Hope Beyond The Grave
Illustration★★★Not only is there comfort for the breaking up of our relationships on earth by death, but I declare to you that after having, by reason of my profession, pondered this subject to comfort mourners all my life long, during the thirty-five years of my ministry, ]. am more and more personally-satisfied every single year that if for this life only hope, we are of all men most miserable, And I tell you truly that if I were to be convinced to-morrow that this is all a fiction, that there is no existence beyond the grave, I would seal my mouth with the seven seals of the Apocalypse, which no man could break open, before I would whisper that guilty disclosure.
In this world of sin, he who takes away the hope of heaven takes away the consolation of those that sorrow. There is nothing else that can comfort a heart crushed by bereavement and losses. It is but fora moment.
Out of my tree the bird has flown, and sings there no more. But it sits in the tree of life and sings, and I shall hear itagain.
I am alone; I have no counselor; I am without a companion; I am heart-sick and life-sick—but what then? I shall find again all that I have lost, and more, and more blessedly. Sorrows, as storms, bring down the clouds close to the earth; sorrows bring heaven down close; and they are instruments of cleansing and purifying. Beecher.
— Beecher
The point
After thirty-five years comforting mourners, Beecher declares hope of heaven is the only true consolation for grief, comparing it to a bird flown from an earthly tree that still sings in the tree of life.