The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-03-29


lures of the incorporation and assist them
in doing things decently and In order.
The following extracts froh the testimony
of Slocum and others, who had seen
visions and were leaders OF the church. are
by permission of the Judge copied from
the verabtim reports OF the proceedings Sn sat at
these reports form the basis Of dogma on
which the theology Of Tschadam is
founded.
Said Slocum;
81 was sick about two weeks, had five
Indian doctors. Doctor jim, was there.
They three hours Mt a time. At night my
breath was out and died. All at onco i
saw a shining iight-great iight-trying
my soul looked and saw my body had
no soul-lcoked at my own body. 1t was
dead. came through the first time-told
my friends, when die don't cry. and
then died again. Angels told me to look
back and see my body. did and saw 1t
lying down. 1t was very poor My soul
left body and went up to Judgment scat
of God. do not know about body after
o'clock. l have seen great light In
my soul from that good land. Angel in
heaven said TO me: You must go back
and turn alive again on earth or you will
be punished. My soul was told that
must come back and live four days on
earth. When 1 came back l told my
people: There Is a Cod there is
Christian people. When came back alive
told my friends, good times in heaven.
God is kind to us. III yon all try TO help
me we will all DO better here ON earth,
and now we all feel that it is so. A
good Christian man prayed with me four
days. lAfter four days voice said:
You shall live on earth four weeks. My
soul was told they must build church
for me in four weeks l bad lumber for
hnf nd fri htt1t htr
Had it all done in four weeks, but six
feet of the roof, and they spread mat
over that. Soon as the church was fin
ished the people came and filed the
house and began TO worship God. felt
strong-bigger than today. All these
men know this. My friends worked hard,
and am here because they finished the
church in four weeks. My soul was told
TO remain on earth four weeks more. All
my friends came and every Sunday we
worshipped God. In four weeks more my
soul was told To remain on earth four
years If did right and preached for God.
All felt thankful and people joined the
church-about 80 people. j was promised
more If we worshipped God
They know i'm heaven what we think.
When people are sick we pray to God to
cure them. We pray that he take the evil
away and leave the good.
when our body and heart feel warm
we do good and sing songs.
while one may try TO start religion
here on earth it don't do much good they
don't believe him much That is why
we join to worship.
prays good and does good, God gives him
help and words To speak Makes no
difference If Boston man or Indian-if
God helps we know it.
"We learn good while we pray-voice
says: DO good.
When our friend is sick we kneel and ask
for help to cure him. We learn something
once in awhile to cure him. If we don't
care to help him we generally lose him."
Christian science and healing by faith
is, as may be inferred from what Slocum
said, an art well known and frequently
practiced among the Indian Shakers ef
Puget Sound The head of the Faith
Cure Department, If it may be SO denomi-
mated, is Sam iowa Luck, and he testified
on the occasion of the conference in ques-
tion also.
Among other things he said:
Il take power to cure people when they
are sick.
"Long time ago knew nothing-just
like animal. 1 heard that If prayed i
would have the power and be medicine
man and cure the sick From time John
Christian man. There is lots of difference
between this power and old Indian doctor
ing. L can cure people now. / have cured
some white men and women. They are
ashamed TO tell it. One big rich man,
Henry Walker, was sick-had pains in the
ear and leg. He came to John Slocum
and me. Doctor in Olympia could not
cure him. We worked on him, prayed and
he laid down and slept and was cured"
The methods of Sam Tow-a-Luck and
the faith dealers of the white men seem to
be precisely the same, and, in fact, it is
difficult To understand why one shall be
clothed with more curative power than
the other.
Tschadam is freely translated by the
white men to mean Shakers although the
original and real significance of the term
is difficult to arrive at. However the
disciples of Tschadam, at their meetings,
separate the sheep from the goats, go into
frances, and are visited by the same curl
Gus physical disturbances-probab of
nervous origin-which moved the Shakers
in meeting i'm Northern New York when
seen during the writer's childhood. Hence,
probably the name.
There can be no question that the cult
of Tschadam has effected the most won
derful change among the devotees of the
faith Vices the missionary has striven i'm
vain to eradicate have disappeared like
mephitic vapors before the sun of
Tschadain, and as it has turned the Siwash
of, the sound from an incorrigible vaga-
bond into a self-respecting member of
society, it is to be hoped that it will spread
from reservation to reservation, ever gain
ing new proselytes until no bad Indians"
remain.
a tc