aven's happiness we shall enjoy.

These attributes of personal beauty and perfection, and elevation to
a high position, in heaven, are the very marks by which we shall
immediately recognize those who have been most holy, and who have
done most for God, in this world. It will no longer be as now, when
the wicked prosper, possess wealth, honors, and power, while the
virtuous are not infrequently poor, despised, and even persecuted
unto death. Hence, the appearance of a man and his surroundings are
not a rule whereby we can rightly judge of his sanctity. Thus, when
you see a man of great personal beauty, highly educated, and polished
in his manners, surrounded with all the magnificence which the world
can give, honored and idolized by his fellows, enjoying a high social
position, and all the pleasures of life, you do not, you cannot
judge, from all this worldly glory, that he is one of the holiest men
living. He may, indeed, be a good man, but the glory which surrounds
him is not the standard by which you can judge of the amount of
virtue which he possesses.

In heaven, the glory which surrounds the saints is a rule, and an
infallible one, by which we can tell the amount of virtue they
practised while living in mortal flesh. Thus, when you enter there,
you will see some who outshine others in splendor as the sun
outshines the moon. You will see them wonderfully transformed into
God, shining like the Divinity in His presence; partaking of the
Divine Nature in a high degree, and united to Him in the most
intimate manner. You will see them elevated far above others in rank,
honored and loved in a special manner by the angels and saints. On
seeing them, your first thought will be that these are the holiest
persons in heaven. You will judge that their dazzling splendor, their
wonderful resemblance to God, their intimate union with Him, the high
position they occupy, and the exquisite pleasures they enjoy, are all
so many proofs that, while on earth, they loved God with their whole
heart, and their neighbor as themselves; that they were poor in
spirit, humble, pure, patient in adversity, and that perhaps some of
them laid down their lives for God, amidst the most excruciating
torments. Here is a correct judgment. For it is precisely their
heroic virtue, and not the mere accident of birth or the smile of
fortune, which gives them the superior beauty, glory, and happiness
they now enjoy.

Then, again, you will see others, who,