life, he that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die;" shall, as St. Paul has it "fall sweetly asleep in Jesus," and have part in the first resurrection. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." The promise of a part in the first resurrection of life and happiness, is to all true christians, the chosen of the Lord, who love and obey him, serve him in righteousness and holiness, walk unblamably with God, our Heavenly Father, as Enoch also did with the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles and Saints and Martys of Jesus, who for the joy that was set before them, endured the cross, despised the shame, and are now seated in high heaven's eternal glory, in the effulgence of the Deity, singing with the holy hosts of Cherubims and Seraphims, Angels and Arch-Angels, the high praises of our blessed God and Saviour; Hallelujah! Hallelujah!! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth, the King of Saints. Therefore my brethren in Christ, as they only who endure unto the end shall be saved, let me, in love to your souls, admonish you to watch against the subtlety of Satan, to watch and to pray, to pray in spirit and in truth, as only such are heard by the hearer and answerer of prayer, our heavenly Father, so that like unto holy David's, our love may increase and be perfect. "I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications; because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live." May our resolutions be similar, so that we may be mindful of the things pertaining to our peace, and "press continually toward the mark of the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus," so that "no man take our crown ;' and our souls be continually as watered gardens, the name of the Lord our God glorified, and through our blessed Saviour, Christ, we may be able to stand when "he shakes terribly the earth," and as the blessed of his Father, have an entrance administered unto us, abundantly into his everlasting kingdom of glory, to sing with the celestial throng the high praises of our Holy Father forever and ever. But now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. The promises of Jehovah are all Yea and Amen, that is they shall be positively fulfilled; "I have spoken and shall I not do it? and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully: what is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" O that it would break the stony hearts of this people, and influence the inhabitants of this tottering world to repent, and look at the things coming upon the earth; "they can discern the face of the sky, but why can they not discern the signs of the times?” O that they would exercise their superior faculties to scrutinize the appearances of the times and regulate their lives accordingly. "Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth, And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit, shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake." O earth! earth!! earth!!! hear the words of the Lord, O you people flee, flee from the wrath to come; be reconciled to the Most High God, for he is coming, he is coming to judge the earth, to judge the earth in righteousness and the people in equity. Prepare you all, prepare to meet your God, through Jesus Christ he may yet be found by you in the eleventh hour; he may yet be willing to receive you as prodigals; after having been feeding on the husks and wallowing as swine in the mire of sin and iniquity, the blessed God may be yet willing to be your Father, to adopt you into his family of Kings and Priests, and feed you with the bread of life; for the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sins, and through faith in him and love to God the true christians overcome the world, the flesh and the devil, and become the temples of the Holy Ghost, and consequently enabled to live sober, righteous, and holy lives, to the honor and glory of our Eternal Father, and our immortal soul's perfection in holiness, and final reception into the mansions of the blessed, to enjoy the bliss of heaven forevermore. Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. The period is near at hand when Jehovah will destroy the whole Universe, which he created in the short space of six days, he can therefore destroy it in much less time; in the twinkling of an eye our blessed God will consume the earth with fire, with all its filthy inhabitants. "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo! there was a great earthquake, and the Sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth 'her untimely figs when she is shaken by a mighty wind.And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." Then shall there be distress, lamentation and woe to the extent that never has been known before; then the Kings, Chief-Captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman and every free-man shall be dismayed and terrified, and fly to hide themselves in dens and in the rocks of the mountains. "And say to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the ear h mourn, and they shall see the on of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." And then also shall the King say to us, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the prepared kingdom and be crowned with glory forever; but to the wicked and all devils, he shall say, Depart from me for 1 never knew you, ye workers of iniquity; and will cast them into the lake of fire and brimstone, prepared for the devil and his angels from the foundation of the world, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth forever and ever. Then the glorious God will immediately create a New Heaven and a New Earth, which shall abide forevermore, where all righteousness, holiness and glory shall abound, wherein the glorious Cherubims and Seraphims, Angels and Arch-angels, with all the redeemed of the Lamb, shall minister unto Jehovah, and we shall worship in the Beauties of Holiness, our glorious, holy Father, and adoringly sing his praise forever and ever. Amen and Amen. Note. The three preceeding Discourses are not printed in the table of contents, having been written since. The reader will occasionally discover typographical errors throughout the work. u : DISCOURSE XIII. ON THE FIRST RESURRECTION. On the first resurrection and thousand years reign of Christ with his Saints on earth. [Rev. 19th & 20th Chaps. John, the amiable and the beloved of the Lord; the holy, and the Divine; the Angelic Evangelist; O how mature in holy tempers was this devoted disciple; how perfect did the love of God shine in his heart and soul, and was by him reflected to the honor and glory of his Divine Master, as manifested in his gospel and his epistles: and this last revelation and conclusion of the Divine dispensation to mankind, of Him who was, and is, and is to come, the Almighty. How highly was he also honored in this work of the Lord, who appeared with Mystic figures unto him, and spake as it were personally with him, explaining the meaning of the samethen again he spake to them out of heaven, inviting him to come up, and immediately he was wasted in the spirit into these resplendant regions of glory, and beheld the beauties of heaven and Him who sitteth on the Throne. Thus he was alternately in heaven and on the earth, to accomplish this wonderful and sublime work, which excites our admiration and influences our hopes and fears, according to our state and relation with the Deity. O the blessed views he had of the glorious New Jerusalem, and the shining hosts surrounding the Most High in glory, and their happiness and bliss; with some of whom he had frequent intercourse and conversation to accomplish this work, and never was any one of earthly mould more worthy of the appellation of brother from these Angelic holy Beings; with whom he is now, in this Paradise of God, in closer communion; and shall be so forever and ever. And so shall likewise all who follow him |