1900
Among the great volume of mail which comes to us on the subject of the Dowie exposure, we have received the following communication, Which was written several months ago by Rev. Wm. Ashmore after he had made a personal visit to the Dowie Institute, and had published his impressions in the Journal-Messenger.
By Rev. William Ashmore
John Alexander Dowie's success in rallying a constituency and expanding himself is almost phenomenal. He has a large meeting house which seats a great crowd of people, and has also a hotel under his control, and is about starting, if he has not already started, a bank, as we are told. We have no Pauline precedents for any of these things, but then Mr. Dowie is said by his followers to be an advance on Paul. The main spoke in Mr. Dowie's wheel is the power of divine healing, which he claims he possesses in a remarkable degree and as a special gift of God. A great many cures are said to have been wrought, and the spaces on the walls of his church building are hung with crutches, and what seem to be bandages and discarded plasters, probably. They remind one of an enterprising corn-extractor at Dayton, O., who had a hundred or more corns and bunions which he had taken off the toes and feet of his customers, and was exhibiting them as an Indian brave does his scalps. It is this power of working cures which gives Mr. Dowie what influence he has with common people.
There is a deal of illusion here. That whole subject is by no means so fully ventilated as it ought to be, nor are discriminations made as they ought to be, and so people are blinded and misled. Dowie gives out that all other ministers deny the existence of special healing in answer to the prayer of faith, and that he alone advocates it, and furnishes instances of success. Many people believe his statements, and, knowing that there are well attested cases of healing that have come within the range of their own in formation, they are ready to conclude that Dowie is right and the ministers arc wrong.
But now that is not true. We all believe that God does answer the fervent prayer of his people for healing. We doubt if a minister can be found in the land who does not so believe, and who does not offer special prayer for that very purpose. There are few ministers who can not, in their own experience, point to some cases of remarkable answers to prayer of this very kind. Certainly every old minister can furnish illustrations, more or less. We offer prayers for the sick in our pulpits. We are sent for, and go and pray at their bedsides, and we have seen many cures recorded quite as remarkable as are any of the cases of Dowie, or Sweinfurth, or any other specialists of the kind. As for discarded canes and crutches and plasters and bandages, that have been thrown aside after the prayers of ordinary ministers, in the past century alone, and before Dowie ever was heard of, if they were all brought together and hung up and tacked on to the walls of Dowie's church, they would cover them so thick that there would not be a place left big enough to hold a corn plaster. Dowie's collection of trophies would dwindle into nothingness in comparison. But he makes a great parade of his, while other ministers do not, and so people think that nobody's prayers for the sick avail but Dowie's. The writer of this article holds that he himself was once brought back from the very grave's mouth, in special answer to special prayer, by brethren called in for that purpose, and quite as remarkably as any he has read of in Dowie's list; and all this in the ordinary ministry of the Word. If one wants to have more experience in divine healing, he would do well to seek out good earnest believers in prayer in his own church, and get them to pray for him, and not have to encounter the flippancy and vulgarity which we saw in John Alexander Dowie, and of which we shall speak hereafter.
What specially characterizes Mr. Dowie is his claiming to have a pre-eminence over all of God's praying ones, and his making of "divine healing," or miraculous healing a hobby to which all other things are made subsidiary; and we are obliged to conclude, a profitable, money-making hobby as well. However, it may be done, certain it is that there is nothing of a religious kind in Chicago which is made to pay so handsomely, in one way and another, as Dowie's "divine healing."
Mr. Dowie's love of "pre-eminence" is obvious to the most superficial observer. He is the "General Overseer" of the newly formed "Christian Catholic Church." He is the head, and will remain so. His picture appears constantly in his paper. His readers are not allowed to forget how he apears. On the day we were there he was, as usual, bidding defiance to his opponents, of whom there is an unlimited number, especially in the churches of God. Contending for his authority, he reached a climax. when he said, in a loud, defiant voice, they knew he had been specially "anointed by the Holy Ghost" for the work he was then doing; and, in almost a roar, he added: "I am God's prophet! I know I am!" This was said with none of the meekness or gentleness of Christ, and with none of the modest, even though firm, assertiveness of Peter and John and Paul, while defining themselves before their opponents; but with the swagger of a ring boxer. If his manner meant anything, it meant — as he shouted, "I am God's prophet!" and swung himself around with arm and fist like a scythe cutting a swath — "If any man disputes it, let him look out!" That fist might not have been so very dangerous, but the way it was flourished was suggestive of a bunged eye, or a bloody nose, or perhaps both. The whole procedure reminded me of Mahomet when he said: "God is God, and Mahomet is his prophet!"
Dowie is an Ishmaelite. He is against churches and ministers, one and all, savagely and without distinction. Anybody who opposes his claims comes in for vituperation. He would have it understood that he is "the great power of God," not only for Chicago, but for the nation at large, and, indeed, for the whole world! He is generating a class of harsh, unChrist-like, censorious followers, who, when they hear some one criticizing the extravagances of their leader's talk, at once begin to say — following an example set by himself — "The devil is at work." So he may be —but in whom, is another question.
—The Ram's Horn, March 17, 1900, p. 5.
Showing posts with label prophets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prophets. Show all posts
Friday, April 11, 2008
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Keeps Women Silent, How Does He Do It?
1920
Pastor Finds Long-sought-for Method of Hushing Talkative Sex.
Women are not allowed to preach or to bear rule or authority in the church at Zion City, Ill., near Chicago.
"I will not allow any woman to come on the platform and preach or teach," said Overseer Voliva. "Paul said, 'Let the women keep silent in the churches,' and in Zion no woman can be a public speaker. No woman is entitled to bear rule or to be placed in authority. When the apostles were selected, there wasn't a woman among them. When God chose a prophet, or a messenger, he always chose a man."
Here are some of the things that a woman can do, according to Voliva:
She can stay at home and mend socks; wash the dishes; knit and darn; cook; keep her home and her children clean and tidy, and she can be an angel of mercy to the sick and distressed. But she can't preach.
Besides accepting the apostle Paul as an authority on woman's place. Voliva also takes the position that woman was to be subject to man, from creation down. Voliva gives as his reasons for this position that Adam was first created, then woman was created from the rib of man, and that Eve was first in the transgressions in the Garden of Eden. She didn't keep her place, and not only got into trouble, but dragged man into trouble after her.
—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 5.
Pastor Finds Long-sought-for Method of Hushing Talkative Sex.
Women are not allowed to preach or to bear rule or authority in the church at Zion City, Ill., near Chicago.
"I will not allow any woman to come on the platform and preach or teach," said Overseer Voliva. "Paul said, 'Let the women keep silent in the churches,' and in Zion no woman can be a public speaker. No woman is entitled to bear rule or to be placed in authority. When the apostles were selected, there wasn't a woman among them. When God chose a prophet, or a messenger, he always chose a man."
Here are some of the things that a woman can do, according to Voliva:
She can stay at home and mend socks; wash the dishes; knit and darn; cook; keep her home and her children clean and tidy, and she can be an angel of mercy to the sick and distressed. But she can't preach.
Besides accepting the apostle Paul as an authority on woman's place. Voliva also takes the position that woman was to be subject to man, from creation down. Voliva gives as his reasons for this position that Adam was first created, then woman was created from the rib of man, and that Eve was first in the transgressions in the Garden of Eden. She didn't keep her place, and not only got into trouble, but dragged man into trouble after her.
—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 5.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Sunday School Lesson — Jeremiah 36
1905
I. The Beginning of Judah's Downfall. — To understand Jeremiah's prophecies one must know something of the history of the times in which they were written, and which they vividly reflect. About the twelfth year of Josiah's reign wild tribes of Scythians, from the plains of southern Russia, "streamed through the passes of the Caucasus in countless hordes, ruthlessly destroying cities, fields, men, women and children." — Kent. Zephaniah and Jeremiah were just beginning to prophesy. Said the latter: "Out of the north evil shall break forth upon the land (Jer. 1:14). However, after greatly terrifying the people, "the storm-cloud of Scythian invasion, like other storms, followed the line of the sea, leaving Jerusalem unscathed, and was dissipated on the borders of Egypt." — Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible.
From Egypt itself came the next peril. Pharaoh Necho marched up through Palestine to attack Assyria (B.C. 608). Foolishly and needlessly espousing the Assyrian cause, Josiah met him at Megiddo on the plain of Esdraelon, was defeated and killed. Prof. Kent calls this disaster "unquestionably the most tragic event in Hebrew history." It brought to an end the reformation which Josiah had inaugurated; for though the reform party at once placed upon the throne Josiah's third son, Jehoahaz, evidently because he resembled his father, as soon as the victorious Necho returned from the Euphrates he reversed the arrangement, carried Jehoahaz in chains to Egypt, after a reign of only three months, and left on the throne his elder brother, Eliakim, rightly judging him to be of a character more suited to his purpose. In token of vassalage Eliakim changed his name (in form, but not in significance) to Jehoiakim, "Jehovah raiseth up." He proved to be a tyrant, of whom Jeremiah speaks always in condemnation. His magnificent palace (Jer. 22:13-15) built by forced labor, his murder of the prophet Uriah (Jer. 26:20), and his persecution of Jeremiah, show his character.
The third peril was Babylon. "In 607 Nineveh fell, and Babylon became heir of all the countries washed by the Mediterranean, the realm which had just been added by Necho to his dominions. A conflict between the rivals could not long be deferred. In 605-4 the two armies met near Carchemish, where Nebuchadnezzar inflicted a decisive defeat on Necho, and Judah exchanged the yoke of Egypt for that of Babylon." — Hastings' Bible Dictionary. Jehoiakim was thrown into chains, to be carried back captive to Babylon, but this intention does not seem to have been fulfilled (2 Chron. 36:6). Some captives, however, were taken to Babylon, among them Daniel and his three friends (Dan. 1:6). This was the small beginning of the Great Captivity.
II. Jeremiah the Prophet of Warning. — In these troublous times, the saddest of Hebrew history, arose a great prophet through whom Jehovah uttered his final call to repentance. "Jeremiah was little esteemed in his life, but from being of no account as a prophet he came to be considered the greatest of them all." — Prof. A. B. Davidson.
His name means "whom Jehovah casts" or "appoints." His father, Hilkiah (Jer. 1:1) "was not the high priest of that name, so famous in connection with the reformation of King Josiah." — Expositor's Bible. His father, however, was a priest. His birthplace, where he probably resided during at least a part of his life, was Anathoth in the tribe of Benjamin, now 'Anata, between two and three miles north-northeast of Jerusalem.
His call to prophesy came when he was a young man (Jer. 1:6), in the thirteenth year of Josiah. (Jer. 1:2), B.C. 626. He was then about twenty years old, and so may have been born about B.C. 646, being of the same age, approximately, as Josiah. He prophesied till B.C. 586, after the Captivity, more than forty years.
His Character. "The most exquisite sensibility of soul was Jeremiah's singular and sovereign distinction above all the other Hebrew prophets. He was far and away the most spiritually minded of all the prophets. He was the supreme prophet of the human heart, and would have nothing from his hearers and readers but their heart. Both by nature and by grace he was the most inclined to pity of all the prophets. Dante comes next to Jeremiah, and we know that Jeremiah was that great exile's favorite prophet." — Condensed from Whyte.
His Writings. — The Lamentations are not attributed to Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible, but they are so attributed in the Greek translation, the Septuagint. Modern scholars are divided on the question of the authorship. "The balance of internal evidence may be said to preponderate against Jeremiah's authorship; but there is no question that the poems are the work of a contemporary (or contemporaries)." — Driver.
III. Jeremiah's Prophecies Written and Read. — Jer. 36:1-20. For twenty-three years Jeremiah had been trying, by oral teachings, to persuade the nation to repent and turn to God, but the people and their rulers had been deaf to his warnings. As a last resort, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (B.C. 605), the Lord commanded the prophet to write down the substance of his exhortations, thus to focus them in one mighty blow upon the consciences of king and people. Moreover, for some reason Jeremiah was "shut up," "restrained" (V. 5) from public utterance, being probably forbidden by the authorities to preach; and thus he could reach his audience through the lips of another.
The chosen amanuensis was Baruch, the son of Neriah, a scribe. The occasion was a fast day, appointed probably for the first anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. To a throng gathered in the temple Baruch read the glowing words of Jeremiah, speaking from a balcony.
Among the listeners was Micaiah, grandson of Shaphan, Josiah's famous scribe. He went at once to tell his father, Gemariah, who was at the palace, taking part in a council that may have been discussing the dangers that still threatened the country from Babylon. The princes of the king's council sent at once for Baruch and listened to his reading of Jeremiah's prophecies, which made so deep an impression upon them that they decided to make known the whole matter to the king. First, however, they asked Baruch to hide himself and Jeremiah, lest the king be angry and slay them, as he had killed Urijah.
IV. Jeremiah's Prophecies Destroyed. — Vs. 21-26. It was a critical moment in the history of Judah, and of Jehoiakim. How many sorrows the nation would have been spared, had the king proved himself a Josiah or a Hezekiah!
21. "So the king sent Jehudi." One of his officers. "To fetch the roll." That Jehoiakim might learn its contents at first hand and not from hearsay. "Elishama." He was the king's secretary of state, and the roll had been left in his chamber that it might be safe from the king.
22. "The king sat in the winter-house. "In the ninth month." December, as the Hebrew sacred year began two weeks before the Passover, our Easter. "There was a fire on the hearth burning." Rather, in the firepan. They have no chimneys, and hearths are unknown in the East.
23. "When Jehudi had read three or four leaves." R.V. margin, "columns." "He." R.V., "the king." Jehoiakim seems to have snatched the roll angrily from Jehudi. "Cut it with the penknife." "Literally, scribe's knife." — Wood.
24. "Yet they were not afraid." "Unlike Josiah (2 Kings 22:11), and even Ahab (1 Kings 21:27)." — Pulpit Commentary. "Nor any of his servants."
25. "Nevertheless (R.V., "moreover") "Elnathan," etc. These were some of the princes. "Made intercession." "This word had by no means once that limited meaning of prayer for others which we now ascribe to it." — Cambridge Bible. "But he would not hear them."
26. -"The king commanded . . . to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but the LORD hid them. Perhaps Jeremiah was hidden, by some of God's servants, as John of Gaunt did for Wyclif, and an elector of Saxony for Luther; perhaps the Lord sent him out of the country. To this time are most naturally to be referred Jeremiah's absence from Jerusalem, and the symbol of the linen girdle which he was commanded (Jer. 13) to take to the river Euphrates. He is not heard of for several years.
V. Jeremiah's Prophecies Rewritten and Fulfilled. — Vs. 27-32. "The first result of Jeremiah's enforced seclusion reminds us of Martin Luther's Bible work in the Wartburg. Jeremiah, too, betook himself to Bible work. The first prophetic roll had been destroyed; but, as in the case of Tyndale's New Testament, a new and improved edition issued, as it were, from the flames." — Cheyne.
The New Roll. — 28. "Take thee again another roll," etc. This new roll was a repetition of the first, with the addition (v. 32) of many other prophecies.
The Truth Could Not Be Destroyed. — Jehoiakim had burned only the parchment; he could not burn God's condemnation of him. 29. "The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land." Nebuchadnezzar had already come, and rendered the land tributary; but he had gone away again. The prophecy that had aroused Jehoiakim's wrath was that Nebuchadnezzar would return and destroy the land. This prediction Jeremiah solemnly repeated, and it was fulfilled not long afterward in the reign of Zedekiah.
30. "Jehoiakim . . . shall have none to sit upon the throne of David." His son Jehoiachin, eighteen years old, attempted to do it for three months, but the whole time the land was occupied by Nebuchadnezzar's army, and Jerusalem was in a state of siege (2 Kings 24:8-17). "His dead body shall be cast out." Compare the vivid words of Jer. 22:18, 19.
31. "And upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem." "They would not have been punished for the crime of the king, had not that act only too well typified their own demoralization. Compare Jer. 19:15; 35:17." — Speaker's Commentary.
I. The Beginning of Judah's Downfall. — To understand Jeremiah's prophecies one must know something of the history of the times in which they were written, and which they vividly reflect. About the twelfth year of Josiah's reign wild tribes of Scythians, from the plains of southern Russia, "streamed through the passes of the Caucasus in countless hordes, ruthlessly destroying cities, fields, men, women and children." — Kent. Zephaniah and Jeremiah were just beginning to prophesy. Said the latter: "Out of the north evil shall break forth upon the land (Jer. 1:14). However, after greatly terrifying the people, "the storm-cloud of Scythian invasion, like other storms, followed the line of the sea, leaving Jerusalem unscathed, and was dissipated on the borders of Egypt." — Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible.
From Egypt itself came the next peril. Pharaoh Necho marched up through Palestine to attack Assyria (B.C. 608). Foolishly and needlessly espousing the Assyrian cause, Josiah met him at Megiddo on the plain of Esdraelon, was defeated and killed. Prof. Kent calls this disaster "unquestionably the most tragic event in Hebrew history." It brought to an end the reformation which Josiah had inaugurated; for though the reform party at once placed upon the throne Josiah's third son, Jehoahaz, evidently because he resembled his father, as soon as the victorious Necho returned from the Euphrates he reversed the arrangement, carried Jehoahaz in chains to Egypt, after a reign of only three months, and left on the throne his elder brother, Eliakim, rightly judging him to be of a character more suited to his purpose. In token of vassalage Eliakim changed his name (in form, but not in significance) to Jehoiakim, "Jehovah raiseth up." He proved to be a tyrant, of whom Jeremiah speaks always in condemnation. His magnificent palace (Jer. 22:13-15) built by forced labor, his murder of the prophet Uriah (Jer. 26:20), and his persecution of Jeremiah, show his character.
The third peril was Babylon. "In 607 Nineveh fell, and Babylon became heir of all the countries washed by the Mediterranean, the realm which had just been added by Necho to his dominions. A conflict between the rivals could not long be deferred. In 605-4 the two armies met near Carchemish, where Nebuchadnezzar inflicted a decisive defeat on Necho, and Judah exchanged the yoke of Egypt for that of Babylon." — Hastings' Bible Dictionary. Jehoiakim was thrown into chains, to be carried back captive to Babylon, but this intention does not seem to have been fulfilled (2 Chron. 36:6). Some captives, however, were taken to Babylon, among them Daniel and his three friends (Dan. 1:6). This was the small beginning of the Great Captivity.
II. Jeremiah the Prophet of Warning. — In these troublous times, the saddest of Hebrew history, arose a great prophet through whom Jehovah uttered his final call to repentance. "Jeremiah was little esteemed in his life, but from being of no account as a prophet he came to be considered the greatest of them all." — Prof. A. B. Davidson.
His name means "whom Jehovah casts" or "appoints." His father, Hilkiah (Jer. 1:1) "was not the high priest of that name, so famous in connection with the reformation of King Josiah." — Expositor's Bible. His father, however, was a priest. His birthplace, where he probably resided during at least a part of his life, was Anathoth in the tribe of Benjamin, now 'Anata, between two and three miles north-northeast of Jerusalem.
His call to prophesy came when he was a young man (Jer. 1:6), in the thirteenth year of Josiah. (Jer. 1:2), B.C. 626. He was then about twenty years old, and so may have been born about B.C. 646, being of the same age, approximately, as Josiah. He prophesied till B.C. 586, after the Captivity, more than forty years.
His Character. "The most exquisite sensibility of soul was Jeremiah's singular and sovereign distinction above all the other Hebrew prophets. He was far and away the most spiritually minded of all the prophets. He was the supreme prophet of the human heart, and would have nothing from his hearers and readers but their heart. Both by nature and by grace he was the most inclined to pity of all the prophets. Dante comes next to Jeremiah, and we know that Jeremiah was that great exile's favorite prophet." — Condensed from Whyte.
His Writings. — The Lamentations are not attributed to Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible, but they are so attributed in the Greek translation, the Septuagint. Modern scholars are divided on the question of the authorship. "The balance of internal evidence may be said to preponderate against Jeremiah's authorship; but there is no question that the poems are the work of a contemporary (or contemporaries)." — Driver.
III. Jeremiah's Prophecies Written and Read. — Jer. 36:1-20. For twenty-three years Jeremiah had been trying, by oral teachings, to persuade the nation to repent and turn to God, but the people and their rulers had been deaf to his warnings. As a last resort, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (B.C. 605), the Lord commanded the prophet to write down the substance of his exhortations, thus to focus them in one mighty blow upon the consciences of king and people. Moreover, for some reason Jeremiah was "shut up," "restrained" (V. 5) from public utterance, being probably forbidden by the authorities to preach; and thus he could reach his audience through the lips of another.
The chosen amanuensis was Baruch, the son of Neriah, a scribe. The occasion was a fast day, appointed probably for the first anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. To a throng gathered in the temple Baruch read the glowing words of Jeremiah, speaking from a balcony.
Among the listeners was Micaiah, grandson of Shaphan, Josiah's famous scribe. He went at once to tell his father, Gemariah, who was at the palace, taking part in a council that may have been discussing the dangers that still threatened the country from Babylon. The princes of the king's council sent at once for Baruch and listened to his reading of Jeremiah's prophecies, which made so deep an impression upon them that they decided to make known the whole matter to the king. First, however, they asked Baruch to hide himself and Jeremiah, lest the king be angry and slay them, as he had killed Urijah.
IV. Jeremiah's Prophecies Destroyed. — Vs. 21-26. It was a critical moment in the history of Judah, and of Jehoiakim. How many sorrows the nation would have been spared, had the king proved himself a Josiah or a Hezekiah!
21. "So the king sent Jehudi." One of his officers. "To fetch the roll." That Jehoiakim might learn its contents at first hand and not from hearsay. "Elishama." He was the king's secretary of state, and the roll had been left in his chamber that it might be safe from the king.
22. "The king sat in the winter-house. "In the ninth month." December, as the Hebrew sacred year began two weeks before the Passover, our Easter. "There was a fire on the hearth burning." Rather, in the firepan. They have no chimneys, and hearths are unknown in the East.
23. "When Jehudi had read three or four leaves." R.V. margin, "columns." "He." R.V., "the king." Jehoiakim seems to have snatched the roll angrily from Jehudi. "Cut it with the penknife." "Literally, scribe's knife." — Wood.
24. "Yet they were not afraid." "Unlike Josiah (2 Kings 22:11), and even Ahab (1 Kings 21:27)." — Pulpit Commentary. "Nor any of his servants."
25. "Nevertheless (R.V., "moreover") "Elnathan," etc. These were some of the princes. "Made intercession." "This word had by no means once that limited meaning of prayer for others which we now ascribe to it." — Cambridge Bible. "But he would not hear them."
26. -"The king commanded . . . to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but the LORD hid them. Perhaps Jeremiah was hidden, by some of God's servants, as John of Gaunt did for Wyclif, and an elector of Saxony for Luther; perhaps the Lord sent him out of the country. To this time are most naturally to be referred Jeremiah's absence from Jerusalem, and the symbol of the linen girdle which he was commanded (Jer. 13) to take to the river Euphrates. He is not heard of for several years.
V. Jeremiah's Prophecies Rewritten and Fulfilled. — Vs. 27-32. "The first result of Jeremiah's enforced seclusion reminds us of Martin Luther's Bible work in the Wartburg. Jeremiah, too, betook himself to Bible work. The first prophetic roll had been destroyed; but, as in the case of Tyndale's New Testament, a new and improved edition issued, as it were, from the flames." — Cheyne.
The New Roll. — 28. "Take thee again another roll," etc. This new roll was a repetition of the first, with the addition (v. 32) of many other prophecies.
The Truth Could Not Be Destroyed. — Jehoiakim had burned only the parchment; he could not burn God's condemnation of him. 29. "The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land." Nebuchadnezzar had already come, and rendered the land tributary; but he had gone away again. The prophecy that had aroused Jehoiakim's wrath was that Nebuchadnezzar would return and destroy the land. This prediction Jeremiah solemnly repeated, and it was fulfilled not long afterward in the reign of Zedekiah.
30. "Jehoiakim . . . shall have none to sit upon the throne of David." His son Jehoiachin, eighteen years old, attempted to do it for three months, but the whole time the land was occupied by Nebuchadnezzar's army, and Jerusalem was in a state of siege (2 Kings 24:8-17). "His dead body shall be cast out." Compare the vivid words of Jer. 22:18, 19.
31. "And upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem." "They would not have been punished for the crime of the king, had not that act only too well typified their own demoralization. Compare Jer. 19:15; 35:17." — Speaker's Commentary.
Friday, June 29, 2007
A Place for Hosea
1896
Dean Hole, in his "Little Tour in America," gives the following good story, which was picked up at an entertainment given in his honor by the Lotos Club of New York. The quaintest story of the evening was told by Dr. Greer, of a tedious, monotonous preacher, who had exhausted the patience of his hearers by an elaborate dissertation on the four greater prophets, and when, to their sad disgust, he passed on to the minor, and asked, "And now, my brethren, where shall we place Hosea?" a man rose from the congregation and made answer, "You can place him here, sir. I'm off."
City Paved With Gold
Prescott, the capital of Arizona, boasts that it is the nearest approach to the New Jerusalem as described in the Bible, as its streets are being paved with gold. The granite used for pavements contains $4 in gold and twenty cents in silver to every ton, so that in time, when less expensive methods of reducing ores are used, it may pay the city to tear up and crush its street pavements. — New York Times.
Time for Prayer
If a praying machine were invented many would use it if it did not take too much time from business to wind it up.
Dean Hole, in his "Little Tour in America," gives the following good story, which was picked up at an entertainment given in his honor by the Lotos Club of New York. The quaintest story of the evening was told by Dr. Greer, of a tedious, monotonous preacher, who had exhausted the patience of his hearers by an elaborate dissertation on the four greater prophets, and when, to their sad disgust, he passed on to the minor, and asked, "And now, my brethren, where shall we place Hosea?" a man rose from the congregation and made answer, "You can place him here, sir. I'm off."
City Paved With Gold
Prescott, the capital of Arizona, boasts that it is the nearest approach to the New Jerusalem as described in the Bible, as its streets are being paved with gold. The granite used for pavements contains $4 in gold and twenty cents in silver to every ton, so that in time, when less expensive methods of reducing ores are used, it may pay the city to tear up and crush its street pavements. — New York Times.
Time for Prayer
If a praying machine were invented many would use it if it did not take too much time from business to wind it up.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
The Prophetic Gift
1908
That there are persons to-day who possess the somewhat uncanny gift of being able to predict future events is probably true.
The wife of the late Sir Richard Burton, the famous traveler and linguist, not to mention other instances of her weird gift, announced the very first time she saw Burton, at the time a perfect stranger whom she had met quite casually, that he would be her husband.
At the present moment, too, there is said to be in America a man who has manifested such an extraordinary faculty of predicting things that are about to take place that a number of medical men have purchased the reversion of his brain, in order that they may examine that organ after death to see if it shows any special development to account for its wonderful gift. — The Grand Magazine.
Diabolo In The Past
More diabolo discoveries. In the National Library at Paris are two prints, one entitled "The Game of Diabolo at the Beginning of the Last Century;" the other entitled "The Devil for Four (the old diabolo." Two couples are playing diabolo excitedly in a room; the furniture is upset and the mirrors broken.
Another design is entitled: "The Good Devil, How He Goes!" A young woman throws a big, simple fellow in the air, and from his pocket fall pieces of gold. In the same picture is another woman, with her diabolo cord round the neck of a man, with the inscription below: "See how we lead them!"
Diabolo raised a furor in France in 1812. It was then, according to the Figaro correspondent, imported from England, and an English caricature of a later date represents a great Wellington sending to St. Helena's a very little Napoleon riding on a diabolo.
Long before the revolution of 1789 some missionaries in Peking sent an exact reproduction of diabolo to a French minister of state who collected Chinese curiosities. The Chinese are always found to have forgotten everything we are beginning to learn! — Dundoo Advertiser.
That there are persons to-day who possess the somewhat uncanny gift of being able to predict future events is probably true.
The wife of the late Sir Richard Burton, the famous traveler and linguist, not to mention other instances of her weird gift, announced the very first time she saw Burton, at the time a perfect stranger whom she had met quite casually, that he would be her husband.
At the present moment, too, there is said to be in America a man who has manifested such an extraordinary faculty of predicting things that are about to take place that a number of medical men have purchased the reversion of his brain, in order that they may examine that organ after death to see if it shows any special development to account for its wonderful gift. — The Grand Magazine.
Diabolo In The Past
More diabolo discoveries. In the National Library at Paris are two prints, one entitled "The Game of Diabolo at the Beginning of the Last Century;" the other entitled "The Devil for Four (the old diabolo." Two couples are playing diabolo excitedly in a room; the furniture is upset and the mirrors broken.
Another design is entitled: "The Good Devil, How He Goes!" A young woman throws a big, simple fellow in the air, and from his pocket fall pieces of gold. In the same picture is another woman, with her diabolo cord round the neck of a man, with the inscription below: "See how we lead them!"
Diabolo raised a furor in France in 1812. It was then, according to the Figaro correspondent, imported from England, and an English caricature of a later date represents a great Wellington sending to St. Helena's a very little Napoleon riding on a diabolo.
Long before the revolution of 1789 some missionaries in Peking sent an exact reproduction of diabolo to a French minister of state who collected Chinese curiosities. The Chinese are always found to have forgotten everything we are beginning to learn! — Dundoo Advertiser.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
How The World Has Moved
1910
Less Than a Century Ago Railroads and the Telegraph Were Deemed Impossibilities
Alexander Wells, an old citizen of Wellsville, Ohio, has a copy of an interesting and novel document issued by the school board of the town of Lancaster, Ohio, in 1828. The question of steam railroads was in its incipient stage and a club of young men had been formed for the purpose of discussing the points at issue. They desired the use of the schoolhouse for purposes of debate. This was looked upon by the members of the board an innovation bordering upon sacrilege as indicated, which is the document in the possession of Mr. Wells. It reads as follows:
"You are welcome to the use of the schoolhouse to debate all proper questions in, but such things as railroads and telegraphs are impossibilities and rank infidelity. There is nothing in the Word of God about them. If God had designed that his intelligent creatures should travel at the frightful speed of 15 miles an hour, by steam, he would clearly have foretold it through his holy prophets. It is a device of Satan to lead immortal souls down to hell."
Such sentiments possibly reflected the feeling, to some extent, in the days of 65 years ago, but they sound strange at the present time, when the "device of Satan" is daily carrying people over the land at the rate of 60 or 70 miles an hour. The world has progressed somewhat since 1828.
Less Than a Century Ago Railroads and the Telegraph Were Deemed Impossibilities
Alexander Wells, an old citizen of Wellsville, Ohio, has a copy of an interesting and novel document issued by the school board of the town of Lancaster, Ohio, in 1828. The question of steam railroads was in its incipient stage and a club of young men had been formed for the purpose of discussing the points at issue. They desired the use of the schoolhouse for purposes of debate. This was looked upon by the members of the board an innovation bordering upon sacrilege as indicated, which is the document in the possession of Mr. Wells. It reads as follows:
"You are welcome to the use of the schoolhouse to debate all proper questions in, but such things as railroads and telegraphs are impossibilities and rank infidelity. There is nothing in the Word of God about them. If God had designed that his intelligent creatures should travel at the frightful speed of 15 miles an hour, by steam, he would clearly have foretold it through his holy prophets. It is a device of Satan to lead immortal souls down to hell."
Such sentiments possibly reflected the feeling, to some extent, in the days of 65 years ago, but they sound strange at the present time, when the "device of Satan" is daily carrying people over the land at the rate of 60 or 70 miles an hour. The world has progressed somewhat since 1828.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Using Eggs to Foretell the Future
1915
The White of the Egg is Recommended
This is one of the least known of all methods of foretelling the future, according to the ancient, secret wisdom of prophetic insight. Yet it is one of the most interesting, and easy to perform — though, of course, like all methods of the kind, some skill and practice are necessary in order to interpret quickly and speedily the symbolic interpretations of the signs presented, writes Prof. Sothnos Lalillier in the New York American.
In order to practice this part of cabalistic interpretation, you must procure a fresh egg — as new-laid as possible — and carefully separate the white of the egg from the yolk. Nearly fill a tumbler with cold water and drop the white of the egg into it, a drop at a time. Now place this glass carefully aside for 24 hours, being sure to cover the glass carefully, and that the water does not become warmed by proximity to a radiator, etc.
When you again look at the glass, you will find that your white of egg has congealed into various odd-shaped figures — circles, squares, animals, trees, crosses, etc. — which are to be interpreted according to the formula that follows.
Long, wavy lines denote losses and troubles; straight lines, on the contrary, denote peace, long life, prosperity and happiness.
Squares denote peace and happiness; a ring, marriage. If a letter can be discovered near the ring this will be the first letter of the name of the person you are to marry. If clouds are about the ring, think long and carefully before accepting this person, even if he offers marriage.
If a leaf is seen, speedy good fortune will come your way from some unexpected source. If an anchor is seen, fidelity in love is indicated. If a dog is seen, this is a good sign, if near the top of the glass, denoting faithful friends; if near the middle, doubtful ones; and if near the bottom, enemies to be avoided.
A lily or similar flower foretells happiness, if near the top of the glass; disappointment if near the bottom. If a number of small dots or spots are present, money is coming your way, unless clouds surround them, in which case you will receive bad tidings and notice of losses. A heart denotes a love letter which you will shortly receive. The sun, moon, or stars denote happiness and success.
The White of the Egg is Recommended
This is one of the least known of all methods of foretelling the future, according to the ancient, secret wisdom of prophetic insight. Yet it is one of the most interesting, and easy to perform — though, of course, like all methods of the kind, some skill and practice are necessary in order to interpret quickly and speedily the symbolic interpretations of the signs presented, writes Prof. Sothnos Lalillier in the New York American.
In order to practice this part of cabalistic interpretation, you must procure a fresh egg — as new-laid as possible — and carefully separate the white of the egg from the yolk. Nearly fill a tumbler with cold water and drop the white of the egg into it, a drop at a time. Now place this glass carefully aside for 24 hours, being sure to cover the glass carefully, and that the water does not become warmed by proximity to a radiator, etc.
When you again look at the glass, you will find that your white of egg has congealed into various odd-shaped figures — circles, squares, animals, trees, crosses, etc. — which are to be interpreted according to the formula that follows.
Long, wavy lines denote losses and troubles; straight lines, on the contrary, denote peace, long life, prosperity and happiness.
Squares denote peace and happiness; a ring, marriage. If a letter can be discovered near the ring this will be the first letter of the name of the person you are to marry. If clouds are about the ring, think long and carefully before accepting this person, even if he offers marriage.
If a leaf is seen, speedy good fortune will come your way from some unexpected source. If an anchor is seen, fidelity in love is indicated. If a dog is seen, this is a good sign, if near the top of the glass, denoting faithful friends; if near the middle, doubtful ones; and if near the bottom, enemies to be avoided.
A lily or similar flower foretells happiness, if near the top of the glass; disappointment if near the bottom. If a number of small dots or spots are present, money is coming your way, unless clouds surround them, in which case you will receive bad tidings and notice of losses. A heart denotes a love letter which you will shortly receive. The sun, moon, or stars denote happiness and success.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Dowie Swears If He Had His Rights
Illinois, 1906
Then He Would Not Be a Bankrupt as His Enemies Allege
Chicago, May 16. — Attorneys for Dowie today filed an answer in the federal court in the receivership proceedings brought against Dowie some time ago. In his answer Dowie denied that he is insolvent, if all his property was restored to him.
Judge Landis, before whom the arguments were made, entered an order directing the attorneys to leave the matter alone, saying he would settle it himself.
Riots broke out again in Zion City yesterday, following disorder which attended Dowie's effort to address his followers in Shiloh Tabernacle Sunday. Crowds numbering hundreds gathered on Shiloh boulevard, near the general store in the afternoon, and engaged in a furious argument over the respective merits of their leaders, and the questions at issue in the struggle of "Doctor" Dowie and Overseer Veliva for supremacy.
One Dowieite was handled roughly by the mob and serious consequences were only averted by the arrival of the Zion police in answer to a riot call.
James Slater, a negro adherent of the "First Apostle," was escorted to safety by the officers, after being mobbed for his sturdy defense of Dowie. The crowd assembled again after the departure of the police, and another riot call was sent in, which brought out all the reserves of the station, led by Police Captain Walker himself. The mob was forced off the street corners and ordered to disperse.
FEAR FURTHER TROUBLE
The police are apprehensive of further trouble and have called in all their patrolmen from outlying points for possible emergency duty. Slater is said to have started the trouble by exploiting the virtues of Dowie to a crowd near the general store. He was interrupted by loud cries of:
"Dowie has all of my money."
"Dowie is a robber."
"Why doesn't he pay his debts?"
The negro became frightened and ran. He was overtaken by the mob and in turn rescued by the police,
DOWIE CHARGES CONTEMPT
Dowie took personal charge of seeking punishment of persons who caused disorder at his meeting Sunday. He instructed his attorney, Emil C. Witten, to draw Judge Wright's attention to the fact that the terms of the court order issued at the first hearing of the injunction proceedings against Veliva, to the effect that the "First Apostle's" meetings should not he interfered with had been grossly violated. He also ordered his counsellors to announce that all negotiations for the appointment of a triumvirate were off, and that the court proceedings should proceed.
—The Daily Review, Decatur, IL, May 15, 1906, p. 1.
Then He Would Not Be a Bankrupt as His Enemies Allege
Chicago, May 16. — Attorneys for Dowie today filed an answer in the federal court in the receivership proceedings brought against Dowie some time ago. In his answer Dowie denied that he is insolvent, if all his property was restored to him.
Judge Landis, before whom the arguments were made, entered an order directing the attorneys to leave the matter alone, saying he would settle it himself.
Riots broke out again in Zion City yesterday, following disorder which attended Dowie's effort to address his followers in Shiloh Tabernacle Sunday. Crowds numbering hundreds gathered on Shiloh boulevard, near the general store in the afternoon, and engaged in a furious argument over the respective merits of their leaders, and the questions at issue in the struggle of "Doctor" Dowie and Overseer Veliva for supremacy.
One Dowieite was handled roughly by the mob and serious consequences were only averted by the arrival of the Zion police in answer to a riot call.
James Slater, a negro adherent of the "First Apostle," was escorted to safety by the officers, after being mobbed for his sturdy defense of Dowie. The crowd assembled again after the departure of the police, and another riot call was sent in, which brought out all the reserves of the station, led by Police Captain Walker himself. The mob was forced off the street corners and ordered to disperse.
FEAR FURTHER TROUBLE
The police are apprehensive of further trouble and have called in all their patrolmen from outlying points for possible emergency duty. Slater is said to have started the trouble by exploiting the virtues of Dowie to a crowd near the general store. He was interrupted by loud cries of:
"Dowie has all of my money."
"Dowie is a robber."
"Why doesn't he pay his debts?"
The negro became frightened and ran. He was overtaken by the mob and in turn rescued by the police,
DOWIE CHARGES CONTEMPT
Dowie took personal charge of seeking punishment of persons who caused disorder at his meeting Sunday. He instructed his attorney, Emil C. Witten, to draw Judge Wright's attention to the fact that the terms of the court order issued at the first hearing of the injunction proceedings against Veliva, to the effect that the "First Apostle's" meetings should not he interfered with had been grossly violated. He also ordered his counsellors to announce that all negotiations for the appointment of a triumvirate were off, and that the court proceedings should proceed.
—The Daily Review, Decatur, IL, May 15, 1906, p. 1.
The Deadbeat Prophet
Illinois, 1906
Yes, why does not John Alexander Dowie, "First Apostle," pay his debts? That question was bandied forth and back in Zion Sunday and it broke up a meeting arranged by Dowie. Police were called in, but they could do little more than keep the faithful and deluded from strangling each other.
It is a pity that it could not have been answered for Dowie that his debts have been paid. It appears that in these days it is necessary for a man to pay his bills if he lays any claim to being an apostle. The one who will not pay may overlay himself with a coating of seeming sanctity and saintliness and apostleship, but his competitors for the favor of the faithful are likely to get him in a corner at any time and call him a deadbeat The opponents of a professedly pious man are inclined at times to get raggedly familiar with him if he does not and will not pay his bills.
The lesson to be learned from all this is that if you expect to play the role of apostle with success here on earth it has become necessary for you to keep the finances straight. Certainly the time will come when a prophet who does not pay his bills will find himself without honor at home.
—The Daily Review, Decatur, IL, May 14, 1906, p. 4.
Yes, why does not John Alexander Dowie, "First Apostle," pay his debts? That question was bandied forth and back in Zion Sunday and it broke up a meeting arranged by Dowie. Police were called in, but they could do little more than keep the faithful and deluded from strangling each other.
It is a pity that it could not have been answered for Dowie that his debts have been paid. It appears that in these days it is necessary for a man to pay his bills if he lays any claim to being an apostle. The one who will not pay may overlay himself with a coating of seeming sanctity and saintliness and apostleship, but his competitors for the favor of the faithful are likely to get him in a corner at any time and call him a deadbeat The opponents of a professedly pious man are inclined at times to get raggedly familiar with him if he does not and will not pay his bills.
The lesson to be learned from all this is that if you expect to play the role of apostle with success here on earth it has become necessary for you to keep the finances straight. Certainly the time will come when a prophet who does not pay his bills will find himself without honor at home.
—The Daily Review, Decatur, IL, May 14, 1906, p. 4.
Monday, May 28, 2007
The World's End Coming Soon, According to Lima Man
Ohio, 1905
Whittredge Advises People to Sell Everything in Order to be "Clean" on Judgment Day
Lima, O., Feb. 22. — Wm. Whittredge, who was put in jail here for refusing to send his nine-year-old daughter to school because the world was coming to an end in March, is now issuing daily bulletins beseeching the people to watch and pray, claiming that he, like of Noah of old, has been delegated as the Lord's apostle and prophet.
Whittredge has formulated a new cult known as "The Church of the Israelites," which has for its teachings preparation for the coming of the Messiah. He has a number of converts in this and adjacent counties, and among his divine orders Whittredge instills the decree that followers must sell their worldly goods and be ready and "clean" to make their peace.
Yesterday Whittredge received in his mail, which has grown quite heavy, a letter from S. J. Hickey, dated East Orange, N. J., in which the writer asks for blessings, and follows with the statement: "Perhaps we can help each other in this situation through Christ, for I, too, have been jailed by the powers that be, and can heartily sympathize with you."
In his latest reiteration of the coming of the end in March, Whittredge proclaims through the press: "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of Man now be. Noah knew and warned the people; remember some one else now knows. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secrets to His servants, the prophets. Whereby, when ye regard, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, and it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets. And what I say unto you I say unto all. Watch and pray."
—The Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, Feb. 22, 1905, p. 6.
OTHERS
Who Agree With Wm. Whittredge
That the World is Coming to an End Next Month
East Orange, N.J., 76 Midland Ave.
Mr. Wm. Whitredge,
Lima, O., Feb. 14, 1905.
Dear Brother —
A recent press dispatch informs us that you have been jailed for refusing to send your daughter to school, your reason being that you believed the end to be so near as to make it not worth the while. I am also of the opinion that the destruction of the cosmos by fire, as predicted by the Apostle Peter, is very near at hand and extend you my sympathy. Will you kindly tell me what has convinced you of the truth concerning these last things, perhaps we can help each other in the situation through Christ. I, too, have been jailed by the powers that be, and can heartily sympathize with you.
Your brother in Christ Jesus. S. J. HICKEY.
The Lord is come with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. These are murmurers, complainer walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advance. Jude 14-15-16. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh a sign, but no sign will be given but the sign of the Prophet Jonah. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Noah knew and warned the people; remember some one else will know. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth His secrets to His servants, the prophets. Whereby, when ye regard, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. And what I say unto you I say unto all, watch and pray. MRS. WM. WHITTREDGE
—The Lima Times Democrat, Lima, Ohio, Feb. 20, 1905.
WAIT FOR WORLD TO END
Decatur, Ind., March 9. — Waiting for the world to come to an end and advocating the creed of their sect, several families, under the leadership of William Whittredge, formerly of Elgin, Ohio, are preparing for the millennium, which they say will be here in April. The little band has no name, but its members apparently are sincere in their belief. When Whittredge and his followers came here quietly several weeks ago they attracted little attention, but it was noticed that the entire band of three families was housed in one dwelling. Then the people of the neighborhood began to wonder. It was made known yesterday that the strangers were simply waiting for the world to come to an end and tracts were scattered over the city warning residents that the end is expected in April. The followers of Whittredge in preaching their doctrine point to revelations, and on the tracts they distribute are printed quotations from the bible. The members of the band are all intelligent and well informed.
—The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, March 9, 1905, p. 9.
Whittredge Advises People to Sell Everything in Order to be "Clean" on Judgment Day
Lima, O., Feb. 22. — Wm. Whittredge, who was put in jail here for refusing to send his nine-year-old daughter to school because the world was coming to an end in March, is now issuing daily bulletins beseeching the people to watch and pray, claiming that he, like of Noah of old, has been delegated as the Lord's apostle and prophet.
Whittredge has formulated a new cult known as "The Church of the Israelites," which has for its teachings preparation for the coming of the Messiah. He has a number of converts in this and adjacent counties, and among his divine orders Whittredge instills the decree that followers must sell their worldly goods and be ready and "clean" to make their peace.
Yesterday Whittredge received in his mail, which has grown quite heavy, a letter from S. J. Hickey, dated East Orange, N. J., in which the writer asks for blessings, and follows with the statement: "Perhaps we can help each other in this situation through Christ, for I, too, have been jailed by the powers that be, and can heartily sympathize with you."
In his latest reiteration of the coming of the end in March, Whittredge proclaims through the press: "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of Man now be. Noah knew and warned the people; remember some one else now knows. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secrets to His servants, the prophets. Whereby, when ye regard, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, and it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets. And what I say unto you I say unto all. Watch and pray."
—The Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, Feb. 22, 1905, p. 6.
OTHERS
Who Agree With Wm. Whittredge
That the World is Coming to an End Next Month
East Orange, N.J., 76 Midland Ave.
Mr. Wm. Whitredge,
Lima, O., Feb. 14, 1905.
Dear Brother —
A recent press dispatch informs us that you have been jailed for refusing to send your daughter to school, your reason being that you believed the end to be so near as to make it not worth the while. I am also of the opinion that the destruction of the cosmos by fire, as predicted by the Apostle Peter, is very near at hand and extend you my sympathy. Will you kindly tell me what has convinced you of the truth concerning these last things, perhaps we can help each other in the situation through Christ. I, too, have been jailed by the powers that be, and can heartily sympathize with you.
Your brother in Christ Jesus. S. J. HICKEY.
The Lord is come with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. These are murmurers, complainer walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advance. Jude 14-15-16. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh a sign, but no sign will be given but the sign of the Prophet Jonah. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Noah knew and warned the people; remember some one else will know. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth His secrets to His servants, the prophets. Whereby, when ye regard, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. And what I say unto you I say unto all, watch and pray. MRS. WM. WHITTREDGE
—The Lima Times Democrat, Lima, Ohio, Feb. 20, 1905.
WAIT FOR WORLD TO END
Decatur, Ind., March 9. — Waiting for the world to come to an end and advocating the creed of their sect, several families, under the leadership of William Whittredge, formerly of Elgin, Ohio, are preparing for the millennium, which they say will be here in April. The little band has no name, but its members apparently are sincere in their belief. When Whittredge and his followers came here quietly several weeks ago they attracted little attention, but it was noticed that the entire band of three families was housed in one dwelling. Then the people of the neighborhood began to wonder. It was made known yesterday that the strangers were simply waiting for the world to come to an end and tracts were scattered over the city warning residents that the end is expected in April. The followers of Whittredge in preaching their doctrine point to revelations, and on the tracts they distribute are printed quotations from the bible. The members of the band are all intelligent and well informed.
—The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, March 9, 1905, p. 9.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Moral Fitness and Endeavor
1895
"There is no book, no church, no inward monitor, no testimony within, without, that can make us to know the truth without moral fitness and endeavor on our part. There must be truth in the inward parts in order to our finding truth anywhere. But, with this, there is truth for you and me, to believe, to know, to live by and to die by. The book, the conscience, the experience of humanity, through all and above all, the life and testimony of Jesus Christ, these are fountains through which the living stream wells forth. What prophets have seen, sages thought, and saints lived is true. What Jesus believed, knew and taught is true. You shall sooner convince me that yon sun emits darkness than make me believe other than this. Yea, you and I have seen human lives that we know were based on truth.
"So the truth which shall judge us at last marshals us to right or to left today.
" 'Heard are the voices,
Heard are the sages,
The Worlds and the Ages!
Choose well, your choice is
Brief and yet endless.' "
—Rev. J. Westly Earashaw.
"There is no book, no church, no inward monitor, no testimony within, without, that can make us to know the truth without moral fitness and endeavor on our part. There must be truth in the inward parts in order to our finding truth anywhere. But, with this, there is truth for you and me, to believe, to know, to live by and to die by. The book, the conscience, the experience of humanity, through all and above all, the life and testimony of Jesus Christ, these are fountains through which the living stream wells forth. What prophets have seen, sages thought, and saints lived is true. What Jesus believed, knew and taught is true. You shall sooner convince me that yon sun emits darkness than make me believe other than this. Yea, you and I have seen human lives that we know were based on truth.
"So the truth which shall judge us at last marshals us to right or to left today.
" 'Heard are the voices,
Heard are the sages,
The Worlds and the Ages!
Choose well, your choice is
Brief and yet endless.' "
—Rev. J. Westly Earashaw.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Aged Preacher, Dying in Poorhouse, Is Happy
1920
Aged Preacher, Dying in Poorhouse, Is Happy While Waiting His Death
INDIANOLA, Iowa — After half a century of service as a preacher of the gospel, Rev. James W. Prince is dying in the poorhouse near here.
From pulpit to poorhouse is a long road; the saintly old man is reaching the end of it.
After a remarkable lifetime spent in ministering wherever there were sick and needy, from the Chicago slums to our own State institutions, he has been tireless in good deeds.
Today, worn out by his long life of service to humanity, he lies in a bare upstairs room of the poorhouse, ready to die.
Appears as Ancient Prophet
The pallor of his face, his long white beard, the emaciated hand that lies upon the coverlet and is raised now and again to emphasize some noble sentiment of the Psalmist that he quotes — make the old man seem like a prophet of ancient times.
The visitor forgets the bare floor and staring walls and the poorhouse when the old preacher, asked how he is feeling, answers:
"Oh, I am happy! Gloriously and transcendently happy! Praise the Lord!"
To while away the long hours he recites, in what was once a powerful voice, long passages of scripture, ending on a high quavering note from sheer exhaustion.
Predicts Day of His Death
Lying there alone, he has come to believe that he is going to be translated — that he will not die, but will be like Enoch, who "walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." He is convinced that on the twelfth of May, that event will take place. The twelfth of May will be his 86th birthday.
The poorhouse is a bitter enough end to such a life, but it has been made bearable through a singular circumstance.
Forty-six years ago when he lived at Red Oak, the Rev. Mr. Prince held a great revival at which nearly 100 men and women were converted.
During those meetings he met a young man named Will Hewitt and a young woman who later became Mr. Hewitt's wife. Later he lost track of them, but when, old and friendless, he went "over the hill to the poorhouse," he found Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt in charge of the institution, and they have cared for him the best they could.
Aged Preacher, Dying in Poorhouse, Is Happy While Waiting His Death
INDIANOLA, Iowa — After half a century of service as a preacher of the gospel, Rev. James W. Prince is dying in the poorhouse near here.
From pulpit to poorhouse is a long road; the saintly old man is reaching the end of it.
After a remarkable lifetime spent in ministering wherever there were sick and needy, from the Chicago slums to our own State institutions, he has been tireless in good deeds.
Today, worn out by his long life of service to humanity, he lies in a bare upstairs room of the poorhouse, ready to die.
Appears as Ancient Prophet
The pallor of his face, his long white beard, the emaciated hand that lies upon the coverlet and is raised now and again to emphasize some noble sentiment of the Psalmist that he quotes — make the old man seem like a prophet of ancient times.
The visitor forgets the bare floor and staring walls and the poorhouse when the old preacher, asked how he is feeling, answers:
"Oh, I am happy! Gloriously and transcendently happy! Praise the Lord!"
To while away the long hours he recites, in what was once a powerful voice, long passages of scripture, ending on a high quavering note from sheer exhaustion.
Predicts Day of His Death
Lying there alone, he has come to believe that he is going to be translated — that he will not die, but will be like Enoch, who "walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." He is convinced that on the twelfth of May, that event will take place. The twelfth of May will be his 86th birthday.
The poorhouse is a bitter enough end to such a life, but it has been made bearable through a singular circumstance.
Forty-six years ago when he lived at Red Oak, the Rev. Mr. Prince held a great revival at which nearly 100 men and women were converted.
During those meetings he met a young man named Will Hewitt and a young woman who later became Mr. Hewitt's wife. Later he lost track of them, but when, old and friendless, he went "over the hill to the poorhouse," he found Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt in charge of the institution, and they have cared for him the best they could.
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