A Voice of Warning, Parley P. Pratt [classic books for 11 year olds txt] 📗

to say, the Jews gather home, and rebuild Jerusalem. The nations gather against them to battle. Their armies encompass the city, and have more or less power over it for three years and a half. A couple of Jewish Prophets, by their mighty miracles, keep them from utterly overcoming the Jews; until at length they are slain, and the city is left in a great measure to the mercy of their enemies for three days and a half; the two Prophets rise from the dead and ascend up into heaven. The Messiah comes, convulses the earth, overthrows the army of the Gentiles, delivers the Jews, cleanses Jerusalem, cuts off all wickedness from the earth, raises the saints from the dead, brings them with Him, and commences His reign for a thousand years; during which time His Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh; men and beasts, birds and serpents, will be perfectly harmless, and peace and the knowledge and glory of God shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea; and the kingdom, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the saints of the Most High.

During this thousand years, Satan will be bound, and have no power to tempt the children of men. And the earth itself will be delivered from the curse, which came by reason of the Fall. The rough places will become smooth, the barren deserts fruitful; the mountains leveled; the valleys exalted; the thorn and thistle shall no more be found, but all the earth shall yield her increase in abundance to the saints of God. But, after the thousand years are ended, then shall Satan be loosed, and shall go out to deceive the nations which dwell in the four quarters of the earth, to gather them to battle, and to bring them up to battle against the camp of the saints. Then the great and last struggle shall take place between God and Satan, for the empire of the earth. Satan and his army shall be overthrown. And after these great things, come the end of the earth, the resurrection of the wicked, and the last judgment. And there shall be a new earth and a new heaven, for the former earth and the former heaven shall have passed away, that is, they will be changed from temporal to eternal, and made fit for the abode of immortals. Then cometh Jerusalem down from God, out of heaven, having been renewed as well as the heavens and the earth. "For," says He, "behold, I make all things new."

This new city, placed upon the new earth, with the Lord God and the Lamb in the midst, seems to be man's eternal abode, insomuch that, after all our longings for a place beyond the bounds of time and space, as saith the poet, we are at last brought to our proper senses, and given to understand that man is destined forever to inherit this selfsame planet, upon which he was first created, which shall be redeemed, sanctified, renewed, purified, and prepared as an eternal inheritance for immortality and eternal life; with the holy city for its capital, the throne of God in the midst, for its seat of government; and watered with a stream, clear as crystal, called the Waters of Life, issuing from the throne of Jehovah; while either side is adorned with trees of never fading beauty. "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." By this time we begin to understand the words of the Savior: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." And also the song which John heard in heaven, which ended thus: "We shall reign on the EARTH."

Reader, do not be startled; suppose you were to be caught up into heaven, there to stand with the redeemed of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, and join them in singing, and to your astonishment, all heaven is filled with joy, while they tune the immortal lyre, in joyful anticipation of one day reigning on the earth—a planet now under the dominion of Satan, the abode of wretchedness and misery, from which your glad spirit had taken its flight, and, as you supposed, an everlasting farewell. You might perhaps be startled for a moment, and inquire within yourself: "Why have I never heard this theme sung among the churches on earth?" Well, my friend, the answer would be—"Because you lived in a day when people did not understand the Scriptures."

Abraham would tell you, you should have read the promise of God to him, Gen. xvii, 8, where God not only promised the land of Canaan to his seed for an everlasting possession, but also to him. Then you should have read the testimony of Stephen, Acts, vii, 5, by which you would have ascertained that Abraham never had inherited the things promised, but was still expecting to rise from the dead and be brought into the land of Canaan, to inherit them. "Yes," says Ezekiel, "if you had read the thirty-seventh chapter of my prophecies, you would have found a positive promise, that God would open the graves of the whole house of Israel, who were dead, and gather up their dry bones, and put them together, each to its own proper place, and even clothe them again with flesh, sinews, and skin, and put His Spirit in them, and they should live; and then, instead of being caught up to heaven, they should be brought into the land of Canaan, which the Lord gave them, and they should inherit it."

But, still astonished, you might turn to Job; and he, surprised to find one unacquainted with so plain a subject, would exclaim: "Did you never read my nineteenth chapter, from the twenty-third to the twenty-seventh verses, where I declare, I wish my words were written in a book, saying, that my Redeemer would stand on the earth in the latter-day; and that I should see Him in the flesh, for myself, and not another; though worms should destroy this body?" Even David, the sweet singer of Israel, would call to your mind the thirty-seventh Psalm, where he repeatedly declares that the meek shall inherit the earth forever, after the wicked are cut off from the face thereof.

And last of all, to set the matter forever at rest, the voice of the Savior would mildly fall upon your ear, in his sermon on the mount, declaring emphatically: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." To these things you would answer: "I have read these passages, to be sure, but was always taught to believe that they did not mean so, therefore, I never understood them until now. Let me go and tell the people what wonders have opened to my view, since my arrival in heaven, merely from having heard one short song. It is true, I have heard much of the glories of heaven described, while on earth, but never once thought of their rejoicing in anticipation of returning to the earth." Says the Savior: "They have Moses and the Prophets; if they will not believe them, neither would they believe although one should rise from the dead."

We will now return to the subject of the coming of Messiah, and the ushering in of that glorious day, called the Millennium, or rest of a thousand years. We gather from the field of prophecy, through which we have passed: first, that that glorious day will be ushered in by the personal coming of Christ, and the resurrection of all the saints; second, that all the wicked will be destroyed from the earth, by overwhelming judgments of God, and by fire, at the time of His coming, insomuch that the earth will be cleansed by fire from its wicked inhabitants, as it once was by water; and this burning will include priests as well as people: all but a few shall be burned. This burning more especially applies to the fallen church, rather than to the heathen or Jews, whom they are now trying to convert. Woe unto you, Gentiles, who call yourselves the people of the Lord, but have made void the law of God by your traditions; for in vain do you call Lord, Lord, and do not the things which Jesus commands; in vain do ye worship Him, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Behold, the sword of vengeance hangs over you, and except you repent, it will soon fall upon you; and it will be more tolerable in that day for the Jews and heathen than for you. Behold, ye flatter yourselves that the glorious day spoken of by the Prophets will be ushered in by your modern inventions and moneyed plans, which are got up in order to convert the Jews and heathen to the various sectarian principles now existing among yourselves; and you expect, when this is done, to behold a millennium after your own heart. But the Jews and heathen never will be converted, as a people, to any other plan than that laid down in the Bible for the great restoration of Israel. And you yourselves are laboring under a broken covenant, and ripening for the fire as fast as possible. But do not count me your enemy because I tell you the truth, for God is my witness that I love your souls too well to keep back any truth from you, however severe it may seem. The wounds of a friend are better than the kisses of an enemy. Now, concerning the signs of the times, the inquiry often arises: "When shall these things be, and what signs shall there be when these things shall come to pass?" I am often asked the question, whether it is near at hand; I will therefore tell you all, whereby you may know for yourselves when it is nigh, even at the doors, and not be dependent on the knowledge of others.

Now, you behold the apple tree, and all the trees, when they begin to shoot forth their leaves, ye know of your own selves that summer is nigh at hand; and so likewise when ye shall see great earthquakes, famines, pestilence, and plagues of every kind; the sea breaking beyond its bounds, and all things in commotion; the nations distressed with perplexity; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking for the things which are coming on the earth; when you see signs in the heaven above, and in the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke, the sun turned to darkness, the moon to blood, and stars hurled from their courses; when you see the Jews gathering to Jerusalem, and the armies of the nations gathering against them to battle, you may know, with a perfect knowledge, that Christ's coming is near, even at the doors. "Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one word of all that the Lord has spoken by the mouth of His holy Prophets and Apostles shall fail.

Whoever will look to the word of the Prophets, and to the sayings of Jesus Christ, on this subject, the same will be convinced that all the signs of which I have spoken are clearly pointed out as the signs of His coming. But, notwithstanding all these things are written, His coming will overtake the world unawares, as the flood did the people in the days of Noah. The reason is, they will not understand the Prophets. They will not endure sound doctrine; their ears are turned away from the truth, and turned to fables, because of false teachers, and the precepts of men; and what is still worse, when God sends men with the New and Everlasting Covenant, and clothes them with boldness to testify to the truth, they will be treated as the servants of God have been before them by the fallen churches; every church will cleave to its own way, and will unite in saying: "There is no need of these new things, the good old way is right;" while at the same time they are walking in as many different ways as there are sects, and only agree in persecuting and speaking all manner of evil against the fishers and hunters whom God shall send. But, thank heaven, there are individuals in every sect who are humbly seeking the truth, and who will know the voice of truth, and be gathered out, and planted in the New and Everlasting Covenant; and they will be adopted into the family of Israel, and will be gathered with them, and be partakers of the same covenant of promise. Yea, as Jeremiah says, in the sixteenth chapter of his Prophecies: "The Gentiles shall come unto