with the woman and her Child. They flee into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days; and as David and the people that had espoused his cause and who went with him, were under divine protection, so will the one hundred and forty and four thousand and their king, who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, be protected and hid in the day of the Lord's anger, when they flee before the face of the serpent, over whom they will triumph in the end.

After all enemies among his own people are swept away in the judgment, and when he reigns over the remnant, the hundred forty and four thousand who are sealed of all the tribes of Israel, this king in Israel will then go forth in battle against all his enemies round about, and the Lord will do with him. as he did with David, of whom it is written in the words of the Lord by the hand of Nathan to David, as follows, "Now therefore, thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel, and I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the great men that are in the earth" (I Chron. 17:7-8). It is of this Manchild and his people that the Lord says, Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war, for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms, and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider, and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider, with thee will I break in pieces man and woman, and with thee will I break in pieces old and young, and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock, and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen, and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers" (Jer. 51: 19-23).

Again it is testified of this Manchild and the remnant of Israel over whom he is made ruler, by the Prophet Micah (5: 7-9) saying, "The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people, as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off."

It is also said of this same remnant who are the true Israel, the seed of Abraham the friend of God, by the hand of Isaiah, in referring to the time of trouble (Isa. 41: 8-16), "Fear not thou worm Jacob, and ye (margin) few men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord and thy redeemer, the Holy one of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff; thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel."

These remarkable words are not spoken in vain; this is one of the instru

mentalities that God the Father will employ by the hand of Jesus Christ the Lord and his body, the saints, to subdue mankind and to bring the proud and haughty nations and kingdoms of the earth into subjection and obedience. They will be compelled to submit themselves and pay tribute to this Manchild, this Prince of the house of David, who will reign literally and visibly and personally on David's throne, as the visible agent and representative of Christ the Lord. This Prince will go with the armies of Israel against the nations to battle, as David did in times of old, and Christ the Lord will go with him and beat down his foes before his face, as the God of Israel went with David and subdued all his enemies before him. But the God of Israel who went with David was not seen, nor will Christ be seen when he goes with the David of the latter days.

These things have I written to draw the line of distinction between the third heaven or kingdom of God, immortal, invisible, composed of Christ and his brethren, the great congregation,- and the second, or new heaven, under the new covenant, or the visible kingdom of God among mortal men, comprising first, the kingdom of Israel, and after that all the kingdoms of the world.

Therefore in view of the above, it must not be understood that Abraham and all the heirs of promise with him are to inherit the land of promise in a literal and visible sense, like the men of the earth, nor will he dwell in tents as aforetime; but this ownership will be like that referred to by Melchisedec when he appeared to Abraham, and also like the ownership that Abraham himself referred to when he spake to the king of Sodom. Melchisedec said, "Blessed be Abraham of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.” And Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth."

Now the Lord who appeared to Abraham is the possessor of the earth according to these testimonies, yet no man ever saw him driving a yoke of oxen, or a span of horses, breaking up the clods of the field to make plain the face thereof, and to scatter abroad the wheat, the barley, and rye, in their place; nor has he ever been seen as a shepherd taking care of his flocks, or as a herdsman, whose business was about cattle, although he says, "The cattle upon a thousand hills are mine, and I know all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the fields are mine." The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. It is this kind of ownership and possession that Abraham and his seed were promised, and which they will enter upon at the coming of Christ in his kingdom and glory. That it is not the literal possession of the earth such as mortal men have and enjoy that Abraham and his seed looked for, is plain to be seen from Paul's words to the Hebrews, when he said, "Therefore sprang there of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky for multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Paul comments and says, "Now they that say such things, declare plainly that they seek a country, and truly if they had

been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned; but now they desire a better country, that is an heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city."

Now what is this heavenly country, and this city that God hath prepared for this innumerable company of Abraham's seed, consisting of Jews and Gentiles who have become Abraham's seed and associate heirs with him of the inheritance?

A Heavenly Country

The land of promise, so called because it was promised to Abraham and his seed, to be inherited by them subsequent to their resurrection from the dead, under God's blessing is called "The glory of all lands." It is called God's sanctuary in the song that Moses and the children of Israel sang after they had passed through the Red Sea, which the Egyptians assaying to do, were drowned, as follows: "Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established." This land is the place which the Lord himself selected to dwell in from all the lands upon the face of the whole earth; and because the Lord dwelt there, and because his holy house wherein his name was recorded was there, and because his people dwelt there, it is called the Holy Land.

But his people polluted the Holy Land with their inventions and their idolatries until the Lord cast them out, first the ten tribes, and afterwards the two, Judah and Benjamin, for their wickedness and gave the glory of all lands into the hands of the worst of the heathen, whose abominations now stand where God's holy temple once stood. But this is not to remain so forever; after the judgments of the latter days are passed a righteous people from among the tribes of Israel will be brought forth to dwell there, of whom it is said by the hand of Ezekiel (14:21-23), “For thus saith the Lord God, How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast. Yet behold there shall be left therein a remnant that shall see their way and their doings, and ye shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters; behold they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way, and their doings, and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it, and they shall comfort you when ye see their ways and their doings, and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God." In these days "the righteous will flourish, and there will be abundance of peace as long as the moon endureth "; and it is of these joyful times that it is written (Amos 9: 13), "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader grapes, him that soweth seed. And the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt, and I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens and eat the fruit of them, and I will plant them upon their land, and they

of

shall no more be pulled out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord."

Again Isaiah testifies saying, "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 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; where shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby; for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us" (Isa. 33:20-22).

These are a few of the glorious things that are spoken of Zion and Jerusalem and the holy land and her people in the day that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the heirs of promise come into possession of their inheritance; and of the people in the flesh who till the land, plant vineyards, et cetera, it is written, "Thy people shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified." And it is because the people who inherit the land in that day and are no more to be pulled up out of their land are all righteous, that Peter says, "We according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,' a new heaven and a new earth under the new covenant among mortal men; and the Prophet Isaiah, from whom he quotes, says, "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." And now to prove that the prophet is here referring to what will obtain among men in the flesh, hear what he says, "But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy; and I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner, being an hundred years old, shall be accursed" (65: 17-20).

This proves beyond all controversy that the new heavens and the new earth are a system of things that will exist among mortal men, for again it is further testified, "And they shall build houses and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat; for as the days of a tree, are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." This will be the peaceful, the delightful condition of things among mortal men of the house of Israel, who will inhabit the Holy Land, but it must be distinctly understood that while all this transpires under the supervision of Christ and his brethren who are made perfect like himself, they are in nowise themselves engaged in tilling the land and building houses with their own hands, but are an angelic, and an invisible body of people, who do their work unseen, whose persons are not visible, and whose footsteps are not known to men in the flesh.

The city which hath foundations," which Abraham and his joint heirs looked for, and which God hath prepared for them, is what in the Revelations is called the New Jerusalem, the Bride, the Lamb's wife, which John saw in vision descending out of heaven from God,- that is, it is Christ and his

brethren made perfect, who inherit all things, who dwell with men unseen, and rule over all the nations of the earth, and are made (invisible) princes in all the earth, who are "the eyes of the Lord which run throughout all the earth beholding the evil and the good," and who will cause God's will to be done in the earth as it is done in heaven.