By John Angell James (1785 - 1859)
1. The enjoyments and occupations of heaven are uniformly represented as social: but where is the charm of society without mutual knowledge?
2. Heaven is uniformly represented as perfecting all our faculties; is it then probable that it will diminish memory, one of the most important of them? And if memory be still retained in full vigor, and it be perpetually employed, as it inevitably must be, on the past scenes of our earthly existence, is it likely that the friends and companions of that existence, inhabiting then the same celestial world with us, will be unknown to us?
3. The chief grace that will be increased in the regions of the blest, next to love to God, will be love to our companions in glory. But will not one of the most pure, elevated, and delightful exercises of this holy passion be wanting, if we are ignorant of our glorified relatives?
4. In the general judgment, which is appointed to vindicate the ways of God to man, it is nearly certain that individuals will be known to each other; and if this be the case, is it likely that their mutual knowledge will be immediately obliterated?
5. Is it likely that individuals whose names and labors bear such a close and extensive connection with the redemption and history of the church, as those of the prophets and apostles will be unknown? And if they are known, may it not be inferred that others will be?
6. During our Savior’s abode upon earth, he afforded to the three favored disciples a glimpse of the heavenly glory: he himself was transfigured, and Moses and Elias descended in celestial brilliancy. These two eminent servants of God were known by the astonished apostles; and if known on Mount Tabor, is it not likely they will be known in the New Jerusalem?
7. Our Savior, in one of the most impressive of his parables, represents the rich man in torments, as knowing Lazarus and Abraham in glory: now, though it be a parable, and though the whole scenery of a parable is not to be considered as conveying some moral sentiment, yet certainly nothing materially and obviously at variance with the truth is ever taught by even the appendages of the chief parabolic idea.
8. We find the apostle Paul very frequently consoling himself under the sufferings and persecutions which he had to endure, by the prospect of meeting in heaven those who had been converted by his ministry on earth. His address to the believing Thessalonians is especially in point. “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?” I do not see how these Christians could be Paul’s crown of rejoicing in that day, if they were not known to him.
These are some of the reasons which lead me to suppose that in heaven the saints will know each other.
Assuming then the fact, that saints will know each other in the celestial state, let us imagine, my dear children, if indeed the imagination is equal to the effort, what must be the joy attendant on the final meeting of a pious family in heaven. One of the most exquisite delights which we ever experience on earth, is the enjoyment which springs from the first interview with a friend from whom we have been separated; and this delight is in proportion to the length of time, and greatness of distance, and magnitude of danger, which have intervened between the separation and the meeting. What language can describe the thrill of transport, the almost agony of rapture, which the wife experiences in that moment when she receives a husband back again to her arms, who has been away from home for months, who has been separated from her by half the circumference of the globe, and threatened to be torn from her forever, by the dangers of shipwreck or of battle! Or who shall set forth that scene of domestic bliss which is exhibited when the sailor-boy, after having been absent for years, returns from the dangers of the seas, and the horrors of captivity, to the bosom of his family, and exchanges extatic greetings with his parents, and his sisters, and his brothers, till all seem ready to dissolve with excess of joy? What then must be the meeting of these same relatives in heaven, after having been separated by worlds and ages: that meeting when a mother receives her children to the skies from this degenerate earth, and the father hails his offspring from the world of death to the region of life and immortality! Here imagination confesses its weakness. It is a scene we have never witnessed ourselves ; nor have we ever conversed with one who has. My heart, while I write, seems to beat quicker at the thought; and the very anticipation, my dear children, raises a commotion of pleasurable feelings in my bosom, which no words could enable me to express.
In this state, amidst all this glory, honor, and felicity, it is my sincere desire, my ardent prayer, my constant endeavor, my supreme pursuit, that your journey, my dear children, and my own, should terminate. Every thing else appears, in comparison of this, as nothing. In the view of this, thrones lose their elevation, crowns their splendor, riches their value, and fame its glory; before the effulgence and magnitude of celestial objects, their grandeur dwindles to an invisible point, and their brightness is but as the shadow of death. Did we not know the depravity of our nature, and that the natural man knoweth not these things, because they are spiritually discerned, we must indeed wonder, and inquire what bewildering influence it is, that is exerted upon the human mind, by which its attention is so fatally diverted from things unseen and eternal, to the shadowy and evanescent form of things seen and temporal. It is only on this ground that we can account for the folly, the madness of neglecting the great salvation, and seeking any thing in preference to eternal glory. Dreadful madness! which, though it indulges in the miscalculations of insanity, has none of its excuses. What but this moral insanity could lead men for any object upon earth, to neglect the pursuit, and resign the hope of eternal life!
My children! my children! whom I love with an affection which can be equalled only by that solicitude for your welfare to which it has given rise, aid which never sleeps nor rests, receive my admonition, and make eternal happiness the end of your existence. Look at that heaven, which, though but partially revealed, is revealed with such pure brightness on the page of eternal truth, “on the description of which, so to speak, the Holy Ghost employs and exhausts the whole force and splendor of inspiration;” look at it, that state of inconceivable, infinite eternal honor and bliss, and is there aught on earth, aught of pleasure or of gain, for which you will deliberately resign that crown of unfading glory?
May it be granted me to see you choosing the way of wisdom and piety, and remembering your Creator in the days of your youth: giving to all your virtues that stability and beauty which can be derived only from religion; first receiving by faith, and then adorning by holiness, the doctrine of God your Savior. Then will my highest ambition, as a parent, be gratified, my most painful solicitude relieved. I shall watch your progress amidst the vicissitudes of life, with a calm and tranquil mind, assured that your piety will be your protector amidst the dangers of prosperity; or your comforter amidst the ills of adversity. If called to follow your bier, and weep upon your sepulchre, I shall only consider you as sent forward on the road to await my arrival at your Father’s house; or if called, according to the order of nature, to go down first into the dark valley of the shadow of death, I shall find the agonies of separation assuaged, and the gloom of the dying chamber irradiated by those bright visions of glory, which connect themselves with the prospect of the meeting of a pious family in the heavenly world.
Taken from:
THE MEETING OF A PIOUS FAMILY IN HEAVEN (Grace Gems)
John Angell James, (1785—1859) was a decided Calvinist in doctrine, and beautifully balanced his theological convictions, with practical piety in life and ministry. He preached and wrote to to common man and woman of every station in life. He was held in high esteem as a preacher and author, yet he was a humble and unpretentious man, as is evident from his unwillingness to use the title "Doctor of Divinity" despite the fact that he was honored with this degree by both Glasgow University and Princeton Seminary.
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