Charges Against the Spafford Community
A leaflet entitled “Spaffordism” comes to us from Mr. T. J. Alley, of Jerusalem, signed by himself and six others, denouncing the “Spafford Community,” or “The Americans,” as an unmitigated fraud. It declares that “the marriage plight between husband and wife is ruthlessly broken,” and that “the community embraces the principle of free love.” Mrs. Spafford (the husband, Mr. Spafford, the author, we believe, of the song, “It Is Well with My Soul,” died some years since) is said to wield a strong hypnotic power over the community, Scandinavians forming the greater number of her dupes. And thus the enemy carries on his work under the guise of Christianity.