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Title: The Opening Heavens
or a Connected View of the Testimony of the Prophets and Apostles
Author: Joseph Bates
Release Date: June 14, 2018 [EBook #57330]
Language: English
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The Opening Heavens
The Opening Heavens,
Or A Connected View Of The
Testimony of the Prophets and Apostles,
Concerning The
Opening Heavens,
Compared With
Astronomical Observations,
And Of The
Present And Future Location Of The
New Jerusalem, The Paradise Of God.
By Joseph Bates
New Bedford:
Press Of Benjamin Lindsey.
1846.
PREFACE
In presenting the following subject to the consideration of whom it may
concern, I would here state that the two leading motives which have
actuated and guided me through this absorbing subject has been--first,
the truth of God to encourage and strengthen the true-believer. Second,
to correct, or "rebuke" the spiritual views, (may I not say of almost
all Christendom,) in respect to the appearing and kingdom of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. Twenty-one years observation and experience,
but more especially the last seven, in pursuit of this object, has
taught me that truth is the only thing that can save the soul. But the
great mass of the professed Christian world seem to pay no more regard
to it than their great _Predecessor_, who said unto the Saviour "what is
truth?" when he had just said to him that he "came into the world to
bear witness unto the truth, and every one that is of the truth, heareth
my voice." Jesus in his last prayer for his disciples asks the Father to
sanctify them through the truth. "Thy word is truth." _St. John._ Again,
he saith. "The Spirit is truth." The forerunner of Christ said, "The law
was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Jesus
says, "I am not come to destroy the law or the prophets; but to fulfil,
for verily I say unto you till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law until all be fulfilled."
_Matthew._ Then of course man is required to believe "and live by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Third, thousands who have
been looking for the personal appearing of the Lord Jesus from heaven in
these last days, have in their disappointment about his coming, given up
the only Scriptural view, and are now teaching that he has come in
spirit and this is all we shall ever see of him here. One single passage
from the Saviour's last words, when about to leave the world in the
flesh, ought to have rectified any such mistake: "And lo, I am with you
always, even unto the end of the world," meaning of course, his spirit.
But I submit the subject.
Fairhaven, May 8, 1846.
Joseph Bates.
[The copy right is secured with Him that sits upon the Throne in the
coming Heavenly Sanctuary. The grant to use it is unlimited. Those only
are punished that abuse the right.]
THE OPENING HEAVENS.
"_Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see_ HEAVEN OPEN,
_and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of
man_."--John i: 51.
Notwithstanding my incompetency to do justice to this momentous subject,
I feel constrained to throw out my views in this public manner, for the
benefit of all who feel an interest in the second coming of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, to set up, and establish his "everlasting kingdom,"
upon this renovated earth.
I believe, according to the testimony of the "two men seen in white
apparel," that "this same Jesus which was taken up _into_ Heaven will in
like manner come again," (Acts i: 11) from the same place, and stand in
the same place he left. (See Zach. xiv: 4.) I believe he is in the third
Heaven, in Paradise, with God, the Father; (see 2 Cor. xii: 2, 4; Rev.
iii: 21; Heb. i: 3, 9 and 24) that he is now about to come with the Holy
CITY, THE CAPITAL of his everlasting kingdom, and locate it in the
"midst" of the promised land where he was crucified. According to this
view then there is but one place in the heavens for this CITY to come
from. A spiritual exposition of these glorious things, now about to be
realized, beclouds the whole, and leaves no tangible ground for God's
people to stand on. Whoever attempts this wilfully will run the risk of
losing his soul, for Jesus says "if any man shall add or take away from
the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part
(from the tree of life--margin) and out of the Holy CITY." Rev. xxii:
19. Proof positive, that the Saints have a part in the City, and not in
themselves.
Let us now listen to his description of this glorious view he sees
before him, while he sits, pen in hand, all ready to write down what
transpires at the command of his guide.
"I, John, saw the holy CITY NEW JERUSALEM coming down from God, _out of
Heaven_, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." In the 5th v.
John saw him that "was dead and is alive forevermore," seated upon "his
throne;" and he said unto me "write, for these words are true and
faithful." "And there came unto me one of the seven angels, saying come
up hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife; and he carried
me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and _shewed_ me that
great CITY THE HOLY JERUSALEM, descending _out of Heaven_ from God,
having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most
precious, even like a Jasper stone, clear as crystal. And I heard a
great voice _out_ of Heaven saying, behold, the TABERNACLE of God is
with men." What a beautiful description is here--please read the whole
chapter. In the two first verses of the xxii. chapter, we learn that the
walls of this CITY enclose "the tree of life," "which is in the midst of
the _Paradise of God_." Moses testifies that "the Lord God planted a
_garden_ eastward in _Eden_, and there he put the man whom he had
formed. And the tree of life also in the midst of the _garden_, and a
_river_ went out of _Eden_ to water the garden, and became into four
heads." Gen. xi: 8, 10; iii: 3, 17, 22, 24. Compare this with Ezekiel's
prophecy, xlvii: 3, 5, 12; also xlviii: 30, 35. There he speaks of
waters first shallow and then deep; waters to swim in that could not be
passed over, on the "banks of which shall be fruit every month, and the
leaves for medicine." He also shows the four sides or "heads" to the
river. The prophet Isaiah says "Look upon _Zion, the City_. _Jerusalem._
_Tabernacle_, a place of broad rivers and streams; where shall pass no
galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby,"--xxxiii: 20,
21. Surely this is the same which Moses and Ezekiel has described; and
John says, "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of
life, which is in the midst of the _Paradise_ of God. And whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. xxii: 17, 2, 7. Then
this "_Holy City_, _new Jerusalem_, _the Zion of God_, _the Tabernacle
of God_, _the Bride the Lamb's Wife_, _the Mother of us all_," is a
_City_, enclosed with a wall one hundred and forty-four cubits high,
which embraces the "_garden of Eden, the Paradise of God_." And God
calls it his "SANCTUARY." I suppose that it will be conceded by all,
that the _Garden of Eden_ at the time of the fall, was a literal place,
and was planted eastward. Yes, says one, and it is located in "Ethiopia
or Assyria." How then is it, that the traveller and historian are
entirely silent about it? Surely, it is a most remarkable place. Hear
Moses's description of it:--"Therefore the Lord God sent him (Adam)
forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was
taken. So he drove out the man: and placed at the _East_ of the garden
of Eden, Cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard
the tree of life." Gen. iii: 23, 24. Now we have no account that these
Cherubims and flaming sword has ever been seen within the orbit of this
planet (which is allowed to be 162 millions of miles in diameter) since
the fall of man, but has been far removed out of their sight. The
prophet says, "Behold the time shall come that these tokens which I have
told thee, shall come to pass, and the _Bride_ shall appear, and the
coming forth shall be seen that _now is withdrawn from the earth_,"--xi.
Esdras: 7, 26. This shows that Paradise is not located in this planet.
But perhaps you do not believe that Esdras is a true prophet; well then,
will you believe St. Paul? He says, "I knew a man in Christ above
fourteen years ago (whether in the body I cannot tell, God knoweth) such
an one caught up to the third Heaven--God knoweth how that he was caught
up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not (possible:
margin) for a man to utter." 2 Cor. xii: 4. St. John's testimony agrees
with Paul, for he says he "saw the _Bride the Lamb's wife_, coming down
from God, _out of Heaven_," without doubt, the same place where he had
been. But says the objector, if John saw it coming down 1750 years ago,
it ought to have been here by this time. Very true; but John "saw things
which must shortly come to pass." Rev. 1. Let us just look at a few of
the things he saw, and remember at the same time how he was directed to
write them down, that every important point might be recorded. He saw
the "abomination (Popery) that maketh desolate set up," four hundred and
forty-five years in the future. Again, he saw the seven angels going
forth with their trumpets to sound--he particularly describes the three
last. See Rev. viii: 13; ix: 17, 19. Here he shows us what was to be the
component parts of gunpowder, and in a very peculiar and clear manner
describes the musket with the ball, (head) how they killed men 1350
years before muskets were used on horse-back--17th v. Further, how could
he have described the second advent history so minutely as he has done
in the xiv. chapter, if he had not have seen what was to be, and has
been fulfilled; and how is it possible he could have given such a
lamentable picture of "Mistery Babylon," if he had not have seen in
_these last days_ of "perilous times," the professed children of God
drinking from the old mother's cup of poison, while "she was drunk with
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." Rev. xvii. and xviii. Once more, how
did David see that blood thirsty mob shoot out the lip, and laugh to
scorn their Savior; and the four Roman soldiers under his cross dividing
his garments and casting lots for his vesture, twelve hundred years
before it took place. John xix: 23, 24. Why! just as St. John saw the
_Holy City_ coming down at the second advent of Jesus--just as I
believe, it will be seen, "Having the glory of God: and her light was
like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as
crystal." Rev. xxi: 11. The most precious is the green, spotted with red
and purple. We will now look at the
ASTRONOMICAL VIEW.
From what part of Heaven will this glorious _City_ appear? We answer,
from where the flaming sword is "guarding the way of the tree of life,"
and the Cherubims are stationed. John i: 51. Furgerson, the celebrated
astronomer of the last century, in describing some of the many wonders
in the Heavens, says "that the two bright clouds in the heavens at the
south pole, called by mariners the clouds of Magelen, are by astronomers
called cloudy stars, but the most remarkable of all the cloudy stars is
that in the middle of Orion's Sword, where seven stars (of which three
are very close together) seem to shine through a cloud, very lucid in
the middle, but faint and ill defined about the edges. It looks like a
GAP in the sky, through which one may see (as it were) part of a much
brighter region. Although most of the spaces are but a few minutes of a
degree in breadth, yet, since they are among the fixed stars, they must
be spaces larger than what is occupied by our Solar System--(the Solar
System includes the Planet Uranus, which is one thousand and eight
hundred millions of miles from the Sun, the circumference of her orbit
in which she revolves around the Sun is calculated to be three hundred
and fourteen millions of miles)--and in which there seems to be a
perpetual uninterrupted day among numberless worlds, which no human art
can ever discover."--_Furgerson's Treatise on Astronomy, edition A. D.
1770._
Out of ninety-three, Orion is the most striking and splendid
constellation in the Heavens; her centre is mid way between the poles of
heaven and directly over the equator of the Earth, and is visible from
all the habitable parts of the Globe. On her south-eastern quarter is
the beautiful star Sirius, (one of the most magnificent in the Heavens.)
and on the north-west is stationed the Pleiades or seven Stars. "She
rises at noon about the 9th of March" "and sets at noon about the 21st
of June," and comes to the meridian January 23d, at 9 P. M. She is now
to be seen for a little while, in the evening twilight, about one hour
high, with the Planets Jupiter and Mars on her north and north-west.
When the Lord answered Job out of the whirl wind, and demanded of him to
answer to the wonderful questions which he was now about to put to him,
he says "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades _or loose
the bands of_ ORION." When Amos, the Prophet exhorted his Israel to
repentance, he endeavored to impress their minds with the power of God
by adverting to the wonderful phenomena in the Heavens, by saying, "Seek
him that maketh the Seven Stars and Orion," &c. &c.
HUGGENS, its first discoverer, gives the following description of it:
"Astronomers place three stars close together in the Sword of Orion; and
when I viewed the middle-most with a Telescope, in the year 1656, there
appeared in the place of that one, twelve other stars; among these three
that almost touch each other, and four more besides appeared twinkling
as through a cloud, so that the space about them seemed much brighter
than the rest of the heaven, which appearing wholly blackish, by reason
of the fair weather, was seen as through a curtain opening, through
which one had a free view into another region which was more
enlightened. I have frequently observed the same appearance in the same
place without any alteration; so that it is likely that this wonder,
whatever it may be in itself, has been there from all times; but I never
took notice of any thing like it among the rest of the fixed stars."
Sir WILLIAM HERSCHEL says, "If stars of the eighth magnitude are to be
considered at an average of eight times further distant than those of
the first, then this nebula cannot be supposed to be less than
320,000,000,000,000, three hundred and twenty thousand billions of miles
from the earth. If its diameter at this distance subtend an angle of ten
minutes, which it nearly does, its magnitude must be utterly
inconceivable. It has been calculated that it must exceed
2,000,000,000,000,000,000, or two trillions of times the dimensions of
the Sun, vast and incomprehensible as these dimensions are."--_See
Dick's Siderial Heavens, Vol. VIII. pp. 181, 184._
Says this author--"Suffice it to say that such an enormous mass of
luminous matter was not created in vain, but serves a purpose in the
divine arrangements corresponding to its magnitude and the nature of its
luminosity, and to the wisdom and intelligence of him whose power
brought it into existence. It doubtless subserves some important
purpose, even at the present moment, to worlds and beings within the
range of its influence. But the ultimate in all its bearings and
relations, may perhaps remain to be evolved during the future ages of an
interminable existence." Page 184.
Again, says the ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS of April 19th, 1845: "Marvellous
rumors are afloat respecting the Astronomical discoveries made by Lord
Rosse's monster Telescope. (This is said to be sixty feet long and its
great speculum or reflecting large glass measures six feet in diameter
and weighs three and three-fourths tons, and is calculated to discover
glorious objects in the Heavens, to man heretofore unknown.) It is
stated that Regulus, instead of being a sphere, is ascertained to be a
Disc; and stranger still, that the nebula in the belt of Orion (meaning
the bright place before stated) is a universal system, a sun with
planets moving round it, as the earth and her fellows move around our
glorious luminary."
Thus we see from all the testimony adduced, (and we could give much more
were it necessary) that here is a most wonderful and inexplainable
phenomena in the heavens: a gap in the sky, more than 11,314,000,000
miles in circumference. Says the celebrated HUGGENS, "I never saw
anything like it among the rest of the fixed stars--a free view into
another region more enlightened." I have had the pleasure (with others)
during the past month, to see this wonder in the Heavens a number of
evenings, through J. Delano, Jr's. excellent Telescope.
It has been supposed by some, that this wonderful phenomena seen through
the sword of Orion, has passed through some material change since it was
first discovered by Huggens, one hundred and ninety years ago. On this
point Sir John Herschel says: "When it is considered how difficult it is
to represent such an object duly, and how entirely its appearance will
differ even in the same Telescope, according to the clearness of the
air, or other temporary causes, we shall readily admit that we have no
_evidence of change_ that can be relied on."
As I had before partially examined the Bible view of the _opening
Heavens_, I think I never shall forget the thrill that pervaded my whole
being, the first time that I saw this celestial wonder coursing its way
down the western Heavens! Since then, when I have viewed it through the
Telescope, my mind would instinctively revert to Moses's description of
the _liberated_ children of Abraham, passing through the Red Sea, with
that wonderful miracle "the pillar of fire, between them and the
Egyptian Host." My thoughts still running onward, from type to antitype,
"God looking through the cloud of fire in the morning watch;" at once
vanquished the enemies of his chosen people. Exo. xiv: 24, 27.
So in _this_ morning watch God will not only look through this mighty
space, (black on one side with the stormy cloud,) but, as the Prophet
Joel says, he will "_Roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from
Jerusalem; and the Heavens and the Earth shall shake: but the Lord will
be the hope of his people.--So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God
dwelling in Zion my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy._"
("CLEANSED.") iii: 16, 17.
A western view, with an inverting eye piece, gives it the appearance of
a stormy dark cloud, with a full moon just shut in behind it, and three
bright stars looking through the cloud. This dark looking cloud is
called the gap in the sky. This constellation measures about one
thousand miles from North to South, and five hundred from East to West,
and is visible to all the inhabitants of the earth.
Here then is a mighty Image (as represented on the map of the Heavens,)
stretched across mid heaven, with his gold and silver epaulettes (four
hundred and eighty miles apart) and two burning stars denoting his
Northern and Southern extremities: the golden one on his upraised left
foot, the other of silver on his right knee, answering to the one on his
left shoulder; girded with his brilliant studded belt and flaming sword;
"doubtless, to subserve some important purpose even at the present
moment." Let it be distinctly understood, with what has already been
stated by the Astronomers, that this "constellation is one of the most
brilliant and noted in the Heavens," that its nebula, (according to the
celebrated Sir WILLIAM HERSCHEL) far exceeds any other object, and its
magnitude utterly inconceivable, two trillions times larger than the
Sun; while the Sun is allowed to be thirteen hundred thousand times
larger than our globe. That it "never yet has been resolved into stars
by the highest power of the telescope," and there is no evidence of any
change, even if it were discovered to be resolvable, (as is stated by a
writer somewhat acquainted with Lord Rosse's monster telescope.) If so,
it goes to strengthen the argument of its first discoverer, who says
"through which one had a free view into another region which was more
enlightened."
If, then, there is nothing to be seen on Earth or in the Heavens except
what Joshua and David saw, v: 13, 14; 1 Chro. xxi: 15, 16, that looks
like this constellation, would it be thought strange for a Christian to
believe that the Prophet Moses had recorded for our instruction the very
answer to be given, viz. "to keep the way of the tree of life."
I have now given a general description of this celestial wonder, but
some may still doubt whether any thing can be ascertained with respect
to objects so far removed. If the most accurate calculations had not
already been made in respect to many of the heavenly bodies, how could
the tempest tossed mariner, after being driven for days, and sometimes
weeks, sailing on all points of the compass, and perhaps, not have known
his position from the time he had taken his departure from his port,
only by dead reckoning, nothing in sight but sea and sky, ascertain his
true position? Just look,--there stands the captain, on some convenient
part of the deck of his ship, holding in his hand a three cornered
instrument, called a Sextant, measuring the distance between the sun and
moon, or if it be in the night, between the moon and some lunar star,
(which is millions on millions of miles removed from the Solar System,)
noting the moment by his watch when he brings the outer or inner edges
of these two celestial objects to touch; then measuring their distance
from the horizon. With the help of a Nautical Almanac, (which had been
published years before,) in the course of twenty minutes he so
confidently ascertains his position, (however strange it may appear to
landsmen,) that he would, after running ten or one hundred miles more or
less, as the case may be, direct one of his crew to go to the mast head,
and tell him at the same time in what direction to look for land.
Presently the cry would come down, thrilling through every soul in the
ship, "Land ho!" "Where away?" "Off the starboard bow, sir, where you
told me to look." Such instances are not rare, but of daily occurrence.
"How could that be?" says one, "it looks like a miracle!" So it would
be, if the great God had not directed these celestial objects to move in
perfect harmony. A place for every one, and every one in its place.
One at a certain time said, "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst
thou find out the Almighty to perfection?" The wise man answers, "No man
can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end."
Ecl. iii: 2; Job xi: 7. These texts alone teach us that we yet know but
little of the power and wisdom of the Sovereign of the universe, whose
spirit fills unlimited space; which space is undoubtedly coeval and
coextensive with eternity; studded with millions on millions of worlds,
each moving in its appropriate Sphere, like our own Planet. But a still
greater wonder is the thousands and millions of blazing Comets, even in
the Solar System, (Dick, vol. viii: p. 339,) seemingly sailing with a
roving commission, sweeping their burning trails all over the
perceptible universe of God, each moving in its proper Orbit! some of
them shooting, at times, almost with the velocity of lightning! And yet,
with what precision does the Astronomer calculate their appearing again
after hundreds and thousands of years, without interfering with any of
the celestial scenery. Just turn over to the second page of your Almanac
and learn with what admirable accuracy the Astronomer has calculated,
even to a moment of time, when the moon of yesterday will be passing
under the sun, and cause the darkness to be seen and felt.
Some minds may be troubled about the flaming sword being placed at the
East of the Garden, or that we could see the Eastern side. This will be
better understood by looking at the motion of our Planet. It is said by
Astronomers that this Earth in its annual motion, is booming round the
sun at the rate of nineteen miles per second; at the same time her
diurnal motion from East to West is at the rate of ten miles per minute:
consequently all the objects we see in the heavens, comes from the East,
and among the rest this glorious constellation of _Orion_, all just as
natural as it is for us to see the Sun rise in the East; and in the same
direction the world will soon see what the Second Advent believer has
long and anxiously been waiting for: viz. the "glorious appearing of the
great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus ii: 13. Now let us take
another view; not through Lord Rosse's, but God's great Telescope, which
"declares the end from the beginning." Isa. 46: 10.
BIBLE VIEW.
The patriarch Jacob said to his sons that "God Almighty appeared unto
him at Luz, which is Bethel." Gen. 48: 3; 25: 26. Here, while a Pilgrim
traveller and stranger, he had laid himself down for the night, he
"dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it
reached to Heaven; and behold, the angels of God ascending and
descending on it." Gen. xxviii: 12. Seventeen hundred and ninety years
after this, the Lord says to Nathaniel, "hereafter ye shall see HEAVEN
OPEN, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of
man." This, then, is in the future. Next in order, Ezekiel has a vision,
in the thirtieth "year of the Babylonish captivity by the river Chebar."
He says, "the Heavens were OPENED, and I saw visions of God." He
proceeds to describe his vision; please read Chap. i: 5, 10; 24, 28. He
sees as the appearance of a man--describes also the stormy cloud with
the brightness round about it; he also hears a _voice_ from the
firmament, and says that the Lord God spake to him. Now see Chap. x: 4,
5; 19, 20. Here he says "the Cherubims stood at the door of the _East_
gate (where Moses says they were placed) of the Lord's House, and the
glory of the God of Israel was over them above." "This is the living
creature that I saw _under_ the God of Israel by the river Chebar, and
_I knew that they were Cherubims_." Is it not plain that Ezekiel has
shown the same place and station of the Cherubims which Moses has, on
the East side, keeping the way of the tree of life. Jacob calls them
angels, and cries out in terror, "How dreadful is this place, this is
none other but the House of God and this is the _gate_ (or opening) of
Heaven." 17 v. Isaiah in a vision sees "the throne high and lifted up,
and hears the _voice_ of God," as did the others. Let us examine here a
few moments to see what Cherubims are, and their use. One writer says,
"they appear to be servants of God sent to do his will." Hear God
concerning them, "and there will I meet with thee and I will commune
with thee from between the two Cherubims which are upon the Ark of the
testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the
children of Israel." Exo. xxv: 16, 22. PROOF--"And Hezekiah (in his
distress) prayed before the Lord, and said O Lord God of Israel which
dwelleth between the Cherubims," 2 Kings, xix: 15. "And God sent the
prophets to tell him that his prayer was heard." v. 20.
"The Lord reigneth let the people tremble; he setteth between the
Cherubims, let the earth be moved." Psl. xcix: 1. Then here is where we
are to look for the Paradise of God, the Holy City, and where we shall
soon hear the voice of God, for he "sitteth above between the
Cherubims," as is represented in the old Tabernacle and Temple. "For
see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed
to thee in the mount." Heb. viii: 5; ix: 5. St. John also describes
them, and tells what their occupations were in heaven. Rev. v: 11, 12.
Now we will proceed with the testimony concerning the opening heavens.
John the Baptist bears record, that when he was coming up out of the
water from baptising the Saviour, he "saw the heavens OPENED (or cloven
or rent) and the spirit like a dove descending upon him, and there came
a _voice_ from heaven," &c. Mark i: 10, 11; Luke iii: 20, 22; Matt. iii:
16, 17; John i: 32.
Here is the opening heavens, and the voice of God as before. When Jesus
was transfigured on the Mount the Disciples saw the cloud and heard the
_voice_ of God.
When the Savior ascended from Mount Olivet, his disciples saw him: the
two shining ones said, "Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up _into
heaven_? (it must have been _open_ to their view, or they could not have
looked _into_ heaven) this same Jesus which is taken up from you _into
heaven_ shall come again in like manner as ye have seen him go _into
heaven_." Acts i: 11. Then of course, it will be from the same place.
Let us not be deceived about this, he has not come yet.
Again, St. Luke says of Stephen, the martyr, (while he was surrounded by
a blood-thirsty mob, gnashing on him with their teeth, because of the
burning truths which he uttered,) "Being full of the Holy Ghost, looked
up steadfastly _into heaven_, (at a certain point) and saw the glory of
God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God: and said, _behold, I
see the heavens opened_, and the son of man standing on the right hand
of God." Was Stephen mistaken? I think not--it was his dying testimony.
But here is a more singular case still, two miracles on two individuals
of different nations to establish and fulfil Daniel's prophecy of the
seventieth week upon his people (the Jews). The time had now come and
something out of the ordinary way was to mark this epoch of time. Now
look yonder in Cesarea, there is a Gentile in a vision, he sees an angel
which directs him to send into Judea for a certain Jew named Peter.
Where is he? At a place called Joppa. (the sea port of Jerusalem,) lying
in a trance, on the top of a house, and made to feel "very hungry,"
(that he might more readily and willingly follow the teachings of the
voice and spirit of God to proclaim salvation to the Gentiles, for he
was one of the _stubborn ones_, that held to the _present truth_; and
perhaps could not be prevailed upon to yield in any other way.) Just so
with his _stubborn_ brethren, who called him to an account for going in
to the Gentiles, but after he had rehearsed the whole matter to them,
"then they believed and glorified God, for granting repentance to the
Gentiles." But what was the miracle? Peter says he "saw _heaven opened_
and a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet
knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth. This was done
thrice (or three times) and the vessel was received up again _into
Heaven_," and the voice of the Lord came to him twice, "saying what God
has cleansed call not thou common." Acts x. and xi. ch. Here ends the
confirming of the Covenant with many for one week. Danl. ix: 27, Heb.
ii: 3.
The Apostle Paul in relating his vision says that he was "caught up to
the third Heavens _into Paradise_." 2 Cor. xii: 2, 4. St. John, the
"beloved disciple," in his solitary confinement on the Isle of Patmos,
not only has the same view of the _opening Heavens_, and hears the same
voice, but was called up there in the spirit, and immediately he was
there, describing the glories of Heaven. Please read his description of
the glorious picture before and around the throne, (from whence the
Prophets and Apostles already quoted, have looked through God's _all_
magnifying Telescope, and was burdened with the cry, "This is none other
but the House of God and this is the _gate_ of Heaven!" "And lo, the
Heavens were _opened_"!! "I see Heaven _open_"!!! At the same time and
place God speaks with them). V: 6--here he sees the Lamb. Also vii: 15;
viii: 3, 5, and xii: 5. Jesus the Son was caught up there, xx: 11, and
xxi: 5. Same thing in the iv: 8 v. he has Isaiah's view of the Seraphims
and uses nearly the same language in describing them, and says with
Isaiah they rest neither day nor night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord
God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come, 8 v., and in the fifth
chapter he says "And I beheld and heard the voices of many angels round
about the throne, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was
slain to receive power," &c. &c. Ezekiel's Cherubims and John's Angels
are undoubtedly the same. John's _four_ beasts, Isaiah's Seraphims, and
Ezekiel's _four_ wheels are typical of the _four_ grand divisions of the
Camp of Israel, around the Tabernacle in the wilderness, all marshalled
and arrayed by God's direction with their _four_ different standards,
(answering to the _four_ faces or sides to Ezekiel's wheel, and the
faces of John's four beasts). Juda with the Lion in the front on the
East, (Num. ch. ii.) all ready to move at a moment's warning. Even where
the "cloudy pillar by day or of fire by night;" which rested on the
Tabernacle, should direct. The Levites, the ministers of God, all moving
in perfect harmony, with the Ark containing the Commandments of God;
close after which, in the midst of the camp, in solid columns follows
the taken down tabernacle. All moving after and watching the direction
of this "fiery pillar by night," and the moment it ceased to move the
camp halted. The Tabernacle was raised, and the Commandments of God,
(the keeping of which will secure an entrance into the Anti-type, the
real Heavenly Tabernacle, that is to be "with men," Rev. xxi: 3; xxii:
14.) restored to their proper place _beneath_, and under the guardian
care of the Cherubims between which his people were directed to pray
unto him. Exo. xxv: 22.
John also has described in the above mentioned texts, much of the
furniture particularized in the old Tabernacle, which Paul says are
"patterns of the true." Heb. ix: 23, 24. Conclusive evidence that he was
in the "_true_ (or real) Tabernacle which God pitched, and not man."
Heb. viii: 2. The same _City_, which Abraham "looked for, whose builder
and maker is God." The Psalmist also agrees with Paul; and says, "The
Lord has _prepared his throne_ in the Heavens." Paul says, that Jesus is
there. See Heb. viii: 1, 2; and ix: 24. Jesus says, "he that overcometh
will I grant to sit with me in my _throne_, even as I also overcame and
am set down with my Father in _his throne_." Rev. iii: 21. Now, is it
not evident that God has but one sanctuary, and that his throne is
there; and one place for that sanctuary, and that place in the third
heavens? Why then, should there be more than one way to approach it, or
for it to come from, namely, by "the Cherubims and flaming sword,
stationed there, to guard the way?"
The editor of the Day Star asks, "why we stand gazing up into heaven;
can you (meaning, I suppose, any one) tell where this same Jesus is
coming from?" 2d. "Can you prove God the Father to be in one place, in
any greater degree and power, than he is in any and every, and every
other place?"
If we have not already offered sufficient evidence, in answer to these
two most important questions to the true believer in Christ, we will try
a little further; for if we cannot understand, nor in any way
comprehend, the teachings of the divine word, in respect to the second
coming and kingdom of Jesus Christ, the location of the heavenly
_Sanctuary_, the new Jerusalem, God's dwelling place, other than is
figuratively discerned, then, I say, we that truly believe in God, "are
of all men the most miserable;" and the sooner we hoist the _Shaker's_
flag, and bring too under the lee of their _camp_, the better; for I
should despair of ever getting my anchor _down_ "within the vale." In
the first place then, we say, Jesus has not yet come the second time, in
the manner he promised us. For when speaking of his coming, he says
emphatically, "Then shall THEY SEE _the Son of man coming in the clouds
of Heaven_," &c. Now, according to this description, I'll venture the
assertion, that there is not a particle of proof in the universe, that
one solitary individual has seen him. Hence, I for one, am gazing up
into heaven looking, and unwaveringly believing, that this, his precious
promise, will soon be realized. But you say, he has come in his saints.
Well, I say there is no more proof of this, than there was that he was
in his apostle's, eighteen hundred years ago--for they certainly wrought
many wonderful miracles, and preached with as much power; and the mighty
weapons they used, was the death, resurrection and second coming of
Christ. Now did the Apostle's ever teach such a doctrine, that Jesus had
come _in them_ the second time? and further, I cannot believe that he
will be seen any sooner in Ohio, than in New-England or New-York. Again,
we answer to the first and second questions, combined--Rev. iv: 2. Here
is a throne, with one seated upon it. Is there any proof to be found
that this throne was on the Isle of Patmos, Rome, or any other city, or
place in this globe? Will it not be conceded by all Bible students, that
the Lord God Almighty, the Father, is seated upon it? Does not the
Seraphims which are continually crying, Holy, Holy, Holy, in the eighth
verse, say so? Who was found worthy to come and take the book out of the
right hand of him that sat upon this throne? Did he take it out of his
own hand? No, it does not read so. Who, then? John says, it "was the
Lamb." Others said, it "was the Lion of the tribe of Juda." We say, "the
Son of the Father." Here, then, where the door was _opened_ into heaven,
John saw the Father and the Son together, _at one time and in one
place_, transacting business; at the sight of which, ten thousand times
ten thousand, and thousands and thousands of angels cried aloud, "worthy
is the Lamb," &c.; and every creature under heaven acknowledged it!
Verse 11, 13. I am aware that it will be said this is symbolical
language. Allow me to quote an extract from a celebrated writer. "Even
the symbolic parts of a vision have a mixed character. When real
persons, the highest in their kind are mentioned by their proper titles,
there is no room for symbols; the objects represent themselves, God and
Christ and the good angels; Satan and evil spirits, and redeemed saints
on earth or in heaven, are never emblems. Forsake this maxim, and
symbolic prophecy becomes a chaos, in which nothing is fixed, and where
fancy runs riot in its own excesses."
But you say, God is a spirit. (There is no doubt but what his spirit
pervades all space, and every thing in it that has life.) But to the
testimony. "Ye have neither heard his voice nor seen his shape." John v:
37. Did Jesus contradict the Patriarchs and Prophets? No, no! He here
told his persecutors what they had not seen nor heard; he did not say he
had no voice or shape. Who did? 1st. Moses. "And I will cover thee with
my _hand_ while I pass by; and I will take away mine _hand_ and thou
shalt see my _back parts_, but my _face_ shall not be seen." Exod.
xxxiii: 22, 23. 2d. The "_eyes_ of the Lord are upon the righteous, and
his _ears_ are open unto their cry. The _face_ of the Lord are against
them that do evil: the Lord _heareth_." Psalms xxxiv: 15, 17. Again, the
"Ancient of days did _sit_, whose _garment_ was white as snow, and the
_hair of his head_ like the pure wool." Does not this prove a shape,
features, and voice, ascribed to God, the same as to man. "And God said
let us make man in our own image, after our likeness; so God created man
in his own image, in the _image of God_ created he him: male and female
created he them." Gen. i: 26, 27. Paul says of Jesus, "Who is the _image
of God_, (this can't be spiritually so) the first born of every
creature; who being in the _form of God_, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God." Eph. ii: 5, 6. Now to the Hebrews--"Hath in these last
days spoken unto us by his son, who being the brightness of his glory,
and the EXPRESS IMAGE of his person." Now turn to the history of Rome
for a moment--read how LENTULUS describes the Savior to the Roman
Senate. Here he describes his stature, countenance, his eyes, beautiful
flowing hair, his wisdom, &c., and finally closes with the following: "A
_man_ for his singular beauty far exceeding all the sons of men." Paul
says, he is the "_express image_" _of God_. (I understand him to say
that he looks just like him.) Oh, says one, this man is a Unitarian! So
then was Paul, or I have not quoted him right.
And Daniel, the prophet, teaches the same doctrine. "I saw in the night
visions: and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of
heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, (described in the ninth verse)
and they brought him near before him; and there was given him dominion
and glory, and a kingdom, never to be destroyed." Dan. vii: 13, 14. Now
we all admit this personage was Jesus Christ; for no being on earth or
in heaven, has ever had the promise of an everlasting kingdom but him.
And does not the Ancient of days give it to him? Would it not be absurd
to say that he gave it to himself? How then can it be said (or proved)
as it is by some, that the Son is the Ancient of days;--this passage,
and the one in fifth Revelations, distinctly prove God and his Son to be
two persons in heaven. Jesus says, "I proceeded forth and came from God;
neither came I of myself, but he sent me." John viii: 42. "I come forth
from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world
and go to the Father." (Does he remain in the same place?) "We are
confident I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and
present with the Lord." Paul.
"The Scripture testimony accounts for no other spirits but those seen in
the shape of men." One of the three which came to Abraham was the Lord.
Gen. xviii. The Angel Gabriel was called the "man Gabriel." Danl. ix.
The angel which appeared to Gideon was called the Lord. I think here is
sufficient proof from the Scriptures to justify the true believer to be
still looking for a personal Saviour, and that God the Father is a
person, and looks like Jesus and we like him; and God has a habitation
where he dwells, as the Scriptures testify:
"And I John saw the _Holy City new Jerusalem_ coming down from God out
of Heaven."
Another writer in the same paper undertakes to prove that this same City
has began to appear; has been developing itself since the fall of 1844.
Who has seen this City? O, he says, it is evident, that it is the
saints. Is it possible that the Saints have been _coming down from
Heaven_ this eighteen months! Why, there is not the least particle of
proof that the righteous dead have yet been caught up? Thes. iv: 16, 17.
I can readily believe that both of these brethren have been fearless
advocates for the truth, and I do not doubt their sincerity. They have
clearly proved that they are not seeking the applause of the world. I
sincerely hope that they will not get so far into the fire on one side
of the "highway" as some are in the "slough of despond" on the other.
The main business of the Devil is now to make God's people change their
course, and it is matter of no moment to him on which side of the
"highway" they fall. In either case he will make sure of his prey. God
help us to be on our watch. The great error here has arisen in
consequence of taking the symbolical meaning and rejecting the true. The
author of the Apocalyptic Dictionary, R. C. SHEMEALL, says, "_Holy City,
Jerusalem._ Used symbolically of the present visible Church; Literally,
that CITY which comes down from God." Let us examine a few texts: "Go
and cry in the ears of Jerusalem." Jer. ii: 2. "And he carried away all
Jerusalem." Kings xxiv: 14. "The cry of Jerusalem is gone up." Jer. xiv:
2. "Jerusalem has sinned they have seen her nakedness, yea she sigheth."
Lam. i: 8. "Jerusalem is a menstrous woman." 17 v. "Awake, awake, stand
up O Jerusalem." Isa. li: 17. "Arise and set down O Jerusalem." lii: 2.
"O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness." Jer. iv: 14. "Cut off
thine hair O Jerusalem and cast it away." Jer. vi: 8. Here we see that
old Jerusalem is personified. The prophets exhort her to "stand up" and
"set down," and "awake from sleep," and "wash her heart," and "be
instructed," to "cut off her hair and cast it away." She is also called
a "menstrous woman," and said to "cry and sigh," and be "carried away."
A "tumultuous city;" a "joyous city;" a "glad city." "Thou art comely, O
my love, as Jerusalem." Songs vi: 4. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
killest," &c. Now this language never could be understood, unless there
was 1st: a Jerusalem, people and government; neither could we understand
what is said of the new Jerusalem in many places, without associating
organization, as the "Zion of God," "the Zion of the Holy One of
Israel." Isa. lx: 14. "Like the kingdom of God among the Pharisees."
Luke xvii: 21. This old Jerusalem at his second coming would be the
place for the capital of his kingdom; his disciples the subjects; he
their king. As also in Daniel viii: 13--connecting the "Host (God's
people) and sanctuary." Paul to the Galatians says, "Agar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage
with _her children_. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the
_mother_ of us all." Can this testimony be credited? Did not "Abraham
look for a city which had foundations?" Paul also says of the pilgrims
and strangers on the earth, that they "were seeking an heavenly country
for God _hath_ prepared for them a _City_"! Heb. xi. in the past tense;
then it cannot be developing now in his Saints, but they are preparing
to enter the CITY.
When John was describing the _City_ in xxi. Rev. he said he saw no
temple there "for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of
it." Now Peter and Paul distinctly describe the Saints (not the city)
coming to this Mount Zion, and Temple, which makes it perfect and
complete. Peter says of his "spiritual house," "Ye also as lively
stones, [be ye built--_margin_.] up a spiritual house." 1 Pet. ii: 5. To
whom coming as unto a living stone. 4 v. For, says sixth verse, behold I
lay in Zion a chief corner stone. (Jesus.) Peter says of this Temple,
_be ye built_. Paul says it is _growing_. Read how admirably he
describes it to the Ephesians. "Fellow citizens with the Saints, and of
the household of God. And are built upon the _foundation_ of the
Apostles and _Prophets_," (see John's twelve gates representing the
twelve tribes in Rev. xxi: 12; and the twelve Apostles of the Lamb
representing the twelve foundations of the wall, 14th verse, which
encloses the whole,) Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone,
_In whom all the building fitly framed_ GROWETH INTO _an holy Temple in
the Lord_; In whom ye also are builded _together_ for an habitation of
God. Eph. ii: 19, 22. His Epistle to the Hebrews shows how they are
brought together and where. "But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto
the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an
innumerable company of angels; To the general assembly and church of the
first born, which are (enrolled--_margin_) in heaven; And to God the
Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus
the Mediator of the new Covenant." Now has not Paul distinctly described
_what_ the Saints _shall come to_. O but, say you, we have already come.
No, no, friend, you are too fast. Paul will explain: "_Mount Zion_ the
_City the Heavenly Jerusalem_ to the innumerable company of Angels (or
Cherubims) to the Church of the first born and to God, and to Jesus."
xii: 22, 24. Now where? See 25, 28, when he speaketh from heaven. His
voice once shook the earth, but now he is about to speak and shake
heaven also, wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved,
(this is after every thing else is moved,) therefore wait until God
shall speak in the language of Joel, and "Roar out of Zion and utter his
voice from Jerusalem." Paul shows the Corinthians how it is finished.
Hear him: "What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for _ye_
are the _Temple_ of the living God, as God hath said I will dwell in
them, and walk in them, and I will be their God and they shall be my
people." Then God and Christ and immortal Saints, constitute the Temple
in this glorious City of Zion.
I have been thus particular in quoting the Scriptures, in answer to the
questions proposed, to endeavor if possible to dispel some of the thick
darkness and mist of Shakerism, Quakerism, Swedenborgianism, and all the
Spiritualisms that now seem to be settling down all over the moral
world, and shutting out even the very light from the horizon. To my mind
this spiritualizing system, when God's word admits of a literal
interpretation, and--according to rule--the literal first; is, to use a
sailor phrase, like a ship groping her way into Boston Bay in the night,
in a thick snow with the moon at full. Nothing could be more deceptive
to the mariner; the flying clouds at one moment light up the firmament
by the thinness of its vapor, (encouraging the mariner to believe that
he shall now see the light house) the next moment it grows darker, and
so it continues to deceive them, until of a sudden the breakers are
roaring all around them--the ship is dashed upon the rocks--one general
cry goes aloft for mercy! and all hope is forever gone--ship and
mariners strewed all over the beach! Good God! help us to steer clear of
these spiritual interpretations of Thy word, where it is made so clear
that the second coming and kingdom of Christ will be as literal and
real, as the events that transpired at the first Advent, now recorded in
history.
When the Saviour comes the second time, it will be with the City, (the
Capital of his kingdom) seated upon his throne. Hear him: "When the son
of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then
shall he be _seated_ upon the throne of his _glory_." Matt. xxv. 31.
"And the city had no need of the sun--for the glory of God did lighten
it, and the lamb is the light thereof." "But the _throne_ of God and the
Lamb shall _be in it_." Rev. xxi: 23, and xxii: 3. This _glory_ is none
other than the golden City. When "one like the son of man came before
the Ancient of days," in Daniel, he received "_Dominion_, and _Glory_,
and a _Kingdom_." Glory, signifies worldly splendor, and magnificence.
What, I ask, will be more splendid and glorious than this City of Gold
poised fifteen hundred miles into the Heavens. The Psalmist cries out in
view of it, in this sublime language, "Let thy Glory be above all the
earth!" and so it will be; and as his dominion is from sea to sea, and
from the rivers unto the ends of the earth, so I believe his _glory_
will be seen from the uttermost border. Other views of the glory of God
and Christ do not destroy this. Saint John has connected in one, the
"_Holy City_, _New Jerusalem_, _Tabernacle of God_, _Bride the Lambs
Wife_, coming down from God, _out of Heaven_ to dwell with his
_people_." PROOF--"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain." "And he that sit upon the throne said,
behold I make all things new, and he said unto me write, for these words
are true and faithful." Rev. xxi: 4, 5. Is it not clear that the _City_,
and the _King_, and _Saints_, are here distinctly described. Why, then,
all this shouting about a figurative fulfillment, while yourselves and
the world are groping through the "_snow storm_."
THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM.
The old Prophets looking down through the vista of time to the coming of
this heavenly city, break forth in language like the following: "And it
shall come to pass that he that is left in _Zion_ and he that remaineth
in _Jerusalem_ shall be called holy, even every one that is written
among the living in _Jerusalem_." "Then the Moon shall be confounded and
the Sun ashamed when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount _Zion_ and
in _Jerusalem_--(why? because John says they will 'have no need of the
sun nor the moon,') and before his ancients gloriously." Who are they?
Noah, Abraham and the Prophets. Again: "Look upon _Zion_ the _City_ of
our solemnities; thine eye shall see _Jerusalem_ a quiet habitation, a
_Tabernacle_ that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof
shall ever be removed." "Break forth into joy, sing together ye waste
places of _Jerusalem_ for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath
redeemed _Jerusalem_." "Give no rest till he establish and till he make
_Jerusalem_ a praise in the earth." Do they mean old Jerusalem? The
Saviour's prediction is against it, "left desolate," its inhabitants
"carried away captive and trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times
of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Luke xxi. Further: "But be ye glad and
rejoice forever in that which I create, behold I create _Jerusalem_ a
rejoicing and her people a joy, and I will rejoice in _Jerusalem_ and
joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in
her, nor the voice of crying." Isa. iv: 3; xxiv: 23; xxxiii: 20; lii: 9;
lxii: 7; lxv: 18, 19. Also read xl: 1; lii: 1; lx: 14, and xxxv: 10. "At
that time they shall call _Jerusalem_ the _throne_ of the Lord, and all
the nations shall be gathered into it--neither shall they walk any more
after the imagination of their evil heart." "In those days shall Juda be
saved and _Jerusalem_ shall dwell _safely_ and this is the name
wherewith she shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. For thus
saith the Lord, David shall never want a man to set upon the throne of
the house of Israel." Jer. iii: 17; xxxiii: 16, 17. "The Lord also shall
roar out of _Zion_ and utter his voice from _Jerusalem_, then shall
_Jerusalem be holy_, and there shall be no stranger pass through her any
more." Joel iii: 16, 17.
Here then, in every instance save one or two, the people of God are
connected with the "_Zion_ of God," "_City_ of God," "_Jerusalem_ which
is to be in the last days." The Psalmist says, "Glorious things are
spoken of thee, O _City_ of God." lxxxvii: 3. John's record is, "Him
that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he
shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God and
the name of the City of my God, (what union, and yet, how distinct!)
which is new _Jerusalem_ which cometh down _out_ of heaven from my God,
and I will write upon him my new name." How could the Saviour have been
more explicit and plain. "Him that overcometh." Who? Why, the Saint; not
the City, the _new Jerusalem_. Again: "Blessed are they that do his
commandments that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter
in through the gates into the city." If the city is the Saints, what is
this that enters into and have right to the tree of life? Can the _City_
go into the _City_? If so, then we acknowledge the _City_ is the Saints.
But it reads, the Saints go in there.
In Rev. xxi: 16, the City is said to be four square, twelve thousand
furlongs; the length, and the breadth, and the height of it are equal.
Then, according to arithmetical computation, it is fifteen hundred miles
square. Now, if the City spiritually means the Saints of God, then, to
carry out the figure, the Saints must stand over, or upon each other
(according to the common stature) one million and four hundred thousand
deep; or will it be asserted that they are fifteen hundred miles tall!
SANCTUARY.
Well, says one, are you going to call this _City_ the Sanctuary too? If
you will allow the Bible testimony you will have to believe it is, or
search more diligently for it in this planet than any one else ever has
that I have heard of. But it has been proved by most able men, and
learned men, that it is the Earth, or the Land of Canaan. Well, let us
look at it again. But allow me first to recommend to your particular
notice, O. R. L. Grosier's article in the Day Star Extra, for the 7th of
February, 1846, from the 37th to the 44th page. Read it again. In my
humble opinion it is superior to any thing of the kind extant.
"_Sanctuary_ was the first name the Lord gave the Tabernacle, which name
covers not only the Tabernacle with the two apartments, but also the
court with all its hangings, and all the vessels of the ministry." Exo.
xxv: 8, 9, and 38, 21; Num. i: 53. This, then, was a dwelling place, and
a true pattern of the heavenly, embracing within its "jaspar" walls "the
Paradise of God," with the "pure river of the water of life," and the
"tree of life," and the "Golden City in the midst," all to come down
from heaven and be located in old Jerusalem. Za. 14th chapter. That's
too absurd to believe, says one. Is it any more so, than to believe the
Apostle John's testimony? Does he not show us that the tree of life is
inside of the gates, in xxii: 14. Read also the two first verses. Do not
the waters issue out from the throne? and is not the tree of life on
either side of it? and is not the promise--to him that overcometh I will
give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of
God? Well, continues the objector, I don't know but that I could have
believed your Scripture testimony concerning the city, but I can't
believe that God has such a place in the third heavens, and that it will
descend to this earth with a river of water in, or on it. How can you
believe then, what you are experiencing every day of your life, on the
planet in which we live? While she is flying in her orbit around the Sun
at the rate of fifty-eight thousand miles per hour, she is at the same
time whirling over like a ball from East to West, at the rate of six
hundred miles per hour, in her diurnal or daily motion, bottom upwards,
as it would appear, every twenty-four hours, and yet, by an unseen
power, (readily accounted for by Astronomers,) not only the rivers and
the lakes, but the mighty ocean, remains unmoved.
As we have before quoted, Moses says that a river went out of Eden to
water the Garden, and became into four heads. Gen. ii: 10, 14. Now let
us turn to Ezekiel's prophecy for a corresponding view, as "in the mouth
of two or three witnesses, shall every word be established." In chapter
43, 1st and 7th verses, he testifies that this accords with the vision
he had by the river Chebar twenty years before, (previously quoted.)
Here he sees the Glory of God on the east side of the _Sanctuary_,
(where Moses said the flaming sword and Cherubims were,) and his "voice
like the noise of many waters saying to him that the house of Israel
shall no more defile God's name." Afterwards, in 47th chapter, 1st and
5th verse: "He brought me again unto the door of the house, and behold
waters issued out from under the threshold of the house
eastward--(observe how particular to mention the "east side")--for the
fore front of the house stood towards the east, and the waters came down
from _under_, from the right side of the house." His guide then measured
the waters one thousand cubits (more than one-fourth of a mile) "the
waters were to the ankles," but when he had measured four thousand
cubits, they had become waters to swim in, that could not be passed
over. In 12th verse he describes the tree of life yielding its monthly
fruit, for meat, and its unfading leaves for medicine. Why all this?
"Because the waters issued out of the Sanctuary." Now read again in Rev.
xxii: 1, 2; does not John tell the same story: the waters issuing from
out the throne, the tree of life, the monthly fruit, the leaves for
healing, the nations. Is not this after the city comes down? In 48th
chapter, 8th verse: "And the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it."
Once more the measuring rod is run over it, showing the four sides just
like the old pattern in the wilderness, and then says the Sanctuary
shall be in the midst thereof. From 30th to 35th verse, he describes the
wall and the gates as John does in Rev. xxi: 13, and closes up his
prophecy in these words, "And the name of the city from that day shall
be, the Lord is there." Now let the old prophet Isaiah testify to what
he saw: "Look upon _Zion_ the _City_ of our solemnities, thine eyes
shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a Tabernacle that shall not be
taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither
shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord
will be unto us a place of _broad rivers and streams_, wherein shall go
no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ships pass thereby." xxxiii:
20, 21.
The Psalmist says, "there _is_ a river; the streams whereof make glad
the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God
is in the midst of her"--46: 4, 5. Jeremiah says, "A glorious high
throne from the beginning is the place of our _sanctuary_." xvii: 12.
The Psalmist replies, "For he hath looked down from the height of his
_sanctuary_; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth." cii: 19. (If he
had said _sanctuary_ instead of earth, we should not have been easily
moved from our former exposition.) "The Lord is in his holy temple, the
Lord's throne is in heaven." xi: 4. Paul says to the Hebrews, "We have
such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the
majesty, in the heavens; a minister of the _sanctuary_ and of the _true_
Tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Heb. viii: 1, 2. "For
the _invisible things_ of Him from the creation of the world are
_clearly_ seen, being understood by the _things that are made_." Rom. i:
20. Paul tells the Hebrews how they may understand these _invisible_
things, which he says are _clearly seen_. See viii. c., 5 v. "Shadow of
heavenly things." For see, (saith he) "that thou make all things
according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount." Now then,
whenever we want to understand about the heavenly _sanctuary_, we must
turn to Moses's description of the sanctuary in the wilderness, which he
made after the pattern God gave him; which Paul says were shadows of
heavenly things. How will a man dare (in the face of all this inspired
testimony) to stand here on God's earth, and assert that the heavenly
sanctuary with all that pertains to it is a FIGURE, and spiritualize it
away. It would be ten thousand times easier for him to spiritualize the
old Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple, seeing the one that is to come as
far exceeds the temple of Solomon or Nehemiah, (although, it is allowed,
that nothing on earth ever exceeded them) as the most splendid palace of
the king does the sentry box of his guard. Much safer would it be for
him to teach that the rocks had never been rent, or as he passed the
streets in the afternoon and saw the shadow of the buildings, should
insist upon it that the shadows were real, but the buildings, which cast
the shadows, were spiritual. Such doctrine should be ranked with
Mahometanism and Jesuitism, save their demoniac spirit; it comes from
the "bottomless pit and will go into perdition: and they that dwell on
the earth will wonder." Rev. xvii: 8. But I wish to present further
evidence of the real (not spiritual) coming of this heavenly
_sanctuary_. Ezekiel says in his 37th chapter, where God has promised
his spirit and life to the whole house of Israel, "Moreover, I will make
a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an _everlasting_ covenant
with them, and I will place them and multiply them, and will set my
sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore; my _tabernacle_ also shall
be with them: aye, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And
the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my
_sanctuary_ shall be in the midst of them forevermore." 26-28 v. Now
here is God's sacred promise that his sanctuary shall be in the midst of
his _people_; and I have already quoted his 48th chap. 10 v. where he
says when the angel had "measured the land twenty-five thousand reeds in
length and ten thousand in breadth," said, "and the _sanctuary_ of the
Lord shall be in the midst thereof." Now will it be insisted upon that
the land, or his people, is the sanctuary; rather let us submit to the
Scripture testimony. On the last night of our Saviour's ministry here on
earth, in company with his disciples, when everything else had failed to
arouse them, he to quicken their drooping spirits says, "Let not your
hearts be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my
father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told
you; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." John
xiv: 1, 3. I think I have now proved by unquestionable authority, that
this heavenly _sanctuary_ is the very place with _mansions_ which he has
been preparing, and according to his promise is now coming to receive
his saints. But may there not after all be a failure here. "Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away." Having such
testimony as this, we rejoice in "hope of the glory that is to be
revealed."
"Unto two thousand three hundred days then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed." Dan. viii: 14.
This, then, I understand, is the selfsame "_heavenly Sanctuary_, the
_New Jerusalem_, the _Paradise of God_." Well, says the reader, this
cannot be; how can Paradise, which Paul said was in the "third heavens,"
and where you say Jesus our High Priest is, be defiled? Where was the
first sin that ever cursed this world committed? O, say you, that was
six thousand years ago. Admit that it was, has God ever pardoned that
sin? Turn to Gen. iii: 17, 19. The ground is still cursed, and man gets
his living by the sweat of his brow. Why? Because the extent of this
great sin could never be known, until God had put the last seal upon his
saints, "and the dead be judged." But say you, the curse was upon the
earth and its inhabitants. Yes; but was not Paradise polluted by this
sin? But how can it be that anything in heaven is polluted, or unclean?
Have I not proved by the astronomer's conclusive arguments, that this
earthly ball which we inhabit is continually flying through the regions
of unlimited space, in the same direction with all other planets, seen
or known in the solar system? Think you that this little speck of earth
is the only thing that is defiled, among the millions and myriads of
worlds which stud the diadem of space? We are told that the "stars are
not pure in his sight." "Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight."
Job xv: 15; xxv: 5. Was not the sanctuary on earth which the high priest
cleansed the tenth day of the seventh month every year, a pattern of the
true? Does not Paul tell us that Jesus our high priest has entered into
the true _sanctuary_, into heaven itself. See Heb. ix: 12, 24; and viii:
1, 2. Then is not our high priest in the proper place to "cleanse the
sanctuary?" I cannot for the life of me see, how the pattern or type can
be made to appear in any other way. How then can the earth (as one in
the voice of truth, and many other writers say) be the _sanctuary_;
while spiritualizers are saying it is the saints. O Lord give us the
truth!
The strongest proof ever been adduced to prove that the earth or Canaan
was the _sanctuary_, is found in Exodus xv: 17. Now what place is this
which the Lord has made to dwell in? The answer is, "in the sanctuary O
Lord, which thy hands have established." Paul says this sanctuary is in
the heavens which the Lord pitched and not man. Heb. viii: 1, 2. The
only other passage for proof of the land is Psalms lxxviii: 54, both of
which go to strengthen the testimony before adduced. "And he brought
them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain which his
right hand had purchased." Does he in either text say that the mountain
is the sanctuary? If I can understand him, he says that the mountain is
the _border_ of his sanctuary; just as Ezekiel has shown where his guide
measured the land, and then said that the sanctuary of the Lord should
be in the midst of it. Now the word _sanctuary_ is mentioned more than
seventy times in the bible, and the whole of them,--with but a few
exceptions, represent it a dwelling place, a building. The Psalmist
says, that the "Lord looked down from his sanctuary from heaven to the
earth." Not to his sanctuary. But let us see what Daniel and the angel
Gabriel called a sanctuary. Dan. viii: 10-12. Is it not plain here that
Popery took away the daily (i. e. destroyed Paganism) by arms or armies
that stood on his (Popery's part, or side)--xi: 31. The taking away his
sanctuary or polluting it is the same; for it would be absurd to say
that the _land_ was taken away, (11 v.) or that by this transaction the
land was _now_ polluted--xi: 31. Now read ix: 17, 19. Is not Daniel
praying for the restoration of old Jerusalem, the city and _sanctuary_
(the temple where God's people worshipped) which had been desolated,
_burnt up_, by the king of Babylon's army, about seventy years before?
(see Jer. lii: 12, 14) and remained a burnt district until the
commandment by Cyrus to Ezra, and afterwards to Nehemiah, to build the
temple and city. Now in answer to this prayer, God immediately
despatched the angel Gabriel from the court of heaven, to give Daniel
"skill and understanding"--22d v. In the 26th verse he informs him that
Messiah shall be cut off, (crucify the Saviour) and the people of the
prince that shall come, shall destroy the city and the _sanctuary_. How
was this accomplished? Josephus who was an eye witness and historian,
informs us that Titus the son of Vespasian, the Emperor of Rome, about
A. D. 70, (five hundred and sixty years after the temple and city had
been rebuilt by Nehemiah) came with his mighty Roman army and took
Jerusalem, and burned up the city and temple (the sanctuary) and it was
soon after "ploughed as a field," (Micah iii: 12) "and not one stone
left upon another." This, then, was the very circumstance, Prince, and
people, alluded to by the angel Gabriel. I believe no one undertakes to
dispute this point.
Now we learn from this, that the angel Gabriel's instructions from
heaven in answer to Daniel's prayer was, that it was the _Temple in the
city of old Jerusalem_, which is the pattern or figure, or as Paul says
"answereth to the new, which is above, which is the mother of us all."
Can anything be more plain and explicit than that this is the sanctuary
to be cleansed, "unto two thousand three hundred days."
In the 11th verse he says, "the daily was taken away, (that is,
Paganism) and the place of his _sanctuary_ cast down." How plain it is
that this wicked sanctuary (where idols and devils were worshipped) was
a building, cast down. How could they cast down the earth to the earth?
(12th v.) and it (this same Popery) cast down the truth to the ground,
so the ground was not destroyed; clear proof it was not the sanctuary.
Well, but we don't believe that God will ever cleanse the wicked
sanctuary of Paganism.
The sanctuary must be cleansed, (made holy) so must the saints; for St.
John says, "nothing unclean or unholy shall enter there." Then before
the saints can enter the sanctuary it will be cleansed, not by fire, but
by blood, (please follow the pattern.) Now will it still be said that
the earth is the sanctuary? Can any proof be adduced that the earth is
to be burned even, until after immortality is given to the saints? Just
look at Zach. xiv. chapter; here he shows us that the wicked shall be
punished after "_Jerusalem_ (the sanctuary) shall be safely inhabited,"
(11th and 12th verses and onward;) and before this, in the 8th to 11th
verse, he has shown us that the land shall be turned into a plain; the
8th and 9th verses shows who does it, and how it is accomplished; and
then of the sanctuary, Jerusalem, as though it was understood that this
was done for the express purpose of making a foundation for the
building. Here I think any one may see, that the border of this heavenly
_sanctuary_ will extend to the "mountain of his inheritance," (Exo. xv:
17; Psl. lxxviii: 54) and this plain for the location and walls of the
sanctuary will be made clean and pure. This is all the cleansing the
earth will receive, until after "the great battle of God Almighty." So
then, if the earth is the _sanctuary_, God's people need have no trouble
here about its being cleansed, for they will have that work to do in
immortality; but we believe that work is now being accomplished. Again,
"how long shall the sanctuary and the host be trodden under foot." Jesus
said that old "Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles until
the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled." But how ridiculous to
believe that the heavenly sanctuary is "trodden under foot." Is it any
more so than to believe what St. Paul tells us, concerning the High
Priest of these "heavenly places" in the heavens. See Heb. x: 29. "Of
how much sorer punishment suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who
hath _trodden under foot the Son of God_, and counted the blood of the
covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing." So we can see
according to Paul's exposition, if they have trodden the master under
foot, how much more the building and the household, ("the sanctuary and
host.") In the preceding verses it is explained; just read 10th, 11th
and 12th verses; the papal power of Rome, the abomination which maketh
desolate, casting down some of the host and stars to the ground and
stamping upon them; also casting down the sanctuary and the truth to the
ground, by satanic influence--this is treading down, connected with
which is all other ungodly antichristian influences operating against
it, which is to be purged out: even as the high priest here on earth
cleansed the pattern once a year, which was never _literally_ trodden
down by any one but himself while in the act of cleansing it.
The angel did not answer the question concerning the host in the 13th
verse, but Gabriel at his second visit showed Daniel that seventy weeks
were determined upon his people, leaving 1810 years more to be explained
at his third and last visit to him. See x: 14; "Now I am come (for
what?) to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the
latter days." Please read on to the end of the twelfth chapter and see
how faithfully he has described the host (the holy people) and one
clothed in linen, (the Lord Jesus; see x: 21,) from above the waters of
the river with his hands upraised to heaven, swearing by him that liveth
forever that all these wonders, (including the resurrection in 2d verse)
shall be finished when he, (meaning the antichristian powers which are
led on and urged forward by the "prince of the power of the air,") shall
have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, by the
process of purifying, being made white, and tried, and if they pass
through and withstand all this fiery ordeal and come to the 1335 days,
they shall be blessed, and then be delivered out of such a time of
trouble as never was since there was a nation. Thus, I think, the angel
has described the treading down the host, and it appears to me that all
this severe discipline is to prepare them to enter the holy city, for an
angel crying with a mighty voice has shown them that they have been in
company with devils, foul spirits, and every unclean and hateful bird;
and another voice says, come out of her my people, for _all nations_
have drank of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Rev. xviii: 2,
4. And the poison has operated to such an alarming extent that it has
baffled the skill of all the Doctors of Divinity in the universe, and in
spite of all their preaching, fasting and praying, with the assistance
of the principals of the flock, the famine prophecied of by Amos the
Prophet, has come upon them. How awfully be describes it: "Wandering
from sea to sea, and from the north to the east, running to and fro to
seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it." God never called his
people out from any other place than the churches; if the whole truth,
the meat in due season had been given and received there, and Babylon's
poisonous cup rejected, then there would have been no severity in the
discipline of its members. The handling of God's word deceitfully, (for
it would not be admitted to say of learned men, ignorantly,) has led the
professed world into this labyrinth; and men are now being ridiculed and
laughed at, not only because they believe and are looking for the Lord
himself to descend from heaven because they are now sending forth their
epistles to (as they think) enlighten their brethren and friends
concerning the coming of Christ in the "clouds of heaven," by
subscribing themselves "yours, no longer gazing up into heaven;" "yours,
in the clouds of heaven--meeting the Lord in the air;" while another one
in the Shaker's camp in N. H., is shouting and rejoicing that he has
found the Mount _Zion_, (meaning, of course, the holy city) and that the
Germans from Europe are gathering to it; while another, from another
quarter, (as I understand standing on the "broad platform") has
attempted to prove that the powers of the heavens have been shaken, and
the sign of the Son of man in heaven has been seen; and another one
saying that "God is as much in one place as another!" while another is
shouting Hallelujah, because he believes it to be so clear that the
"saints are the _holy city_;" and yet another subscribes himself "yours,
in the kingdom." O, says one, how alarming these things are! they look
just like the "_perilous times_" St. Paul described to Timothy for the
"last days." 2 Tim. iii: 4, 5. Jesus also, in Matt, xxiv: 24. I wish the
good ministers would teach them sound doctrine; the great trouble would
be to ascertain in what denomination to find them, for I have lying
before me the creed of a professed Orthodox church o£ 1844, (_right
opinion, true belief_) of this enlightened place, signed by its two
ministers and one hundred and forty-seven members, (one of them a
minister in New-Bedford with a similar flock) who say in their fifth
article, "I believe that Christ came to establish the kingdom of heaven
on earth, _which_ is the visible church." Now all the proof they offer
from, the Scriptures is what follows: "And I say unto thee that thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it." "And he shall reign over the house of
Jacob forever; and, of his, kingdom there shall be no end." Matt. xvi:
18; Luke i: 33. Now if there is one particle of proof from these two
passages, that Christ has established his kingdom here, and that kingdom
is the church, then I confess I do not understand English. In the second
article the only proof adduced for "and Almighty Saviour" is Hebrews
xvii: 25. Their doors are wide open for members, but they must assent to
this creed. Why continue to pray "THY KINGDOM COME?" I wish to be
distinctly understood, that I do not mean anything invidious. I am only
stating the truth in behalf of "God's word;" for I believe that all the
nominal churches in this place, (and they all profess to be right) are
holding the same or similar unscriptural errors that has led the world
around them astray, not because they are more ignorant than in other
places, for I believe for general intelligence they will compare with
any place of its numbers on the habitable globe. The ministers too, with
one exception, I believe, are all college bred. And this creed, be it
remembered, is the most modern and modest of any in the place, for I
believe it is the fashion now when the church is remoddled to remoddle
the creed also, no matter how _orthodox_ it was before, there are
various ways to understand the scriptures, but when once the creed is
published, all the members, old and young, must assent to the truth of
it as their standard, until some one, more skilled in this business,
proposes an alteration. What a burlesque on the never changing truth of
the great eternal! Why follow in the footsteps of Popery to trammel the
mind? Why not as well require a rule to get money? Then if _we_ are
destitute of the true light from the word of God in this enlightened
place, where in the name of the Lord, in any other village or city, can
it be found? God has said that "light is sown for the righteous," and
"unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." Psalms. But I
must pass on--I have dwelt much longer on this lamentable picture than I
intended, and yet I have hardly begun.
I wish here to ask a few questions on one of the greatest errors that
the world ever embraced, first established by Pope Gregory, A. D. 603. I
mean the changing of God's seventh day, Sabbath, (for it is sheer
sophistry to call it the Jews Sabbath, as Jesus our divine Lord says "it
was made for man,") to the first day of the week.
Paul says, "there therefore remaineth a keeping of the Sabbath to the
people of God." Isaiah shows us that in the New Heavens and Earth all
flesh shall keep the "Sabbath." Does any bible reader believe that this
will be on any other day than what God has ordained. Let us look at the
patterns and shadows of the true. Heb. viii: 5; ix. and x: 1. Is not the
true in the eternal state? Think you that God will ever change the true
to answer the pattern of Popery, that has been foremost in desolating
the world? Every candid mind says no! What should we do then? God will
tell us. "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the SEVENTH
IS THE SABBATH of the Lord thy God; (perhaps the minister will tell you
he meant the Jewish Sabbath--don't you believe him nor any one else;
they can't prove it by the Bible) in it thou shalt not do any work;"
"wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Exod. xx.
Why all this costly array in "building the Tabernacle and afterwards the
Temple?" _Answer_, it was to put the Ark in. 2 Sam. 2-7. Hear David 1
Chron. xvii: 2, 12. What was the Ark? A small chest in which was a
precious relic; the commandments of God; his testimony to man; (see
Exod. xxv: 10, 12) how it is guarded night and day by Cherubims. What
are these commandments to us? They that keep them shall "enter in
through the gates into the city." Rev. xxii: 14. Will you say then that
the fourth commandment is abolished? If so, please cite us to the
chapter and verse. I say it cannot be found within the lids of the
bible. Will you reply by saying that the first day is the Sabbath, or
that it was ever kept by Jesus or his apostles as a day set apart for
religious worship; if so, where is the text? I challenge the world to
produce it! If it cannot be found, why violate still this sacred command
of God and reject all the light that is thrown in your pathway? God will
have some to keep his commandments, if it be but "one of a city and two
of a family." Jer. Some endeavor to clear their conscience by saying
there is no Sabbath to be kept. This, to me, looks like infidelity.
I have stated that one writer had asserted that the powers of Heaven had
been shaken and the sign of the Son of man been seen. His argument on
the twenty-fourth of Matthew, I like much, until he begins to prove what
none of us have yet seen or heard. If so, why continue to say that
"men's hearts fail them for fear and for looking after the things that
are coming on the earth." Jesus does not say that they will be looking
for _him_, but then they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds
of heaven, when they have seen the preceding signs. What arguments are
there yet to be presented that will so alarm the Laodicean church, and
scoffer, to fulfil. Isa. lx: 14, and Rev. iii: 9. It appears to me that
nothing short of the voice of God will do this. Then, I think, the wise
will understand, and get their blessing, as in Dan. xii: 12; then will
they return and discern between the righteous and the wicked; then will
they be found with the world, in the time of Daniel's trouble; they will
then have passed through the "fiery trial" and the Sealing Angel have
done his last work. This, as it looks to me will be the time when God
will roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem--and the
heavens and the earth will shake; then shall Jerusalem be holy. Joel
iii: 16, 17. It will then be cleansed from every impurity. This, I
think, will be the shaking of the powers of heaven, for then will God's
people _know_ that he dwells in Zion, (17th verse) not in the Shaker's
camp, but in his Heavenly Sanctuary, and _then_ shall appear the "Sign
of the Son of Man in Heaven," the "Holy Jerusalem descending out of
Heaven from God, having the glory of God; And her light was like unto a
stone most precious, even like a jaspar stone clear as chrystal." I have
not the least particle of doubt but that it will be seen just as he has
described it. The glory and effulgence of that sight will so light up
the heavens in its majestic course down from the parted skies, that we
shall have no further need of the telescope; but in the language of our
adorable coming Lord, exclaim "I see heaven _open_ and the Angels of God
ascending and descending upon the Son of Man"! This, I think, will be
the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven. A telescopic view of the burning
bright star Sirius, on the southeast of the belt of Orion, in the
southwestern heavens, early in the evening, will give a faint view of
the above description.
St. John saw this City suspended in the air, he therefore had a clear
view of its twelve foundations and the names of the twelve Apostles of
the Lamb, and the twelve gates, and the names written thereon, which are
the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. "And he
measured the wall a hundred and forty and four cubits," two hundred and
sixty-two and a half feet, and they were studded with all kinds of
precious stones, and diamonds from the bowels of the earth, while the
gates are adorned with the treasures of the ocean. Now this beautiful
description of the City is given in the twenty-first chapter, from 16 to
18 and 21st verses. We must keep it distinct from the walls. He says, it
lieth four square, and measures twelve thousand furlongs. This sum,
divided by eight furlongs, which make a mile, would stand thus:
8/12000--fifteen hundred miles square or seven millions nine hundred and
twenty thousand feet on six sides (it being a cubical form.) When we
look at the size of this _City_ of Gold, we are at once almost
overwhelmed with the view of its dimensions. Fifteen hundred miles high,
long and wide! In the seventeenth verse, he gives but one way to measure
the wall, and that is its height. If he had undertaken to have given the
contents of the City by the same rule, he would have measured the wall.
Then we have nothing more to do in making an arithmetical calculation,
but follow the Apostle's description. Jesus said, in my Father's house
are many mansions. Now, allowing twelve feet between joints for a story,
this seven millions nine hundred and twenty thousand feet square would
give six hundred and sixty thousand stories, twelve feet high, (Ezekiel
xl: 7,) and fifteen hundred miles square, four hundred and forty stories
to a mile: which would amount to 990,000,000, nine hundred and ninety
millions of square miles on a level surface, twelve feet high--equal to
the square miles contained in five worlds like this, (which is only one
hundred and ninety-nine millions five hundred and twelve thousand square
miles,) and seventy times more extensive than the Continent of America.
Now six hundred and sixty thousand twelve foot rooms in each story,
would make in all 435,600,000,000--four hundred and thirty-five thousand
and six hundred millions of twelve feet square "rooms,"--_Ezekiel_;
"places,"--_John_; or "mansions,"--_Jesus_. It is computed that there
are 900,000,000--nine hundred millions of inhabitants now on the Earth.
The Bible informs us that there was but one, six thousand years ago.
Admit that there was nine hundred millions at the commencement of
creation, and this number had passed away every thirty years for two
hundred generations, their whole number would only amount to
180,000,000,000--one hundred and eighty thousand millions, a little more
than one-third of the mansions in this building; four hundred and
eighty-four to every human being now on the earth. Surely, this looks
like an "abundant entrance" into the everlasting kingdom. O yes, say
many, I see there is abundance of room for every body! The apostle tells
us who they are. He says, "There shall in no wise enter into it anything
that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie;
but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." This then is the
capacious and glorious "golden _City_;" the "New Jerusalem;" the
"heavenly Sanctuary;" the "Bride the Lamb's Wife;" the "Mother of us
all;" the "Paradise of God;" the capital of our coming Lord's
EVERLASTING kingdom, which is now about to descend from the "third
heaven" by the way of the open door, down by the "flaming sword" of
Orion. O let us see to it, that we are all ready to enter into this
celestial City.
Transcriber's Notes:
Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
Typographical errors were silently corrected.
Spelling and hyphenation were made consistent when a predominant form
was found in this book; otherwise it was not changed.
Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
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