Chapter 11

SECTION 3

2. "The Reward"

"The time of the dead" was, not only for the judicial separation and exclusion of the unworthy, and the strengthening, or quickening, of the approved; but for the giving of "the reward to the servants the prophets, and to the saints, even to those who fear the name of the Deity, to the small and to the great." This testimony shows, that whatever "the reward" may consist in, the righteous do not obtain it until after their resurrection and strengthening. Christ himself, in the days of his weakness and suffering, plainly taught this. "Thou shalt be recompensed," said he, "at the resurrection of the just" (Luke xiv. 14). And again, he said: "The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and THEN he shall reward every man according to his works" (Matt. xvi. 27). This is the teaching which belongs to "the simplicity which is in Christ." Nothing can be more plain and easy to understand -- The resurrection has not yet transpired, because "the time of the dead to be judged" is yet future; and because the Son of Man, who is the resurrection and the life, has not yet come with his angels in his Father’s glory. The resurrection being future, then, none of the righteous have yet received "the reward." Enoch, Elijah, Moses, and the few who came out of their graves after the resurrection of Jesus, have been "strengthened;" but even they have not received "the reward;" for this is only to be obtained upon the earth.

Now, reader, mark and inwardly digest what follows. All Greek, Latin, and Mohammedan "priests", all Protestant "clergy," and all Nonconformist, Dissenting, and Sectarian "ministers," of all the so-called "Names and Denominations of Christendom," teach the direct opposite to the doctrine of Jesus. In effect, this generation of hypocrites and serpents tells the Lord Jesus that he is either an ignoramus or a wilful deceiver of the people. It might refuse to say in so many words that he is a liar; because these priests, clergy, and ministers, all, save the Moslems, pretend to be called and sent of him, as his ambassadors to the world, to preach his doctrine; and it would be too gross plainly to declare that he is a liar and deceiver. There are, however, other ways of saying the same thing; and the most effectual with the least danger to their craft, is to teach in his name exactly the reverse of his teaching. This they do with the most unblushing effrontery. They tell their dupes, that man shall not be recompensed at the resurrection of the just; and that they have not to wait till the Son of Man comes with his angels, in declaring that men are recompensed as soon as the breath leaves the body in death. Thus, like the generation of vipers and hypocrites, who appeared to men to be righteous, with whom Jesus had personally to contend, by their tradition they make void his word. They convert it by their sorcery into a falsehood, as the old Serpent, their father, did before them in Eden. I testify against them as hypocrites in the classical sense of the word. A hypocrite is one who plays a part on a stage. A priest, clergyman, or minister, is exactly this. He plays a part on the ecclesiastical stage of the world; and a part, too, that is not his real character. He is therefore, a professional hypocrite -- a hypocrite by profession. He professes to be Christ’s ambassador, and when his credentials are demanded, he has none to show. If I present myself at Washington, and claim to be an ambassador from the court of St. James, and I have no credentials to establish my claim, however sincerely I might believe in my ignorance, that I was an ambassador of Britain, I should be attempting to play a part that was not my true character. I should therefore, be, not only a hypocrite, but an impostor, and worthy of all contempt. Only think, reader, of an ambassador falsifying the instructions of the power by whom he is sent! What confusion this would produce in the counsels of the powers! An ambassador upon whose words no reliance could be placed! And here are spiritual ambassadors, Greek, Romish, Protestant, and Sectarian, all claiming to be sent from one and the same Divine Power, all of them differing and contradicting in a multitude of important particulars, but all agreeing to suppress the teaching delivered by Eternal Wisdom, and to substitute a falsehood of their own! What do you think, reader, of such "ambassadors of Jesus Christ" so-called; of such "ministers of the gospel;" and what think you of professed believers of the truth, who would forbid that these hypocrites, impostors, and wolves in sheep’s clothing, should be proved to be such, and being proved, should be so styled? An intelligent and sincere believer is not afraid to strip off the wool, and expose the naked wolf to the public gaze; his rule is to call things by their right names; and if a man be a quack, not to call him a physician, in order to make things pleasant all round. This course is necessary for the defence of the flock from these ravenous wolves. Spirituals are known to be wolves in sheep’s clothing "by their fruits." Their teaching is one of their fruits. They teach contrary to Christ and his apostles, and so injure the reputation of their doctrine. This is defaming, reviling, calumniating, blaspheming, the truth. They are therefore blasphemers; and the Names and Denominations, of which they are the spirituals, are "Names of Blasphemy," of which the scarlet-colored beast is full (Apoc. xvii. 3).

But these priestly, clerical, and ministerial teachers of blasphemy not only contradict Christ and his apostles as to the time when men shall be rewarded according to their works; but as to the place where. Eternal Wisdom has decreed that men shall be rewarded in the earth -- in the arena of their contention and suffering for the truth. "The righteous shall be recompensed IN THE EARTH; much more the wicked and the sinner." "No, no!" say the blasphemers; "no such thing! The righteous shall be recompensed at death, beyond the skiey realms of time and space; and the wicked and the sinner in the hell-flames of eternal torture, where they shall be tormented day and night by the Devil and his angels!" I do not know how it is with you, my reader, but I feel, with such contradictory propositions before me, that I am reduced to the necessary alternative of turning my back upon one or other of these parties. I find it utterly impossible to believe with Eternal Wisdom and with the so-called "ambassadors of Jesus Christ." One or the other must be trying to impose upon me; for it is logically impossible that both parties can be right. The reader can make his own election. I believe the teaching of Eternal Wisdom; and, therefore, repudiate the dogmata of blaspheming hypocrites with indignation and contempt; and, at the same time, burn incense of thanksgiving from the golden altar to His name, for His goodness in preserving me, by the enlightening influence of the engrafted word, from the evil machinations of impostors, who would have practised their sorceries upon me, and have made me twofold more a son of hell than themselves!

The time when, then, and the place where, the just and the unjust are to be rewarded, is in the earth at the resurrection. This is the fiat of Eternal Wisdom, which cannot be reversed. But what is the promised reward the righteous shall enjoy? "Of the Lord," said Paul to the saints at Colosse, "ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance." In writing to the saints in Galatia, he says, "The Deity gave the Inheritance to Abraham by promise." By these testimonies we are taught that the subject-matter of the reward is an inheritance, or an estate to be possessed, when the time for the fulfilment of the promise shall arrive; and that this estate was given to Abraham, not actually donated and received before he died, but promised to him as an estate to be possessed when he should rise from the dead. "He died in faith," says Paul, "not having received the promises, but saw them afar off, and was persuaded of them and embraced them." And he tells us why he did not obtain immediate possession of the reward: it was because "the Deity has provided some better thing for us, that without us he might not be made perfect."

There is no difficulty in learning what the estate is, and where it is situated, if we attend to what has been revealed in the word. Moses tells us that it was promised to Abraham that he should possess the country in which he was then living, the land of Canaan, in a certain far off age. That he should possess it for ever; and that his seed should be numberless as the stars; that he should be the father of many nations, which should be blessed in him and his Seed. Paul tells us, that these promises were made to Abraham and the Christ who was to descend from him; and that they were consequently to be "THE HEIRS OF THE WORLD." Thus, the possession of the world was annexed to the possession of the land of Canaan; so that he who could prove that he was the divinely constituted heir of the one, proved also that he had a right to the other.

The Holy Land and the World of Nations were promised to Abraham and Christ; and people of all nations were invited by the gospel preached to become heirs with them of the same promise; on condition of believing the promises, the Christship of Jesus, and the things concerning his name; and of being immersed into Christ, and thenceforth patiently continuing in well-doing. In this way they become Christ’s; and, says Paul, "if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s Seed, and heirs according to the promise."

But, the apostle also saith, the reason why Abraham did not receive the Land and World at the time the promises were made, was because the Deity had predetermined "some better thing for us." This "better thing" is all that constitutes the world more desirable in the nineteenth century after Christ, than it was over nineteen hundred years before. It had not then been sufficiently subdued, improved, and replenished. There was too much unhewn forest; too many wild races of untamed humanity; too few of the conveniences and elegances of life; and the existing civilization itself was too barbarous to constitute a gift worthy of Deity to His saints. He therefore deferred the fulfilment of His promises until He had developed a world of kingdoms and nations of a higher order of civilization -- such, in short, as now occupies the globe. This is the "better thing provided," the preparation of which has hitherto delayed the perfection of Abraham. When "the time of the dead" arrives, he, and all the prophets and postpentecostian believers, will stand upon their feet again, and be "made perfect;" and, when perfected in putting on incorruptibility, will receive the Holy Land and Modern World of kingdoms and nations for their reward.

This is "the reward" to be given "in the time of the dead." In writing to the saints in Corinth, Paul says: "The world and all things are yours," and "all things are for you sakes;" and, in arguing that the World was promised to Abraham, and that they who are Christ’s are Abraham’s Seed, he testifies that the World annexed to the Holy Land was promised to saints. The prophets, Jesus, and the apostles, all taught this doctrine; for the Eternal Spirit spoke by them all, and therefore their teaching was a unit. Hence, by David the prophet, he taught that "those who wait upon Yahweh shall inherit the earth;" and again, "The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever." Jesus also says: "Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." And James says: "The Deity hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, as heirs of that kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him." From all these testimonies, then, it is evident that "the reward" to be given to the immortalized saints is the Holy Land, occupied by Abraham’s descendants, constituting a kingdom, with dominion, absolute and uncontrolled, over all the kingdoms of the world, annexed thereto. This is the kingdom and glory to which men are invited in "the gospel of the kingdom." The events of the "Hour of Judgment" are for the purpose of wresting this world-wide dominion from those who now possess it; and of transferring it to "the Saints of the Most High, who shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for the Olahm, even for the Olahm, and beyond" the thousand years.

But here come in the modern scribes, pharisees, and hypocrites, with their blasphemous and word-nullifying traditions, and make all this teaching of none effect. "Yes," say they, "the meek shall inherit the earth;" they do now inherit the earth in the farms they possess, which is as much of the earth as is good for them; but, as to the earth itself, it is not to abide for ever, but to be burned up in "the wreck of nature and the crash of worlds." And as to the Holy Land, called also "the Promised Land," they say: "True; Abraham did not possess it before he died; nor was it ever intended that he, Isaac, and Jacob, should. They were to possess it in the sense of their posterity possessing it under the Mosaic Law; for the Land of Canaan lying between the Euphrates and the Great Sea, was only typical of that ‘heavenly country,’ the true Canaan and happy land beyond the Jordan of Death, where souls immortal bathe in seas of endless bliss! This celestial country was the land promised to Abraham, to which he soared away upon the wings of angels, when his precious immortal soul was released from its ‘mortal coil’ in the article of death."

Reader, one’s powerlessness alone restrains one’s indignation. No wonder Deity gave these hypocrites "blood to drink," and caused them to "gnaw their tongues for pain," in the great earthquake. It is because of their blasphemies vengeance has fallen upon this "MODEL REPUBLIC," and will, ere long, descend in an avalanche of wrath upon "the kingdoms of the world." The blasphemies of the clergy are enough to wreck any nation that upholds them. Even now, where they have the most power and influence, society is most rotten, most ignorant, and most miserable: what, then, will be the fate of all peoples, when "the time of the dead" arrives, to "execute the judgment written," and to "destroy these corrupters of the earth?"

"The Reward," in relation to its several elements, is exhibited apocalyptically under a diversity of symbols. These have been considered at large in the first volume of this work. To be strengthened with incorruptible life in the time of the dead, is "to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of the Deity" (ii. 7). To be an immortal king, is to receive "the crown of life" (ver. 10). To be approved, and acquitted of all guile and fault before the throne, and to be physically like Jesus Christ, is to eat of the hidden manna, to receive a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, and known only to the receiver (ver. 17). To operate with the Lamb in the setting up of the promised kingdom, is to receive power over the nations, to rule them with a rod of iron, and to shiver their image to pieces as a potter’s vessel (ver. 26,27). To be endued with a clean and incorruptible nature, and to be divinely honored, is to be clothed in white raiment, and to be confessed before the Father and his angels (iii. 5). To become Deity manifested in glorified nature, and a constituent of the New Jerusalem, is to be made a permanent pillar in the Nave or Most Holy of Deity, with the Name of Deity, and the name of the city of Deity, the new name written upon him (ver. 12). And to reign with Christ, is to sit with him in his throne (ver. 21). Such is "the reward to be given to the prophets, to the saints, to them that venerate the Name of Deity, small and great;" so that, "even the least in the kingdom of the heavens," though a star of the smallest magnitude and glory, will be greater than the greatest of all the prophets in the mortal state (Luke vii. 28); "the reward" offered to all who believe the glad tidings of this glorious and powerful kingdom, and are immersed into its Almighty King, and thenceforth seek for its glory, honor, incorruptibility, and life, by a patient continuance in well-doing (Rom. ii. 7); the reward to be received in "the time of the dead," and not before.

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