Thy life from mine.’
“We are eternally one, belovèd. Time is made up of uncertainties; not so Eternity. ‘Lord, Thou hast been our Dwelling Place in all generations.’ When we pass out of Time, we just go home again to that safe Dwelling Place. We are so safe in Eternity.
“And our love, yours and mine, being eternal, we shall find one another again. Don’t think of me as dead. Think of me as more vividly alive than ever; yours still; always wholly, utterly yours.
“But, my belovèd, however hard you find it to bear the sudden silence, however much you long for just one word, one sign—never turn to a spiritualistic medium, or to spiritualism in any form. I hold that thing to be a most damnable device of the Devil’s for bamboozling the minds of men; leading stricken hearts to believe they are holding converse with their Dead, when, in reality, demons intervene and whisper foolish nothings, till they trap the soul, confuse the mind, and wreck the moral and spiritual life. Better a holy silence, than a lying whisper. Better a parting bravely borne in faith and patience, than an attempt to bridge the chasm by forbidden means.
“Yet we may meet again on earth, if it be God’s will for us, before we spend our great Eternity together. We have often talked of this. You know how firmly we believe that we have met before, in other times, in other climes; that we have lived and loved, striven together, risen together to God’s great purposes of fresh development. We may yet meet again in Time; find each other, know each other; ‘rise, on stepping-stones of our dead selves, to higher things.’ Many adventures into Time may be necessary to our full completion for Eternity. Remember all we have said of this subject, and do not think of Death as the end. It is but a passing on to fuller life, to fresh beginnings, to greater opportunities.
“Of course we must bear in mind that all this is necessarily speculative. We cannot dogmatise upon uncertainties. Ideas of our own concerning the future state can be but theoretical. The only certainties are to be found in Divine revelation, and our theories, if they are worth anything, will harmonise with the Word of God.
“However, two great certainties I leave you to cling to in your loneliness:—Our eternal Dwelling Place is in the love of God; and our own perfect love remains to us eternally. Wherever I may be while you read this, I am loving you still, with my whole being; I am all your own, and I hold you mine for ever.
“Now I will lock away this letter with my will and other papers. Please God, it may be fifty years before your dear eyes rest upon it. The fact that I have written it, lifts from me the dull weight of vague apprehension.
“As I sit writing in the Oak Room, you lie in our chamber overhead, with our little one in your arms. Your precious life has been spared, and a new life has been given. Heaviness endured for a night, but joy came in the morning. You have come safely through this dreaded ordeal. Why should I apprehend an unknown danger?
“So I will put away all apprehension with this letter, and go up to the radiance of your smile and the glad certainty which is mine when I clasp you closely in my arms, my wife, my own!