nd the taste so heavenly, that _they_ will not need any
proof that religion is a pleasant thing; nay, more pleasant than any
thing else, worth the following above all other things, and unpleasant
only to those who are not religious.

Let such persons then think of this, that if a religious life is
pleasant here, in spite of the old Adam interrupting the pleasure and
defiling them, what a glorious day it will be, if it is granted to us
hereafter to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! None of us, even the
holiest, can guess _how_ happy we shall be; for St. John says, "We know
not what we shall be[13];" and St. Paul, "Now we see in a glass darkly,
but then face to face." Yet in proportion to our present holiness and
virtue, we have some faint ideas of what will then be our blessedness.
And in Scripture various descriptions of heaven are given us, in order
to arrest, encourage, and humble us. We are told that the Angels of
God are very bright, and clad in white robes. The Saints and Martyrs
too are clad in white robes, with palms in their hands; and they sing
praises unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne, and to the Lamb. When
our Lord was transfigured, He showed us what Heaven is. His raiment
became white as snow, white and glistening. Again, at one time He
appeared to St. John, and then, "His head and His hairs were white like
wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His
feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His
countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength[14]." And what
Christ is, such do His Saints become hereafter. Here below they are
clad in a garment of sinful flesh; but when the end comes, and they
rise from the grave, they shall inherit glory, and shall be ever young
and ever shining. In that day, all men will see and be convinced, even
bad men, that God's servants are really happy, and only they. In that
day, even lost souls, though they will not be able to understand the
blessedness of religion, will have no doubt at all of what they now
doubt, or pretend to doubt, that religion _is_ blessed. They laugh at
religion, think strictness to be narrowness of mind, and regularity to
be dulness; and give bad names to religious men. They will not be able
to do so then. They think themselves the great men of the earth now,
and look down upon the religious; but then, who would not have been a
religious man, to have so great a reward? who will then have any h