AND I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them

and judgement was given unto them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished: This is the first resurrection." The resurrection of those souls that were beheaded for the Word of God, and for the witness of Jesus. The resurrection of those that had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, or received his mark (or doctrine,) in their foreheads, or in their hands, (or with their hands,) had been engaged in his work; this class of persons were in the first resurrection, and lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years--all the time that Satan is bound, all the time that he is not deceiving the nations. The rest of the dead (those that have worshiped the beast and his image, been led off by his doctrine, had been engaged in his work,) lived not during this whole thousand years. The revelator adds in the next verse, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."

A question in the mind of many, is, "Where will they /279/ reign with Christ?" Will they reign with Christ at the city of Jerusalem in the land of Palestine? Will they reign with Christ in the United States, or in Europe? Where will they be during the thousand years that Satan is bound? It is clearly taught that there is a resurrection to take place at the commencement of the thousand years, and it is a resurrection of the martyrs for Jesus that have been dying in the dark ages, and those that have not been led away from the truth by the errors that were so common. The statement is plain enough; they are to live and reign with Christ,--but where? A very prevalent idea now is, that it will be in the land of Palestine, about the city of Jerusalem somewhere; that Christ will descend on Mount Olivet; that his feet will stand on that mountain. and it will be cleft asunder, and that he will greatly enlarge and beautify the city of Jerusalem; make it the metropolis of the world for a thousand years, and reign there with those resurrected saints. I say this is a very prevalent idea now; and as we are drawing very near to the time when Satan is to be bound, and this resurrection to take place, there is quite an anxiety in the minds of men as to this millennial reign of Christ. Some have even gone so far as to plot off the city that Christ would live and reign in with the saints, and have all nations come up once a year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, in Jerusalem. One of the prophets said they should; and the prophet adds that if Egypt go not up where there is no rain, then the plague shall be on that land. And if other nations go not up where the rain is common, then they shall have no rain. And men can not tell how it is possible to go up once a year to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, unless the King is there in person with his saints. But I may as well name it now as at any other time, that in some neighborhoods we go up to the Lord's house once a week to worship God, the Lord of  /280/  hosts, and do not expect to meet him there in person. It is not hard language, is it, to say we go up weekly or monthly to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, without expecting to see him in person? It is strange that men will blunder at the idea of worshiping the King, the Lord of hosts, at Jerusalem once a year, unless he were present, while they talk about going to worship him once a week before that time rolls round. Will Christ be here on earth during the thousand years? That is the question. Almost half of the great men have come to the conclusion that he certainly will, and they are looking for him almost every day. Indeed, according to the predictions of some, he should have been here some years since; and there has not been a century since he left this earth that some one has not looked for his return. Indeed, Paul said, in his letter to the Thessalonians, that the coming of the Lord was nigh, and he told them to be ready and watch for his coming; and Jesus himself said that he wanted his disciples to watch and be ready at his coming, for he would come as a thief in the night. But, then, it has been a long time since Jesus told his disciples to watch. It has been a long time since Paul told the Thessalonian brethren that the coming of the Lord was nigh. But he undeceived them, and told them he would not come until after a long apostacy, and did not say how much longer. Until after the man of sin was revealed. But why did he tell them that the coming of the Lord drew near, when Paul, by inspiration, knew that it would be to the human family a long time first, and by the prophecies he could understand it? Simply from this fact, that death is very near; and if we die out of the Lord, out of obedience to him, we are not prepared to meet him when he does come; it makes no difference when that is. We have but an inch of time to prepare to meet the Lord when he does come. There is no preparation for meeting him after we die; hence it /281/ was just as necessary for Paul to admonish the brethren to be ready for his coming, while he was preaching to them at Thessalonica, as it would be to-night; because they had no more lease for their lives then than we have now.

What good would it do, or what harm would it do, any of the company here to-night, for the Lord to reign on earth a thousand years? I could not live many years of the time. If he were to come to-night, it would not do me much good, nor harm, either; I should enjoy but a very few days of that reign. According to the course of nature, I would have to die before I would hardly get a peep at it. But will Christ be on earth? The revelator has not said so. He never said one word about the Lord's coming at the first of the thousand years, or any time during the thousand years while Satan is bound. He said a mighty angel came down with a great chain and bound Satan. I proved, last night, that no chain but a chain of testimony could bind him--a chain of evidence. And I proved, too, that no chain of evidence was strong enough to bind him but that of fulfilled prophecy--Bible facts, Bible evidence; and that no angel was strong enough to do that, but the Lord's people united, following the true and faithful Word of God. Then the prayer of Jesus is fulfilled, and the world will believe, will not be deceived. But if so notable an event as the coming of the Lord in person was to transpire at the commencement of the years of peace, do you not suppose the Lord would have had something said about it? But it remains a blank. He tells us that an angel came to bind Satan, but there is not a word of intimation that the Lord came. But how can these saints live and reign with Christ unless he is here? Is it possible that our minds have become so worldly that we can not think of ever existing in any place only on this footstool of the Lord? Could not consent to be taken to some other place, some other part of our heavenly Father's /282/ creation, or some other mansion in our Father's house? Are we to be concerned to this earth forever, even after death? Is it not possible for men, as John said, to be redeemed from the earth? John said the company that was before the throne, (fourteenth chapter,) were redeemed from the earth and from among men. He has just, in his series of events, come to the very point where the whole earth is full of the glory of the Lord, and Satan is not deceiving the nations; he says there was a portion of the family before God's throne that were redeemed from among men, redeemed from the earth. I reckon if a man or saint is resurrected, he certainly could be redeemed from the earth--might be taken away from among men and be where Christ is. And John, even in the fourth chapter, speaking of the millennial age, of the whole earth being full of the glory of God, and every kindred, tongue, people and nation, bowing and worshiping the Lord on earth, said there was a sea of glass as clear as crystal before the throne, and that sea of glass was an innumerable company, which no man on earth could number. There is a part of the family in heaven all the time; and those saints that have died in the mighty battle could easily be taken there and joined with that part of the family before the throne; be with Christ, and follow him wherever he goes, just as easily as any way. I am not going to say, I know Christ will be on earth, simply because he said these martyrs live and reign with him after they are resurrected. There will be one thousand years when the saints shall possess the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens.

But is Christ to reign on earth? O, yes,--I proved that once, but not in person. David said he was to rule the nations with a rod of Iron (second psalm). Jesus said, in the second chapter of Revelation, he was going to do it through his faithful followers that keep his works unto the end. It is none the less the work of the Lord that he /283/ does it through his agents, his followers in his family. We have come to that very time we called attention to once before--when the kingdoms of this world are the kingdoms of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the saints reigning, and Christ reigning through his saints, and his laws enforced by his people.

But you would rather the Lord would come, would you? Why, it seems to me that human reason would say, better not. If it is better for him to come, all my preaching will not keep him from it. But we are only trying to learn through his Word what we may expect. If he were to come before I die, why, then, I have no promise of having a part in the first resurrection. He would be on earth, and I would be--where? I could not be resurrected to be with him here, if he were to come before I die; and if I die in his army before the thousand years commence, I would just as soon be with him in some other place or mansion in my Father's house, as here on his footstool. It is just as well for us to be with Jesus in some other place as here; so that the difference is in favor of his not coming to this earth, for the good of the human family.

But will he come? That is the question. The saints can reign with him without his coming here, as well as if he does come--those that are resurrected. Jesus is reigning in his Church now, for his kingdom is not of this world; nevertheless, he has a kingdom in this world, and he is the King ruling it; but he does it without being here personally. Queen Victoria rules the people in Canada without being there in person. It is not absolutely necessary for a king to be personally with his subjects in order to rule and reign over them. It were impossible in the case of all earthly rulers to be present with their earthly governments. They could not do it.

And when the thousand years are expired Satan shall /284/ be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth." Th same four quarters that had been bowing and worshiping the Lord for a thousand years, are to be deceived again "Gog and Magog," or the general and his army, or the whole mass, "to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea."

Now, here is a question. Would it be possible for Satan to be let loose, to deceive the nations all over the four quarters of the earth, at the end of the thousand years of the reign of peace, if Christ had been here in person all that time? Is it possible, or would it be possible, for the devil to deceive the human family when Christ is on earth in person, and has been for a thousand years? Said one, "May be they would not know him." Maybe they would! The Bible informs us (I call it the Bible indiscriminately - the Old and New Testaments,) that when the Lord comes, he will come in the glory of his Father, and all the holy angels with him. And he will change the living saints, and raise the dead, small and great. But suppose he raises only the saints--all the good--at his coming at the commencement of the thousand years, and brings all the holy angels with him when he comes in his Father's glory, it would be a pretty full settlement in this little world, would it not? The company of the angels and resurrected saints, with all the saints that are alive and have not cried.

And then Christ will come in his glory, for he will never lay it aside again--never be a man of sorrows again, never! And his face shines like the sun, his eyes are like a flame of fire, and his voice as the sound of many waters. De was so glorious when John saw him in vision, that he fell at his feet as a dead man; and I suppose that John could bear the sight of Jesus nearly as well as any diving man could. I think some of us would fall at his feet as dead /285/ men, if he were here in his glory, with all his holy angels. I do not think he would be a very suitable associate for such poor, dying, sinful worms as we are.

But the question comes up again. Jesus here, with all the angels attending, and all the resurrected saints around him, in all his Father's glory clad,--could any devil you have ever read of bring evidence enough to make a man think he was an impostor, if he had been reigning here a thousand years gloriously? Try it on yourselves. Do you think the old adversary could deceive the worst man in all the land, and make him believe Christianity was all an imposition, if Christ had been here in all his Father's glory, with all the holy angels and resurrected saints, a thousand years? Believe that who can;--human reason revolts at it. What! The devil deceive men, and make them think Jesus an impostor and Christianity all a fable, if Christ had been here with the holy angels, and clad in his Father's glory, for one thousand years! Turn it over and try it. The Lord would have to give us new heads and new hearts, and make a new set of men of us, before the devil could deceive us at the end of the thousand years. He could not deceive such creatures as we are, with our reasoning powers. It is utterly impossible. If we were too ignorant to know anything, we might not believe in the Lord, and could be deceived; or, we might be like dumb brutes--incapable of believing or being deceived. But with man's reasoning powers as he now is (and I have no idea, have no room to believe for a moment that we will ever be changed to some other class of beings; but will always be human beings, as we are, and our children's children after us), such creatures as we are could not be deceived if Christ were here in his glory for so long a time as that. The very idea of the devil's deceiving the nations at the end of the thousand years, is proof positive that Christ will not be here in person in his glory. There /286/ is no intimation that he is to come at the commencement of the thousand years; but the saints are redeemed from the earth and taken to him. Indeed, there is scripture that confirms what Enoch, the seventh from Adam, as quoted by Jude, says, or prophesies, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints." He was not talking of his first coming as a "man of sorrows," but of his second coming. Ile comes with ten thousand of his saints, to take vengeance on the ungodly; and of course they are redeemed from the earth, and with him, ready to come when he does come. How could he come with ten thousand of his saints, if they are saints on the earth until he does come? At the commencement of the thousand gears, the faithful soldiers who have died in the great battle, fighting for the Bible, will have the honor of being redeemed from the earth. At the commencement of the time when Satan is bound on the earth, those that have died in the battle fought in order to bind him, will have the privilege of being with Christ. They will be redeemed from the earth and from among men. They will, though through that very Word--the Truth--they died for, reign and rule with Christ during the thousand ;years, though not on earth; they are reigning and ruling with Christ, through the very Word they died for. It is the gospel that is to govern.

But, at the end of the thousand years, Satan is to be let loose, "and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." They will try once again to put down the cause of Christ at the end of the thousand gears.

"And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city," or the Church; and then what?--deceived them? Says one, "I do not know how they would be deceived after /287/ there has been perfect peace on earth for a thousand years." It is one of the most natural things, to my mind, ever contemplated. Give the whole world a thousand years of perfect peace, a thousand years of unheard of prosperity, (for peace and prosperity go together ;) give the whole world a thousand years for accumulating all the luxuries of earth, for hoarding up wealth by the million: for such a time of prosperity as a thousand years of peace all over the world would give, such an amount of the good things of this world as the human mind has never yet conceived of,--and it is as natural as life, for their luxury and their wealth to draw their hearts away from God's Word--from the Bible--until they despise it, and have their affections fixed on the things of earth and the wealth around them; and the Lord not there in person, they are easy to be deceived, and they say what Peter said they would, "Where is the promise of his coming?" They think only of working harder, growing richer, and heaping up more wealth They say the Lord is not going to come, for since the fathers fell asleep, every thing goes on smoothly and prosperous, as at the beginning. They are again deceived, and say there is no promise of his coming.

The Lord has revealed to us that there will be persons living until he does come. Some of them will be living when he comes at the end of the thousand years. "They went up, Gog and Magog, upon the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from out of heaven and devoured them." Anything more? Paul said the Lord would come in a flame of fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel. There is no account of it at the commencement of the thousand years.

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false /288/ prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." Does John see anything more?

"And I saw a great white throne,"--at the end of the thousand years when fire comes down from heaven,--"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 Lord comes on his great white throne, and away goes this little footstool of his--where? No place is found for it! At the end of the thousand :rears, John says, the Lord comes on his great white throne. If he came at the beginning of the thousand years, he must have retired, and then, if he had come at the end of the thousand years, it would be a third coming, and not a second. John says distinctly here, the Lord comes on his great white throne at the end of the thousand years.

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened ;"--here is a general resurrection at the end of the thousand years of all the righteous that had lived and died during the thousand years, and of all the wicked that ever lived and died. Those that fought in the battle of the Lord during the dark ages--on such the second death has no power. But one question occurs to some minds: Will the second death have power over those who have no part in the first resurrection? The second death has no power over those who have a part in the first resurrection, and therefore they conclude that all others are subject to the second death. But the Book does not say so.

If I say of a man in the house, the cold has no power on him, because he is in the meeting-house, it would not argue that the cold had power on every other man that was not here; would it? O, no! Some might be in as secure a place as we are. But then the cold can not reach those that are in this house. Those that have part in the first resurrection, of course, are safe, and will come with /289/ the Lord when he comes to judge the world. Those that are in the Lord when he comes, will be free from the second death also.

"I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God,' in the general resurrection, at the end of the thousand years. "And the books were opened, and another book was opened, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." The Jews will be judged by their books--the law, of course--and the Gentiles, that have no law from God (as the Jews had), will be judged according to their opportunities and the light around them. All those that lived in the Christian dispensation will be judged by the perfect law of liberty--the gospel,--and all who have their names written in the book of life, all who have been obedient, are saved, and those who have not been obedient are not saved. This earth is gone from the face of him that sits on the throne, and there is no resting-place for the sole of man's foot. When the Lord comes we have to meet him in the air; he does not come and set his feet on the earth; there is no earth when the Lord comes; there is no place found for it. Do you not see why Paul says we will meet him in the air? It is because the earth is gone. The Bible commences, in Genesis, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," and here, in this twentieth chapter of the book of Revelation, he tells us of the end of the earth and the heavens.

"They were judged, every man according to their works, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death"--being cast into the lake of fire. The unseen world, the place of departed spirits, when they are out of the body, disunited, (while the body is in the grave, the spirit is in the unseen world,) and the place of deposit of the spirit and of the body, are both destroyed, cast into the lake of fire. That is the end of them; the /290/ resurrection has come; the spirit and body are reunited, and the place of deposit for the separate parts is, of course, no longer needed. And the judgment comes.

"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire." This does not favor universal salvation much, does it? It is after the Lord comes, and the books are opened, and the earth is gone then the judgment after the grand resurrection; and those that are not written in the book of life, have not their names recorded therein, are cast into the lake of fire. Better not risk it; for heaven's sake, don't! That is not tho strongest, however, but that is as strong almost as language can make it, that there is a separation after the general resurrection, and the earth is gone. It is as literal as anything can be; a literal resurrection; a literal driving away or destroying of the earth, and a literal judgment. I will not say it is a literal punishment; but figurative may not be more than equal to that which is literal, and it is the severest punishment the mind can conceive of, whether it is a literal lake of fire or not. It says a lake of fire here--the same lake alluded to, into which the beast and the false prophet were cast. Whether it is a literal fire or not, it is a place of torment for the ungodly.

But about this last resurrection. Will there be any Christians in the second resurrection? We hear brethren sometimes praying, "Lord grant me a part in the first resurrection;" which implies that they think no Christians have a part in the second resurrection. Lay down your life in the service of Jesus; then you will have a part in the first resurrection. Be like Daniel and the Hebrew children; go through lions' dens and fiery furnaces; be beheaded as Paul and Peter were; be crucified as the old saints were; let them roast you to death on slow fires; let them throw you among the wild beasts; lay down your life for Christ,--then you have promise of a part in the first /291/ resurrection, if you are doing it all for Jesus' sake. Some say, "Lord grant me a part in the first resurrection." What about those that are on earth after the first resurrection is past; will there be any saints on earth during the thousand years while Satan is bound? Don't you think there will be some living men during the thousand years that will be Christians? Will there not be some living Christians in that thousand years time? The majority will be Christians for a long time, until the closing of it; they will be living, laboring, toiling, and rejoicing, and dying in the Lord, just as Christians do now. God will not make new laws of nature and a new order of beings here; they will just be toiling and meeting, living and dying, like we do now, for the whole thousand years that Satan is bound, and the gospel reigning and the world acknowledging Jesus.

A great many Christians will live and die during the thousand years, surely. The first resurrection of the martyrs and those that died in the dark ages for the witness of Jesus, will be as the sheaf of the wave-offering, compared with the grand resurrection at the end of the thousand years. It will be a small affair, compared to that great body of the Lord's people, that mighty host that will be raised at the grand resurrection at the end of the thousand years. The other, the first resurrection, was fully pre-figured by the wave-offering, as the second is by the entire remaining harvest. These two resurrections are typified in the wave-offering of the first ripe sheaf, and afterward, the full remaining harvest, in which every man will be judged according to his works.

Well, but then, what good will a resurrection do us at the end of a thousand years, and the earth gone, and the atmosphere which surrounds it? John says he saw "a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth, were passed away, and there was no more sea." We /292/ will not need grand natural divisions or seas to divide the earth into four quarters. The Lord's family can dwell together on the new earth without these natural boundary lines; they will all be one family on the new earth, for there is to be a new heaven and a new earth.

Says one, "Where will the old heaven and earth go to, when the new one comes?" The Book says there is no place found for them. Says one, "I would like to know where that is." Well, just wherever you will find no place.

Says one, "I do think there is some passage that looks like it would be deluged by fire and purified for our future dwelling place." If the Lord takes the old materials of this world and makes a new one out of it, I have no objections. He has plenty of materials, and can as easily annihilate the materials of the old earth as he could create materials out of nothing in the beginning. What he makes the new one of, is nothing to me. I would not turn my hand over to know. It is enough for me to know that this one, in its present form, will be gone; the Lord will drive it away from his face, and no place will be found for it--to make a new earth for the dwelling place of his saints, with a pure atmosphere around it, and no sea on it at all.

"And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men." Ah, we have now the new earth. Do you not suppose John would have said the tabernacle of God is with then during the millennial age, if Jesus was here personally? He never intimates a word about his coming or being here until the thousand years are ended. Then the great white throne comes, and the earth flies away from his face, and there is no place found for it. But there is a new earth for his people, and John declares he dwells /293/ among them on the new earth. "The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." But it is on the new earth, after this one is gone.

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death,"--thank the Lord for that!--"neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." I look for rest on a better earth than this, in a better atmosphere than that surrounding this. I hope to be with God--not here on this earth, but on the new earth, where God dwells with his people forever--on that earth where there is no death, where there are no farewells spoken, no sad sighing. I am sick and must go down to the grave. I look for this rest. Lord grant we may labor for it!

Now we are living in the sound of the sixth angel's trumpet, when the fire, smoke and brimstone are doing their work; and soon the sound will be, The kingdoms of this world are the kingdoms of Christ, and the reign of peace for one thousand years will be ushered in. The Lord will raise and take to himself all those who have lived and fought for him here; and those who have not, will finally, at his coming, be driven from his face and the glory of his power forever. O, horrid! They will be driven from his face eternally. Driven from his face, and will have no possible chance of being restored to his favor--away with the miserable abominables forever outside of the city.

"And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for these things are true and faithful." He will make all things new for his people on the new earth. It does not look much like the personal reign of Christ on this earth.

"And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him /294/ that is athirst, of the fountain of the water of life freely." He has given us that information now that we may know whether or not we will have this blessing. If we thirst for it, if we long to do the will of the Lord, if we are anxious to know the truth, and submit to the authority of Jesus, we will have large draughts of the water of life, and have it freely, when the Lord comes, and on the new earth for ever. But if we do not want it, if we despise his offers, if we fold our arms and fail to work to help bind old Satan--chain him down for a thousand years--if we fail to do our part as servants of the Lord, woe to us when the Lord comes! We will have no place on the new earth, we will have no place in the holy city.

"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." If he overcomes. Overcomes what? Overcomes the corruptions in the world, overcomes the lusts of the eye, overcomes the pride of life, overcomes the desire for the world, and all the lusts of the flesh, overcomes the adversary and keeps his body under, overcomes and conquers himself, he shall inherit all things. "I will be his God, and he shall be my son." Here is something to work for, offered to you. To those that overcome the world, the flesh, and the old adversary, God says he shall inherit all things--be a joint heir with Jesus, the Son of God. I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

But the others--those that do not overcome themselves, their fleshly minds and earthly ways, do not keep their bodies under and in subjection--what about them? All to be happy finally, a preacher said; all get a place in the new world, anyhow. But Jesus is talking about it here. He said those that overcome shall inherit the new earth, and be with God and Christ. But the others, " the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and /295/ brimstone: which is the second death." That is after the judgment, when the saints are on the new earth with the Lord, that these abominable characters have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone; that is the second death, the second separation from God, from life, and all that is desirable. It is not a cessation from existence; they will not be unconscious, but driven away from God. Death, in its scriptural use, does not imply an unconscious state; for we are said to be dead to sin when separated from sin. Still we are not unconscious. We are said to be dead to God while living in our sins. Still we are not unconscious. All persons are alive and dead, are both alive and dead at the same time; living to God, they are dead to sin; alive to sin, they are dead to God; but in neither case unconscious. So, when the body and spirit are separated, we are said to be dead, literally, but not unconscious. Even so the second death--a separation from God eternally--does not imply an unconscious state.