takes a friend, and to know that he is borne away in the
bosom of Infinite Gentleness, as he was brought here. It is
the privilege of angels, and of a faith that brings us near
the angels, to always behold the face of our Father in
Heaven; and so we shall not desire the abrogation of this law
of dissolution and separation. We shall strengthen ourselves
to contemplate the fact that the countenances we love must
change, and the ties that are closest to our hearts will
break; and we shall feel that it ought to be, because it
must be, -- because it is an inevitability in that grand and
bounteous scheme in which stars rise and set, and life and
death play into each other.

But, even within the circle of our own knowledge, there is
that which may reconcile us to these separations,. and
prevent the vain wish of building perpetual tabernacles for
our human love. For who is prepared, at any time, to say
that it was not better for the dear friend, and better for
ourselves, that he should go, rather than stay; --better for
the infant to die with flowers upon its breast, than to live
and have thorns in its heart; --better to kiss the innocent
lips that are still and cold, than to see the living lips
that are scorched with guilty passion; --better to take our
last look of a face while it is pleasant to remember--serene
with thought, and faith, and many charities --than to see it
toss in prolonged agony, and grow hideous with the wreck of
intellect? And, as spiritual beings, placed here not to be
gratified, but to be trained, surely we know that often it is
the drawing up of these earthly ties that draws up our souls;
that a great bereavement breaks the crust of our mere animal