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From strength to strength go on,
Wrestle, and fight, and pray,

Tread all the powers of darkness down,
And win the well-fought day.

Such is the first fact, in proof of the vitality and of the actual accomplishment of God's decree, to which we would invite more than ordinary attention-a fact which multiplies the number of distinct witnesses to the truth of Christianity by millions, and assimilates the accumulated power of their combined testimony to the light of the Sun, whose goings forth are from one end of the heavens unto the other, and which utters its silent proclamations, wherever there is a speech or language in which they can be heard.

And the second fact in proof of the actual accomplishment and glorious power of God's decree-like unto the first, and following final end and consummation-is

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its dominion there is no end. Its victories never become defeats, because its defeats are always the precursors of greater and more glorious victories. The conquests of the gospel abide in everlasting trophies of redeeming grace. Its converts, numerous as the drops of morning dew, are transformed into living diamonds, which sparkle in undiminished lustre upon the leaves of that tree which grows fast by the river of life in the paradise above, and whose ever-growing branches supply shade, fruit, and beauty to the increasing multitude of the ransomed of the Lord, as they return, day by day and hour by hour, to the celestial Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads.

I stood by the open casement,
And looked upon the night,
And saw the westward going stars
Pass slowly out of sight.

Slowly the bright procession

Went down the gleaming arch,
And my soul discerned the music
Of their long triumphant march:

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The church on earth is only the nursery for the church in heaven. She is only the birthplace of souls-the school of eternitythe gymnasium of probationary disciplinethe field of labour-the scene of battle-the theatre of glorious war-the harvest for a celestial reaping, when the harvest-home of

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be celebrated amid the rejoicing shouts of that innumerable multitude whom no man can number.

When, therefore, the present generation of true believers shall pass from earth, they shall pass to heaven. They die not; they die no more; they are not lost; they are only gone before.

He bides with us who dies, he is but lost who lives. They do not cease to be Christians; they are made perfect in heaven. They do not lose their birthright; the inheritance is theirs, and the heir has become the lord and master. They join the generation of true believers who preceded them; they mingle with the general assembly and church of the firstborn in heaven. They become fellow-citizens with Adam and Eve; with Enoch and the sons of God; with Noah and his believing posterity; with Abraham and Job; with Moses and Elias; with prophets and apostles; with saints and martyrs; with friends

and relatives and with all the hand d..

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Of everlasting light.

In hope of such ecstatic joys,

Jesus, we now sustain the cross,

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