"Light after darkness, gain after loss,
Strength after weariness, crown after cross;
Sweet after bitter, song after sigh,
Home after wandering, praise after cry;
Sheaves after sowing, sun after rain,
Light after mystery, peace after pain;
Joy after sorrow, calm after blast,
Rest after weariness, sweet rest at last;
Near after distant, gleam after gloom,
Love after loneliness, life after tomb.
After long agony, rapture of bliss,
Christ is the pathway leading to this!"
The last lesson from Olivet is the lesson about the rewards. And
taking these lessons together, let us remember that they are--the
lesson _about the Master_: the lesson _about the servants_: the
lesson _about the talents_: and the lesson _about the rewards_.
The Collect for the thirteenth Sunday after Trinity is a very
suitable prayer to offer after meditating on the lessons from Olivet:
"Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy
faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service: Grant, we
beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that
we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises; which exceed all
that we can desire; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord.
AMEN!"