We walk no longer upon earth with our thoughts; nevertheless, we are still encompassed by a cloud of earth, a body of clay, a heavy load of the soul. O, that we were free from it, and that our soul, liberated from this load, might return to God in heaven, her true origin! like a freed dove which has been confined in a strange place, returns to her nest and abode. But we must wait for this until the time which God has appointed, comes. Let us be patient together, then, most beloved in the Lord, till the day come, which, if we remain faithful unto the end, will assuredly bring us that which we here wait for in hope. Then the tears, which we, sighing and longing for the highest salvation of God, have wept here, shall surely be wiped away from our eyes; then shall we no longer see through a glass, darkly, but face to face; then shall the heavenly be shown us no longer in thought or in spirit, but it shall be given us, and we be made participants of it, by experience alone, in truth and in deed. O great and precious subject! we can go no further: our reason cannot comprehend it; our earthly tongue cannot express it! Yours very affectionally in the Lord, TH. J. VAN BRAGHT. _Dort_, July the 25th, 1659. TO THE READERS IN GENERAL. _Good friends and fellow citizens_: Of old, among the heathen, the greatest and highest honors were accorded to the brave and triumphant warriors, who, risking their lives in the land of the enemy, conquered, and carried off the victory.[12] Thus _Homer_, the foremost of the writers of heroic poetry in Greece, has, in twenty-four books, extolled and embellished with many eulogies the warlike deeds of Ulysses. _Quintus Curtius_ described, in ten books, the deeds of Alexander, the son of Philip of Macedonia: how triumphantly he conquered and subjugated Europe, Asia, India, and the countries bordering on the eastern Ocean, till he ultimately lost his life in Babylonia. _Plutarch_ composed a voluminous work devoted to the praise of illustrious and valiant men. _Titus Livius_ has written of the Roman heroes, how praiseworthily they acquitted themselves in behalf of the country of Romulus. _Virgilius Maro_ and others eulogized the emperor Augustus. And this usage has obtained from ancient times, and obtains yet, in every land, yea, throughout the whole world. [12] The victors at the Olympic games (so called from Mount Olympus in Greece, where they were held) were crowned with wreaths of oak and laurel, which was considered a great honor. We say nothing of the honor and praise, which, many years after their death, was bestowed in public theatres, upon those who had been sacrificed to idols, for the narration of it would consume too much time.