{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_57330/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_57330","id":"gutenberg_57330","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57330","summary":null,"tags":["Bible -- Prophecies","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Paradise","Second Advent"],"text":"Produced by Heiko Evermann, David King, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                          The Opening Heavens\n\n\n\n\n                          The Opening Heavens,\n\n                       Or A Connected View Of The\n\n                Testimony of the Prophets and Apostles,\n\n                             Concerning The\n\n                            Opening Heavens,\n\n                             Compared With\n\n                       Astronomical Observations,\n\n                               And Of The\n\n                   Present And Future Location Of The\n                  New Jerusalem, The Paradise Of God.\n\n                            By Joseph Bates\n\n                              New Bedford:\n                       Press Of Benjamin Lindsey.\n                                 1846.\n\n\n\n\n                                PREFACE\n\n\nIn presenting the following subject to the consideration of whom it may\nconcern, I would here state that the two leading motives which have\nactuated and guided me through this absorbing subject has been--first,\nthe truth of God to encourage and strengthen the true-believer. Second,\nto correct, or \"rebuke\" the spiritual views, (may I not say of almost\nall Christendom,) in respect to the appearing and kingdom of our Lord\nand Saviour Jesus Christ. Twenty-one years observation and experience,\nbut more especially the last seven, in pursuit of this object, has\ntaught me that truth is the only thing that can save the soul. But the\ngreat mass of the professed Christian world seem to pay no more regard\nto it than their great _Predecessor_, who said unto the Saviour \"what is\ntruth?\" when he had just said to him that he \"came into the world to\nbear witness unto the truth, and every one that is of the truth, heareth\nmy voice.\" Jesus in his last prayer for his disciples asks the Father to\nsanctify them through the truth. \"Thy word is truth.\" _St. John._ Again,\nhe saith. \"The Spirit is truth.\" The forerunner of Christ said, \"The law\nwas given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.\" Jesus\nsays, \"I am not come to destroy the law or the prophets; but to fulfil,\nfor verily I say unto you till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one\ntittle shall in no wise pass from the law until all be fulfilled.\"\n_Matthew._ Then of course man is required to believe \"and live by every\nword that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.\" Third, thousands who have\nbeen looking for the personal appearing of the Lord Jesus from heaven in\nthese last days, have in their disappointment about his coming, given up\nthe only Scriptural view, and are now teaching that he has come in\nspirit and this is all we shall ever see of him here. One single passage\nfrom the Saviour's last words, when about to leave the world in the\nflesh, ought to have rectified any such mistake: \"And lo, I am with you\nalways, even unto the end of the world,\" meaning of course, his spirit.\nBut I submit the subject.\n\nFairhaven, May 8, 1846.\n\nJoseph Bates.\n\n[The copy right is secured with Him that sits upon the Throne in the\ncoming Heavenly Sanctuary. The grant to use it is unlimited. Those only\nare punished that abuse the right.]\n\n\n\n\n                          THE OPENING HEAVENS.\n\n\n\"_Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see_ HEAVEN OPEN,\n_and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of\nman_.\"--John i: 51.\n\n\nNotwithstanding my incompetency to do justice to this momentous subject,\nI feel constrained to throw out my views in this public manner, for the\nbenefit of all who feel an interest in the second coming of our Lord and\nSavior Jesus Christ, to set up, and establish his \"everlasting kingdom,\"\nupon this renovated earth.\n\nI believe, according to the testimony of the \"two men seen in white\napparel,\" that \"this same Jesus which was taken up _into_ Heaven will in\nlike manner come again,\" (Acts i: 11) from the same place, and stand in\nthe same place he left. (See Zach. xiv: 4.) I believe he is in the third\nHeaven, in Paradise, with God, the Father; (see 2 Cor. xii: 2, 4; Rev.\niii: 21; Heb. i: 3, 9 and 24) that he is now about to come with the Holy\nCITY, THE CAPITAL of his everlasting kingdom, and locate it in the\n\"midst\" of the promised land where he was crucified. According to this\nview then there is but one place in the heavens for this CITY to come\nfrom. A spiritual exposition of these glorious things, now about to be\nrealized, beclouds the whole, and leaves no tangible ground for God's\npeople to stand on. Whoever attempts this wilfully will run the risk of\nlosing his soul, for Jesus says \"if any man shall add or take away from\nthe words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part\n(from the tree of life--margin) and out of the Holy CITY.\" Rev. xxii:\n19. Proof positive, that the Saints have a part in the City, and not in\nthemselves.\n\nLet us now listen to his description of this glorious view he sees\nbefore him, while he sits, pen in hand, all ready to write down what\ntranspires at the command of his guide.\n\n\"I, John, saw the holy CITY NEW JERUSALEM coming down from God, _out of\nHeaven_, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.\" In the 5th v.\nJohn saw him that \"was dead and is alive forevermore,\" seated upon \"his\nthrone;\" and he said unto me \"write, for these words are true and\nfaithful.\" \"And there came unto me one of the seven angels, saying come\nup hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife; and he carried\nme away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and _shewed_ me that\ngreat CITY THE HOLY JERUSALEM, descending _out of Heaven_ from God,\nhaving the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most\nprecious, even like a Jasper stone, clear as crystal. And I heard a\ngreat voice _out_ of Heaven saying, behold, the TABERNACLE of God is\nwith men.\" What a beautiful description is here--please read the whole\nchapter. In the two first verses of the xxii. chapter, we learn that the\nwalls of this CITY enclose \"the tree of life,\" \"which is in the midst of\nthe _Paradise of God_.\" Moses testifies that \"the Lord God planted a\n_garden_ eastward in _Eden_, and there he put the man whom he had\nformed. And the tree of life also in the midst of the _garden_, and a\n_river_ went out of _Eden_ to water the garden, and became into four\nheads.\" Gen. xi: 8, 10; iii: 3, 17, 22, 24. Compare this with Ezekiel's\nprophecy, xlvii: 3, 5, 12; also xlviii: 30, 35. There he speaks of\nwaters first shallow and then deep; waters to swim in that could not be\npassed over, on the \"banks of which shall be fruit every month, and the\nleaves for medicine.\" He also shows the four sides or \"heads\" to the\nriver. The prophet Isaiah says \"Look upon _Zion, the City_. _Jerusalem._\n_Tabernacle_, a place of broad rivers and streams; where shall pass no\ngalley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby,\"--xxxiii: 20,\n21. Surely this is the same which Moses and Ezekiel has described; and\nJohn says, \"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of\nlife, which is in the midst of the _Paradise_ of God. And whosoever\nwill, let him take the water of life freely.\" Rev. xxii: 17, 2, 7. Then\nthis \"_Holy City_, _new Jerusalem_, _the Zion of God_, _the Tabernacle\nof God_, _the Bride the Lamb's Wife_, _the Mother of us all_,\" is a\n_City_, enclosed with a wall one hundred and forty-four cubits high,\nwhich embraces the \"_garden of Eden, the Paradise of God_.\" And God\ncalls it his \"SANCTUARY.\" I suppose that it will be conceded by all,\nthat the _Garden of Eden_ at the time of the fall, was a literal place,\nand was planted eastward. Yes, says one, and it is located in \"Ethiopia\nor Assyria.\" How then is it, that the traveller and historian are\nentirely silent about it? Surely, it is a most remarkable place. Hear\nMoses's description of it:--\"Therefore the Lord God sent him (Adam)\nforth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was\ntaken. So he drove out the man: and placed at the _East_ of the garden\nof Eden, Cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard\nthe tree of life.\" Gen. iii: 23, 24. Now we have no account that these\nCherubims and flaming sword has ever been seen within the orbit of this\nplanet (which is allowed to be 162 millions of miles in diameter) since\nthe fall of man, but has been far removed out of their sight. The\nprophet says, \"Behold the time shall come that these tokens which I have\ntold thee, shall come to pass, and the _Bride_ shall appear, and the\ncoming forth shall be seen that _now is withdrawn from the earth_,\"--xi.\nEsdras: 7, 26. This shows that Paradise is not located in this planet.\nBut perhaps you do not believe that Esdras is a true prophet; well then,\nwill you believe St. Paul? He says, \"I knew a man in Christ above\nfourteen years ago (whether in the body I cannot tell, God knoweth) such\nan one caught up to the third Heaven--God knoweth how that he was caught\nup into Paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not (possible:\nmargin) for a man to utter.\" 2 Cor. xii: 4. St. John's testimony agrees\nwith Paul, for he says he \"saw the _Bride the Lamb's wife_, coming down\nfrom God, _out of Heaven_,\" without doubt, the same place where he had\nbeen. But says the objector, if John saw it coming down 1750 years ago,\nit ought to have been here by this time. Very true; but John \"saw things\nwhich must shortly come to pass.\" Rev. 1. Let us just look at a few of\nthe things he saw, and remember at the same time how he was directed to\nwrite them down, that every important point might be recorded. He saw\nthe \"abomination (Popery) that maketh desolate set up,\" four hundred and\nforty-five years in the future. Again, he saw the seven angels going\nforth with their trumpets to sound--he particularly describes the three\nlast. See Rev. viii: 13; ix: 17, 19. Here he shows us what was to be the\ncomponent parts of gunpowder, and in a very peculiar and clear manner\ndescribes the musket with the ball, (head) how they killed men 1350\nyears before muskets were used on horse-back--17th v. Further, how could\nhe have described the second advent history so minutely as he has done\nin the xiv. chapter, if he had not have seen what was to be, and has\nbeen fulfilled; and how is it possible he could have given such a\nlamentable picture of \"Mistery Babylon,\" if he had not have seen in\n_these last days_ of \"perilous times,\" the professed children of God\ndrinking from the old mother's cup of poison, while \"she was drunk with\nthe blood of the martyrs of Jesus.\" Rev. xvii. and xviii. Once more, how\ndid David see that blood thirsty mob shoot out the lip, and laugh to\nscorn their Savior; and the four Roman soldiers under his cross dividing\nhis garments and casting lots for his vesture, twelve hundred years\nbefore it took place. John xix: 23, 24. Why! just as St. John saw the\n_Holy City_ coming down at the second advent of Jesus--just as I\nbelieve, it will be seen, \"Having the glory of God: and her light was\nlike unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as\ncrystal.\" Rev. xxi: 11. The most precious is the green, spotted with red\nand purple. We will now look at the\n\n\n\n\n                           ASTRONOMICAL VIEW.\n\n\nFrom what part of Heaven will this glorious _City_ appear? We answer,\nfrom where the flaming sword is \"guarding the way of the tree of life,\"\nand the Cherubims are stationed. John i: 51. Furgerson, the celebrated\nastronomer of the last century, in describing some of the many wonders\nin the Heavens, says \"that the two bright clouds in the heavens at the\nsouth pole, called by mariners the clouds of Magelen, are by astronomers\ncalled cloudy stars, but the most remarkable of all the cloudy stars is\nthat in the middle of Orion's Sword, where seven stars (of which three\nare very close together) seem to shine through a cloud, very lucid in\nthe middle, but faint and ill defined about the edges. It looks like a\nGAP in the sky, through which one may see (as it were) part of a much\nbrighter region. Although most of the spaces are but a few minutes of a\ndegree in breadth, yet, since they are among the fixed stars, they must\nbe spaces larger than what is occupied by our Solar System--(the Solar\nSystem includes the Planet Uranus, which is one thousand and eight\nhundred millions of miles from the Sun, the circumference of her orbit\nin which she revolves around the Sun is calculated to be three hundred\nand fourteen millions of miles)--and in which there seems to be a\nperpetual uninterrupted day among numberless worlds, which no human art\ncan ever discover.\"--_Furgerson's Treatise on Astronomy, edition A. D.\n1770._\n\nOut of ninety-three, Orion is the most striking and splendid\nconstellation in the Heavens; her centre is mid way between the poles of\nheaven and directly over the equator of the Earth, and is visible from\nall the habitable parts of the Globe. On her south-eastern quarter is\nthe beautiful star Sirius, (one of the most magnificent in the Heavens.)\nand on the north-west is stationed the Pleiades or seven Stars. \"She\nrises at noon about the 9th of March\" \"and sets at noon about the 21st\nof June,\" and comes to the meridian January 23d, at 9 P. M. She is now\nto be seen for a little while, in the evening twilight, about one hour\nhigh, with the Planets Jupiter and Mars on her north and north-west.\nWhen the Lord answered Job out of the whirl wind, and demanded of him to\nanswer to the wonderful questions which he was now about to put to him,\nhe says \"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades _or loose\nthe bands of_ ORION.\" When Amos, the Prophet exhorted his Israel to\nrepentance, he endeavored to impress their minds with the power of God\nby adverting to the wonderful phenomena in the Heavens, by saying, \"Seek\nhim that maketh the Seven Stars and Orion,\" &c. &c.\n\nHUGGENS, its first discoverer, gives the following description of it:\n\"Astronomers place three stars close together in the Sword of Orion; and\nwhen I viewed the middle-most with a Telescope, in the year 1656, there\nappeared in the place of that one, twelve other stars; among these three\nthat almost touch each other, and four more besides appeared twinkling\nas through a cloud, so that the space about them seemed much brighter\nthan the rest of the heaven, which appearing wholly blackish, by reason\nof the fair weather, was seen as through a curtain opening, through\nwhich one had a free view into another region which was more\nenlightened. I have frequently observed the same appearance in the same\nplace without any alteration; so that it is likely that this wonder,\nwhatever it may be in itself, has been there from all times; but I never\ntook notice of any thing like it among the rest of the fixed stars.\"\n\nSir WILLIAM HERSCHEL says, \"If stars of the eighth magnitude are to be\nconsidered at an average of eight times further distant than those of\nthe first, then this nebula cannot be supposed to be less than\n320,000,000,000,000, three hundred and twenty thousand billions of miles\nfrom the earth. If its diameter at this distance subtend an angle of ten\nminutes, which it nearly does, its magnitude must be utterly\ninconceivable. It has been calculated that it must exceed\n2,000,000,000,000,000,000, or two trillions of times the dimensions of\nthe Sun, vast and incomprehensible as these dimensions are.\"--_See\nDick's Siderial Heavens, Vol. VIII. pp. 181, 184._\n\nSays this author--\"Suffice it to say that such an enormous mass of\nluminous matter was not created in vain, but serves a purpose in the\ndivine arrangements corresponding to its magnitude and the nature of its\nluminosity, and to the wisdom and intelligence of him whose power\nbrought it into existence. It doubtless subserves some important\npurpose, even at the present moment, to worlds and beings within the\nrange of its influence. But the ultimate in all its bearings and\nrelations, may perhaps remain to be evolved during the future ages of an\ninterminable existence.\" Page 184.\n\nAgain, says the ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS of April 19th, 1845: \"Marvellous\nrumors are afloat respecting the Astronomical discoveries made by Lord\nRosse's monster Telescope. (This is said to be sixty feet long and its\ngreat speculum or reflecting large glass measures six feet in diameter\nand weighs three and three-fourths tons, and is calculated to discover\nglorious objects in the Heavens, to man heretofore unknown.) It is\nstated that Regulus, instead of being a sphere, is ascertained to be a\nDisc; and stranger still, that the nebula in the belt of Orion (meaning\nthe bright place before stated) is a universal system, a sun with\nplanets moving round it, as the earth and her fellows move around our\nglorious luminary.\"\n\nThus we see from all the testimony adduced, (and we could give much more\nwere it necessary) that here is a most wonderful and inexplainable\nphenomena in the heavens: a gap in the sky, more than 11,314,000,000\nmiles in circumference. Says the celebrated HUGGENS, \"I never saw\nanything like it among the rest of the fixed stars--a free view into\nanother region more enlightened.\" I have had the pleasure (with others)\nduring the past month, to see this wonder in the Heavens a number of\nevenings, through J. Delano, Jr's. excellent Telescope.\n\nIt has been supposed by some, that this wonderful phenomena seen through\nthe sword of Orion, has passed through some material change since it was\nfirst discovered by Huggens, one hundred and ninety years ago. On this\npoint Sir John Herschel says: \"When it is considered how difficult it is\nto represent such an object duly, and how entirely its appearance will\ndiffer even in the same Telescope, according to the clearness of the\nair, or other temporary causes, we shall readily admit that we have no\n_evidence of change_ that can be relied on.\"\n\nAs I had before partially examined the Bible view of the _opening\nHeavens_, I think I never shall forget the thrill that pervaded my whole\nbeing, the first time that I saw this celestial wonder coursing its way\ndown the western Heavens! Since then, when I have viewed it through the\nTelescope, my mind would instinctively revert to Moses's description of\nthe _liberated_ children of Abraham, passing through the Red Sea, with\nthat wonderful miracle \"the pillar of fire, between them and the\nEgyptian Host.\" My thoughts still running onward, from type to antitype,\n\"God looking through the cloud of fire in the morning watch;\" at once\nvanquished the enemies of his chosen people. Exo. xiv: 24, 27.\n\nSo in _this_ morning watch God will not only look through this mighty\nspace, (black on one side with the stormy cloud,) but, as the Prophet\nJoel says, he will \"_Roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from\nJerusalem; and the Heavens and the Earth shall shake: but the Lord will\nbe the hope of his people.--So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God\ndwelling in Zion my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy._\"\n(\"CLEANSED.\") iii: 16, 17.\n\nA western view, with an inverting eye piece, gives it the appearance of\na stormy dark cloud, with a full moon just shut in behind it, and three\nbright stars looking through the cloud. This dark looking cloud is\ncalled the gap in the sky. This constellation measures about one\nthousand miles from North to South, and five hundred from East to West,\nand is visible to all the inhabitants of the earth.\n\nHere then is a mighty Image (as represented on the map of the Heavens,)\nstretched across mid heaven, with his gold and silver epaulettes (four\nhundred and eighty miles apart) and two burning stars denoting his\nNorthern and Southern extremities: the golden one on his upraised left\nfoot, the other of silver on his right knee, answering to the one on his\nleft shoulder; girded with his brilliant studded belt and flaming sword;\n\"doubtless, to subserve some important purpose even at the present\nmoment.\" Let it be distinctly understood, with what has already been\nstated by the Astronomers, that this \"constellation is one of the most\nbrilliant and noted in the Heavens,\" that its nebula, (according to the\ncelebrated Sir WILLIAM HERSCHEL) far exceeds any other object, and its\nmagnitude utterly inconceivable, two trillions times larger than the\nSun; while the Sun is allowed to be thirteen hundred thousand times\nlarger than our globe. That it \"never yet has been resolved into stars\nby the highest power of the telescope,\" and there is no evidence of any\nchange, even if it were discovered to be resolvable, (as is stated by a\nwriter somewhat acquainted with Lord Rosse's monster telescope.) If so,\nit goes to strengthen the argument of its first discoverer, who says\n\"through which one had a free view into another region which was more\nenlightened.\"\n\nIf, then, there is nothing to be seen on Earth or in the Heavens except\nwhat Joshua and David saw, v: 13, 14; 1 Chro. xxi: 15, 16, that looks\nlike this constellation, would it be thought strange for a Christian to\nbelieve that the Prophet Moses had recorded for our instruction the very\nanswer to be given, viz. \"to keep the way of the tree of life.\"\n\nI have now given a general description of this celestial wonder, but\nsome may still doubt whether any thing can be ascertained with respect\nto objects so far removed. If the most accurate calculations had not\nalready been made in respect to many of the heavenly bodies, how could\nthe tempest tossed mariner, after being driven for days, and sometimes\nweeks, sailing on all points of the compass, and perhaps, not have known\nhis position from the time he had taken his departure from his port,\nonly by dead reckoning, nothing in sight but sea and sky, ascertain his\ntrue position? Just look,--there stands the captain, on some convenient\npart of the deck of his ship, holding in his hand a three cornered\ninstrument, called a Sextant, measuring the distance between the sun and\nmoon, or if it be in the night, between the moon and some lunar star,\n(which is millions on millions of miles removed from the Solar System,)\nnoting the moment by his watch when he brings the outer or inner edges\nof these two celestial objects to touch; then measuring their distance\nfrom the horizon. With the help of a Nautical Almanac, (which had been\npublished years before,) in the course of twenty minutes he so\nconfidently ascertains his position, (however strange it may appear to\nlandsmen,) that he would, after running ten or one hundred miles more or\nless, as the case may be, direct one of his crew to go to the mast head,\nand tell him at the same time in what direction to look for land.\nPresently the cry would come down, thrilling through every soul in the\nship, \"Land ho!\" \"Where away?\" \"Off the starboard bow, sir, where you\ntold me to look.\" Such instances are not rare, but of daily occurrence.\n\"How could that be?\" says one, \"it looks like a miracle!\" So it would\nbe, if the great God had not directed these celestial objects to move in\nperfect harmony. A place for every one, and every one in its place.\n\nOne at a certain time said, \"Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst\nthou find out the Almighty to perfection?\" The wise man answers, \"No man\ncan find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.\"\nEcl. iii: 2; Job xi: 7. These texts alone teach us that we yet know but\nlittle of the power and wisdom of the Sovereign of the universe, whose\nspirit fills unlimited space; which space is undoubtedly coeval and\ncoextensive with eternity; studded with millions on millions of worlds,\neach moving in its appropriate Sphere, like our own Planet. But a still\ngreater wonder is the thousands and millions of blazing Comets, even in\nthe Solar System, (Dick, vol. viii: p. 339,) seemingly sailing with a\nroving commission, sweeping their burning trails all over the\nperceptible universe of God, each moving in its proper Orbit! some of\nthem shooting, at times, almost with the velocity of lightning! And yet,\nwith what precision does the Astronomer calculate their appearing again\nafter hundreds and thousands of years, without interfering with any of\nthe celestial scenery. Just turn over to the second page of your Almanac\nand learn with what admirable accuracy the Astronomer has calculated,\neven to a moment of time, when the moon of yesterday will be passing\nunder the sun, and cause the darkness to be seen and felt.\n\nSome minds may be troubled about the flaming sword being placed at the\nEast of the Garden, or that we could see the Eastern side. This will be\nbetter understood by looking at the motion of our Planet. It is said by\nAstronomers that this Earth in its annual motion, is booming round the\nsun at the rate of nineteen miles per second; at the same time her\ndiurnal motion from East to West is at the rate of ten miles per minute:\nconsequently all the objects we see in the heavens, comes from the East,\nand among the rest this glorious constellation of _Orion_, all just as\nnatural as it is for us to see the Sun rise in the East; and in the same\ndirection the world will soon see what the Second Advent believer has\nlong and anxiously been waiting for: viz. the \"glorious appearing of the\ngreat God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.\" Titus ii: 13. Now let us take\nanother view; not through Lord Rosse's, but God's great Telescope, which\n\"declares the end from the beginning.\" Isa. 46: 10.\n\n\n\n\n                              BIBLE VIEW.\n\n\nThe patriarch Jacob said to his sons that \"God Almighty appeared unto\nhim at Luz, which is Bethel.\" Gen. 48: 3; 25: 26. Here, while a Pilgrim\ntraveller and stranger, he had laid himself down for the night, he\n\"dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it\nreached to Heaven; and behold, the angels of God ascending and\ndescending on it.\" Gen. xxviii: 12. Seventeen hundred and ninety years\nafter this, the Lord says to Nathaniel, \"hereafter ye shall see HEAVEN\nOPEN, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of\nman.\" This, then, is in the future. Next in order, Ezekiel has a vision,\nin the thirtieth \"year of the Babylonish captivity by the river Chebar.\"\nHe says, \"the Heavens were OPENED, and I saw visions of God.\" He\nproceeds to describe his vision; please read Chap. i: 5, 10; 24, 28. He\nsees as the appearance of a man--describes also the stormy cloud with\nthe brightness round about it; he also hears a _voice_ from the\nfirmament, and says that the Lord God spake to him. Now see Chap. x: 4,\n5; 19, 20. Here he says \"the Cherubims stood at the door of the _East_\ngate (where Moses says they were placed) of the Lord's House, and the\nglory of the God of Israel was over them above.\" \"This is the living\ncreature that I saw _under_ the God of Israel by the river Chebar, and\n_I knew that they were Cherubims_.\" Is it not plain that Ezekiel has\nshown the same place and station of the Cherubims which Moses has, on\nthe East side, keeping the way of the tree of life. Jacob calls them\nangels, and cries out in terror, \"How dreadful is this place, this is\nnone other but the House of God and this is the _gate_ (or opening) of\nHeaven.\" 17 v. Isaiah in a vision sees \"the throne high and lifted up,\nand hears the _voice_ of God,\" as did the others. Let us examine here a\nfew moments to see what Cherubims are, and their use. One writer says,\n\"they appear to be servants of God sent to do his will.\" Hear God\nconcerning them, \"and there will I meet with thee and I will commune\nwith thee from between the two Cherubims which are upon the Ark of the\ntestimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the\nchildren of Israel.\" Exo. xxv: 16, 22. PROOF--\"And Hezekiah (in his\ndistress) prayed before the Lord, and said O Lord God of Israel which\ndwelleth between the Cherubims,\" 2 Kings, xix: 15. \"And God sent the\nprophets to tell him that his prayer was heard.\" v. 20.\n\n\"The Lord reigneth let the people tremble; he setteth between the\nCherubims, let the earth be moved.\" Psl. xcix: 1. Then here is where we\nare to look for the Paradise of God, the Holy City, and where we shall\nsoon hear the voice of God, for he \"sitteth above between the\nCherubims,\" as is represented in the old Tabernacle and Temple. \"For\nsee, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed\nto thee in the mount.\" Heb. viii: 5; ix: 5. St. John also describes\nthem, and tells what their occupations were in heaven. Rev. v: 11, 12.\n\nNow we will proceed with the testimony concerning the opening heavens.\nJohn the Baptist bears record, that when he was coming up out of the\nwater from baptising the Saviour, he \"saw the heavens OPENED (or cloven\nor rent) and the spirit like a dove descending upon him, and there came\na _voice_ from heaven,\" &c. Mark i: 10, 11; Luke iii: 20, 22; Matt. iii:\n16, 17; John i: 32.\n\nHere is the opening heavens, and the voice of God as before. When Jesus\nwas transfigured on the Mount the Disciples saw the cloud and heard the\n_voice_ of God.\n\nWhen the Savior ascended from Mount Olivet, his disciples saw him: the\ntwo shining ones said, \"Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up _into\nheaven_? (it must have been _open_ to their view, or they could not have\nlooked _into_ heaven) this same Jesus which is taken up from you _into\nheaven_ shall come again in like manner as ye have seen him go _into\nheaven_.\" Acts i: 11. Then of course, it will be from the same place.\n\nLet us not be deceived about this, he has not come yet.\n\nAgain, St. Luke says of Stephen, the martyr, (while he was surrounded by\na blood-thirsty mob, gnashing on him with their teeth, because of the\nburning truths which he uttered,) \"Being full of the Holy Ghost, looked\nup steadfastly _into heaven_, (at a certain point) and saw the glory of\nGod, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God: and said, _behold, I\nsee the heavens opened_, and the son of man standing on the right hand\nof God.\" Was Stephen mistaken? I think not--it was his dying testimony.\n\nBut here is a more singular case still, two miracles on two individuals\nof different nations to establish and fulfil Daniel's prophecy of the\nseventieth week upon his people (the Jews). The time had now come and\nsomething out of the ordinary way was to mark this epoch of time. Now\nlook yonder in Cesarea, there is a Gentile in a vision, he sees an angel\nwhich directs him to send into Judea for a certain Jew named Peter.\nWhere is he? At a place called Joppa. (the sea port of Jerusalem,) lying\nin a trance, on the top of a house, and made to feel \"very hungry,\"\n(that he might more readily and willingly follow the teachings of the\nvoice and spirit of God to proclaim salvation to the Gentiles, for he\nwas one of the _stubborn ones_, that held to the _present truth_; and\nperhaps could not be prevailed upon to yield in any other way.) Just so\nwith his _stubborn_ brethren, who called him to an account for going in\nto the Gentiles, but after he had rehearsed the whole matter to them,\n\"then they believed and glorified God, for granting repentance to the\nGentiles.\" But what was the miracle? Peter says he \"saw _heaven opened_\nand a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet\nknit at the four corners, and let down to the earth. This was done\nthrice (or three times) and the vessel was received up again _into\nHeaven_,\" and the voice of the Lord came to him twice, \"saying what God\nhas cleansed call not thou common.\" Acts x. and xi. ch. Here ends the\nconfirming of the Covenant with many for one week. Danl. ix: 27, Heb.\nii: 3.\n\nThe Apostle Paul in relating his vision says that he was \"caught up to\nthe third Heavens _into Paradise_.\" 2 Cor. xii: 2, 4. St. John, the\n\"beloved disciple,\" in his solitary confinement on the Isle of Patmos,\nnot only has the same view of the _opening Heavens_, and hears the same\nvoice, but was called up there in the spirit, and immediately he was\nthere, describing the glories of Heaven. Please read his description of\nthe glorious picture before and around the throne, (from whence the\nProphets and Apostles already quoted, have looked through God's _all_\nmagnifying Telescope, and was burdened with the cry, \"This is none other\nbut the House of God and this is the _gate_ of Heaven!\" \"And lo, the\nHeavens were _opened_\"!! \"I see Heaven _open_\"!!! At the same time and\nplace God speaks with them). V: 6--here he sees the Lamb. Also vii: 15;\nviii: 3, 5, and xii: 5. Jesus the Son was caught up there, xx: 11, and\nxxi: 5. Same thing in the iv: 8 v. he has Isaiah's view of the Seraphims\nand uses nearly the same language in describing them, and says with\nIsaiah they rest neither day nor night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord\nGod Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come, 8 v., and in the fifth\nchapter he says \"And I beheld and heard the voices of many angels round\nabout the throne, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was\nslain to receive power,\" &c. &c. Ezekiel's Cherubims and John's Angels\nare undoubtedly the same. John's _four_ beasts, Isaiah's Seraphims, and\nEzekiel's _four_ wheels are typical of the _four_ grand divisions of the\nCamp of Israel, around the Tabernacle in the wilderness, all marshalled\nand arrayed by God's direction with their _four_ different standards,\n(answering to the _four_ faces or sides to Ezekiel's wheel, and the\nfaces of John's four beasts). Juda with the Lion in the front on the\nEast, (Num. ch. ii.) all ready to move at a moment's warning. Even where\nthe \"cloudy pillar by day or of fire by night;\" which rested on the\nTabernacle, should direct. The Levites, the ministers of God, all moving\nin perfect harmony, with the Ark containing the Commandments of God;\nclose after which, in the midst of the camp, in solid columns follows\nthe taken down tabernacle. All moving after and watching the direction\nof this \"fiery pillar by night,\" and the moment it ceased to move the\ncamp halted. The Tabernacle was raised, and the Commandments of God,\n(the keeping of which will secure an entrance into the Anti-type, the\nreal Heavenly Tabernacle, that is to be \"with men,\" Rev. xxi: 3; xxii:\n14.) restored to their proper place _beneath_, and under the guardian\ncare of the Cherubims between which his people were directed to pray\nunto him. Exo. xxv: 22.\n\nJohn also has described in the above mentioned texts, much of the\nfurniture particularized in the old Tabernacle, which Paul says are\n\"patterns of the true.\" Heb. ix: 23, 24. Conclusive evidence that he was\nin the \"_true_ (or real) Tabernacle which God pitched, and not man.\"\nHeb. viii: 2. The same _City_, which Abraham \"looked for, whose builder\nand maker is God.\" The Psalmist also agrees with Paul; and says, \"The\nLord has _prepared his throne_ in the Heavens.\" Paul says, that Jesus is\nthere. See Heb. viii: 1, 2; and ix: 24. Jesus says, \"he that overcometh\nwill I grant to sit with me in my _throne_, even as I also overcame and\nam set down with my Father in _his throne_.\" Rev. iii: 21. Now, is it\nnot evident that God has but one sanctuary, and that his throne is\nthere; and one place for that sanctuary, and that place in the third\nheavens? Why then, should there be more than one way to approach it, or\nfor it to come from, namely, by \"the Cherubims and flaming sword,\nstationed there, to guard the way?\"\n\nThe editor of the Day Star asks, \"why we stand gazing up into heaven;\ncan you (meaning, I suppose, any one) tell where this same Jesus is\ncoming from?\" 2d. \"Can you prove God the Father to be in one place, in\nany greater degree and power, than he is in any and every, and every\nother place?\"\n\nIf we have not already offered sufficient evidence, in answer to these\ntwo most important questions to the true believer in Christ, we will try\na little further; for if we cannot understand, nor in any way\ncomprehend, the teachings of the divine word, in respect to the second\ncoming and kingdom of Jesus Christ, the location of the heavenly\n_Sanctuary_, the new Jerusalem, God's dwelling place, other than is\nfiguratively discerned, then, I say, we that truly believe in God, \"are\nof all men the most miserable;\" and the sooner we hoist the _Shaker's_\nflag, and bring too under the lee of their _camp_, the better; for I\nshould despair of ever getting my anchor _down_ \"within the vale.\" In\nthe first place then, we say, Jesus has not yet come the second time, in\nthe manner he promised us. For when speaking of his coming, he says\nemphatically, \"Then shall THEY SEE _the Son of man coming in the clouds\nof Heaven_,\" &c. Now, according to this description, I'll venture the\nassertion, that there is not a particle of proof in the universe, that\none solitary individual has seen him. Hence, I for one, am gazing up\ninto heaven looking, and unwaveringly believing, that this, his precious\npromise, will soon be realized. But you say, he has come in his saints.\nWell, I say there is no more proof of this, than there was that he was\nin his apostle's, eighteen hundred years ago--for they certainly wrought\nmany wonderful miracles, and preached with as much power; and the mighty\nweapons they used, was the death, resurrection and second coming of\nChrist. Now did the Apostle's ever teach such a doctrine, that Jesus had\ncome _in them_ the second time? and further, I cannot believe that he\nwill be seen any sooner in Ohio, than in New-England or New-York. Again,\nwe answer to the first and second questions, combined--Rev. iv: 2. Here\nis a throne, with one seated upon it. Is there any proof to be found\nthat this throne was on the Isle of Patmos, Rome, or any other city, or\nplace in this globe? Will it not be conceded by all Bible students, that\nthe Lord God Almighty, the Father, is seated upon it? Does not the\nSeraphims which are continually crying, Holy, Holy, Holy, in the eighth\nverse, say so? Who was found worthy to come and take the book out of the\nright hand of him that sat upon this throne? Did he take it out of his\nown hand? No, it does not read so. Who, then? John says, it \"was the\nLamb.\" Others said, it \"was the Lion of the tribe of Juda.\" We say, \"the\nSon of the Father.\" Here, then, where the door was _opened_ into heaven,\nJohn saw the Father and the Son together, _at one time and in one\nplace_, transacting business; at the sight of which, ten thousand times\nten thousand, and thousands and thousands of angels cried aloud, \"worthy\nis the Lamb,\" &c.; and every creature under heaven acknowledged it!\nVerse 11, 13. I am aware that it will be said this is symbolical\nlanguage. Allow me to quote an extract from a celebrated writer. \"Even\nthe symbolic parts of a vision have a mixed character. When real\npersons, the highest in their kind are mentioned by their proper titles,\nthere is no room for symbols; the objects represent themselves, God and\nChrist and the good angels; Satan and evil spirits, and redeemed saints\non earth or in heaven, are never emblems. Forsake this maxim, and\nsymbolic prophecy becomes a chaos, in which nothing is fixed, and where\nfancy runs riot in its own excesses.\"\n\nBut you say, God is a spirit. (There is no doubt but what his spirit\npervades all space, and every thing in it that has life.) But to the\ntestimony. \"Ye have neither heard his voice nor seen his shape.\" John v:\n37. Did Jesus contradict the Patriarchs and Prophets? No, no! He here\ntold his persecutors what they had not seen nor heard; he did not say he\nhad no voice or shape. Who did? 1st. Moses. \"And I will cover thee with\nmy _hand_ while I pass by; and I will take away mine _hand_ and thou\nshalt see my _back parts_, but my _face_ shall not be seen.\" Exod.\nxxxiii: 22, 23. 2d. The \"_eyes_ of the Lord are upon the righteous, and\nhis _ears_ are open unto their cry. The _face_ of the Lord are against\nthem that do evil: the Lord _heareth_.\" Psalms xxxiv: 15, 17. Again, the\n\"Ancient of days did _sit_, whose _garment_ was white as snow, and the\n_hair of his head_ like the pure wool.\" Does not this prove a shape,\nfeatures, and voice, ascribed to God, the same as to man. \"And God said\nlet us make man in our own image, after our likeness; so God created man\nin his own image, in the _image of God_ created he him: male and female\ncreated he them.\" Gen. i: 26, 27. Paul says of Jesus, \"Who is the _image\nof God_, (this can't be spiritually so) the first born of every\ncreature; who being in the _form of God_, thought it not robbery to be\nequal with God.\" Eph. ii: 5, 6. Now to the Hebrews--\"Hath in these last\ndays spoken unto us by his son, who being the brightness of his glory,\nand the EXPRESS IMAGE of his person.\" Now turn to the history of Rome\nfor a moment--read how LENTULUS describes the Savior to the Roman\nSenate. Here he describes his stature, countenance, his eyes, beautiful\nflowing hair, his wisdom, &c., and finally closes with the following: \"A\n_man_ for his singular beauty far exceeding all the sons of men.\" Paul\nsays, he is the \"_express image_\" _of God_. (I understand him to say\nthat he looks just like him.) Oh, says one, this man is a Unitarian! So\nthen was Paul, or I have not quoted him right.\n\nAnd Daniel, the prophet, teaches the same doctrine. \"I saw in the night\nvisions: and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of\nheaven, and came to the Ancient of days, (described in the ninth verse)\nand they brought him near before him; and there was given him dominion\nand glory, and a kingdom, never to be destroyed.\" Dan. vii: 13, 14. Now\nwe all admit this personage was Jesus Christ; for no being on earth or\nin heaven, has ever had the promise of an everlasting kingdom but him.\nAnd does not the Ancient of days give it to him? Would it not be absurd\nto say that he gave it to himself? How then can it be said (or proved)\nas it is by some, that the Son is the Ancient of days;--this passage,\nand the one in fifth Revelations, distinctly prove God and his Son to be\ntwo persons in heaven. Jesus says, \"I proceeded forth and came from God;\nneither came I of myself, but he sent me.\" John viii: 42. \"I come forth\nfrom the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world\nand go to the Father.\" (Does he remain in the same place?) \"We are\nconfident I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and\npresent with the Lord.\" Paul.\n\n\"The Scripture testimony accounts for no other spirits but those seen in\nthe shape of men.\" One of the three which came to Abraham was the Lord.\nGen. xviii. The Angel Gabriel was called the \"man Gabriel.\" Danl. ix.\nThe angel which appeared to Gideon was called the Lord. I think here is\nsufficient proof from the Scriptures to justify the true believer to be\nstill looking for a personal Saviour, and that God the Father is a\nperson, and looks like Jesus and we like him; and God has a habitation\nwhere he dwells, as the Scriptures testify:\n\n\"And I John saw the _Holy City new Jerusalem_ coming down from God out\nof Heaven.\"\n\nAnother writer in the same paper undertakes to prove that this same City\nhas began to appear; has been developing itself since the fall of 1844.\nWho has seen this City? O, he says, it is evident, that it is the\nsaints. Is it possible that the Saints have been _coming down from\nHeaven_ this eighteen months! Why, there is not the least particle of\nproof that the righteous dead have yet been caught up? Thes. iv: 16, 17.\nI can readily believe that both of these brethren have been fearless\nadvocates for the truth, and I do not doubt their sincerity. They have\nclearly proved that they are not seeking the applause of the world. I\nsincerely hope that they will not get so far into the fire on one side\nof the \"highway\" as some are in the \"slough of despond\" on the other.\nThe main business of the Devil is now to make God's people change their\ncourse, and it is matter of no moment to him on which side of the\n\"highway\" they fall. In either case he will make sure of his prey. God\nhelp us to be on our watch. The great error here has arisen in\nconsequence of taking the symbolical meaning and rejecting the true. The\nauthor of the Apocalyptic Dictionary, R. C. SHEMEALL, says, \"_Holy City,\nJerusalem._ Used symbolically of the present visible Church; Literally,\nthat CITY which comes down from God.\" Let us examine a few texts: \"Go\nand cry in the ears of Jerusalem.\" Jer. ii: 2. \"And he carried away all\nJerusalem.\" Kings xxiv: 14. \"The cry of Jerusalem is gone up.\" Jer. xiv:\n2. \"Jerusalem has sinned they have seen her nakedness, yea she sigheth.\"\nLam. i: 8. \"Jerusalem is a menstrous woman.\" 17 v. \"Awake, awake, stand\nup O Jerusalem.\" Isa. li: 17. \"Arise and set down O Jerusalem.\" lii: 2.\n\"O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness.\" Jer. iv: 14. \"Cut off\nthine hair O Jerusalem and cast it away.\" Jer. vi: 8. Here we see that\nold Jerusalem is personified. The prophets exhort her to \"stand up\" and\n\"set down,\" and \"awake from sleep,\" and \"wash her heart,\" and \"be\ninstructed,\" to \"cut off her hair and cast it away.\" She is also called\na \"menstrous woman,\" and said to \"cry and sigh,\" and be \"carried away.\"\nA \"tumultuous city;\" a \"joyous city;\" a \"glad city.\" \"Thou art comely, O\nmy love, as Jerusalem.\" Songs vi: 4. \"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that\nkillest,\" &c. Now this language never could be understood, unless there\nwas 1st: a Jerusalem, people and government; neither could we understand\nwhat is said of the new Jerusalem in many places, without associating\norganization, as the \"Zion of God,\" \"the Zion of the Holy One of\nIsrael.\" Isa. lx: 14. \"Like the kingdom of God among the Pharisees.\"\nLuke xvii: 21. This old Jerusalem at his second coming would be the\nplace for the capital of his kingdom; his disciples the subjects; he\ntheir king. As also in Daniel viii: 13--connecting the \"Host (God's\npeople) and sanctuary.\" Paul to the Galatians says, \"Agar is Mount Sinai\nin Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage\nwith _her children_. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the\n_mother_ of us all.\" Can this testimony be credited? Did not \"Abraham\nlook for a city which had foundations?\" Paul also says of the pilgrims\nand strangers on the earth, that they \"were seeking an heavenly country\nfor God _hath_ prepared for them a _City_\"! Heb. xi. in the past tense;\nthen it cannot be developing now in his Saints, but they are preparing\nto enter the CITY.\n\nWhen John was describing the _City_ in xxi. Rev. he said he saw no\ntemple there \"for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of\nit.\" Now Peter and Paul distinctly describe the Saints (not the city)\ncoming to this Mount Zion, and Temple, which makes it perfect and\ncomplete. Peter says of his \"spiritual house,\" \"Ye also as lively\nstones, [be ye built--_margin_.] up a spiritual house.\" 1 Pet. ii: 5. To\nwhom coming as unto a living stone. 4 v. For, says sixth verse, behold I\nlay in Zion a chief corner stone. (Jesus.) Peter says of this Temple,\n_be ye built_. Paul says it is _growing_. Read how admirably he\ndescribes it to the Ephesians. \"Fellow citizens with the Saints, and of\nthe household of God. And are built upon the _foundation_ of the\nApostles and _Prophets_,\" (see John's twelve gates representing the\ntwelve tribes in Rev. xxi: 12; and the twelve Apostles of the Lamb\nrepresenting the twelve foundations of the wall, 14th verse, which\nencloses the whole,) Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone,\n_In whom all the building fitly framed_ GROWETH INTO _an holy Temple in\nthe Lord_; In whom ye also are builded _together_ for an habitation of\nGod. Eph. ii: 19, 22. His Epistle to the Hebrews shows how they are\nbrought together and where. \"But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto\nthe City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an\ninnumerable company of angels; To the general assembly and church of the\nfirst born, which are (enrolled--_margin_) in heaven; And to God the\nJudge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus\nthe Mediator of the new Covenant.\" Now has not Paul distinctly described\n_what_ the Saints _shall come to_. O but, say you, we have already come.\nNo, no, friend, you are too fast. Paul will explain: \"_Mount Zion_ the\n_City the Heavenly Jerusalem_ to the innumerable company of Angels (or\nCherubims) to the Church of the first born and to God, and to Jesus.\"\nxii: 22, 24. Now where? See 25, 28, when he speaketh from heaven. His\nvoice once shook the earth, but now he is about to speak and shake\nheaven also, wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved,\n(this is after every thing else is moved,) therefore wait until God\nshall speak in the language of Joel, and \"Roar out of Zion and utter his\nvoice from Jerusalem.\" Paul shows the Corinthians how it is finished.\nHear him: \"What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for _ye_\nare the _Temple_ of the living God, as God hath said I will dwell in\nthem, and walk in them, and I will be their God and they shall be my\npeople.\" Then God and Christ and immortal Saints, constitute the Temple\nin this glorious City of Zion.\n\nI have been thus particular in quoting the Scriptures, in answer to the\nquestions proposed, to endeavor if possible to dispel some of the thick\ndarkness and mist of Shakerism, Quakerism, Swedenborgianism, and all the\nSpiritualisms that now seem to be settling down all over the moral\nworld, and shutting out even the very light from the horizon. To my mind\nthis spiritualizing system, when God's word admits of a literal\ninterpretation, and--according to rule--the literal first; is, to use a\nsailor phrase, like a ship groping her way into Boston Bay in the night,\nin a thick snow with the moon at full. Nothing could be more deceptive\nto the mariner; the flying clouds at one moment light up the firmament\nby the thinness of its vapor, (encouraging the mariner to believe that\nhe shall now see the light house) the next moment it grows darker, and\nso it continues to deceive them, until of a sudden the breakers are\nroaring all around them--the ship is dashed upon the rocks--one general\ncry goes aloft for mercy! and all hope is forever gone--ship and\nmariners strewed all over the beach! Good God! help us to steer clear of\nthese spiritual interpretations of Thy word, where it is made so clear\nthat the second coming and kingdom of Christ will be as literal and\nreal, as the events that transpired at the first Advent, now recorded in\nhistory.\n\nWhen the Saviour comes the second time, it will be with the City, (the\nCapital of his kingdom) seated upon his throne. Hear him: \"When the son\nof man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then\nshall he be _seated_ upon the throne of his _glory_.\" Matt. xxv. 31.\n\"And the city had no need of the sun--for the glory of God did lighten\nit, and the lamb is the light thereof.\" \"But the _throne_ of God and the\nLamb shall _be in it_.\" Rev. xxi: 23, and xxii: 3. This _glory_ is none\nother than the golden City. When \"one like the son of man came before\nthe Ancient of days,\" in Daniel, he received \"_Dominion_, and _Glory_,\nand a _Kingdom_.\" Glory, signifies worldly splendor, and magnificence.\nWhat, I ask, will be more splendid and glorious than this City of Gold\npoised fifteen hundred miles into the Heavens. The Psalmist cries out in\nview of it, in this sublime language, \"Let thy Glory be above all the\nearth!\" and so it will be; and as his dominion is from sea to sea, and\nfrom the rivers unto the ends of the earth, so I believe his _glory_\nwill be seen from the uttermost border. Other views of the glory of God\nand Christ do not destroy this. Saint John has connected in one, the\n\"_Holy City_, _New Jerusalem_, _Tabernacle of God_, _Bride the Lambs\nWife_, coming down from God, _out of Heaven_ to dwell with his\n_people_.\" PROOF--\"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;\nand there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither\nshall there be any more pain.\" \"And he that sit upon the throne said,\nbehold I make all things new, and he said unto me write, for these words\nare true and faithful.\" Rev. xxi: 4, 5. Is it not clear that the _City_,\nand the _King_, and _Saints_, are here distinctly described. Why, then,\nall this shouting about a figurative fulfillment, while yourselves and\nthe world are groping through the \"_snow storm_.\"\n\n\n\n\n                        THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM.\n\n\nThe old Prophets looking down through the vista of time to the coming of\nthis heavenly city, break forth in language like the following: \"And it\nshall come to pass that he that is left in _Zion_ and he that remaineth\nin _Jerusalem_ shall be called holy, even every one that is written\namong the living in _Jerusalem_.\" \"Then the Moon shall be confounded and\nthe Sun ashamed when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount _Zion_ and\nin _Jerusalem_--(why? because John says they will 'have no need of the\nsun nor the moon,') and before his ancients gloriously.\" Who are they?\nNoah, Abraham and the Prophets. Again: \"Look upon _Zion_ the _City_ of\nour solemnities; thine eye shall see _Jerusalem_ a quiet habitation, a\n_Tabernacle_ that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof\nshall ever be removed.\" \"Break forth into joy, sing together ye waste\nplaces of _Jerusalem_ for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath\nredeemed _Jerusalem_.\" \"Give no rest till he establish and till he make\n_Jerusalem_ a praise in the earth.\" Do they mean old Jerusalem? The\nSaviour's prediction is against it, \"left desolate,\" its inhabitants\n\"carried away captive and trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times\nof the Gentiles be fulfilled.\" Luke xxi. Further: \"But be ye glad and\nrejoice forever in that which I create, behold I create _Jerusalem_ a\nrejoicing and her people a joy, and I will rejoice in _Jerusalem_ and\njoy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in\nher, nor the voice of crying.\" Isa. iv: 3; xxiv: 23; xxxiii: 20; lii: 9;\nlxii: 7; lxv: 18, 19. Also read xl: 1; lii: 1; lx: 14, and xxxv: 10. \"At\nthat time they shall call _Jerusalem_ the _throne_ of the Lord, and all\nthe nations shall be gathered into it--neither shall they walk any more\nafter the imagination of their evil heart.\" \"In those days shall Juda be\nsaved and _Jerusalem_ shall dwell _safely_ and this is the name\nwherewith she shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. For thus\nsaith the Lord, David shall never want a man to set upon the throne of\nthe house of Israel.\" Jer. iii: 17; xxxiii: 16, 17. \"The Lord also shall\nroar out of _Zion_ and utter his voice from _Jerusalem_, then shall\n_Jerusalem be holy_, and there shall be no stranger pass through her any\nmore.\" Joel iii: 16, 17.\n\nHere then, in every instance save one or two, the people of God are\nconnected with the \"_Zion_ of God,\" \"_City_ of God,\" \"_Jerusalem_ which\nis to be in the last days.\" The Psalmist says, \"Glorious things are\nspoken of thee, O _City_ of God.\" lxxxvii: 3. John's record is, \"Him\nthat overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he\nshall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God and\nthe name of the City of my God, (what union, and yet, how distinct!)\nwhich is new _Jerusalem_ which cometh down _out_ of heaven from my God,\nand I will write upon him my new name.\" How could the Saviour have been\nmore explicit and plain. \"Him that overcometh.\" Who? Why, the Saint; not\nthe City, the _new Jerusalem_. Again: \"Blessed are they that do his\ncommandments that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter\nin through the gates into the city.\" If the city is the Saints, what is\nthis that enters into and have right to the tree of life? Can the _City_\ngo into the _City_? If so, then we acknowledge the _City_ is the Saints.\nBut it reads, the Saints go in there.\n\nIn Rev. xxi: 16, the City is said to be four square, twelve thousand\nfurlongs; the length, and the breadth, and the height of it are equal.\nThen, according to arithmetical computation, it is fifteen hundred miles\nsquare. Now, if the City spiritually means the Saints of God, then, to\ncarry out the figure, the Saints must stand over, or upon each other\n(according to the common stature) one million and four hundred thousand\ndeep; or will it be asserted that they are fifteen hundred miles tall!\n\n\n\n\n                               SANCTUARY.\n\n\nWell, says one, are you going to call this _City_ the Sanctuary too? If\nyou will allow the Bible testimony you will have to believe it is, or\nsearch more diligently for it in this planet than any one else ever has\nthat I have heard of. But it has been proved by most able men, and\nlearned men, that it is the Earth, or the Land of Canaan. Well, let us\nlook at it again. But allow me first to recommend to your particular\nnotice, O. R. L. Grosier's article in the Day Star Extra, for the 7th of\nFebruary, 1846, from the 37th to the 44th page. Read it again. In my\nhumble opinion it is superior to any thing of the kind extant.\n\n\"_Sanctuary_ was the first name the Lord gave the Tabernacle, which name\ncovers not only the Tabernacle with the two apartments, but also the\ncourt with all its hangings, and all the vessels of the ministry.\" Exo.\nxxv: 8, 9, and 38, 21; Num. i: 53. This, then, was a dwelling place, and\na true pattern of the heavenly, embracing within its \"jaspar\" walls \"the\nParadise of God,\" with the \"pure river of the water of life,\" and the\n\"tree of life,\" and the \"Golden City in the midst,\" all to come down\nfrom heaven and be located in old Jerusalem. Za. 14th chapter. That's\ntoo absurd to believe, says one. Is it any more so, than to believe the\nApostle John's testimony? Does he not show us that the tree of life is\ninside of the gates, in xxii: 14. Read also the two first verses. Do not\nthe waters issue out from the throne? and is not the tree of life on\neither side of it? and is not the promise--to him that overcometh I will\ngive to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of\nGod? Well, continues the objector, I don't know but that I could have\nbelieved your Scripture testimony concerning the city, but I can't\nbelieve that God has such a place in the third heavens, and that it will\ndescend to this earth with a river of water in, or on it. How can you\nbelieve then, what you are experiencing every day of your life, on the\nplanet in which we live? While she is flying in her orbit around the Sun\nat the rate of fifty-eight thousand miles per hour, she is at the same\ntime whirling over like a ball from East to West, at the rate of six\nhundred miles per hour, in her diurnal or daily motion, bottom upwards,\nas it would appear, every twenty-four hours, and yet, by an unseen\npower, (readily accounted for by Astronomers,) not only the rivers and\nthe lakes, but the mighty ocean, remains unmoved.\n\nAs we have before quoted, Moses says that a river went out of Eden to\nwater the Garden, and became into four heads. Gen. ii: 10, 14. Now let\nus turn to Ezekiel's prophecy for a corresponding view, as \"in the mouth\nof two or three witnesses, shall every word be established.\" In chapter\n43, 1st and 7th verses, he testifies that this accords with the vision\nhe had by the river Chebar twenty years before, (previously quoted.)\nHere he sees the Glory of God on the east side of the _Sanctuary_,\n(where Moses said the flaming sword and Cherubims were,) and his \"voice\nlike the noise of many waters saying to him that the house of Israel\nshall no more defile God's name.\" Afterwards, in 47th chapter, 1st and\n5th verse: \"He brought me again unto the door of the house, and behold\nwaters issued out from under the threshold of the house\neastward--(observe how particular to mention the \"east side\")--for the\nfore front of the house stood towards the east, and the waters came down\nfrom _under_, from the right side of the house.\" His guide then measured\nthe waters one thousand cubits (more than one-fourth of a mile) \"the\nwaters were to the ankles,\" but when he had measured four thousand\ncubits, they had become waters to swim in, that could not be passed\nover. In 12th verse he describes the tree of life yielding its monthly\nfruit, for meat, and its unfading leaves for medicine. Why all this?\n\"Because the waters issued out of the Sanctuary.\" Now read again in Rev.\nxxii: 1, 2; does not John tell the same story: the waters issuing from\nout the throne, the tree of life, the monthly fruit, the leaves for\nhealing, the nations. Is not this after the city comes down? In 48th\nchapter, 8th verse: \"And the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it.\"\nOnce more the measuring rod is run over it, showing the four sides just\nlike the old pattern in the wilderness, and then says the Sanctuary\nshall be in the midst thereof. From 30th to 35th verse, he describes the\nwall and the gates as John does in Rev. xxi: 13, and closes up his\nprophecy in these words, \"And the name of the city from that day shall\nbe, the Lord is there.\" Now let the old prophet Isaiah testify to what\nhe saw: \"Look upon _Zion_ the _City_ of our solemnities, thine eyes\nshall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a Tabernacle that shall not be\ntaken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither\nshall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord\nwill be unto us a place of _broad rivers and streams_, wherein shall go\nno galley with oars, neither shall gallant ships pass thereby.\" xxxiii:\n20, 21.\n\nThe Psalmist says, \"there _is_ a river; the streams whereof make glad\nthe city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God\nis in the midst of her\"--46: 4, 5. Jeremiah says, \"A glorious high\nthrone from the beginning is the place of our _sanctuary_.\" xvii: 12.\nThe Psalmist replies, \"For he hath looked down from the height of his\n_sanctuary_; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth.\" cii: 19. (If he\nhad said _sanctuary_ instead of earth, we should not have been easily\nmoved from our former exposition.) \"The Lord is in his holy temple, the\nLord's throne is in heaven.\" xi: 4. Paul says to the Hebrews, \"We have\nsuch an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the\nmajesty, in the heavens; a minister of the _sanctuary_ and of the _true_\nTabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.\" Heb. viii: 1, 2. \"For\nthe _invisible things_ of Him from the creation of the world are\n_clearly_ seen, being understood by the _things that are made_.\" Rom. i:\n20. Paul tells the Hebrews how they may understand these _invisible_\nthings, which he says are _clearly seen_. See viii. c., 5 v. \"Shadow of\nheavenly things.\" For see, (saith he) \"that thou make all things\naccording to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.\" Now then,\nwhenever we want to understand about the heavenly _sanctuary_, we must\nturn to Moses's description of the sanctuary in the wilderness, which he\nmade after the pattern God gave him; which Paul says were shadows of\nheavenly things. How will a man dare (in the face of all this inspired\ntestimony) to stand here on God's earth, and assert that the heavenly\nsanctuary with all that pertains to it is a FIGURE, and spiritualize it\naway. It would be ten thousand times easier for him to spiritualize the\nold Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple, seeing the one that is to come as\nfar exceeds the temple of Solomon or Nehemiah, (although, it is allowed,\nthat nothing on earth ever exceeded them) as the most splendid palace of\nthe king does the sentry box of his guard. Much safer would it be for\nhim to teach that the rocks had never been rent, or as he passed the\nstreets in the afternoon and saw the shadow of the buildings, should\ninsist upon it that the shadows were real, but the buildings, which cast\nthe shadows, were spiritual. Such doctrine should be ranked with\nMahometanism and Jesuitism, save their demoniac spirit; it comes from\nthe \"bottomless pit and will go into perdition: and they that dwell on\nthe earth will wonder.\" Rev. xvii: 8. But I wish to present further\nevidence of the real (not spiritual) coming of this heavenly\n_sanctuary_. Ezekiel says in his 37th chapter, where God has promised\nhis spirit and life to the whole house of Israel, \"Moreover, I will make\na covenant of peace with them; it shall be an _everlasting_ covenant\nwith them, and I will place them and multiply them, and will set my\nsanctuary in the midst of them forevermore; my _tabernacle_ also shall\nbe with them: aye, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And\nthe heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my\n_sanctuary_ shall be in the midst of them forevermore.\" 26-28 v. Now\nhere is God's sacred promise that his sanctuary shall be in the midst of\nhis _people_; and I have already quoted his 48th chap. 10 v. where he\nsays when the angel had \"measured the land twenty-five thousand reeds in\nlength and ten thousand in breadth,\" said, \"and the _sanctuary_ of the\nLord shall be in the midst thereof.\" Now will it be insisted upon that\nthe land, or his people, is the sanctuary; rather let us submit to the\nScripture testimony. On the last night of our Saviour's ministry here on\nearth, in company with his disciples, when everything else had failed to\narouse them, he to quicken their drooping spirits says, \"Let not your\nhearts be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my\nfather's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told\nyou; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and\nreceive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.\" John\nxiv: 1, 3. I think I have now proved by unquestionable authority, that\nthis heavenly _sanctuary_ is the very place with _mansions_ which he has\nbeen preparing, and according to his promise is now coming to receive\nhis saints. But may there not after all be a failure here. \"Heaven and\nearth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.\" Having such\ntestimony as this, we rejoice in \"hope of the glory that is to be\nrevealed.\"\n\n\"Unto two thousand three hundred days then shall the sanctuary be\ncleansed.\" Dan. viii: 14.\n\nThis, then, I understand, is the selfsame \"_heavenly Sanctuary_, the\n_New Jerusalem_, the _Paradise of God_.\" Well, says the reader, this\ncannot be; how can Paradise, which Paul said was in the \"third heavens,\"\nand where you say Jesus our High Priest is, be defiled? Where was the\nfirst sin that ever cursed this world committed? O, say you, that was\nsix thousand years ago. Admit that it was, has God ever pardoned that\nsin? Turn to Gen. iii: 17, 19. The ground is still cursed, and man gets\nhis living by the sweat of his brow. Why? Because the extent of this\ngreat sin could never be known, until God had put the last seal upon his\nsaints, \"and the dead be judged.\" But say you, the curse was upon the\nearth and its inhabitants. Yes; but was not Paradise polluted by this\nsin? But how can it be that anything in heaven is polluted, or unclean?\nHave I not proved by the astronomer's conclusive arguments, that this\nearthly ball which we inhabit is continually flying through the regions\nof unlimited space, in the same direction with all other planets, seen\nor known in the solar system? Think you that this little speck of earth\nis the only thing that is defiled, among the millions and myriads of\nworlds which stud the diadem of space? We are told that the \"stars are\nnot pure in his sight.\" \"Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.\"\nJob xv: 15; xxv: 5. Was not the sanctuary on earth which the high priest\ncleansed the tenth day of the seventh month every year, a pattern of the\ntrue? Does not Paul tell us that Jesus our high priest has entered into\nthe true _sanctuary_, into heaven itself. See Heb. ix: 12, 24; and viii:\n1, 2. Then is not our high priest in the proper place to \"cleanse the\nsanctuary?\" I cannot for the life of me see, how the pattern or type can\nbe made to appear in any other way. How then can the earth (as one in\nthe voice of truth, and many other writers say) be the _sanctuary_;\nwhile spiritualizers are saying it is the saints. O Lord give us the\ntruth!\n\nThe strongest proof ever been adduced to prove that the earth or Canaan\nwas the _sanctuary_, is found in Exodus xv: 17. Now what place is this\nwhich the Lord has made to dwell in? The answer is, \"in the sanctuary O\nLord, which thy hands have established.\" Paul says this sanctuary is in\nthe heavens which the Lord pitched and not man. Heb. viii: 1, 2. The\nonly other passage for proof of the land is Psalms lxxviii: 54, both of\nwhich go to strengthen the testimony before adduced. \"And he brought\nthem to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain which his\nright hand had purchased.\" Does he in either text say that the mountain\nis the sanctuary? If I can understand him, he says that the mountain is\nthe _border_ of his sanctuary; just as Ezekiel has shown where his guide\nmeasured the land, and then said that the sanctuary of the Lord should\nbe in the midst of it. Now the word _sanctuary_ is mentioned more than\nseventy times in the bible, and the whole of them,--with but a few\nexceptions, represent it a dwelling place, a building. The Psalmist\nsays, that the \"Lord looked down from his sanctuary from heaven to the\nearth.\" Not to his sanctuary. But let us see what Daniel and the angel\nGabriel called a sanctuary. Dan. viii: 10-12. Is it not plain here that\nPopery took away the daily (i. e. destroyed Paganism) by arms or armies\nthat stood on his (Popery's part, or side)--xi: 31. The taking away his\nsanctuary or polluting it is the same; for it would be absurd to say\nthat the _land_ was taken away, (11 v.) or that by this transaction the\nland was _now_ polluted--xi: 31. Now read ix: 17, 19. Is not Daniel\npraying for the restoration of old Jerusalem, the city and _sanctuary_\n(the temple where God's people worshipped) which had been desolated,\n_burnt up_, by the king of Babylon's army, about seventy years before?\n(see Jer. lii: 12, 14) and remained a burnt district until the\ncommandment by Cyrus to Ezra, and afterwards to Nehemiah, to build the\ntemple and city. Now in answer to this prayer, God immediately\ndespatched the angel Gabriel from the court of heaven, to give Daniel\n\"skill and understanding\"--22d v. In the 26th verse he informs him that\nMessiah shall be cut off, (crucify the Saviour) and the people of the\nprince that shall come, shall destroy the city and the _sanctuary_. How\nwas this accomplished? Josephus who was an eye witness and historian,\ninforms us that Titus the son of Vespasian, the Emperor of Rome, about\nA. D. 70, (five hundred and sixty years after the temple and city had\nbeen rebuilt by Nehemiah) came with his mighty Roman army and took\nJerusalem, and burned up the city and temple (the sanctuary) and it was\nsoon after \"ploughed as a field,\" (Micah iii: 12) \"and not one stone\nleft upon another.\" This, then, was the very circumstance, Prince, and\npeople, alluded to by the angel Gabriel. I believe no one undertakes to\ndispute this point.\n\nNow we learn from this, that the angel Gabriel's instructions from\nheaven in answer to Daniel's prayer was, that it was the _Temple in the\ncity of old Jerusalem_, which is the pattern or figure, or as Paul says\n\"answereth to the new, which is above, which is the mother of us all.\"\nCan anything be more plain and explicit than that this is the sanctuary\nto be cleansed, \"unto two thousand three hundred days.\"\n\nIn the 11th verse he says, \"the daily was taken away, (that is,\nPaganism) and the place of his _sanctuary_ cast down.\" How plain it is\nthat this wicked sanctuary (where idols and devils were worshipped) was\na building, cast down. How could they cast down the earth to the earth?\n(12th v.) and it (this same Popery) cast down the truth to the ground,\nso the ground was not destroyed; clear proof it was not the sanctuary.\nWell, but we don't believe that God will ever cleanse the wicked\nsanctuary of Paganism.\n\nThe sanctuary must be cleansed, (made holy) so must the saints; for St.\nJohn says, \"nothing unclean or unholy shall enter there.\" Then before\nthe saints can enter the sanctuary it will be cleansed, not by fire, but\nby blood, (please follow the pattern.) Now will it still be said that\nthe earth is the sanctuary? Can any proof be adduced that the earth is\nto be burned even, until after immortality is given to the saints? Just\nlook at Zach. xiv. chapter; here he shows us that the wicked shall be\npunished after \"_Jerusalem_ (the sanctuary) shall be safely inhabited,\"\n(11th and 12th verses and onward;) and before this, in the 8th to 11th\nverse, he has shown us that the land shall be turned into a plain; the\n8th and 9th verses shows who does it, and how it is accomplished; and\nthen of the sanctuary, Jerusalem, as though it was understood that this\nwas done for the express purpose of making a foundation for the\nbuilding. Here I think any one may see, that the border of this heavenly\n_sanctuary_ will extend to the \"mountain of his inheritance,\" (Exo. xv:\n17; Psl. lxxviii: 54) and this plain for the location and walls of the\nsanctuary will be made clean and pure. This is all the cleansing the\nearth will receive, until after \"the great battle of God Almighty.\" So\nthen, if the earth is the _sanctuary_, God's people need have no trouble\nhere about its being cleansed, for they will have that work to do in\nimmortality; but we believe that work is now being accomplished. Again,\n\"how long shall the sanctuary and the host be trodden under foot.\" Jesus\nsaid that old \"Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles until\nthe times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled.\" But how ridiculous to\nbelieve that the heavenly sanctuary is \"trodden under foot.\" Is it any\nmore so than to believe what St. Paul tells us, concerning the High\nPriest of these \"heavenly places\" in the heavens. See Heb. x: 29. \"Of\nhow much sorer punishment suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who\nhath _trodden under foot the Son of God_, and counted the blood of the\ncovenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing.\" So we can see\naccording to Paul's exposition, if they have trodden the master under\nfoot, how much more the building and the household, (\"the sanctuary and\nhost.\") In the preceding verses it is explained; just read 10th, 11th\nand 12th verses; the papal power of Rome, the abomination which maketh\ndesolate, casting down some of the host and stars to the ground and\nstamping upon them; also casting down the sanctuary and the truth to the\nground, by satanic influence--this is treading down, connected with\nwhich is all other ungodly antichristian influences operating against\nit, which is to be purged out: even as the high priest here on earth\ncleansed the pattern once a year, which was never _literally_ trodden\ndown by any one but himself while in the act of cleansing it.\n\nThe angel did not answer the question concerning the host in the 13th\nverse, but Gabriel at his second visit showed Daniel that seventy weeks\nwere determined upon his people, leaving 1810 years more to be explained\nat his third and last visit to him. See x: 14; \"Now I am come (for\nwhat?) to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the\nlatter days.\" Please read on to the end of the twelfth chapter and see\nhow faithfully he has described the host (the holy people) and one\nclothed in linen, (the Lord Jesus; see x: 21,) from above the waters of\nthe river with his hands upraised to heaven, swearing by him that liveth\nforever that all these wonders, (including the resurrection in 2d verse)\nshall be finished when he, (meaning the antichristian powers which are\nled on and urged forward by the \"prince of the power of the air,\") shall\nhave accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, by the\nprocess of purifying, being made white, and tried, and if they pass\nthrough and withstand all this fiery ordeal and come to the 1335 days,\nthey shall be blessed, and then be delivered out of such a time of\ntrouble as never was since there was a nation. Thus, I think, the angel\nhas described the treading down the host, and it appears to me that all\nthis severe discipline is to prepare them to enter the holy city, for an\nangel crying with a mighty voice has shown them that they have been in\ncompany with devils, foul spirits, and every unclean and hateful bird;\nand another voice says, come out of her my people, for _all nations_\nhave drank of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Rev. xviii: 2,\n4. And the poison has operated to such an alarming extent that it has\nbaffled the skill of all the Doctors of Divinity in the universe, and in\nspite of all their preaching, fasting and praying, with the assistance\nof the principals of the flock, the famine prophecied of by Amos the\nProphet, has come upon them. How awfully be describes it: \"Wandering\nfrom sea to sea, and from the north to the east, running to and fro to\nseek the word of the Lord and shall not find it.\" God never called his\npeople out from any other place than the churches; if the whole truth,\nthe meat in due season had been given and received there, and Babylon's\npoisonous cup rejected, then there would have been no severity in the\ndiscipline of its members. The handling of God's word deceitfully, (for\nit would not be admitted to say of learned men, ignorantly,) has led the\nprofessed world into this labyrinth; and men are now being ridiculed and\nlaughed at, not only because they believe and are looking for the Lord\nhimself to descend from heaven because they are now sending forth their\nepistles to (as they think) enlighten their brethren and friends\nconcerning the coming of Christ in the \"clouds of heaven,\" by\nsubscribing themselves \"yours, no longer gazing up into heaven;\" \"yours,\nin the clouds of heaven--meeting the Lord in the air;\" while another one\nin the Shaker's camp in N. H., is shouting and rejoicing that he has\nfound the Mount _Zion_, (meaning, of course, the holy city) and that the\nGermans from Europe are gathering to it; while another, from another\nquarter, (as I understand standing on the \"broad platform\") has\nattempted to prove that the powers of the heavens have been shaken, and\nthe sign of the Son of man in heaven has been seen; and another one\nsaying that \"God is as much in one place as another!\" while another is\nshouting Hallelujah, because he believes it to be so clear that the\n\"saints are the _holy city_;\" and yet another subscribes himself \"yours,\nin the kingdom.\" O, says one, how alarming these things are! they look\njust like the \"_perilous times_\" St. Paul described to Timothy for the\n\"last days.\" 2 Tim. iii: 4, 5. Jesus also, in Matt, xxiv: 24. I wish the\ngood ministers would teach them sound doctrine; the great trouble would\nbe to ascertain in what denomination to find them, for I have lying\nbefore me the creed of a professed Orthodox church o\u00a3 1844, (_right\nopinion, true belief_) of this enlightened place, signed by its two\nministers and one hundred and forty-seven members, (one of them a\nminister in New-Bedford with a similar flock) who say in their fifth\narticle, \"I believe that Christ came to establish the kingdom of heaven\non earth, _which_ is the visible church.\" Now all the proof they offer\nfrom, the Scriptures is what follows: \"And I say unto thee that thou art\nPeter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell\nshall not prevail against it.\" \"And he shall reign over the house of\nJacob forever; and, of his, kingdom there shall be no end.\" Matt. xvi:\n18; Luke i: 33. Now if there is one particle of proof from these two\npassages, that Christ has established his kingdom here, and that kingdom\nis the church, then I confess I do not understand English. In the second\narticle the only proof adduced for \"and Almighty Saviour\" is Hebrews\nxvii: 25. Their doors are wide open for members, but they must assent to\nthis creed. Why continue to pray \"THY KINGDOM COME?\" I wish to be\ndistinctly understood, that I do not mean anything invidious. I am only\nstating the truth in behalf of \"God's word;\" for I believe that all the\nnominal churches in this place, (and they all profess to be right) are\nholding the same or similar unscriptural errors that has led the world\naround them astray, not because they are more ignorant than in other\nplaces, for I believe for general intelligence they will compare with\nany place of its numbers on the habitable globe. The ministers too, with\none exception, I believe, are all college bred. And this creed, be it\nremembered, is the most modern and modest of any in the place, for I\nbelieve it is the fashion now when the church is remoddled to remoddle\nthe creed also, no matter how _orthodox_ it was before, there are\nvarious ways to understand the scriptures, but when once the creed is\npublished, all the members, old and young, must assent to the truth of\nit as their standard, until some one, more skilled in this business,\nproposes an alteration. What a burlesque on the never changing truth of\nthe great eternal! Why follow in the footsteps of Popery to trammel the\nmind? Why not as well require a rule to get money? Then if _we_ are\ndestitute of the true light from the word of God in this enlightened\nplace, where in the name of the Lord, in any other village or city, can\nit be found? God has said that \"light is sown for the righteous,\" and\n\"unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness.\" Psalms. But I\nmust pass on--I have dwelt much longer on this lamentable picture than I\nintended, and yet I have hardly begun.\n\nI wish here to ask a few questions on one of the greatest errors that\nthe world ever embraced, first established by Pope Gregory, A. D. 603. I\nmean the changing of God's seventh day, Sabbath, (for it is sheer\nsophistry to call it the Jews Sabbath, as Jesus our divine Lord says \"it\nwas made for man,\") to the first day of the week.\n\nPaul says, \"there therefore remaineth a keeping of the Sabbath to the\npeople of God.\" Isaiah shows us that in the New Heavens and Earth all\nflesh shall keep the \"Sabbath.\" Does any bible reader believe that this\nwill be on any other day than what God has ordained. Let us look at the\npatterns and shadows of the true. Heb. viii: 5; ix. and x: 1. Is not the\ntrue in the eternal state? Think you that God will ever change the true\nto answer the pattern of Popery, that has been foremost in desolating\nthe world? Every candid mind says no! What should we do then? God will\ntell us. \"Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the SEVENTH\nIS THE SABBATH of the Lord thy God; (perhaps the minister will tell you\nhe meant the Jewish Sabbath--don't you believe him nor any one else;\nthey can't prove it by the Bible) in it thou shalt not do any work;\"\n\"wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.\" Exod. xx.\nWhy all this costly array in \"building the Tabernacle and afterwards the\nTemple?\" _Answer_, it was to put the Ark in. 2 Sam. 2-7. Hear David 1\nChron. xvii: 2, 12. What was the Ark? A small chest in which was a\nprecious relic; the commandments of God; his testimony to man; (see\nExod. xxv: 10, 12) how it is guarded night and day by Cherubims. What\nare these commandments to us? They that keep them shall \"enter in\nthrough the gates into the city.\" Rev. xxii: 14. Will you say then that\nthe fourth commandment is abolished? If so, please cite us to the\nchapter and verse. I say it cannot be found within the lids of the\nbible. Will you reply by saying that the first day is the Sabbath, or\nthat it was ever kept by Jesus or his apostles as a day set apart for\nreligious worship; if so, where is the text? I challenge the world to\nproduce it! If it cannot be found, why violate still this sacred command\nof God and reject all the light that is thrown in your pathway? God will\nhave some to keep his commandments, if it be but \"one of a city and two\nof a family.\" Jer. Some endeavor to clear their conscience by saying\nthere is no Sabbath to be kept. This, to me, looks like infidelity.\n\nI have stated that one writer had asserted that the powers of Heaven had\nbeen shaken and the sign of the Son of man been seen. His argument on\nthe twenty-fourth of Matthew, I like much, until he begins to prove what\nnone of us have yet seen or heard. If so, why continue to say that\n\"men's hearts fail them for fear and for looking after the things that\nare coming on the earth.\" Jesus does not say that they will be looking\nfor _him_, but then they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds\nof heaven, when they have seen the preceding signs. What arguments are\nthere yet to be presented that will so alarm the Laodicean church, and\nscoffer, to fulfil. Isa. lx: 14, and Rev. iii: 9. It appears to me that\nnothing short of the voice of God will do this. Then, I think, the wise\nwill understand, and get their blessing, as in Dan. xii: 12; then will\nthey return and discern between the righteous and the wicked; then will\nthey be found with the world, in the time of Daniel's trouble; they will\nthen have passed through the \"fiery trial\" and the Sealing Angel have\ndone his last work. This, as it looks to me will be the time when God\nwill roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem--and the\nheavens and the earth will shake; then shall Jerusalem be holy. Joel\niii: 16, 17. It will then be cleansed from every impurity. This, I\nthink, will be the shaking of the powers of heaven, for then will God's\npeople _know_ that he dwells in Zion, (17th verse) not in the Shaker's\ncamp, but in his Heavenly Sanctuary, and _then_ shall appear the \"Sign\nof the Son of Man in Heaven,\" the \"Holy Jerusalem descending out of\nHeaven from God, having the glory of God; And her light was like unto a\nstone most precious, even like a jaspar stone clear as chrystal.\" I have\nnot the least particle of doubt but that it will be seen just as he has\ndescribed it. The glory and effulgence of that sight will so light up\nthe heavens in its majestic course down from the parted skies, that we\nshall have no further need of the telescope; but in the language of our\nadorable coming Lord, exclaim \"I see heaven _open_ and the Angels of God\nascending and descending upon the Son of Man\"! This, I think, will be\nthe Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven. A telescopic view of the burning\nbright star Sirius, on the southeast of the belt of Orion, in the\nsouthwestern heavens, early in the evening, will give a faint view of\nthe above description.\n\nSt. John saw this City suspended in the air, he therefore had a clear\nview of its twelve foundations and the names of the twelve Apostles of\nthe Lamb, and the twelve gates, and the names written thereon, which are\nthe names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. \"And he\nmeasured the wall a hundred and forty and four cubits,\" two hundred and\nsixty-two and a half feet, and they were studded with all kinds of\nprecious stones, and diamonds from the bowels of the earth, while the\ngates are adorned with the treasures of the ocean. Now this beautiful\ndescription of the City is given in the twenty-first chapter, from 16 to\n18 and 21st verses. We must keep it distinct from the walls. He says, it\nlieth four square, and measures twelve thousand furlongs. This sum,\ndivided by eight furlongs, which make a mile, would stand thus:\n8/12000--fifteen hundred miles square or seven millions nine hundred and\ntwenty thousand feet on six sides (it being a cubical form.) When we\nlook at the size of this _City_ of Gold, we are at once almost\noverwhelmed with the view of its dimensions. Fifteen hundred miles high,\nlong and wide! In the seventeenth verse, he gives but one way to measure\nthe wall, and that is its height. If he had undertaken to have given the\ncontents of the City by the same rule, he would have measured the wall.\n\nThen we have nothing more to do in making an arithmetical calculation,\nbut follow the Apostle's description. Jesus said, in my Father's house\nare many mansions. Now, allowing twelve feet between joints for a story,\nthis seven millions nine hundred and twenty thousand feet square would\ngive six hundred and sixty thousand stories, twelve feet high, (Ezekiel\nxl: 7,) and fifteen hundred miles square, four hundred and forty stories\nto a mile: which would amount to 990,000,000, nine hundred and ninety\nmillions of square miles on a level surface, twelve feet high--equal to\nthe square miles contained in five worlds like this, (which is only one\nhundred and ninety-nine millions five hundred and twelve thousand square\nmiles,) and seventy times more extensive than the Continent of America.\nNow six hundred and sixty thousand twelve foot rooms in each story,\nwould make in all 435,600,000,000--four hundred and thirty-five thousand\nand six hundred millions of twelve feet square \"rooms,\"--_Ezekiel_;\n\"places,\"--_John_; or \"mansions,\"--_Jesus_. It is computed that there\nare 900,000,000--nine hundred millions of inhabitants now on the Earth.\nThe Bible informs us that there was but one, six thousand years ago.\nAdmit that there was nine hundred millions at the commencement of\ncreation, and this number had passed away every thirty years for two\nhundred generations, their whole number would only amount to\n180,000,000,000--one hundred and eighty thousand millions, a little more\nthan one-third of the mansions in this building; four hundred and\neighty-four to every human being now on the earth. Surely, this looks\nlike an \"abundant entrance\" into the everlasting kingdom. O yes, say\nmany, I see there is abundance of room for every body! The apostle tells\nus who they are. He says, \"There shall in no wise enter into it anything\nthat defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie;\nbut they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.\" This then is the\ncapacious and glorious \"golden _City_;\" the \"New Jerusalem;\" the\n\"heavenly Sanctuary;\" the \"Bride the Lamb's Wife;\" the \"Mother of us\nall;\" the \"Paradise of God;\" the capital of our coming Lord's\nEVERLASTING kingdom, which is now about to descend from the \"third\nheaven\" by the way of the open door, down by the \"flaming sword\" of\nOrion. O let us see to it, that we are all ready to enter into this\ncelestial City.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\nMissing or obscured punctuation was corrected.\n\nTypographical errors were silently corrected.\n\nSpelling and hyphenation were made consistent when a predominant form\nwas found in this book; otherwise it was not changed.\n\nText in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).","title":"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","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":16259}