xin. THE GATES OF PEARL. 239 



only the shadow of it might remain to us. And we too 

 must know the fellowship of His sufferings if we are to 

 enter within the gates into the enjoyment of His 

 glory. We must be dead with Him if we are to live 

 with Him ; we must suffer with Him if we are to reign 

 with Him. Through purity of soul alone can we enter 

 the gates of purity into that place where nothing that 

 defileth can enter. 



The dweller in the far inland glen brings back a 

 few shells to remind him amid the altogether dis- 

 similar scenes of his daily life of his visit to the sea- 

 shore ; the sailor brings home corals and other strange 

 productions of the deep as memorials of the foreign 

 lands where he has been. My own early home was 

 far away from the sea, in the heart of the inland moun- 

 tains ; and I remember well how my father and mother 

 used, on their occasional visits to some seaside watering, 

 place, to bring back a quantity of shells with them, and 

 how delighted we children were with the strange objects, 

 and the curious speculations regarding a world to us un- 

 known they gave rise to. So I desire to bring from the 

 land that is very far off into the midst of our worldly 

 pursuits and enjoyments a few inspiring thoughts 

 regarding the gates of pearl. Here we are walking 

 upon the shore of the eternal sea, whose deep-voiced 

 murmur is ever in our ears, breaking in at every pause 

 in the music of life, and rising to fuller power in the 

 solemn night, when all things else are hushed. Day by 

 day the mighty deep creeps slowly up the shore and 

 sweeps away the sand upon which we had erewhile 



