The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1877-09-11

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LIVE ON FOREVER.
Not enc Of these forms will Of itself per.
ish from the earth. How wonderful,
how SubIime,-ii you please, how mys.
terious,-is life! How infinite IN wis.
dom and power must 10 that Almighty
Creator from whose hand that life issued
Geology has taught us-at least such 10
the doctrine Of many acientlsu-that, in
the vast cycle Of ages through which the
world has passed since vegetable and ami.
NAL life first appeared upon itB surface,
every form Of that life has probably per-
iShed in those terrible castastrophes.
whose history is written upon the rocks
and within the beetling crags Of the most
lofty mountains, everywhere on the face
OF the earth. But, when thesoHconvul-
sions were over, another era Of stability
was marked by the appsaring-is 1t not
more rsyerent to say BY the creation?-of
vast numbers Of new beings, whose struc-
ture was in some respects similar TO
that Of the plants and animals OF the
previous period, but adapted to their ex.
istance and welfare in the new order Of
things then existing upon the planet. OF.
ten new forms were introduced, which,
in subsequent changes, we're found ID be
more or less perfect as the earth approach.
ed that condition in which We now find it.
And It may be doubted whether any one,
who has thoroughly studied the forces
constantly in action, but providentialIy
In the main carefully balanced, in the
earth and The heavens, is prepared to as.
sert that
ANOTHER BREARISa.UP
OF the earth's crust may not again destroy
every living thing; new continents rise
from the depths Of the ocean; and new,
perhaps more perfect beings than proud
man himself 30 created 10 people, to
su6due, and TO bless the new earth, form.
ed from the elements which now surround
ia. That such changes have again and
again occurred is, with many leading
minds, one Of the cardinal principals Of
Geology; and, judging from the past, it ia
about safe to conclude that they may
agian visit the world at some near, or
may be very remote, period in its history.
The word life, as used thu, far in this
discussion, must not be conlounded with
sPirit,-the soul Of man. By life is hero
meant that which is common to him and to
all living things,-that force which lives
and moves in him and In them. When once
that life has begun 10 the individual, it
grows on more or less rapidly to maturi-
~; and, having done that in one or many
rqsaH u nrSJ1nIIv laa,,n anil H., H.,
the life which pervaded i! lives on its
progeny, and so on sgain in other like
beings,
FOREVER.
True, hybrids may sometimes be produ.
ced from species nearly related in s!ruct.
ure; but, in most species, and in all gen
era, never. In nearly all cases the by
brids die out after the tirsE generation, =
showing that the Creator vii not tolerate
any permanent interference with the
forms Of life which he has established.
Candor, and the facts and principals
above referred to, require the statement
10 be made, that although, circumstances
remaining the same, all lie will perpet-
uate itself, the fact proves Absolutely
nothing az TO the Immortality OF the indi.
vidual man. In his animal nature he has
no immunity WhSteVer over the beasts
that perish. The origin Of his being is
essentially similar TO that which gives
them lie; he lives and grows, and, like
them, he decays and dies, and his body,
the very perfection Of the Creators handi-
work, in dissolved into It's original ele.
ments. One Of the wisest Of ancient wri.
tiers, speaking OF men and animals, says:
Even enc thing befalleth them: as the
one dieth, 40 dieth the other; yea, they
have all one breath; allgo unto one place;
all are OF the dust, and all turn TO the
dust again" That In this he is speaking
OF the animal life, is evident, for in the
very next sentence he inquiries, "Who
knoweth the spirit OF man that goeth up.
ward, and the spirit Of the beast that
goeth downward 10 the earth?"
Not as religious dogma, but as a fact,
and this Association dev otes itself main.
" TO the collection and the discussion Of
tacs,-it is here stated that belief in
the immortality Of the Uoulmsy be regard.
cd as one Of the
UNIVERSAL INSTINCTS or THE RACE.
That instinct points unmiStakably to the
future life Of the soul. Among nearly all
the tribes and nations Of mankind, be.
lief in future rewards, and generally in
punishments as we'll, Is distinctly held.
Il cannot be that such ioreshadowings are
implanted 10 the human soul by the Gro
ator only to prove mocksry and cheat.
Certainly there is no imposSibility ofthere
being such state Of existence, and many
analogies, as Of the chry.aliS and other
forms Of life, give some foundation for
the belief that the soul does not perish
with the body. Nature, say the philoso-
pliers, makes no mistakes; she inspires
no false intuilions, and, therefore, those
which are general among mankind are
quite Aure In some form 10 be realised.
Now, II 10 these DO added the analogies
drawn from the indestructtbillty Of mat
ter, tho perpetuity Of species and Of veg
etab!e and animal lie, the argument
STRONGLY ooETrRNs,
though it may not perfectly establish,
the doctrine ofthe immortality Of the soul.
That must, from the conditions Of mans
being, remain matter Of faith, but l sub.
NIT that the evidence on which It rests Ia
fully as convincing as that on which the
most learned and the most ignorant ACT
almost every hour Of their lives. The
entire life Of the philosopher, were he TO
live q thousand years, would not suffice
10 enumerate aud explain all tho pheno.
mena on the faith Of whose eontinusnce
man acts when he Iows the seed which he
hopes will grow into new life and ripeu
in the coming year. The SUI, with It's al,
traction, It's liSh. and heat; tho earth and
its wonderful movements; the elements
that mix TO form tho air and the soils; The
development otthose dornsnt forces Thai
. wake up the mysterious principle Of life
AYE, more wonders known and unkno Nr
[ than the wisest and the greatest man "evs,
, dreamed Of in his philosophy all enter
into and inspire that faith on which ht
acts when sowing the seed from which h,
, hOpeB to FeAp the fntnre rYnn T,p. /,