The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1879-02-27
ROMEXH AfETHODLSAE

Wesley, as interp0lated, abridged and
issued by the Methodist Book Concern,
is fraud upon the public. The most
interesting chapter~in the life Of the
founder of the Methodist sect, minute
s)y connecting him with certain spirit
ual phenomena. has been entirely omit
ted from the late edition. The man, or
men, guilty of such fraud would erase
Spiritualism from the Bible.-Mind
and Matter.
What better is this than Romanism?
The same Book Concern which sends
out this. emasculated life of Wesley
would send out a mutilated and emas-
culated edition of the Bible, if they
dared. If they can leave out of Yves.
ley's life the accounts of spirit-power,
they can also, land would if they dared)
leave out the accounts of spirit-power
given in the Bible. These Romish
Methodists are palming off upon the
public book which is cheat and Il
fraud, and it makes one wish there was
some way to punish such fraud us there
is to punish fraud Of other kinds. How
the spirit of John Wesley looking down
1T such contemplate cowardice, policy
and fraud, must blush to see how the
great work which he began has fallen
into false, degenerate and materialistic
hands! How he must blush to see that
his Elijah-like mantle, instead of fall
ing upon an Elisha, is covering the
cowardly form Of Baalim, or worse
still, of the animal which Baalim rode.
AS bearing upon the subject of Wes-
ley and his co-Spiritualists, we find the
following ringing words in the great
lecture recently delivered in Brooklyn
by Prof. Buchanan, President of the
New York Eclectic Medical College:
Who led in the most modern revival
Of religion with the greatest success?
John Wesley, Charles Wesley, White
field, and Fletcher, all Spiritualists in
the fullest and completest sense OF the
word. Who does not honor their men,
cries, and agree with Dean Stanley in
their pre-eminent merit? And why
were they religious leaders? Simply be-
cause they lived, like the apostles, in
the atmosphere of Spiritualism.
One OF the most interesting of all the
narratives of spiritual power and spirit
ual rappings, is John Wesley's narru-
tive OF what happened i'll his fathers
house. They were honest people, and
therefore they were attended by honest
spirits, and when = spirit was rapping
loudly to attract the attention of Wes-
ley's father, he thought possibly his son
Samuel had died, and had come to him
in spirit, so he said, IF thou art the
spirit Of my son Samuel, l pray thee
knock three knocks, and no more.''
The spirit Immediately ceased knock
ing that night, for his son was not
dead. At other times the spirit would
follow his mother and his sister Nancy
all about the house in the daytime,
when they were not afraid, and some
times kept up such noises ut night that
they did not get to sleep till one O'Clock.
These spirits (says Wesley always
came to the family to give warning
when any calamity was about to occur.
Wesley was a full believer in all spirit
ual phenomena, and worked wonders
on the sick by prayer and laying on of
hands.
Whitfield did the same in still more
wonderful manner, and the great Cole
ridge rebukes the ignorance of those
who discredited these spiritual truths.
Bishop Watson. in defending Wesley
against the skeptics, said, 1T is only
in modern times that this species of in
! fidelity has appeared, with the excep-
| ton Of the Sophsts Of the Atheistic;al
sect in Greece and Rome, and the Sad
dlcees among the Jews" Whitefeld
WIS the most wonderful man that ever
occupied the pulpit, for he was chan
mel of divine power. There is nothing
i'll the plain, dry language of his SER
mons to account for their power, but
he accounts for it himself when he says
that when he was sick and in agony,
II felt divine life distinct from my
animal lfe," and that healed him, and
enabled him to go out and preach.
assure you, my friends, in all the
sincerity of scientific truth, that this
divine life is Il reality. 1t was the Ill
vine life which enabled the greatest
Spiritualist England ever produced, the
founder Of the Quakers, George Fox,
.fter he was mobbed, and beaten near
| ~ to uncOnsciousness, to rise up mirac.
ulously healed and go on with his work.
1t was this spiritual power which ena.
hled him to predict the defeat of the
Turks when advancing in Austria, and
two years III advance to predict the
great fire III London, and enabled his
followers to predict that it WAS near
When Thomas 1bbit came to London
and proclaimed the impending fire, the
second day Of his proclamation the fire
Eroke out-Scpt. 2d, 1S66-and in fou1
days destroyed thirteen thousand two
hundred houses, and turned out of theil
homes a hundred thousand people.
| Who does not horror that great Spir
itualist, Father Oberlin, who lived il
continual spiritual communion will
his wife?
| Who does not honor that lovely Spir
itualist, Lady Huntington, the right
arm of Wesley?
Who d. e. not Eoncr Richard Baxter o.
the Saints Everlasting Rest, and Isaac
Watts, and the brave and tender JOIN
Knox, of Scotland?
Who does not honor the beloved Fen
elon and Madam Guyon?
! Who does not honor Joan of Arc
and the brave. inspired and miracu
lously-led Cevennois III the mountains
Of Southern Fra:ce; the Camisard:
who, in defense of religious liberty
with only two or three thousand men
in i deso1ated country confronte ed ant
defeated for ten years the royal army O
Louis X1V-an army of sixty Thousand
men? There was tile power of til,
Lord, 4 divine inspiration that CAV,
them 4 guidance and a knowledge O.
the movements Of their enemies, giving
to thier arms a superhuman energy il
battle?
| Who does not honor those old Spirit
ua'ists, the great Luther, and Melanc
tho,, and Calvin, and the saints ant
martyrs and venerable fathers Of tin
| ChriStian Clurch al Of whom were ii