WE CLOSED our remarks to-day with the close of the thirteenth chapter, in which John gives us an account of -- that kingdom or power that warred against the Lord's people, and wore out the saints 1260 years; that was on the seat of the old Roman Empire, and had the authority of old pagan Rome committed to it--the Roman Catholic power. He gave us an account, too, of an image that was made to that power which wore out the saints. We commence to-night with the first of the fourteenth chapter.

"And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God."

We have a place where this comes in; it joins on with the account given in chap. xi: 13-16, where he gives an /211/ account of the two witnesses coming to life; the Bible being again given to the Lord's people, or to the world of mankind to measure the Church, where he calls our attention to the twenty-four elders, bowing and worshiping. And that was to take place; the Bible was to be restored at the time of the fighting with fire, smoke, and brimstone-- the days in which we live. We are just in the commencement of them. True, we have for a long time been fighting with fire, smoke, and brimstone, but the work of pulling down the kingdoms of earth is not fully come.

The Bible is, however, in our hands. We have the measuring reed, and when John gets to this point, of giving the account of the measuring reed in the hands of the Lord's people, to measure the Church, the worship, and the worshipers, he then gives us an account of its having lain dead for 1260 years. At that time he digresses, if we might use the expression, and tells that the Church itself was unmeasured, in the wilderness, for that length of time. He then tells us, as if inclosed in a parenthesis, of the mighty power that drove the Church into the wilderness, and killed the Word of the Lord as a rule, and then takes up the subject right where he left off--at the measuring reed.

So, while the Church is being measured on earth, there is a portion of the family of the Lord in heaven, before the throne. John gives a definite for an indefinite number; a great multitude--he says one hundred and forty-four thousand--were before the throne, a part of the family in heaven--the sea of glass as clear as crystal, he said in the fourth chapter; while the beasts and elders are bowing and worshiping on earth, they were only joined with the part of the family that was in heaven. He tells us (after having given an account of the slaying of the two witnesses, and the driving of the Church into the wilderness, and of the power that drove her there, of the /212/ measuring up,) of the family in heaven, joined with the four beasts and elders in praising the Lord. And it is in these days, in which we live, that these things are to be accomplished. I mean in the sounding of the sixth angel's trumpet.

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." He comes out plainly at last; what he called the measuring reed in the eleventh chapter, he now calls the everlasting gospel. Borne as upon angel's wings, it is now being carried, while the nations engage in the fire, smoke and brimstone war, to every nation under heaven. One person said to me that I ought to explain to the congregation that it was not the war that carried the Word, but the war that broke down the powers that were opposed to it. It is the fire and brimstone fighting that is preparing the way for the Word of the Lord to go to nations that have hitherto been hostile and would not let it come. Still the war never reforms any one, never makes any one better; but gunpowder and printing were invented nearly the same time, and the Word of the Lord is going while the mighty crash of nations is upon them. The everlasting gospel is being preached now. It was a missionary angel that carried it, not a heavenly angel, not an angel from glory, but the Lord's people John saw carrying the gospel. Do you suppose I can prove that? The angels in heaven, or heavenly angels, have never in this dispensation been allowed to preach one word of the gospel. One made a visit to Philip, and directed him to go in a certain direction, while the Spirit told him to join himself to a certain chariot, in which the Ethiopian grandee was riding. But the angel dared not preach one word of the gospel, and that man Philip had to do it. An angel from heaven made a visit to Cornelius, but was not allowed /213/ to preach the gospel to him; he only told him to send for Simon Peter. "For unto the angels"--the heavenly angels--"hash he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak," said Paul, second chapter of his letter to the Hebrews. The Christian dispensation is not in the hands of heavenly angels, but the Lord's people are called an angel. It was the Lord's people preaching the gospel in the sound of the sixth angel's trumpet. And we live in that time. The nations are fighting with firearms; we now fight with fire, smoke and brimstone; ignited gunpowder is now the means of warfare. And we know, too, that what John spoke of is fulfilled. The gospel is being carried to every nation under heaven. John foretold it.

And that angel that has the gospel to preach said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." It had been a long time, more than 1200 years, that glory had been given to man; the idea of fearing God and giving glory to him, had not been in the minds of men; they had been fearing that power that said he was the Vicar of Christ, in the chair of St. Peter--had been giving glory to poor, dying worms like themselves. But, whenever a man comes with the heavenly gospel, and preaches as he should, he says, Fear God and give glory to him. Do not give the glory to councils or synods, or conferences, or presbyteries, or associations of erring mortals like yourselves. The gospel is to ring through all the land in every nation, and tell them to fear God, and give the glory to him by bowing to his authority.

He said, "Worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Man-worship has to cease. This miserable abomination of making rules to measure the Lord's people, has to come down. Erring mortals like we are, making rules! /214/

"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." How fitly it comes in! When the gospel is preached to every nation under heaven, and they are told to fear God and give glory to him, instead of giving it to man, the very next sound that is heard, is, Babylon is fallen, confusion has come to an end! The Lord's building is being measured up by his rule. He is speaking of the very time when the witnesses came to life and are used as a measuring reed, to which our attention is called in the eleventh chapter. These other things are inclosed as explanatory. We are living in that time. May the God of heaven grant it may not be long until we hear the cry, Babylon is down!

What is Babylon? Ah, that is the question. Well, that great city that rules over the kingdoms of the earth, that great Church--that is, the earthly Church, the vine of the earth; that great Church that became corrupt, that went over to the kingdoms of the earth for 1260 years,--the Roman Catholic Church.

Yes, that is true, in part. That is all true, as far as it goes; but, why is it called Babylon? I want to say this, that there was a literal Babylon once on earth. In the eleventh chapter of Genesis, you read the account of it. The river Euphrates ran through it. It was built on the plains of Shinar, and it was the largest city ever built on earth, or that ever will be, I opine. It had the strongest wall, and the greatest wealth was in that city; it was the metropolis of the strongest and grandest empire on earth. And when that city commenced--at the very commencement of it-- the descendants of Noah said, Go to, let us build us a tower the top of which shall reach unto heaven. And they were all of one speech and one language. And the LORD said, Go to, let us go down and see what the children of men are doing; they are of one speech and of one language; /215/ and it shall come to pass--that they will never accomplish much? O, no! I heard a preacher say, some time since, that union would make the cause of Christ weaker; it would kill all our energies, and bring in a flood of corruption; and that division and different denominations were the Lord's plan to prosper his cause; that everybody could be satisfied, and that no man, at the judgment day, could bring up a reasonable excuse for not belonging to the Church, because there are churches enough and different ways enough to suit everybody; and, therefore, a great many more would join the Church and be saved, than if there were not so many ways.

But what did the Lord say about the matter? "They are of one speech and of one language; and it shall come to pass that whatever they undertake, they will accomplish it." The Lord God of heaven thought there was strength in being united and all talking alike. The preacher was one way, and the Lord on the other side. Choose between them. And the Lord went down and confounded their language, so that they did not understand each other's talk; and the Bible says, Therefore is it called Babylon, or Babel; because there language was confounded.

Now, why do I quote all this? Because it is the very type of the Babylon that is spoken of here. One is the type and the other the anti-type. Right there, where language was confounded, they built the mighty city after a while. Where is there any instruction as to the antitype? For 1260 years all kindreds, tongues, peoples and nations said, (religiously, whether they spoke the same language or not,) Who is like unto the beast? (the spotted one on the throne of the Caesars,) Who is able to make war with him? And this kingdom kept going up while all the people said, Who is like this beast? But, bless you, the Lord came down and saw what the children of men were doing,--raising an uninspired mortal king above the God of /216/ heaven, above all that was called God. Paul said so; he confounded their language. And one began to talk about the Word of the Lord being above the voice of the Church; another, that Jesus was above the saints in glory; and another said it was wrong to bow and worship idols, and another, something else. When they made the first image, in the days of Henry VIII, the papal power got into confusion, and spoke all these different languages, religiously; and, therefore, it is called Babylon, because it has gone off into miserable sectarianism. All humanism and sectarianism is but the one great city, and belongs to the apostacy.

But, says one, does this confusion do any good? O, yes; God brings good out of evil sometimes. It scattered the builders, and weakened the parties that were rearing the papal tower, so that it had to come down and crumble, just like that old tower did when its builders became confused, and their language was confounded.

All this confusion in the religious world will come down before the power of God's mighty, everlasting gospel. Hold it up! If I were not in the Lord's army, governed only by his Word,--if I were not a soldier for Jesus, I would not let to-morrow's sun rise until I had enlisted in the victorious war of the Son of the living God. There is much work to do. We have pulled down the powers of darkness, and we will bring union and concord out of division and discord, and revolutionize the world by the everlasting gospel, until, at some future time, the Lord's people--his angel--will follow after and say, Babylon is fallen and confusion ended! John has just foretold the order of events.

"And the third angel followed," (that is one reason I would be a Christian,) "saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast and his image," (that is, the papal power, or any image made to him,) "and receives his mark in his forehead," (is deceived by his lying wonders,) "or in his hand" (does his miserable, dirty work,) "the same /217/ shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out, without mixture, into the cup of his indignation." God will not ask us whether we like the terms or not. We are on the Lord's side or against him; now that we have the Bible to go by, there is no middle ground. God will pour out his fury without mixture on those that are not aiding in this glorious work. "And he shall be tormented;" (that man that is not working for the Lord,) "shall be tormented with fire and brimstone." If he is on the side of the beast, the false prophet, or his image, he shall be tormented "in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb."

"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."

We patiently wait until the gospel does its work, and we labor on, believing that the Lord has told the truth, and that Babylon will come down.

"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.'

In the time of the sounding of the sixth angel's trumpet, from the commencement to the end of it, there is a blessing pronounced on those that die in the Lord. The Spirit said this; that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. I am right glad this is put in, my beloved brethren, because I shall wear out before the glorious fulfillment of this prophecy I have been reading, before Babylon is to come down. I shall not live to see it accomplished. O, no; but if I die fighting for it, if I wear myself out pleading for the honor and glory of /218/ God; if I die in the harness, as we are wont to say, I will only rest from my labors, and my works will follow me. The work I have been engaged in, if right, will still go on, while I am resting from my labors. "There is some work to do, brothers," as I heard the world-renowned singer, Mr. Phillips, sing in Decatur, Illinois. Work on; we have the world to convert, the confusion of Babylon to bring down Let us work until we do; work on until we are laid in our graves in peace; work on until we die in the Lord; then we will rest, a sweet, long, everlasting rest, all our works will still bo doing good. It is enough to encourage us to work for the Lord in this trying time-- against humanism, against the errors of 1260 years; to fight for the Lord, and fight for his Word, and if we die fighting for it, we will have a reward. I want to illustrate. There are now, in my knowledge, not fewer than twelve or thirteen men who are preaching, and are able preachers, too, that came into the Church under my preaching. Some of them will be preaching after I am laid in the grave. If I had not preached to them, the possibility is, they might never have come into the Church. So, after I shall be laid in the grave, the fruit of my labors will still be going on in this world, through those that I brought into the Church. And so of every good man. The good he does exerts an influence on another, and that one exerts an influence on some one else, and hence it spreads and widens, and goes on until the end of time.

That is one reason, my brother, why I would not be on the wrong side for a thousand worlds--out of the kingdom of Christ, for a house full of silver, for a mine of gold; from the very fact that the evil consequences resulting from my wrong course might do mischief centuries after I am in the grave. So of every good man's work. Its effects are never fully seen until time ends. That is one reason that the judgment is set for the end of this time world, because /219/ the effects of no man's conduct are fully realized until time itself is ended, whether good or bad.

"And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, and having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe."

He is telling us of things that were to take place in the sound of the sixth angel's trumpet, all the time. He will not go back, because he has done with all the time up to that. In the sound of the sixth angel's trumpet, he said there was a reaping time. It is the Lord's angel again-- the Lord's people with the sharp sickle. Jesus explains that matter for me. He said to his disciples, Do not men say it is four months until the harvest? Lift up your eyes and look; the fields are white already. The people were ready for reaping while Christ was on earth; there was a reaping time to gather the ripe sheaves into his kingdom. But then the long midnight of the dark ages came on; the reaping time was not then: but now we have the Word of the Lord again,--the reaping time has returned. Bless the Lord for it! It is as clear as a sunbeam. John looked down to the time when the Word of the Lord was given to the people in their living languages, in the days of the sounding of the sixth angel's trumpet, and said, the reaping time has come again; thrust in your sickle, you angel that sitteth on the cloud, for the harvest is ripe; never was a riper time than now.

And we have to gather in the harvest while we have the opportunity. Brethren, for heaven's sake, send out reapers and labor a little in that direction. Better go on half rations than roll in luxury, and have no share in the rich dividend that will be made at the harvest-feast at the end of the world. /220/

"And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." He gathered in a rich harvest for the Lord. "And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle." The Word of the Lord is compared to a sickle. "And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire;" (that understood the Word of the Lord in its original language,) "and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe." Sever them from the Lord's family. Draw a line between the Lord's people and that false Church. Nothing but the sharp sickle, a correct version of the scriptures, can do that. We want a pure version of God's Word. The time is coming when the Word of the Lord will be sharpened up precisely as sharp as when it dropped from the mouths of the inspired men. And that will show who are the Lord's people; and it will sever between those that fear God and those that fear man. It will cut off the clusters of the vine of the earth, and when the line is drawn, the clusters of the vine of the earth-- that is, the false or earthly Church--will be thrown into the wine-press of God's wrath, and trodden outside of the city. "The angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. And the wine-press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine-press, even unto the horses' bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs,"--or, two hundred miles.

God has controversy with those that are not gathered in by his Word. The vine of the earth, or the earthly Church, and all its clusters, will be thrown into the winepress of God's wrath after a while. John said so, or the Lord said so through him. May God forbid that I should /221/ belong to a church built upon mere humanism--upon the doctrines and commandments of men.

The world has been drinking for a long time of the wine of Mystery Babylon. Now we have a little respite in which to sober off--the reaping time is upon us.

"And I saw another sign in the heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues: for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God."

A sea of glass was before the throne. It was an innumerable company, that had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And now John says that those who on earth had gotten the victory over the beast, over his image, over his mark and over the number of his name, that understand the Word of the Lord, they stood on the- sea of glass. They stood on the margin of the sea of glass, just as we speak of men living on certain rivers. We say Chicago is on Lake Michigan-- meaning, on the margin of the lake. A certain man lived on the Ohio River--on the margin of the stream. So John speaks here of those who got the victory over all those abominations, as on the margin of this sea of glass, ready to step over and join the general army. Lord grant we may realize there is but one step between the family on earth and that part of the family on the other side of Jordan! We are on the margin, ready to step over and join them.

"And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty: just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for /222/ all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest."

God's judgments will be made manifest after a while, and people must, unless they close their eyes on purpose, see that God's hand is in the matter. The predictions of the prophecies, fulfilled. will be so plain that men can not misunderstand them. unless they do it willfully.

"And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:" (ready for the measuring,) "and the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God who liveth forever and ever. And the temple" (that is the Church that Paul said,) "was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled."

It looks like a dark time, does it not? We are now living in the very period when tho seven plagues are being poured out, or soon are to be. And at that time the Church is said to be full of smoke, so that no man is able to enter in until all these plagues have commenced their pouring.

Said one, "Don't you think some get into the Church?" It looks dreadfully smoky! The Lord said, in the old prophecy, it was a smoky time; and I believe that thousands and thousands think they are in the Church, that are not in at all. When I was quite young, and beyond my memory a little, history tells me that, from the time the temple was opened (the time the Bible was given to the nations in a living language) they did not know whether they were in the Lord's Church or not, though they had been professed Christians for forty years. Did not know how to /223/ get into the Church, and did not know whether they were in or not. And nine-tenths of the people do not know how to get in yet. John foretold it. Their eyes are put out; there is no mistake about that. They go by their feelings; they just feel along; they say, "I feel;" they constantly keep saying, "I feel," and there is no better sign that a man is blind, to some extent, than for him to go by his feeling. For two or three centuries past, it has been the order, "I feel like," and they are feeling along and think they are in the Church of Christ; they find some building, slip in at the first door they find, and think they are in the Church; and lo, when the smoke clears off, they find they are in some building made by dying mortals--not in the Lord's house at all. They don't know how to get in until the smoke clears away. I thank the Lord for one thing, and that is, the smoke is clearing away, and that a few know how to get in. A few know that Jesus said, "I am the door," and they know that no man can come to him unless he believes on him, and that no man can get into him unless he repents of his sins. And they know no unbelieving child or impenitent infant can get into Christ's kingdom, or Church on earth; they are fit for heaven without it--they do not need it. They know, too, the Word of the Lord says to the humble, penitent believer, if you v`-ill confess me and be baptized, and so put on the Lord, I will forgive you your sins. As many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. The humble believer that confesses Christ, and is baptized in his name, puts him on, and enters into the door, right into the house of the Lord.

Backslider, it is a miserable thing to go out of the Lord's house, to step back; we must stay in Christ and walk in him.

Do you not know, my brother, that after the measuring reed was given to the people, that more than two centuries/224/passed away, and the people did not know how to get in, did not know the door? And John said, no man could enter in until the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled--had commenced being poured out. If any one knows now how to get in, that is proof that these plagues have commenced being poured out.

The pouring out of these seven vials is the subject of our next lecture.