:sii^#8l scr«*c<:*^ 3p ^^--«j,ioi\, (Jeremiah, Chap. 1, verse 5th.) Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and before thou earnest out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet to the nations.' * Here the Lord had work to do in the nations, and he formed him, brought him up for that purpose. Romans, chap. 8, verse 28th. To them who are called according to his purpose. Verse 291b. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that they may teaeh the same doctrine that Jesus Christ taught, and that Jesus Christ might be the first- born among many brethren, teachers and followers of the same doctrine. Vers© 30. Moreover whom he did predestinate, and whom ha called, them he alse» 14 justified, made just, fit to fulfil the work he had for them to do among mer&. And whom he justified, them he also glorified, bestowing upon them a crownt. of glory, alluding to the twelve apostles- who are to sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. For those that sit upon thrones, wear- crowns. The prophets and apostles and teachers, whom God has set forth from, time to time among men, to direct them in the way that they should go, if God be for these leaders and those tha/t are led, who can be against them! Who^ shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect, that he has set over his vineyard ■# Jesus Christ, the head of the elect, set apart himself for the salvation of men.. The elected, and those that follow them, are the same in spirit and in truth, GENESIS,. CHAPTER 1, Verse 26. And God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness; -audi let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the 'air,., and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every thing that moTeth, Chapter IT, verse 7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul, not a dying soul, for whether we go to happiness or to misery, it is still a living soul- Verse 8. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Verse 9. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food ■ the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And the Lord God put the man into it to dress it and to keep it, and to eat the fruit of it freely. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die, as it were, dying all their days, also be driven from the sweet fellowship and communion of their Maker. In the third chapter, verse 6, we are told they did eat. In the 17th verse, the ground is cursed for man's sake, with thorns and thistles, and in the sweat of his face, he should eat bread, till he go to the dust, from whence he was taken, that is, the grave. Now the man was made perfect, holy and happy, and put into a garden of the Lord's own planting, completely adapted to his perfect, holy and happy nature, and his wife with him in a state of perfect bliss. Now God had given him a free moral will, that he might worship his Maker freely, without restraint or constraint, that is a a volunteer; for God will have such to worship him, or he will have none at all. The man had life and death set before him with a free moral will to choose ©r reject; and can any blame God, because man disobeyed? No, not at all; he had his own choice, but he disobeyed because he wanted.to be more wise, that is, to know good and evil. There was no excuse, for the penalty was an- 15 &fcxed, death. If any one says, that he did not think, or that he was careles5 | %t is thoughtlessness and carelessness, that send thousands to misery at this day. He did not keep the word of God in his mind. This is the trouble at this day, People will not attend honestly to the word of God, but will attend to the wis- dom of this world as Adam did : he wanted to be wise, but not by the word of God, for they that seek wisdom from God will have the cvord of God before their «yes all the time. So man fell from the blessed estate in which he was created, and now he stands, a condemned criminal before his Maker, with no one to take his part in heaven or on earth, until mere love said to justice, I will take the stroke and bear the punishment of thy justice, and give the rebel an opportunity for salvation in Jesus Christ, when it was told them that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent : s head. Here is love unprecedented, that the offended and affronted goodness of his Maker should be treated so; and yet love him when there was none to save, volunteered to take the care of him, if he would walk in his Maker's ways. He did so until Noah's time, and then by rulers and prophets. But all would not keep them in their Maker's ways. Man's invention being so great, that he wanted to be a god himself, and to take the care of himself upon himself. This has always been the ruin of man, trusting to himself, and not to the God, that made him. The love of Jesus Christ is still the same as ever, for in the end of the days, he came himself, and suffered the justice of God, that he might redeem lost mankind. But they said, This is the heir; let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. This was desperate work, and is now at this day with the greatest part of mankind, and will con tinue to be, until the seven vials of God's wrath take all those things out of the way, and prepare the way for Christ's second coming. Then shall all those that are true believers in him, be raised from their graves, and live and reign with Jesus Christ one thousand years, in the land of Canaan promised to Abra- ham, the father of the faithful, and to all the faithful, whether Jew or Genti^ for they are all one in Jesus Christ, their head. EXCOMMUNICATION. .The old world before the flood was cutoff or excommunicated for their wick* edness against. God, the Egyptians, for their bondage of Israel and sins against God, the Canaanites for their idolatrous worship, the company of Coram, Dathen 2*id Abiram for their rebellion against God ; the Jews were dispersed, for they killed &e prophets. of the Lord, and Jesus Christ himself; such as those that entice others from the true worship of the Lord our God, see Deuteronomy^ chapter xiii, and chapter xxvii, and downward, such as he that curseth father or mother, or smiteth his neighbor secretly, or taketh his father's wife, or taketh a reward to slay an innocent person.* also Sodom and Gomorrah for their despite 16 ©f every thing sacred. Before Christ, they were put to death, that their bad example might not lead away others from the true worship of God. In the New Testament, we have two examples. In 1st Corinthians, 5th chapter, we have an account of one that took his father's wife, and was delivered over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. And in 1st Timothy, 1st chapter, 26th verse ) Of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. The first is a fleshy lust, and the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord, but we have no account of a blasphemer being saved in the day of the Lord, because blasphemy is ©f the spirit. These two are the only examples in the New Testament of excommu^ nication or cutting off from the Church of Christ. There are other crime* mentioned in 1st Corinthians, 5th chapter, 11th verse, If any man that is called a brother, be he a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunk- ard, or an extortioner, with such an one, do not to eat at the Lord's table, that 1 he may be ashamed, but there is no delivery over to Satan for these mentioned in the 11th verse. The above are a number of excommunications appointed^ by God and his word. But there are other excommunications of a very different nature from these. Cain tilled Abel, because his offering was not re- spected as was Abel's, and the Lord named him a fugitive and a vagabond, and he was driven out from mankind, and marked with a downcast-countenance..- The Jews killed the prophets of the Lord, that were sent unto them fop their instruction, and when Jesus Chiist came, they said,- this is the heir; let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours. They expected he. was- to be king, and then they would have the kingdom into their own hands ; and they cast out of the synagogue, the man that was born blind, whom Christ caused to see, be-> cause he did not speak to please them ; and killed all the Apostles of the Lord,. because they believed in the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ, and did rid* believe in the doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees, that is, external worship to be seen of men, and to have the praise of men. So it is at the present day, there are excommunications or cuttings off by the same disposition ? because some do not speak to please those self-made christians, who have neither the fear of God, nor regard for man at heart, and pay no regard nor attention to the rules laid down in the Scriptures of truth. But Paul tells us what their names are, and what they will do. Philippians, 3d chapter, verse 2nd. Beware of dogs; beware of evil workers; beware of the concision. Now here are three species of them ; the first is dogs. Now it is weil known, that a dog is a biter oS, and eats up that which he does bite off. Such are those that care for the fleece of the flock, and not for the flock. Isaiah 56th chapter, 10th and 11th verses. His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant, they are all dumb d/^gg they are greedy dogs, which can never have enough ; and they are ^epherds that cannot understand, they all look to their own way, every C/ie for his gain from his quarter. The next are evil workers, those that turn others away from the truth of the gospel of Christ, by explaining the Seriptuj«*s to suit their "own way. 2nd Co- 17 riiithians, chap, lllh, verse 13th. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ. The third is concision and excision, that is, a cutting off from the Church of Christ, and giving over to destruction and death by those wicked men pretending to be religious members of Christ's church. Here is a display of them. 2nd Chronicles, 11th chapter, 14th and 15th verses. For Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from exe- cuting the priest's office unto the Lord ; And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made. Reve- lations, chapter 13, 16th verse. And he caused all both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hands, or in their fore- head. Matthew, chapter 15, 14th verse. Let them alone, they be blind lead* crs of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Hosea, chapter 4, 6th and 9th verses. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge : because ihou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shah be no priest to me ; seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, T will also forget thy children. And there shall be like people, like priest. This is come to pass at this day, (1846) for the priests must preach to please the people, or they will not put the bite into their mouth, nor the money into their pockets. Micah, chapter 3d, verse 5th. Thus saiih the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth and cry peace, and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. Verse 11th: The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money ; yet will they lean upon the Lord and say, Is not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us. Ro- mans, 16th chapter, 17th and 18th verses: Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them that cause divisions and dissensions contrary to the doctrine ye have learned, and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Luke, 12th chapter, 18th verse : and he said, this will I do, I will pull down my barns and will build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods; which those deceivers get from the deceived out of a pretence of religion. 2d Thessaloniaus, 2d chapter, 1 1th and 12th verses : and for this cause Cod shall send them strong delusions, that they might believe a lie. That they all might be damned who believe not the tiulh, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. 18 LETTER TO A FRIEND UPON THE RETURN OF THE WRITINGS OF r have read the writings of that worthy man, John Knox, according to your request, and find to be very good what I have read of them, and others of his worthy brethren, who suffered the like in body and mind for the cause of Christ. Abel died at the hand of his brother, because he was righteous and his brother wicked ; this has been the case ever since the world began. Enoch suffered in consequence of the sins of those of his day, and he, growing in perfection from day to day, was not, for God took him to himself. Noah was sore troubled for the sins of his people in his day. Abraham was also troubled with wick- edness in his day, and was himself approved of God, and called the father of the faithful by God ; and all the prophets suffered on account of the peoples' wickedness in body and spirit and death itself. All these were sinners, and when Christ carne in the flesh, that had no sin, they made no difference but they took his life also, and the lives of all the Apostles; and the true worshippers ever since have suffered less or more, John Knox not ex- cepted, and Wishert, his friend and colleague, who was burned at the stake at St. Andrews in Scotland. I have stood on the spot where he was burned to death, with the soles of my feet, and no grass grows on the spot to this day. But all the righteous suffer, although it is from nothing but their own sins and the wickedness that is to be seen around them. But to return to the Lord Jesus Christ and his sufferings, that came to do good to man, his heavenly father sending him out of mere love, for his hand works after they sinned and became heirs of temporal death and likewise liable to the second death. At the same time Jesus Christ volunteered to come and satisfy his fathei's justice, for none of the seed of fallen Adam could do this, for there was sin in them, and noth- ing but perfection could give satisfaction to justice ; for what sinner could bear the temptations of vticked men and devils, and the death of ihe cross, and rise a gain from the dead, a perfect saviour for himself and others? None; but Jesus Christ did it and rose again the third day, not for himself, but for all thos e that put their trust in him. Now observe, here is the love of both father and son, living in themselves, perfectly pure, and undefiled by all manner of im- perfection. Observe, we have nothing to gffer for our sins against God but a mass of corruption. Now if God, the Father, will not accept of Jesus Christ's finished righteousness for us, we must be damned. Bnt God is so well pleased with Christ's finished righteousness that he has promised, and will not retract, to accept of us if we will come to Jesus Christ and accept of his finished right- eousness with our whole strength of body and soul and spirit ; and my fervent desire to God for all mankind is that they may be saved ; for when Christ comes the second time, he will raise r 11 the righteous from their graves, and they will reign with him in the land of Canaan one thousand years, and when that time shall come to the full, he will give up the kingdom to God the Father, and he mil send down the New Jerusalem as a habitation for Christ and the redeemed, \ *nd then God will be all in all. Christ's kingdom on earth will be a state of 19 perfect bliss, that is, when he comes the second time to raise his followers from their graves. But when God sends down the New Jerusalem to be a habitation for Christ and his followers, this will be a state of perfect glory. THE EXISTENCE OF MAN AND THE EXTENT OF THE NEW JE- RUSALEM. It will not be denied that God made all things by the word of his power. Now if this is believed, why is it that man is so backward in giving him ado" ration and glory. He has all power; he made us at the first, and gave us life and health, and caused the sea and earth to yield food and clothing for us; and cannot he take all these things from us, and send us to the dust, whence he caused us to come forth, by his word ? Now man ought to give him all the glory with all the slrength of his body and soul and spirit; and when he does so he only does what is his duty along with the rest of creation. Praise him, the i, sun, moon and stars. Praise him, sea and all that is therein. Praise hira, earth, and creeping things, and ail shrubs of the field, and all cattle and all the human family, praise him, for he doth excel in glorious majesty, and when he made all things he commanded them every one to fulfil their place, and they all did so, but man alone was the rebel. He being the noblest of God's works, God gave him the gift of a free moral will, that he might worship his Maker as a volunteer, and commanded him what to do and what not to do. and an- nexed a penalty for disobedience, and that penalty was death, temporal and spiritual. Notwithstanding all the warnings that God gave him, to be careful and keep himself holy and happy, he yielded to the first temptation, set before him by his wife, she being deceived by the subtlety of the serpent. Now the serpent was made subtle, the lion was made strong, the grass was made green, the fishes were made to live in the water, and cattle were made to live on the eaith, and every thing was made to fill its own place for the glory of the ma- ker, and no one was to usurp the place of another. Now they all kept their own place but man. Man wanted to be as gods, knowing good and evil, and did what God warned him not to do. The reason that God warned them of this was because he had given them the gift of a free moral will ; the like gift he had not given to any of his works but man, he being the noblest of his works ; he made him after his own image, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul, that is, not to die, not to become extinct, as all the other works of creation are. So that if his body die a temporal death, and his spirit go to the left hand of Hades ; there to remain until the general resurrection, that does not make him extinct, he still lives. This is the differ- ence betwixt man and the other works of God, and when God at the general judgment raises them to stand before him and receive their sentence, their f 20 spirits will be brought out of Hades, or the state of the dead, and the body will be raised from the grave, and the body and the spirit will be united together and go to hell. The religious spirits at Christ's second coming will be raised from the right hand of Hades, and their bodies from the graves, and be joined together, and reign with Christ in the land of Canaan one thousand years; and then Christ the Redeemer will give up the redeemed kingdom to God the Fa- ther, and he will send down the New Jerusalem for a habitation for the Re- deemer and the redeemed, and then God the Father will be all in all, then Christ's redemption work will be finished, for the Father accepts of them the same as if they had never sinned, for Christ has satisfied God's justice for them, for they have prayed to Christ for him to intercede for them, and he has done so, and God the Father, through Christ's intercession, has extended mer- cy to their earnest cry. I have been asked if the New Jerusalem would be large enough to contain all the righteous. To satisfy this question, I will give a statement of it so far as my imperfection will admit. It is called the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, that God is to send down from heaven. Revelations, 21st chapter, verses 10 and 11 : Having the glory of God and her light was most precious; and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at each gate one of the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel, who are the angels of the gates ; for the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel are the door-posts by which we and all the human family are to enter into the New Jerusalem, if we follow their example. But it may be asked, who are the heads? Any one that God in his wisdom sees fit to appoint over this business. At the 14th verse John tells us that the walls had twelve foundations and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The truth of their doctrine from God their Father and Jesus Christ is the true foundation that is to make all men happy ; for every true believer in their doctrine will be a living stone in that bwilding, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone. At the 15th verse, an angel is sent to measure the city and the gates thereof and the wall thereof. At the 16th verse he tells us that the city lieth four square and that it measured twelve thousand furlongs. The length? height and breadth of it are equal. Now if we consider that eight furlongs make one mile, the extent of the city will be fifteen hundred miles; thus it appears to me to be exactly 500 miles in length, in breadth and in height, as this way of calculation would make it exactly four square. Now if we mul- tiply 500 miles by 500 miles, it will make 250,000 square miles for the base- ment, and 500 miles high would make a great many mansions. This corres- ponds exactly with what Christ says : John, chapter 14, verse 2 : " In my fa" ther's house are many mansions ; if it were not so I would have told you." I we consider the height of each story or mansion to be eight feet— -as this is about what Solomon made in the temple of Jerusalem — there would be, in 500 miles high, 330,000 mansions in height; and if we consider the length and breadth the same as above, the number of rooms altogether would be 35,937,' 00.0,000,000,000 : or thus ; — thirty-five thousand, nine hundred and thirty-seven 21 millions of millions of rooms. This is allowing nothing for streets, rivers and partitions. In the 17th verse, he measured the wall thereof and found it to be a hundred and forty-and-four cubits, he says, according to the measure of a man. that is, the angel. What angel 1 The angel who came by the power of Christ after his resurrection, and raised one hundred and forty-and-four thousand from their graves, who went into heaven with him. These are the first fruits 1o God of the fast-coming harvest, and it is living stones with which the walls of the New Jerusalem are to be built. Some of the prophets say it is wall of fire. This is very easily settled, when we consider that the hearts of all true believers burn with love to Christ, and at the same time. God can turn any of the elements that he has made, to serve his purpose. In the 18th verse he tells us that the wall of the city was built of Jasper, that is. of great purity, and the city of pure gold like to clear glass. In the 19th verse he tells us that the foun- dation of the city was beautified with all manner of precious stones, that is, the Apostles and the purity of the doctrine that they taught to mankind, all them lhat believed their testimony, as Abraham was faithful and looked for a city- which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. When we look to God the Father, and Jesus Christ, and the mercy they have shown to fallen man, and what Jesus Christ has done to restore man to his original state of holi- ness and happiness in which God the Father made him at first, and the great •and glorious habitation which is prepared for them, to make them perfectly hap- py, when we look at alt these things with the eye of faith, persecution and dis- tress and troubles of all kinds are cast far behind. I say it leaves them as a thing of nought. In the middle of the 19th verse he says the first foundation was jasper, that is, a pure green stone ; the second, sapphire, that is, a pure blue stone; the third is a chalcedong, that is, a pure precious stone ; the fourth, an ■emerald, that is, a pure green stone ; the fifth, a sardonyx, a very precious -stone ; the sixth, saxdias, a precious stone ; the seventh, a precious stone of a dusky green, with a yellow cast; the eighth, a beryl, a precious stone with a greenish cast; the ninth, a topaz, a precious yellow stone; the tenth, a crys- tjpharus, a precious stone ; the tenth, a jacinth, that is, a stone resembling a hy- acinth in color ; the twelfth, an amethyst, a precious stone of a violet color. The above twelve foundations are the twelve Apostles of Christ, each of them called by the name of a precious stone, for their hardness and durability, and the purity of the doctrine that they taught to mankind ; for that is the founda- tion that we have to build upon, for no other foundation can man lay than is laid in the above-mentioned Apostles of Jesus Christ, he being their director in all things pertaining to this life and that which is to come. So much for the foundations of the city that Abraham looked for. Now the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel were the seed of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob; for Jacob is first called Israel in the 32d chapter of Genesis and 28th verse. Israel had twelve sons, and they are called the heads of the twelve tribes, as in Re vela* . tions, 1st chapter and 12th verse, and also in Ezekiel, chapter 48 and verse 31, 32, 33 and 34. These are the gates of the city, that are in the wall, that lead 22 into the city, and every several gate was of one pearl, that is, a precious gem ; so all true worshippers of God the Father, through the merits of Jesus Christ, are precious in his sight, and will become living stones in that building, Jesua Christ himself being the head corner-stone. And the streets of the city were like pure gold, that is. perfectly pure white, being refined : for Christ in hi9 kingdom will sit as a Refiner one thousand years, and at the end of that time he will deliver up the refined kingdom to God the Father, and then every on© will become a living precious stone in the New Jerusalem, and will continue^ time without end, to be the servants of the living and true God. In the 16th chapter of Matthew, 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th verses, we are told that the Pharisees and Saducees came templing Christ, asking him a proof sign from heaven that he was the Christ. The answer that he gave was one that brought the true meaning of the question to their own understandings, if they had been willing to be instructed in the truth. That is, you have judgment enough to know when it will be fair weather aud when it will be foul, and that same judgment is able to discern the signs that I give, that I was sent from heaven. I heal the sick, make the dumb to speak, the blind to see, the lame to walk, and, above all, I raise the dead from their graves ; and can you not dis- cern the truth, when you see these things, when you are so good to foretell the weather, what kind it is to be? The works of Christ and his doctrine, and the works of his prophets and apostles and their doctrine, — which are like Christ's,. ror they were all instructed by him — are enough to teach us all the things be- longing to our welfare, from the creation of Adam down to the last man that will be on the earth, if we attend to the instruction of the above-mentioned, as they have laid it down to us, for all the above know as much of the ways of God with man as it is good for a created being to know. Daniel, in the 12th chap- ter and 10th verse, tells us that the wise, or righteous, shall understand, but none of the wicked shall understand. David, in the Psams, asks the question, how shall a young man learn his way to purify 1 The answer is direct : if he according to the word of God thereto attentive be ; for we must grow step by step until we arrive at a perfect man in Christ. The examples of the prophets and apostles, and all those that Christ had sent into his vineyard from time to time, to labor for the good of all mankind, are sufficient to guide all, who wish, to a knowledge of the truth, always letting the word of God stand for itself; for if Jesus Christ does not know the truth, then none on earth do know. Solo- mon prayed for understanding in the word of God ; he calls it wisdom, which is the same thing ; and he received a quick understanding spirit, to know all things, and great riches and honor added thereto ; and all the prophets and all the apostles and great men whom God has stirred up to instruct men in the way 23 that they should go, these men all understood the signs of the times hi which they lived, and also foretold future events, for they were all instructed of God. Now let us see if we can, by their directions, tell some of the events that are to come. The first that I shall mention is, putting down truth and setting up falsehood in its place, that is, setting up the abomination that maketh desolate, spoken of by Daniel the prophet. Daniel saw the people of the Jews driven from their own land for their wickedness, and that same land inhabited by Turks, and others of false religion ; for it is by wilful sins against God that des- olations are caused; and we may observe at this day a falling away from the truth, for any one given to falsehood is held in as much reputation as one who speaks the truth. Likewise those different religious sects of men, disagreeing among themselves about questions of their own making, and also about the word of God, picking out what they think will answer their own way of think- ing, and then they will use every means in their power to make men believe it is so, thereby causing much division among men, contrary to the word of God, for all men are created by the power of God. so all men ought to unite in giving God all the glory through Jesus Christ. Another sign of the times that men are becoming more and more wicked is, some men will go to college to learn to be preachers, then call themselves the ministers of Christ, and then think that they have a right to let themselves for hire. This is contrary to Christ's own words, for he called them hirelings and not the trus shepherds. Christ will prepare for his work those whom he sends into his vineyard to labor, and he will put the truth into their mouth. Another sign of the times is, none are esteemed, or taken notice of, but those who wear gay clothing, or those who are very rich, as John in the Revelations tells us, the true Christian being driven into the wilderness. Enough has been said to show that mankind in general are growing worse and worse, every generation that passes, a^d so it will continue to be until the beast's time is up, of which John in the Revelations speaks so plainly, and that will be A. D. 1960 But before that time comes, that is, 1953, say the beginning of 1954, '55. '56, and the first half of 1957, there will be great signs and wonders and terrific sights in the air, and wickedness will abound among men, and in the last half of 1957 the word of God will be driven from men and trampled under foot. John in the Revelations, 11th chapter, 4th verse, tells us that the two witnesses are the two candlesticks, standing before the God of the earth. Now it is very plain that the two witnesses are the Old and New Testaments. In the 5th verse he says that if any man willeth to hurt them, fire proceedelh out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies. God, by his word, can destroy the wicked by- fire or by any other element that be hath made. In the 6th verse, the witness has power to shut up the clouds of heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will. Thus God in his word reserves the power to treat both the righteous and wicked ac- cording to their deserts and at whatsoever time it pl«ase him. In the 7th verse he tells us that when they shall have finished their testimony the beast that 24 ariseth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome? them and kill them, and their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord \va» crucified. As we said before, men will grow so wicked until the last three years and a half of the beast's time that they will trample the word of God un- der their feet, and at the same time will kill all those that adhere thereto, and will not allow their bodies to be put into graves. This is the worst that the wicked can do to the righteous. The same spirit of wickedness that killed our Lord Jesus Christ will do as above to his servants at that time when wickedness is come to the full. This ends the beast's time that he had to continue ; : that is, at the end of 1960 the beast's time is up. Now is the time that the seven vials of God's wrath are to begin : see Revelations, chapter 16; and the two 1 witnesses, that were killed, are come to life and taken up to heaven again y that is, the last rays of goodness were taken from the earth and nothing left them but the fearful judgment of an offended God and Saviour; for the same hour the vials of God's wrath are commenced, called a great earthquake, which is to overthrow the power of the wicked, and seven thousand out of eight thou* sand were killed, for that is the proportion which is left; for in that day seven women shall lay hold of one man, saying to him, we will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach. What reproach ? Because their husbands were so wicked that they were killed by the seven vials of God's wrath, poured out upon them. These vials will be poured out in the first forty days of 1961. Forty years were alot- ted for the vials pouring out, forty years were alotted for the flood of Noah and also for the ten plagues of Egypt. But as God tells us in his word} no fleah could live all that time, God in his mercy has shortened it to forty days. Peter tells us in his writings that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and & thousand years as one day, and if it is his pleasure to shorten those days, it is showing^ great mercy to man. The seven vials of God's wrath will break down the war power of all nations, and will rend the \ei\ of the hearts of the unbelieving Jews, and they will go quickly to the land of Canaan, and will build the city and temple of Jerusalem, and those that are left of the vials, thai are well disposed, will go with them, and will take hold of the skirts of him That is a Jew, and say to him, we will go with you, for the Lord is with yo% and they will carry the riches of the nations with them, and build again the city and temple, and have all ready for Christ's second coming, which will take place in the year 200 1 . So much for the inbringing of the Jews, tfhose women whose husbands were killed by the vials, will have children, and they being brought up in a wicked way themselves, will also bring up their chil- dren to follow the same path of wickedness; for a well known writer tells us that at that time menstruous women will bring forth monsters ; that is, when they grow up they will be monsters of wickedness, and by the year 2001 they will be full grown men, and their mothers will instruct them that the Jews, after their fathers were killed of the vials, carried all their riches away to the land 25 of Canaan, and built with it the city and temple • and all nations will be en- raged against the Jews, and will combine together to go mp to the land of Ca- naan to take the spoil and prey, thus preparing the way for the battle of Arma- gedon, for all nations will collect their forces and provide with all things fit for the war. And when they meet the other armies of other nations, going on the same business, whom God is to raise up from the coasts of the earth as by a whirlwind, they will come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, that is in the land of Canaan, a very great army; for behind them they leave nothing but poverty and misery. The prophet says, with their tails they do hurt, and they climb upon the houses when the doors are shut against them, and go in at the win- dows and take what they want, and all are afraid of them, for behind them they leave nothing but distress, and before them all faces gather blackness with terror. And when the armies of nations meet at the valley of Jehoshaphat, the prophet tells us that they will be divided into three parts, and God will cause a tumult to be among them, and two parts are to fight against one part until it be consumed ; and then every man's hand is to be against his neigh- bor's until every one be killed, and until all their cattle and all their beasts of burden be killed, ior God has called by his angel all the fowls of heaven to the supper of the great God, to eat the flesh of men and the flesh of horses and them that sit on them, and the spoil of them will fall into the hands of those that went up to build the temple. The prophet says that Judah will fight at Jerusalem. Christ came of the tribe of Judah and he will be iheir Captain, and they will pray to him for deliverance. As Jacob wrestled with the angel on the other side of the brook, and would not let him go until he blessed him, when his brother Esau was coming with a hostile army against him. By this means Jacob obtained through the blessing of God peace with his brother, so by their wrestling with God in prayer for their deliverance, God will destroy by the above means the formidable foe, and the spoil will be very great, for the wood of their carriages and implements of war will be fuel for the inhab- itants of the land for seven years, besides gold and silver in great abundance. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven ; this sign will be very uncommon lightning in the heavens, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn because these newly converted Jews will be sensible that it was the wickedness of their fcrefathers that put Christ to death, and called out to Pilate to c rucify him and let his blood be upon them and their children. This is a very great cause of mourning and they will mourn thirty days, every family being apart and their wives apart. When the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea and escaped from their enemies, the men, with Moses at their head, rejoiced, and the women, with Miriam at the head of the women, rejoiced, but in the above extraordinary event every family is to be apart. See Zechariah, 12th chapter, verses 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14. David and those mentioned in the above verses is to show the manner of their mourning, and then they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds ef heaven with power and great glory, and his company will be 4 28 m* hundred and forty-and-four thousand that he called from their graves after his resurrection, and went to heaven with him ; for they are his company that attend upon him wheresoever he goeth ; and he shall send his angel, with a- great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together, to the land of Cana- an, his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. See the manner of the resurrection in the 37th chapter of Ezekiel : every bone to his own bone, and they will be brought into their own land, the land of Israel. and will live and be with Christ their King one thousand years, and those that are left of the nations, that are not killed in the battle of Armagedon, are invi- ted in the 14th chapter of Zechariah, verses 16, 17, 18 and 19, to go up to Je- rusalem from year to year, and worship the king, the Lord of hosts, and keep the feast of the tabernacles. In those days the temple worship will be set up in its purity, for it has never been kept in purity by fallen man. But in those days, after they have suffered death, the penalty of the broken law of God, and have been redeemed and brought out of their graves by the power of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, then they will be with Christ their King, and will keep the temple worship perfect. And in those days Christ will send fish- ers, that is, apostles, afar to the distant isles, to them that have not seen his glory, and they will bring them to the land of Israel, and present them to their King, as the children of Israel bringeth an offering in a clean vessel. Thus the apostles will be restored to thesame business as when Christ was with them before his death on the cross; for when he called them he told them he would make them fishers of men. In the 20th and 21st verses we are told that every thing in Jerusalem and Judah will be holiness to the Lord, and there shall be no idolatrous Cananite in the house of the Lord. After the Lord Jesus Christ comes to his kingdom, and the days of mourning are ended, the prophet Isaiah, in the 30th chapter and 26th verse, tells us that the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven-fold ; that is, the seventh thousand year under Christ will have as much light as all the seven thousand years put together. If man had never sinned, he would have been enlightened with the glory of God without a cloud to stop the light. This the prophet is giving us to understand ; when Christ comes the second time, he will he that light, so bright on the seventh day, or seven thousandth year of the great week of this world's existence. This is the restoration of the right- eous to their original state before the fall. Now they have been redeemed by Jesus Christ from their graves, with a full pardon of all their sins, and brought into, perfect light again. John in his gospel tells us that his is the true light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world; that is, alluding to the light of the understanding; and seeing the glory of God in Jesus Christ, the light will shine so bright on their hearts that they will be filled with all the fullness of Christ. In the 42d chapter of Isaiah, 4th and 5th verses, he tells «& tfyat the Lord delighteth in thee, and that the land shall be married, and as a. young man marr^eth a virgin, so shall the sons of the upright marry thee, aid as a bridegroom rejoioeti «v»r the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. 27 lokft iii : 29 : He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, and thoa the church of Christ is in relation to a marriage, for Paul tells us that the woman is the glory of the man, and the man is the glory of God. This is a proper way to marry, to wait until God direct us. In the history of Isaac we have one exam- ple, and let us not forget that God gave Adam a wife of his own bone and his own flesh. Now if we were to look to these examples, God would give to every man his own wife, for it appears to me that there are many men who are living with women who are not their own wives. This is because man does not live according to the strict path of rectitude, but gets bewildered in a multitude of sins ; he knows not the right path. In the 6th chapter of Genesis it appears that men began to choose wives for themselves, and this was the beginning of the wickedness that brought on the flood of Noah j for the daugh- ters of men had borne children, giants, mighty men of renown — it appears that they were renowned for their wickedness. Nimrod was a mighty hunter be- fore the Lord, and he built the tower of Babel, that is, confusion, and it appears that this departing from the ways of God, and building up the world with chil- dren born according to the will of man, caused God to destroy all flesh from the earth, Noah and his family excepted, and Christ tells us in the 19th chap- ter of Matthew, 8th verse, that Moses, because of the hardness of their hearts, suffered them to have more wives than one j but from the beginning it was not so. So Adam and Eve fell from a state of holiness and happiness, because they trusted in themselves, and not in their Maker's directions. Likewise the people before the flood trusted to their own ways, and not to the God of heaven, and Noah's line has done the same thing, and it was never more practiced than at this day, for professors of religion think that they have a right to make their own rules in religious matters, and leave the instructions of the Lord Jesus Christ as a thing of naught. This is building up the Babel that leads to con- fusion, and at last to damnation, and the world generally think they are as good as their neighbors. But thanks be to the Lord Jesus Christ that there are a number on this earth who know better, and who look to the Lord Jesus Christ for directions in every thing that takes place, for every breath of our mouth, and for the bread that we eat, and for all the comforts of this life that we enjoy. All nature ought to bless and praise his holy name, for he can cause any of the elements that he has made to be a blessing or a curie, as it pleaseth him. Fee we art the made, He is the Maker. CONTENTS. Introduction. j On Election. ..Daniels' Vision, Chapter VIII. On the Creation. /( Daniel's Vision, Chapter XI and XII. j Excommunication, John's Vision, Rev. Chap. XII and XIII. A letter. On Baptism. JThe New Jerusalem. The Witch of Endor. tMatthe w XVI, Chap . verses % 2, 3 and 4. Entered accorcing to the Act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty- two, by James Grieve, in the Clerk's office of the District Court, in the District of Massachusetts. ..- "-- - LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 653 033 3 • m^M m^ -^3 *^ 18% *;a«^5 ^ '•sSStz* w~Z -3B*ZaraW» >:>***> V. - i 1 ^*aS^^