The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-07-21
q Dialogue en Death.
,rox"novsryoap'. ruIu.sAsr."

IRON "nousrYoRp's EurnAsAsr."
MARHAM.-Death never ought to be
painful thought with any one, because it
ought to be so common,-such daily ex-
pectation.
AuBIN.--.It ought not to be shrunk from
for its novelty. 1t is not as though We
were the filst or the seconl Of our race. or
as though we belonged to the second or to
the third generation Of our kind. 1t is not
as though none or only few had ever died,
and we were to be of the earliest. Only
since the decease Of Charlemagne, there
have died twenty-five times thousand mill
lions OF our fellow-creatures. Let US weep
with the bereaved that weep, and feel along
with those that are i'll, and those that are
dying; and then down to the grave will be
| like a path we know we'll, and too well TO
be affrightened on it.
MARHAM.-It is not by chance, but
through God, that We come to an end.
Many ways does God speak to US creatures
of his, as in the events Of life, from the BIZ
bic, and from within our hearts; and ! trust
that we have listened to that Divine voice
often enough, to know the tone Of it at once
and everywhere. Because, when we are
spoken to, and have our souls required OF
US, we shall know then that we are spoken
10 by the loving voice of our Father in
Heaven; and we shall answer, as hope,
o, so willingly!-"Lord, now lettest thou
thy servant come to thee in peace"
AUBIN.-And that we shall say and feel,
hope, and no doubt we shall, if we have
often said to God before, "Thy will be
DONE" We live in one another; father
and mother in their children, husband and
wife in one another, and some few friends
in one another. So that we most of us die
more than once, before we die Of disease.
MARHAM.--ln the same way as Erasmus
said of his friend Sir Thomas, at seems as
though in More | myself had been killed. I"
AUBN.-When death takes those We
love, then we love death. Those who are
alone in the world are as though they had
been left for sleep; and death comes over
them like a sleep, for they are not unwill-
ing.
MARHAM.-Not once, nor one thousand
times, but more than fifty thousand times, |
have been TO sleep; so that ought not to
be afraid to die now. And to my feelings,
the evening of life ought to deepen on to
The obscurity of the grave, as pleasantly as
dusk gets dark.
AUBN.-Yes, uncle, Just so; and exactly
so. There is no universal night in this
earth, and for US in the universe, there is no
death. What is to us here night coming on
is, on the other side OF the earth, night end
ing, and day begun. And so what we call
death the angels may regard as immortal
birth; and so they do. as We may well be-
lieve.
MARHAM.--So they do, very often, We
may be sure. In the early days Of the
Christian Church, what day Christian died
on was spoken of as that Of his birth,-his
birth into higher existence.
AUBIS.-Through the body and its
wants, am held down to the earth's sur
face, and to its customs and employments
and SO am kept out Of heaven, and from
off the bosom OF God, and from the COM
Pany OF Christ, and out Of the rapture Of
the angels.
MARHAM.-God help us! God make
us sure Of that happiness at last! God make
US ready for it,-for that Joy unspeakable!
AUBIN.-The day Of our decease will he
that OF our coming Of age; and with our
last breath we shall become free Of the uni.
verse. And in some region of infnity, and
from among its splendors, this earth will be
looked back on like lowly home, and this
life Of ours be remembered like short ap
premiership to Duty.
MARHAM.-ln the midst of life we are
in death.
AUBIN.-And in the very middle Of what
Spenser thought was his great work, he died;
and the lines that happened to be last from
his pen are as though they had been meant
against his death
For all that moveth doth in change delight
But thenceforth all shall rest eternalIy
With Him that is the God of Sabaoth hight;
W that great Saoaoth God, grant me that Sab
Now, in the very midst Of his work, is
not it as though the poets hand had been
unconsciously guided into writing a prayer
against the death that was Just upon him?
MARHAM.-ln the midst of his diligence
he longed for heaven; and that instant il
opened to him. Some might call this
chance; but would not, nor would any. I
think. who have lived piously and watch.
fully; for such persons know the power
prayer has to bring us nigh to God, and they
know how holiness can refine. almost into
fllm, what separates cur souls from the Soul
they live in; and so they know that, even
in this earth, something of the light Of
heaven is possible, in some minds.
AUBN.-Dear uncle, you have said what
quite agree with; and it is a great truth.
MARHAM.-Ohver, do you remember
any other authors who have died and left
unfinished works behind them! There
must be many; but cannot remember any
OF them
AuBN.-Jean Paul Richter died. leay.
ing behind him manuscript he had not
been able to finish. Ii was on the immor
tality Of the soul. And so while express
ing his iaith in an hereafter, Richter went
away into the knowledge of il. Frederick