Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1845-01-23
THE VISIBLE spLENDoR OF THE FUTURE
WORLD.

HE VISIBLE SftsENDOA VI AhAAs = - 49,
WORLD.
We arc permitted to copy the following ~ -
from manuscript sermon;
The glory Of the Kingdom Of God g manifested
in the future life will be the radiance Of that splen-
did character which grace has wrought N the re-
deemed.
We may nationally believe however that there
will be outward beauties and splendor corresponds
ing to the character Of Christ and his redeemed.
We are expressly told that hereafter we shall have
bodies like Christ's glorious body, and these Of
themselves must constitute visible display OF
transcendant beauty. Even in this world OF san.
the Creator is lavish of beauty in his works. and
we witness changes which suggest to US something
of the external splendor which may greet rs upOh
mr. entrance into the kingdom Of God N future
life. One day there stands before Us the gannt and
leaaess tree signing in the winters blast the very
IMAGE of desolation. The next. clothed in pano-
Div Of ice it is dazzlingly brilliant, Its trunk =
now column Of silver; every branch Is encrusted
with Jewels and pearls ard each little twig shakes
qa;lv at the sun its cluster of diamonds. There 4
Stands its delicate shoots all perfectly distinct, Like
shining tracery upon the pure blue Of the sky iis
outspread branches arching gracefully beneath
their burden, and the whole towering up malesti-
caly in the sunlight, and flashing back his radiance
n seyen-fold hues; an object of beauty which the
eve can never be satisfied with seeing Yet this y
hui an inanmate tree unconscious Of ITSELF and Of
God. Passing from inanimate objects to creatures
ofintelligence, we find more impressive attrac-
ton These, especially beings Of moral excellence,
are often invested with beauty, unriyaled by the
charms Of nature. Beauty's throne upon Earth is
the human countenance, irradiated with the ex-
pressions Of purified love- When every feature
is suffused with goodness. when the intelli;gence
and grace Of gifted mind pour themselves forth
through the eye or wreath ,ler expressions around
the lip, what form IN nature so moves US by its al.
lufements 1Hisi9 a ,'F8.aa Aihf@ts8
But beauty's golden hour iswhen the soul il
loosing itself from the tenement of clay, and arm.
ting for its heagenward fight. In that uneafthly
brilancy Of the eye, that earnest gaze whose I'M
telligence seems to pierce theyeil, and in that
smile bespeaking the very exstacy of spiritual Joy
we seem TO have the souls angel look. One mo-
ment more and-'tis gone Yet there lies its trace
upon the lfeless clay, in the serenity which says
care is ended. - :S@"' WEI a ifi tatIt' S~
Shall we not see that look again? If God so
clothes in beauty the senseless forms of nature, If
expression may so irraaate these sinful bodies here
what must that spiritual body be, made for thesanc-
tilted creature of grace-4a perfect medium for the
givngs forth Of Illuminated with the ex-
pressions ofsa soul perfected in the likeness of
Christ TA kingdom Of the Father in Heaven
will surely have its visible splendors: but it will
still be as we have said; that the glory Of the
Kingdom Of God is the radiance of that splendid
character which grace has wrought - es@54 97''