The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-12-26
THE DEAD.

1hE DEAD.
A certain class of croakers are forever de-
claiming against death, as if ii were not as
much in harmony with the law as 10 be born.
We are told that death is the penalty decreed
for sin-or rather for Adams transgression---
that is to say, if Adam had not violated the
command not to eat a certain variety of fruit,
which grew and ripened in the Garden of
Eden, there would have been no death in the
world. We are inclined to the opinion that
a serious inaccuracy has crept into the ac-
cOunt-since, if ali who have been born
since the date of the birth OF Adams first
child were living now, they would be
quired to subsist on air, and it is questiona-
bic ifeach could obtain good square breath
Of that article once minute. Anyone given
to arithmetical calculations would find
that the surface of the globe, or that
portion of it, known as dry land,
would be if death had not come to the res
cue, too densely packed with human beings
for comfort. But, considering death as a
penalty, was it decreed against all things
having life on account of Adams sin-from
the moth that fits near the Students lamp
or basks IN the sunshine, to the tallest intel
lect that dignifes and adorns mankind? We
sorrow for the dead. We build monuments
to the dead. We wear Grape for the dead.
We make death appear as calamity of i'm
measurable proportions Once in while
philosopher appears and speaks in praise OF
death. Bryant dedicated a hymn to death
and said:
1.-THE world hath slandered thee.
And Knocked thee On thy dim and shsdowy brow
They place en- iron crown and call thee King
OF Ierrors and the spolier OF the world,
Deadly assassin, that strik'st down the fair,
The loved the good-that bEeathest on the lights
OF virtue set along the vale of life.
And they go out in darkness. am come,
such a. have stoTmed the stern. insensibie ear
From the besinning; am come TO speak
Thy praise"
We read of an old Buddhist proverb which
SAYS: at is better TO walk than to run; it is
better to ride than to walk it is better to lie
down than to ride; it is better to sleep than
to lie down; it is better TO die than to Sleep"
Those heathens would make death the eli
max of felicity. There are those who dis
course in ecstatic phrase OF the life TO come,
which can come only by the agency of death.
1t is far better to contemplate death as a
universal friend than an all-reaching enemy
Misfortunes, old age with its infrmities,
have no better friend than death. Death
dries tear fountains and bushes the moan
ings of the oppressed, and gives liberty to
the slave. Death enters the home where
poverty and rags. cold and hunger and des-
pair are guests, and solves problems which
bother the heads of those who have charge of
charity funds and Benevolent Bureaus;
touches the hearts of the miserable, :sand at
once levels them up to the plane of Kings.
What the world calls fortune, friendship,
love, charity, even Christianity, have their
favorites. They distinguish and classify
but death, though he is said TO love a shin
ing mark. embraces the poor as lovingly as
he does the rich. Death, like God. is no re-
spector of persons lie is as much at home
in a howell as in a palace, ana by the fiat OF
fate pauper on his cooling board is as grand
as a Monarch in his regal winding sheet. 1t
is the law of nature to die, and Marcus Au-
rellus struck a keynote when he said.
Whatever is agreeable to thee, o Nature, is
is agreeable to me-" 1t is said that "a world
without death would be old, worn out,
and to this humiliation would be prefer
able. Death is TO us as to Christ, traDsfig-
uration. Our own experience teaches us
that it not only makes Us kind, but makes
US Just. To many death means reconcile
alton. Death is to millions the bearer of
glorious hope. Though science should cor
vince us that belief in immortality is ira
tional, it can never persuade US that the be
lief is not grandeur in itself, an ennobling
and deifying elem mt in our nature" There
is felicity in the pangs which death inficts,
and the living say:
| Come. thoughts that breathe.
Come words that burn,
There's anguish in
Ny ceaselesS yeaTn
For loved ones gone TO come no more,
For loved ones on that shining shore.
| That voiceleSs shore,
Where loved ones bde,
And wait and watch
The surgng tide.
| Watch and wait 10 see my bark
| Emerging from the valley dark.
| Come. thoughts that breathe,
| Come. words that burn
| And speak TO me
| OF bower and urn:
OF death. the. makes tie future bright
And changes darkness into light"
-
RANCH AND RICHES.
| The desire for wealth pervades all classes