The Yale expositor., 1896-12-11
Talmage'S )
SermOn~~mm@ )
Employments Of }
Heaven.

the great preacher. The text is Eze-
kiel L. 1: Nov it came to pass in the
thirtiets year, in the fourth month, in
the fifth day of the month, as l was
among the captives of the river of Che
bar, that the heavens were opened"
Ezekiel, with others, had been ex-
patriated and while in foreign slavery,
was standing on the banks of the royal
canal which he and other serfs had
been condemned to dig by the
order of Nebuchadnezzar-this roy
al canal in the text called the
river of Chebar-the illustrious exile
had visions of heaven. Indeed, it is
almost always so, that the brightest
visions of heaven come not to those
who are on mountain-top of prosper
ity, but to some John on desolate Pat
mos, or TO some Paul in Mamertine
dungeon, or to some Ezekiel standing
on the banks of a ditch he had been
compelled to dig-yea, to the weary,
to the heart-broken, to those whom sor-
row has banished. The text is very
particular to give us the exact time
OF the vision. 1t was in the thirtieth
year, and in the fourth month, and
in the fifth day of the month. So you
have had visions of earth you shall
never forget. You remember the year,
you remember the month, you remem-
Der the day, you remember the hour.
Why may we not have some such vision
now, and it be in the twelfth month,
and in sixth day OF the month?
The question is often silently asked,
though perhaps never audibly pro-
pounded. What are our departed
Christian friends doing now?" The
question is more easily answered than
you might perhaps suppose. Though
there has come no recent intelligence
from the heavenly city, and we seem
dependent upon the story of eighteen
centuries ago. still l think we may
from strongest inference decide what
are the present occupations of our
transferred kinsfolk. After God has
made nature he never eradicates the
chief characteristic of its temperament.
You never knew a man phlegmatic in
temperament to become sanguine in
temperament. You never knew a man
sanguine in temperament to become
phlegmatic in temperament. Conver-
sion plants new principles in the soul,
but Paul and John are just as differ
ent from each other after conversion
as they were different from each other
before conversion. II conversion does
not eradicate the prominent character
I istics OF temperament, neither will
death eradicate them. Paul and John
heaven as they were different from
each other in Asia Minor.
You have then only by a sum in
subtraction and a sum in addition to
decide what are the employments of
your departed friends in the better
world. You are to subtract from them
all earthly drossness and add all earth
ly goodness. and then you are to come
to the conclusion that they are doing
now in heaven what in their best mo-
ment they did on earth. The reason
why so many people never start for
heaven is because they could not stand
it If they got there If it should turn
| out to be the rigid and formal place
some people photograph it. We like to
come to church, but we would not
want to stay here till next summer. We
like to heaS the "Hallelujah Chor:s. +"
but We would not want to hear il all
the time for fifty centuries. 1t might
be on some great occasion. it would
be possibly comfortable to wear a
crown of gold weighing several pounds,
but ii would be an affiiction to wear
such a crown forever. In other words,
we run the descriptions of heaven into
the ground while we make that which
was intended as especial and celebra-
tive to be the exclusive employment
in heaven. You might as we'll, If asked
to describe the habits of American So
ciety, describe a Decoration Day, or
| a Fourth of July, or an autnmnal
Thanksgiving, as though 1t were all
/ the time that way.
am not goiLy to speculate in regard
to the future world, but must, by in
! evitable laws VI inference and deduc-
j ton and common sense, conclude that
in heaven we will be just as different
/ lTOm cdCu OthCi do VIC dIC hOW
ent, and hence that there will be at
least as many different employments
in the celestial world as there are en-
ployments here. Christ is to be the
great love, the great joy, the great rap
ture, the great worship of heaven, but
will that abolish employments? Nc
more than love on earth-paternal. fl
ial, fraternal, conjugal love, abolishes
earthly occupation.
In the first place, 1 remark that al
those of our departed Christian friends
who, on earth, found great joy in the
fine arts, are now indulging theil
tastes In the same direction. On earth
/ they had their gladdest pleasures amid
| pictures and statuary, and in the study
of the laws of light and shade and per.
spective. Have you any idea that thai
afIluence of faculty at death collapsed
and perished? Why so, when there |!
more for them to look at and tbev have
keener appreciation of the beautiful
and they stand amid the very looms
where the sunsets and the rainbows
and the spring mornings are woven
Ate, you so obtuse as to suppose tha
N.-...xX Al. Id n. ~