It seems in the highest degree probable that all the bodily senses that
we possess now will be wonderfully intensified and enlarged when this
"natural body" passes off, and the "spiritual body" is taken on. I think
we have a beautiful hint of this glorious probability in the invention
of the telescope and the microscope. By these two inventions we are
introduced to new worlds of which we never before had dreamed. By the
telescope we are let into the glory of the immense; by the microscope we
are let into the marvels of the minute. We never had really seen either
the heavens or the earth before. Now, since by an invention of man our
sight has been so marvellously quickened, it is surely easy to believe
that it will be quickened in a far greater degree when all the powers of
this natural body are renewed and immortalized. So then, while the eye
of the spiritual body may sweep the far fields of glory, it may also
discover worlds of beauty in dew drop, and leaf and flower.
As the moon shines pure and clear in a muddy pool, so Christ shone here
in this muddy, filthy world, without the serene lustre of His purity
being ever dimmed or soiled. And so we may shine in our poor human way
now, but perfectly later on.
It was my privilege lately in crossing the Atlantic, to witness one of
those glorious sunsets, which once seen can never be forgotten. Of
course the sun sets every evening upon the sea, as upon the land; but
several different circumstances must be happily combined to produce the
effect I witnessed. It was a Sabbath evening,--a fitting time for such a
scene. The day had been calm and bright, the glassy surface of the sea
being broken only by the gentlest of ripples. And now the sun had just
gone down. The clouds, from the western horizon almost to the zenith,
were piled up like very hills of glory, flashing with crimson and amber
and purple and gold. The glowing colors of the clouds were Deflected on
the sea, with a new and wonderful effect. The gentle ripples of the sea
broke up and blended these colors in a manner all its own. What seemed
solid in the sky became changeful on the sea. The crimson and amber and
purple and gold broke and mingled and glanced and gleamed on the molten
sea, until we had before our eyes that very "sea of glass mingled with
fire" which John saw in Apocalyptic vision. Oh, surely, God has flashed
these beauties on the earth and sky and sea to keep us in mind of the
surpassing glories of the beautiful better land.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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