Page:The Other Life.djvu/109

 honor. Homer has continued to sing and Cicero to speak and Bacon to philosophize and Addison to write; but the works which gave them their terrestrial fame are but the scribblings of childhood in comparison with the labors of their spiritual life, which, will charm the ears and gladden the hearts of their angelic friends for ever.

In view of all these beautiful things, how silly and vain is the pride of learning, the pomp of philosophy and the pretensions of science, with which we strut our little hour on the dark stage of this earthly life!

The apparently gifted, wise and eloquent here are not always so hereafter. They are sometimes very stupid, and even imbecile. No wisdom remains with a man after death, except that which corresponds to sweet and heavenly affections flowing from the love of God and the neighbor. All else is evanescent; mere shadow and fantasy. The pure and humble are always wise and brilliant in the light of heaven. In that kingdom, the last in this world are frequently the first.