"O fools and slow of heart to believe ALL that the prophets have spoken." "Thou believest one God, thou doest well, the devils believe and tremble." "I [Christ] am the bread of life." "He who walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly; he who despiseth the gain of oppression, and shaketh his hands from holding bribes; who stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil : he shall dwell on high; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be made sure." "God hath commanded no man to do wickedly, nor given any man licence to sin.” 66 Every man [a believer] shall sit under his fig-tree, and none shall make him afraid. Amen." * Micah iv. *This is a second paradise or garden promised to all believers. Here is proof there will be no need of great crowded cities, to buy or sell merchandize- -no Romes-no Babylons- -no Londons, inhabited by men coveting the country seats of gentlemen, for God will give a share of the earth to all men; and travellers shall find asylums everywhere, and people shall be happy, and live on vegetable diets, fruits, &c. free from disease, and without any but the great physician, Christ. The whole of this chapter is selected from the Bible, as if in fulfilment of the oldest prophecies, viz.: "Make a chain-precept must be added upon precept, line upon linehere a little, and there a little." A most unintelligible prophecy it was indeed to me, till after I made this chain chapter, and then I understood the meaning. I confess it is my MASTER PIECE. I know I have put the links roughly together, but I have done my best; it is my first attempt, and, therefore, Christians will accept it, and excuse all faults. May better labourers enter the vineyard, for I am a most unprofitable servant; however, I know the chain is everlasting. I hope I have rendered it intelligible (after the utmost anxiety) to the meanest CHILD's capacity. I have made another chain chapter respecting the introduction of the MILLENIUM, which will follow in its proper place. Perhaps millions never read or heard of these serious words of Isaiah's, viz.: "The Lord of Hosts hath purposed it to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth." Amen. I could write a volume in exposition of this chapter, but have compressed the chief points into the next chapter, which all are invited to read and examine. CHAPTER III. Jerusalem as it is, or LONDON proved to be Part of GREAT BABYLON.Comments upon the preceding Chain Chapter. A remarkable Vision. JERUSALEM (the church, high and low) is made a BURTHENSOME STONE; as we see this day, all classes of the people bitterly complaining, in Christendom, except those who share, or hope to share, the loaves and fishes!!! According to Mr. Coventry's book, if correct, it ap pears, The high clergy of Great Britain pocket, yearly Thus England pays more than 200 million souls £8,896,000 8,852,000 44,000 1,000,000 Tithes were not levied in England till the ninth century. Not a single priest, in the h h or low churches, comes forward, like a true soldier of Christ, to point out the universal dangers and oppression existing. The most awful curses are denounced against them, but they have fallen into temptation, who ought to preach the truth, and warn the world against "covetousness, which is idolatry." Christendom is ten thousand times more guilty than Turks and Tartars, who have never heard the gospel. Though the clergy receive all this money, poverty, misery, and crimes, are redoubled in every quarter, even in the heart of London, according to a report published by a district committee in 1828 (without the aid of any parson), with the best motives; by which it appears, they found only thirty-six families possessing a bible, among 1588. "Public worship is unattended. The sexes (married and single) sleep in the same room; the number of prostitutes is very considerable, no less than sixteen were found in one house. There are about 50,000 in London (vide Appendix), as reported by Mr. Booth. "St. Giles' is inhabited by beggars of the lowest classes, match-makers, &c.; little idea can be formed of the crowded and filthy state in which they live; in one house, nineteen families, of forty-two persons: the houses are filthy in the extreme." Doubtless St. Giles' is a receptacle for stolen goods. "Men do not despise thieves, if they steal to satisfy hunger."-" They that die by the sword are better than they who die by hunger." View the exterior of London; behold magnificent mansions, theatres, club-houses, hells or gaming-houses *, and bridges built or building all round; widened streets, with gas lights, newly paved, amidst innumerable improvements: a stranger or foreigner would suspect the inhabitants lived in paradise, blessed with every thing to render human creatures happy. Let him enter the Royal Exchange, and converse with merchants, or he may soon be undeceived by shop-keepers. He will perceive churches excluded from public view, by covetous priests, to amass riches, which ought to buy bread for the hungry weavers and workmen, compelled to rob at every opportunity. Enter the city churches, and, behold, parsons and clerks may put all the congregations in the vestries; preach before comfortable fires, and avoid, what has been publicly styled, by one of the corporation, "cursed cold churches." Let him next visit the police-but, stop, it is useless to digress into public abuses, since nothing seems pure but gold, and gold is considered to command the world and all its contents, though we see it possesses invisible wings, at the very moment we grasp or deposit it at the Stock Exchange; where a Frenchman is able to declare, that the Paris Exchange is superior to London, Liverpool, &c. * I have been assured, that a single chandelier in one of them cost 2000l. The bishops and priests of Christendom style themselves Right Reverend Fathers in God: all the parsons are offended if not called reverend; thus, they rob God of his honours, whose name is "Holy and Reverend." The kings of Christendom are titled Most Gracious, MOST Excellent, Most Christian Majesties; and their sons and daughters are called the Princes of Peace, the Princesses of Peace, &c. The pope places himself the highest, and is called "Sanctissimus Dominus, Sanctissimus Pater," Most Holy Lord!!! Most Holy Father!!! All alike are guilty of gross blasphemy; the offence is against God; and God's arm only can restore Christian mercy, truth, and justice, for the whole creation groaneth under the burdensome stones laid upon it; but Christ is at hand to prove his yoke is easy, and his burden light, by casting out every liar, with a two-edged sword, or the word of command, die, or obey;" for, by his angels, word, and spirit, all things are ruled till he comes the second time, as a judge. He is now come, or coming as universal conqueror. 66 There is no reason to expect the Resurrection for 1170 years to come, or after the world is 7000 years old, as will be commented upon, and offered for due reflection. To return from this digression. Even if all men contradicted this second UNIVERSAL tribulation, as originally expounded in the first chapter (the greatest and most terrible), I would maintain the point, hoping I should not recant, even if led to Smithfield. Christ's decree is so tremendous, that he cannot strike the blow, without express notice, and he has spoken for forty years to London, like Jerusalem or Babylon. Pride and vanity have deluged human nature, and stifled conscience; so, that as long as the earth yields all man wants, man regards the earth above God. God declares he will, therefore, destroy the fruits of the earth, and all unbelievers, before the gospel is re-established. Penny loaves shall be worth sovereigns; sovereigns shall not command penny loaves; millions shall die blaspheming God, under "the seven last plagues," rather than repent. Already spring advances, by sudden mild weather, after a severe winter, continually freezy and thawy over all Europe. The winter has been as extraordinary as the two last summers and harvests. Tender blossoms, buds, and plants, may be nipped by blasting frosts and winds, in April or May, as I verily expect, according to Esdras or Ezra, for nature is out of joint, and cannot be restored while Christendom wages war against divine peace and mercy, freely offered at the cross and new covenant of grace. How many parsons stand up in READING (not praying) DESKS this day, avowing "the communion of saints" with God, wishing "the fellowship of the Holy Ghost to cleanse their hearts; to defend them from all enemies, ghostly and bodily," who, when they mount pulpits, forget or deny this doctrine of divine agency, and put forth morality as the direct road to heaven; whereas, there is but one way thither, through Christ's cross and blood. If any men, like John Bunyan, John Engelbrecht, &c. be raised up to preach and practice Christ's doctrine, do not the collegians utterly deny any superhuman interference in worldly affairs? and declare, the age of miracles is passed, and that Christ has ceased to make any further revelation till the end of the world, having accomplished every thing before his death? This is false doctrine. "Be no more children, carried about by every wind of doctrine, and by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." Gospel. "As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent." Hosea vi. Christ expressly promised the comforter when he ascended, and sent comfort indeed to three thousand on the day of Pentecost as great a miracle as ever he performed on |