The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-04

animate other spiritual atureS OF llSnl
| and beauty such that pain can never
shade them nor death have power 70 dis
| turb. Death may be for the world that is
around US. The leaves may fall, the
waves of the ocean rest from their tu-
multuOus flow, the stars of heaven, per
haps, which angels, It would seem, might
descend from their sphere to gaze upon
/ with rapture may cease to emit unneed-
/ ed rays, but man survives the ruins OF the
! outward world and rises to a purer exist
| ence. Cease to tell us we must die. DO
not point TO the graves of kindred. Ihey
are not there They never were there.
They looked down one day with compass
! sion, when with tears and sobs and an
guiSh for ourselves We conveyed with
many tokens of respect and love their
BODIES to the tomb. And with their llght
J pres nee they passed close by the faces
\ they had loved, and strove to burst the
airy bondage of the spiritual world to tell
I now happy 1t Is to depart Tell us not OF
I death. If you would persuade us to be
/ good, tell us of the blessedness of life
( with God. II you would deter US from
{ sin. tell us of the living soul-alive to its
maker, absent from His smiles. But
some say that we see men die, and there
fore must believe in death. But from the
/ death of the body we cannot draw the
/ conclusion that our being becomes eX-
/ ttnct. Upon reflection we become con-
WINGED that we never saw death, and that
/ 1t is beyond the bounds of knowledge
/ yet acquired that a man who has once
! lived has ever died The spirit has left
/ its abode. We have only seen them de-
/ part from their accustomed habitation,
and with our feeble vision were unable to
/ follow them upon the path which they
pursued. We cannot see tn m in their
new abode. But we must honestly admit
/ we never saw them here. We locked upon
the form, but it was not marble which
! walked forth in majesty, and the blush
/ upon the cheek bore no relationship to the
I changes of mere clay. We saw the eye,
/ but never the spirit which lighted it with
emotion and made use of its glance. We
I never saw the spirit in its happiness,
| though we remember with fond delight
! the smile with which its happiness was
told. How little of any man do we ever
( see BY familiar intercourse and long
observation, we think at last that we I'M
derstand his principles his impulses, him
II. Yet, tacttly we admit to ourselves,
that We may be mistaken in our estimate
Of his character, for we have had no Wis
lble acquaintance with him. The mariner
/ IS wrecked at sea after enduring the
storm of the elements for days and nights
In his open boat upon an unknown ocean,
is brought by the waves at last to APP
proach shore, and in the dimness of
night, when he can scarcely discern its
outline and can discover no human be-
ings he learns from scattered lights set
up to show his way that he is to find a
nome among a civilized and hospitable
! people And we, too, learn what manner
OF people they are whom We daily asSo-
ciate With-not because we see them, but
because the eye traces the outline of their
forms and the mind watches their motions
.
the soul in which alone character resides,
not through long study, but at a glance,
We should understand the affections and
principles of the man Ever path
marked out by man leads or is Il ended
to lead to some useful end W Zen we
enter upon a road we expect its size and
excellence to lead TO a place common
surate with the pains bestowed upon its
construction. Every affection, every ca
pacity of the human soul, is boundless.
| The heart is never filled with loving, the
mind is never satisfied with knowing
Answer the questions of the curious child.
| VIII it ask no more? Teach rs the sci
ence we would learn. VIII the love of
knowledge be extinguished by your teach
ings? On the other hand, the love of
knowledge grows by being gratltied. Man
needs a life of immortality before his de-
/ sire of knowledge shall be filled He is
not suited to this world forever. Man
cannot die when he is most fitted to live;
he is called to cooperate with God in a
high scene of being, perhaps TO pursue
with powers UNNECESSARILY increased the
work which they had loved on earth, and,
though unseen and without the credit OF
men, successfully accomplish what as
men they never could have performed.
Service, more noble service. in which their
deep desire to be useful shall be more eff
! fectuaI, is committed to their faithful
ness. We are religious beings. The light
/ of Gods throne continually amidst all the
/ labors. Joys and trials of life breaks
I through the skies and clouds to gid our
/ path and religion. God is nothing to us,
unless in another world our connection
/ with God is rendered perfect and the OBJ
( ject of our reverence and our love is
/ brought continually nearer. We cannot
/ believe that God is and not believe that
man is immortal Then why should we
4 mourn for departed friends as though
| they had fallen into the snare of some
malign and hurtful power? Is the I'M
! leshed soul so much worse off than the
/ soul that still remains incarnate? Is its
liberty curse to it? Oh, no; 1t is much
3 libprtV nTiCpleSg bless
/ ing. The truth is, my friends, that the
/ language which we use in regard to our
/ departed friends is calculated to mislead
! our thought unless we qualify it's mean
/ ing. We speak of them as being dead.
| We say they were, they have been, they
| used to be; but if We allow such terms to
( limit our thought we make very great
mistake. They not only have been, but
! they are, and will forever be. They are
! only dead to flesh and sense; in spirit
! they live as truly as we do aye more
J Does an insect cease to live when II casts
aside the Adead body of its larval state
! and issues forth winged creature with
! Uniformed butterfly live less truly than
when it was hidden in the flesh of slug
! gish, crawling caterpillar? Does it not
| live more abundantly because of it's de-
! liverance? So, my friends shall we live
more abundantly when we cast aside
| these mortal bodies and assume our i'm
mortality. Here we live a restricted life,
I
| The death of the body releases the soul
and gives it an unrestricted range. There
/ is no cessation of existence for the soul
| Christ has abolished that heather notion
! by bringing life and immortality to a
| greater light He has shown US clearly
| that what we call death is only step to
another and higher life, that it is not a
/ finality, but transitional experience,
! preparing our way to life eternal. He
/ has shown us that the tomb has two
| sides to it, one of which is dark to us be-
{ ,AaI IL az
/ the other is bright with the glorious light
4 that streams from the face of the ancient
l. of days He has shown US, too, that
when we are ushered through that door
we do not surrender our personal identi-
! ty or sever the essential ties which have
! bound us to our friends on earth, but that
| we continue to belong to the same great
! family having the same Father, the
| same savior the same nature and the
same destiny. This world is but one of
! his many mansions, one compartment OF
/ his house, one country in his universe
/ When we leave 1t we go to another and a
| better country, that is an heavenly one.
/ On Albert Durer's tomb in Nuremberg
there stands this simple epitaph: Emil
/ grayitH' He has emigrated, gone away to
/ the better land. What a sweet idea
what a Christian idea! Our brothers
! whom we remember tonight have emil
/ grated, gone away to a better land. Let
/ us then be comforted in regard to our de-
! parted brothers and friends. Let us
] think of them as not being among the
9sdu' pul as HaNlns risen from the DEAD.
] Let US all cherish the beautiful faith of
1 Wordsworth's little cottage girl, who
/ when she was asked how many brothers
and sisters there were in the family, re-
] piled that there were seven in all-fve on
earth and two in heaven.
How many are you, then, said I,
! If they two are in heaven
The little maiden did reply:
o master, we are seven.
But they are dead-those two are dead;
Their spirits are in heaven
Twas throwing words away, for still
The little maid would have her will,
And said: Nay! We are seven. ,"
Her child-like disbelief in death nd her