Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-02-01
BY HARRIET nrrcuEn srowE.

By HARRIET BEEcHER sr0wB.
We may conceive our friends gone into
Chrsts world, not in state Of vague rapture
and ecstacy or of blind absorption into the
Divine nature, but in home Of rest and .
quiet adapted to their nature and progress
a home with duties with varied employment, .
with social intercourse aud friendship, with /
for advance in all knowledge
and with a wide and widening sphere Of active
usefulness One Of the affective things con.
nected with the passage Of our friends into
the unseen world has been q sort Of loss, 10 us,
Of their individual identity 10 the vague
ideas Of blessedness aud glory Sc lose the
personality and the distinctive traits to which
our souls cling Our warm-hcartcd, active,
ardent friend, full Of cheerful mirh and joy
Gus humor t. gone, aud in place we have a
conception Of a solemn angel, rapt away from
earth in distant divine latitude
But let US look at Christ's life on earth
and remembering that Christ is the Lord in
that invisible world,-see how he united the
most exalted spirituality and divine commu.
nion, with the most exquisite human naturaI-
ness. There is about Jesus something so hu-
man, 50 simple and comprehensive, that iu
every cline aud country, each mortal being
whether Indian, Malay, or Negro, had only
to hear his story, to love him as heart
friend How he always respected human in-
diyiduality lie adapted himself to IL ia his
disciples with q paternal tenderness. lie did
not treat John and Peter and Thomas alike
He knew that J ohm was poetic idcalist, and
ID g.. Hr..I fN.stH
Thomas was by nature a sincere skcptic, and
varied his treatment of them accordingly. He
offered to Thomas the proof his doubling
mind required, and which he gave to no other
When Martha aud Mary met him at the
grave Of their brother, he individualized them
in the same way Martha was a strong wo-
man, capable of being addressed through her
intellectual convictions, and SO with Martha
he reasoned, bu' with Mary he wept
In the regulation therefore, Of that spirit
world where he Is lord, we must expect the
same scope for individuality. We arc not to
suppose all the faculties Of this life cease their
play or that they gasp aud smother in a
vacuum, but that ample provision is made for
their appropriate exercise. Our friend is IN
different circumstances he has passed to a
higher power aud more congcuial atmosphere,
but that sacred sphere Of Individuality by
which we knew him from all others is uubro.
/ ken. We shall know him again when We
meet him-eyery innocens personality intact
aud secure.
Neither are We TO suppose, because they
have passed thither, that our own temporal
cares-the things that in our earth-liie try,
perplex and distress us,--scems to them un-
worthy Of attention. Because we see in the
case Of our Lord Jesus Christ, that while liy-
ing with that supernatural world ever open
before him, so that he could at any moment
summon from it legion Of angels, he had yet
the tenderest sympathy for the least ofhumar
interests around him. Just as he was entering
on the sublimest public ministry the earth ha.
ever known, he stopped to 90 with his mother
to a wedding, and his first exercise Of miracu'
ious power was to relieve an embarrassment
IN the festiyity. Our departed friends viii
be clothed with this spirit Of the Lord, and
while they keep ever uppermost our spiritual
?. advancement will regard with tenderness oul
earthly weaknesses and natural aud innocen
wants and cares.
How angelic spirits can minister to US is
matter about which little is revealed, w,
are simply told that they do thus minister
that one sinner rcpentlng gives them joy
that each little child has its angel, that The,
watch the death-bed and bear away the parte,
soul. Undoubtedly our friends, when placed
10 their divine habitations, are under diyin'
law and guidance. They have their appoint
ed sphere, and their duties and do not follow
the mere promptiugs Of an uudiscplined aflec
tion. They enter into the wisdom and calm
ness Of God, and what they do for US is regu
lated by his directions
= If, therefore, we would feel them near US
it must bo by our drawing near to him who 4
their Lord, whose spirit inspires them who's
love controls them, We may remember tha
our Lord in his earthly struggles did not cal
d on angels, but on God 1t was his Fathe
4 whom he prayed to three times in his lon
] extremity, saying the same words, and th
angels came to him.
We sincerely believe that it has sometime
D been Gods will to vouchsafe to faithful soul
some glimpscs of the spiritual world, and b
/ the loved voice or presence Of the departed
q seen in night visions or by vivid impression
n of them, to relieve some cries Of agony, I
f give lightness, peace and joy. But more oi
ten these miustratons are so gentle an
l. equabc and so mingle with the normal cui
g. rents of the soul as to be indistinguishabl'
c 1t is cheering to hold St. Augustine's doc
If trine that when we purpose what they pui
Il pose, and seek what they seek, and adoi
$ what they adore-then they pray with US VI
invoked. Their presence with us may be
r accordance with the great spiritual Law
Draw nigh unto God and he will draw mig
(. unto you" In setting our affections {
u thing above and seeking those things thi
are above, where Christ stteth, we are takir
the most direct means to come into nearne
to them,
We are here on this earth as a family
children, whose father has prepared for the
better home in a far off country. We la'
" not seen it, and do not know exactly how
u looks, and the home where we at prese
soiourn is familiar and doar. When, thor
I'd fore, one member after another is sur
N moned 70 90 forward, when the home is gr
e. dually being despoiled of this and that I
miliar belonging, sent forward to their futu
II residence, there may come some dreary hour
T. and some natural sickness Of heart.
AS We cling to what is, and dimly compr
e. hend what we have never seen. Yet, what
our advance ia life, but the gradual sendil
st forward to another life of hopes aims al
RI aspirations. Nothing draws US so strong
there as the taking of friends. When
nd husbandman would move a tree he first Gu
off its roots for wide circle around
ee each friend taken from this life is one root c
r. that we may be more easily transplanted
n the paradise of God.