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Dad explained: there had been two revelations so far, to be found in the
old and the new testaments; why mightn’t it be that the Holy Spirit was
preparing another? For a long time the followers of the True Word had
awaited this fulfillment; the promise was in the Book, for anyone to
read. This New Dispensation would supersede the others, and naturally
would have to be different from the others, and the followers of the old
message might fail to recognize it, jist like the previous case. Didn’t
that seem reasonable? Dad asked; and Mr. Watkins answered promptly that
it did, and for Dad to go on. So Dad said that this True Word was to be
revealed through the minds of men, and would be a message of freedom;
the Holy Spirit wanted us to seek boldly, and not be afraid; and
presently out of the seeking of many minds the Truth would come—perhaps
from some one who had been despised and rejected, that would become the
corner stone of the new temple. Dad said all this with the deepest
solemnity, and Bunny listened, not a little bewildered; he had never had
any idea that Dad knew so much Bible-talk—as much as any preacher!
So it seemed to the Watkins family also. The old man drank in every
word, and insisted that Dad should reveal to them all he knew. And Dad
told them that they had one son, whose words had been reported to him,
and seemed to him to bear the true spirit of the Third Revelation. Dad
had met this son, and been struck by his appearance, for he looked jist
like what followers of the True Word had been taught to expect—he was
tall, and had fair hair and blue eyes, and his look was grave and his
voice deep. So Dad believed that the bearer of this message of freedom,
to which they were charged to listen, was their eldest son, Paul, whom
they mistakenly had driven from among them.
Well, you should have seen the sensation in that family! Old Mr. Watkins
sat with his jaw dropped down, as thunder-struck as if Dad had sprouted
a pair of angel’s wings before his eyes. Mrs. Watkins’ thin face wore a
look of utter rapture, and her two stringy hands were clasped together
in front of her chin. As for Ruth, she seemed just about ready to slide
off her chair and onto her knees. Everybody seemed to be pleased but
one, and that was Eli. Eli was glaring at Dad, and suddenly he sprang
from his chair, his face contorted; he shouted, and his voice cracked,
and went up shrill and piercing: “Can he show the signs?” And as Dad
delayed to answer, he shouted again, “I say, can he show the signs? Has
he healen the sick? Has he casted out devils? Do the lame rise up and
walk? Do the dying take up their beds? Tell me that! Tell me!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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