Monongalia mirror. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1855, 1852-05-01
IIMMORTALITY.
NY MAS SSTLLON.

If we wholly perish with the body
what all imposluro is this whole sys-
tenn Of laws, manners and usages, on
which human society is founded =
If we wholly perish with the body,
these maxims of charity, patience,
justice, honor, gratitude and friend
ship, which ssgcs have taught and
good men have practiscd, what are
they but empty words, possessing no
real, binding efficacy? Why should
we heed them if in this life only we
have hopoa Speak not of duty. Wha,
can we owe to the dead, to the living
to ourselves, if all are, or wiH bc no
thing? Who shall dictate our duty,
if not our own pleasures-if not oul
own passions Speak not of mortal
ity. 1t is a nero chimera, bugbear
of human invention, ifretribution ter.
inmate with the grave.
If wo must wholly perish, what to
us are the sweet ties Of kindred :
what the tender names ofparentchi
sister, brother, husband, wife, or
friend2 The characters Of a drama
are not more Elusive. We have no
ancestors, no descendants since sue.
cession cannot be predicated of no.
thingncss. Would we honor the il
lustrious dead? How absurd to hon.
or that which has no existence =
Would we take thought for posterity !
How frivolous to concern ourselves
for those whose end, like our own,
must soon be annihilation! Have we
made a promisel How can it bind
nothing to notliug2 Perjury is but a
Jest. The last injunctions of the dy.
ing-what sanctity have they, more
than the last sound of a chord that is
snapped, of an instrument that is bro
kent
To sum up all: If we must wholly
perish, then is obedience to the laws
bat an iusensate servitude rulers and
magistrates are but the phantoms
which popular imbecility has raised
up; Justice is an unwarrantable in.
fringement upon the liberty ofmen-
an imposition, usurpation; the law
ofmarriage is vain scruple; modes
ty, prejudice; honor and probity,
such stuff as drums are made Of; and
incests, murders, parricides, tho most
heartless cruelties, and the blacklist
crimes, are but the legitimate sports
of mans irresponsible nature; while
the harsh epithets attached to them
are merely such as the policy oflegis.
lators has invented and imposed on
the credulity of the people.
Here is the issue to which thevaunt.
ed philosophy Of unbelievers and
scoffesrs must inevitably lead! Here
is that social felicity. that sway of rea.
son, that emancipation from error, Of
which they etcrnally prate, as the fruit
of their doctrines Accept their max
inns, and the whole world falls back
into frightful chaos; and all the re, e.
lations Of life are confounded; and all
ideas Of vice and virtue are reversed;
and the most inviolable laws of soeie-
ty vanish; and all moral discipline
perishes; and the government OF
states and nations has no longer any
cement to uphold iti and all the har'
mony of the body polite becomes dis
cord; and the human race is no more
than an assemblage Of reckless barba-
rians, shameless, remorseless, brutal,
denaturalized, with no other law than
force, no other check than passion. no
other bond than irreligion, no other
God than self! Such would be the
world which impiety would make
Such would be this world, were be.
lief in God and Immortality to die out
of the human heart.