“They are not _empty_ symbols. And why God did not give us actual descriptions of actual heavenly life, I don’t trouble myself to wonder. He certainly had his reasons, and that is enough for me. I find from these symbols, and from his voice in my own heart, many beautiful things,--I will tell you some more of them at another time,--and, for the rest, I am content to wait. He loves me, and he loves mine. As long as we love Him, He will never separate Himself from us, or us from each other. That, at least, is _sure_.” “If that is sure, the rest is of less importance;--yes. But Dr. Bland said an awful thing!” “The quotation from a dead divine?” “Yes. That there will be no separate interests, no thoughts to conceal.” “Poor good man! He has found out by this time that he should not have laid down nonsense like that, without qualification or demur, before a Bible-reading hearer. It was simply _his_ opinion, not David’s, or Paul’s, or John’s, or Isaiah’s. He had a perfect right to put it in the form of a conjecture. Nobody would forbid his conjecturing that the inhabitants of heaven are all deaf and dumb, or wear green glasses, or shave their heads, if he chose, provided he stated that it was conjecture, not revelation.” “But where does the Bible say that we shall have power to conceal our thoughts?--and I would rather be annihilated than to spend eternity with heart laid bare,--the inner temple thrown open to be trampled on by every passing stranger!” “The Bible specifies very little about the minor arrangements of eternity in any way. But I doubt if, under any circumstances, it would have occurred to inspired men to inform us that our thoughts shall continue to be our own. The fact is patent on the face of things. The dead minister’s supposition would destroy individuality at one fell swoop. We should be like a man walking down a room lined with mirrors, who sees himself reflected in all sizes, colors, shades, at all angles and in all proportions, according to the capacity of the mirror, till he seems no longer to belong to himself, but to be cut up into ellipses and octagons and prisms. How soon would he grow frantic in such companionship, and beg for a corner where he might hide and hush himself in the dark? “That we shall in a higher life be able to do what we cannot in this,--judge fairly of each other’s _moral_ worth,--is undoubtedly true. Whatever the Judgment Day may mean, that is the substance of it. But this promiscuous theory of refraction;--never! “Besides, wherever the Bible touches the subject, it premises our individuality as a matter of course. What would be the use of talking, if everybody knew the thoughts of everybody else?” “You don’t suppose that people talk in heaven?” “I don’t suppose anything else. Are we to spend ages of joy, a company of mutes together? Why not talk?” “I supposed we should sing,--but--”