Definitions HQ

Afterlife (n.) concerns ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠men less than the present life: they think the smallest evil here more important than the greatest there.

Afterlife (n.) of ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠every stupid clown who ever lived in Scythia or Guinea, alongside Agamemnon and Nero — can a scrutiny of nature support so strange a claim?

Afterlife (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠professed by all and believed by few: the vulgar are infidels in their hearts, as the prodigious security with which they face eternity shows.

Afterlife (n.) lies ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠behind death, which stands between the eye and the prospect of futurity and throws a gloom on everything beyond it — so popular religion fills it with Cerberus, Furies and fire.

A Afterlife (n.) of ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠infinite and eternal rewards should move us more than finite ones — but our attachment to present things and indifference to the remote and uncertain says otherwise.

A Afterlife (n.) fails ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠to be believed not because it is far off but because it resembles nothing in this life — men still care fiercely what happens after death to their name, family and country.

Afterlife (n.) would ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠make nature a barbarous deceit if it were real: confining all our concern and knowledge to this life while a scene of infinitely greater consequence awaits.