Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1851-06-21
hEArhEN TRADITIONS OF THE AFTER

| LIFE.
i"o traditions and opinions of mankind
concerning The stale after death, have apart
from written revelation, so grea, a uniformi.
~, that the candid enquirer mpst of neoes.;-
ty attribute them 10 one foun,ain.b ua
may' II he pleases, call this the voice of ma.
| ture but the voice Of nature either meon.
the voice OF God, or it means nothing.
The Egyptians represented the soul a,
brought after death, into the presence of i,s
Judge, attended by accusing, and approving
spirits. The Greek mythology, which was
Likewise adopted by their imiiators in eve.
rything, the Romans, carried the soul acros.
The river Styx, in the boat of Charon, 10 the
bar of three righteous judges, under whose
award it passed to an appropriate abode,
according 10 lis works on earth,- those
"Who suffered wounds
In fighting for their country's cause and priests
Who kept THEN souls unspotted whilst their lives
Endured and pious bards who warblcd strains
Did honor to Apollo those who polished
Life by invented arts and such as made
Ihslr memories dear to others by the deeds
OF goodness"
were admitted 10
"Thc realms Of Joy,
Delightful haunts Of never-fadiug green
The blessed seats in groves OF happiness
Where ether more diusiye robes the fields
In purple glory"
llefe they gave themselves up TO the more.
rational pleasures of our nature, following, at
the same time, such paths TO happiness, and
such occupations, as had been dear to them,
in life. But the wicked were cast down into.
hell, place inhabited by care, sorrow, dis
ease, want, fear, hunger, toll, sc, and in
which
"An hundred tongues,
An hundred mouths, and speech W iron lungs
Inspired, could not enum-rae the numes
OF all their punsInens"
The Scandinavians taught that the brave
were to revel forever in the halls Of ValhaIla,
and drink mead, Offered them by maidens,
from the skulls of their enemies. Some Of
the Pagan Arabs said, that of the blood near
the brain a bird was formed which once in.
a century visited the sepulchre and others.
believed reaumcctiCn. 4he first natives of
this continent seen by the Spaniards taught
that the souls of good men went TO pleas.
ant valley, whore all kinds of fruits were
abundant and that he dead walked;
abroad in the night and feasted with the
living. CharevOix says, that the Indians,
paid great regard 10 dreams, as embracing
an intercourse with spirits. They imagined
paradise in the West, a land where nature
glowed with an eternal sunset. The Mexi-
cans supposed three places for the departed
the House of the Sun, for such as fell in bat
tie, or died cap,ives and women who perish
in chiid.bed the place of the God Of
Water, for the drowned, for children, and
for those who died of dropsy, tumors, and
! similar diseases, or Of accidental wounds :;
and the place of darkness, in the centre of
the earth. The Patagonians in mentioning
the dead, call them those who are with
God, and out Of the world. The Tongo
people suppose the souls Of their dead chiefs
10 be in delightful island of shadows
The Yucatanese represent the abode of tho
good as a pleasant land Of plenty under the
shade Of a mighty tree. The Chickasawa
! believed ,ha, the souls of red men walked
up and down near the place were they
died. or were laid and said that they had
often heard cries and noises where prisoners
had been burned The Indians of Cumana
supposed echo to be the voice Of the depart
ed Ii was common belief OF the Indians
Of America, that the spirits of the slain
haunted their tribe ill they were avenged.