Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1885-02-25

inOhstTutiNc tnuH lhSIllOiiuDle Cnurc
| goers, but all charges of impropriet
: are groundless fictions, he said.
: Mr.. Schweinfurth is evidently sin
S cere and honest man. He has Ger
| man face, with reddish beard, an,
| thick, dark hair. From his accoun
| of the origin and beliefs of the Beck
! NANTES the following particulars ar
derived:
Mrs. Dora Beekmau, who died tw,
years ago, is the Christ. It's not tru,
that she ever expected to become tn,
mother Of Savior. She was con
WINGED in her own mind Of her divini
ty long ago, though she never forced
her convictions on others. Mr.
Schweinfurth was formerly a minister
of the Methodist church, and he used
to urge upon his fellow churchmer
the Importance of the Scriptural
teachings with regard to sanctified
life. They said it was impossible to
become holy like the Savior in this
world, but he could not believe this.
While serving as a missionary in AL
pena, Mich, he first heard of Mrs.
Beekman, talked with her. found her
as spotless in her life ms Jesus had
been, and finally believed that she
was the Christ. The Scriptural pro-
phecies are of the Bride and the
church of Christ. The Christ has
now appeared as the Bride in Mrs.
Beekman's form.
The evidence Of Mrs. Beekman's
mission are described in this way
The disciples of Jesus knew He was
the Christ from his conversation, his
character, and his miracles. Mrs.
Beekman's disciples have the same
evidence. No person athirst for puri-
ty and truth could converse with her
without perceiving that she was more
than human: her character was as
meek, as spotless, as holy as that of
Jesus, and her miracles were ir-
refragable tokens of her divinity.
She did not come as Jesus did, to heal
the lepers, the blind and the palsied
but she came to heal souls, and no
man or woman who had felt in his
own heart the touch of her healing
power, would question that her mira
Giles were as clear and tangible as
those of Jesus. The principal obsta-
Giles to the reception of the truth by
Christians is the prevalent belief that
Christ is to come in different guise.
The unbelieving Jews urged the same
argument against the Saviour, and it
was only the pure and supplemented
then, as now, who apprehended the
truth.
Mrs. Beekman's first church was
established at Alpena, Michigan, in
1878. Others took rise at Byron, ILL.,,
Chicago, Paw Paw, ILL.,, Kansas City,
St. Charles. Mimi, and a
few other places. The entire men,
bership numbers nearly 200. In Chi
cago there are only about fifteen
of the church. Regular
are held at No. 172 Van
Buren, street, Sunday afternoon at 3,
to which the public is welcomed. The
church depends for its growth at pres
ent upon the personal influence of its
members. One is gathered in here
and another there, and the disciples
of Mrs. Beekman know that her
teaching must prevail in the end.
The faith of the Beekmanites is
by Mr.. Schweinfurth to
be an essentially spiritual one. 1t
spreads slowly because the announce
ment of the second coming of Crist in
the likeness of woman takes Chris
tians by surprise, and even shocks
their moral sense at first. But as the
idea becomes familiar it grows more
beautiful, and it is sure to conquer.
IF all the disciples of Mrs. Dora
Bcekman resemble those in Chicago
it would be hard to find more decent,
quiet, and earnest religious assemblies
than theirs. A dozen of the Beck
NANTES gathered at the rooms of the
Rev. Mr.. Baldwin last night. 1t was
evident that they did not expect visit
ors, but the services proceeded without
embarrassment after the advent of an
intruder. The exercises consisted of
Scriptural reading and exposition,
prayer, singing and remarks by differ
ent persons present. There was moth
ing of the transient excitement that
is to be seen at an ordinary religious
revival, but instead a quiet and
orderly devotion that would put some
orthodox churches to shame. To
stranger of Christian belief it would
sound like blasphcmy to speak of
Dora Beckman as Dora Christ, but
from their own standpoint nothing is
more rcverent.
As the above semi-official declara-
ton seems to charge Mrs. Wentworth
with being crazy, and as she is not in
town to defend herself, we think it
but right to print her evidence as de-
livered in Chicago court, and we
shall give it as reported by the Chicago
Daily News Of January 9th. The
extract has been in our possession for
some time. We should not have
published it if the Perfectionists had
not insisted OH having their statement
printed. 1t is but just to give
both sides of the question, and thus
enable the reader to form an impair
tial judgment of the case. The cx-
tract will be given next week, as we
do not care to devote two much
to the Perfectionists this issue.