The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-24
LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL
A STRANGE FAITH THAT HAS
SPRUNG UP ON THE WEST SIDE.
Mr.. and Mrs. c. ID. Willis the Found
ers-The Testimonial of a.
Little Child.

1.-The ten lost tribes of Israeli" as they
style themselves hold divine worship every
| Sunday afternoon at S2S Blake street. Their
| place of worship is a little room on the sec
ond floor of the residence of c. B. Willis,
a man with long, glossy hair that hangs
about his shoulders. 1t would be difficult
| to guess Mr.. Willits's nationality, but,
whether Jew or gentle or an admixture of
| BOTH he is nevertheless a very kindly and
| earnest man.
Not long ago Mr.. Willis came home
| from his wallpaper store with an intense
pain in his side. A good man-in other
| words, preacher-who was stopping at the
house could not eat his supper from fear
that Mr.. Willis was dying. Then it was
| that Mrs NJ A. Willis, who is Mr.. Willitss
better half, and powerfully-built woman,
knelt down by the side of her suffering hus-
band as he lay upon his bed, and, placing
her hand on the spot where the agony was
most severe, she prayed fervently that he
be healed A little child knelt with her. and
while she still continued her prayer the
child said Nanny, stop, for he is healed"
And she did stop, and what the child said
was true for from that time to this, Mr..
Willis has been wholly free from the pain
in his side Mrs Willis has since become
full of the conviction that she has a mis-
sion on earth, and now and then she goes
out on the corner near by in the evening
and exhorts the curious to join the lost
tribes of Israel. She has voice of the
same excellent timber that Mrs Mary
Lease possesses, and in these evening talks
she is practicing and preparing for the
time when she shall become the means of
salvation to many men and women
A BLOSSOM IN A DESERT.
Yesterday reporter attended her serv-
ices and found much to impress him. A
dozen human beings of nondescript char
acter were crowded into a little ROOM where
in one corner few potted plants strove
in an apologetio sort of a way to relieve
the uninviting appearance of the scene.
But. beside these bloomless plants, there
was one other little plant that was just be-
ginning to blossom. 1t had curly blonde
hair and as bright pair of blue eyes as
ever was seen. In vain did Mrs. Willis
seek to make the little cherub look church
like, for she would play hide-and-seek and
twinkle her eyes at the reporter. She was
like a brilliant pearl in very homely set
ting, and there was religion in her beam
ing face not found in the printed creed OF
the ten lost tribes of Israel. Once, in the
course of the services, Mrs. Willis called
| for testimonies, ana, lnSTE ptliS liO-
ment of silence, the little girl spoke up
and said Jesus loves me- 1T was the pest
testimony of the afternoon, and a man Sit
ting in the corner cried out: God bless the
child" and everybody said amen with
deep earnestness. Then tall, slim man
read the scrptural warrant for meaning by
| the laying on of hands, and grew intense
in his speech, saying that he had lived Tor
a time without sin, but that lately he had
departed from the straight path and was vas
suffering in consequence. why did l SIN
said he 1T was because l wanted to. L
did not want to be perfect. We can hve
without SHINING if we will Now, to be
healed. we only need to be sinless and to
believe that the laying on of hands will cure
us My personal experience proves that TINS
is true. We all of us here have mad expert
ence of this truth Even that little girl
knows it to be so'
THE CHILDS TESTIMONIAL.
Mrs. Willis interrupted the speaker and
said to the child: did prayer ever cure
you, darling?"
Yves, it did," said the little blossom, who,
fortunately, looks to be a perfect embodi-
ment of health and vigor.
But Mr. Hartsock, the tall man who made
the fervent speech, had not yet been healed.
He had hoarse throat, he said and so
everybody kneeled down, and Mrs. Willis
placed her hand where the hoarseness was
and prayed for long time At last she
desisted and declared that he was healed.
| There were several elderly DANES KneellnB
close about the afflicted man. and they
stroked him gently with their hands. While
still kneeling Mrs. Willis commanded the
patient to sing song after her. The words
were: 81 know l am healed; 1 feel that [
am but after clearing his throat and sing
ing several slaves he ceased and would sing
no more. well, said Mrs. Willis, IF the
hoarseness is not gone yet 1t Will be gone
very shortly" and then the party arose, fol-
lowed by Mr.. Hartsock, who underwent a
| narrowing attempt to clear his. throat,
which was drowned in the singing of song,
Go battle in the River Jordan" There
were several in the room that had a pecu-
| liar nasal twang to their voices that de-
tracted somewhat from the melody, but not
The laying on of hands is not the only
article of faith with the ten lost tribes.
Mrs. Willis explained still more wonder
full belief than this She said that Christ
is coming again very soon, and that when
| He does come he will pick out 24000 Jews
and 10000 Christians, making IN all l44,00O
| persons, and that these fortunate people
| would all be made kings and queens and
would never lose their bodies. The rest of
mankind would be annihilated in some man
for the subjects of the heaven
made kings and queens they will
! be those who had died before Christs COM
| ing and whose bodies had become dust
| These bodiless souls would be incased in
! some kind of an angelic covering, and they
will do the bidding of the $4,000, who will
| retain their human forms and reign with
! Christ for thousand years.
BELIEVE IN A STRANGE FAITH
This is the glorious millennial age of the
| lost tribes, and every one at yesterdays
meeting expressed himself or herself as glad
| that they belonged to the ,0O0 There was
among them woman with the wrinkles Of
sixty years, whose dress came to her shoe
| tops. She was certain of her being flu
ture queen of the EARTH and the tears
came to her eyes as she told of the won
derful peace there was in her soul. When
she sat down everybody arose and ceremo-
niously shook her by the hand and then
/ another woman, from whose face the girl
| ish beauty had long since departed made
/ a similar testimony. and in turn received
! the handshakes of the others. For many
! hours this round of speeches and handshak-
| ing continued. with now and then a song
| Of strange cords, discords like the
I wheeling of so many broken instruments
/ But during all this protracted Worship there
was little girl playing hide and seek. if
any one CHANGED to look at her and the
| low gurgle OF her contented spirit permeated
I the whole service. Whether there We're
| any millennium queens in the room or not
4 she certainly was present queen, and if
any one was entitled to reign over bodiless
or embodied spirits it surely ought to have
/ been her.
/