The
beyond and the beyond, let us turn it over as we may, let us consider
it as a child considers it, or by the light of the newest philosophy,
is a constant, visible warning not to make our minds the measure of
the universe. Underneath the stars what dreams, what conjectures
arise, shadowy enough, it is true; but one thing we cannot help
believing as irresistibly as if by geometrical deduction--that the
sphere of that understanding of ours, whose function it seems to be
to imprison us, is limited.
Going through a churchyard one afternoon I noticed that nearly all
the people who were buried there, if the inscriptions on the
tombstones might be taken to represent the thoughts of the departed
when they were alive, had been intent solely on their own personal
salvation. The question with them all seemed to have been, shall _I_
go to heaven? Considering the tremendous difference between heaven
and hell in the popular imagination, it was very natural that these
poor creatures should be anxious above everything to know whether
they would be in hell or heaven for ever. Surely, however, this is
not the highest frame of mind, nor is it one to be encouraged. I
would rather do all I can to get out of it, and to draw others out of
it too.
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