Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1874-08-13
| Social Life in Heaven.
nY nEy. II. D. NoRglmur.

by REV, II. d. NoRTlURUr.
ncayenis not a place of solitary con,
fnement. What have the good people
who go there done, that they should be
shut up, and never have any one to speak
to? Why should they MT know their
friends as we'll there as here. aud even
better? Can you recognize a man on the
road more easily at midnight than at
noon? You will see the loved ones in
the tight Of that world better than you
ever did in the darkness Of this.
Heaven is a very social place. 1t is
represented UNDER the idea of a banquet !;
it is a feast, a marriage supper IF the
Lamb. A great company shall sit down
together There are viands fit for angels,
wine sweetcr than was ever pressed from
earthly vintage, luxuries that would
shame Belshazzar's feast. Bat what kind
of a supper is that where the guests do
not know each other, SIT mute and silent,
never speak, carry on no social inter,
course? Even deaf and dumb people
would not act like that they would have
something to say with fingers if not with
tongues.
Alarge part Of human happiness comes
through the social nature, 1t is a grief
for man to be shut out from man. Ask,
ing the warden at Sing Sing prison on &c
what was the %scyerest of all punishment,
he said it was solitary confinement. They
have a cell there, Tor used to have where
the ircorrigible are locked out from the
face Of man. This tormenting solitude is
more than any hardened wretch can bear.
No sunbeam, no book, no picture, no
singing-bird, no human face nor hand
only stone walls to hear the sorrows Ct
a living heart the whole being turned
back upon, and gnawing itself-that in
some sense, would be going to the tomb
beforehand, entering into death and si>
lence. IL the soul were to be a lonely |
stranger in heaven, have no friends nor
fellowships, it would be miserable.
Happy thought, that we are going to
meet and know and love more than ever
the dear ones who have had the good
fortune to "go before! !" They wait for
us now, parent for child, sister for brother,
friend for friend, lover for lover and
with congratulations, hand shakings, en-
braces, they will welcome US thought the
gate of pearl. As we wait impatiently
for the ship that brings a friend over the
sea, 50 up yonder they wait for us to come
home, and are ready to wave a glad sa-
lutte to the snowy sail.
In our Fathers house we shall have
many thing to talk about. ''This poor,
lisping, stammering tongue will grow elc-
quent there. The soldiers Of the cross,
nowhome from battle, will rehearse the
story of warfare, The pilgrims history
will be told in Canaan. Love. once slain
and now enthroned, will be an eternal
theme. ?
What lips will not be unsealed? A
poor colorcd girl in New York, during
the riots of 1868, was SO frightened that
she lost the power Of speech, and for some
days was dumb one evening, in a religi>
II meeting, as the people were singing,
her happy soul broke the mysterious
silence, and like the rush of waters, poured
itse If out in joyous song. In heaven,
tongues will be- Embossed, both for con-
verse. and for praise.
Yet we read in Scripture Of one who,
on one occasion, was "speschless; it
was the man who had no wedding gar
ment.-Ch ristian Weekly.