of Israel, and take the citadel of Mount Zion, the city of David, and hold it until they are called to come out of Babylon just before the city is burned with fire.

These stand with the Lamb upon Mount Zion, and by a figure of speech they are said to stand upon a sea of glass mingled with fire. The pavement of pure glass like unto crystal is a symbol of the pure truth and doctrines that they have received. The fire mingled with the glass indicates the fiery trials through which they have come in resisting the worship of the beast and his image. They are not defiled with women, neither the Israelitish harlot nor her daughters, the nations.

THE SONG OF MOSES AND THE LAMB (REV. 15: 3-4)

That the song of witness that Moses was commanded to write was intended to apply at this time in the latter days, is evident from the following: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation. . . . And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day, for all the evils which they shall have wrought in that they are turned unto other gods. Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. . . . And Moses gathered the elders of their tribes, and their officers, and the people, and spake all the words of this song in their ears until they were ended, and said unto them, I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil shall befall you in the latter days."

Therefore whatever bearing the words of this song may have upon the evils which have already befallen the people of Israel in the past, yet they have. especial reference to the future and will be sung on Mount Zion as a witness against the rebellious house when the seven last plagues are being poured out upon them for their destruction. The preliminaries to this song are found in the thirty-first chapter of Deuteronomy, and the song itself is contained in the thirty-second chapter (verses 1-43).

In this song the mark of the beast and the mark of the saints are first mentioned in verse 5, saying of the idolaters, "They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children." This spot of God's children is their Father's name written in their foreheads. The spot of those who have corrupted themselves consists in having the mark of the beast in their right hand or in their foreheads.

THE EFFECTS OF THE JUDGMENTS

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The hundred forty and four thousand say in the song, All nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgments are made manifest." This is according to what the Prophet Isaiah says (26:9), when speaking of the same latter days, "When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness," and it may be truly said that they never will learn it till then. And it is for that very reason that such a vast multitude of the inhabitants of the world are then brought to Jerusalem that they may be witnesses of, as well as partakers of the judgments on faithless Israel. Accordingly the Lord speaks thus to his people, saying, “Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted and drunken but not with wine, Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord and thy God, that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again: but I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street to them that went over" (51: 17-23). Therefore the Lord speaks by the hand of this same prophet in another place concerning the Assyrian whose yoke in the latter days will be upon Israel's neck, saying, "For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction" (10:25). When God's righteous judgments shall have been finished upon the people of Israel and his vengeance laid upon the heathen nations assembled in Israel's land and when, after that, the Lord rebukes strong nations afar off, and when the law shall go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, as a result of these things all nations will come and worship before the Lord in Jerusalem; and the words of the song of Moses and the Lamb as expressed by the hundred forty and four thousand will be fulfilled.

THE EXECUTORS OF THE JUDGMENTS

It is said by the third angel (Rev. 14: 10) that those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark in their foreheads, or in their hands, shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. In these strong figures of speech the wrath of God against his rebellious and idolatrous people is called fire, and the breath of the Lord in inflicting judgment upon the wicked is said to be like a stream of brimstone, to kindle the fire of his wrath. Therefore the judgments referred to by these figures are manifested by the pouring out of the seven vials of God's wrath which contain the seven last plagues, in which are filled up the wrath of God.

The torment of the worshippers of the beast and his image as these vials of God's wrath are successively poured out upon his evil family, will not only be in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb, but the holy angels also will be employed by the Lamb to pour out these vials and to execute the punishments and inflict the torments that these vials of God's wrath call for, and to those who find pleasure in searching out the deep things and the wonderful things of God, to such one of the most interesting features of these marvelous things is the fact that the holy angels introduced

to our special attention in these visions are angels of our race, men of the ages preceding the latter days, righteous men who have died in the Lord, and who have been raised in glory before these judgments begin, because the saints of past ages could not execute the judgments written unless they were raised from the dead before these judgments begin, as dead men can execute no judgment upon the living.

Now that the angels are immortal men raised up from among Adam's posterity may be proved in this way. The seven angels to whom are given the seven golden vials full of the wrath of God are all of them clothed in pure and white linen (Rev. 15:6), and pure white linen in this book does not represent the righteousness of angels, but the righteousness of saints, therefore these seven angels are seven saints. And that they are saints of our species is proved from the fact that one of their number is the angel that Jesus sent to John to show him these things (21:9), and when John in his rapture fell down to worship him, he spake of himself, and said, "See that thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book, Worship God" (Rev. 22:8).

And not only are these seven angels saints from among,men, but the Temple of the Tabernacle of the testimony out of which they come is the body of Christ (or church) made perfect, as they will be in the resurrection; and the four beasts, one of which gave to the seven angels the seven vials, these also were redeemed out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation, and are the same body of people which constitute the Temple but presented under a different symbol. And another very important reflection in connection with these marvels is this, that all these in the present age who really are saints of the Scripture stamp and who die in the true faith and in the Lord, will be raised from the dead, with the rest of the saints who have died in the Lord since the world began, and will be there present with them and will be angels, and of the angels who execute these judgments and in whose presence these wicked idolaters of the house of Israel will be tormented with fire and brimstone, as manifested in the pouring out of these seven vials of the seven last plagues, in which are filled up the wrath of God.

And if a man who thinks that he himself is a saint, and an heir of the honor and glory and the inheritance that God has offered to those who believe the Gospel, if such a man says that such a view of the calling of the righteous as is presented in the foregoing is something that he never heard of before, it is entirely new to him, he was never shown such things by his teachers, moreover he never so understood the Scriptures, then we reply that all this argues badly against such a man's being a saint at all, and it also argues that his teachers under whose ministrations he has been taught were not themselves properly instructed in the great things of God's law. It argues that they in their zeal without proper knowledge have been encouraging people to look for things which their eyes will never see, and to hope for things that they will never realize. And therefore they can only in the words of the great teacher be called "blind leaders of the blind." For did not Paul say reproachfully to the saints in Corinth, "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world"? They knew this, because they had been so taught by Paul himself.

And did not the sweet singer of Israel say, in one of the songs of Zion, the hundred and forty-ninth Psalm, that the saints in glory, with a twoedged sword in their hand, and the high praises of God in their mouth, would execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishment upon the people (of Israel), to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron (that is the kings and nobles of the rebellious house), and to execute upon them the judgment written (in the law of Moses)? And did not the Psalmist add, "This honour have all the saints"? If therefore the saints of God, who after they are sown in weakness, and raised in glory, are to have this honor in the resurrection, would it not be a marvel if the saints who are to attain to such a calling as that should be found to be utterly ignorant of such things now in the present time? By no means; he who dies in ignorance of such a hope will have neither part nor lot in the matter.

THE WRATH OF GOD FILLED UP" (REV. 15:5-8)

After John saw the sea of glass mingled with fire, and those that had got the victory over the beast and his image standing thereon, and heard them sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, then he adds, "And after that I looked, and behold the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: and the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God who liveth for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled" (Rev. 15:5-8).

It is said in this same chapter that the seven plagues which the seven angels have, are the seven last plagues, and that in them is filled up the wrath of God. This is a statement that is worthy to be well weighed, for according to this testimony, when the vials of the wrath of God are poured out upon the wicked, and when they are entirely exhausted, the wrath of God is filled up and the torment of the Israelitish idolaters will be a thing of the past, and the smoke of their torment will ascend no longer, for the wrath of God is then satisfied and his anger against his rebellious people ceases; and the period called "for ever and ever," during which time the smoke of their torment ascended, will have come to an end, and the days and nights in which they were being tormented continually will have rolled by.

These facts are clearly taught in the prophets whence this saying, that in these seven last plagues are filled up the wrath of God, is copied, where any one may learn in plainer language of what these plagues consist, and upon whom they are to be poured out. For instance in the fifth chapter of Ezekiel are written the judgments that the Lord says he will visit upon Jerusalem in the sight of the nations because she has despised his statutes and judgments and defiled his Temple with all her detestable things and with all her abominations. "Therefore," the Lord says, "will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity." Then in verse 12 the Lord enumerates the evils that he will bring upon them for their destruction, saying, "A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine.

shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all winds, and I will draw out a sword after them." Then the Lord adds what is reproduced in the Revelation saying, verse 13, “Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted." That is, in these plagues as they are here enumerated will be filled up the wrath of God, as it is said in the testimony of Jesus. Therefore by giving good heed to the word of the Lord by the hand of Ezekiel in this place, the word of the Lord by the hand of the apostle John, speaking of these same things but in more figurative language, may be more easily understood and explained.

We will ask attention to one notable passage in Ezekiel's writings before we enter upon the interpretation of the seven last plagues. In chapter 16 which any one who desires to understand these matters will do well to carefully peruse the Lord commands the prophet to cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. He then speaks figuratively and by parable of Jerusalem, saying, "Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite," that is in a spiritual sense. The Lord then recounts his relations to her and his kind dealings with her until she became exceedingly beautiful, clothed in silk and fine linen and broidered work, and decked with a crown with gold and precious stones, and she prospered into a kingdom, and her renown went forth among the heathen for beauty, for it was perfect " through my comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God."

But she trusted in her own beauty and played the harlot in departing from the Lord, and became insatiable, and the Lord said of her, "How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman." Then in verse 35, the Lord says of her, "Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord, Thus saith the Lord God, Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children which thou didst give unto them, behold therefore I will gather all thy lovers with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated: I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, and they shall see all thy nakedness. And I will judge thee as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged, and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. And I will give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places; they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones and thrust thee through with their swords, and they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more."

These terrible judgments as they are here expressed against Jerusalem and against the people of Israel, are comprehended in the seven plagues in which are filled up the wrath of God. Therefore the Lord adds to these words in this place in Ezekiel saying, "So will I make my fury toward thee to rest,