Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-05-19

divine respiration, and thereby live, and
move, and have their being directly and
sensibly and through and of God, there
can be no doubt,
We put the question directly to Mr..
Oliphant and to others, and they replied
frankly and fully in the affirmative =
One sees at glance that Mr. Olphant
is a thorough bred, and the incarnation
Of truth lie is certainly in pursuit of
no worldly knowledge. lie gets UP and
goes to work at four o clock in the morn
ing, and is never so happy as when
helping some less gifted worker through
his labors He has fine mind. He is
robust There is no dyspepsia in him.
He is cheerful and fond of jokes. We
know he is, for we tried several on him.
With all his understanding and appre-
citation of eternal matters, he is as blithe
and iocund as boy. When such man,
who, as our lamented friend Joseph l..
White would have said, Exhibits the
romance of religion, and the poetry of
righteousness, tells you that he knows
there is such a thing as this 'open respi
ration, that he has felt it, that be feels
it constantly, that he lives by 1t, what
are you going to do about it?
We leave every one to decide the mat
ter himself For our part we are> so
miserably skeptical that we have never
yet been able to believe that any body on
this earth ever saw what is called a
spiritual manifestation; and we sup
pose that we shall never be able to be-
lieve in Divine Respiration until we ex
perience it for ourselves, if happily,
such a thing shall ever be-
HOW THE RESPIRATION OPERATES.
The members of the Community strive
to be led by the Spirit of the Lord in
al things. and this new respiration IS
their means of testing what is or is not
from the Lord. Under its informing in
fuences their whole being 1--WE are now
giving their statements) become perva~
ded, as it were, with the Divine elements,
and they feel Enthusiastically what is
Gods will and what is not his will
If one of their number is unhappy,
they all feel the influence Immediately,
and can at once trace out the unhappy
one and see what is the matter, and adj
minister needed consolation or relief
Even the children of the Community
seem to experience the regenerating eff
focts of this new respiration. They
are always glad to get back home when
they 90 to the village or elsewhere be-
cause, as some of them said, there seems
to be such an ugly spirit among stran>
gers.
\ POINTED DIALOGUE WITH oLIPHANF.
As we were about tc take leave of
the Community, we said to Mr.. Oliphant,
- Y our case interests US exceedingly.
viii you permit US TO ask if you do not
sometimes long for the fleshpots of Par
lament and the allurements Of aristo-
cratic life ?
Not in the least" he replied; 81
was saying, only the other day that it
seems to me as though | had died as to
my old state and risen to an entirely
new and different life ! take no inter-
est in Parliamentary discussions or
European affairs | received a package
of papers from London a few days age,
but have not had the heart to look at
them"
DO you consider such a state of mind
desirable one p we asked ''ls it not
best for US to take an interest in the af-
fairs of mankind and to play our sew
eral parts on the stage of life? We could
90 this in the name of the Lord and,
perhaps thereby accomplish some good >
. very true, responded Mr.. Oliphant;
. but my present work is an internal and
spiritual one. | have all that | can do
to combat and eradicate the evils of my
nature When | shall have accom-
plished that work and become so spiritu-
ally pure that ! can touch pitch and not
be defled, | may return to public life.
| should then be in a condition really to
benefit mankind, and to do God service
in the prosecution Of worldly affairs.
" Another thing We wish TO ask, we
said. Why is it that you all seem to
think that in order to become regener>
ate you must take to digging in the
ground-to agricultural pursuits 2
q" do not know that such a course Is
necessary to such an end, replied Mr..
Oiiphant; but | do know that it is help
ful thereto. 1t seems tie be the natural
way COR man to measure himself with his
heart, and to extend himself into the uni
verse. There is something got by Dig
ging ones bread out of the ground,
which can be got in no other way. All
though the hearts OF the disciples burned
within them as the Savior walked and
talked by their side, they did not recog-
nize him until He blessed the bread
and brake it. Then recognition came.
So, too, when a man raises the fruits of
the earth by his own labor, and imparts
thereof to his neighbors, he in a sense,
gives them of himself Then the bread
Is blessed and broken, and the conjoining
principle of spiritual brotherhood is re-
vealed.
" Are you happy here? p we abruptly
asked Are you content? Is your
highest and Utmost nature satisfied with
this life ?
{" Yes" he answered al feel know
that | am doing what is best for my
souls welfare; and that is the sum of
the whole matter.
GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION.
The fact is, the members of the Com
munity are, for the most part, well off
as to the riches of this world They
are people who have been succe ssful in
life, who have shown themselves COM
petent to contend with the unzodly for
the prizes of civilization. Mr.. Harris, as
we have already stated, was a prosperous
banker, and was able to buy 500 acres
Of the domain with his own money!
There is no nonsense about him, so far
as the things Of this world is concerned
The same may be said of Mr.. and Lady
0Iiphaut And so far as we could Judge,
the Community is composed OF hard
headed sound hearted men and women.
Some of them did not bring much world-
" property with them into the Commu-
nifty, but every one is supposed to have
had enough.