William Romain The Life, Walk, and Triumph of Faith

And the Lord was with them, and mightily strengthened them, so that
they joyfully sealed their testimony with their blood, although they died
in flames, and in the most exquisite torments. Thus they overcame
Satan. A most noble company of those conquerors are now standing
round the throne of the Lamb, enjoying his exceeding great and
precious promises: he has crowned them with glory—he has clothed
them with robes, washed and made white in his own blood—he has
wiped away all tears from their eyes, and taken all cause of sorrow from
their hearts—he has put palms into their hands, to show that they are
eternal conquerors, and that they shall stand confirmed in bliss forever
and ever. May you and I, reader, before long join them; and, until that
happy time come, may our faith be daily more established in the blood
and righteousness of the Lamb of God, that we may be growing in our
love to him, and in our dependence upon him, until he admit us to see
him as he is.
Through much exercise and fighting, these young men, strong and
mighty in the Scriptures, grow up to be fathers in Christ; whose
character is thus drawn by the apostle John, 1 Epis. ii. 14. "I have written
unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the
beginning," namely, Jesus Christ, whose style and title it is to be from
the beginning, as he himself speaks in Proverbs viii. 22, 23. "The Lord
possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was
set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." He
was a person in the Godhead, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father,
but was set up in his office from everlasting, to be the beginning of the
ways and works of God. Upon account of what he was to do and suffer
in man's nature, according to the grace of the covenant of the everblessed
Trinity, he was the Creator, and is the Preserver of the Universe;
for by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, and by him all things exist; and he is the
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