THE JOYS OF A RELIGIOUS LIFE.
By P. Beechcroft
A LIFE of sound religious principle has its joys. It is not the cold, dreary, inanimate tract of country which it is so often described to be. Let the picture be drawn with candor and impartiality, and, amidst a few fleeting clouds, there will be much sunshine to gild the scenery. The evening more particularly of a religious life, must ever be painted in glowing colors. And if the life of a Christian could be analyzed, it would be found to contain more particles of satisfaction than the life of any other man. But make, I entreat you, the experiment for yourselves; and you will find that the “ways of religion are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are paths of peace.” And if they be so in this world, what joys will they not lead you to in the world to come! There every cloud will be dispelled, every mist dispersed; the vail will be drawn aside; we shall no longer see through a glass darkly, but shall see God face to face. We shall rest from our labor; all tears will be wiped from all faces; and nothing will be heard but thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Then we shall look back upon the many trials, temptations, and vicissitudes of this life, as the Israelites, when arrived in the earthly Canaan, looked back upon the bondage of Egypt, the terrors of the wilderness, and the passage of the Red Sea. We shall commune together of these things which have happened. Did not our hearts burn within us while our great Leader, the Captain of our salvation, talked with us by the way, and opened to us the Scriptures? Did we not anticipate that which we now actually enjoy? Blessed forever be God the Father, who hath given us this glorious inheritance! For ever blessed be the Son, who hath purchased it with his own blood! Blessed through all eternity be the Holy Ghost, who hath sanctified us, and made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance with the saints in light!—Rev. P. Beechcroft.