“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.”