REV. S. S. MITCHELL. 21 



Christian. And while I do this, I must believe that there is a 

 world wider, grander, crystalline above this one, in the eyes of 

 which my ofFeriiig will not be counted the meanest or the smallest 

 of those which crowd and crown this bier to-day. Methinks, even 

 as human hands, after the funeral, select from all the floral offerings 

 some few choice ones which they may embalm and preserve, so will 

 angel hands, after that the world has paid its honors to-day, culling 

 over all the offerings which have been laid upon this princely bier, 

 select the simple token that I now place upon it, and hang high up 

 upon Heaven's walls, this fragrant and imperishable symbol — 

 ^' Joseph Henry, the Christian." For, my hearers, whether 

 there be prophecies, they shall fail; and whether there be knowledge, 

 it shall vanish away; but Faith, Hope, • Charity, — these endure; 

 and character is the man forever and forever. 



Two voices sound out from this occasion, as its highest inspiration 

 and noblest lesson. First, a pure heart, a good life — a heart 

 touched by the love of Christ," and a life bowing in loyalty to 

 him, — these easily unite the profoundest thought and the simplest 

 faith. We hear much about the conflict between science and 

 religion, chiefly, we must believe, from those who are young in 

 science or ignorant of religion ; but, in reality, there is no necessary 

 clashing. Obedience, character, — this is the amalgam which easily 

 and forever unites the two. 



Secondly, how beautifully the truth and fact of human immor- 

 tality supplements and crowns the human life! The career of 

 earth, imperfect as it must always be, demands the hypothesis of a 

 future existence, and from this hypothesis receives completeness 

 and symmetry — 



"Even as the arches of the bridge ' 



Are rounded in the stream." 



That great mind, clear, strong, vigorous on Sunday noon, is it at 

 an end now? Is it nothing, now? Is it dispersed through the 



