Sentence:  Their simple directness of character may account for the well-nigh entire absence (as I said before) of all expression of religious hope. "God's <WSD>Errand-Ghost</WSD>," the Rider on the Pale Horse, has passed by that way, and one in the house — it may be the most loved of all, — is dead. There is no shirking of that bare truth, no attempt to soften it. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A spirit or spiritual messenger; an angel.