The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1888-02-04
Knowing Our Friends i'm Heaven.
BY T. L. CUYLER, D. D.

There is not enough in the Bible
about heaven to satisfy our curiosity,
but there is quite enough to satisfy q
reasonable faith. 1t is certainly more
than happy condition of glorified
spirits. 1t is holy place. Such ex-
pressions as ''a city with foundations, y
building" or structure of God, and
"habitation," all point to definite
locality. Certain characteristics of the
abode of the blessed are clearly indi-
Gated. A rest that remaineth for peo-
pie of God. No sin can penetrate it,
or anything whatever defileth. Meth
er shall any of its inhabitants suffer
from sickness or pain. knowledge
shall be commensurate with the enlarged
powers of the glori6ed soul. We shall
know even as we are known. Com
panionship with the spirits of the just
made perfect will furnish endless vari-
ETY. and unbroken harmony of social
intercourse. Above all, we shall see
God, and not die. These are among
the most distinct truths which the
Scriptures reveal concerning that Jeru-
salem the Golden, whose walls are like
unto precious stones, and whose gates
to orient pearls. For whom is this ce-
lestial habitation prepared2 For be-
ings of other worlds, or for those occu-
pants of this globe whom Jesus hath
redeemed unto Himself2 Certainly
the latter. Christ to His disciples, 81
60 to prepare place for y0u.' Where
He is, He desires that His own shall be
also. The occupants of heaven shall be
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 contrary
Gods word assumes continually that
this identity will be preserved. The
same living organism, the same charac-
teristics which made the patriarch Abra-
ham a different man from everybody
else in Chalda, will make Abraham a
different person from any one .else in
heaven. These physical and mental
traits enabled neighbors in eur" to
recognize him. He has carried with
him into the eternal world also such
personal characteristics, that he is rec
ognizable there. According to Christ's
statement, the rich man "saw Lazarus
in Abraham's bosom.
He also declared that the righteous
will yet sit down with Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob in that celestial kingdom
Paul before the throne is, and inevita-
bly, must be, the identical Paul who
preached at Athens and was martyred
at Rome. When he longed to ode
part and be with Christi he expected
to be not somebody else, but the same
individual. Moses died fifteen centu-
RIGS before the advent of Jesus Christ.
Yet there was personality still exist
ing, who appeared at the time of Christ's
TRANSPORTATION on the mount, and who
was addressed by him as Moses. The
prophet Elijah, had died seven hundred
years before was there also. When the
great apostle speaks of his Thessalonian
converts as his "glory and joy in the
presence of the Lord Jesus Christi he
assuredly expected to meet the same.
persons in heaven that he had labored
with in Thessalonica. If they were
not the same people, and if he could
not meet them there how could they be
to him a "crown" or 'joy" If
identity ispreserved in eternity, will the
faculty of memory also survive the
grave2 Undoubtedly it will. The
obliteration of memory would amount
to partial destruction of the individu-
al. 1t would remove some of heavens
richest enjoyments. If l cannot re-
member what my Redeemer has done
and suffered for me, how can / join the
ever "new song" of grateful praise be-
fore His throne2
Put now together these two facts: l.,
personal identity is not lost in eternity !;
and 2, memory remains also unimpared.
1t follows inevitably that we shall know
each other in heaven. When David
cried out over his dead boy, 81 shall
60 to him, but he shall not return to
me p that bereaved father expected to
meet again the child whose spirit had
flown home to God. Certainly we
shall not be more stupid in heaven than
we are on earth. If l could recognize
such person as Chalmers in his pulpit,
l cannot fail to recognize that same
servant of God in his celestial apparel
ling. Martin Luther in his "Table
Talks" makes much of this intercourse
with father and mother and kindred in
the heavenly home. Sharp, unpoetic
old DR.. Emmons used to say, 81 hope
to have some talk with the Apostle
Paul in heaven" And who of us
would not experience fearful shock,
even mid the hallelujah raptures OF
Paradise, if the sweet affection of kin
ship were to be obliterated forever
Surely God would not so punish those
whom he loves to bless.
Oh! then what raptured greetings,
On heavens happy shore;
What knitting severed friendships up,