in Boston in the preceding year, the members of which did not believe in the final destruction of the wicked, and called themselves Evangelical Adventists. Another branch of believers, who observe the seventh day as the Sabbath, originated as early as 1844, and have maintained their organization under the distinguishing name of Seventh-day Adventists. They set no time for the second coming of Christ, believing that the prophecies which, in the opinion of other Adventists, fixed the second advent in or about 1842, really brought the world only to the "cleansing of the tabernacle," a period of brief but uncertain duration preceding the coming of Christ.

Mr. Miller's statements of personal views are sixteen in number. Each one is followed by quotations from the Bible, which he regarded as proofs. In his lectures and writings he gave what he termed the proof of the time he had designated for the second advent, in fifteen different ways. Omitting this as well as the proofs of his views for lack of space, we will give succinctly the views themselves:

1. I believe that Jesus Christ will come again to this earth. 2. I believe he will come in all the glory of his Father.

3. I believe he will come in the clouds of heaven.

4. I believe he will then receive his kingdom, which will be eternal. 5. I believe the saints will then possess the kingdom forever.

6. I believe at Christ's second coming the body of every departed saint will be raised, like Christ's glorious body.

7. I believe that the righteous who are living on the earth when he comes will be changed from mortal to immortal bodies, and with them who are raised from the dead, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so be forever with the Lord.

8. I believe the saints will then be presented to God, blameless, without spot or wrinkle, in love.

9. I believe when Christ comes the second time, he will come to finish the controversy of Zion, to deliver his children from all bondage, to conquer their last enemy, and to deliver them from the power of the tempter, which is the devil.

10. I believe that when Christ comes he will destroy the bodies of the living wicked by fire, as those of the old world were destroyed by water, and shut up their souls in the pit of woe, until their resurrection unto damnation.

THE SECOND ADVENT.

609

11. I believe, when the earth is cleansed by fire, that Christ and his saints will then take possession of the earth, and dwell therein forever. Then the kingdom will be given to the saints.

12. I believe the time is appointed of God when these things shall be accomplished.

13. I believe God has revealed the time.

14. I believe many who are professors and preachers will never believe or know the time until it comes upon them.

15. I believe the wise, they who are to shine as the brightness of the firmament (Dan. xii. 3), will understand the time.

16. I believe the time can be known by all who desire to understand and to be ready for his coming. And I am fully convinced that sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844, according to the Jewish mode of computation of time, Christ will come, and bring all his saints with him; and that then he will reward every man as his works shall be.

The Adventists generally practice adult immersion, believe in the necessity of a change of heart, a godly life, the ultimate annihilation of the wicked, and in the sleep of the dead until the final judgment. Their latest reports showed the following conditions: Adventists: ministers, 107; members, 11,100; Second Adventists: ministers, 501; members, 63,500; Seventh-day Adventists: ministers, 167; members, 17,169.; total: ministers, 775; members, 91,769.

CHAPTER L.

MODERN SPIRITUALISM.

Belief of American Spiritualists-Their View of Christ-The Transition from this Life to the Next-Spiritual Communications not Infallible-Spiritualism neither a Sect nor Church--Eminent Believers-The Rational Spiritualists.

IN

N its modern sense the term Spiritualism expresses the doctrines of those who believe that communication between this world and the next is, and always has been, a reality. In the seventeenth century there were many avowed spiritualists in France, and hosts of bright minds engaged in investigating the various phenomena. The mesmerist Billot claimed that he and his associates had both seen and felt spirits. Deleuze declared that the possibility of communicating with spirits had been proven to him. Others asserted that phenomena, in all respects identical with spiritualism, appeared in ancient histories, in the Delphic Oracles, in the occurrences of the Wesley family in 1716, and in Swedenborg's alleged full and open communication with the spirit world and his daily converse with spirits.

Robert Dale Owen declared that spiritualism, as understood in the United States, had its birth on March 31, 1844, when the phenomenon of spirit-rapping manifested itself to the Fox family in Hydeville, N. Y. Various members of this family obtained true answers to many questions by distinct raps upon an isolated table. Spiritualists hold that if we admit the probability of another life of which the present is the novitiate, we must also admit the likelihood that means should be offered us to obtain assurances touching

"MEDIUMS."-PRINCIPLES.

611

the world for which we have to prepare ourselves. They do not believe in miracles, asserting that the natural law is universal, invariable, persistent, and that all spiritual epiphanies are natural phenomena. As a rule, they do not regard Christ as one of the persons in the Godhead. A large number, who may be called Christian Spiritualists, regard Christ with reverence as the great spiritual and ethical teacher of mankind; while another branch speak of Him as one of the ancient philosophers, with no claim to distinction beyond sages like Confucius, Socrates, or Seneca.

They reject the idea of a personal devil. Some believe in the occasional agency and influence of evil spirits, amounting, now and then, to what might be called possession; while others hold that such things may, in all cases, be explained by human agency. Both, however, agree in this: that spirit communications are by no means infallible, and that great care should be taken to accept nothing, come whence it may, until it has been submitted to the scrutiny of reason and conscience.

The mediums, or the persons through whom the communications are made, have been divided as follows: rapping mediums; mediums for tipping and turning tables by a slight touch of the finger; for the movement of ponderous bodies without contact; for the production of phosphorescent lights in a dark room; for playing on musical instruments in a manner beyond their ordinary abilities; for involuntary writing, and for writing independent of any apparent aid from human hands; for the diagnosing and healing of diseases; for levitation; and for the materialization of spirit forms identical in appearance with those of deceased persons.

Among the leading principles on which it may be said all intelligent spiritualists substantially agree are these: This is a world governed by a God of love and mercy, in which all things work together for the good of those who reverently conform to His eternal laws. In strictness there is no death. Life continues from the life which now is to that which is to come. The earth-phase of life is an essential preparation

for the life which is to come. The phase of life which follows the death-change is, in the strictest sense, a supplement to that which precedes it. Our state here determines our initial state there. We do not, either by faith or works, earn heaven; nor are we sentenced, on any day of wrath, to hell. In the next life we simply gravitate to the position for which, by the life on earth, we have fitted ourselves. There is no instantaneous change of character when we pass from the present phase of life; our faculties, passions, virtues, all go over with us. In the next world love ranks higher than what we call wisdom, being itself the highest wisdom. There, deeds of benevolence far outweigh professions of faith. A trustful, childlike spirit is the state of mind in which men are most receptive of beneficent, spiritual impressions; and such a spirit is the best preparation for entrance into the next world. There have always existed intermundane laws, according to which men can occasionally obtain, under certain conditions, revealings from those who have passed to the next world before them. A certain portion of human beings are more sensitive to spiritual perceptions and influences than their fellows; and it is generally in the persons and through the medium of one or more of these that spiritual intercourse occurs.

As regards the relation of spiritualism to the mission of Christ, it may be said that while its votaries usually reject Trinitarianism and dissent from the theology of St. Paul, many of the most experienced spiritualists believe that if spiritual communications be sought in an earnest, becoming mood, the views obtained will, in a vast majority of cases, be in strict accord with the teachings of Christ. It is asserted that Christ himself promised (John xiv. 12) that his followers should do the works he did, and greater works also; and further, that there is in point of fact substantial coincidence between the signs and wonders related in the gospels and the spiritual epiphanies of the present day.

It is admitted by candid spiritualists that many of the communications obtained appear to be but a reflection of the opinions or suggestions, sometimes of the medium, some