The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-05-12
KNOW THEM
in HEAVEN.
DR.. Lear Says He VIII ReCog-
nize Friends There.
HIS SERMON ON SUNDAY
Pastor of Centenary Gives Affirmative
Answer to Question Which Has
Attracted Consider At
tention Here.
HIS SERMON ON SUNDAY

A. Centenary M. ~ Church sunday
night the Rev. DR.. w. w. Lear preached
to large audience on subject which
has recently excited great interest here
nnd upon which, from. what can be gath
cred. there is not. among the Methodist
pastors, q unanimity of opinion.
Dr. Lear spoke from Hebrews, Kill %,
"a. and his subject was do Souls In tho
Future World Meet and Recognize Those
with Whom They Have Been Associated
in This Life?" TO this question the pas
tor OF Centenary gave an affirmative an
swer, nanked by able arguments from
several points OF view.
PERPETUITY OF MEMORY.
His first argument was based on tho
perpetuity Of memory. He said all who
believe in the future lfc at all will adj
NIT this. All those passages of Scripture
that refer to life as probation, that
speak OF the future life as time when
We shall reap what we SOW here, or that
we shall then 'give an account of the
deeds done In the BODY as we'll ns all
descriptions OF the future Judgment pro-
coed on the assumption that memory shall
carry over into the world beyond this.
The preacher dwet especially on the
Judgment scene, as depicted in the twenty
fifth chapter OF Matthew, and then went
OH to prove that we shall not only re-
member in the future life the circum-
stances and happenings OF this present
life. but that memory VIII be wonderfully
uuickened and strengthened.
The second point was that we shall be
together in one place. Here he cited pas
sages In the Old Testament that speak OF
the patriarchs as gathered to their
fathers" gathered to their people &c.
No To ell mn
explicit The Master. Just before He
left the earth. said: II go to prepare a
place for you, and II go and prepare
a place for you. l will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where
au, there may We be Also PAU. speak
Ing of that coming, said: "The dead In
Christ shall rise first. Then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up to-
gcther with them in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air. and so shall we be
ever with the Lord" So elsewhere heaven
IS spoken of as home, the redeemed as
a family, and in the text we have pic
ture that sets forth the same idea. But
II we ara together in the same place, and
not only retain our memories, but have
them wonderfully quickened. how can
we help knowing those that we have
known here!
It's in the future world will be without
FORM and others that we shall be so mar
ivelously changed as to bear no resem-
blance to our former selves. II this were
true, we might still have some way to
search out one another. But such an idea
has not a particle of basic, either In
common sense or in Scripture. The Bible
teaching Is all to the contrary, He
quoted Bishop Foster as saying: There
IS probably much more resemblance be-
tween the present and the future state
than is generally supposed" and DR..
~ hot
Will be a counterpart Of this" and that
the natural world and the spiritual world
are parts of one and the same great
remedial scheme. But" said he. be
|lthis as it may, the whole system OF rev
citation is in sympathy with this doctrine
cited the cases of the rich man and Laz-
arus, of Samuel's appearance to Saul and
of Moses and Elias on the Mount OF
TRANSPORTATION, saying that Whaaever
views We might have about these cases,
they clearly established the truth OF the
doctrine under discussion.
LAW OF CONTINUITY.
The last point was an argument drawn
from what Is called the Law OF CONTINUE
ity," law that runs through all time
and space, and assures US tnat God Will
do nothing Inconsistent with wisdom and
goodness, and that wha tever happens will
be that for which there has been a prep
aration. Under this head DR.. Lear held
that without future reunion Gods deal
ings with us here would In large part
10 not only meaningless but little less
than n mockery. That the social instinct
was God given; that the whole arrange
ment into circles and families tended to
foster the desire for fellowship and to
strengthen, from the cradle to tho grave,
our attachment one for another, and so
to cultivate in those who had been sep
nrated an intense longing to meet again.
He declared that 1t was simply impossible
| to believe that n God who Is infinite In
| wigdom and goodness, who never made an
! eye without spreading before 1t pictures
of beauty, who never made ear without
/, filling 1t with music, who mover put into
beast or bird an instinct or In man an
appetite without some object to satisfy
III. should implant In the human heart and
cultivate through long years this strong
est, highest and intensest OF all longings.
simply to dlsappont 1t In the end.
THE prea cher closed with n tender APP
peal to his hearers to bear In mind the
paramount Importance of the future
world and begged them to let Its claims
have precedence over those of the flesh.
The sermon was listened to with undi-
y.ded attention by the large audience
nresent and many expressions of appre-
| citation We're heard MT Its close