We see that that
character, though it be still imperfect, and marred by human weaknesses,
is already good with the goodness which comes down from heaven; and that
that countenance, though it may be mean and plain, is already beautiful
with the beauty which comes down from heaven.
But how are such souls recompensed in the earth? Oh! my friends, is not
a man recompensed in the earth whenever he can lift up his heart above
the earth?--whenever he can lift up his heart unto the Lord, and behold
His glory above all the earth? Does not this earth look brighter to him
then? The world of man looks brighter to him, in spite of all its sins
and sorrows, for he sees the Lord ruling it, the Lord forgiving it, the
Lord saving it. He sees, by the eye of faith, the Lord fulfilling His
own promise--"where two or three are gathered together in my name, there
am I in the midst of them"; and he takes heart and hope for the poor
earth, and says, The earth is not deserted; mankind is not without a
Father, a Saviour, a Teacher, a King. Bad men and bad spirits are not
the masters of the world; and men are not as creeping things, as the
fishes of the sea, which have no ruler over them.
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