Page:Heaven Revealed.djvu/348

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employments are all human—all answering the demands of true human love, and tending to the advancement of human happiness; that every angel does his appointed work, not from any selfish end, but from the exquisite delight he finds in rendering useful service; and that the higher the use, and the purer the love that one carries into its performance, and the more earnestly he devotes himself to it, the more exalted and abundant is his happiness.

Now, take this doctrine along with that other, that each one carries his own life with him into the other world, and what is the conclusion? Why, that every person who would enter heaven, must first become a form of use in the kingdom of God; for such are all the angels. He must diligently cultivate, and to some extent acquire while here on earth, the love of use. Every believer will, therefore, seek to know what his peculiar powers of body and mind qualify him to do best; and that he will do, thinking less of personal reward than of the use, and trying to work from a love of this latter. Thus will he consecrate to USE—or, what is equivalent, to the service of God—all his powers of body and mind. He will study to learn the highest use of them all, and will regard himself merely as a steward bound to use his Master's goods in a manner most agreeable to his Master's will. He will not be idle, but an earnest worker. He will not ask, What shall I gain by doing this or that? but Will it be useful?—will it benefit the church, the community, the country, or mankind? He will not inquire, What occupation will bring me most of honor or emolument, but what one do my gifts of body and mind qualify me