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THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
and glory. They can recognize the skill that 
covers the canvas with some near similitude of 
Nature’s picturings, but are too dull to see the 
work of the infinite Hand that covers the hills 
with living glories and spreads over the clouds 
something of the Creator’s own radiance. Such 
sluggish observers grossly profane Nature and 
dishonor the Creator; they squander the high¬ 
est possibilities of happiness, and go back to 
dust with the great purposes of life unrealized. 
“ Nothing less than a complete restoration 
of the divine image will satisfy the longings 
of a truly enlightened soul. ‘ I shall be satis¬ 
fied when I awake in thy likeness ’ is the un¬ 
ceasing, longing cry of such a spirit. To * see 
through a glass darkly,’ to ‘ know but in part/ 
are restraints on complete happiness from which 
the aspiring soul longs to escape. To ‘ be like 
him,’ to ‘ see him as he is,’ to ‘ know as we are 
known,’ to be ‘ made perfect in love,’ constitute 
the heaven to which the soul is seeking to climb, 
where perfect bliss will be found in beholding the 
‘ beauty of the Lord ’ in the face of Jesus Christ, 
the ‘ brightness of the Father’s glory and the 
express image of his person.’ 
“ If devoutly led, we are often filled with rap- 
