“‘They tell us we cannot understand prophecy until it is fulfilled.
“‘But here it is three times fulfilled in this day in which we live. What excuse have you now, O ye heralds of the cross? Ah! say you, that is your construction; we are not bound to follow your explanations. No, no! But for ages you and your fathers have been telling us that these prophecies were true; and you have told us that when they come to pass we should know what they meant; and, although ages on ages have rolled their rapid course, yet nothing has transpired, as you will own; and we, if we should search, and find, as we believe, the prophecies fulfilling, and tell our reasons, you then can taunt us with a skeptic argument,—“this is your construction,” and then not dare to tell us what it means! Awake, awake, ye shepherds of the flock! Come, tell us why these things are not fulfilled. Deceive us not. You stand upon the walls, both night and day; then tell us what it means. We have a right to ask, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” An answer we must have; or you must leave your towers. It will not do to answer us, “I am under no obligation to tell you.”[22] Has Zion no better watchmen on her walls than this? Alas! alas! then we may sleep, and sleep, until the trumpet’s dreadful blast shall shake our dusty beds, and the last angel raise his hand and swear “that time shall be no longer.” Why are you thus negligent and remiss in duty? If I am not right in my construction of God’s holy word, pray tell us what is truth, and make it look more plain,—and will we not believe? Thus you will cleanse your garments from our blood, and we must bear the shame. What time of night? Come, tell us plainly. There are portentous clouds hanging over our heads; we hear the murmurs of the fitful winds; we see sad omens of a dreadful storm; and where is our watchman’s voice? Your silence gives us fears that we are betrayed. Awake! awake! Ye watchmen, to your post! It is no false alarm. There are judgments, heavy judgments, at the door. “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.” How shall the fearful stand in that great day, when heaven and earth shall hear his mighty voice, and they that hear must come to judgment? Where will the unbelieving scoffer then appear? When God makes inquisition for the blood of souls, and when the under-shepherds stand, with their flocks, around the “great white throne,” to have each motive, thought, word, act, and deed, brought out to light, before a gazing world, and tried by that unerring rule, “the word.” I ask you, scorner, jester, scoffer, how will you appear? Stop, stop, and think, before you take a fatal leap, and jest away your soul!’
“In closing a discourse on the text, ‘We shall reign on the earth,’ he thus proceeds:—
“‘We shall reign on the earth, says our text. Not under its present dispensation, but after it is cleansed by fire; after the wicked are destroyed by fire, as the antediluvians were by water; after the resurrection of the saints, and when Christ’s prayer, taught to his disciples, shall be answered, “Thy will be done on earth, even as in Heaven.” When the bride has made herself ready, and is married to the Bridegroom, he will then move her into the New Jerusalem state, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, where we shall reign with him forever and ever, on the new earth and in the new heavens. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.” Then the whole earth “shall be full of his glory;” and then, as says the prophet, Isaiah 54:5, “For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called.”
“‘And then, my dear hearer, if you have had your heart broken off from sin; if you have by faith been united in spirit to the Lamb of God; if you have patiently endured tribulation and persecution for his name,—then you will live and reign with him on the earth, and this earth will be regenerated by fire and the power of God; the curse destroyed; sin, pain, crying, sorrow, and death, banished from the world, and mortality clothed upon by immortality, death swallowed up in victory. You will rise up in that general assembly, and, clapping your hands with joy, cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is now come.” Then you will be in a situation to join the grand chorus, and sing the new song, saying, “Thou art worthy, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.... Saying, with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” And all who meet in that grand assembly will be then heard to shout, “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” And methinks I can now see every one who loves our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in this assembly rising upon their feet, and in one united prayer of faith, crying, “Come, Lord Jesus, O come quickly!”
“‘But you, O impenitent man or woman! where will you be then? When heaven shall resound with the mighty song, and distant realms shall echo back the sound, where, tell me, where will you be then? In hell! O think! In hell!—a dreadful word! Once more think! In hell! lifting up your eyes, being in torment. Stop, sinner; think! In hell! where shall be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Stop, sinner, stop; consider on your latter end. In hell! “where the beast and false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.” I entreat of you to think—in hell! I know you hate to hear the word. It sounds too harsh. There is no music in it. You say it grates upon the ear. But think, when it grates upon the soul, the conscience, and the ear, and not by sound only, but a dread reality, when there can be no respite, no cessation,[23] no deliverance, no hope! You will then think,—yes, of this warning, of a thousand others, perhaps of this hour, with many more that are lost,—yes, worse than lost,—that have been squandered in earthly, vain, and transitory mirth, have been abused; for there have been many hours the Spirit strove with you, and you prayed to be excused. There was an hour when conscience spake; but you stopped your ears and would not hear. There was a time when judgment and reason whispered; but you soon drowned their cry by calling in some aid against your own soul. To judgment and reason you have opposed will and wit, and said “in hell” was only in the grave. In this vain citadel, in this frail house of sand, you will build until the last seal is broken, the last trump will sound, the last woe be pronounced, and the last vial be poured upon the earth. Then, impenitent man or woman, you will awake in everlasting woe!
“‘Be warned; repent; fly, fly for succor to the ark of God, to Jesus Christ, the Lamb that once was slain, that you might live; for he is worthy to receive all honor, power, and glory. Believe, and you shall live. Obey his word, his Spirit, his calls, his invitations; there is no time for delay; put it not off, I beg of you,—no, not for a moment. Do you want to join that heavenly choir, and sing the new song? Then come in God’s appointed way; repent. Do you want a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens? Then join in heart and soul this happy people, whose God is the Lord. Do you want an interest in the New Jerusalem, the beloved city? Then set your face as a flint Zionward; become a pilgrim in the good old way. “Seek first the kingdom of Heaven,” says Christ, “and then all these things shall be added unto you.”’
“At other times his discourse was of the most mild and gentle kind. Thus, in speaking of the church of Christ under various circumstances, he says:—
“‘In tracing her history from the patriarch Abraham to the present day, we find her variable as the wind, and changeable as the weather.
“‘To-day, she is coming up out of the wilderness leaning on the arm of her Beloved; to-morrow, “like a young roe leaping upon the mountains, and skipping upon the hills.”