CHAPTER II.

A Chain Chapter of the Bible compressed.- The New Jerusalem is not the Old Jerusalem City alone.— - The Restoration of THE JEWS is the Restoration of the Gospel.

"MAKE a chain-here a little, there a little-precept upon precept, line upon line. Here we have no continuing city." Bible.

The 12 and 14 chapters of Zechariah's prophecy serve, if examined well, to remove the universal doubts concerning the restoration of Jerusalem. No chapters are more important than these. God's promises are glorious; and his threats certainly terrible and mysterious.

"I will make Jerusalem [priests, lay impropriators, pocketing ten millions sterling annually, tithes, &c.] a BURTHENSOME STONE for all people; all that burthen themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all people be gathered against it."* Zec. xii.

* Jerusalem, Israel, and Zion, are most beautiful ALLEGORIES, illustrating the gospel, Christ's church, and people of God.

The overthrow of old Jerusalem, was the overthrow of the Jewish church, by reason of unbelief; most clearly, according to Christ's prediction, after forty years' express notice.

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The same unbelief reigns now in Christendom. God said, thousands of years ago, Behold, I will REBUILD Jerusalem; I will make all things new:" in direct allusion to the present fullness of the Gentiles (because both Jews and Gentiles destroy Jerusalem), for all things have not been yet made new, nor has Jerusalem been yet rebuilt, but the hour is at hand, and God is the builder.

The allegories do not signify the mere rebuilding of one city on the same spot, nor any particular spot, but they denote the glorious rebuilding of Christ's church, from EAST to WEST, and pole to pole, after the Gentiles' reign of 1830 years.

Some expect Jerusalem alone to be rebuilt by the present generation, as if building a city could afford universal Christian peace, truth, and justice.

I wish the blessed hour arrived, and long to see it, but can see no quick symptoms of building, till God has cleared away the RUBBISH, and hewn down every tree (every man) bringing forth evil fruit why cumber such the ground?

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Christ says, "Come, for my yoke is easy, and my burden light;" but priests and people make it oppressive as millstones, and therefore must be cut in pieces soon.

"I will gather all nations against (Christ) Jerusalem to battle; the city shall be taken; the houses rifled, and women ravished." Zec. xiv.

"Then the Lord shall be king over all the earth." Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited; the streets full of boys and girls, playing; and every man with his staff in his hand, for very age. Jerusalem shall be called "a city of truth, the holy mountain," &c. Zec. viii.

This is the first resurrection (if people resemble Adam and Eve); over such the second death hath no power. Rev. It is written," the people that shall be born shall praise the Lord."

Psalms.

It is not written that the apostles, martyrs, and believers' souls are to return to dwell in their bodies again upon earth, for they are blessed; and, even paradise on earth, is unworthy to contain them.

There are mountains of rubbish and dirt which none but Christ can remove, and no human power.

The builder of all things is God; he makes all things new.

God rebuilds his gospel in spite of Jews, Gentiles, Turks, and devils; and hell shall not prevail (as it does now) against it, generally.

The restoration of Jerusalem is a glorious restoration of the gospel; at best, Christendom contains hearers, not doers, of the law and gospel, among Jews and Gentiles.

It is the greatest delusion to expect THE JEWs to be restored, AS JEWS, at Jerusalem only, since the invitation stands before all men; and all are guilty and worthy of death who do not to day hear the charmer's voice.

This delusion has been planted so long, and is so deeply rooted, possessing such gigantic growth, like the immense tree Nebuchadnezzar beheld (shadowing the whole earth with unbelief and traditions), that none but the WATCHER, Christ, can hew down the tree. Angels themselves cannot do the work.

THE BEASTS of the earth, &c. meaning monstrous men, must have notice, or rather time, allowed to get away from its devilish shelter; and (in God's name) I repeat the holy warning, peradventure to save one lost sheep, and cover my multitude of sins.

The heathens, of all classes, are nevertheless doomed to fall with the tree, redoubling their blasphemies by despising God's proclamation, to escape by the ladder Christ has raised, reaching from earth to heaven.

This point is so essential, and the doctrine will be considered so novel, that we must resume it before we conclude, by giving an exposition of the revelation, relative to "Babylon the Great," which sets this momentous question at rest, after having bewildered us nearly 1830 years.

Christ or Jerusalem (the church) is a BURTHENSOME STONE; and all people who make it so, must take the consequences: it will grind sinners to powder. This day is this prophecy fulfilled. Jerusalem, used figuratively,

thus speaks volumes.

When old Jerusalem was destroyed, it was destroyed by one nation, and people thought the end of the world drew near then, although these prophecies stood unfulfilled, especially the following curses against all who fight against Jerusalem or Christ.*

"Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet." "Their eyes shall consume away in their "Their tongues shall consume away in their mouths." Zec. xiv.

holes."

"These dreadful prophecies are at hand, shot like arrows from God's hand; and who can turn them back?" "The word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword! Woe to a nation scattered and peeled!" Isaiah.

"Remove the diadems; take off the crowns: I will overturn-overturn-overturn it, until he [Christ] come whose right it is." Ezek. xxi.

"Jerusalem shall be rebuilt in her own place;" yea, and amen: but “her own place" does not mean one or the same spot, but all the earth, when the devil is cast out of it during the seventh thousand years.

"I saw the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven." "I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God himself is the temple thereof." Rev. xxi.

"The sword; the sword is drawn: thus saith the Lord God, none of my words shall be prolonged any more, but the word I have spoken shall be done, O rebellious house!" Ezek. xii." Ten kings shall speak lies at the same table." Dan.

* Such traitors and rebels who make Christ's EASY YOKE a burthensome stone, will be much worse than the "LIVING SKELETON," lately notoriously exhibited in London, for he boasted of good health and appetite when I saw him at Havre in 1828. What a nude spectacle our London BELLES crowded to see without being ashamed!!

"The crowned [with mitres] are locusts; thy captains great grasshoppers." Nahum iii. -" Judgment must begin at the house of God."

"When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses; every one neighed after his neighbour's wife." Isaiah.

"Fill up the measure of iniquity, O ye oppressors !" Go, ye rich men, weep and howl." St. James v.

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"They who take swords shall perish by swords.” Christ. "Except the Lord keep the city, watchmen wake in vain."

"I have set watchmen on thy walls, O Jerusalem, who shall never hold their peace day nor night."* Isaiah.

"Make mention of the Lord; keep not silence; give him no rest till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem [Christ] a praise in the earth. Behold, I, God, make a new thing." Isaiah lxii.

"The Lord hath purposed it to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth." Isaiah xxiii.

"Princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves." "The Lord shall punish the host of the high ones, and the kings of the earth upon the earth." Isaiah xxiv.

"I will punish the world. He who blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall surely be put to death." Moses. "All things must be fulfilled which are written in the law, the prophets, and psalms." Christ.

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"Let death come hastily upon unbelievers, and let them down quick into hell." Psalm lv.

"Ye oppress the poor, and he doth not resist."

"How can men believe who seek honours?"

"Let Satan stand at his right hand [viz. close to every traitor against Christ].

"Let his prayer be turned into sin.

"Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

*This cannot mean old Jerusalem, for there the hour of worship is past; but the new Jerusalem, or gospel, which has never been without proclaimants, and never will be, both in heaven and earth.

"Let extortioners consume all that he hath.

"Let his children be vagabonds, and beg their bread. "Let there be no man to pity him." Psalm cix. *

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness. All flesh is grass." Isaiah v.

"Behold, I set before you, good and evil, choose; life or death, choose."

"A horrible thing is committed in the land. Priests have polluted the sanctuary." Isaiah v.

Speak ye every man the truth. Execute judgment, truth, and peace. Love no false oath."

"I will bring them [enemies] down like lambs to the slaughter."

"The mighty men have forborne to fight: they became like women."

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They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets; they that were brought up in scarlet, embrace dunghills as she hath done, do unto her."

"Princes are roaring lions: judges are wolves."

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Every man is brutish by his knowledge." Jer. x. "Do not your alms before men." Christ.

"Be faithful, even unto death, and I will give thee a crown of glory." Rev.

"Woe unto me, if I preach not the gospel."

"The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."

"Ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

"He [Christ] is the appointed heir of all things."

* All these judgments fall upon all traitors against Jerusalem or Christ, as it is expressly prophecied there shall be traitors in the latter days; but it does not mean treason against kings: there has not been a single traitor for many years, and there is not one found this day alive in England.

The Roman cardinals wear scarlet. Deans and deacons, in England, wear scarlet also.

"Fear God: honour the king." All men ought to do so; but if kings, popes, cardinals, &c. fear not to disobey God, their subjects will fear nothing.