Pondering Ecclesiastes 9:5

"Sternly the grave closes its heavy portals against every attempt to catch a glimpse of the unknown beyond.
---Science proves itself a fool on this momentous question.
---The imagination breaks down;
---and the human mind, unaided, sinks into a melancholy, but well-grounded, despair.

*God must tell us, or we can never know what lies beyond this state
of existence, till we experience it for ourselves. He who has placed us here, must Himself make known to us His purposes and His will, or we are forever in the dark.

Prominent upon the pages of inspiration, we see pointed out the great distinction which God has put between right and wrong,
---the rewards he has promised to virtue,
---and the punishment he has threatened against sin;
*we find it revealed that but few, comparatively, will be saved, while the great majority of our race will be lost...." 

Uriah Smith

For the living know that they shall die:
but the dead know not any thing...
Ecclesiastes 9:5