ments of God: "We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are
we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall
not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood
have we hid ourselves."(996) In the class here described are included
those who in their stubborn impenitence comfort themselves with the
assurance that there is to be no punishment for the sinner; that all
mankind, it matters not how corrupt, are to be exalted to heaven, to
become as the angels of God. But still more emphatically are those making
a covenant with death and an agreement with hell, who renounce the truths
which Heaven has provided as a defense for the righteous in the day of
trouble, and accept the refuge of lies offered by Satan in its stead,--the
delusive pretensions of Spiritualism.

Marvelous beyond expression is the blindness of the people of this
generation. Thousands reject the word of God as unworthy of belief, and
with eager confidence receive the deceptions of Satan. Skeptics and
scoffers denounce the bigotry of those who contend for the faith of
prophets and apostles, and they divert themselves by holding up to
ridicule the solemn declarations of the Scriptures concerning Christ and
the plan of salvation, and the retribution to be visited upon the
rejecters of the truth. They affect great pity for minds so narrow, weak,
and superstitious as to acknowledge the claims of God and obey the
requirements of His law. They manifest as much assurance as if, indeed,
they had made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell,--as if they
had erected an impassable, impenetrable barrier between themselves and the
vengeance of God. Nothing can arouse their fears. So fully have they
yielded to the tempter, so closely are they united with him, and so
thoroughly imbued with his spirit, that they have no power and no
inclination to break away from his snare.

Satan has long been preparing for his final effort to deceive the world.
The foundation of his work was laid by the assurance given to Eve in Eden,
"Ye shall not surely die." "In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."(997)
Little by little he has prepared the way for his masterpiece of deception
in the development of Spiritualism. He has not yet reached the full
accomplishment of his designs; but it will be reached in the last remnant
of time. Says the prophet: "I saw three un