The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-02-05

nlChJo RhOh anu Ills ldCc SAlIlGS Xix
the sur. The door of Heaven swing
open. Two spirits come down an'
alight on tbs mountain. The disci
| pies look at them and recognize then
as Moses and Elias. Now, if those dis
ciples standing on the earth could rec
Ognize these two spirits who had beer
for years in Heaven, do you tell IN,
that we, with our heavenly eyesight
will not be able to recognize thos,
who have gone out from among III
only five, ten, twenty, thirty years
| ago?
The Bible indicates, over and ovel
again, that the angels know each other
and then the Bible says that we are tt
be higher than the angels, and if the
angels have the power of recogni
ti0n, 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 conver
sation with Mary and Ma rtha, when He
said: THY brother shall rise again?'
1t was as much as to say: Don't cry
! Don't wear yourself out with this
trouble. You will see him again. Thy
brother shall rise again"
The Bible describes Heaven as u 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 sleep. II
we know each other before we 20 to
sleep, shall we not know each other
after we wake up? Oh, yes. We will
know each other n great deal better
then than now; 'for now," says the
apostle, "we see through glass dark.
ly, but then face to face. 1t will be my
purified, enthroned and glorified body
gazing on your purified, enthroned and
glorifed body.
Now, demand, if you believe the
Bible, that you take this theory of fu-
ture recognition out of the realm of
speculation and surmise into the
region of positive certainty, and no
more keep saying: Il hope it is so;
have no idea it is so; guess it is so. .
Be able to say, with all the concentra-
ted energy of body, mind and soul: Il
know it is sol''
There are, in addition to these Bible
arguments, other reasons, why l ac-
cept this theory. In the first place,
because the rejection memory Can it
be possible that we shall forget for
ever those with whose walk, look,
manner we have been so long familiar?
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
the lost remember, will not the en-
throned remember?
You know very well that our JOY in
any circumstance is augmented by the
companionship of our friends. We can
not see a picture with less than four
eyes, or hear song with less than
four ears. We want some one besides
us with whom to exchange glances
and sympathies; and | suppose the Joy
of Heaven is to be augment 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 ear the jubi-
late of the saved. Heaven is not
contraction. 1t is an expansion. If
know you here, / will know you bet
ter there. Here / see you with only
two eyes, but there the soul shall have
u million eyes. 1t will be Immortality
gazing on mortality-ransomed
spirit in colloquy with ransomed 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 Heaven?" He
turned to her and said: MY dear, do
You think we will be bigger fools in
L
Again, accept this doctrine of fu-
ture recognition because of the worlds
expectancy affirms it. In all lands and
ages this theory is received. What
form of religion planted it? No form
of religion, for it is received under all
forms cf religion. Then, / argue, a
sentiment, a feeling, an anticipation,
universally planted, must have been
and if God-implanted
it is rightfully implanted. Socrates
writes: "Who would not part with a
great deal to purchase meeting with
Orpheus and Homer? If it be true
that this is to be the consequence of
death, / could even be able TO die oft
en-"
Again, / adopt this theory because
there are features of moral tempera-
ment 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 pro-
portions? Oh, no. 1t is by the dis
position as well, by natural affinity,
using the word in the very best sense
and not in the bad sense; and if in the
dust our body should perish and lie
there forever, and there should be no
still the soul has enough
and the disposition has enough
FIXTURES to make us BILE. l
can understand how in sickness a man
will become so delirious that he will
not know his own friends; but will we
be blasted with such insufferable
idiocy that, standing beside our best
friends for all eternity, we will never
guess who they are?
Again, / think that one reason why
we ought TO accept this doctrine is be-
cause we never in this world have an
to give thanks to those
to whom we are spiritually indebted.
The joy of Heaven, we are told, is to
be inaugurated by review of life's
work. These Christian men and wom-
en- who have been toiling for Christ,
have they seen the full result of their
work? Oh, no.
There is a mother before the throne
of God. You say her joy is full. Is 1t?
You say there can be no augmen tation
of it. Can not there be? Her son was
a wanderer and a vagabond on the
earth when that mother died. He
broke her old heart. She died leav-
ing him in the wilderness of sin. She
is before the throne of God now. Years
pass and that son repents of his crimes
and gives his heart to God and becomes