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was not able to walk one mile without great difficulty, and greatly increasing her disorder; but that she was never troubled with her old complaint afterwards. That soon after, she travelled about forty miles on foot, [to Water-Vliet,] and could travel any distance on foot without any inconvenience.

Taken from the mouth of the said Susannah Cook, the 23d day of April 1808. In presence of Daniel Goodrich, Seth Y. Wells, and others.

(Signed) SUSANNAH COOK.

57. MARY TURNER, of New-Lebanon, testifies, That her son Jonathan, (since deceased,) being about nine or ten years of age, was chopping wood, at some distance from home, and by a stroke of the ax, received a very bad wound on the top of his foot: [his father, Gideon Turner, testifies that he could lay his finger, at length, in the wound.] That he was brought home, and she seeing it bleed excessively, was greatly troubled, not knowing what to do for it.

58. That she went into another room, kneeled down and cried to God, and soon felt the power of God run down her arm, and into her right hand-instantly her hand seemed to be filled with the power of God, accompanied with such a delicious balsamic smell, as she was unable to describe. That feeling confident that it was a gift of healing for her son, she returned directly into the room and put her hand on the wound, and it instantly ceased bleeding. She then walked the floor-came again and laid on her hand a second time; this she repeated seven times, gently stroking the wound, during which time, it closed up and was healed, leaving only a small seam.

59. That she then bound it up. This being Saturday afternoon, the next morning she unbound it, and found no other appearance of the wound than a small white seam, resembling a white thread;-after which he attended meeting, went forth in the worship of God, was fully restored, and found no inconvenience from the wound afterwards.

60. Gideon further testifies, that while Mary (the child's mother) was stroking the wound, he saw the flesh gradually gather and close up, leaving only a

small red streak, about the size of a knitting needle; and that he was restored as above described.

Taken from the mouths of the said Mary and Gidcon, April 25th, 1808. In the presence of Daniel Goodrich, Seth Y. Wells and others.

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CHAPTER XI.

Remarks on the Evidence of Christ's second Appearing.

TH

HERE were many instances of miraculous cures of diseases, of almost every kind, which never were published abroad, being known at the time, only among the people themselves. The instances inserted in the foregoing Chapter, are but a few out of many, which were of such a nature as could not be hid; most of them were circumstantially known to the world, and of which there are many living witnesses to this day.

2. Yet such was the bitter opposition of the generality to the way of God, that many either impiously denied, and contradicted abroad, what they knew to be facts, or maliciously slandered what they could neither contradict nor deny.

3. This, however, was but little regarded by the believers, as such extraordinary and occasional gifts made no essential part of the foundation of their faith; and knowing, also, that such kind of evidence would decrease and be withdrawn from the world, in proportion as the true spiritual substance of the gospel increased.

4. It was not that miraculous power which operates upon the body, but that which purifies and saves the soul from the nature of sin, that the truly wise and discerning believer esteemed the most; yet for every operation of the power of God, they were thankful, and nothing which they received was in

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John x.

5. And doubtless the end was answered for which those miraculous gifts were given, inasmuch as they confirmed the faith of the weak, removed the prejudices of many who were doubtful, and took away every just ground of objection from the enemies of the cross of Christ.

6. Yet some might pretend to object, that the miracles wrought by Mother, and by the first Elders, and others, through her ministration, were neither so numerous nor so great as those that were wrought by Jesus and his apostles. But who is to be the judge of the nature, number, or greatness of those miracles?

7. If natural men are to judge according to their outward senses, the objection will also apply to Christ's first appearing; and upon the same rule of judging, it will equally apply to every manifestation of the power of God since the flood of Noah!

8. For in every dispensation, since that period, those visible miraculous operations, which have at tended the testimony of God, have continually decreased in the esteem of natural men, and become less and less wonderful and affecting to their outward senses; insomuch that many of their wise men, while they admit the facts, deny any supernatural or divine agency in the case; but account for the most extraordinary appearances, as springing from certain causes in nature, before unknown.

9. To whatever cause natural men are pleased to ascribe the miraculous operations of the power of God, it is certain, they have always thought they had good reason to object to the present, from its inferi ority to the past. It is granted, according to their sense, that John the Baptist, who was superior to all the prophets, did no miracle. That in some places, Mat. xi. Jesus himself did not many mighty works, because of their unbelief; and that in his own country, and among Mark vi his own kin, he could do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.

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4, 5.

10. That his baptism at Jordan, was not so wonderful as Joshua's dividing Jordan, and leading through the thousands of Israel dry shod; nor the darkness

at his crucifixion so astonishing as Joshua's stopping the sun and moon in their progress.

11. That his walking upon the sea was not so astonishing, and universally convicting to the outward senses, as the dividing of the sea by Moses, in the view of six hundred thousand Israelites, and all the Egyptian host; neither was his feeding five thousand, with a few loaves and fishes, to be compared with the feeding the whole nation of Israel, forty years, with bread from heaven.

12. In a word, the adversaries of Jesus could see nothing, in all his life and ministry, so evidential of the power of God as what was recorded of their forefathers. And how were their forefathers affected with what they beheld? Had they not the same ground of objection? and did they not soon forget every wonder that they had seen, and provoke God with their unbelief?

13. It must be granted to these unbelievers too, that the testimony of Moses was not attended with so convincing evidence as the preaching of Lot: That drowning some of the inhabitants of Egypt with water, was not so great a miracle as the destruction of the Sodomites and their cities, with a total y overthrow by fire from heaven; and that all those other miracles, which were soon withdrawn, and had no greater visible monument left than a pillar of stones, were far inferior, in point of standing evidence, to Lot's wife, turned into a pillar of salt.

14. But how were Lot's posterity affected by all these wonders? Did the incestuous Moabites and Ammonites cease to do wickedly? By no means. Doubtless they had as good reason for rejecting their father's testimony, for want of evidence, as any other set of unbelievers: and, upon equal principles, it must be granted them, that a small eruption of fire, either from the earth, or clouds, was more easily accounted for, and less astonishing, than a flood of waters over the whole earth, fifteen cubits above the highest mountain; and that the destruction of a few Sodomites was not to be compared with the total overthrow of the whole antedeluvian world.

15. So that the only miracle that can silence the

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XI.

CHAP. cavils or stop the objections of the unbeliever, is that which envelops him, and all his kind, in destruction. It was, and still is the language of the wickMat xxiii ed,-If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them.

30.

16. But could unbelievers of the present day have been in all the dispensations that are past, they would have taken part with the antedeluvian world against Noah; with the Sodomites against Lot; with the rebellious Israelites against Moses; with the Scribes and Pharisees, against Jesus and his followers; and with the persecuting kingdom of Antichrist, against the heretics, from the same selfish motives, with Acts vi. which they DO ALWAYS resist the Holy Ghost, and reLuke vii. ject the counsel of God against themselves, revealed in the present testimony of Christ, against the world, the flesh and all evil.*

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17. The believer and the unbeliever stand directly in contrast, let the dispensation of God, or the outward evidence attending it be small or great; and it is a noted truth, that the more spiritual and powerful the day and work of God is, for the destruction of sin, and the brighter and more glorious the evidence to the believer, the darker and more doubtful it appears to the wicked, because it is the more pointedly against them.

18. The unbeliever may be driven by fear, but the believer is drawn by love; and hence such a striking distinction between the operations of God under the gospel, and those under the dark dispensations that John iii. preceded it. A man can receive nothing, except it be 27. v. 30. given him from heaven, was a true saying of John; and, I can of mine own self do nothing, was as true a saying of Jesus.

19. Then as Jesus did not come into the world of himself, and it was not given him to destroy men's

The spirit of unbelief is the same in all ages; it never was willing to ac knowledge the present work of God in any age; and the power of that spirit is strengthened and increased, in proportion to the increase of light and truth in the earth; so that its subjects are harder to be wrought upon than they were in past ages. Jesus testified to the unbelievers of that day, that if the mighty works done among them, had been done in Sodom, Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented; by which he plainly iudicated what part they would have taken, had they lived under former dispensations. The same testimony may apply to unbelievers of the present day: for surely that spirit of unbelief, which can oppose the light and revelation of God in the present day, would never have yiekled to the testimony of past ages.