9. And there came unto me one of the seven an gels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.

10. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

11. Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

12. And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

13. On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.

14. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof..

16. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth; and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.

17. And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

18. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.

19. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;

20. The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

21. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

22. And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord (rod Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

23. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

24. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.

25. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

26. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.

27. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

The first remark upon this lesson is that this description of the City of God, is a compiling into a perfect, majestic whole all the various fragmentary expressions carried through the Bible. You must not regard it as something new. This same description is found all through the Old and New Testaments, but in all other parts of the Bible it is spoken of in portions. One writer speaks of the doors, and others of different parts of the structure. They all refer to it, but in fragmentary statements; but Revelation is the winding-up Book of the Bible, and here are things gathered piece by piece. All materials are gathered by the ringers of John, and compiled into one solid, magnificent whole, as in Solomon's temple the different materials were searched, so the Holy Ghost under the direction of Jesus has given the portrait of the perfect City of God, referred to in the Bible; and every time the Bible speaks about God building a city, and about walls, and temples, etc., this is the identical city referred to in every passage, for God's thoughts always agree with each other.

The second remark is that this "City of God" is always described as being built of the souls of redeemed people, of the material of human souls. It is not built of matter; it is here put in the shape of matter. It is not built of angels, or of material substances. The very description says: "he carried me away in the spirit," etc., and "I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb's wife."

So many read about the Bride, the Lamb's wife, and then read the figure, arid forget that this "City" is the "Bride," "the Lamb's wife." This was the holy Jerusalem. The apostle says we are all precious living stones. He compares every pure Christian to a living stone, and that we are built up a spiritual house. And then he speaks of every joint being put and built together for the habitation of God in the spirit. It is everywhere spoken of as being built of human souls. It is not a myth but a reality. Every believer is a golden brick in this structure; every purified believer is a precious stone in this structure. Isaiah refers to this city:" Oh, thou afflicted," — talking to believers severely tried, — "I will lay thy stones with fair colors."

In the fifty-fourth chapter he alluded to this city, — prophesies it. And so all the writers in the Old and New Testaments allude to it as a real, living person; so that this city is a great living individual made up of thousands of minor individuals. It is spiritual; it is produced by divine grace, and built under the operation of the Holy Ghost. It is a city of souls!

The next remark is the walls of this city. "And it had a wall." We are not left in doubt as to what a wall is: The outer masonry, the thick outer shield, the thick boundary, a protection and support to the city. Isaiah says:" Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks." Many times we have read that, and thought the Lord was giving a mere metaphor. But when you find the same metaphor used by others, they will always agree perfectly. You find a certain comparison in Genesis, and on through to Revelation; you will find them always in harmony. And God does this that his Word may be understood.

The "wall" is but a figure of speech to represent salvation. Look at the word salvation, or you will fail to see the beauty of the figure. It has a peculiar meaning. The word salvation does not mean, on the one hand, the soul by itself, or the Holy Ghost by Himself, but it means the uniting of the soul with the baptism of the Holy Ghost! It is a concrete expression. When believers receive the full baptism of- the Holy Ghost, you will notice they change a great many words. They very seldom talk about "religion;" they use the word "salvation." This represents the conscious experience of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The " helmet of salvation " means the baptism of the Holy Ghost, falling on your mind. He fell on the heads of the disciples. It represents the coming together of the Holy Ghost and the soul. You take fuel and fire. They are both abstract; but bring them together, and you have conflagration. So you bring the purified soul in union with the Holy Ghost, and you have this divine conflagration. That is the meaning of the word salvation; and this is the high jasper wall around the believer. A wall is where the bits of matter are cemented. The various bits are separate.

In order to make a wall you must take these individual bits, and take mortar and cement them together. Now take the truths in the Word of God, and every believer under the baptism of the Holy Ghost becomes cemented. It is the office of a wall to be a cementing bond. This cements the Bible and believers, and cements them together and makes a "wall." How much power would the wall have if every stone was not cemented? so your power — protection — depends on having your soul and the doctrines of the Bible cemented together, and without this you crumble to pieces. A " wall " is not only a protection, but it is also a limit to the city.

The city does not go beyond the wall; it fills all inside the wall. The "City of God" never can exist outside the baptism of the Holy Ghost." The baptism of the Holy Ghost, which unites the believer and Jesus, and the Bible and the believer, that is the limit of the •' City of God! "

You cannot find a city built on "Free Thinking." The real City of God is always bounded by the gift of the Holy Ghost, and when people are not bound by the Spirit of God, they are not in the City; they live outside among the dogs! Beyond that wall of hallowed fire the city does not extend. God's City is surrounded by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, as a wall of Fire! The Old Testament says that fire is an emblem of the Holy Ghost, and the "wall" is the protecting power that the Holy Ghost gives to the Church of God, and to each believer; and the foundations were on bed-rock, and the wall was very high. This goes down deep enough to rest on the bed-rock of Calvary's crucifixion, and high enough to protect the Church of God!

The fourth element is "the gates." An angel at each gate; and every gate had on it the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Twelve, as I mentioned in one of the former readings, always rep resents divine government; so here this Church with its divine government has twelve inroads to it; "on the east three gates," and on the north, south and west, three gates to each. Now, "three" is the divine number; it represents the Trinity; it had " four corners," to correspond with the four quarters of the globe; it had four corners, four represents the human race. To show that all mankind may enter, the three gates on each of the four sides signify that the whole Trinity are ready to receive the incomers from every part of the globe! That the Father, Son and Holy Ghost will receive all recruits that come in from all parts of the world. These gates are the entrances; we enter through the love of the Father and the mercy of Jesus, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, that is the entrance into the immortal union of this divine structure!

In the covenant made with Abraham, God made an entrance way into this temple to all nations of the earth. The plan to save us is very much older than some of us think. God's arrangement to save the world was made before He made the world! So, when you get salvation, you get something that God had fixed up before He made Gabriel. Some think that the law was a failure, and that God decided to save men by faith. This salvation was thought of before the law. was given! Salvation by faith is older than salvation by works!

The twelve patriarchs represent the covenant. I will save them that believe as Abraham believed, so you enter by a covenant; you enter by the Father, Son and Holy Ghost on saving faith; and this plan was arranged with the twelve patriarchs. Salvation by faith isn't a New Testament patent at all! We all get in the way Abraham and the twelve patriarchs did — by believing God!

Each gate was one solid pearl. That pearl means a pure heart. If your heart is pure you have the gate of heaven inside of you! There are two parts to the City of God, — the outward and the inward. There are two parts to you.

There must always be a correspondence between the city and the person who goes in. Now, with your pure heart you can enter through the covenant of faith, by any door you choose.

The next point is: "The foundations." It is twelve stories high. A correct measurement is fifteen hundred miles square. On a flat surface you could soon fill it, but when you put it into a cube and cube it, it has been estimated that the world must stand thousands of years, and people multiply by the thousands before there would be people enough to fill in. You will not be cramped.

Now the foundations. These are the doctrines the foundations are the doc trines of the revealed Word of Truth; and Paul, in talking about false doctrines, says that no man can build any other foundation, — that is doctrine, the revealed Truth of God. So he says, "We look for a city that hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." He did not mean foundations of stone; for all the foundations in the world of matter can be resolved into smoke, which the fires of the judgment day will burn up; but he meant foundations that could not be destroyed; not matter, for all matter is liable to change; but when you get a city built on the revealed will of God, nothing can destroy it; and these are the foundations, and " heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall never pass away! "

Now, His words are the granite foundations. The word "stone" always means God's Truth. When the children of Israel crossed over, the priests went before them walking on the stones. What was this but planting the feet down on the promises of God, and going over dry- shod! It is all part of the same structure. These stones are the words of God; they are precious jewels, and these jewels each have a significance, and represent nothing else than the precious doctrines in the revealed word of God.

Now, God says, "I'll lay your foundations with sapphires. He means, when you are troubled, he will put under you a word, a promise, resembling something like that particular jewel. On these jewels were the names of the twelve apostles, — each one was to teach one special doctrine; they were all chosen because they were particularly qualified to teach one special truth.

Matthew's special theme was the royalty of Jesus Christ; Mark's, servitude, humility; Luke's, the humanity of Christ, — Luke was a physician and anatomist; St. John's, the divinity of Jesus, and the love of God; Peter was a bold confessor; Jude's special theme was divine retribution; Nathaniel's, prayer; Bartholomew's, suffering; James', good works; Paul's, faith, with all its concomitants and adjuncts; so that the Church of God needs all these Bible doctrines.

I don't know whether the Lord inspired men to organize different denominations or not, but the ideas of some run in the Quaker faith, some in the Methodist, or the Presbyterian, or the Baptist; and if we could just look at one apostle there would be something that would be specially adapted to thousands of souls; so every believer in the Church of God can be classified, and in the Great Day God will classify them. Some are especially the Pauline type, and so on; and so these apostles are especially fitted for the un folding of a certain doctrine. Every one is likened to a precious stone. We stand on foundations which are God's words; they support God's structure.

Next comes the transparency and purity of this temple (verse 21). Infidels make fun of this passage; they say gold is opaque. God made one scientist (Farrady) that did his work right; He purified gold until he found that gold, when thoroughly purged, was like glass. Now, God represents this city as gold purged to a last analysis. Gold is a type of divinity, and in this city you can see through men's hearts and their motives; the purity and glory cannot be told; a beautiful transparency!

Next, it was a city beyond natural law and ceremonial law. It had no moon or sun to shine in it, because a temple is the embodiment of religious forms; and when God gets His church in the last state of perfection, every believer will be so under the control of the Holy Ghost that any outward form or ceremony would be an impertinence.

God puts hedges around the church in this world, — rules, regulations, different ordinances, etc., because the church is in its incipiency; but at last, when purged and filled with God, it is released and put under the direct control of God Himself, and every member will be moved by God's will as the veins in the body are filled with the blood propelled from the heart. Every saint will move under the divine impulse. It is a city ruled by God Himself. "No sun, nor moon"; no light of science. The sun and moon represent the light of nature and science. There will be no need of science or colleges, because this city is under the immediate illumination of the Holy Ghost.

Nature teaches from the outside, the Holy Ghost from the inside. In this world I have to be introduced to different ones, but when Peter, James and John saw Elijah, they instantly knew them by the internal flashing of the Holy Ghost. This city is governed by the internal light of the Lamb.

The last point is: The nations of the world that were saved walk in the light of the city (verse 24.) The "Bride of the Lamb" is composed of twelve times twelve — the cube. If you read back you will find that many who are saved do not go into the one hundred and forty- four thousand. Mrs. Fletcher craved to live so near to God as to be one of them.

Isaiah says there is a company to which he says, "Oh, thou who barest not," etc. Beside these, were seen a great number that none could count. This 144,000 represents a perfect number; and you will find all through Revelation that it is the 144,000 standing up close to Jesus — the Bride going out to war with Jesus, — that represents the class of people who are fully baptized with the Holy Ghost, and in perfect union with Jesus. This Bride goes out on " white horses." None but she went out to fight with Jesus his battles. These were the faithful, tried and true, — these are the ones who give birth to spiritual souls, and help Jesus save the world.

There are millions of infants that do not help Jesus save the world, and millions of members of the church to-day who never will get a clean heart until death. They will be saved, but they do -not ride on " white horses," or save the world.

These 144,000 are the "Bride of the Lamb." It is the wife of the Lamb that gives birth to spiritual children; it is she who fights with him and for him. These true, loyal ones led by, and who work with, the Holy Ghost, and work with and take the persecutions of Jesus, are a different class from those who just barely save themselves and get to heaven. The dying thief is in heaven, but the dying thief will never take rank with John Wesley! There are ranks and degrees in the Church of God that will amaze people in the future world. It is His Bride that is to blaze and burn, and repeat over again the story of her glorious Spouse; and so all who barely get in will never get into it with those who have toiled with the Lamb.

It is through these people that God shines out on the world. There are a great many that God cannot shine through, but when He gets them purged, and cleansed, and made transparent, these God can shine through on the world!

It will pay to get fully baptized, and labor and suffer for God, when you get rewarded in that day and take rank high up in the City of God! God may make a beautiful thing in nature, but the most beautiful thing in a beautiful world will be a city made of living stones all blood- washed and cemented together!