By this same power his Apostles, being clothed with the full powers of the same on the day of Pentecost, ministered the powers and knowledge of this science to others, both Jew and Gentile, insomuch that the sick were healed, the blind saw, the dumb spake, the deaf heard, the lame walked, devils were cast out, and the dead were raised, while everywhere, dreams, visions, the ministering of angels, and the gift of prophecy were enjoyed.
CHAPTER II.
DECLINE AND LOSS OF THIS SCIENCE AMONG THE JEWS.
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 Theology, as we have just reviewed, was enjoyed, and its powers were wonderfully developed, under the several dispensations called Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Jewish.
There had, however, been a great decline, a retrogression of the powers and knowledge of the same, previous to their restoration by John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.
This was owing to the general prevalence of sectarian principles, divisions, precepts, commandments, and doctrines of men, by which the Law and the Prophets were made void, and a veil was thrown over them, or over the hearts of men, by which means they were misunderstood, or rather, not understood at all.
It therefore became the duty of Jesus Christ and his Apostles and Elders, as well as of his forerunner, to reprove those sects, denounce their doctrines and traditions, and restore that which was lost in this great science.