d far and wide.
And so has mankind been dying, by war and by disease, and by many
fearful scourges besides what is called now-a-days, natural decay.

But all the while a new generation was springing up, trained in the
wilderness to be bold and hardy; trained, too, under Moses' stern
law, to the fear of God; to reverence, and discipline, and
obedience, without which freedom is merely brutal license, and a
nation is no nation, but a mere flock of sheep or a herd of wolves.

And so, for these one thousand eight hundred years have the
generations of Christendom, by the training of the Church and the
light of the Gospel, been growing in wisdom and knowledge; growing
in morality and humanity, in that true discipline and loyalty which
are the yoke-fellows of freedom and independence, to make them fit
for that higher state, that heavenly Canaan, of which we know not
WHEN it will come, nor whether its place will be on this earth or
elsewhere; but of which it is written, 'And I John saw the holy
city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of
heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he
will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself
shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the
former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new.

'And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the
Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun,
neither of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God did
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of
them which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the kings of
the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of
it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night
there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations
into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that
defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie:
but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.'

That, the perfect Easter Day, seems far enough off as yet; but it
will come. As the Lord liveth, it will come; and to it may Christ
in his mercy bring us all, and our chil