WE CLOSED our remarks to-day at the fourteenth verse of the last chapter of the book of Revelation. This verse reads: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city;"--the New Jerusalem he had just been describing, where there is no night, where the throne of God and the Lamb is, and where there is no death; and those only who do the commandments of Jesus, have the promise of entering that city. How a man can say that those who regard not the Lord, who violate his commandments and requirements every day, can enter into that city, is more than I can imagine. If all men are going there, if all men are going to be saved, where is the propriety of saying, those that do the commandments shall have a right to the tree of life, and enter through the gates into the city, if all are going there? It is not worthy of a serious argument. But what commandments must we do, or, as one of old said, "Which?" When the young lawyer came to Jesus, and asked him what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus told him to do the commandments, and he said, "Which?" The Lord save us from asking such questions! It says nothing about which in this verse. Not to single out a few commandments, and leave the others undone; not for us to single out one, and leave all the rest as non-essential. Not for me to obey the one commandment of the Lord. which /297/ is to believe on his name to the exclusion of every other one. Not for you to obey the commandment of the Lord which says, "Repent," and do nothing more. Not for another one to submit to the ordinance of baptism, and say that is enough, and refuse to do anything else. Not enough for u man to say, "I am going to deal justly with my neighbor," and never submit to the requirements of the gospel at all in other respects. It is not for me to ve my neighbor as myself, and not love the Lord any. It is not enough for me to say I will be honest and just in my dealings, and never be a citizen of the Lord's kingdom. It is not for us to single out the commandments that we think are essential, and leave the others undone. It reads here in this verse, "Blessed are they that do his commandments," without a which, and without an assorting. But one man said to me, "We can not do all." Then do what you can. The Lord has never commanded any man to do that which was out of his power: never, my brother. He never has commanded me to have the strength that Samson had. He has never commanded any one to do that which he could not do. And that is almost a text to preach from.

As an illustration of the idea, I will just say, one man asked me, some time since, if a person believed with the heart, had repented toward God, had confessed Jesus, had started to the water to be baptized, and some man shot him down before he reached the water, if I thought he would be damned for not being baptized? I told him the man could not be; he was in the way of obedience, he was on the road, doing his best.

Two weeks ago a preacher asked me, "Don't you think a man can be saved without baptism in certain cases?" "Yes, sir; and in certain cases without faith or repentance, either. If he is incompetent, if he is an idiot, if he has never heard the /298/ truth, if he is not capable of understanding it when he does hear it, I think he can be saved without faith, repentance or baptism. The Lord has commanded us to do what we can, and he has told us the things that become our duty. He has not commanded me to rule a nation, for I am not a ruler. He has not commanded me to attend to the things that a monarch is required to do, because I am not a monarch, and I could not do it. I know that is clear enough--do not quibble over it. I am not talking about things beyond the reach of our power. But those that do the commandments, and do not substitute, like the King of Israel did (I mean Saul), their opinions for the Lord's Word, will do well. Saul thought that he knew a better plan than the Lord's commandment. Saul thought that he could add a little to the Lord's requirements, and he contended with the prophet that he had done what the Lord required, and had only done a little better, that was all. The Lord save us from doing better than his requirements. I have heard that same tune sung. Although the Lord's command is for his people to be one, some men say it is better for them not to be. Did you ever hear it? When the Lord has commanded us to speak the same thing in reference to the name we are called by, some say it is not necessary--it is better not to do it. They are like old King Saul. The Lord said to him, "Kill all the cattle and all the sheep;" but he left the fat ones to give to the Lord. It was a little better to human view, wasn't it, brother, so far as we could discern? But the Lord condemned him for it; the God of Abraham cursed him for it, and said, by the prophet, he should die for it. He lost his crown, lost his kingdom, and lost his life--lost his heavenly home for doing better than the Lord had commanded. It does not say, "Blessed are they that do better than the Lord has commanded," does it? No, sir. "Blessed are they that do his commandments." /299/

Says one, "I think, though, the commandments are that we shall wait, wait, wait till the Holy Spirit operates on us. That is not the command of the Lord at all, is it? Has the Lord ever commanded us to wait for the Holy Ghost operation, or commanded us to have it? I have never read it in my life. If we do all he has commanded us, we will get through the gates into the city; and if that is not a commandment, we need not wait for it, nor contend about it.

But, then, we not only get through the gates into the city, but we will have a right to the tree of life. Adam was driven from that for the first act of disobedience. It was a small matter, but it has kept his whole family from the tree of life ever since. Some men say God will not punish man eternally for the sins of a lifetime here. I reckon the devil would have argued, God will not punish a hundred billions of human beings, and bring them to death, for the sin of one man. Still it is true. The whole family of Adam have been debarred from the tree of life ever since Adam sinned, and they will never get back until after the judgment day, not one of them. Says one, "Don t you orthodox preachers"--O, maybe I am not orthodox-- "don't you preach that there is consciousness between death and the resurrection--that good men are happy as soon as they die, and bad men unhappy as soon as they die?" And then some wise men say, "Where is the necessity of the judgment day, away down at the end of the millennium, when the earth burns up?" A man asked me that question last week. I told him that a man was rewarded for his own personal goodness, and was happy as soon as he died; and for his own personal wickedness he was miserable as soon as he died--like the rich man and Lazarus. But a good man's work is not done when he dies, according to revelation. "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, /300/ that they may rest from their labors: and their works do follow them." From the time they die, they rest from their labor, and their works follow them. A good man's work never ceases till time shall end. Old brother Paul's work is doing wonders in the world yet; the works of John, the beloved disciple, are still exerting a mighty influence among the children of men. And do you not think that the works of Rousseau, Tom Paine, and Voltaire, are working wonders of mischief long after they are dead? No man or angel can tell the amount of mischief their works will do until time shall end. So the influence of the works of the good man extends to the end of time, and so with the influence of the works of the bad man; and hence the necessity of the judgment at the end of the world. And the result of their works, when the balance-sheet is made out, will be added to their personal piety or their personal wickedness. I would rather be working on the right side.

But he says of this holy city that we are talking about,--the holy city where there is no night, where the Lord God and the Lamb dwell with men, and men are seeing their faces--"outside the city are dogs." I must drop one remark here. Is there a person in this house so low down as to think that John meant a literal canine quadruped? Did he mean a literal dog? He meant men that had a dog's disposition, of course. Here is the proof that I am right. They are dogs--doggish persons in their disposition. "And sorcerers;"--ah! they are men, are they not? "For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." And there never has been a man, since John penned that, able to find one passage of Scripture that will get them into the city of the living God after the judgment is passed and the earth burned up. There is no escape then, outside of the city--filthy still-- whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. /301/

"I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches." Among the different denominations? No, sir; no, no! If the Lord had wanted different denominations, this would have been a nice time to put it in, would it not? When John was writing this, they were beginning to pull off in that direction a little, for which the Lord condemned severely. We have no more use for other denominations, than for another Bible.

The God of heaven thought that it was necessary to send his angel to tell John to preach these things in the churches. You hardly thought it was worth much, did you? But the Lord differed with us, and thought it would be good. Testify in the churches--tell them what the end of their work will be--what it will result in, not only here on earth, but what their reward will be beyond the shores of Time. To the faithful, upright, holy, righteous one, that does the commandments of Jesus, a place in the paradise of God, abundance of the water of life, free access to the tree of life, beyond the reach of sorrow and of death.

But, then, when we testify these things in the churches, from the day John wrote, all along down, what must we say in addition to this? We testify the condition of the righteous and the wicked after death and the judgment, and testify all about what John saw, and then what must we say? Tell them, "I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come: and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

The Spirit of the Lord says, come to this heavenly land now while we are in the churches. It does not say, come after we die, for then, if you are unholy, you stay so--if you are filthy, you remain so. But while this is being testified in the churches, the Spirit says, come; and the Church itself says, come; the bride says, come; and let him that /302/ heareth say, come. Good Lord, what a time we would have, if they would all do it! If they would all join in saying, "come," would we not have a host of preachers then?

This word "come" implies ability on our part. Do you say to those trees out yonder, "come?" Do you say to those stones in the hills, "come?" Do you say to unintelligent quadrupeds, that could not understand you, "come?" Do you ask that which has no power or will, to come? It is inconsistent; and the very fact that Jesus has authorized the hearer to say, come, is proof that men can do it. As I said before, the Lord does not command us to do that which we are unable to do. The Spirit of the Lord says, come. Says one, "I thought it felt come." No, it does not; it says it; it is written down here in the Book. It spoke out by holy men, it talked, and its words are put down on paper. Thank the Lord, it is saying come, in words that can be understood. It does not feel come, nor imagine come, nor taste come; it says, come, right here in plain language. And the Spirit of the Lord says, come, just as the Church says, come, and as the man that hears the Word says, come. That is not all.

"And let him that is athirst, come: and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." That is the business of the Church, to tell men that they may come to the city--that they may come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and have a right to the tree of life by doing his commandments.

It is our mission now to say come, while we testify these things in the churches; the time will be too late after while. Now is the time, while we are testifying in the congregations of the Lord, to tell men to come to the King, to come to his terms, to come to his requirements, to come to his commandments and do them, and have a right to the tree of life. Language could not be plainer than the Lord has made it here. "For I testify unto /303/ every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book." It would be a dreadful thing to have all these horrid plagues added to us. Better keep fingers off, then. It is the finishing up of God's words to the world by his Son, and we must add nothing more. John finished it, and if we add to the words of the Lord, we are ruined for doing it. I mean, add to the Lord's words as a law by which we are governed. There is no danger of our adding to the Bible by putting words in the book; but we may add to it our notions, and opinions, and think-so's, and make them rules, and finally make void the law of God by our traditions, as the Jews did, and bring the plagues upon us. But some say, " We will not add to it; we think there is already too much." But, bless you, he says, "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." It is as bad to leave some out as it is to add some to it; it is just long enough exactly, and it is none too long. It is arranged just right, and never can be made better; and I would not, for both these arms of mine, add to it, or make one commandment not found in it, with this fearful anathema of the Son of the living God resting upon the man that does it. "They don't know any better." Can they not read? have they not capacity of mind to understand it when they read it? Then the Lord does not require it of them, if they are idiots.

"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly; Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." It will not be long until I reward the man according to his works. My coming is not far off--he said in John's day, and it must be considerably nearer now; it is 1800 years nearer now than when Jesus said to John, "I am coming quickly." /304/ He said, by Paul, "The day of the Lord is at hand." It is a good deal nearer now. But they were, perhaps, as near death then as some of us are now; hence the propriety of the language, "I come quickly." The Lord will come, the judgment will set, and then, when he comes, woe to the man that has not done the commandments.

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." Now I want to recapitulate, and sum up a little, and then I shall have done.

In the first place, the Lord, through John, made known that, though despised by men, (and they had scorned him as an impostor, put to death his disciples, exiled his last living apostle--had no confidence in Jesus as the Son of God at all,) he would come again, and every eye should see him. He makes two grand stand-points in the first chapter. The infidelity in the world then, and the time when he would come, and every eye should see him--behold him in his glory--and those that pierced him, should wail because of him. That is in the first chapter; that fixes the two grand stand-points, the first and the last-- the then and the end. But, then, he makes two standpoints inside of that in the next place, and says the churches are now in a deplorable condition (in his day), but they will succeed. The Word of the Lord, through them, will triumph until they shall be burning, shining lights, and the whole four quarters of the earth shall bow and acknowledge Jesus--as is proven in one of my lectures--and the millennial age ushers in, when there shall be no infidel nations beneath the sun.

These are his grand stand-points made at first, and after making these two, he traces one line of events between the day he was in exile and the millennial age; and that, if you will allow me to use the expression, was simply a spiritual line. It w as the prevailing spirit of the human family, that was to move on through all the period from the days of /305/ John's exile to the millennial age, a spiritual line. How do I know? The Word of the Lord said so. These horses are the different spirits that are to prevail. He first tells us of the spirit of peace triumphing in the first quarter of the world. In the next place, a spirit of murder, of slaughter--a spirit of death, started out in two quarters of the world; it was the prevailing spirit in two quarters of the world--a spirit of persecution, of murder, and of death. He tells us after that there was another spirit to prevail over three quarters of the earth, and it was a spirit of darkness--a spirit of ignorance and stupidity, a spirit of opposition to the Word of the Lord. They made merchandise of it, and that was the prevailing spirit all over the land. Tracing this spiritual line, without regard to nations of the human family at all, only in the four grand quarters, he shows the extent of the spirit's influence. The next one was a spirit of death, of terror, of anguish and dismay. The pale spirit spread all over three quarters of the world; it followed after the spirit of darkness, and deluged the then known world. And the voice of the fourth quarter of the earth was heard, though it was not then in existence. And then he tells us of the condition of the spirits of the men that died martyrs for Jesus. Since he is telling of the spirits--the prevailing spirits--it comes in just right to tell of the state of the dead man's spirit between death and the resurrection, and he said it was conscious; it talked with the Lord, and the Lord to it. And then he tells us that the next prevailing spirit was opposition to the Bible. It blotted out the sun of the moral heavens entirely, and gross darkness covered the whole land, until the sun was black as sackcloth of hair; the moon, that had a borrowed light, was drenched in blood, and the stars fell down to the earth. He winds up by saying that the word of the Lord was carried to the nations /305/ of the earth, and they received it, and the whole earth bowed down and worshiped God.

He gives us a political line next: will you allow me to use the term? In the sounding of the trumpets, he brings up an entire line of political events. He tells us that the first power that withstood the cause of Christ was the political power, or earthly power of pagan Rome; that it was the earth that stood against the truth, and that it burned Christians with fire, and stoned them with stones, and they were put to death with hail. That the next grand event was, that a great mountain or earthly government tumbled down into the sea, and was lost forever; pagan Rome, in its pagan form, went down. He was speaking of political events. He said it corrupted the sea, or the Church; that became corrupt in part at first. The next event was, a star fell in the East, and started something like a church there. And Mohamrnedanism comes in exactly in the East. He said the next event was, that these political powers combined--the Church became a political power in the West, and Mohammedanism a political power in the East, and made the dark time. I believe it is bad for politics and Christianity to be blended together--at least, such politics as we have now. He said the next event was, that a star fell from heaven to the earth, claiming to have dominion over all the earthly powers, and let the smoke out of the bottomless pit, and sent out swarms of greedy locusts, and they were upheld by this political power--the papacy. These greedy locust-preachers had on their heads crowns like gold, but not of gold; they were counterfeit--not the Lord's people at all. He said then, he saw all the political powers of the earth-- every one of the nations of the earth, engaged fighting with fire, smoke and brimstone, and let loose from the political power that had held them down a thousand years and more. He saw, let loose to fight with fire, smoke and /307/ brimstone, the whole human family--two hundred millions of them--that is, all the nations of the earth, and winds up the account of the mighty battle by saying that the kingdoms are thrown down, and become the kingdoms of the Lord Jesus Christ. The political powers of the earth yield to the Lord at last, and a great voice goes up in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world" (don' you see, he is talking about kingdoms, about govern meets,) "are become the kingdoms of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever." And that is at the close of this second line, between the two grand stand-points that he made at first. That is a logical arrangement. While he is telling about the kings of the earth, warring and fighting with fire, smoke and brimstone, (which is ignited gunpowder,) he said there was a certain matter to come off which would be rather astonishing. They were to make known all that the prophets had ever declared-- open the whole thing to the people. Was it not open before? Yes; but, bless you, they took the key away from the people for more than a thousand years; but in the days of the fighting with fire, smoke and brimstone, (and we are in that now, as certain as there is a God in heaven,) he said the measuring reed was to be handed back--the two witnesses were to come to life again. And, having named that it was to be restored then, he gives us an entire history of it from the very commencement of it. It is natural he should do it, because it had been lying dead-- in a dead language--for 1260 years; it had been unused as a measuring reed for 1260 years; it had been down in the streets of the great city, trampled under the feet of men, for 1260 years, and it came to life in the days of the letting loose of the nations, the kings of earth, to fight with fire-arms, and was received again as a rule. John gave us a history of it, precisely. He said, when all the testimony was given in, then the war was made against the /308/ two witnesses. When the whole canon of scripture was made out, at the Nicene Council, in 325, the war was made, and the penny merchants commenced their work. They added only a few words to the two witnesses at first. for the people would not receive an entire change. Next, they took it entirely away from the people,--and the same principle will do the same thing again, forever. And that preacher, or that community, that will add one word to the law of the Lord, for a rule, or take one word from it, would add an entirely new volume, or take the whole Bible from the people. But, John said it was alive, and was going, and the powers of Hades can not pull it down. Up it will go, and rise still higher and higher.

He has introduced the Church, as measured by the measuring reed--the Bible--and he must give an entire history of the Church, which he does in the twelfth chapter. He tells us the Church stood--the beautiful bride of Christ--with a crown of twelve stars on her head. That she was clothed with the sun, had put on the true light that lights every man that comes into the world; and that, while in her beauty and all her husband's glory, there was a great red dragon stood before her, to destroy her seed and kill her children--put them to death. She brought forth such men as were ultimately to rule the nations with a rod of iron. But that the Church went into the wilderness for 1260 years; was lost in the fog and in the mists of the wilderness of tradition, superstition and humanism; was borne on the wings of the great, mighty Roman eagle, that mounted the throne of the Caesars for 1260 years, and became drunk with the blood of the saints; but in the days of fighting with firearms she is to be measured up again by the measuring reed. But, having said this--that she is driven by a great monster into the wilderness--he describes that power, and tells us that it was the power that was on the seat of the Roman Caesars, in Rome, for /309/ 1260 years. We know what power that is that called itself a Church. He gives us a full description of it, and tells us it was that power that took the seat of the old red dragon, of the pagan Roman Caesars, and grasped their authority; and that was papal Rome--the world that has read history knows.

He saw an image, made by one government. The Lord save us from making images o£ such a monster!

But the people--I have not said a word about the people. Honest people live and die in their own Catholic Church; honest people live and die in the Lutheran Church; there are honest people in the Church of England, in the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church, and in the Baptist Church; but that does not make the systems right, does it? Honest people live and die in the Mohammedan Church, but that would not justify me in joining them, would it? With my information, my opportunities, my means of knowing God's holy will--would that justify me in joining any of them? Let me never hide behind a bush that is too small to cover me! We have the law of the Lord now in our hands, and there is no monarch to take it from us. We can read it for ourselves, and God has required it of us, according to our opportunities or means of knowledge. The Church is to be measured aright, and the measuring reed is to do this work until the kingdoms of earth are declared to be the kingdoms of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. We are nearing the time; it may not be for a hundred years, my brother, but a hundred years is a short time. But I will tell you the best we can do for it, is to either date from the commencement of the letting loose of the nations from this power, or from the end. In the days of Luther, this letting loose commenced, and they have only very recently all been let loose. Get the Church right, from the commencement to the end. I opine the measuring/310/of the Church will be as gradual in being accomplished as the letting loose of the nations. That is the best we can do for it, that I have heard of. Better work on with a good will; we will certainly accomplish this mighty work of bringing the nations to the feet of Jesus. Old Satan must be bound; but the Lord's people can only do it by being in the grand work.

John, then, from the close of the thirteenth chapter to the first of the twentieth, gives us an account of the mighty conflict between the Word of the Lord and the doctrines of uninspired men. He shows to us, from every imaginable stand-point, all the conflicts the Word of the Lord has to pass through, until the Lord's people unite in following the Word of the Lord, and gain the victory, and bind Satan one thousand years. From the close of the twentieth chapter, he tells of the fate of the Christians, through the ceaseless ages of eternity, who have accomplished the work allotted them on earth. For them there is a glorious rest on the new earth--in the paradise of God--beneath the shady bowers of the tree of life--to drink of the waters of life, and never thirst. We are invited to go there; the ungodly will not disturb us there; they will be outside of the city. They will remain filthy still; he that is unholy will be unholy still; and he that is righteous will be righteous still. That does not mean, there will be nothing more of him; he will not be annihilated.

And death destroyed! O, my God! How can a man, in speaking of death, as far as the human family is concerned, say that two-thirds of the human family are unconscious? How, then, can this death that is destroyed, hold half or two-thirds of Adam's family in an unconscious state eternally?

The Lord will come soon, and will give to every man according to his works. The judgment day is not far off /311/ for every one of us. There will be a thousand years when Satan will be bound, and at the end of that time he will be loosed a little season. We have the work of binding him to do. And then the reward hereafter. It is worth working for, it is worth dying for; a home in the holy city, a home at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and a drink of the water of life! O, my thirsty soul! May I once reach that happy clime, and stay there and eat of the fruit of the tree of life! It is worth our utmost effort, worth our utmost care--all we can do to obtain it.

O! why stay away from it? why not do his commandments, that we may go there? One commandment of Jesus is, Come to me, come to my yoke, come to my government. Take my yoke on you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls.