St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-13


tlmately with God in love. and, possess
ing Him, il shall be charmed with His
supreme beauty and inundated with
joys unSpeakable.
The plain fact about heaven which Wo
learn from Divine revelation is that we
shall see God face TO face. 1t Is this
Immediate seeing of Gods being that
theologians call the beatific. or the in
tuitive vision. Revelation is in accord
with our own reasoning, in putting
mans true life III the exercise of his
nobleSt facultieSS and in placing before
US rs the object of this exercise infinite
being.
ST. Paul says: ave now see through
glass, III dark manner; but then
face TO face. Now | know in part; but
then | shall know even as am known"
And st. John: 1--WE are now the sons
OF God, but it hath not yet appeared
what we shall be. We know that when
He shall appear we shall be like to Him,
because we shall see Him as lie Is"
Our Lord Himself says: The angels
IN h eaven always see the face OF My
Father" and elsewhere we are told by
Him that the Just in heaven shall be as
the angels. This is life eternal" He
also says, "that they might know Thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ
WHOM InOu mast sent.
We Shall BE Like 10 God.
1--WE shall be like to God" The
natural law of environment will work
out similarity of life and being in us
with the life and being of God. We are
created to His image and likeness; but
now the image in US is dim. When,
however, the soul, penetrated with
divine grace, is exposed to the full
splendors OF Gods majesty. this image
is brought out in all its richest color
ings. Living continuously in the pres
ence of God, the soul is transfused with
divine light, and becomes holy, pure,
Respondent of Gods own holiness,
purity and beauty. The life of the
Oeatitied soul is of the same kind as
Gods own life, which is to know and
love His own eternal essence; and the
happiness of the beatitied soul is of
the same kind as Gods own happiness,
which comes from the eternal vision of
His own infinite projections. Hence
the words of the Judge to the just:
Enter into the joy of thy Lord"
Many of the expressions used i'll
Scripture to describe the New Jeru-
salem, as heaven is called in the Apoc-
alypse, or the minute occupations and
joys of the blessed. are tgurative. They
eriShed human languages to afford in
some manner an idea of the felicity of
the Inhabitants of the divine realm.
What heaven locally is. if it is a local
ity, or where it is situated, we know
not. What may be the occupations, the
details of life, what the accidental joys,
outside the essential one derived from
the beatific vision, we have not been
told. TheOlogianS theOriZe; saints speak
their own concepts; but nothing has
been plainly revealed, nothing has been
defined by the church. What is certain
for US is that our trials and
tribulatiOns shall be forever ended,
and all that properly belongs to
our beings shall be accorded to
them, all that shall be required for our
bliss unimpaired shall be granted, and
that this bliss shall be unspeakably
great in measure, and everlasting in
duration. AS TO the measure, st. Paul
writes, THAT eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard. neither hath it entered into the
heart of man, what things God hath
prepared for them that love him." Why,
with those words before us, should we
essay III plain words, or in brilliant
metaphors, to describe the joys of
heaven? 1t is enough to know that God
shall be our inheritance, that His love
and omnipOtence shall be at our serv-
ice. And then, the certainty that all
these joys shall never have an end!
The just shall go into life everlast-
ing" Hope alone, even now, fills our
hearts with sweetest comfort: what
shall not be the fruition of the full real
tiles?
Practical Conclusions,
What Is of immediate Importance to
us is to shape our present conduct SO
that the termination or life upon earth
be for lis the beginning of the life
of heaven. Thither are we all called.
All men have been made fer happiness
in the vision and possession of God.
But not all reach heaven, for not all
take the road to heaven or fit them
selves for its bleSSedneSs. There shall
not enter into it anything defiled, or
that wOrketh abOminatiOn, or maketh
lie, but they who are written III the
book of life of the Lamb" Only the
God-like soul could live the life of God.
To be able to know, love and serve Him
in heaven we must learn To know, love
and serve Him on earth. How slight
the attention given to those duties
We study earth and sky; we read, we
question, we reflect, in order to be pro-
ticient in branches OF human knowl-
of God. and of His revelation,
we give but little, if any
time. How vague and indefinite is our
knowledge of what God requires from
us, of the means of salvation He has put
at our disposal, of the commandments
He has imposed upon us! We do as
we'll as we know, is common express
sion upon our lips. But, ask. have we
studiOuSly and earnestly striven to
know? Have we observed every flash
of light that passes across the mind, and
have we followed its lead, that we might
discover our full duty? And when we
do know, nave we, preferring Gods will
to all things. loyalty and unfinchingly
Obeyed? If, lnSted of God, we seek out
our own ease and pleasure, and follow
our own likes and diSlikes instead of
His will, in vain do we aspire
to heaven; it never shall be ours. 1t
was this doctrine of mans future life
which the apostles of Christ made the
burthen of their preaching as they
passed through the nations. 1t was this
doctrine which gave the gospel claim
to be heard when first preached. which
arrested the thOughtleSS multitudes,
who were busted in the pleasures and
pursuits of this life, and awed them
with the vision of another life, until
they turned 10 God with true heart.
This doctrine OF future life was the
doctrine which broke the power and the
fascination of paganism. Let us eat
and drink, for tomorrow we die"
was the rule of life of the world be.
fore Christ. Tomorrow We die"
this the apostles admitted; but they
added, land after death the Judgment
Judgment upon the eternal soul, which
lives in spite of the death of the body.
Is the world Of today much wiser and
better than tue world of paganSm? 1t
can boast, indeed, of 10000 material ac-
complishments; all these we admit and
praise. But what use are they, if men
are not brought nearer to their last end?
Earth SHINES out in vain if heaven re-
cedes the farther. After death the
Judgment" the looking into our record,
our life on earth, to see whittier it has
led us, whether to heaven or to hell.
Whither?-thiS is for each one of us the
question of questions.
Cnr;nn Hate and Snrinn nvapcnofo