If regret were possible for the blessed hereafter, they would never cease to mourn over the loss of their opportunities on earth to increase their eternal beatitude. It is only when the veil shall have been removed that we shall fully realize how the goodness and mercy of God have always pursued us in this life, that we might be saved and enjoy the rewards of His house forever. May God give us all that child-like trust in our heavenly Master which the sheep display toward their shepherd; may He grant us that vivid constant faith of the Saints [pg 215] which will enable us to see in every event of life, in adversity as well as in prosperity, in our pains as well as in our joys, the designs of a loving Father who is ever wishing and trying to lead His children to His home of eternal delights.
Footnotes
[1.]Isa. xl. 11.[2.]Jer. xxiii. 4, 5.[3.]Ezech. xxxiv. 11, 12, 23.[4.]Phil. ii. 6, 7.[5.]Jno. x. 30, 38; xii. 45.[6.]Luke xii. 49.[7.]Gen. iii. 19.[8.]Lam. i. 12.[9.]Ps. cxliv. 9.[10.]Isa. liii. 4.[11.]Rom. viii. 17.[12.]2 Cor. iv. 17.[13.]Matt. v. 48.[14.]Jno. xv. 5.[15.]Luke xxiii. 34.[16.]Prov. viii. 31.[17.]Jno. xv. 15.[18.]Ps. viii. 5.[19.]Prov. xxiii. 26.[20.]Matt. xi. 28.[21.]Jno. vi. 52, 55.[22.]Jno. xvi. 2.[23.]Ezech. xviii. 23; xxxiii. 11; 2 Pet. iii. 9.[24.]Ps. 102. 14.[25.]Luke xv. 4, 7.[26.]Luke i. 31.[27.]Matt. xvi. 18.[28.]Luke x. 17.[29.]Matt. xviii. 17.[30.]Matt. xxiv. 35.[31.]Matt. xxiv. 24.[32.]2 Cor. xi. 26.[33.]2 Cor. xi. 13.[34.]Matt. xxviii. 20.[35.]Ps. cxiii. 13, 14.[36.]Jude 10.[37.]Matt. x. 17, 22-26.[38.]Mich. vii. 6; Matt. x. 36.[39.]Bk. i. 11. 5.[40.]Matt. xvi. 24.[41.]Ps. xvii. 4, 5.[42.]Luke xii. 34.[43.]1 Jno. iv. 16, 18.[44.]Ps. xxvi. 1, 2.[45.]Matt. x. 28.[46.]Wis. iii. 3.[47.]Ps. xxxiii. 20.[48.]Ps. xiii. 3.[49.]Jno. x. 10.[50.]2 Tim. ii. 5.[51.]Luke ix. 23.[52.]Jno. xii. 34.[53.]Job vii. 1; Job xiv. 2.[54.]Isa. xl. 6, 7.[55.]Heb. xi. 10.[56.]Wis. v. 6-9.[57.]Rom. viii. 16, 17.[58.]1 Peter iv. 13.[59.]Wis. iii. 4, 6.[60.]Luke xiv.[61.]1 Cor. i. 25.[62.]Luke xiv. 26.[63.]Philip iii. 7, 8.[64.]Confess. ix. 1.[65.]Ps. xxxiii. 9; lxxxii. 2.[66.]Job xiii. 15.[67.]Ps. xc. 11.[68.]Philip iv. 7.[69.]Philip iv. 13.[70.]Rom. viii. 33-39.[71.]Rom. ix. 16.[72.]Eccl. ix. 1, 2.[73.]Philip, ii. 12.[74.]1 Cor. ix. 27.[75.]Jno. xvii. 11-15.[76.]Ps. xvi. 5.[77.]Isa. xlii. 3.[78.]Ps. cii. 13, 14.[79.]Apoc. xxi., iv.[80.]Philip i. 20, 21.[81.]2 Cor. vi. 4-11.[82.]Matt. vii. 16-19.[83.]Matt. vi. 30.[84.]Luke xxiv. 25.[85.]Matt. xvii. 16.[86.]Ps. xxix. 7.[87.]Jonas iv.[88.]In Ps. xxx. Exp. 2.[89.]Ps. cxlv. 2, 3.[90.]Jno. xiv. 27.[91.]Bk. iii.; ch. lix. 3.[92.]Matt. xxv. 24-31.[93.]Matt. xi. 28.[94.]Jno. iv. 13, 14.[95.]Bk. iii., ch. 1, 4.[96.]De Fide orthod. ii. 29.[97.]Wis. vi. 8.[98.]Ench. tom. iii., ch. 27 and ii.[99.]Isa. lv. 8; Rom. xi. 33.[100.]Jno. xii. 25.[101.] Matt. vii. 21.[102.]Mk. iii. 35.[103.]Mk. xi. 23.[104.]Bk. III., ch. l. 6.[105.]Matt. xi. 12.[106.]Rom. viii. 32.[107.]Imitation, Bk. III., ch. l. 4.[108.]2 Tim. i. 12.[109.]Matt. x. 24, 25.[110.]Rom. viii. 28.[111.]Wis. v. 15.[112.]2 Tim. ii. 10.[113.]Faber, Creator and Creature, Bk. II., ch. v.