Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1870-12-20
rus InnoRrALlrY OF TnE
rCompilcd frsm Z Lecture by Ralph Waldo End
~ erson.l N X

- d
tCaupilod frsn . Lecture by RALPH Waldo En-:
The Egyptian people furnish ps the
earliest historical details Of an Sstab-
tiished civilization, In the secondboo
! of Herodotus, In these memorable
words 1.-The Egyptians are the first
| of mankind who have affirmed the I'M
mortality of the soul.'f The 'souldocs
not age with.the body On the borders
| of the grave the wise man looks for
ward with equaf elasticity Of mind md
hope, and why not after millions OF
Years on the verge Of still newer ex-
| istence? for it's the nature of iptelli7
gent beings to- be forever new to hfes
Sappho, the ancient Greek poetess, in
sisted that TO- die was a N evil, the gods
having so decided, since, hgd 1t not
been SO, they would themselveS have
| died. In the same spirit the Old com.
incubator of Herodotils, Of the book of
rhelia, sid: "God, having tasted, the
sweet Of eternity, occasions him to de-
mean himself So obviously nit" Then
we shoaldSay with Schiller, what Is so
universal as, death must be a benefit,
A friend Of Michael Angelo, saying to
him that his constant labor for art
must make him think Of death with re-
greet. by no MEANS" he answered
Sfor If life will be a pleasure, yet,
since death also is sent blythe hand of
the same Master, neither should that
displease u.s."
All great natures are lovers OF sta
bility and pernianence as the type OF
the Eternal. The mind delights In I'M
meuse time, delights IN rocks. metals.
mountain chains, in the evidence Of
vast geological periods which these
give, In the old age Of trees. a few OF
Which will span the whole history OF
mankind; Delights In architecture
Whose buiidingslas so long. We wish
to live for what Is great, no Tor what
II mean. QlDo 2aN'S n.'''
Lord Bacon said some of, the phllos-
ophers who were least divine denied
generally the Immortality of the soul,
Vet came to this point with whatsoever
motious the spirit OF man could net
aud perform, without the organs OF
the body might revive AFTER death,
which were only those Of, the under-
standing, and not Of the affections, so
Immortal Il thing did knowledge seem
to them to be. So far, Lord Bacon.
and then Helmont. the philosopher of
| Holland. drew his sufficient proof
purely from tho intellect. Who has
not said. ~ know my soul Is immOr-
tal?" 1t Il a perception that comes by
the activity Of tire intellect, never to
the lazy or rusty mind. Read Milton,
Shakespeare or any truly ideal poetry
read Plato or any seer Of the Interior
realities; read st. Augustine read
Swedenborg, Bishop, Butler, Emanuel
Kant ; talk with any mind which can
codify the moral laws; simply recite
TO the ear of thoughtful men the sub.
stantial laws of the intellect. aud You
will never question. The bost Of books
is, perhaps, the feeling Of Immortality
which they awaken. The very names
of eminent scholars and poets devoted
to ure literature suggest Ideas Of vast
leisure, new conditions Of existence.
40 me-. said the German Goethe,
"thc eternal existence of my soul Is
proved from my idea Of activity. If |
work necessarily till my DEATH nature
is found to give me another form OF
existence, when the present can no
longer sustain my spirit" :,
The saying of Marcus Antonius!i 1t
were hard to mend; we all know It:
ut we're well to die If there be gods,
and sad to live IL there BIZ Phl-
tarrh, In Greece, fully accepting the
faith of his colntHmen as pagans,
himself for many years the High Priest
OF Apollo IN his own city, has Il deep
faith in the doctrine Of the Divine Pro-
violence, and that of the Immortality
of the soul. and that they rest on one
and the same basis, the two. The Epi-
clreanS. who held that the soul per-
ishes with the body were odlolls to
him. Milton anticipated ~Swedenborg
when hs wrote in the paradise Lost"
these words: EI1g.I .r sTs aaN'
what II earth be but the shadow Of heaven,
The things therein each to the otaer like,
More than on Garth 10 thought
Montesquieu, one Of the most pro-
found minds. certainly, that France
has ever produced, writes thus "lf
the Immortality of the soul were an.
error, I should be sorry not to believe
It.. vow, that l am not so humble rs
the Atheists. / know not how they
think, but for me l do not wish to ex-
change the idea Of immortality against
that of the beatltuds OF, one day.
Franklin said: life is rather a state
of embryo, a preparation for life; u
man Is not completely born till he has
passed. through DEATH" .
/, immortality only an intellectual
quality, only in energy, there being
no passive? He has it and he alone
who gives life to all names, persons,
things, where he comes. No religion,
not the mildcst mythology dies for
him; he WHITES what. he touches.
There is nothing capriciUus In nature.
In nature the %inlplanting of 4 desire
indicates that the qualification Of that
desire Is in the constitution OF that
creature that feels II. Fthere Is a de-
sire to live In a larger sphere, or with
with more knowledge and power,itb
because life and knowledge aud power
are good for us. and We are the IA
tional repositories Of such things. A
IuLuTC SIult 10 MI liiN-iNIi Wv '
present state, 1t isn't length Of life,
but depth Of life; It isn't duration,
but a taking Of the soul ont Of time.
The spiritual world takes place, the
ever-present, that which Is always the
same. 1t IL strange that Jesus Is os-
teened by mankind the bringer Of the
doctrine OF Immortality. He Is never,
once weak + sentimental he never.
breaches tile personality Of iminor-
tality. rrE As5aa ...
All great natures delight in stabil-
ity all great men find eternity at
tirmed in the very promise of their
faculties. Life Is not long enough for
art, nor long enough for friendship:
The evidence from intellect Is rs valid
as the evidence from love. The being
that can share II thought and feeling
so sublime as confidence In truthiSruo
mushroom; u dissatisfaction With
any other solution is the blazing evil
| dence of the Immortality.
A MYSTERIOUS DEATH. Between
| eight and nine o'clock last evening.
Charles Is. Trafton was taken suddenly
an whilo riding I'm car No.. Y or n