I gave her my warm hand, and never doubted again. But, ere the morning sun had appeared, I passed the portal of death, and saw the neighbors and friends preparing for the funeral. The minister was sent for. He came. With uplifted hands he besought God to comfort the weeping circle; but I saw he had no confidence that his prayer would be answered. He bewailed death as a curse, and mourned that Adam and all his posterity had no hope in heaven, only in Jesus. He opened what he said was the word of God, and read, “There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again;” but what is man, that the Almighty should call him to a new sphere, he did not seem to comprehend. As I stood near him during the whole service, I felt moved to say, “Oh, thou of little faith; wherefore dost thou doubt?” But my companion said, “He will not believe though one go to him from the dead; he has Moses and the prophets, Jesus and the apostles, but will he not dispute their sayings?” T. Can he dispute what he shall see and hear? C. And did not _you_ doubt me, Thomas? When I spoke, and when you saw me, you said, “It is not possible.” Though you saw my hand, and the ring on my finger, you would not admit my presence. Then you said, “I doubt my sight.” T. And will he, a believer in spirits, do the same? C. He will not deny spirits, neither will he admit what he sees. T. Why? C. He will say, as you said, “I doubt my sight.” T. But will a believer in revelation doubt, as I doubted? C. A believer in revelation doubts, and will doubt, his sight as soon as an unbeliever. Both cavil with the only rule which nature has given them to determine the existence of things, and their relation to each other. T. Who, then, are believers? C. “Hath not God concluded all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all?” All are unbelievers. The minister does not believe that you and I are present, and hear his speech. He does not believe what we know, that his belief is unbelief of the truth in many things: so is his unbelief a denial of the truth in other things. The minister concluded his service, and my body was deposited in the grave. I waited to hear the benediction: “Dust unto dust is the law of nature; but the spirit must appear before the bar of God to receive the penalty of violated law,” he said, in mournful solemnity. The circle departed, saying, “he was more charitable than was to be expected. Paine was an infidel, and what could he do less than speak what he believed. He was satisfied that the deceased had no eternal life abiding in him, and it was his duty to warn his neighbors of their danger.” I left them, and said, “How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?”