Death in a sense is the gate of life eternal, but it is in life, this life, that graces be wrought and fashioned that shall prepare the soul for the enjoyment of eternal life. Paul preaches, with all his heart and soul, the infinate preciousness of life. The Christian has the consciousness that in this life is the very work and presence of Christ. By leaving our work here before the time, we leave His work undone. By turning our backs in impatience on this mortal scene, we turn them on Him who is in these very struggles and sufferings. Every step forward in the cause of good is a step nearer to the life of Christ. Life is the state in which Christ makes Himself known to us and through which we must make ourselves known to Him. He santified and glorified every stage of it. And at every place and in every company He was the same Divine Master and Friend. Think then how much we have to do for Christ, and like Christ in whatever is left to us of life, to rise above ourselves, to lose ourselves in the thought of this great work that God has placed before us. For the sake of doing this, the apostle would consent to live, would prefer life with all its sorrows to death with all its gain. Death to us may be perfectly desirable, but life to us should be perfectly beautiful.-- by Dean Stanley.