WHAT COMES NEXT

To die is landing on some silent shore
Where billows never break, nor tempests roar;
Ere well we feel the friendly stroke, ’tis o’er.
—Sir Samuel Garth (1661–1719)

I shall hear in heaven.
—Attributed last words of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Not all the subtleties of metaphysics can make me doubt a moment of the immortality of the soul, and of a beneficent providence. I feel it, I believe it, I desire it, I hope it, and will defend it to my last breath.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)

Earth is the land of the dying: we must extend our prospect into heaven, which is the land of the living.
—Bishop George Horne (1730–1792)

It is impossible that anything so natural, so necessary and so universal as death, should ever have been designed by Providence as an evil to mankind.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)

Let us consider, beloved, how the Lord continually shows us that there shall be a future resurrection, of which He has made our Lord Jesus Christ the first fruits. Let us contemplate the resurrection that takes place every season before our eyes. Day and night declare a resurrection to us. The night lies down, and the day arises; again the day departs, and the night comes on. Let us behold the fruits of the earth. The seed is sown. It fell into the earth dry and naked; in time it dissolves; and from the dissolution the power of the Lord raises it again; and of one single seed many arise and bring forth fruit.
—Saint Clement of Rome (d. 99)

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John 11:25 ESV / Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

John 5:24 ESV / Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Luke 23:43 ESV / And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”