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things which yet were not , as though they were , and on the sounding shore had been told that the ways of God were not as the ways of men . Therefore , when he came back into the cities he saw with other eyes than all around him . He saw many blessings in the shape of infirmities unquietly borne and eagerly shaken off , and knew perhaps that secret tears contained a more benignant influence than the smiles by which they were chased away . The sufferers might believe , as we believe , that all things work together for good : to Jesus yet more was given : he saw it .
Under what an aspect must society have appeared to him ! The course of public affairs must have spoken an intelligible language to him , when he compared it with intimations from within . When he went up to the feast , year after year , how distinct must have been the evidence of gathering circumstances , how well-defined the shadows of approaching events as the consummation drew nigh ! To us , no employment is so delightful as to trace out the Divine purposes in past events which were once mysterious ; to mark the historical revolutions of states , and the varying fortunes of
individuals ; to look back keenly through the vicissitudes of our own lot , and observe how temporal changes have wrought out spiritual stability : but this is as nothing compared with the privilege of recognizing more extensive purposes in events which were , to all others , yet contingent . He saw that through the sufferings of confessors , the sacrifice of martyrs , and the evils which it was his office to foretell , new adherents should be continually gained to the little flock who should at length outnumber the sands on the sea-shore . He saw how every impulse of every mind was appointed to carry
on the grand scheme of salvation ; how all outward changes , all inward workings , were to contribute to the establishment of the gospel . Yet this insight into the destinies of society was learned in solitude : surely in a solitude like this , sanctified by the sanctity of his own soul . —The winds are rising , and the caverns are thundering amidst the dash of the waves . There is a deep and holy joy even to me , amidst this turbulence . How much
deeper and holier to him who saw more vividly how all things were alive with the Divine presence ! When he walked the deep , tempestuous like that which tosses before me now , when he trod the pastures of the valley , or looked on the fields white for harvest , or on that glorious type of himself , the light of the natural world , he saw in these forms a signature which is not fully legible to us , and received from them promises which we cannot yet understand .
Yet though these promises are not fully comprehended , though we cannot measure the griefs or estimate the sublime enjoyments of such a sensibility , combined with such a destiny , as that of Jesus , must not our sympathy be improved , our brotherhood with him strengthened , by studying as he studied , and resorting where he retired ? The same book is open to me that he loved to look upon , and to which he perpetually referred those whom he taught . The same voice is now pealing louder and louder on my ear , to which he stood to listen by night and by day . The impulse to interpret it
has to none been given in an equal degree , but yet it is given . Why , else , are men now collected in churches and on the hill-side to worship ? Why is the calm of the Sabbath spread over the land ? Why , else , is this mighty roar to me like the voice of the Saviour to John when he heard it as the voice of many waters > Why , else , is there a Sabbath at sea as well as on land ; a gathering together to pray and praise where there is no bell to announce the day ? In yonder noble vessel , now scudding , and now pitching among the winds and waters , there is , perhaps , an assemblage for
Untitled Article
76 Sabbath Musings .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1831, page 76, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2594/page/4/
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