take of a joy and happiness far more abiding and
real, for they have hastened to the Kingdom of God. The mercy of God is
infinite, and it is our duty to remember these departed souls in our
prayers and supplications that they may draw nearer and nearer to the
Source itself.

These human conditions may be likened to the matrix of the mother from
which a child is to be born into the spacious outer world. At first the
infant finds it very difficult to reconcile itself to its new existence.
It cries as if not wishing to be separated from its narrow abode and
imagining that life is restricted to that limited space. It is reluctant
to leave its home, but nature forces it into this world. Having come into
its new conditions, it finds that it has passed from darkness into a
sphere of radiance; from gloomy and restricted surroundings it has been
transferred to a spacious and delightful environment. Its nourishment was
the blood of the mother; now it finds delicious food to enjoy. Its new
life is filled with brightness and beauty; it looks with wonder and
delight upon the mountains, meadows and fields of green, the rivers and
fountains, the wonderful stars; it breathes the life-quickening
atmosphere; and then it praises God for its release from the confinement
of its former condition and attainment to the freedom of a new realm. This
analogy expresses the relation of the temporal world to the life
hereafter--the transition of the soul of man from darkness and uncertainty
to the light and reality of the eternal Kingdom. At first it is very
difficult to welcome death, but after attaining its new condition the soul
is grateful, for it has been released from the bondage of the limited to
enjoy the liberties of the unlimited. It has been freed from a world of
sorrow, grief and trials to live in a world of unending bliss and joy. The
phenomenal and physical have been abandoned in order that it may attain
the opportunities of the ideal and spiritual. Therefore, the souls of
those who have passed away from earth and completed their span of mortal
pilgrimage in the Titanic disaster have hastened to a world superior to
this. They have soared away from these conditions of darkness and dim
vision into the realm of light. These are the only considerations which
can comfort and console those whom they have left behind.

Furthermore, these events have deeper reasons. Their object and purpose is
to teach man certain lessons. We are living in a d