Methinks, as his virgin mother looked upon him, and as the wise men and the shepherds gazed into that dear face, they might all have said with the spouse of old, “Thou art fairer than the children of men.” That manger held an unrivalled form of beauty: well may painters strain their art to paint the mother and her wondrous child, for the spectacle brought shepherds from their flocks, sages from the far-off land, and angels from their thrones- heaven and earth were alike intent to see his face. The overshadowing Spirit, by whose miraculous agency he was conceived of the Virgin, would scarcely have created an uncomely body at all, and much less would he have fashioned an unlovely body for so delightful a person as the only Begotten of the Father. A soul absolutely perfect as his was, must surely have been enshrined in a body perfect in its symmetry, and attractive in its features. I suppose the infant Jesus to have possessed an extraordinary beauty. I can scarcely imagine, but perhaps some of you mothers can, what must have been the joy that flooded the heart of Mary, when for the first time she gazed upon the lovely face of the holy child Jesus. While our Lord was here below it would have been a great delight to spiritual minds to have seen his face. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him but he hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God ” and we, in the power of that Spirit, have known, believed, and anticipated the bliss which every winged hour is bringing nearer to us.

Faith, with eagle eyes, penetrates the mist which hides eternal delights from longing eyes. Then these eyes, which now would be smitten with blindness should they look upon the superlative glory, shall be strengthened to behold eternally the Lord of angels, who is the brightness of his Father’s glory and the express image of his person.īrethren and sisters, regard the object of our expectations! See the happiness which is promised us! Behold the heaven which awaits us! Forget for awhile your present cares: let all your difficulties and your sorrows vanish for a season and live for awhile in the future which is so certified by faithful promises that you may rejoice in it even now! The veil which parts us from our great reward is very thin: hope gazes through its gauzy fabric.

Here that vision might be too overpowering for the soul and body, and might painfully separate them with excess of delight, and so cause us death but up yonder the disembodied spirit is able to endure the blaze of splendour, and so will the body also when it shall have been refined and strengthened in its powers by resurrection from the dead. “Thou canst not see my face and live,” said the Lord of old but that was true of mortals only, and refers not to immortals who have put on incorruption: in yonder glory-land they see the face of God and yet live yea, the sight is the essence and excellence of their life. If it shall please God that we shall depart this life before the Master’s appearing, we may laugh at death and count it to be gain, seeing that it introduces us to the place where we shall see his face. To behold the far fairer sight mentioned in the text men might well be content to die a thousand times. “See Naples and die ” as if there remained nothing more to be seen after that fair bay and city had been gazed upon.

THE Italians so much admire the city of Naples, that their proverb is. “And they shall see his face.' - Revelation 22:4.

Soul heaven presents blaze rarest