| Making the Most of Life |
Chapter 18 |
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The influence which our dead have over us is ofttimes very great. We think we have lost them when we see their faces no more, nor hear their voices, no receive the accustomed kindnesses at their hands. But in many cases there is no doubt that what our loved ones do for us after they are gone is quite as important as what they could have done for us had they stayed with us. The memory of beautiful lives is a benediction, softened and made more rich and impressive by the sorrow which their departure caused. The influence of such sacred memories is in a certain sense more tender that that of life itself. Death transfigures our loved one, as it were, sweeping away the faults and blemishes of the mortal life, and leaving us an abiding vision, in which all that was beautiful, pure, gentle, and true in him remains to us. We often lose friends in the competitions and strifes of earthly life, who we would have kept forever, had death taken them away in the earlier days when love was strong. Often is it true, as Cardinal Newman writes:–
“He lives to us who dies; he is but lost who lives.”
Thus even death doth not quench the influence of a good life. It continues to bless others long after the life has passed from earth. It is true, as Mrs. Sangster writes:–
“They never quite leave us, our friends who have passed
Through the shadows of death to the sunlight above;
A thousand sweet memories are holding them fast
To the places they blessed with their presence and love.
“The work which they left and the books which they read
Speak mutely, though still with an eloquence rare;
And the songs that they sung, and the dear words that they said
Yet linger and sigh on the desolate air.
“And oft when alone, and oft in the throng,
Or when evil allures us, or sin draweth nigh,
A whisper comes gently, ‘Nay, do not the wrong.’
And we feel that our weakness is pitied on high.”
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