Death should not be a "horror" to any one; and if we knew more about it, it would cease to be so. It is the _mystery_ that appals us. We see our friends die, and no word or sign comes back to tell us that there _is_ no death, so we picture them to ourselves mouldering in the damp earth till we nearly go mad with grief and dismay. Some people think me heartless because I never go near the graves of those whom I love best.
Why should I? I might with more reason go and sit beside a pile of their cast-off garments. I could _see_ them, and they would actually retain more of their ident.i.ty and influence than the corpse which I could _not_ see. I mourn their loss just the same, but I mourn it as I should do if they had settled for life in a far distant land, from which I could only enjoy occasional glimpses of their happiness.
And I may say emphatically that the greatest good Spiritualism does is to remove the fear of one"s own death. One can never be quite certain of the changes that circ.u.mstances may bring about, nor do I like to boast overmuch. Disease and weakness may destroy the nerve I flatter myself on possessing; but I think I may say that as matters stand at present _I have no fear of death whatever_, and the only trouble I can foresee in pa.s.sing through it will be to witness the distress of my friends. But when I remember all those who have gathered on the other side, and whom I firmly believe will be present to help me in my pa.s.sage there, I can feel nothing but a great curiosity to pierce the mysteries as yet unrevealed to me, and a great longing for the time to come when I shall join those whom I loved so much on earth. Not to be happy at once by any manner of means. I am too sinful a mortal for that, but "to work out my salvation" in the way G.o.d sees best for me, to make my own heaven or h.e.l.l according as I have loved and succoured my fellow-creatures here below. Yet however much I may be destined to suffer, never without hope and a.s.sistance from those whom I have loved, and never without feeling that through the goodness of G.o.d each struggle or reparation brings me near to the fruition of eternal happiness. _This_ is my belief, _this_ is the good that the certain knowledge that we can never die has done for me, and the worst I wish for anybody is that they may share it with me.
"Oh! though oft depressed and lonely, All my fears are laid aside, If I but remember only Such as these have lived and died."
THE END.