those who submitted to the state as invincible, or to the church as
infallible, extended to the beast or its image that homage and regard
which was due to God. They thus acknowledged themselves the servants of
him whom they obeyed, and subjected themselves to the wrath of God.

The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever, and they have
no rest, day nor night, who worship the beast and his image. While the
righteous enter into rest, the wicked are like the troubled sea which
cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt, Isa. 57:20.

The Harvest of the Earth.

"Here is the patience of the saints: here are those who keep the
commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice
from heaven, saying, Write, Happy the dead who die in the Lord,
from henceforth! Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from
their toils; and their works go with them. And I looked, and
behold, a white cloud, and one was seated on the cloud like the
Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a
sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying
with a loud voice to him seated on the cloud, Thrust forth thy
sickle and reap: for the hour is come for thee to reap; for the
harvest of the earth is ripe. And he, who sat on the cloud, cast
his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped."--Rev. 14:12-16.

The announcement that here are they who keep the commandments of God,
implies that, at the epoch symbolized, they are to be the subjects of
special notice. By the voice from heaven, they are shown to include all of
the dead who have died in the Lord; and their being blessed from
thenceforth, indicates that they will at that epoch enter upon their
eternal reward.

The "rest" of the righteous, is at the advent of Christ:--"To you who are
troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven,"
2 Thess. 1:6. "There remaineth a rest for the people of God," Heb. 4:9.

On hearing the voice from heaven, the revelator looked, and beheld on a
cloud "one like the Son of man." In Ezek. 1:26, "the likeness as the
appearance of a man," upon "the likeness of the throne," is explained to
be "the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord." In Dan.
7:13, "one like the Son of man," who comes to the Ancient of days, is
evidently a symbol of Christ. In Rev. 1:13, "one like unto the Son of
man," is the one who was alive, wa