UPWARD by Eliza H. Morton

The Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · December 18, 1879

FromThe Review and Herald, Vol. 54, No. 25

UPWARD

By Eliza H. Morton

Every true life seeks higher levels. The lowest forms of animal existence mount upward, and man, the noblest specimen of God's workmanship, has heavenly aspirations implanted in his soul. The Christian life should be progressive. The careless worldling may dream and doubt and throw his life away chasing shadows, but the child of God should not suffer his barque to “lie becalmed on the sea of life.” Pull up the stream, O mariner! Pull with all your God-given powers!

The past, however dark, is gone forever. It is useless to sigh over lost opportunities; for with the sigh other opportunities slip away, and the great loss becomes greater. The blood of Christ applied to the heart will wash sin-black stains into oblivion. The love of God shed abroad in the soul will dispel the shadow and the cloud. Fellow-mortal, the ladder of light is planted at your feet. Its top-most round rests on the threshold of a sun-bright home, a home called Beauty-land, a city called the Golden.

Pilgrim in a stranger land, angels beckon you upward. The gates of the city cry, “Onward.” The King himself says, “Come.” Every round in that shining ladder is a glorious truth. Plant your feet firmly, and keep your eye fixed on the sky-blue dome above.

The trees of autumn shake down their leaves and toss their bare branches, while earthly homes are made desolate by chilly winds wafted from tombs.

Where we are going, the flowers never fade, and the home-circle is never broken. Up yonder is durability, the source and spring of all joy.

The little trials of life, if borne patiently, will prove strong levers pushing us upward. Faithful labor with voice or pen, if consecrated to God, will propel us onward. It is growth we want! It is progress we need! Oh, for a deeper heart-work! Oh, for a closer soul-communion with God! Fearless workmen are wanted in this needy age. Strong hands and loving hearts are called for in these last moments of time.

The soft splendor of a brighter day will soon shed its radiance o’er the earth, and the thinker and the thought, the doer and the deed, the dreamer and the dream, will be brought face to face. The far-off joy will draw divinely near, and the height be reached from which all glory radiates and all beauty shines. Let us press upward, ever upward, until all purity becomes ours forever.

ELIZA H. MORTON.