The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1878-05-02
Knowing our Fr,erd. in Heaven.

There is not enough in the bible about
heaven to satisfy our curiosity; but
there is enough to satisfy a reasonable
condition of glorified spirits. 1t is
holy place Such expressions as city
with foundations" a building" or
structure of God and a habitation
point to a definite locality. Certain
characteristics of the abode of the blest
are clearly indicated. 1t is a rest that
remaineth for the people of God. No
sin can penetrate it. Neither shall any
of it's inhabitants suffer from sickness or
pain. knowledge shall be cOmmensur te
with the enlarged powers of the glOrifed
soul. We shall know even SIS we are
known Companionship with the spirits
of the just made perfect will furnish
endless variety and unbroken harmony
of social intercourse. Above all, we
shall see God, and not die.
These are among the most distant
truths which the scripture reveal con-
| corning that Jerusalem the Golden, whose
walls are like unto precious stones and
whose gates to orient perals. For whom
is this celestial babitation prepared
For beings of other worlds, or for those
occupants of this globe whom Jesus
hath redeemed unto Himself? Certainly
the latter. Christ says to His disciples /:
al go to prepare a place for you"
Where He is, He desires that His own
shall be also. The occupants of heaven
shall e those who were once occupants
of this sinful earth. The transfer from
earth to heaven does not according to
the only book which reveals heaven)
destroy personal identity. On the con-
"
that this identity will be preserved.
The same living organism, tn same
characteristics which made the Patriarch
Abraham different man from every body
else in Chaldea will make Abraham a
different person from anyone else in
heaven. These physical and mental
| traits enabled his neighbOrs in Or" to
recognize him. He has carried with him
to the eternal world also such personal
characteristics that he is recognizable
there. According to Christ's statement,
| the rich man " saw Lazarus in A braham's
| BOSOM" He also declared that the
| righteous will yet sit down with Abra-
| ham, Isaac and Jacob in that celestial
| kingdom. 1t is preposteroUs to imagine
| that these three persons are some other
persons than those who passed by those
names on earth. NOmatter what change
| death and the resurrection may produce
on the forms or organisms known as
Abraham, Isacc, and Jacobb. The body
here changes by chemical processes, so
| that there are entirely new particles in
my physical form from what were there
six or seven years ago. YET L am the
same person. My individuality is not
changed in the slightest degree. Lincoln,
| the nursing infant, and Lincoln, the
he nd yiH
In like manner, Paul before the throne
| is and inevitably must De the identical
Paul who preached at Athens and was
martyred at Rome. When he loDged to
depart and to be with Chris" he
| expected to benot somebody else but the
same individual. Moses died fifteen
centuries before the advent of Jesus
/ Christ. Yet there was a personality still
existing, who appeared at the time of
Cnrist's TRANSPORTATION on the mount,
and who was addressed by Him as Moses.
The Prophet Elijah, who had died seven
hundred years before, was there also.
When the great apostle speaks of his
The>salonian converts as his glory and
Joy in the appearance Of the Lord Jesus
Christ he assuredlv expected to meet
the same person in Thessalonica. II
they were not the same people and il he
could not meet them there, how could
they be to Him crown or 81 Joy ?"
This point is clearly in accordance
with scripture and with common sense.
Whatever change may be produced by
death, personal identity will not be
altered by one iot or little. Without
this preservation of perfect identity the
whole idea of future rewards and punish
ments would be an absurd impossibility.
Ifidentity is preserved in eternity,
will the faculty of memory also survive
the grave? Undoubtedly it will. The
obliteration of memory would amount to
\ partial destruction of the individual.
1t would remove some of heavens richest
enioyments. If l can not remember
what my Redeemer has done and suffered
ior me, how can join in the ever new
SONG of grateful praise before His
throne?
Put now together these two facts: N
! Personal identity is not lost in eternity,
and ~ memory remains also unilnpared.
1t follows inevitably that we shall
know each other in heaven. When
| David cried out, over the dead boy, q
shall go to him but he shall net return
| to me! that bereaved father expected
/ to meet again the child whose spirit had