"From glory to glory"

Paul's expectation of a glorified state as a reward for his constancy in disseminating the doctrine of his Lord and Master and for his obedience to God's commands was sublime. He confidently looked forward to an experience in which all things should be revealed, when spiritual truth should be made plain and reality alone should appear. In his second letter to the Christians in Corinth he expressed his expectation thus: "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." A part of this passage is somewhat clarified by a modern translator: "... reflecting like bright memories the glory of the Lord, are being transformed with the same likeness." This brings out even more clearly the scientific facts of being which the apostle undoubtedly understood. Mankind is being transformed by the Mind of Christ. Here is promise, indeed, of the glory which will be the common experience when vision is cleared of its material limitations and Truth is beheld in all its purity.

What an impetus to our heavenly aspirations is gained from Paul's inspired words! How they stir our expectation! "From glory to glory," from one degree of radiant holiness to another, "till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ"! This is the glory experienced by all who love God, by all who, placing the spiritual above the material sense of life, endeavor to make the expression of Christ, Truth, the goal of all desires.

Mortals, it seems, are all too prone to look backward regretfully, dwelling upon past mistakes as realities. Nothing could be more useless, unless the review of the past be made for the purpose of reform. To dwell upon past errors tends to make them appear as realities, when, in fact, they never were more than shadows in a human experience which never was real. How useless, then, to parade the unhappy experiences of the past in order either to arouse sympathy or to stimulate remorse! Holding vain regrets will never advance spiritual growth; rather will it serve as a stumblingblock, a bar across the way.

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Editorial
Moral Courage
October 31, 1925
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