"Beloved now are we the sons of God,
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be." It doth not yet appear
what the next life will be like, or what we shall be like in it. That
there will be a next life,--that death does not end all for us, the New
Testament tells us. Yea, our own hearts and reasons tell us. That
sentiment of immortality, that instinct that the death of our body will
not, cannot destroy our souls, or ourselves--all men have had that,
except a few; and it is a question whether they had it not once, and have
only lost it by giving way to their brute animal nature. But be that as
it may, it concerns us, I think, very little. For we at least believe
that we shall live again. That we shall live again in some state or
other, is as certain to our minds as it was to the minds of our
forefathers, even while they were heathens; as certain to us as it is
that we are alive now. But in that future state, what we shall be like,
we know not. St. John says that he did not know; and we certainly have
no more means of knowing than St.
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