m s\ LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON, NJ. The George J. Finney Collection of Shaker Literature Given in Memory of His Uncle The Rev. John Clark Finney Class of 1907 I SEP 29 1917 Section / Y '2) I Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.archive.org/details/shakersermonsscr87eads ^v SEP 1917 Shaker Sermons: SCRIPTO-RATIONAL. CONTAINING THE SUBSTANCE OF SHAKER THEOLOGY. TOGETHER WITH REPLIES AND CRITICISMS LOGICALLY AND CLEARLY SET FORTH, H. L. EADS, Bishop of South Union, Ky. " The Supreme good in the mind is the knowledge of God, and the highest virtue of the mind is to know God." —Spinoza. " There is no soul so feeble but that, well directed, it may attain to absolute control over the [animal] passions."— Descartes. " And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. "— Christ. FOURTH EDITION. KE VISED AND ENLARGED. SOUTH UNION, KENTUCKY. 1887. PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. This Book of Sermons scarcely needs a preface. The author and orator began life among the Shakers when less than one year old, and may therefore be supposed to be excellent authority upon Shaker theology. He was born in Logan county, Kentucky, on the south side of Gasper river, on the 28th day of April, 1807. For fifteen years his home was in a log cabin, in which also, from four to thirteen years of age, during the winter months only, he received his entire instruction in letters. This is the hrst book ever written for publication, by an individual whose whole life has been consecra- tedly devoted to and guided by the principles of Shakerism ; and the tenor of the discourses denotes " words fitly spoken, like apples of gold in pictures of silver." The sermons embrace nearly or quite every feature of Shaker polity, and will be highly appreciated by very many as a book of reference upon the subject of Shakerism. That the author is a most excellent representation of what Shaker prin- ciples can do for a man, we are only proud to vouch therefor ; and we feel a certainty that in the perusal of the following pages by the seeker after truth, the reader will feel the hallowed influences of one who has been with the Christ, and who walks and lives with the Christ ; and will also realize that he is one of the " Savmirs to come upon mount Zion, to judge the mount of Esau." To the rear- ing of such individuals as Saviours is Shakerism devoted. That it is successful, as evidenced in the author of these Sermons, gives a renewed confidence that Virgin Purity, Non-resistance, Peace, Equality of Inheritance and Unspottedness from the world — the fundamental principles of Shakerism — have not been, nor are they preached and practiced in vain. G. A. L. CONTENTS. No. PAGE. 1 . Harmony of Truth 1 Duality of God 5 2. God — Indivisible 7 Three kinds of Happiness 12 3 . God — Immutable 14 The Trinity 15 4 . Retrospection 22 5. True Happiness 29 Plato and Locke 31 6. Cause of True Happiness 36 Mission of Truth 38 Final Consummation. ... . 45 7 . Abstract Evil 46 Perverted Amativeness 51 8. God's Love 56 9. Scripture Analysis 65 -Revelation subject to Reason .... 69 10. Pre-existence and Godship of Christ 75 Christ, in the Female 83 11 . Christ, the Son God 87 Jesus, the Christ 93 12. Types of Christ 98 Mysteries explained 99 13. Christ's Second Appearing 107 14. The Devil 114 Spinoza 120 15. Bible Metaphor 122 Joshua's Command 125 16. Conception of Christ 129 17. Orthodoxy and Spiritualism 137 18. Tyndall criticised 144 19 . Rev. Dr. McCosh criticised 151 20. Logic of H. W. Beecher dissected 161 21. The Shaker Problem 167 22. Analysis of Shakerism 173 23. Has Jesus any followers ? 179 24. Defense of Shakerism 183 25. God's Word 189 26. Literal Resurrection, reply to Rev, Dr. Talmage 193 27. The Judgment of Sin 201 28. Infidel mistakes, reply to Col. R. G. Ingersoll 211 vi Table of Contents. No. Page, 29. Essential Points 222 Christ Life 223 Our Father's and Mother's Kingdom 225 30. Spirit Materialization 228 Locke 229 Brother Peebles 230 A. J. Davis 231 Christ Jesus and Mother Ann Lee 233 31. Unity of Faith 233 32. Reply to an Infidel Quakeress 239 33. Infidel Sophistry Rebuked 245 34. Shaker and Catholic. . 252 35. Religion and Science 261 36. Education 266 37. Education continued 272 38. Jesus, the Christ 276 39. The Angel Life ; its Possibility 281 40. The Bible 285 41. New Heaven and Earth . 292 42. Five Disappointments 296 43. Second Reply to Jamieson by a Follower of Jesus 30O 44. Reply to E. Coleman 306 45. The Consecration 300 46. Two Poems 315 47. When Shall We All Meet Again 319 HAKMONY OF TRUTH. I begin ray discourse with the enunciation of two or three aphorisms ; neither of which, I presume, any honest, unbiased mind, of ordinary comprehension, will have an inclination to gainsay ; for they consist of a simple declaration of the harmony of truth. First. — All truths, both spiritual and natural, harmonize. One truth cannot be opposed to another truth ; hence, any two statements or propositions that antagonize or conflict, one or the other, or both, must be false. Secondly. — In the end, nothing but truth will have been or can be advantageous to any soul ; hence, it would be wisdom in us to cast off all prejudice and prepossession, and make any required sacrifice to obtain the " knowledge of the truth, " especially that sacred truth by which we expect to obtain our redemption and the salvation of the soul. It is necessary that some of our discourses should be mainly argumentative or theological, from the fact that mere declaration of ti'uth, scriptural or otherwise, does not in this day seem to satisfy the inquisitive mind, and people must learn to think correctly before they can either speak or act correctly. Well nigh two centuries ago a certain philosopher penned the following : First. — That a man use no words but such as he makes the sign of a certain determined object in his mind in thinking, which he can make known to another. Secondly. — That he use the same word steadily for the sign of the same immediate object of his mind in thinking. Thirdly. — That he join those words together in propositions, according to the grammatical rules of the language he speaks in. Fourthly. — That he unite those sentences into a coherent dis- course. Thus, and thus only, I humbly conceive, can any one preserve himself from the confines and suspicions of jargon. 2 ■ Harmony of Truth. Were all men to observe these rules, wliicli I most sincerely approve, there would be but little difference among men on any- subject. With their terms clearly defined, strictly applied and adhered to, no two really honest meu can very widely differ ; each would yield in turn in theology and ethics, just as they are compelled to do in mathematics. Every i-ational creature will admit that the salvation of the soul is, or should be, paramount to every earthly consideration whatever ; and he who fails in the attainment of this fails in all, and he who is fortunate enough to secure this lacks in nothing that is M'ortli contending for. "For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? " or " what shall a man give in exchange for his soul." Matt, xvi, 26. Since then, from these words of our Saviour, a man's soul is of more value to him than all worlds beside, he ought to be willing to forsake the world, with all its habits, customs, maxims and practices, for his soul's sake. It appears that this globe now contains over 1,100,000,000 souls,, and there are eleven hundred different religions — one creed, if I may so speak, for every hundred millions, differing from all the rest ; and, as there can be but one right way, a hollow cry comes up from the " vasty deep " asking which one of the eleven, hundred is right. Any line diverging in the minutest degree from the right one must he xvrong^ and the further it is traveled the more distant the traveler will be from the right way ; hence it becomes a matter of the utmost importance for each one to Icnow he is right — not to guess at it, but know it. You will ask me, then, if there is any possibility of acquiring this knowledge ; and in response I give an aflirmative answer. In the woi'ds of the Saviour, as to the doctrine, he says : " My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me. If any man will do His will he shall knoiu of the doctrine whether it be of God," etc. John vii, 1 fi. Not guess at it, but hioio. As to His true disciples and follow- ers, He has given us one criterion or mark — and one only — by which they are to be known: "Ye shall know them by their fniits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles ? '* But after all this, and without troubling yourselves to look into the different sects for the good fruits, which are the only real evi- dence, you rest in your easy chair, simply saying you know "Tliegood must merit God's peculiar care. But who but God can tell us who they are ? " Infinity of God. 3 thus giving evidence of one of two conditions, viz.: Your own lukewarmness and lack of interest in your soul's salvation, or your infidelity respecting the existence of any religious body where those fruits can be found ; and some of you, when you have found the fruits and acknowledge them, then find fault with the doctrine — at the same time acknowledge you do not keep the commandments of God ; and it is only such that should know of the doctrines or should presume to judge them. Nearly all men agree that among the thousand forms of relig- ious belief some one must be right, and, as before said, the conse- quence is, that every other one that essentially difl:ers from it must be wrong and inadequate to the purposes of salvation. Every religious system has for its foundation or formation some reference to a Supreme Being or Beings, who is, or are able to reward its followers for well doing, and punish them for evil doing, and, as this seems to be the beginning of religion itself, I purpose offering a few remarks on this subject. I shall try to remember what I said in the beginning respecting the necessity of having distinct ideas in the mind, defining terms, etc., for I by no means wish to leave the thoughtful part of the audience, es- pecially, in the dark respecting my own position. Laying aside all others for the present, I bring myself to the ground called Christian, whose religious systems have been taken from this Book — • the old and new Testaments ; and so multifarious are the forms derived from the same reading that it seems to almost jus- tify the remark, that, ■■' Faith, gospel, all seemed made to be disputed, And none had sense enough to be confuted." I am not so uncharitable as to conclude that this state of things has arisen entirely from the dishonesty of the race, but rather more from education, prepossession, and a want of distinct ideas, clear definitions of terms, and their consistent application. GOD, UNITY AND DUALITY KECONCILED. ]^o critical Bible student can fail to have taken cognizance of this truth : that throughout sacred writ God is spoken of in two senses, the infinite and the finite^ or subordinate sense. Thus, whenever God is spoken of as coming, going, traveling personally from one place to another, it then must be understood in the^ nite or suhordinate sense ; because in this sense He is considered as being less than something else. If He travel, there must be 4 Habmony of Truth. some place where He is not, to which He is going ; hence. He must be circumscribed. We cannot help associating with such being the idea of extension, figure, size, etc., — such as angel or man. Also, when God is represented as having forgotten something, not knowing, or changing His mind or purpose, it is understood as speaking of God subordinate, not infinite. Of the Infinite, or Supreme Being, it is truly said, " His purposes alter not — He is imthout change or shadow of turning." The same holy writ makes the distinction clear by the saying of Christ. When ac- cused by the Jews of making himself God, He showed them that they were " called gods unto whom the word of God came." Moses was god to the children of Israel in this subordinate sense : " And the Lord said unto Moses, see, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh ; and Aaron, tliy brother, shall be thy prophet," etc. Exodus, vii, 1. Joshua means Saviour. Elijah, God the Lord, etc. To the careful reader the distinction is clear. But God, when spoken of as "the All and in all," " in whom Ave live and move and have our being," is understood to be the " Eternal Unity," the "Infinite" Jehovah, and He it is whom we have assembled here to worship, and Him only. Almost without exception every intelligent, unbiased mind, with whom I have come in contact, acknowledges that God in the supreme sense, is Infinite Spirit, indivisible, immutable, uncaused, self-existent, omniscient, and omnipresent, filling immensity — the Creator and arbiter of the Universe, permeating all worlds and all existences at all times, which removes the necessity of His going and coming. But, strange as it must appear, many good-meaning persons, after this admission, stultify themselves by admitting a plurality of snpremcs, or divisibility in the Supreme, to favor some theological dogma or scheme of redemption, that they have fixed in their own minds, or others have fixed there for them. The merest tyro, having taken but his first lesson in inductive philosophy, cannot help realizing the fact that an infinite existence is indivisible. Truth never confiicts. The term infinite signifies " w'2VAo?^^ hounds j^^ this seems to be either forgotten or ignored. We say of space that it is infinite, but draw a line through it ; we then have two finite spaces, when infinite space disappears. I know it may be argued that a line beginning at a given point and extending in any direction without end may be called an infinite line, and that this idea might, by parity of reasoning, be applied to dividing space; and even should this be conceded as sound reasoning, Duality of God. 5 which I deny, the same cannot be applied to an infinite being or existence. Thus, I thinlv it clearly demonstrated that such a thing as an infinite plurality, or plurality of infinites, is impossible. I am aware that we are believed to hold to the dogma of duality in Deity, male and female, which may seem repugnant to reason. But I will try to clear this point. It is admitted by all that of the attributes ascribed to Deity some are considered masculine, others feminine ; and hence comes the idea of Father and Mother of the universe. We admit the revelation of these attributes of the Eternal Unity by son and daughter; that is to say, God as father, or i\\Q fatherly character of God, was revealedhy the Son, Christ Jesus / and God as mother, or the motherly character of God, was remaled hy the daxujhter (Ann Lee). Thus, " God manifest in the flesh," not of man only but also of woman, male and female, constitutes the duality of God, and dual only in this subordinate sense being equally manifest in and through finite human beings, who are dual, male and female. Thus the appar- ently conflicting ideas of unity and duality are reconciled. In this I can perceive nothing irrational, nothing but what any dis- passionate, reasonable mind would readily admit. I will, how- ever, very frankly allow, that, any man who should declare that God in the highest sense was the Eternal Unity, and afterward declare he was the Eternal Duality, or Eternal Trinity, {Eter- nal Three) would stultify himself, because either of the latter would negative the former, and we should not know at last what the man did believe. I fully concur in the remarks of John Locke on this subject. " Every deity that men own above one is an infallible evidence of their ignorance of Him, and a proof that they have no true notion of God (in the highest sense) where unity, infinity, and eternity are excluded." But if, as Christ says, " they were called gods, unto whom the word of God came, that the scriptures might not be broken," I have no difficulty in ap- plying this high term in the subordinate sense to the Son of God. Nor would I exclude Jeremiah from among the number of the '• prophets of the Lord," for applying the same high title to the daughter. " This is the name whereby she shall be called : The Lord our righteousness." Jer. xxxiii, 16. Perhaps I have drawn too largely on your patience, but I wished to make a fair begin- ning, so as to leave no one in the dark, to carp at our doctrines without understanding them. We claim that the son and daugh- ter already named now stand at the head of the new creation of 6 Harisiony of Truth. God, and we, their cluldren, in the " unity of their spirit and the bond of peace," are striving to follow their example, by obeying their teaching and walking as they walked, and by so doing have found that peace which this world can neither give nor take awav, and may become " heirs and joint heirs with Christ," who has said : " Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world ; " the " prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me," " and to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in His throne." Rev. iii, 21. These are the great and glorious promises to all who will take up a daily cross and follow Christ in the regenerco- tiou — not generation^ but 7'e-generation ; not to those who liave a blind faith in his atoning blood and still lead a worldly life, but to those who " walk even as He walked," and " have followed Him in the regeneration." And the invitation is now extended to ever}^ sin-sick soul. To every one who " panteth after right- eousness as the hart for the water-brook," we say " come, without money or without price " and " partake of the waters of life freely," for now has come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ. Eev. xii, 10. GOD INDIVISIBLE. There are three things I know, and the fourth I strongly be- lieve. These are : First, I mnst convince you that you are in error, and building on a sandy foundation, instead of the rock of truth ; and, secondly, must convince you that we are right and building on the true fonndation ; and, thirdly, must convince you that by entering the fold, adoj)ting our life, and submitting to the law of Christ, as you can be made to understand it, you will thereby be rendered more happy in this life, and be assured of eternal life and heaven in the world to come. And additionally, I am strongly impressed with the belief, that, after having been fully convinced of the facts as we see them, few of you will for- sake the world for Christ ; for truly He hath said : " For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat ; and straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and fexo there be that find it." Matt, vii, 13, 14. " Strive, therefore, to enter in at the straight gate, for many will seek and shall not be able." When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut the door, and ye begin to stand without and to knock at the door, saying, "Lord, Lord, open unto us. He shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are." Luke xiii, 24, 5. Sorrowful as it is, I feel a strong degree of certitude that this will be tlie con- dition of the most of you unless you take warning, turn from the world, and strive — yea^ agonize — to " enter in at the straight gate." That the nominal professors of Christianity are in error, both in faith and practice, and that none of .their schemes of sal- vation will insure to them either happiness or heaven, here or hereafter, I do most conscientiously believe. They being under the " veil of the flesh," imbued with its lusts, are in spiritual darkness ; hence all, or nearly all of their ideas concerning God and Christ — their true character and their demands upon them — must necessarily be imperfect. 8 God Indivisible. After admitting, as I presumed you to do, what was said in a former discourse, that the Supreme Being was infinite in His existence, in order to maintain your consistency, you cannot attach to His being phirality in any sense, and His indivisibility prechides the possibility of making either two, three, or more of the same being. His imynutalnlity also debars yon from any change in Him, either in thought, word, state, character or deed. His om- niscience being acknowledged, there is nothing but what He knows. His omnipresence admitted, there is then no point of space where He is not. Can you not then see the inconsistency and imj)ertinerice of those sonorous invocations, vehement utterances, loud vociferations and demands upon, as well as instructions, given to God, which we so frequently hear from your pulpits and in your public assemblies, as though God were deaf or " had gone on a journey," or at least was not nearer than the lower strata of clouds ? I am glad, how- ever, to admit that some are honestly sincere, occupying, as best they call Avith their present light, the talent God has given them ; such will be accepted of him. For saith the apostle : " Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in eveiy na- tion he that feareth Him and worhetli righteousness is accepted with Him." Acts x, 35. But acceptance merely is not salva- tion, as Jew, Gentile, Pagan, Mahomedan or heathen, are all alike accepted of God, who live up to the best light that He has vouchsafed to them ; but there is only one way to be saved, that is, to " walk as Christ walked," and " overcome the world within as He overcame." Even though some may be sincere, I have lit- tle faith in the efficacy of the word from the mouth of a hireling- preacher. Every servant of God should be a producer. Should put his " hands to work and his heart to God," who will give him words to speak as occasion demands. But (I wish not to offend), there are many who say they are the called ministers of God who barter their God-given faculties for gold. What observing person has not discovered that where the largest pile of money is offered there is the greatest call of God ? For instance : Should the people of Logan offer a priest a salary of live hundred dollars a year for preaching to them, and the people of Warren should raise the pile to a thousand, who does not know tliat the call of God would be in Warren ? To such one I would say: "Paid hypocrite," God is within thee, making up the record which thou shalt be obliged to lace, even the very motives that actuate thee, God Indivisible. 9 and by these shalt thou be judged. But whilst the omnipresent is within thee, the tribunal and focal power by which thou wilt be tried may, at present, be at some distance from thee. " Know ve not the saints shall judge the world ? " 1 Cor. vi, 2. Paul still goes further: "Know ye not that vje shall judge angels. How much more the things that pertain to this life 'i " This is doubtless God's order of judgment, who first gave all power to the Son, and He in like manner delegated the same to His true followers ; hence, to come to judgment is to come to the order of God, to repent of, confess and forsake all known sin, and hence- forward lead a godly life, "walk righteously, soberly, and godly in this present evil world." This is the first link to connect the sinner with his maker : " For as I live," saith the Lord, " every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God." Rom. xiv, 11. To confess to God, then, is to confess to the agents of his appointing, or to God through them, and by these agents to be judged, received or rejected. The meaning I here attach to the term confess is to reveal and acknowledge your faults and bring your hidden deeds to the light. In this sense it is impos- sible for any one to confess to the Supreme, who knows your mo- tive to sin before your action, and who was remonstrating with you through your conscience at the time of its commission. Joshua says to Achan: " Achan, my son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto Him ; and tell me now what thou hast done ; hide it not from me." Joshua vii, 19. This is the way and the only acceptable way to confess to God — the only way any soul can find forgiveness and gain the victory over his sinful propensities, and rise into newness of life, and become a branch of the " living vine." The first thing that Christ did after His resurrection, was to commission His dis- ciples to preach. He said to them : " As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. " " Whosoever sins ye remit are remitted unto them ; and whosoever sins ye retain, tlie}'^ are retained. " John xxii, 23. But previously He said to Peter, when He pro- spectively appointed him head of the church : " I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and wdiatso- ever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matt, xvi, 19. Thus you cannot fail to see clearly what God's order of confession is ; and that the power to loose and bind, remit and retain, was committed to earthen vessels, and very justly and i-a- 2 10 God Indivisible. tionally so, because every sin that man commits is against him- self and his fellow-man. But the thief who steals your horse or your gold is the very first one to cry out and say he does not be- lieve in confessing sin to man ; he would mnch rather confess to the horse he had stolen, or go back in the dark hour of midnight and confess to God while he was bitting another. ]^ot very dis- similar to this is the man who religiously retires to his closet once a week and confesses to God, with no calculation of forsaking, and perhaps, with the certain calculations that he will violate God's law of nature before another day shall have expired. Such as these expect to get to heaven by faith in God's mercy and in the atoning blood of our Saviour, and not by obedience to his commands. But the priest, you say, confesses in public to God, acknowledges himself a sinner, and pleads for God's mercy for himself and his flock. According to my understanding of the term, it is no confession at all ; for he tells you nothing but what God and the flock already know. He, like you, confesses that he is a sinner, and might have added, O, Lord ! I expect to remain a sinner, entirely forgetting the injunction, " Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded." James iv, 8, and the unalterable decree, ''The soul that sinneth it shall die, " and " He that committeth sin is of the devil." 1st. John iii, 8. And so it goes, sinners first, teaching a sinning people and encouraging them to live in sin by telling them they cannot help it ; tlius "The blind lead the blind," and the conse- quence is they both "fall into the ditch together." I say not these things out of ill will to any mortal, nor do I wish to hurt nor oifend any soul, but to encourage you, to enlighten you, and to so strengthen you that you may be able to take the apostle's advice and find your Avay out of sin now, in this world, so that it may be said to you, " Well done, good and faithful servant " — not well done, loeak and sinning servant, hnt faithful servant — " enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. " " If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ; but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John i, 8, 9. Again, some apparently honest minds will say they do not believe any man on earth has power to forgive sin. Simple creatures ! They do not know this is " rank infidelity," and equal to saying they do not believe Christ has any Church on earth. If He has not, then no man has the power ; if He has, the power still Confession of Sin. 11 remains in his Church. It follows then that the Church that has not this power is not the Church of Christ at all, but some spurious thing, gotten up by hypocritical or ignorant men. This may serve you as a clew in your search for the true Church. You, my friends, may rest assured of one thing — that is, Christ's Church is not governed by si7iners, led by sinners, filled by sin- ners, nor worked throughout by sinners. This kind of a Church, one would think, would please the devil a little too well. I only use this term Devil in condescension to the general sense. I would have you understand, and bear it in mind, that when you have confessed your sins in God's order, and, as the apostle says, have been " cleansed from all unrighteousness ", you are then righteous, and need not sin any more, and consequently not be a sinner any more. The wise man said : " lie that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy. " Prov. xxviii, 13. Cover from whom ? We cannot cover from the Supreme, who " knoweth the thoughts and intents of the heart. " If there is any meaning in the text, it is covering from, or confessing to the order of God. Then it is he who forsaketh them, not he that goes on committing them, that is to find mercy. Much more might be quoted from the Bible, on this subject, which is replete with evidence of its high authenticity. But, besides this, there is a deep philosophy in it, aside from the spiritual cleansing and peace of mind occasioned thereby. For how could the ph3'sician certainly determine what remedies to prescribe for internal maladies without a statement from the patient of his internal condition ? If a person comes to the church for assistance, how could it be known what guards were necessary to be thrown around him without knowing his weak points ? If he had been addicted to the intoxicating bowl, we should be careful not to expose him to the temptation of liquor : and just the same with regard to other habits by which people may have been enslaved. I have now, as I set out to do, endeavored to show you : First — That you who profess to be Christians were in error in a very essential point of doctrine, and consequently the practice mider it must be inefficacious to a given extent. Secondly — I have endeavored to show you from scripture and reason that we were right in the first and most esseiitial step into the fold of Christ ; and now, Thirdly — I would wish to con^•ince you that you would increase your happiness by taking this step and 12 Three kinds of Happiness. becoming peaceable lambs in Christ's Kingdom ; but I must say but few words' on this subject at present, as I have detained you quite long enough, but must recur to it hereafter. I hope you will continue to give me your attention, as I shall, from time to time, endeavor to answer the many objections urged against us, both by friends and enemies. The one most often repeated is : •*' What would become of the world were all to turn Shakers ? That our whole system of religion is repugnant to scripture, reason, and the common sense of mankind, and therefore cannot exist but a short time at farthest ; " and secondly, "the very fact that God made woman and gave her to man to be a help-meet for him shows that it is by this means the world is to be per- petuated. It is therefore fighting against God to abrogate the relation which he instituted, " etc. These, with many others of like character, will be answered by and by, if you will continue to give me audience; and any objections that I should fail to think of may be noted by you and handed or sent to me, and they shall be respectfully considered, as truth, and truth only is what we want. If we find we have it not, it will be to our interest to be corrected, and certainly we shall be in duty bound to thank any of you for its unfoldment. As said in a former discourse, error can be of no advantage to any soul, and, seeing an error, we shall not strive to uphold it, for " Truth crushed to earth will rise again ; The eternal years of God are hers ; While error wounded writhes in pain, And dies amid her worshipers. " It is sad, yet true, that the minister in the pulpit generally dares not divulge to the audience all the truths in his possession, because they would be unpopular. He mustplease his audience, and hence cannot be the real minister of truth. His bread and meat depend upon it, and this seems to have been the case in years long past, as expressed by the poet : " Pulpits their sacred satire learned to spare, And vice admired to find a flatterer there." Happiness is of three kinds — spiritual, intellectual, and sens- ual, or animal. The first is found only on the Christ plane, and only attainable by the true followers of Christ. The second is found by the philosopher, the learned, the astronomer, mathema- tician, etc. The third is found on the natural plane. The second may combine either with the first or last, but the three cannot Three kinds of Happiness. 13 combine, for " he that findeth his (worldlj) life shall lose it (the spiritual), and lie that loseth his (worldly) life for my sake shall lind it (the spiritual), and he that receiveth you receiveth me ; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me." Matt., x, 39, 40, This clearly shows that the worldly or sensual life is incompatible with the spiritual life of Christ. It is clear that the Saviour could not mean that they could both find and lose the same life, but the finding and enjoying of one excluded the other ; so let the miser and sensualist, and those who are engrossed in the things of this world, beware, that whilst they are watching and shunning the " Scylla " of what they are pleased to term "Siiakerism," they fall not into the "Charybdis," the great whirlpool of Goldoforo, toward which every pleasure-seeking act of life is leading you. And as nothing in the universe can be still, we must of necessity be going one way or the other, ascending or descending drawing nearer to God, or the contrary. We can not remain self- poised. Evei-y act of life, every thought, has its effect to either elevate or sink the soul, hence the great necessity of the constant vigilance recommended by Christ. ""Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation," and " If the righteous be scarcely saved, where shall the sinner and the ungodly appear? " GOD IMMUTABLE. It is written that " the reproof of a friend is better than the kiss of an enemy."'' If any one should feel wonnded or become offended at my remarks, let the rising thought be assuaged by the reflection that it is a friend that speaks, as most certainly I have no cause to be any thing else but a friend to every one of you. It is again written, " ye adulterers and adultresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God ? Whoso- ever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." James, iv, tt. And again, " God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Sou, that whosoever believeth in Him should not Ijerish, but have everlasting life." John, iii, 16. The apparent conflict here of God loving what He requires ns to hate is ideal, and explained by the apostle ; " Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any love the world, the love of the Fattier is not in him ; for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world, and the world passeth away and the lusts thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." 1st John, 2, 16, 17. It is clear, then, that those who choose these worldly elements, and live in them, are God's enemies. This is a good criterion to judge ourselves by. Do any of us love the lust of the flesh ? Do any of us love the pride of life ? According to the apostle, all whom truth compels to answer affirmatively may know they are enemies to God ; and all such cannot forsake the world and turn to God any too soon, for with- out Him all is lost, but if He be " on our side who can be against us?" From what I have already said, in respect to Deity, it would seem superfluous to add any thing ; yet I feel compelled to say a few words more. I am well aware that your divines (?) when closely pressed, acknowledge the Unity of the Supreme Being ; but for want of clear ideas, and a consistent application of their terms, whenever we question the Supreme Deity of the Son, the The Trinity Mystery. 15 oscillation commences ; and by adroit manoeuvring, and a veiy licentious use of language to sustain a preconceived notion, tliey seem to lose sight of what they have conceded, and so interpret words as to jnake you believe that the terms unity and tinnity are synonyms — that at least there is a harmonious oneness in them — their chief illustration being this : " Water is one sub- stance, but the same substance may be either snow or ice without changing the substarioe, there being no change except in the con- dition." But God's immutability, already acknowledged, denies you even this, but He is ever the same, without change. The illustration is, therefore, inapplicable. If, however, we admit that the office of water, snow and ice is different, the substance is the same, and to make the comparison at all available Ave could only say : Grod was at one time pleased^ another time angry, and another time indifferent. We could neither divide Him, nor make three beings of Him. According to the illustra- tion, God must be all the time God, or all the time the Son, or all the time the Holy Ghost, but never at any time all three, each with a different office to perform at the same time ; hence the comparison fails to answer the purpose intended. Illustrations badly chosen always serve to darken rather than to enlighten the understanding. But these divine reasoners, whilst they declare that the Son is the Father still hold that there is a Father aside from the Son, because they are unwilling to admit that the universe was with- out an Infinite Being, during his sojourn on, with especial atten- tion to this mundane sphere. So, when their ideas clash, their reasonings clash also. Who can gainsay the words of the poet : " All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and Ood the soul ? " Some of you little know the disastrous consequences tliat would follow a denial of this. When this is denied His Omni- presence is denied. His Omnipresence being denied. His Infinity is denied ; and this being denied, makes Him a circumscribed, limited. Finite Being. Thence follow the " gross conceptions of corporeity," figure, size, shape, etc. And how should He get from world to world ? A. universe without a God, only as it pleased Him to visit its parts ! This is Atheism — equal to say- ing there is no God ! I^ay, my friends, if there is any part of 16 God Immutable. space where He is not, He infinite, and there can be no compari son between the finite and the infinite. " Jove's satellites are less than Jove." If He is finite in his existence, He is finite in all his attributes ; but the reverse of this is true. There is no atom in the wide universe without the presence of the divine energy. He, " Warms ia the sun, refreshes iu the breeze. Glows ia the stars, and blossoms in the trees — Lives through all life, extends thro' all extent ; Spreads undivided and operates unspent." But the defenders of the triple-God doctrine say the three are combined in a " mysterious yet all harmonious union ; " that this is a matter of revelation, out of the reach of and above the cold philosophy of this world, must be believed or the soul be damned ! while if terms mean any thing, we have no choice in the matter, l^o rational mind can believe a statement that contradicts itself. But there is another difticultv — difiiculties beset us on every hand. If it is mysterious, how do we know it to be harmonious ? This conclusion is clearly hy- pothetical. It is impossible for any man to really believe a mys- tery, according to my sense of definition of the term. Yet myster}^ seems to be the great whale that swallows all the modern Jonahs. A mystery is something hidden from the human understanding and beyond human comprehension ; consequently something of which the sense cannot take cognizance. A man, therefore, cannot believe a mystery. Still it is afiirmed that we are believing mysteries every day. I admit there are some things which persons sometimes carelessly take upon trust, without investigation ; but nothing can be really believed but what the senses can take cognizance of. If the geometrician tells you that the three angles of a plain triangle are equal to two right ones, you may take it upon trust, as your senses take cognizance of angles. Still, he should demonstrate the problem before demand- ing your entire credence. The first argument in the mouth of a man who asks you to believe a mystery is something like this : The grass grows ; this is a mystery, and we believe it. But this, as well as all of the kind, is shallow reasoning, so shallow that it is not reasoning at all. That the grass grows is palpable to the senses, but hoio it grows we know not, it is incomprehensible ; we, therefore, do not Miracles. 17 know Jiow to believe hoiv it grows, we cannot believe how it grows, because this is a mystery. When the how is revealed to the understanding the mystery ceases ; we then sliall be able to be- lieve how it grows, and not before. No man, therefore, can believe any thing entirely hidden from the senses or understand- ing. A thing thus hidden is the same to us a^ though we had not the senses necessary to belief. This, with the rational mind, will answer for any mysterious proposition that may be given you from man, relative to God, or the Son of God, including all the mysteries of animal and vegetable life. Yet we are thrown back to the bible, and told that it is revealed there, from God in heaven, that such and such things are mysteries not to be com- prehended, but believed on pain of hell's torments if we do not, for " great is the mystery of Godliness." Godliness is mysterious only to the sinner ; it is not at all mysterious to the men and women whose lives are lives of godliness. God is no mystery to those to whom He is revealed. Paul, when he arrived at Athens, said : "I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious ; for as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar, with this inscription : To the Unknown God. "Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship. Him declare I unto you." Acts xvii, 23. God to him was no mystery, else he coidd not have declared Him. Some sinning priests, going their rounds through the country, are making mysteries of many things — especially things sacred — which they urge you to believe, on pain of damnation. If they succeed in satisfying you, they well know the good matron of the house will have the fatted pullet ready by the time they come round again. This is understandable. The only mystery about this is, that so many are "taken in." I would here give this little piece of advice : If any man should come to your domicile to instruct you and your family how to be saved, and is not saved himself, you should quote to him the pungent proverb, " Phy- sician, heal thyself." It may be confessing too many of their sins for them, but such persons generally have quite as much interest in the pullet as they have in your salvation. Miracles are next urged upon you, especially the great, grand miracle of miracles, " revealed in God's word," that the Infinite Jehovah, the Creator of worlds, beyond thought, focalized himself in a woman, became a baby, a boy, a man, then permitted His fellow man to kill Him that He might reconcile it with His sense of justice 3 18 God Immutable. to admit the sinner into Heaven, especially all who were simple enough to believe the story ! But this story is not as palpable to the senses as that grass grows. It so happens that this so-called word of God reveals precisely the negative of all this. It is a perfect neutralizer. Then, which shall we believe — the reason able or unreasonable ? This Supreme (?) that walked the earth says He was the Son of Man. Is He to be believed ? He says also He has a Heavenly Father. Is this true ? Now, that He can be the supreme God and son of the sujireme God, the father of himself, and the father of the father, and father of the son, and the son of the son, and son of himself, is not plain to the senses ; it not only " admits of a reasonable doubt," but is entirely beyond the power of belief to an}^ educated and unbiased mind. The proposition utterly annihilates itself before it is half told. All this is the result of a wrong education — a biased mind and morbid intellect, and can work nothing but injury to the human race. Having taken the Son from the triple God, it is necessary that I should now place Him right in your minds, the son — the " Man, Christ Jesus " " For there is one God, and one mediator betwixt God and man, the man Christ Jesus " —1st Tim. ii, 5. l^o text in the Scri]Dtures shows the truth, and the distinction between God and Christ, more clearly than this : First, one God ; secondly, one Mediator betwixt God and man ; and thirdly, that riian is this mediator — not that the Supreme is the mediator, but the man, Christ Jesus. How very dull must be the perception of the person who cannot see this truth ! The subject of the Christ is not an intricate one when divested of the far-fetched and extraneous verbiage with which it seems to be surrounded and intertwined. It only needs to have the smoke and fog that have been accumulating around it dispelled, and the cobwebs brushed away, to enable the most common capac- ity to comprehend it. I have no sympathy with, nor affinity for, a mysterious godliness, nor a theology, nor philosophy, that no two can agree upon nor comprehend ; and in order that I may proceed understandingly I will begin at the beginning, and give you the signification of the term Christ, and its origin and use. If I am right it is important that you should know it. If wrong, it is also necessary that you should know how much I am wrong, and wherein, I shall quote authority that you will acknowledge, taking pains to keep clear and distinct ideas before you. Who is Christ? 19 Webster defines the term Christ thus ; " Greek, Christos Anointed, from chrio, to anoint. The Anointed, an appellation given to the Saviour of the world, and synonymous with the Hebrew Messiah. It was the custom of antiquity to consecrate persons to the sacerdotal and regal offices by anointing with oil." Thus we see the verb cht'io, from which the noun Christos is derived, signifies to anoint, the act of anointing. This act, there- fore, cannot be called Christos ; neither can the unction — Hebrew Semen 31eshe, or Greek Chrisma, anointing — be called Christ. None but the person anointed, according to Webster, can be called or ever was called Christ in past history. Alexander Cruden agrees with Webster, and says the Evangelists took care to put the people in mind of the prophecies concerning him to prove thereby that Jesus was the Christ whom they expected. Buck, in his Theological Dictionary, agrees with both Webster and Cruden. He says: "He is called Christ because he is anointed / " for this reason, not on account of a miraculous birth, but because he was anointed. The learned Richard Watson agrees also with what has been said, that the term " as used singly by way of autonomasis to denote a person sent from God as anointed prophet, priest, or King." " Christ," says Lactantius, "is no proper personal name, but one denoting power ; for the Jews used to give this appellation to their Kings, calling them Christ or anointed by reason of their sacred unction." But he adds : "■ The names of Messiah and Christ were originally derived from the ceremony of anointing, by which the Kings and priests of God's people were consecrated and admitted to the exercise of their functions ; for all these functions were counted holy among the Israelites. But the most eminent application of the word is to that illustrious personage, typified and predicted from the beginning, who is described under the character of God's anointed, the Messiah, or Christ." One mistake our translators have made is by too seldom prefexing the article the before Christ. The word Christ was at first as much an appellative as the word Baptist, and one was as regularly accompanied with the article as the other ; yet our translators who would always say, " the Bajttlst,^'' have, it would seem, studiously avoided saying " the Christ." The article in such expressions as occur in Acts, xvii, 3 — xviii, 5, 28, adds considerable light to them, and yet no more than the words of the historian manifestly convey to every reader who understands his language. It should therefore be, as 20 God Immutable. Paul testified to the Jews : " Jesus was the Christ," or the Messiah, etc. Watson further adds (p. 522) : " Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ," or Messiah promised. That He professed him- self to be that Messiah to whom all the prophets gave witness, and who was in fact, at the time of His appearance, expected by the Jews, and that He was received under that character by His disciples and all Christians ever since, is certain. All lexicog- raj)hers agree with this ; in fact there is no standard work extant but what acknowledges that the term Christ signifies the anointed person, and is confined to that signification and use. From all that I have said and the evidence adduced you cannot fail to per- ceive that the term Christ is but an appellative noun — an official title of the man Jesus, the same as Baptist was of the man John, or the same as " Jones, the Sheriff," or " Smith, the Auditor." This is all plain ; easily fathomed by the common capacity. What some Avould veil in mystery, is clear as day when plainly stated. It will be perceived, also, that to come from God is nothing more than to be commissioned or appointed by Him. This coming has no reference to altitude, longitude, nor latitude, as many are made to believe. I know this kind of discourse is prosy and irksome to many, but I could not, if I would " Round the period and the pause. And form the rhetoric, clause on clause," SO as to be very attractive ; but to those who are in quest of simple truth, I propose to be of no disadvantage. I beg you not to be alarmed, fearing that I may derogate from the character of Christ ; for it adds a thousand fold more lustre to His character to know that, notwithstanding " He was made in all respects like unto His brethren " — Heb. ii, 17 — " tempted in all points as we are," He yet gained the victory, than it would be to think He was not made in all respects like unto us, but overcame by virtue of a higher creation. So, my friends, cheer up, you have an ex- ample. " He left us an example that we should follow His steps " — 1 Peter, ii, 21 — not the steps of the supreme God, but those of a good man, godly man, or God-man, if you please, and if you have the moral courage to " come out from the world," and undertake the good work, you will find that salvation is not unsusceptible of attainment in this life. Is not this good news ? Come, then, to Christ ; He will receive you, if you will confess and forsake all sin. " For in a little wrath, I hid my face from God Immutable. 21 thee for a moment ; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord, the Redeemer." Isa. liv, 7, 8. Then, oli ! my friends, " seek yo the Lord while He may be found ; call ye upon Him while He is near." " Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him re- turn unto the Lord, who will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" RETROSPECTION. Before j)roceeding with this discourse I propose to take a very short retrospect of the essential points thns far made. It is not a ditiicult matter to forget acknowledged truths when new ideas are brought before the mind, and side issues introduce themselves ; it is therefore necessary to proceed cautiously, with a kind of retro- action, to insure harmony of thought, so that the past, the pres- ent and the future may agree. I have declared to you the har- mony of all truth. I have endeavored to impress upon your minds the necessity of having distinct and clear ideas, and of using well-defined terms, in order to preserve consistency of thought and speech ; and also of the necessity of divesting your minds of all bias, prepossession or prejudice, and to look at things as they are. Locke says, " No man is suitable to investigate for truth who has an object in his mind which he wishes to find true.''' Such jDerson is apt to see truth only on one side. But truth alone should be the object, regardless of our desires. This I think is my condition. I am not before you to defend any dogma, par- ticular theory, nor ism, not even what you are pleased to term Shalcerism, but to aid in removing error, and to unfold to you the simple truth as I perceive it. Truth is usually simple, while error is complex. " For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight ; His can't be ^orong, ioJiose life is in the right." I have endeavored to impress upon your minds a truth, which we are apt to forget, respecting our Creator, and that is that no atom of the boundless univei'se is or ever was without the eternal presence; that " the hairs of our head are all numbered ; " that this has ever been the case, before as well as since the advent of our Saviour ; that all is right, save only man and what man has done, and especially have I endeavored to impress you with the great and important truth that the ever present God commissioned the man, Christ Jesus, to represent Him and to make known His will to Ketrospection. 23 the race, and made him " judge of the quick and the dead ; " and that the power thus delegated to Him He delegated to his success- ors, and said : " They shall do greater works than I, because I go to my Father." John xiv, 12. And at the bar of this tribunal, the head of Christ's chnrch, shall all souls be tried in time or eternity, and the first step any soul can take to bring him or her- self into harmony with the Creator, whose laws have been vio- lated, is by auricular confession of sin to the order of his ap- pointing, and thenceforward leading a godly life. Thus, and thus only hath a merciful God opened the way for our return to Him. But how discouraging it is when the most irrefragable proof is set before the mind, that many will not heed it, and would rather put their trust in something unproved and unprovable than to abide by known and acknowledged truth. A lawyer of some note, lately said that, while he could not dispute the truth of the indivisibility of the Infinite, yet he believed in the Infinite Three ! because, forsooth, it was Bible doctrine, which assertion I deny. It seemed impossible for him to fix his eyes or sense on any thing else but n judge, two attorueys and a criminal ; belie v- iug that there is such a court somewhere above the clouds, to at- tend to his case when he gets ready for trial; if he expects to get to lieaven, he must of course think the practice there is somewhat similar to what he is accustomed to here. A large enough fee, adroit pleading, etc., will somehow clear the culprit, and thus, in connnon parlance, " cheat the devil out of his dues." A certain preacher also said : " deprive me of the imputed righteousness of Christ, and I am damned, sure." Not so, friend. Your damna- tion will be in the precise ratio of your willful violation of God's laws, and your justification in exact proportion to your obedience to them. Be not fearful, for God is just, and will do as he has promised — " reward 3^ou according as your works shall be." It matters little what people profess to believe. The truth is, no man can believe the affirmative and negative of a proposition. When he thus affirms, it is evident that he is either dishonest or remarkably weak. Such a person might receive instruction from some who are called pagan. In his Phsedo of the soul, Plato says : " It appears to me that, to know them clearly in the present life, is either impossil^le or very difficult. On the other hand, not to test what has been said of them in every possible way — not to investigate the whole matter, and exhaust upon it every effort is the part of a veiy loeak man. For we ought in 24 Ketrospection. respect of these things either to learn from others how tlie}'^ stand or to discover them for ourselves, or if both of these are impossible then, taking the best of human reasonings, that which appears the best supported, and embark on that, as one who risks himself on a raft to sail through life." Such a man, let him be either Pagan, Mohamedanor Christian, is head and shoulders above any one who professes to believe the contrary sides of a proposition, such as the existence of an infinite indivisihle one^ and of the same being as an infinite divisihle three! And moreover, I feel quite sure that an honest, truthful pagan is much nearer the Kingdom of God, than a dishonest, equivocating, falsifying professor of Christianity. How many there are who ac- cept the mere " letter of the Bible that killeth, and reject the spirit (of truth) that giveth life." 2 Cor. iii, 6. I have always, not only been taught a due veneration for the Bible, but also the greatest veneration for truth, as I became able to perceive it. Xothing either in or out of the Bible can be believed to be true unless its truth can be perceived, and a truth unperceived can be binding on no one. The Bible makes no such declaration as that of a three-fold God, nor of a first, second and third person in one God.* Such terms as trinity, triune God, etc., are not to be found in the good book. They have been coined in the jumble of thoughts of inconsistent sectarians, as a foundation on which to build or to bolster up some particular creed. I have further endeavored to show, producing evidence that could not be disputed, that Christ 9>\gm&e(\. anointed J that the term cannot by any rational con- struction be a]:>plied to any human being, nor angel, without such being anointed or appointed to consummate some special work, or perform some new mission for God — that is to say Christ is a God-appointed agent. The term means this, nothing more, nothing less. I have further striven to impress the truth, that the Bible speaks of fliree worlds or creations. The Biblicist will acknowl- edge that Moses and those after him, till Christ, spoke of two M'orlds, viz. : First, tlie visible creation, heavens and earth, moon, stars, etc. ; and secondly, the " old heavens and earth " that were to " pass away with a great noise," at the ushering in of the " new heavens and earth," some time, called world or worlds ; and that the Evangelists wrote only of the " New Heavens and Earth." Should we forget these truths, Alps on Alps arise before us; but keeping them in view, all obstacles vanish, and our way is plain. The Word of God. 25 With some, it matters not what amount of evidence is brought forward, if it does not accord with their understanding of certain texts of scripture, it is all coolly set aside, and the Bible text relied on. Hence, it becomes my next duty to examine some of the principal texts supposed and believed to declare the existence of Christ, in and with the Creator before the formation of man, or even the creation of the visible universe. It will at once be seen, that, after admitting the authority I have introduced as true and reliable, we cannot consistently admit the pre-existent theory. If we admit the latter, the former must be rejected. The text usually first introduced on the side of the pre-existent theory is found in John's gospel, 1st and l-itli verses, as follows : " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ; " * -^ * " And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us." The first thing to be considered in the text is the term Ijeginning. What heg Inning f According to what we have said, it must be the beginning of God's new cre- ation. Christ was there. The whole, however, is metaphorical ; but metaphors have need to be understood. This metaphor, then, consists in calling God's word, or the medium through and by whom the word was conveyed, God Himself. When I say the word is God, I mean it conveys His will and mind to me, which if I obey then, I obey God ; if I disobey, I disobey God ; and in tliis sense, is the same as God. The word became Jesus Christ in the same way and by the same rule that it became God. He received the word, mind, or will of God ; that mind or will became His mind and will ; His mind and will was then Himself. Then it was Jesus Christ, who was flesh and blood, that " dwelt amongst us." To obey that man, therefore, was to obey God. Other metaphors exemplify this. We say we read Moses when we read his laws ; we preach Christ, when we preach His doctrine. The apostle fully sustains the view here taken with respect to the be- ginning. In his first epistle he says : " That which was from tlie beginning, which we heard, which we have seen with our eyes, and our hands have handled." It is clear that his hands had n(»t handled any thing in the beginning of the old creation ; but with the new he had been conversant from the very start. This same John records the words of Jesus : " And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." That is, the beginning of the new creation. This is proof posi- tive of the truth of the exegesis here given — unless both Jesus 26 Retrospection. and His apostles all pre-existed with God, wliicli none are simple enongh to affirm. But let us look at it as explained and held by the blind guides of this world. In the beginning was God, and God was with God, and God was God, and God became flesh ; and God says " all flesh is as grass." Then God became as grass ; and what is grass ? I hope my friends will take a common-sense view of the subject and not allow themselves to be led away from the truth, " which alone can make you free. " I know how difficult it will be to yield long-cherished opinions, even when their falsity and absurd- ity are shown ; and more especially will it be hard for learned divines to acknowledge light from a quarter so obscure, and es- teemed so ignorant, as we are ; but error has nearly had its day, and it is a happy thought that truth will finally triumph. Sec- ondly : " He (Jesus Clirist) was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into th6 world. He was in the world and tlie world was made by Him and the world knew Him not." John i, 10. N'ot withstanding Jesus was "the true light," it must be evident to even the most superficial mind that this true light did not, does not enligliten every man that cometh into the old, or natural world. This being the case, which none will dis- pute, it follows that some other world was meant. It must have been the neio ivorld which he made, whose inhabitants were en- lightened by this " true light." This relieves the text from mys- ter}^, and every feature of pre-existence is removed. It is ad- mitted that the new world was made by Him, but not the old ; and although those who came into the new world were enlight- ened by Him, yet it is evident they knew Him not — that is, they did not fully comprehend His mission and His doctrine — for He said: " Have I been so long with you, Philip, and you have not known me ? " Thirdly : " God, in these last days hath spoken unto us by his Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things : by whom also He made the (new) worlds." Heb. i, 2. Fourthly ; Christ Jesus " who is the image of tlie invisible God, the first- born of every creature. For by Him are all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers ; all things were created by Him and for Him ; and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist, and He (Jesus Christ) is the head of the body, the church ; who is the beginning (of the new creation and church), the first born from the dead." Col. xv, 16, 17, 18. I quote these texts entire, because they are supposed by Head of the Ciiukch. 27 divines to be proof positive not only of the pre-existence of Christ, but that Christ ivas God Himself ; but, when fairly con- sidered, they fail to do either. They fail in the former, because reference is had to the neio, not the old world ; and fail in the latter because Christ, the head of the church, was the image of an- other. It would hardly do to say He was the image of himself ! It is true that " by Him were all things created that are in the (new) heavens, and that are in the (new) earth ; and all things therein were created by Him and for Him." But this could not be truly said of Him in relation to the old heavens and earth that were to pass away, which existed before Christ, who is called the second Adam, nor of the visible universe, which existed before the first Adam was created. And he (Christ), the text says, is before all things (in excellence), which is true. Should we give the text any other construction it would clash with what the good apostle elsewhere affirms of the Son of God. He says : " Concern- ing His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh (and that is the way we were all made), and declared to be the Son of Cod with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Rom. i, 3, 4. According to the general construction given by the sectarian world to the first quoted text, one would be led to conclude that the apostle was not speaking of the same Son of God in the latter text, and, with theii^ exegesis, reconciliation and agreement between them are im^^ossible. But to proceed with Collosians, the ISth verse. It will be evident that the first-born of the new creation is meant. He was called the first-born of the whole creation, because He was the " first-begotten from the dead ; " consequently the "first-born of every creature" from the dead. The text does not say He was before all things ; but He is before— stands before, or is foremost, in the new creation ; and "by Him all things (appertaining thereto) consist." This is no forced con- struction, and leaves the apostle in harmony with himself and in harmony with truth, and divests the reading of all obscurity and mystery. " He that hath ears to hear let him hear ; " for in all I say, I hope to be so plain that the most common capacity can understand and comprehend me, AVe claim to be denizens of this new world made ])y Christ — " the new heavens and new earth which He created, M'herein dwelleth righteousness," where all " old things pass away, and all things become new, and all 28 Ketkospection. things of God." This is the pLace and this is the feast to which we all are invited. Who would not have " old things pass away " " and all things become new ? " Who is there that would not this day, before God, give all his worldly possessions to have his past sins, in the acts of his life, wiped out, and be restored to the innocence of a child ? I hear a response from the deep chambers of the heart, saying : " I would, I would." Then let me assure all, even the chiefest of sinners, that a compliance with God's requirement in His Order will bring to you this happy result. " O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteous- ness ? What communion hath light with darkness ? What con- cord hath Christ with Belial ? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols ? For ye are the temple of the living God ; as God hath said : I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come yet out from among them ; be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." II Cor. vii, 11-18. TRUE HAPPINESS. Before j^eople will forsake the Avorld and come to Christ, they ■will have to feel a strong assura