The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1879-01-09
For the Brookhavsn Ledger,
Is Death an Enemy?
1.-The last enemy that shall be destroyed /
death?"

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed
deathY"
Can any one tell what Paul meant by
the destruction Of death? What II
death9 A man, an angel, beast, or
demon, materialized idea, or mere
negative, as darkness of light, cold OF
heart, or sileHte of sound. Is death
an enemy? Was it inflicted in the
spirit retributive vengeance, or bounds
less mercy? Was it vengeance or mercy
that placed the flaming sword i'll the
hand Of the angel 20 guard the inter
dicted tree. and thereby limit the dura-
tion of sin and suffering.
Who, on retrospecting life OF threo
score years, were it possible for memory
to retain, or recall. all the painful incl
dents and physical sufferings in their
original force aud intensity without the
sustaining and cheering Influence OF
hope, would not prefer even annihala-
ton, however terrible thought, to
duplicate of such experience Indefinite
ly pfolonged?
1t is hope, and hope alone, Which eu-
ables humanity, to bear its itihefent,
and conconiitant ills. He'll would
need no fire, to make it place of tor
ment, if devoid of hopes.
1t was mercy that posted the cteru~
BIN at the gates of Eden, to guard TIM
way OF the tee of life, and directed
the despairng eyes of tn blnishe1
culprit to the bow of future promise.
How emphatic and full of meaning arc
the words of divine inspiration? "Eeat
he put forth his hand and take OF the
tree of life, and eat, and live forever"
For sometime previous 60 our late
epidemic, my mind was profoundly e9.
ercised on the subject of the destitu>
tion and mental and physical sufferings
of our people, with an occasional far
off glance at the frightful suferipgs of
the famine-stflcken millions of the
east; and with all the hopefulness of
my nature | could not decide that aver
age human life was blessing Aud in
the midst of our::great calamity-when,
in the language of DIR. Young, death,
whose restless iron tongue was calling
for millions at meal, Il had no tears
for the innocent victims of his rapacious
appetite, nor shall l ever be able to re
ioice with others at Tie birth of infants,
until the light of eternity reveals more
clearly the object of their being And
yet, have had, and still have, rea-
sonable share of what are called the
good things of life.
Paul was too profoundly learned to
have been mistaken in the nature of
death, ,but like Greeks, with whose
philosophy ha was deeply imbued who
could transform passion. or emotion,
into God and endow it with divine Mt.
tributes. SO Paul. by kind of moral
alchemy, could transmute an idea into
an entity, and so materialze the
thought as accommodating the popular
perception. 1t must not be overlooked
in this connection, that even Paul, who
characterized death as an enemy, says
of himself, "For me to die is gain.
Could we separate the good and evil.
the JOY and sorrow. the pain and pleas
ure of IN ordinary life experience, and
place them in opposite scales capable
of ascertaining their relative proper
tions, the result would it1duoe us, BY
universal acclamation, to adopt the
sentiment of the Apostle, "For me to
die is gain.
And were it possible for us to avoid
the conviction that death is a mete neg
ative of animal life, give it form, and
personality, and endow it with volition,
power, and moral responsibility, in
finite justice could not demand its des-
truction for executing on mau, the
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of God, "Dhct thou
art, aud to dust thou shalt return" +.