What is the spirit's reward?

Reward is no sensuous ease in a heaven of eternal rest―

No fabled psalm-singing around God's great white throne―

No listless, dreamy idleness, cheaply gained by cries for pity, or by fancied faith―

None of these, but the consciousness of duty done, progress made, and capacity for progress increased―

Love to God and man fostered, and the jewel of truth and honesty preserved. 

This is the spirit's reward, and it must be gained before it can be enjoyed. 

It comes as the rest after toil―as the food to the hungry―as the draught to the parched―as the pulsation of delight when the wanderer sights his home. 

But it is only the toil-worn, the travel-stained, the hungry, the parched traveller who can enter into the full zest―

Not the reward of indolent, sensuous content. 

It is the gratification, which has been earned, and which is an additional spur to future progress.