In this identical world, where they have been robbed of houses and lands, and wife and children, they shall have an hundred fold. The nations of the earth shall bring their glory into the city of their immortal residence. And the diversified wisdom of Solomon, displayed above all earthly kings, shall be but a miniature picture of the visible and tangible glories that will be exhibited to the eyes and ears of resurrected Saints on the very erarth where they once suffered. If ever an earthly sovereign sat upon a throne, and swayed a royal sceptre, and wore a glittering crown of surpassing richness and beauty, then shall men and women who have suffered loss and shame for the gospel's sake, be seated upon thrones in the city of the New Jerusalem, and their mandates shall be heard and obeyed to the ends of the earth; and the riches, and dominion, and power, and blessing, and glory, that shall encircle them, no tongue can describe. Oh! wonderful transition, from darkness to light, and from the degrading bondage of Satan into the liberty of the sons and daughters of God! Glorious emancipation! Who can contemplate the recompense of reward without ample satisfaction for all the withering scorn, and piercing sarcasm, and bloody hatred, that have been endured? Give me a name that shall never perish,—a habitation among heaven's kings,—a seat in the council of the just, where the fairest among the sons of men shall sometimes minister in his own person, and it shall suffice for having fought a good fight, and kept the faith once delivered to the Saints. Oh, enchanting prospect of rapturous delight!
The thought of such amazing bliss
Should constant joys create!
But grovelling unbelief will ask, how can such an immense city be let down to the earth, or suspended over it, and contiguous to it? I reply, How can the earth be suspended in vacant space? How could Jesus ascend up till the eye could see his person no longer? How could Elijah go up in the chariot of Israel? How could the angel fly through the midst of heaven, that the prophets Zechariah, John, and Daniel saw speaking to the young man Joseph? How can Christ come with his ten thousand Saints, and descend with a shout? How will Saints, by tens of thousands and millions, be caught up to meet him in the air? How do birds fly in the air, and vast planets hang on nothing? Oh! marvellous unbelief! shall not He who organized worlds out of their chaotic state, reorganize them at His pleasure, so as to suit the capacity and pleasure of immortalized bodies, that have kept their second estate, and have obtained right and title to enter the pearly gates of the royal city?
Isaiah says, that the Lord's work, in the last days, shall be a marvellous work and a wonder. The changes wrought in the condition of the earth will be very great. The face of its surface will be greatly changed. There are many islands and lofty barren mountains, and sunken pestiferous valleys, and sterile plains, that will be revolutionized. Indeed, far the greatest part of the earth stands covered with water. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunken man, and shake terribly before the coming of the Son of Man. It shall even be turned upside down; and the approach of Christ shall be indicated by a succession of great events and changes. But a most extraordinary appearance in the heavens shall be distinguished, and known as the sign of the coming of the Son of Man. Whether this sign of the Son of Man will be some planetary body of an imposing aspect, first making its appearance in the heavens and gradually approximating to the earth, or whether it shall be stationary, is not, and probably, will not, be fully revealed, except to the children of revelation, for that day shall come upon the nations as a snare.
But it is revealed that an extraordinary sign in the heavens shall make its appearance, announcing, with sublime and terrific grandeur, the near approach of the Son of Man. The calamitous state of the nations, convulsed with the sword, pestilence and famine, with which God will plead with all flesh before the Son of Man shall come; followed also with great convulsions of nature, will lead many to practise wild and visionary impositions, pretending that Christ has indeed come, and that he has been seen in the wilderness, or in the secret chamber, &c. But let it be understood distinctly, that even as a remarkable star escorted the Son of Man in his first advent, and became not only visible but stationary over the very point of earth where Jesus was born—marvellous indeed!—even so, and much more visible will be his second coming.
The brilliancy of the lightning, extending over the whole heaven, from east to west, will not be more manifest to the inhabitants of the earth than the approach of the Son of Man at his second coming. Still many will behold, wonder, and despise, and perish; because it is written, that whosoever shall reject that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. The false signs and wonders that shall be got up in opposition to the true, will deceive and harden the nations, and they will not discern between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
Even the sign of the coming of the Son of Man may be contemplated by multitudes, barely as an unaccountable phenomenon; and familiarity with the sight of it will beget indifference, hardness of heart, and contempt for all such like things.
Your humble servant,
ORSON SPENCER.