Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Apostolic Method of Church Extension: A Sermon Preached at Saco, June 22, 1853, Before the Maine Missionary Society, at Its Forty-Sixth Anniversary
Isaiah LIV: 2. Enlarge the place Of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations. Spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.
The true and final home of the Church is in heaven. In this world she is but a pilgrim and a stranger; in heaven alone is her permanent abode, her abiding city. Here is her night Of toil, there her day of endless repose. Here is her place of prayer, there her place of praise. Here is the scene of her con?icts and self-denials, there Of her triumphs and enjoyments. Here, in a word, she sojourns as a stranger in a strange country, dwelling by faith in a temporal abode; there her pilgrimage will terminate, and she will take up her ever lasting residence in those mansions-which Christ has gone to prepare for her and her children.
The passage before us evidently contemplates the Church in her earthly position and probationary state - her habitation the temporary tent of a pilgrim, and her condition that Of a sojourner having an important mission to perform, ere she passes on to her celestial home. The figurative representation of the prophet is as true to the reality, as it is beautiful in conception. My purpose, however, is not to dwell upon that part Of it, which implies the transitory condition of the Church On earth; suffice it to say, that Of the multitudes who have composed her Visible organization, since her tent was first pitched among men, all, Of every age and generation except the present, have passed away to their permanent abode in eternity.
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