Well, says one, are you going to call this _City_ the Sanctuary too? If
you will allow the Bible testimony you will have to believe it is, or
search more diligently for it in this planet than any one else ever has
that I have heard of. But it has been proved by most able men, and
learned men, that it is the Earth, or the Land of Canaan. Well, let us
look at it again. But allow me first to recommend to your particular
notice, O. R. L. Grosier's article in the Day Star Extra, for the 7th of
February, 1846, from the 37th to the 44th page. Read it again. In my
humble opinion it is superior to any thing of the kind extant.
"_Sanctuary_ was the first name the Lord gave the Tabernacle, which name
covers not only the Tabernacle with the two apartments, but also the
court with all its hangings, and all the vessels of the ministry." Exo.
xxv: 8, 9, and 38, 21; Num. i: 53. This, then, was a dwelling place, and
a true pattern of the heavenly, embracing within its "jaspar" walls "the
Paradise of God," with the "pure river of the water of life," and the
"tree of life," and the "Golden City in the midst," all to come down
from heaven and be located in old Jerusalem. Za. 14th chapter. That's
too absurd to believe, says one. Is it any more so, than to believe the
Apostle John's testimony? Does he not show us that the tree of life is
inside of the gates, in xxii: 14. Read also the two first verses. Do not
the waters issue out from the throne? and is not the tree of life on
either side of it? and is not the promise--to him that overcometh I will
give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of
God? Well, continues the objector, I don't know but that I could have
believed your Scripture testimony concerning the city, but I can't
believe that God has such a place in the third heavens, and that it will
descend to this earth with a river of water in, or on it. How can you
believe then, what you are experiencing every day of your life, on the
planet in which we live? While she is flying in her orbit around the Sun
at the rate of fifty-eight thousand miles per hour, she is at the same
time whirling over like a ball from East to West, at the rate of six
hundred miles per hour, in her diurnal or daily motion, bottom upwards,
as it would appear, every twenty-four hours, and yet, by an unseen
power, (readily accounted for by Astronomers,) not only the rivers and
the lakes, but the mighty ocean, remains unmoved.
As we have before quoted, Moses says that a river went out of Eden to
water the Garden, and became into four heads. Gen. ii: 10, 14. Now let
us turn to Ezekiel's prophecy for a corresponding view, as "in the mouth
of two or three witnesses, shall every word be established." In chapter
43, 1st and 7th verses, he testifies that this accords with the vision
he had by the river Chebar twenty years before, (previously quoted.)
Here he sees the Glory of God on the east side of the _Sanctuary_,
(where Moses said the flaming sword and Cherubims were,) and his "voice
like the noise of many waters saying to him that the house of Israel
shall no more defile God's name." Afterwards, in 47th chapter, 1st and
5th verse: "He brought me again unto the door of the house, and behold
waters issued out from under the threshold of the house
eastward--(observe how particular to mention the "east side")--for the
fore front of the house stood towards the east, and the waters came down
from _under_, from the right side of the house." His guide then measured
the waters one thousand cubits (more than one-fourth of a mile) "the
waters were to the ankles," but when he had measured four thousand
cubits, they had become waters to swim in, that could not be passed
over. In 12th verse he describes the tree of life yielding its monthly
fruit, for meat, and its unfading leaves for medicine. Why all this?
"Because the waters issued out of the Sanctuary." Now read again in Rev.
xxii: 1, 2; does not John tell the same story: the waters issuing from
out the throne, the tree of life, the monthly fruit, the leaves for
healing, the nations. Is not this after the city comes down? In 48th
chapter, 8th verse: "And the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it."
Once more the measuring rod is run over it, showing the four sides just
like the old pattern in the wilderness, and then says the Sanctuary
shall be in the midst thereof. From 30th to 35th verse, he describes the
wall and the gates as John does in Rev. xxi: 13, and closes up his
prophecy in these words, "And the name of the city from that day shall
be, the Lord is there." Now let the old prophet Isaiah testify to what
he saw: "Look upon _Zion_ the _City_ of our solemnities, thine eyes
shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a Tabernacle that shall not be
taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither
shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord
will be unto us a place of _broad rivers and streams_, wherein shall go
no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ships pass thereby." xxxiii:
20, 21.
The Psalmist says, "there _is_ a river; the streams whereof make glad
the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God
is in the midst of her"--46: 4, 5. Jeremiah says, "A glorious high
throne from the beginning is the place of our _sanctuary_." xvii: 12.
The Psalmist replies, "For he hath looked down from the height of his
_sanctuary_; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth." cii: 19. (If he
had said _sanctuary_ instead of earth, we should not have been easily
moved from our former exposition.) "The Lord is in his holy temple, the
Lord's throne is in heaven." xi: 4. Paul says to the Hebrews, "We have
such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the
majesty, in the heavens; a minister of the _sanctuary_ and of the _true_
Tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Heb. viii: 1, 2. "For
the _invisible things_ of Him from the creation of the world are
_clearly_ seen, being understood by the _things that are made_." Rom. i:
20. Paul tells the Hebrews how they may understand these _invisible_
things, which he says are _clearly seen_. See viii. c., 5 v. "Shadow of
heavenly things." For see, (saith he) "that thou make all things
according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount." Now then,
whenever we want to understand about the heavenly _sanctuary_, we must
turn to Moses's description of the sanctuary in the wilderness, which he
made after the pattern God gave him; which Paul says were shadows of
heavenly things. How will a man dare (in the face of all this inspired
testimony) to stand here on God's earth, and assert that the heavenly
sanctuary with all that pertains to it is a FIGURE, and spiritualize it
away. It would be ten thousand times easier for him to spiritualize the
old Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple, seeing the one that is to come as
far exceeds the temple of Solomon or Nehemiah, (although, it is allowed,
that nothing on earth ever exceeded them) as the most splendid palace of
the king does the sentry box of his guard. Much safer would it be for
him to teach that the rocks had never been rent, or as he passed the
streets in the afternoon and saw the shadow of the buildings, should
insist upon it that the shadows were real, but the buildings, which cast
the shadows, were spiritual. Such doctrine should be ranked with
Mahometanism and Jesuitism, save their demoniac spirit; it comes from
the "bottomless pit and will go into perdition: and they that dwell on
the earth will wonder." Rev. xvii: 8. But I wish to present further
evidence of the real (not spiritual) coming of this heavenly
_sanctuary_. Ezekiel says in his 37th chapter, where God has promised
his spirit and life to the whole house of Israel, "Moreover, I will make
a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an _everlasting_ covenant
with them, and I will place them and multiply them, and will set my
sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore; my _tabernacle_ also shall
be with them: aye, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And
the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my
_sanctuary_ shall be in the midst of them forevermore." 26-28 v. Now
here is God's sacred promise that his sanctuary shall be in the midst of
his _people_; and I have already quoted his 48th chap. 10 v. where he
says when the angel had "measured the land twenty-five thousand reeds in
length and ten thousand in breadth," said, "and the _sanctuary_ of the
Lord shall be in the midst thereof." Now will it be insisted upon that
the land, or his people, is the sanctuary; rather let us submit to the
Scripture testimony. On the last night of our Saviour's ministry here on
earth, in company with his disciples, when everything else had failed to
arouse them, he to quicken their drooping spirits says, "Let not your
hearts be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my
father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told
you; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." John
xiv: 1, 3. I think I have now proved by unquestionable authority, that
this heavenly _sanctuary_ is the very place with _mansions_ which he has
been preparing, and according to his promise is now coming to receive
his saints. But may there not after all be a failure here. "Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away." Having such
testimony as this, we rejoice in "hope of the glory that is to be
revealed."
"Unto two thousand three hundred days then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed." Dan. viii: 14.
This, then, I understand, is the selfsame "_heavenly Sanctuary_, the
_New Jerusalem_, the _Paradise of God_." Well, says the reader, this
cannot be; how can Paradise, which Paul said was in the "third heavens,"
and where you say Jesus our High Priest is, be defiled? Where was the
first sin that ever cursed this world committed? O, say you, that was
six thousand years ago. Admit that it was, has God ever pardoned that
sin? Turn to Gen. iii: 17, 19. The ground is still cursed, and man gets
his living by the sweat of his brow. Why? Because the extent of this
great sin could never be known, until God had put the last seal upon his
saints, "and the dead be judged." But say you, the curse was upon the
earth and its inhabitants. Yes; but was not Paradise polluted by this
sin? But how can it be that anything in heaven is polluted, or unclean?
Have I not proved by the astronomer's conclusive arguments, that this
earthly ball which we inhabit is continually flying through the regions
of unlimited space, in the same direction with all other planets, seen
or known in the solar system? Think you that this little speck of earth
is the only thing that is defiled, among the millions and myriads of
worlds which stud the diadem of space? We are told that the "stars are
not pure in his sight." "Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight."
Job xv: 15; xxv: 5. Was not the sanctuary on earth which the high priest
cleansed the tenth day of the seventh month every year, a pattern of the
true? Does not Paul tell us that Jesus our high priest has entered into
the true _sanctuary_, into heaven itself. See Heb. ix: 12, 24; and viii:
1, 2. Then is not our high priest in the proper place to "cleanse the
sanctuary?" I cannot for the life of me see, how the pattern or type can
be made to appear in any other way. How then can the earth (as one in
the voice of truth, and many other writers say) be the _sanctuary_;
while spiritualizers are saying it is the saints. O Lord give us the
truth!
The strongest proof ever been adduced to prove that the earth or Canaan
was the _sanctuary_, is found in Exodus xv: 17. Now what place is this
which the Lord has made to dwell in? The answer is, "in the sanctuary O
Lord, which thy hands have established." Paul says this sanctuary is in
the heavens which the Lord pitched and not man. Heb. viii: 1, 2. The
only other passage for proof of the land is Psalms lxxviii: 54, both of
which go to strengthen the testimony before adduced. "And he brought
them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain which his
right hand had purchased." Does he in either text say that the mountain
is the sanctuary? If I can understand him, he says that the mountain is
the _border_ of his sanctuary; just as Ezekiel has shown where his guide
measured the land, and then said that the sanctuary of the Lord should
be in the midst of it. Now the word _sanctuary_ is mentioned more than
seventy times in the bible, and the whole of them,--with but a few
exceptions, represent it a dwelling place, a building. The Psalmist
says, that the "Lord looked down from his sanctuary from heaven to the
earth." Not to his sanctuary. But let us see what Daniel and the angel
Gabriel called a sanctuary. Dan. viii: 10-12. Is it not plain here that
Popery took away the daily (i. e. destroyed Paganism) by arms or armies
that stood on his (Popery's part, or side)--xi: 31. The taking away his
sanctuary or polluting it is the same; for it would be absurd to say
that the _land_ was taken away, (11 v.) or that by this transaction the
land was _now_ polluted--xi: 31. Now read ix: 17, 19. Is not Daniel
praying for the restoration of old Jerusalem, the city and _sanctuary_
(the temple where God's people worshipped) which had been desolated,
_burnt up_, by the king of Babylon's army, about seventy years before?
(see Jer. lii: 12, 14) and remained a burnt district until the
commandment by Cyrus to Ezra, and afterwards to Nehemiah, to build the
temple and city. Now in answer to this prayer, God immediately
despatched the angel Gabriel from the court of heaven, to give Daniel
"skill and understanding"--22d v. In the 26th verse he informs him that
Messiah shall be cut off, (crucify the Saviour) and the people of the
prince that shall come, shall destroy the city and the _sanctuary_. How
was this accomplished? Josephus who was an eye witness and historian,
informs us that Titus the son of Vespasian, the Emperor of Rome, about
A. D. 70, (five hundred and sixty years after the temple and city had
been rebuilt by Nehemiah) came with his mighty Roman army and took
Jerusalem, and burned up the city and temple (the sanctuary) and it was
soon after "ploughed as a field," (Micah iii: 12) "and not one stone
left upon another." This, then, was the very circumstance, Prince, and
people, alluded to by the angel Gabriel. I believe no one undertakes to
dispute this point.
Now we learn from this, that the angel Gabriel's instructions from
heaven in answer to Daniel's prayer was, that it was the _Temple in the
city of old Jerusalem_, which is the pattern or figure, or as Paul says
"answereth to the new, which is above, which is the mother of us all."
Can anything be more plain and explicit than that this is the sanctuary
to be cleansed, "unto two thousand three hundred days."
In the 11th verse he says, "the daily was taken away, (that is,
Paganism) and the place of his _sanctuary_ cast down." How plain it is
that this wicked sanctuary (where idols and devils were worshipped) was
a building, cast down. How could they cast down the earth to the earth?
(12th v.) and it (this same Popery) cast down the truth to the ground,
so the ground was not destroyed; clear proof it was not the sanctuary.
Well, but we don't believe that God will ever cleanse the wicked
sanctuary of Paganism.
The sanctuary must be cleansed, (made holy) so must the saints; for St.
John says, "nothing unclean or unholy shall enter there." Then before
the saints can enter the sanctuary it will be cleansed, not by fire, but
by blood, (please follow the pattern.) Now will it still be said that
the earth is the sanctuary? Can any proof be adduced that the earth is
to be burned even, until after immortality is given to the saints? Just
look at Zach. xiv. chapter; here he shows us that the wicked shall be
punished after "_Jerusalem_ (the sanctuary) shall be safely inhabited,"
(11th and 12th verses and onward;) and before this, in the 8th to 11th
verse, he has shown us that the land shall be turned into a plain; the
8th and 9th verses shows who does it, and how it is accomplished; and
then of the sanctuary, Jerusalem, as though it was understood that this
was done for the express purpose of making a foundation for the
building. Here I think any one may see, that the border of this heavenly
_sanctuary_ will extend to the "mountain of his inheritance," (Exo. xv:
17; Psl. lxxviii: 54) and this plain for the location and walls of the
sanctuary will be made clean and pure. This is all the cleansing the
earth will receive, until after "the great battle of God Almighty." So
then, if the earth is the _sanctuary_, God's people need have no trouble
here about its being cleansed, for they will have that work to do in
immortality; but we believe that work is now being accomplished. Again,
"how long shall the sanctuary and the host be trodden under foot." Jesus
said that old "Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles until
the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled." But how ridiculous to
believe that the heavenly sanctuary is "trodden under foot." Is it any
more so than to believe what St. Paul tells us, concerning the High
Priest of these "heavenly places" in the heavens. See Heb. x: 29. "Of
how much sorer punishment suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who
hath _trodden under foot the Son of God_, and counted the blood of the
covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing." So we can see
according to Paul's exposition, if they have trodden the master under
foot, how much more the building and the household, ("the sanctuary and
host.") In the preceding verses it is explained; just read 10th, 11th
and 12th verses; the papal power of Rome, the abomination which maketh
desolate, casting down some of the host and stars to the ground and
stamping upon them; also casting down the sanctuary and the truth to the
ground, by satanic influence--this is treading down, connected with
which is all other ungodly antichristian influences operating against
it, which is to be purged out: even as the high priest here on earth
cleansed the pattern once a year, which was never _literally_ trodden
down by any one but himself while in the act of cleansing it.
The angel did not answer the question concerning the host in the 13th
verse, but Gabriel at his second visit showed Daniel that seventy weeks
were determined upon his people, leaving 1810 years more to be explained
at his third and last visit to him. See x: 14; "Now I am come (for
what?) to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the
latter days." Please read on to the end of the twelfth chapter and see
how faithfully he has described the host (the holy people) and one
clothed in linen, (the Lord Jesus; see x: 21,) from above the waters of
the river with his hands upraised to heaven, swearing by him that liveth
forever that all these wonders, (including the resurrection in 2d verse)
shall be finished when he, (meaning the antichristian powers which are
led on and urged forward by the "prince of the power of the air,") shall
have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, by the
process of purifying, being made white, and tried, and if they pass
through and withstand all this fiery ordeal and come to the 1335 days,
they shall be blessed, and then be delivered out of such a time of
trouble as never was since there was a nation. Thus, I think, the angel
has described the treading down the host, and it appears to me that all
this severe discipline is to prepare them to enter the holy city, for an
angel crying with a mighty voice has shown them that they have been in
company with devils, foul spirits, and every unclean and hateful bird;
and another voice says, come out of her my people, for _all nations_
have drank of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Rev. xviii: 2,
4. And the poison has operated to such an alarming extent that it has
baffled the skill of all the Doctors of Divinity in the universe, and in
spite of all their preaching, fasting and praying, with the assistance
of the principals of the flock, the famine prophecied of by Amos the
Prophet, has come upon them. How awfully be describes it: "Wandering
from sea to sea, and from the north to the east, running to and fro to
seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it." God never called his
people out from any other place than the churches; if the whole truth,
the meat in due season had been given and received there, and Babylon's
poisonous cup rejected, then there would have been no severity in the
discipline of its members. The handling of God's word deceitfully, (for
it would not be admitted to say of learned men, ignorantly,) has led the
professed world into this labyrinth; and men are now being ridiculed and
laughed at, not only because they believe and are looking for the Lord
himself to descend from heaven because they are now sending forth their
epistles to (as they think) enlighten their brethren and friends
concerning the coming of Christ in the "clouds of heaven," by
subscribing themselves "yours, no longer gazing up into heaven;" "yours,
in the clouds of heaven--meeting the Lord in the air;" while another one
in the Shaker's camp in N. H., is shouting and rejoicing that he has
found the Mount _Zion_, (meaning, of course, the holy city) and that the
Germans from Europe are gathering to it; while another, from another
quarter, (as I understand standing on the "broad platform") has
attempted to prove that the powers of the heavens have been shaken, and
the sign of the Son of man in heaven has been seen; and another one
saying that "God is as much in one place as another!" while another is
shouting Hallelujah, because he believes it to be so clear that the
"saints are the _holy city_;" and yet another subscribes himself "yours,
in the kingdom." O, says one, how alarming these things are! they look
just like the "_perilous times_" St. Paul described to Timothy for the
"last days." 2 Tim. iii: 4, 5. Jesus also, in Matt, xxiv: 24. I wish the
good ministers would teach them sound doctrine; the great trouble would
be to ascertain in what denomination to find them, for I have lying
before me the creed of a professed Orthodox church o£ 1844, (_right
opinion, true belief_) of this enlightened place, signed by its two
ministers and one hundred and forty-seven members, (one of them a
minister in New-Bedford with a similar flock) who say in their fifth
article, "I believe that Christ came to establish the kingdom of heaven
on earth, _which_ is the visible church." Now all the proof they offer
from, the Scriptures is what follows: "And I say unto thee that thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it." "And he shall reign over the house of
Jacob forever; and, of his, kingdom there shall be no end." Matt. xvi:
18; Luke i: 33. Now if there is one particle of proof from these two
passages, that Christ has established his kingdom here, and that kingdom
is the church, then I confess I do not understand English. In the second
article the only proof adduced for "and Almighty Saviour" is Hebrews
xvii: 25. Their doors are wide open for members, but they must assent to
this creed. Why continue to pray "THY KINGDOM COME?" I wish to be
distinctly understood, that I do not mean anything invidious. I am only
stating the truth in behalf of "God's word;" for I believe that all the
nominal churches in this place, (and they all profess to be right) are
holding the same or similar unscriptural errors that has led the world
around them astray, not because they are more ignorant than in other
places, for I believe for general intelligence they will compare with
any place of its numbers on the habitable globe. The ministers too, with
one exception, I believe, are all college bred. And this creed, be it
remembered, is the most modern and modest of any in the place, for I
believe it is the fashion now when the church is remoddled to remoddle
the creed also, no matter how _orthodox_ it was before, there are
various ways to understand the scriptures, but when once the creed is
published, all the members, old and young, must assent to the truth of
it as their standard, until some one, more skilled in this business,
proposes an alteration. What a burlesque on the never changing truth of
the great eternal! Why follow in the footsteps of Popery to trammel the
mind? Why not as well require a rule to get money? Then if _we_ are
destitute of the true light from the word of God in this enlightened
place, where in the name of the Lord, in any other village or city, can
it be found? God has said that "light is sown for the righteous," and
"unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." Psalms. But I
must pass on--I have dwelt much longer on this lamentable picture than I
intended, and yet I have hardly begun.
I wish here to ask a few questions on one of the greatest errors that
the world ever embraced, first established by Pope Gregory, A. D. 603. I
mean the changing of God's seventh day, Sabbath, (for it is sheer
sophistry to call it the Jews Sabbath, as Jesus our divine Lord says "it
was made for man,") to the first day of the week.
Paul says, "there therefore remaineth a keeping of the Sabbath to the
people of God." Isaiah shows us that in the New Heavens and Earth all
flesh shall keep the "Sabbath." Does any bible reader believe that this
will be on any other day than what God has ordained. Let us look at the
patterns and shadows of the true. Heb. viii: 5; ix. and x: 1. Is not the
true in the eternal state? Think you that God will ever change the true
to answer the pattern of Popery, that has been foremost in desolating
the world? Every candid mind says no! What should we do then? God will
tell us. "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the SEVENTH
IS THE SABBATH of the Lord thy God; (perhaps the minister will tell you
he meant the Jewish Sabbath--don't you believe him nor any one else;
they can't prove it by the Bible) in it thou shalt not do any work;"
"wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Exod. xx.
Why all this costly array in "building the Tabernacle and afterwards the
Temple?" _Answer_, it was to put the Ark in. 2 Sam. 2-7. Hear David 1
Chron. xvii: 2, 12. What was the Ark? A small chest in which was a
precious relic; the commandments of God; his testimony to man; (see
Exod. xxv: 10, 12) how it is guarded night and day by Cherubims. What
are these commandments to us? They that keep them shall "enter in
through the gates into the city." Rev. xxii: 14. Will you say then that
the fourth commandment is abolished? If so, please cite us to the
chapter and verse. I say it cannot be found within the lids of the
bible. Will you reply by saying that the first day is the Sabbath, or
that it was ever kept by Jesus or his apostles as a day set apart for
religious worship; if so, where is the text? I challenge the world to
produce it! If it cannot be found, why violate still this sacred command
of God and reject all the light that is thrown in your pathway? God will
have some to keep his commandments, if it be but "one of a city and two
of a family." Jer. Some endeavor to clear their conscience by saying
there is no Sabbath to be kept. This, to me, looks like infidelity.
I have stated that one writer had asserted that the powers of Heaven had
been shaken and the sign of the Son of man been seen. His argument on
the twenty-fourth of Matthew, I like much, until he begins to prove what
none of us have yet seen or heard. If so, why continue to say that
"men's hearts fail them for fear and for looking after the things that
are coming on the earth." Jesus does not say that they will be looking
for _him_, but then they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds
of heaven, when they have seen the preceding signs. What arguments are
there yet to be presented that will so alarm the Laodicean church, and
scoffer, to fulfil. Isa. lx: 14, and Rev. iii: 9. It appears to me that
nothing short of the voice of God will do this. Then, I think, the wise
will understand, and get their blessing, as in Dan. xii: 12; then will
they return and discern between the righteous and the wicked; then will
they be found with the world, in the time of Daniel's trouble; they will
then have passed through the "fiery trial" and the Sealing Angel have
done his last work. This, as it looks to me will be the time when God
will roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem--and the
heavens and the earth will shake; then shall Jerusalem be holy. Joel
iii: 16, 17. It will then be cleansed from every impurity. This, I
think, will be the shaking of the powers of heaven, for then will God's
people _know_ that he dwells in Zion, (17th verse) not in the Shaker's
camp, but in his Heavenly Sanctuary, and _then_ shall appear the "Sign
of the Son of Man in Heaven," the "Holy Jerusalem descending out of
Heaven from God, having the glory of God; And her light was like unto a
stone most precious, even like a jaspar stone clear as chrystal." I have
not the least particle of doubt but that it will be seen just as he has
described it. The glory and effulgence of that sight will so light up
the heavens in its majestic course down from the parted skies, that we
shall have no further need of the telescope; but in the language of our
adorable coming Lord, exclaim "I see heaven _open_ and the Angels of God
ascending and descending upon the Son of Man"! This, I think, will be
the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven. A telescopic view of the burning
bright star Sirius, on the southeast of the belt of Orion, in the
southwestern heavens, early in the evening, will give a faint view of
the above description.
St. John saw this City suspended in the air, he therefore had a clear
view of its twelve foundations and the names of the twelve Apostles of
the Lamb, and the twelve gates, and the names written thereon, which are
the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. "And he
measured the wall a hundred and forty and four cubits," two hundred and
sixty-two and a half feet, and they were studded with all kinds of
precious stones, and diamonds from the bowels of the earth, while the
gates are adorned with the treasures of the ocean. Now this beautiful
description of the City is given in the twenty-first chapter, from 16 to
18 and 21st verses. We must keep it distinct from the walls. He says, it
lieth four square, and measures twelve thousand furlongs. This sum,
divided by eight furlongs, which make a mile, would stand thus:
8/12000--fifteen hundred miles square or seven millions nine hundred and
twenty thousand feet on six sides (it being a cubical form.) When we
look at the size of this _City_ of Gold, we are at once almost
overwhelmed with the view of its dimensions. Fifteen hundred miles high,
long and wide! In the seventeenth verse, he gives but one way to measure
the wall, and that is its height. If he had undertaken to have given the
contents of the City by the same rule, he would have measured the wall.
Then we have nothing more to do in making an arithmetical calculation,
but follow the Apostle's description. Jesus said, in my Father's house
are many mansions. Now, allowing twelve feet between joints for a story,
this seven millions nine hundred and twenty thousand feet square would
give six hundred and sixty thousand stories, twelve feet high, (Ezekiel
xl: 7,) and fifteen hundred miles square, four hundred and forty stories
to a mile: which would amount to 990,000,000, nine hundred and ninety
millions of square miles on a level surface, twelve feet high--equal to
the square miles contained in five worlds like this, (which is only one
hundred and ninety-nine millions five hundred and twelve thousand square
miles,) and seventy times more extensive than the Continent of America.
Now six hundred and sixty thousand twelve foot rooms in each story,
would make in all 435,600,000,000--four hundred and thirty-five thousand
and six hundred millions of twelve feet square "rooms,"--_Ezekiel_;
"places,"--_John_; or "mansions,"--_Jesus_. It is computed that there
are 900,000,000--nine hundred millions of inhabitants now on the Earth.
The Bible informs us that there was but one, six thousand years ago.
Admit that there was nine hundred millions at the commencement of
creation, and this number had passed away every thirty years for two
hundred generations, their whole number would only amount to
180,000,000,000--one hundred and eighty thousand millions, a little more
than one-third of the mansions in this building; four hundred and
eighty-four to every human being now on the earth. Surely, this looks
like an "abundant entrance" into the everlasting kingdom. O yes, say
many, I see there is abundance of room for every body! The apostle tells
us who they are. He says, "There shall in no wise enter into it anything
that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie;
but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." This then is the
capacious and glorious "golden _City_;" the "New Jerusalem;" the
"heavenly Sanctuary;" the "Bride the Lamb's Wife;" the "Mother of us
all;" the "Paradise of God;" the capital of our coming Lord's
EVERLASTING kingdom, which is now about to descend from the "third
heaven" by the way of the open door, down by the "flaming sword" of
Orion. O let us see to it, that we are all ready to enter into this
celestial City.
Transcriber's Notes:
Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
Typographical errors were silently corrected.
Spelling and hyphenation were made consistent when a predominant form
was found in this book; otherwise it was not changed.
Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).