The Penn's Grove record., 1885-04-18

Life, death, e~ternity-how vast, how
| deep, how solemn these three words, so
| familiar to us ALT Who can measure,
who can fathOm their meaningp In
TIE midst of life we are surrounded by
! death, confronted by eternity with its
boundless prospects of veal and woe.
Life on earth ends in death, and death
is but tho dark door TO another life
which has no end. Astronomy can not
tell whether this visible universe has
boundaries or not, and what lies beyond.
Theology cannot determine the locality
of that invisible universe from which
no traveller returns, nor the direction
and length of that lonely passage which
carries the disembodied spirit from its
present to its future abode. But this
we ~knOw-and it is enough for our
comfort-therei is an abundance OF room
for all even within the limits of this
universe, and for aught We know the
spirit world may be very nea and
round about us. There are exalted
moments in our life when we see the
heavens open and the angels of God
descending and ascending. Life is a
mystery, a glorious mystery with a
heaven beyond, but a terrible mystery
with annihilation or endless punishment
in prospect.
The immortality of the soul is a uni
versal instinct and desire of the human
race. Like the idea of God it is planted
in our intellectual and moral cOnstitu
ton. We cannot think backward
without reaching an ultimate cause
which has no beginning; and we cannot
4hs,,lr FNavrrauI wffhAut urriuFnn or a
result which has no ending. God and
eternity precede and succeed time, and
time itself is filed with both. We can
not conceive that a wise Creator should
make man in his own image and endow
him with the highest faculties without
ordaining him for endless existence.
lie cannot intend the head of his Great
ures, the masterpiece of his hand, to
perish like a brute. lie can not allow
virtue TO suffer and lniquity to flourish
without some future adjustment, which
will give to every one his due and re-
store the harmony of character and
condition. 1t seems impossible that a
rational being filed with infinite long
ings and capable of endless progress,
should be suddenly cut off in the begin
ming of his career "like the empty fab
ric of a vision, leaving no wreck be-
hlnd,n
1t seems impossible that the mind,
which proves its independence of the
body. and natures in strength while
the body declines, should be dissolved
with its material tent. No hus-
land can close the eyes of a beloved
wife, no parent ear commit a child to
the cold grave, no friend can bid fare
well to a bosom friend, without the ar
dent wish of the recovery of the loss
and a meeting again in a better world
where tears of parting are unknown.
Every consideration of God s goodness;
love and Justice, of mans capacities,
desires and hopes, and of surrounding
nature, with its perennial renovation OF
seasons and transformations Of death
itself into new forms OF life, forces up
on us the belief in the Immortality of
the human soul.
But, after all, philosophy and science
can lead us to the probability of immOr-
tality, and there is a vast step from
probability TO certainty The starry
heavens above and the moral law with
in may well have filled the great phil
osOpher of the last century with ever
growing reverence and awe; but be-
yond the starry heavens and behind the
moral law lie the sublimer regions Of
faith, which fill us with deeper rever-
ence, and which alone a give us solid
comfort in life and in death.
-
Steel needles If delicstely suspended,
even if NOT magnetic to begin With, will
become magnetic from the action of the
earth.
To prevent pencil drawings from rub
bling of, without discoloring or injuring
the paper. float the drawing back down.
wards. on q solution of equal parts OF
milk and water, SO as to wet the
paper through, but not sufi
GENTLY TO allow any Of the liquid TO run