RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/recognitionofourOOanst_0 
 
H. HOFMANN. 
 
 "COME UNTO ME." 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 With Extracts from Distinguished 
 Authors and Selections from the Poets 
 
 P. ANSTADT, D. D. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 " I go to prepare a place for you." John xiv. 2. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION 
 P. ANSTADT & SONS 
 
 YORK. PENNSYLVANIA 
 
Copyright, 1895, 1907. 
 P. ANSTADT & SONS. 
 
In Loving Memory 
 DEDICATED 
 
 TO THE AUTHOR 
 P. ANSTADT. D. D. 
 
 1819 - 1903 
 
 "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be 
 with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou 
 hast given me " — John xvii. 24. 
 
 "He hath gone 
 To sit with the prophets, by the clear 
 And crystal waters; he hath gone to list 
 Isaiah's harp and David's, and to walk 
 With Enoch and Elijah, and the host 
 Of the just men made perfect. He shall bow 
 At Gabriel's hallelujah, and unfold 
 The scroll of the apocalypse with John, 
 And talk of Christ with Mary, and go back 
 To the last supper, and the garden prayer 
 With the beloved disciple. 
 He shall hear the story of the incarnation told 
 By Simeon, and the Triune mystery 
 Burning upon the fervent lips of Paid. 
 He shall have wings of glory and shall soar 
 To the remoter firmaments, and read 
 The order and the harmony of stars; 
 And, in the might of knowledge, he shall bow 
 In the deep pauses of archangel harps. 
 And, humble as the seraphim, shall cry — 
 'Who, by his searching, finds Thee out, O God!' " 
 
Preface. 
 
 On a visit to the venerable Prof. Henry 
 Ziegler, D. D., late of Selins Grove, Pa., he 
 showed me a number of manuscript books, 
 which he had prepared for publication. 
 Among others he handed me the manu- 
 script of "Recognition after Death," which 
 forms the introduction to this work. 
 
 Recognition in heaven was a favorite 
 subject with him, as it is also with my- 
 self and thousands of Christians whose 
 friends have gone before them to that 
 happy land. It was at first designed to 
 publish Dr. Ziegler' s essay merely in 
 pamphlet form. But as I read over the 
 doctor's logical and Scriptural argument 
 and became warmly interested in the sub- 
 ject, the idea expanded in my own mind 
 to the extent of preparing and publishing 
 this volume. 
 
 (9) 
 
PREFACE 
 
 I also found some very beautiful and 
 interesting thoughts of other men in books, 
 from which I gathered extracts. Among 
 tliese I mention Drs. Harbaugh, Schmucker, 
 Stork, Luther, Melanchthon, Knapp, Cal- 
 vin, Tillotson, Doddridge, Baxter, Melville, 
 Barnes, and Ezra Keller. And finally 
 extracts from the poets were selected. 
 
 This is not a sectarian, nor even, in the 
 strict sense of the word, a denominational 
 book. The sentiments expressed and the 
 hopes entertained in it are shared by most 
 Christians of all denominations; yea, in 
 some form or other, also, by "all nations 
 and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues," 
 of all times and all lands. 
 
 Says Dr. Harbaugh: "Recognition in 
 heaven is not the belief of any one single 
 sect, or of a class of sects, but it is the 
 voice of the Church. Men of all creeds 
 
 (lo) 
 
PREFACE 
 
 have expressed their belief in this doctrine. 
 This gives it a lovely catholic feature. It 
 is one of the truths which utter themselves 
 from the universal Christian mind and 
 heart. It is as broad as human wants 
 and woes. Like the hope of heaven it- 
 self, it springs up in every heart which 
 seeks that friendly and peaceful abode." 
 
 I send it forth, therefore, with the hope 
 and prayer, that it may prove a source of 
 consolation to many bereaved ones, whose 
 friends have indeed not been lost by pass- 
 ing through the valley of the shadov/ of 
 death, but have only gone before, to 
 welcome their loved ones to that happy 
 home, where God shall wipe away all 
 tears from their eyes. 
 
 P. ANSTADT. 
 York, Pa., Aug., 1895. 
 
 (ti) 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Preface to the Fourtli Edition. 
 
 The first three editions of the book 
 are now exhausted, and there is a desire 
 for a fourth. There has been a steady 
 demand for the work, which will doubtless 
 continue as long as loved ones shall be 
 called away by death and bereaved hearts 
 shall sigh for a reunion in heaven. The 
 book has been revised, some important 
 additions being introduced, with a cor- 
 responding increase in its value and 
 interest. It is now again sent forth on its 
 mission of consolation and hope. 
 
 PUBLISHERS. 
 
 December, 1907. 
 
 (12) 
 
Contents. 
 
 Dedication 7 
 
 Preface to First Edition 9 
 
 Preface to Fourth Edition 12 
 
 List of Illustrations 17 
 
 Poem — "Recompense" 18 
 
 Introduction. 
 Natural and Spiritual Proofs: The 
 Domestic and Social Relations — 
 The Universal Hope of a Future 
 Life — The Belief of Future Recog- 
 nition During the Old and New 
 Testament Times — Christ Spoke of 
 
 It as an Acknowledged Truth. ... 21 
 
 Bible References 37 
 
 Poem — "Morning Land" 40 
 
 THE RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 FRIENDS IN HEAVEN. 
 Chapter I. 
 
 The Immortality of the Soul 44 
 
 Chapter II. 
 Previous Acquaintance on Earth. ... 47 
 
 (13) 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter III. 
 Heaven a Place 1:2 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 Memory Preserved and Strengthened 64 
 
 Chapter V. 
 Reunion Eternal 74 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 The Language of Heaven 79 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 
 New Acquaintances in Heaven 90 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 Occupation in Heaven 98 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 Pleaven Not Yet Open to View 104 
 
 Poem — "The Gathering Place" 119 
 
 Objections Answered. 
 
 1. The Great Change which Will 
 
 Take Place in Death 122 
 
 2. If It Were True, It Would Be 
 
 More Clearly Revealed 130 
 
 3. The Heavenly Life Will Be Much 
 
 Higher than This 133 
 
 (14) 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 4. It Would Introduce Partiality 
 
 into Heaven 136 
 
 5. The Love of Christ Will Occupy 
 
 Us Entirely 139 
 
 6. Christ's Answer to the Sad- 
 
 ducees 146 
 
 7. We Should Miss Some Who Will 
 
 Not Be There 151 
 
 Poem — "Not Changed but Glorified" 160 
 
 Extracts from Distinguished 
 Authors. 
 Luther, Melanchthon, Cruciger, 
 Olevianus, Scaliger, Melancthon 
 and Camerarius, Jay, Paley, Knapp, 
 Tillotson, Hall, Melville, Calvin, 
 Newton, Baxter, Chalmers, Dod- 
 dridge, Zwinglius, Fenelon, Ed- 
 wards, Schmucker, Dodd, Bunyan, 
 Herbert, James, Lavel, Smyth, 
 Stork, MacDonald, Dwight, Keller, 
 
 Barnes 163 
 
 Heaven : Its Negative Features — . . 
 
 Its Positive Features 222 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Selections from the Poets. 
 
 Home, Sweet Home 225 
 
 Jerusalem, the Golden 226 
 
 And let our bodies part 227 
 
 The saints on earth and those 
 
 above 228 
 
 Blest hour when virtuous friends 
 
 shall meet 229 
 
 There is a place of sacred rest 230 
 
 My Little Comforter 232 
 
 When I consider life 234 
 
 When the holy angels meet us 235 
 
 Over the river they beckon to me .... 235 
 
 Not Lost, but Gone Before 237 
 
 A Mother's Lament 239 
 
 Christus Consolator 240 
 
 Reunion in Heaven 242 
 
 The Dying Saint to His Soul 244 
 
 Sorrow Not, Even as Others 245 
 
 Pilgrims of the Night 246 
 
 The Land Immortal 248 
 
 Sweet to Die 250 
 
 The Saints on Earth 251 
 
 When God with Prophets Spake. ... 252 
 
 My Savior First of All 255 
 
 (16) 
 
List of Illustrations. 
 
 "Come unto Me" Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Transfiguration 33 
 
 Elijah Taken to Heaven 60 
 
 The Rich Man and Lazarus 67 
 
 Declaring the Resurrection 81 
 
 The Annunciation 92 
 
 A Ministering Spirit 100 
 
 Guardian Angel 105 
 
 Lazarus Restored to His Sisters ... 123 
 
 With the Family at Bethany 144 
 
 Cherub Choir 170 
 
 Christ Blessing Little Children .... 181 
 
 Jairus Receives again His Daughter 194 
 
 Mary at the Sepulcher 209 
 
 Christ the Consoler 224 
 
 The Ascension 254 
 
 (17) 
 
Recompense. 
 
 We are quite sure 
 That He will give them back — bright, pure 
 and beautiful — 
 We know He will but keep 
 Our own and His until we fall asleep. 
 
 We know He does not mean 
 To break the strands reaching between 
 The Here and There. 
 He does not mean — though heaven be fair — 
 To change the spirits entering there, that 
 they forget 
 The eyes upraised and wet. 
 The lips too still for prayer, 
 The mute despair. He will not take 
 The spirits which He gave, and make 
 The glorified so new 
 That they are lost to me and you. 
 
RECOMPENSE 
 
 I do believe 
 They will receive 
 Us — you and me — and be so glad 
 To meet us, that when most I would grow 
 sad 
 
 I just begin to think about that gladness, 
 
 And the day 
 When they shall tell us all about the way 
 That they have learned to go — 
 Heaven's pathways show. 
 My lost, my own, and I 
 Shall have so much to see together by and 
 by. 
 
 I do believe that just the same sweet face. 
 But glorified, is waiting in the place 
 Where we shall meet, if only I 
 Am counted worthy in that by and by. 
 I do believe that God will give a sweet 
 surprise 
 
 To tear-stained, saddened eyes, 
 2 (19) 
 
RECOMPENS.E 
 
 And that His heaven will be 
 Most glad, most tided through with joy 
 
 for you and me, 
 As we have suffered most. God never 
 
 made 
 
 Spirit for spirit, answering shade for shade, 
 
 And placed them side by side — 
 So wrought in one, though separate, mys- 
 tified — 
 And meant to break 
 The quivering threads between. When 
 we shall wake, 
 I am quite sure, we will be very glad 
 That for a little while we were so sad. 
 
 — George Klingle. 
 
 (20) 
 
Introduction. 
 
 The relationships and friendships formed 
 here on earth are in many instances 
 very intimate, strong and endearing. 
 These attachments we come to realize 
 in their fullest depth and tenderness only 
 on the death of our cherished friends. 
 Who of us has not experienced these 
 undying attachments and this deep-seated 
 sorrow on the death of our loved ones? 
 and how naturally does there arise in 
 the Christian heart the comforting thought 
 and hope of a reunion, recognition and 
 communion in the eternal hereafter. 
 
 THE DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL RELATIONS. 
 
 The first proof and assurance is found 
 in our domestic and social relations and 
 affections. To suppose that our parental, 
 (21) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 filial and fraternal, and, also, our social at- 
 tachments generally will be eradicated, or 
 even essentially changed, after death, 
 would lead to the conclusion that intel- 
 ligent and rational beings can exist with- 
 out an affectional and emotional nature; 
 for, if the attachments just referred to 
 are to be destroyed, the destruction of our 
 entire affectional and emotional nature 
 would seem to be equally involved. This 
 is inconceivable. On the contrary, the 
 life beyond the grave must be a perpetua- 
 tion of the present, — we will carry with 
 us our characters, our principles, our 
 knowledge, our affections, and attach- 
 ments, acquired and cherished here on 
 earth. But to perpetuate in heaven the 
 attachments formed on earth, there must 
 be a recognition of the persons towards 
 whom such attachments have been formed ; 
 (22) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 that is, there must be a recognition of 
 former friends and acquaintances. Unless, 
 therefore, our nature is to be radically 
 changed — 
 
 "We shall know each other there." 
 
 THE UNIVERSAL HOPE OF A FUTURE LIFE. 
 
 The second proof is found in the almost 
 universal hope among the Gentile nations 
 of antiquity of a reunion and recogni- 
 tion of former friends in Sheol or Hades. 
 This wide-spread hope can not be ac- 
 counted for, rationally, except on the 
 supposition that it was a tradition trans- 
 mitted from a very ancient revelation on 
 this subject; for, if reason alone could not 
 develop and demonstrate the belief and 
 hope of an immortal life, neither could it 
 develop and demonstrate that of a future 
 reunion and recognition. Of the former, 
 
 (23) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 it is written that Christ "hath abolished 
 death and hath brought life and immortality 
 to light through the Gospel;" and equally 
 true is it of the latter, that He has brought 
 into the clearer light of certainty a future 
 reunion and recognition. 
 
 To the penitent thief on the cross 
 Jesus said: "To-day shalt thou be with 
 me in Paradise;" Reassured His apostles 
 that He was going to His Father's house 
 of many mansions to prepare a place 
 for them, and that He would come again 
 and receive them to Himself, that they 
 might be with Him where He was; and 
 of the rich man in hell (Hades) He declared, 
 that he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus 
 in his bosom. 
 
 (24) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE BELIEF OF FUTURE RECOGNITION 
 DURING THE OLD AND NEW 
 TESTAMENT TIMES. 
 
 The third proof of this doctrine is the 
 belief of it during the entire history of 
 God's people as recorded in the Old and 
 New Testaments, from the time of Abraham 
 down to Christ and his apostles. In 
 Gen. XV. 15, the promise was given 
 to Abraham that he "should go to his 
 fathers in peace;" and it was subsequently 
 said of him, and also of Ishmael, Isaac, 
 Jacob, Aaron and Moses, that at their 
 death, "they were gathered to their people.'' 
 Gen. XXV. 8, 17; xxxv. 29; xlix. 29, 33; 
 Deut. xxxii. 49, 50. This phraseology 
 can not mean that these patriarchs were 
 buried in the sepulchers of their fathers; 
 for Abraham was buried in Canaan, far 
 from the home of his ancestors, which was 
 
 (25) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 first in Ur, and afterwards in Haran, 
 in Mesopotamia; and Aaron and Moses 
 found their resting places in Mount Hor 
 and Mount Nebo. The only conclusion 
 is, that the souls of these patriarchs not 
 only survived the death of their bodies, 
 but also, that they were gathered to the 
 spirits of their fathers into some place 
 different from their family sepulchers; 
 besides, the phraseology — "gathered to 
 thy people," — and the hopes of these men 
 awakened by it, seem to point very strongly 
 to a conscious reunion, recognition and 
 communion of former friends. 
 
 Again: In Gen. xxxvii. 34, 35, it is 
 recorded of Jacob, that he, when grieving 
 for his son Joseph, said: "I will go down 
 into the grave unto my son mourning." 
 Jacob, crediting the report of his other 
 sons, believed that his beloved Joseph 
 
 (26) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 had been devoured by wild beasts; there- 
 fore his "going to him into the grave," 
 could have no reference to a place of 
 burial — it is intended to convey, beyond 
 doubt, the same idea and belief of the 
 former phraseology — "being gathered to 
 thy people," — it embodies the beHef and 
 hope of a reunion, recognition and com- 
 munion of souls in the spirit- world. 
 
 And again. King David, mourning for \ 
 his deceased child, said, "I shall go to | 
 him, but he shall not return to me." 
 2 Sam. xii. 22, 23. This going to his child ^ 
 is said with such assurance and emphasis, 
 that we are forced to refer it to a reunion 
 of souls after death — the king believed 
 that he would meet his child, and com- 
 mune with him, in the other world. ^-^^ 
 
 The same belief is expressed by the 
 prophet Samuel when he was called back 
 
 (27) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 from the spirit-world at the request of 
 King Saul. His address to the King was: 
 "To-morrow shalt thou be with me." 
 I Sam. xxviii. 19. 
 
 Then again, Christ says: "Make to your- 
 selves friends of the mammon of unright- 
 eousness; that, when ye fail, they may 
 receive you into everlasting habitations." 
 Luke xvi. 9. This "receiving into ever- 
 lasting habitations" those who befriended 
 us on earth must certainly refer to some 
 remembrance and acknowledgment of, 
 and some kind of return for, such former 
 services. There must, therefore, be some 
 kind of reunion and recognition of former 
 friends in the other world. 
 
 Once more, St. Paul, i Thess. iv. 13-18, 
 takes special pains to enlighten the church 
 at Thessalonica on this subject, some of 
 
 (28) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 whose members were evidently sorrowing 
 for their departed friends. He says: 
 
 Verse 13 "But I would not have 
 you to be ignorant, brethren, con- 
 cerning them which are asleep, that 
 ye sorrow not, even as others which 
 have no hope;" 
 and then adds to their comfort: 
 
 Verse 14 "For if we believe that 
 Jesus died and rose again, even so 
 them also which sleep in Jesus will 
 God bring with him. 
 
 Verse 15 "For this we say unto 
 you by the word of the Lord, that we 
 which are alive and remain unto the 
 coming of the Lord shall not prevent 
 them which are asleep. 
 
 Verse 16 "For the Lord himself 
 shall descend from heaven with a 
 shout, with the voice of the archangel, 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 and with the trump of God: and the 
 dead in Christ shall rise first: 
 
 Verse 17 'Then we which are 
 alive and remain shall be caught up 
 together with them in the clouds, to 
 meet the Lord in the air; and so shall 
 we ever be with the Lord. 
 
 Verse 18 "Wherefore comfort one 
 another with these words." 
 Now, what comfort could it be to 
 the bereaved brethren at Thessalonica, 
 or to us at present, to tell us that God 
 would bring with Christ, at his second 
 coming, our friends who sleep in Jesus, 
 and that the dead in Christ shall rise first, 
 and that afterwards those who shall yet 
 be alive shall be taken up together with 
 them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in 
 the air, and that then we shall ever be 
 with the Lord — what comfort, I ask, could 
 
 (30) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 all this be to us, if departed friends, in 
 that reunion, could neither know nor com- 
 mune with one another? Without this, 
 St. Paul's instruction and proffered com- 
 fort is nothing but a vain hope, a solemn 
 farce! No, no! such a thought should 
 not for one moment disturb our hope! 
 God's people will be reunited — they will 
 recognize each other, and hold communion 
 together in "My Father's house of many 
 mansions." 
 
 CHRIST SPOKE OF IT AS AN ACKNOWLEDGED 
 TRUTH. 
 
 My fourth and last proof of this doctrine 
 of future recognition and communion is, 
 that Christ spoke of it, not as something 
 to be devoutly desired yet faintly hoped 
 for, but as an established truth and un- 
 doubted reality, both in the parable of 
 (31) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 the rich man and Lazarus, and on the 
 mount of transfiguration. 
 
 In the parable of the rich man, Lazarus 
 and Abraham are associated together, 
 and recognize and commune with each 
 other. Luke xvi. 19-31. And on the 
 mount, Moses and Elijah appear in com- 
 pany, and they are recognized by Christ 
 and his three apostles; and so endearing 
 was this communion that Peter said to 
 Jesus: "Lord, it is good for us to be here: 
 if thou wilt, let us make here three tab- 
 ernacles — one for thee, and one for Moses, 
 and one for Elias." Matt. xvii. 1-8. 
 Mark ix. 2-10; Luke ix. 28-36. 
 
 There is, however, another proof for 
 this doctrine to be derived from the 
 reappearance of Moses and Elijah on the 
 mount of transfiguration They were utter 
 strangers on earth, for the former lived 
 
 (32) 
 
THE TRANSFIGURATION. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 at least five hundred and fifty years before 
 the latter,* and yet they had learned to 
 know each other, and to hold communion 
 together. If those who were perfect 
 strangers on earth can thus recognize 
 each other, and be thus associated together, 
 in the spiritual world, how much more 
 those who were so long and so tenderly 
 related as parents, and children, and 
 friends ! 
 
 Thus, from the days of Abraham down 
 through the whole period of revelation, 
 the people of God believed in a future 
 reunion, recognition and communion of 
 departed souls; and Christ has brought 
 this hope, equal with "life and immortality,*' 
 into the full light of absolute certainty. 
 
 ♦Moses died 145 1 B. C. 
 Elijah died 896 B. C. 
 
 (35) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 We do know that we shall know each other 
 on the other shore. 
 
 "When the holy angels meet us, 
 
 As we go to join their band; 
 We shall know the friends that greet us 
 
 In the glorious spirit land: 
 We shall see the same eyes shining 
 
 On us, as in days of yore; 
 We shall feel the dear arms twining 
 
 Fondly round us as before." 
 
 (36) 
 
BIBLE REFERENCES 
 
 Bible References. 
 
 Gen. XV. 15 "Thou shalt go to thy fa- 
 thers in peace." 
 
 Gen. XXV. 8, 17 "Gathered unto his peo- 
 ple." XXXV. 29. xlix. 29, 33. Deut. 
 xxxii. 49, 50. 
 
 Gen. xxxvii. 34, 35 "For I will go down 
 into the grave unto my son mourning.' 
 
 I Sam. xxviii. 19 "Tomorrow shalt thou 
 and thy sons be with me." 
 
 II Sam. xii. 22, 23 "I shall go to him, 
 but he shall not return to me." 
 
 Matt. viii. 11 "Many shall come from 
 the east and west, and shall sit down with 
 Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the 
 kingdom of heaven." Luke xiii. 28, 29. 
 
 Matt. xvii. 3 "And, behold, there ap- 
 peared unto them Moses and Elias talk- 
 (37) 
 
BIBLE REFERENCES 
 
 ing with him." Matt. xvii. i-8. Mark 
 ix. 2-IO. Luke ix. 28-36. 
 
 Luke vii. 15 "And he that was dead sat 
 up and began to speak. And he de- 
 Uvered him to his mother." 
 
 Luke xvi. 9 "That, when ye fail, they 
 may receive you into everlasting habi- 
 tations." 
 
 Luke xvi. 23 "And in hell he lift up his 
 eyes, being in torments, and seeth 
 Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his 
 bosom." 19-31. 
 
 Luke xxiii. 43 "Today shalt thou be with 
 
 me in Paradise." 
 John xi. 23 "Thy brother shall rise again." 
 John xiv. 2 'T go to prepare a place for 
 
 you." xiv. 1-3. 
 I Cor. xiii. 12 "But then shall I know 
 
 even as also I am known." 
 
 (38) 
 
BIBLE REFERENCES 
 
 Col. i. 28 "That we may present every 
 man perfect in Christ Jesus." 
 
 I Thess. ii. 19, 20 "For 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? For ye are 
 our glory and our joy." 
 
 I Thess. iv. 14 "Even so them also which 
 sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." 
 
 I Thess. iv. 18 "Wherefore comfort one 
 another with these words." 13-18. 
 
 Rev. vii. 9 "And, lo, a great multitude, 
 which no man could number, of all 
 nations, and kindreds, and people, and 
 tongues." 
 
 Rev. vii. 14 "These are they which came 
 out of great tribulation, and have 
 washed their robes, and made them 
 white in the blood of the Lamb," 
 
 (39) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 riorning-Land. 
 
 "Some day," we say, and turn our eyes 
 
 Toward the fair hills of Paradise; 
 
 Some day, some time, a sweet new rest 
 
 Shall blossom, fiower-like, in each breast, 
 
 Some day, some time, our eyes shall see 
 
 The faces kept in memory; 
 
 Some day their hands shall clasp our hand. 
 
 Just over in the Morning-land — 
 
 O Morning-land. O Morning-land. 
 
 — Edward H. Phelps. 
 
 "Joy Cometh in the morning." Psa. 30: 5. 
 
 (40) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Recognition of Our Friends 
 in Peavei^. 
 
 If any of us had decided to go to 
 a distant country, and make that our 
 home for hfe, we should naturally be 
 very desirous to learn everything im- 
 portant or interesting about that 
 country : We should like to know 
 how far away it was, and what was 
 the best way to reach it ; we should 
 also wish to learn the nature of the 
 land, whether it was hiily or level 
 whether it was fertile or barren ; 
 what were its productions and 
 minerals, what kind of climate it had, 
 hot or cold, healthy or malarious ; 
 (41) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 what kind of government it had, mon- 
 archical or republican ; what kind 
 of laws were in force, and what were 
 the necessary qualifications for be- 
 coming citizens ; and especially should 
 we like to know the character of 
 the inhabitants, whether they were 
 civilized or savage, whether they 
 were heathen, Mohammedans, Jews 
 or Christians ; what language they 
 spoke, and whether we should be able 
 to have intercourse or conversation 
 with them ; and lastly, it would be very 
 important for us to learn whether 
 there were any of our own relatives 
 or friends already in that country, 
 and whether we could meet them, 
 recognize them, and they recognize 
 (42) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 us, and whether we could have 
 friendly intercourse with one another. 
 
 This last question particularly 
 shall occupy our thoughts in these 
 pages, and in answering it we shall 
 emphasize the requisites for a future 
 recognition, or the conditions which 
 are absolutely necessary to our 
 knowing one another in heaven. 
 
 (43) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 
 
 If the human soul is not immortal, 
 if death ends all, and there is no life 
 beyond the grave, then, of course, 
 there can be no such thing as a future 
 recognition. Oh, how dark, hopeless 
 and miserable then the valley of the 
 shadow of death ! But that there 
 is a future state after the death 
 of the body is a truth almost intuitive 
 in the human mind. All people from 
 the earliest times have believed in a 
 future life ; heathens, Mohammedans, 
 Jews, and above all, Christians believe 
 in the immortality of the soul. No 
 
 (44) 
 
FRIENDS 
 
 I N 
 
 HEAVEN 
 
 truth is taught more emphatically in 
 the Bible, in both Old and New 
 Testaments, than that of an eternal, 
 conscious existence,of either happiness 
 or woe ; the righteous shall enter into 
 eternal happiness, and the wicked 
 into everlasting punishment. ''God 
 so loved the world, that he gave his 
 only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in him should not perish, 
 but have everlasting life." John iii. i6. 
 Jesus said to his disciples on the 
 night before his crucifixion and death, 
 "In my Father's house are many 
 mansions: ... I go to prepare a 
 place for you. And ... I will come 
 again and receive you unto myself ; 
 that where I am, there ye may be 
 (45) 
 
I 
 
 RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 also." John xiv. 2, 3. Very many 
 texts like these might be quoted 
 from the Holy Scriptures, which 
 teach in the plainest and most em- 
 phatic words a future state of exist- 
 ence. It is hardly necessary to prove 
 this, either from reason or from 
 Scripture ; we take it for granted. 
 
 (46) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PREVIOUS ACQUAINTANCE ON EARTH. 
 
 We shall, indeed, meet with many 
 Christians whom we have never met 
 or known on earth, and with whom 
 we shall then become acquainted ; 
 but that will not be recognition, for 
 recognition implies that we meet with 
 a person, after a lapse of time, whom 
 we knew before, and feel certain that 
 it is the same person with whom we 
 were previously acquainted. Where 
 a previous acquaintance has not 
 existed between two or more persons, 
 there may be new acquaintances and 
 attachments formed, but that cannot 
 (47) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 be recognition in the true sense of 
 the word. Hence, there must have 
 been previous acquaintance before 
 there can be future recognition. 
 
 Some one has said, " Before we 
 think and talk so much about a recog- 
 nition in heaven, there ought to be 
 more recognition among the members 
 of the church on earth." It is true, 
 there are many members, often of 
 the same congregation, who have 
 never become acquainted with each 
 other. This is especially the case in 
 very large congregations in the cities. 
 There is often very little intercourse 
 or acquaintance between the rich and 
 the poor, the learned and the un- 
 learned, those in high stations and 
 (48) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 those in the humbler walks of life ; 
 now, when these different classes 
 meet in the mansions of our Father's 
 house, they will, indeed, not recog- 
 nize each other, but they will become 
 acquainted and form new friendships. 
 
 A quaint writer has said, When I 
 get to heaven I think three things 
 will particularly surprise me. The 
 first surprise will be, that I shall meet 
 some in heaven whom I did not ex- 
 pect to meet there. These are some 
 who were in the humble walks of life, 
 or some of the poor and obscure 
 Christians, who never made much 
 demonstration of their religion ; I 
 passed them on the street, but never 
 had any thought or made any inquiry 
 
 (49) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 about their hope of heaven; but lo! 
 when I arrive there myself I recognize 
 them, to my great surprise, among 
 the white robed throng before the 
 throne. 
 
 The second surprise will be, that 
 some whom I expected to meet there 
 will not be found in those blissful 
 abodes. They are members of the 
 church, they went with me to the 
 communion table and made loud pro- 
 fession of religion, and of course I 
 expected to meet them in heaven. 
 And I look for them on the golden 
 streets of the New Jerusalem, but see 
 them not there ; I search for them on 
 the banks of the river of life, but find 
 them not among the trees of life ; I 
 (50) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 inquire among the innumerable com- 
 pany that stand in white before the 
 throne, but they are not among that 
 happy throng. I expected to meet 
 them in heaven, but, alas, to my great 
 surprise, they are not there. They 
 must have been either hypocrites or 
 mere formalists, who had, indeed, the 
 form of godliness, but lacked its 
 power. 
 
 ''The third thing, and greatest sur- 
 prise of all, will be that I shall find 
 myself in heaven. After all my sins 
 and sorrows, my temptations, toils, 
 pains, disappointments, sickness and 
 death, to find myself in heaven at 
 last ! saved through the blood of the 
 Lamb ! " 
 
 (51) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 CRAPTER III. 
 
 HEAVEN A PLACE. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers says in one of his 
 pubHshed sermons, that heaven is 
 not a place, but a condition, into 
 which we shall enter after death. 
 Now, it is true, that without a renewal 
 of heart and life, sanctified by the 
 Holy Ghost, heaven could not be a 
 state of happiness to any one, even 
 in the most exalted position ; yet we 
 instinctively regard heaven as a local- 
 ity, a place in God's universe, where 
 he more particularly displays his 
 glorious attributes to his intelligent 
 creatures. And the Scriptures speak 
 (52) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 of heaven as a place ; some of the 
 descriptions of heaven may be figura- 
 tive or symboHcal, yet the idea of 
 locahty is always associated with the 
 very word, heaven. Such are the 
 descriptions of the New Jerusalem, 
 with its foundations of precious stones, 
 its walls of jasper, its gates of pearl, 
 and its streets of shining gold ; also 
 its river of life, flowing from the throne 
 of God, the trees of life growing on its 
 banks, and the redeemed v/alking in 
 the street among these trees, indicate 
 the idea that heaven is a locality. 
 Paul speaks of his desire to go away 
 and be with Christ ; now Christ is 
 indeed with his people on earth in an 
 invisible manner, even to the end of 
 
 (5.S) 4 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 the world, but Paul wishes to be 
 with Christ where he can see him 
 face to face and be Hke him. Then, 
 also, the Savior himself expressly 
 calls heaven a place in the mansions 
 of his Father's house. 
 
 But where this place is, in the im- 
 mensity of God's universe, we can only 
 conjecture. For instance, the earth 
 revolves around its own axis, once in 
 twenty-four hours, forming the day 
 and the night ; the moon revolves 
 around the earth, once in four weeks ; 
 the earth with the moon revolves 
 around the sun, once a year, forming 
 the different seasons ; then all the 
 planets in our planetary system re- 
 volve around our sun, as their and 
 (54) 
 
FRIEND vS IN HEAVEN 
 
 our common centre, at various dis- 
 tances and in different periods of 
 time. We are taught by the astron- 
 omers, that the fixed stars are also 
 suns that have planets with their 
 satellites revolving around them. 
 But they profess also to have dis- 
 covered that our sun with its plane- 
 tary system and all the vast hosts of 
 suns with their planetary systems 
 revolve around one common center^ 
 which is therefore the center of the 
 universe ; and we conclude, where 
 the center of the universe is, there 
 is the eternal throne of God, and 
 where God's throne is, there is heaven. 
 It is an awfully sublime and over- 
 whelming thought, that God is seated 
 (55) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 upon his immovable throne in the 
 center of the universe, with all the 
 works of his hands revolving around 
 him in harmonious and glorious 
 motion, called by the ancients the 
 
 music of the spheres. 
 
 Forever singing as they shine, 
 The hand that made us is divine. 
 Now, in order that there may be a 
 future recognition of the saints in 
 heaven, they must not be scattered 
 at inconceivable distances in the 
 immensity of the universe, but must 
 be brought into such close proximity 
 that they may have easy intercourse 
 with one another. Spirits may, in- 
 deed, have better means of intercourse 
 than we now have, while we are 
 tabernacling in the flesh ; but even 
 (56) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 spirits are not omnipresent, for omni- 
 presence is an attribute of the infinite 
 God, which finite beings do not possess. 
 Therefore, if there be a future recogni- 
 tion there must be a common center, 
 where we can meet and commune 
 with each other. We may not al- 
 ways remain in one place, but as 
 we shall be like unto the angels, 
 God will doubtless employ us as he 
 does the angels, who are his minis- 
 tering spirits, and we may be sent 
 by him, as the angels are, to execute 
 his will and purpose in various and 
 distant parts of his universe. But 
 we cannot permanently or constantly 
 be separated, if there is to be a rec- 
 ognition in heaven. 
 
 (57) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 The so-called Soul-sleepers tell 
 us, that man's spirit falls asleep at 
 death, and remains in an uncon- 
 scious state till the day of judgment. 
 This is a false and unscriptural 
 theory. The soul of the believer 
 enters immediately after death into a 
 state of consciousness and ineffable 
 joy. Moses and Elijah appeared on 
 the Mount of Transfiguration and 
 conversed with Jesus, the one fifteen 
 hundred and the other nine hundred 
 years after death. 
 
 Here the question may arise. If 
 heaven is at such an inconceivable 
 distance from the earth, how shall 
 the dying Christian reach his happy 
 home? Shall he be left alone to 
 (58) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 find his way through the dark valley 
 of the shadow of death? or lose him- 
 self in the immensity of God's uni- 
 verse? Oh no, there will be no 
 trouble or difficulty diere. God will 
 send his anp-els to brino- his re- 
 deemed home to glory. 
 
 As it was with Elijah, with the 
 malefactor and with Lazarus, so will 
 it also be with every child of God 
 when the spirit is separated from 
 the body. There is a beautiful alle- 
 gory on the transit of the departing 
 spirit of the Christian to the Paradise 
 of God: 
 
 While he is lying on his death- 
 bed, a!id his friends are in the silent 
 chamber waiting to minister to his 
 
 (6i) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 latest wants or listening to the last 
 words of affection from his lips, holy 
 angels are also present, though un- 
 seen by mortal eyes, ready to carry 
 his emancipated spirit home. As 
 soon as the soul has left the body 
 they take it up on their wings of 
 light and glory, they fly swifter than 
 the lightning, we may suppose, past 
 the moon, past the planets, past 
 some of the fixed stars. Perhaps on 
 their way they are met by the angel 
 Gabriel, sent by God on a message 
 to some distant part of the universe. 
 They stop a moment; he asks them, 
 Whence come ye, whither go ye, and 
 whom bring ye here? And they reply. 
 We come from the planet Earth and 
 (62) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 we are bringing one of the redeemed 
 ones home to heaven. Then they 
 continue their flight on and on, till 
 they come into the effulgence of the 
 mediatorial throne of Christ, and he 
 also asks them, Whence come ye, 
 and whom bring ye here? And they 
 reply, We come from the planet 
 Earth, and we have brought one of 
 the redeemed ones home. He comes 
 up out of much tribulation ; he has 
 washed his robes and made them 
 white in the blood of the Lamb, and 
 now we have brought him up to re- 
 ceive his crown from thy hand. And 
 Jesus stretches out his hands toward 
 him and says. Come, thou blessed 
 one, enter thou into the joy of thy 
 Lord. 
 
 (63) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MEMORY TO BE PRESERVED AND 
 STRENGTHENED. 
 
 If, when we enter into the spirit 
 world, all that we once knew of 
 events and persons in this world 
 should be blotted out from our mem- 
 ory, then we could not know our 
 friends when we meet them in 
 heaven ; we might become acquainted 
 with them again, but that would be 
 no recognition, it would be merely 
 forming new friendships ; if we had 
 no recollection of each other, we 
 could meet only as strangers, ready 
 to form new acquaintances with kin- 
 dred spirits in heaven. 
 
 (64) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 But in order that there may be a 
 recognition of our friends in lieaven, 
 we must retain the powers of our 
 memories unimpaired; we must be 
 able conhdently to say, This is my 
 father, this is my mother, this is my 
 brother, this is my sister, this is my 
 child, this man was my pastor, this 
 was my teacher in the Sunday-school, 
 this one was my neighbor, and this 
 was my class-mate in school, or col- 
 lege, or seminary. Unless we can thus 
 remember and designate each other, 
 there can be no real recognition in 
 heaven. But that our memories shall 
 be thus preserved and even strength- 
 ened after death is evident from 
 many passages of Scripture. Said 
 (65) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Abraham to the rich man in hell, 
 *'Son, remember that thou in thy 
 lifetime receivedst thy good things, 
 and likewise Lazarus evil things." 
 
 Indeed, there is reason to believe 
 that the memory will be strengthened 
 in an extraordinary degree after the 
 spirit is separated from the body. 
 Instances are related of persons who 
 believed themselves in imminent 
 danger of death, and had the history 
 of their whole lives instantly brought 
 to their minds, even to the minut- 
 est particulars. Persons who believed 
 themselves in the act of drowning, 
 and were rescued just as they had 
 given up all hope of life, and were 
 sinking for the last time under the 
 (66) 
 
H. HOFMANN. 
 
 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 water, had the history of their Hves 
 minutely brought to their minds. 
 
 I read of an instance, where a lion 
 that had escaped from his cage in a 
 menagerie suddenly crouched before 
 a man standing in front of his house, 
 ready to spring upon him; the man 
 stood paralyzed, not daring to move 
 hand or foot, expecting every mo- 
 ment the lion would spring upon him 
 and tear him to pieces. In that 
 moment his whole life stood as in a 
 picture before him. Fortunately, a 
 large dog sprang out at that moment 
 and bit the lion, but was instantly 
 killed by him, and thus the man's life 
 was saved. 
 
 A very singular case is recorded 
 (69) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 in a book on mental science. A 
 woman who was taken sick and was 
 lying in a state of delirium began to 
 repeat long passages in a strange 
 language. The people around her 
 did not understand a word she said. 
 At last a minister of the gospel was 
 called in, and he declared she was 
 repeating Hebrew out of the Old 
 Testament Scriptures. A Hebrew 
 Bible was consulted, and it was found 
 that she repeated extracts from 
 the Old Testament in the Hebrew 
 language. She had never learned 
 Hebrew and in her normal state of 
 mind she did not understand a word, 
 nor could she tell the name of a single 
 letter in the Hebrew language. But 
 (70) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 it was learned that she had once 
 Hved with a minister who was a 
 distinguished Hebrew scholar, and he 
 was in the habit of reading aloud in 
 his study passages out of the Hebrew 
 Bible. She heard the words and 
 years after in her delirium she re- 
 peated them as she had heard them 
 from the lips of the old minister. 
 
 The following is related by Mr. 
 Beecher : "I know a man who said, 
 that in falling twenty feet, when he 
 expected to die, the thoughts of a 
 Hfetime seemed to pass through his 
 mind. He thought of his business, 
 of his wife, of his children and of the 
 eternity to which he was going. A 
 life seemed to pass through his mind, 
 (71) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 and nothing was lost. So it will be 
 when memory summons the acts of 
 a life at the last tribunal. Nothing 
 is lost. Thoughts once impressed, 
 but apparently lost, will come up 
 again. A life is written on our 
 memory as with invisible ink. It is 
 apparently lost to our frail sight while 
 here ; but in the judgment-light, it 
 will be seen enveloped around us and 
 will be unrolled till every line and 
 letter is made visible. 
 
 'T knew a sailor, who said that 
 when once in a storm on the giddy 
 mast, while trying to furl a sail, and 
 he could not, he cursed God. It 
 passed out of his mind for twenty 
 years ;but then, in a season of excite- 
 (72) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 ment, he said, ' Now I remember it ; 
 I am lost.' " 
 
 Such a strengthening of the memory 
 is thought to be necessary, in order 
 to vindicate the justice of God in the 
 condemnation and punishment of the 
 wicked, when the books shall be 
 opened and every man shall be judged 
 according to the deeds done in the 
 body. For, if the sinner could not 
 be mindful of the sins which he had 
 committed, he would think his punish- 
 ment was greater than he deserved, 
 and that God was unjust. But when 
 he sees his sins in all their countless 
 number and all their black and 
 horrible enormity, unrepented of, 
 unatoned for and unforgiven, he must 
 admit that his punishment is deserved 
 and that God is just. 
 
 5 (73) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 REUNION ETERNAL. 
 
 The union with our friends in glory 
 will be eternal. Separations on earth 
 are often painful. When families are 
 temporarily separated ; when a son 
 goes into business for himself, or a 
 daughter gets married and moves to 
 a distant place, the separation often 
 causes sorrow ; but we are consoled 
 by the hope that we may meet sooner 
 or later again ; occasionally they will 
 revisit the parental home; some- 
 times there is a family reunion. So 
 also when a member of the family is 
 taken away by death the survivors go 
 (74) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 forth and weep together, but they 
 are consoled by the hope that the 
 loved ones are not lost, but only gone 
 before. The idea that the separation 
 must be eternal would be overwhelm- 
 ingly dreadful. Temporary separa- 
 tions there may be, even in heaven, 
 when God shall commission us or any 
 of our sainted friends to go on some 
 errand in a distant part of the uni- 
 verse, like the angels who are his 
 ministering spirits. But the separa- 
 tion will be only temporary, and the 
 reunion after a temporary separation 
 will cause rather an increase of 
 our joy. 
 
 One of the most beautiful thoughts 
 and blessed hopes is that of the re- 
 
 (75) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 union of the Christian family in 
 heaven ; there should not and there 
 need not be a separation of a Chris- 
 tian family in the world to come. 
 Here on earth they lived together 
 in peace and love and hope ; they 
 shared one another's joys and sorrows; 
 they ate at the same table ; they 
 slept under the same roof; they were 
 buried side by side in the grave-yard, 
 on a lot not as large as the house in 
 which they dwelt ; on the morning of 
 the resurrection they rise up together 
 to meet their Savior coming in the 
 clouds of heaven ; before the judg- 
 ment throne they all stand on the 
 right hand, not one lost or missing, 
 nor father, nor mother, nor brother, 
 (76) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 nor sister ; but all hear that joyful 
 welcome, Come, ye blessed of my 
 Father, inherit the kingdom prepared 
 for you from the foundation of the 
 world. Methinks I see the children 
 rising up to bless their parents as 
 instruments in leading them to Christ 
 and salvation. Methinks I hear them 
 say, We remember our home in 
 yonder world, consecrated by your 
 piety and your prayers, as the house 
 of God and the gate of heaven. 
 There we knelt with you at the family 
 altar in prayer, we walked with you 
 to the house of God and heard the 
 gospel preached, and went with you 
 to the communion table of our Lord. 
 Your Christian example, your fervent 
 (77) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 prayers, your faithful instruction, 
 your parental admonitions, brought 
 down upon us the blessing of our 
 God, and now we stand in these 
 white robes of Christ's righteousness 
 on these heights of Zion to bless you, 
 our father, you, our mother, as the 
 instruments in the hand of God of 
 our salvation. No pen can describe, 
 no tongue can tell, no heart can 
 conceive the happiness of such a 
 family. Dear reader, would you 
 make this blessedness your own ? 
 Then begin, if you have not already 
 begun, the use of every means of 
 grace and the performance of every 
 duty that by the grace of God may 
 bring about the union of your whole 
 family in heaven. 
 
 (78) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE LANGUAGE OF HEAVEN. 
 
 Much of our enjoyment in this 
 world is found in the company of our 
 friends, and in the interchange of 
 communications with each other. If 
 we could not converse and communi- 
 cate our thoughts, views and feelings 
 with each other, heaven would be a 
 very dull place. 
 
 From numerous passages of Scrip- 
 ture we learn that saints and angels 
 have the power of speech. The angel 
 Gabriel announced to the Virgin 
 Mary that she would become the 
 mother of Jesus. The angel said 
 (79) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 to the shepherds on Bethlehem's 
 plains, "Behold, I bring you good 
 tidings of great joy: for unto you is 
 born this day in the city of David a 
 Savior, which is Christ the Lord.'' 
 The angel said to the women who 
 came early to the sepulchre, ''Ye 
 seek Jesus, — he is not here — he is 
 risen from the dead — go tell his dis- 
 ciples," etc. So also Moses and 
 Elijah came down from heaven and 
 talked with Jesus on the Mount of 
 Transfiguration, and Peter and the 
 other apostles heard and understood 
 what they said. 
 
 The question may be raised, Shall 
 there be a universal language in 
 heaven, which we shall learn when 
 (80) 
 
ALEX. ENDER 
 
 DECLARING THE RESURRECTION. 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 we get there? or shall we each speak 
 the particular language which was 
 our mother tongue on earth? or shall 
 we be able to communicate our 
 thoughts and feelings reciprocally to 
 each other without articulate sounds 
 and words? We do not know just 
 now how we shall converse with each 
 other in heaven, but we shall know 
 when we get there. Our words now 
 are uttered by our bodily organs of 
 speech, but by what means disem- 
 bodied spirits converse is one of those 
 things which we do not yet under- 
 stand, or need to understand. 
 
 When God made man He en- 
 dowed him with the power of speech. 
 What language our first parents 
 (83) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 spoke in Eden has not been definitely 
 revealed. Perhaps it was the He- 
 brew, in which the Old Testament 
 Scriptures were written. Whatever 
 that language may have been, cer- 
 tainly it was the only one spoken by 
 the human race for about two thou- 
 sand years after the creation of man ; 
 that is, from Adam to the building 
 of the tower of Babel. Thus we 
 read in the eleventh chapter of the 
 book of Genesis : ''And the whole 
 earth was of one language and of one 
 speech. And as they journeyed from 
 the east, they found a plain in the 
 land of Shinar and dwelt there. And 
 they said. Let us build us a city and 
 a tower whose top may reach unto 
 (84) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 heaven, and let us make us a name, 
 lest we be scattered abroad upon the 
 face of the whole earth." The com- 
 mon notion is, that they wished to 
 build a tower so high that in case 
 of another flood they could be safe 
 on the top of it. But it would have 
 been impossible to build a tower so 
 high that its top could not be sub- 
 merged by a flood like that in the 
 time of Noah, which overflowed the 
 highest mountains ; nor could many 
 of them have assembled or subsisted 
 there for any length of time without 
 a supply of provisions. Their evident 
 design was to build a large city, and 
 make it the center of the world's 
 population ; they did not wish to be 
 (85) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 scattered over the whole surface of 
 the earth. But this was contrary to 
 God's design. He said, "Increase 
 and multiply and fill the earth." He 
 therefore thwarted their intention by 
 confounding their tongues, and mak- 
 them unintelligible to one another, 
 so that when one called for stone 
 another brought up wood, when one 
 called for timber another brought up 
 iron, etc., etc. Hence they disagreed, 
 the work could not go on, they sepa- 
 rated and settled in different parts 
 of the world. From that time on 
 people have spoken different lan- 
 guages in various parts of the earth, 
 and the inhabitants of one country 
 cannot understand the language of 
 (86) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 the people in another country. It is 
 said that there are now over three hun- 
 dred languages and dialects among 
 the inhabitants of this babbling earth. 
 There are, however, still a few 
 words which are common to all lan- 
 guages. 
 
 An instance is related of two con- 
 verts to Christianity from heathen 
 lands, who met on a ship. Neither 
 could speak the language of the 
 other, but each had an idea that the 
 other was a Christian. At last one 
 of them called out: "Hallelujah!" 
 and the other responded, "Amen!" 
 These words were intelligible to 
 both, and they recognized each other 
 as brethren in Christ. 
 
 (87) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 It is related of a pious old German 
 woman, that she feared she would be 
 very lonesome in heaven, because all 
 the people about her were speaking 
 English, and would also speak 
 English in heaven, and she would 
 not be able to understand what they 
 said or sang. 
 
 It is possible that in heaven we 
 shall have the gift of tongues, by 
 which we can speak and understand 
 all languages. This gift was be- 
 stowed on the disciples by the out- 
 pouring of the Holy Spirit on the day 
 of Pentecost : 
 
 And they were all amazed and 
 marvelled, saying one to another, 
 Behold, are not all these which speak 
 (88) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Galileans ? And how hear we every 
 man in our own tongue, wherein we 
 were born ? Parthians, and Medes, 
 and Elamites, and the dwellers in 
 Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and 
 Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 
 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, 
 and in the parts of Libya about 
 Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews 
 and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, 
 we do hear them speak in our tongues 
 the wonderful works of God." Acts 
 
 2. 7-II. 
 
 (89) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 NEW ACQUAINTANCES IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Besides the recognition of friends 
 whom we knew and loved on earth, 
 we shall also form new acquaintances 
 in heaven. Heaven is inhabited by 
 the holy angels — an innumerable host, 
 who were created before the world 
 was made, and who lost not their 
 estate, like the fallen angels. They 
 are blessed, happy and immortal 
 beings, whom God employs as his 
 ministering spirits. Some of them 
 are named in the Bible. The arch- 
 angel Michael is one of them, who 
 cast Satan into the bottomless pit and 
 (90) 
 
THE ANNUNCIATION. 
 
 HOFMANN. 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 bound him in adamantine chains ; 
 and the archangel Gabriel, who 
 announced to the Virgin Mary that 
 she should become the mother of 
 the promised Messiah. The angels 
 are distinguished into principalities 
 and powers, into Cherubim and Sera- 
 phim. We shall become personally 
 acquainted with them and converse 
 with them. They can relate to us 
 the story of the creation of the 
 heavens and the earth, when the 
 morning stars sang together and all 
 the sons of God shouted for joy." 
 
 And there we shall also meet the 
 patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs 
 and reformers. There I expect to 
 meet Adam and Eve, and they can 
 
 6 (93) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 give us a description of Paradise, be- 
 fore it was entered and cursed by sin; 
 there I expect to meet Noah and 
 converse with him ; the surging of 
 the flood is still fresh in his memory ; 
 there I expect to meet Abraham, that 
 man of mighty faith ; and Joseph and 
 Moses and Joshua and Samuel and 
 David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel ; and 
 then I shall meet the worthies of the 
 New Testament, Peter and James 
 and John and Matthew and Andrew 
 and Stephen, the first martyr, Paul 
 and Barnabas and Timothy and the 
 martyrs and reformers. Time would 
 fail me to mention by name a 
 thousandth part of them. These are 
 the nobles of whom the world was 
 (94) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 not worthy. What will be our 
 wonder, surprise and joy when we 
 shall meet those whose names we 
 have often read in the Bible, and 
 whose character and noble deeds we 
 have so often admired ! But there 
 will also be a countless host of the 
 redeemed whose names we never 
 heard on earth, the humble poor, 
 whose deeds have never been written 
 on the scroll of human fame, but who 
 had a record in heaven, and were 
 enrolled in the book of life. We 
 shall meet them and converse with 
 them also, and hear the story of their 
 conversion and salvation through 
 the blood of the Lamb. Yes, we shall 
 there be permitted to associate with 
 (95) 
 
r 
 
 RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 that great multitude, which no man 
 can number, of all nations and kin- 
 dreds and peoples and tongues, who 
 stand before the throne and before 
 the Lamb, clothed with white robes, 
 who "came out of great tribula- 
 tion, and have washed their robes 
 and made them white in the blood ot 
 the Lamb." "And God shall wipe 
 away all tears from their eyes." 
 
 But there is One above all others, 
 whom w^e shall meet in heaven with 
 exceeding great joy ; namely, our 
 blessed Lord and Savior Jesus 
 Christ. It would be no heaven with- 
 out Christ. But there we shall see 
 Jesus face to face and be like him. 
 No pen can describe, no tongue can 
 (96) 
 
 ^ 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 tell, no heart can conceive the joy of 
 the saved soul, at the first sight of the 
 Lord Jesus in his glory. 
 
 Oh, that will be joyful! joyful! joyful! 
 
 When we shall meet, at Jesus' feet; 
 Shall meet to part no more! 
 
 Somebody was asked how he ex- 
 pected to be occupied during the 
 eternal ages in heaven. He replied, 
 I hope to spend the first ten thousand 
 years in beholding the face of Jesus, 
 my Savior ; after that I expect to 
 have time enough to explore the 
 universe and become acquainted with 
 saints and angels. 
 
 (97) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OCCUPATION IN HEAA^EN. 
 
 How shall we spend eternity? 
 What will be our occupation in 
 heaven? 'And I heard a voice from 
 heaven saying unto me, Write, 
 Blessed are the dead which die in the 
 Lord from henceforth : Yea, saith the 
 Spirit, that they may rest from their 
 labors ; and their works do follow 
 them." Rev. 14. 13. 
 
 When a good man dies, we say. 
 He has gone to rest." Yes, he is 
 at rest in that he shall not be weary 
 any more, he shall not hunger or 
 thirst any more, neither shall he be 
 (98) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 sick or suffer any more pain, and he 
 shall never die again. Yes, he shall 
 rest from his labors on earth. But 
 his rest does not consist in idleness 
 or inactivity. We must not think 
 that he shall do nothing in heaven 
 but sing psalms ; yes, he shall join 
 in singing the new song of Moses 
 and the Lamb, but his most delightful 
 work has only now really begun. 
 The Savior says, In heaven the saints 
 shall be Hke unto the angels, and 
 the angels are declared to be min- 
 istering spirits sent to them that are 
 heirs of salvation ; and as they shall 
 be like unto the angels, they shall 
 also be employed like the angels. 
 God governs the material universe 
 
 (iot) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 by fixed laws of nature, but the spirit- 
 ual world he governs by the instru- 
 mentality of intelligent agents ; 
 namely, men and angels. No, we 
 shall not spend eternity in indolence 
 Has David hung up his harp, now 
 unstrung and broken, like the dusty 
 armor in Westminster Abbey ? Has 
 Paul ceased to itinerate the universe 
 after carrying the gospel to the ends 
 of the earth ? Have Luther and 
 Calvin and Knox and W esley ceased 
 studying the infinite attributes of 
 God, and trying to understand the 
 wonderful plan of salvation, which 
 the angels desired to look into ? 
 Here we see through a glass darkly, 
 but there we shall see face to face. 
 (102) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Our departed brother will enter the 
 joy of his Lord, and be employed as 
 one of God's ministering spirits to 
 some child on earth ; he will see 
 God in his glory ; he will admire 
 the wonders of his works ; he will 
 study his infinite perfections ; he will 
 try to scale the height, fathom the 
 depth, and measure the length and 
 breadth of the love of God in Christ. 
 And he will have plenty of time ; he 
 will have all eternity to devote to 
 this blessed employment. 
 
 When we've been there ten thousand years, 
 
 Bright shining as the sun, 
 We've no less days to sing God's praise, 
 
 Than when we first begun. 
 
 (103) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HEAVEN NOT YET OPEN TO VIEW. 
 
 The Savior once said in regard to 
 little children, ''Their angels do always 
 behold the face of my Father which is 
 in heaven." From this the beauti" 
 ful idea of guardian angels is taken. 
 And some bereaved Christians have 
 cherished the belief that their own 
 loved ones may have been appointed 
 guardian angels over themselves. 
 However that may be, the Scripture 
 says, " He shall give his angels charge 
 over thee, to keep thee in all thy 
 ways. They shall bear thee up in 
 their hands, lest thou dash thy foot 
 against a stone." Ps. xci. ii, 12. 
 (104) 
 
GUARDIAN ANGEL. 
 
 B. PLOCKHORST. 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 It is certain that the angels are 
 round about us, and if we had the 
 faculty to discern spirits we might 
 even see them ; and as the redeemed 
 in heaven are like unto the angels, 
 it is not impossible for them to be 
 near us, whenever they choose so to 
 be. Some one migrht therefore ask, 
 Would it not be pleasant and de- 
 sirable, that we should have at least 
 occasional intercourse with our de- 
 parted friends, who might come to 
 us from their glorious habitations, 
 and revisit us on earth? And would 
 it not be a blessed and happy 
 privilege, if once in a while a window 
 in heaven were opened to us, and we 
 could see our friends there in glory ? 
 (107) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Yes, that might afford us a temporary 
 happiness, but it would soon be 
 followed by discontent with our lot on 
 earth, and unfit us for the duties 
 of this life. St. Paul says he was 
 once translated to the third heaven 
 and saw things there, and heard 
 things there, which it is unlawful, or 
 rather impossible in our language, to 
 describe. He does labor to find 
 words to describe the happiness of 
 heaven, when he says, ''Eye hath 
 not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
 have entered into the heart of man, 
 the things which God hath prepared 
 for them that love him." i Cor. ii. 
 9. After that his ardent longing was 
 to go away and be with Christ, and 
 (108) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 receive from his hand the crown of 
 glory laid up for him. The only rea- 
 son why he was willing any longer 
 to stay on earth was that he might 
 be instrumental in bringing yet many 
 others to the faith of Christ and the 
 salvation of heaven. Therefore, a 
 sight of heaven and our friends there 
 in glory would most Hkely unfit us 
 for the duties of life and absorb all 
 our thoughts and desires to go away 
 and join our loved ones in the 
 mansions of our Father's house. 
 
 Years ago I read an incident 
 illustrative of this subject, which I 
 will relate as nearly as I can from 
 memory : A ship was sent off from a 
 certain port to sail around the world. 
 (109) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 The voyage lasted three years 
 When the ship returned, and the land 
 of their nativity became visible, the 
 sailors became very much excited. 
 Some of them climbed up the masts 
 to have a better view of the land ; as 
 they drew nearer and could dis- 
 tinguish objects, some pointed to the 
 church steeples where they had wor- 
 shiped in their childhood ; some 
 could point out the houses where 
 their parents and brothers and sisters 
 lived ; as they drew nearer to port 
 the excitement increased ; some of 
 the sailors went to their chests, got 
 their best clothes and put them on; 
 some laughed and some wept for joy. 
 But at last, when the ship came into 
 (no) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 port, and they saw and recognized 
 their friends standing- on the wharf, 
 waving welcome to them and caUing 
 them by name, the crew could no 
 longer be restrained or controlled. 
 They hastened to the shore by every 
 possible means, to embrace their 
 fathers, mothers, wives, brothers and 
 sisters, and another set of men had 
 to be secured to bring the vessel to 
 her mooring. 
 
 Now, what would be the effect 
 upon us, if heaven were opened to 
 our view, and we could see the New 
 Jerusalem with its gates of pearl and 
 golden streets ; behold the saints 
 standing in white before the throne, 
 and hear them sing the new song of 
 (ill) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Moses and the Lamb ; yea, if we 
 could see and recognize our loved 
 ones in the glory land, and behold them 
 beckoning to us, and calling us by 
 name ? Oh, the scene would be so 
 overwhelming, that we should lose all 
 interest in the affairs of this world. 
 Who would want to work in our 
 shops or fields ? Who would want 
 to stand in stores and sell dry goods 
 and groceries ? Who would want to 
 stand in banks and spend their lives 
 in counting money ? Who would 
 want to build houses here, or keep 
 them in order, when in view of our 
 glorious home in the mansions of our 
 Father's house ? Our one and all- 
 absorbing wish and aspiration would 
 
 (tT2) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 be to go away and be with Christ, 
 to the disregard and neglect of every 
 earthly duty. No, it would not be 
 well to have heaven with all its 
 glories and happiness opened to our 
 view now. It would be too soon. 
 Let us abide our time and serve the 
 Lord a Httle longer, until Christ 
 shall say to us, " Come, ye blessed 
 of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
 prepared for you from the foundation 
 of the world." 
 
 Yet the Lord does sometimes 
 grant his saints a view of heaven 
 and its glories in the moment just 
 before the spirit leaves the body. 
 Thus, when the proto-martyr, Ste- 
 phen, was stoned to death, it is 
 
 7 (113) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 written of him : " But he, being full 
 of the Holy Ghost, looked up stead- 
 fastly into heaven, and saw the glory 
 of God, and Jesus standing on the 
 right hand of God, and said, Behold, 
 I see the heavens opened, and the 
 Son of man standing on the right 
 hand of God." Acts vii. 55,56. 
 
 The following was related in a 
 sermon, by Rev. S. Domer, D. D., 
 while pastor of the English Lutheran 
 Church in Selinsgrove, Pa. I repeat 
 it from memory, as I then heard it : 
 
 A young Christian was lying on 
 his death-bed, while his mother was 
 watching by his side. He said to 
 her, ''Mother, my hands and feet are 
 getting cold." After a while he said, 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 ''Mother, I feel the cold coming up 
 to my heart." Soon after he said, 
 ''Mother, it is getting dark, I cannot 
 see you any more." But after a 
 while he said again, "Mother, it is 
 getting light again ; I see the angels 
 and hear them sing." And then the 
 angels carried his ransomed soul 
 home to glory. 
 
 When John Arndt, the author of 
 Wahres Christe7tthum, (The True 
 Christianity) lay on his death-bed he 
 suddenly exclaimed, " We beheld his 
 glory, the glory as ot the only be- 
 gotten of the Father, full of grace 
 and truth." His wife asked him 
 when he had seen this glory. He 
 replied, "Just now, I have seen it. 
 (115) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 O, what a glory is this! It is the 
 glory which no eye hath seen, no ear 
 hath heard and hath not entered into 
 the heart of man to conceive. This 
 glory I have just now seen." Let 
 me die the death of the righteous and 
 let my last end be like his. 
 
 Dr. S. S. Schmucker relates the 
 following of his father, Dr. J. G. 
 Schmucker : 
 
 For several months before his 
 death he was much abstracted from 
 the world, and engaged in almost 
 constant communion with God. 
 During this time he on one occasion 
 was lying on his bed in the night 
 watches, and called to my mother, 
 who was at his side, ' Oh, if you could 
 (ii6) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 see what I have seen beyond the 
 Jordan of death, how happy you 
 would be.' 
 
 Heaven is not yet open to our 
 view, and it is better thus. But a 
 spiritual vision is vouchsafed to the 
 eye of faith which, while not in con- 
 flict with earth and its duties, sanctifies 
 the life, makes heaven more real, and 
 helps us to heed the Scriptural admo- 
 nition, '*Set your affection on things 
 above." How true to the experience 
 of many are these words of another : 
 Our views of heaven change as our 
 years increase. I can remember 
 when my conception of heaven was 
 chiefly associated with the glowing 
 descriptions of the apocalypse. It 
 (117) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 meant gates of pearl and golden 
 streets, and multitudes of white-robed 
 angels hymning a perpetual song, 
 ''Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Al- 
 mighty." But there came a time 
 when a beloved sister fell asleep, and 
 thereafter her face was always asso- 
 ciated with every thought of that 
 celestial city. Then the dear father 
 went, and then the first-born of the 
 household, and then another, ''with 
 folded hands and dreamy eyes went 
 through the gates of Paradise." And 
 now all heaven is full . of faces, and 
 there are hands beckoning and voices 
 calling. So more and more as the 
 years pass do I realize the joyous 
 significance of the Saviors words, 
 " My Father s House." Heaven is 
 home. 
 
 (ii8) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Hie Gathering Place. 
 
 Life changes all our thoughts of heaven. 
 
 At first we think of streets of gold, 
 
 Of gates of pearl and dazzling light, 
 
 Of shining wings and robes of white, 
 
 And things all strange to mortal sight. 
 
 But in the afterward of years 
 
 It is a more familiar place — 
 
 A home unhurt by sighs or tears, 
 
 Where waiteth many a well-known face. 
 
 With passing months it comes more near; 
 
 It grows more real day by day; 
 
 Not strange or cold, but very dear, 
 
 The glad homeland not far away. 
 
 Where none are sick or poor or lone. 
 
 The place where we shall find our own. 
 
 And as we think of all we knew 
 
 Who there have met to part no more, 
 
 Our longing hearts desire home, too. 
 
 With all the strife and trouble o'er. 
 
 — Browning. 
 
 (119) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Objections Answered. 
 
 Dr. Harbaugh has stated and 
 answered the following objections 
 which we quote from his excellent 
 book : 
 
 There are persons who, though 
 they have any amount of positive 
 proof in favor of a subject, never- 
 theless doubt, as long as certain diffi- 
 culties existing in their minds are 
 not removed. 
 
 They can always tell what they 
 do not believe, and why they do 
 not believe it ; but they can not 
 so well say what they do believe, 
 and why they believe it. 
 
 (120) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Many objections may be found 
 always, even against a true doc- 
 trine. Nothing is easier than to 
 show that there are difficulties 
 which lie in the way of truth. Let 
 it, however, be remembered that if 
 any doctrine can be proved to be 
 true by positive evidence, a thous- 
 and objections that may be raised 
 against it cannot prove it untrue. 
 It remains true, even if we should 
 not be able to answer the objec- 
 tions ; our failing to answer them 
 proves nothing but our own limited 
 knowledge. We must learn, first 
 of all, in our search of truth, that 
 our own ignorance is not its meas- 
 ure. In regard to the doctrine be- 
 
 (I2I) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 for us, however, we discover no 
 objections which may not be fully 
 answered. 
 
 I. THE GREAT CHANGE WHICH WILL 
 TAKE PLACE IN DEATH. 
 
 '*We shall all be changed." The 
 change which, according to the 
 Scriptures, is to take place, espe- 
 cially in our bodies at the transition 
 of death, will in many respects be 
 great. 
 
 A great change may take place, 
 both in the body and spirit, with- 
 out destroying those marks of 
 identity and those peculiarities of 
 character by which recognition 
 takes place. The change which 
 (122) 
 
CORREGGIO. 
 
 LAZARUS RESTORED TO HIS SISTERS. 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 comes with death will consivSt, not 
 in adding any thing entirely or es- 
 sentially new, but only in an un- 
 folding and perfecting of what is 
 already at hand in us. There is a 
 great difference between a small 
 sapHng and a full grown tree ; and 
 yet great as the apparent change 
 is, the marks of its identity con- 
 tinue through all the stages of its 
 evolution. In the different stages 
 of human life, through infancy, 
 childhood, youth, manhood, and 
 age, the same being continues, car- 
 rying with him his peculiarities, and 
 preserves from one stage to the 
 other those marks by which he is 
 recognized as the same person. 
 (125) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 There are features which run with 
 marked prominence through all 
 these transitions. 
 
 That the change which awaits us 
 is one, not of transformation, but 
 of evolution, is evident from Scrip- 
 ture representations of it. The 
 apostle Paul represents the new 
 celestial man as rising out of the 
 old earthly man, as the new grain 
 rises out of the old. The change 
 is not so much in the outward 
 form as in the inward potence 
 which fills out and pervades the 
 form with a new life. The orig- 
 inal form will remain while the 
 elements of corruption will be 
 changed into that of incorruption. 
 (126) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 The dishonor, which in various 
 ways, and in various degrees, at- 
 taches to our present life, will 
 give way to glory. Weakness will 
 be swallowed up in power. The 
 natural will pass into the spiritual, 
 the mortal into immortality. Now, 
 all these changes are but risings 
 from a lower to a higher life, 
 which, though they involve great 
 changes, are not in form, but in 
 power. They may all take place 
 without radically changing those 
 familiar peculiarities which make 
 recognition possible. As in life a 
 person is changed from a sinner 
 to a saint, while he still retains, 
 to a great extent, the same ex- 
 (127) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 ternal features ; so, the elements of 
 power, glory and immortality may 
 be unfolded in us, in our glorifi- 
 cation, without producing any more 
 change in the appearance of that 
 side of our being with which we 
 were wont to converse with our 
 friends, than the positive condition 
 of electricity does upon that which 
 it fills with its mysterious fluid. 
 
 The transfiguration of Christ 
 upon the mount was no doubt in- 
 tended, in part, to give the apos- 
 tles a glimpse of what they might 
 expect, w^hen, "he should change 
 their vile bodies, that they might 
 be fashioned like unto his glorious 
 body." There the change which 
 (t28) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 took place in their Master was great: 
 " The fashion of his countenance was 
 altered, and his raiment was white 
 and glistening," ''and his face did 
 shine as the sun;" yet still they 
 knew him from the rest amid that 
 " excellent glory," and they "were 
 eye-witnesses of his majesty." His 
 glorious person was still, as to its 
 external marks, what it was before, 
 and could be recognized as his 
 through the veil of holy light which 
 enshrouded it. May not the same 
 be the case with us in our glorified 
 bodies ? 
 
 (129) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 II. IF IT WERE TRUE, IT WOULD BE 
 MORE CLEARLY REVEALED. 
 
 It is said by way of objection : If 
 this were a doctrine, true and to be 
 believed, it would have been more 
 directly, clearly, and fully revealed. 
 If true, this doctrine is full ot conso- 
 lation ; and it is therefore natural 
 and reasonable, it is said, to think 
 that He, who would not deprive 
 His people of any source of comfort, 
 would have spoken clearly on such 
 an important point. 
 
 Let us look at this objection. The 
 fact that this doctrine is not often, 
 and then only incidentally, mentioned 
 is rather a proof in its favor than 
 (130) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 against it. It shows that the truth 
 of it was taken for granted at the 
 time when it was thus incidentally 
 alluded to — it was not necessary to 
 propound it formally as a doctrine, 
 but merely to allude to it as some- 
 thing already universally believed. 
 All Scripture allusions to it are made 
 upon the supposition that it is an 
 acknowledged truth. In this view 
 of the matter an incidental allusion is 
 even stronger than a direct assertion ; 
 for while it has all the authority of a 
 direct testimony, it shows at the same 
 time the absence of all disposition or 
 intention to deceive. Thus, if I say, 
 I traveled under the rays of the hot 
 sun, this is the strongest possible 
 
 8 (131) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 proof that it was a clear day and in 
 the summer. 
 
 Moreover, there are many of the 
 most important doctrines of the Scrip- 
 tures resting on precisely the same 
 ground as this, in this respect. Such, 
 for instance, are the doctrine of the 
 Holy Trinity, the necessity of making 
 a profession of religion by a connec- 
 tion with the church, the immortality 
 of the soul, female communion, family 
 worship, and other less prominent 
 doctrines or duties, concerning which 
 we have no doubt. Such doctrines 
 existed in the church from the begin- 
 ning, were carried down its stream in 
 the flow of their own life ; they 
 needed no positive statement, for 
 (132) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 they were established by the same 
 evidence by which the mission of the 
 church was established, and the mis- 
 sion of those who alluded to these 
 doctrines as true. Just so in refer- 
 ence to this doctrine ; its existence 
 in the favor of those inspired persons 
 who allude to it as true is the strong- 
 est evidence of its truth. 
 
 HI. THE HEAVENLY LIFE WILL BE 
 MUCH HIGHER THAN THIS. 
 
 It has been thought that heavenly 
 recognition cannot take place, be- 
 cause the heavenly life will be so 
 much higher than this, and so far 
 different from it, that all earthly rela- 
 tions, connections and dependencies 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 must be swallowed up, superseded, 
 or set aside. 
 
 To this we reply that it is Scrip- 
 tural to say that the future life will 
 not be a destruction of this, but a 
 continuation of it. We shall be higher 
 beings, and different beings there, 
 but not other beings. All our affec- 
 tions will be vastly elevated, sancti- 
 fied, increased and perfected, without 
 any violent severing of them from 
 their past life on earth. Here on 
 earth when one becomes a Christian, 
 he rises into higher relations and 
 affinities than those in which he stood 
 before ; but this does not annihilate 
 his previous being ; it only perfects 
 it. He does not, for instance, become 
 (134) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 unfit for family relations and social 
 life in general by this advancement, 
 but rather the contrary. His new 
 relation to Christ does not supersede 
 and destroy his old relations to his 
 friends and fellow men. His life 
 flows on as before, only in a holier 
 stream. His affections still radiate, 
 but with a serener and heavenlier 
 light. So in heaven ; though intro- 
 duced into higher and holier grades 
 of social life, the soul will still draw 
 after it what it loved in its state of 
 grace on earth, and continue to turn 
 towards it with the sweetest remem- 
 brance. 
 
 (135) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 IV. IT WOULD INTRODUCE PARTIALITY 
 INTO HEAVEN. 
 
 Will it not introduce partiality into 
 heaven ? This question indicates an 
 objection which is at first sight some- 
 what plausible. It can, however, be 
 easily and satisfactorily answered. 
 Should we even find it necessary to 
 believe that in heaven friends would 
 love friends more than other saints, 
 this could be without any evil effects. 
 For there no feelings of jealousy will 
 exist to take cognizance of it. No 
 one will stop, in the general joy and 
 harmony which will characterize the 
 heavenly intercourse, to measure, 
 with suspicious eye, the affections of 
 (136) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 other saints, much less desire to 
 attract any to himself to the dispar- 
 agement of others. Suppose it even 
 to be known there that kindred and 
 kindred are peculiarly attached, it 
 could not be regarded as an evil in 
 heaven. Do Christians here on earth 
 feel jealous of other Christians, be- 
 cause they know them to be peculi- 
 arly attached to their own kindred ? 
 Certainly not. They rather praise 
 them for it, and themselves rejoice in 
 it ; and will not heaven be entirely 
 free from all those unworthy feelings 
 which would create difficulty there in 
 the intercourse of saints made perfect 
 in holy love ? 
 
 In this life we may act from various 
 (137) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 motives, all of which may be right 
 ones, though some may be subordi- 
 nate to others ; so in heaven, we may 
 exercise various affections, and if we 
 should even grant that some are less 
 high and excellent than others, they 
 would not thereby be rendered im- 
 proper. A small light is not dark- 
 ness because it is not so large and 
 bright as a larger one. We might as 
 well say that children, in loving one 
 another, must necessarily disparage 
 their parents — or because stars shine 
 they dishonor the moon. In this 
 world saints have their chief enjoy- 
 ments in direct communion with God, 
 but this does not exclude and make 
 unlawful those thousand little every- 
 (138) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 day joys which fall to their lot, and 
 make up their incidental and subordi- 
 nate comforts. 
 
 V. THE LOVE OF CHRIST WILL OCCUPY 
 US ENTIRELY. 
 
 It is said that in heaven Jesus and 
 His love will employ our affections so 
 entirely and eternally that we shall 
 have no time nor desire to know and 
 to be concerned about our friends ; 
 and that even a wish to know friends, 
 and to renew our particular affection 
 for them, would be a disparagement 
 to Christ. Some have expressed 
 themselves with great extravagance 
 on this point. This objection has the 
 recommendation of having a zeal for 
 (139) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Christ, but it will hardly be found to 
 be according to knowledge. Such 
 expressions must be placed in the 
 same class with those which speak, 
 with affected zeal, of the pure spirit- 
 uality of heaven — as not a place, 
 but merely a state ; affirming that 
 where Christ is, there is heaven, even 
 if it were on earth or in hell. It is 
 true that with Christ, and with the 
 love of God shed abroad in our 
 hearts, we have heavenly joys, but we 
 are nevertheless not in heaven, unless 
 we are in that place which is heaven. 
 Where Christ is now, there is heaven ; 
 and it is nowhere else, be our feel- 
 ings what they may. In like manner, 
 we may say that to be with Christ, 
 (140) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 to behold His glory, and to enjoy 
 His love, is the chief attraction of 
 the heavenly world ; but the Scrip- 
 tures nowhere countenance the idea 
 that we shall do nothing there but 
 stand like statues and gaze at 
 Him. Such fancies betray a strange 
 superficial extravagance. While the 
 Lamb is the bright and glorious 
 center, in whom all the rays of 
 heavenly love meet. He is, at the 
 same time, the Sun which warms, 
 animates and enlivens all the so- 
 cial circles of the saints which sur- 
 round Him. While the saints love 
 Him in the light and life of that 
 love which He sheds around Him, 
 they also see each other better 
 (141) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 and love each other more in the 
 same blessed light ; just as the 
 brightness which makes the nat- 
 ural sun itself so prominent to our 
 view is the means, at the same 
 time, of enabling us to see and 
 know the objects around us. His 
 presence there no more destroys 
 the social life and love of heaven, 
 than the sun makes the earth dark. 
 
 It might with the same propriety 
 be argued that particular attachments 
 among saints on earth were a dis- 
 paragement to Christ, and hindered 
 our love to Him. This, however, is 
 not the case, but it is the direct 
 contrary ; for Christ by His example 
 encouraged particular friendships — 
 (142) 
 
WITH THE FAMILY AT BETHANY. 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 the family of Bethany and the be- 
 loved disciple" shared His peculiar 
 affections. In like manner children 
 that love each other are not thereby 
 hindered, but assisted, in loving their 
 parents. It cannot, therefore, be, 
 that such particular attachments can, 
 in any way, interfere with full, free 
 and entire love to Christ. They do 
 not so interfere in this life, and it 
 cannot be shown that they will in the 
 Hfe to come. Love to Him, and love 
 to the brethren, cannot be disjoined ; 
 for the same life of love which joins 
 us to Him joins us to each other. 
 Where the one exists the other must 
 also be found ; and the more we 
 love our friends, whom we have seen, 
 (145) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 the more shall we love Christ, whom 
 we have not seen. 
 
 VI. Christ's answer to the 
 
 SADDUCEES. 
 
 An objection has been built upon 
 the answer which Christ gave to the 
 Sadducees, when they asked Him 
 whose wife she, who had been the 
 wife of seven, should be in the 
 resurrection. The answer of the 
 Savior was : " Ye do err, not know- 
 ing the Scriptures, nor the power of 
 God. For in the resurrection they 
 neither marry, nor are given in 
 marriage, but are as the angels of 
 God in heaven." Matt. xxii. 29, 30. 
 All that is here asserted is, that in 
 (T46) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 heaven they do not marry — it is by 
 no means either said or intimated 
 that they do not know each other. 
 The Savior could have met the 
 difficulty which they sought, in this 
 instance, to throw in the way of the 
 doctrine of the resurrection, by 
 simply denying the doctrine of 
 heavenly recognition ; and we may 
 suppose that he would have done so, 
 were it not true. He could have 
 said to them : Your objection amounts 
 to nothing ; for there is no knowl- 
 edge of acquaintances, and no ex- 
 tension of earthly ties beyond the 
 grave — even husbands and wives 
 will have no knowledge of each other 
 there ; and hence your question, 
 (T47) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Whose wife shall she be of the seven? 
 has no force by way of objection. 
 He does not, however, resort to this 
 simple way of silencing them. He 
 does not say that they shall not know 
 each other, but only that they shall 
 not marry nor be given in marriage. 
 The reason he gives for this is plain 
 and proper — ''they are as the angels 
 of God in heaven" — or as Luke 
 says, *' neither can they die any 
 more ; for they are equal to the 
 angels;" not in every respect — not 
 certainly in the being strangers to 
 each other eternally ; but they are 
 equally immortal as the angels : 
 they die no more." Because they 
 die no more, they can need no more 
 (148) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 reparations for losses through death 
 by the means of the marriage institu- 
 tion : hence this institution will not 
 continue in heaven. This does not, 
 in the least, intimate that the affec- 
 tions begotten, and the friendships 
 formed in this relation, shall not 
 be renewed and continue in the 
 heavenly social life. 
 
 This passage may be paraphrased 
 thus: ''Ye Sadducees, who deny 
 that there is a resurrection, and sup- 
 pose that this instance gives you 
 ground for such denial, do err in re- 
 gard to the nature of the future life. 
 The reason of your error is ignorance 
 of the Scriptural idea of the reason of 
 the matrimonial institution, which is 
 
 9 (149) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 to people the earth, with the final 
 object also of peopling heaven, by 
 the increase of holy families. But 
 there being no more deaths in 
 heaven, the reason which induced 
 Moses to command that the brother 
 should take her to wife, viz. to ' raise 
 up seed unto his brother,' does not 
 there exist ; consequently, the 
 marriage institution will not continue 
 in the resurrection ; and hence your 
 objection to the resurrection on this 
 ground has no force." 
 
 (150) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 VII. WE SHOULD MISS SOME WHO WILL 
 NOT BE THERE. 
 
 "There shall be no more death, neither 
 sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be 
 any more pain; for the former things are 
 passed away." — A voice from Heaven, Rev. 
 xxi. 4. 
 
 It has been objected, that if we 
 shall be able to know our friends in 
 heaven, we should miss some who 
 will not be there. This, it has 
 been thought, would introduce pain 
 and distress into heaven ; for it can- 
 not be, it is supposed, that even in 
 heaven we should be able to endure 
 without sorrow the absence of our 
 friends — especially the thought that 
 they are in the world of despair. 
 (151) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 I. In death, all ties which are not 
 sanctified, and thus made eternal 
 by the life and power of grace, must 
 be dropped and left behind. 
 
 There are many ties which are in 
 no sense and in no degree gracious, 
 ties that have not been formed by 
 the life of religion, and which are 
 not sustained and pervaded by it 
 There are ties in the formation of 
 which religion has not in the least 
 been recognized, and which have 
 no religious end in view. All those 
 between saints and sinners are of this 
 kind. These must perish in death. 
 
 Let it be well remembered that 
 even the ties of kindred are merely 
 and entirely natural and destructive, 
 (152) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 unless they are elevated and sancti- 
 fied by grace. 
 
 2. We have positive and actual 
 evidence that the knowledge of the 
 fate of those that are lost, even 
 where affection for them once was 
 strong, is not incompatible with the 
 full and happy enjoyment of heavenly 
 felicity. 
 
 The Savior, for instance, is per- 
 fectly happy in heaven, with a full 
 knowledge of the situation of the lost, 
 and yet He once loved them. Will 
 any one say that His love for them 
 was not once as strong as ours can 
 possibly be for any of our friends? 
 He certainly did for these sinners 
 what none of us would do for our 
 (153) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 kindred, while they are enemies to 
 us. He sticketh closer than a 
 brother." Yet on account of their 
 impenitency, His feelings towards 
 them have undergone a change ; so 
 that though He once distressed Him- 
 self on their account, their situation 
 does not now interfere with His 
 heavenly felicity. Once their con- 
 dition cost Him tears, but now He 
 weeps no more ! May not we expect 
 a similar change to take place in our 
 feelings? Now, nature rebels 
 against that thought, and is far from 
 desiring such a change ; yet this is 
 not the first time that God's good- 
 ness and grace have done for us far 
 better than our wishes. 
 
 (154) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 The same may be said of the 
 angels in glory. They once loved 
 those angels which are now fallen. 
 They know also their doom and pres- 
 ent situation. Who will say that 
 the love for each other which reigned 
 in the holy hearts of angels, before 
 the fall of some, was not as strong 
 and tender as kindred love on earth 
 can possibly be — especially as all 
 earthly affection is tainted more or 
 less by sin. Yet we know that 
 their joys in heaven are not for 
 one moment interrupted by painful 
 thoughts of their lost companions. 
 In like manner also angels in heaven 
 are acquainted with the situation of 
 lost spirits of men — those in whom 
 (155) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 they were interested, over whose 
 repentance they waited to rejoice ; 
 and though they are better acquainted 
 than we can possibly be with the 
 deep woes of the second death, yet 
 they weep not, nor grieve, over their 
 hapless fate. They contemplate the 
 judgment of a righteous God, not 
 with regret and sorrow, but with 
 humility and adoring reverence. 
 
 Though we may not feel ourselves 
 able to decide correctly as to the 
 way and manner in which this matter 
 is adjusted, yet seeing that a similar 
 relation between Christ, angels, and 
 the lost involves no difficulty, we 
 have satisfactory reason to rest 
 calmly in the patience of faith, and 
 (156) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 not to suffer difficulties, which we 
 see have been and can be removed, 
 to weaken or disturb our faith in 
 the consoling- doctrine of heavenly 
 recognition. 
 
 3. The last and perhaps by far 
 the most important consideration we 
 have to offer by way of answering 
 the objection before us is, that in 
 heaven there will be such entire 
 sympathy between us and God, that 
 our wills will fall in entirely and 
 cheerfully with His will. In the 
 language of another: "We shall 
 have no separation of desires or 
 inclinations from Him. We shall 
 see that all He does is wisest and 
 best, and deserving of our unquali- 
 (157) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 fied approbation. Here we not un- 
 frequently revolt against His appoint- 
 ments, because we bear within us 
 the remains of a corrupt nature ; or 
 because we do not fully comprehend 
 His designs ; or because in our 
 hearts the affection for God has not 
 that superiority over our affection 
 for the objects of earth which it 
 ought to have. But in heaven, where 
 not only the dominion but the ex- 
 istence of depravity shall be destroyed 
 in our souls — in heaven, where we 
 shall so far comprehend the reason 
 of God's conduct as to perceive 
 that His attributes must be destroyed 
 if He acted otherwise — in heaven, 
 where love to the creature will justly 
 (158) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 be subordinated to love to the Creator, 
 our wills shall be so absorbed in 
 God's as to form but one with it ; 
 and of course no murmur will escape 
 — no pang rend our hearts — for any 
 of His deaHngs with those whom we 
 loved on earth." 
 
 (159) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Not Chai^ged but Glorified. 
 
 Not changed but glorified. Oh, beauteous 
 language 
 
 For those who weep, 
 Mourning the loss of some dear face 
 departed, 
 
 Fallen asleep. 
 Hushed into silence, never more to comfort 
 
 The hearts of men, 
 Gone, like the sunshine of another country, 
 
 Beyond our ken. 
 
 O dearest dead, we saw thy white soul 
 shining 
 Behind the face. 
 Bright with the beauty and celestial glory 
 
 Of an immortal grace. 
 What wonder that we stumble, faint and 
 weeping. 
 And sick with fears, 
 Since thou hast left us — all alone with 
 sorrow, 
 And blind with tears. 
 
 (i6o) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Can it be possible no words shall welcome 
 
 Our coming feet? 
 How will it look, that face that we have 
 cherished, 
 
 When next we meet? 
 Will it be changed, so glorified and saintly, 
 
 That we shall know it not ? 
 Will there be nothing that will say, "I 
 love you," 
 
 And "I have not forgot?" 
 
 Oh! faithless heart, the same loved face 
 transfigured 
 Shall meet thee there, 
 Less sad, less wistful, in immortal beauty. 
 
 Divinely fair. 
 The mortal veil, washed pure with many 
 weepings, 
 Is rent away, 
 And the great soul, that sat within its 
 prison. 
 Hath found the day. 
 
 (i6i) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 And we shall find once more, beyond 
 earth's sorrows, 
 Beyond these skies, 
 In the fair city of the "sure foundations," 
 
 Those heavenly eyes. 
 With the same welcome, shining thro' their 
 sweetness, 
 That met us here; 
 Eyes, from whose beauty God has banished 
 weeping 
 And wiped away the tear. 
 
 (162) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Extracts from Distinguished 
 Aatl\ors. 
 
 Dr. Martin Luther. 
 
 The following extract is part of a 
 conversation which took place be- 
 tween Luther, Justus Jonas, Michael 
 Celius, and the Counts of Mansfield, 
 on Wednesday evening, February 
 17th, 1546, at Eisleben. Luther 
 died next morning, the i8th, at 3 
 o'clock. It is said that during that 
 evening which preceded his death, 
 "he spake many earnest words in 
 relation to death and the eternal 
 (163) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 world." The extract is taken from 
 Luther's Works, vol. viii., p. 384. 
 Jena edition, 1562. 
 
 ''The same evening Dr. Luther 
 made remarks on the question : 
 Whether in the future blessed and 
 eternal assembly and church we 
 shall know each other. And as 
 we anxiously desired to know his 
 opinion, he said : How did Adam 
 do? He had never in his life seen 
 Eve — he lay and slept— yet, when 
 he awoke, he did not say, Whence 
 did you come? who are you? but 
 he said : ' This is now bone of my 
 bone, and flesh of my flesh.' How 
 did he know that this woman did 
 not spring forth from a stone? He 
 (164) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 knew it because he was full of 
 the Holy Spirit, and in possession 
 of the true knowledge of God. 
 Into this knowledge and image we 
 will, in the future life, again be 
 renewed in Christ ; so that we will 
 know father, mother and one an- 
 other, on sight, better than did 
 Adam and Eve." 
 
 Melanchthon, Cruciger, Ole- 
 
 vianus, scaliger. 
 
 Melanchthon," says Bishop Bur- 
 gess, "a few days before his death, 
 told Camerarius that he trusted 
 their friendship should be cultivated 
 and perpetuated in another world. 
 Cruciger, another of the school 
 
 lo (165) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 of the Reformers, spoke, in his 
 last hours, of meeting and recog- 
 nition. Casper Olevianus, a divine 
 of Heidelberg, when his son had 
 been summoned to see him before 
 he should die, sent to him also the 
 message, that ' he need not hurry : 
 they should see one another in 
 eternal life.' So Joseph Scaliger 
 spoke of ' soon meeting and embrac- 
 ing, no longer the subjects of age 
 and infirmity.' '' How precious is 
 this testimony, in favor of this 
 doctrine of heavenly recognition ; 
 showing the power which the sweet 
 social attractions of heaven exercised 
 over these strong and earnest minds, 
 in those stormy times ! The firma- 
 (i66) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 ment of the church rolled in tempests, 
 but through the darkness broke this 
 soft light from a serener world upon 
 their souls — the more precious at 
 such a time. — Harbaugh. 
 
 Melanchthon and Camerarius. 
 
 When Melanchthon was near his 
 end, his intimate friend Camerarius 
 visited him for the last time. Once 
 more the two friends sat together 
 on the same bench standing against 
 the wall, holding each other by the 
 hands. Then Melanchthon began . 
 
 My dear brother, we have been 
 good friends during forty years, 
 and have loved each other, not from 
 interested motives, but from heart- 
 (167) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 felt affection. We have both been 
 schoolmasters and faithful com- 
 panions, each in his own place, and 
 I hope to God our work has not 
 been in vain, but shall have produced 
 great good. If it is God's will that 
 I shall die, we will continue our 
 friendship unbroken in the future 
 life." Then they took an affectionate 
 leave of each other. 
 
 Rev. William Jay. 
 
 It has been asked, Shall we know 
 each other in heaven ? Suppose you 
 should not ; you may be assured of 
 this, that nothing will be wanting 
 to your happiness. But oh ! you say, 
 how would the thought affect me 
 (i68) 
 
CHERUB CHOIR. 
 
 SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS- 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 now ! There is the babe that was 
 torn from my bosom ; how lovely 
 then, but a cherub now ! There is 
 the friend, who was as mine own 
 soul, with whom I took sweet 
 counsel, and went to the house of 
 God in company. There is the 
 minister — whose preaching turned 
 my feet into the path of peace — 
 whose words were to me a well of 
 life. There is the beloved mother, 
 on whose knees I first laid my little 
 hands to pray, and whose lips first 
 taught my tongue to pronounce the 
 name of Jesus ! And are these 
 removed from us for ever? Shall 
 we recognize them no more ? — 
 Cease your anxieties. Can memory 
 (171) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 be annihilated ? Did not Peter, 
 James and John know Moses and 
 Elias ? Does not the Savior inform 
 us that they who have made friends 
 of the mammon of unrighteousness 
 shall be received by them into ever- 
 lasting habitations ? Does not Paul 
 tell the Thessalonians that they are 
 his hope, and joy, and crown, at 
 the coming of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ? 
 
 Archdeacon William Paley. 
 
 If this (Col. i. 28) be rightly in- 
 terpreted, then it affords the man- 
 ifest and necessary inference, that 
 the saints in a future life will 
 meet and be known again to one 
 (172) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 another ; for how, without knowing 
 again his converts, in their new 
 and glorious state, could St. Paul 
 desire or expect to present them 
 at the last day? 
 
 Dr. George Christian Knapp, 
 
 Professor of Theology in the Uni- 
 versity of Halle. 
 
 According to the representations 
 contained in the Holy Scriptures, 
 the saints will dwell together in the 
 future world, and form, as it were, 
 a kingdom or state of God. They 
 will there partake of a common 
 felicity. Their enjoyment will doubt- 
 less be very much heightened by 
 friendship, and by their confiding 
 (173) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 intercourse with each other. We 
 must, however, separate all earthly 
 imperfections from our conceptions 
 of this heavenly society. But that 
 we shall there recognize our former 
 friends, and shall be again associated 
 with them, was uniformly believed 
 by all antiquity. This idea was 
 admitted as altogether rational, and 
 as a consoling thought, by the most 
 distinguished ancient philosophers. 
 Even reason regards this as in a 
 high degree probable ; but to one 
 who believes the Holy Scriptures it 
 cannot be a matter of doubt and 
 conjecture. 
 
 (174) 
 
FRIENDS IN HE A V E N 
 
 Rev. Dr. John Tillotson, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury . 
 When we come to heaven we 
 shall meet with all those excellent 
 persons, those brave minds, those 
 innocent and charitable souls, whom 
 we have seen, and heard, and read 
 of in the world. There we shall 
 meet many of our dear relations 
 and intimate friends, and perhaps 
 with many of our enemies, to whom 
 we shall then be perfectly reconciled, 
 notwithstanding all the warm con- 
 tests and peevish differences which 
 we had with them in this world, 
 even about matters of religion. 
 For heaven is a state of perfect 
 love and friendship. 
 
 (175) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Bishop Hall. 
 
 Thou hast lost thy friend: — say 
 rather, thou hast parted with him. 
 That is properly lost which is past 
 all recovery, which we are out of 
 hope to see any more. It is not 
 so with this friend thou mournest 
 for; he is but gone home a little 
 before thee; thou art following 
 him; you two shall meet in your 
 Father's house, and enjoy each 
 other more happily than you could 
 have done here below. 
 
 Melvill. 
 
 It is yet but a Httle while, and 
 we shall be delivered from the 
 burden and the conflict, and, with 
 
 (176) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 all those who have preceded us in 
 the righteous struggle, enjoy the 
 deep raptures of a Mediator's 
 presence. Then, reunited to the 
 friends with whom we took sweet 
 counsel upon earth, we shall re- 
 count our toil only to heighten 
 our ecstacy; and call to mind the 
 tug and the din of war, only that, 
 with a more bounding throb, and 
 a richer song, we may feel and 
 celebrate the wonders of redemp- 
 tion. 
 
 John Calvin. 
 When Calvin was near his end, 
 Farel, his early and faithful friend, 
 and then a venerable sage of 
 eighty years, desired once more to 
 (177) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 see him in the flesh. Calvin dis- 
 suaded him — though he did never- 
 theless afterwards come from 
 Neufchatel to Geneva, on foot, to 
 see his friend once more, and for 
 the last time. In his letter to 
 Farel, in which he takes his final 
 leave from him, as he then sup- 
 posed, he says: *'God bless you, 
 best and noblest brother; and if 
 God permits you still longer to 
 live, forget not the tie that binds 
 us, which will be just as agreeable 
 to us in heaven as it has been 
 useful to the church on earth." 
 Rev. John Newton. 
 I need not say to myself, or 
 my dear friends who are in the 
 (178) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Lord, Quo nunc abibis in loco? 
 We know where they are and how 
 employed. There I humbly trust 
 my dear Mary is waiting for me, 
 and in the Lord's own time I hope 
 to join with her and all the re- 
 deemed in praising the Lamb, once 
 upon the cross, now upon the 
 throne of glory. 
 
 Rev. Richard Baxter. 
 
 I must confess, as the experience 
 of my own soul, that the expecta- 
 tion of loving my friends in heaven 
 principally kindles my love to them 
 on earth. If I thought that I 
 should never know them, and con- 
 sequently never love them after 
 
 (179) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 this life is ended, I should in rea- 
 son number them with temporal 
 things, and love them as such. 
 But I now delight to converse with 
 my pious friends, in a firm persua- 
 sion that I shall converse with them 
 for ever; and I take comfort in 
 those of them that are dead or 
 absent, as believing I shall shortly 
 meet them in heaven and love 
 them with a heavenly love that 
 shall there be perfected. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Chalmers. 
 
 Tell us if Christianity does not 
 throw a pleasing radiance around 
 childhood. And should any par- 
 ent who hears us feel softened 
 
 (i8o) 
 
CHRIST BLESSING LITTLE CHILDREN. 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 by the remembrance of the light 
 that twinkled a few short months 
 under his roof, and at the end of 
 its little period expired, we can not 
 think that we venture too far, when 
 we say that he has only to perse- 
 vere in the faith and in the follow- 
 ing of the Gospel, and that very 
 light will again shine upon him in 
 heaven. The blossom which with- 
 ered here upon its stalk has been 
 transplanted there to a place of en- 
 durance; and it will then gladden 
 that eye which now weeps out the 
 agony of an affection that has been 
 sorely wounded; and, in the name 
 of Him, who, if on earth, would 
 have wept along with them, do we 
 (183) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 bid all believers present to sorrow 
 not even as others which have no 
 hope; but to take comfort in the 
 hope of that country where there 
 is no sorrow and no separation. 
 
 Dr. Doddridge. 
 
 Let me be thankful for the 
 pleasing hope that though God 
 loves my child too well to permit 
 it to return to me, he will ere long 
 bring me to it. And then that en- 
 deared paternal affection, which 
 would have been a cord to tie me 
 to earth, and have added new 
 pangs to my removal from it, will 
 be as a golden chain to draw me 
 upwards, and add one further 
 (184) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 charm and joy even to Paradise 
 itself. Was this my desolation? 
 This my sorrow? To part with thee 
 for a few days, that I might receive 
 thee for ever, (Philemon, ver. 15,) 
 and find thee what thou art? It is 
 for no language but that of heaven 
 to describe the sacred joy which 
 such a meeting must occasion. 
 
 Ulrich Zwinglius, 
 
 The Swiss Reformer. 
 
 There you may hope to see 
 the society, the assembly, and the 
 dwelling together, of all the holy, 
 wise, faithful, heroic, firm and vir- 
 tuous, who have lived since the 
 beginning of the world. There you 
 (185) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 will see the two Adams, the 
 saved and the Savior. There you 
 will see Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Moses, 
 Joshua, Gideon, Samuel, Phineas, 
 Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, and the 
 mother of God of whom he has 
 prophesied. There you will see 
 David, Hezekiah, Josiah, John the 
 Baptist, Peter, Paul, etc. There 
 you will see yours who have gone 
 before you, and all your forefathers 
 who have departed this life in the 
 faith. In a word, no virtuous per- 
 son, no holy mind, no believing 
 soul, has lived from the beginning 
 of the world, or shall yet live, 
 that you shall not there meet 
 with God. 
 
 (i86) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Fenelon. 
 If we are sorrowing under a mis- 
 fortune, of which this world affords 
 no alleviation, the death of those 
 most dear to us, let us humbly 
 offer to our God the beloved whom 
 we have lost. And what, after all, 
 have we lost? the remaining days 
 of a being whom we indeed loved, 
 but whose happiness we do not 
 consider in our regret; who, per- 
 haps, was not happy here, but who 
 certainly must be much happier 
 with God ; and whom we shall meet 
 again, not in this dark and sorrow- 
 ful scene, but in the bright regions 
 of eternal day, and partake in the 
 inexpressible happiness of eternity. 
 (187) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 He has placed the friends whom 
 He has taken from us in safety, to 
 restore them to us in eternity. He 
 has deprived us of them, that he 
 may teach us to love them with a 
 pure love, a love that we may en- 
 joy in His presence for ever ; He 
 confers a greater blessing than we 
 were capable of desiring. 
 
 Very soon they who are sepa- 
 rated will be reunited, and there 
 will appear no trace of the separa- 
 tion. They who are about to set 
 out on a journey ought not to feel 
 themselves far distant from those 
 who have gone to the same country 
 a few days before. Life is like a 
 torrent ; the past is but a dream ; 
 (i88) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 the present, while we are thinking 
 of it, escapes us, and is precipitated 
 into the same abyss that has swal- 
 lowed up the past; the future will 
 not be of a different nature ; it will 
 pass as rapidly. A few moments, 
 and a few more, and all will be 
 ended; what has appeared long 
 and tedious will seem short when 
 it is finished. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Edwards. 
 
 It is reasonable to believe that 
 the saints shall know that they had 
 such and such a relation to one 
 another when they were on earth. 
 The father shall know that such a 
 one was his child ; the husband 
 (189) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 shall remember that such a one 
 was his wife ; the spiritual guide 
 shall know that such belonged to 
 his flock ; and so all other relations 
 of persons shall be renewed and 
 known in heaven. The ground of 
 which assertion is this, that the 
 soul of man is of that nature that 
 it depends not on the body and 
 sense, and, therefore, being sepa- 
 rated, knows all that it knew in 
 the body. And for this reason it is 
 not to be doubted that it arrives 
 in the other world with the same 
 designs and inclinations it had here. 
 So that the delights of conversation 
 are continued in heaven. Friends 
 and relations are familiar and free 
 (190) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 with one another, and call to mind 
 their former circumstances and 
 concerns in the world, so far as 
 they may be serviceable to advance 
 their happiness. 
 
 Rev. S. S. ScHxMUcker, D. D., 
 
 Professor of Theology, Gettysburg, 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 And how could Abraham's bosom, 
 the region of the blessed, be other 
 than a state of enjoyment to the 
 Christian ? There we shall see 
 Lazarus, and be comforted with 
 him ! There we shall see father 
 Abraham, and rest from all our 
 sorrows, reclining on his bosom ! 
 There we shall see the ancient 
 (191) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 patriarchs and prophets! There we 
 shall see Jeremiah, who wept over 
 the desolation of Israel; and Daniel, 
 who, in defiance of the king and 
 all his nobles, prayed three times a 
 day to his God, and whom his God 
 saved from the mouth of the lions! 
 There we shall find the apostles, 
 and Luther, and Calvin, and Zwing- 
 lius, and all that host of worthies 
 of whom the world was not worthy, 
 who, amid a wicked and perverse 
 generation, maintained their fidelity 
 to the end, and received not the 
 mark of the beast. How can the 
 place of departed spirits fail to be 
 a place of joy to the Chistian ? for 
 there he shall meet all those pious 
 (192) 
 
H. HOFMANN. 
 
 JAIRUSPRECEIVES AGAIN rilS DAUGHTER. 
 
FRIENDS IN 
 
 HEAVEN 
 
 relatives and friends whom heaven 
 indulgent gave to him awhile, and 
 heaven mysterious soon resumed 
 again. 
 
 Rev. William Dodd, D. D. 
 
 This is the joy, this is the grand 
 
 source of consolation under the loss 
 
 of friends, — we shall meet again ! 
 
 They are delivered from their trials, 
 
 while we are left behind a few ; 
 
 weary years longer ; and behold, 
 
 the time of our departure also 
 
 Cometh, when we shall follow our 
 
 friends, and be for ever with them 
 
 and with the Lord! There shall | 
 
 the enraptured parents receive again ; 
 
 their much-loved child ; there shall | 
 
 (195) I 
 , . , ^ i 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 the child, with transport, meet again 
 those parents in joy, over whose 
 graves, with filial duty, he dropped 
 the affectionate tear ; there shall 
 the disconsolate widow cease her 
 complaints ; and her orphans, — or- 
 phans now no more, — shall tell 
 the sad tale of their distress to the 
 husband, the father ; distress even 
 pleasing to recollect, now that 
 happiness is its result, and heaven 
 its end ! There shall the soft 
 sympathies of endearing friendship 
 be renewed ; affectionate sisters 
 shall congratulate each other, and 
 faithful friends again shall mingle 
 converse, interests, amities, and 
 walk high in bliss with God Himself 
 (196) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Bunyan's Dying Words. 
 
 Weep not for me, but for your- 
 selves. I go to the Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who will no 
 doubt receive me, though a sinner, 
 through the medium of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, where I hope we 
 shall ere long meet, to sing the 
 new song and remain happy for 
 ever, in a world without end. 
 Amen. 
 
 George Herbert. 
 
 My hope is that 1 shall shortly 
 leave this valley of tears, and be 
 free from all fevers and pains ; 
 and, which will be a more happy 
 condition, I shall be free from sin, 
 (197) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 and all the temptations and anxieties 
 that attend it ; and this being past, 
 I shall dwell in the New Jerusalem ; 
 dwell there with men made perfect; 
 dwell where these eyes shall see 
 my Master and Savior Jesus ; and 
 with Him see my dear mother, and 
 all my relations and friends. But 
 I must die, or not come to that 
 happy place. 
 
 Rev. John James, D. D., 
 
 Prebendary of Peters borough. 
 
 It is no dreaming fancy to ex- 
 pect, that in another world we 
 shall preserve our identity — shall 
 know and be known even as in 
 this. Let the mourner in Zion 
 (198) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 continue "patient in well-doing;" 
 ''looking for and hasting to the 
 coming of the Lord," when shall 
 begin the reunion of kindred spir- 
 its, whom in this world death had 
 separated. Parent to child, sister 
 to brother, husband to wife, friend 
 to friend, shall then be restored — 
 a blessed communion of saints, 
 whom nor sin nor sorrow shall 
 sever more. 
 
 Lavel. 
 
 Let those mourn without meas- 
 ure who mourn without hope. The 
 husbandman does not mourn when 
 he casts his seed into the ground. 
 He expects to receive it again, 
 (199) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 and much more. The same hope 
 have we respecting our friends 
 who have died in the faith. ''I 
 would not have you ignorant," 
 says Paul, "concerning them who 
 are asleep, that ye sorrow not as 
 others who have no hope ; for if 
 we believe that Jesus died and 
 rose again, even so them also 
 who sleep in Jesus will God bring 
 with him." He seems to say: 
 "Look not on the dead as lost. 
 They are not annihilated. Indeed, 
 they are not dead. They only 
 sleep; and they sleep to wake 
 again." You do not lament over 
 your children or friends, while 
 slumbering on their beds. Consider 
 (200) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 death as a sleep from which they 
 shall certainly awake. Even a 
 heathen philosopher could say, that 
 he enjoyed his friends, expecting 
 to part with them ; and parted 
 with them, expecting to see them 
 again. And shall a heathen excel 
 a Christian in bearing affliction 
 with cheerfulness? 
 
 Rev. Thomas Smyth, D. D. 
 
 Can we not with David rejoic- 
 ingly declare, "They can not come 
 to us, but we can go to them"? 
 Yes, we can go to them. ''They 
 are not lost, but gone before." 
 There in that world of light, and 
 love, and joy, they await our com- 
 (201) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 ing. There do they beckon us to 
 ascend. There do they stand 
 ready to welcome us. There may 
 we meet them, when a few more 
 suns or seasons shall have cast 
 their departing shadows upon our 
 silent grave. Then shall our joy 
 be full and our sorrows ended, and 
 all tears wiped from our eyes. 
 Death separates, but it can never 
 disunite those who are bound to- 
 gether in Christ Jesus. To them, 
 death in his power of an endless 
 separation is abolished. It is no 
 more death, but a sweet departure, 
 a journey from earth to heaven. 
 Our children are still ours. We 
 are still their parents. We are yet 
 (202) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 one family — one in memory — one in 
 hope — one in spirit. Our children 
 are yet with us, and dwell with us 
 in our sweetest, fondest recollec- 
 tions. We too are yet with them 
 in the bright anticipations of our 
 reunion with them, in the glories 
 of the upper sanctuary. We min- 
 gle together indeed no more in 
 sorrow and in pain, 
 
 But we shall join love's buried ones again 
 In endless bands, and in eternal peace. 
 
 Rev. Theophilus Stork, D. D. 
 
 The spiritual world is no longer 
 a region of shadows, for loved and 
 cherished friends dwell there. Fa- 
 miliar voices are speaking there. 
 
 12 (203) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Hearts, whose pulses of love we 
 have felt here, throb there un- 
 changed, except as their earthly 
 graces have brightened into a heav- 
 enly glory. If it is home to dwell 
 with those we love, how surely and 
 rapidly homes are building for us 
 in the unseen world. The cloud of 
 witnesses is gathering, and, when 
 we depart from earth, we shall not 
 go as exiles to a land of strangers. 
 
 How beautiful is that description 
 of the welcome of the new-born 
 soul to the spirit-land by the an- 
 gels, whose every look was tender- 
 ness and every utterance musical 
 with joy : 
 
 (204) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 "Welcome to heaven, dear brother, wel- 
 come home! 
 
 Welcome to thine inheritance of life! 
 
 Welcome forever to thy Savior's joy! 
 
 Thy work is done, thy pilgrimage is past; 
 
 Thy guardian angel's vigil is fulfill 'd; 
 
 Thy parents await thee in the bowers of 
 bliss ; 
 
 Thy infant babes have woven wreaths for 
 thee; 
 
 Thy brethren, who have entered into rest. 
 Long for thy coming ; and the angel choirs 
 Are ready with their symphonies of praise." 
 
 How dear to Christian hope is 
 the promise of Jesus to the sor- 
 rowing disciples just before his de- 
 parture : ''I go to prepare a place 
 for you." And is it irreverent to 
 think that all the loved in Jesus 
 who depart from us are going to 
 (205) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 prepare a place, a home for us? 
 And when that place is thus pre- 
 pared, the touch of the angel of 
 death to our own dying lips is 
 but the kiss of welcome to that 
 eternal home. 
 
 Lift up your tearful eyes, ye 
 children of sadness and bereave- 
 ment, and behold that great cloud 
 of witnesses ! Look up to Jesus, 
 ''the author and finisher of our 
 faith." The departure of loved ones 
 is a sorrow which shades the 
 earth, but opens heaven. How 
 these witnesses by their memories 
 consecrate and transfigure our 
 homes on earth. The child de- 
 parted may now be sitting in the 
 (206) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 midst of us, like the child whom 
 Jesus once placed in the midst of 
 his disciples, to reveal to the heart 
 the spirit of heaven. It may be 
 near to whisper messages from the 
 Father more directly to the soul. 
 Every Christian friend departed 
 may in spirit be walking with us 
 by the way, causing our hearts to 
 rejoice within us by opening to us 
 the deep things of God, though, 
 like the disciples of old, our eyes 
 are holden that we see it not. 
 Yes, we are encompassed with a 
 cloud of witnesses, who, through 
 faith and patience, now inherit the 
 promises. And they speak to us, 
 and beckon us to their bright and 
 (207) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 happy home. The departed mother 
 may be one of the angels who 
 watch over the child. The glorified 
 child may come with consolation to 
 the weeping mother. And while 
 we linger at the tomb of the loved, 
 whither we have gone to embalm 
 them anew in our memory, they 
 may be standing as it were behind 
 us, as the risen Jesus stood behind 
 Mary at the sepulchre. They do 
 not call us by name, and reveal 
 their presence as Jesus revealed 
 Himself to Mary ; yet they may 
 whisper thoughts within our hearts 
 which bid us turn and follow them 
 in the path of their bright ascen- 
 sion. 
 
 (208) 
 
MARY AT THE 
 
 SEPULCHER. 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 These witnesses make the spirit- 
 ual world real to the mind and 
 heart, and hallow this world by 
 their memories and purity. They 
 speak from the heavens as all-en- 
 compassing angels. They utter a 
 glorious testimony on earth, and 
 brighten to faith the unseen world. 
 How beautiful the ministry of these 
 ascended spirits ! How bright and 
 lovely the visions of our heavenly 
 home, as we think of the many 
 friends and loved ones that have 
 been gathered from our earthly 
 households into that immortal com- 
 pany ! Ye heavenly witnesses, the 
 cloud of shining ones, compass us 
 about with your sacred memories ; 
 (211) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 with the testimonies of your holy 
 lives and peaceful deaths ; with 
 the ministries which are still per- 
 mitted you in the Father's Provi- 
 dence. Compass us about that we 
 may "run with patience the race 
 that is set before us, looking unto 
 Jesus," until we are taken into 
 your bright companionship, into 
 the pure and unending fellowship 
 of the redeemed. And, oh, what 
 unspeakable ecstacy of joy, when 
 the veil is lifted, and we see 
 these witnesses that encompassed 
 our path, and with them behold 
 the Lamb in the midst of the 
 throne ! And in that final apoca- 
 lypse of the spiritual world we 
 (212) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 shall see the loved ones gone be- 
 fore, and know them as they wel- 
 come us to the heavenly home. 
 How beautiful and true is that 
 description of Bickersteth of the 
 parent and the children meeting 
 in heaven ! 
 
 "And when I saw my little lambs un- 
 changed, 
 
 And heard them fondly call me by my 
 name, 
 
 'Then is the bond of parent and of child 
 Indissoluble,' I exclaim'd, and drew 
 Them closer to my heart and wept for 
 joy." 
 
 James M. MacDonald. 
 
 It would not be the heaven 
 
 which the Bible promises, though 
 
 all our friends were there, without 
 
 (213) 
 
 / 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 the presence of the blessed Re- 
 deemer. It is to see Jesus and 
 be like Him upon which our 
 hearts should be principally set. 
 But there need be no doubt, on 
 this account, about our knowing 
 in heaven those whom we knew 
 and loved on earth. Indeed, such 
 knowledge will serve to discover 
 to us, more fully, the glory and 
 the honor due to the blessed Re- 
 deemer. . . The purity of every 
 saved sinner will reflect the infinite 
 purity of the Lamb in whose 
 blood they have washed their 
 robes and made them white. To 
 admire the silver beauty of the 
 moon and planets of our nocturnal 
 (214) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 heavens, is but another way of 
 admiring the light of that superior, 
 central orb, which they do but 
 reflect. To know, therefore, and 
 love our friends, when they are 
 made to reflect more perfectly 
 their Redeemer's glory in heaven, 
 is but another mode of adoring 
 Him who is '*the light thereof." 
 
 Christian fellowship is now found 
 to be one of the chief sources of 
 pious joy. The hearts of Chris- 
 tians, as they talk of the things 
 of the kingdom, and of God's 
 gracious dealings with their souls, 
 often burn within" them ; and 
 seasons of worship become peculiar 
 seasons of eternal love and joy. 
 (215) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 We sing : 
 
 Our souls thy love together knit, 
 
 Cemented, mixed in one, 
 One hope, one heart, one mind, one voice, 
 
 'Tis heaven on earth begun. 
 
 Our hearts have often burned within, 
 
 And glowed with sacred fire. 
 While Jesus spake and fed and blessed. 
 
 And filled the enlarged desire. 
 
 Or as in another sweet hymn : 
 
 Blest be the tie that binds 
 Our hearts in Christian love, 
 
 The fellowship of kindred minds 
 Is like to that above. 
 
 Before our Father's throne, 
 
 We pour our ardent prayers; 
 Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, 
 
 Our comforts and our cares. 
 
 (216) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 We share our mutual woes, 
 
 Our mutual burdens bear, 
 And often for each other flows 
 
 The sympathizing tear. 
 
 When we asunder part. 
 
 It gives us inward pain; 
 But we shall still be joined in heart. 
 
 And hope to meet again. 
 
 From sorrow, toil and pain, 
 
 And sin we shall be free ; 
 And perfect love and friendship reign, 
 
 Through all eternity. 
 
 My Father s House : " It is 
 true we shall have no ''mutual 
 burdens" to bear in heaven, and 
 shall never shed for each other 
 ''the sympathizing tear," even as 
 we shall never "asunder part;" 
 (217) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 but shall we have no •'mutual 
 
 joys to share?" Shall we not 
 
 ''still be joined in heart," when we 
 meet again, 
 
 And perfect love and friendship reign, 
 Through all eternity? 
 
 Dr. Timothy Dwight. 
 
 With the Heaven of heavens we 
 have a continual and most import- 
 ant concern. This glorious and de- 
 lightful world is the place to which 
 all our ultimate views are directed 
 by our Maker ; the home to 
 which he invites us to look as our 
 final rest from every trouble, and 
 the final seat of all the enjoyments 
 which we are capable of attaining. 
 (218) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 With its inhabitants we shall, if we 
 are wise, become familiarly ac- 
 quainted, and intimately united, and 
 shall live in the midst of them, 
 through ages which can not end. 
 
 Rev. Ezra Keller, D. D. 
 On the 1 8th of February, in the 
 year 1546, the great Luther closed 
 his eventful career, in the 63rd 
 year of his age. How happy will 
 I be to meet this man of God in 
 glory, to hear him recount his 
 trials, and the progress of Divine 
 grace in his heart, and the lead- 
 ing Providence in his useful life. 
 May my life be as humble, if pos- 
 sible, as useful, and its close as 
 peaceful as his. 
 
 (219) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Rev. Albert Barnes, D. D. 
 
 When we part from our friends 
 we should cheerfully and confident- 
 ly commit them to the protection 
 of the God whom they serve, and 
 remember that the parting of Chris- 
 tians, though for life, will be 
 short ; and the blessedness of that 
 future meeting will be greatly 
 heightened by all the sorrows and 
 self-denials of separation here, and 
 by all the benefits which such a 
 separation may be the means of 
 conveying to a dying world. That 
 mother will meet with joy, in heav- 
 en, the son from whom, with many 
 (220) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 tears, she was sundered when he 
 entered on a missionary life; and, 
 surrounded with many ransomed 
 heathen, heaven will be made more 
 blessed and eternity more happy. 
 
 (221) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 
 Heaven. 
 
 Negative Features, 
 
 Positive Features, 
 
 or the Things that 
 
 or the Things that 
 
 Will Not be There. 
 
 Will be There. 
 
 Indestructible. 
 
 The city of our God — the 
 
 Undefilable. 
 
 heavenly Jerusalem. 
 
 Unchangeable. 
 
 Beautiful waters. 
 
 No crying. 
 
 Delicious fruits. 
 
 No tears. 
 
 Sure healing for the nations. 
 
 No pain. 
 
 Populous with happy people. 
 
 No sorrow. 
 
 Beautiful garments. 
 
 No death. 
 
 Enchanting music. 
 
 No burning sun. 
 
 Devout worship. 
 
 No cold nor heat. 
 
 A just Ruler. 
 
 No night. 
 
 An eternal kingdom. 
 
 No hunger. 
 
 The grandest capitol. 
 
 No thirst. 
 
 Many mansions. 
 
 No bad men. 
 
 We shall be kings and priests 
 
 No sin. 
 
 unto God, and shall reign 
 
 No curse. 
 
 forever and ever. 
 
 (222) 
 
B. PLOCKHORST. 
 
 CHRISTrTHE CONSOLER 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Selections from the Poets. 
 
 Most Christians have sung the 
 doctrine of recognition in public 
 and private worship, perhaps with- 
 out thought or reflection on the 
 consoling truths they were singing. 
 We conclude the volume with 
 selections from the poets, including 
 both sacred hymns and other poet- 
 ical gems ; and we feel assured 
 that they will find an echo in the 
 hearts of our readers. 
 
 Home Sweet Home. 
 
 ^H^ID scenes of confusion and creature 
 
 complaints, 
 How sweet to my soul is communion with 
 
 saints, 
 
 (225) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 To find at the banquet of mercy there's 
 room, 
 
 And feel in the presence of Jesus at home ! 
 Home, home, sweet, sweet home! 
 Prepare me, dear Savior, for glory, my home. 
 
 Jerusalem, the Golden. 
 
 Jerusalem, the Golden, 
 
 Methinks each flower that blows 
 And every bird asinging 
 
 Of thee some secret knows. 
 I know not what the flowers 
 
 Can feel or singers see. 
 But all these summer raptures 
 
 Are prophecies of thee. 
 
 Jerusalem, the Golden, 
 
 When sunset's in the west. 
 
 It seems thy gate of glory. 
 Thou city of the blest ! 
 (226) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 And midnight's starry torches, 
 Through intermediate gloom, 
 
 Are waving with their welcome 
 To thy eternal home. 
 
 Jerusalem, the Golden, 
 
 Where loftily they sing. 
 O'er pain and sorrows olden 
 
 Forever triumphing ; 
 Lowly may be thy portal 
 
 And dark may be thy door, 
 The Mansion is immortal — 
 
 God's palace for his poor. 
 
 5^ND let our bodies part, 
 To different climes repair; 
 
 Inseparably joined in heart, 
 The friends of Jesus are. 
 
 O that our heart and mind 
 May evermore ascend, 
 (227) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 That haven of repose to find, 
 Where all our labors end; 
 
 Where all our toils are o'er, 
 Our sufferings, and our pain. 
 
 Who meet on that eternal shore 
 Shall never part again. 
 
 Oh happy, happy place. 
 
 Where saints and angels meet; 
 
 There we shall see each other's face, 
 And all our brethren greet. 
 
 — Charles Wesley. 
 
 '^HE saints on earth and those above 
 But one communion make; 
 
 Joined to our Lord in bonds of love. 
 All of His grace partake. 
 
 One family, we dwell in Him, 
 One church, above, beneath: 
 (228) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Though now divided by the stream, 
 The narrow stream of death. 
 
 One army of the living God, 
 To His commands we bow; 
 
 Part of the host have crossed the flood, 
 And part are crossing now. 
 
 — Doddridge. 
 
 ^JQLEST hour, when virtuous friends 
 shall meet. 
 
 Their earthly sorrows o'er; 
 And with celestial welcome greet. 
 
 On an immortal shore. 
 
 The parent finds his long lost child; 
 
 Brothers on brothers gaze; 
 The tear of resignation mild 
 
 Is changed to joy and praise. 
 
 (229) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Each tender tie, dissolved with pain, 
 With endless bliss is crowned; 
 
 All that was dead revives again, 
 All that was lost is found. 
 
 — Houghton. 
 
 '^HERE is a place of sacred rest, 
 
 Far, far beyond the skies, 
 Where beauty smiles eternally, 
 
 And pleasure never dies; — 
 My Father's house, my heavenly home, 
 
 Where "many mansions" stand. 
 Prepared by hands divine for all 
 
 Who see the better land. 
 
 In that pure home of tearless joy 
 Earth's parted friends shall meet. 
 
 With smiles of love that never fade, 
 And blessedness complete; 
 (230) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 There, there adieus are sounds unknown, 
 Death frowns not on that scene; 
 
 But life and glorious beauty shine, 
 Untroubled and serene. 
 
 — Trumbull. 
 
 '^HE following beautiful poem is 
 from Bickersteth's Home Call. 
 Bickersteth's comment on it is as 
 follows : 
 
 The poem that follows on the 
 home-call of a tradesman's child, 
 whom her mother fondly called her 
 
 little comforter," — for she was the 
 sunbeam of her sick-room — proved, 
 I know, the very balm of Gilead 
 to the stricken heart for which the 
 lines were penned: — 
 (231) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 My Little Comforter. 
 
 *jj MAY not guard my darling's sleep, 
 
 Beside her bed to-night, 
 Only the stars o'er her shall keep 
 
 Their watch till dawn of light; 
 But in the land of endless day, 
 
 The land where she is gone, 
 They never need nor sun nor star. 
 
 For God is light alone. 
 
 The little pattering feet which made 
 
 Such music for me here, 
 I know are by the angels led 
 
 By streams of water clear. 
 I know that to my darling's hands 
 
 A harp of gold is given, 
 And that the voice now hush'd for me 
 
 Has learnt the songs of heaven. 
 
 But oh, the silence in our home, 
 The weary, aching pain, 
 (232) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 The longing that we may not quell, 
 
 To call her back again; 
 One hand of love can dry our tears, 
 
 One pierced hand alone, 
 One only voice can bid us say, 
 
 "Father, Thy will be done." 
 
 Oh no, I would not bring her back 
 
 To this poor world below, 
 I know whose voice has call'd her home. 
 
 And I will let her go. 
 For many a storm of grief may rise 
 
 To cloud our heavenward way. 
 But in her home so passing fair. 
 
 All tears are wiped away. 
 
 And when my time of tears is o'er. 
 
 My weary journey done. 
 When in the land where crowns are given, 
 
 My cross I shall lay down, 
 (233) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 When through the golden gates of heaven 
 
 The angel songs I hear, 
 My little comforter shall be 
 
 The first to greet me there. 
 
 *|JjQJHEN I consider life and its few years, 
 A wisp of fog betwixt us and the sun ; 
 A call to battle and the battle done 
 
 Ere the last echo dins within our ears; 
 
 A rose choked in the grass ; an hour of fears ; 
 
 The gusts that past a darkening shore do 
 beat ; 
 
 The burst of music down an unlistening 
 street ; 
 
 I wonder at the idleness of tears. 
 Ye old, old dead, and ye of yesternight, 
 Chieftains and bards, and keepers of the 
 sheep, 
 
 By every cup of sorrow that you had, 
 (234) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Loose me from tears and make me see 
 aright, 
 
 How each hath back what once he stayed 
 to weep; 
 
 Homer his sight, David his little lad. 
 
 — Lizette Woodward Reese. 
 
 *JJ|]mHEN the holy angels meet us. 
 
 As we go to join their band, 
 Shall we know the friends that greet us 
 
 In that glorious spirit-land? 
 Shall we see the same eyes shining 
 
 On us, as in days of yore? 
 Shall we feel the dear arms twining 
 
 Fondly round us, as before? 
 
 VER the river they beckon to me, 
 Loved ones who've crossed to the further 
 side; 
 
 The gleam of their snowy robes I see. 
 But their voices are lost in the hashing 
 tide. 
 
 (235) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 There's one with ringlets of sunny gold, 
 And eyes the reflection of heaven's own 
 blue, 
 
 He crossed in the twilight gray and cold 
 And the pale mist hid him from mortal 
 view; 
 
 We saw not the angels who met him there, 
 The gates of the city we could not see; 
 Over the river, over the river, 
 
 My brother stands waiting to welcome me. 
 * * * * * * * 
 Over the river the boatman pale 
 
 Carried another, the household pet; 
 Her brown curls waved in the gentle gale. 
 
 Darling Minnie! I see her yet. 
 She crossed on her bosom her dimpled hands 
 
 And fearlessly entered the phantom bark ; 
 We felt it glide from the silver sands, 
 
 And all our sunshine grew strangely 
 dark! 
 
 We know she is safe on the further side. 
 Where all the ransomed and angels be; 
 
 Over the river, the mystic river. 
 
 My childhood's idol is waiting for me. 
 (236) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Not Lost, hut Gone Before. 
 
 This is the title of a beautiful 
 hymn by Montgomery. Dr. Har- 
 baugh makes the following com- 
 ment on it : 
 
 It is not so much the logic as 
 the life, which gives this piece 
 such strength to win our heart. 
 We call it beautiful, and feel its 
 influence, without asking closely in 
 what its strength lies. Like a real 
 friend, it bears acquaintance, and 
 yields more richly in proportion as 
 it is studied. Thousands have loved 
 it who could not tell why — a real 
 evidence of its excellence — because 
 it lays hold of our life deeper 
 than that part of us which renders 
 a reason. 
 
 (237) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 ^RIEND after friend departs; 
 
 Who hath not lost a friend? 
 There is no union here of hearts 
 
 That finds not here an end: 
 Were this frail world our final rest, 
 
 Living or dying none were blest. 
 
 Beyond the flight of time, 
 Beyond the reign of death, 
 
 There surely is some blessed clime. 
 Where life is not a breath ; 
 
 Nor life's affections transient fire, 
 Whose sparks fly upward and expire. 
 
 There is a world above, 
 
 Where parting is unknown; 
 
 A long eternity of love. 
 
 Formed for the good alone; 
 
 And faith beholds the dying here 
 Translated to that glorious sphere. 
 
 (238) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Thus star by star declines, 
 
 Till all are passed away, 
 As morning high, and higher shines. 
 
 To pure and perfect day; 
 Nor sink those stars in empty night, 
 
 But hide themselves in heaven's own 
 light. 
 
 A Mother's Laments 
 
 1[ LOVED thee, daughter of my heart; 
 
 My child, I loved thee dearly; 
 And though we only met to part, — 
 
 How sweetly! how severely! — 
 Nor life nor death can sever 
 My soul from thine for ever. 
 
 Thy days, my little one, were few; 
 
 An angel's morning visit, 
 That came and vanished with the dew, 
 
 'Twas here, — 'tis gone — where is it? 
 Yet didst thou leave behind thee 
 A clue for love to find thee. 
 14 (239) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Sarah! my last, my youngest love, 
 
 The crown of every other! 
 Though thou art born in heaven above, 
 
 I am thine only Mother! 
 Nor will affection let me 
 Believe thou canst forget me. 
 
 Then — thou in heaven and I on earth — 
 May this one hope delight us, 
 
 That thou wilt hail my second birth, 
 When death shall reunite us, 
 
 Where worlds no more can sever 
 
 Parent and child for ever. 
 
 — Montgomery. 
 
 Chfistos Consolaton 
 
 j^EFORE the dead I knelt for prayer, 
 And felt a presence as I prayed. 
 
 Lo! it was Jesus standing there. 
 He smiled: "Be not afraid!" 
 
 (240) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 "Lord, Thou hast conquered death, we 
 know; 
 
 Restore again to Hfe," I said, 
 "This one who died an hour ago." 
 He smiled: "She is not dead." 
 
 "Asleep then, as thyself didst say: 
 Yet thou canst lift the lids that keep 
 
 Her prisoned eyes from ours away!" 
 He smiled: "She doth not sleep!" 
 
 "Nay then, tho' haply she do wake 
 And look upon some fairer dawn. 
 
 Restore her to our hearts that ache!" 
 He smiled: "She is not gone!" 
 
 "Alas! too well we know our loss. 
 Nor hope again our joy to touch, 
 
 Until the stream of death we cross." 
 He smiled: "There is no such!" 
 
 (241) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 "Yet our beloved seem so far, 
 The while we yearn to feel them near, 
 
 Albeit with Thee we trust they are." 
 He smiled: "And I am here!" 
 
 "Dear Lord, how shall we know that they 
 Still walk unseen with us and Thee, 
 
 Nor sleep, nor wander far away?" 
 He smiled: "Abide in Me." 
 
 — R. W. Raytnond. 
 
 Reunion in Heaven. 
 *|^|j|^HEN shall we meet again? 
 
 Meet ne'er to sever? 
 When will peace wreathe her chain 
 
 Round us for ever? 
 Our hearts will ne'er repose 
 Safe from each blast that blows 
 In this dark vale of woes — 
 
 Never — no, Never! 
 
 (242) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 When shall love freely flow, 
 
 
 Pure as life's river? 
 
 
 When shall sweet friendship 
 
 glow. 
 
 Changeless for ever ? 
 
 
 Where joys celestial thrill, 
 
 
 Where bliss each heart shall 
 
 fill. 
 
 And fears of parting chill — 
 
 
 Never — no, Never! 
 
 
 Up to that world of light, 
 
 
 Take us, dear Savior, 
 
 
 May we all there unite, 
 
 
 Happy, for ever: 
 
 
 Where kindred spirits dwell, 
 
 
 There may our music swell, 
 
 
 And time our joys dispel — 
 
 
 N ever — no , Never ! 
 
 
 Soon shall we meet again — 
 
 
 Meet ne'er to sever; 
 
 
 Soon will peace wreathe her 
 
 chain 
 
 Round us for ever: 
 
 
 (243) 
 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Our hearts will then repose 
 Secure from worldly woes: 
 Our songs of praise shall close — 
 Never — no, Never! 
 
 The Dyin§f Saint to His Soul. 
 
 A distinguished Lutheran divine 
 informs us, that several years ago, 
 while lying in a trance during his 
 sickness, he experienced something 
 like what is described in the fol- 
 lowing lines : 
 
 IIJlTAL spark of heavenly flame! 
 Quit, O quit this mortal frame: 
 Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying, 
 O the pain, the bliss of dying! 
 Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife. 
 And let me languish into life. 
 
 (244) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Hark! they whisper; angels say, 
 "Sister spirit, come away;" 
 What is this absorbs me quite? 
 Steals my senses, shuts my sight. 
 Drowns my spirit, draws my breath! 
 Tell me, my soul, can this be death? 
 The world recedes, it disappears! 
 Heaven opens on my eyes — my ears 
 With sounds seraphic ring! 
 Lend, lend your winds, I mount! I fly! 
 O grave, where is thy victory? 
 O death, where is thy sting? 
 
 Sorrow Not, Even as Others. 
 
 *jjF death my friend and me divide, 
 Thou dost not. Lord, my sorrows chide 
 
 Nor frown my tears to see ; 
 Restrained from passionate excess. 
 Thou bidst me mourn in calm distress. 
 
 For them that rest in thee. 
 
 (MS) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 I feel a strong, immortal hope, 
 Which bears my mournful spirit up 
 
 Beneath its mountain load; 
 Redeemed from death, and grief, and pain, 
 I soon shall find my friend again. 
 
 Within the arms of God. 
 
 Pass the few fleeting moments more. 
 And death the blessing shall restore, 
 
 Which death hath snatched away: 
 For me, thou wilt the summons send, 
 And give me back my parted friend, 
 
 In that eternal day! 
 
 — Charles Wesley. 
 
 Pilgffims of the Nigfht* 
 
 ARK, hark, my soul! Angelic songs are 
 swelling 
 
 O'er earth's green fields, and ocean's wave- 
 beat shore: 
 
 (246) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 How sweet the truth those blessed strains 
 
 are telling, 
 Of that new life when sin shall be no more. 
 
 (refrain.) 
 Angels of Jesus, angels of light, 
 Singing to welcome the pilgrims of the night. 
 
 Onward we go, for still we hear them singing, 
 Come, weary souls, for Jesus bids you come; 
 And through the dark, its echoes sweetly 
 ringing, 
 
 The music of the gospel leads us home. 
 
 Far, far away, like bells at evening pealing, 
 The voice of Jesus sounds o'er land and sea; 
 And laden souls, by thousands meekly steal- 
 ing, 
 
 Kind Shepherd, turn their weary steps to 
 Thee. 
 
 (247) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Angels, sing on, your faithful watches keep- 
 ing, 
 
 Sing us sweet fragments of the songs above ; 
 Till morning's joy shall end the night of 
 weeping ; 
 
 And life's long shadows break in cloudless 
 love. 
 
 — Frederick W. Faber. 
 
 The Land Immortal. 
 
 '^HERE is a land immortal, 
 
 The beautiful of lands, 
 Beside its ancient portal 
 
 A silent sentry stands ; 
 He only can undo it, 
 
 And open wide the door; 
 And mortals who pass through it 
 
 Are mortal never more. 
 (248) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 Though dark and drear the passage 
 
 That leadeth to the gate, 
 Yet grace attends the message, 
 
 To souls that watch and wait: 
 And at the time appointed 
 
 A messenger comes down. 
 And guides the Lord's anointed 
 
 From cross to glory's crown. 
 
 Their sighs are lost in singing, 
 They're blessed in their tears; 
 
 Their journey heavenward winging, 
 They leave on earth their fears; 
 
 Death like an angel seemeth; 
 
 "We welcome thee," they cry; 
 
 Their face with glory beameth — 
 'Tis life for them to die! 
 
 — Thomas MacKellar. 
 (249) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 Sweet to Die. 
 
 ^ IT is sweet to die — to part from earth — 
 And win all heaven for things of idle worth ; 
 Then sure thou .wouldst not, though thou 
 
 couldst awake 
 The little slumberer, for its mother's sake. 
 It is when those we love, in death depart, 
 That earth has slightest hold upon the heart. 
 Hath not bereavement higher wishes taught. 
 And purified from earth, thine earth-born 
 
 thought ? [dear, 
 I know it hath. Hope then appears more 
 And heaven's bright realms shine brightest 
 
 through a tear. 
 Though it be hard to bid thy heart divide, 
 And lay the gem of all thy love aside — 
 Faith tells thee, and it tells thee not in vain, 
 That thou shalt meet thine infant yet again. 
 On seraph wings the new-born spirit flies, 
 To brighter regions and serener skies; 
 And ere thou art aware the day may be, 
 When to those skies thy babe shall welcome 
 
 thee. 
 
 (250) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 The Saints on Earth. 
 "^HE saints on earth, when sweetly they 
 converse, 
 
 And the dear favors of kind heaven re- 
 hearse, 
 
 Each feels the other's joys, both doubly 
 share 
 
 The blessings which devoutly they compare. 
 
 If saints such mutual joy feel here below. 
 
 When they each other's heavenly fore- 
 tastes know. 
 
 What joys transport them at each other's 
 sight. 
 
 When they shall meet in empyreal height! 
 Friends, even in heaven, one happiness 
 
 would miss, 
 Should they not know each other when in 
 
 bliss. 
 
 — Bishop Ken. 
 
 (251) 
 
RECOGNITION OF OUR 
 
 When God with Prophets Spake. 
 
 H, wondrous times! — those palmy days 
 of old;— 
 
 When God with prophets spake, and angels 
 walk'd 
 
 With men — when heaven, with mild and 
 
 radiant eye, 
 Through dreams, and types, and shadowy 
 
 visions look'd. 
 And smiled on all who sought a better life. 
 Though darkly hung the mystic veil that 
 
 hid 
 
 The better world; yet, through it, faith 
 beheld. 
 
 On the celestial side, the lovely forms 
 Of sainted friends in blessed pastimes move. 
 They mourn'd, but still in hope, for those 
 beyond ; 
 
 And, smiling through their tears, in meek- 
 ness said. 
 
 They cannot come to us, but we shall go 
 To them. 
 
 (252) 
 
THE ASCENSION. 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 My Savior First of AIL 
 
 *J^|j^J^HEN my life's work is ended, 
 
 And I cross the swelling tide, 
 When the bright and glorious morning I 
 shall see; 
 
 I shall know my Redeemer when I reach 
 the other side 
 And His smile will be the first to welcome 
 me. 
 
 (Chorus :) 
 
 I shall know Him, I shall know Him, 
 And alone by His side I shall stand. 
 
 I shall know Him, I shall know Him, 
 By the print of the nails in His hand. 
 
 Oh the soul-thrilling rapture when I view 
 His blessed face, 
 And the lustre of His kindly beaming 
 eyes; 
 
 (255) 
 
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN 
 
 How my full heart will praise Him for the 
 mercy, love and grace, 
 That prepares for me a mansion in the 
 skies. 
 
 Oh the dear ones in glory how they beckon 
 me to come. 
 And our parting at the river I recall; 
 To the sweet vales of Eden they will sing 
 me welcome home. 
 But I long to meet my Savior first of all. 
 
 To the gates of the city in a robe of spot- 
 less white. 
 He will lead me where no tears will ever 
 fall; 
 
 In the glad song of angels shall I mingle 
 with delight; 
 But I long to meet my Savior first of all. 
 
 (256)