Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-06-10
What Is Your Life 2

WHdt IL 1Ouf Lilo
AS for man. his days are as grass.-Psalms,
lii, IS.
To what would you liken a mans |
ife asked some one centuries ago. 1t
IS like bird, was the answer, who flies
through the window from outer dark
ness. then flies through the opposite
window into the darkness again. At
the very longest, life is very short. No
man finishes his work before he is call
ed. Something left undone" are words
to be inscribed on every tombstone.
Time may hnger in our youth, but in
our age it's speed is breathless. We no
sooner leave the cradle than the grave
comes into view.
To some of us this is a very grave
matter; to others it is matter of small
consequence. If one lives in house
of many rooms he does not weep when
asked to leave the room in which ne
happens to sit and enter another when
will afford him better accommodation
If, however. the house has only one
room, and you are forced to leave that,
your tears may be pardoned. II we
are only dust, we shrink from going
back to that from which we came; but
if we are soul also, we may shake the
dust off without a tremor, flor the soul
will find better body somewhere when
it needs one.
There are periods of life when these
great facts assume special Importance.
and other periods when they seem to
be dreamy and unreal. When we are
young, for example, the near future at
tracts the eye, but the far future is
hardly worth thought. We are SO
busy laying plans for to morrow that
we seldom cast even glance at the day
after tomorrow. There is something
charming about even the impulsiveness
and carelessness and thoughtlessness
of youth. 1t is sufficient unto itself, is
full of resources and it laughs at diff
ficulties. You speak of evils to be
avoided, but it shakes its head in doubt
first, because it thinks you exaggerate
matters, and second, because, however
great these evils may be, it feels itself
quite competent to handle them.
Religion seems to buoyant, hopeful
youth rather an encumbrance than a
benefit. And so it would be if it were
really the dull and sombre.1something
which it is frequently represented to be.
When you practically tell a young man
that religionwillt take all the enthusiasm
out of his life-and this is sometimes
done-he very naturally wants as little
of it as possible. One reason why young
men are loath to accept religion is that
it is grossly and grievOusly misrepre-
sented. In very truth, it is their best
friend and will give them more good
cheer and more ardor and more happi-
ness and more assistance in the accom-
plishment of their high purposes than
any other system of thought they can
adopt. But when they are told that
in order to be religious they must new
or do what they want to do, and must
always do what they do not want to do,
we need not be surprised that during
the years of effervescence they turn
their faces the other way. This is all
the more pitiful because these years of
effervescence are the years in which
the corner stones of character are laid.
In my Judgment, the kind of religion
which is notjoy--producing is rank
heresy.
Youth may think itself sufficient un
to itself, but age knows that it is not.
The most startling period of life is that
in which the consciousness steals over
you that more than half of your jour
ney has been covered. So long as the
future is longer than the past you may
cherish certain Indifference, but when
the future is comprised by only few
more summers and winters you become
solicitous as to what that future con
tains for you. When you say to yourself,
II am old now" you add, II must think
seriously" If there is anything in Gods
great universe that can give you hope,
or, better still. a certainty, you reach
out your hands and your heart for it.
If it be true that there are mansions
in the sky" you want to be assured of
that fact, for between doubt and faith
there is vast, not to say an awful,
difference. If Christ's promise to pre-
pare place for you" was founded on
authority, and not on imagination, all
dread of the days to come is at an end,
and death merely transports you to
the home of those who haye gone be-
fore.
To advancing age, therefore, faith is
prime necessity. without which there
can be no peace of mind. To die, and
80 to end it all, is stiletto driven into
the heart by a cruel hand; but to have
heaven to look forward TO, with larger
fields of activity and more favorable
opportunities we are like the
poor man who has suddenly fallen up.
on a large inheritance. and who is
even anxious to get away from the old
that he may enjoy the new.
Religion gives us all these assur
ances. Their acceptance by the soul
adds to it dignity and grandeur i'm
measurable, and withal peace, a hap
piness, which no words can express
When once Gods hand and yours are
clasped He may lead you where He
will, for the end of the journey when
nightfall comes will find you in "tht
holy city, New Jerusalem"
GEORGE H. HEPwoRTH.