afterwards those that are Christ's at his coming, then cometh the end." But Jemimah, according to her testimony, died, and rose again before the time mentioned in the Scriptures. The idea of her soul being in heaven while her body was on earth, is also preposterous. When God breathed into man's nostrils, he became a living soul, before that he did not live, and when that was taken away, his body died; and so did our Savior when the spirit left the body, nor did his body live until his spirit returned in the power of his resurrection. But Mrs. Wilkinson's soul [life] was in heaven, and her body without the soul [or life] on earth, living without the soul, or without life.

The Irvingites are a people that have counterfeited the truth, perhaps the nearest of any of our modern sectarians. They commenced about ten years ago, in the city of London, in England; they have churches formed in various parts of England and Scotland, and some few in Upper Canada. Mr. Irving, their founder, was a learned and talented minister of the Church of Scotland; he was a great logician, and a powerful orator, but withal wild and enthusiastic in his views. Moving in the higher circles, and possessing talent and zeal, placed him in a situation to become a conspicuous character, and to raise up a society similar to that which is called after his name. The Irvingites have apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists and angels. They profess to have the gift of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues, and, in some few instances, to have the gift of healing.

The first prophetic spirit that was manifested was in some Miss Campbells that Mr. Irving met with, while on a journey in Scotland; they had, what is termed among their sect, "utterances," which were evidently of a supernatural agency. Mr. Irving, falling into the common error of considering all supernatural manifestations to be of God, took them to London with him, and introduced them into his church.

They were there honored as the prophetesses of God, and when they spoke, Mr. Irving or any of his ministers had to

keep silence. They were peculiarly wrought upon before the congregation, and had strange utterances, uttered with an unnatural, shrill voice, and with thril ling intonations; they frequently made use of a few broken, unconnected sentences, that were ambiguous, incoherent, and incomprehensible; at other times they were more clearly understood. They would frequently cry out, "There is iniquity! There is iniquity!" And Mr. Irving has been led, under the influence of this charge, to fall down upon his knees before the public congregation, and to confess his sin, not knowing whether he had sinned, nor wherein, nor whether the thing referred to him or somebody else. During these operations, the bodies of the persons speaking were powerfully wrought upon, their countenances were distorted, they had frequent twitchings in their hands, and the whole system was powerfully convulsed at intervals; they sometimes, however (it is supposed), spoke in correct tongues, and had true interpretations.

Under the influence of this spirit, the church was organized by these women; apostles, prophets, etc., were soon called, and a systematic order of things introduced, as above mentioned. A Mr. Baxter (afterwards one of the principal prophets), upon going into one of their meetings, says, "I saw a power manifested, and thought that it was the power of God, and asked that it might fall upon me; it did so, and I began to prophesy. Eight or nine years ago they had about sixty preachers going through the streets of London, testifying that London was to be the place where the "two witnesses," spoken of by John, were to prophesy; that they, "The Church and the Spirit," were the witnesses, and that at the end of three years and a half there was to be an earthquake and great destruction, and our Savior was to come. Their apostles were called together at the ap pointed time watching the event, but Jesus did not come, and the prophesy was then ambiguously explained away. They frequently had signs given them by the spirit to prove to them that what was manifested to them should take place.

Mr. Baxter related an impression that he had cencerning a child. It was maniifested to him that he should visit the child, and lay hands upon it, and that it should be healed; and to prove to him that this was of God, he should meet his brother, in a certain place, who should speak unto him certain words. His brother addressed him precisely in the way and manner that the manifestation designated. The sign took place, but when he laid his hands upon the child it did not recover. I cannot vouch for the authority of the last statement, as Mr. Baxter at that time had left the Irvingites, but it is in accordance with many of their proceedings, and the thing never has been attempted to be denied.

It may be asked, where is there anything in all this that is wrong?

First. The church was organized by women, and "God placed in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets," and not first women; but Mr. Irving placed in his church first women, secondarily apostles; and the church was founded and organized by them. A woman has no right to found or organize a church; God never sent them to do it.

Second. Those women would speak in the midst of a meeting, and rebuke Mr. Irving or any of the church. Now the Scripture positively says, "Thou shalt not rebuke an Elder, but entreat him as a Father;" not only this, but they frequently accused the brethren, thus placing themselves in the seat of Satan, who is emphatically called "the accuser of the brethren."

Third. Mr. Baxter received the spirit on asking for it, without attending to the ordinances, and began to prophesy, whereas the Scriptural way of attaining the gift of the Holy Ghost is, by baptism, and by laying on of hands.

Fourth. As we have stated in regard to others, the spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets; but those prophets were subject to the spirits, the spirit controlling their bodies at pleasure. But it may be asked how Mr. Baxter could get a sign from a second person? To this we would answer that Mr. Baxter's brother was under the same spirit

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as himself, and being subject to that spirit he could be easily made to speak to Mr. Baxter whatever the spirit should dictate; but there was not power in the spirit to heal the child.

Again it may be asked, how it was that they could speak in tongues if they were of the devil? We would answer that they could be made to speak in another tongue, as well as their own, as they were under the control of that spirit, and the devil can tempt the Hottentot, the Turk, the Jew, or any other nation; and if these men were under the influence of his spirit, they of course could speak Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Italian, Dutch or any other language that the devil knew.

Some will say, "try the spirits" by the word. “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God;" John iv: 2, 3. One of the Irvingites once quoted this passage whilst under the influence of a spirit, and then said, "I confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." And yet these prophecies failed, their Messiah did not come; and the great things spoken of by them have fallen to the ground. What is the matter here? Did not the Apostle speak the truth? Certainly he did-but he spoke to a people who were under the penalty of death, the moment they embraced Christianity; and no one without a knowledge of the fact would confess it, and expose themselves to death; and this was consequently given as a criterion to the Church or Churches to which John wrote. But the devil, on a certain occasion, cried out, "I know thee, who thou art, the Holy one of God!" Here was a frank acknowledgment, under other circumstances, that "Jesus had come in the flesh." On another occasion the devil said, "Paul we know, and Jesus we know," of course come in the flesh. No man nor set of men without the regular constituted authorities, the Priesthood and discerning of spirits, can tell true from false spirits. This power they possessed in the Apostles' day, but it has departed from the world for ages.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints have also had their false spirits; and as it is made up of all those different sects professing every variety of opinion, and having been under the influence of so many kinds of spirits, it is not to be wondered at, if there should be found amongst us false spirits.

Soon after the Gospel was established, in Kirtland, and during the absence of the authorities of the Church, many false spirits were introduced, many strange visions were seen, and wild enthusiastic notions were entertained; men run out of doors under the influence of this spirit, and some of them got upon stumps of trees and shouted, and all kinds of extravagances were entered into by them; one man pursued a ball that he said he saw flying in the air, until he came to a precipice, when he jumped into the top of a tree, which saved his life; and many ridiculous things were entered into, calculated to bring disgrace upon the Church of God, to cause the Spirit of God to be withdrawn, and to uproot and destroy those glorious principles which had been developed for the salvation of the human family. But when the authorities returned, the spirit was made manifest, those members that were exercised with it were tried for their fellowship, and those that would not repent and forsake it, were cut off.

At a subsequent period, a Shaker spirit was on the point of being introduced, and at another time the Methodist and Presbyterian falling-down power, but the spirit was rebuked and put down, and those who would not submit to rule and good order were disfellowshipped. We have also had brethren and sisters who have had the gift of tongues falsely; they would speak in a muttering unnatural voice, and their bodies be distorted like the Irvingites before alluded to; whereas, there is nothing unnatural in the Spirit of God. A circumstance of this kind took place in Upper Canada, but was rebuked by the presiding Elder; another, a woman, near the same place, professed to have the discerning of spirits, and began to accuse another sister of things that she was not guilty of.

which she said she knew was so by the spirit, but afterwards was proven to be false; she placed herself in the capacity of the "accuser of the brethren," and no person through the discerning of spirits can bring a charge against another, they must be proven guilty by positive evidence, or they stand clear.

There have also been ministering angels in the Church, which were of Satan appearing as an angel of light. A sister in the State of New York, had a vision, who said it was told her that if she would go to a certain place in the woods, an angel would appear to her. She went at the appointed time, and saw a glorious personage descending, arrayed in white, with sandy colored hair; he commenced and told her to fear God, and said that her husband was called to do great things, but that he must not go more than one hundred miles from home. or he would not return; whereas God had called him to go to the ends of the earth, and he has since been more than one thousand miles from home, and is yet alive. Many true things were spoken by this personage, and many things that were false. How, it may be asked, was this known to be a bad angel? By the color of his hair; that is one of the signs that he can be known by, and by his contradicting a former revelation.

We have also had brethren and sisters that have had written revelations, and have started forward to lead this Church. Such was a young boy in Kirtland, Isaac Russell, of Missouri, and Gladden Bishop, and Oliver Olney, of Nauvoo. The boy is now living with his parents, who have submitted to the laws of the Church. Mr. Russell stayed in Far West, from whence he was to go to the Rocky Mountains, led by three Nephites. but the Nephites never came, and his friends forsook him, all but some of his blood relations, who have since been nearly destroyed by the mob. Mr. Bishop was tried by the High Council. his papers examined, condemned and burned, and he cut off the Church. He acknowledged the justice of the decis ion, and said, "that he now saw his er ror, for if he had been governed by the

VII.

"Go to England, the parent of our nation and ask her people what virtue is, and, if you do not receive a direct answer, you will soon learn that it is almost a thing of the past. The starving beggar, driven perhaps by the desperation of hunger to steal a penny loaf, is seized by the minions of the law and becomes the inmate of a prison house. But he who violates chastity and destroys virtue, pays the penalty, if there be issue, with two shillings and sixpence per week. Thou christian nation! Thy shores are washed upon every hand by the billows of the seas, yet, thou art full of all manner of uncleanness! The streets of thy cities, by night and day, are the abode of abomination: prostitution stalks unmantled and unshamed in thy fair places! The hot breath of vice has fanned thy villages and passed not by thy hamlets! Corruption, disease and death are eating away thy vitals, and none can stay the destroyer! Thy streets are polluted, thy prison houses and asylums are full of the fruits of nature's outraged law!" Now note the progress of this national disease, the "Social evil" among France's thirty-eight millions of people, and form your own estimate as to how long that nation, continuing in their sinful practices, can maintain their present financial and political position. In the light of truth, they have no moral standing.

In the year 1863, the population of Paris was one million six hundred and ninety six thousand; and there were solemnized during that year eighteen thousand marriages, and sixty-two thousand one

hundred children were born. In 1865, two years later, the population had inceased two hundred and twenty-nine thousand; notwithstanding which, however, marriages had decreased two thousand three hundred, and births seven thousand; thus showing increase in population of over thirteen per cent, a decrease of marriages of twelve per cent, and a decline in births of nearly thirteen per cent. But the saddest feature of the whole is, that, of the fifty-five thousand births during the year 1865, sixteen thousand, or nearly one third, were the offspring of illegitimacy, the fruits of unbridled passion-heirs of shame and sorrow. The census of France in 1861 showed that there were ten millions two hundred thousand bachelors, nine millions five hundred thousand old maids, and nearly three millions widows and widowers and only about seven millions of married couples. Thus, indicating that more than half the adult population had no regard for the marriage relation, the entire population of France at that date, being only a little over thirty-seven millions; and, as I have shown, twenty-two millions were bachelors and spinsters, widows and widowers, and only fourteen millions married people; thus leaving only one million children, or an average of one child to every fourteen married persons, or one to thirty-six of the total population.

In Utah,among the "Mormons,"every fourth person is a child under eight years of age. In France, one to thirty-six! In Utah, one to four! In France every third child is illegitimate; in Utah, not one