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are set forth in the sixteenth chapter of this book as we have before pointed out in the interpretation of the seven last plagues. And although these punishments are said to continue day and night for ever and ever, yet the time of their continuance will be short, for it is written, "A short work will the Lord make upon the earth." They are said to continue for ever and ever in the sense that they will continue until the wicked are consumed. When the work of judgment is accomplished, and the wicked are consumed out of the land and are no more, then the fires of judgment, like other fires, go out because there is nothing more to burn upon. Therefore the Lord himself says when these judgments are consummated, "Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be no more angry."

Therefore the passage in the twentieth chapter of the Revelation (verse 10) should read, "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet were cast, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." The beast and false prophet, and the kings of the earth and their armies, were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone upon the mountains of Israel, and were there consumed; and afterwards their bones were gathered up and buried in the valley of Hamon-gog, in the city of the dead, called Hamonah (Ezek. 39: 11-16).

This lake of fire and brimstone will be rekindled and reproduced again at the end of the thousand years to consume Gog and Magog and their vast hosts which will be as the sand of the sea. When they invade Israel's land for the last time and come up around the camp of the saints and beloved city, then the fires of God's wrath will quickly consume them; and then the great red dragon, that old serpent, the Devil and Satan, and all his legions of crooked serpents like himself who have, with him, been engaged, since they were raised from the dead and released from their prison-house in deceiving the nations thinking to overthrow the camp of the saints, and the beloved city, then the Devil and his body will be cast alive into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and his legions and the false prophet were cast a thousand years before, and will be tormented day and night until they are consumed and cease to be,— that is, for ever and ever.

CHAPTER XI

THE PASSING AWAY OF THE OLD HEAVENS AND EARTH, ESTABLISHING OF THE NEW

(Rev. 20-22)

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Remnant

Great white throne Those to be judged · - Feast for all nations Sure mercies of David"— Veil enshrouding all nations to be destroyed — Coming of Christ in glory with all his saints —" Every eye shall see him "of Israel taught of God - Remnant of nations Original strength - How far in future - Escaped of Gog's army instructed in truth - Jesus, Savior and Lord - Nations instructed - Lifting of veil -"New heavens and earth"- Second manifestation under old covenant ended — Israelitish remnant constitute new nation - Wonderful blessings - Righteous supreme.

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A GREAT WHITE THRONE (REV. 20:11-15)

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them." The person whom John sees sitting upon this great white throne is the Father himself. It is he who came down upon Mount Sinai when he gave to Israel the law which constituted them a kingdom with heaven and earth. The ruling classes, consisting of kings, princes, priests, prophets and wise men, formed their heaven; and the people of Israel, who were made subject to them, constituted the earth. This heaven and earth continues under various vicissitudes of fortune until the latter days, when they will have waxed old and will pass away before the face of him who first founded them at Mount Sinai.

When the judgments contained in that law are executed, the heavens and earth will be no more, and in the end of that world the righteous and the wicked will be raised from the dead, the righteous to enter into life eternal and the wicked to die the second death in the lake of fire and brimstone which will consume them root and branch, when they will be as though they had not been. Utter destruction is their end, therefore John continues saying, "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell (the grave) delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every man according to their works. And death and hell (the grave) were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

This throne of judgment sits in the end of the Mosaic world in the latter days, before the new heaven and the new earth appear, and before the thousand years' reign begins. This is evident from the fact that after the new heaven and earth are made, it is said (21:5), "And he that sat upon the

throne said, Behold I make all things new." The wicked that have been manifested in ages past in connection with the righteous, will be raised from the dead and will appear before this throne and him who sits thereon, and they whose names are not written in the book of life will be delivered into the hand of the Father's executioners, Christ and the saints, and cast into the lake of fire, the fire of God's wrath where they will be punished according to their works. These torments and punishments will terminate in the second death, from which there is no resurrection, and which will consist in eternal extinction of existence. But from the words of Jesus before they are destroyed, they will see the righteous in the kingdom of God and they themselves thrust out. And among the righteous who will then be immortal, possessing angelic powers, they may recognize many that they formerly knew in the flesh and persecuted, but now they see the righteous clothed upon with immortality while they are raised mortal, clothed upon as before, only with their bodies of death, and cast out into outer darkness where there is no hope. The harvest is past, the summer is ended, but they are not saved and must die the second death and disappear forever.

THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BE RAISED FROM THE DEAD AT THE

RESURRECTION

Paul says (Rom. 14: 10), "For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." But to whom did he say this? Not to mankind at large by any means, but only to those who had believed and obeyed the Gospel that he taught; this was written to the church at Corinth. Few of the human family will ever be raised from the dead, and therefore but few, comparatively, will ever appear before the judgment-seat; few people in the world. have ever heard Paul's Gospel, and he says, "If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost."

Touching the sectarian errors in regard to the resurrection of all men, and the arraignment of all men before a judgment-seat, we may remark that the whole human family without a single exception sinned in Adam, were arraigned, condemned, and sentenced in the garden of Eden; and the sentence pronounced was death, and a return to the dust of the earth whence they were taken. Even in our courts a man who has been tried, condemned, and sentenced to death, is regarded as and said to be already dead from the time the sentence of death is passed upon him. Even so the whole human family is regarded and spoken of in the Scriptures as being dead. Paul says, "We thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead"; again, Jesus said, "Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God." Again it is written in the Psalms concerning Israel who mingled with the heathen and ate of the sacrifices that they offered to their idols, saying, "They ate the sacrifices of the dead" (Ps. 106: 28).

Therefore the whole human family is dead; they are all born into the world under sentence of death, live out their days under that sentence, and die under and in conformity with it, and return again to dust; that is the end of the generations of men from the beginning to the end, with comparatively few exceptions. There is no resurrection for the masses of the human family who live and die in ignorance of the Gospel, which is the glad tidings

of salvation by resurrection from the dead through the belief and obedience of the truth.

But if a man objects, saying that the non-resurrection of the great masses of mankind is contrary to the words of Christ himself who said, "The hour cometh in the which all that are in their graves shall come forth," we reply that the words of Christ are to be understood and interpreted like unto the other Scriptures of which Paul speaks, saying, "What things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law." So also the words of Christ refer to the two classes, the good and the bad that have been, and will be developed and manifested by coming in contact with the truth, even as shown by the Lord himself in the parable of the net. A net cast into the sea only brings ashore the good and bad fish which it compasses within its meshes; so the resurrection will only bring forth from the graves those who have entered into covenant with God for a resurrection to life eternal at the last day. But those who have not entered into covenant with God for the true hope of salvation by resurrection, and who have not entered into the body of Christ through the obedience of faith, the resurrection net will never bring ashore. And all that can be said of those that will be left behind is, that they lived and died in the sea of nations without hope and without God, and perished forever there; and if a man desires to escape such a calamity, let him make his covenant and bargain for resurrection now, and then comply with its terms, that he be not raised to be cast away again to die the second death. Therefore Paul reminds the Ephesian Christians, speaking of their condition before they believed and obeyed the Gospel, saying, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12).

That was the condition of the masses of mankind in the apostles' day, and it is the same in the present day. They are without hope and without God in the world because the Gospel that the apostles were sent to preach has been vitiated and rendered void by men foisting into it their own traditions and errors, especially that most prolific mother of a multitude of other errors, namely the heathen doctrine of the immortality of human souls, for this doctrine being of itself a lie, all therefore that grow out of it are lies. These things eat out the truth like a cancer and make the Gospel of God and of Christ of none effect, and convert the Gospel that the apostles were sent to preach into another Gospel. But the penalty for this mischief is death, as Paul said, "If any man preach any other gospel unto you, let him be accursed "(Gal. 1:8-9).

The children of God who have been taught of God out of the word of God simply expect to live out their days and then go the way of all the earth, to sleep unconscious in the dust of the earth where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest, until the time comes known only to the Father himself when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth to enter upon the inheritance which God hath promised them. Christ stands as the head and representative of all those whose vile bodies will be changed and fashioned like unto his glorious body. Therefore as Adam the first stands as the head and representative of a generation of mortal

men like himself, even so the second Adam stands as the head and representative of a generation of immortal men like himself, men who will have been accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, and to be forever as the angels of God in heaven.

A FEAST FOR ALL NATIONS

"And in this mountain (Mount Zion) shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined" (Isa. 25:6). As to what this feast will consist of, which is here symbolized by wines on the lees well refined, and fat things full of marrow, may be seen from what the same prophet speaks in another place, saying, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: here, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David" (55: 1-3). Here we find the good things and fat things full of marrow that God will furnish for this great feast are the "sure mercies of David," and the Lord offers to enter into and to make an everlasting covenant with all those that will incline their ear and come unto him, and he guarantees to them the sure mercies of the house of David by an everlasting covenant.

THE SURE MERCIES OF DAVID

But what are the sure mercies of David that the Lord so graciously offers to sell to us without money and without price? This we are at no loss to find out, for Paul in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia plainly set forth to the people there assembled, saying, “We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David."

The sure mercies of David, therefore, comprehend the Son of God raised from the dead no more to return to corruption, and all the other good things and blessings that we get through him and with him. Wherefore, also Paul said in his letter to the Romans (8: 32), " He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things." And Jesus sent Paul to the Gentiles, as he said, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in him. Again the Lord says concerning his Son Jesus Christ, “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles" (Isa. 42:6); and again, “I will

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