The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-06-08
THE HEAVENLY LIFE.
What Our Departed Christian
Friends Are Doing.
They Are Doing There What They Most
Loved to Do on Earth in Their
Best Moments.
T. DE WITT TALMAGE.

lEAI-ELehlel, l., 2. IL Cdul6 10 pass
in that thirtieth year, in the fourth
month, in the fifth day of the month, as
l was among the captives by the River
ChebaT, that the heavens were opened
Ezekiel had, with others, been eXpa- |
tTiated, and while in foreign slavery |
and resting on the Royal canal which |
these serfs were digging by the order of |
uchadnezzar-this Royal canal, |
| called the River Chebar-the illustriOus
| exile caught visions of heaven. Indeed, |
so it has always been that the brightest |
visions Of heaven come not to those on
mountain tops, but to some John on de-
| sOlate PatmOs, or some Paul in Mann
| mertlne dungeon, or some Ezekiel on
| the banks of the ditch he is condemned
| to dig-tO the weary and the heart
| broken, to those whom sorrow has ban
ished from what was once their chief
| delight. The text is particular to tell
the exact date of EzekiePs visiOn-the
thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in
the fifth day of the month. So there
| have been especial times when you have
| had especial visions of heaven. Perhaps
this morning may be such time. Who
knows but that it may be the sixth
month. and in the fourth day of the
| month";
The question is silently, though per-
haps never admittedly, asked by multi
tudes: What are our departed Christian
friends doing nOwP The question is
more easily answered than at first sup
posed. Though no news comes directly
from heaven, and we are dependent upon
descriptions eighteen centuries old as
to the occupation of the celestial resi-
dents, yet we may by strongest infer
ence know the present employment of
our transferred kinsfolk. When God
makes nature he never takes away its
characteristics of temperament. You
never knew phlegmatic temperament
to become a Sanguine temperament.
Conversion implants new principles, but
Paul and John are just as different from
each other after conversion as before
conversion. If conversion leaves the
temperament unchanged, so will death
leave it unchanged. John and Paul are
as different from each other in heaven
as they were different in Asia Minor.
; By plain sum of subtraction and ad-
l ditiOn you will find out what your de-
parted friends are doing, You only
have to subtract from their earthly
> > grossness and add to them celestial
goodness. They are doing on grandeI
scale, and without any hindTance, what
they loved to do on earth i'll their best
: moments, One reason why so many
}, people refuse to start for heaven is that
8 they could not stand it if they got there
: and found it the rigid and formal place
some have figured it. The most of us
9 like to go to church; but l do not suppose
f any of us would want to stay here till
Q next Christmas. We like to hear the
| hallelujah chorus, but we do not want
g to hear it for the next fifty years. A
: crown of gold would weigh so many
G pounds that 1t would be an afflictiOn
q perpetually to wear it. We run the
Bible descriptions Of heaven into the
: ground by making that which is especial
Q and celebrative in heaven as an exclu-
siVe employment, as though in describ-
ing the employment of our American
, people you should sketch Decoration
= Day OF Fourth of July, or an Autumal
y !, Thanksgiving. By all the laws of in
: ference and deduction and common
= sense, know we shall be as different
: from each other there as we are differ
4 ent from each other here, and so there
! will at least be as many different Occu-
4 pati0ns in heaven as on earth.
First, l remark that those of OuI
q friends who in their earthly habitatiOn
2 had especial joy in the fine art, are now
in heaven luXuriating their aesthetic
tastes. Their gladdest earthly life was
8 among pictures and statuary and in the
II study of delicate lines and lights and
shades and perspective; and do you sup
pose that at their decease all that afflu
Q ence of the soul collapsed and expired
/ What use when they have more to loOH
s at and serener appreciation of beauty
q and standing among the looms where
+ the sunsets and rainbOws and spring
9 mornings are wovenp Are you so Obtus(
/ as to suppose that when painter drops
o his easel or a sculptor his chisel or al
r engraver his knife he is forever done
|. with that taste which for fifty years hi
y had been intensifying and developing
i In this world the artists work in thu
J. rudest material, and with imperfec
q brain and frail hand. At death they
take their art into larger labors anC
more brilliant circumstances. They arr
d at their old business yet, but with nOn'
q of the pOVerties and none of the limita
n tiOns of terrestrial studio. Raphae
a can improve on his masterpiece O.
a Michael the Archangel," now that h
/ has seen him, and paint his "HOly Fam
q ily," now that he has visited them
4 Angelo can give mightier portrayal o
"a the Last Judgment after once he has seeI
a its flash and heard the Tumbling batter
4 ingram of its thunder. Color line
n here, graceful lines here, powerful
the grandeur of the studios and the bet
=, ter galleries higher up by the winding
10 marble stairs of sepulcher, and tina
Turner and Rembrandt and Hillman
Hunt and Titan and Paul Veronese ant
l. all the other immOrtals who wieldeC
. pencil and brush, so far as they haC
n saving faith in the Christ portrayed
}, upon their canvas, are painters yet
q their faculties multiplied in strength tel
/" Thousand fold. Though their hand ha
l. lost its cunning, their spirit has facultie
> as much superior to four fingers and
y thumb as the supernal is superior Il
} the human. The only reason why Go,
y took away their hand and their eye AM
IS their brain was to give them something
more timber, more wieldy, more skill
full, more incisive, more potent. Do no
l. mourn as you look at the embroideries
l. at the bric-a-brae, at the tapestries, a
IS the works of art that were once so ad
IS mired by the departed, and say, "Wha
70 a pity they had to leave themP Rattle
y say: 81 am glad they have gone up Il
IS higher artistic opportunity and appre
t, ciation.' Our departed Christian
T. friends who had such appreciation o
1t art are to-day enjoying the Louvres, tn
3, LuxembOurgs celestial.
Again, 1 remark that those of our de