No Night There by Mary F. Maxson

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 22, 1864

No Night There.

By Mary F. Maxson

“AND there sha’l be no night there.” Rev. xxii, 5.

How beautifully has the Divine Revelator portrayed to us some of the glories of the unseen world! With what rapture have we contemplated the joys of Heaven! There shall be no night there. How sweetly and soothingly do these words fall upon the heart of the weary pilgrim, traveling through the long, dreary night of sin and sorrow. How they animate him to press on, through the darkness and gloom, to that bright land where no night shall be known; to that city fair, which needs not the sun to illumine it; "for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."

"No night shall be in Heaven." But night is here around us, within us. We see it, and feel it. How often we have been led to exclaim, while enshrouded in thick darkness, When will the morning dawn? When will the gloomy night of temptation and sorrow give place to that bright morning whose dawning needs no sun? whose light will ne'er go out?

Weary pilgrim, lift thine eyes and behold yonder star. It betokens the dawn of eternal day. The distant

skies are already tinged with glory, and soon the sun of righteousness will rise in beauty and splendor. That sun shall never set, but will usher in the day which fades no more. Lift up your heads, O ye weary ones, for you are nearing the land where no night is known.

“That land is called the City of Light; It ne'er has known the shades of night; For the glory of God as the light of day, Hath driven the darkness far away.”

How often we are called to pass through the fearful night of temptation and sorrow. But, cheer thee, pilgrim, for

“No night shall be in Heaven! no dreadful hour Of mental darkness, or the tempter's power; Across those skies no envious cloud shall roll, To dim the sunlight of the enraptured soul.”

No night in Heaven! No parting with dear ones there. But the night of death is here. How often we are called upon to bid adieu to loved ones, to consign them to the cold, silent tomb. With what anguish are our hearts then riven. How cheerless the world looks, and how long and drear the night appears. But, mourner, cease thy weeping. Look up. Dry thy tears, and with joy remember that

“No night shall be in Heaven—no darkened room, No bed of death, nor silence of the tomb; But breezes, ever fresh with love and truth, Shall brace the frame with an immortal youth.”

No night there! Glorious thought! And there are no tears in Heaven. No groans, no sorrows, no fears. But joy is there—"joy unspeakable and full of glory." And Jesus is there. There we shall behold him in all his radiant loveliness and beauty. There we shall see him as he is. He shall yield perpetual light, and we shall bask forever in the sunshine of his love. What more can we ask? What greater inducements could be offered to animate us to press onward, toward the celestial city? Oh, let us be in earnest. Let us seek diligently to enter that land where no night shall be known.

MARY F. MAXSON.