Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-15

/ into Gods likeness, for that is what
| Christ has promised US. He has promised
that we shall have everything that is
/ good for US, and 1 believe q reunion with
those whom we have held dear on earth
! will be among the good things He has
| prepared for US. Moses and Elias had
! been gone from 1000 to 1900 years when
/ they appeared to the diciples Peter,
James and John on the Mount of Trans
| fguration, and yet the latter knew them
| at once. Abraham had an experience
almost similar. -
Eye hath not seen, nor hath ear
heard of the glories of the heavenly
I kingdom. If it were discovered what
| these glories consist of, think we would
| all be homesick to get there; that is, of
course, provided we could understand
| them.
| CIT is CHRIsT's PROMISE, SAYS THE
REV. JOSEPH COOK.
In reply to the question, the Rev.
! Joseph Cook of Boston said:
eyes, most decidedly. Christ's words
to the thief, 'this day shalt thou be with
me in Paradise, seem to promise that,
! for it Is presumable from that Ian
| guage that the abandoned thief would
know his Savior, of course, and
we have reason TO believe that the
principal is of general application. One
I of these is the parable of Dives and Lag
arus, who knew each other, although
they were in different states of being af-
ter death. Then the whole application
of the New Testament is that we are
surrounded by great cloud of witnesses,
even in this world, and that We are to be
received, if saved, into the company of
just men made perfect. The entire rev.
elation of the state of the saved is that
of the inhabitants of the city of gold, the
New Jerusalem. The question almost
! answers itself. viii the citizens of
The New Jerusalem know each other or
not?'
81 believe heaven is both a state and
place, state of the soul and the local
ity. We know very little of it in the
latter respect, but as a state of soul it
implies delIverance from the love and
the sin of it. The first text that
usually comes to my mind when 1 think
| of it is Father / will those Thou hast
given me be with me where 1 am, that
| they may behold the glory that 1 had
with Thee before the world was. Perfect
similarity of feeling with God and its
state of the soul represents it.
GAS heaven is q locality, of course
the language of the Scriptures is figura-
tive, but figures mean something. am
accustomed to taking the representations
of the New Testament in this matter as
covering great realities. -
IT WOULD NOT BE HEAVEN.
The eminent Unitarian preacher, the
Rev. Robert Collyer, D. D., in reply to
the question, said:
''I cannot tell, but evidently Jesus
believed it. 1t would not be very much
of heaven for me, if l could not find
my children there whom l have loved
here on earth. All our hearts are so
locked together that it would be a ter
rible thought, indeed, if we were to be-
lieve that we should never meet again
beyond the grave those whom we have
loved and cherished here
Mgr. Thomas J. Ducey, pastor of St..
Leo IS Roman Catholic church, SAID:
"There is nothing to prevent Cath
Ollie from believing that he will be united
with his friends and relatives i'll heaven.
A number of the fathers have written
works on the subject. ST. Thomas main
heaven, and the church very generally
accepts that belief.
"a very charming story was told me
by gentleman al seaside circle last
summer. He said he read the story, but
l think it was original with him. The
story was that two men had gone up to
tie golden gates and applied to Peter for
admission. One of the men had been
prosperous on earth, the other not so
well off. The first of these, in reply to
Peter, said he wanted to go to heaven;
that he wanted all good things that the
heart could desire and that he had been
used to having on earth. Peter told him
to turn to the right and he would get
everything he asked for. The man went
in. In 1000 years he returned and said
he was tired of it and wanted to get out.
He thought he had been in only few
minutes.
- Did you not get everything the
heart wished for?' asked Peter.
yes, but am tired of heaven and
want to get out
We'll, returned Peter, that is not
heaven; that was hell where you
were. -
'The other man had caught just a
glimpse of the holiness of God through a
nlone III the Wall ana ne became chalned
to the spot for 1000 years, although he
had no idea that so many years had
elapsed.
'There is not much use to speculate
upon the subject as to what heaven is
like. 1t is very generally taught by the
church that heaven is a place where, in
the full enjoyment of the beatific vision
of God, every pure yearning OF the heart
will find its fruition, and the intellect of
man its perfect illumination. -
ALL WILL BE CLEAR.
The Rev. Chaplain C. c. MoCabe, the
great missionary worker of the Methodist
church, expressed himself as follows:
al thoroughly believe that we shall
known each other in heaven. 1 cannot
believe that we shall know less there
than we know know here, and such be-
ing the case, L do not understand why
we should not retain the power TO recog-
nize friends there whom we have met on
this earth. l believe that we shall not
only know and commune with those
whom we have seen here, but that we
shall know those whom we have not seen,
Just as Peter knew Elijah on the Mount of
TRANSPORTATION and recognized Moses,