lVhite Cat;men_tJ. State IV• .upon e:1rth more g lorious than a king?-om, nothing more venecxble than the priellhood : and both meet together - \ irvdie g lorifi ed .i1:a te of the faints. The general a.J!embly of fhejirjf. born. {Heb . xii. 23.) whofe is che priclUwod and the double portion, appearing in their white robes of glory , will be a reverend and glorious company. T.hat day will ihew them to be the perfons ':"hom the Lord has choien out of all the tribes of the earth, to be near unto -him, an,d to enter into his tefnple, even into his holy place. Their priellho'Od, begun on earth, ihall be brought to its ' perfection, · while they ih::dl be employed in offering the 'facrifice of praife to God and the Lamb, for ever and ever. They gat not their portion in the earth with the reft -of the tribes; but the Lord hirnfelf was their portion, and _will be their double portion, through -the ages of eterni t y. Fourthly, They were wont to wear white raiment, in a time of triumph; to the which alfo there feems to be-an · allufio!\· Rev. iii . 5 He that overcometh, the fame jhall be clothed in white raiment. And what. is heaven, but _an evedafiing triumph! None g et thither, but fuch as fight and overcome too. Though Canctan was given to the lfraeliteJ as an inheritance; they behoved to conquer it, ere they c~mld be polfefTors of it. T'he faints, in this world, are in the field of batt le; often in red garments, ·garments rolled in blood: but the day approacheth, in which they _Dull fiand beflre the throne, and before the ~Lamb, clothed with white robeJ, and palm! in their handJ, (Rev. v:i. 9 ) having ~btained a ,compleat victory over all t heir enemies. The palm was ufed as a fign of victory; becaufe that tree, oppreifed \\ith weights, yieJdeth not, bu~ rather fhooteth 'upwards. And palm trees were carved _on th~ doors of the mofi holy place_, I Kingr vi. 32. which w.as a fpecial type of heaven; for oheaven is the place which the faints · are received into, as conquerors. Behold the joy and peace of the faints in their white robes. The joys arifing from the view of part dangers, - and of riches and honour gained at the very door of dea~h, do mofl: fenfibly touch one's heart: and-this ~ill be an m– gredient in the everlafl:ing happinefs of the faints, ;which could have had no place in the heaven of innoct;nt Adam, and his fmlefs offspring, fuppofing him to have fiood. - Surely
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