Musing...

"When we ourselves have gone, even the remembrance of us will not long remain. A few of the near and dear will bear our likeness in their bosoms, til they, too, have arrived at the end of their journey, and entered the dark dwelling of unconsciousness. In the thought of others, we shall live only till the last sound of the bell, which informs them of our departure, has ceased to vibrate in their ears.

A stone, perhaps, may tell some wanderer where we lie, -when we came here, -when we went away; but even that will soon refuse to bear us record. Time's "effacing fingers" will be busy on its surface, and will, at length, wear it smooth. The stone itself will sink, or crumble; and the wanderer of another age will pass, without a single call upon his sympathy, over our unheeded graves...

...Is there no substance among all these shadows? Can no support be offered, -can no source of confidence be named?

Yes!

There is a Being to Whom we can look with perfect conviction of finding that security which nothing about us can give, -nothing can take away. To this Being we can lift up our souls, and on Him we may rest them...

...Here then is the support which will never fail. Here is a foundation which can never be moved, -the everlasting Creator of countless worlds...

...When we have looked on the pleasures of life, and they have vanished away;

when we have looked on the works of Nature, and perceived that they were changing;

on the monuments of Art, and seen that they would not stand;

on our friends, and they have fled while we were gazing;

on ourselves, and felt that we were as fleeting as they, -we can look to the throne of God.

Change and decay have never reached that. The waves of an eternity have been rushing past it, but it has remained unshaken. The waves of another eternity are rushing toward it, but it is fixed, and can never be disturbed.

We shall shortly finish our allotted time on earth, and a world of other days and other men will be entirely ignorant that once we lived. But the same unalterable Being will still preside over the universe, through all its changes, and from His remembrance, we shall never be blotted. He is our Father and our God forever. He takes us from earth that He may lead us to Heaven, -that He may refine our nature from all its principles of corruption, -share with us His own immortality, admit us to His everlasting habitation, and crown us with His eternity."

posted by Lydia