Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-04-10
Surprises In Heaven.

Hail the time when nope Is QaWnlnS.
Happy, blessed Easter morning.
Surprises In Heaven.
But many that are first shall be last; and the
asst shall be f1rst-Matthew. xix, 30.
We shall undoubtedly experience a
great many surprises when we get to
heaven, some of them pleasant and 9th
ers painful. Our present notions of
the future are as confused as a land
scape seen through glass badly focus
ed. The Imagination is apt to run riot
with regard to it, while the reason falls
into doze. The heaven depicted by
the popular theology is place very
undesirable to go to, because death, we
are told, will make such changes in us
that we shall lose all of our personal
peculiarities, and perhaps our personal
ity itself
Immortality is mere figure of speech,
signifying nothing, unless we are alb
solutely and completely ourselves when
we get to heaven. The change of en-
vironment caused by death may be
somewhat sudden, just as change
from the temperate zone to the tropics
would be; but as the man who takes
the train in the temperate zone is the
same man in all essential particulars
when he reaches his destination and
sees fields of flowers instead of fields of
snow, so the soul that treads the strand
of eternity is the same soul that EN-
barked from the shores of time, and
nothing has happened except the loss
of a useless body. His character has
in no whit been altered, and never can
be otherwise than by the processes of
determination and education to
.1l, l. re h
We shall certainly, however, find
many disappointment and many sur
prises there, for the simple reason that
the Lord does things in His own way
rather than in our way. Some of the
acuuaintances whom we have regarded
with Indifference or disdan may occupy
higherposition than we have thought
probable, and perhaps higher posi-
ton than we ourselves. On the other
hand, some of those upon whose sup
posed virtues we have looked with a
kind of covetousness may be relegated
to the lower spheres of celestial bliss.
Heaven is not peculiar by reason of
wings and harps, but by reason of char
acter. If it is safe to use our common
sense on this subject we may predict
that our destiny will depend not on
what we have, but on what we are, not
on the amount of work we have done
for the Lord, but on the motive with
which we did it; not on our scholarship
or culture or refinement. but on the
way in which we have used our oppor-
tunities, or, as the Scripture has it, on
the use we have made of our talents.
If, therefore, we are able to do a great
deal, but actually do very little, we
have noright to claim an equal reward
with him who is able to do only lit
tie, yet honestly does all he can.
Some people have an environment
in this world which renders it easy for
them to do right and next to impossi
BILE to do any serious wrong. They are
not subject to grave temptations, mel
ther, indeed, can be. Like the waters
of river which are kept in place by
the bank on either side, they are pro-
tected bysqualities of character which
have been inherited and by domestic
and social surroundings. On the other
hand, there are those whose environ
ment renders it very difficult to do
right and almost impossible not to do
wrong. They were born with dulled
conscience and in the midst of circum-
stances which tinge every thought and
and impulse with immortality and with
inherited tendencies very hard to re-
sist.
The latter have socially nothing in
common with the former, and the con
stitution of society is such that the
former are apt TO despiee the latter.
But how will it be on the other side
With God instead of man for judge,
what must be the result? If the ma
turally good have done less than can
be properly expected of them, and the
naturally bad have done more than
could be expected, will not the bad
man receive degree of appreciation
and a richness of reward which will not
be accorded to the good man?
If he who sits in his upholstered pew,
the well educated listener, the man
who knows what God requires of him,
has failed to use his opportunities he
will not stand as high in the future as
the poor beggar at the church door
whose rags and tatters are symbol of
his morals, but who has made many a
vain effort to lift his soul to the level
of self-respect.
1t is not what we have actually
achieved that will decide our place in
, heaven, but what the Almighty may
reasonably expect us to achieve under
the circumstances in which we have
lived. Absolute justice requires that
our future shall depend on whether we
have done much with little or little with
much. When we get yonder, therefore,
we shall be vastly astOnished to find in
the higher realms men and women
whom we have relegated to very diff
ferent place, and on the lower planes
men and women who we have supposed
would occupy positions near the
Throne. And yet, even we, who have
slender means of judging, can see the
justice of all this.
1t will seem strange to see soul from
the slums on a loftier elevation than
many a SO called Christian.
And stranger still to see some poor
pagan who has been loyal to his idols
worshipping God with a fervor quite
unknown to many who have heard the
Word all their days, but given no heed
to it.
We cannot see how much goodness
there is in bad men, but God can. Nei
ther can we see how much badness
there is in good men, but God can. We
shallsbe greatly surprised, therefore, al
some OF the Lords decisions, both with
regard to other people and also to our
selves.
If we have large powers we must have
a large life; otherwise we merit less
than he who has small powers, but who
has done what he could with them.
1t is great comfort to know that il
there are to be surprises in heaven they
will all be on the side of axact Justice
and that if we deserve high place He
will assuredly give it to us.-NeaO Yor1
Herald.