The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1882-04-20
Snndnr.SchooI Lessons.
HERE AND HEREAFTER.

Il
We have often read, and never with
out being impressed with their great
weight the first two sentences with
which Bishop Butler opens the second
chapter of his analogy of Religion to
the Constitution and Course of Nature"
These sentences are as follows;
That which makes the question concern
ing a future life of so great Importance to us
is our capacity of happiness and misery; and
that which makes the consideration of 1t to be
of so great Importance to us is the suppostiun
Of our happiness hereafter depending upon
our actions here"
If man had no capacity for happiness
and misery, and, hence, could neither
suffer nor enjoy, then existence to him,
whether for a day, or year, or for
eternal ages, would be matter of no
consequence whatever Nothing would
be gained by existing, and nothing
would be lost by annihilation. The
terms good and evil would to him have
no meaning. Nothing could benefit
him and nothing could harm him. He
would be the subject of no fears and
no hopes. Whether he existed or not
would to him be matter of no inpor-
tance.
We know, as a matter of fact, that
such is not the present constitution of
man. He has the capacity of happiness
and misery, and may from a variety of
causes be in either condition, and that,
too, through very wide range of de-
grees in the condition; and, if he exists
after death, then he may exist with the
same capacity, perhaps greatly en-
larged. Having this capacity, the ques-
ton whether he is to exist after death
is to him one of great Importance; and
it is not at all wonderful that the Ques-
tion should have in all ages engaged the
deepest and most earnest thoughts of the
race, The wonder would be if the fact
were otherwise.
The importance of considering the
question, says Bishop Butler, arises from
the supposition that our happiness or
misery hereafter is dependent upon our
actions here. Let this suppOsition be
true, even by the lowest presumption;
let there be but faint possibility that
our course of action here will contribute
to our happiness hereafter, and a differ
ent course will be productive of our
misery; and then the question whether
we shall take the one course or the 9TH
er is Just as important to us as the ques-
ton whether we shall be happy or miser-
able hereafter. We, then, have just as
much interest in the cause as we have
in the result. The cause and the con-
sequence are connected, the former de-
termining the latter. Make this con-
nection more than a possibility, let it
rise to the grade of a reasonable prOba-
bility, and then the argument for that
course of life here that will bless us be-
yond the gave is one whose weight
thought cannot compute and words can
not adequately express. No sensible
man will treat it with Indifference.
II 50 happens that what Bishop Butler
states in the form of a supposition rep
resents the faith of nearly all the race.
There is hardly any thought more uni
versal among men than the idea that
our conduct here will have something to
do with our condition and destiny here
after. We know that a connection be-
tween conduct and condition exists here,
and, hence, that men here reap what
they SOW; and, if this be the fact in time,
then the same principle may follow us
with equal certainty, and even with
greater power, in the after life. The
Bible SAYS that it win follow us The
immortality which is affirmed in this
book is not simply one of naked
existence; but rather the immortality
of condition of existence, anC
that condition one of good or ILL.,
according to the character which we
acquire in time and with which retire
from this earthly scene. The Bible
makes man future a future of rewards
and punishments, according to the
deeds done I'm the body" Itconnect
| the two lives in the relation of a mora
antecedent and a moral consequent; anC
| it is on the basis of this connection tina
it pours forth in thunder-notes its warn
inc to the wicked, and cheers Christian
virtue with the glowing radiance of
shining promise. The Bible is a terrible
! book to those who live and die in sin
Nothing can exceed the awfulness Ofth
picture which it draws of their future
/ and nothing, on the other hand, can eX
ceed The magnifcence and glory of tn
future which it assigns to those whom
calls "the righteous" They shal
q" shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom
of their Father" IN T. independent