The Making of The Beautiful

heavenly blessing in the place of an earthly.
Then it vanished from my sight, and the Voice spoke again : "Thy
sacrifice is accepted. Thou shalt see it no more on Earth; but through all
the days of thy mortal pilgrimage it shall be to thee a blessed hope,
and it shall meet thee at the gate of Heaven, to be thine through all
eternity. And thou hast come much nearer unto me, and art more like
me. Dost thou desire to draw still nearer to me?” And I cried, "Yes, yes,
still nearer!" And the Voice replied, "There is but one angel more for
thee to walk with. It is the Angel of Suffering.”
Then a great trembling seized me and I said, "The spirit is willing, but
the flesh is weak. I know not if I can endure. Yet do with me as Thou
wilt, for I am Thine.”
Then suddenly there appeared before me an angel whose face was lined
and furrowed, as with the deep strokes of a chisel, yet over all there was
the beauty of a conquered peace-a peace wrested from great tribulation,
the look of one who had forgotten how to weep.
And one hand he held out to me, and with the other he pointed to the
ground. And I looked and saw before me the cross which I had last seen
in the hand of Him upon the Mount.
Then the Voice said, "This only is the way by which thou canst approach
nearest unto me and be most like me. This is thy cross. Lie down upon it
without shrinking and without fear. Thou shalt not be alone: I too have
been there. I sounded all the depths of pain, and at the last I was
forsaken by the Father; but that last, worst suffering thou shalt not
know, for I will never leave thee nor forsake thee;"
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