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 identity 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 circumstances 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
passing 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 passage 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 God sees best for me, to make my own heaven or
hell 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 assistance from those whom I have loved, and never without feeling
that through the goodness of God 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.
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=_13. On Circumstantial Evidence_=--By Florence Marryat
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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