At the commencement of the holy Sabbath, January 5, 1849, we engaged
in prayer with Brother Belden's family at Rocky Hill, Connecticut,
and the Holy Ghost fell upon us. I was taken off in vision to
the most holy place, where I saw Jesus still interceding for Israel.
On the bottom of His garment was a bell and a pomegranate. Then
I saw that Jesus would not leave the most holy place until every
case was decided either for salvation or destruction, and that
the wrath of God could not come until Jesus had finished His work
in the most holy place, laid off His priestly attire, and clothed
Himself with the garments of vengeance. Then Jesus will step out
from between the Father and man, and God will keep silence no
longer, but pour out His wrath on those who have rejected His
truth. I saw that the anger of the nations, the wrath of God,
and the time to judge the dead were separate and distinct, one
following the other, also that Michael had not stood up, and that
the time of trouble, such as never was, had not yet commenced.
The nations are now getting angry, but when our High Priest has
finished His work in the sanctuary, He will stand up, put on the
garments of vengeance, and then the seven last plagues will be
poured out.
I saw that the four angels would hold the four winds until Jesus'
work was done in the sanctuary, and then will come the seven last
plagues. These plagues enraged the wicked against the righteous;
they thought that we had brought the judgments of God upon them,
and that if they could rid the earth of us, the plagues would
then be stayed. A decree went forth to slay the saints, which
caused them to cry day and night for deliverance. This was the
time of Jacob's trouble. Then all the saints cried out with anguish
of spirit, and were delivered by the voice of God. The 144,000
triumphed. Their faces were lighted up with the glory of God.
Then I was shown a company who were howling in agony. On their
garments was written in large characters, "Thou art weighed
in the balance, and found wanting." I asked who this company
were. The angel said, "These are they who have once kept
the Sabbath and have given it up." I heard them cry with
a loud voice, "We have believed in Thy coming, and taught
it with energy." And while they were speaking, their eyes
would fall upon their garments and see the writing, and then they
would wail aloud. I saw that they had drunk of the deep waters,
and fouled the residue with their feet--trodden the Sabbath underfoot--
and that was why they were weighed in the balance and found wanting.
Then my attending angel directed me to the city again, where I
saw four angels winging their way to the gate of the city. They
were just presenting the golden card to the angel at the gate
when I saw another angel flying swiftly from the direction of
the most excellent glory, and crying with a loud voice to the
other angels, and waving something up and down in his hand. I
asked my attending angel for an explanation of what I saw. He
told me that I could see no more then, but he would shortly show
me what those things that I then saw meant.
Sabbath afternoon one of our number was sick, and requested prayers
that he might be healed. We all united in applying to the Physician
who never lost a case, and while healing power came down, and
the sick was healed, the Spirit fell upon me, and I was taken
off in vision.
I saw four angels who had a work to do on the earth, and were
on their way to accomplish it. Jesus was clothed with priestly
garments. He gazed in pity on the remnant, then raised His hands,
and with a voice of deep pity cried, "My blood, Father, My
blood, My blood, My blood!" Then I saw an exceeding bright
light come from God, who sat upon the great white throne, and
was shed all about Jesus. Then I saw an angel with a commission
from Jesus, swiftly flying to the four angels who had a work to
do on the earth, and waving something up and down in his hand,
and crying with a loud voice, "Hold! Hold! Hold! Hold! until
the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads."
I asked my accompanying angel the meaning of what I heard, and
what the four angels were about to do. He said to me that it was
God that restrained the powers, and that He gave His angels charge
over things on the earth; that the four angels had power from
God to hold the four winds, and that they were about to let them
go; but while their hands were loosening, and the four winds were
about to blow, the merciful eye of Jesus gazed on the remnant
that were not sealed, and He raised His hands to the Father and
pleaded with Him that He had spilled His blood for them. Then
another angel was commissioned to fly swiftly to the four angels
and bid them hold, until the servants of God were sealed with
the seal of the living God in their foreheads.