LATER WORKS AND FRIENDSHIPS 157 



of a hereafter." " I dare not, and do not/' he 

 wrote, " affirm that they have ; but I do say, ' Why 

 should it be thought a thing incredible that God 

 should raise the dead in the case of the animal 

 creation any more than in that of men ? God, 

 in whose hand is the soul of every living thing 

 and the breath of all mankind.' " The author's 

 mind is well reflected in the following striking 

 passage : 



" It is therefore of God that there is something 

 solemn in the death of every living creature. No 

 one can watch without any emotion the eye glazing 

 in death of a faithful dog, the mild look of a dying 

 bird, or the expiring throb of a wounded animal. 

 Who can avoid the thought that something is going 

 away which he cannot bring back, nor any power 

 of his then stay, even for a while, the departure of ? 

 And if it be some long-known and favourite com- 

 panion, conspicuous, perhaps, for fidelity, affection, 

 and sagacity, whose bodily life is ebbing away, who 

 is there who can resist the thought that he is not 

 parting with the dying creature for ever, but that 

 the same Creator who gave the spirit, and now 

 commands it to return, will one day restore it, and 

 bid it live again, or rather will never allow it really 

 to die ? It is repulsive to our natural feeling to 

 think that anything in the nature of spiritual life 

 can be annihilated." 



He referred again to this subject in a characteristic 

 sermon he preached in York Minster on May 9, 

 1886. This sermon was afterwards published under 



