50. Whose subjects are in the world, yet are not of the world; for I their Lord and God, have chosen them out of the world? 51. Where holy Angels from the eternal world minister unto them, and ten thousand times ten thousand gather to behold their worship? 52. Where saints on earth, with saints in heaven do unite in one eternal song of praise, to Me their God and Maker? 53. Where, through great tribulation and sufferings of soul, by living the life of the Lamb, their garments are washed white? 54. Do you seek for that kingdom, against which, the hand of persecution hath ever been raised; and against which the envenomed tongue of slander and falsehood hath never ceased to pour forth its volumes of blackest epithets? 55. Where souls fulfill the law of Christ, as made known in his first appearing, and by that means, are able to fulfill the whole law in his second coming? 56. Where souls know, by actual experience of more than sixty years, that they have found the spirit of the Lord's Christ, revealed in a Mother, whose name was ANN LEE? 57. For it hath saved them from all sin, and clothed their souls in a garment of true righteousness, and created in their hearts, that love to Me, their God and Maker, which surpasseth, in a thousand fold ratio, all other loves; 58. Which has given them strength and power to resign their lives in martyrdom, if called so to do, rather than deny their faith, or the power by which they received this, [which was] from, and through the QUEEN of Zion, who stands as my first and chosen witness in this last dispensation of my goodness to man. 59. Do you seek for that kingdom, where the gospel of a CHRIST and of a MOTHER reigneth, united in one? 60. Were any of you born, and brought forth into a completed state of existence in the world, by a father, or by a mother? Or were you only begotten by a father, and then, at the proper time and season, brought forth by the mother? 61. And by whom were you fed with milk, and dandled at the breast, while in your infancy; by the father, or by the mother? 62. By whose caresses, and soothing hand of comfort, were your troubled spirits pacified to rest? Was it not the Mother's? 63. If We, the over-ruling and GREAT FIRST CAUSE of all created things, on earth and in the heavens, have, in our own wisdom, created the natural order of things, figurative of that which was spiritual, how can there be any spiritual order, or kingdom of glory completed, unless the woman is brought to stand in her place, according to the figure? 64. Have We not created an order and place for the woman, in the natural order of the creation? Was she not to travail in sorrow, and bring forth children? And in the absence of her husband, does she not stand at the head of her own family? 65. If these things in nature do exist, why stumble ye at the fulfillment of the true representation? 66. And if this is not the true representation, and this order does not exist in the spiritual heavens, why did not We create and send forth, all living upon earth, in the male order? 67. O ye blind and bigoted seers, who strain at your own pride, and must swallow your own folly! The woman you all want, and the man you all want; but the enjoyment of each other in fleshly gratifications, is your greatest desire. No longer wipe your lips, and say you are guiltless; for the God of Heaven doth judge you, the Searcher of every heart, before whose eyes, your abominations are as plain as the whited walls of your houses are in your view. 68. But hearken; Do any of you seek for a kingdom, where the pride of vain mortals ruleth not, and the arrogance of frail, fallen nature, beareth not the sway? Where the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the lame, the halt and the blind, can all fare alike, upon terms of strict equality and justice? 69. Where all yield strict obedience to the revealed will of Heaven, through such agencies as are appointed, through the order of my holy anointing power, wherever I may have caused it to rest? 70. Where all the political strifes and contentions, and party feelings amongst the children of men, are disowned and rejected? 71. Where an avaricious spirit, to heap up treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt, cannot dwell? 72. And again; Do ye sincerely seek for that city of refuge on earth, where you can know and do the will of your God, day by day? Where you can receive strength to crucify your own evil natures, and be born anew, as little innocent children, into the kingdom of your God? 73. Do you seek for that home and place, while in a terrestrial state, where you can live day by day, as ye would, if ye knew ye N were to die on the morrow, and as ye would if ye were to live a thousand years? 74. Where the kingdom of Heaven, and the righteousness thereto belonging, is the soul's first pursuit; and where all that is needful for the body, through obedience and faithfulness, shall be given unto it? And where, to deal justly and walk humbly, to fear God and keep his commandments, comprise your whole duty? 75. If so, seek in earnest, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; ask, and ye shall receive; follow that light which I shall cause to shine into your souls, and it shall lead you to the city of peace, saith the Lord your God; but not to ease and indulgence, thinking to procure your souls' salvation in that way; not where the manna of Heaven rains down, to feed and support you in idleness, without the soul's exertion; 76. Not where each one, or any part can do that which seemeth right in their own eyes, according to their own natural wisdom and understanding; 77. But where that wisdom, that knowledge and understanding, which is revealed in the order of my own appointment, beareth rule, and is the main spring of action throughout, in all things, spiritual and temporal; 78. According to the completed order of my new heavens and new earth, which I have, in this latter day, established on the earth for all nations, all kindreds, all tongues and all people, who will make the sacrifice which I require, saith the Lord, to obtain a home therein, beneath the wings of my protection. 79. I have now declared unto you, all ye nations and people, that the spirit of my blessed Son hath appeared the second time, without sin unto salvation, in the female, or Spiritual Mother in Israel. 80. And this, my kingdom, as represented by the stone from the mountain, has been established for more than sixty years upon the earth; and yet, ye believe it not; though various publications of its principles, have been circulated when called for, yet, ye know not the Christ or his true kingdom. 81. I have never required, saith the God of Heaven, that the subjects of Christ's second coming, or the children of the Bride, should compass sea and land to make proselytes; 82. This, my Church, the assembly of Saints, was never established upon the eternal foundation of righteousness and truth, for a popular show to the inhabitants of earth. 83. But I required her people to embody their strength in one united capacity, and conquer and subdue their own evil natures within, and travel in humility of soul, and tribulation of spirit, and gain a substance of the true oil of light, and life eternal; That when my time should come, in the order of my own wisdom, she might have wherewithal, to do her duty to other souls, as I have placed her, a city upon a hill, whose light and brightness.can never more be hid. 84. And thus, the days of her seclusion are accomplished; and I, the God that formed her, do now declare her to the inhabitants of the earth; and I have also declared the true characters of all who do, in truth, compose the subjects who dwell, and safely remain within her holy walls. 85. Though wolves in sheep's clothing, may creep within her gates, yet, their craving wants for flesh, or fleshly lust, will soon betray the borrowed coat they wear. 86. No ravenous beast can long remain within her holy borders; though many like the place, yet none but the true and honest hearted like the cross, nor will long endure the gospel fire of truth, which doth eternally burn to guard the tree of life. 87. And furthermore, saith the Almighty Power, I declare the three first witnesses unto you, who bore record on the earth, that I, the Almighty God of Heaven, had sent forth the likeness of my blessed Son, the second time, without sin unto salvation, to poor frail mortals on the earth. 88. And through a female was Christ made known, [as a spiritual Mother,] to complete the order of that kingdom which was begun in his first appearing. And I declare, to all nations, the spirit of this chosen female to be the Bride, the Lamb's wife, the Queen of Zion, and Mother of the new and spiritual creation which shall never be destroyed. 89. Though I, her Lord and God, should purge and refine her [inhabitants] to that degree of purity and holiness, that not more than ten souls were able to abide the fire within her holy courts; yet shall these stand, and be supported by the Almighty power of my hand, though armies against them should be arrayed for their destruction. 90. Remember, all ye people who dwell within the walls of my Zion, which is pure and holy, if ye walk not worthy of your holy calling, the great privilege, which in my mercy I have granted you, shall only prove as burning coals of fire upon your heads, to sink your souls from my presence; and a far heavier stroke of my judgments, shall come upon you, than upon those who have never been blessed with such a privilege of my notice, within the walls of my Zion. 91. It is not numbers that compose my Zion; but the purity of that life which souls live; and by the interestedness of their spirits, to build up the cause to which they are called, by spending and being spent, agreeable to that example which was invariably set by the three first witnesses, who bore this gospel across the rolling deep, to fair Columbia's shore, and who, by my Almighty hand, were protected so to do. 92. And by my power, shall other faithful souls safely re-cross the foaming deep, to plant this gospel in distant lands, to feed the hungry souls who cry to Me for [the] bread [of life.] CHAPTER XVII. THE OFFICE OF THE THREE FIRST CHOSEN WITNESSES SEPARATELY DECLARED, AND FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS OF THOSE WHO ARE THEIR TRUE FOLLOWERS, SAITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD. 1. God, able to manifest himself as he 10. It is God who forgiveth sins. Who are wills, at any period. 3. Passages of scripture required to be 11. quoted. 5. Of the testimony of the three witnesses. 6. Of the confession of sins. 7. Of rising into life. 12. 13. 8. Of purchasing liberty to sin. Of hired 15. forgiveness. prepared as witnesses for souls, &c. Duty of witnesses. Not required to hear the confession of Confessions to be considered sacred. 9. Of making trade of sacred service. 16. Of what was manifested in Mother. Sec. 1. But a few passages, saith the Lord, were ever mentioned in the Sacred Volume, respecting the three witnesses. But I am a |