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on rushed the multitude, trampling over the fallen and dead bodies of
their companions. Everyone who reached the crown possessed a share
in it, and was loudly applauded by an interested company standing
around it.
A large company of evil angels were very busy. Satan was in
the midst of them, and all looked with the most exulting satisfaction
upon the company struggling for the crown. He seemed to throw a
peculiar charm upon those who eagerly sought it. Many who sought
this earthly crown were professed Christians. Some of them seemed
to have a little light. They would look wishfully upon the heavenly
crown, and would often seem charmed with its beauty, yet they had
no true sense of its value and glory. While with one hand they were
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reaching forth languidly for the heavenly, with the other they reached
eagerly for the earthly, determined to possess that; and in their earnest
pursuit for the earthly, they lost sight of the heavenly. They were left
in darkness, yet were anxiously groping about to secure the earthly
crown. Some became disgusted with the company who sought it so
eagerly; they seemed to have a sense of their danger, and turned from
it, and earnestly sought for the heavenly crown. The countenances of
such soon changed from dark to light, from gloom to cheerfulness and
holy joy.
I then saw a company pressing through the crowd with their eyes
intently fixed upon the heavenly crown. As they earnestly urged their
way through the disorderly crowd, angels attended them, and made
room for them to advance. As they neared the heavenly crown, the
light emanating from it shone upon them and around them, dispelling
their darkness, and growing clearer and brighter, until they seemed to
be transformed, and resembled the angels. They cast not one lingering
look upon the earthly crown. Those who were in pursuit of the earthly,
mocked them, and threw black balls after them. These did them no
injury while their eyes were fixed upon the heavenly crown, but those
who turned their attention to the black balls were stained with them.
The following scripture was presented before me:
Matthew 6:19-24
: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through
and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through
nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.