Weekly Trinity journal., 1876-04-08
THE HOPE OF IMMORTALITY.

The geologist, looking upward from
the bed of the Colorado to the summit Of
the towering walls which form its won
derful canyons, knows that the water
which ripples at his feet so gently is the
agency which has hewn out of the solid
rock this rivers sublime channel. Foot
by foot, for thousands of feet up the tow
ering height, he scans and reads its work
through almost countless ages /; all the
way up, every rock, every pebble, every
seam and chasm, tells its story ebb and
flow, sunshine and storm, in the days
which seem to fade away backward into
eternity.
C'ambering upwards he finds fossil
form, cold and dead as the stone of its
martrx, which lived not less than hun
dred thousand years ago. With ham
mer and chisel he cuts it from the solid
rock, and finds the mark of care and cum
ming skill and traces of creative wisdom
still living in their stony epitaph of death.
At every graduation of his ascent he finds
way marks Of the dead ages, all speak
ing the same story Of life which once was,
but is no more. Every toilsome step up
ward brings him nearer to sunshine and
living forms which are not fossils until at
last he is out of the som6re realm of
shadows, where the sunlight falls upon
him, and his heart beats strong with the
knowledge he has wrested from the grave
of ages. out OF which he has emerged,
and with n hope grown into faith, like
the warm sunshine poured upon him,
that life is as immortal in the future as
in the past. Only the forms in which it
tarried for season are dead, their work
being dore is serving as foot-marks for
the upward journey, until he finds in the
mental and spiritual being God made as
his grandest work its native immortality.
History is the canyon hewed out by the
river of time. and on the walls which
the waves have receded from we find
many beautiful fossils from which may
be learnd the lesson of Immortality. Pick
this out with hammer and chisel and put
it among your treasures, and when doubts
and fears darken your mind, and you
crave other than the teachings of theolo-
gy, derkened by the disputes of sects, to
keep your faith, it will help you.
In the beautiful drama of lion " the
hope of Immortality so eloquently utter
cd by the death devoted Greek finds deep
response in every thoughtful soul. When
about to yield his young existence to a
relentless fate, his betrothed, in despair
ing agony asked him : "Shall we meet
again?" Like ray oflight still CLEANS his
answer from the gloom Of the past:
81 have asked that dreadful question
OF the hills that seemed eternal of the
clear streams that flow forever Of the
stars whose field of azure my soul has
walked in glorious visions all, all were
dumb as ! gaze upon thy living face
know there is something in the love shin
ing through its beauty that cannot perish
We shall meet again, Clemantho."
Yes, love like that cannot loso its
beauty and fragrance as withered rose ;
it cannot be buried in the grave. 1t is nm
abiding promise of Immortality. Without
it the universe would perish, and in it,
MS in mirror, we see the likeness of God,
for God is love. In all nations and climes
il has written its lesson Of Immortality
upon the stormy shores of time-a lesson
of priceless hope.