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Nephi’s Prophecy of Our Times
[Deadness of the Law Without Christ]
[Days of the Gentiles (Today) Described]
[Speaking of the Future in the Present Tense]
[Loss of the Spirit Without the Temple]
[Growth of Secret Combinations & Priestcrafts]
[Aspire, Accuse, Contend, Coerce]
[Promise That Records Will be Preserved]
327 2 Nephi 25:18 Now, Nephi is in his prophetic vein, and he is going to take us all the way. We are on 2 Nephi 25. Here we go in verse 18: “Wherefore, he shall bring forth his words unto them, which words shall judge them at the last day.” The purpose of these words is the “convincing them of the true Messiah,... for there should not any come, save it should be a false Messiah which should deceive the people.” There were many false Messiahs that came forward.
329,330 2 Nephi 25:21- Now notice all this emphasis on writing in verse 21. “Wherefore, for this cause hath the Lord God promised unto me that these things which I write shall be kept and preserved and handed down unto my seed, from generation to generation, that the promise may be fulfilled unto Joseph, that his seed should never perish as long as the earth should stand [why is it necessary to preserve the seed?].... These things shall go from generation to generation as long as the earth shall stand; and they shall go according to the will and pleasure of God; and the nations who shall possess them shall be judged of them according to the words which are written [the importance of writing all the time; we will be judged by them]. For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ.” The Dead Sea Scrolls show this. They do write everything. After all, how did the law come down? The Lord wrote it, supposedly, with his own finger on the tablets and handed them to Moses. Just like Moroni had painfully written it with his fingers and handed the plates to Joseph Smith later on. It’s a strange thing, this handing down.
330 2 Nephi 25:24-27 Notice verse 24: “We keep the law of Moses, and look forward with steadfastness unto Christ, until the law shall be fulfilled.” Professor Frank Cross of Harvard, who has been here quite a number of times, gave the Dead Sea Scrolls people the name “The Church of Anticipation.” As Norman Golb has shown now, the Dead Sea Scrolls people were always looking forward. They sound like Christians, but they are not Christians—they’re Jews. Since they always looked forward, he called it “The Church of Anticipation.” Everything was anticipating the Christian church. That’s exactly what we have here. He says, it points our minds forward. We are anticipating what’s to come. That’s why we keep the law of Moses—in anticipation of other things to be revealed. That’s exactly what happens in the Serekh Scroll, for example. “For, for this end was the law given.” But it is really Christ, the Messiah. The whole thing has to do with him. This comes right in the right place here. To what do they look forward? To one thing, to Christ. They are obsessed with that. He says, “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies; ... we speak concerning the law that our children may know the deadness of the law.” Why would you teach the law if it was just to teach the deadness? Well, the law is the iron rod; the law is the Liahona. Remember when Mormon showed it to his son when he was ten years old. There was the Liahona. It was kept among the national treasures, but it didn’t work anymore. Once it had performed its function of leading them through the desert, then it became excess baggage. It’s the same thing with the iron rod. When you reach [the end of] the iron rod, you have to let go. The rod is not the goal. It will take you where you are going, but when you are there you let go. It was to be guidance.
331 2 Nephi 25:27-30 “Wherefore, we speak concerning the law that our children may know the deadness of the law; and they, by knowing the deadness of the law, may look forward unto that life which is in Christ, and know for what end the law was given.” It’s guidance—it’s to lead us there. But remember, it becomes the obsession. After the temple was destroyed, what could they do except discuss the law? They went on, and that’s why we have the Talmud, the Mishnah, and all that. It’s all discussion of the law. That’s what the Talmud does, discusses the law, and boy do they split hairs! When is it day and when is it night? The new day begins at a certain time, and it’s important to determine when it happens. It’s when you can distinguish between two strings, a black string and a white string. Well, how black and how white? How long do those strings have to be? At what distance do they have to be? It says “at arm’s length.” At whose arm’s length? At the arm’s length of a man six feet tall. So it goes. You are splitting hairs and trying to find out exactly what is what. This is the “letter of the law,” but it’s the only thing they were left with after they rejected the Messiah. Notice, they hardened their hearts against him when the law ought to be done away. They became hard, like hardening arteries. You get hardened and set in your ways, and you will not be receptive anymore. The thought has to be fluid. That’s the expression we use for that sort of thing. The law is “sufficient to teach any man the right way.” Notice, verse 30 is important: “Ye must keep the performances and ordinances of God until the law shall be fulfilled which was given unto Moses.” The ordinances and performances aren’t going to save you, but you must keep them because they point your mind forward until the law shall be fulfilled. They will keep you on the path. It’s a discipline, and that discipline is important—the law having no particular effect or virtue in itself.
332 2 Nephi 26:4-9 We’re going on here; we have to get to the prophecy of our times. After Christ came generations would pass away. Then the proud that do wickedly shall burn and be as stubble. Notice that complete consumption in verse 4. Then one of those emotional outbursts of Nephi in verse 7: “O the pain, and the anguish of my soul for the loss of the slain of my people! [he sees it all]. For I, Nephi, have seen it, and it well nigh consumeth me before the presence of the Lord; but I must cry unto my God: Thy ways are just [it’s almost more than he can stand]. But behold, the righteous that hearken unto the words of the prophets ... shall not perish.” It’s interesting that every time it mentions this being consumed as stubble, [the righteous are mentioned]. That means by fire and completely— overburn. That’s what it is. After the field has been cut, then you bum it over. That’s the great overburn of the stubble. But the righteous are told they shall not perish. We are not told how; we have to leave that up to the Lord. The only concern with you is to be righteous; this is the point. Verse 9: “But the Son of righteousness shall appear unto them; and he shall heal them, and they shall have peace with him, until three generations shall have passed away.”
333 2 Nephi 26:10 : “And when these things have passed away a speedy destruction cometh unto my people.... When the Spirit ceaseth to strive with man then cometh speedy destruction, and this grieveth my soul.” That’s ATE when the Spirit will no longer strive with them. And he says, “My spirit will not always strive with man.”
333 2 Nephi 26:12-20 “It must needs be that the Gentiles be convinced also that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God; and that he manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him, by the power of the Holy Ghost; yea, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, working mighty miracles, signs, and wonders, among the children of men according to their faith.” He will be received according to the faith to receive him. It will be done according to your faith. “But behold, I prophesy unto you concerning the last days [now this should interest us from here on] when the Lord God shall bring these things forth unto the children of men [this is our time]. After my seed and the seed of my brethren shall have dwindled in unbelief, and shall have been smitten by the Gentiles; yea, after the Lord God shall have camped against them round about [The Indians were pretty strong at this time in the 1820s. They occupied most of the country, and they had received the horse and become very warlike and effective. There were whole great nations, but this shows us the Indians completely ground down, just reduced to where there is almost nothing left before the tide is going to turn here.] ... and after they shall have been brought down low in the dust, even that they are not, yet the words of the righteous shall be written [he’s talking about the record], and the prayers of the faithful shall be heard, and all those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten. For those who shall be destroyed shall speak unto them out of the ground, and their speech shall be low out of the dust [we mentioned the Nahal Hever caves, etc.].... They shall write the things which shall be done among them [there are the Dead Sea Scrolls, among other things].... And it shall come to pass, that those who have dwindled in unbelief shall be smitten by the hand of the Gentiles [now it’s the Gentiles’ turn]. And the Gentiles are lifted up in the pride of their eyes, and have stumbled [notice, he is using the present tense], because of the greatness of their stumbling block, that they have built up many churches.”
333,334 2 Nephi 26:20,21 It’s an interesting thing that in Greek historical accounts you only use the present tense for future or past because as you talk about it, it is happening. You only use the present tense in historical narrative. They just stick to the present, and he is doing the same thing here. Of course, this is 2500 years ahead of him. He says, “And the Gentiles are lifted up in the pride of their eyes, and have stumbled, because of the greatness of their stumbling block, that they have built up many churches [the great and abominable’ is a composite]; nevertheless, they put down the power and miracles of God, and preach up unto themselves their own wisdom and their own learning [notice the two things], that they may get gain and grind upon the face of the poor [positivism and materialism become the main trends in Christian studies]. And there are many churches [he told us before that there was one church—that’s the big composite that covers everything] built up which cause envyings, and strifes, and malice.” Of course, they are always competitive, but that happens within every church. All churches are full of envyings, strife and malice— including ours (you know that), in some wards, not everywhere. But that happens because it’s human nature.
334 2 Nephi 26:22 “And there are also secret combinations [this gets more serious, you see], even as in times of old, according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things; yea, the founder of murder, and works of darkness; yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever.”
334,335 2 Nephi 26:23-27 “I say unto you that the Lord God worketh not in darkness.” This is interesting because of the militant orders that rose after the time of the Crusades. They were very secret. I’m talking about the Templars and the others. They degenerated into the schlerafian and fraternities and things like that. They have been all over the place, and some of them have been quite militant and full of mischief. “For he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation [of course, the Church is not exclusive]. Behold, doth he cry unto any saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.... Behold hath he commanded any that they should depart out of the synagogues, or out of the houses of worship? [Notice, he recognizes them. Corruption and cynicism should not turn us away from religion itself. We start out with that. That’s what we have to have, and then which direction you take is up to you to decide.] Behold, I say unto you, Nay. Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade [so we have to work on it] all men to repentance.” That is the first thing. That is the message of the missionary, “Speak nothing but repentance to this generation,” because that’s what we have to have. That’s what we need to do from day to day and always, all the days of our lives, as the ninth chapter of Nephi says. He has lengthened our days just to give us a better chance to repent. And no one has less need to repent than another because the greater your virtues the greater the responsibility you have for the things you haven’t done, etc. I mean if you know more than someone else, you have a greater responsibility than someone who knows less, so you have to repent just as much if not more than he does that you are not studying enough, that you are not doing enough.
335 2 Nephi 26:28,33 “All men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden.” Notice right across the page there, if you have this edition, in the end of the last verse of this chapter he says, “And he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.”
335,336 2 Nephi 26:29-33 “He commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts; for, behold, priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion.” That’s very interesting when he says, “They seek not the welfare of Zion.” He’s talking about somebody who is in Zion in that case who sets himself up for a light and wants to get gain and praise. Well, I know lots of businessmen and others who have had a free ride on the Church. It’s sad. But you’ll find that in every church, too. We might as well be frank about these things. How do we deal with these people? The next verse makes it clear. You should have charity; you don’t judge them at all. Of course not. “The Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love. And except they should have charity they were nothing [so this is how we deal with these things: we have charity and love, and without that you are nothing]. Wherefore, if they should have charity they would not suffer the laborer in Zion to perish.” Notice, he is talking about Zion here. If they had charity, they wouldn’t suffer the laborer in Zion to perish. Then he really hits it hard: “But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish [laboring in Zion; wow, we’d better watch it here]. And again, the Lord God hath commanded that men should not murder; that they should not lie; that they should not steal.” Notice the list of things. Here we have the real prime-time TV show. This is the best hours of the evening when you see murder, stealing, envy, malice, contention, and whoredoms. They make the program. That is the rich mix that makes the big selling TV program today that will go over everything. Then he invites all “to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white.” Notice, he moves between these things. He sees the evil and gets right to the heart of it and then says, but you must forgive; you must tolerate these things; we are all being tested together; the Lord wants everybody to have a chance, etc.
336 2 Nephi 27:1,3; 2 Nephi 28:21 Then he really warms up in the next chapter: “But, behold, in the last days, or in the days of the Gentiles [notice, the last days are called ‘the days of the Gentiles’; they certainly haven’t been the days of the Jews]—yea, behold all the nations of the Gentiles and also the Jews, both those who shall come upon this land and those who shall be upon other lands [that’s all of us], yea, even upon all the lands of the earth, behold, they will be drunken with iniquity and all manner of abominations [this is the way they are]... . And all the nations that fight against Zion ...” We’ll see who Zion is if you turn to 2 Nephi 28:21. You don’t identify yourself with that to establish your virtue. “All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell [if they do that].” There’s too much of that, you see. But notice it’s the theatromania. This third verse is marvelous, and of course, it’s quoted from the prophet. “And all the nations that fight against Zion, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision; yea, it shall be unto them, even as unto a hungry man which dreameth, and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his soul is empty; or like unto a thirsty man which dreameth, and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite; yea, even so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.”
336,337 Notice the state of mind you are in: You think you have it made. This is the delusion of drugs, or the delusion of wealth and plenty, or whatever it is. But you notice we are in a sort of dream state now. The wildest things happen. People feel no outrage at the most terrible crimes that are committed in our midst, etc. But the whole thing is like a dream. It’s what the ancients called THEATROMANIA. I still have an article I’ve got to write on THEATROMANIA. As you can see, it means theatre mania. The appearance or the show is everything—a mania for the theatre, for spectacles and sights. Everybody becomes a spectator, a watcher. People spent all their time at the games and shows. Athletics became everything with them. They had these enormous coliseums and stadiums. We still use their words for that. We still have the same sort of games, and they get rougher and rougher and more violent, just for violence’s sake—like tag wrestling, roller derbies, demolition derbies, and such cultural events as those. What a society! But it is all unreal, and when you awaken it’s a coming around and killing yourself that’s a terrible thing.
337 2 Nephi 27:5 “For behold, the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep. For behold, ye have closed your eyes, and ye have rejected the prophets; and your rulers, and the seers hath he covered because of your iniquity.” It uses the very interesting old Hebrew word KDFAR. He has taken them from you; he has covered them. We are out of touch with reality; we definitely are.
337,338 2 Nephi 27:6 “The Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book [now this isn’t the Book of Mormon he is talking about; this is another book apparently], and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered. And behold the book shall be sealed; and in the book shall be a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof.” The Book of Mormon doesn’t go from the beginning of the world to the end, but the sealed part does. This is just a small part. The big part was sealed (the big plates), and this is what he is talking about. “Wherefore, because of the things which are sealed up, the things which are sealed shall not be delivered in the day of the wickedness and abominations of the people. Wherefore the book shall be kept from them.” They do get the Book of Mormon, but not the sealed words. Notice verse 10 talking about the man to whom the book is delivered: “But the words which are sealed he shall not deliver, neither shall he deliver the book. For the book shall be sealed by the power of God, and the revelation which was sealed shall be kept in the book until the own due time of the Lord, that they may come forth; for behold, they reveal all things from the foundation of the word unto the end thereof.” The book of Moses comes nearest to that, but the book of Moses is a very small book. That’s not the one that is sealed. It’s another thing, and it’s every bit as remarkable as the Book of Mormon. Well, the book “shall be read upon the house tops” when it comes, and “all things shall be revealed” then. “The book shall be hid from the eyes of the world.”
338 2 Nephi 27:12-26 Then it talks about three witnesses because there are always three witnesses. It doesn’t have to be the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon. The scripture says, “In the mouths of three witnesses shall all things be established.” This one has three witnesses too. This in verse 15 could refer to the case of Charles Anthon when Martin Harris took the plates [the translation] to him. Why did he take it to Charles Anthon? In 1830 [1828] Charles Anthon couldn’t read Egyptian; nobody could. He claimed he recognized the signs, etc. and could read them, but he said, “How can I read a sealed book?” Well, Martin Harris had to take them to the most learned man, and he was. Charles Anthon was without any doubt the best classical scholar—the best antiquarian in the country, one of the very best in the world. He produced a magnificent and masterful dictionary of antiquities. It was so they could never say to Joseph Smith after that, “Oh yes, you gave a translation of it. You had the characters and the plates, but you never took them to a real scholar. You never got a top opinion on it, did you?” He did have Harris take it to the best scholar in the world, and he got his opinion on it. He said that he couldn’t read a sealed book. Then he said, “Bring them back and I will read them to you.” He got huffy about it. Of course, he couldn’t read them. He was bluffing; that’s why he got so huffy. But we couldn’t say that the world wasn’t given a chance [to give an opinion] in that case because, as it says in the verse 20 here: “The learned shall not read them. . .. Touch not the things which are sealed [that’s very particular here].... Then shalt thou seal up the book again, and hide it up unto me, that I may preserve the words which thou hast not read, until I shall see fit in mine own wisdom to reveal all things unto the children of men.” This is the way it happens, and this is why in verse 25: “Forasmuch as this people draw near unto me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men.” Is this the situation today? We certainly draw near to him with our lips, but have we removed our hearts far from him? Not everybody. No, there are people in the world whose hearts are set because of their sufferings. And if they fear God because of the precepts of men, that’s better than nothing. But he says he’s got to bring forth “a marvelous work and a wonder.”
339 2 Nephi 27:27 Notice here in verse 27: “And their works are in the dark; and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?” Did you ever hear about insider trading? There’s big money in that, but this is the whole thing. These things are all done in the dark; they are arranged by officers in certain places. “Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?”
339 2 Nephi 27:28 Here’s prophecy again in verse 28: “And Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field; and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest.” It’s interesting that they pick Lebanon for the big ecological change because Lebanon is the great paradox. Lebanon is the richest; that’s the old Phoenician country, and they still call themselves Phoenician
339,340 2 Nephi 27:31 “For assuredly as the Lord liveth they shall see that the terrible one is brought to naught, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off.” So let’s not watch for iniquity. There are four things you must never do. Joseph Smith separately discusses four things. The first, of course, is “to aspire.” Satan aspired, and that was his undoing. Never aspire and never be ambitious. You don’t aspire in this world if you’re going to get anything you want in the next. Never accuse. Of course, Satan is “the accuser.” The word DIABOLUS from which the name devil comes means accuser. He is called “the accuser of his brethren” in the scriptures. Adam said to Satan, “I will not bring a railing accusation against thee. Let God judge between me and thee.” Adam would not accuse Satan after what Satan had done to him, you see. So we don’t accuse anybody, no matter how guilty they are. Then you do not contend. The first thing the Lord says to the Nephites is there shall be no more contentions among you as there have been. This is my gospel that there shall be no contentions. All contention shall cease, for contention is not of me, but all contention is of the devil who stirreth up the children of men to anger to bloodshed and things like that [paraphrased]. So we never contend and never coerce, if that’s the case. And those are the four things that everybody wants to do today. Everybody is aspiring to high office, and everybody accuses in order to get it. Everybody contends; it’s a very contentious world we live in, a competitive world. And we back it all up in the end; the bottom line is force. We have to have the force, coercion. We have all four things.
340 2 Nephi 28:4 We’ll move along here. The prophecies are continuing in chapter 28. The churches which are built up contend one with another. I like verse 4: “And they shall contend one with another, . . . and they teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance.” Learning will always be inadequate. To do that the usual thing is to deny the Holy Ghost. It’s vanity. In denying that they deny the power of God. “Behold, hearken ye unto my precept; if they shall say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work. Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us. And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God [they want it both ways in other words]—he will justify in committing a little sin [because it’s human nature; we do it, of course]; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor.”
341 2 Nephi 28:7,8,14; Mormon 8:39 “Tomorrow we die” means “live it up like there was no tomorrow.” But if there is, well, “God will beat us with a few stripes.... Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner [in this sort of manner. This isn’t an article of faith or anything; this is the type of doctrine that will be taught], false and vain and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark [they have Swiss accounts, you see—that’s works in the dark; then someone pays for it] And the blood of the saints shall cry from the ground against them. Yea, they have all gone out of the way; they have become corrupted.” Then we read in verse 14: “They have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men.” Because of the pride, the false teachers, the false doctrines of the churches, they rob the poor for their fine sanctuaries and their fine clothing. In Mormon 8:39 it takes this right home to us today. This is quite explicit there, “Why do you adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?” We studiously notice them not.
341,342 2 Nephi 28:15-21; 2 Nephi 10:16 Notice in verse 15 that these are the three vanities: the wise, the learned, and the rich— those who are clever, those who know so much, and those who have it. They “are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms.” We think this means nothing anymore. “Wo unto them that turn aside the just for a thing of naught [ah, the technicalities of the law] and revile against that which is good, and say that it is of no worth! For the day shall come that the Lord God will speedily visit the inhabitants of the earth; and in that day that they are fully ripe in iniquity they shall perish.” He’s giving us a lot of rope; you notice that. When they are fully ripe, they will take care of themselves. That’s ate again—when you reach the point of no return, when you are fully ripe. “But behold, that great and abominable church, the whore of all the earth, must tumble to the earth, and great must be the fall thereof.” Then we go back to 2 Nephi 10:16 where he says that all those who fight against Zion are the “great and abominable.” Who is Zion? Well, don’t flatter yourself on that because we come right to that now. Verse 20: “For behold, at that day shall he [Satan] rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.” All you have to do is name a few buzz words, and people get absolutely furious. Now here is Zion: “And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion [who claims to be Zion?]; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.” Notice that this trick has been carefully arranged, this equation here—”he leadeth them carefully down to hell.”
342 You notice that prosperity, like life itself, is a blessing. But it’s not a sign of blessedness, as Wilford Woodruff and John Taylor said. When the Church started being prosperous in their days, they started warning the Saints, “Don’t mistake prosperity for virtue.” You seem to think because the Lord blesses the Nephites when they are good for just three generations that if you’re rich that means you’re good. At least you’re smart How many great composers do we have? How many great poets do we have? Have many great painters do we have? People count them on the fingers of one hand, and yet we have literally millions of millionaires. This is a sign of the greatness of achievement. “Yea, Zion prospereth [notice the emphasis on PROSPERETH], all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell. And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none.” This is a very common belief that there is no devil, he’s not personal, etc. You make people feel good and you’ll win in our society. You’ll sell your product. There’s this terrible competition.
342,343 2 Nephi 28:23-24 “Yea, they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell, and the devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of God, and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go into the