An Introduction     O Truth divine! what treasures unrevealed,     In thine exhaustless fountains are concealed!     Words multiplied; how powerless to tell,     The infinitude with which our bosoms swell. Liverpool: F. D. RICHARDS, 15, WILTON STREET. London: L.D SAINTS' BOOK DEPOT, 35, JEWIN ST., CITY, AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. 1855....

J. Sadler, Printer, 1, Moorfields, Liverpool....

   Eternal Science! who would fathom thee    Must launch his bark upon a shoreless sea.    Thy knowledge yet shall overwhelm the earth,    Thy truth to immortality to give birth;    Thy dawn shall kindle to eternal day,    And man, immortal, still shall own thy sway. First. THEOLOGY is the science of communication, or of correspondence, between God, angels, spirits, and men, by means of visions, dreams, interpretations, conversations, inspirations, or the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Secon

    O horrid! awful! melancholy sight!     A nation, wont to soar 'mid realms of light,     Degraded, fallen, sunk in dark despair,     The hiss, the scorn, the bye-word everywhere;     No eye to pity, and no arm to save,     Till wearied nature finds an exile's grave. It now becomes our painful task to trace the decline of the science of Theology and its powers among the nations, and to review the awful consequences of such decline. We will commence with the Jewish nation. The science of Theolo

    Oh Mystic Babel, long has been thy reign!     What direful evils follow in thy train!     The veil is rent—thy mystery revealed,     Angels cry wo! and God thy doom has sealed.     The nations, from thy long and dreary night,     Are waking now to everlasting light. Returning to the Gentile Church, we find the science of Theology, with all its miraculous powers of visions, dreams, angels, revelations, prophecy, healings, &c., everywhere enjoyed. It had abated none of its powers, in i

    The spirit world is moved, the silence broken,     The ancient Seers from out the ground have spoken.     The appointed years on time's fleet wings have fled.     And voices whisper from the ancient dead.     Volumes of truth the sacred archives yield.     The past, the glorious future, stand revealed. We are now, of necessity, carried back in our research to the cradle of nations, the Tower of Babel, in order to trace the history of this wonderful science, from the first emigration of a col

    Eternal Father, Being without end!     Thy glorious fulness who can comprehend!     Thine own infinitude alone is fraught     With attributes to swell a human thought,     To grasp thy knowledge, or thy nature scan.     As Father of the endless race of man. " This is life eternal: to know the only true and living God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent ." Since the decline of the science of Theology, a mystery, dark and deep, has shrouded the human mind, in regard to the person and nature of

    Boundless infinitude of time, and space,     And elements eternal! Who can trace     Earth with its treasures, Heaven with its spheres,     Time's revolutions, eternity's years?     But what are all these, when measured by thee,     But marks on thy dial, or motes on thy sea! The idea of a God without "body, parts, or passions," is not more absurd or inconsistent than that modern popular doctrine, that all things were created from nonentity, or in other words, that something originated from

    The mystic future, with its depths profound,     For ages counted as forbidden ground,     Now lifts its veil, that man may penetrate     The secret springs, the mysteries of fate;     Know whence he is, and whither he is bound,     And why the spheres perform their ample round. The Grand Council having developed the vast structure of the heavens and the earth, with all their fulness, with the evident design of utility and adaptation to certain definite uses, it well becomes us to watch thei

    Heaven's Nobility, whom worlds obey,     Clad in the brightness of eternal day,     Enthroned in majesty, as " Priests and Kings ,"     To whom the universe its incense brings!     Angels, its ministers! Heaven is its throne!     The stores of infinitude are all its own! Having given a general view of the powers, operations and effects of Theology, as developed amongst the nations of antiquity, the mysteries of the Godhead, the law of nature, and the origin and destiny of the universe, the s

    A modern Prophet! Yes, a mighty Seer!     From Israel's royal line, must next appear;     Clad in the spirit of Elijah's power,     To prune the vineyard in th' eleventh hour;     To light the dawn of that effulgent day,     When King Messiah shall his sceptre sway. The nineteenth century opened upon the world with far more favourable auspices than any other age since the destruction of the people of the Saints, and the reign of universal mystery. That spirit of freedom, and independence of

    Is't possible! A sinful man like me,     A candidate for heaven's mystery!     May I approach the gate and enter in,     Be wash'd and cleans'd from all my former sin,     Renew'd in spirit, and partake the power     Of bless'd Theology from this good hour. The student of this deeply interesting science, who has traced, with us, the thrilling incidents of its history on earth, till he finds it restored in all its beauties, and its powers taking root in the earth, to bear eternal fruit, will,

    Trembling with awe and fear, the mind inquires—     "What master spirit, now, the bard inspires;     What bold philosophy shall dare assign     A law to govern miracles divine—     Tell how effects transpire without a cause,     And how kind nature breaks kind nature's laws?" Among the popular errors of modern times, an opinion prevails that miracles are events which transpire contrary to the laws of nature, that they are effects without a cause. If such is the fact, then, there never has be

    Boast not your lightning wires to bear the news,     Such tardy means the Saints would never choose;     Too slow your fluid, and too short your wires     For heavenly converse, such as love inspires.     If man would fain commune with worlds above,     Angels transport the news on wings of love. " Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? " Heb. i. 14. Angels are of the same race as men. They are, in fact, men who have passed from

    Mysterious power, whence hope ethereal springs!     Sweet heavenly relic of eternal things!     Inspiring oft deep thoughts of things divine:     The past, the present, and the future thine.     Thy reminiscences transport the soul     To memory's Paradise—its future goal. " For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed: then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruc

    Ye worlds of light and life, beyond our sphere;     Mysterious country! let your light appear.     Ye angels, lift the vail, the truth unfold,     And give our Seers a glimpse of that bright world;     Tell where ye live, and what are your employ,     Your present blessing, and your future joy.     Say, have you learn'd the name, and tun'd the lyre,     And hymn'd the praise of him—the great Messiah?     Have love's emotions kindl'd in your breast,     And hope enraptur'd seiz'd the promis'd

    The grave and death and hell no more retain     Their lawful captives. Earth yields its slain.     The raging ocean, from its lowly bed,     At Michael's call, delivers up its dead.     Then comes the judgment, and the final doom     Of man—his destiny beyond the tomb. There are three general resurrections revealed to man on the earth; one of these is past, and the other two are future. The first general resurrection took place in connexion with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This include

    Wide, and more wide, the kindling bosom swells,     As love inspires, and truth its wonders tells.     The soul enraptured tunes the sacred lyre.     And bids a worm of earth to heaven aspire,     Mid solar systems numberless, to soar,     The depths of love and science to explore. As I have before remarked, man is a candidate for a series of progressive changes, all tending to develop his intellectual and physical faculties, to expand his mind, and to enlarge his sphere of action, and conse

    Ye kindred spirits, filled with mutual love,     Pure as the dews descending from above,     All hail! for you the sacred Keys are given,     To make you one on earth, and one in heaven.     Be fruitful then, and let your race extend;     Fill Earth, the stars, and worlds that never end. The great science of life consists in the knowledge of ourselves, the laws of our existence, the relations we sustain to each other, to things and beings around us, to our ancestry, to our posterity, to time

Page 13, first line, for "One thousand eight hundred and fifty one," read One thousand eight hundred and fifty three. " 116, last line, for "here," read there....