Word of the Lord

PREFACE to the WORD of the LORD

The revelation printed in this volume was received in the early part of the year 1916, nearly two years prior to its present appearance (referring to the publication in December, 1917), and, in view of the bearing it has upon present conditions in Europe and America, it is considered proper to state, in making the publication at this time, the reasons which have chiefly contributed to its postponement.The MS. was arranged for the publisher without delay, at the first, and was submitted for publication to the editors of the Sunday issues of the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Examiner, and also to the Chicago Daily News. After giving full consideration to its review, the Tribune editor replied that it was contrary to the policy of the paper to publish articles dealing with religious subjects; and, accordingly, declined to publish it; while the editor of the Examiner complained of its great length for a daily newspaper, but would consider the matter of publication after thirty days, within which time there was no space available. At the expiration of that period the editor declared the article to be "a book," and that he could not give it space. Inasmuch as longer articles were appearing quite frequently in the Sunday Examiner, it was apparent that the reason assigned was evasive and not to be taken as the legitimate cause of its rejection.
The Daily News returned the MS. in accordance with conventional usage in the case of rejected matter, stating that it was "not available" for the uses of the paper. After the above experience it was deemed advisable to let the coming events of the great war, which was then but fairly commenced, speak out more fully before making a further attempt to bring it to the attention of the public.
It was, accordingly, set aside to abide the confirmation of the new history which was rapidly making, though not until several Chicagoans of note had given it a private review.
Toward the close of the present year, 1917, the time was considered opportune for making a second effort, and this decicion was reached more especially because of the importance of the message to the nations, as well as to individuals, at this particular time in the crisis of the conflict.
Nineteen of the leading American monthly magazines were, accordingly, selected and copies of the MS. sent to them. Their editors reviewed them, and each, one after the other, declined to publish the article.
Whereupon the matter was printed in book form, a means of reaching the public which is always open to those who are denied a hearing by reason of the power of public opinion; which power, all too often, stands in its own light and in the light of the world.
Knowing full well that the masses of mankind are not bound down within the narrow limits set by self-interest periodicals, we were assured that a revelation fraught with such consequences, would make its own way among men.
The Christian world, as a whole, in spite of the blindness of many, still knows that the ancient, and indeed, only means of knowledge concerning the providence which overrules the nations, always has been, and always must be, obtained, if at all, by revelation.
That the revelations contained in the Bible constituted the true key to a correct understanding of man's status upon the earth and the fate of the nations, is known to all men who can lay any claim to wisdom in matters of state or of religion either; and they might well know also that the destiny of the modern state should, as a matter of fact, be no exception to the rule.
That there was for many years a breach or interruption in their continuance, from what prevailed in former times, is the stupendous misfortune of the world; for it ushered into the path of history what men designate as "the dark ages," and which was truly the midnight of all time.
That revelation should be renewed again in the latter days: God willing, is devoutly to be desired by all rational and intelligent beings.
We know that the history of those sciences which men are pleased to call exact knowledge, contains the record of a long line of exploded, though once accepted theories. It is a record of such colossal errors that men ought to see, in contrast with it, the certainty of that steady light which comes from the record of the revealed Word of God. And it ought to cause this generation to cling to the principle of revelation, and therefore, to listen to the voice of revelation, as well as other sources of intelligence.
He whose spirit moved upon the prophet Daniel to utter the prophecy that in the fullness of times knowledge would be increased, was, it is right to infer, in full possession of all that knowledge which was to increase among men; for he was that very light shining in darkness.
He unto whom "All power was given in earth and in heaven" assuredly possessed all knowledge; for the truism, universally accepted, that "knowledge is power," upholds the truth that all power means also all knowledge; which truth is reaffirmed by the declaration of Jude, that He was "The only wise God."
And it has been the overruling providence of a being so endowed to measure out that knowledge through channels of human inspiration, progressively in ever increasing degrees, until the fullness of times; and prophetic of him to declare it.
He and He only, therefore, knows what is best for man to receive from heaven and what is best for him to search out; and all men should center their supreme reliance upon His Word.
The ostensible author of this small volume disavows personal responsibility for it, and certifies to the world that it is the Word of God and not of man, and that it is sent forth by the will of God to the people of this generation.
And in this Christmas season, when men are remembering their friends in the giving of gifts and tokens of love, their Redeemer also is remembering His covenant made with Abraham of old, the friend of God, and bestowing upon his spiritual posterity a gift of incomparable value, by pointing out to us, in great plainness, the only way in which to obtain that greatest of all gifts, the gift of eternal life.

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST MESSAGE

There have been so very many afflictions overtaking the nations of the earth in recent years, so many disasters by sea and upon land, of appalling magnitude, and now this greatest of all the wars of history, that I was induced to seek the word of the Lord, if it might be obtained as in the days of Israel, that Christian people might come to know the will of God, and learn the reason for the increasing severity of His overruling providence.
And knowing, from repeated examples of Scripture, that supplications became effective most frequently when accompanied with fasting, I was minded to abstain from eating for a little season.
Accordingly, I took no food for several days; to be explicit, for seven days. And afterwards ate for a short time, that is, for seven days also. Then again fasted for another seven days; and after the respite as before fasted again; and so continued until I had fasted seven times seven days.
And I saw in a vision of the night, a great and ferocious bull that was terrible to look upon, for he was exceedingly angry. A dreadful power was in his flanks, and he strode the earth up and down looking and waiting.
And I determined upon extending the fast a little longer and accordingly, after a respite of three days, continued to fast for three days more. Whereupon my attention was drawn to the fact that I had fasted altogether one-seventh of the year, and that forty-five days had elapsed between.
And in a vision of the night, the Father came and laid before me a tablet of a manuscript; and another said to me that I should write; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon me that I should write, even the Word of the Lord.
And in the month of April, 1916, the First Message of the Word of the Lord was received and it was published in December, 1917.

FIRST MESSAGE

SECTION I.

1. And on the sixth day of April in the year 1916, came the word of the Lord to me, Harry Edgar Baker, of the city of Chicago, son of James Heaton Baker, who was of the city of Mankato, saying, Thus saith the Lord:
2. Be still, and listen together, all ye children of men. Let the ends of the earth harken, and the nations consider. And all who inhabit remote places, or dwell upon the islands of the sea, or who roam in the wilderness, or make their abode on the ships that navigate the deep, yea, let all that live hear the word of the Lord. For behold, I am the Almighty God, and my voice findeth the ear of every creature, and my word searcheth the secret chamber of every soul.
3. The earth, with every valley, and every mountain, and all the plains thereof, is mine; and in me is the destiny of every man that dwelleth thereon; for my hands have made them, and in the day that I made them I gave them their free-agency; but I will require an accounting of their stewardship, saith the Lord of Hosts.
4. Hearken, therefore, unto me, for I have chosen a day of bloodshed and of great wickedness, and of many abominations, to send forth my word again unto you, O inhabitants of the earth; yea, even to speak unto you as in days of old. For in your times of peace you lightly regard the word of God. You seek continually the riches of the world wherein you find many pleasures, and pursue many engagements, and do not pause to consider, but go on in your works of darkness, filling the cup of your iniquity, and bringing everlasting condemnation upon your souls.
5. Wherefore, I have chosen a time, in the midst of your afflictions, to plead with you and to enlighten you, that you may waken from your sleep, yea, from that deep slumber which is upon the multitudes of the wicked; that peradventure some may be admonished and made humble, and repent and turn unto me and be rescued from that utter destruction which will come upon the wicked in the judgments which are yet to be poured out upon them without measure.

SECTION II.

1. Wherefore, I the Lord your God, even your Redeemer, who was made to pay the price of his blood for your transgressions, and to suffer for your sins, lo, I call upon the nations everywhere to repent.
2. Turn therefore, O ye children of men, turn ye from all your cruelties, from your murders and your robberies, from your false swearing and your cunning hypocrisies, from the plundering of widows and orphans, and from profaning my name to speak it foolishly and from your whoredoms, and from self-destruction. And turn ye from all your false doctrines and creeds and cults and churches, which abound in all nations, unto the utter leading away of your souls.
3. And I call upon you to cease your tyrannies over one another, and your unjust exactions of the laborer, and your disregard for the destitute and the helpless. Cease to usurp power, and to wrench from the people the just right of self-government. Cease to enter into secret combinations of conspiracy, to get gain and commit murder and whoredoms and frauds; for I am the Lord, into whose hands the Father hath committed the nations, and I will punish the children of men who do any of these things.
4. Already there is much weeping in your midst because of the judgments upon you, but I say unto you, there shall be great wailing among you, and even the gnashing of teeth against me, saith the Lord; and this generation shall not escape.
5. For, behold, mine angels have drawn the sword of their righteous vengeance upon the wicked, and it cannot be sheathed again, until they have avenged the blood of mine Apostles, and the blood of many saints and righteous men and martyrs, which the inhabitants of the earth have shed, they and their fathers, because of their exceeding great wickedness, and their many lusts, and their hateful abominations, in this and in all the generations which have passed since the proclamation of my Gospel, in the meridian of time.
6. But a little season remaineth, and then shall the earth be cleansed. I will break in pieces and throw down and destroy, until all nations shall feel my chastening rod and drink my bitter cup.
7. For there has gone forth a decree which cannot be annulled, that the nations of the earth, shall be humbled, even unto the dust; and their governments of greed, entailed with the barbarisms of an age of darkness, will I beat down one after another, in this the day of my fierce chastisements, which I have reserved unto this generation, because it is near unto the hour of my coming.
8. But those people which shall remain, will I favor, saith the Lord. They shall rise in meekness, and in righteousness, out of the wrecks of their ruined empires; and I will provide new states and just governments; that all men may enjoy that equality of rights, which the Father designed for them even from the beginning; but which has been sacrificed to the free-agency of man.
9. And I will cause them to grow and to multiply, and fill again the waste places; and wax strong in the Lord, and great upon the earth. Hear it ye nations that are now at peace, and ye nations that are at war, hear it together.

SECTION III.

1. Behold, the time is fully ripe, when my word must go forth unto all men; yea, and be translated into all tongues and languages; for I will not suffer that it shall continue to be held back from the world.
2. Whether there be faith in the earth, or whether there be no faith, whether there be truth in the earth, or whether there be no truth, I am the Lord, the Almighty, and I am able to make a way; for since the world began I have spoken by the mouths of prophets. I have raised them up and sent them. Notwithstanding they have been stoned, yea, and slain, and their messages rent and trampled under foot, even by Israel my chosen, yet I have sent them.
3. See now mine Israel of this generation, that you do it not; for I will not be mocked in these latter days. A swift judgment shall overtake the mocker, even a judgment that shall commence in the House of the Lord. Ye are the House of the Lord, even mine Israel of the last dispensation.
4. Be silent therefore, all you that know the Lord; while I smite the wicked with the sword of my mouth, and rebuke the nations which know me not. For if you lift your voice against me, saith the Lord, you are as they which stoned the prophets; and if you revile, as they which shed the blood of mine Apostles.
5. Take heed therefore, unto yourselves, for I say unto you that in the days which are to follow I will not suffer a mocker to make his dwelling upon the land of the footstool of God; and in the land of promise, my judgments shall flash as the lightning.

SECTION IV.

1. Nevertheless the children of Judah, whose forefathers railed in mockery at their Messiah, have come in remembrance before me; that my covenants with the House of Israel might be kept, and the words of the prophets fulfilled.
2. For lo, I the Lord, remove the curse which has rested upon Judah, now these many generations; even the curse of blindness, and that bitter curse of the hatred of men. Which blindness fell upon their fathers, because they rejected their Messiah, for whom they were looking; and who truly appeared in that generation, as the prophets and the seers of Israel had foretold; for these had prepared the way.
3. And John also, a notable prophet, from the loins of Judah, was sent before him as a messenger and a forerunner, to prepare his coming, and to make his path plain and straight in the sight of Israel; and, as the record of John's ministry declares, there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem.
4. And thus Judah was not left without light; and should have joyfully received their promised Messiah, and joined in the songs of the angels who brought the glad tidings to the shepherds of Bethlehem. While those whom you call the Gentile nations were not given that light, and therefore, were not condemned in denying him who turned from the glory of temporal power, to bear his burden of sorrows like unto all men, that he might be rejected of them.
5. But lo, the tribe of Judah, which was of the seed of Abraham, for whom the promises were made, in their zeal for the carnal law, rejected him, and in their hatred slew him. Wherefore the curse was laid upon Judah until this day. and now, behold, the time is at hand when it shall be forever removed; when the hatred of men shall be turned altogether away, and the scales of Judah's blindness shall fall from their eyes, and in Jerusalem they shall see the glory of the Lord, as they desired to see him at the first.
6. Wherefore, I will bring them into their own country, even into the land of Judea; for I will gather a host of them, saith the Lord, to the land of their fathers; and there will I plant them, and make of them a strong nation as in days of old.
7. And now I speak unto all peoples, and say unto every man, that I will send a swift judgment upon that house or that nation which brings distress upon the scattered sheep of Judah; for I have set my hand to deliver them, and to keep the covenants which I made with their fathers. Take counsel therefore, you that have done this thing hitherto.

SECTION V.

1. And lo, the Gentile nations also, or those whom you call Gentiles, have I remembered in mercy, even in this day of visitation and wrath; for behold, I the Lord, likewise remove from them a grievous curse, even the curse of confusion concerning mine Everlasting Gospel; which Gospel is the path of redemption for the posterity of Adam.
2. And this curse was brought upon them, because they shed the blood of mine apostles, and others of my servants from time to time, whom I ordained and sent forth to teach them, and to keep them in the unity of the faith.
3. For they put to death the Twelve, whom I left at Jerusalem, to finish my ministry, and to establish my true Church upon a firm and enduring foundation, even that Church which is the Church of the First Born, the Church of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and Savior of the world.
4. And thus did I establish my Church upon the shoulders of mine Apostles, whom you slew, you and your fathers; and when you slew them, you took away the foundation of my Church, and the light of my Gospel, and left the world in darkness, which is confusion, for I would not renew the Twelve unto you again.
5. Wherefore also, because of shedding the blood of the innocent ones whom I sent unto your fathers, even as I sent the prophets unto Israel, because of this, you and your fathers received my Gospel only in fragments, and my Scriptures with numerous interpolations and omissions.
6. And you translated them from the original tongue by men inspired only of their own learning, and who were appointed of men; for I would not raise up unto you mine own translators, whom you and your fathers would have slain, as you did mine Apostles.
7. And thus the plainness of my Gospel was taken away. And as the Prophet Isaiah declared would come to pass, your fathers transgressed the law, changed the ordinance and broke the everlasting covenant. Whereupon you were left unto yourselves, that, as the Scriptures declare, you might come to believe in the lies of your fathers and be damned, or, in other words, be condemned. And thus you have inherited the lies of your fathers.
8. And thus have I visited the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, who are like unto their fathers, and who have walked in the sins of their fathers, both of the Jews and of the Gentiles, and also of the whole House of Israel, saith the Lord.
9. Nevertheless, when the plainness of the Scriptures was taken away, with many essential doctrines of my Gospel, through the wickedness of your fathers, the residue did I cause to be left unto you; for I took not from you the knowledge of a Redeemer, whose blood was upon the Jews and not upon the Gentiles.
10. And behold, I say unto you, that they are of great value unto the children of men; for they contain a record of the ancient patriarchs preserved from the beginning of time, and the laws of Moses, and history of Israel, and many of the sayings of the prophets, together with an account of the ministry of the Redeemer, and of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb, and many other things of great worth to those who seek after righteousness; and for this cause have I preserved it.
11. But you cannot now determine from them, of your own selves, the essential principles of salvation; and hence you are divided into many sects and churches, But I will have mercy upon the children of men, and extend unto them the help of the Lord at this time, even unto this generation; for I have sent forth again the Spirit of Truth, and caused some to understand as they did of old. And they greatly rejoice because they have found the pearl of great price, even the kingdom of God.
12. And behold, as the refuge of the lies of your fathers is swept away, these will show it unto you, for in the darkness of the doctrines of men you cannot receive my Gospel.
13. In the beginning also and through all the generations, there have been those who took it upon themselves to add to the words of mine Apostles according to their own will and in the presumption of their self-appointed ministry, and also to take away, even as they would. And multitudes in that day and until now have followed after them; and lo, they are bound into bundles with strong bands, even the firm bands of Satan, to be burned; for they are the tares of the fields of the world, which are now white unto the harvest.
14. Behold, saith the Lord, I will reduce the tares from year to year, that they shall not flourish in my fields as hitherto; for I will pluck up the roots thereof from year to year, and they shall decrease until they are wholly plucked away and destroyed, saith the Lord of Hosts.

SECTION VI.

1. And it was because of these most grievous abominations, that I clothed certain parts of my Scripture in mystery; for my servant John, whom the wicked also sought to destroy but could not, for he was reserved unto my work, him they banished to the Isle of Patmos; and from thence my word went forth concerning the destiny of many peoples and nations, both of the righteous and of the wicked, down unto the time of the end.
2. And in them were the designs and the purposes of God hidden from the world, by the use of metaphors and figures, and by such means as the language afforded, to open a channel to those who should understand, and close it to those who should not.
3. And thus John's words went forth to all men, under the restrictions named therein, that only those who had wisdom should understand; and to whom I will give this wisdom, even the wisdom of the Spirit of Truth; which is given unto those only, who walk in the light of the sure Word of God. Nevertheless, many of my people understand in part.
4. But now, behold the day is at hand when my servant shall speak in great plainness, even with all the plainness of his mother tongue, unto all people. For I, the Lord, descend to the understanding of man, and to the plane of man's thoughts, and to the use of man's language, that he may be without excuse before me.
5. And I employ my servant in his weakness, that my words may go forth to the ends of the earth in great simplicity of speech, and in great plainness of doctrines and explanations; that now, even as I commanded at the beginning, the Gospel of the kingdom may be preached unto every creature; that opportunity may be given to all who dwell upon the earth; that every soul that will may come to understanding; and that the warnings and admonitions of God may reach all men.
6. Now, therefore, I say unto this generation, hear ye the word of the Lord, for it is the hour of his judgments, and the day of his wrath; which time the prophets have testified should come in the latter days.
7. Hear, therefore, this my word unto all the world; that, as I have removed the curse from Judah, and from the Gentiles also, and have begun again to raise up prophets to speak unto the nations, that there may be light again among men, even the light of truth, which is the light of mine Everlasting Gospel; then know ye, that I will hold a sharp controversy with the nations, and also with many classes and orders and sects and churches; for I am angry with the wicked, and have decreed that they shall be punished; yea, until they are banished from off the earth, both root and branch, except they repent, saith the Lord.

SECTION VII.

1. And now concerning the wicked, you know that when I stood by the sea of Galilee, I declared unto my disciples which followed after me, that the meek should inherit the earth, and the pure in heart should see God, and the peacemakers should be called the children of God. And now in your hearts you say, because the time seems long to man, that these promises have failed. How is it that you discredit the Lord? Can His word come to naught, or shall prophecy fall to the ground unfulfilled? Or can He who is the Faithful Witness be a false witness before men?
2. And then, on the other hand, if you suppose the promises have not failed, that from the Lord they could not fail, you will say, surely, in the long ages yet to come, the righteous may inherit the earth.
3. O ye of little faith! Hear ye now again; Shall the Lord forever tarry, while the rebellious scoff at their Redeemer, as they did when they clothed him in purple, and crowned him with thorns, and gave him a reed and bowed before him, hailing him king of the Jews? Shall he tarry forever, and suffer a wicked world, which he has redeemed with his blood, to go on forever in the abominations of the flesh? O, how many are the children of men that are without faith in the earth!
4. Now, behold, all you that are thus unbelieving, hear the Lord again concerning these things, for the time is at hand. Have I not declared, by the mouths of the prophets, the utter destruction of the wicked; those who in all their varied estates have laid hold upon the earth and all the fullness thereof? Verily, I say unto you again, that the meek shall surely inherit the earth, for unto this end was it created. Behold, I have made it the heritage of the righteous, and they shall dwell upon it forever. Yea, they shall overshadow it, and descend upon it, as by the flight of a multitude of birds, saith the Lord of Hosts.
5. And again, I say unto you also, that before this generation shall have passed away, the pure in heart shall see God, according to the promise; yea, they shall see Him dwelling with them in the flesh.
6. And yet again, who are these that stand to make themselves the peacemakers of God? Shall my people shirk the just responsibilities of nations in order to maintain peace? Shall they evade those conflicts over the right, which the valiant have fought from the beginning, upon which the heavens rest, and the powers that uphold the thrones of eternity are founded? Shall security be exalted above justice and safety be honored before principle? And is this the peace of God?
7. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that among the inhabitants of the earth which shall remain to possess the land, there shall arise statesmen indeed, who will guide them to a wise fraternity between nations, and point out to them those principles and policies of intercourse which will destroy the motive of war. And these people who thus lay the axe at the root, which is the greed of nations, are the peacemakers which shall be called the children of God; for they shall be my people, and I will be their God, and there shall be no more war. And when I shall consume the wicked as stubble, and leave them neither root nor branch in the earth, as saith the prophet Malachi, then shall these things be.
8. Wherefore, O ye wicked, yet a little while and a certain awful fear of the wrath of God shall take hold of your bones, and they will quake as the aspen leaf, and your hearts will fail for the dread of the things which are yet to come. For the hour is fast approaching when men will no longer deny that the calamities of nature which are falling upon all the races of men, the floods of water, the quaking of the earth, the destructive cyclones and the consuming fires, are from the hand of Him who made and governs them all; and they shall know that the pestilence and the famine and the wars of men, are not the cruelties of an immutable fate, but the rod of the justice of God.
9. For man have I created that he might have joy hereafter, even to partake of the joys of eternity, which exceed all imagination of the heart and all calculation of the mind. And I would that he might inherit the powers of endless dominion, and not that he might have misery. And for this cause do I call men to repentance.
10. Remember, O remember, that the punishments which are brought upon the children of men are administered for their everlasting good, according to that wisdom which is in God; and are designed to advance them in the kingdom whither they go; for it is written that in my Father's house there are many mansions; and this meaneth that there are many kingdoms and degrees of glory; and also there are kingdoms which are without honor unto them that dwell therein; for their reward is dishonor, and they are forever banished from the presence of God.
11. Wherefore, because the wicked who will not repent, must reap the reward of everlasting shame and misery, I have decreed that they shall be made to know and understand, that the judgments which have been, are but the commencement of the desolations which are to come, that fearing the wrath of God they may be constrained to turn unto Him.

SECTION VIII.

1. And behold, the hour is near also, when all men shall know that these words are true, and the words of all the prophets that have spoken since the beginning of time, are true; and that Jesus Christ is the True and Faithful Witness, whether He speaks Himself, as when He stood among men, or speaks through His servant John, who prophesied of the judgments upon this generation, or through him whom he has now caused to speak in great plainness to all the ends of the earth.
2. Wherefore, O ye my people, listen to the words of your Redeemer, and be not stiff-necked and rebellious, neither in bondage to your sins and carnal pleasures; for the final end thereof is misery unto the wretched soul forever. For the wicked who rebel against me, and who will not repent, must surely drink of the bitterness of hell.
3. And now, in this, the day of your heavy burdens and increasing trials, which are yet to follow, I would comfort my people concerning their innocent ones, yea, and all their little ones, whom often times I take unto myself out of the midst of your afflictions, even in the violence of my judgments; yet think not that I have forsaken them; neither, when I call the righteous in mine anger that I have abandoned them. Nor have I forsaken the generations of your fathers; for I am the Redeemer of all men who are willing to be redeemed, and my bowels are filled with compassion for them all. Wherefore, I give unto them space in which to repent.
4. But the wicked, who remain wicked until their hour cometh, woe unto them. They are those who will call upon the rocks to hide them from the face of their Lord whom they have crucified; for they crucify me who rebel against me, saith the Lord.

SECTION IX

1. Great, indeed, is the controversy which the Lord will hold with the nations; yea, a fierce shock of battle against the wicked; and a great battle of the Almighty against the false tenets and traditions of men; against the delusions of a long age of spiritual darkness; and against the false prophets who have led my people away from their Shepherd and their fold, saith the Lord.
2. Lo, I bring a crisis upon the world; for the unbeliever will I cut off from the land of the living; and they are many. It is a day of skepticism and blindness of heart; for men will to resist and to deny their Creator, and to seek the counsel of darkness, even that of the multiplied books of vain philosophies and deadly spiritual doctrines.
3. Behold, I say unto you, that of necessity you must believe on the Son whom the Father hath sent into the world; for if you believe not him you cannot be redeemed.
4. This is a hard saying, and many there are who will reject it, and who will contend in their hearts after this manner: How is it I must believe that which I cannot believe? And is God just, if there is a God, to enforce upon the minds of the free-agents whom he has created, that which is impossible?
5. Verily, I who am your Creator, say unto you whom my hands have made, that it is possible for all men to believe. If you will be obedient unto your Creator, then can you believe; for you will then desire to know, and you will be without prejudice, and then will the Spirit of Truth bring your mind into a state of belief.
6. But if you will to be disobedient unto Him who made you, and will to be a law unto yourself, then will you remain in that darkness which you have chosen; and this is the free-agency which you have received from the Father; and it leadeth unto life eternal, on the one hand, or to the second death, which is eternal damnation, on the other. Wherefore, you are left to choose, and the responsibility is with every man.
7. For you must know that man could not have been created in the likeness of God, and not possess the initiative principle of a free-agent; which supreme attribute abideth in the bosom of the Father and the Son forever.
8. Neither could he ascend to that company of angels who become joint-heirs with Jesus Christ of all things, together with all powers and dominions and glories according to the promise, except he be first tried in his choice of good and evil, as they have been.
9. And how could one who thus possesses a will, which is forever independent of his Creator, be measured for the vast responsibilities of an endless future, except by his record? For how could the government of the heavens be upheld in everlasting security, except the powers thereof be conferred upon those who have demonstrated that the will of the Father is superior to death or to the multiplied sacrifices of life? And how could the hosts of the righteous, who people the celestial worlds, abide forever in His presence if they could not live obedient unto celestial law?
10. Wherefore, according to the record, which record is kept in heaven, and it is a record of the deeds done in the body, and this includeth the works of repentance, even according to the record, shall it be with every man to receive much or little.
11. And thus man shapeth his own destiny, even as God, in whose likeness he is made, even in the likeness of his spirit and in the image of his body.
12. And behold, the Redeemer is the Son of God, even His express image; and the heir of all things which the Father hath created and made.
13. And behold, if you will turn your face unto the heavens, and look into the bosom of the immeasurable expanse, where countless worlds like unto this move in trains of never ending glory before the vision of the eye, you will behold the heritage of the Son.
14. And unto his redeemed he will deliver the title deeds of their eternal estates; for all the fulness of the Father's kingdoms are the heritage of the righteous; and their birth-right of free-agency abideth in them forever, as in the Son.
15. And to this end, even that man might inherit all things, Jesus Christ came into the world to suffer for them, and be lifted up before them, that they might see him suffer, and thus seeing him suffer, might know of the fullness of the measure of his love for them, yea, that they might marvel and be astonished.
16. For He unto whom was given the cup of gall in His cry of thirst, suffered greater extremes than any man, and drank deeper of the cup of bitterness which the Father had prepared for Him; that his Son might show forth the depths of their infinite love and be exalted to sit at the right hand of Eternal Power.
17. And if the sacrifices and the pains which he suffered, both of body and of mind, like unto which no man could suffer; behold, I say unto you, that if so great a love for men, cannot prevail upon them to acknowledge their Creator, and walk in obedience to his wishes, there is no power in the heavens or upon the earth that can save them that are thus created in the likeness of God.
18. For Omnipotence did truly exhaust the possibilities of the natural world, that the children of men might be persuaded to love Jesus Christ, and believe him to be the Only Begotten of the Father, sent into the world for their redemption and exaltation.
19. Verily, verily, now I say unto you again, that it is impossible for infinite mind, to associate together the deeds of men and of angels and of good and evil spirits, into any natural sequence of living events upon the earth, subjecting a creature to the test of greater extremes than those which the Son of God endured for man's sake. Wherefore, he went below all things, and endured all things, even all things which are, or ever can be. Wherefore, ye know that he is God.
20. And thus do the works of the Son justify the blessings of the Father on the one hand, and the wrath of God on the other; and declare the glory and the power and the dominion of the Father and the Son forever more.
21. And for as much as the free-agency of man is an eternal birth-right and heritage from the Creator of all men, like unto his own, and from which he cannot recede, if he would uphold the eternal principles of man's being, woe shall be unto him that, in the presumption of his foolish soul, condemneth God.
22. Your fathers both heard and saw how great was the love of God; who so loved the world that he gave his Only Begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in him might not perish, but have everlasting life; the knowledge of which have I brought down unto you of this generation, by the words of mine Apostles and others of my faithful servants, and by the voice of angels, yea, and the voice of the Father out of the heavens, together with a record of the ministry of the Son. All these bear witness at this day of the love of God; and by them shall this generation be judged; for so great a number of witnesses shall make an end of controversy. And if now you condemn God, you will be condemned of God, who has given you abundantly of the light of truth concerning these things.
23. And now I say unto you, that if you will not come unto this knowledge and unto this wisdom, it is because of the evil pleasures of the world which you are not willing to forego, and of your own sins, which you repent not of because you love them; and it must needs be that you be removed from the earth, and be cut off in your posterity, that I may do unto you that which is wisdom in me.
24. Wherefore, after I have given space in which to repent, then shall the unbeliever who still remains in a state of rebellion against me, and against my Word, and against mine Everlasting Gospel, be cut off from before my face.
25. For it must needs be fulfilled as it has been written, yea, and decreed of my Father from before the foundation of the world, that all they who dwell upon the earth in the day when I shall reign over my people, shall know me, the Lord their God, even from the least unto the greatest. How then can the unbeliever stand?
26. Wherefore, the unbeliever may not say in his heart; I do no wrong, and therefore God, if there is a God, will be just to me, and if he is just it is all I ask; for, verily, I say unto him, that, for as much as the Messenger of the Covenant of Salvation was lifted up on high and put to death before all men, the unbeliever will I not excuse before my Father which is in heaven, and he must drink the bitter cup of the wrath of his Creator.
27. But I show forth the tender mercy of the Father towards the residue of my people, saith the Lord; for many multitudes of them have been turned away from me, in all the generations since I came into the world; yea, because of the many false teachers and their pernicious doctrines concerning me, and concerning my Father who reigneth in the heavens; and because of the many vain and foolish theories as to the nature and being of man and of God and of that which is beyond the grave; because of these things, many of the wise and of the honest of heart have been turned utterly away from my rock and my salvation.
28. Wherefore, because of the mercy of the Father, these are given time in which to repent and turn unto their Redeemer, that they may walk in obedience to his words, and in the end, be gathered unto him with an everlasting salvation.

SECTION X.

1. And now, if you have searched my Scriptures, you know that I come a second time upon the earth; and you know also from the prophets that the time is near at hand; and I say unto you now again, in great plainness, that the day of my visitation, yea, of my personal appearance, is indeed, at the door; and you must needs be prepared, lest you perish.
2. For this cause, have I broken the silence of many generations; which silence, was because of your wickedness and the wickedness of your fathers; and the heavens, which have been sealed as brass over your heads, have I opened again; that my word might be sent forth unto you, O, inhabitants of the earth! And if you reject it at this time, and give no heed to the warnings which are sent forth unto you, then will you perish.
3. And except you seek me, to know the truth of these things, if you are in doubt, you will not be able to stand. But if you seek me, and do it with an honest desire to know the truth, and with an earnestness of reliance upon me, that I might show you, behold, I will show you. Mine ear is not heavy that I cannot hear the voice of faith that comes from the integrity of the heart.
4. But the light-minded, and the hypocrite, and the unrepentant, and the disobedient, and the unbeliever, and the false prophet, and the ministry of Satan, will I not answer, saith the Lord.
5. For they are of the wicked, though they know it not, and their answer is from him whom they will to obey. Let them beware in whom they trust. Yea, let them first repent of the evils of their hearts.
6. But, verily, I say unto you, those are blessed indeed, who will seek, in faith, to know the truth of my doctrines; and blessed are they who will deny the traditions of their fathers; and blessed they who are strong to reject the counsel of an erring ministry; and blessed those who will turn from the conflicting and confusing creeds of men; and blessed those who will set at naught their own cherished opinions; and doubly blessed shall be those who reject the forms and ceremonies, the robes and vain show of priestly pride; for all these conditions are essential to the salvation of mine Israel of this generation.
7. And hear ye the Lord in this; it is not sufficient that you possess a spirit of inward peace and joy, as from your Lord; for they that repent and turn from the commission of sin, have much cause to rejoice, and I the Lord, give them joy; for the awakening of conscience, and obedience thereto, is obedience unto God, even to the spirit of redemption.
8. But of necessity, you must seek to know the law, that your doctrines may be sound, in order that you may walk in obedience to the commandments of God, even to observe the ordinances of mine Everlasting Gospel. And I say unto you, that if you do not this, then are you damned, or in other words, then are you condemned, and cast aside; for no one can reject my Gospel and be permitted to enter into my courts.
9. For you must surely know that the Lord cannot be a respecter of persons, and mine ordinances were not given to men to be trampled under foot; neither to be changed by the will of man. The wisdom of them remaineth in me, and it is for all men to walk in obedience thereto.
10. Wherefore, O ye children of men, turn ye from all your vain delusions, and I the Lord your God, even your Savior, will show you the way; and again, as in days of old, make plain to you the path which leadeth unto life eternal.
11. And now behold, there are many ten-thousand who will do this; and they are unto me as mine Israel in the day when the Prophet Elijah sorrowed because he alone was left of all those who worshipped the true and living God, and I showed unto him that seven thousand of the children of Israel had not bent the knee unto Baal,
12. Of such is the Kingdom of heaven, They are they which have believing hearts, and are lowly of spirit; and they will hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. They are mine, saith the Lord, and I will preserve them and keep them in the hollow of my hand.
13. And after they have been tried in the furnace of affliction and the scourges are past, then will I gather them upon all the lands of their fathers; tribe for tribe, and race for race, will I place them, every tongue and every people in their own lands. And they will know me, their Lord, and walk in my statutes; and I will be in their midst, and rule over them for a thousand years to come.

SECTION XI.

1. My spirit have I withdrawn from the world, and peace have I taken from the earth; that the wicked may rage and fill up the measure of their iniquity; that those who will may murder and commit all manner of abominations, according to that free-agency which the Father gave unto them. And this I do that I may destroy them.
2. Therefore, conflicts prevail everywhere, and all things are at variance. Confusion reigns even in the counsels of the wise, and statesmen know not the way of safety.
3. The elements also are at war. You read how the winds in their fury, sweep away the habitations of man, and the seas in their anger, heave beyond their bounds. The earth itself trembles and quakes, as if it would rend asunder. Raging fires devour the forests, and consume the great cities. Floods of water engulf the fertile valleys, and the mountains send forth their fiery indignation.
4. And yet with all this, you take no thought. How is it you will not consider? The voice of God in the deep thunder you do not hear. To his fiery spirit out of the sharp crackle of the vivid lightning, you give no heed. You will not be rebuked, though decimating disease, and sore famine, pass over a land to blight and to devour it.
5. How long, O ye, my people, will you suffer these things, and not come to understanding? How long will you refuse to know that it is because of wickedness, that the Father visits these judgments upon you? For He who notes the fall of every sparrow, and numbers the hairs of the head, ruleth in the elements, and subjecteth the storm to His sovereign will, and holdeth the earth in the palm of His hand, that the breath of a little vapor may not harm it.
6. Would the Lord hurt a righteous people? Would the Father who loves you, have no compassion, and the Creator who made you, destroy the workmanship of His hands? Cannot He who set His foot upon the angry waves of Galilee, bind down the floods that sweep the valleys, if He will? Cannot He who rebuked the wind and saved the fisherman's boat, bring a quiet upon the mighty seas, and a rest to the troubled lands, if He will? O ye, of little faith!
7. Behold you are cut off from the day. Your light has diminished over the nations. The very darkness of Egypt is settled upon you. For years now, have I brought upon you, in an ever increasing number of the dead, the terrors of my judgments, and the fear of God ariseth not in your hearts; but you say, it is only nature disturbed in obedience to the course of unalterable law; and there is no God who interferes with the fixed order of things. And you say also that these things have always been.
8. Must the truth of Scripture, O man! be made a field of debate, and the revelations of the Infinite be upheld with argument, that peradventure the voice of reason may kindle the light of a little faith? Hear now, and I will reason with you as a man. Your wise men read out of the book of nature the laws of cause and effect, and in confidence of their wisdom you trust their philosophy; but it is truly written that the wisdom of the wise shall perish. His knowledge of the invisible world is like unto him who knows not his right hand from his left. Even those invisible currents of power which he of late uses the most, he knows the least of.
9. He sends them away to great distances, and now even out into the open expanse of heaven as well, and notwithstanding he knows nothing concerning the substance or the source thereof, yet, in view of his many achievements, you consider it presumptuous to regard anything as impossible to him, and you blindly accept many theories and many philosophies at his hand.
10. Should you rely less upon the intelligence and power of Him who has prepared all philosophies and all knowledge that man might search? Verily, I say unto you, you know not the depth of these things, but only the shadows that play on the surface of the ground. You know not the invisible cause that is in the hand of the invisible God. Wherefore, until you know this, how can you know the source and control of the forces of nature?
11. But the Scriptures fully manifest that the God of heaven, who made all things, doeth whatsoever he will, and holdeth the invisible reigns of all causation in the hand of his infinite power.
12. Albeit, you are not willing to believe the Word of God; but desire to believe that He has placed the mechanism of His universe beyond His control. And yet you well know that if one of you construct a machine of any kind, without retaining the government thereof, it is worthless. Why will you persist to think so blindly and so unwisely, of the Master Machinist of all things?
13. Behold, I say unto you, that your reasoning is not sincere, for the thing you desire, determines the philosophy you embrace. And if you will search the depths of your heart, your self-deception will become manifest.
14. Multitudes there are who will to be deceived, that they may resist the Word of God, and yet avoid self-condemnation; and also that they may not see in the judgments of nature, the condemnation of a wicked people; as it was with my people of old, who slew the prophets that prophesied evil upon the House of Israel.
15. Wherefore, for this cause, it must needs be that I greatly intensify my judgments upon your heads, O inhabitants of the earth, and this is my warning unto you, yea, my final warning unto the House of Israel, and to all the nations of the Gentiles. Be admonished, therefore, you that are wise, and remember the perils by land and by sea, which are decreed upon all the world.

SECTION XII.

1. And now give ear unto the Lord, O ye nations which trouble the world with wars, and understand, that it is for this cause also, that I have suffered you to involve yourselves in a far spread conflict of blood; and also that the words of the prophets might be fulfilled; and have not restrained your greed and vain glory, as I have been wont to do, for the sake of the innocent among you.
2. Wherefore, you sounded the trump of war, and it summoned the vultures to feed on the flesh of your sons. And now they circle the heavens over the heaps of your dead, that they may glut themselves on the carcasses of the slain. And the rivers of the valleys you have turned into blood.
3. You have devised the murder of innocence under the sea, that sharks may devour the tender child, and the great deep swallow up a host. Your inventors have perverted the gift of God, to build your crafts of war, even for the very clouds of heaven; that you might rain your thunder-bolts of death upon the heads of the innocent, to take away the life which has given no offense; that you might horrify the world with cruelty, and thus constrain the nations to give you victory.
4. Woe unto him that pursueth victory at any price; and also unto him that pursueth peace at any price. And let this be your Lord's answer concerning your disputations; that you pursue justice at any price, when it is yours to do; and if wisdom should justify, that you temper it with mercy. For I will uphold the just man and the just nation, saith the Lord; and together, the cruel hearted and the faint-hearted, will I condemn.
5. And as for the nation that slays the innocent out of the heavens, and defiles the great waters with the blood of murder, I will remember them, saith the Lord, for I will shut up the heavens against them from above, and open the gates of hell upon them from beneath. I will cut off the blessings of heaven from them, and the sea shall be the sepulcher of their strength; their pride and their glory shall go down together into the deep, and it shall be their everlasting tomb.
6. Wilt thou altogether usurp God's place, that thou mayest govern the earth and sea and also the heavens unto the shedding of blood? Shall the Lord not avenge murder? Who art thou, O man, that sittest to judge life and death? Shall the creator who gave life, and who only hath wisdom and knowledge to take it, leave it unto babes?
7. Or wilt thou unto whom hast been given a seat of authority among men, intrude within the very courts of heaven also, where God reigneth?
8. Hear now the Word of the Lord; He that decreeth the death of innocence, shall perish from off his throne, and from the earth also shall he be banished away. Shall a man, who is himself but flesh and blood, make his throne a pool of blood and give no answer; when the justice of God must answer to the slain, whose blood crieth from the ground?
9. From the beginning thou hast known that man was created in the image of God. Thou hast known also that His law went forth from Sinai, by the hand of Moses, that thou shouldest not kill. And unto this end also there went forth a decree from the days of Noah, that who so sheddeth the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. And under this law cometh self-defense, both for nations and for individuals, to preserve the rights of man and the life of nations.
10. Wherefore, in self-defense, will I justify the shedding of blood. More than this thou hast no law, and thou committest murder; and a murderer shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
11. Hear, therefore, all ye oppressive rulers and all ye unjust sovereigns who have done these things, hear the voice of the Almighty One whose throne is above the heavens, and who maketh the earth his footstool; ye are as the chaff from the summer's threshing, and with a faint breeze will I blow you away, till you and your thrones and they that uphold you, shall be found no more at all; while in the hurricane of mine anger some shall forever disappear from before the face of the righteous over whom they have ruled.
12, Ye call upon God; and with a noise you herald that God is with you. Behold, I will break in pieces the scepter, and silence the tongue of him who would tempt the Lord that he might gain the vassalage of men for the glory of empire.
13. He that buildeth for war, seeketh war, and sueth for the spirit of war, shall he not have war? And he that would kill with the sword, shall he not perish by the sword also?
14. O thou boasting nation! I am against you. When you sue for peace, I will not hear; and when you groan with the distress of battle, I will be far away. Should not the despoiler be despoiled? Answer thou me. And are the spoils of conquest good, that they should be blessed of Him upon whose name you call? Shall a king also despise covenants, and a whole people become treacherous?
15. Who is able to evade responsibility with God by fained words? Is the Lord dull of understanding; and will you call upon him to confirm the wrong; that through his name you may gain advantage in your works of darkness?
16. Ye are hypocrites. Ye speak boastfully and deceitfully, saying, Look at the progress of our arms, and our mighty strength in battle; can you not see that God is with us? Yet you know that it is not might that makes right.
17. I am against you; O thou boasting nation! I am against the proud and the deceitful, and against the murderer that goeth into battle, and against the despoiler, and against the covetous; who seek that which is not their own; who first make war, and then would tax the burdens thereof upon their adversary, in order to reap the spoils of war. And thus they justify the robbery of nations which are weaker than themselves, and are restrained only by the censure of the world.
18. Yet, a little while, and thou shalt know that I am against thee; for those whom thou spoilest, shall return and spoil thee; and in thine own land, shall desolations come. Thou shalt sue for peace, but thine adversaries will not consider, even as thou hast not considered.
19. Behold, thou shalt return to the controversy which lieth in the sword. Will ye be hot when ye will, and cold when ye will; and is all option centered in thee; and hath thine adversary naught to say or to judge? Canst thou make war, and make peace, at thine own will? Thou thyself hast chosen the adjudication of blood; wherefore, now behold, they also have chosen blood, that thou mayest learn wisdom.
20. Yet, have I made thee a military scourge unto the transgressing nations; and have turned the strength and the vanity of thy sword against them; and thou shalt overrun other lands and other countries. But after thine adversaries have humbled themselves; and repented them of their failings in the conduct of government; and of their unjust advantage in the commerce of the world, expanding by forcible means or overbearing methods; and of class distinctions, with all its vanities of title, and its inequalities of birth, then will I hedge thee in, saith the Lord, and thou, and those that are with thee, shall be brought down.
21. But if the transgressing nations will not repent, and put away these evil things, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will raise up my forces in the midst of them and overthrow them.
22. I created the great fish to live in the depths of the sea; and I provided also, that they should feed and nourish upon the lesser. Shall this law which is for the dumb creatures of the deep, be a law unto man also; him whom I have made in the image of God, both in the similitude of the body, and in the attributes of the soul? Behold, I say unto you, that the greed of nations, that which is beyond justice and fairness, as of individuals, I the Lord detest.
23. Wherefore, it shall come to pass, that those which remain upon the earth, to occupy it and to dwell upon it, shall live as becometh the children of God. In my hand, from henceforth, will I hang the plummet, and the wall shall be to the line. No longer shall the wicked prosper. His wall, which he buildeth, shall be to the line.
24. Now, O ye wicked, hear ye the word of the Lord; no longer shall the wicked prosper. It is the set time. Whether of nations, or of individuals, it is the same.
25. My retributions shall overtake the man of secret intrigues, and the nation of disturbing policies, saith the Lord, who infringe this, my law of justice unto all men; and every creature, and every nation, must meet again the folly of their ways. And this law is in force upon all nations and peoples; and from henceforth my judgments shall be swift upon them, saith the Lord of Hosts; they shall not linger as hitherto.
26. The unjust prince will I bring down, and the wicked ruler will I punish; meddlesome nations will I destroy, and class governments will I overturn, saith the Lord, except they repent.
27. For I would that you should know the will of the Father, that in each nation there shall be established an equality of rights and privileges. And all those who oppose this divine principle are against me, saith the Lord, and from henceforth I am against them.

SECTION XIII.

1. A country that is select and beautiful, a land that I have set my seal upon, will I also rend, saith the Lord, and a little one shall set it upon edge, endwise. Call now your watchman to the tower, and keep a vigil upon the Lord, that you may know that I will do it.
2. And the city in the border, which is the center thereof, will I pluck up, saith the Lord; and I will scatter the workmen of that city, and the banner thereof will I tear in pieces.
3. And out of the sea the monsters of the deep shall rise up; and they shall send forth desolations as a flood upon that land. And I will bring clouds of dense darkness, and overcast them with the red glare of war. And they shall hang over that land, and the fear of the Lord shall seize the hearts of that people. For, lo, the red and the black shall be against her; and their gathering hosts will crowd upon the plain; and blood shall wash away the filth and the wickedness of that land.
4. For I will shake her center, saith the Lord; and her poles of liberty shall be riven as with the lightning; for her ways are corrupted before me.
5. The path of peace is no longer found in her borders and her statue of justice is broken down. Her honorable men have done it.
6. Her judges connive with men of shrewd devices and are full of pandering. Her halls of legislation are corrupted with bribery and the people of that land seek to conceal away the lawless. Everywhere is heard the voice of them that cried, release unto us Barabbas. The statutes of the law, they will not suffer to be enforced; but esteem it worthy to shield the guilty. And the crafty defense of the murderer is rewarded with honor; for the evil technicalities of the law, are turned to the profit and the glory of professional men; while they who shed the blood of innocence go free. Her forces of law and order are become conspirators in crime; and her criminals are fast multiplying in the highways of her notable cities. Thus, the land is filled with violence, and there is no safety.
7. Shall such a people govern? Where is the peaceful dwelling place of your fathers? The place of safety, for my little ones, that they may not grow up corrupted? Answer thou me, shall such a people govern? And shall these things continue, till there are none righteous among them that are left to dwell upon the earth, even as it was in the days of Noah? Is it not well that I have numbered your days, to make an end of them? Answer me in this also, saith the Lord.
8. And ye boast of liberty. Has not that liberty which your fathers obtained in blood, become a delusion and a sham? Hear now the Lord. You grind the face of the poor; and for the toiler, the producer of all your material wealth, you have no mercy; you would yoke him as a beast of burden. The widow and the orphan, where is your provision for them? Your shrewd men rob them, and you leave them alone to perish. Also the feeble and the aged - show me the providing statute. Only the criminal do you house and feed, and all my little ones must suffer. The strong ones who make the law make it unto themselves, while the helpless perish under their care.
9. And will you call this liberty? Aye, and will you celebrate it, forgetful of your oppressions? Behold, is not bondage the name thereof ? Do they enjoy liberty whom you grind down, and in your greed, ride upon their necks? Is there any liberty at all when there is not liberty for all? Or, is it liberty, that you possess a franchise of sovereign power to return corrupt men to office, who rule in unrighteousness, and continually crush the weak under foot?
10. Hear now the Lord speak. I will drive you from the seat of authority. There shall not a corrupt man be left to rob and to plunder my people, saith the Lord. Yea, and I will break down the strong pillars of your constitution, except you remember the helpless, to set my people free. For the Lord will make bare his strong right arm, and he himself will be their emancipator.
11. My statutes, which are the laws of the land when they are righteous, shall be made strong for the right, and for discipline also, saith the Lord. And the pernicious law shall be erased from the statute book; and I will double all your penalties for crime; and the murderer shall answer with his blood; and no man shall escape, saith the Lord.
12. Ye know that it is written, that the Lord cannot endure the least degree of iniquity; why then will you nurse it, and mother the lawless as a suckling child, as if you did the world a service? Will you comfort and protect the criminal, that they may leaven my people with the spirit of crime? And will you call it charity and an acceptable service to God?
13. Behold, in mine indignation, I will require an eye for an eye; yea, presently will I require both eyes of the wicked of this generation, for it is the hour of my coming, and ye are not able to abide the law of Christ, but rather the law of Moses. And this will I do that darkness may settle down upon the souls of them that violate the innocent, and defy the law of God, and the law of man, until I have stamped them out as fire from beneath thy feet.
14. And I will bring strong men and plant them in all the high places of that land, yea, men wondered at, saith the Lord; and they shall not fear. And my statutes and my judgments will they perform; and the land shall be cleansed. Stand by now, ye fair nation, and ye corrupt generation, stand by, and see that I will do it, saith the Lord of Hosts.
15. The drone that is ladened with riches, will I cut off. He shall not be left to cumber the earth. For the land shall be a hive, and my people shall swarm as the bees. And I will plant the honeysuckle, and the flowery field, and the land shall increase its yield fourfold, saith the Lord, and it shall flow with milk and with honey, and with a fine vintage; and there shall be enough for all. And I will make labor a pleasure and a joy; and peace shall be established in all the borders of that land.

SECTION XIV.

1. And there will I build my tabernacle, saith the Lord of Hosts; and with the multitude of her towers will I light the firmament of heaven; and in splendor will I exalt her domes, to meet the radiant morning of the millennial day. And then will appear the golden age, of which the prophets sang, and which their eyes have longed to see. And the songs of my redeemed will mingle with the prophet's voice; and together will they sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. And then will the Zion of my bosom return, to fill the vacant place; and the New Jerusalem arise, and shake herself from the dust of the earth; and together will they sing the praises of their redeeming Lord, and hosannas to their triumphant King. And the shouts of their joyful hallelujahs will rend the skies, and resound upon the earth, again and yet again; for then will be brought to pass the covenant of the Father, which he made with Enoch, that the earth should rest for a thousand years.

SECTION XV.

1. And unto thee, thou greatly favored, unto thee, I the Lord, at this time, have a word of warning and a word of sharp rebuke. The ear of the Almighty hath heard your slandering, and your back-biting, and your lying; and they are of that blackness which cometh from the depths of hell; yea, they are of the spirit of that Wicked One, who maketh war upon me; and who hath gendered strife, and bitterness, and hatred, in the hearts of my people from the first; for which cause, Zion was lost unto them. Take heed, therefore, for I will rebuke my people suddenly with the shaft of death. I will make bare mine arm in the midst of them, and they shall know that I am God.
2. And now, even now, will I make them to understand, that of old it was truly said, a prophet is not without honor save in his own country, and in his own city, and with his own people.
3. From whence came the stones that killed the prophets? Were they from the highways of the Gentiles, or yet from the gates of Jerusalem? Were they not the gall stones of the bitterness of Israel? And Israel's stony heart, which their sins had petrified; and were they not gathered out from the Dead Sea of a spiritual kingdom? Behold, now, from the putrid waters I still smell a detestable odor; and who that hath scented the shores of the two seas, can distinguish?
4. Will you cast me out, saith the Lord; and will you abandon me as a thing to be hated? Hear now the Lord speak: With a man will I rebuke a great nation, and with my rod will I punish a holy people.
5. For a rod, indeed, have I brought forth out of the stem of Jesse. Yea, like unto a sword with two sharp edges have I brought it forth, saith the lord. Can you remember when I would not punish Israel? I will search out the back-biter, and the slanderer will I hunt down in the midst of you, and I will hate you who have hated me, and cast you out who have cast me out, except you repent, saith the Lord.
6. Behold, ye know that my coming is at the door and ye look for a prophet. Verily, I say unto you, at the door of the tabernacle of Zion have I laid a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Will you bring into her gates the blindness that fell upon Judah? You have brought an evil report. One has lied against me, and a whole company have believed the lie. You have been tale-bearers against me. Yea, from a distance, and from afar off, you have borne a false witness against me.
7. From the north you have lied, and out of the earth you have lied; even out of the very ground, you have lied against me, saith the Lord. Lo, these many years you have lied.
8. Yet, I would not speak. I did not answer. I would not suffer my silence to be broken; that my people might fill up their cup to the full; that I might deal with them, saith the Lord; and that after that, I might once again renew unto them the word of the Lord, and bless them, saith the Lord of Hosts.

SECTION XVI

1. And hearken now unto me; O ye, my scattered Israel! O ye, my Church in the wilderness! Hearken and break off, and remember the prophets no more, neither the Apostles of the Lamb; for they which garnished the sepulchers of the dead, were they which slew them.
2. Turn ye from the tombs of the seers, to the living seers. Ye are fast bound in the stocks of ancient Israel. Break away, O ye, my people! Arise; shake off the faith that is dead. Is not a faith dead that looketh only to the dead prophets? Know ye not that naught but a living faith can see the living?
3. Arise, therefore, and shake off the withered leaves that linger on the ancient tree of Israel. Let me hurl them, saith the Lord, with a mighty wind, till all the branches of Jacob are clean bare, and then will the buds of a living spring burst forth into everlasting summer.

SECTION XVII.

1. And thou, O Zion, knowest thou who hath tempted thee to set thee against me, that my work should falter, and that my word should be cut off?
2. Call now a solemn assembly, ye that know the Lord. Appoint a day of fasting and a day of prayer. Bow down, O Zion, and make thee a covering of sackcloth, that mine eye may be turned from thy nakedness; that thou mayest quiet the indignation.
3. It shall be unto thee a day of choosing and not a day of counsel, saith the Lord. Wherefore, it is needful that ye seek unto me, that it may become a day of prayer.

Amen.

Second Message

Being the Words of Jesus Christ, the Son Of God,
to the Scattered Sheep of all the House of Israel in all the World.

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND MESSAGE

After that, to-wit: in March, 1918, the Spirit of the Lord came upon me again to write, and I wrote the Second Message of the Word of the Lord, (which was published in October 1918).
While I was in the act of preparing this MS. (for the Second Message) for the printer, in the month of April following, I was suddenly struck to the floor with some sort of a malady. I know not what, which totally incapacitated me to proceed any further with the publication. For months now, it has held me in its clutch, with sometimes a stronger and sometimes a weaker grip, beclouding my mind and shattering my memory so that it became, at times, next to impossible to carry on the simplest conversation. And now after six months, I am just able to revise the MS. and proofread it.
Indeed, but for the aid which has been raised up to assist me, I could not do that; and I acknowledge with gratitude the helping hand of the Lord. And am also thankful that the powers of darkness, represented by that angry bull, which I saw in the vision of the night, has proven not to be so great as the power of God, who has accomplished the sending forth of His Word in spite of the works of the Evil One, and the great weakness of the instrument which He has chosen to use for that purpose.
And now, in presenting the Second Message of the revelation to the world, I, Harry Edgar Baker, of the City of Chicago, Son of James Heaton Baker, late of the City of Mankato, do solemnly declare to all mankind, that it is the Word of the Lord, and that it was given to me by the gift and power of God. Furthermore, that I was commanded to publish it to this present generation; and if I do not, I know that I will be damned.

SECOND MESSAGE

SECTION I.

1. For as much as the beginning of my word has gone forth, according to that which I have commanded, and has begun to be heard by the children of men and to be received by them, I the Lord your God, give unto you a further commandment, which shall be unto all mine Israel of this generation. Receive ye, therefore, my Word with thanksgiving and with rejoicing; as of glad tidings unto the poor and meek of the earth; even as my disciples received the coming of the Lord from the way of the wilderness in days of old; yea, receive it with broken hearts and contrite spirits as unto me.
2. For behold, it is my proclamation unto the scattered sheep of the House of Israel; and shall go forth unto every nation whence they are driven; and be heard by them in their own tongue. For the time is at hand which was promised of old, that a spiritual Israel of the latter day shall be gathered unto me through the loins of Jacob. Wherefore, my voice is unto the ends of the earth whithersoever they have gone, that they may hear the sound thereof.
3. For I which speak unto you, am that One which came unto His own, and they received me not; and now am I descended again out of heaven, from the presence of the Father who reigns on high; and am come down unto you, that the world may be wakened from its stupor and the inhabitants thereof from the sleep of iniquity; that all things may be made ready for that greater presence, when I will descend in the clouds of heaven, before the eyes of men, according to that which mine angels have declared and the Prophets have uttered from time immemorial.
4. And I say unto you, that it shall be at a time which is near to come, but the day and the hour you cannot know; for it is appointed onto you that it shall be in a day when you think not. And then shall you see me and know that I which speak unto you am Jesus Christ the Redeemer of the world, who was rejected of men and crucified of them.
5. But now will the children of the Lord receive me; for the meek of the earth will know the voice of the Shepherd of Israel, which is sent forth into the world before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; that their lamps may be trimmed and burning. And I will speak comforting words unto them, in the midst of their perplexities; while the wicked are troubled, and they which remain irreconcilable to God are consumed away as stubble.
6. And now, I would that you should understand at this time, both the righteous and the wicked, which are numbered of the House of Israel, that ye are the heirs of the promise of the Father; which, in the fullness of times was to come in remembrance before Him, that they may be redeemed from the fall, through His Only Begotten.
7. And therefore, it is, that you must come to know, that I which speak unto you am the Only Begotten, and the Redeemer of Israel; and must needs redeem the pledge which mine apostles have given unto the world; yea, and fulfill the covenant of the Father, which He made with Enoch and also with Abraham your father.
8. Wherefore, it must come to pass, of necessity, that the Son of God shall descend upon the earth; and be seen and known of men as in the former times; that He may reward the righteous and punish the wicked, according to immutable justice and also according to the tender mercy of God; which principles abide in the bosom of the Father, yea, and govern the wide expanse of heaven, and shall also govern the earth.
9. And this will I do because of the prayers of the righteous, both in the heavens and on the earth; that, in the dispensation of the fullness of times, the will of the Father may be done upon the earth as it is done in heaven. And thus will I complete the work which my Father sent me forth to do.
10. Be admonished, therefore, that you reject not the warnings which are sent forth unto you. Take heed that you revile not against my Word; and take heed also that you suffer not yourselves to fall asleep, in this the day of the crisis of the Lord, which He brings upon the inhabitants of the earth.
11. For my presence will be a burning and a consuming fire. Therefore, I the Lord, cause the cry of repentance to go before my face over the whole earth; lest your flesh be consumed away and there be no one left; in the land of Joseph first, which is the land of promise; after that, many nations and people.
12. You know how that my servant Moses sought to bring the children of Israel into the presence of God, and how that he was commanded to keep them back from the foot of the Mount of Sinai; lest when the Lord of Hosts revealed the brightness of His glory, they should perish; for they repented not at the teaching of Moses; but clave unto those sins which they brought with them when they came up out of the land of Egypt.
13. And you know how that the mountain shook exceedingly, and the rocks were rent asunder; and there was the noise of a great trumpet, long and loud. And they saw lightings in the midst of a great darkness and heard the thunderings thereof; and they beheld the mountain smoking, as it were about to be consumed with fire.
14. And you know also how that the children of Israel trembled, and were afraid; and cried out unto Moses, entreating him that the Lord come not nigh unto them, lest they perish.
15 Therefore, unto you who believe the Scriptures, there is a warning sounded unto judgment; for if ye know the Lord will come again, ye know also that He will descend in a whirlwind of fiery indignation upon the wicked, who remain upon the earth and who repent not.
16. For I say unto you, there is no man among the living of this generation who might prevail with the Lord, as in the days of the journey of Israel in the wilderness, when my servant Moses entreated me, for their sakes, that I destroy them not. For it is the set time to make all end of iniquity and to bring in the restitution spoken of by all the holy Prophets since the world began.
17. And now I speak unto you of these things with that plainness which is in God; and which is according to His mercy, that the children of men may prepare themselves for the judgments which must continue upon the nations with increasing severity, until an overflowing scourge shall pass upon every land under heaven. And a warning voice shall not be denied unto a people who are to be left without excuse before God.

SECTION II.

1. And now, if you will incline yourself to counsel, and will not rebel against me, then will I make known unto you from my Scriptures, the way which leadeth unto life eternal. For behold, if you will learn of me, with diligence of effort and with meekness of spirit, it shall be meat and drink unto your soul.
2. For I am He that spake unto the woman of Samaria, and offered unto her that water, which, if she drank of it, she would never thirst again. And I also said unto them which were with me, that I had meat to eat which they knew not of. And I will give unto you also of that water of life and that meat, which is the bread of life, if now you will eat and drink of it at my table. And ye shall be blessed as they are blessed who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for ye shall be filled.
3. Behold, in this manner shall ye come unto knowledge; and except ye obtain knowledge ye cannot be redeemed from the fall. For he who denies himself the understanding which appertains to the doctrines of my Gospel, keepeth himself in ignorance of the way of salvation, and if he persist therein he cannot obtain the kingdom of heaven.
4. Verily I say unto you, God delights not in ignorance and in mysteries; but in intelligence among men. Verily, it is the wicked who delight themselves in dark and hidden things. And a Spiritual Babylon, great and abominable, have men builded upon the foundations thereof.
5. And the time is at hand, when the multitude of the towers of that Babel, which men have reared in vain upon all the face of the earth, and exalted to the very gates of heaven, shall fall, and great shall be the fall thereof. For I, the Lord, will confound the doctrines of men; and in the snare of their own hypocrisies shall they be caught.
6. And that great city, which is become the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird, even BABYLON THE GREAT, shall fall.
7. And now, behold I say unto you, that the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are not mysteries of themselves, but are made so by reason of the truth withheld, and revelations denied unto men. For men pervert the truth, even that which is revealed, to make the heavens a mystery and all things therein; yea, and the Scriptures that declare them, which they have corrupted by their evil visions: from the Wicked One, who is the father of their illusions and their lies. And thus have they established upon the earth that abomination which maketh desolate, and reared before the heavens that Spiritual Babylon which must fall.

SECTION III.

1. And I say unto you also, that the wicked of themselves reject revelation; for they say, there is no such thing. And for this cause also have I shut up the heavens, even according to their faith; wherefore, there have been no Prophets and no Seers among the people.
2. Why is it my people have said in their hearts, that since Christ, revelation is done away? Consider, saith the Lord, and I will ask you this question: Why is it you have made the ministry responsible unto the House of Israel and not unto God? Say they not, that revelation is no longer needed and that such things are done away, that they may satisfy them which hire them? Verily I say unto you, if they were answerable to God then would my doctrines be established by the voice of revelation and my law be continually confirmed anew upon your heads. But now have you established the doctrines of men and my people are torn asunder into many parts. Said I not unto your fathers that my disciples should be one?
3. Ye know that mine Apostles administered the Gospel freely and without price to all men, and the poor of the earth heard it gladly and believed. Wherefore have you departed from the way of the Lord? Ye know well that the Holy Ghost cannot be purchased with money. Yet this whole nation, would follow after Simeon of old, who besought the Apostle to bestow it upon him for money. Know ye not that the Holy Ghost cometh by an ordinance, without price? How then, shall it come by way of a hireling? Can a company of servants, which cast out the poor from the worship of God, for a consideration, receive the Holy Ghost? Verily, I say unto you nay, neither they which pay them nor they which receive the price thereof.
4. But every man may receive the spirit of repentance which worketh a change of heart; and unto whomsoever the Father will, is given the witness of the spirit, that Jesus is the Christ. But verily, I say unto you, the Holy Ghost can no man receive, save it be by Law, according to that which was ordained of my Father before the world was.
5. Albeit, it is pleasing unto the Lord that the worthy should call their neighbors to repentance, for therein they render a Godly service. And whosoever, in the integrity of his heart, diligently strives to make men better shall be recompensed of God, yea, for every good deed and for every gracious word of wisdom spoken unto the wayward he shall be recompensed of God. And if he devote himself wholly thereto, and they that receive blessings at his hands reward him for his labors, the laborer shall be accounted worthy of his hire, yea, and I say unto you, he shall be blessed yet more abundantly, for, because of his own righteousness also shall he come in remembrance before the Lord.
6. But to expound the doctrines of mine Everlasting Gospel and to officiate in the holy ordinances thereof, cometh not by the will of man but by appointment and ordination of heaven. This mine Apostles plainly taught aforetime unto the people, saying, No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron.
7. And ye know how that Aaron was called by revelation; yea, by the voice of God, to Moses my servant, in Mount Horeb. And thereafter Aaron ministered in the priests office; after that he was ordained under the hand of Moses, upon whom this power had been confirmed; for Moses was so commanded in the revelations of God to him.
8. And at the close of my ministry in Jerusalem, spake I unto mine Apostles of these things; saying unto them, for this very cause, that men thereafter would seek the service of God without authority; ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and ordained you. And this said I unto them that they might more fully comprehend the divine authority by which they were called, and know that they were not volunteers but a chosen ministry unto God. But Notwithstanding this, men have taken license of the counsel of the Lord spoken unto the Twelve, alone, as if they too, were Apostles. And if ye be Apostles by whom were ye ordained, as they were ordained? And if ye be not ordained, then why take this honor unto yourselves? And if ye be ordained of men and not of God, then are ye the ministry of men and not the ministry of God.
9. And now answer me in this, O House of Israel: How shall the ministry of God be established with a people who reject revelation; that doctrines may be kept from corruption and truth be made secure? How can a people abide in the truth, when their ears are shut to the voice of heaven and every man proclaims a law of redemption out of his own thought, and an entrance into the kingdom of heaven by a path whither he has not trod? Neither can he, for he has no power. Nevertheless, I say unto him, harden not your heart in the day of rebuke, but be steadfastly looking for the day of your refreshing.
10. Now, if you, who are of the House of Israel, had realized this, as you ought to have done, you would not now, at the return of your Lord, be found upholding the administration of a priesthood appointed of yourselves; but you would have called upon me and I would have commissioned my servants and sent them to you; for he that keepeth to the law and to the testimony and is fervent in prayer, availeth much.
11. But from the first, when I sent my servants unto your fathers, they were put to death. And it was only with the ministry appointed of men that the world was content. For the ministry of men you received, and you rewarded them well and you killed them not. Wherefore, the Lord also was content, and unto this day you have continued under the ministry of men and not of God.
12. Wherefore, in mercy gave I unto their ministry, the testimony of Jesus and the spirit of repentance, that it might not be utterly dark unto the House of Israel, while they traveled in the wilderness unto the day of my coming. Wherefore, it mattereth not unto what form ye are joined; for behold, I say unto you, it is not possible to obtain the Gospel of Jesus Christ unto salvation, through the ministry of men, neither, by the use of money, for the pure doctrines of God are corrupted thereby; even as ye already know, that all the governments of men over the face of the whole earth, are corrupted by the use thereof.
13. Ye know that I sent my disciples forth without purse or script; and without wages for their hire, save it were that which was freely given to them of men. Ye know that I would not suffer them to receive a stipend of the world.
14. Why is it then, ye have purchased unto yourselves a corruptible ministry with money; in whose doctrines ye have divided the world for gain?
15. Shall the Lord uphold the ministry of a people who do these things, and who fain would make their God accessory to the abominations of Satan; who hath filled the world with confusion; and with false doctrines hedged up the way of salvation for my people Israel?
16. Now therefore, O House of Israel, hear ye the Word of the Lord and be it known in every nation, and with every people, that the ministry of men, having made bold to preach unto the world that revelation is done away, that they may build up churches without God, to make merchandise of the souls of men, shall presently cease from among you altogether; and my people shall once more hear the voice of revelation, as of old. For verily, they shall be brought to know that the will of God, which is made known by revelation, cannot be frustrated by the will of man, neither by his works of unbelief. For, though the faith of men languish in all the earth, yet will I cause them to know that God hath both the power to speak and to make men hear.
17. And now I say unto you, that it is because of the coming of the Son of man to judgment, that I have opened the heavens; and it regardeth not God whether there be faith in the earth or whether there be no faith. Behold, here is wisdom and the might and the majesty of the God of Israel. He that hath understanding let him hear.
18. And a commandment I give unto the children of men everywhere, that they receive, and give heed unto God's Word. For now will the indignation of the Lord fall upon that nation, or church, or people, which continue in their hearts to deny Him the exercise of His own power. Or who would determine for Him how or when He shall send forth His Word. And wheresoever there is the greater light there shall also be the greater condemnation.
19. For I say unto you, there is no man in the habitable world, neither spirits of darkness infesting the air able to show forth the intelligence of God; neither is the Wicked One, by cunning deceptions, able to contend with the wisdom of God in these things. Nevertheless, from the craftiness of the wicked gave I, beside, a shield of protection unto my little ones. And will you now, deny the God who gave it; answering with darkness the God of light?
20. Who, in mercy, set a guard over His sanctuary by the watch-towers of His people; that the fires of their vigil might be kept burning; but behold, like unto the zeal of Judah: deny they passage even to the God of glory, lest by any means the people be deceived. And will ye now bring into her gates the blindness that fell upon Judah? O, how little do you yet draw from the fountain of the Spirit, which the Father hath set in Zion, that she slumber not and sleep not, that she might indeed relax not her vigil, but might know the voice of the Shepherd of Israel, to hear it from afar.
21. Even the virgins whose lamps are trimmed, among them which are the dwellers in the chambers of the hills, who among them, yet hear the cry of the coming of the bridegroom? Repent therefore, I say, even unto the watchman, for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh, neither the set time when the door of the marriage supper shall be closed unto you.
22. Remember, O remember, the admonition of your Lord; that, Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. For if you deny the spirit of your God, because of the darkness that is in you, then will He also deny you. For the Lord thy God is a jealous God, and He will surely manifest His sore displeasure in judgments upon His people; a people unto whom I have denied my Word, because they have rejected my law; if now they deny me who speak unto them; until, with weeping and with trembling, they confess that the God of Israel hath spoken. For while the obedient suffer persecutions, wherein they have cause to rejoice, the disobedient will suffer the wrath of God unto sorrow of soul. And thus shall judgment be poured out upon my people unto the day when the yoke of their bondage shall be broken by the power of the Holy One. He that hath wisdom let him understand.

SECTION IV.

1. The sunlight and the rain have not been withheld from the wicked, but upon the just and the unjust alike, the blessings of heaven descend, that peradventure the wicked may pause and consider, and opportunity be given them to repent, that in the times of refreshing they also may become the redeemed of the Lord.
2. And because of this, the wicked have possessed themselves of all the fullness of the earth, and made themselves wiser in their day and generation than the children of the kingdom; and by their knowledge, have they arrogated unto themselves the powers that be; even to rule and exercise unrighteous dominion over the souls of men. And this have they done because of the free-agency of man.
3. And now, if I should suffer them to obtain knowledge of spiritual things also, which knowledge is power in the heavens, even as knowledge is power upon the earth, they would seek in like manner to overthrow the institutions of heaven, hereafter, unto their own glory, even as Lucifer. And thus again would the voice of the traitor be heard in the pavilions of the Holy One.
4. Wherefore, they cannot he permitted to receive it, and are thus shut out from the gates of knowledge by the Spirit of Truth; for He ministereth not unto them, saith the Lord. For this cause was it decreed of the Father, that only through obedience should the Holy Ghost be given to men; yea, through an ordinance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and not by the will or choice of any man; neither can any man obtain the administrations thereof, to lead him into all truth without strict conformity therewith.
5. And even then, if he be insincere, the Spirit is withholden from him until the day of his repentance; for, behold, I say unto you, blessed even is the hypocrite who repenteth of his sin.
6. And thus it is, that, by an holy ordinance of the Everlasting Gospel, the free-agency of man is restricted, that he cannot enter into that knowledge which is the power of God unto salvation. And he is thus cut off from the path of his glory through the law of obedience, which was instituted in the heavens for the peace of eternity and the glory of God; for it is the Father's assurance, that though the spirits of heaven are free agents unto themselves forever, the rebellion of Lucifer can never be repeated.
7. Many are the children of men who suppose, that because they are possessed with peace of mind and joy of heart, given unto them of the Father, because of their repentance and righteous desires, by which they seek after the things of God and thirst after righteousness, which leadeth them unto the kingdom of heaven, that they are endowed with the Holy Ghost; but verily, I say unto you, they have no power. They are altogether as other men. Wherefore, they have not the Gospel of Jesus Christ; but are some of one faith and some of another, drifting from church to church, as wandering sheep, which have no shepherd.
8. Ye know that when my disciples of old, laid their hands upon them which believed, after that they had been baptized, of them that were appointed and ordained unto that calling, they received power.
9. They spake with tongues and prophesied; they laid their hands on the sick and they were healed; they cast out devils and if they drank any deadly thing it did not hurt them. But behold, ye do none of these things.
10. If any among you heal the sick ye do it by the occult forces of your own mind, or ye do it by sorcery, or ye do it by the craftiness of Satan, who lieth in wait to deceive. Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye do it not by the power of God.
11. And now ye know that the Son of Man Healed not by sorcery, neither by Beelzebub, the Prince of Darkness, nor by any of the subtle powers of the will; for all these are at enmity with God; and by them the Wicked One deceiveth the world, making the body well that he may make the soul sick; from which malady there is no physician can deliver them; save it be the Son of God, who healeth both body and soul; saying unto some that are healed, thy sins be forgiven thee.
12. Albeit, in these days of the greater power of Satan among men, multitudes there are who are caught in the strong delusion, that a mental self-denial of Sin, will have the effect of cleansing the soul and washing men white within. But I say unto you, that no man is able to silence or deny away forever, the conscience of the soul, by his own power or by the will of another; but only for the brief moment wherein the arch-deceiver is permitted to exercise his power to bind the minds of men.
13. For the guilt of sin, wherein man becomes debtor to another and to that God who made him, cannot be removed by his own power; for in that day when the free-agency of his will, which is eternally endowed upon him, is released from the bondage of Satan, behold, the sin of that man returneth upon his soul from which he cannot escape, save it be by repentance and restitution, through the covenant and power of God, according to the irrevocable law of the Everlasting Gospel, instituted before the foundation of the world for the redemption of man.
14. And behold, they are: but thieves and robbers who seek to enter in by any other way. For they cannot enter into the rest of God when they repudiate the law and reject the conditions set at the door of the kingdom of God; wherein they make themselves rebels against God. And thus it is they become thieves and robbers, seeking to secure unto themselves, by stealth, and not by obedience, the abundant riches of heaven hereafter.
15. And now, verily I say unto you, the powers which are of the world, whether it be to usurp dominion over the bodies and souls of men, to oppress and to grind them, or to heal the body that they may wreck the soul; shall no longer be vested in the wicked, for the days of the ungodly are numbered and the end is at hand. The righteous will I clothe with power over the face of the whole earth, and they shall govern the nations; for the priesthood of heaven shall be firmly established among men, and the powers thereof will appear as in days of old, that man upon earth may know to distinguish between that which is from on high and that which cometh from beneath, luring the souls of men from the kingdom of God. And thus will I destroy the works of the Prince of Darkness by the spirit and power of that priesthood which is ordained anew upon earth.
16. I sent my servant John unto the house of Israel, clothed upon with the priesthood which was confirmed upon Aaron, to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews; but I say unto you, with this greater priesthood, will I overthrow the kingdom of the Gentiles also, and thresh the nations which rebel against me, saith the Lord of Hosts.
17. For it is the hour appointed of the Father to cast off the wicked, and to dispel the darkness; yea, to make known the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, by showing unto the righteous many things which have been hid in the bosom of the Father from the foundation of the world.
18. And thus the more wicked shall be reserved unto outer darkness, and the more righteous unto greater light, even as I will; till you come up unto the great and the mighty ones who surround the throne of God, and are the supporting pillars upon which His glory rests and His government endures Forever.
19. It was because of these things that I said unto my disciples concerning that John, who baptized in Jordan, even that mighty voice from the wilderness which was sent to prepare the way of the Messiah and bear witness of Him, that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And it was because of this also that some of my disciples desired to sit, the one on my right hand and one on my left; and I said unto them, it is not mine to give, but the Father's. And I said also, that he who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, let him be the least and the servant of all. And I say unto you now, was it not written of Moses in the Scriptures, that he was the meekest man in all the earth? Wherefore ye know that the powers of eternity are not bestowed as by the wisdom of man, but of the judgment of God. For what thing did Moses say, that God did not do for him?

SECTION V.

1. And now I say unto you, it is for the sake of the righteous of this dispensation, that I have opened the heavens again, and sent down unto them truth from on high, that they may be clothed with power even as Moses; while the wicked dwindle and fall away, to be utterly cut off and banished from the earth.
2. And in consequence a light has broken forth anew upon my Scriptures to illumine the pages thereof with understanding, which is that same light by which holy men of old declared my Word, that my Scriptures might be had among men.
3. Yea, it is that light from which your fathers turned away, leaving their children to wander in spiritual darkness until this day; and behold, ye are the Church of Christ wandering in the wilderness of that darkness; and now I reveal anew unto you that greater light than the light of the Prophets; even that which the Father sealed upon the Son when He sent Him into the world. Wherefore, the condemnation of your fathers, who rejected the light, the same is fallen upon you, if now you reject my Word at this time.
4. For the light which is in me is truth, even the knowledge of things as they are; which knowledge is power, even the power of the Son of God. And when you reject the light which is in me you sit in darkness; and behold, your darkness, how great it is; for the whole world slumbereth in the depths thereof, and it is come to pass, as saith the Prophet, "I looked and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold; therefore, mine own arm brought salvation to me; and my fury, it upheld me." And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drink in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.
5. For the knowledge which is in you is of the world, and the things which are therein; and the same is that knowledge which, from the beginning has brought forth but emptiness and vanity; for when mine angel shall declare that time is no more, that knowledge which is in you shall pass away, and all the works thereof, and there shall nothing remain, even from the beginning, save it be that which is wrought of God; and that which is wrought of God, even from the beginning, shall endure forever.
6. Hence, when the ministry of men seek to hide God within a veil of obscurity and to clothe him in robes of mystery, they do it to conceal the darkness which is in them, obeying the promptings of the Prince of Darkness, that the mask of the shepherd may betray the sheep of the pasture.
7. Yet, when I testified in the former day, by the light of the Father which was in me, men denied the witness which He Himself provided for a witness of Himself; that they might know Him.
8. Unto this end it was that I came into the world, to bear witness of the Father, that He might be loved of men, and worshiped of them, in the fullness of that knowledge whereof the Spirit beareth record.
9. And now, behold I renew that witness again unto the world; even unto this generation; yea, saith the Lord, with a voice which is not to be denied away; for it is the voice of truth; and truth is a rock, O man, planted of God; and though the impotent may rage, and beat in fury upon it, as the waters of the sea, yet their passions will subside away and altogether cease; for in a little while and the calm of Galilee shall rest upon the souls of men; and truth shall light the earth as the glory of the sun which mounteth up from the east.
10. And if men again reject the truth which is offered unto them, as in former times, I will cut them asunder in their generations, saith the Lord, both root and branch. For no longer will I suffer the unbelieving to remain fruitful upon the earth, to perpetuate the seed of the evildoer and them which rebel against God.
11. From the beginning men ought to have accepted the Scriptures with believing hearts, and not to have denied and rejected them, because the things therein seemed impossible to man, for they were possible to God, as you ought to have known; for, He who made all things, is able to do whatsoever He will with the works of His own hands. And if you had done this you would not have mystified the plain truth of the Scriptures by the invention of strange meanings to uphold the contentions of men. And thus you might have known God; whom to know, they declare, is eternal life; which is to say, a knowledge of God leadeth those who sit in darkness, in the way of eternal life.
12. For the Prophets, from the first, even unto the last of them, have plainly testified of Him. And the Father sent His Son into the world that the world might know still more abundantly of Him; and that knowing God might know all truth. But behold, when I testified of Him to your fathers, they denied my testimony, as you also do unto this day.
13. For ye know that Christ was a man, like unto all men; and ye say also that He is God; nevertheless, ye say that God is spirit; yea, that He is a mystery; that He is incomprehensible to man; that it is blasphemy to seek to understand Him.
14. Know ye not that if Christ was a Son, born of woman, His Father was likewise a man, even as Christ? And ye know also that Christ taught the world that they should worship His Father, and Himself worshiped Him. Wherefore have ye denied His testimony?
15. When He testified unto your fathers that He was the Son of God, they straight way charged Him that He blasphemed God; and they sought to kill Him. For they knew that Christ was the son of Mary even as ye know it. Wherefore, they would not believe that He was also the Son of God, even as ye will not believe it.
16. But ye must know, if ye are rational beings, that the father of Jesus Christ was in the form of man, like unto the Son; which thing the Scriptures plainly manifest.
17. Ye say that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, constitute the Godhead, which holdeth supreme dominion over all things; wherefore ye know by the name which yourselves employ, that the first of them, even the Highest of them, is the Father of Him whom ye call the Son. And since ye know the Son to be a son, how is it ye know not the Father to be a father?
18. And the Holy Ghost, which speaketh not of Himself, beareth record of the Father and the Son, that they hold dominion over all things which are or ever can be; yea, and verily I say unto you, over the Spirit also; for they hold dominion in order even as ye name them.
19. But, notwithstanding ye thus know the Fatherhood of the Most High God, you have fashioned Him out of the mystical and made Him incomprehensible to man; and by the doctrine of an immaculate conception, have you brought the Son into the world, the offspring of a being without body, parts or passions, a formless power, working a miracle upon a virgin.
20. And notwithstanding you have been plainly told that He is the Only Begotten of the Father, you will not believe that He is begotten at all. And thus you join with them of old to cry blasphemy against those who would tell you the truth.
21. And now I say unto you, that it was for this truth that many turned themselves away, in that day, to walk no more with Him. And behold, Many of you also, sit in that same darkness, even as they, and resist to know the truth and to understand God.
22. Nevertheless, it has gone forth in a firm decree, that the world shall be brought to a knowledge of God, and the time is at hand. And though the wicked rage, and the unbelieving scoff, and the self-righteous turn themselves away; yet, in a day which is nigh to come, will I cut them all asunder, saith the Lord of Hosts, and of them there shall be none left.
23. And then cometh to pass the saying of the Prophet: the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in that day no man sayeth unto his neighbor, know thy God, for all the children of men which remain upon the earth shall know Him, from the least unto the greatest.

SECTION VI.

1. Wherefore, I the Lord: will be merciful unto the House of Israel at this time, and will reason with them out of the Scriptures, concerning this thing.
2. You were told from the beginning, that in the beginning, God made man in His own likeness, and fashioned him after His own image. Wherefore, you knew from the Scriptures, that God was in the form of man.
3. Yet you were told also that your father Adam stood in the presence of God, and that they walked and communed together in the Garden of Eden.
4. But you corrupted the fountain head of that knowledge by your unbelief in rejecting the testimony of the first man, which testimony was given unto you of God that you might understand from the first. And you know that Adam was shut out from the presence of God because of disobedience; and his posterity also for their sins, and was not denied the sight of Him because of invisibility. Wherefore you knew, from the Scriptures, that God was in the form of man.
5. And you were told that the man Adam fled from the presence of God to hide himself out of His sight; that his nakedness might not be discovered. And you know that it were a vain thing that a man should seek to hide himself from that spirit which pervades all space. And you know also that he would not be troubled with the shame of nakedness in the presence of the spirit as in the presence and under the eye of man. Wherefore, you know that God is in the form of man.
6. And thus you knew, that the God of your father Adam possessed all the parts and characteristics of your own selves. That because of His personality in whose image you are made, He both walked and uttered speech and could look upon the creations of His own hands.
7. And yet in a creed, which reflects the general conception of the world, you declare Him to be, a being without body, parts, or passions.
8. And thus you do always deny the Scripture of truth, to resist your Creator and His Word to the children of men.
9. You were told also that God talked with Abraham, face to face, as one man talks with another; and also that He talked with Isaac and with Jacob. Wherefore, you knew that He is in the Form of man.
10. For you know how great was the testimony of these Patriarchs of old. How that Abraham, in strict obedience offered his only son upon the altar in the mount of God, and how that Isaac bowed in obedience to the will of his father, to lay down his life, and you also know that in this thing, Abraham was set for a type of the Eternal Father, and Isaac for the Only Begotten Son, who was to be made an offering in the meridian of time for the sins of the world.
11. And now I declare anew unto you, even that which all the world knows, that it is not possible for the wicked to enter into the presence of God; for God suffereth them not to testify of Him unto you. But behold, when the righteous bear witness of Him, the same cometh from God, and is given unto the world that the world might know God; and verily I say unto you, they lie not.
12. And you know how that Jacob, when dying in the land of Egypt, rose upon his couch, and stretching forth is hand in the presence of Joseph and his brethren, declared unto them, that "GOD ALMIGHTY" appeared unto him in the plains of Mamrah. And verily I say unto you, that the aged Israel lied not to bear this witness unto the world. Wherefore, you know that God is in the form of man.
13. And you know also, when Moses the Lawgiver unto Israel, stood upon Mount Horeb, four hundred years after, that God spake unto him by the voice of a man and by the words of a man, that he should tell them which were yet in Egypt, that I Am had sent him, even the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; saying that their names should be a memorial of God unto the world forever. Wherefore, you know from the words of Moses, that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, each in his generation, stood in the presence of God and were set to bear witness of Him to the end of time. Wherefore, you know that the God of the children of Israel, whom ye now worship in all the world, is in the form of man.
14. And you know that Moses did himself bear witness of Him, saying, the Lord stood in the door of the tabernacle in a cloud and spake unto Moses and Aaron and Miriam, saying, if I have a Prophet among you, I speak unto him by dreams and by visions, but my servant Moses is not so, with him I speak face to face, as one man speaks with another. Wherefore, you know from Moses also that God is in the form of man.
15. And you know also that He appeared unto Moses near to a cleft of rock in the Mount of Sinai, and there revealed unto him a part of the glory of His person through the fissure which was in the rock. But the fullness of His glory could not Moses behold, lest he should die. For Moses desired to look upon the glory of the Lord, which no man could see and live. Wherefore, He shewed not unto him His face in the fullness of His glory, but that which he could endure. And Moses bore witness of the thing in the camp of Israel, after that he had veiled his face; for he also did shine from the glory which was upon the Lord. Wherefore, the whole camp of Israel did witness that Moses beheld the glory of God.
16. And you know also that the glory which they saw was like unto that brightness which blinded the man of Tarsus in the highway to Damascus; which you know was the brightness of Jesus Christ whom the disciples knew, even knew him to be a man. Wherefore, the brightness which Moses saw, you know, was like the brightness of a man, and you also know it was the brightness of God whom Moses met, and with whom he conversed face to face.
17. And whom also Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel saw from afar off upon the Mount of Sinai; and the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain, and in the eyes of the children of Israel, which also beheld it.
18. Now a marvelous thing was brought to pass; that a multitude of eyes from Sinai should bear witness to the world of the person and the glory of God; even a chosen people whom I raised up, and Moses their leader, in whom ye trust. Wherefore, you know that God is in the form of man.
19. And the martyr Stephen, when wicked hands were about to take him and stone him to death, not fearing death, because of the truth which was in him, steadfastly looking up into heaven, bore witness unto them with a loud voice, saying, that he saw God sitting upon His throne and Jesus Christ standing at His right hand. And Jesus they knew, knew that he was a man like unto themselves; which thing ye also know. Wherefore, you know that this man's vision was of the Father and the Son. And behold, I say unto you, that the witness of Stephen, which he confirmed with the shedding of his blood, shall stand a witness forever of the Fatherhood of God, to bring damnation upon an unbelieving world; even upon you, who by the denial of his testimony, consent to the shedding of his blood.
20. And John also, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, being commanded of the Lord to write unto you the things which he saw while on the Isle of Patmos, did testify unto all men who should come after him, that he was in the spirit on the Lord's day and did behold God sitting upon His throne; and saw four and twenty elders round about the throne. And John bore record also that these were elders beheaded for the testimony of Jesus; and you know that they were men like unto yourselves, for your fathers slew them. Wherefore, you know that God, which sat upon the throne before whom they bowed down and worshipped Him, was in the form of man, like unto them.
21. And behold, now I say unto you that you have also the words of Him that sat on the throne, even the words of the Eternal Father, bearing witness unto that John which baptized in Jordan; who, when he had baptized the Son of man, did testify that he saw the Holy Ghost, in form, as it were a dove, descending and resting upon Him, and that he heard a voice out of heaven saying, This is my beloved Son. Wherefore, you know that this Voice was not the voice of the Holy Ghost; for out of heaven John heard it, in the words of a man heard he it.
22. And again, in like manner, as if the testimony of John were insufficient, He spake unto Peter, James and John, upon the Mount of Olives. saying also, This is my beloved Son, even by the voice of a man, said He these words.
23. And because of all the things which the Father did, you know that He withheld not the truth from the world; for fear of man, what he would say or what he would do; but raised up a faithful witness, whose coming was heralded by an holy angel in the temple of God; which thing afterwards was noised about through all the land of Judea and at Jerusalem; and after that, sent him forth out of the wilderness, eating locust and wild honey and girt about with a girdle of camel's hair, that he might be separate from the sons of men, in all things unto God, that no man might say, he is of this or he is of that persuasion, but that he was ordained to bear witness that the Father did Himself testify to the world that Jesus Christ was His beloved Son.
24. And after that, He separated out the chiefest of the Apostles, which hold the keys of the kingdom of God, and in the presence of Moses and Elias, upon the Holy Mount of God, did repeat with His own voice the self same words, that they might confirm unto the world the testimony of John.
25. Wherefore, now I say unto you, that the Son lied not when He testified unto the Jews that He was the Son of God. And I say unto you also, that the blasphemy whereof men are guilty, is in that they charge God, the Eternal Father, and also Jesus Christ His Son, that they have born a false witness unto the children of men, yea, that they have lied unto them, concerning this thing.
26. Behold, you are they which denied the Prophets sent unto the House of Israel, even from the beginning down to the time of the coming of the Lord. And now you have denied the voice of the Eternal One, spoken to confirm the Prophets and to establish the testimony of the Son and to make His witness binding upon the world.
27. And behold, you have denied the Son also who suffered His body to be broken, laying it upon the altar of the tabernacle of God, that He might seal His testimony unto men, with His blood.
28. And thus you have denied Him whom the Father brought into the world that He might have a witness of Himself among men. Which witness was of His own body begotten; and did resemble Him, in so much, that He was the express image of His person.
29. Because the Father loved me, He raised me up to the seat of His power and glory, coming not Himself into the world, but sending a Son that He might make Him manifest. Wherefore, it was that the Son did all things whatsoever the Father would have done; doing not His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him; and saying always before men, not mine but thy will be done.
30. And in this manner did I show unto the children of men, His love, His mercy, His long suffering, His meekness and His power, His justice and His wisdom; yea, His sacrifice of all things for your sake. For all these things would He have done who loved you, save that He loved me to be at His right hand.
31. Unto this end was the Son begotten of the Father, that He might do the works of the Father, even unto death.
32. Wherefore, if the Son who loved you to lay down His life, the Father loved you first; even to redeem you, after that He had created you, in the likeness of His own body.
33. Wherefore, if you love not the Father, to keep His commandments, then are you damned, or in other words, then are you condemned; for you cannot enter into life, saith the Lord of Hosts. For He that sent me gave unto me power, to shut up the gates of salvation upon the disobedient. And I say unto you, that they which come unto the Father must come through Him, who, by the natural law was made the manifestation of His own flesh, and by the spirit made manifest the very Eternal Father of heaven and earth.
34. Wherefore, it was that I said unto Phillip, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; wherefore, sayest thou show us the Father.
35. And now I the Lord, speak unto all the children of Israel, sending forth the message thereof throughout all the world in mine own due time, and speaking in that plainness which I manifested unto mine Apostles and disciples of old; by which means they knew of the things of God, and did understand. Therefore, that which mine Apostles wrote unto you was of that knowledge and wisdom which is in me; for I said unto them, I am the way, the truth and the life; and they wrote it unto you.
36. And now I say unto you, if any man would come unto the Father, let him believe in me, and walk in my counsel; for except he receive me he cannot receive my Father which sent me. Wherefore, said I unto you, in a former commandment, that if you believe not the Son you cannot be redeemed from the fall. But if you believe, then will I make plain to you the path which leadeth unto life eternal.
37. Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on the Son unto salvation, will believe in Him which speak unto you now; and if you will not believe in him which speak unto you now, but in some other manifestation of him, then it is that you believe not on the Son of God. For, whensoever He speaketh unto the world, they that believe on Him will know His Voice.

SECTION VII.

1. And now, because you have departed from the plain meaning and intent of the revelations, which in mercy, have been given unto men, you have impugned the integrity of God, to make Him the deceiver of the whole world. Yea, as the Scriptures declare, you have changed the truth of God into a lie.
2. And this you have done because you supposed that God was a spirit; as the Scriptures truly declare; but you have supposed also, that being a spirit, He could not be a man. Notwithstanding the same Scriptures speak of man in this wise; that when he dieth, his body shall return to dust, and the spirit back to that God who gave it.
3. And now I say unto you, that not only God, but every man also, made in His likeness and image, is a spirit. Except it were so there could no man live; neither beast or animate thing; for spirit is life. And when the spirit departeth, there comes death.
4. And I say unto you also, that the spirits of men are separate entities even as your bodies are separate; but as the elements which form the flesh of your bodies are not separate, but are one, so also the spirits of men unite in one. For as the Father and I are one, so are all those who are obedient unto that spirit, which is in, and through you all, the light of truth, established in one.
5. And the spirit of life is eternal; for which reason it is written of the second death, their worm never dieth; which is eternal banishment from the mercies and favors of God. While the gift of eternal life is in that ye are brought within the shadow of the blessings of God forever. And, for as much as you know that man is formed in the likeness and image of God, who is eternal spirit, you know also that man is eternal spirit, like unto God; and like unto God neither was nor could be created. And I say unto those researchers among you who are seeking a knowledge of life and the source thereof; behold, you seek God, in whom you live and move and have a being; and you shall not find Him in the protoplasms of the cosmic world. Behold, He is spirit, even like unto that which giveth life and verity to all that is manifest on the plane of visible things.
6. There is a spirit which pervades all things and by and of which all things subsist; and through the medium of which, the Creator of all things knoweth and upholdeth all things, even from the seat of His eternal power and Godhead. Wherefore, He dwelleth in the midst of all things, to all eternity, and is God.
7. The same is the Father of Jesus Christ, who is His Only begotten in the flesh; whom He hath raised up to inherit all things, and to be one with Him in all things, even unto His Eternal Power and Godhead.
8. And this is that same Spirit which I sent unto mine Apostles at Jerusalem, that they might have understanding and also that they might have power; which men receive by imposition of hands of Him who is ordained unto that calling.
9. And thus do I show unto you that you have confounded the Spirit of Truth with the God and Creator of heaven and earth, and have denied that being who made you. Nevertheless, you say well, that the Godhead is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for so it is; and that these three are one; which is also true, but it is a oneness in the designs and purposes which they forever project into the vastness of eternity, for the happiness of man; in which things they are not divided, as are the councils of men. Wherefore, they are one.
10. Wherefore, they are one in wisdom, love, mercy, justice and truth, to rule over all the creations which their hands have made, in the course of that one eternal round which fills up the measure of God's existence, wherein He brings to pass the creation and redemption of man, that they may have joy and happiness, and that He may be glorified in them. And, for as much as you were taught from Mount Sinai that there is but one, a True and Living God, and that you should have no other gods before Him, you have sought, in the darkness of the counsels of men, to make the Father and the Son of one substance; when you know of your own selves, since ye are set to be a link in the generations, that progenitor and offspring cannot be one personality.
11. And therefore, you should have known, that, in as much as they are one in wisdom, love, mercy, justice, and truth, men should not divide them, in their worship, as the heathen of old were wont to do; for they are one in all things which pertaineth unto man; and are to be worshipped alike, even by the Spirit of Truth, which beareth witness unto man, that in spirit, they are one unchangeable God forevermore. And likewise you yourselves must be united in one even as I instructed my disciples; that you may be one in me as I am one in the Father; that the Spirit of Truth may be in you as in the Father and the Son.

SECTION VIII.

1. Thus have the wicked perverted the Word of the Lord, to make His doctrines an abomination unto the world. And behold, I say unto you, it is through the craftiness of Satan, who seeketh to destroy the works of God, that the souls of men are led down into this dark and devious way of destruction; for he was an enemy of God from the beginning; and rebelled against the Holy One; even that he thought to sit upon the throne of God. But behold, he is fallen, and has received his portion with them which also have made themselves rebels against the kingdom of heaven. And many are the children of men who are bound into churches and orders and creeds and dogmas, by the strong bands of his power, wherein he has chained the minds of men and put them under darkness, subjecting them unto the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God; for in the exercise of their free-agency they have chosen the evil rather than the good, and brought themselves under the immutable law of eternal justice, which is the wrath of God.
2. And now, behold, they have not the power to deliver themselves; for they are blinded by the specious reasoning of the Wicked One that they cannot see that they also are in his grasp, even as their neighbor, whose bondage they behold.
3. And, verily, I say unto you, there is no power, save it be the power of mine Everlasting Gospel which can break his chains. And for this cause was the Gospel committed unto men; that with it they might overcome the lies of the Devil, and walking in the love of truth, work out for themselves a deliverance from his power.
4. And behold, as in Galilee, I cry unto you, repentance, and declare unto you, that the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repent, therefore, and believe the Gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation, as the Apostle saith; yea, it is the only power by which it is possible for the children of men to break the chains of Satan and obtain a redemption from the fall.
5. And now I would that you should not be deceived in the name thereof; for many of you suppose that the name applies to any manner and form of religious zeal among men, but I say unto you that the dogmas and creeds of men and churches of the world are not mine Everlasting Gospel, whereof I speak unto you. But I speak of that one and only plan of salvation which was ordained of my Father in the heavens before the earth was made.
6. Now therefore, I say unto you, that except my Gospel were made known unto you, you could in no wise be delivered from the fall; for it is impossible for men, of themselves, to break down the power of Satan. Wherefore, if you reject the words which are sent forth unto this generation wherein I make known unto you the only power of God that can deliver you, then are you damned; for, though God hath all power, yet He can not sacrifice that agency which He hath committed to every man; yea, and I say unto you, to Lucifer also; that Son of the morning, who, by reason of it, became the enemy of God, that stood in the presence of God, and because of whom, if you choose not to love and obey God, then are you damned.
7. But as many of you as are willing to hear and willing to walk in my counsel, shall live, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be, even as it was when my servant Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness. They that received the words of that Prophet, and chose to walk in his counsel, lived; and those who rejected that counsel died in the wilderness; and their carcasses were cast out by the wayside as the children of Israel traveled on their journey in the way to the land of promise.

SECTION IX.

1. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be with those who reject the counsel of the Lord at this time. For I sent forth my servant to cry repentance to that generation. And he called upon the people every where to repent, that they perish not in the floods of water which the Lord would send upon the earth. But, lo! they rejected the words of Noah, all save it were the family of Noah, and repented not; wherefore, they perished in the flood.
2. Behold, you know how that it is written of them, that they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, and knew not till the flood came and took them all away. And now, O ye children of the latter days, behold and hear; shall it be more tolerable for you in the day of visitation than for them?
3. For as much as it is the time of which the Prophets have forewarned you, how shall you answer unto God? And in as much as the judgments of nature have cried out continually, of a fiery indignation, how shall you answer unto God? And whereas, there was heard the voice of a Prophet crying aloud unto them, but unto you is given the message of the Living God, yea, even in mine own words; which are sent forth unto you in mine own name; then how shall you answer unto God?
4. And behold, you know of this also, for it was plainly written unto you, and brought down from the fathers, on this wise; and behold, I the Lord, did truly speak unto Moses my servant saying: I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak unto them all that I shall command him and it shall come to pass, that whoever will not harken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it, of him. Now therefore, I say unto you again, how shall you answer unto God?
5. And of this also, to confirm it the more unto you, spake the Apostle Peter, standing in Solomon's porch, and declaring unto them who were gathered about the temple: on this wise, "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people."
6. And now, I say unto you, that this is that one, which, if you will receive it, was promised of old. How, then, shall you answer unto God?
7. You discern that all things upon the face of the earth are in commotion, both in the wars of the elements and in the wars of men, wherefore the signs are plainly manifest unto you. For you know that it was to be in a day of wars and rumors of wars. Wherefore, you know that the time is at hand. Yea, it was to come when many should run to and fro and knowledge should be increased. Wherefore, you know that the time is at hand.
8. And I gave for a sign and a warning unto this present generation, the parable of the fig tree; saying, When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh; so likewise ye, when he shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, (meaning the generation in which these signs should appear), till all these things be fulfilled. Wherefore, you know that the time is at hand.
9. And you learn from the Scriptures, concerning the children of the flood, how that I prepared a prison for them, from whence they came not out until, in sorrow, they despaired of deliverance. Yet, in a day long delayed, they were visited of the Lord, as the Scripture saith: For He was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit by which He went and preached to the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing. Which Scripture saith also, concerning them, the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live, meaning, they which believe and obey, shall live. And thus it was that two thousand years and more passed away while the disconsolate children of the flood sorrowed for the mercies of God, to open the prison house unto them that were bound. And verily, I say unto you that even then, when men are bound with unbelief and sin how shall God, even the Almighty, deliver them? Save it be to show them the way, and offer unto them mine Everlasting Gospel. For the decree can in no wise be disannulled, that they shall be left to choose.
10. But, and if the Lord withhold, as with the children of the flood and bring not the Gospel unto you, and you languish in prison, how can you obtain salvation? Yea, how can you escape the judgments of hell? Behold, now, again I prepare the world for judgment, and prepare my servants also, and after a little season, will I send them forth to bind up the law and seal up the testimony against the rebellious and unbelieving.
11. And from that time it shall be woe unto that city and that people, in the land of promise first, which give no heed unto my Word, which I will cause them to speak unto you, in my name. For I the Lord, endow them from on high, even with the Spirit of Truth, do I endow them. And every man among them which shall open his mouth, in the midst of the congregations of the people, I will fill it with eternal words, saith the Lord of Hosts, administering unto you, through them the words of eternal life, even the same as I offered them unto the children of men when I traveled in my strength upon the earth and led the way of the first ministry of salvation, sending them forth two by two, without purse or script, unto every city and every people, reproving the world of unbelief and wickedness and delivering unto all men the message of the Everlasting Gospel.
12. And those who repent not, to turn unto me through their words, woe shall be unto them, for they shall be cut off and perish in the flesh, and hereafter will I shut them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that they shall not hear the voice of a Prophet, neither the sound of the Gospel of salvation. Hear it, O ye children of men; ye high and ye low, ye rich and ye poor, ye proud and ye humble, ye wise and ye foolish, ye great and ye small, ye righteous and ye wicked; yea, hear it all ye children of men; for there is none to escape, neither ear that shall not hear, neither heart that shall not be penetrated; for this my Word, shall go forth unto all men, in mine own due time.

SECTION X.

1. Behold I say unto you, it is the appointed hour of the Lord your God to meet again the adversary of the souls of men, as at the first; and to overcome him and destroy his works; yea, to bind him with chains, and to bring to naught his reign; even to make an end of the powers of the Prince of Darkness; that he shall no longer rule over the inhabitants of the earth.
2. Nevertheless, he shall exercise dominion for a little season; for power will be given him over his own, that he may work his wonders among them, to deceive the hosts of them which follow after him, which are of the synagogue of Satan, that the wicked may do wickedly and the righteous may know to depart from out of their midst. And I will bless the righteous and will give them power over the wicked, and in as much as they give heed unto my spirit they shall prevail against them; for I will expose the intrigues of those who plot against the upright; and publish upon the house tops the deeds of them that violate the law, in secret, and who practice stealth upon my innocent ones, to outrage them. With swiftness will I overtake them, and with suddenness will I drive them upon the hooks of iron which I have prepared for their jaw.

SECTION XI.

1. And now unto you who look with contempt upon the wicked, take unto yourselves the warning of the Lord, and beware of vanity; for there are those among you who think they stand and who regard themselves as the righteous, and some of these have set themselves to lead. Let them beware of self-righteousness, that peradventure they be not deceived by their own vanity.
2. For I say unto you that there are many of my little ones who live in obscurity and who sojourn in the most humble, yea, often times in the most miserable walks of life; even as the publicans and sinners of old; and ere I have made all end of my Word unto this generation, many of the self-righteous will be shocked. For when I shall call my sheep of Israel out from their dens of iniquity, and my daughters of Zion from whence they have been driven and turn my face from those who come in the garments of their own holiness, you shall know that the Scribes and Pharisees of the latter days, like unto those who were rebuked of John at the waters of baptism, are chiefest of sinners; and that the righteousness of man is as filthy rags in the sight of God.
3. But verily, I say unto you, let the self-righteous and the wicked alike repent; the wicked of his wicked ways, and the self-righteous of the vanity of his soul. For the unrepentant only, will I condemn, saith the Lord. It is the meek whom the Father loveth; and unto them the kingdom will be delivered.
4. For though their sins be as scarlet, yet will I make them whiter than snow; for I the Lord, will forgive the children of men who yield obedience unto me.
5. Wherefore, I am the Savior of all men who are willing to be redeemed. And I say unto you that if you repent with full purpose of heart, and rebel not against my Word, which is my law, yea, which is mine Everlasting Gospel, which I the Lord, reveal anew unto you of this generation, then will I redeem you, saith the Lord of Hosts, that where I am there you may be also.

SECTION XII.

1. Wherefore, the Lord is full of mercy, notwithstanding His judgments hang heavy over the world. And I say unto you, that it is a doctrine of devils, and those which gave heed unto them, when men proclaim unto you, that the arm of the mercy of God is forever withdrawn from round about His children, and that they shall be left to perish and their souls be lost forever in the doom of perdition.
2. Nevertheless, I say unto you, it is true that God's punishments are eternal; for He is eternal and His institutions likewise endure forever; even as the institution of heaven, so is the institution of hell. Nevertheless, I said not at any time, neither the Prophets or Apostles, that the spirits of men should go down into hell forever, without hope; but that men should repent; and if they would not repent that they should remain in that hell which is eternal.
3. Wherefore, the punishments of God are eternal upon all those who do eternally resist the just demands of repentance. For only in that manner can they answer to the ends of the immutable justice which is in the bosom of the Father.
4. For I the Lord, have sent forth a commandment unto all men, that they shall forgive every man his trespasses against them.
5. Nevertheless, I do not say, that by obedience unto this commandment the sinner is released from responsibility before me. For the Lord will forgive whom He will, and whom He will not forgive He will punish. And this that justice may be meted out to every soul; yea, that justice and mercy may do their perfect work.
6. And for this cause gave I a commandment unto my disciples that they should not judge one another; but that they should leave judgment unto me, who is able to repay; that for as much as I require men to repent, on the one hand, I require them to forgive on the other; that the unerring scales of a perfect adjustment may be set of God between them all.
7. But verily, I say unto you, it is not possible, through repentance, to discharge the debt of the transgressor; for how can a man restore that which has passed from his power? Can a man enter back into the path of circumstance, and undo the evil deed, with its attendant consequences, which are written in pain and blood into the history of the soul, and there palliate the injured? Verily, I say unto you, he can not so much as unravel the smallest wrong which he has committed upon his neighbor.
8. Behold, there is no power, save it be the power of God, which can release the sinner; and that not of arbitrary power, but of justice. Verily I say unto you, the blood of the Lamb of God, alone is able to answer the ends of justice between all the children of men, and before the seat of Eternal Justice.
9. For the Father cannot deny unto the Son, whatsoever He would ask, if He would uphold the immutability of that justice which is the foundation of His Almighty Power.
10. For the Son subjected Himself to the will of the Father, even unto the uttermost; dying upon the cross, that He might show forth obedience unto death; wherein He surrendered possession of that eternal life, which, by the determinate council of heaven, was written unto man; that, whereas, the wages of sin is death, so also the wages of righteousness is life, even eternal life; which was that life possessed of your father Adam before the fall; which was forfeited by sin, both for himself and for his posterity, they having continued in sin thereafter.
11. But the Son, being without sin, was endowed with the power of life within Himself, and did of Himself lay it down, that He might manifest a perfect obedience unto God. And now, I say unto you, that no man could do this save it were he should be without sin. And when the fall brought sin into the world all men became transgressors; and fell under the law, unto that death which is the wages of sin. Wherefore, it was impossible for man to rise again. For there was no man who could lay upon the altar an offering which would meet the unyielding demands of justice, save it were the Son.
12. He alone was able to surrender all things which are, or ever could become, the heritage of man. For He who met the temptations of the Prince of Darkness, could not be moved. He alone of all men yielded not unto evil. Wherefore, death could not claim Him. But He obtained power over death, to enter therein, and power to burst asunder the bands thereof.
13. And thus alone did He tread the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God, or in other words, the immutable justice of God, and earn, of His own merit, the right of eternal redemption for man; for it is the right of the Son that all power both in heaven and on earth be given unto Him; which right rests upon the foundation of eternal justice and cannot be denied, neither can it be moved.
14. For the Father must remit the penalty for man's sins, or deny the Son, and He cannot deny the prayer of the Son, neither would He, for unto this end He gave Him unto the world to be crucified.
15. And Lucifer, once a shining son of the morning, but now from that bright day, forever fallen, is become the demagogue of perdition; for he was the accuser of the brethren, who accused them before the Father night and day that he might bring down judgment unto death and build up a kingdom of destruction. And with his kingdom founded on justice, he has stood boldly forth, championing, for himself alone, the spirt's eternal free-agency, and tempting the sons of men in the exercise of theirs, to become the children of disobedience. And thus, with a kingdom builded upon that eternal rock, the Father cannot withhold his demands, neither would He, for all the kingdoms of eternity are founded thereon.
16. But now, the Lamb of God, whom the Father sent into the world to redeem it from the power of Lucifer and rescue man from an endless sleep, has, by the shedding of His blood, robbed justice of the penalty for sin and set men free, turning the tables of eternal justice upon Lucifer; and now the heavens shout hosanna to God and the Lamb, and proclaim that that justice which is so good for man is also good for him.
17. And thus he has ruled, a prince over the world, from the sea to the ends of the earth, traveling to and fro and up and down on the face thereof, seeking whom he may destroy, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he has laughed the laugh of hate; for he has bound the minds of men whom the Father created in His own likeness, with the cruel fetters of that great chain which has darkened the whole earth. And not the least among the lies with which he has bound them, is the doctrine that there is no devil; for he has persuaded multitudes to a belief therein, notwithstanding the Scripture of truth plainly reveals him. But hereafter, I the Lord, will expose him yet more fully to the children of men, that they may understand; for the hour is at hand to bind him and take his kingdom from him.
18. And thus the Lord became your advocate with the Father; saying, that as death came into the world by the transgression of the first man, and, by him, was brought to pass upon all his posterity, coming not by them, so may it be that the life which was lost unto them be restored through the justice and suffering of God. Wherefore, by the atonement of Christ's death was wrested from the power of the Devil, and the resurrection brought to pass upon all men, both the just and the unjust; that it might be fulfilled as it has been written, that, as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive.

SECTION XIII.

1. But notwithstanding all men are released from the bands of death, to come forth out of the grave unto the resurrection of life; nevertheless, they are responsible before God for their own transgressions. For notwithstanding they shall live again, some shall come forth unto shame and everlasting contempt, while some shall shine as the brightness of the stars for ever and ever.
2. For notwithstanding the mercies of Christ, his justice, like unto the justice of the Father cannot be moved. Behold, I say unto you, O man, shall the Son, who holdeth the ordination of God over the destinies of all men become the advocate before the throne of His Eternal Power, of those also, who repent not of transgression? Shall the unforgiving and unrepentant, obtain the mercies of the atoning blood of Christ, as in the resurrection? And shall he whose heart remains intolerant of his fellows, be permitted to inherit eternal mercies, like unto those who turn from transgression; who, having sought forgiveness of man and of God, have entered into eternal covenants of uprightness and obedience unto law?
3. Search now, O man, the reigns of the heart of your God; for the court of heaven shall become an open book in the eyes of all men. In the light shall all the world be judged, and every man become his own accuser. Out of his own mouth will I convict the wicked and before the law shall he stand or fall.
4. Then shall it be brought to pass, that every man will forget his neighbor to remember his own iniquity. He shall not trouble the transgressor against him, but for his own sins he shall be brought down, except he repent and turn unto me.

SECTION XIV.

1. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that I the Lord, am the advocate of the meek of the earth; and the lowly of heart shall find rest in me; yea, their joy shall be full. They are they which believe on the Son, to walk in His counsel, not regarding their own. They are they which do my will, even as I do the Fathers will. They are the sheep of my pasture and I will set them upon my right hand; but the opinionated ones who walk in the pride of their own wisdom, shall be gathered upon my left, saith the Lord of Hosts. For they are they which choose their own wisdom rather than the wisdom of God, and have shut themselves off from the light of heaven; refusing to receive the truth, that they might have that wisdom which is from on high.
2. Neither do I pray for them which repent not, wherefore their guilt remaineth upon their own heads.
3. But the prayers of the Son ascendeth unto the Father for all them which believe on the Father, through my words, wherein I testified of Him to the world in the former time and do now testify of Him again to you; for them do I pray unto the Father; that through obedience unto my law, which is mine Everlasting Gospel, they may be forgiven and brought under the shadow of the mercies of heaven. And this will the Father grant unto me, for the Father is full of mercy and long suffering; for my sake, because He loved me, and behold, I say unto you, for your sake, also, because He sent His Only Begotten Son into the world, that, after men had fallen and tasted of that sin which was to make them wise unto His eternal service, wherein they were to partake of His eternal glory, they might be redeemed from under the law of His eternal justice, wherein they had subjected themselves unto eternal misery and banishment from His presence.
4. And thus did the Father provide a Redeemer, of His own body begotten, that, after men had sinned and been banished from His presence in the Garden of Eden, they might be restored again, and the ends of eternal justice remain unshaken and infinite mercy be brought to light.
5. Wherefore, I say unto you, that the fall of man was foreordained of the Father in the heavens before the earth was made. Wherefore, the redeemed of the Lord will rejoice forever in the fall. For if they had not fallen, there would have been no Redeemer, and the riches of the mercies of God would never have been brought to light, and the joys of redemption would never have been known to man, or the dominions and glories of eternity added upon his head forevermore.

Amen.