The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1862-02-05
How tOng will You Live.
] GU will I've forever.

on VIII i've forever
There are no dead. The blow which
struck asunder the body and spirit did not
the spirits life And 60 the countless
myriads of the past, whose dust have
loug since mingled with the soil, "sull
live T" The men, women aud children OF
NoRh's day, and Abraham's and David S
the motley tribes that herded beneath
the crescent of the Arabian prophet
the swarns of Goth and Hun. Tartar and
Nandal, that swept the plains of the
Eastern world-the red men that roamed
the forests of the Western world, and left
in mounds and tree grown ruins the dim
history of their earthly existence-ali
these are yet alive They cannot die.
Immortality is their birthright and iu-
heritance With their first breath of life
they inhaled immortality.
You, too, are henceforth eternal The
life you have begun Is an endless life
You have only crossed the threshold
The countless ages lie before YOU stretch
I'd ont In immeasureable distance When
you have trod the paths Of those years or
millions of years which you can reckon
up, there will be before you as many
more, fresh and new like the frst-and
so on for ever aud ever As traveller
can discern his pathway winding among
the bills till far off on the horizon it
seems to end, but when be reaches the
place there stretches the pathway again
away to the hilltop--so will the ages of
your endless life lie before you ever the
same, age following age. cycle following
cycle, till all your powers of computation
aud measurement have been bottled and
silenced-and yet you have scarce be-
gun, The never ending eternity stretches
just as far ahead as when you took the
tirst step of the journey.
How long will you live? You will
live forever. And your life there will
depend on your life here. Every day.
as you complete it, will re-appear IN the
years TO come-eVery hour, every mo-
ment. as il hurries on its wav, leaves a
page to be read before tle throne. Ey-
cry word, every act, every thought aud
feeling of your heart records itself iruper-
ishably in the memory of Oue who never
forgets. You are writing your life for
eternity.
III gallery in Paris hangs q famous
picture by Murillo of an old Spanish
monk seated at his desk He had begun
the chronicle of his life. Death had
summoned him before the work was doue /;
but he had sought and ob,ained leave tc
return to earth and finish it. You see
in the monks pale face more than nat.
ural energy. Those sunken eyes had
looked beyond the vel" ard cleame
with the visions of eternity The soul
within has communed with the unseen
world, and beheld face to face Him who
is invisible" And the solemn task is
renewed with the e,,rDestness of one who
hes passed the fading scenes of time, and
is absorbed in the realities beyond.
So let the record Of your lie be writ
ten as in tue light Of eternity. Look
beyond. and see the unuiterable things
which shall soon surround you when you
stand before your Judge Behold your
endless life-your speedy departure. Q
needless soul, [ adjure you to prepare for
that eternity-and write row such life
record of faith in Jesus Christ, and ODE
dient service towards him, that you may
read it in eternity with Joy.