11. Thus the operations of the law, by being confined to this life, could only extend to those who were under the law; while the operations of the gospel can and will extend to all souls, throughout all ages of the world, whether in the body or out; for no soul can ever obtain redemption but by the gospel. Therefore a future state of trial was reserved for those who had lived under the law, as well as for all others, both for those who had been obedient to the law, and those who had not. This was just and equitable; not only because it gave to those who had lived in subjection to the law, a further opportunity of proving their subjection to the gospel, which requires a greater cross against the evil propensities of a fallen nature than the law enjoined;* but also because it afforded another trial to those who had abused their temporal probation under the law, by which they might (if they chose) seek their redemption by ther obedience to the gospel. And to this they might be the more strongly excited by a remembrance of the punishments inflicted upon them for transgressions under the law.

12. "For this cause was the gospel preached to them that are dead, "that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live "according to God in the Spirit." "For this cause also Christ once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the "Spirit; by which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison," who for their wickedness had been destroyed by the flood in the days of Noah. As man first fell into sin in this world, it was necessary that the gospel of salvation should first be preached on earth, to men in the flesh, and thence descend into the world of spirits, to the millions who had never heard it in this world. And that Jesus Christ, after his crucifixion, did actually descend into the mansions of the dead, and there preach the gospel to lost souls, is as true as that God is a just and equitable Being. After his resurrection, he appeared to his disciples and commanded them, saying, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.'||

And as

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13. Hence it is evident that all must hear the gospel by some means or other. there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," but the name of Christ; so none can be saved who have not in truth heard that name. as the greater portion of mankind have died without even hearing the

But

*Those evil propensities which pertain to the fallen nature of man, and which lead him into sin, can never be destroyed by the death of the body; for they are propensities of the mind, not of the body; therefore nothing but the gospel of Christ, which operates upon the mind, and which is the power of God unto salvation, can ever purge these corrupt propensities out of the soul Hence nothing short of the gospel can ever redeem the soul from the reigning power of sin.

See James iv. 5.

"That they might be judged according to men in the flesh." This expression of the apostle evidently shows that they were not men in the flesh. + See 1 Peter iii. 18, 19, 20, and iv. 6.

Mark xvi. 15.

sound of that name in this world; therefore they could have no chance of knowing the way of salvation in this life. But so sure

as God is righteous, they will have a fair call of the gospel of salvation; for the everlasting destruction of such souls from the presence of God, without their having ever known the means of escape, would effectually destroy the attribute of righteousness in God.

14. Therefore, Christ having come to open the way of life and salvation for all souls, that all might have a free offer of the gospel, and receive their just reward in a future state, he has himself preached the glad tidings of salvation, both in this world and in the world of spirits; and has also commissioned his ministers to do the same. Hence his faithful and true witnesses, after putting off this mortal body, will find a work to do in preaching the gospel to those benighted spirits who never heard its peaceful sound in this world; and millions of souls who, ignorant of the true spirit of the gospel, have been compelled to shed each other's blood, and give up their lives on embattled plains, will joyfully embrace these merciful calls, while those ambitious rulers, who impiously waged the war under a christian profession, together with their blood-thirsty chiefs, who marshalled their hosts on the sanguinary field, and profanely, compelled the battle in the name of God, will in their turn be compelled to reap the reward of their own doings in the regions of darkness and despair.

15. These solemn truths may perhaps be treated with contempt and ridicule by the incredulous advocates of war; but they will yet be seen, felt and acknowledged as serious realities. If the advocates of war who profess the Christian religion, did but understand and duly consider these things, they would never more plead for a barbarous and sanguinary principle because it was once authorized - by the Almighty, in a barbarous state of society, and among a benighted race of beings who, at that period, were incapable of receiving any thing better; and which the Divine Being wisely improved for an instructive lesson to future ages and generations, who ought by this time, to be better able to view it in its true light.

*The doctrine of a probationary state beyond the grave, will probably appear new and strange to those who have always considered death as the closing scene of man's probation for eternity. But it is a doctrine perfectly consistent with all the precepts and instructions of Jesus Christ and his apostles, and one which was maintained by the primitive church while the church stood in its greatest purity. It is also a doctine which has been clearly and explicitly taught by Mother Ann, and fully confirmed to the society by many visions and divine revelations to the present day. But after the declension of the primitive church, and during its corruptions under the papal hierarchy, this gracious doctrine of the gospel, so just and equitable, and so full of mercy to to the fallen race of man, like that of the confession of sin, (commonly called auricular confession,) was sacrilegiously perverted to the purpose of extorting money from the deluded multitude. And hence these doctrines were both rejected by the protestant reformers, and rendered obnoxious to the people upon the supposition that they were the inventions of the church of Rome.

16. Notwithstandng the Jewish wars were authorized by the Almighty; yet when Jesus Christ appeared, he became "the end of "the law for righteousness;" and therefore he disannulled all the laws of war, together with all those sanguinary and ceremonial statutes which had been authorized under the dispensation of types and shadows, and began to establish new laws for the government of his followers." Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy: But I say unto you, Love 66 your enemies." From that period, no follower of Christ ever

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had any divine authority to engage in war. And had all who have since-professed the christian name, been faithful to obey this precept, this earth might have been, long ere this time, a terrestrial paradise.

CHAPTER VI.

An illustration of the progressive increase of the work of God from the creation to the present time.

1. THE work of God from the beginning was intended and wisely calculated to be an increasing work. This appears evident from the account we have in the scriptures of the progressive operations of the work of creation and providence. In the creation of the natural world, as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis, the work of God came forth in a regular gradation, from less to greater degrees of perfection. After the earth was formed and established in its order, the grass of the field, the herbs and trees succeeded in their order. Then followed the living animals in their order; first the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air, whose life and perfection exceeded all that had been displayed in the vegetable creation. Next followed the beasts of the field, which occupied a still higher grade in the order of the animal creation, being more highly important, because they were designed for more general and essential service. Man, the last of all, came forth as the most noble part of this lower creation: and in man, including male and female, was the order of the natural creation completed.

2. But there was still to be an increasing work in the order of Divine Providence. The fruits of the earth, in their established order, each according to its kind, must come to perfection in their proper times and seasons, under the influence of the natural elements, by a regular and gradual increase from the seed to the full grown plant or tree, and from the blossom to the fruit in its maturity. The same regular increase is observable in all the animal creation. The human

race also, from the conception to the birth, and from infancy to manhood, in the order of nature, are brought to their highest attainments of natural perfection by the progressive hand of time. The ages of the world also have their regular and gradually increasing operations upon mankind, in bringing them from the lowest state of ignorance and barbarism to the highest degree of civilization. The productions of man in the works of art are also gradual and progressive, from less to greater degrees of perfection.

3. When this progressive increase in the natural world is seen and understood, why should it appear strange or unreasonable to believe that, in the spiritual world, there is also a regular and gradual increase from the lowest to the highest degree of perfection? If the natural world and the things therein contained, as we have already stated, are figurative of spiritual things, it must appear perfectly consistent; and that it is so in reality, the experience of every truly spiritual man and woman can bear witness. The scriptures are also sufficiently plain and explicit on this subject. David, under the influence of Divine inspiration, says, "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon."* So also the pro

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phet Malachi ; "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth " and grow up as calves of the stall." The prophet Isaiah, in his prediction concerning the coming of Christ, says, "Of the increase "of his government and peace there shall be no end.”‡ an express declaration of an endless increase.

Here is

4. As the work of God, in the formation of the natural creation, was a progressive, increasing work; so all the works of his providence and grace on earth, among his chosen people have been attended with a progressive increase from one dispensation to another; and the preceding has ever been preparatory to that which followed; and all have been designed and calculated to show forth in a figure the great and last dispensation of God's grace, in which his spiritual Kingdom is to supercede all other kingdoms in power and majesty, and whose increasing glory, purity, peace and righteousness will endure forever.

5. From the fall of man to Abraham, the only law revealed to man for his protection, was the law of nature. This law was plain and obvious; and all who kept it, found justification before God, according to the work of the day in which they lived. To this the apostle Paul had reference in his epistle to the Romans, where he says; "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature "the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a "law unto themselves; which show the work of the law written in

*Psa. xeii. 12,

† Mal. iv. 2,

Isa. ix. 7.

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"their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one anothor.'* Hence in every age, those who had no other law, were required to keep this. And as there was no other law given to any people before Abraham, therefore all were bound by it; and whoever violated it, must necessarily fall under condemnation.

6. This law of nature dictated that man should not violate the order of nature; that is, he should not commit any kind of violence or injustice against any of his fellow men; that he should not murder, nor defraud his fellow creatures, nor injure them in any way or manner whatever. It also taught that he should not violate the times and seasons of nature, in any manner: for the law of nature has its regular order, which the natural man could not violate with impunity. These things were plain to the understandings of men in a state of nature who had never received a superior law, nor been so far corrupted by the influence of the spirit of evil, as to lose the knowledge of moral good.

7. Man in a state of nature, and under the influence of this law, would not plant nor sow the seeds of the earth out of season; nor would he even generate his own offspring out of season. In short, he would not perform any duty out of season, nor neglect any in season. Instead of remaining idle, he would perform the duties of the day while the day lasted, and take his rest at night; and therein he would be able to find justification and peace, and live to God's acceptance according to that order. But whenever he began to hearken to the influences of evil, a train of disorderderly sensations began to spring up in his mind; and he was then led to violate the order of nature which had before been his protection; hence followed a successive train of evils.

8. Adam, before his fall, in addition to the law of nature, had the express command of God as an additional protection. This he violated; and his first transgression was that which struck at the very order in which his offspring were to be propagated; so that, instead of producing an offspring subservient to the order of nature, he generated one which soon began to show from whence originated his disorderly and unnatural conduct. By the first fruit of Adam's transgression the first murder was committed; and henceforth those of his posterity who readily followed his example, began to corrupt themselves with wickedness: so that long before the flood, wickedness greatly abounded among them; "and the earth was filled with "violence." And so few were there who kept the law of nature and refrained from acts of violence, that at last none were found wor thy of God's protection, except Noah and his family.

*Rom. ii. 14, 16.