'
And we found, too, that though our old teachers were parted from us,
yet they were with us still; that (to compare small things with
great, and Christ's servants with their Lord) a spirit came to us
from them, and brought all things to our remembrance, whatsoever they
had said to us; that we remembered their words more vividly, we
understood their meaning more fully and deeply, now that they were
parted, than we did when they were with us. We loved them as well,
ay, better, than of old, for we saw more clearly what a debt we owed
to them; and so it was, after all, expedient for us that they should
have gone away. That parting with them, which seemed so dangerous to
us, as well as painful, really comforted us--strengthened and
encouraged us to become stronger and braver souls, full of self-help,
self-government, self-determination.
And so we shall find it, I believe, in our religion.
We may say with a sigh, 'Ah, that I could see my Lord and Saviour. I
should be safe then. I dare not sin then.'
It may be so. I am the last to deny that our Lord Jesus Christ has
(as he certainly could, if he chose) shown himself bodily to certain
of his saints (as he showed himself to St. Paul and to St. Stephen)
in order to strengthen their faith in some great trial. But if it
had been good for us in general to see the Lord in this life, doubt
not that we should have seen him.
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