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The Fundamentals that “Christ loved the church, and give Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word,” etc. (Eph. 5 : 25 , 27 ). “This is the will of God, even your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4 :3 ) , for God hath not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness (1 Thess. 4 :7 ) . After regeneration, nothing can be more important than this. We are told in the Bible and we believe it—that by and by we shall be in another state of existence—in heaven in the pres ence of the loving and glorified Jesus; that we shall see His face, and His name shall be on our foreheads (Rev. 22 : 4 ), that we shall be with the angels, an innumerable company, and with the spirits of just men made perfect, the saints of all ages (Heb. 12 : 23 ), that we shall know them and be in their society (Matt. 17 : 3 ; 1 Cor. 13 : 12 ), that we shall be absolutely untainted with sin, as glorious as the uncreated light of God. (Rev. 21 : 4 , 27 ; Matt. 13 : 45 .) This being the place and the company toward which we are being borne along so rapidly, we want to be prepared for both place and society. Ah, friends, you are anxious to be cultured for this world and its “best society,” in its knowledge, in its customs, and in its manners. Yes, you lavish time and money upon yourself and your children, in order that they may be furnished with the accomplishments and culture of this world. You say when you appear in good society you want to be at ease, to be a peer among the most accomplished, and you wish the same for your children. Were you invited to go six months hence to take up your abode at the Court of St. James, as the guest of England’s noble king, you would ransack all the books at your command that treated of court etiquette and manners; you would brush up in English history, so that you might not be taken unawares either in your knowledge of the affairs of the country, or in court ceremonial. But in a little while we are going to the court of the King immortal, eternal, in the kingdom of glory. We know not the day nor the hour
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