earth in peace and
joy. Bereavements would be less distressing. The departure of our
friends would be but a transition to a better state of being.

The world itself would change. Its beauties would become more beautiful;
its glories would become more glorious, and all its joys and pleasures
would be more transporting. The eye, the ear, the taste, the smell would
all become the inlets of more and richer enjoyments. Science and
literature in their divinest forms would become the common lot of our
race. The glory of God's character and the brightness of the eternal
future, would shed unwonted radiance over the present life, and make it
rapturous, glorious, and divine. The religion of Christ, while raising
men to heaven, would bring down heaven to earth.

On the other hand, the want of trust in God and of a hope of immortality
tends to darken earth, and to embitter life. When men are severed from
God and Christ, they suffer loss both in character and enjoyment. We can
speak from experience. We never ruined our health by vicious indulgence.
We never became the slave of intemperance or licentiousness. We never
dishonored our family, or lost the love and confidence of our wife and
children. But we lost our trust in God, and our hope of immortality. And
the heavens above grew dark, and the earth became a desolation. Life
lost its value, and sorrow its consolation; and many and many a time we
wished that we had never been born. For hours have we trod the earth
with heavy heart and downcast eyes, groaning beneath a weight of sadness
indescribable. Loss of faith in Christ, even with men of a naturally
cheerful and hopeful spirit, renders life a burden too heavy to be
borne. Hence for years before we fully regained our own faith in
Christianity, we encouraged others to cherish theirs. An infidel once
said, that the Christian's hope, if false, was worth all this world's
best truths; and we felt the truth of the remark, and shrank from
attempts to take from men the inestimable treasure. And now we would
rather die than shake or undermine the faith of any Christian soul on
earth. To the work of cherishing a belief in Christ in our own heart,
and nurturing it in the hearts of others, we consecrate our life, our
all. We would rather live on a crust, in a mud hut, with faith in God
and Christ, than feast on all the dainties of the earth, in the palace
of a king, with the hopelessness and gloom of the Atheist.

We have no disposition t