CHAP. XIII. James, ii. 18. principle, from the time they first heard and received the Gospel of Christ's second appearing, unto the present day. 49. Hence no true member of the body sought to obtain the pre-eminence, or to usurp authority over another; but each to build up, and support the welfare and comfort of the other, and consequently all were busy, peaceable, and happy; and every blessing, spiritual and temporal, ensued, as naturally as rays of light flow from the sun, or the fruits of harvest from the heat and moisture of summer. 50. From the year 1780, until the present time, 1856, including a period of seventy-six years, there never has been an instance of any brother going to law with brother, in any case. Nor has there been any such thing as a general council, or even a Church meeting, to settle any difference among the members; because there never were any differences, or debates, or divisions in the Church, that ever required any such thing. 51. The very Spirit of the Gospel, which was received from God, through Mother Ann, and through the first witnesses of her testimony, was that from the beginning, by which all the true and honest-hearted who received it, became of one faith, of one heart, and of one soul; and which in its certain consequences, was productive of peace and good will, humility and temperance, condescension and obedience, order and harmony, with every other fruit of righteousness, and eternal life. 52. Such in reality, is the nature and consequence of that testimony which we received and obeyed from the heart, and have, according to our understanding, carefully and conscientiously maintained and supported from the beginning, and in the practice, of which we now live, at this present day. 53. And such is the nature of the work of God, in all its corresponding parts, both visible and invisible, and such the certain effects, which are manifest in all its fruits, that it cannot be imitated, so as to stand, by any human wisdom or power on earth, separate from the Spirit and power of the living and true God. 54. Since the testimony of the Gospel of Christ's second appearing, was first opened in America, from the year 1780, to the present period, there never has been any such thing as a Church Creed, or Confession of Faith committed to writing, to limit or bind the Church from a further increase. 55. All the affairs, in the order, government, or regulation of the Church, are transacted according to the present circumstances, or an immediate and present gift of God; and everything is strictly observed from a principle of faith, implanted in the heart of every individual, jointly and severally. 56. Their Confession of Faith, if it may be so called, is to show their faith by their works, in doing justice and loving mercy; being fully persuaded, that where there are no doers of the very works of righteousness, there is neither a true faith nor a true Church, nor any fruits or evidence by which the true Church may be known or distinguished from the false, by those who are without. 57. It may be observed, that the Covenant which was entered into by the Church, was kept and maintained as an internal law, during seven years; and it was afterwards committed to writing, in form, on account of those who were without, and to convey an understanding of the faith of the Church in relation to a united interest; and to confirm it beyond dispute, as the mutual faith and practice of the Church, to all whom it might concern, it was signed by the members at large. 58. But this form of the Covenant, is not the Covenant itself. The internal spirit and substance of the Covenant is more than ever was, or ever will be written with paper and ink, being the fulness of the law of Christ, written by the Spirit of God, in the heart, and on the mind of every true member of his Church; and is by them kept and maintained as an internal law of liberty, justice, and equity. And although the spirit and substance of the Covenant is not contrary to the form, yet it is exclusive of, and entirely distinct from any written form whatever. 59. Thus the promise of God by his Prophets, concerning Christ, is fulfilled: I will give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 60. Christ, in his first and second appearing, has made manifest the whole spirit and substance of the law, in the two tables of the New Covenant; and the two Anointed Ones, or two firstborn in the new creation, have finished this work, between whom the covenant of eternal life is established; hence the spirit and substance of this new Covenant, in its fulness, is written in the hearts, and on the minds of all their spiritual children. 61. And therefore, in the gathering, building, increase and establishment of God's spiritual house, all the members of the Church, both male and female, as his sons and daughters, brethren and sisters of one family, according to their lots and several abilities, possess and enjoy one mutual interest, and one united inheritance, in regard both to the things of time and eternity. 62. However humiliating to the pride of fallen man, the present work of God may be, in disannulling their human systems, and forms of worship; yet the work has commenced, and will be accomplished. Already have we ourselves suffered the wreck of all our own carnal works and inventions; yet we have had, and CHAP. still have, the greatest cause of thankfulness to Almighty God, for that work which is accompanied with the real and abiding treasures of salvation and eternal life; and have therefore Heb. x. 31. received joyfully the spoiling of our goods, and have received, even in this life, an hundred fold, according to the promise of Christ. 63. And certain it is, that by those means which seemed foolish to the wisdom of this world, has God, according to his own unchangeable purpose, completed the foundation of his spiritual building, and established that law of order, harmony, peace and righteousness in the earth, that will stand forever; and which, in its increasing operations, will, in the end, be an everlasting blessing to all nations. CHAPTER XIV. Isa. ix. 7. PROPHECIES AND PROMISES FULFILLING Hosea, xii. 10. Mark, iv. 18. IN THE PRESENT INCREASING WORK OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. KNOWN unto God are all his works from the foundation of the world; and as far as possible, invisible spiritual things have been revealed by the things that are made; therefore said the Lord by the Prophet Hosea, I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the Prophets. 2. Christ Jesus, the first who received the substance of the promise, seemed often at a loss for means to convey an understanding of spiritual things to souls that were lost in their sins: and therefore he had recourse to similitudes, and compared spiritual things with natural, as the most striking means of con"Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?" veyance. 3. When Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a grain of mustard-seed, to leaven hid in three measures of meal, or to a net cast into the sea, he could not mean that there was any resemblance in the case to the view of the natural eye. And therefore, it must be a false imagination that will look for the spiritual object to appear in the natural form, or shape of those things to which it may have been compared. 4. It would be very unnatural and unreasonable to look for a kingdom to appear in the shape or form of a net, or of a piece of leaven; yet in the spiritual mind there is a true sense, in which these things in nature have a resemblance to the spiritual work of God. And this is particularly made manifest, in the present day, in and by the Church of Christ, which is built according to the fore-knowledge of God, answerable to all the similitudes that were ever drawn by the Spirit of Christ, in Prophets or Apostles. 5. The Church of the latter day was represented by the Prophets, under the similitude of a kingdom, a city, particularly Jerusalem, Mount Zion, the temple, and such like objects of visible glory; and the gathering and uniting of God's people into Church order, is compared to the gathering of the Israelites, from the countries in which they were dispersed, and establishing them. in the possession of their own land. 6. But to frustrate the carnal mind, Christ and the Apostles represent the same spiritual work, by things directly contrary; so that the proud and aspiring have as good reason to look for the promise to be fulfilled in planting a grain of mustard-seed, as in setting up a great visible kingdom; for thereunto is the kingdom of heaven likened. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the true signification of the promises of God to his Church and people, and wherein they have been fulfilled. 7. Whatever the promise of God literally referred to, whether to a kingdom, a new city, or a new heaven and earth, it doubtless alluded to men and women, living on the earth, in and among whom the work of God was to be wrought, and to whom the promises were finally to be fulfilled, for the establishment of everlasting righteousness and peace; therefore, such must constitute the true Church of Christ, the only antetype of every figure, and the substance of every blessing promised. 8. We shall take notice of a few general promises, which comprehend all the particular ones, relating to the Church of the latter day, together with their plain and pointed accomplishment; and first we shall consider what was promised through the Prophet Daniel. CHAP. 9. By the fate of the image which was shown to Nebuchad- Dan. ii. 29, nezzar, and of the four beasts which appeared to Daniel, both 31-35 & vii. representing four great empires, God did particularly promise and show the final dissolution of those tyrannical governments, by which mankind were bound in ignorance and wickedness. 10. In the fourth and last of these empires, antichrist would have his reign, in which the civil and ecclesiastical powers would be divided, like the feet and toes of the image, and into which the existing powers of government would gather, for the support of the whole system. CHAP. XIV. 11. A stone was also cut out of the mountain without hands, and smote the image on his feet, which were part iron and part clay, and broke them to pieces, and continued to break and bruise every part of the image, until the whole was broken in pieces together; and the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. 12. It was thereby expressly shown, and promised, that all tyrannical powers should be weakened, in the latter end of antichrist's reign, by a mixture of republican principles; that is, the Dan. ii. 43. seed of men, where all, however divided, have equal power and authority, and where those antichristian and republican principles should be blended together, like hard iron and soft clay; there God would smite them both together, by his providential work, which will prepare the way for the everlasting Gospel, given by inspiration from heaven. Rev. xiv. 6, 7. 13. All this God is particularly fulfilling in this latter day; for, as stone grinds and wears away iron and brass, silver and gold; so the truth of God is superior to all the most polished systems and principles of men, and must in the end, grind and wear them away till no place be found for them. 14. And as monarchial and republican principles are mixed with antichristian principles in every department; so this mixed government is partly strong and partly broken, and the different parties help to weaken and break each other. And as neither are founded on the revelation and spiritual work of God; so neither can stand, but in the end must fall together; and only by a proper relation to the spiritual work of God, can the principles of real and true freedom be finally established. 15. For neither empire, nor republic, founded in the corruptions and depravity of the fall, can stand in the shaking of this last and great day of God Almighty; and therefore the perfectly just and peaceable kingdom of the Messiah, is opened as a refuge for all that would escape the promiscuous wreck and ruin of the antichristian world. 16. This was also included in the same prophecy through Dan. i. 44. Daniel. "And in the days of these kings, [that is, in the time of the fourth empire, before the kingdom of antichrist is at an end,] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." chap. vii. 9, 13, 14. 17. And further, says the same Prophet, "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit. I saw in the night visions, and behold, the likeness of the Son of Man The word one (as in the present version,) is not in the original, the meaning is, the likeness of the Son of man, in and with his saints. |