A^/fo TK332 LEOTUEE HEALTH, 'Mi 1 ^my^ ■Wt JAMES R. TOLLES, AUTHOR OF "RYTHMICAL ASTRONOMY," "GUIDE TO HEALTH," ETC. Sacramento, 1872. Sacramento : JEFFERIS & CO., BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS. ExTERKD, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, By JAMES R. TOLLES, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. LECTUEE HEALTH, PROPER FOOD FOR MAN JAMES R. TOLLES, ■ AUTHOR OF "RYTHMICAL ASTRONOMY," "GUIDE TO HEALTH," ETC. Sacramento : JEFFERIS & CO., BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS 1872. IKS se. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in. the year 1872, By JAMES E. TOLLES, In the OflSce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Index Page Animals that divide the hoof and chew the cud, how permitted to be eaten 12 Animal and vegetable food compared, by Dr. Parish ZZ:;::. 29 Animal and vegetable food compared, by Dr. Cheyne.... ^4 Awful suiferings and deaths by trichina m flesh -■■■ ^^ Beasts overrunning the earth— fears of allayed ^^ Christ feeding fish to the multitude explained ^^ rhvist feedino- fish to the Apostles explained ■••••• Suftniagofcl fields-why left undiscovered until the nineteenth century 38 Cruelty practiced in taking animals to market •"• ^^ Cholera and smallpox, how avoided ".",'.'.*'.!".".!".... 23 Cholera in chickens— cause of ..•••• ^ 15 Dominion of man over animals considered .".'.**.'.'."'.'..".'.'.".!".!'.. 23 Diseases in cattle **,.'.".*. .**.",'.. 23 Diseases in swine ..!,!....../........... 24 Diseases in fowls 15 Elijah, how fed on flesh by ravens.. _ _ 27 Eeo-s, how cooked to be least injurious..... 28 Experience of Dr. Beach on proper food for man •• 33 Experience of Howard, the great philanthropist '.■■.....26-28 Forbidden fruit plainly defined......... 20 Flies, fleas, and other pests, origin ot _ 3q Interesting experience of George Paine - 3^ Interesting experience of George Burling _^ 32 Interesting experience of Marshall.......... '^ 3j Interesting experience of Judge Woodrufi 3^ Interesting experience of Pennsylvania farmer 22 Kingdom of God thrice established on earth ^g Killing an ox same as slaying a man ;^g Loss of hair, eyesight, teeth, etc....-.- vv;-;;;---'---""" ;;;; 36 Milton's reasonable view of ancient spirit life on earth ^i Millennium near at hand \'""\ 'a ..." 32 Nutriment of vegetable and animal food compared ^^ ^^ Natural and spiritual death explained :•••••••;•■•• 32 Opinion o? Plutarch, the Grecian philosopher, on animal food ^^ Opinion of Dr. Abernethy on animal food.......... 25 Opinion of Professor F. G. Welch on animal food ^g_^g Proper food for man plainly defined. ••;•:•••• 22 Prophet Daniel's prophetic powers, how obtained •••• ^3 Paschal lamb, how to be eaten I3 Rise, Peter, kill and eat V'"r"V'i«"«i*,.^rintn'rp '.....' 37 Steam cars and telegraphing prophesied of .^f SjipUir^^^^^ ^^ Supposed perpetual timekeeper compared with eternal lile ^ ^^ True philosopher's stone discovered at last ^ -j^^ Woman's sufi-rage, when to be permitted •-••••••••••• ;;';;; 27 Whisky and tobacco-cravings for-how extinguished ^^ Whisky, what composed of Iftr^lace. tT is well known to most of the people of Sacramento tbat about seven years ago I was taken under spiritual control so powerfully that I considered it my duty to sacrifice every personal feeling and interest, and submit to its entire guidance, for the purpose of demonstrating to the world the extent of its power and its object upon humanity, whether for good or evil. I felt that the power could not demon- strate itself by our partial submission for only an hour or two in the evening, tipping tables and other mediumistic tests, while we were variously engaged during the other twenty-two or twenty-three hours in all the different political, religious, and social excitements and brain-racking confusions of the present age. I felt that every mem- ber of my family was in danger of being attacked by this influence at any hour, either before or after my death, and that I could not leave to them or to the world a greater legacy than an actual demonstration of what the power was, and how to avoid it, if it proved to be evil, or how to receive the greatest benefit from it, if it proved to be good. With these convictions and feelings, after due deliberation, I sacrificed myself entirely to its influence. Since which time I have been entirely directed in the selection of my food and drink, and in all my business transactions. I thought that some one ought to do it, and I was willing to make the sacrifice, whatever might be the result. I had up to that time been a serious doubter in regard to there being such a thing as that spirit power could ever operate on earth and among intelligent men, until this unseen power seized upon me, and moved me with as much ease as I could move a child's doll, or a pawn or knight upon a chess board. I had also up to that time been a skeptic for at least thirty years— doubting the genuineness and authenticity of the Bible, and likewise the divinity of Christ. But when this invisible power got complete control of me, by my submission, it immedi- ately forced me into the firm belief of all these. It scattered my skepticism to the winds, and made me willingly proclaim, " There is a God ! the Bible is His word— a history of Spiritualism from the beginning— and Jesus Christ is His Son, or God Himself, manifest in the flesh ! " It then directed me to deliver the following lecture, and spread the new and strange ideas therein contained broadcast to the world. [ 6 ] I did not intend to object to delivering the lecture, but felt that I could not face an intelligent audience composed of my old neighbors of twenty years' acquaintance on the subject of health and the proper food for man, accompanied with such strange ideas in relation to the forbidden fruit — eternal life, etc. — when' all my audience knew that I could not naturally know but very little about either of them. There would doubtless be physiologists, physicians, and divines present that I could not have confidence to lecture before, especially as I had been so much oppressed with diflSidence in delivering a lecture on astronomy, about which I claimed to have some scientific knowledge. As I before said, I did not intend to object to deliver the lecture, but while trying to work myself up into confidence, I delayed and neglected it, until my mind became partially bewildered upon the subject, and finally it passed from my memory, as entirely forgotten, for years. I then was directed to deliver a lecture upon various other subjects ten times more embarrassing to face an audience with, because many points in the different subjects were entirely outside the pale of all human probability. I was also directed to give phrenological examinations of heads blindfold, at any distance in the room the audience might select, and to have the subject selected after my eyes were blinded, Vhich greatly increased my embarrassment. I, of course, faltered and hesitated again, until I was driven to it by various perplex- ities, troublesome lawsuits, etc. — and was finally stricken with dumbness, until I delivered the lecture. For five weeks my speaking faculties were paralyzed, and my hand also, so that I could not write a word. My only means of communication was by tearing out a leaf having the alphabet on it from an old spelling book, and pointing out letters, which the person I was talking to would spell into words and pronounce them for me, and then give me his answer. But when I appeared in the lecture room I could talk as well as I ever could in my life. But, unfortunately for my comfort, I was made to quote a passage of Scripture as a foundation for my lecture, and then, before I could repeat one word of the passage before the audience, I had to repeat the Lord's Prayer, which so embarrassed me during my whole lecture, (not having been in the habit of praying in public,) that I could make no use of my globes, of which I had four different kinds, to make some astronomical representations with, which were indispensably necessary, in order to make certain portions of my lecture intelligible. At another time I was stricken with dumbness during seven weeks, but on the last occasion I was permitted to write. All this trouble was sent upon me because I did not deliver the lecture when first directed to. I am now again directed to deliver this same lecture, and dare not disobey. I hope you will give me your undivided attention, so that if I am deluded and also " blind, and led by the blind," you can discover it; and I hope you will all kindly lend a helping hand and save me e'er " I fall in the ditch." But if, on the other hand, I shall be able to demonstrate to you that I have been helped to discover the true philosopher's stone, (which I am really made to believe I have,) I then ask you to kindly lend that same helping hand to aid me in spreading the good tidings, until all shall be permitted to enjoy its blessings. A LECTURE ON HEALTH, THE PROPER FOOD FOR MAN P ECTION 1. MONG all the subjects now agitating the human mind, causing differences of opinion and bloody conflicts among neighboring individuals and communities, fre- quently causing nation to rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom — marshaling huge armies and drenching the world in blood — there is, happily or unhappily, as the case may be, one subject about which we all agree, viz: that mankind in the present age of the world are subject to sick- ness, sorrow, and death. If, as philosophy claims, "there is no effect without a cause," then certainly there is a cause for all these. The great and important question then is, what is that cause ? I answer, without the least fear of successful contra- diction, that it is the unfortunate selection of food that we eat. If we can credit the sacred Scriptures, there was a time when man innocently roamed among the fragrant bow- ers of Eden, subsisting strictly upon the food which God had ordained ; when the feathered songsters were permitted to -femrlessly warble in the groves; when the playful lamb and other animals freely ranged the sunny hillside or grassy plains unconscious of danger; when the nimble fishes were happily sporting in their native element, faithfully fulfilling [ 8 ] tlieir destiny of " multiplying and filling the waters of the seas," that man was not subject to sickness, sorrow and deatli ; nor the latter until eight hundred years afterwards, when his system became so saturated with the unnatural and gangrenous influence of the forbidden fruit that death became a necessity. The question now presents itself, what was the" forbidden fruit? The most easy and quickest way to define what it was is, first to define what it was not. And I am instructed to apply to the Bible for testimony. It was not "the herb-bearing seed," which embraces wheat, corn, oats, and all the cereals. llTeither was it " the fruit of the fruit tree yielding fruit, whose seed is in itself," embrac- ing figs, grapes, almonds. Paradise nuts, Brazil nuts, walnuts, chestnuts, cocoanuts, bananas, and all the different tropical and other nuts and fruits " whose seed is in itself; " or, in other words, whose seed is in the fruit. Let me explain: The fruit of an apple or pear has no seed in the fruit ; that which we eat, the fruit, has no seed in it ; the seed is in a pit or shell inside of a core, which is entirely separate from the fruit. The peach, plum, cherry, and others are the same or similar. Their seed is in a pit, which is inside of a stone. The fruit which we eat, if planted, will not grow. But the fruit of all the others named, if planted, will germinate and reproduce themselves. 'Now I think it is plain to be seen that the forbidden fruit could not have been any of the articles herein named, for the former, the " herb-bearing seed and the fruit of the fruit tree yielding fruit, whose seed is in itself," were particularly set apart for man's food, with these most emphatic words : " To you it shall be for meat." And it certainly could not have been the latter — the apple, pear, peach, etc. — because the inference is fair that there were none of these in exist- ence at the time. The twelfth verse of the first chapter of Genesis is supposed to give a complete list of all the vegeta- tion that was created in the beginning, and those not having the seed in the fruit are not named in that list. They are no doubt of later origin, by a cross between other fruits, as of the apricot, nectarine, etc. But if they were then in existence, the sixteenth verse of the second chapter of Genesis gives man full and complete authority to eat them. It reads : " And the Lord God com- manded the man, [no common language] saying, of ^ every tree of the garden thou may est freely eat." The seventeenth verse says : " But of the tree of the knowl- r 9 ] edge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Verse sixteenth, taken in connection with verse ninth, ivhich reads, " And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is good for food," clearly shows that man's food was to be no other than such as grows out of the ground, and possessed of no ''knowledge of good or evil." I think I have clearly shown that the forbidden fruit does not exist in the vegetable kingdom. iN'o man has ever yet claimed that it exists in the mineral kingdom. ]^ow as all nature that we know anything about or have any idea of is divided up into these three grand divisions : the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, and as I have conclusively proved that it cannot be either of the two latter, it must exist in the former or animal kingdom, which has a knowledge of good and evil. Man has five senses and no more : hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and feeling, which are the only means by which he discriminates between pain and pleasure, and by which he has a knowledge of good and evil. Every lower animal belonging to the zoological catalogue has exactly those same senses, and is a locomotive tree of life the same as man, and has a knowledge of good and evil the same as man. T^^^y suffer the pangs of hunger, and, when properly fed, relish their food the same as man. They are made of flesh and blood, and propagate their species the same as man. God made a covenant with them, after the flood, the same as with man. They are locomotive trees in the midst of the garden — trees of the knowledge of good and evil — walking about amidst the trees of the garden which grow out of the ground, or flying amidst their branches, or swimming amidst the waters of the garden. And the fruit of these trees in the midst of the garden is their flesh, between the skin and bone, the same as the fruit of a peach or plum- is, between the skin and stone. It is generally supposed that the tree in the midst of the garden was an apple tree, growing out of the ground in the middle of the garden, having a peculiarly flavored fruit, which God commanded Adam not to eat. But not so. "Amidst" and " amongst " are nearly or quite synonymous terms, and our lexicographers, in the very language they use in defining the two words, prove conclusively to my mind that they are synonymous. Adam and Eve " hid amongst the trees of the garden." l^o person will contend that they hid in the ground. ''Kow the serpent was more subtle (cunning) than any beast of the field. And he said unto the woman, ' Yea, hath 2 [ 10 ] God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ? ' And the woman said unto the serpent, ' We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden ; but of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden God hath said ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.' " Her language plainly shows that she considered the trees of the garden to be those that grew out of the ground. But the tree in the midst of the garden, and having a knowledge of good and evil, was of an entirely different nature. If " the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden " was flesh, then the expression neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die," is reasonable ; as the animal must be slaughtered and the skin peeled off before the fruit could be touched. But upon no other consideration is it at all intelligible after " God had commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden thou may est freely eat." But nevertheless, after being assured by the serpent that " she should not surely die," (death of the body, of course,) " but that she should be as gods, knowing good and evil," she partook of the frait, and gave to her husband, etc. Now mark the result. They immediately died a spiritual death — a death which they probably had not thought of before. That is, the spirit of God was withdrawn from them. They could no more talk with God in their wander- ings, but were left completely enveloped in sorrows inde- scribable, which they knew not of before. And, besides, enmity was placed between them and all the lower animals. ISTo more pets could they fondle with and caress, without the danger of being goaded or stung, among all the animal crea- tion. They were cut off from all association and communi- cation, both above and below their own species. What- nonsense, then, to contend that the forbidden fruit was an apple, and the eating of it caused God to place enmity between man and the lower animals, after he commanded the man to perfect freedom in eating of every tree which grew out of the ground ! The forbidden fruit was not an apple, neither was it sexual considerations, as many persons contend; for the second command given to man was to "be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth." The forbidden frnit was exactly the flesh of animals, and nothing else. Consequently enmity would naturally grow put of the cruel and bloody transac- tion. Adam and Eve slaughtered the animals and ate their flesh, as there was no one else on the earth at the time to do it, and coats of the animals' skins were made for them; and they had to wear them no doubt as a partial punishment to add to their sorrows. Here is a picture of them in the state they were then in, which was copied from an illustrated [ 11 ] SPIEITUAL DEATH. Bible. They are the most doleful and sorrowful looking objects I ever beheld. Yet, notwithstanding their sor- rowful looks. God says to the wo- man, " I will greatly multiply thy sorrows, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Previous to their eating the for- bidden fruit God ordained that man '' should cleave unto his wife, and they should be one flesh." That is, be on a perfect equality with each other. I am willing, personally, and even anxious that woman should be on an equality now in suffrage, in legislation, and all other privi- leges that she aspires to; but since the transgression the fiat has gone forth that " man should rule over her." And all the w^omen conventions that can ever be assembled in this country and all others will effect about as much towards the accomplishment of that object as to stir a finger in the ocean to make its currents flow in a certain direc- tion, when the mighty billows, backed by a tornado, all come dashing and foaming the other way. Almighty God has decreed their subjection to man, until they freely acknowl- edge their error, retrace their steps, entirely abstain from eating the forbidden fruit, and use their influence in future to "destroy not the works of God for meat," but "let the fishes multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth, and let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind, and hinder them not," which is the first command of God to man. And when they willingly present to man, as a faithful helpmeet, the original vegetable food w^hich God ordained that man should eat, uncontami- nated with any foreign substance, then she may reasonably expect to be restored to her former privileges, on perfect equality with man, but not before. The rule that they must be strictly guided by is, to " touch not, taste not, handle not that which all must perish with the using." JSTow^ what substance is it that carries the sweeping denun- ciation with it that " all must perish wnth the using ? " All must agree with me, I think, that it is the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for no other substance [ 12 ] that I know of is thus condemned between the lids of the Bible. " On the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," or perish, meaning the same. *' Perish with the using." It has been sufficiently proved that they did die a spiritual death on that very da}-, and that both spiritual and natural death were in consequence of eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. " And unto Adam he said, " Because thou hast barkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, thou shalt not eat of it, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the d^js of thy life. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," (presupposing that bread material grew spontaneously before,) "till thou return to the ground — for out of it wast thou taken — for of dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." This is the first expression in the Bible in relation to the death of the body, (which is the second death,) and the man- ner of the expression presupposes the idea that man need not have diecl a natural death had not the forbidden fruit been eaten. A gentleman said to me as follows : " You do not pretend to deny that man has a right to eat the flesh of animals that divide the hoof and chew the cud, do you ? " I answered, "I do most emphatically, unless the flesh is entirely separated from the fat and the blood, which is an utter impossibility." The third chapter of Leviticus declares, *'It shall be a perpet- ual statute for your generations, throughout all your dwell- ings, that fe eat neither fat nor blood." ]^o man attempts to separate the fat from the flesh of either beast, fowl, or fish, but makes them as fat as he can, when fattened by himself; or, if fattened by others, he inva- riably selects the fattest he can find. And in all the smaller animals, not only the fat, but the blood is left in them, such as rabbits, hares, squirrels, birds, geese, ducks, and (fther fowls. They are shot down and thrown in piles, or bagged, for market, without attempting to drain off the blood, only what little escapes through the bullet or shot holes. Fishes also, both the finny and crustacean species, (the latter "are an abomination" — Leviticus, xi: 10,) are caught by the shipload and served in the same way. And, in the first place, if the fat and blood could be entirely extracted, the dry flesh or muscle, without the rich, oily moistening influence of either flit or blood, w^ould be thrown awa}^ as useless. There- fore the above quotation alone (and I can produce a dozen more similar quotations) amounts to absolute prohibition. [ 13 ] '' Well, at all events," says lie, '' you do not deny the right of the Jews to eat the Paschal lamb ? " '^ Most assuredly I do," I answered, " unless they comply with the entire ordinance, which they never do." ^ ^ "And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it m the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel," (which is the face casing, or stone, or brick cap piece over the door,) " and the two side posts with the blood that is m the basin, and none of vou shall go out at the door of his house until the morning: And ye shall observe this thing for an ordi- nance to thee and to thy sons forever."— Exodus, xi: 7, ZZ, Who besmears his house with blood in that manner at the present day? Kemember it must be done ''by them and their sons forever." . -, t i i Kow unless the whole ordinance is observed as above, and eaten with unleaven bread, and with bitter herbs, tney are positively restricted from eating it at all. Therefore it amounts to positive prohibition . ^o. flo.i. Many persons contend that it is right for man to eat lle&h because Peter, in the vision, was commanded to " rise, slay, and eat. "— Acts, x: 9th to 16th. • 1 4. ,^ They mio-ht about as well say that Adam had a right to eat it because the serpent offered it to him. To Peter had been o-iven the key to the kingdom of Heaven, which was univeSal happiness as it existed among all the animals-man, beast, bird, and fishes-in the Garden of Eden in the begm- nino;, e'er angel Adam fell. , -, . n Peter remembered that Christ had taken him away from his employment of kiUing animals, fishing etc., and that he had been promised to be made a fisher of men, instead of fishes He also had the warning of Adam's sorrows betore him for accepting the same temptation, and the command- ment of God " Thou Shalt not kill," and the commandment of Christ "Thou shalt do no murder," also before him, and he very wisely said, -Kot so. Lord, for I have never eaten am thing that is common or unclean." (Of course he meant shice he^ad been called from his fishing.) "And the voice spake again the second and third time; but he did not eat, and the vessel was received up again into Heaven. Now recollect these animals which Peter was commanded to kill and eat were all earthly animals in Heaven, where they belong. Heaven and earth were together, as m the ^'He''''liw Heaven opened and a certain vessel wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And [ 14 ] there came a voice to him, ^Rise, Peter, kill and eat.'" Heaven and earth were together, most assuredly, for "what- ever Peter bound on earth" (while he kept himself pure) *' was bound in Heaven; and whatever Peter loosed on earth was loosed in Heaven." And Christ says, "But if I cast out devils by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." — Matt, xii: 28. So many passages can be introduced to prove that Christ did cast out devils by tlie spirit of God, that all who believe the testimony must be sufficiently familiar with them with- out introducing an}^ The kingdom of God was then witli man on the earth, or it could not be taken from them and given to another nation, as expressed in Matt, xxi : 43. And it will come again. " For I say unto you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come." Christ's own words. Luke xxii: 18. The great and happifying truth is, that Heaven and earth were made for man, and man was made for Heaven and earth, and will be permitted to enjoy both here on earth when he submits his will to God and abstains from eating the forbidden fruit, a privilege which Peter and the other Apostles lost when they went afishing. Peter had been one of the most active and faithful of the Apostles, possessing great power for healing the sick and the lame, and performing other miracles for a long time after the crucifixion, fearlessly contending against every obstacle until all but six of the Apostles besides himself had been killed, and up to the time he finall}^ succumbed to out- side pressure and went afishing again, as we find recorded by John in the twenty-first chapter of his Gospel, which appears to have been written among the closing scenes of his life, (he being the last survivor of the Apostles,) and a long time after the other twenty chapters had been written. Peter was ridiculed, beat, kicked, cuff'ed, spit upon, and imprisoned, etc., for daring to be a Christian; and being poor, he finally yielded to outside pressure, and " saith unto them, ' I go afishing.' They say unto him, ' we also go with thee.' " As is expressed in 2d Peter, 2, 22 — Peter's own words : " The dog is returned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." Christ said to his Apostles while they were strict followers of Him, "Ye are the light of the world." " Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted ? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men." [ 15 ] "When the Apostles went afishing the salt then and there *' lost its savor." They were no more " the light of the world." Their miraculous powers, infallibility, etc., forever fled from them, like the dew^ of the morning. They "hid their light under a bushel " and became again as common men. If a knowledge of Peter's losses inclines people to slay and eat, go on and eat, I shall not. Many persons also contend that as God gave Adam domin- ion over the fishes of the sea, fowls of the air, and beasts of the earth, that gives us a right to kill and eat them. C-Jod also gave the Egyptians dominion over the Israelites, the "Southern States dominion over their slaves, and to every king or other potentate dominion over his subjects. Now if giving dominion over the fishes, fowls, and beasts gives authority to kill and eat them, it gives the others named authority to do the same. And if that is the case, we might as well all turn cannibals at once. The idea requires no argument, especially as we are so positively commanded in general terms to let them multiply. If we kill them we do not let them multiply, that is certain. Others think that if beasts are not killed for food they will become so numerous in time they will entirely overrun the world. If they do they will become evil no matter how innocent and domestic they are now. And God says (Levit- icus, xxvi : 3, 6 : "If ye walk in my statutes and keep my commandments I will rid evil beasts out of the land." A lady once said to me, after I had replied to several of her objections to my ideas, " Well, there is one passage that you cannot explain away; that is, w^here God commanded Elijah to eat flesh, and sent his angel in the form of a raven to feed it to him." "Yes," I replied, "Elijah ate flesh at that time about as the doctor's horse did oats, when he ordered his servant to water him and feed him a peck of oats, then to saddle and lead him out again. The servant did as ordered, and when the horse was led out the doctor says, ' He looks thin and hollow ; did you water him ? ' 'I did, and he drank heartily.' 'Did you feed him the peck of oats, as I told you ? ' ' Yes, I fed him the peck of oats, but he would not eat, and I could not eat the oats into him, so he will have to remain hollow.' " So with the ravens. They fed Elijah flesh, but they could not eat it into him. Neither did he eat it, for the passage says, 1st Kings, xvii: 3, 5, that he "did as the Lord com- manded him." And the Lord did not command him to eat flesh; neither did the Lord command the ravens to feed him flesh, but simply commanded them to feed him. He commanded Elijah to "hide by the brook Cherith," and [ 16 ] also commanded liim to " drink of the brook Cherith." And Elijah did both exactly as commanded. He was too cunning to eat flesh simply because the ravens brought it to him, when God had not commanded him to eat it, and also when the Bible was so full of commands not to eat it. So much for good old Elijah. If all would as closely scrutinize and be as obedient in doing exactly as commanded as he was, there would be fewer infidels in the world, and ravens and serpents would have less influence. There are passages in the New Testament recording inci- dents in the life of Christ where he appeared to feed the flesh of fish to the people, which nobody has mentioned, and which a few comments may make it appear that it was not fish, but something having the appearance of fish, which he created on the spot. I wish to give the objector the benefit of the strongest passages in the Bible, and therefore quote these of my own accord. At the instance recorded by John, chapter 6, 5th to 13th verses, when he fed the five thousand men, besides women and children, "Jesus saith unto Philip, 'Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? ' And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, ' Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufiicient for them, that every one of them may take a little.' Andrew, Peter's brother, saith unto him, ' There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes ; but what are they among so many? ' Jesus commanded them to sit down upon the grass, and he swelled the quantity until it fed them to the full, and afterwards took up twelve basketsful." Kow as a basket, where the quantity it holds is not given, is con- sidered a bushel by general consent, there must have been a cart load of the fragments ; and they also must have eaten a half dozen cart loads, for it would take at least that quantity- to " fill " five thousand men, besides women and children, and the Evangelist says they were " filled." l!Tow who was this lad ? His name is not given, neither is he again mentioned, either before or afterwards. Would he, if a man, have lumbered himself up with five loaves and two fishes for his own eating ? Would he, if he wanted to make money by selling to such a vast multitude, have carried so little where wagon loads would be needed ? I think not. The only natural conclusion that I can come to (and the spirit sanctions it) is, that the bread and something having the appearance of fishes were created right there, and that the lad was an angel sent by the mighty God, just in time to assist in performing the wonderful miracle. For certainly the power that could swell so small an amount to such [ 17 ] immense proportions could create the whole, lad and all, as when first introduced. Another instance is related by the same Evangelist of Christ's feeding fish to the Apostles, at the time they went afishing, as before referred to. (Johnxxi: 12.) It appears that they had toiled all night and " caught nothing." " But when the morning was come Jesus stood on the shore, but the Disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, ' Children, have ye any meat ? ' They answered Him ' ^N'o.' And He said unto them, ' Cast the net on the right side of the ship.' " They did so, and immediately the net was filled with fishes. And when they came drawing their net to the shore, and before they had landed their fishes, " they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread." There is not a Bible believer in Christendom but what believes that that miraculous draught of fishes was created right there by the miraculous power of Christ. And if he had power to create those, he had power to create that on the coals, and the coals also. And the only reasonable con- clusion to come to is, that it was not fish, but some substance that Christ created resembling fish. For he certainly did not take any that the Apostles had just caught, neither is it recorded that he had a net with him, or any other imple- ments for catching fish, neither could he require them for food, for it was a long time after his crucifixion and ascen- sion. The Apostles desired fish, and had gone afishing, and Christ "gave them" (what appeared to be) "their own desire," as was given to the Israelites when they clamored for the flesh pots of Egypt.— Ps. Ixxii: 29, 30, 31. P ECTION 2, I have in the foregoing introduced many passages as strong as Holy Writ can make them to prove that the eternal God, who made both us and them, has commanded us not to kill the lower animals and appropriate their carcasses for our food. I could introduce hundreds more of the same import, but if the foregoing will not convince, more of the same per- haps would not. I will now turn my attention to the con- sideration of the diseased state in which these carcasses are served up, the eftect they have upon the human system, and the efiect that the total abstinence of flesh and the substitu- tion of vegetable food, fruits, cereals, etc., also has upon the system. [ 18 ] In the first place animal food is not living food. It has passed through the agonies of death before it passes into the hands of the cook, and therefore is not the proper food for man. " The herb-bearing seed and the fruit of the fruit tree yielding fruit, whose seed is in the fruit," is living food, and therefore is the proper food for man. Potatoes, turnips, onions, parsnips, peas, beans, rice, wheat, and all the other cereals, and all the different kinds of vegetable food are liv- ing food. A piece of beefsteak, the fruit of the tree of life and of knowledge of good and evil, is not living food, and of course is not the kind of fruit having seed in itself, which man was commanded to eat. It is not food while in the ox, but has to pass through the agonies of death before it becomes food. Now suppose the ox is in a perfectly healthy state when killed, (and Isaiah says, Ixvi: 3, " he that killeth an ox is the same as if he slew a man,") there are but a few parts of the human system that gather any sustenance from it (principally the muscles and fat) for the reason that the rest is all cut away. The bones, teeth, cords, ligaments, cartilages, lubricating fluid for the joints, brains, nerves, eyes, hair, lungs, stomach, intestines, etc., get no sustenance from animal food; and consequently our teeth soon decay, our eyes grow dim, our heads become bald, our lungs weaken, etc., long before our muscles give out. My own eyesight was so poor seven years ago, when I first commenced using vegetable food exclusively, that I could not read a word with one pair of common spectacles, but was obliged to use two pairs. I can now read comfort- ably with one pair, though I usually use two pairs, as two are a little more comfortable than one. Also at that time the top and back of my head was quite bald, especially the crown was as bare as my forehead. The hair is now coming in again, so that there is no place but what is covered with fine hair. A lady once said to her husband, '' Shall I help you to steak, liver, or tongue?" He jokingly replied, "As every part strengthens a part, in order to keep even with you in talking, I will take tongue, my dear." It is no joke, I assure you, that every part strengthens a part. Nature's great laboratory divides up and separates the vegetable food which the ox eats, extracting from the mass each part its afiinity. That which will make bone and teeth is attracted to and manufactured into bone and teeth ; that which will make cords and ligaments, into cords and liga- ments, and so with all the other parts. We might as well undertake to make a huge golden image like Nebuchadnezzar's from quartz rock, from which all the [ 19 ] gold has been previously extracted, as to manufacture beef- steak into human bones. As well undertake to make the onion or French garlic express the fragrance of the rose. ITature's great laboratory makes no such grand mistakes. As the bone must be ground and pulverized and return to its original elements before it can fertilize the earth, so the flesh and fat must decay and return to their original elements before they fertilize any other portion of tlie body except the flesh and fat. The stomach, the body's laboratory, per- forms no suck ofiice. But the proper food for man, " the kerb-bearing seed," etc., and all the different varieties of the vegetable kingdom, just as the appetite craves them, when the will is carefully and fully submitted to the power that created us, will fertilize not only the muscles and fat, but also the nerves, brain, eyes, hair, teeth, and every other por- tion of the human system as nature requires ; and I am made to proclaim that '' the result will be perpetual youth and health ; " that God is always with us, and rules us all in whatever we do. Those who submit to His will He rules according to His own good will and pleasure, and will lead them to glory such as " eye hath not seen, ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man." But those who will not submit to His will He rules according to their own will and '^ broad way," which leads to the certain destruction of the body, in which he compels them to accept the result of their own will. But the spirit of that body will not be lost. It will be born again and again, and will have to pass through another and another probationary state, until it accepts the terms of salvation, and purifies and earns a body for eternal life. Then " old things will have passed away, and all things will have become new " with that body. This view of the case shows how God may be *' no respecter of persons." He has power to cause us all, in the diff'erent lives we are made to live, to occupy all the differ- ent grades between " the rich man and Lazarus," or between the king on his throne and the beggar at his footstool, and keep us all in utter ignorance of all our former lives, until we purify a body, and then show us, by restoring the mem- ory, the different vicissitudes we have passed through, so that the contrast may be ever vivid between those vicissi- tudes and the ever happy millennium that will follow. " But if in this one life we only have hope, we are of all men most miserable," and we have every reason to believe that God is a " respecter of persons." But He has declared in the most positive terms that " He is no respecter of persons," and that "the righteous" (which all may become if they will) " shall go into life eternal." [ 20 ] iN'aturally it does not seem to be possible for me to live eternally, nor any of my posterity to the third or fourth generation, for I was a partaker of the forbidden fruit until over Aft}' years of age. But the power controlling me declares that God designed from the beginning that all should become righteous at a certain age of the world, known only to him- self, and live eternally, even though they come in at the eleventh hour; and the Bible sanctions it in numerous pas- sages, and further says : " And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." What former things? Why, death, sorrow, crying, pain, etc. But our bodies must be cleansed by ourselves, as the Apostle has told us: "This mortal" (not this spirit, as most people believe) " must put on immortality," etc. Christ came to bring life and immortality of the body to light. Not the life and immortality of the spirit, for that had been brought to light long before. Both the Pharisees and the Essences believed in the immortality of the spirit long before Christ's advent. But the Sadducees did not believe in that doctrine. Now, in relation to second or more probation ar\' states, Jesus says, " Yerily, verily, I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Why? Because the kingdom of God was then passing away, being shut up by the stubbornness of the Scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites about the time when Christ said, " The kingdom of God is within you." He says to them, "Woe unto you, for ye shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." The mysteries of the kingdom of God were given, to them in parables, "that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand," while they continued to eat the forbidden fruit. The kingdom of Heaven has been thrice to our certain knowledge (if we credit the testimony) instituted upon earth. First, in the Garden of Eden; second, in the ark; and third, in the time of Christ and the Apostles. It was first shut up by the disobedience of Adam ; second, by Noah, in slaughtering the animals that God had com- manded him to place in the ark, and again commanded him to bring forth from the ark, to again " multiply and replen- ish the earth ; " and third, by the Scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites, and finally acceded to by the Apostles when they went afishing. [ 21 ] The kingdom of God will again be instituted on the earth when man receives the light which has so long been offered, and purities his body by living on the food which God ordained for him. God looked down from Heaven and said, " They are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no not one." Now what have we all done that God has com- manded us not to do, which brings such a sweeping denun- ciation upon us that "we are altogether become filthy," except eating the filthy forbidden fruit? It is exactly that, and nothing else. People may delude themselves with the idea that it was something that Adam and Eve did that brings trouble and sorrow upon them as long as they please ; but the}' will wake up to the trutli some time, and find that each man is his own Adam, and that each woman is her own Eve. We all have the same commandment before us that Adam and Eve had, and all break it precisely as they did. Now before " old things can pass away and all things become new," we must each one renew our allegiance to God, which Adam and Eve departed from for themselves, and which each one of us have departed from for ourselves, by following exactly in their footsteps. Let us, like the humble prodigal son, return now. For " blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." Not flesh, but bread (Luke xiv: 15). " Verih% I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until I drink it new in the kingdom of God." (Mark xiv: 25). Remember this was said by Christ at the last supper, and if words mean anything His second advent is certain. The great millennium and the second advent of Christ are no delusions. " There is a good time coming " for all, as fast as we submit. Let us prepare ourselves for its enjoyment by obeying the commandments, and patiently " wait a little longer." But I was speaking of the ox and of animal food, and must return or my lecture will be too long. The ox is not always in a perfectly healthy state. Not one liver in a dozen is in a perfectly healthy state. We all know that w^ien a man's liver is affected the whole system is more or less in a febrile state. So also with the ox. The arteries, veins, and other avenues through which the blood so rapidly moves pass the disease upon its first attack to all parts of the system. The butchers (and I speak of them with the most kindly feelings, for they act from habit and from necessity, and I hope m time to see all their shops making more money by being turned into bakeries,) cut ofi" large quantities of dis- eased green or black ulcerated spots from most all the livers (as do all the families when they butcher) before they offer [ 22 ] it for sale in their stalls. And there are numerous other diseases. The heart, the lungs, and the kidneys are equally diseased ; the latter frequently with horrible worms. ]^ow all these diseases affect the flesh, and when that is eaten it breeds diseases in the human system ; slightly, per- haps, at first, but from long continuance of the habit of eat- ing it, into different deeply seated diseases : worms in chil- dren, headaches, dyspepsias, dysenteries, fevers, and others in adults. And I am assured in the most positive manner by the power controlling me that cholera, small pox, measles, and all the different epidemic and contagious diseases are invited into the system by the corrupt, ulcerated, and rotten state of portions of the interior man, which is caused by eating animal food ; and that the different pests that afflict us: flies, fleas, bedbugs, and lice, are hatched from the trichina existing in the flesh of the different animals we eat after having been eaten by the different flesh eating animals, man included, and that they will disappear when man ceases to eat flesh. And I am also assured that if we abstain entirely from eating flesh we need not fear the cholera or any of the other diseases named. And I will state, as a partial corroboration, that my grandchildren, three in num- ber, aged from two and a half to six years, who have never eaten any flesh, have never had the slightest symptom of worms since they were born. Now if animal food is necessary for man, why was Manoah, the mother of Sampson, commanded not to eat it? And is' it not strange that her offspring should be possessed of such great strength as one of the results of her abstinence ? Why was Daniel, Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego possessed of such miraculous powers by abstaining from its use ? Why was not Joseph commanded to preserve immense quantities of bacon, hams, and thousands of barrels of salted beef and pork during the seven years of plenty, while the animals were fat, as well as immense quantities of corn, to prepare for the seven years of famine ? Why did not Christ pray for flesh when he prayed for bread ? There cannot possibly be but one answer. It was not and is not necessary, but was forbidden. Its eftects upon the human system are sickness, sorrow, and death. But entire vegetable food does not produce these efl'ects. Even if thei article has commenced to decay — a potato, for instance — the decayed spots may be cut off" and the rest may be perfectly healthy. There are no arteries, veins, and other avenues through which the juices circulate to render the whole potato instantaneously unfit for use, as is the case in the animal construction. [ 23 ] But tliere are other diseases in animals, the flesh of which is used for food, to confirm which I will read a few extracts from the different journals of the day, some of which you all have no doubt read, but which have been perused m such scattered fragments, one at a time, that the first is trequently forgotten before another is read : Section 3. Thk Albany Register of February 18th, 1871, says : « Several of our citizen^ h^ave lost valuable cow/ in the last few days, as well as young cattle. Cattle tl^at weie ippal-entiy in good health in the evening were found dead m the mormng. No opm- imi has been advanced as to the cause ot this sudden fatality. - A Dis-^rsE has been prevalent among the cows owned in the southern part of the. Citv of A^xandHa, Virginia, for a week or so past, and has extended so rapidly that thfM.vt- has felt this^lut; to issue a proclamation concerning it. Tae anunals are first affeced with sore liios and mouths, then the udder becomes inflamed, and finalttVe hoot are invaded by the disease and in some cases are reported to have dropped off."— Zancaseer {Pa.) Express, May bth, 1871. nisPASED Swine.— The Contra Costa Gazette of November 5th, 18a, has tne hams, bacon sides, spareribs, and S^nume domestic sausage ;ut ea^^^^^ the commission houses sel the calves sent to tnem °o ' ; suppose, is that LT^a ttTivr.'S%ir.;r^'iJ::?;«.ea;'£^. has .... ....... without avail." . ^^^^1- _ fr. thp New York Evening Post, 1871, "The New Cattle ^■''"^'^•^fCiS cattle feaTers at the ravages of this %;::^ntsrre|ef:^^^^^^^^^^^ C 24 ] there less than in the New England States. The consumers of milk are much exer- cised on the occasion, and they have good cause to be. The infection has not only extended to neat cattle, but to horses and other animals, and the Governor of Rhode Island has issued a proclamation even calling on the authorities of tawns to use what- ever powers they have to prevent the spread of the pest, which he terms an " exceed- ingly infectious and contagious disease." In Massachusetts the State Commissioners have carefully investigated its character, history, and atlinities, and its qualities are sufficient to create alarm. In that State large numbers of diseased cattle have been found in the towns of Cambridge and Medford, and in the yards of Brighton, and their removal from those plaoes has been prohibited until further notice. The Post says : ' The disease is an eruption, which first appears in the mouth ; and the cattle afflicted eat with difficulty or not at all. In the second stage it breaks out between the claws of the feet, and then, in cows, it is sure soon to strike the udder, when it is considered fatal. In other animals it does not directly destroy life, but it is very obstinate even under the best treatment, and after the eruption is gone the recovery is slow. The poison is readily communicated by contact with a diseased animal, or with any of its saliva, or of the skin, which peels off the mouth and falls in flakes in the stall. But not only the stalls and food are infected, but the soil of the yards in which the cattle stand is poisoned by their feet to a considerable depth, and healthy animals which pass through these yards are liable to contract the disease. Even the clothes or hands of a person who has been near the sick animal will carry the infection to others. There is much alarm on the subject in the Boston cattle market, and the State Commissioners now ask the Legislature for an appropriation to enable them to take vigorous steps for exterminating the pestilence.' " "All agricultural New England is alarmed by the prevalence of a new cattle disease called epizootic aptha, which has spread with wonderful rapidity and disas- trous results. More than two months ago a fine steer in the yards at Brighton was found to be sick with a novel disease. It began in his head, which swelled, and a sore appeared ; then slimy matter issued from his mouth, which, together with his nostrils, was covered with small blisters. The disease spread to other cattle in the yards, and was rapidly disseminated through New England. It seems to yield to careful treatment, but the physicians say that the meat and milk of the diseased cows are poisonous, and the public is naturally alarmed about the matter." — Boston Cor- respondence of the Snerameiito Union, January 17th, 1871. *' Thk San Jose Independent advises its readers to examine their game, and says a wild duck, with the skin unbroken, and apparently healthy, was found to be full of parasites in the form of worms." "The Cattle Disease. — Boston, January 10th, 1871. — The 'foot and mouth disease, so called, of which I advised you in a former letter, is said to be spreading to an alarming extent in this State, and has recently extended into Rhode Island. It is said to be so highly contagious that persons who have gone to see cattle affected have returned and communicated it to their own stock through their clothes. Even hogs are said to be liable to the contagion. The milk and flesh of diseased cattle are said to be poisonous, and an instance is related where a dog died shortly after partak- ing of the milk of a diseased cow. As a consequence, there is some excitement among beef eaters and milk consumers." Crops and Stock in Gheat Britain — Cattle Disease. — London, September 29th, 1871. — The Telegraph of the 19fch says, editorially : " There is no longer much room to doxibt that to the misfortune of a deficient harvest will be added the disaster of the cattle plague. Foot and mouth diseases are spreading among the horned stock of the kingdom with deplorable rapidity. Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingtonshire are the three English counties chiefly affected. It has spread as far north as Perthshire. To give a clearer idea of its ravages, in one county, in which is the City of Preston, up to Saturday last, four thousand eight hundred and seventy cattle were attacked. It has already spread over seventy-three British counties, and is also spreading in Ireland. The number of animals suffering is estimated at twenty- five thousand, but the pest involves sheep and swine. Besides this disease which attracts attention, pleuro-pneumonia has also appeared. This deadly malady is rav- aging the herds in thirty-one counties of England and thirteen in Scotland and doing a certain degree of damage in Ireland." "Deaths by Trichinosis. — Marengo (111.) December 31st, 1871. — A fifth mem- ber of the German family living near Geneva, who suffered from trichinosis, has now expired. Fears are yet entertained that the surviving siifierers cannot recover, although they are now receiving every care and assistance possible. The death stricken family occupy the place known as the Maloney Farm, in the Town of Hamp- shire, Kane County, and are of German nationality, and save through their recent terrible sufferings are little known in this neighborhood. A man named Cowles, who worked on the Maloney Farm and boarded with this family, has for days past also [ 25 ] been sufferino- with the malady, and his recovery is despaired of. Besides Cowles, the German family attacked w.ith the disease consisted of an elderly man and woman, two ffirls one of them fifteen years of age, and the other somewhat younger, two men in the prime of life, a boy about four years of age, and a young woman— the first victim of the frio-htful and loathsome disease. The spectacle of suffering presented by the unfortuna'te survivors is absolutely frightful. Stretched upon their backs, their limbs as rio-id as if in death and swollen by pain ; their eyeballs almost darting from their sockets and rolling from excruciating tortures ; their tongues so dry that speech is almost impossible, and the entire frame so sensitive that the shghtesjt movement causes stings and pangs of torment that evidently exceed all other afflictions that flesh is heir to. Human suffering is indeed here presented in its most hideous and repulsive aspect, as one looks upon their slowly wasting forms, possessed by millions of restless and devouring creatures, whose food they are, and whose fecundity is continually adding fresh swarms to the myriad of ravenous atoms that not and least in the muscles and flesh of the prostrated sufferers. A microscopic examination of the sausa-es and ham eaten by the family showed that the trichmfe existed in the meat in immense quantities, and portions of the flesh taken from one of the deceased victims exhibited their presence in almost indescribable numbers, a medical gentle- man present estimating that there must be no less than forty thousand of the trichinae to the cubic inch. The specimens found in the human tissues were not fully developed and were, as a general rule, in groups. They were evidently living as they exhibited animation by a peculiar and wavy motion, and by frequently stretching out and then closing together with great rapidity. These specimens are now in possession of Dr. Winchester of El^'-in. There is a rumor now that there are some cases of trichinosis in Rockford, but tlie report is questionable; and it is also reported that a teamster living at Belvidere, who had eaten pork at the house of the German family alluded to, is at the point of death. The latter is believed to be correct, and from tlie expres- sions heard on all sides in the vicinity of the terrible malady, it is ^evident that but few people hereabout will go the ' whole hog ' as an article of food. • v i. Mr F G. Welch, Instructor in the Department of Physical Culture m Yale Collet savs : " To consider man anatomically, he is decidedly a vegetable-eating animal. He is not constructed like a flesh-eating animal ; he has not claws like the lion the ti-er, or the cat ; but his teeth are short and smooth like those of the horse, the cow, and the fruit-eating animals. Man is naturally a vegetable-eating anima ; how, th;n, can he possibly be injured by abstinence from flesh? A man by way of experiment, ^oas made to live entirely on animal food and hav^ng persevered ten days symptoms of incipient putrefaction began to be mamfested. Eating much flesh tend^ Z cUminish mental activity. How wrong, then, for those who devote t^^emselves to study to indulge largely in the use of meats ! There can be no question but that the use of fle^i tends to create a grossness of body and spirit. The objec ions, then, are threefold-intellectual, moral and physical. Its tendency is to depreciate moral sen- timent check intellectual activitv, and to derange the fluids of the body by stimula- t on if^ not essential to physical energy and strength The slaughtering of animals is a horrid^ business, a perfect outrage on every feelmg of humanity, every sentiment of right." Now besides all these diseases, the flesh of healthy ani- mals is' often made to be diseased and unfit for eating by beino- taken to market. They are sometimes terribly over- heated in driving, and then allowed suddenly to become chilled in the butcher's corral or yard, or by chilling storms, 2:erminatino; fevers or other disease; or driven m large masses into crowded stalls, on steamers or cars, and go hungry tor days, while they, in frantic fury and apparently m pertect ao-onv -ore and gouge each other until it would seem that their whole bodies would become a perfect mass ot^ corrup- tion. Calves carried in carts to market, with their heads hano-in^ over the sides and endboards, jolting along over rough 1 oads, until, almost in a dying state with their tongues hanging out and their glazed eyes almost leaping from their 3 [ 26 ] sockets, when they are inhumanly thrown upon the sidewalk to flounder in the blazing sun, and hiy for hours before being slaughtered. ' • Turkeys, chickens, and other fowls, with legs tied, hung across a horse and carried head downwards until crazed and almost dying with pain, and while squawking murder in pit- eous tones, the only language they can use. In this condition they are slaughtered and eaten with a wonderful relish, l^o wonder our insane asylums are kept filled. But in justice to those who slaughter them, I wish to say right here, that they are no worse than those who eat them. I will now change the picture, and read a few short extracts from the writings of some of our most noted and scientific physicians who have experienced the results of living on a mixed flesh and vegetable, and also on a purely vegetable, diet, prefaced by a few words of my own experience. In July, 1864, soon after I was taken uncler spiritual con- trol, I was commanded, in as emphatic and imperative a manner as if it had been delivered in thunder tones (though no audible voice was heard), "to abstain from the use of ani- mal food ; that flesh was the fruit which God commanded Adam not to eat in the Garden of Eden." I replied, I will obey or die in the attempt to obey. It is well known to many of my Sacramento acquaintances how severely my faithfulness has been tried since that time. For the first three years I was made to live the most of the time on an ounce of food at a meal, until I became almost a perfect skeleton. Perhaps once in three, or sometimes six months, I was allowed a little more for two or three days, and then reduced to the ounce again of, generally, crackers, and water for my drink. But since that time I have been allowed about my usual quantity of food, but not a particle of flesh, l^either have I drank but a little tea or coflee, and for nearly two years not a drop of either, except twice, I have merely tasted of them. My present food is principally^ bread and boiled potatoes, seasoned with salt, and sometimes a few rai- sins, and my drink is water. Though I am instructed not to drink until after eating (unless very thirsty), but to let the saliva only moisten the food before swallowing, as the saliva is greatly needed in the stomach to assist in the process of digestion. With this abstemious diet — about eight ounces at a meal — I find both my mental and physical strength im- proving. So much so, that I am willing to wrestle, run a foot race, or labor at anything we both understand and can conveniently work at, with any man of my age and weight who eats flesh; and he who beats in two of these tests shall be declared the champion. We will both board at the same [ 27 ] house one month, while training, and he shall let me see that he eats the usual quantity of flesh — beefsteak, pork, etc. — and whatever else he pleases, and he may see that I eat noth- ing except what is above named, and my drink shall be water. He may drink what he chooses. The cost of my food shall not exceed ten cents per da}^, but he may eat ten dollars worth if he likes. I advise the laboring class to learn now to live cheap, e'er the money monopolists bind our chains any tighter, or we must in time learn to submit to be serfs. But I would not advise any person to commence living so abstemiously, except they come to it by degrees. They can leave off' flesh at once; but eggs, butter, cheese, milk, pud- dings, pies, cakes, tea, and coffee, leave off by degrees, in the order in which they are named, one at a time, as judgment dictates. Eggs are safest cooked hard. A perfectly healthy stomach can digest a soft yelk and receive no injury; but if there is fever in the stomach, the soft yelk will become hard, like cement, in the stomach, similar to that we frequently see on a plate, and remain undigested for da^-s, reducing the sys- tem to a feeble state, entirely unprotected, and at the mercy of colds and of any disease that may be prowling about in the vicinity. But the yelk of a hard cooked egg is like cooked Indian meal, and we can no more make cement of it than we can of Indian meal. 'No more than three or four kinds of food, including dessert, should be indulged in at any one meal ; and if reduced to bread alone, no evil consequences will follow. With abstinence from the first four of the articles of food in the foregoing list goes the last lingering desire for whisky and tobacco, which desire is very much abated on abstaining from flesh. The question, then, origi- nates itself, how can we shorten puddings, pies, and cakes, if restricted from using animal fat or butter ? I answer, w^ith pure olive oil, and no person can taste the difference between that and other shortenings, unless used to excess. How unnecessary, then, the cruel practice of slaughtering swine to rob their bodies of the fat for shortening I I am frequently asked why whisky is not as useful and harmless to the human system as bread, if made of the same material. I am instructed that it is not made of the same material. That if it was, and there exists in grain, as dis- tillers contend, sixteen quarts of proof whisky in thirty-two quarts of grain, four quarts of grain (a common feed for a horse) would contain two quarts of whisky, which would intoxicate him; and that a half pound of bread w^ould intox- icate a man; that whisky is ether supplied to the atmos- phere by the great ethereal ocean beyond, and is attracted [ 28 ] from the atmosphere by the mash or beer while undergoing the process of fermentation. Therefore he who prepares his mash the most ingeniously to attract the ether from the atmosphere will succeed in making the greatest number of gallons of whisky to the bushel of grain. On September 5th, 1870, I was solicited by an elderly gen- tleman, who afterwards died in our city hospital, to buy Dr. Beach's "Family Practice," published in 1865. He said that Dr. Beach was a vegetarian, and named a page which he wished me to peruse. My time was too much occupied at the time to read it, but I bought the book, more to pat- ronize hira than anything else, on account of his being in feeble health. In a day or two I read the page he referred me to, and to my agreeable surprise I found the first corroborating testi- mony, except my own version of Bible authority, I then remembered ever to have read or heard of in relation to animal food being the forbidden fruit, which idea I had so silently given to me six years before. I will read the article as my first quotation. P ECTION Dr. Beach says: "It appears very evident that man, in his primeval state of simplicity, never ate any animal food what- ever. Previous to his transgression he was not permitted to kill any animals nor partake of meat, as appears by the com- mand of his Maker, recorded in the Bible. Vegetables seem to have been his only food. From this fact we may infer that vegetable is more congenial to the S3^stem than animal food. We may infer this also from the effects which fol- low the long continued use of meat. Sailors who use it on long voyages are subject to scurvy, which often proves fatal, when a recurrence to vegetables immediately removes the disease. A vast number of other complaints are unquestion- ably produced by animal food. The evil consequences aris- ing from it are in part owing to the quantities of oil or grease it contains, by which the digestion is disordered, the bile vitiated, the blood corrupted, and cutaneous and other dis- eases induced. " Injurious effects are very fre.quently immediately felt after eating a meal of high seasoned meats, such as oppression at the stomach, lethargy, and subsequently, if persisted in, dys- pepsia and other complaints. "Animal food, then, may in general be considered hurtful, and requires a very strong and healthy stomach to digest it. [ 29 ] When animal food and wine have been received into tlie stomach, no sooner is the digestion process begun, even before any portion is introduced into the circulating fluid, than the Action of the heart is increased, and the pulse is quickened, but the same effect is not observed from vegeta- bles." ,. ,, ^. , , Dr. Parish says : " Animal food is too highly stimulant. The sprino:s of life are urged on too fast, and disease neces- sarily follows, such as bitious, plethoric, and inflammatory state of the system. The celebrated Alex. Munroe states that animal food produces the hot, alkalescent scurvy, a fierce and sava2;e temper, (a peculiar feature), and leprosv, with a corruption of all the juices, which is onl}^ to be cured by a chano-e of diet. Amonsr other ill effects of animal food is a temporary fever after eating it, called by the old medical writers the fever of digestion. No such effects follow the use of vegetable food." . -, ^i , • i Dr Cheyne says: "I am almost convinced that animal food was never intended for man, but only permitted as a punishment. First, to let him feel and experience the nat- ural and necessary effects of his own lusts by painful disease; second, to shorten the duration of his natural hfe, that sm and misery might not increase infinitely. .,-,., . ''Veo-etable food is much lighter, more easily digested, and much less inclined to putrify than animal food Besides, from the natural stimulus which it possesses, the bile is ren- dered more healthy, by which the regular peristaltic motion of the bowels is kept up, and costiveness, the source ot so many evils, is obviated. , , i^i • i " That man is capable of sustaining the health, vigor, and streno-th of his system upon a diet purely vegetable is estab- lished by so many proofs as to place the fact beyond the pos- sibility of doubt. ^ . 1 , " The Hindoo lives almost exclusively upon rice and water. A ^reat portion of the Irish peasantry subsist upon potatoes, with the addition of oaten cake or bread and milk, and the laboring classes in many districts in Scotland and the north of Eu^fand are nourished upon little else than oatmeal and potatoes, while in various other countries of Europe the poor are restricted almosfexclusively to a vegetable diet even less nourishinsf than these. ^ . m • ^ 4.-+ "When the food just referred to is in sufficient quantity and of o-ood quality, more robust, active, and vigorous frames and a «"eater amount of general health can scarcely be met with if the inhabitants of any oth-^^^^^tiy or among any other class of society, whatever may be their diet. Vegeta- [ 30 ] ble food affords as much or more nutrition than animal, while the former produce much less excitement." George Paine, Esq., of Providence, Phode Island, says: *' A mulatto girl came to live in my family in Her twelfth year. Previous to this she had remained at her home with her parents, who were very poor. During her Summers she had subsisted upon fruits in the natural state, and through the whole year she ate very little except the plainest vegeta- ble food. On very rare occasions she ate a little flesh, but not enough to render it in any proper sense a part of her diet. She drank water exclusively, and slept on straw. When she first came to live with me her suppleness, activity, agility, and strength so far exceeded anything we had ever seen before in such a child, that she absolutely filled us with astonishment by her feats. Of her own accord she was up in the morning as soon as it was light, and wherever she went she always went with a run, and with the nimbleoess and fleetness of a deer. In all her movements she exhibited uncommon natural ease and gracefulness, and in her muscu- lar eftbrts she evinced a surprising degree of strength. She would for her own amusement often throw herself down at length upon the grass and imitate the motions of a snake so exceedingly like a snake, that it sometimes gave one very unpleasant feelings to look at her; and in a great variety of ways she exhibited the most wonderful suppleness, nimble- ness, and agility that I ever beheld in a human body. Her mind seemed to be as active and vigorous as her body. Her power of mental apprehension and retention, and facetious- ness and wit were a continual source of surprise and amuse- ment to us. On coming into my family she began gradually to accustom herself to flesh meat, and in the course of two or three months she became very fond of it, and ate it freely; and to our astonishment, (for we could not then account for the change), in less than six months all her remarkable sup- pleness, activity, and strength were gone, and she had become exceedingly sluggish, heavy, and stupid. We could not get her up in the morning until breakfast time, without special and direct means ; all her movements became slow, heavy, and sluggish, indicating great indolence, and her mind became as stupid and inactive as her bod}^; arid such she has ever remained since, being now fifteen years old." " I took a boy from the alms house in the year 1827," says Mr. Thomas H. Burling, of Westchester County, 'New York. " He was then in his thirteenth year, and had always before this subsisted entirely on vegetable food. When he first came to my house he was remarkably supple and nimble, and would throw a summerset backward two or three times [ 31 ] ill succession with great ease. I had a notion that he would be good for nothing for work unless he ate flesh, and so I encouraged and urged him to do so. He soon became fond of flesh and ate it freely, and in less than six weeks he became so clumsy that whenever he attempted to throw a summerset he fell like a log." " I returned from Greece with Captain Floyd in the ship Factor," says the venerable Judge Woodruff*, of Conuecticut, who went out as the agent of the ^N'ew York committee for the relief of the Greeks. '' There came over with us to New York, as one of the ship's crew, a Greek youth — a native of Thessaly — whom we called John. He was nine- teen years old. He had from his childhood been driven about among the Turks, almost in the condition of a dumb beast, and subsisted on the plainest, simplest, and coarsest vegetable food, mostly in a natural state and chiefly fruit. His nimbleness and activity far exceeded anything that I ever before saw* in a human being. Without exaggeration I can truly say that he would run up and down the shrouds and jump about on the rigging with all the nimbleness and rapidity of a squirrel. Indeed, his exploits of nimbleness on the rigging often filled me with amazement, which was some- times mingled with fear for his safety." An intelligent farmer of Pennsylvania whose health had for some time been declining, and who at the age of sixty years, finding himself completely broken down and laid by with all the infirmities of a premature old age, w^as induced to adopt a simple diet of vegetable food and water, with the hope of mitigating in some degree the severity of his suflTer- ings. Of the effects of this experiment he thus expresses himself: "In less than twelve months from the time I com- menced living on my abstemious vegetable and water diet, I was perfectly" restored to health, and seemed to have renewed my life. I was entirely free from every pain and ailment, and was very active and vigorous, and more serenely and truly cheerful and happy than ever before since my child- hood. My sight improved astonishingly, insomuch that, whereas before" my change of diet I could with difficulty see to read with the best glasses I could procure, now I could easily read the finest print of my newspapers without glasses. But the most wonderful effect was produced, on my mind, which became far more clear, active, and vigorous than it had ever been before. Indeed, no one who has not experi- enced the same can have any adequate conception of the real intellectual luxury which I enjoyed. It seemed as if my soul was perfectly free from all clogging embarrassments and influence of the body. I could command and apply my C 32 ] thoughts at pleasure, and was able to study and investigate the most abstruse subjects, and to write with an ease, perspi- cuity, and satisfaction which I had never known nor had any idea of." " You ask me," says Plutarch, ''why Pythagoras abstained from eating the flesh of brutes. For my part I am aston- ished to think,, on the contrary, what appetite first induced man to taste of a dead carcass ; or what motive could sug- gest the notion of nourishing himself with the- flesh of ani- mals which he saw the moment before bleating, bellowing, walking, and looking about them. How could he bear to see an impotent and defenseless creature slaughtered, skinned, and cut up for food ? We should therefore rather wonder at the conduct of those who first indulged themselves in this horrible repast, than at such as have humanely abstained from it." Dr. Abernethy says: "If you put improper food into the stomach it becomes disordered, and the wliole system is aftected. The effects of animal food and other improper stimulants upon the system likewise induce preposterous noses, blotches on the face and other parts of the body, gout, apoplexy, inflammation of the eyes, and decay of the teeth." Martial says : " The throat has destroyed more than the sword. The nations that subsist on vegetable diet are of all men the handsomest, the most robust, the least exposed to disease and violent passions, and they attain the greatest longevity. The Brarnins of India, wdio frequently survive a century, eat nothing but vegetables. From the Pythagorean school, which was vegetable-eating, issued forth Epaminon- das, so renowned for his virtues; Archytas, so celebrated for his skill in mechanics, and Milo, of Crotona, for his strength. As vegetable diet has a necessary connection with many vir- tues and excludes none, it must be of importance to accus- tom young persons to it, seeing its influence so powerfully contributes to beauty of person and tranquillity of soul. The children of the Persians, in the time of Cyrus and by his orders, were fed with bread, water, and cresses ; and Lycur- gus introduced a considerable part of the physical and moral regimen of these children into the education of those of Lacedemon. Such diet prolongs infancy, and of course the duration of human life." Bell says : " It is not, I think, going too far to say that every fact connected with the human organization goes to prove that man was originally formed for a frugivorous ani- mal." It has been ascertained by the most careful experiments [ 33 ] that the various kinds of flesh meats average about thirty- five per cent of nutritious matter, while rice, wheat, ana other kinds of grain afford from eighty to ninety-five per "'^Howard, the philanthropist, after testing the effect of a vegetable diet personally, and while exposed to plague, pes- tillnce, the foulest dungeons, filled with malignant infec- tions, remarks : " I am firmly persuaded, as to the health ot our bodies, that herbs and fruits will sustain nature m every respect far beyond the best flesh. Animal food produces the following effects : First-It is more stimulating than vegeta- ble foodf Second-It increases the action of the heart and arteries, and thus causes a quicker pulse and hotter skin. Third— The chyle and blood taken from a living vessel formed by animal food, becomes sooner putrid than that formed from vegetable food. Fourth-The human body has more power to endure fatigue and resist disease when nour- ished by good vegetable food, than when nourished by flesh An "elegant writer of the last age speaks thus of intemper- ance and diet: "For my part, when I behold a fashionab e Uh\e%et out in all its magnificence, I fancy that I see gou s and dropsies, fevers and lethargies, with other innumerable distempers, lying in ambuscade among the cUslies. Section 5. I have now proved by the best written testimony in exist- ence—the Bible— that God does not sanction the use of flesh foi food, but strictlv commands that it shall not be ea en. Ti AcSm He says, ''On the clay that thou eatest thereo hou Shalt surely die." To Noah He says, "But flesh with the lite he eo^'^ich is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat; and t rely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hands of eve.7 beast will I require it, and at the hand ot mai . In the Ten Commandments He says, "Thou shalt not k 11, but is not definite in regard to what should not be killed; S d Chit as if to make the commandment still more plain savs " Thou Shalt do no murder." As the kil ing ot an ox slhe san e as the killing a man, as Isaiah proclaims it to be and he is aoknowledged°by all to be the very best of author- itv~l then the killing of any animal is murder, ^i' have proved to "you by numerous extracts f^om .^Jfoi the best journals of the day that the lower a>nma ^ « fli ed with various loathsome diseases, and are consequently not [ 34 ] the proper food for man. I have also proved to joii by extracts from the writiiis^s of many of our most able physi- cians that the eating of the carcasses of these animals entails upon the whole human family all the sad realities of sick- ness, sorrow and death. These physicians are also unani- mous in the opinion that vegetable food, as ordained by God himself, is the only proper food for man, and that if it is exclusivel}^ used entails upon the human family liealth, both physical and mental vigor, and longevity. Therefore, not- withstanding the eating" of the flesh of animals has "brought death into the world, and all our woe," we have the cheer- ing assurance that " there is yet balm in Gilead and a physi- cian there," who will, if properly applied to, kindly soothe all our woes. That balm is the rich juices of vegetable food, accompanied with pure water for our drink, "as God has mixed the ingredients; and that physician is the eternal God himself, who is so mindful of us that the very "hairs of our head are numbered," and " not a sparrow falls to the ground without His notice," and " gives good gifts to them that ask Him," etc. In order to take full and entire advantage of the inestimable ofiers He sets before us, we must remember that there are " two immutable things in which it is impos- sible for God to lie" that we must comply with. We must not only abstain from eating the " forbidden fruit," but we must submit our wills to God, so that He " may be all in all." God is not now all in all. He has given to man his will, and that has become the law of the world, as sanctioned by God himself In witness of which I will introduce the scene of God's acceptance of the offering of Abel, which was "the firstlings of the flock and the fat thereof," which was in accordance with the will of man, and rejecting the ofiering of Cain " of the fruits of the ground," which was in accordance with the broken command of God. He will never take from us the privilege of exercising our own will, but has commanded that we must surrender it of our own accord ; " that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in Heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth. And every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." When this is complied with then " God will be all in all." He will be all in all with each one separately, as fast as we submit. And when these two requirements are complied with, I verily believe that God will so rule us in the selection of our food, that perennial health, perpetual youth, eternal life, and end- less felicity on earth will be the result, which will be wealth in profusion. This is what I am influenced to term the true philosopher's [ 35 ] stone, so much songht for by all. If we comply with these two requirements, they will'lead us to " love God with all the heart, and our neighbor as ourselves. And on these two hang all the law and the prophets." We need two divines whe're we now have but one,^to proclaim the "good tidings of great joy which shall be unto all people," and to pre- pare our minds for the great change. Then let us in good earnest " lay hold of the hope set before us," " put off the old man" by purification, and "put on the new."^ -'For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mor- tal must put on immortality." (N'ot this spirit put on im- mortality, for that always was immortal.) " So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: death is swallowed up in victory." The great Apostle then boastingly exclaims: "Oh death! where is thy sting ? grave ! where is thy victory ? " There will be no such thing, then, as the " sting of death," for when the body is purified it cannot die ; and the grave will of course lose its victory. To illustrate: Suppose a watchmaker to be possessed of genius sufficient to invent a liquid substance holding in solu- tion all the difiierent materials of which a watch is composed, which he could introduce into some small vessel (closed by valves which operate by attraction) within the watch case in such a manner as not to impede its running. Then suppose each ingredient in the solution possessed of exactly the proper affinity ^for its kind, to be attracted to any part of the watch as the natural wear by friction may require, so as to keep the watch in perfect repair, as when new. Is it not plain to be seen that the watch so eternally supplied would last eternally? Now suppose a man's will as much in subjection to God's will as the watch material is to the watchmaker's, is it not reasonable to suppose that God could introduce a solution into the man's stomach, by ruling him at all times to eat exactly the quality and quantity of food required, to make the man last eternally also ? It is much less difficult for us to comprehend than the eternal rounds of the celestial orbs, the eternal continuance of the seasons, day and night, etc. I want now to impress particularly upon your minds a few ideas in short hand, a part of which is a repetition of what I have already said, together with some others which my lec- ture could not contain if dwelt upon at length without being too lono-. And first, the Bible is the Word of God. But it is not all commands, neither is it all penalties for disobeying commands ; neither is it all laws and ordinances ; nor is it all historical accounts of the times and actions of men, but [ 36 ] it comprises all of these and more. But rest assured it is all a dead letter and forever will remain so to those who eat the forbidden fruit and do not submit their will to God. " Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." But we may ask, seek, and knock until doom's day, and we shall not be replied to unless we obey the commands given long before this advice to ask, seek, and knock was given to us. We must not ask w^ith lips stained with blood and hearts ready to shed more, wdiile the command, viz: " But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat," remains uncanceled; or, if we do, we must expect to ask amiss, for our requests will not be heeded. I want to tell you again that Heaven was upon earth, and will be again when man prepares himself by purification to receive it, and never can be anywhere else. The very fact of God's confounding the Babel tower builders and scatter- ing them abroad in the world, is sufficient to teach any man that they were seeking for it in the wrong direction. It is not up yonder. It is on the earth, or was, and will be again when man prepares himself to receive it. The very fact that Christ prayed " Thy kingdom come," (not we go to Thy kingdom,) is sufficient to prove that it is to be here. The very fact of natural death destroying the faculties, through the medium of which only we receive or enjoy happiness, is sufficient proof. For what do we know of happiness except through the five senses ? And what do we know of misery, except through these five senses ? l^othing, except memory of the past. Therefore Heaven and Hell are both on the earth, and nowhere else. The spirits of the departed know nothing about either happiness or misery. They have lost all faculty for the enjoyment of the one or the suffering of the other. They are in the same condition that they were in in the days of Adam, as represented by the great Milton in the discourse between Adam and Eve on retiring to rest. Milton, as if inspired, while speaking of the rays of the celestial orbs, represents Adam as saying to Eve : " These, then, tho' unbeheld in deep of night, Shine not in vain — nor think tho' men were none — That Heaven would want spectators, God want praise. Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep. All these with ceaseless praise His works behold, Both day and night. How often from the steep Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard Celestial voices to the midnight air, Sole or responsive, each to other's note Singing their Great Creator. Oft in bands, C 37 ] While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk, With heavenly touch of instrumental sounds, In full harmonic number joined, their songs Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to heaven. Thus talking, hand in hand, alone they passed On to their blissful bower. " The spirits of the departed return to this same state, as represented by Milton at the beginning, l^one of them have seen God, neither do they know anything about Heaven or Hell ; but are waiting to be resurrected or reinstated in a new body, in which they can work out through a new pro- bation their ow^n salvation by purifying a body for eternal life on earth, when God shall again set up His kingdom on earth, which He has promised to do, and the great principles that are being demonstrated on earth during this nineteenth century presage that it is '^ near at hand, even at the door." The development of steam power — the rail car — as propheti- cally spoken of by ITahum, second chapter, third and fourth verses : " The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the dsij of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against the other in the broad ways; they shall seem like torches ; they shall run like the lightnings." The development of the principles of telegraphing, so long ago foretold by the Lord out of the whirlwind, in answering Job, thirty-eighth chapter, thirty-fifth verse : " Canst thou send lightnings that they may go and say unto thee, here we are ? " The extra development in all the difterent branches of arts and sciences, musical talent, musical instruments — grand organs and other instruments — with which we worship God, which we are all so happy in doing, even though our doc- trinal tenets are so diametrically opposed to each other ; the development of the difterent gold fields just at this time, which are spreading the comforts of life more broadcast than ever was known before. And when all the difterent princi- ples, comforts, and conveniences which God has designed for us, as fast as we purify and prepare ourselves to receive them, and which are being developed more rapidly under our Government than any other, have all been bestowed upon us, then ''shall come the end of the world," (meaning the end of man's dominion or government,) as is questioned in regard to privately by the disciples, (Matt, xxiv : 3,) and answered by Chirst in the fourteenth verse : " And this gos- pel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come." Then the kingdom of God will be established on earth, and "flesh and blood" can enjoy it. Who has not wondered why the [ 38 ] California gold fields were left undiscovered until the middle of the nineteenth century? I will answer. It was a whole- sale measure for the purpose of disseminating " to the utter- most parts of the- earth" a knowledge of the Gospel which is " good tidings of great joy," and a knowledge of the true " God, whom to know is life eternal," and reserved for use when all other schemes should fail. People have assemhled here from all the continents, from all the islands of the Atlan- tic and of the Pacific, from pagan countries of ignorant and idolatrous worship of stone, wood, and golden images, and of the sun, moon, etc., and unconsciously, while digging our gold, have learned our ideas of the true God, our language, which is to be the universal language of the world, and our principles of a republican form of government, which is the last and highest stepping stone towards a theocracy, or govern- ment of God. And after digging gold to their satisfaction, they have returned again to their homes to spend it, and in doing so have heralded the Gospel, which is good tidings of great joy, to the uttermost parts of the earth, on which the kingdom of God is to be established. " Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." (Luke xiv: 15.) I know that it is claimed by many that the kingdom of God can never be on the earth, because "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." And I agree with them, because it is Scripture; and second, because it cannot be inherited; it must be earned. Each and all for themselves " must work out their own salvation with fear and trem- bling." But righteous conduct can receive it as a reward for righteousness, and then flesh and blood can enjoy it, which is all we ask. The righteous are those who give to every living thing its rights. "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast." (Prov. xii: 10.) Wherever righteous conduct is strictly observed, together with the cheerful exer- cise of faith, hope, and charity, there is the kingdom of God, and flesh and blood can enjoy it. Did not Christ say to the Pharisees, " The kingdom of God is within you. Were they not flesh and blood? " The kingdom of God was within them at that time, as King David was once a man after God's own heart, when he slew the bear and the lion that invaded his father's sheep fold. And they might have lost it again in an hour afterwards, as David lost the honor of being a man after God's own heart when he ordered Uriah into the front ranks to be slain, so that he might obtain his wife. Prov. x: 30 says: "The righteous shall never be removed from the earth." Prov. xi: 31 says: "The righteous shall be recom- pensed in the earth." Matt, xxv : 46 says: "The righteous go into life eternal." ^ow if the righteous are recompensed [ 39 J in the earth and shall never be removed from the earth, then eternal life must be enjoyed on the earth. That is certainly plain and positive. And we also have the testimony in Eev. xxi: 3, corroborating the same. "And I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His peo- ple, and God himself shall be with them and be their God." And the nineteenth verse of chapter eleventh says: "And the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of the testament; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail." And verse fifteen says: "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." ^ow what does this mean, if it does not mean exactly what the power controlling me proclaims? That when the commandments are obeyed, all the kingdoms of this world, embracing all nations and kindreds of the earth, are all to be massed under one common head, with one language, one law, and one eclectic religion — made out of the cardinal principles or tenets of all religions on the face of the earth. That God's kingdom is to be set up under our repubhcan form of government; that the stars of our banner are -em- blematical of universal dominion, and that Christ at His sec- ond advent, which is near at hand, will take the government upon his shoulders, not only as the ecclesiastical head of the Church, but as temporal ruler, exactly as the Jews expected Him to do at His first advent; and that He will by the cords of His love draw all men unto Him, and rule and reign for- ever and ever. Tlien the kingdoms of this world, where there are lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and earth- quakes, and hail storms, will be Heaven. Let us all prepare tor it; and let us resolve to commence now. For "this night our souls" (which latter word is synonymous with lives, which go into nonentity at death,) may be required of us." Let us lirst submit our wills to God, and then " taste not, touch not, handle not that which all must perish with the using," and patiently wait the result. LIBRARY OF m CONGRESS 914 359 659 ft