XITI. THE GATES OF PEARL. 237 



monarch, is caused by a struggle with difficulties, an 

 effort to overcome a trial ; subliming by a wonderful 

 alchemy, by the victorious power of life, into enduring 

 patience a source of irritation, turning a worthless grain 

 of sand into a pearl. 



The fact therefore that the heavenly gates are made 

 of a substance with such a remarkable history as this, 

 irresistibly suggests the trials by which those who pass 

 through them are made meet for their abundant 

 entrance into the city. The gate through which the) 

 enter is that of purification and ennobling through 

 suffering; the earthly element in their nature which 

 is the cause of all their suffering transformed into the 

 celestial through the fellowship of the sufferings of Him 

 who is the pearl of great price. That gate speaks 

 of temptations vanquished, of degrees of excellence 

 reached through suffering, of a Divine beauty destined 

 to supersede every mark of sorrow and be eternal. 

 Who would have thought that out of the rough, broken, 

 coarse-looking shell, as it appears on the outside, and 

 by the labours and sufferings of a creature almost at 

 the lowest point in the scale of life, whose structure is 

 as simple as it can well be, without beauty of form or 

 hue to attract, the glistening loveliness and preciousness 

 of the oriental pearl could be produced! And who 

 could have thought that out of the dark and sorrowful 

 experiences of earth, purified by suffering, could have 

 come the great white-robed multitude within the gates 

 of pearl ! To themselves while on earth it might have 

 seemed wonderful grace that they should ever have 



