Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1888-01-26

mass some fortnnst f. . few Iiving on
their days and crow4ei wzsi ho1css such q
earth can give We So others gotng ana
strong and bucyed up VIZ hops and 10,
cut down az once bcsge ieafh's sashles
tread The aged and the wea4 are Offer
lefl, the young and ssrrn0 sre called away
as the tempes. uproots The farest tres, ant
leaves the ciinging vine 10 struggle ON, y
death too often In is visits takes the ssurs,
ones and leaves the frail behind. Know
ing that thus the world Is ruled. we migh
feel at times disposed TO question the wis
dom Of Gods way 70 men, and ask with
Milton that:
"What in me Il dark.
Illumine; what is low raise and support.
That 20 the height Of this great argumen,
l may assert eternal providence,
And justify the ways of God 10 men"
But trusting in wise Ruler Of the world
we cannot believe that death l. only evil
and that IL is only loss to die. The truth
is plain that all must die, and that life and
death and death and life win come and 10
forever on. Men have ever shrunk from
death, and in the early ages Of the human
race it was regarded as q punishment for the
sins of men sent by the power Of the gods.
Sacrifices of blood by Hebrews, Greeks and
Romans and other nations 10 their gods 20
win their favor and approval, show how
deeply this thought was impressed upon the
mind. We who live in a more enlightened
age know that death is no punishment for
sin, and that no offering of blood either of
beast or man can avert its power; that it
comes 10 all at last, and that from the first
creation Of life till now there has been
death. We learn from science that lower
forms OF life have come and passed away,
and led ever TO higher evolutions till man
was formed; that this development con-
tinues still, and that the stage has not been
reached when death shall cease and only
life and joy fill the world. Death has come
to all. The poetical fancies of nations in
deed have evolved legends and tales of
some favored few who escaped the COM
mon lot OF mortals, and went at once tn
blessed peace, but these are only fancies-
nothing more-and death ever then as now
made his relentless march 10 all. No man
has ever returned to tell us if there be a life
beyond the grave, and if so what IL il
Here also the Imagination of man has
worked, and told us of the dead raised
again to life, and oftheir state of existence
beyond the grave. Sober thought and rea-
son tell us that this can never be, and that
when the soul once departs there is and
can be no return. Though there NAV be
no resurrection from the dead, the belief i'm
Immortality that men have ever clung fond
~ to will never be fire, TO yield; though
science cannot pIo. this Gouti inc, il does
not seek to disapprcve, q = could rot if II
would. This blessed BOO thu men have
str.ven to attain, II L. Ell be given up.
and thousands of wears ago MS hone Incl
ted men as it does r. 'cy. Thee nay be no
return to earth ird, ed eel. II. q with
useless flesh and bono, bu. spin, aemood.
led, pure, better prepare. 10 r,c nc to en-
joy. Socrates. oIe 0fI ID. -reat 81
ges, gave uttt rauC. til 4. ucat that
death must he better .han il e, Tor # II is an
endless sleep, how nue. ! Ter is his than
the cares of Garth, and If Zen 5xis, beyond
the grave, how sweet must he the commu-
mon OF the pious and renowned of every
cline. Whether We regard the grave with
Job as an unconscious state, where the
wicked cease from troubling and where the
weary are at rest, or with Buddha. as the
condition in which the individual is brought
into unconscious unity with the All, or ac-
cept those higher and nobler views of sages
oil every CLINE, we must believe that all is
for the best, that all the countless dead are
better there. There are many moderns
who, like George Eliot, for example, would
be content to live only in the memory of
every successive generation, and who re-
gard personal immortality as something
dim and uncertain. Most of the worlds
great teachers, Jesus Plato, Paul, have
taught there is happy life beyond, where
identity is not lost and where spirits
live and act Tie life beyond will be
a combination of the life below. The
life of man beyond will be conformed to his
life below. God in his mercy ever helps
those who strive to attain the right, and in
structs all in duty's path. He alone for
gives the sins of men, and helps them on to
higher ends. He who deals justly and does
his duty in the world is well-pleasing in
His sight So we swho trust in God, the
Judge and Guardian of the world, commit
unto his tender care the loved ones taken
from US. We know this God through ma
lures revelation, and though at times His
hand seems hard upon us, we see behind
the cloud Fathers loving smile. and catch
the whisper OF a gentle voice. And so to
mother earth We consign our sacred dead,
praying in the language of the Vedic bu-
rial hymn of old: AS a mother with her
robe covers her son, so thou o Earth cover
them p Into the lap that all must lie we
leave them now, but year by year their
names will be upon our lips and their
memory in our hearts. To God who gave
we give them back, as pious Hannah gave
her son, knowing that we one and all to
their abode must journey soon; knowing
that few years added to or taken from the
span of life will not be marked when we
one and all enter that cycle which has no
beginning and which can have no end.