The Lord had come!
His word was given. But which Lord? and whose word? That was the question in that hour of spiritual controversy.
Similar manifestations were also had in other branches of the church; and they were given at those meetings called "testimony meetings." At these the saints testified one to the other of the "great work of God in the last days," and magnified the gifts of the spirit. But there were two kinds of gifts and two kinds of spirits.
Some of these manifestations were very similar to those of "modern spiritualism." Especially was this the case with what are styled physical manifestations.
Others read revelations from their hands; holding them up as a book before them. From this book they read passages of new scriptures. Books of new revelations had been unsealed.
In letters of light and letters of gold, writing appeared to their vision, on the hands of these "mediums."
What was singular and confounding to the elders was that many, who could neither read nor write, while under "the influence," uttered beautiful language extemporaneously. At this these "mediums" of the Mormon Church (twenty years before our "modern mediums" were known), would exclaim concerning the "power of God" manifested through them; challenging the elders, after the spirit had gone out of them, with their own natural inability to utter such wonderful sayings, and do such marvelous things.
As might be expected the majority of these "mediums" were among the sisters. In modern spiritual parlance, they were more "inspirational." Indeed for the manifestation of both powers the sisters have always been the "best mediums" (adopting the descriptive epithet now so popular and suggestive).
And this manifestation of the "two powers" in the church followed the preaching of the Mormon gospel all over the world, especially in America and Great Britain. It was God's spell and the spell of some other spiritual genius.
Where the one power was most manifested, there it was always found that the power from the "other source" was about equally displayed.