Key Verse: "Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." - James 5:11 KJV
To escape my present sorrow, and triumph in the midst of
my present grief, let me suppose eternity is at hand, which may very
soon, but must before long—be the case. May I not, then, with the
eye of all-triumphant faith, think I see myself walking in white with my
well-beloved, along the fields of glory, and my whole soul going out to him
in a manner it never could here below! While floods of glory from his
reconciled face overflow me, and the smile of his lovely countenance
entrances my soul forever! While I join the hosannas of the higher house,
the eternal hallelujahs, and begin the song which none can learn but the
chosen number—the sealed ones! With what transport do I mingle with the
heavenly multitudes, and, to my extreme comfort, realize that there is not
one sinner in the heavenly company, or anything expressed against the
majesty of the Most High! Where all the heavenly multitudes, transforming in
his beams, kindling in his flames, and drinking at his ecstatic rivers—are
happy beyond conception!
Such is the felicity the saints shall enter into; yes, and in a manner, have entered into already! So short is the interval between now and then, this present and that future state, that their glory is as it were begun. Faith and hope entering like an anchor within the veil, the saints of God rise at one step from this valley of tears, to the hill of God, to the mount of communion.
Now, why should the noise of the rabble, or uproar in the street, trouble me, when I am entering the very door of my everlasting habitation, and shall soon be eternally out of the reach of their confusion and murmurs? Henceforth, let the near prospect of that eternal triumph—blunt my present grief, scatter my troubles, and spread serenity in my bosom!
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