PART 3 - MIRACLES

 

MIRACLES are of two kinds. Miracles are wonders. Miracles are signs. Miracles are works. Miracles were wrought in many places by Christ and his apostles. Miracles will be wrought by the apostles of a spiritual philosophy. Miracles, wonders, signs, and works, will be wrought to confound the wisdom of a caviling world, to establish the truth of communications made by spirits in the second sphere, and deliver men and women from the yoke of ignorance, in less than one year. Miracles will be wrought to deliver men and women from the power of intolerance, priestly rule, infidel scepticism, wrong and error of every form, as it now exists in all classes, and among all societies and churches. Miracles will be wrought, as they have been wrought in other ages, for the benefit of man. No one can withhold his convictions of a truth, established by miracles. Consequently, when miracles are wrought the truth will be established.

 

Miracles have two objects. First, the benefit of the subject on whom the power falls. Second, the good of those who witness the acts performed. When miracles shall be wrought, scepticism, intolerance, priestly rule, wrong and error, must yield, must bow, must give way to the overwhelming force of their destroyer. No one can doubt this. Let a miracle be wrought, such as the curing of the sick by the laying on of hands, such as the restoring of sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and strength to the decrepit, by which nature overcomes prejudice, truth overcomes error, right overcomes wrong, and freedom overcomes servitude; and, then, who will doubt the truth of spirit communications?

 

With miracles order will be restored, and, with miracles, disorder will be overcome. With miracles, wonders, and signs, which will appear in witness of the truth, the work of spirits will be vindicated. With miracles, apostacy from the primitive condition of nature and revelation will be rectified, and harmony reign instead of discord. With miracles, the vices, frauds, and wrongs of misguided men and women will be controlled. With miracles, the wonders of former ages will be repeated, and the repetition will convulse the minds of men with astonishment. With miracles, the ignorant will be saved from his ignorance, the errorist from his errors, the sinner from his sins, and the glory of God shall cover the earth with a new-born race, immersed in a philosophy which will sweeten the soul with everlasting fruition; yes, with a solace that will mitigate the asperities of life, plant the rose where grows the thorn, sow the seed of hope where withers the frown of despair, and wipe the tear of sorrow, which visits the house of bereavement, from the cheek of mourning friends and sympathizing associates.

 

We will make you a witness of wisdom from God; yes, we will pour out upon you a full measure of inspiration from heaven. You will be inspired to speak as Jesus felt moved to speak. You will have words which will be given you for utterance, from on high. You will be what others have been, a witness of the new philosophy. You will teach men how to live, how to act, and what to be to enter the kingdom of holiness, without which no man can gain an entrance. You will open a door through which men will be saved from a condition in which nothing will work a change adequate to the mind's immortal rising, but the tidings we bring. You will write and preach as you will be moved by the spirits, whose works will test their affinity with, God. You will proclaim liberty to the captives of ignorance and bondage, and unfold intelligence which will emancipate the wise and unwise, colored and uncolored of every clime, from control by influences at war with nature and human happiness.

 

When miracles shall be wrought by you as a medium of spirit power, the new dispensation will commence, the new era will begin, and when the new era begins, the old dispensation will vanish away. It will wax old. It will be consumed with a brighter day than ever dawned upon humanity—a day which will unfold the harmony of all conditions, all developments, all influences, all circumstances, all wills, desires, hopes, fears, anxieties, trials and disappointments—a day which will blend in union the primary and celestial spheres—a day when communion shall become universal between spirits in and out of the body—a day when peace shall flow like a mighty flood, and deluge the whole earth and heaven with its glory—a day consecrated to work, industry, and zeal for the good or all—a day when self and sin shall write their work no more on the temple of God—a day when mourning and sadness shall be changed into joy and gladness, and the wail of broken hearts be exchanged for the anthem of eternal union.

 

Then, spirits who have labored and toiled to bring men and women to a knowledge of the truth—spirits who have been decried as evil, because their works did not correspond with the wisdom of the world—spirits who have been untiring in their efforts to work a reform,—a change in the conditions of men and things, and who have experienced encouragements and discouragements at almost every step of their progress, will take the banner of wisdom, love, and liberty, and lead the great congregation onward and upward to the beautiful temple where the bright angels dwell. Then, the winter of ignorance, the mildew of discontent, the servitude of intolerance and tyranny, the degradation of vice and crime, the visitations of retributive justice, the convulsions of social revolutions, the disturbance of nature's harmony, the withered wants of the neglected, the wrongs of misguided ambition, the tears of sundered sympathy, and the malice of secret enmity, with secret works of shame, shall disappear before the sun of righteousness, like the morning mist before the rays of melting sunshine.

 

Miracles are what we want. Miracles are what you and men in the body require to confirm the truth. Miracles will do what argument, and reason, and science can not do. We know what is wanted, what is needed; and, knowing, we shall adapt our miracles to the consummation of our great object, the good of man, individually and collectively. We shall touch the sick, and wither disease; but, we shall not do this without a medium; nor shall we do this with a medium whose will is not entirely passive, whose mind is not in harmony with our desires, both in the intent and the means; so that the ratio of miracles, by different mediums, will always correspond with the conditions that are indispensably requisite. We shall work only miracles as we can, and as is necessary. All will not be qualified by us for this purpose. Some will in a very short time. But others will possess other gifts. Each will have his appointed mission, his qualified mind for a corresponding sphere of duty, and all will work for the good of all, when the revolution is complete. We say, revolution, for we mean to revolutionize the whole race of man; we mean to overturn, and turn over, till we change the whole face of worldly wisdom, till we work a reform on the basis of eternal justice and truth, till compacts and agreements with the prince of darkness shall be dissolved, till the sky brightens with sunbeams of light from the world of wisdom, and till humanity shall rejoice in the fullness of a spiritual dispensation. We mean to do more than this—we mean to clothe the race with garments that never soil—with works that never wring anguish from the soul—with charities that never think evil—with hopes that never perish—with unfoldings that never cease—with glories that never fade—with visions that never disturb—with consolations that eye, nor ear, nor heart has felt—and with comforts which no mind in the body can form any thing more than an imperfect calculation of their true value.