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Untitled Article
Why , knowing what I did , from the beginning , of death and sorrow ,, their immediate pressure and ultimate design , was I thus slow in understanding ? Why , having been early and perpetually warned , was I so unprepared ; why were my anticipations so utterly inadequate ? Night after night for years have we together talked of death as we stood looking up into the blue vault ; morn after morn for years have we looked on those green mounds ,
and chosen in imagination between a grave in the turf and a grave in the deep ; a grave within domestic bounds and a grave in foreign lands . Long has each meditated survivorship : often has each acknowledged that heart- * searching grief was an element of peace which ought to be welcomed ; an impulse of the spirit whose reaction must be joy . Constantly have we watched for it : anxiously did the one give warning that it was at hand ; faithfully did the other promise that it should be calmly borne . But now , —
how is it ? The spirit is wholly infirm ; the will paralyzed ; the judgment swayed from its balance . It is either thus , or my estimate of all things has hitherto been false . How shall strength or peace arise out of a ruin like this ?—Hush , impious doubts I Who can understand ttye things of the spirit but He who made the spirit ? And am I even now without evidence that my former , my firmer faith was right ? Has no strength , no peace visited my thoughts since the dawn first broke ? Have I not been reminded of the Resurrection ?
If the remembrance of one event can thus soothe , may not a long series of experiences communicate peace ? Insignificant in comparison as each circumstance may be , must it therefore be weak in its influences ? God himself is the life of all influences . It is not possible then to lose all , and however the structure of happiness may be overthrown , the materials remain to be built up again . And not necessarily in a different form . If it were so , I would say , " Let them lie . I will sit for evermore among the ruins : *•
but the same structure may again arise , less bright , less beautiful , but a fit retreat for the remembrances and devotions of the spirit . It may be found an ungrateful mistake to suppose that there is no alternative between remediless grief and a new and uncongenial good . —What are the elements of the deepest earthly peace ? Influences from one beloved , the conscious spirit on which they act , and the eternal benignant presence through which they operate . If that presence should become more evidently benignant through compassion for the mourner , if the mourner should , through a new
experience , become more apt to discern invisible things , and to rely on a veiled protection , should the inner soul thus become more richly endowed , the shadows of the past may have as great power as their substance ever had , and the spirit of human love may ever be nigh , invested with a majesty worthy to succeed the lustre of its mortal days . Thus may the dreams of the night be to me instead of communings face to face beneath the stars ; and the whispers of holy thoughts which breathe from those sacred walls may be as animating as the sympathies which led us to the house of God in company .
And what shall all these things be to thee who art gone to see at a glance what I must discover with pain and doubt ? While my utmost hope is to attain peace through the peace of former days , what is thy hope ? Shall not thy joy arise from the joy we have known together ? O , if it is thus , our sympathy is not dissolved , even for a time ! I will do as thoiu If to thee the past and future are as one , I will not cleave to the one and abhor the other . If to thee the universe is open to go whither thou wilt , I will not refuse to learn its most thrilling mysteries ; I will not grovel while thou art
Untitled Article
Sabbath Musings . 371
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1831, page 371, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2598/page/11/
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