Dr. Van Dyke's Spiritual Consolation
to the Survivors of the Titanic


The Titanic, greatest of ships, has gone to her ocean
grave. What has she left behind her? Think clearly.

She has left debts. Vast sums of money have been lost.
Some of them are covered by insurance which will be paid.
The rest is gone. All wealth is insecure.

She has left lessons. The risk of running the northern
course when it is menaced by icebergs is revealed. The
cruelty of sending a ship to sea without enough life-boats and
life-rafts to hold her company is exhibited and underlined
in black.

She has left sorrows. Hundreds of human hearts and
homes are in mourning for the loss of dear companions and
friends. The universal sympathy which is written in every
face and heard in every voice proves that man is more than
the beasts that perish. It is an evidence of the divine in
humanity. Why should we care? There is no reason in
the world, unless there is something in us that is different
from lime and carbon and phosphorus, something that makes
us mortals able to suffer together--
"For we have all of us an human heart."