Page:Sermons on the Ten Commandments.djvu/101

 long, and most people appear to enjoy it, beset as it is with sicknesses and sorrows, with cares and anxieties, with temptations and trials. Think what it will be to reach the land of perfect peace—where no trials come, nor pains of body or of mind, where the skies are ever fair, and the palaces ever gleaming, and the paradises ever blooming; where love binds friends together in eternal union; where are the most delightful consociations, ever varying, ever charming; where a succession of pleasant duties just keeps the mind agreeably occupied, but never wearied; where joy, gushing out from the heart's fountains, pours its glowing flood over all things, creates lovely scenery around, and images itself in objects ever beautiful, ever new; where heart meets heart, and the mutual communication of all delights makes life a continual rapture. And this happy state to endure forever, and always increasing in excellence and in joy! Is this not worth laboring for, during our few years here? Is it not worth while striving to be good, when goodness is to bring eternal happiness? Is it not worth while endeavoring to overcome our evils, when those evils are the only barriers to our entrance on these joys? In a few years, we shall be gone from this scene, and have entered the eternal world: then, if we have kept the Divine Commandments—if we have spiritually honored our father and mother—if we have striven to do the Lord's will—we shall hear the joyful words, "Well done! good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful in a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."