The Life of Duty, volume II | Page 3

makes people careless of their lives.
If you want to dwell with God through all eternity, you must walk
humbly with God all the days of your earthly life. Look again through
the open door, and learn that in Heaven God is the central figure. So, if
we are living here as Christ's people, God will be the central figure in
our life, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all our
work, our wish, our plan. My brothers, if you feel that with you self is
the chief object in your existence, be sure that you are not living the
Heavenly life. You have put yourself in the place of God.
Again, as we look through the open door, we see the intense beauty of
the Heavenly life. We see gates of pearl, and a throne on which sits one
like a jasper and a sardine stone, and the rainbow round about the
throne is in sight like unto an emerald. In all ages precious stones have
been objects of the greatest value. We are told that Julius Caesar paid a

hundred and twenty-five thousand crowns for one pearl, and monarchs
have boasted of possessing a diamond of priceless value. You
remember that God says of His redeemed ones, "they shall be Mine in
that day that I make up My jewels." Well, I think we hear so much of
precious stones in the description of Heaven, that we may learn that its
great glory and beauty consists in the holiness of those who dwell there.
They are the pure and precious pearls which build up the foundation,
and they get their brightness from God, who sits enthroned among them,
and who is to look upon as a jasper and a sardine stone. And these
precious stones are of different colours, as they reflect the light from a
different point. So is it with the people of God, they reflect the light
from the face of God in various ways, and so have various virtues. One
shines with fiery zeal, like the red ruby. Another glitters with the soft
beauty of a humble spirit, like the pearl, whilst yet another sparkles
with many graces, like the parti-coloured flashes of the diamond. Some
lives which here are obscure and neglected, like the precious gem at the
bottom of the ocean, shall one day glitter in Heaven, and be among the
jewels of the Master.
Ah! my brothers, are our lives such that we can ever hope to adore
God's jewel-house above? Can these poor dull characters of ours ever
shine as the stars for ever and ever? Think, what makes a gem flash and
sparkle? Light. Well, then, let us walk as the children of light, let us
look up, and catch the radiance from the face of Jesus, and reflect it in
our lives; then will our light shine here before men, and one day shine
yet brighter as we draw nearer to the source of all light. And think
again that often the brightest and fairest forms come from the least
likely materials. Of the same mould are the black coal, and the
glittering diamond. The unsightly slag which is thrown away from the
iron furnace forms beautiful crystals, and the very mud under foot can,
as men of science tell us, be turned into gleaming metal, and sparkling
gem. The fair colours which dye our clothing can be formed from
defiling pitch, and some of the most exquisite perfumes are distilled
from the foulest substances. My brother, the same God who brings
beauty out of ugliness, and fair purity from corruption, can so change
our vile nature, and our vile body, that they may be made like unto Him.
The work of the Blessed Trinity, of the Creator, the Saviour, the

Sanctifier, is day by day operating on the children of God, and making
all things new in them. And remember that work is gradual. A man can
make a sham diamond in a very short time, a real gem must lie for ages
buried in the earth. So, if we are really and truly God's people, we must
grow gradually, and bear all the cutting and polishing which God sees
right, before we are fit for the royal treasury.
The same Divine Hand which changed Mary Magdalene to a loving
penitent, and the dying thief to a trusting disciple, and lifted Augustine
from the foul grave of lust to be a pillar of the Church, can likewise
change us, and make us to shine with the light of a stone most precious.
Once again, as we gaze through the open door, we hear of music in
Heaven. Those who have wrong ideas of the life to come seem to
imagine that the Heavenly existence consists