Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-08-16

lulgc in much satire on their nCighbors of the moro barren lands. "JFp about Massa- ponaX," said one, "thc land is so poor that you can t raise a dist urhanco on it without forcCr, but whisky is cheap. Upthcrc they put a load of fertilizer in with every man they bury, because without something of that sort nothing would come up at tho resurrection"
 Life Believers.
 Perhaps this explains the rise of very peculiar sect of rcligionists encountered i'll the north central part of the Wilderness, who call themselves Life Believers and tro called by others Brownies or Soul Slecpcrs.' The distinct feature of their faith is that man is by nature an animal in spirit as in body, by nature ho is not immortal, and thOso who remain in a state of nature perish as brutes perish, while )nly thosC who arc divinely rcgencrated get ! soul, and even they sleep till the final res Irrcction. Now, I havo had a great mania 'ur odd and out of the way religious beliefs ever since I lived in Utah and have never aicd to visit any peculiar community of he sort I went near. And here was a nov ,!ty indeed. So I talked with tho chief l local OXpOundCr, n Mir. Kennedy, and earned that MT. Brown, leader of tho sect, ives in New England and only comes lcrC occasionally, but that there arc many | Iblo to set forth tho views of tho "Life Be- ievcrs'' with convincing force. With many other things, Mr. Kennedy said: "Wc believe that tho notion of Il natural | mortality is a heather notion and was put r shape by groping philosophers in the | ime of darkness therefore the Israelitcs were never taught such q thirg, and you ant find it anywhere in tho Old Testa- ncnt, but it was condemned along with l he other heathen notions, lest the Israel 1 tes might sacrifice for the dead, as the l leathen made their children pass through l he fire. They were especially warned not O meddle with witches or anybody that 1 >rctcndCd to hold converse with tho dead l solomon was the first to mention immor- | ality, and that was after ho had worship | d 'Astorcth, the goddess of the Zidonians l md Milcom, the abOmination of the Am | nOnites.' Now VIC know that these Phoe- | ricianS believed in the natural immortal l ty of the soul long before this, and Solo l non took up with their notions when he l made alliance with them and married their l women, but when old age and repentance | amo ho declared that what befallcth the | Ons of men bofalloth tho beasts, even one i hing b,fallSse them, as the one dieth so lieth tAe ether; yea, they all have one Ireatk, and man has no pre-emincnce 1 ,bove a beast; all go into one place; all l Ire or the CksSt, ana all turn to aust again.
 And so it is indeed with the natural man,
 ut Christ has brought immortality to | ight and become the first fruits of them hat slcpt'-thc first fruits, mind you and at tho end all them that arc Christ s hall rise at his coming The wages of in is dcath'-not eternal punishment, but leath-'but the free gift of God is eternal fife in Christ Jesus our I4ord.' There is 10 Scripture properly translated and un- lerstood that teaches the resurrection of
 ny that are out of Christ" ."
 Patient Walters.
 And much more of the some sort. Not
 ar away is a still queerer congregation, a
 in mere cabin of a church about in tn
 center of the Wilderness, who arc expect
 ing Christ's second coming in feN
 months. The year 1888 was set by thei
 first leader, but fresh reading after tn
 event showed them that they had misca l culatod the 70 weeks of Daniel, and the
 are not yet able to decide whether the ger
 eral windup is to bo a given number (
 months before the end of this century C
 the same number after it. It is pity
 too, because tho matter is of importance
 The neighbors tell nc that they met theI
 few months ago all in their best clotht
 and waited patiently two days and night
 for the coming of Christ, but have notice
 that tho neighbors always exaggerate sue
 things, and it is probaAeA that this wa
 ~~l- A special season of worship. I'll