ienced in an endless diversity
of degrees by different persons, according as they are careless,
hard, and sense bound, or thoughtful, sympathizing, and
imaginative; undisciplined by the mysteries and afflictions of our
mortal destiny, or profoundly tried by the disappointments and
prophecies of time and fate; and as they are shadowed by the gloom
of despair, or cheered by the radiance of belief. But to all who
feel, even the least, the uncertain but deep monitions of the
silent pall, the sad procession, and the burial mound, the
impressive problem must occur, with frequency and power, Does the
grave sunder us and the objects of our affection forever? or,
across that dark gulf, shall we be united again in purer bonds?
Outside of the atheistic dissolution and the pantheistic
absorption, it is supposable that, surviving the blow of death,
our spirits may return to God and run their endless course in
divine solitude. On the other hand, it is supposable that,
possessed with all the memories of this probationary state,
blessed by the companionship of our earthly friends, we may aspire
together along the interminable gradations of the world to come.
If the former supposition be true, and the farewell of the dying
is the announcement of an irrevocable separation, then the tears
we shed over the shrouded clay, once so prized, should be
distillations from Lethe's flood, to make us forget all. But if
the latter be true, then our deadly seeming losses are as the
partings of travellers at night to meet in the morning; and, as
friend after friend retires, we should sigh to each departing
spirit a kind adieu till we meet again, and let pleasing memories
of them linger to mingle in the sacred day dreams of remaining
life.

Evidently it is of much importance to a man which of these views
he shall take; for each exerts a distinctive influence in regard
to his peace of mind, his moral strength, and his religious
character. On one who believes that hereafter, beyond all the
partings in this land of tombs, he shall never meet the dear
companions who now bless his lot, the death of friends must fall,
if he be a person of strong sensibilities, as a staggering blow,
awakening an agony of sorrow, taking from the sky and the earth a
glory nothing can ever replace, and leaving in his heart a
wretched void nothing can ever fill. Henceforth he will be
deprived mostly for all felt connection between them is hopelessly
sundered of the good influe