Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-01-10

CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
[OrIginal.]
ETERNITY.


What a word is eternity Think Of it.
The more we think of it, the less, it seems,
we know about it. What can we know Of
that which has no beginning, no middle and
no end ? We can count time by moments, by
hours, by months, by years, by centuries. by
millions of centuries but what is million Of
centuries when compared with eternity2 1t
is less than the small dust on the beam of the
balance 1t is nothing. Who can estimate
the amount of duration which is expressed by
the word forever Before such problem
the mind shrinks back in confusion. Bewil-
dered, the mind refuses to act since it can
find nothing to act on. No date with which
to commence the calculation. Eternity !!
Eternity!! Forever and forever!
Where are we 10 spend eternity? This is
the question that concerns us all. 1t matters
something, but not much, where we spend
time. 1t may be in miserable hovel, or 1t
may be in grand palace; but this will not
be the case long. Time to US will, in a few
years, be no more, and then we will cease to
dwell either in novels or palaces Where will
we spend eternity is the inquiry which con-
Germs US all. Shall we cease to be? No,
responds the word of God. "Dust thou art,
to dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul"
Shall we slumber in the grave2 No. The
grave shall one day give up its dead. Where
shall these souls that now inhabit these tene-
ments of clay spend eternity?
There are but two places. There is a
heaven of ineAable bliss and hell of indes-
cribable woe. Either in heaven or hell we
shall spend eternity. We may say there is
no heaven and no hell. This will not make
what we say true. The fool says, in his heart
there is no God; but this declaration of the
fool is contradicted by everything in nature
God, in his word, says there is hell, and in
his providence he gives all his intelligent
creatures many partial demonstrations of the
fact There is both heaven and hell, and
in one or the other of these places we shall
spend eternity.
We need not inquire how we shall spend
eternity. In the great majority OF cases, we
shall spend eternity just as we spend time. 1t
will be change of scenes and circumstances,
but not change of individuals. A portion
of the human family will spend eternity in
pleasing God, whilst another portion will
spend it in SHINING There will be this great
difference between time and eternity. In
time there is something material to crafty
sinful lusts in eternity there will be none OF
these material objects. The worm will never
die in hell, and the fire will never be quench-
ed. Morbid appetites will continue to exist,
but in hell there will be nothing to appease
them even for moment. The drunkard
will have his thirst for strong drink, but there
will be no strong drink in hell the lecherous
man will burn with lust, but there will be no
paramours in hell. In heaven the same love
of God which was implanted in the heart on
earth, will continue to glow. 1t will be pure
love-untrammeledl love. Its object will ever
be present. Where shall we spend eternity?
Shall it be in heaven with God and holy an.
gels and redeemed men, or shall it be in hell
with lost spirits?