The world to him was no place of
woe and lamentation, its beauties vanity, and its affections a snare.
As he gazed with delight on the gorgeous tints of the autumnal
forests, and the lovely landscapes of his mountain home, so he
enjoyed to the utmost the life and love which had fallen to his lot,
and thanked God for that capacity for happiness with which his nature
was so largely gifted. Yet it cannot be said that he practised no
self-denial. His life, in many respects, was one of constant
self-discipline, and when his time came to sacrifice himself, he
submitted without a murmur. But in his creed fear had no place. His
faith was great. It was not, however, a mere belief in God's
omnipotence and God's justice, but a deep and abiding confidence in
His infinite compassion and infinite love; and it created in him an
almost startling consciousness of the nearness and reality of the
invisible world. In a letter to his wife it is revealed in all its
strength:

"You must not be discouraged at the slowness of recovery. Look up to
Him who giveth liberally for faith to be resigned to His divine will,
and trust Him for that measure of health which will most glorify Him,
and advance to the greatest extent your own real happiness. We are
sometimes suffered to be in a state of perplexity that our faith may
be tried and grow stronger. See if you cannot spend a short time
after dark in looking out of your window into space, and meditating
upon heaven, with all its joys unspeakable and full of glory..."All
things work together for good" to God's children. Try to look up and
be cheerful, and not desponding. Trust our kind Heavenly Father, and
by the eye of faith see that all things are right and for your best
interests. The clouds come, pass over us, and are followed by bright
sunshine; so in God's moral dealings with us, He permits to have
trouble awhile. But let us, even in the most trying dispensations of
His Providence, be cheered by the brightness which is a little ahead."

It would serve no useful purpose to discuss Jackson's views on
controversial questions. It may be well, however, to correct a common
error. It has been asserted that he was a fatalist, and therefore
careless of a future over which he believed he had no control. Not a
word, however, either in his letters or in his recorded conversations
warrants the assumption. It is true that his favourite maxim was
"Duty is ours, consequences are God's," and that knowing "all