CHAP. 11. Redeemer, whom she worshipped and served, she did forsake her own people and her father's house. She left also the land of oppression, and fled to this wilderness, the land of freedom, as the Lord directed her. Hosea, ii. pared with. Ex. xv. 20. Jer. xxxi. 12, 13. 36. In this particular, God fulfilled through her, the promise made to his Church and people of the latter days: "Behold I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor," [the confession of sins,]"for a door of hope; and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth. 37. By her faithfulness and her toils; by her cross-bearing and self-denying life; by the persecutions, and deprivations, and imprisonments, she endured for the testimony of Christ against the hidden works and abominations of fallen man; and by her sorrows and sufferings of soul; her incessant tears and cries to God; she became a sanctified and “chosen vessel unto the Lord;" to "do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act: " and that in her, the word of God, by the ProJer. xxxi. phet Jeremiah might be fulfilled, which says, "The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man." Isa xxii. 32. 32. 38. Through the valley of humiliation and sufferings she was brought; in the furnace of affliction she was tried, until her soul became cleansed and purified; and being thus prepared, she became the fit tabernacle and the abode of the "only begotten" Daughter of the Most High, the faithful witness; and the true representative of the Eternal Mother." 39. Hence she was filled with the power and gifts of God; with charity and love; with the gifts of visions, of songs, of tongues, of revelation, and of prophecy; with the gift of wisdom, and the fear of the Lord; with the gift of discerning spirits, and the moral state and condition of man; as also, with the gift of repentance, and of the knowledge of the mind and will of God. 40. Being thus endowed with the gifts of God from above, and clothed with the garments of salvation; she was consequently "all glorious within," and her "beauty" became the desire of the King, her Husband-her Spouse! 41. "Her clothing was of wrought gold," the bright emblem of purity, of truth, of "durable riches and righteousness,' obtained (from her Holy and Eternal Mother) through the furnace of affliction, trials, and sufferings. "Her raiment was of needle work," the emblem of industry, of skill, of faithfulness; with all those heavenly virtues with which she was adorned, and which insured her union and acceptance with her Lord the King, Zech. ix. 9. who is the " King of Zion." 42. The virgins, her companions that follow her, shall be brought unto the King." This shows that she is a Leader, and CHAP. II. a Guide, in union and in fellowship with Jesus Christ the Saviour, her Redeemer, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. And that her followers are his followers, for "they shall enter into the King's palace," and "they shall sit with him in his throne." Rev. iii. 21. 43. Besides, the virgins her followers, being her companions, show that oneness of spirit and interest, throughout the family of Christ, for which he so earnestly prayed, "that they all may John, xvii. be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also 21. may be one in us." 44. " The whole of this beautiful prophecy, goes to show the influence and dominion of the "Daughter," in connection and in fellowship with the "Son." "Instead of thy Fathers, shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth." What can be plainer than this, to show that she is indeed a Mother? What can be more clearly expressed, to show that her children are the same; that her followers are the same—the very same, and no other, than those who through Christ the anointing of the Holy One, "are made unto God kings and priests; and shall reign on the earth." 45. Hence it was that the Holy Spirit gave utterance concerning the Mother-the Queen, who is the likeness of the only begotten Daughter of the Most High, and stands with the King: "I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations; therefore, shall the people praise thee forever and ever." And even thus it is; for if her children, the virgins-her cross-bearing, and self-denying followers; "if these should hold their peace, would not the stones immediately cry out?" And let it be remembered, that all things concerning Christ, whether in the line of the male or the female, which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, must be fulfilled." 46. We have thus reviewed that important and interesting prophecy concerning the "Daughter"-the Mother of the children of the regeneration, in order to have a fair and correct view of the character through which Christ must needs manifest himself at his second coming. And the proofs and evidences, that he actually and truly has come the "second time," and at the time and in the manner predicted of him, are as strong and "infallible" as they were of his first coming!" 47. The Daughter did hearken." In obedience to God, and as a true and faithful Mother to her children, she left the land of her fathers, and her father's house: And her children-her followers, who have believed and embraced her testimony of the way of life, and received her Spirit; these are the living monuments of the existence, and of the true character of their Mother; and the living witnesses also, of the truth of God and of his pro See Rev. i. 6, iv. 10. & Dan. vii 22, 27. See Luke, xxiv. 44. xix. 40. CHAP. II. mises, that they (her children) have been made "princes in the earth," as to the followers of Christ it was promised that this should be. 48. For, it will not be disputed, that this princely dominion promised to the saints, at the setting up of Christ's kingdom in the latter days, is the dominion over all the powers of evil; a John, i. 29. dominion over sin and death [the sins of the world]; over hell and the grave; a dominion in Christ's kingdom of righteousness and peace; a dominion which the princes and nobles of the earth have never obtained; and which neither they, nor any of the fallen race can ever obtain, except they be converted, and become as "a little child; " except they become "regenerated;" except they find the "second birth," and are "born again," of the Spirit, and through the agency of a spiritual Parentage: a spiritual Father, and a spiritual Mother. 49. How strange it is; indeed, how marvellous it is, that the man shall possess such love and veneration for the woman, as to forsake his father and his mother, and all his natural kindred, and even the land of his nativity, and that he should forego all earthly comforts besides, for the sake of her enjoyment, and yet, that he should scorn the idea of her having any eminent agency in the work of his redemption. 50. How strange it is, that any man possessing a religious education and belief, should be so inconsistent and unmanly as not to allow the woman the privilege and right given her by God, (in promise) to wipe out the stain from herself and posterity which her first transgression had caused, and in which transgression and the consequent guilt, the man himself was, and continues to be a partaker. 51. But it is still a greater marvel that woman-kind, (any woman), should be so far lost from her primary state of innocence, as to harbor and maintain a spirit of opposition to the plan devised by the Holy and Eternal wisdom, for her redemption Gen. iii. 16. from the fall, and from the curse! 5-8. 52, It is marvelous indeed, that either man or woman, professing faith in the Scriptures, and in the promises of God, should be so wilfully blind, as not to see the undeviating harmony in all the predictions of the Prophets, and from beginning to end of the sacred book, in relation the lot and office of the woman, in the work of man's ultimate and final redemption. 53. That, as in one spirit, in fellowship, and as a co-worker See Isa liv with the Lord her Head and Redeemer, she should stand in her own proper lot and order for the redemption of the fallen race; that she and her seed should crush the serpent's head; that she should be a Queen, the Bride of the King of kings; that she should be a Mother, whose children should all be virgins, whom she might make "princes in the earth," and who should be made "kings and priests unto God." Strange, we say, that CHAP. III. any man or woman living, should be unwilling to see all this. See Rev. 54. How could predictions have been more plain? How v. 10. could prophecies have been more consistent and sure, to show, that, as the first manifestation of Christ commenced in the person of a male, his second manifestation, or coming should commence in the person of a female? For thus alone could the promises of God, in regard to man's final redemption, ever have been fulfilled: And thus alone, could the order, beauty and glory of the new creation, ever have been accomplished and brought to perfection. CHAPTER III. REVELATIONS CONCERNING THE APPEARING OF CHRIST, MANY are the prophecies recorded in the Scriptures in relation 2. And from this cause it was, that the woman was not permitted to have her proper share in ministration and government in the primitive Church. But in the second appearing of Christ, and in the fulfillment of the prophecies in relation to the proper lot and standing of the woman in the new creation, that barrier is removed. She, by her obedience, being "redeemed from under the curse," and released from under the "bondage of the flesh," which her disobedience and transgression had caused. 3. In addition to the prophecies relating to this interesting subject we have had in review, there are a few more (among the many) which are worthy of some particular notice. That remarkable prophetic passage, "The Lord hath created a new thing in Jer. xxxi. the earth, a woman shall compass a man," has been rudely mis- 32. construed, and misapplied. The learned Protestant commentators, say, that "The Virgin Mary compassed a man, when she conceived, retained in her womb, and brought forth the Son of God in our nature." CHAP. III. 4. What astonishing blindness and inconsistency! What man. was ever brought forth into the world, since the creation and fall of Adam, who has not been compassed by a woman? and brought forth in "our nature," (the nature of the fallen race,) in the same manner? And what of all this, is it the creating a new thing in the earth? 1. 5. Every human being, male and female, have been "conceived, retained in the womb, and brought forth" into the world by the woman; the mother of all living;" and the Virgin Mary with the rest. What truth or consistency, then, is there in applying this prophecy: A woman shall compass a man, to the Virgin Mary? Not the least. Besides, neither the Virgin Mary, (nor any other woman) ever conceived and brought forth a man, but a child! even the "child Jesus." And if Mary at any period, and in any sense of the word, could be said to have compassed thechild Jesus," it cannot in reason and truth be said, that she ever compassed the "man Christ Jesus." 6. The learned Catholic commentators, in their Douay translation of the Bible, have not ventured any opinion or comment on the above noted passage of prophecy; but they have placed the words, "A woman shall compass a man," in large capitals, from which it is inferred, that they likewise, as well as the Protestants, suppose it to allude to the Virgin Mary, and that in her it was fulfilled. 7. But it has just been shown, that this idea is without any ground of reason; very distant from the truth; a weak and inconsistent supposition. If however, we will bear in mind the See Isa. li. pit of great darkness from which we ourselves have been dug; If we consider the many ages in which antichrist has had his dreary reign over the souls of men, by falsely assuming the name and profession of the true Christ, we shall not so much wonder at the extreme blindness of commentators and priests, while under antichrist's dominion. And in this too, are the prophecies fulfilled, as well as in regard to the particular subject we are upon: For "darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people." And so it was in Christ's first appearing, and so it & xxiv. in should be in his second coming. Isa. ix. 2. chap. xxiii. connection with the Prophets. 8. It is evident, from prophecy, that the character and "woman," here prophesied of, is a peculiar and leading object in the new creation, or work of redemption: And it is the truth, that she is the same object, the same character, with the woman represented as the "Daughter" the "Queen" the "Bride, the Lamb's wife." And that she is in consequence, the first Mother of the redeemed in the "new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 9. What is meant by the prophecy, "A woman shall compass a man," is surely not difficult to understand; it is simply neither |