Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1891-11-14

shadow Hitting across the plain, a
vapor that appeareth but for a little
time and then vanisheth away. And,
how uncertain the moment OF death
The solemn event may occur at the
most unlocked for time, and mode.
"We must needs die" The law of
God cannot be gainsaid. All we who
are hee now shall soon be gone. Our
homes shall be occupied by others,
orr business carried on by others, our
places in the church and world filled
by others. In the certainty of death
and the uncertainty Of the moment
of lis occurrence what an argument
is there for the redemption of time,
and what a spur there should be to
the duty of watchlulness! 80 deathW
says Louis de Granada, show speedy
thy approach! how stealthy thy steps!
how uncertain thy hour! how univer.
sal thy sway! The powerful cannot
escape thee: the wise know not how
to avoid thee; the strong have no
strength to oppose thee; there is no
one rich for thee, since none can buy
life with treasures. Everywhere
thou goest, in every spot thou art
found. All things have their wa;,-
ing and waning, but thou remainest
ever the same. Thou art hammer
that always strikes-a sword that is
never blunt-a net into which all fall
"a prison into which all enter-a sea
on which all must venture-a penal
ty which all must sutherland a
tiibute which all must pay. o cruel
death! how bitter is the thought Of
thee! o implacable enemy Of the
human race! Why hast thou entered
into the wOrld?" Why? the answer
is at hand. "By one man sin enter
ed into the world, and death by SIM"
But "thanks be to God who giveth
US the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath abolished death and
brought life and immortality to
light"
And 80, we are reminded by the
falling leaves that death does not
end all. They decay indeed, but in
their decay do they live again. "All
death is nature" says Fichte, sis
birth, and at the moment of death is
the rising of life." There is no dy.
ing principle III nature, for nature
throughout is unmixed life, which,
concealed behind the old, begins
again and develops itself. So, the
hour of the Christians death is the
hour of birth to a glorious life. Death
is not a cutting off of being, but g
passing from one form of being tC
another. "Here and hereafter so de.
pend on each other" says Humboldt
"and are so inseparably connected
that the first moment there can only
commence with the last moment
here, when the perfect development
of the being is completed Wher
the leaf falls it provides materials fol
the foliage OF another year. Decay
ing leaves are the earth's great
fertilizers. The leaves of this year.:
fall will make their mark on next
years vegetation; SO that the frost'
and winds of autumn are as a forag
ing party for the buds that are t.
come in the spring. Not otherwise
is it with men. "Being dead we ye
speak," the father and mother living
again in children moulded by theil
influence and iikeminded with them
selves, even as last years leaves live
in this years foliage. We are laying
our mark for good or i'll on the gen
Grafton following. eff ever in au
tumn," says John Ruskin, "a pen
siveness falls upon US, as the leaves
drift by in their fading, may we mo-
wisely look up in hope to theil
mighty monuments? Behold how
fair, how far prolonged, in arch and
aisle, the avenues of the valleys; the
fringes of the hills! So stately, Sc
eternal; the joy of man, the com
fort of all living creatures, the glory
of the earth, they are but the mOnu
ments of those poor leaves that fiji
family past us to die. Let them no
pass without our understanding theil
last counsel and example: that VIZ
also, careless of monument by thu
grave, may build it in the world
monument by which we may bt
taught to remember, not where We
died, but where we lived.'
But the Christian can take still
higher and surer ground. He knows
that he shall live again, live the be
ing he now is, liYe never again t