Year: 1873

represents Mr.. Beecher as saying
at his Friday evenings talk at Ply
mouth Church:


81 was turning in my mind last
evening thoughts Of my early ex-
pcrience, and there came up partlc-
ularly a train of memories connect
ed with my early sorrows-the loss
of my children. remember as
we'll tonight as I did at the time
the night my oldcst-born son died.
| remember well the hope, and the
fear, and l remember the victory OF
submission. 1t was the first great
sorrow. l remember the spirit OF
prayer that seemed to fill the whole
hemisphere as | went down to the
city, for the life of my child. |
think if ever one came near throw
ing his soul out Of his body | did
that night. Before the morning
had dawned the child had found Il
brighter world. 1t was double
sorrow, because had given him up
first, and then taken him back again.
1t was in March, and there came a
great storm, like that we have been
passing through, and the whole
ground was covered, and We went
down to the graveyard with little
Georgie, and waded through the
snow. | got out of the carriage
and took the little child in my arms,
wading kneedeep beside the grave,
and saw winter down ut the very
bottom of it. We lowered the little
coffin in and saw snowflakes follow
it, and then the earth hid it from
me. If / should live thousand
years l could not help shlvering
every time | think of it. 1t seemed
to me then as if l had not only lost
my child, but had buried him in
eternal SHOWS. 1t was very hard
for faith or Imagination to break the
physical aspect of things and find a
brighter feeling, but from that day
to this | do not suppose there has
ever been a snow storm that first or
lost did not come back to my
thoughts that picture and that ex-
perience. There has never been u
winter or a snow-storm that had not
a soul in it ofmemory. dale from
that time a deep and enduring sym
pathy with suffering and sorrow, so
| do not know but it was a kind of
ordination, or laying on of Gcd's
ho, H.. of rnt nrII IIn1pU
ordination, but on the whole l can
say l thing it was better for me that
| should have lost that oldest child
the happiness l should have had
from him would not have been on
the whole equal to the benefit l have
derived from that first great sorrow
of life. l have often thought since
how much has gone from htm since
of the child's look, but remember
nothing of that; what / remember
in him is the feeling excited in ne,
a kind of atmosphere that was ere
ated around my heart and life rath-
er than any definite thing. 1t is q
kind of capitalization of memory.
l have Of thought, when | see him
shall know him? Has he been
quiescent? Will he be child of
me when | meet him in heaven?
Shall | find what l have lost. No,
l think not, any more than the farm
er finds what he lost when he sow
ed the seed. Shall we, when we
wake in the other lite, find our
trends just as we left them here? |
trust not; l hope not. | should be
unwilling to appear i'll Zion before
God just as l am here. l think it
is perfectly natural for persons to
expect to find their friends, ALTHOUGH
gives great lay to the imagina.
tion, so to speak; for, after all, we
know but little about it in the shape
of positive knowledgc-detinite act
ual knowledge; we hear from vari-
Gus sources. There are those who
think they know, and they tell us of
so many things about the other life;
but they strike me like the phantas-
magoria Of magic-lantcrn on
screen. l do not believe that il yet
appears what we shall be John
said: ''It dost not appear what we
shall be"-what the other life is;
and il he did not know, if it was not
clear to him who laid his head on
the Re decmer's bosom, how much
less likely IS it to appear to us? If
you ask whether we cannot let our
thou hts play around this, say yes;
lot the mother 60 to heaven every
night if she wishes, only let her re-
member that it is only her magma
ton. l do not see any harm in
praying to saints. | do not pray to
my mother as | do to my God; but
there is no harm in conversing with
our friends in heaven; but it is
liberty of the Imagination and not 4
revelation. We must not suppose
these are facts, but SO limited l
think we might find great comfort
in following our friends to the spir-
it land.