And so
we go on day after day, till all at once a reckoning is called and
death stares us in the face. What! So soon finished? All over? Must
we go at once, and no delay? Must we really and truly drop all our
ridiculous lies and conventions and be sent away naked-souled into
the Living Unknown? Not the Dead Unknown remember!--for nothing is
actually dead! The whole universe palpitates and burns with ever re-
created life. What have we done with the past life?--and what shall
we do with this other life? Oh, but there is no time to ask
questions now,--we should have asked them before; the hour of
departure is come, and there is not a moment's breathing time! Our
dear friends (if we have any), and our paid doctors and servants
stand around us awe-struck,--they watch out last convulsive shudder-
-and weep--not so much for sorrow sometimes as terror,--and then
when all is over, they say we are 'gone'. Yes,--we are gone--but
where? Well, we shall each of us find that out, my friends, when we
pass away from Popes, Churches, Creeds, and Conventions to the
majesty of the actual Glory! Shall we pray then? Shall we weep?
Shall we talk of rituals? Shall we say this or that form of prayer
was the true one?--this or that creed was the 'only' one? Shall we
complain of our neighbours?--or shall we not suddenly realise that
there never was but one way of life and progress through creation,--
the good and pure, the truthful and courageous, as taught with
infinite patience by the God-Man, and that wheresoever we have
followed our own inclinations rather than His counsel, then our OWN
action, not God's punishment, condemns us,--our OWN words, not
God's, re-echo back our sins upon ourselves!"
He paused, looking everywhere around him,--all his hearers were
listening with an almost breathless attention.
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