The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-07-14

" y,
tell me that we. with our heavenly eve
sight, will not be able to recognize those
who have gone out from among us only
five, ten, twenty, thirty years agOs
The Bible indicates, over and over again,
that the angels know each other; and then
the Bible says that we are to be higher than
the angels, and if the angels have the power
of recognition, shall not we, who are to
be higher than they in the next realm, have
as good eyesight and as good capacity!
What did Christ mean. in his convel sation
with Mary and Martha, when he said,
Thy brother shall rise again" II was as
much as to say, Don't cry, Don't wear your
selves out with this trouble. You will see
him again. Thy brother shall rise again"
TIE Bible describes heaven as a great home
circle. Well, now, that would be a very
queer home circle where the members did
not know each other. The Bible describes
death as a sleep. If we know each other
before we go to sleep, shall we not know
each other after wake up! Oh, yes.
We will know each other a great deal better
then than now, "for now" says the apostle,
I'VE see through glass darby, but then
face to face" 1t viii be my purified, en-
throned and glorified body gazing On your
purified, enthroned and gloriied body.
Now, / demand. if you believe the Bible,
that you take this theory of future recogni-
ton out of the realm of speculation and
surnise into the region of positive Ger
tainty, and no more keep saying, Il hope It
Is so; have an idea it is SO; guess it is so.
Be able to say, with all the concentrated
energy of body, mind and soul, 81 know it is
So"
There are, in addition to these Bible argu-
ments, other reasons why | accept this
theory. In the first place, because the re-
lection of it implies the entire elaboration
of our memory. Can it be possible that we
shall forget forever those with whose walk,
l. l. H. flrs.W.g
Will death come and with a sharp Keen
blade hew away this faculty of memory
Abraham said to Dives, "Son, remember"
If the exiled and lost remember, will not
the enthroned remember You know very
well that our Joy in any circumstance is
augmented by the championship of our
friends. We cannot see picture with less
than four eyes, or hear a song with less
than four ears. We want some one beside
us with whom to exchange glances and
7 sympathies and / suppose the joy of
heaven to be augmented by the
fact that we are to have our friends with us
when there rise before us the thrones of the
blessed, and when there surges up in our
ears the jubilate of the saved. Heaven is
not contraction; it is an expansion. If
know you here, | will know you better
there. Here see you with only two eyes,
but there the soul shall have million eyes.
1t will be immortality gazing on immortal
lDy-TdnSOunou spirit Will TAU
somed spirit-victor beside victor. When
John Evans, the Scotch minister, was
seated in his study his wife came in and
said to him: my dear, do:you think we will
know each other in heavenp He turned to
her and said: My dear, do you Thick we
will be bigger fools in heaven than we are
herep
Again: l accept this doctrine Of future
recognition, because the worlds expectancy
aff n a thaOFV
is received. What form Of religion planted
it, No form of religion, for it is received
under all forms of religion. Then, argue,
a sentiment, a feeling, an anticipation, uni
versally planted, must have been God-im-
planted, and if God-implanted, it is rightfully
implanted. Socrates writes: "Who would
not part with great deal to purchase a
meeting with Orpheus and Homers IL it
be true that this is to be the consequence of
death, could even be able to die often
Among the Danes, when a master dies his
servant sometimes stabs himself that he
world. Cicero, living before Christ's
coming, said, 30 glorious day
when l shall retire from this low and sordid
scene, to associate with the divine assem-
blage of departed spirits, and not only with
the one | have just now mentioned, but
with my dear Cato, the best of sons and
most faithful of men. If seemed to bear
that did not most sensibly feel the loss |
had sustained. 1t was because | was sup
ported by the consollng reflection that we
could not long be separated" The Nor
wegian believes it. The Indian believes it.
The Greenlander believes it. The Swiss
believes it. The Turk believes 1t. Under
every sky, by every river, in every zone,
the theory is adopted; and so | say princi-
pie universally implanted must be God-im-
planted, and hence right belief. The
argument is irresistible.
Again: | adopt this theory because there
are features of moral temperament and
features of the soul that will distinguish us
forever. How do we know each other in
this world! Is it merely by the color of the
eye or the length of the hair, or the facial
proportionss o, no, it is by the disposition
as well, by natural affinity, using the word
in the very best sense and not in the worst
sense; and if in the dust our body should
perish and lie there forever, and there
should be no resurrection, still the soul has
enough features, and the disposition has
enough features TO make us distinguishable
/ can understand how IN sickness a man will
become so delirous that he will not know
his own friends but will we be blasted with
such insutferable idiocy that standing
beside our best friends for all eternity. we
will never guess who they area
Again: / think that one reason why we
never in this world have an opportunity to
give thanks to those to whom we are spir-
itually indebted. The joy of heaven, we
are told, is to be inaugurated by a review
of life's work. These christian men and
women who have been toiling for Christ,
have they seen the full result Of their work?
OBJ. no. In the church at Somerville, n. j.,
John Vredenburgh preached for a great
many years. He felt that his ministry was
failure, and others felt so, although he
was faithful minister, preaching theagos-
pei all the time. He died, and died amid
discouragements, and went home to God
for no one ever doubted that John Vreden-
burgh was a good christian minister.
A little while after his death there
came great awakening in Somerville, and
one Sabbath two hundred souls stood up at
the christian altar espousiug the cause OF
Christ, among them my own father and
mother. And what was peculiar in regard
to nearly all of those two hundred souls was
that they dated their religious impressions
from the ministry of John Vredenburg.
Will that good christian man before the
throne of God never meet those souls
brought to Christ through his instrument
atty? Oh, of course he will know them. |
remember one Sabbath afternoon, borne
down with a sense of my sins and knowing
not God, | took up Doddridges Rise and
Progress" Oh, what dark afternoon it