| 465 that hear and understand, look for your shepherd, he shall give you everlasting rest; for he is nigh at hand, that shall come in the end of the world. Be ready to the reward of the kingdom, for the everlasting light shall shine upon you for evermore. Flee the shadow of this world, receive the joyfulness of your glory; I testify my Savior openly. O receive the gift that is given you, and be glad, giving thanks unto him that hath called you, to the heavenly kingdom. Rise up and stand, behold the number of those that be sealed in the feast of the Lord; which are departed from the shadow of the world, and have received glorious garments of the Lord. Take thy number O Sion, and shut up those of thine that are clothed in white, which have fulfilled the law of the Lord. The number of thy children whom thou longedst for, is fulfilled: beseech the power of the Lord, that thy people, which have been called from the beginning, may be hallowed. I Esdras saw upon the Mount Sion a great people, whom I could not number, and they all praised the Lord with songs. And in the midst of them there was young man of a high stature, taller than all the rest, and upon every one of their heads he set crowns, and was more exalted; which I marvelled [marveled] at greatly. So I asked the angel, and said, Sir, what are these?-He answered and said unto me, these be, they that have put off the mortal clothing, and put on the immortal, and have confessed the name of God: now are they crowned, and receive palms. Then said I unto the angel, what young person is it that crowneth them, and giveth them palms in their hands? So he answered and said unto me, it is the Son of God, whom they have confessed in the world. Then began I greatly to commend them that stood so stiffly for the name of the Lord. Then the angel said unto me, go thy way, and tell my people what manner of things, and how great wonders of the Lord thy god thou hast seen."-The above is certainly a plain and excellent description of the happy day when the Saints shall be raised from their tombs, and strand upon Mount Zion, and be crowned by Jesus as kings and priests to reign with him. It perfectly harmonizes with the predictions of other prophets upon this subject, which we have noticed in the former part of this work.
It has ever been a matter of dispute, what the fate of the ten tribes of Israel was, who were carried away captive by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, which is mentioned in the xviii chapter of 2 Kings; but the following gives us some farther particulars concerning them. "Behold, the days come, when the Most High will begin to deliver them that are upon the earth. And he shall come to the astonishment of them that dwell on the earth. And one shall undertake to fight against another, one city against another one place against another, one people against another, and one realm against another. And the time shall be when these things shall happen which I showed thee before, and then shall my Son be declared, whom thou sawest as a man ascending. And when all the people hear his voice, every man shall in their own land leave the battle they have one against another. And an innumerable multitude shall be gathered together, as thou sawest them, willing to come, and to overcome him by fighling [fighting]. But he shall stand upon the top of the Mount Sion. And Sion shall come, and shall be showed to all men, being prepared and builded, like as thou sawest the hill graven without hands. And this my Son shall rebuke the wicked inventions of those nations, which for their wicked life are fallen into the tempest; and shall lay before them their evil thoughts, and the torments wherewith they shall begin to be tormented, which are like unto a flame: and he shall destroy them without labor by the law which is like unto fire. And whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him; those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Shalmaneser the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land.-But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt. That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land. And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow passages of the river. For the Most High then showed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over. For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is callsd [called] Arsareth.-Then dwelt they there until the latter time; and now when they shall begin to come, the Highest shall stay the springs of the stream again, that they may go through: therefore sawest thou the multitude with peace. But those that be left behind of thy people, are they that are found within my borders. Now when he destroys the multitude of the nations that are gathered together, he shall defend his people that remain.-And then he shall show them great wonders."-2 Esdras, xiii. 29-50. The above is a description of the coming of Christ, and the manner that the tribes of
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