Heaven Author:Richard Montague Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: II. RECOGNITION IN HEAVEN. Lovcnwer faileth.— i Cor. xiii. 8. rTHE apostle is looking forward, and in the light of eternity is estimating the gifts and ... more »graces of the church. Gifts, such as prophecies, tongues, miracles, and all the varied equipment by which the kingdom of God is extended on earth, shall pass away. There will be no need of them when they have done their work. The staging can be taken down when the fresco is done. But graces will never pass away. Faith, hope, love, these are to abide. And with particular emphasis may it be said of that grace which is the crown of all graces in God's kingdom, — " Love never faileth." In this truth is involved the answer to a question nowhere directly answered in Scripture, but ever prominent in Christian thought: " Shall we recognize loved ones in Heaven?" There are problems which logic or philosophy cannot solve, but which affection practically settles. I believe that there are specific intimations in Revelation which give us rational grounds for hoping to meet in a future life our loved ones who have fallen asleep in the Lord. But even did no such detailed intimations exist, I should feel justified in cherishing such a hope on the basis of a declaration such as our text contains. The instincts and behests of love are the deepest of our nature. None cry out so loudly for satisfaction, none crowd so closely upon David's inspired words: " I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." Given affinity, and, by a law of life, if energy endures, after sufficient mutation,there will be relationship. The moral and spiritual world as truly tends to equilibrium as does the material and psychical world. It is to be noted just what Paul means by " love." It is not animal desire, mere fancy, nor liking. It is not domestic f...« less