d his miserableness as he will use it when he
lets the light of 'the things not seen' in upon it, then, certainly,
it will work out for him the blessed results. But if he does not,
then, as certainly, it will not. Whilst there are many ways by which
character is hammered and moulded and shaped into that which is fit
to be clothed upon with the glory that is yonder, one of the foremost
of these is the passing through things temporal with a continual
regard to the things that are eternal. If you want to understand
to-day you must bring Eternity into the account, and if you want to
use to-day you must use it with the light of the eternal world full
upon it. The sum of it all is, brethren, that the things seen cannot
be estimated in their true character, unless they are regarded in
immediate connection with the things that are unseen; and that the
things seen will only prepare an eternal weight of glory for us when
they prepare us for an eternal weight of glory.

II. And so, I note that this look at the things not seen is only
possible through Jesus Christ.

He is the only window which opens out and gives the vision of that
far-off land. I, for my part, believe that, if I might use such a
metaphor, He is the Columbus of the New World. Men believed, and
argued, and doubted about the existence of it across the seas there,
until a man went, and came back again, and then went to found a new
city yonder. And men hoped for immortality, and believed after a
fashion--some of them--in a future life, and dreaded that it might be
true, and discussed and debated whether it was, but doubt clouded all
minds, until One, our Brother, went away into the darkness, and came
back again, in most respects as He had gone, and then departed once
more to make ready a city in which all who love Him should finally
dwell, and to which you and I may be sure that we shall emigrate. It
is only in Jesus Christ that the look which my text enjoins is
possible.

For not only has He given a certitude so that we need now not to say
'We think, we hope, we fear, we are pretty well sure, that there must
be a life beyond,' but we can say 'We know.' Not only has He done
this, but also in Him and His life of glory at God's right hand in
heaven, is summed up all that we really can know about that future.
We look into the darkness in vain; we look at Him, and, our
knowledge, though limited, is blessed. All other adumbrations of a
life beyond must necessarily be ca