Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1867-10-12


as for lis sufaFinCs in view of death we
must have deeper sympathy. The
master spirits Of the ancient world slrug-
gled hard with the problem Of iulurity.
lis wise men and philosophers, such as
had they lived in our day would have
been The s.. Pauls, or the Lord Bacons,
and Bishop Buffers, of Christianity, felt
as kecnly as We the pangs Of separation
from those whom they loved and toiled
through all The depths Of intellect and Of
learning 70 find remedy and found none.
The deeper ;hey searched tie more dis
tfessing !heir doubts, and all which was
beyond death grew more dim as they re-
ceded further and further from that light
which had been received by tradition ill
all was night, Socrates held the immor-
tality Of the soul and taught Ii as doc
trine. Plato, his disciple, man o. great
er genius, upon specializing moro deeply,
alternately doubted and. believed, while
Aristotle, who was lis disciple and
greater genius than either, seems not to
have believed il al all. So that as 10 any
comfort or hope when this earthly scene
dissolved ,hey had none, and said they
had none.
IhSve myself seen and read the records
of their despair engraved upon the tombs
in Greece which have been there from
before the Christian Era. There was
sculplured upon the marble tie mourning
lamily-the mother holding the children
by The hand in posluTes Of grief with
words engraved beneath the import Of
which was iha, the separation was final.
Hope or comfort, ihego was none. When
they parted from iheiT dead upon the
stores Of time, they sent their piercing
cies alter them into tie darkness, buI
there was no voice in reply or any that
regarded.
The Roman intellec; more robust than
the Greek, as it was also more deiermin-
ed, reundeuook this problem Of future
life, and If you would know with what
success read the consolatory Letter which
the Roman philosopher wrote TO Cicero
upon tie death OF his daughter, or Cice
ro's own eloquent work DO NatuIa De
Drum" in which after arguing conclusive
ly as The reader would suppose the i'm
mortality Of tic soul, gathers from bis
own argument this melancholy conclu-
sion-"it may possibly bs So But
suppose il TO be so--anA that tie spirits
Of friends survive under those numerous
Delies o. Tie Invisible world which are
also supposed 10 bear rule over This;
what could be hoped for from their pro-
tecucu or from their society, when under
the received anthology, it must have
uccu perceived that the best "f the Gods
were surpassed IN virtue by viruous men.
JudGiua by humsn events under their
providence there was no profit in serving
them. The good Of Tins world hesitaied
no; to charge them with injustice and
caprice. The admirers OF Cato deemed
il The sub..mity Of virtue in him that he
adhered to the true and the good, though
abandoned by unrigh!eous heaven.
"Vic:riX causa Placuit, Diis-sed Victa
Caloni."
What then had the good 10 hope
for under their authority in another world
but a renewal Of The conflict with the su.
pcror powers Of injustice which had op.
pressed them in ibis ! And hence il was
that the uoblest Of them passeG out OF life
either perpleyci and mourning or with the
demeanor Of men resolved upon summon
ing the Gods to judgment for the msfor.
tunes which had beialen them in this
world, 0 death how dreadful mustthy sum
mons be to The most yiIsuous heros Of a
false religion, though they escape the
sentence CT lis internal judges. Miuos,
Radamanlhus and 4Facus to whose ven
geanco healhenism itself consigned the
wicked.
How different the faith Of one infinite
ly righteous Ruler, roiguipg supreme
over both worlds and VINO has pledged
himself that oil the wrongs OF earth shall
hereafter be adjudcated according 10 the
principles Of eternal justice!
But our theme is also the vantage ground
which Christianity gives us in contrast
with Judaism, which though an infinite
advance upon idolalry, or even the pa
triarchal religion did no, bring life and
immorality TO light. know that learn
cd critics and commentators have labored
hard to show tha, the doctrine of future
life is revealed in the Old Testament
doubt not they have succeeded, bu! the
very fact that such labors are deemed ne
cessary shows how exceedingly dim
the light Of Judaism was. And hence
the language Of dependency uttered by
Hezekiah and others in prospect Of death,
and the gloomy pictures drawn bv the
ancient prophets of the regions beyond the
grave, and even David in whom the re-
ligion Of the Old Testament comes 10 its
highest realization, if you will listen 10 his
harp, says Lord Bacon, you shall hear as
many hearsc like sounds as carols.
Consequently when the very saints of
that dispensation approached the confines
of eternity 50 freely Illuminated, il was
rather an implicit than en- cCPiicii faith
which sustained them.
But close the OLD Testament AMI open
Il o New and al once you are in differ