance of these, the plants, was 
 created with the plants and herbs, or whether the 
 elements were condensed from the air ; we cannot tell. 
 We are told by thinking men that there is no such 
 thing as annihilation, and in this we can agree with 
 all mankind, that, although the forms' of all bodies 
 are dissolved and lost to view, and the primary 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 49 
 
 particles are again returned to nature, man's body to 
 dust, from which, it first was made, the gases, etc., 
 returning to nature's great reservoir, returning again 
 and entering into the composition of new forms of 
 animal and vegetable life, and that the rose placed 
 by the hand of affection to bloom over the grave, 
 is nourished by the gases arising from the loved 
 form below. This may be so in many particulars, 
 as man's body is constantly changing, yet are we 
 satisfied that, at the great day, man will again rise 
 from the grave; the elements, which last composed 
 his body, sufficient for its identity, will again be 
 united; and though one arm may be lost and buried 
 at Sebastopol, another at Manassas, and the body be 
 buried in the rough sands of the deep sea, yet shall 
 they be reunited; and though sown in dishonor in 
 the grave, yet by God's love will be raised in glory, 
 never more to die for ever. We conclude, then, 
 wdiether by immediate creation and formation of 
 new particles, or the condensation of those already 
 in existence, and perhaps this was the first moment 
 of the existence of this order of nature. As the 
 great formative stroke of Almighty Power de- 
 scended, the leaf first was formed, then the twig to 
 the leaf, the limb to the twig, and the body to the 
 limb, and the roots to the body, the trees forming 
 downward as the earth opened her mouth to receive 
 them, or as the subtile elements entered the earth ; 
 and thus the leaf, the twig, the branch, and the 
 body, flourished in greenness and newness of life ere 
 the roots had found place or drawn nourishment 
 from the earth. I said that the body returns to 
 
50 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 dust from which it first was made. This is true, 
 but the spirit returns to God who gave it; the body, 
 decayed or broken; and the jewel, man's immortal 
 spirit, has fled, not, perhaps, in its original purity, 
 as when at first, a beauteous gem, fresh from the 
 hand of its great and beloved Creator, and borne 
 upon the wings of His eternal love, it triumphant 
 sped, a sparkling jewel, from heaven to earth; from 
 heaven, its home, to earth, the place of its temporary 
 abode, undimmed by sin, its journey to begin, its 
 lustre bright, immortality its heritage, with purity 
 and love for ever, destined by its great Creator at 
 its birth to yield the world a Christian, and eternity 
 a celestial citizen, there beyond the realms of light, 
 beyond the gloom of night, to for ever bask in the 
 sunshine of God's love in one eternal day, and where 
 night shall never come. 
 
 Fourth Day. 
 Some years ago there was propounded through the 
 press the following question to the Young Men's 
 Christian Association, "When was it that the morn- 
 ing stars sang together ? " etc. My tiny bark be- 
 ing then afloat upon the great sea of atheism and 
 infidelity, having gone far from the paths of duty 
 and the paths of my youth, I was standing with 
 those who had asked the question, and who had set 
 sail and were far out to sea upon the same great 
 ocean, from whence few return, but from whence all 
 must return, or for ever make shipwreck of their 
 science, their religion, and their immortal being. 
 Deeply sorry I am for my sin. 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 51 
 
 The occasion alluded to, Job xxxviii. 7, being sug- 
 gestive of the fourth day's creation, and the creation 
 of angels, I now venture to answer the question in 
 part ; that is, so far as my mind shall suggest the 
 glories of that morning, and my poor tongue can 
 give utterance to the words, where thought indeed 
 is lost in contemplation, and language fails. The 
 following are some of the thoughts that cluster 
 around the ineffable moment. 
 
 When the morning stars sang together, and all 
 the sons of God shouted for joy, it being, as my rea- 
 son and analogy teaches me, indicative of the fourth 
 creative day, and the creation of the angels — "sons" 
 
 being rendered angels. The fourth morning 
 
 dawned, and again our great Redeemer, in creative 
 power and in His Father's love, and Him to glorify, 
 rich in goodness, His blessings to mankind, mankind 
 to bless, the day to bless, to-night His mercies gave, 
 thus spake: — "Let there be lights in the firmament 
 of the heaven, to divide the day from the night; 
 and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for 
 days and years. And let them be for lights in the 
 firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 
 and it was so." 
 
 At this command twenty million suns, with all 
 their planets, moons, and satellites, now span the 
 outposts of eternity, the mere threshold of created 
 space, with unnumbered worlds beyond the grand 
 galaxies of heaven, all with form and attributes in- 
 vested, repelling and attracting; now spans the in- 
 finite depths that wondrous Power that holds them 
 all amain and all their motions gives; the earth, 
 
52 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 now cooled, with rounded form invested, and fit to 
 roll, rolled on, in concert joined the grand proces- 
 sion ; all now, in one great chain united, their great 
 relationship declare, their journey now begin. 
 
 Attuned the morning hymn, 
 The whole creation joined, 
 In unison now sing. 
 
 Timing and chiming on their way, in choral sympho- 
 nies circling around eternity, proclaim the origin of 
 their birth, their origin divine. 
 
 The angels, now created grand hierarchies of 
 heaven, ten thousand times ten thousand and thou- 
 sands of thousands their number. The angels, the 
 archangels, the cherubim and seraphim, severe in 
 goodness formed, looked on ; now formed the grand 
 review of Infinite Power, with infinite love now 
 blended, in infinite space displayed. The angels of 
 mighty intellect and mighty wing, with piercing eye, 
 now scan the wondrous scene, in mute astonishment 
 now stand, and in fond thought contemplate the 
 bliss that in them dwells, enrapt, entranced, trans- 
 fixed they stand ; some, with excess of glory filled, 
 now fly, now pinioned on mentality's loftiest flight, 
 they fly the courts of heaven the grand expanse to 
 scan, the mighty depths to sound, though depths be 
 lost in depth, and in the greatest depth a greater 
 deep they find. 
 
 This is our home; they feel, this our sphere 
 sublime; by His kind hand we thus for glory made; 
 these mighty depths we cannot sound, this space' our 
 wings defy; where all is lost, yet all by His kind 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 53 
 
 hand is found ; where spaee is lost in space, immen- 
 sity in immensity, all in infinitude is lost ;• and 
 thought itself is lost in thought, ere thought can 
 soar so high or penetrate so deep. 
 
 Now back to heaven again they fly, new beauties 
 to discern ; thence through the ambered light, beyond 
 the golden city, across the glassy sea, the tree of 
 life now blooming, the crystal river flowing, flow- 
 iug from out the throne of God — the throne, vast 
 diadem, sparkling in eternity. There, enthroned on 
 high on that sabbaoth height, in subdued majest} r , 
 that angels might look thereon in that sabbaoth light 
 —the Divine Majesty. 
 
 O ! beatific sight ! O ! vision blessed ! Now all 
 their sense confined ; now in that great Trisagion 
 presence, amid the glittering confiscations from the 
 glory of the Divine Majesty, amidst the lightnings 
 of Divine Love, inanimate nature, now trembling, 
 stands agast, as though of sentient life, whilst the 
 blissful throbbing pulse of angel life stands still. 
 
 Whilst now, with awe and glory filled, another 
 blessing they discern — the faculty of speech. They 
 were angels, a little higher than man in creation's 
 scale created, man crowned with honor and glory, 
 but angels could no more ; w T ith wings outstretched, 
 in accents clear, loud hallelujahs now they sing; 
 hallelujah, thine is the glory, hallelujah, amen ; it 
 was then, O infidelity, it was surely then, that the 
 morning stars sang together, and all the angels 
 shouted for joy. 
 
54: the beginning of the end 
 
 Fifth Day. 
 We now come to the consideration of the fifth 
 day's creation, in which God created the birds of 
 the air, and the fish of the sea, and blessed them, 
 and in His blessings gave the germ of their frnitful- 
 ness and blessing to man. It lias been asked, how 
 could Moses have known so much, or how could he 
 have written so much concerning the creation, were 
 not his account the word of God ? Where did he 
 gain his information? Not from the Egyptians, who 
 worshipped Isis and Osiris, and deified the croco- 
 dile. Where did he obtain the necessary order of 
 his system of the creation ? — where obtain the benefi- 
 cent laws, with the ten commandments, that adorn 
 his righteous theocratic government, far surpassing 
 all human systems, transcending man's intellect and 
 surpassing his diction — clusters of jeweled beauties, 
 diadems of glittering thought, maxims of wisdom, 
 mines of intellectual wealth, apples of gold in 
 vessels of silver? Nor could one have known, nor 
 did know, until the microscope, a modern invention, 
 revealed the hitherto unknown factsof the produc- 
 tiveness of fish, some carrying in their bodies the 
 germs of many thousand, and in one over nine mil- 
 lions — happy beings of the deep, gliding along be- 
 neath the waves, unawed by the tempest above, that 
 strews the coast with its wrecks, or founders the 
 largest vessels in her main — should she live to the 
 age of five or six years, and no accident happening 
 by sickness or death, may nod her congratulations 
 to forty millions of her own happy family; and 
 again, should her life be prolonged some two or 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 55 
 
 three years more, pleasantly riding upon old ocean's 
 most majestic wave, she reviews many billions of 
 her own progeny. 
 
 Glide on, little fish, to the cavernous depth of 
 your happy home, and bear with yon the remem- 
 brance of us, who are grateful to our Creator for you, 
 and for the terminal blessings of vour nature. And 
 
 O D. ml 
 
 thus, my friends, not only shall the ethereal vaults, 
 but the resounding hills and old ocean's cavernous 
 depths, resound His praise; and, singing while they 
 sing, and blessing while they bless, and chanting 
 while old ocean chants, let us join the anthem glad, 
 in gratitude to Him for the blessings of the deep, 
 and for the great link that this affords to the chain 
 of the testimony that adds to the proof of the au- 
 thenticity of His most holy Word. 
 
 Sixth Day. 
 We come now to speak of the creation of man. 
 "Let us make man in our own image." Man is 
 fearfully and wonderfully made. That man was 
 originally created in the image of God, in a spiritual 
 sense, divines seem to agree; that is, that he was 
 clothed with certain attributes, — immortality, wis- 
 dom, purity, holiness, etc., — and that within his 
 being there arise certain feelings, arising from certain 
 conditions, such as fear, grief, anger, and affliction, 
 not at all owing, so far as we know or believe, to the 
 separation or combination of molecules, howsoever 
 manifold, multiplied or complex may have been 
 their lateral motions or whirlings, satisfied that, not- 
 withstanding their combination, arranged by Al- 
 
56 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 mighty Power, and by that power alone, lias been 
 the foundation and substance of all worlds, yet have 
 they never caused, nor by any of their properties 
 entered into the cause or formation of a single tear, 
 assuaged a single grief, nor presented any of their 
 forms in the solution as to the existence of the sun- 
 shine in an affectionate heart. 
 
 With reference to man's spiritual condition, theo- 
 logians, ignoring the physical form of man as enter- 
 ing into the meaning of the text, "Let us make man 
 in our own image," u And in the image of God 
 made He man," etc. We are referred to Ephe- 
 sians iv. 24, in which we are admonished to put on 
 the new man, which after God is created in right- 
 eousness and true holiness; also in Colossians iii. 10, 
 we are referred to that condition, after having put 
 on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge 
 after the image of Him that created him. Here is 
 to be found, say some, the meaning of Moses in the 
 text, " Let us make man in our own image," etc. In 
 this I beg leave to dissent, and to take issue with all 
 who entertain such opinions, and desire first to show 
 that it was not the desire of the apostle at either 
 time to give an exposition of the entire semblance 
 between man and our Creator, but only so much as 
 was necessary in the discussion of the subject then 
 under consideration, for we see in his Epistle to the 
 Ephesians, written A. D. 61, the attributes of right- 
 eousness and true holiness are mentioned only; and 
 in his Epistle to the Colossians, written A. I). 62, 
 the attribute of knowledge is alone mentioned; it is 
 ..therefore fair to presume that the apostle never in- 
 
•• OF THE MYSTERY. 57 
 
 tended at any one time to give a conclusive exposi- 
 tion of all that is meant by Moses (or rather by God) 
 in the text "Let ns make man in our own image," 
 etc., whilst we are lead by reason and analogy to the 
 conclusion that when, as in the ninth chapter of 
 Genesis, God forbids us to shed man's blood, declar- 
 ing that whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall 
 his blood be shed; for in the image of God made 
 He man; and by which, as it was intended for our 
 guidance and instruction, we are to hold sacred the 
 person of our brother and fellow man, because of 
 this likeness to our Maker. He, our Creator, then, 
 gave emphasis to the doctrine that man was not only, 
 as some have inferred from the apostle, in some 
 measure created spiritually in the image of his 
 Maker, but that in his physical, and therefore in his 
 spirit form, he was in the exact image of his Maker. 
 I said in some measure, because it can never be said 
 that he (man), created a little lower than the angels, 
 had the same strength of goodness on him as our 
 Maker, who chargeth His angels with, folly. Shall 
 mortal man be more just than God ? shall a man be 
 more pure than his Maker? must ever be answered 
 never, never; nor can he attain to that perfection; 
 besides, man was created a dependent being, account- 
 able for his acts, and never possessing the attributes 
 of omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience, a 
 compliment necessary to the Divine likeness, these 
 attributes belonging to the Divine Majesty — to God, 
 our Saviour, and the Holy Spirit. I gather further 
 strength in this belief from the consideration that 
 our Saviour took upon Himself the form of man, the 
 flesh assimilating to the form of the Spirit, and that 
 
58 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 in the end, when our bodies have arisen from the 
 grave, glorified in His love and mercy, according as 
 we have pleased Him, mortality having put on im- 
 mortality, so that we shall be like Him and be made 
 partakers of His kingdom, lit to be presented into 
 the presence of His glory with exceeding joy ; that 
 presence, physically and spiritually considered, being 
 in the brightness of (His) the Father's glory and the 
 express image of His person; man indeed crowned 
 with glory and honor; and thus I conclude, that not 
 only in the goodness of his spirit, but that ere sin 
 had entered and stained his soul, or a life of obliquity 
 had detracted from his full-orbed gaze, he was in the 
 wisdom of his mind, in the purity of his heart, and 
 in the dignity of his mien, in some respects in the 
 likeness of God, and in the form of his person the 
 exact image of his Maker, upright in all these par- 
 ticulars, a being for dominion formed : 
 
 "For contemplation he, and valour formed, 
 For softness she, and sweet attractive grace." 
 
 With regard to Darwinism, it is but a branch of 
 that vain philosophy that the apostle warns us 
 against, and may properly be considered under one 
 of the horns of the prophetic beast, mentioned in 
 Kev. xiii. 11, whose horns insidiously looked like a 
 lamb's horns, but who spake as a dragon, — blas- 
 phemous in its comparisons, pernicious in its teach- 
 ings, a tissue of line words and erring thoughts. 
 From such we pray, in the litany of the church, and 
 in the fulness of our heart; from hardness of heart, 
 and contempt of Thy word and commandments, 
 good Lord deliver us. Amen. 
 
PART SECOND. 
 
 THE CHILD OF THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 OBSERVATION AND EXPERIENCE. — REVELATIONS 
 FROM ALMIGHTY GOD AND OUR REDEEMER. 
 
 BEING called of God to preach the gospel, and 
 knowing it to be my Christian dnty, having a 
 firm faith in the Christian religion, and prompted 
 by no consideration but my love and duty to God, 
 I now offer to the world the following facts and inci- 
 dents of my observation and experience, it being a 
 faithful narration of the things with which it has 
 pleased Almighty God to bless me, adding nothing, 
 diminishing nothing, shunning nothing; assured that 
 I must give an account in the great day of all 
 things, and among them, perhaps, as the most im- 
 portant, as to how I have discharged this my mis- 
 sion. I have given the above title to this part of 
 my book because it was the name with which God 
 blessed me. Nothing herein related has received 
 any coloring ; it is but the simple narration of the 
 events as they occurred — not perhaps in the exact 
 order in which they were received, for this lias 
 escaped my memory; also many of the facts and 
 incidents have been lost from memory, but, noting 
 them down as they hereafter recur, I shall, in sub- 
 sequent editions, be enabled to recall many more, 
 
60 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 except that some of them are of such a personal 
 concern and character and evidences of God's great 
 goodness and loving kindness to me, when I, His 
 poor being, was undergoing the horrors of posses- 
 sion of Satan in my body, which God permitted to 
 be done, both, perhaps, as a punishment for my sin 
 of spiritism, and as a warning to others for the like 
 sin.' How shall I sufficiently thank Him for His 
 great goodness? 
 
 I was born in the small village of Grimstone, in 
 the county of Norfolk, England. My father and 
 mother both, I have reason believe, dying Chris- 
 tians, by means of their teachings, and those of 
 my sister, who took care of me after my mother's 
 death, I early learned something of religion, and 
 at the age of four or five learned to love my Saviour 
 with a child-like affection, growing up, however, in 
 the ways of the world until I was about thirteen 
 years of age, when I became a true and happy 
 Christian child, feeling at times the greatest hap- 
 piness of a Christian's life, and seized at times witli 
 the most intense delight. I now remember one time 
 when I loved my Saviour with an intensity known 
 and felt, perhaps, by few, expressing the desire in 
 the most child-like manner at one time, when upon 
 my knees, that I might be crucified for Him. I 
 remember also, when turning over the leaves of ray 
 Bible, asking myself do I love God as 1 ought to '. 
 
 These things were not forgotten by God, who has 
 admonished us to remember Him in our youth, pro- 
 mising that those who seek Him early shall find Him. 
 I pass over for the present many incidents of my life, 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 61 
 
 relating but the following as being suitable for a 
 place here at present. 
 
 When, at the age of thirteen, travelling on the 
 road oh* what is known as Walton Common, about 
 one mile from Westacre, county of Norfolk, Eng- 
 land, singing, as best I remember, a Sabbath-school 
 hymn, I was suddenly seized with a most wondrous 
 feeling of delight; enrapt, I contemplated the happy 
 feeling. Not knowing the cause, the recollection 
 thereof soon passed from my memory, and I never 
 felt precisely that way again. Before this, in my 
 earlier days, at the age of five or six, I remember 
 having had a vision, and which will be referred to 
 again. I remember having seen my mother, who had 
 been dead some time. She appeared to me, and to 
 the best of my recollection the following is what she 
 said: "My child, my dear child," with a tremor or 
 nutter of delight : I remember no more but this. Just 
 before she left me, she said, "Be a good boy, and 
 where I am, there you shall be also." She then 
 parted from me, going upward rather inclined. I 
 remember her shining white garments. I remember 
 also, during my Christian life, when, at the age of 
 fourteen, I had another vision. I saw a beauteous host 
 of heaven, about 10,000 in number, all on horse- 
 back. Grand and glorious was this sight of the re- 
 deemed, who are, as 1 have thought, a part of the 
 blessed and holy of the first resurrection. No lan- 
 guage can describe their beauty; they shone like 
 burnished gold. They did our great Creator's holy 
 will on earth, and now bask in the sunshine of His 
 love for ever. Among the many incidents, I deem 
 3 
 
62 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 the following of most importance : After having 
 lived a Christian life for about three years, or nearly 
 so, one evening, just before my bedtime, and just be- 
 fore the usual time of saying my prayers, my atten- 
 tion being attracted, I had stopped to think, and 
 whilst doing so I felt a peculiar feeling in my body. 
 Whilst thus listening, I felt a dreadful feeling of 
 anguish, and about this time I heard a voice, ap- 
 parently within me, say: "This is the feeling of a 
 lost spirit." Shortly after this the being that ap- 
 peared to be within me stung me all over; a peculiar 
 and troubled feeling came over me. 1 heard the 
 voice no more, and when all was over I felt a most 
 unpleasant flatness of my spirit. The sweet and 
 beauteous feeling that I had experienced as a Chris- 
 tian was felt no more; my goodness appeared to be 
 stung, and my spirit wilted. Much troubled, I 
 prayed that night, and continued to pray for a few 
 days thereafter; then ceased to pray, and neglecting 
 this, like all others who do not pray, I fell into sin, 
 not into the most grievous sins at once; all was 
 gradual, my Christian experience giving a character 
 to many of my acts through life; but still I was 
 gradually led away from God and my Saviour, 
 whom I had loved so tenderly in my youth — had be- 
 come a prodigal and a profligate in many ways. 
 The incident related above will be again referred to, 
 and it was about that time that many of the things 
 that have taken place, and have happened to me, 
 were revealed to me; and I was told that they should 
 happen, and that I should be restored; and upon this 
 incident of my life hangs one of the great promises 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 63 
 
 of Almighty God, and which illustrates the way of 
 God's dealings with the children of men, His answer 
 to their prayers, His justice, and His mercy, and 
 His unbounded love. This life of sin and estrange- 
 ment from God continued for many years. I had, 
 in this time, become a spiritist, and had a^license to 
 preach its pernicious teachings. This, in God's 
 mercies, was not to be of long continuance. In 
 Ma} T , 1877, being in Houston, Texas, 1 had met 
 with some spiritists, and among them was one E. 
 and his wife; Mrs. E. was a writing medium. Hav- 
 ing also become a medium myself, — that is, my hand 
 moving and writing intelligent words without the 
 concurrence of my moving will, and by a different 
 power than my own, — I attended what is called a 
 sitting at the residence of this medium, and received 
 some communications which purported to be from 
 those that I had known in this life, but who had 
 been dead for some time; all of which communica- 
 tions, I can believe, as far as the truthfulness of the 
 medium were concerned, were genuine, but which 
 my readers will presently see, were from an entirely 
 different source than from the spirits of the dead. 
 
 Continuing thus to consult the familiar spirit in 
 rank rebellion to God, I was soon to be visited for 
 my sins, and through God's great mercy and loving- 
 kindness to me, was to be restrained and reclaimed, 
 and trust, through that same mercy, to be instru- 
 mental in saving and rescuing many others from the 
 same terrible delusion and dreadful sin, the most 
 Terrible trap and deepest pitfall Satan has ever con- 
 trived for the destruction of man. 
 
64 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 Returning home, I was almost constantly in com- 
 munication with the familiar spirit, until, on the 2Sth 
 day of May, 1877, when my professional business 
 called me to the courthouse in the management of a 
 cause then pending before the court, in which I had 
 filed a motion for a continuance. After dinner, 
 about two o'clock, I had arisen to argue my motion, 
 in reference to some objections that had been urged 
 to it, when I felt a peculiar want of concentration of 
 thought, with a certain heaviness about my head ; a 
 great blackness now* came over me, like a cloud, 
 sweeping down through me, and I fell. God's pro- 
 tection was withdrawn from me in this respect — 
 though, as I now know, His mercy and His love 
 were still upon me — and, what I now know, Satan 
 entered and possessed my body. The first words 
 the unholy being uttered after getting possession, 
 having seized my tongue, were, " Holiness to the 
 Lord." I was now taken home, what might be con- 
 sidered a demented being. Now began a time of 
 suffering, anguish, and trouble with me, as none in 
 this world, perhaps, has ever felt. Satan, pressing 
 upon my brain and causing intense agony, at times 
 driving me about, and doing himself, or causing me 
 to do, many things which I otherwise would not 
 have done; and during the first four months I felt 
 at times the Divine displeasure upon me, and I be- 
 lieved that I was for ever lost. At one time lightning 
 from the Lord struck me, and at another time a 
 dreadful stroke of Omnipotent power appeared to 
 almost separate my soul from my body ; at another 
 time a great stroke from heaven took from me the 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 65 
 
 attribute of belief, so that I felt like a person un- 
 balanced. When my belief was taken from me, it 
 appeared more like a material thing, and went up- 
 ward to heaven ; this- was a phenomenon altogether 
 unknown to man's philosophy. These afflictions 
 now ceased, except the possession of my body by the 
 evil one, who troubled' me very much, and caused 
 me a great deal of distress ; he would prevent me 
 from going to sleep, eating and drinking; but I was 
 soon after made to know, that is, about the end of 
 February or beginning of 'March, 1878, that instead 
 of being lost, and though under affliction, I was in- 
 deed, in an especial manner, an object of God's love 
 and tender mercy, and though I had been so long 
 absent from His service, I was not to be lost for 
 ever ; and though punished severely for my sinful 
 life, I, who had remembered Him and loved His dear 
 Son, my Saviour, and who had lost my goodness in 
 so remarkable a manner, was not to be lost. I pause 
 to bless my God and my Saviour whilst writing this. 
 Some time before this, in October, 1877, I had 
 seen a glorious sight in the heavens, — a number of the 
 redeemed ; the beauteous colors that seemed to 
 stream from them seemed to reach the earth ; so 
 grand and wondrous was the sight, that in my con- 
 fusion T thought I had seen God. This sight was 
 made known to me again, and my mind was awak- 
 ened to the recollection that in heaven J had seen 
 them before. This was the grand assize, appointed 
 in my youth, and did now sit in judgment upon me'; 
 being through with their labor they were discharged. 
 
66 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 For some reason I do believe they are the twenty- 
 four elders that stand around the throne of God. 
 
 The above will excite some comment; but it is 
 nevertheless true, that God caught me up into 
 heaven; that I have been in the angel world; have 
 been beyond heaven ; stood before the throne of our 
 Saviour; have seen the great white throne, from out 
 of which flows the river of life ; have looked upon 
 the person of our great and beloved Creator; had a 
 full view of that transeendant sight; have seen the 
 face of our great Redeemer; have seen the Holy 
 Spirit, and when a child did stand in their holy pre- 
 sence, but a few feet from their beauteous persons, 
 and remember the kindness of their manner toward 
 me, and did then receive the promise from Almighty 
 God, that although I would leave Him and become 
 a sinful man, yet He would recall me; and I believe 
 that then He did give me the promise of eternal life 
 — a promise which I now have from the mouth of 
 my Redeemer. 
 
 Some time in February or March, 1878, still un- 
 dergoing the horrors of Satanic possession, — which 
 continued for over six years, though after the third 
 year it began gradually to abate, and Satan's power 
 over me in a great measure ceased, though he still 
 save me much trouble for six years: for he is a con- 
 stant talker and a constant sinner, — whilst lying on 
 my bed I heard a voice from heaven, or rather in 
 what is called the skies, saying, "God's love is upon 
 you." At the same time there was a softening of 
 the surrounding elements, and I recognized the voice 
 as the voice of Almighty God ; this was, as mv 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 67 
 
 readers may imagine, a great satisfaction to me, and 
 for which I bless Him. Soon after this, one even- 
 ing whilst walking in my yard, a beauteous, round, 
 reddish light shone near me, whilst a feeling of great 
 happiness took possession of me, and at the same 
 time a voice from heaven distinctly told me, in a 
 very forcible manner, " Sealed in heaven." Some 
 short time after this, I heard in heaven about a dozen 
 voices say, " Worthy the Lamb." Again, about this 
 time, having had a conversation with Satan about 
 my deliverance from possession and restoration to 
 nature, for I was completely immersed, swallowed 
 up in the evil one's body, infinitely below man's es- 
 tate, he, Satan, having told me something concern- 
 ing my restoration, had caused me to hope that on 
 the next Sunday I should be restored, so that w^en 
 Sunday came I was waiting in hope of that expected 
 event; all day Sunday I was waiting, watching, and 
 hoping, until about five o'clock in the evening, when 
 standing in my house, an angel, sent from heaven, 
 passed near me, so near that I both saw and felt 
 the beauty of his presence; a softness and loveliness 
 of feeling came over me, communicated by the near- 
 ness of the angel passing through my house within 
 two or three feet of my head ; as he turned from the 
 back gallery upward toward heaven, my mind be- 
 ing directed to the conversation with Satan concern- 
 ing my deliverance, the angel, in the most emphatic 
 manner, declared the message of heaven to me, say- 
 ing, " Shall be," and passed on. Some time after 
 this, again, I saw what I believed to be two arch- 
 angels ; they came leisurely along, apparently more 
 
68 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 like floating on the air, engaging in a quiet conver- 
 sation; a loveliness seemed to pervade their presence. 
 When near me, I heard one of them say, u For you 
 is the kingdom." 
 
 Satan, about this time, began to ask me some 
 questions, and to assume forms, one of them being 
 the form of a large centipede ; there began to dawn 
 on my mind the recollection of having seen some 
 strange tilings before. My struggle now was with 
 Satan, the evil one, in my body, concerning whom 
 the world and the Church have entirely been mis- 
 taken. (See the lecture, " The Satanic Phenomena 
 called Spiritism.") 
 
 In this vast, ocean of intellect and mentality I was 
 now engulfed, so that I had at times to feel, as it 
 weao, in my body for my own poor spirit; his chief 
 design and delight seemed to be to sin against God, 
 and, if possible, to cause me to sin ; and having now 
 fallen into what he called a sin, and for which he 
 was now accusing me, and whilst contemplating 
 these things, and revolving them in my mind with 
 some unpleasantness, not knowing the extent of my 
 culpability, a voice from heaven, which I recognized 
 as the voice of my Saviour, said to me, " Nothing," 
 meaning, as I understood, no sin had been commit- 
 ted by me. Tin's happened more than once. Satan 
 having, at another time, set a trap to catch me, for 
 there were many ways, which no one knows of, by 
 which I might have fallen into sin ; but from my 
 fear of sin, great cautiousness, and constant, labor, I 
 had fallen into the snare set for me, and was now 
 thinking of the matter, somewhat distressed in mind, 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 69 
 
 when again the voice of the blessed Lord came unto 
 me, saying, "Nothing," (that is, no sin,) "Satan," 
 (that is, it is Satan,) " I know, I know all." This 
 reassured me, and gave me great comfort. The 
 word of the Lord coming unto me would be like a 
 cannon ball in some respects, leaving the impression 
 of having displaced the air in its passage, was round- 
 ed in form, and remarkably sweet in its tone. Re- 
 member, my dear reader, that when He shall speak 
 to you, which He will do, you will not fail to recog- 
 nize His voice. I say there were many ways by 
 which I might have fallen into sin known to no 
 mortal man, for the evil one, to cut me off from all 
 pleasure, covered my body with his body, and form- 
 ed it into dreadful blasphemies against the Lord, so 
 that 1 could not raise my hand ; 1 could not eat at 
 the table; 1 held no conversation with any one for 
 eighteen months, scarcely ever speaking to my wife 
 or children, never stooping to kiss my little ones ; 
 and because of Satan's dreadful sinfulness, fleeing 
 from the face of man, no matter who, nor when I 
 saw him, or who it might be, how hot the sun, how 
 cold the weather, nor how it rained ; 1 never went 
 to any one's house nor took shelter from the storm 
 but once ; foregoing the pleasure of speech and love 
 to my children, contending against natural affection, 
 and Satan constantly blaspheming the Lord by dread- 
 ful language, I had constantly to mutter, rebuke, re- 
 pel, or pray God's mercy and help, not having a mo- 
 ment to lose ; engulfed in the body of Satan, and 
 swallowed up in his mentality, lie breathed his blas- 
 phemies upon my mind, so that I had constantly to 
 
TO THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 labor to prevent, as it were, his sin from becoming 
 mine. He also, for a long time, to impede my 
 walk and to annoy me almost constantly cast the 
 name of God upon the ground, or that which repre- 
 sented the face of onr Redeemer, and sometimes 
 that which was intended to represent the ever 
 blessed Trinity, and which, to avoid stepping upon, 
 it being intended by Satan as a dishonor to God, I 
 w T ould take long or short steps, sometimes halting — 
 overcoming in these things the natural fear of shame 
 that is peculiar to man acting in this manner in the 
 presence of others, who would naturally suppose the 
 person acting in this way to be demented ; but such 
 was not the case, for I was just as sensible of what 
 I was doing and how it seemed to others as I ever 
 was in my life, never failing to do my duty but once, 
 when I tried another plan, which failed, and I never 
 tried it again. Do this, or go there, Satan would 
 say to me, " or I will blaspheme the name of your 
 Lord ;" and to avoid his sin and prevent his blas- 
 phemies against the Lord, I would do what he de- 
 manded, or go where he desired, after considering 
 whether I should do it or not, and in which consisted 
 my duty. Thus have I, in order to prevent him 
 sinning against the Lord, stood barefooted on rusty 
 nails projecting out of old planks, and have gone to 
 places where I would not have gone, causing un- 
 pleasantness to me, and, as I had reason to believe, 
 to others; but the Lord blessed me for these things 
 and my faithfulness to Him, and I feel no regret or 
 shame for what I was caused to do, so far as I am 
 concerned, and only for those to whom ] may have 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. f 1 
 
 been troublesome ; for whilst thinking of these 
 things and of what I had been compelled to do, and 
 where 1 had been forced to go, and the pain it had 
 caused me, the blessed Lord stuck over the place 
 in the air the words, " The Lord," which I interpre- 
 ted to mean, " I the Lord am the governor and dis- 
 poser of these things;" and I have constantly believed 
 from that, that He will make it both to me and them 
 a cause of happiness or blessing, either in this life or 
 in the life to come. Enduring these things, and 
 fighting the enemy of my soul, as it were face to face, I 
 at last, through the mercy and great goodness of God, 
 obtained a complete and final victory and the approval 
 of Almighty God, who pronounced the wondrous 
 verdict of "Victory in God's justice," which will 
 hereafter be related. 
 
 During the winter of 1878 I had given me another 
 evidence of my acceptance with God. Whilst walk- 
 ing along Pearl street, but while in great distress, 
 occasioned by the possession of my body, the Lord 
 was pleased to speak to me and to assure me of 
 eternal salvation, saying, "The Lord's," meaning 
 that I was His, one that He had redeemed; and at 
 the same time there was something, or the shadow- 
 ing forth a something of a peculiarly grand and joyful 
 character, the full meaning of which I could not 
 understand, and do not fully yet; but it was the 
 dawning recollection of many things that had been 
 shown and told me in my youth that should come to 
 pass and that should happen to me, and which was 
 now being fulfilled. Satan also informed me that 
 he had assumed the form of the centipede in order 
 
?2 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 to see if I had any remembrance of having seen the 
 figure before; and also had me to read the twelfth 
 chapter of Revelation, and asking me if that in any 
 manner referred to me, knowing, though, all that I 
 knew, or that any and all others knew, or now know. 
 
 I did not remember anything concerning this 
 chapter, but had an indefinite feeling and memory 
 of something I could not give form or words to; but 
 things gradually dawned on my mind, and at the 
 appointed time heaven revealed to me the wonder 
 by opening the doors of my memory, and Satan, 
 going through the formula that I had witnessed be- 
 fore, as I believe, when at the age of fourteen. 
 And I remembered that then being, as I believe, in 
 the spirit, that is delivered from my body, sitting by 
 the side of some one, and going upward, through 
 what I now know to be Satan's body. As we neared 
 the top or upper part of his body, as best I can re- 
 member, Satan assumed the form of a great centi- 
 pede, some feet in length, speaking perhaps at the 
 same time, and also a little distance off, assuming 
 the form of a great dragon; this so frightened me 
 that I sprung from the place where I was sitting into 
 the arms of the one that was sitting by me, and 
 afterwards sitting upon his right knee, and who 
 assured me that I should not be hurt. I also, look- 
 ing over in another direction, saw great looking 
 serpents, writhing and twisting about; this I was 
 told was the devil, all of which I could not then 
 understand. 
 
 We now turned off to the right, to a place which 
 I now know and call the Wilderness. And whilst 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. ?3 
 
 going along, Satan cast after me what looked some- 
 thing like water or smoke, a great flood. This I 
 cannot say was water, like he cast after the woman 
 mentioned in the twelfth chapter of the book of 
 Revelation, but I have thought that it was or may 
 have been a portion of his own body, which he com- 
 presses into any desired form and darts in any direc- 
 tion within his realm. We journeyed on, moving 
 through space without any exertion, to the place 
 called the Wilderness, where was a house or place, 
 which, in my opinion and according to the best of 
 my recollection, was situated beyond the clouds and 
 below the firmament of heaven. How long I stayed 
 here I cannot tell. Here I heard the voice ot Al- 
 mighty God referring to the place, saying, " Pre- 
 pared of God." This being, as I believe, the place 
 whither the woman mentioned in the twelfth chapter 
 of Revelation fled, and where she had a place pre- 
 pared of God, and where she was "nourished for a 
 time, and times, and half a time, from the face of 
 the serpent" — the same great dragon mentioned in 
 said chapter. 
 
 At another time I saw a great central light, in 
 some respects like the sun, and which I believe was 
 given me in illustration of this scripture. And I 
 also saw Satan assume or cast his body into the form 
 of a great red dragon, similar to the dragon men- 
 tioned in this chapter, (excepting the heads and 
 horns, which I have seen him do at other times, and 
 which indicated to me the denouement of this great 
 wonder.) 1 am aware that many things have been 
 said concerning this chapter, — the woman being con- 
 
74 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 strned to mean the church, and her investiture of 
 the light and starry diadem, a symbol of the beauty 
 and glory thereof; and the "great red dragon,*' the 
 Roman power; and the "war," the civil commotions 
 among its governors, etc., etc. Such have been the 
 thoughts of some, but it will now be shown that it 
 is susceptible of a more literal signification. 
 
 What! it will be asked, does Satan know the 
 counsels of heaven, as indicated by your theory 
 of the first six verses of this chapter ? I answer, No ; 
 but he knows every thought that ever entered or 
 was ever entertained by the spirit of man while in 
 the body, and giving this chapter a literal interpre- 
 tation, the woman being in the condition mentioned, 
 and delivered of the body, her spirit was drawn up 
 to heaven, where she is shown as the wonder in 
 heaven — a woman in heaven whose body is still upon 
 earth in full health, her time not ended and race not 
 run — and the great event was now to happen which 
 is further mentioned in this chapter. This woman, 
 returning and repossessing her body, delighted in 
 her spirit at the great and distinguished favours she 
 had received and the splendor of her retinue ; delight- 
 ed at this, ere her spirit rested with her body in sleep, 
 Satan, standing by her as by every other human 
 being, saw it in her mind, and now knew that the 
 great prophecy waj3 about to be fulfilled and the child 
 to be born, hence his knowledge of the event and 
 his desire to destroy the child, and the taking of the 
 dragon form. 
 
 Whilst these things were being shown ine, I had 
 come to the conclusion, that perhaps I was the child 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 75 
 
 mentioned in the fourth, fifth and thirteenth verses 
 of this chapter; but going into the house and read- 
 ing the verses, and putting my own construction 
 upon it, as speaking of one who should be a warrior, 
 and thus a ruler, and feeling no aptitude for this kind 
 of life, but, I trust, possessing such grace as would 
 lead me to shun such a road to eminence, 1 con- 
 cluded it could not be me to which it referred. After- 
 wards putting the construction upon it that it meant 
 and referred to one who has the certain knowledge 
 of the being and goodness of God, and of His Son 
 Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, — the certain 
 knowledge of the truths of the Bible, and of the 
 many disputed doctrines of our holy religion, to be 
 able to account for all of the phenomena of spirit- 
 ism, and many other things not heretofore known to 
 man. Possessing this knowledge, not by any su- 
 periority of intellect, but through the goodness of 
 .God, and afterwards hearing the voice of Almighty 
 God speaking the following words, the sound of 
 which fell in England, near where I was born : 
 " The woman and her child." I concluded that I 
 was the child mentioned. The meaning of the last 
 words: "The woman and her child," I do not now 
 understand; but having been told by my Redeemer 
 that He would speak to me here, mentioning the 
 place in the heavens from whence He would speak 
 to me, and which promise was again renewed by 
 His causing the elements to speak, — I say the ele- 
 ments, because sometimes I was spoken to by the 
 direct voice of Almighty God and sometimes by our 
 Lord; sometimes the elements were caused to speak; 
 
76 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 sometimes heaven spoke, — I mean, the Triune 
 majesty of heaven ; — but when Almighty God or 
 our Lord spoke, it was accompanied with such 
 power and individuality that there was no plaee for 
 mistake. 
 
 Having been told by Satan that I had the promise 
 that I should see the battle between St. Michael and 
 his angels and the dragon and his angels; the place, 
 he said, had been told me where I should stand and 
 witness this scene; some slight recollection of the 
 place of where I stood remained, and a beautiful 
 stroke of Omnipotence indicated my passage from 
 the place in the clouds to the earth. From reasons 
 which I cannot explain, I believe that this battle has 
 been fought. 
 
 For some reasons the evil one talked about this 
 war in heaven a great deal, and pretended to show 
 me how he would avoid the attack of the angels, by 
 eluding their pursuit, by dividing and rolling back 
 his huge body on their approach, which he did in 
 my presence; but although much swifter than man 
 iu his motions, and quicker than man in his mental 
 perceptions, I ascertained that he could do but little 
 in this way, as the swiftness of the angel's flight hav- 
 ing been shown me, whether for this or other rea- 
 sons I cannot say. My mind being directed to the 
 western coast of Australia, near the island called 
 Rottenest, an angel, apparently descending with the 
 swiftness of the lightning, struck near the surface of 
 the water. In a peculiar manner I found myself 
 measuring the speed of the angel by a motion of my 
 arm. In about three-and one-half seconds, I again 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 77 
 
 saw that the angel had reached the Cape of Good 
 Hope, a distance, I believe, of about 5,900 miles, 
 over one thousand six hundred miles per second. 
 The measurement of the time 4 , and the motion of 
 my arm, and perception of the angel, was not by my 
 own, but superior power and intelligence. In about 
 eight seconds more, the angel had come in the direc- 
 tion of where 1 was (Beaumont Texas), and had 
 turned off in somewhat a north easterly direction, as 
 I thought, towards England, and was now far away 
 on his course. A vacuum indicated the angel's 
 course. My mind had now been opened to the re- 
 collection of going upward, and being in heaven 
 once when very young; this time I saw the evil one 
 in my passage. Again, when at the age (about) of 
 seven ; some three times or more between the age 
 of thirteen and sixteen, and of the many things I 
 had seen. At the age of seven I was shown in 
 heaven as the child of the wilderness, and have, 
 within the two years, 1880 and 1881, been indirectly 
 called by heaven, "The child of the Wilderness,*' 
 and once directly called so, and at one time was 
 shown the vastness of the Triune God's love 
 for the Child of tho Wilderness; hence the name 
 of this part of my book. To continue this nar- 
 ration, I have necessarily to pass over events and 
 dates, but recur to them again. In 1878, on what 
 I believed was Easter Sunday, and about two or 
 three o'clock, I witnessed the following glorious 
 sight: Looking upward towards heaven in a south- 
 westerly direction, I saw a number of horsemen 
 coining out of heaven, passing over me to the left. 
 
78 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 Going in a north-easterly course, they passed on in 
 full view, some not returning, but went on into 
 heaven the other way; some returned back, all of 
 them passing on except two. As these two came 
 near me, but far from earth, they stopped and 
 looked at me, and I at them. One spoke; "The 
 Lord of Hosts," he said, and passed on. This was, 
 indeed, my great Redeemer, whom I did see then 
 and at many other times, and who, for nearly three 
 years, whilst I was undergoing the punishment for 
 my sins, did give me many evidences of His love, 
 and of His continued care and kindness to me, some- 
 times speaking to me as many as from fifteen to 
 twenty times a day. There was a cessation of these, 
 His kind visitations, during the year of 1878, speak- 
 ing to me then and as though sorrowing and regret- 
 ting His departure, or rather the ceasing of the 
 manifestation of His kindness. 
 
 At the next manifestation, as well as I can re- 
 member, the Lord struck the heavens and showed 
 me some eight different colors. These colors some- 
 how reminded me of the jeweled walls of the 
 heavenly city of the New Jerusalem. Earth has no 
 colors like these for depth and beauty. About this 
 time I also was blessed by the sight of a number of 
 angels. These came up in two straight lines, coming 
 up from different directions. I distinctly saw these 
 angels, and remembered that I had seen them in the 
 same manner in my youth. I did also sec other 
 angels and archangels. I did not see the great arch- 
 angel St. Michael, but my ears were opened, so that. 
 I distinctly heard him as he flew in heaven, and per- 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 79 
 
 ceived or felt the power of his presence. The power 
 of this angel is appalling. I also saw the angel St. 
 Raphael, who I believe is an archangel. Another 
 angel was with him. I saw them quite plain, though 
 on the other shore, and, as they folded their wings, 
 his name was given me, seeming to come from his 
 person, Raphael, or St. Raphael. They looked like 
 beautiful persons, and I remembered having seen St. 
 Raphael before, in my youth, and he looked like an 
 old acquaintance, and I cherished a kind of friend- 
 ship for him. I think probably that it was he that 
 escorted me from heaven to earth, and perhaps in 
 the angels' home. This angel is mentioned in the 
 book of Tobit. Some have supposed that there is 
 but one archangel, but this is a mistake; there ap- 
 pear to be a great many grand and glorious beings. 
 The archangel, I believe, is larger than the other 
 angels — all resembling human beings, except their 
 wings. 
 
 Some time in the year 1878, my Saviour made 
 known to me His love, and at the same time put me 
 in remembrance of the time when a child I wished 
 to be crucified for Him; and also to the vision of 
 the heavenly host, that I have mentioned before; 
 and also brought to my remembrance a kind of a 
 dream that I had when young of the evil one being 
 in my body, for this possession was declared upon 
 when I was young; and it was then told me of many 
 things that should happen, and which have since 
 transpired, having been given me day by day, little 
 by little, and do thus assure me of God's continued 
 love to me. I remember also coming in the clouds 
 
80 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 of heaven, which represented to me the great mil- 
 lenium. I also remember sitting in and witnessing 
 that which represented the great judgment. 
 
 .The blessed Lord, at another time, visited me, and 
 as He disappeared in the heavens, said these words : 
 "To die," meaning yon have to die; such was the 
 meaning conveyed by the intonation. And then, 
 repeating the same words, "To die," the intonation 
 carrying me to the text, "To die came I into the 
 world." I did also remember seeing in heaven that 
 which represented the crucifixion of our Lord. At 
 another time my thoughts were carried back to a 
 time when, standing somewhere in eternity, tilled 
 with awe, I looked upon the cross. What a feeling 
 of awe came over me — such as I never felt before, 
 and as I can imagine no one ever felt or can under- 
 stand, indicating to me what may and will be the 
 feeling in heaven when one is delivered of his fleshly 
 tabernacle. At another time, being in great tribula- 
 tion, I did see my Saviour in the heavens, and as 
 He passed on, going on into heaven in another direc- 
 tion, He did say to me, "I have borne you in My 
 arms, and you cannot be lost." This referring to 
 the time, as I have reason to believe, when, in my 
 flight through Satan's body to the Wilderness, dis 
 mayed at the sight of the great dragon and centi- 
 pede, I jumped from my seat into the arms of the 
 Person sitting by my side, for it was the Lord; and 
 oh! how happy I was in His presence, for I loved 
 Rim. At another time I did hear the voice of my 
 Redeemer, as though speaking to some one, His 
 voice ringing in space, "I love him." What was 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 81 
 
 the scene in heaven then, or what was occurring, I 
 cannot toll, but imagine it had to do with the grand 
 assize that did sit in judgment. I* did also witness 
 what I supposed to be a conversation between 
 Almighty God and our Lord ; the Lord being below 
 the firmament and Almighty God high up in the 
 heavens. I did see the lightnings that accompanied 
 the words; of this last I am not positive. . 
 
 I did also hear the Lord thunder for the angels' 
 presence. I had, early in the year 1879, been ex- 
 pecting to be delivered, for the Lord had signalled to 
 me the coming of the angels, the mighty host of whom 
 I have some recollection of having seen in early life. 
 I had, for some reason indefinable, the belief that I 
 was to see the resurrection as St. John saw it. This 
 may have arisen from having come to earth billowed 
 on the clouds of heaven in the millenium, and from 
 sitting in the preparation for the great judgment. 
 I did also see hosts of the redeemed, and the com- 
 ing, as in the resurrection, was made known to me — 
 Satan also telling me that I had the promise of see- 
 ing it. However, some time in 1879 or 1880, the 
 heavens were struck witli great power and goodness, 
 and I was informed, "The advent." 
 
 About this time I was being told by Satan, con- 
 cerning the possession of my body in my youth, and 
 who had hitherto until quite recently denied that it 
 was he that had possessed me, telling me that it w r as 
 one of those beings like those that possessed the 
 Gadarenes, but that he had piloted him to me. 
 Whilst holding a conversation of this kind, the place 
 where the possession took place was struck by Om- 
 
82 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 nipotence, and the words, " Love and the resurrec- 
 tion " were spoken by Almighty God, which has led 
 me to believe, and I have so construed it to mean, 
 that God, who has promised to help all who call 
 upon Him, that, as I was a praying child, He had 
 heard my prayers, and though I had fallen in so re- 
 markable a way, by the power of Satan, not by temp- 
 tation, but by having my goodness destroyed, burnt 
 out, as it were, in a manner I could not help, His 
 love was still upon me; I was not to be lost; His 
 love and the resurrection was still for me. This is 
 what men call God's justice and His love. My 
 prayers were answered, now for then, although over 
 thirty years had intervened. 
 
 A phenomenon, connected with the doctrines of 
 Emanuel Swedenborg, consisting much of feeling, 
 which I am not now able to descibe, occurred, in 
 which it was indicated to me thai Swedenborgianism 
 was but another name for spiritism, and all the work 
 of the evil one. The phenomenon is more particularly 
 described in the lecture, " The Satanic Phenomena 
 called Spiritism," etc. 
 
 I must now return to the many acts of kindness 
 shown me by Almighty God during the period of 
 my utmost suffering — God frequently declaring His 
 love to me, and preserving me from the power of the 
 evil one. At one time He did send His angels, and 
 as they passed, as I supposed, beneath the firmament, 
 they stopped and said, "God's love ;" turning they 
 retired back into space, and again they stopped, 
 turned round, and said, " God's love ;" turning again, 
 they sped into space, stopped, turned again, and said, 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 8& 
 
 " God's love." At this time my body was fully pos- 
 sessed by the evil one. He was at times the superior 
 power in my body, as well as the superior intelleet — 
 a perfect ocean of mentality, my identity, as it were, 
 being lost. My power of clairaiidience and clair- 
 voyance was indeed terrible. Ah ! what would I not 
 have given to have had it taken from me. Satan, 
 constantly blaspheming the Lord in every way im- 
 aginable, cutting off iny pleasure, it being a constant 
 struggle with me to drown his blasphemies, never 
 for nearly three years giving me any rest, perhaps 
 not fifteen minutes altogether in the three years. 
 To drown his blasphemies, I had constantly to mut- 
 ter, and had to nee into the prairie or woods in order 
 to prevent the like sins as he sinned, the more when 
 I was in the presence of any one — never, 1 say, go- 
 ing into any one's house to avoid the storm but once. 
 At the end of the third year, when being invited in- 
 to a house out of the rain, Satan turned my head in 
 the direction, sinned at the gate, but permitted me 
 to enter. Then his attacks were so constant that I 
 had not a moment to lose. His design, it seemed, 
 was to overcome me by wearing me out. Some 
 times he would cease for a few moments, and tell 
 me of things that had happened to me, of events of 
 my life, wmere I had been, what I had seen and done, 
 what cases I had represented, the books where the 
 authority could be found for such and such a cause, 
 showing me the book and page, which he could in- 
 stantly do. He would also tell me of my most secret 
 thoughts, also the dreams that I had "had. I found, 
 also, that he, speaking in man, is the main source of 
 
84 the beginning oe the end 
 
 dreams. 1 found, also, that he grovels in the body 
 of man ; is enabled to engender disease ; and I be- 
 lieve also that he, if permitted, has the power of 
 death over the human family. I found, also, that 
 whenever he would speak of anything that had trans- 
 pired in former years, I always remembered it, no 
 matter how trivial it was; indeed, the doors of my 
 memory had opened wide. This was by the power 
 of God. 
 
 At one time God struck a pl^e in England, where 
 was formerly a saw-pit, over which, when a little 
 boy, I used to play, daring my companions to jump 
 over the pit or to walk the beams across it. The doors 
 of my memory were then opened, and I could ap- 
 parently realize what I did a thousand times more 
 vividly than I could at the time when it happened, 
 although nearly forty years had now passed. 
 
 As I said, God's goodness and mercy was con- 
 stantly being shown me while I was in the greatest 
 distress, speaking to me, or striking the elements and 
 causing them to speak ; striking the heavens, which 
 proclaimed, " God's love." At one time the word 
 came to me, striking in me witli the power of a can- 
 non-ball, though without hurting me, saying, "God's 
 love;" and when at one time, being much distressed 
 at Satan's constant attacks, I cried unto Him, He 
 immediately answered me thus, " Just," the intona- 
 tion conveying the meaning, " 1 am just.' 1 The 
 words also were accompanied with a feeling which 
 caused me to recognize the place in heaven from 
 whence it came, a feeling pervading me such as 1 
 had felt at such times when there. These words of 
 
Of the Mystery. 85 
 
 Almighty God I did interpret to mean, "You have 
 never yet been overcome; your strength has been 
 sufficient, and no sins committed in your present 
 condition have been charged to you." x\t another 
 time, being greatly troubled and distressed, Satan 
 pressing on my vitals (internally) and causing me 
 great distress, I again cried unto God, who answered 
 me by striking the elements near by, and they 
 were made to say> " I have promised and will fulfil." 
 In a tew seconds Satan, as in the other instance, 
 was caused to cease, and has never been able to op- 
 press me that way again. Thus God fulfilled His 
 promise. At another time, looking up into the 
 clouds, which appeared very bright, my vision ap- 
 pearing to be much brighter than when in nature, 
 God said to me, " I do spread these clouds." I must 
 again pause to bless Him for His goodness to me, 
 His love and marvelous kindness; and O my friends, 
 when the evil one covered my body with his dread- 
 ful blasphemies, by forming out of his own body 
 dreadful words and representations, and I thought 
 that God would destroy me, yet, instead of His do- 
 ing so, I found myself to be an object of His tender 
 love and compassion. Such is our God, my dear 
 friends, and the Father of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 Coming in from the prairie one Sunday evening, 
 God again spoke to me, saying: "From the throne," 
 and I am not certain but think that the words 
 "Sunday evening" were added. And although His 
 protection was withdrawn from me, so that Satan 
 was able to take possession of my body, and which 
 
86 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 he would do to every human being did not God, 
 with His continued care and outstretched arm pre- 
 vent it; yet He gave me many proofs of His con- 
 stant care and protection, the following instances of 
 which are given : One night the evil one was annoy- 
 ing and troubling me so dreadfully, by his blas- 
 phemies, causing me great distress by reason of the 
 constant labor necessary to repel him and drown his 
 sins, and this time he seemed to be worse perhaps 
 than I had ever seen him before. No words of man 
 can describe the dreadfulness of that being, his size, 
 vastness, power of intellect, his arrogance, presump- 
 tion, and the absence of all goodness. At this time, 
 while cursing and swearing, he rolled his great body 
 toward the north-east, and formed himself into the 
 appearance of a man, when a terrible stroke of Om- 
 nipotence struck near the place, and heaven told 
 him, "I will strike you with madness." 
 
 Satan then became comparatively quiet, and never 
 dared but once more to sin that way again. Once, 
 though, tempting the Almighty in the same manner, 
 for he seemed to rest and to risk his fate on the 
 teachings of the Bible, that he would be permitted 
 to go on until the millennial morn, when the great 
 angel shall bind him with the chain, when, as he 
 says, his great body will be gathered up from around 
 the earth, compressed, and suspended in space, the 
 earth shall roll on its course, whilst another stroke 
 shall hurl him down to the bottomless pit, a fate 
 which he says he justly deserves. 
 
 At another time heaven visited him for his sins, 
 punishing him so severely that he was compelled to 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 87 
 
 cry out in pain, "I am in inanity; I am in inanity," 
 by which he says he meant to say, "I am under 
 affliction." 
 
 At one time, witnessing a storm, far off in the 
 distant horizon I saw a large streak of lightning, 
 and noticed that one prong was paired off from the 
 principal stem in a kind of slow, deliberative and 
 designing manner. This seemed to be cast towards 
 me, or in the direction in which I was standing. 
 The lightning came leisurely along, I watching it 
 all the time. When it got within fifty or one hun- 
 dred feet of me", I saw the fire of the lightning in- 
 stantly extracted, just as though you were to pour 
 water on a coal of fire, and the residue, like chalky 
 ashes, fell to the earth close to me. This was God's 
 goodness to me, this the manifestation of His power 
 over the lightning. Verily He says to the lightning, 
 " ah ha !" The evil one, seeing this, stilled in my body 
 and sinned against God for His goodness to me. 
 Such is his malice and envy, so he hates God and 
 man, and thus he would frequently sin against God 
 for His kindness to me. 
 
 God having promised me in my youth that I 
 should not be lost to Him, did renew the covenant 
 He made with me in my youth, did declare that He 
 was " the God of my youth," and caused me to re- 
 member a promise that He made me in my boyhood, 
 that, although this should come upon me, yet He 
 would restore me; I do also remember the kindness 
 and graciousness of His way with me. I did also 
 have the great honor of beholding Him, and at one 
 time He so revealed Himself that I obtained a full 
 
88 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 view of that transcendant sight. How grand, how 
 beauteous, how lovely ! God grant that you, my 
 dear reader, may thus see Him in peace. In a few 
 seconds after I had been blessed by this sight, I saw 
 some two or three angels alight near to where I sup- 
 posed I had seen the Lord our God, as though in 
 adoration of the place where our Beloved had been. 
 You will ask me, perhaps, why not a million, as well 
 as two or three. I answer, I cannot tell, except 
 that this was, perhaps, then known to these two or 
 three only, and these two or three were perhaps 
 those that stood by me, and saw Him in my mind, 
 when the revelation was made to me. I did also see 
 many times my great Kedeemer, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and do believe that I would recognize Him 
 were I to see Him now. I did also see the Holy 
 Spirit, and once when His presence was made known 
 to me, as I believe, in the manner of His coming. 
 Though I did not see Him this time, at His presence, 
 a vast section of the heavens appeared as though it 
 was ready to burst out and flee away, so terrible was 
 the display of Omnipotent power. During the days 
 of my distress, my Redeemer did also many times 
 make known to me His presence, and gave me 
 many instances of His care and kindness. He 
 caused me to remember the time when, a little boy, 
 on my knees, I desired to be crucified for Him; the 
 remembrance also of the host of heaven mentioned 
 before, lie did also, at one time, rain in my body 
 the lightning of His love. At another time 1 did 
 feci the sweet influence of His presence. Oh ! my 
 friends, how sweet this was; happy is the dying 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 89 
 
 Christian. " Blessed are the dead that die in the 
 Lord." God the father, also bringing to my re- 
 membrance the time when, turning over the leaves of 
 my Bible, I stopped to ask, did I love God as I 
 ought to? For this He signalled His love to me, 
 and I have cause to believe that my love to Him is 
 accepted. 
 
 After I began to get better, that is after the evil 
 one had been driven to a great extent out of my 
 body, and as it would appear His great wrathfulness 
 was caused to subside, and I began to go about. One 
 day, in passing the church, some one was playing on 
 the organ. God then touched the organ, and opened 
 my ears to the music. Oh ! how grand was that 
 music! how full was that melody! what a volume of 
 tone! Some time in the month of November, 1878, 
 the Almighty uncovered the heavens, and I saw the 
 mighty host of the redeemed. What a grand and 
 glorious sight! Again, some time after this, I saw 
 a number of the redeemed that had been sent out of 
 heaven. These all appeared in white raiment. My 
 Redeemer, whilst I was still looking at them, then 
 said to me: "In here is your heaven," intimating to 
 me that there was a place of superior happiness for 
 me. Again, some time after this, having had a con- 
 versation with the evil one, — (these conversations were 
 generally carried on by him speaking the words 
 and my mind giving assent or denial,) — concerning the 
 death of my mother, which was in this wise: My 
 sister was leaning over my mother just before she 
 died, when all at once my mother seemed to have 
 breathed her last; but soon after coming too, she 
 
90 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 said to my sister: "Good bye; I have been in 
 heaven once, and am going again." In the midst of 
 this conversation with the evil one, my blessed Re- 
 deemer uncovered the heavens, and I saw a vast 
 host of the blessed. 
 
 God, having promised me that I should preach 
 His gospel, now, by a stroke of Omnipotent power, 
 called me to the ministry, intimating to me many 
 things I should do, giving a great and precious pro- 
 mise, showing me the cross I had chosen in my 
 young days, and that that cross and its labors were 
 for me yet, having also made me a preacher versus 
 spiritism, and enabling me, by actual observation, 
 and otherwise, to explain and illustrate all its 
 phenomena and all its phases that ever has or ever 
 can be presented. 
 
 The subject of the creation was also pointed 
 out to nie as a proper subject for discussion, and 
 when preparing that lecture, when I had got to that 
 part called the Testimony of the Rocks, and wherein 
 the rock was caused to speak of the Christian's 
 prayer, and thanks to God for His Holy Word, 
 having pictured in my mind's eye the place of this 
 rock (towards the south-east) at this place of my 
 lecture, God struck the place near the scene of the 
 praying Christian with a flash of lightning, and this 
 was the language of the lightning: "God's love/' 
 Not intimating, though, that I was in anywise cor- 
 rect, but simply as I have stated it, perhaps in ap- 
 probation of my labors or of the Christian's prayer. 
 Manv things in that lecture are tinctured with tilings 
 
OF THE MYSTEEY. 91 
 
 that I have seen, as heaven and its situation, the 
 angel's song, etc. 
 
 The following instances of God's goodness to me 
 while I was under affliction I should not have given 
 but that reason and duty suggests that 1 ought to 
 publish them ; indeed, there are and were so many 
 acts and instances of God's love and goodness towards 
 me, that I have a shamefaced ness in relating them ; 
 some of them of such a parental character that I may 
 never mention them, and some that I shall defer to 
 a later period of my life. 
 
 During the period of my greatest affliction, for 
 nearly three years, God visited me in mercy in an 
 especial manner, frequently speaking to ine in per- 
 son : at other times causing the elements to speak. 
 Sometimes my great Redeemer would speak to me, 
 and give me many evidences of His love. In these 
 visitations God would recall my mind to times and 
 places where I had been, and declare His " God's 
 love." Once striking near the beach at Rising Cas- 
 tie, or Wooten, England, recalling my mind to the 
 time, when a small boy, I visited that place. The 
 following acts. of mine also are given, because they 
 received the Divine blessing. Having at one time 
 advised with a young man concerning his aiding his 
 widowed mother, telling him that God would bless 
 those that would work for their mother, a beautiful 
 stroke from heaven upon the place where I had 
 helped him. to render such service indicated " God's 
 love " and approval of the advice. 
 
 Having, after the battle of Manassas, at night, 
 after the battle was over, sought out the wounded 
 
92 THE BEGINNING OE THE END 
 
 and given them water, and helped to take them to 
 places of safety, God being pleased with these acts of 
 kindness, caused heaven to shine on Manassas. 
 Again, on the road to Malvern Hill, just before the 
 battle, coming to a place, a little house in the woods, 
 I found a number of the Federal wounded ; seeing 
 one poor man in a very suffering condition, the flies 
 filling his poor mouth, I brushed then away and 
 dampened his mouth with water, pouring a little in 
 his mouth, administering to him what help I could. 
 After which, coming too, he looked kindly on me 
 with a smile. After talking to him a short time, 
 and doing what I could for him, lie pointed to his 
 pocket, intimating, as I supposed, that he had money 
 and desired that I should have it. This I declined 
 to do, or to touch his clothes. For this act of hu- 
 manity God, during my greatest distress, twice made 
 known to me His good pleasure. These visitations 
 of Almighty God and of my Redeemer seemed to be 
 tokens of their continued care for me; they seemed 
 to refresh me, and give me greater courage in mv 
 great eomflict with the evil one. At last, going one 
 day into the prairie, a host of archangels were made 
 known to me. As soon as this was over, Satan, be- 
 ing in my body tempting me in a peculiar way, 
 asked me which I would prefer, the pleasures of sin 
 for a season, or to take my part with the angels. I 
 replied that I would take my part with the angels. 
 A scene then opened to my view in the heavens 
 which I remembered some time in my life to have 
 seen. T then saw the word " Victory," come, as it 
 were, floating out of heaven, and shortly sifter I heard 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 93 
 
 a voice, which I recognized as the voice of Almighty 
 God, saying, as though speaking in the hearing of 
 heaven and for me, " Victory in God's justice." 
 This was His verdict and His blessing. In a short 
 time after this Satan's power over me began to de- 
 crease. God did declare that He loved me, and 
 gave me evidences of His love, and at one time did 
 drop a wine drop of His love into my being. 
 
 I was once asked why, if God loved me, He did 
 not deliver me from the power of Satan. This I 
 could not answer, but have read that whom the Lord 
 loveth He chasteneth, and remember God's dealings 
 with Job, whom He declared to be a perfect and an 
 upright man, and one that feared God and eschewed 
 evil. And 1 have no reason to complain or repine, 
 but bless Him that it has been no worse with me. 
 Surely infinite love and infinite mercy have followed 
 me, and will be my portion for ever. 
 
 Being, as I said, possessed, I became what spirit- 
 ists call " clairvoiant and clairaudient." I could 
 both see and hear the evil one, and this continuing 
 for six years, I have had ample opportunity of learn- 
 ing a great deal about him, having heard him talk 
 more than all human beings put together. And I 
 can truthfully say, that I believe that I know him as 
 well or better than I know any human being of ma- 
 ture age — knowing his power, his skill, his tactics and 
 cunning, his hatred to God and man, and perceiving 
 his make up, his formations and transformations. I 
 learned all the secrets of spiritism, and my descrip- 
 tion of him and his powers will explain every phe- 
 nomenon and every phase ever presented^ and, as I 
 
94 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 believe, every phase that ever will be presented, and 
 will explain the most that is said of him in the holy 
 Scriptures. 
 
 First, then, without being able to fully explain, I 
 believe that 1 have the authority to say, that Satan 
 is the greatest of all created beings; and this has re- 
 ference, I believe, to both size and intellect — a be- 
 ing covering the entire earth and standing beside 
 every human being. 
 
 Satan is a being of what I call particles — a being 
 covering the entire earth and extending far into the 
 arch of heaven ; each particle of his body possessing 
 intelligence, no head nor front, being all eye and all 
 intelligence, and when observed from above looks 
 like a vast ocean of a dark, inky appearance. This 
 body he compresses into any form he desires; and 
 thus I have seen him in the form of cities, ships, 
 armies, serpents, lions, men, angels, birds, horses, 
 forests, fields, musquitos, forming and transforming 
 himself into the semblance of millions of men and 
 angels at one time and instantaneously. One of my 
 earliest recollections of Satan in my youth, for I saw 
 him then, he had compressed a portion of his body 
 into the form of a man, another portion into a fisher- 
 man's net, other parts into the form of fishes, his 
 body resembling a vast ocean ; his manhood was now 
 casting the net made of his own body into the ocean 
 of his body, catching the fish made of his own body, 
 and thus was amusing himself; this I have seen him 
 do in part many times since. By the power of 
 Omnipotence aiding me, I saw him (Satan) once 
 over the Indian Oceau; though I was in Texas, still 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 95 
 
 he Was about me, talking to me and troubling me. 
 At another time, going into the prairie, I saw Satan 
 forming himself into armies. These represented 
 armies in battle; near by he had formed a place 
 for the lost, to resemble hell, in which were seen 
 beings, apparently in great distress, looking at this 
 scene. I saw him also in the form of a headless 
 human being, his body bent, one knee raised, and 
 one hand up. Whilst looking at this dreadful sight, 
 regarding it as a scene in spiritism, I thought I 
 had seen the sight before, and now believe that, 
 either in the spirit or when my body was asleep, God 
 had caused me to look upon this scene of spiritism.. 
 Whilst contemplating this phenomenon, a mighty 
 stroke from the Almighty struck the place, and 
 shortly after my Great Redeemer caused a great 
 portion of the heavens (elements) to speak: "Love 
 to you," — my dear Saviour's love to me. Once more, 
 when thinking of the thirteenth chapter of Revela- 
 tion, and wondering if that did not refer to spirit- 
 ism, the Lord again struck the heavens, which said, 
 "Love," — the Lord's love to me. 
 
 The following formations of Satan would be re- 
 garded by many as a wonderful evidence of the 
 truth of spiritism were they to see it without know- 
 ing the power of the Evil One: Satan surrounding 
 the entire earth, and filling apparently nearly the 
 entire arch of heaven ; b} 7 condensing his body is 
 enabled to form of his body the semblance of any 
 desired object, by which power he is enabled, out of 
 his own body, to erect fields, houses, yea, nations 
 and peoples; and thus I have seen him form out of 
 
96 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 his body a large throne, then seating or standing 
 himself upon it in the form and semblance of a man, 
 forming also a large audience in the same manner, 
 apparently of millions of listening beings, he would 
 appear to be haranguing the great multitude; or at 
 other times he might disperse his body, and the 
 light and beauty of the heavens would present a 
 grand and beautiful appearance, and now, seating 
 himself upon this portion of vacated space, he would 
 present a wonderful appearance. Grand- and beauti- 
 ful beyond any human conception are the images he 
 presents and the colors he draws. And in this man- 
 ner, I believe, in presenting himself as a most 
 beauteous and glorious person, lie appeared and 
 represented himself as the Lord to Emanuel Sweden- 
 borg, who received from him the teachings found in 
 his works. The baron never saw nor received his 
 teachings from the Lord. 
 
 Spiritism. 
 Looking towards heaven one day, God caused two 
 infants to be seen — O ! how sweet they looked, sweet 
 evidences of God's love; in a few seconds they were 
 taken away, and the elements spoke, " God's good- 
 ness." O ! how many times have I blessed him for 
 this, His great love. Dear friends, pause and bless 
 Him too. Remembering that some time ago, when 
 far from God and in deep sinfulness, I was a spirit- 
 ist, invoking the unholy spirit. I heard a spiritist 
 speaking of a fond mother who had lost her child. 
 Greatly distressed, she had sought out a medium, to 
 learn if she could of her child, or to seek consolation 
 
OE THE MYSTERY* 97 
 
 there. Soon after taking her seat in the seance, a 
 little child was seen, and soon it formed into the 
 appearance of her little child, wearing a little new 
 dress, with one sleeve; this resembled a dress she 
 had just made it, lacking one sleeve, when her child 
 died. The mother recognized this as her child, and 
 most probably became a convert to spiritism. My 
 friends, this was a scene in spiritism; the child-like 
 apparition was one of the formations of the devil. 
 I asked myself, did God grant me this grand sight 
 as a rebuke for my spiritism, I having told the above 
 incident as an evidence of the truth of spiritism ; or 
 did He bless me with it that I might tell the v7orld 
 how infinitely sweeter things He has prepared for 
 His little ones than all fond parents have ever 
 thought of? Kind parents, seek your consolation 
 from God, who will give to all that ask Him ; and 
 remember that He who sent His only begotten Son 
 into the world to die for sinners will never let one 
 of your little ones be lost. Seek Him, I say, and 
 God will re-unite you and your little ones in heaven, 
 to be for ever blest. 
 
 Heaven. 
 As I have heretofore, in the discourse on the cre- 
 ation, spoken of heaven and its locality, I now pro- 
 pose to speak of it in another sense, having, through 
 God's goodness, been permitted not only to see it, 
 but also to walk the streets of more than one of 
 those celestial cities. My recollection of these cities 
 and what 1 saw there is quite indistinct ; but what I 
 have said, and what I am now about to say, I fully 
 
98 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 believe. Of its extent I cannot say, but believe that 
 it extends for millions of miles. I believe, also, that 
 the second and third heavens are a considerable dis- 
 tance from the first and from each other. I have 
 seen four of these cities at one time; of the beauty 
 and glory of that land language fails to describe. 
 The colors of earth are but dim shadows of the 
 colors of heaven — the tree of life extending far into 
 the distance, brandling off a thousand or more miles 
 in each direction. Beyond all, in the great distance, 
 stands the throne of our Redeemer, and beyond the 
 great white throne, or throne of God, from out of 
 which flows the river of the waters of life. Around 
 heaven, out in the highways of eternity, you may 
 see many thrones — the throne of the house of David, 
 the throne of the blessed Virgin, and the thrones of 
 the apostles. On one of these thrones I coursed 
 through space. This was attended with the revolv- 
 ing globes, which gave forth their sweet harmonies, 
 as they chimed around their circles, of which I said, 
 to describe language fails and the human under- 
 standing could not conceive. Over those cities you 
 might sometimes see hosts of the mighty archangels, 
 whose majesty and power would make the earth 
 tremble ; all is happiness and peace; and should the 
 Lord desire their presence, and send His thunders 
 through the mighty depths, millions of these happy 
 beings are seen flashing through space to the ap- 
 pointed place. 
 
 Hell. 
 
 Having also, in another place, spoken of this place, 
 and having looked upon this dreadful place, I can 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. \)\) 
 
 emphatically and truthfully say that hell is a place 
 of fire. The doctrine that is now being preached, 
 that the scriptural references and representations of 
 this place are a figurative description of much suf- 
 fering and severe punishment, could never be sus- 
 tained by any scriptural reference or authority. No 
 minister has the right to fritter away the word of 
 God. God has said it, and I believe what He says, 
 that hell is a place of fire and brimstone. And 1 
 do further believe that Abaddon, the angel of the 
 bottomless pit, is not Satan, as some have supposed, 
 but is a- vast intelligent flame of fire, who will add 
 terror to those frightful regions, and that eternal , 
 death consists in divesting man of the attributes of 
 faith, hope, love, etc., in place of which the certain 
 looking for fiery indignation for ever, with anguish • 
 and remorse, a complete reversal of all the order of 
 nature. 
 
 In my lecture on the Satanic phenomenon called 
 spiritism, I have given a description of Satan, who is 
 called by the angels of light the evil one, or the evil 
 being ; also a description of the angels and archangels ; 
 also a description of those beings called Satan's 
 angels, called also the spirits of devils. I shall not, 
 therefore, say any more concerning them ; also the 
 flight or speed of the angels of God. There are 
 many things more that I have not spoken of; many 
 acts of God's kindness that I think it not proper now 
 to speak of, but may in the after days of my life, 
 should it please God to spare me, and should I con- 
 sider it to be His will. 
 
 As the manifestations of God's good pleasure have 
 
100 THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE MYSTERY. 
 
 not ceased, and I have still the promise of seeing my 
 Redeemer, and believe that some things that I am 
 now in doubt of will be shown me, concerning which 
 I have said nothing, and as He has promised to 
 speak to me again, I shall perhaps ere long prepare 
 another edition of this part of my book called "The 
 Child of the Wilderness." 
 
 In conclusion, let me say, that I know of no word 
 that I have written that is not the truth ; some few 
 things that I have written have the word " believe " 
 prefixed to them, such as my authority for saying 
 that " Satan is the greatest of all created beings,' ' 
 " heaven," " hell," and probably some others." This 
 is because the incidents mentioned have to some de- 
 gree faded from my memory. 
 
 In the preface I said that God had suspended me 
 in space, caused me to stand in the earth, and per- 
 mitted Satan to take possession of my body. I 
 speak positively with regard to these facts, and be- 
 lievingly with reference to the cause why (to-wit, my 
 sins,) I was thus visited, and believe that this was 
 the Divine purpose in punishing me. 
 
 With regard to the other things herein mentioned, 
 I should be derogating from the mission God has 
 appointed me were I to say that I believe them, 
 simply, as they are not matters of belief, but of ab- 
 solute knowledge. 
 
PART THIRD. 
 
 THE SATANIC PHENOMENON CALLED SPIRITISM; 
 SATAN AND HIS ANGELS ; ANGELS AND ARCH- 
 ANGELS, Etc., Etc., BY AN EYE WITNESS. 
 
 THE history of religion carries us back to the 
 most delightful period of earth's history and 
 man's life — ere sin had stained the soul of man, ere 
 earth had known a crime, or brought forth a thorn 
 or thistle. Man, blessed with the visible presence 
 of the Lord our God, who delighted in his happiness 
 and provided for all his wants, placing him by the 
 river, planting a garden for his use, and adorning it 
 for his occupation, beautifying it by the loving hand 
 of His divine beneficence, the garden yielding all 
 manner of fruit necessary for food and pleasant to 
 the eye. But alas! man did not long continue in 
 his innocence. The tempter came; temptation be 
 gan. Man, forgetting his Divine benefactor and 
 generous friend, disregarding His commands, shame- 
 fully fell. Man ceasing to love his God, God ceased 
 to walk with man. The prince of the power of the air, 
 the prince of this world, the spirit or energy that work- 
 eth in the minds of the children of disobedience, was 
 there to tempt, allaying fears, suggesting thoughts, 
 propounding hopes, underlying the logic of metaphy- 
 sicians, blotting out the love of God and respect for 
 
102 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 His commandments, the tempter from hate, the ac- 
 cuser to destroy. 
 
 Profane history, in its symbolic and mythologic 
 way, agrees with the sacred record of the creation. 
 Man and the deluge, and from the visitation of God 
 to our first parents in the garden and to others at 
 different times, arises the traditionary belief in the 
 existence of our great Creator, a belief so universal 
 as to be regarded as one of the attributes of man, an 
 investiture from on high. 
 
 From the same source, and the scene of .the 
 tempter in the garden, it may be inferred, arose the 
 traditionary belief of the various nations in the ex- 
 istence of an evil spirit or evil being. Thus the 
 ancient Persian and the primordial philosophy taught 
 (in the Zendavesta) the existence of original prin- 
 ciples or powers — Ormuz of good, and Ahrimanes 
 of evil — between whom it was taught a continual 
 conflict existed, but that in the end the angel of 
 darkness and his disciples shall go away into a world 
 of their own, and the angels of light will ascend into 
 everlasting joy. 
 
 The Egyptians also, among other things, believed 
 in Osiris, the luminous and active principle, and in 
 Isis, the passive, dark and material principle, and in 
 Typhon, the principle of all evil. Zoroaster believed 
 in one Supreme Being. The Egyptians also believed 
 in one Supreme Being, without a name, source of 
 all light and life. 
 
 In this natural and universal belief in a Supreme 
 Being, and in that awe, veneration and sense of de- 
 pendence to which it gives rise, is found the basis 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 103 
 
 of all religion and forms of worship; and thus man 
 is by nature, wherever fonrid and under all circum- 
 stances and conditions, a worshipper. At what age 
 of the world man left the service of God and allied 
 himself unto false gods and became a worshipper of 
 idols, we are not able precisely to tell, but from our 
 observation of man in latter days, we may suppose 
 it was not long. And thus we find that the sons of 
 Seth, it is supposed, were called the sons of God, 
 because of their adherence to the true worship, while 
 the daughters of Cain were called the daughters of 
 men, because of their having fallen into idolatry; 
 and that afterwards, in the union of these two classes, 
 the world fell into gross sensualism and idolatry, 
 until every imagination of the thought of his heart 
 was only evil continually, and God resolved to de- 
 stroy the world. How long it was after this terrible 
 visitation and appalling judgment before man again 
 fell we cannot tell, but find Laban pursuing Jacob 
 in hot zeal for the recovery and re-possession of his 
 lost Teraphim, a relic of the worship of other gods. 
 And it is lamentably true that whenever and wherever 
 history begins, we find men idolaters and worship- 
 pers of moral abominations — some adoring the im- 
 personations of heroic valor and bloodthirsty and 
 cruel revenge. The mythology of Greece and Rome, 
 though exhibiting a few examples of virtue and 
 goodness, abound in gross licentiousness and vice. 
 Nations and people, worshippers of birds, beasts and 
 reptiles, polluted with lust and cruelty, and smeared 
 with blood, rioting in deadly triumph over all the 
 tender affections of the human heart, opposed to 
 
104: THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 reason and against the convictions of the human 
 understanding; and to this day are found frightful 
 abodes of idolatry, cannibalism and cruelty, evi- 
 dences of the depths of superstition to which the 
 human mind can be debased. (See G. Test. E. and 
 Romans i.) 
 
 Such is the perversity and inconsistency of human 
 nature that scarcely had the thunders of smoking 
 Sinai died away in the distance ere man had turned 
 away from the worship of God unto his idols, in 
 rank rebellion, and in ungrateful oblivion of their 
 kind benefactor's first commandment: "Thou shalt 
 have no other gods before me." Ungrateful was 
 that people to whom the Lord had shown His great- 
 est kindness and most fearful wonders, and for whom 
 He had displayed His great power and goodness, 
 and whose special Friend to them and to their fore- 
 fathers He had been ; and it is a significant fact, 
 showing how deeply rooted in the minds of the peo- 
 ple was the tendency to idolatry, that a Levite, who, 
 of all others, should have been the most sedulous to 
 maintain the worship of God in its purity, was found 
 to assume the office of priest to the images of Micah, 
 and that this Levite priest, afterward to the idols of 
 Dan, was no other than Jonathan, the son of Gor- 
 shom, the son of Moses. — /S. Dec. 
 
 Some idea of the hcinousness of this sin in the 
 sight of heaven may be gathered from the laws con- 
 cerning its punishment; death being the penalty in 
 every instance. The Divine displeasure is also scon 
 in the calamities that befell the Jewish nation, Hoe- 
 ing before their enemies, disaster, disintegration, 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 105 
 
 and captivity, as they departed from the laws of 
 Moses; prosperity and happiness, as they yielded 
 obedience. It is also observable at the present day, 
 that nations sink deeper and deeper in degradation 
 the further they are from religion, advancing in 
 honor, respect, dignity, and power as they appro- 
 priate and approximate the doctrines of Christianity; 
 nations rising to honor and greatness by the deeds 
 and character of a few of their subjects, dying wit- 
 nesses for Jesus and the Word of God; and so over 
 the heaps of slaughtered martyrs, over the flames 
 and faggots, through tears and persecutions, and by 
 the blood of a few heroic men, Christianity was 
 established, and the blood of martyrs became the 
 seed of the church. 
 
 Man's proneness to leave and forget God is shown 
 in the marvellous fact that Terah, the father of 
 Abraham, who lived in the days of Noah, the great 
 preacher of righteousness, was an idolater, and who, 
 more than likely, knew of Noah, and of the flood, 
 and God's communications and revelations to Noah, 
 and why God destroyed the old world. Thus idol- 
 atry was found among men ere the first generations 
 after the flood had passed away ; and it was from 
 this cause, this proneness, may be, that God selected 
 Abraham to be the special depository of Divine 
 truth, the illustrator and preserver of the true re- 
 ligion, and in whose seed all the nations of the 
 earth should be blessed ; and although God's mercies 
 were and had been so great and abundant, His judg- 
 ments so severe, the prophets had lived, preached 
 and written, and the Psalmist had sung; the nation 
 
106 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 of the Jews had fallen from their high estate, and 
 the sceptre was about to depart; and in the time of 
 Augustus the land of Jndah had sunk to the condi- 
 tion of a Roman province, and the people to a con- 
 dition of civil and moral degradation, its officers 
 holding in subordination to the Roman power, and 
 from the tax gathered to the chief-priest securing 
 their position by bribery and corruption. 
 
 This was the condition of things when the fulness 
 of the time came, and the Lord our righteousness, 
 the desire of all nations, came from heaven to earth, 
 was incarnated, and Immanuel was born, and who, 
 at the age of thirty, began his ministry, — the pro- 
 mulgation of the principles of universal benevolence 
 and love; a system of universal truths adapted to 
 all mankind; a Divine all-uniting power; a principle 
 of love and universal brotherhood, without respect 
 to nation, age, rank or exterior circumstance; a 
 system of faith and practice for all mankind, con- 
 taining all that is good, all that is pure, and all that 
 is holy; the antagonism of all that is evil; taught 
 by Him who spake as never man spake; His char- 
 acter sinless and divine; the embodied personation 
 of the truth and wisdom, of the virtue and holiness, 
 of the excellence and perfection of the Divine char- 
 acter; benevolent and kind, just and faithful, loving 
 and true, the kindest friend and most forgiving to 
 His enemies, who for our sakes became poor, and 
 made Himself of no reputation, lived a life of toil 
 and privation, enduring the shame, and submitted to 
 mockery, toiling with His cross on the painful way 
 to Golgotha, and dying on Calvary; and who being 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 
 
 107 
 
 reviled, reviled not again; blessing little children 
 and declaring their general salvation; weeping pa- 
 thetically over Jerusalem, and compassionately at 
 the grave of Lazarus; stopping in the midst of His 
 dying agonies to pardon the dying thief, one of the 
 revilers of His life and sufferings ; sweet to con- 
 template, the idol of every Christian heart, and be- 
 fore whose loving presence even mercy must blush- 
 ing hide her coronelled brow, and in retiring tell 
 thy Saviour's love is there. 
 
 The mind has never conceived, nor can conceive, 
 such a character. The most benevolent person ; the 
 most generous friend ; His compassion for sinners 
 and poor lost man; His compassion for us incon- 
 ceivable, enduring and ending not, until meekly 
 bowing His loving head upon His breast, He yielded 
 up His Spirit a ransom for you, and for me: every- 
 where the same affectionate and forgiving Lord, 
 "displaying a character of unearthly perfection, 
 symmetrical in all its proportions, and encircled with 
 a splendor more than human;" monarch of supreme 
 affection and redemptive sufficiency; God's greatest 
 gift, and the most astounding evidence of His love; 
 idol of our hearts, blessed for ever. Oh! my friends, 
 let me commend Him to you, thy Lord and thy 
 Redeemer. 
 
 O God, I bless Thee for the sweet gift of Thy 
 dear Son to me and to all mankind, and for all Thy 
 mercies; dear Saviour I bless Thee for Thy dying 
 love; O sweet and Holy Spirit I bless Thee that 
 Thou hast taught and framed my heart to love and 
 praise. 
 
108 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 Such was the character of our blessed Lord, — ■ 
 a direct revelation of the character of God, without 
 which we could never have known the depth and 
 the height of the love of God. This the most 
 momentous occurrence of eternity, fraught with the 
 most momentous concerns* being nothing less, and 
 could be nothing more, God's only Son dying on 
 Calvary for the redemption of sinful man; this the 
 great mystery of man and angels for all eternity. 
 The apostle St. John, contemplating these tilings, 
 having leaned upon the Lord's breast from the very 
 bosom of Divinity, declared that a God isMovc." 
 With this advanced and last thought of man we 
 must be content, until, having overcome the world, 
 the flesh, and the devil, and having washed our 
 robes white in the blood of the Lamb, the Lord shall 
 give you to eat of the hidden manna. Then shall 
 you know that meekness and mildness, and brotherly 
 love, and love to God upon earth are but the faintest 
 semblance and shadow of those in heaven, and that 
 God's love to man, like the other essentials of His 
 own perfection, are unfathomed and unfathomable, 
 and belong to that unknowable deptli of the Divine 
 love and the Divine goodness. 
 
 Allied to and forming a part of the idolatry of the 
 ancient nations, the Egyptian, Babylonian, Hebrew, 
 Greek, and Roman, was sorcery, witchcraft, incanta- 
 tions, divinations, charms, etc., and the invocation 
 of the familiar spirit. These practices were found 
 among the Israelites at an early day, and this is the 
 secret and true source of idolatry, an abomination in 
 the sight of God, a seduction from His service, lead- 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 109 
 
 ing to all that is unclean and unholy, the great 
 fountain of iniquity and uncleaness. Against these 
 practices God early issued His warning, and com- 
 manded that a man or woman that hath a familiar 
 spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death 
 — " Their blood shall be upon them." — Lev. xx. 27. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding these commands, we find the 
 Israelites, ever prone, frequently given over to these 
 practices, and when not tolerated, but publicly dis- 
 countenanced by the nation, were practised privately. 
 — Isa. ii. 20. And thus we find in the days of Ma- 
 nasseh,born B. C. 710, the idolatrous rites of Babylon 
 were imported into Israel; the Baal and Ashtaroth 
 ritual was revised with fresh splendor, associated w T ith 
 the old Moloch worship of the Ammonites; the fires 
 were rekindled in the valley of Ben Hinnom. The 
 result was a national debasement unequalled before. 
 The king, it is said, made his children to pass 
 through the valley of Hinnom. He also observed 
 times, used divination by clouds, witchcraft, and 
 dealt with a familiar spirit; believed in the power of 
 some to evoke the dead, to perform operations, and 
 the discovery of hidden things by incantations, 
 charms, and spells, etc. 
 
 But a terrible judgment for these sins was pend- 
 ing. The tributary nations of the Philistines, Moab- 
 ites and Ammonites revolted; the heart and the 
 intellect of the nation were crushed out; Judea was 
 overrun by the Assyrian army; the king made 
 prisoner and carried captive to Babylon, where the 
 eyes and the heart of the king were opened. He re- 
 
110 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 pented of his sins and turned unto the Lord, and the 
 Lord had mercy upon him. — S. D. 
 
 Thou shalt not do after the abomination of the 
 heathen nations. There shall not be found any one 
 among you that maketh his sons and daughters to 
 pass through the fire, or that useth divination. 
 "And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them 
 that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that 
 peep and that mutter, should not a people seek unto 
 their God? for the living to the dead?" were the 
 words and commands of God, by His prophets, and 
 we do well who with reverence heed them. Terrible 
 has been the fate of those that have violated these 
 commands, as before observed. We find these prac- 
 tices among the nations of antiquity, and perhaps 
 there never has been a people or nation that did not 
 observe them. The Scandinavians had their Thor 
 and Odin, with many observances and heathen rites. 
 It was practised among the Anglo-Saxons, in Scot- 
 land, in England, and more latterly in the United 
 States. 
 
 St. Olaf, king of Norway, in the eleventh century, 
 a zealous Christian, did much to enlighten the peo- 
 ple and to abolish these sinful practices. The 
 Scottish parliament passed laws against it. Popes 
 Innocent and Leo passed their edicts. In England 
 it was denounced by positive statute of Henry VIII, 
 1541, and again by statute of James I, author of 
 a work on demonology, and who probably framed 
 the words of the following statute: "Any one that 
 ehall use, practice, or exercise an invocation of any 
 evil or wicked spirit, or consult, or covenant with, 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 
 
 Ill 
 
 entertain, or employ, feed or reward any evil or 
 wicked spirit, to or for any purpose, etc., such of- 
 fender, duly and lawfully convicted and attainted, 
 shall suffer death." 
 
 Although these things were at one time almost 
 universally believed, yet there has been a class of 
 people who discountenanced the belief, and regarded 
 the whole as the offspring of superstition, arising 
 from operations of nature^ trickery, imposture, 
 mania, etc. Yet it is said that in the seventeenth 
 century in England the belief in witchcraft, fairies, 
 apparitions, and every species of supernatural agency 
 was universal; both among the high and the low, 
 the laity, and the priests. (See Book Memorial of 
 Memorable Things, from 1638 to 1684, by Eev. 
 Robert Law ; see Chambers' Inf.) Nor was this be- 
 lief confined to the illiterate or to persons of peculiar 
 credulous temperament, but authors distinguished 
 for sense and talent record facts with great serious- 
 ness, and Martin Luther, it is said, entertained sim- 
 ilar notions. Thus we find recorded the conflict 
 with Satan of Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury, after- 
 wards archbishop of Canterburry, who died A. D. 
 988 ; also the lecture on magic given by Satan at 
 Milan, at which time he (Satan) assumed the name 
 of the Duke of Mammon, and the many things and 
 acts of the evil one related by Mr. George Sinclair's 
 book entitled, "The Invisible World of Satan Dis- 
 covered." 
 
 It is observed that, after the introduction of 
 Christianity into Europe, witchcraft assumed new 
 forms, though retaining all its former attributes. 
 
112 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 Instead of ascribing the supernatural powers of the 
 practitioner to the gods or the spirits of good or 
 evil qualities, or mysteries in nature, the people 
 imputed them to the great fallen spirit of Scripture, 
 and thereafter new phases began to arise, new ideas 
 to be promulgated, and theories advanced, passing 
 through the successive stages that we have men- 
 tioned to the phases of the Salem witchcraft, and 
 the modern form of spiritism as now found. Of the 
 identity of modern spiritism with the various phases 
 of witchcraft, etc., in past days there can be no doubt ; 
 the phenomena are the same, the facts are identical; 
 the same belief also exists in different people as to 
 its existence and its origin, except the number of be- 
 lievers, perhaps, have increased. Of the existence 
 of the phenomena there can be no doubt. I speak 
 from knowledge that it is the work of evil. Chris- 
 tians must believe. That Satan is its author. 1 do 
 know and declare. 
 
 As to the identity of the past and present phases 
 see the books I have referred to, and to the facts of 
 Satan teaching and lecturing on magic, his material- 
 izations, appearing as a person, casting things about, 
 conversations, etc., see the same account given of 
 operations by what spiritists call spirits, in the 
 various spiritistic papers, and see also Watson's 
 Spiritual Magazine, published in Memphis, 1874-'5. 
 And in the books of A. J. Davis the same material 
 ization, appearing in numbers, etc., the phases chang- 
 ing to suit the faith and prejudices of the day and 
 the character of the investigator. If he should be a 
 moral person and believer in Christianity, the revo- 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 113 
 
 lations will be in some respects unobjectionable, at 
 first, but a slight departure from the truth will per- 
 haps be seen. If the investigator is an ignorant per- 
 son, and of immoral practices, the manifestations 
 will be of the most abominable and hideous charac- 
 ter. However much of superstition there may be 
 attached to the stories of old concerning these things, 
 the present manifestations are as fully abominable, 
 varying, as I said before, to suit the moral standard 
 of the investigator, Satan, its author, being the 
 greatest of all strategists and tacticians, knowing 
 your mind and your every thought, and the bent of 
 your inclination, always suiting, from policy ,-your 
 taste in the main, but leaving the track and the trail 
 of the serpent behind. Having known every man, 
 and every thought of man, from the beginning, he 
 knows all you know, and all that every person ever 
 knew while on earth, and whilst seeking your ruin, 
 and intent on your destruction, will tell you the 
 most seductive tales, in the most winning language, 
 telling anything and doing anything to gain his 
 point and accomplish his desire, which is to gratify 
 his malice by sinning against our beloved Creator 
 and our Redeemer and the Holy Spirit, and to de- 
 stroy your soul. Having, I am sorry to say, been 
 a spiritist teacher and preacher of its doctrines, as 
 mentioned before, and also having lived, as it were, 
 in the world where Satan is, the pandemonium in 
 truth, knowing the truth of the things whereof I write, 
 God visited me for my sins of spiritism, but in tender 
 mercy delivered me ; and whatever may be the belief 
 of you, my reader, I know that I speak the truth, and 
 
114 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 that it is my duty to speak and write these things; 
 that I love God and my Redeemer, and cannot tell 
 a story, may what I write and say be instrumental 
 in saving many from this great delusion, the pitfall 
 of souls, Satan's greatest trap, and the most insidi- 
 ous snare he ever laid for poor man. Listen to the 
 commands of God, our dearest and most tender 
 friend, and do ye not after the abominations of the 
 heathen ; seek not the familiar spirit ; so shall ye 
 avoid the snares set for your eternal ruin ; permit 
 him not to possess your faculties of speech, to speak 
 with your tongue a phase of mediumship, nor to 
 breathe upon your mind his thoughts, or words, 
 called by spiritists inspiration ; permit him not to 
 move your hand to write; admit him once, he will 
 come again, fill you with lies and delusion, lead you 
 from God and His Holy Word, and whilst promis- 
 ing you happiness in the spheres, will cheat you of 
 heaven, and into flaming ruin will bring you with 
 himself; will possess your body, drive you mad, or 
 render you distracted, as .hundreds have been, and 
 will never quit yon, except through the mercy of 
 God he is compelled to relinquish his hold. Such 
 is my belief from observation. Did you know, kind 
 friend, what I do, you dare not put your hand on 
 the table, you dare not consult the unholy, familiar 
 spirit, for, whilst in rank rebellion against God, God 
 may withdraw His protection from yon, and Satan 
 will enter your body and take possession, as he has 
 done to hundreds before. 
 
 The most dreadful sin and the great abomination 
 lies out of sight to you, for, thus being in open re- 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 115 
 
 bellion against God, Satan, in dreadful blasphemies, 
 perhaps, is sinning against jour Maker, demanding 
 of God your destruction for this sin of unholy invo- 
 cation; and thus he, Satan, is and becomes the temp- 
 ter from hate, and the accuser to destroy ; and when 
 the time shall come and all things shall be revealed, 
 my faith is that the man mentioned in Rev. xiii. 18, 
 whose number is six hundred three score and six, 
 will be found to be not Lateinos, nor the Latin king- 
 dom, (E. Latine Basileia,) or Cresar Nero, but the 
 man who numbered 666 in the number of satanic 
 possessions, the 666th person into whose body Satan, 
 the beast, had entered and possessed, and driven 
 them to madness or destruction, while in spiritism 
 invoking the familiar spirit. May God in His mercy 
 save you from this fate! 
 
 Before we proceed any further, let us examine 
 into the nature and character of Satan, who he is 
 and what he is. This being is mentioned some fifty 
 times or more in the Bible ; he figures in the third 
 chapter from the beginning, and in the third chapter 
 from the end, having the various names of Devil, 
 Satan, Prince, Tempter, Adversary, Destroyer, 
 Dragon, Serpent, Prince of the power of the air; 
 and though no description of his form or appearance 
 is given, we must conclude that Satan is a being of 
 great power, possessing vast intelligence, and gifted 
 with speech, accountable for his works, will be 
 brought into judgment, and whose doom is fixed. 
 
 I therefore answer the question. Who is Satan, 
 and who made him? That Satan is a personal be- 
 ing, created by Almighty God in goodness, but who 
 
116 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 soon fell from his state of innocence, and in the 
 temptation of Eve in the garden showed that lie 
 knew the penalty attached to sin, and the commands 
 of God to Adam and Eve ; hut disregarding these 
 tilings, indifferent to the welfare of Adam and Eve, 
 and in disobedience to liis Maker's will, tempted our 
 first parents to sin, and thus he was a liar from the 
 beginning, and abode not in the truth. The words 
 " abode not in the truth," show that he once was- 
 good, but fell; and whether from malice or curiosity, 
 or both, he desired to see that phenomenon called 
 death, it might be curious to know, for as yet no 
 bird or feather had fallen from decline. 
 
 But notwithstanding the former premises found 
 in God's Holy Word, some people pretend to laugh 
 at the idea of a personal devil ; some deny the ex- 
 istence of one, others call him a principle of evil, 
 others the evil dispositions of men. By the old 
 school divines he is' a being; by the new he is a 
 principle of evil. And a Mr. B. says, that he re- 
 gards the belief of an evil spirit an evanescent pre- 
 judice discreditable to believe; and again, says an- 
 other, " Responsibility postulates the power of self- 
 action." With regard to Mr. B.'s theory, the Holy 
 Scriptures of God speak differently, and by look- 
 ing into the secrets of our own hearts, man might be 
 led by observation and experience to a different 
 conclusion ; besides, it is a vital dogma of our holy 
 religion, and the discredit is on the one that disbe- 
 lieves, and the defiance is now east back. With re- 
 gard to the postulate, let it be understood that Satan, 
 as well as man and angels, was created in goodness, 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. llT 
 
 that is, a "good being, and by the same kind and be- 
 nevolent hand; and though he, Satan, has sinned, 
 become so depraved, and fallen so low as to deserve 
 the name of the evil being, we have no more right 
 nor reason to arraign Almighty God for His mercy 
 in sparing the life of Satan than we have for the ex- 
 ercise of the same mercy to fallen man. Satan is 
 an object of Divine mercy. Man an object of God's 
 love. 
 
 But again, w 7 ho is Satan? This question is an- 
 swered by the catechism of the Church: " Satan is 
 the chief of the fallen angels. An apostate spirit, 
 fallen from his original loyalty, dignity and felicity." 
 
 This demonstrates, says one, that there must have 
 been a creation prior to the creation of man, and 
 prior to the Mosaic creation, because they say, taking 
 human experience as their guide, Satan being one 
 of the fallen angels, the angels must have been cre- 
 ated long before man, or are beings of a prior crea- 
 tion, or Satan could not in so short a time have sin- 
 ned and become so lost to every tender thought as 
 to deliberately plan and maliciously pursue the de- 
 struction of man. With regard to this, I have to 
 say, that the Fourth Commandment teaches us and 
 for ever puts to rest the theory of a prior creation, 
 and of prehuman and preangelic life: "For that in 
 six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, 
 and all that in them is," etc. Hence, we see, that 
 the angels were created during the six days, unless, 
 indeed, they are not included as beings that inhabit 
 or belong to that heaven that is here mentioned, 
 which J understand to mean the place of the blessed, 
 
118 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 and where our Father in heaven dwells, but are be- 
 ings that belong to another universe, and beyond 
 the bounds of this diurnal sphere ; which is opposed 
 to Divine revelation, as they are constantly referred 
 to as God's messengers, and as beings rejoicing 
 around His throne, executing His commands, mes- 
 sengers of His mercy, and attendants upon the heirs 
 of salvation. 
 
 What, say some, was God doing through all the 
 ages of eternity if the creation began less than six 
 thousand years, ago ? I answer, I cannot tell. But 
 please to put your hand upon the perimeter of the 
 circle of eternity, and then tell me how far yon are 
 from the beginning. You will answer, the same dis- 
 tance as if I had placed it somewhere else. Just so. 
 Then if there ever were a beginning of created matter 
 and created beings, an eternity lies beyond and be- 
 hind it all, to which nothing can be added nor sub- 
 tracted therefrom. 
 
 But the first error 1 conceive lies in considering 
 Satan as one of the fallen angels, and his angels as 
 angels only so far as they do his bidding; and the 
 next error lies in considering Satan as an angel at all, 
 or that he ever was one. Satan's angels are de- 
 scribed in Rev. xvi. 14, as spirits of devils working 
 miracles, etc. 
 
 These three classes of beings are entirely different 
 to each other, as will hereafter be shown. 
 
 We will now T examine into the grounds of this be- 
 lief — that Satan is a fallen angel — and see whence 
 it cometl), it being entirely opposed to God's II<»Iv 
 Word, the angels everywhere being described, where- 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 119 
 
 ever description is given, as beings in the semblance 
 of man (except their wings). As the angels at the 
 sepulchre .and the angel Raphael, in the book of 
 Tobit, and as the attendants upon the heirs of salva- 
 tion, so that in an assembly of truly Christian per- 
 sons we might expect to find the same number of 
 attendant angels, eacli confined to a given locality 
 and given space at the same time; were this so of 
 Satan, lie would necessarily, to correspond with this 
 description, have to flit backwards and forwards here 
 and there, tempting this one now, and that one then. 
 But although this description is entertained as to the 
 description of his person, and he is believed to have 
 been a grand hierarch of heaven, having under him 
 thrones, principalities, and powers, a chief of a legion 
 of angels, yet every one is impressed with the 
 thought of Satan's ubiquity, and every Christian 
 feels and realizes the meaning and force of those 
 words, "I need Thee every hour;" and he is de- 
 scribed in Rev. xii. as with his tail drawing the 
 third part of the stars of heaven, and as deceiving 
 the whole -world. These passages show both his 
 immensity and necessarily his ubiquity. Again, in 
 the Theodore "Bezar translation of the book of Job, 
 first chapter, in answer to the question of the Lord, 
 Whence comest thou, Satan ? Satan answered, From 
 compassing the earth and walking in it. If this 
 word " compassing " had originally the meaning to 
 " surround " or to " enclose," then we have Satan a 
 being surrounding the entire earth, which is in fact 
 the truth ; and as to his walking, this will hereafter 
 be described. 
 
120 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 As we have seen, it was the belief of the ancient 
 Persians that the angels of darkness and his dis- 
 ciples shall go away into a world of their own. We 
 also find, in the writings of the Jewish Rabban, such 
 expressions as these in the book Bahir, " and God 
 cast out Satan from the place of their holiness." (A. 
 C?s Collection. 
 
 From such writings and opinions as these, per- 
 haps, arose the idea of Satan being one of the fallen 
 angels; and in after years, by a strange perversion 
 and distortion of language to this opinion, the lan- 
 guage of St. Peter, in 2 Peter ii. 4, and the sixth 
 verse of the Epistle of St. Jucle has been made to 
 conform — " That the angels who kept not their first 
 estate, but left their own habitation, He hath re- 
 served in chains of darkness unto the judgment of 
 the great clay." (St. Jude.) 
 
 " But if God spared not the angels that sinned, 
 but cast them down to hell," etc. (St. Peter.) 
 
 This language, by commentators and divines, has 
 been made to import that for some, to us, unknown 
 sin, probably pride and ambition, these angels were 
 cast out of heaven and down to earth, where to cer- 
 tain limitations they are now confined, and being 
 miserable themselves, they now, from spite and 
 hatred, try to make every one else so, and hence 
 tempt men to sin, and so insure their destruction. 
 The wages of sin is death. Satan is described by 
 Milton as a being of great power, not less than arch- 
 angel ruined, whom for his rebellion God cast out 
 of heaven down to flaming hideous ruin. 
 
 A due and proper consideration of these passages 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 121 
 
 will show, I believe, the meaning of the apostle to 
 be, that these angels kept not their first estate of 
 innocence or place, but left their own habitation, go- 
 ing beyond the prescribed limits that God had as- 
 signed them and forbade them to transcend ; a com- 
 mand by which He wished to retain their obedience. 
 This command being rebelled against so flagrantly, 
 God cast them down to the place of the lost, where 
 now they* are reserved in chains of darkness, where 
 life of light is not, and where a thousand suns could 
 not give the faintest ray, where they must remain 
 until the judgment of the great day, when some of 
 the redeemed of earth will be their judges. Hence, 
 they never came to earth, but are enduring their 
 punishment now, and dare not sin if they were at 
 large. 
 
 Knowing that some may contradict me, though it 
 is not in the power of man to refute what I say, 
 having nothing to fear but remissness in doing my 
 duty, I think it proper to give a description of angels 
 and archangels, of Satan and his angels, from per- 
 sonal observation ; and though I have many strange 
 things to say, yet, nevertheless, they are true, and I 
 dare not and cannot refuse to say them ; nor have I 
 a desire to be silent concerning them ; expecting op- 
 position, I have some idea what will be said by the 
 unbelieving world, yet I am persuaded and assured 
 that many will believe and be benefited by what I 
 say and write; using no precaution in what I say 
 from fear of opposition, but for truth's sake weigh- 
 ing well every word before writing or using it. I 
 think it proper to say, as I have said before, that I 
 
122 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 have looked upon the person of our beloved Creator, 
 and upon the dear face of our great Redeemer, and 
 have seen the Holy Spirit ; have looked upon the 
 forms and persons of angels and archangels ; have 
 seen Satan and two of his angels, (the spirits of 
 devils) ; have walked the streets of more than one 
 of the heavenly cities ; have looked upon the place 
 of the lost; stood before the great white throne, 
 from out of which flows the -river of the waters of 
 life ; stood before the throne of the Redeemer ; 
 looked upon many thrones; coursed through space 
 on one which was attended by revolving globes, 
 timing and chiming their revolutions, entrancing the 
 senses with the harmonies of heaven, to describe 
 which language fails, and the human understanding 
 cannot conceive ; have looked upon the persons of 
 immense numbers of the redeemed of earth, some of 
 whom were made known to me ; saw no difference 
 in their form from persons on earth, but were tran- 
 scendently more beauteous in their appearance, sweet 
 evidences of God's goodness, jewels of His love, to 
 shine as the stars for ever and ever. 
 
 Oh ! tender Parent, I bless Thee again for Thy 
 great goodness to me and to all mankind. 
 
 I wish now to give you a description of Satan 
 from my own personal observation, and also the 
 authority by which I speak; and this is not theory, 
 but absolute knowledge. But before I proceed in 
 this, I wish to say, as pertinent in tins place, some- 
 thins; concerning myself, and of ray own observation, 
 and of the authority with which I speak. 
 
 Passing over the days of my childhood and of my 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 123 
 
 boyhood, when I loved my Redeemer and kept the 
 commandments of God, and after enjoying the sweet- 
 ness of a Christian life, I fell into sin, having lost 
 my goodness in the following manner: When at 
 the age of sixteen, having gone into my room at 
 night, just previous to the moment of prayer, I was 
 standing up, my mind being attracted towards some- 
 thing. I stopped to listen, and as best I can recol- 
 lect, feeling at this time a peculiar sensation in my 
 body, I turned my attention in that direction, and, 
 listening, heard a voice, apparently within me, say- 
 ing, " This is the feeling of a lost spirit." I then, 
 or soon thereafter, felt an anguish of spirit, and in 
 one moment more the being within me stung my 
 spirit so dreadfully that I, who had so lately felt the 
 true sweetness of the Christian's life, now felt that 
 all my goodness w T as completely destroyed, burnt out, 
 and I felt a dreadful dearth and barrenness of soul. 
 So completely was this accomplished, that were you 
 to drop the blooming flower into boiling water, the 
 destruction (apparently) would not be more com- 
 plete. I have referred to this before, and now wish 
 to state, with adoring gratitude to my great and* be- 
 loved Creator, that, referring to this matter and 
 time when I lost my goodness by means not within 
 my power to prevent, Almighty God, with great 
 kindness, did strike the elements over and near the 
 place where it occurred, and they declared " Love 
 arid the resurrection " — God's love and promise to 
 me. This, His mercy to His praying child, now an- 
 swered now for then. I was not to be lost. I had, 
 as I said, whilst standing in heaven in the immediate 
 
124 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 presence of the ever-blessed and Holy Trinity, re- 
 ceived the promise of Almighty God that I should 
 have eternal life, and have the same promise from 
 the mouth of our Redemer. 
 
 Why, says the reader, was this to you and not to 
 some one else ? I answer, I cannot say ; but I know 
 this is true, and that I loved my Redeemer in my 
 childhood and in my youth, and He blessed me. 
 Have you children ? O, teach them to love Him, 
 for I cannot, from experience, help to believe that 
 it is not inconsistent with God's mercies that for 
 some act of love on the part of your children to- 
 wards Him, He may overlook the past and the great 
 future, and declare in His mercy that such a child 
 shall not be lost. 
 
 Besides, my friends, I was a phenomenon and a 
 wonder in heaven. Over eighteen hundred years 
 since the last recorded theophany, an occurrence of 
 great moment to the world, a data in the course of 
 time, the fulfilment of His prophecy, evidence of the 
 unerring progress of events under the guidance and 
 governance of the Most High, showing the progress 
 of events, exhibiting the past, and pointing with 
 certainty to the future. At the time when most 
 needed, when errors pass for philosophy, isms and 
 ologies arc the standard, denial of our great Creator 
 and of His Son our Saviour and the Holy Spirit is 
 heard with approbation, and the blasphemy <>f His 
 graces and the cherished decencies of life are at a 
 premium. 
 
 There is no escaping the fact, the crisis is upon 
 you, indicated by the apostle in Rev. xii. 12: "Woe 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 125 
 
 to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea ! for 
 the devil is come down linto you, having great wrath, 
 because lie knoweth that he has but a short time." 
 
 In a few days after the event to which I have re- 
 ferred, the possession of my body and the destruction 
 of my goodness, I am sorry to say, I ceased to pray ; 
 and as all do who do not pray, I fell into sin, grad- 
 ually though, my early experience having a subduing 
 influence upon me all my life. But I was a sinful 
 man, and what is most wondrous and apparently most 
 unpardonable, after enjoying the sweetness of a Chris- 
 tian life, in which I had the most conclusive evidence 
 of God's love and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, 
 I fell into the dreadful delusion called spiritism; and 
 it is of this satanic phenomenon called spiritism that 
 I now come to speak more particularly. Having 
 given you the opinion of others concerning Satan, 
 etc., I now proceed to relate what I know. 
 
 Falling, as I said, into spiritism, I had become a 
 teacher of this dreadful delusion, having evidences 
 that the phenomena do exist. I had also become a 
 medium, my hand moving without the concurrence 
 of my own moving volition, and thus living in rank 
 rebellion against God's most holy will and word, 
 who commands us not to do these things — not to 
 consult the familiar spirits. 
 
 Being in Houston during the fair, May, 1877, I 
 had meetings with spiritists, and had communications 
 from what purported to be from spirits. Satan was 
 now gaining strength, and drawing his coils around 
 me. I was in frequent conversation with one whom 
 I supposed to be a spirit. Returning home, my 
 
126 THE BEGINNING TO THE END 
 
 business called me, on the 28th day of May, 1877, 
 to the courthouse, in the prosecution of a cause then 
 pending in the court. Here I felt a lack of concen- 
 tration of thought, and rising up to argue a motion 
 I had presented, I saw or felt a kind of blackness 
 come over me. God withdrew His kind protection 
 from me so far that Satan entered my body, as had 
 been told me when young would happen to me. T 
 fell in the courthouse. Satan seized my organs of 
 speech. The first words the unholy being spoke 
 after taking possession were, "Holiness to the Lord." 
 Now began to me a scene of terror and distress that 
 no one can imagine. I was possessed as many have 
 been and will be who consult the familiar spirits. A 
 pressure upon my brain, driven about in the great- 
 est agony, my mind seemed at times to drop, or al- 
 most drop out. All hopes and props given by spirit- 
 ism failed. I felt the drcadfulness of my situation, 
 and believed that I was eternally lost. In the deep- 
 est distress I cried unto the Lord, and oh, kind 
 friends, He heard me and came to my relief, and L 
 found, to my great happiness, that instead of being 
 a lost being, and ever lost to His loving kindness, 
 and banished for ever from His dear presence, I 
 was in a peculiar manner a child of His love, and an 
 object of His loving care and tender mercies. I 
 bless Him as I write. 
 
 In March, 1878, while lying on my lied, I heard, 
 up towards the heavens, the following words, " God's 
 love is upon you," whilst the manner of its delivery 
 and the softening elements informed me of the pre- 
 sence of Him, the sweetest of all beings, our great 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 127 
 
 and beloved Creator. Soon thereafter 1 was again 
 greeted by the voice from heaven of my Redeemer, 
 declaring in the most emphatic and unmistakable 
 manner that I was His — thus, " The Lord's." 
 
 About this time, having had a conversation with 
 Satan, (Satan speaking and my mind giving the an- 
 swer,) concerning my deliverance from possession 
 and restoration to nature, one Sunday evening, in 
 the summer of 1878, an angel, sent from heaven, 
 passed through my house, and so near me that I felt 
 the goodness of his presence — a softening influence. 
 1 saw him as he passed within a few feet of my 
 head. My mind being bent on the conversation that 
 I had had with Satan concerning my deliverance, 
 the angel declared in the most emphatic manner the 
 message of heaven to me, "Shall be;" that is, yon 
 shall be delivered. 1 had after this many assurances 
 of God's continued love and kindness to me. God 
 Himself and our Redeemer, both many times, with 
 wondrous poAver and sweetness declared their love 
 to me. "Sealed in heaven," was the repeated mes- 
 sage of heaven to me ; Almighty God renewing the 
 covenant He made with me in my youth, and the 
 promise He had made me of restoration, and on 
 more than one occasion bringing to my remembrance 
 the time when, a small lad, I was turning over the 
 leaves of my Bible, and asked myself, Did I love 
 God as 1 ought ? This was made to give me much 
 pleasure, whilst a mighty stroke from Almighty 
 God upon the heavens declared His acknowledgment 
 of my love to Him. 
 
 My great Redeemer did also cause me to remem- 
 
128 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 ber the time when, in the fulness of ray heart and 
 whilst on my knees, feeling the sweetness of His 
 love I desired in the simplicity of my childish heart 
 to be crucified for Him ; and also to a vision I had, 
 at the age of fifteen, of a glorious host of the re- 
 deemed in the heavens, which I related vears ago : 
 and also to a dream-like occurrence that I had of 
 Satan in my body. I did also hear His words ring- 
 ing in the air, saying, " I love him." What was the 
 scene in heaven which gave rise to this I cannot tell, 
 but may hereafter give my opinion. He did also 
 assure me of my salvation, declaring that I could 
 not be lost, giving me to understand what was re- 
 quired of me as His evangelist, declaring other skies 
 for you, and referringto a place of great and supe- 
 rior happiness, declared, "in here is your heaven;" 
 and, as I said before, I did have the honor and hap- 
 piness of seeing the Lord, and also of looking upon 
 the person of Almighty God, not once only, but 
 several times, and who at one time was pleased to 
 show me Hi^ glory, and I beheld Him in His great 
 beauty and loveliness. At another time I did see 
 that which did indicate the consuming and devour- 
 ing fire which preceded His presence, and which 
 will terrify and be more unendurable to the wicked 
 on that day when He shall come in judgment than 
 a thousand bottomless pits. Oh ! my friends, pre- 
 pare to meet Him in peace. You cannot stand that 
 flame. He offers you pardon. Accept the invita- 
 tion and come unto Him to-day, and be ye, oh, be 
 ye reconciled to God. My eyes did not penetrate 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 129 
 
 to His presence then, but as He retired he signalled 
 " God's love." 
 
 Of the angels it is supposed by some that there is 
 but one archangel. This is a mistake, as there ap- 
 pears to be a grand hierarchy of them, as the pre- 
 sence of many have been made known to me. They 
 appear to be beings of great beauty, and when on a 
 mission of heaven a kind of lightning-like majesty 
 attends them. Though not certain, but have some 
 reason to believe that I saw the great archangel, St. 
 Michael, in my youth. I heard him some two or 
 three years ago, as he flew through the courts of 
 heaven. The power of this angel is appalling. 
 
 St. Raphael, the angel that 1 mentioned before, 
 whom I recognized as the companion of my youth, 
 I believe is an archangel. T distinctly saw this angel 
 in company with another, sent, I believe, for the 
 purpose. I saw him as he folded his wings by his 
 side; he looked quite natural, and appeared in every 
 respect as a beautiful person. 1 recognized him, as 
 I said, and cherished a kind of companionship-like 
 friendship for him. Of the other angels, I did see 
 a great many, numbering may be thousands. Won- 
 drous is the accuracy of man's conceptions of the' 
 angels. I have the pictures of two in my house, and 
 they are indeed very faithful representations of the 
 angels in heaven, the ministering spirits to the heirs 
 of salvation. The archangel is larger, I believe, 
 than the other angels; both are very beautiful. 
 
 Of those that are called Satan's angels, or the 
 spirits of devils, I have seen but two. These are 
 entirely different from the angels of glory ; dreadful 
 
130 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 looking beings, larger than man ; their form indi- 
 cative of great strength, with very large heads, 
 coarse straight hair, large protruding eyes, glassy, 
 and two or three inches or more in diameter, with 
 peculiar flattened feet. These are indeed dreadful 
 beings. These probably are such as possessed the 
 Gadarenes. 
 
 To the speed of the angel's flight my attention 
 was directed by Omnipotent power. I being in 
 Beaumont, Texas, my attention being directed to a 
 place near the small island called liottenest, near the 
 mouth of Swan river, western Australia, I saw an 
 angel, with almost lightning speed, fall, as it were, 
 from heaven near to the water's edge. My atten- 
 tion was now directed to my arm, which I found 
 beating time, not by my own direction; in about 
 three-and-a-half seconds the angel had arrived at the 
 Cape of Good Hope, the distance of about 5,900 
 miles ; in about from six to eight seconds more the 
 angel had come in the direction in which I was over 
 13,000 miles from the Cape, and was now gone in a 
 northeasterly direction, as I supposed, towards Eng- 
 land. A vacuum indicated the course of the angel. 
 
 Description of Satan. 
 
 I now return to the description of Satan. 
 
 Being now possessed — Satan in my body — I was 
 in a condition appalling indeed. I could both sec 
 and hear him, clairvoyance and elairaudienee terri- 
 ble, and have heard him talk more than I ever heard 
 any human being, and have spoken to him many 
 times. 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 131 
 
 I will now give you the result of my own obser- 
 vation ; absolute knowledge (please), not theory. 
 That Satan is not a fallen angel, nor his angels 
 fallen angels, will be apparent from the description 
 given, — the archangels and the angels being a little 
 different from each other, and Satan's angels, or the 
 spirits of devils, being entirely different from them, 
 and Satan being different from them, each being 
 different from the other. Having the authority, as 
 I believe, to say that Satan is the greatest of all cre- 
 ated beings; a*nd this has reference, I believe, both 
 to his size and to his intellect. Created, as he says 
 he was, in goodness, that is, created a good being, 
 on the sixth day of creation, (literal days,) he spent 
 the first Sabbath on earth, dwelling upon the person 
 of every human being that ever lived ; possessing, in 
 some degree, the body of every human being, he has 
 heard and hears the least tinkling of their minds, 
 and knows their most secret thoughts., and the pe- 
 culiar construction of their minds, and thus possesses 
 all the knowledge ever possessed by all men, from 
 Adam and Eve to the present time. From observa- 
 tion my belief is, that Satan is a being of what I call 
 particles, covering the entire earth, and extending 
 upward into the very arch of heaven, and when ob- 
 served from above, looks like a vast ocean of a kind 
 (as best I remember) of inky appearance, each par- 
 ticle of his body possessing intelligence, being, as it 
 were, all eye and all intelligence, having no special 
 head or front, but being all head and front. As an 
 ocean, I beheld him from the clouds of heaven, and 
 a stroke from the Almighty, some three years ago, 
 
132 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 pointed him out to me over the middle of the Indian 
 ocean, and such was Satan's appearance then. Pe- 
 culiarly imitative in his nature, a fine musician, 
 striking every chord, and touching every harmonic 
 ever heard or touched by man ; rapid in his thoughts, 
 a fine painter, culling the most advanced thoughts 
 and conceptions of man ; imitative in his voice, which 
 he renders audible by compressing a portion of his 
 body into organs of speech, by a power that he pos- 
 sessess of compressing his body and portions of his 
 body into any desired form he pleases* never, though, 
 I believe, separating any portion of his body entirely 
 from the rest. Thus forming: and transforming his 
 body, he possesses the faculty of surpassing man in 
 accuracy of delineation, representing the person of 
 any one he desires, and to suit the wishes of any one 
 he desires, and to suit the wishes of any one, accord- 
 ing to the mental image or conception the person 
 has of the object sought — Satan seeing the image in 
 the mind of the investigator. And it was in this 
 manner that he compressed a portion of his body 
 into the serpent, and addressed himself to our first 
 parents; and thus was witnessed the fir3t phase <>f 
 the phenomena now called by spiritists " materiali- 
 zation;" a being standing, as I said, over the entire 
 earth, and knowing the thoughts of vwvy person. 
 The investigator will write a letter to Now \ ork, 
 desiring it to be answered unopened; Satan sees the 
 writer when he writes, knows the answer desired or 
 expected, and is in New York to answer it when it 
 arrives ; and thus Satan was the hidden source and 
 secret of the Delphian Oracle ; was enabled to give 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 3 33 
 
 the messenger of the Lydian King, Croesus, when 
 meditating a war against Persia, a correct answer to 
 the question, What is Croesus, King of Lydia, doing 
 now ? The king, to test the accuracy of the oracle, 
 having arranged the time with his messenger when 
 this question should be asked — the king, by arrange- 
 ment, being engaged in the unkingly occupation of 
 boiling a hare and tortoise in a brazen vessel. These 
 things, it is said, the Pythoness pointed out with cir- 
 cumstantial accuracy, but to the question as to what 
 would be the result of the contemplated war, the 
 answer was so ambiguous, that the king, venturing, 
 was ruined. Satan has no gift of prophecy, and it 
 is by the power of transforming himself (by com- 
 pressing his body) into different shapes and forms 
 that he exhibits to persons the different visions and 
 assemblies in the air motioned by spiritists. Satan 
 being able, by compressing his body, to transform 
 himself into any form of any earthly size or color — 
 into a kingdom or a cotton hankerchief. And I 
 have seen him in the form of armies, ships, cities, 
 woods, men, angels, etc. And thus he transforms 
 himself into the angel of light, and into the great 
 red dragon of the apocalypse ; and I have seen him 
 transform himself into innumerable hosts (millions) 
 at one time. 
 
 Mr. Adam Clark mentions in his commentaries 
 that by the terms " devil" and "Satan," Pareus and 
 Faber and other commentators understood it to be 
 the great spiritual enemy of mankind. Now, says 
 he, if by the dragon is meant the devil, then we are 
 necessarily led to the conclusion that the great apos- 
 
134: THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 tate spirit is a]uionster, having seven heads and ten 
 horns. Therefore, he says, the appellations, " the 
 old serpent," " dragon," and the " devil," must be 
 understood figuratively. But not so, Mr. Clark. 
 Satan is large enough, and has the power, to trans- 
 form, at one time and instantaneously, his body into 
 a million dragons, each having seven heads and ten 
 horns, and did transform himself into the form men- 
 tioned in Kev. xii. 3. 
 
 It is written in St. Luke, that the devil carried 
 our blessed Lord up on the mountain, and showed 
 Him all the kingdoms of the earth in a moment of 
 time. Some may feign unbelief at this, because, 
 they say, that no mountain was high enough to give 
 a view of the kingdoms of the earth as it then was. 
 Declining to give any opinion as to this passage, and 
 not willing to give my own construction of these 
 words, I can say that, besides the divinity of our 
 Lord and His omniscience, I can imagine that Satan, 
 in order to make the deception more complete, car- 
 ried our blessed Lord to the top of the mountain, and 
 then instantly compressing his body into the various 
 forms of the different kingdoms of the earth, offered 
 them, and the glory of them, for one act of adoring 
 worship. And not only was he able to do this, but 
 I have reason to believe, from repeated observations, 
 that he could to-day, as large as is the population of 
 the earth and as many as are the kingdoms thereof, 
 transform himself into the semblance of all the 
 kingdoms of the earth at one time, and also into the 
 semblance of every human being; these, his forma- 
 tions and transformations, being instant aud of every 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 135 
 
 conceivable character — horses in vast numbers, a 
 cloud of mnsquitoes, trees filled with blackbirds, 
 cities on fire, etc. 
 
 One of my earliest recollections of Satan in my 
 youth, for I saw him then, and much was shown me 
 that have come to pass, and have seen and heard 
 within the last six years, I was standing just above 
 him, and saw Satan, who had formed out of his body 
 a form which was to represent a man, a correct re- 
 presentation ; also out of his body he had formed a 
 net, and with this net he was fishing in the great 
 ocean of his body for fish made of his own body, 
 and was thus amusing himself. I have also seen 
 him as great anacondas coiled up on the prairie, or 
 coming down as though to devour me. And being 
 in the prairie at one time, I saw Satan, who had 
 formed to himself armies engaged in battle ; near 
 him he had formed (out of his body) that which re- 
 presented the place of the lost, in which were (repre- 
 sented) some unhappy beings, apparently in great 
 agony. Another being then attracted my attention, 
 representing a headless human being ; his body bent, 
 one knee raised, leaning a little backward, and one 
 hand raised. While looking at this sight, and re- 
 garding it as a scene in spiritism, my recollection 
 dawned upon me that I had seen this sight before, 
 and believe that, either in the spirit or while my 
 bod} 7 was asleep, my spirit had been caused to look 
 upon this scene. While contemplating these things, 
 a stroke of Almighty Power struck the place, and 
 whilst thinking of this my great Redeemer struck 
 t e heavens w 7 ith mighty power, and a great section 
 
136 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 of the heavens was made to proclaim, " Love " — His 
 love to me. On another occasion, while walking 
 along thinking what was meant by the first part of 
 the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, and wondering 
 if it did not refer to the present phenomena of spirit- 
 ism, the Lord did again strike the heavens, and they 
 proclaimed, " His love to me ;" but there was an ab- 
 sence of everything tending to an answer to my 
 thoughts concerning the meaning of those passages 
 of Scripture. 
 
 I did also see that dreadful phenomena mentioned 
 in Rev. vi., — did see the lightning flash from the face 
 of him who rode the white horse (the Lord); saw the 
 dreadful place called hell, as it came floating out of 
 eternity ; saw Satan, who is called death, form him- 
 self into the pale horse* and the rider thereof, and 
 then in great pomp triumphantly ride in advance of 
 the dreadful sight. 
 
 Having, to my shame and sorrow, spread the un- 
 holy literature of spiritism, these sins were made 
 known to me amid the recoils of nature; and when, 
 at one time, as best I now remember, having under 
 consideration God's great goodness to me in making 
 me the messenger of His love and mercy, an un- 
 raveller of these mysteries, a discloser of the secret 
 source and the true origin of these abominations, a 
 beautiful stroke from heaven struck the place of the 
 belfry at Syderstein, a place near Fakenham, in the 
 county of Norfolk, England, a place that I once 
 visited in my boyhood, and is known as a place where 
 that satanic phenomenon called a " haunted house " is 
 found, for this is also the source and origin of the 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 137 
 
 haunted house. The phenomena connected with this 
 house, and the facts thereof, are related in a book 
 written by the 'spiritist, Robert D. Owens. 
 
 At another time, having joined the infidel world 
 in refusing to give credence to the account con- 
 cerning Joshua's command to the sun to stand still, 
 1 saw a large round light come out of heaven. A 
 feeling then came over me indicating to me a time 
 when before I had talked of these things. As this 
 light receded into heaven, I saw behind it that which 
 indicated the presence of my great Creator, not in 
 anger, but, as I thought, not so kind as I had seen 
 Him before. This was the Almighty's visitation to 
 me for this sin, and I trust His kind forgiveness. 
 As soon as this was over Satan began to talk of the 
 theories concerning this, and asking, as it were, how 
 this could be; when going on to my gallery I looked 
 up towards heaven, and the elements proclaimed, by 
 the power of God, "The sun stood still." 
 
 The doctrines and teachings of Emanuel Sweden- 
 borg are also a part of the great delusion. The 
 Baron never saw the Lord, but I believe that he did 
 see the evil one, who represented himself to be the 
 Lord. The teachings are untrue and sinful, and are 
 but the teachings of Satan to mystify and mislead. 
 The doctrine of the blessed Trinity dwelling in the 
 Person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is un- 
 true. The doctrine of correspondences, etc., are. but 
 delusions intended by the devil to mislead, and in 
 all I can perceive the peculiar pomp, diction, and 
 design of the wicked one. 
 
 The Holy Spirit in person did point out to me a 
 
138 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 sin and delusion in spiritism. For this sin I have 
 been made to suffer, God having determined to 
 punish me in this life, though I was a child of His 
 love and His promise, having sealed me in heaven 
 and promised me eternal life, and made me the mes- 
 senger of His mercy to the world, yet His justice 
 demanded it, and He punished me severely for my 
 sin. Oh! blessed be His Holy Name, that He did 
 not cut me off for ever. 
 
 I now come to the close of this description of 
 Satan and spiritism. Kef erring to God's Holy 
 Word, and what has been shown me, and what I 
 know from observation, it is my duty to say that, 
 by the means before stated, Satan, aided perhaps 
 by the spirits of devils working miracles, as described 
 in Rev. xiv. 16, is the author of all spiritism, the 
 secret of the haunted house, the cause of dreams; 
 that he causes diseases and infirmities in the human 
 body ; and is the cause of most of the mysteries 
 around which the superstition of man delights to 
 linger. 
 
 The present, to me, most unaccountable power of 
 Satan is his ability to collect colors; for this he can 
 do to a very remarkable degree, and to a depth and 
 beauty far surpassing anything seen by man. His 
 power of imitating the lightning was for some time 
 a mystery to me, but I afterwards conceived that it 
 was a portion of his body that he cast, brightened, 
 as I believe, with a light color. This he cast with 
 great rapidity, and thus our blessed Lord saw him 
 fall as lightning from heaven. I also observed that 
 this motion was more rapid when cast toward the 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 139 
 
 earth than when in any other direction, which led 
 me to think that Satan was a being subject to the 
 laws of gravitation. 
 
 Thus I have shown he stands bv the side of everv 
 human being, possessing a billion thoughts at one 
 and the same time, and at will can form a billion 
 tongues wherewith to speak, ever seeking jour ruin, 
 and to those that consult him will have sweet words 
 and consoling thoughts, remote from truth, and in- 
 tended for your destruction, and whilst telling you 
 pretty stories would destroy you in a moment. The 
 more earnest you are for your safety and your salva- 
 tion, the more active he is to ensure your eternal 
 loss. He hates you, and loves to hate, and hates to 
 love. The following of envy will suit our great 
 enemy : 
 
 Who never smiles, but when the wretched weep ; 
 
 Nor lulls his malice with a moment's sleep; 
 
 Restless in spite, while watchful to destroy, 
 
 He pines and angers at your joy ; 
 
 For to himself, distressing and distressed, 
 
 He bears his own torment in his breast. 
 
 Who from long continued sinfulness has grown 
 from worse to worse, (the downward career notice- 
 able in men;) brooding over his doom, he, like the 
 drunken man, who, to drown the remembrance of 
 his debasement and ruin, rushes again into sin and 
 dishonor, until malice, vindictiveness, and hatred, 
 have so usurped the place of his natural goodness, 
 that but once in four years I domot remember hav- 
 ing heard but one exclamation of a generous feel- 
 
140 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 ing, which was when the city of the Great King was 
 announced, he uttered an exclamation of aquiescent 
 pleasure at my good fortune. 
 
 I will now relate some conversations that I have 
 had with Satan, or rather what I have heard him 
 say; and first he says, that he was created a good 
 being, on Friday, the sixth literal day of creation ; 
 that he believes in the Mosaic account, and the six 
 literal days of creation; that Moses was inspired, 
 and that his account is not the result of previous 
 scientific discovery ; that he found himself a living 
 being diffused in the air; soon found that he pos- 
 sessed the power of compressing his body and trans- 
 forming himself, and that he possessed the gift of 
 speech, saw the vastness of his body, and the great- 
 ness of his mind, knows and remembers every 
 thought of man, from Adam and Eve to now; knows 
 the bent of the inclination, and the tendency of the 
 mind ; remembers the newness of the appearance of 
 things at the beginning; no moss on the trees; knew 
 from Adam's and Eve's minds they had not been 
 long created; knew God's commands to them; that 
 the tree of knowledge of good and evil was a veri- 
 table tree, and the fruit veritable fruit. And when 
 at a time I was musing over a passage concerning 
 the preaching of Rowland Hill, who, preaching in the 
 street, saw Lady Erskine coming, and who, recogniz- 
 ing the preacher, stopped to listen, when the preacher 
 changed his discourse and began, "I have something 
 to sell ; I have the soul of Lad} r Erskine to sell ; what 
 will you give me for it?" I said "the Saviour gave 
 my life. What will you give for it, Satan ?" " I will 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 
 
 141 
 
 give riches, honor, and pleasure; yea," Satan said to 
 me, " and so I would if I had it, and had to give it, 
 to get her soul; but when I had secured it (her soul) 
 I would steal it back from her in the night. 1 hate 
 goodness, I hate God, and your Saviour, and 1 hate 
 man, and will destroy all I can." 
 
 I know, says he, all the inanities of the human 
 heart, by which saying he means, the strength and 
 weakness and peculiarities of man's mind, and every 
 thought of his heart. Fair as the sunbeam and quick 
 as the lightning he presents himself in any form to 
 the human family, by which thousands have been 
 lost in the great abomination of spiritism. 
 
 In conclusion, I can say, that there are a great 
 many things more that I could say — strange things 
 indeed — but believe the above is sufficient. I can 
 safely say that the foregoing is the true secret of 
 spiritism, and is the entire truth, and that I know it 
 as well as most anything pertaining to my every day 
 business. May God in His mercy open the eyes of 
 the people to see the source and enormity of the ter- 
 rible delusion. 
 
 The following particulars of the evil one, taken 
 from Dr. Adam Clark's Theology, I can fully en- 
 dorse : " It is now fashionable to deny the existence 
 of this evil spirit ; and this is one of what St. John 
 (Rev. ii. 24,) calls the ' depths of Satan," as he well 
 knows that they who deny his being will not be 
 afraid of his power and influence; will not watch 
 against his wiles and devices ; will not pray to God 
 for deliverance from the evil one ; will not expect 
 him to be trampled down under their feet, who has 
 
142 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 no existence; and, consequently, they will become 
 an easy and nnopposing prey to the enemy of their 
 souls. By leading men to disbelieve and deny his 
 existence, he throws them off their guard, and is 
 then their complete master, and they are led captive 
 by him at his will. It is well known that, among 
 all those who make any profession of religion, those 
 who deny the existence of the devil are they who 
 pray little or none at all, and are apparently as care- 
 less about the existence of God as they are about 
 the being of a devil. Piety to God is witli them 
 out of the question ; for those who do not pray, es- 
 pecially in private — and I never met with a devil- 
 denier who did — have no religion of any kind, what- 
 ever pretensions they may choose to make. Those 
 who deny the existence of Satan are generally men 
 of desperate character and desperate fortunes; and 
 as they will not listen to the voice of reason, nor to 
 the sacred oracles, they must be left to their own 
 desperation. Because men cannot see as far as the 
 Spirit of God does, therefore they deny. His testi- 
 mony. ' There was no devil ; there can be none.' 
 Why ? i Because we have never seen one, and we 
 think the doctrine absurd.' Excellent reason ! And 
 do you think that any man who conscientiously be- 
 lieves his Bible will give any credit to you ? Men 
 sent from God to bear witness to the truth te)l us 
 there were demoniacs in their time; you say, 4 No, 
 they were only diseases.' Whom shall we credit, 
 the men sent from God or you ? Is the doctrine of 
 demoniacal influence false ? If so, Jesus took the 
 most direct method to perpetuate the belief of the 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 14:3 
 
 falsity by accommodating Himself so completely to 
 the deceived vulgar. But this was impossible ! 
 Therefore the doctrine of demoniacal influence is a 
 true doctrine, otherwise Christ would never have 
 given it the least countenance or support. God has 
 often permitted demons to act on and in the bodies 
 of men and women, and it is not improbable that the 
 principal part of unaccountable and inexplicable 
 disorders still comes from the same source. Satan 
 was once in the truth, in righteousness and true 
 holiness ; and he fell from that truth into sin and 
 falsehood, so that he became the father of lies, and 
 the first murderer. God, in His endless mercy, has 
 put enmity between men and Satan, so that, though 
 all mankind love his service, yet all invariably hate 
 himself. Were it otherwise, who could be saved ? 
 A great point gained toward the conversion of a sin- 
 ner is to convince him that it is Satan he has been 
 serving, that it is to him he has been giving up his 
 soul, body, goods, etc. He starts with horror when 
 this conviction fastens on his mind, and shudders 
 at the thought of being in league with the old mur- 
 derer. It is very seldom that God permits Satan 
 to waste the substance or afflict the body of any 
 man ; but at all times this malevolent spirit may 
 have access to the mind of any man, and inject 
 doubts, fears, diffidence, perplexities, and even un- 
 belief. And here is the spiritual conflict. Now 
 their wrestling is not with flesh and blood, with men 
 like themselves, nor about secular affairs ; but they 
 have to contend with angels, principalities, and 
 powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, 
 
144 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 and spiritual wickedness in high places. In such 
 cases Satan is often permitted to diffuse darkness 
 into the understanding, and envelop the heavens 
 with clouds. Hence are engendered false views of 
 God and His providence, of men and of the spiritual 
 world, and particularly of the person's own state 
 and circumstances. Every thing is distorted, and 
 all seen through a false medium. Indescribable 
 distractions and uneasiness are hereby induced. 
 The mind is like a troubled sea, tossed by a tempest 
 that seems to confound both heaven and earth. 
 Strong temptations to things which the soul contem- 
 plates with abhorrence are injected, and which are 
 followed by immediate accusations, as if the injec- 
 tions were the offspring of the heart itself; and the 
 trouble and dismay produced are represented as the 
 sense of guilt from a consciousness of having in 
 heart committed these evils. Thus Satan tempts, 
 accuses, and upbraids, in order to perplex the soul, 
 induce skepticism, and destroy the empire of faith. 
 Behold here the permission of God, and behold also 
 His sovereign control ; all this time the grand temp- 
 ter is not permitted to touch the heart, the seat of the 
 affections, nor to do even the slightest violence to the 
 will. The soul is cast down, but not destroyed ; per- 
 plexed, but not in despair. It is on all sides harassed ; 
 without are fightings; within are fears ; but the will is 
 inflexible on the side of God and truth, and the heart, 
 with all its train of affections and passions, follows it. 
 The man does not wickedly depart from his God ; the 
 outworks are violently assailed, but not taken ; the 
 city is still safe, and the citadel impregnable. 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 
 
 145 
 
 Heaviness may endure for the night, but joy cometh 
 in the morning. Jesus is seen walking upon the 
 waters ; He speaks peace to the winds and the sea ; 
 immediately there is a calm. Satan is bruised down 
 under the feet of the sufferer; the clouds are dis- 
 persed ; the heavens reappear, and the soul, to its 
 surprise, finds that the storm, instead of hindering, 
 has driven it nearer the haven whither it would be. 
 Satan's ordinary method in temptation is to excite 
 strongly to sin, to blind the understanding and in- 
 flame the passions, and when he succeeds he triumphs 
 by insults and reproaches. No one so ready then to 
 tell the poor soul how deeply, disgracefully, and 
 ungratefully it has sinned ! Reader, take heed ! A 
 part of Job's suffering probably arose from appalling 
 representations made to his eye or to his imagination 
 by Satan and his agents. I think this neither ir- 
 rational nor improbable. That he and his demons 
 have power to make themselves manifest on several 
 occasions, has been credited in all ages of the world, 
 not by the weak, credulous, superstitious only, but 
 also by the wisest, the most learned, and the best of 
 men. I am persuaded that many passages in the 
 book of Job refer to this, and admit of an easy in- 
 terpretation on this ground. Satan, who works in 
 the hearts of the children of disobedience, possesses 
 himself of the corrupt nature of man, produces bad 
 motives in a bad heart, blinds the understanding, 
 excites irregular appetites, and thence bad tempers, 
 evil words, and unholy actions. Satan is ever going 
 about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may de- 
 vour ; in order to succeed, he blinds the understand- 
 
146 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 ing of sinners, and then finds it an easy matter to 
 tumble them into the pit of perdition. What a wide 
 wasting woe and evil is one sinner ! He spreads 
 desolation and death wherever he goes. Satan 
 drives, and he runs, or spontaneous with the tempter 
 he is led captive by him at his will. By the instru- 
 mentality of one wicked man Satan can do ten thou- 
 sand times more evil than he can in his own person. 
 He deceiveth the world, waters the infernal seed, 
 and powerfully works in the hearts of the children 
 of disobedience. What a dishonor to be a servant, 
 much more to be a slave of the devil. O, why do 
 not sinners lay this to heart ! Satan takes advan- 
 tage of our natural temper, state of health, and out- 
 ward circumstances to plague and ruin our souls. 
 An unholy spirit is the only place where Satan can 
 have his full operations, and show forth the plenitude 
 of his destroying powers. Neither the devil nor his 
 servants ever speak truth but when they expect to 
 accomplish some bad purpose by it. Satan- makes 
 himself master of the heart, the eyes, and the tongue 
 of the sinner. His heart he fills with the love of sin ; 
 his eyes he blinds, that he may not see his guilt and 
 the perdition that awaits him ; and his tongue he 
 hinders from prayer and supplication, though he 
 gives it increasing liberty in blasphemies, lies, slan- 
 ders, etc. None but Jesus can redeem from this 
 three-fold captivity. After having sown his seed, 
 Satan disappears. Did he appear as himself, few 
 would receive solicitation to sin ; but he is seldom 
 discovered in evil thoughts. Satan lias a shoot of 
 iniquity for every shoot of grace ; and when God 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 147 
 
 revives His work, Satan revives his also. !N~o mar- 
 vel, therefore, if we find scandals arising suddenly 
 to discredit a work of grace where God has begun to 
 pour out His Spirit. It is the interest of Satan to 
 introduce hypocrites and wicked persons into re- 
 ligious societies, in order to discredit the work of 
 God, and to favor his own designs. 
 
 "Men, through sin, are become the very house 
 and dwelling-place of Satan, having of their own 
 accord surrendered themselves to this unjust posses- 
 sor; for whoever gives up his soul to sin, gives it 
 up to the devil. It is Jesus, and Jesus alone, who 
 can deliver from the power of this bondage. When 
 Satan is cast out, Jesus purifies and dwells in the 
 heart. Since a demon cannot enter even into a 
 swine without being sent by God Himself, how little 
 is the power or malice of any of them to be dreaded 
 by those who have God for their portion and protec- 
 tion ! The devil himself has his chains; and he who 
 often binds others is always bound himself. A man 
 must consent to sin before he can sin. God has so 
 constituted the human will that it cannot be forced. 
 Satan may present false images to the imagination, 
 darken the mind, and confound the memory, but 
 he cannot force the will. He may natter, soothe 
 and promise pleasure in order to gain over the will, 
 but before he can ruin us, he must have our consent. 
 Were the case otherwise, we could not possibly be 
 saved. Satan is never permitted to block up our 
 way without the providence of God making a way 
 through the wall. God ever makes a breach in his 
 otherwise impregnable fortification. Should an up- 
 
148 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 right soul get into difficulties and straits, he may 
 rest assured that there is a way out, as there was a 
 way in, and that the trial shall never be above the 
 strength that God shall give him to bear it. The 
 devil cannot conquer if you continue to resist. 
 Strong as he is, God never permits him to conquer 
 the man who continues to resist him. He cannot 
 force the human will. He who in the terrible name 
 of Jesus opposes even the devil himself, is sure to 
 have a speedy and glorious conquest. He flees 
 from that name, and from his conquering blood. Be 
 vigilant; awake, and keep awake; be always watch- 
 ful; never be off your guard; your enemies are 
 alert, they are never off theirs — your ' adversary, the 
 devil.' This is a reason why ye should be sober 
 and vigilant; ye have an ever-active, implacable, 
 subtle enemy to contend with. He walketh about; 
 he has access to you everywhere; he knows your 
 feelings and your propensities, and informs himself 
 of all your circumstances. Only God can know 
 more and do more than he, therefore your care must 
 be cast upon God. As a ' roaring lion,' Satan tempts 
 under three forms: 1, The subtle serpent — to beguile 
 our senses, pervert our judgment, and enchant our 
 imagination; 2, As an angel of light — to allure us 
 with false views of spiritual things, refinement in 
 religion, and presumption on the providence and 
 grace of God; 3, As a roaring lion — to beat us 
 down, and destroy us by violent opposition, persecu- 
 tion and death. What a comfortable thought it is 
 to the follower of Christ, that neither men nor de- 
 mons can act against them but by the permission of 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 149 
 
 their heavenly Father; and that He will not suffer 
 any of those who trust in Him to be tried above 
 what they are able to bear, and will make the trial 
 issue in their greater salvation, and in His glory." 
 
 Besides those I have mentioned, there have been 
 many people to whom the evil one has made him- 
 self visible, and I can readily believe in the stories 
 formerly attributed to superstition, and recently to 
 the spiritistic phenomena, all the theories of appari- 
 tions, ghosts and haunted houses. For Satan is the 
 source of all, and though at times in all ages has 
 been seen, yet seldom letting his true name be 
 known, most always feigning this name or the other, 
 yet at times has shown himself in his true name and 
 character; and from what St. Augustine said con- 
 cerning him, I can believe that he saw him; for no 
 •one could possibly have given so good a description 
 of the evil one unless he had seen him. The follow- 
 ing prayer of the saint, describing the devil, and 
 praying to be delivered from him, though quaint, is 
 very good, and may be used now, and every day of 
 our lives: 
 
 Prayer of St. Augustine. 
 "There wanted a tempter, and thou wast the cause 
 that he was wanting: there wanted time and place, 
 and thou wast the cause that they were wanted. 
 The tempter was present, and there wanted neither 
 place nor time, but thou heldcst me back that I 
 should not consent. The tempter came full of dark- 
 ness as he is, and thou didst harden me that I 
 might despise him. The tempter came armed and 
 
150 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 
 
 strong ; but to the intent be should not overcome 
 me, thou- didst restrain him and strengthen me. 
 The tempter came transformed into an angel of 
 light, and to the intent he should not deceive me, 
 thou didst rebuke him, and to the intent I should 
 know him, thon didst enlighten me. For he is the 
 great red dragon, the old serpent called the devil and 
 Satan, which hath seven heads and ten horns, whom 
 thou hast created to take his pleasure in this huge 
 and broad sea, wherein there creep living wights 
 innumerable, and beasts great and small; that is to 
 say, divers sorts of friends which practiseth nothing 
 else, day and night, but goeth about seeking whom 
 he may devour, except thou resist him, O Lord 
 Jesus. For it is that old dragon which draweth 
 down the third part of the stars of heaven with his 
 tail, and eastern to the ground, which with his 
 venom poisoneth the waters of the earth, that as 
 many men as drink of them may die; which tramp- 
 leth upon gold as if it were mire, and is of opinion 
 that Jordan shall run into his mouth, and which is 
 made of such mould, that he feareth no man. And 
 who shall save us from his chaps, Lord Jesus j 
 who shall pluck us out of his mouth, saving Thou, O 
 Lord, who hast broken the head of this great dragon. 
 Help us, Lord. Spread out Thy wings over us, O 
 Lord, that we may flee under them from the face of 
 this dragon that pursueth us; and fence Thou us 
 from his horns with Thy shield. For this is his 
 continued endeavor; this is his only desire to devour 
 the souls that Thou hast created. And therefore 
 we cry unto Thee, O God, deliver us from our daily 
 
OF THE MYSTERY. 
 
 151 
 
 adversary, who, whether we sleep or wake, whether 
 we eat or drink, or whether we be doing of anything 
 else, presseth upon us by all kind of means, assault- 
 ing us day and night with trains and policies, and 
 shooting his venomous arrows at us, sometimes 
 openly and sometimes privily, to stay our souls. 
 And yet such is our great madness, O Lord, that 
 whereas we see the dragon continually in a readi- 
 ness to devour us with open mouth, we nevertheless 
 do sleep and rejoice in our own slothfulness, as 
 though we were out of his danger, who desireth 
 nothing else but to destroy us. Our mischievous 
 enemy, to the intent to kill us, watcheth continually 
 and never sleepeth, and yet will we not awake from 
 sleep to save ourselves. Behold, he hath pitched 
 infinite snares before our feet, and tilled all our ways 
 with sundry traps to catch our souls. And who can 
 escape, O Lord Jesus, so many and great dangers ? 
 He hath laid snares for us in our riches, in our 
 poverty, in our meat, in our drink, in our pleasures, 
 in our sleep, and in our w r aking. He hath set snares 
 for us in our words, and in our works, and in all our 
 life. But Thou, O Lord, deliver us from the net of 
 the fowler, and from hard words, that we may give 
 praise to thee, saying, Blessed be the Lord who hath 
 not given us to be a prey for their teeth ; our soul 
 is delivered as a sparrow out of the fowler's net ; the 
 net is broken and we have escaped.'' 
 
 May God, my dear friends, deliver you from the 
 pow T ers of darkness, and save you all in heaven, for 
 our blessed Redeemer's sake. Amen. 
 
(ft