Defense of Brother Holt
By S. T. Belden
[Note on the above by Bro. S. T. Belden.] In relation to the report referred to by Bro. Rhodes, I wish to say that I know it to be false. I have been personally acquainted with Bro. Holt since the summer of 1844. He lived in a house owned by my father, in Rocky Hill, Conn., a few rods only from us, from 1844 to 1846, and I have been acquainted with his faith and labor from that time to the present. He has never favored, in the least degree, what is usually termed spiritualism, in any of its forms. And when Heath, Starkweather and Butler, noted spiritualizers, came into our meetings in 1849, and presented their views, Bro. Holt, as a faithful servant of God, strongly opposed them, and rebuked48them in the name of the Lord. He has ever been a faithful witness against the "damnable heresy" of what is called "spiritual union." And those who circulate such reports against him, and thus slander a servant of Jesus Christ in order to bring into disrepute the bible doctrine he teaches, will have to meet it in the Judgment. A sense of duty to those who may be injured by such false reports has alone prompted me to make this statement. It is painful to refer to such contemptable babblings. S. T. BELDEN.
Saratoga Springs, Oct., 1851.