nant, 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 their 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 16th chapter of his Prophecies, "The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanities, and things wherein there is no profit." But as the Jews overlooked Christ's first coming, by not understanding the Prophets, and fastening their whole expectations on his glorious coming in the last days, to restore the kingdom to Israel, and avenge them of their enemies, and, by this mistake, were broken and scattered; so the Gentiles will overlook the prophecies concerning his second coming, by confounding them with the last judgment, which is to take place more than a thousand years after

ward. But this fatal mistake, instead of causing the Gentiles to be broken and scattered, will cause them to be ground to powder.

Oh! my brethren according to the flesh, my soul mourns over you, and had I a voice like a trumpet, I would cry, Awake, awake and arouse from your slumbers, for the time is fulfilled, your destruction is at the door, "for I have heard from the Lord God of Hosts, a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth." Prepare to meet your God! And again, Awake, O! house of Israel, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh: yea, depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from hence, gather home from your long dispersion, rebuild your cities; yea, go ye out from the nations, from one end of heaven to the other; but let not your flight be in haste, for the Lord shall go before you, and the God of Israel shall be your rereward. And finally, I would say to all, both Jew and Gentile, Repent ye, repent ye, for the great day of the Lord is at hand: for if I, who am a man, do lift up my voice, and call upon you to repent, and ye hate me, what will ye say when the day cometh, when the thunders shall utter their voices to the ends of the earth, speaking to the ears of all that live, saying, "Repent, and prepare for the great day of the Lord?" Yea, again, when the lightnings shall streak from the east unto the west, and shall utter forth their voices unto all that live, and make the cars of all that hear to tingle, saying these words, "Repent ye, for the great day of the

Lord is come. And again, the Lord shall utter his voice out of heaven, saying, "Hearken, O ye nations of the earth, and hear the words of that God who made you: O ye nations of the earth, how often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, but ye would not! How often have I called upon you by the mouth of my servants, and by the ministering of angels, and by mine own voice, and by the voice of thunderings, and by the voice of lightnings, and by the voice of tempests, and by the voice of earthquakes and great hailstorms, and by the voice of famine and pestilences of every kind, and by the great sound of a trumpet, and by the voice of judgments, and by the voice of mercy, all the day long, and by the voice of glory and honour, and the riches of eternal life, and would have saved you with an everlasting salvation, but you would not! Behold, the day has come, when the cup of the wrath of mine indignation is full."

CHAPTER III.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

'Seek first the Kingdom of God."

THIS was the command of the Saviour, while on the earth, teaching the children of men.

Having taken a general view of the Prophecies, Past and Future, we shall now proceed to

fulfil this command, and search out the kingdom of God. But, before we advance, I would again caution the reader not to accompany me in this research, unless he is prepared to sacrifice every thing, even to his good name, and life itself, if necessary, for the truth; for if he should once get a view of the kingdom of God, he will be so delighted, that he never will rest satisfied short of becoming a subject of the same. And yet it will be so unlike every other system of religion now on earth, that will be astonished that any person, with the Bible in his hand, should ever have mistaken any of the systems of men for the kingdom of God. There are certain powers, privileges, and blessings, pertaining to the kingdom of God, which are found in no other kingdom, nor enjoyed by any other people. By these it was ever distinguished from all other kingdoms and systems, insomuch that the inquiring mind, seeking the kingdom of God, and being once acquainted with these peculiarities concerning it, need never mistake it, or be at a loss to know when he has found it. But before we proceed any farther in our research, let us agree upon the meaning of the term, The Kingdom of God, or the sense in which we will use it; for some apply this term to the kingdom of glory above, and some to the individual enjoyments of their own souls, while others apply it to His organized government on the earth. Now, when we speak of the kingdom of God, we wish it to be understood that we mean His organized government on the earth.

Now, reader, we launch forth into the wide field before us in search of a kingdom. But stop, let us consider -What is a kingdom? I reply, that four things are required in order to constitute any kingdom in heaven or on earth; namely, first, a king; secondly, commissioned officers duly qualified to execute his ordinances and laws; thirdly, a code of laws by which the subjects are governed; and fourthly, subjects who are governed. Where these exist in their proper order and regular authority, there is a kingdom, but where either of these cease to exist, there is a disorganization of the kingdom; consequently an end of it, until reorganized after the same manner as before. In this respect the kingdom of God is like all other kingdoms; wherever we find officers duly commissioned and qualified by the Lord Jesus, together with his ordinances and laws existing in purity, unmixed with any precepts or commandments of men, there the kingdom of God exists, and there His power is manifest, and His blessings are enjoyed as in days of old.

We shall now take a view of the setting up of the kingdom of God in the days of the Apostles. The first intimation of its near approach was by an angel to Zachariah, promising him a son, who should go before the King to prepare his way. The next manifestation was to Mary, and finally to Joseph, by a holy angel, promising the birth of the Messiah; while at the same time, the Holy Ghost manifested unto Simeon, in the temple, that he should not die until he had seen the Saviour.