No Sect in Heaven

"No Sect in Heaven" by Elizabeth H. Jocelyn Cleaveland is an early 1860s poem that thoughtfully examines religion and the shared human experience of faith after death. This poem talks about how pointless religious groups are, implying that differences on Earth don't matter in heaven. The poem describes going to the afterlife in a dream, where people from different religious groups try to cross a river to get to heaven. These characters, such as a Churchman with his gown and a Quaker dressed in gray, as well as Dr. Watts with his hymns, and Wesley and his manuscripts, struggle and have to leave their earthly things behind. In the end, the fate of people isn't defined by what they believe or do; when they get to heaven, all differences disappear, and they're joined together in Christ's goodness, showing the importance of being united in faith.