one of it escape you. Grief should be as
familiar an inmate in our hearts as Pleasure and Gladness; for he too
is sent us by our Father, who beholds all our tears, and well
understands and tries our hearts, and knows what frail mortals can
bear. Bear then this great overwhelming woe for his sake, out of love
to him; for it is all love, whatsoever burthen he may cast upon you.
Is not grief, is not the heart in its wringing agony, the soul that
would melt away in sorrow, a holy and godly offering, which amid your
burning tears you lay, as the most precious of your possessions,
before the everlasting Love of the Most High? As such too is it
considered by Him above, who numbers all your sighs and tears. But our
wicked enemy, who is always lurking at our side, grudges us the
holiness of this heavenly sorrow: it is he who would foment and stir
it up in you into despair, into rage against the Father of love and of
grief, that you may not in your anguish become yet more thoroughly the
children of Love, but may plunge and sink into the abyss of Hatred.
He, this Spirit of Lies, is now beguiling you and maliciously
whispering his tales in your ears, as though you had for ever lost
her, who yet was one with you only in spirit and soul and love, and
belonged to you only so far as she was invisible. He would have you
forget that this beauteous covering was only her garment, akin to the
dust, and now going back to the dust. Cast him back from you, this
lying Spirit; shame and confound him with the eternal almighty truth
which you hold up before him, that she is still yours, still near you,
still at your side, yea far more, far entirelier yours, than when
these party walls of mortal flesh kept you asunder, and in the midst
of all your love estranged you from each other. From this day forward
she is all your memory and hope and sorrow and joy; she shines upon
you in every gladdening light; she cheers you in the flowers of
spring; she kisses you in the gentle airs that breathe on your cheeks:
and every delight that henceforth blossoms in your hearts, is her
heart and her love to you; and this delight and this everlasting
deathless love are one with God. Carry her then to her resting-place,
and follow her in silent humble resignation, that her soul in the
abode of everlasting peace may not be disturbed and made uneasy by
you."

All seemed to have become calmer; the father speechlessly held forth
his hand to him with an expression of cord