Earth and Heaven by A. Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 18, 1873

Earth and Heaven.

By A. Smith

To the devout Christian mind, every spire of grass, and every leaf and flower, speaks volumes of silent inspiration. In the delicacy and perfection of their texture, and in their bloom and fragrance, they reveal the existence of a God, and breathe of Heaven. Who has not admired the beauty of the cherry tree when in full bloom, its dense white blossoms embosomed in a foliage of dark green leaves; or the apple, with its pink and white blossoms, or the rose, and the lily, and many other beautiful flowers, while the breath of spring was burdened with their aroma, and did not rejoice in their evanescent beauty? These are starlights in the rifted clouds of earth’s moral night; mementoes of the treasure lost by sin; glimpses of the glories of the world to come.

Human art is not worthy of comparison with the perfection of the Creator’s work. “Solomon,” said Christ, alluding to the lilies of the field, “in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” But “the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth.” Thus, these beauties of the field and forest witness to the curse that presses so heavily upon the earth. What Christian that has witnessed these scenes of evanescent growth and decay, but has longed for the land of perennial beauty, untouched by the curse of sin. But some minds have no sense of the beautiful. To such, corn tassels and potato blossoms, inasmuch as in them are seen visions of future plenty, have greater charms than the lily or the rose. Some are not pleased with harmony of sounds; and Heaven, in their minds, is associated with holiday costume, and endless formal singing; and they turn for relief to the freedom of competent toil.

But Heaven, associated as it is with a renewed earth, offers material good to all. Those who love toil may plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them, build houses and inhabit them, and long enjoy the work of their hands. Those who love song may go up to the jasper-walled city, that hath no need of the sun to light up its gold-paved streets, its mansions of glory, and gates of pearl, and, with those who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and with sinless angels, join in the symphonies of Heaven.

Those who love the beauties of nature may tread the new earth and witness at every step the fulfillment of the prophetic declaration, “The wilderness and solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.” The beauties of a golden sunset, and the soft, mellow light of evening, penciling earth and heaven with gorgeous hues, will, doubtless, find more than a counterpart in the land where the light of the moon shall be as the sun, and that of the sun sevenfold its present volume. The associations of that heavenly land subdue the grief of those who mourn the loss of friends. God will restore to us our loved and lost ones who have gone down to the grave in good hope of a resurrection to eternal life. “And 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. SMITH.