Triumph

When a whole people have been formed into an army to resist aggression , or to conquer for themselves a home , and when the end is gained , and all enemies are conquered and destroyed , it can no more act as an army ; its existence as such ceases , and its individual soldiers are merged into the triumphant nation , for the fulfilment of those higher functions , and the enjoyment of those nobler activities and pleasures , which were the object of the previous conflict . So with the militant church . When the number of the redeemed is complete , and the conflict in each soul is ended , then the whole design , both of the visible church , and the present course of nature in our fallen world ends , and all these pass away together , and give place to that entirely new and infinitely glorious order of things represented by the New Jerusalem , in heavenly and mysterious splendours , descending out of heaven from God , where , by gradual accretions , she had been preparing for her final inheritance and glory

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