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God's acre; or, Historical notices relating to churchyards
God's acre or Historical notices relating to churchyards Author:Elizabeth Stone Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. CHRISTIAN BURIAL. They have not perished—no! Kind words, remembered voices once so sweet, Smiles radiant long ago, And features, the great ... more »soul's apparent seat— All shall come back : each tie Of pure affection shall be knit again; Alone shall evil die. A S the natural impulse of humanity is to look, not £- merely with mournful awe, but with dread and horror, to death and the grave, it is not easy for us who have the privilege to be bora under Christianity, to estimate the feelings of those by whom its revelations were unexpected and undreamt of. The sudden noise of gushing waters -to the parched and fainting wanderer in African deserts could hardly come with a more reviving sound physically, than did, mentally and spiritually, the tidings of redemption and release, and new and eternal life, to the worn and weary slaves of paganism. The sudden blaze of a comet on the dazzled eye of the scientific inquirer who had been for months and years in doubting search after it, is but a poor type for the delight of the earnest, thoughtful, philosophicalheathen, at those glad tidings of great joy pro- mulged by our blessed Saviour's life and death. For no sacrificial offerings, no slaughter of dumb unoffending animals, of faithful servants, of, it may be, a true-hearted affectionate wife, do we find in the sepulchral customs of those who strove, however humbly, to follow in the steps and to illustrate the precepts of our Redeemer. Still less was there of gloom, or woe, or melancholy, or lamentation in those rites of the early Christians which testified their belief that their lowly-minded brother was passing from this mortal pilgrimage to the true and everlasting life. There was no need to place material food for one going where hunger and thirst were unk...« less