Page:Epitaphs for country churchyards.djvu/16

vi Surely these are not the images which it is best that our graves should present; these are not the thoughts to which death and its accompaniments are intended to draw the mind of the living. The Epitaph is not only meant to dwell upon the sufferings of this corruptible body, but it should remind us that the same body is to be raised incorruptible. It is not only to tell of its being sown in corruption, but it should point forward with the finger of hope to the time when it will be raised in in-corruption. It should not only dwell upon the agony of separation from those who are left, but it should point to the time "when those who sleep in Christ shall God bring with Him," - when "there shall be no more parting." Instead of dwelling on the pain on earth, should it not tell of that land where there is no more pain? Instead of dwelling upon earthly sorrow, should it not look beyond to that land " where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes?" I do not mean that there are not exceptions to this rule and striking exceptions, even in England. Those who have seen the churchyards of Claverton, near Bath, or of Upton St. Leonard's, near Gloucester, will know how different is the impression produced where they are objects of love and care; and those who have walked in the beautiful new churchyard at Highnam, surrounded by its belt of dark Irish yews, cannot but admire the spirit of that founder who, when he built and adorned one