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| February 1, 2023 |
"There shall not enter into it anything defiled . . but they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb (Apoc. xxi. 27). Certain states used to keep a "Golden Book," in which were written the names, the pedigree, the titles, the services of their distinguished citizens. God has such a book; it is the book of life; and one day it will be opened before all the world. At present no one knows all the names that are written in it. This book is God's consciousness, it is His knowledge of those who are His and will be His for all eternity. The first name is that of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the first-born of mankind. Then follow the names of all the redeemed; first the name of the Virgin Mother of God, who is blessed among women; then the great saints and servants of God; then a "great multitude whom no man can number of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues" (Apoc. vii. 9); and lastly the baptized infants. This book is written outside as well as in. Many names have been written there temporarily; for many have served God for a while with all fidelity, and when they have grown older or encountered temptation they have fallen away and become reprobate, and their names have been erased from that roll of glory. Here are written many names that have never appeared in the catalogues of honour of this world; here are the poor, and the meek, and the mourners, and the persecuted, many whose footprints we should kiss if the secrets of that book were now made known to us. Desire no honor but this: "Rejoice that your names are written in the book of life" (Luke x. 20).
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