3. WE GROPE IN THE DARK WHILE HERE BELOW.
3. WE GROPE IN THE DARK WHILE HERE BELOW.
You heirs of endless rest and joy! You no longer experience the anxious thought, the troubled bosom; your cares are past, and your concerns have come to an happy end. Yet this day I wait the doubtful outcome of some grand affairs which very much concern my passing life. Not a cloud is in your sky, not a doubt is in your mind—while I dwell in the stormy twilight, and fear a tempestuous night.
O you shining ones! is it possible, that ever, like me, you dwelt in this valley of Achor? Were your composed countenances ever disfigured with sorrow—or did the briny tear ever trickle from your sparkling eyes?
"Yes, mistaken man! we all—everyone of us, came out of great tribulation! There is not an inhabitant of the Canaan above—but traveled through the wilderness below. We lost our sorrows when we left our mortal frame, and at once found immortality and joy; and now our happiness is as vast as thought, unbounded as our wish, and stable as the hills of bliss!"
Well, well, you sons of joy! I reckon my happiness as well as you. If your felicity be secured in the possession, mine is secured in the promise. He who delivers out of Egypt, also brings safely over Jordan, Once, like me, you wept, you mourned, you stood bewildered, and knew not what to do.
So, in a little while, I, like you, shall shout and sing, and share eternal peace, and the conduct of my glorious Guide. Comforted with these prospects, I will encounter all the changes of a transient state, and fix my eye on the felicity to come.
By faith I will drink at the river which flows from the throne of God; and thus, become immortal in my highest hopes, and most endearing prospects, I will bid defiance to all the darts of woe that can strike me in time. What can changes do to me, since my last, and most terrible change shall fix my felicity, and render my best state unchangeable?