evil. We seldom think that thorns and briers, and griefs
and pains, entered into our earth as the fruit of human
transgression. But to witness and to anticipate the final
stroke forces us to remember the cause of all our woe.
Again, the distinctly marked separation of soul from body
impresses upon us the superiority of the spiritual to the
material. Paghtly considered, this earthly existence is but
an incident in a grand career. This body is but an imper-
fect tabernacle lent us for earth's rough climate. Since we
are to pass out into a loftier region, the manner of our
going need not greatly concern us. The years spent in
the body will be few at most, but they may be so spent that
their work shall remain and their rewards follow us. We
speak of the power of an endless life ; it is immeasurable.
But the present life is the endless life ; it begins not when
we die, but when we are born. For true life is impervious
to death, and the decay of the body makes no slightest im-
pression upon it.
