beauty and the land of
far distances; he who has them not, he is blind and short-sighted; or,
as Luther and the Vulgate render it, is blind, and gropes with his
hands. Spiritual short-sightedness is the result of the neglect of the
pursuit of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ. An
indistinct vision may result from one of two causes: a fault in the
eye, or an obstruction in the atmosphere. If you cannot make out a
distant object while other people can, they will say to you, "How
short-sighted you are!" but if no one can discern it, the probability
is that something external has made vision impossible. Now, in the
things of God, it is almost always the first defect that mars our
perception; and the main reason why "eye hath not seen" is in our own
nature, and not because God has not prepared nor revealed such things
for our perception. To them that love Him, He reveals; wherefore let
us add to kindness love, and we shall know. There are many things to
which we are blind, because we have not practised ourselves in looking
for them, nor do we know in what direction to look. I remember, when
in the Isle of Arran, watching through a mist for the coming of the
steamer from Glasgow; our landlady found it long before we could detect
it, because she was more used to the quest; her eyes were keener, and
she knew the direction in which to look. And the soul that ardently
believes and hopes, knows well how to lift up its eyes to the hills
from whence its help shall come, and to discern the help when it
appears.

There are some people who seem ignorant of the fact that God has given
them spiritual faculties suited to the observation of spiritual
realities. They are like folks who, if they were put down ten miles
from home on a clear night, would never be able to tell you on which
side of the sky the sun would rise; because they never exercised their
powers in the observation of the way the skies go round. And not only
may we discern spiritual realities, but more than that, it is written
that the pure in heart shall see God. For God has not given up
revealing Himself to men yet; but this is an age in which, while there
are many who know Him a little, there are few who know Him much. He
spake to the fathers. He is speaking still. Enoch was not the last of
whom it should be said, "He walked with God, he pleased God"; Isaiah
not the only one who could say, "I beheld the Lord sitting on a throne
high and lifted