The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-07-01

ITOm Slul II. bTOWue, Iudu lTOm TTee-
ident Harrison, or any member Of his
Cabinet. or from any military man, or;
Bishop, or Doctor of Divinity i'm
America.
am your friend forever,
JOHN HEMMENwAY.
Shall We Love Each Other in Heaven 3
We should speak of heavenly things
with great reverence and humility al-9
ways. I must say that I think I have,
from the Holy Scriptures, full reasons
for perfectly believing that the bliss Of
heaven will forever much consist in
mutual love and intimate companion;
ship among the saints. The saints
will meet in heaven near and tnti-
mate friendship, as saints, in. order to
forever enjoy life of perfect happi-
ness. To be sure all the saints will
love their Saviour with a tenderer,
and sublimer love, than they will
love each other, for they will all be in
debted to Him for their existence, and
for their salvation from sin, and for
their everlasting and glorious home in
the heavenly world, and for their joy
in each other. But Jesus, the great
and powerful Redeemer, will, and
must forever be, so high in dignity
and glory, above all of His saints, that
He can never be a familiar companion
to them, like those persons who were:
born with depraved natures; and lived
together in this world, under all the
Affections and imperfections common;
to fallen and actually sinful human
beings. I have little sympathy in the
feelings of those good Christians, who
believe that the happiness of heaven
will consist almost entirely in seeing
and in being intimately near our Sa--
viour. They seem to forget that,
though the saints will be ft compan-
ions of, and "equal unto the angels" |"
yet they never can be fondly intimate
companions of the majestic and glo-
rious Redeemer. And, though the
highest joy of heaven among the
saints will forever be to behold and
rejoice in the glory of their beloved
and precious Saviour, yet their joy
would be very far from complete, II
they could have NO near and dear In
timacy with each other, aEd no recols
lections of their love and Christian
friendship on earth. But I well know
that it will be said "Paul desired to
depart from this world to be with
Christ" }" and speaks of it as If he should
be perfectly happy in the presence OF
Christ alone and never see a saint in
heaven to all eternity. But Paul did
not so feel; Paul did not so believe.
He writes thus to his Christian friends,
"What is our hope or joy or crown of
rejoicing? Are not even ye in the
presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at
his coming?" Paul here plainly says
that his friends in Christ will be his
"crown of rejoicing. and even "in
the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ"
so that it cannot be questioned that
Paul believed that Intimate Christian
friendship on earth will be renewed In
heaven and greatly increase the eter-
nal joy of the saints in that holy and
happy world.
1t is a great and continual joy to me
to believe that I shall meet in heaven
and enjoy the company Of Orricy
Brown, who became my Wife on the
4th day of March, 1910, and left me
for heaven on the 7th day of Decem-
Der, 1878, at the age of sixty years
Yes, believe that Orricy Brown will
be to me the dearest saint in heaven,
forever and ever among the innumera-
BILE company ofmy Saviour's redeemed;
not especially because she was my pre-
cious Wife, but because she was the
best Christian that I ever knew.
The first saint that hope to meet in
heaven will be my Orricy. And who
will be the next saint that I hope to
meet? Will it be my dear angelic
twin daughter, Eliza? No. Will 1t
be either my father or my mother, or
my brother or my sister? No. Will
it be Enoch, or Noah, or Abraham, or
Isaac, or Jacob, or Joseph, or Job, or
Moses, or Isaiah, or Daniel, or John
the Baptist, or Joseph of Arimathea,
or John, or Peter, or Paul, or Stepnen,
or Barnabas, or William Penn, or John
Wesley, or George Whitfield or Ed
ward Payson? No, no, no. 1t a0iU be
William Ladd, the Great and Blessed
Apostle OF Peace!
Well and beautifully did that very
good man, Rev. DR.. John w. CHECKER
ing, say of William Ladd: when
shall we see his like again? His was
one of those sunny Christian charac-
ters, whose departure leaves this world
darker, while it brightens our antici-
pations of meeting the spirits of the
just made perfect, in that celestial
kingdom, which is Righteousness and