"After returning you my sincere thanks for your kind indulgence and labours of love, I shall close the present number. I cannot take my leave of this number, however, without expressing my humble gratitude to the Allwise disposer of events, that he has given such abundant manifestations of his unspeakable goodness to his creatures; that he has also, as I may perhaps be permitted to hope with you, given a divine testimony of his infinite love and universal benevolence to that part of his creation whom he hath distinguished with the attributes of his own nature, regarding at the same time all other beings and things, and that he had raised up so many faithful witnesses who have set to their seals that this testimony is true.
_Dear sir, and brother_,--The particulars contained in your ninth letter, which I have selected as the subject of this, are the following:
1st. You "do not see how the miracles of the Shakers are at all dependant on the miracles of Jesus for their imposition."
2d. You think, if Jesus had remained on the earth until now, or had appeared to every generation since his resurrection, the evidence would have been much greater; and yet not so great as to preclude the exercise of our reasoning faculties.
3d. In the supposed controversy between the Unitarians and Trinitarians, you think I have failed of making the case a parallel with my subject, not considering the great change which took place in the state of the Jews in consequence of their destruction by the Romans.
4th. The argument which you rest on the supposition, that the apostles did in reality believe in the resurrection of Jesus, when in fact the thing was not true.
5th. What you say of the necessity of miracles in some future time, to confirm the belief of those which have been.
6th. The difficulty you suggest concerning St. Paul's saying that Jesus was seen, after his resurrection, by more than five hundred brethren at once.
1st. As you object to the idea that the miracles of the Shakers depend at all on the miracles of Jesus for their imposition, it may be considered sufficient, on my part, if I show that you have fully supported the proposition which you profess not to see.
I will, however, first presume, that I am not authorised to say that the miracles of the Shakers are imposition, I have not contended that they are; the ground for which I contend is this, viz. if these or any other pretended miracles among us are impositions, they depend on the miracles of Jesus for this power, as much as counterfeit money depends on the true for its imposition. That you have given sufficient support to what I have stated, you will see at once by the following passage quoted from your arguments on this subject: "They do not deny the miracles of Christ and his apostles any more than Christians in general deny the miracles of Moses and the prophets; but appeal to _theirs_ as being equally of divine origin, and thereby clothe their religion with the same divine authority." Is it possible that the writer of the foregoing sentence should not see, that he established the very thing which he had just said he could not see? What is that _divine authority_ with which the religion of Moses, the prophets and of Christ is clothed? Answer, _miracles_. What authority do you pretend the Shakers make use of to clothe their religion? Answer "_the same_." How does this differ from counterfeit money, on the supposition that these miracles are imposition?