Eighth Day — On Heaven
1. Heaven! thou glorious state! no heart can conceive, no tongue can describe what thou art! Exemption from all that is evil; assemblage of all that is good; masterpiece of God’s omnipotence; the price of the blood of Jesus; and more than man can desire.
2. To see God clearly, and as he is in his glory; to love God without measure; to possess God without ever fearing to lose him; to be happy in the felicity of God himself; such is the object of my hope. But a day or two of pilgrimage or exile, and then I shall be with him for ever.
3. What matters it how we fare here below, provided we be with Jesus for all eternity? Can I justly complain that a never-ending happiness should cost me so little? The martyrs purchased heaven at the price of their blood, and thought it was given them for nothing. Shall not I then sacrifice my corrupt will for it? O happy eternity! if men only knew what thou art worth.
Excite within yourself a great desire of heaven, and behold the earth with a proportionable contempt. Were you filled with a proper sense of it, nothing here below could allure or disturb you.
“I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear.”
Psalm xvi.
“If the labour terrifies, the reward invites.”
St. Bernard.