EIGHTH NIGHT.
Spring once more returned with its green fields and bright sky. The little birds were beginning to raise their earliest notes, as if telling one another how happy they were that winter, with its snow and its storms, was again over, and that the fresh buds were beginning again to appear. The small, old‐fashioned lamp, too, which was filled every Saturday, so as to be ready for the Sabbath evening, was, from the long twilight, no longer required. As the last rays of the setting sun were falling through the latticed window, Emma was found once more at her grandmother’s side.
“I think, my dear,” said the latter, laying aside her spectacles, and drawing her grandchild nearer her—“I think I left off speaking last Sabbath when we were just beginning to talk of the most wondrous and glorious of all Bible subjects.”
“Oh yes,” replied Emma, “you had told me about the doings of the great Day of Judgment, and you were commencing to |Of Heaven.| speak about the glories of heaven, when you thought it would be better to wait till now.”
“Truly, my child,” said her grandmother, “I would require rather to wait till that heaven itself begins, in order to give you any idea of its happiness. We are told that ‘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 was reading a little ago, when sitting at the window,” said Emma, “the description of this glorious heaven given us in the last chapters of the Bible, where it is said to be a |How described in Revelation.| great city, with streets of gold like transparent glass, walls of jasper, and foundations of precious stones. And here, too, is another beautiful verse, grandmamma,” continued she, as her eyes glanced over the 21st chapter of Revelation: “‘And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.’ And here yet another lovely description,” she added, “I love so to read it: ‘And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.’”
“I have not interrupted you, my dear child, in reading these beautiful verses,” said the aged lady; “they give us a bright and glowing picture of happiness and glory, which our minds can in no other way conceive.”
|To be understood figuratively.| “But will there indeed be golden streets, and crystal walls, and all these precious stones that are here spoken of?” inquired Emma.
“There will be far greater magnificence, and far purer happiness,” replied her grandmother, “than all the gold and gems this world could give. These are just figures or emblems employed by God in His Word to convey to us some idea of the vast glory of heaven. No earthly words, or thoughts, or language, could describe this; and therefore, as men consider gold and precious stones the most costly and valuable things in the world, they are used as pictures to give us some feeble representation of heavenly blessedness.”
“What, then, dear grandmamma, will heaven really be? What kind of a place is it? and how are the righteous employed when they get there?”
|The Scenery of Heaven.| “I cannot tell,” replied the other, “what character of scenery there will be in heaven, nor in what particular spot in the universe this happy place is prepared. The Bible does not gratify our curiosity about this. For anything that is known to the contrary, there may be much there that we love and admire in this world. There may be beautiful skies, and clear rivers, and gushing fountains, and lovely flowers, and sweet music. But still, as I have said already, regarding all these the Bible says nothing.”
“What, then, will heaven consist in, grandmamma?” inquired Emma.
|Negative and Positive Blessedness.| “I was just going to say, my child, that there are many things we know will not be there, and many things we know will be there. Does little Emma think she could tell me any of the things we have in this world that we shall not have in heaven?”
“Oh yes,” replied the little girl, “I think I know. We shall have no sin there, and no sorrow there, and no death there.”
|Negative.| “Quite right, my child,” said her grandmother. “This is a world of sin, and therefore it has become a world of pain, and sickness, and sorrow, and death; but in heaven all these will be unknown. I thought I saw you, my dear, but yesterday seated in the churchyard on little Robert’s tomb; and when you came home, I observed by your eyes that you had been weeping for the loss of your little brother. In that happy heaven I am speaking of there will be no graves and no tears, for there will be no sin and no death to cause them.”
“But then, dear grandmamma, will there be no other joys in heaven?”
|Positive.| “Yes, yes, my child,” replied the aged lady; “I have only spoken to you of what is not in heaven. I have yet to tell you what is there. Can little Emma answer this question too, as well as the last?”
“I shall meet all my dear friends there,” said Emma—“my father and mother, who were both taken from me when I was so young, and little Robert, and you too, grandmamma, who have so kindly led me on in the way to that happy place, and told me often how I am to get there.”
“My dear child,” said her grandmother, “all that you have said about meeting departed friends there is true. All who are the friends of Jesus will meet in that happy home. I believe it to be true,” she repeated, the tear filling her eye as she spoke. “Parents will know their children, and children their parents; and brothers and sisters will meet never to part any more. But this is but a very small portion of the joy of heaven. Can you not think of a far greater joy in that bright world than even the meeting of the dearest earthly friends?”
“Oh yes,” replied Emma, “we shall meet God!—we shall see Jesus face to face! |Vision of God.| This will be the greatest, surely, of all the glories of heaven—to dwell for ever with God, and discover more of His grace and love!”
“Yes, truly, my child,” said the other; “this is to heaven what the sun is to the universe. All the other glories we can speak of are only, by comparison, like the light of the stars to that sun, or like little streams to the great ocean. We shall ‘see God;’ and what, perhaps, is more wondrous still, we shall be like God. Along with the holy angels, we shall have no higher delight than doing His will. We shall feel that in His presence ‘there is fulness of joy.’”
“But shall we indeed see God?” inquired Emma; “the thought seems so wondrous. How can this be?”
|How God will be Manifested.| “Here again, dear child,” replied her grandmother, “we must not try to be wise beyond what the Bible has told us; for it is there said, that ‘He dwells in light that is inaccessible and full of glory, whom no eye hath seen, neither can see.’ That there will be some bright and glorious manifestation of His presence I cannot doubt; but what the |The Presence of Jesus in the midst of the Redeemed.| nature of this will be I cannot tell. This we know, however, with certainty, that Jesus, our blessed Redeemer, in His glorified human nature, will be seen and adored by the countless multitudes of His ransomed people.”
“I saw,” said Emma, “a verse immediately following the words I a little ago read, which speaks of this. Here it is: ‘And they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads.’”
“Yes, my child; and you may perhaps remember some other passages which tell the same blessed truth. Do you remember what made John so happy in the prospect of heaven?”
“Oh yes,” replied Emma, “I recollect now. He says with such joy, ‘We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.’”
“Quite right, dearest,” said her grandmother; “I shall just remind you of one more. It is the Saviour’s own last prayer for His people—‘Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.’ Do you remember the name by which Jesus is spoken of again and again in the book of Revelation, describing to us how He now appears in glory?”
“Yes,” replied Emma; “I have often been struck with the title there given to Him. He is called ‘the Lamb that was slain.’ I often wonder why He should be called so, now that He is in heaven, seated on His throne, with all His sufferings at an end.”
“It is, my dear child,” answered the aged lady, “a very precious name. It tells that He continues, and will continue, to wear His glorified human nature there, and that, too, through all eternity. It tells us also that the redeemed will never cease to remember that it was to the shedding of His precious blood that they owe every gem of their crowns.”
“And doubtless,” said Emma, “the happy company of the saints will for ever delight to think more and more of the love of Jesus?”
|Their Contemplation of Christ’s Love.| “You are right,” said the other. “It will assuredly be one of the greatest joys in heaven to comprehend with all saints what is the height and depth, and length and breadth, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. They will ever be trying to know more and more of this love; but they will never be able to understand all its meaning.”
“I daresay, too, much that we cannot now understand will be cleared up?” said Emma.
“Yes, my dear,” replied her grandmother; “God’s wisdom and faithfulness will then be as fully revealed as His love. There is much that takes place on earth which is perplexing |Providences Explained in Heaven.| to us—what we call ‘dark dealings,’—as, for example, when good and useful lives are taken away, and evil and worthless lives are spared; but Jesus, you remember, said, ‘What thou knowest not now, thou shalt know hereafter.’ I believe we shall then not only ‘know,’ but see, that ‘all things have been working together for good to them that love God.’ Sore trials and afflictions will then call forth loud songs of praise; and it will be made manifest that the Judge of all the earth had done right.”
“And will all these blessed saints,” inquired Emma, “be equally holy and happy?”
“They will all, my dear, be holy,” said the old lady, “for ‘without holiness no one could see God,’ far less enjoy Him; and they will all, too, be happy—not one tear will be in their bright faces. But I believe, too, that some |Degrees of Bliss in Heaven.| will be happier than others. All will be like vessels full to the brim with glory and happiness; but some vessels will be larger than others, and able, therefore, to contain more happiness. We read that they shall differ ‘as one star in the firmament differs from another star in glory.’ Some stars are of a larger size than others; some are nearer the sun than others: so those who have lived nearer Jesus on earth, and loved Him with larger hearts, will be nearer Him in heaven. While all, therefore, who are believers will be happy, those will be happiest who are walking closest with God now. If you will turn to the twelfth chapter of Daniel, you will find there a striking verse, telling of different degrees of coming happiness. Here it is,” continued the old lady, pointing her little grandchild to the third verse: “‘They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.’”
“Oh! what a glorious, happy prospect, dear grandmamma! Would that I could feel sure of being one even of these feeblest stars!”
|How Heaven is Obtained.| “There is but one way, my child,” replied the other, “of joining that bright company of which we have been speaking. It is the blood of Jesus alone that can open these glorious gates. But that blood has opened them, and keeps them open still, to the chief of sinners. That blessed Redeemer seems still to stand at the gate of heaven, and say, ‘I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.’
“But I feel, my dear Emma, that my strength is failing, and I am unable to speak more to you this evening. Give me your Bible, and I shall double down the leaf at my favourite description of the joys of heaven.” She accordingly took her little grandchild’s Bible, and putting a mark with her aged finger at the seventh chapter of Revelation, thirteenth verse, returned it to her again, saying, “Should you, my child, be with me at my dying hour, when my tongue is too feeble to speak, remember to read to me that sweet passage. I have often wished that I might have some one to read to me these words when I pass through the Dark Valley.”
|Conclusion.| Little did Emma suppose that the words which now fell upon her ear would so soon come true. A few weeks only passed by, when her grandmother was laid upon a bed of sickness and pain, which soon proved a bed of death. The aged saint bore up under her sufferings with calmness and fortitude. She was kept in perfect peace, for her mind was stayed on God. Her dear little grandchild was her faithful companion during her last hours. The night before her death, when she was fast sinking, and her lips getting paler and paler, Emma remembered faithfully the request made to her. The tear started to her eye as she opened her Bible, and saw the leaf still folded down. She read it with a trembling voice. The poor old sufferer was able to do no more than clasp her withered hands as the happy sentences fell on her ears. When she had fallen asleep in Jesus, and was laid in the churchyard which she had so often looked to from her window, Emma delighted to go with her Bible in her hand, and, sitting on the green turf which covered her grave, to read the well‐known passage: “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
