Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1896-12-12
CongeniaI Work.

In tho first place, | remark that all those
Of our departed Christian friends who
on earth found great joy In tho fine arts
are now indulging their tastes in the same
direction. On earth they had their glad
ae>t pleasures amid pictures and statuary
and in the study Of the laws Of light and
shade and perspective. Have you any idea
that that ailiucncc Of faculty at death col
lapScd and persisted: Why so. when there
is more for them to look at and they have
keencr appreciation Of the beautiful and
they stand amid the very looms where the
sunsets and the raiubows and the spring
mornings arc woven! Are you so obtuse
as To suppose. because the painter druns
his easel ana the sculptor his chisel and
the cngraver his knife, that therefore
that taste which lie was charging and in
tcnsifying for 40 or 80 years is entirely
oblitcratGt: These artists, or these friends
Of art on earth, worried in coarse material
and with imperfect brain ana with frail
hand. Now they have carried theirart into
larger liberties and into wider circumfer-
encc. They are at their old business vet,
but without the fatigues, without the linn
itatinns, without tho hindrances Of the ter
restrial studio.
Raphael could improve upon his master
that ho has seen him. and could improve
upon his masterpiece Of the Holy 1rini-
ty'' now that lie has visited them. Michael
Angelo could better present the Last
Judgment after lac had seen its flash and
heard tho rIlmhling baitering rams of its
thunder. Exquisite colurs here, graceful
lines here, powerful chiaroscuro here. but
] am persuaded that the grander studies
and the brighter galleries are higher up,
10y the winding marble stairs II the sepul-
cher, and flat Turner and Holman Hunt
and Rembrandt and Titan and Paul Yer
onese, il they exercised saving faith in the
Christ whom they portrayed upon the can
vas, are painting yet, but their strength
of faculty mulHplied ten thousandfold.
Their hand has forgotten its cunning, but
the spirit has faculties a. far superior To
four fingers and n thumb - the snpernat-
ural is superior 10 the human The reason
that God took awss teir eve and their
hand and their brain i.as ifai be might
give them something E.osr l:in0er, more
wieldy, more skillful. more multipliant
Do not therefore he melancholy among the
tapestries, and the bric-a- brac, and the
embroideries, and the water colors and
tho works Of art which your departed
friends used 10 admire. DO not say, Il
am so sorry they had 10 leave all these
things" Rather say. Il am GLAD they
have gone up to higher artistic opportuni-
~ and appreciation. Our friends who
found so much joy in the fine arts on earth
are now Iuxuriating in Louvrcs and Lux
embourgs celestial.
4 Grand Musicale.
/ remark again that all our departed
Christian friends who In this world were
passionately fond OF music are still regal
ing that taste in the world celestial The
Bible says 50 much about the music Of
heaven that IL cannot all be flgirltive
Why all this talk about halleluiahs and
choirs nn the glass and trlImpets and harps
and oratorios and organs: The Bible over
aud over again speaks 81 the songs of
heaven. II heaven had no songs Of its
own, vast number al those on earth
would have been taken up by the earthly
smigrants Surely the Christian at death
does not lose his memory Then there
must he millions Of souls in heaven who
know Coronation and Antioch" and
Mount Pisgah" and "Old Hundred -
The leader Of the eternal orchestra need
only once tap his baton, and all heaven
will he ready for the hallclnah.
IL heaven should ever get out Of music
Thomas Hastings and Lowell mason and
Bradbury would start up "A hundred cid
magnificent chorals But what with the
new song that John mentions, and tho
various doxologics alluded TO- and tho i'm
portation 81 sublunar harmonies. "A Chris
tian fond of music, dying will have an
abundance ~ regalcment. What though
the voice bo gone In death what though
the ear hc fallen IN dissolution, are Won
therefore to conclude that the spirit Will
have no power Ia make or catch sweet
sounds Cannot the soul sings How ofton
we compliment some exquisite singing by
saying There was so much soul in her
music. A" In heaven 1t will be all soul I'm
~ the BODY after awhile comes M IN tho