Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1874-04-17
sflstten 4}llsrfllany.
From "Ircurus' Letters" in ~ Y Observer
knowledge of One Another in the Future
Life

Lie.
Your letter. asking my "opinion' on
| the subject of recognition of friends IN
| heaven, is one Of many that are lying
near me. on the same theme. and all of
them unanswered An "opinion' Is
worth nothing, or very little. unless it
| is fortified by reasons, and when You
come 10 the argument. there is little to
be said. Yet it is frequently the case
that persons III sorrow over the death
of those they love, especially parents
weeping on account of the death of
their children. write to me TO inquire
| if they may indulge the belief that IN
the life beyond the present, they will
know and enjoy the one who has gone
| ibcfore them. This is the burden of
Your letter. which touched me very
tcndcrlv. Your allusions to long since
buried but never 10 forgotten joys
to words Of sympathy in years past and
gone forcyer,-to Your fresh sorrow
that has now made another chair va
cant at yoIr tireside.-haye opened
fountains sealed. yet sealed so lightly
that they are easily opened. when
waters of sympathy are wanted by a
| thirsty soul.
Shall we know our friends in heaven:
| The friends We have known on earth,
our children and those we have loved
| have not doubt of it. The Bible
speaks very rarely and only indirectly
tea.- :h= -=S1;;>ct. s-sA tho few passages
/. loFten cited and fondled rs teachil. il
are not so clearly in proof, rs to i.
fy us in saving that it is positive do>.
trinc. David said he should 20 to hi;
Ichild, but the child would not come tc
him. And it is certainly fair infer
rRce that he expected 10 know his boy
when he went Ia the place whittier the
Ichild had gone before him. Doubles:
David had the same belief that We hav,
on the subject, and in the midst of hi:
grief gave expression 10 1t and founc
comfort in the hope. And such Incl
dental alluSions, even if they were faI
more numerous than they are, woult
serve only 10 show rs that the saint.
Of old cherished the same faith in re
gard 10 a future state, that We do now
II has been the faith. too. of those VIII,
: DO not have the Bible, or any knowl
edge Of the way of life by the Saviour
The pagan philosophers Of Greece an,
Rome. hose writings have come down
10 rs. older than the Scriptures OF tn,
New Testament. have confident aSSer
tions sofcxpcctation that the intercours
Of human friendships will be renewed
in the future life. and the more enjoy
ii because it will not be marred by th
fear of another separation.
The same idea is apparently aSsum
ed by sacred writers. rs one that i
. spontaneous in every human breast
:, Even the death of a patriarch is spo
ken ot as his being gathered with hi
fathers, which would hardly be the cx
preston if 1t were supposed that h
was not 10 know them when he was il
the midst of them. And the promis
l that the good are t. sit down Will
those ancient worthieS. Abraham. Isaa
and Jacob, would not be worth much
=, if we were not To know them from on
another. and the innumcrable host o
saints in light. Whether or not we viii
require individual introduction in or
; der to have knowledge of the form anC
features of the gloritied, it is not i'm
,. portant for us now to inquire. Their
are saints and angels enough to uShe
, us into the society We seek. and to brin!
; us unto the knowledge of the great an,
wise III the ranks of heaven. so that W
need not apprehend that we, or thos
l who have anticipated us in the realm
:. of the blessed, will be lonely anon!
e the multitudcs.
: That there is sense in which on
, bodies will be the same then us now
so that our identity will be preserves
and recognizable by our friends, is a
clearly true us the doctrine of the resur
e rection itself Indeed, if it be not true
: there is to be no resurrection. FlesI
. land blood and bones will not be con
: stituent parts of the resurrection body
but we are not flesh, blood and bones
4 only nor mainly. These change will
: progressive years. They are not tn
8 same to-day they were yesterday. AM
: seven years ago u body totally dlfferen
in actual atoms from the one that no,
: burdens me, | carried about. Ye
n would it not be very foolish in me t
e pretend that | am not the same being