Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-08-26
Beyond the Horizon.


What difference there is bet Seen a
house in which family resides and a
house that is empty! And yet it is the
same house Or rather it is not the
same house at all.
| Suppose you visit it on some festive
occasion. The rooms are brilliantly
{. lighted, there is the hum Of many
voices, of the rich melody of merry
! laughter, and the very air pulsates with
buoyarlt life. There is neither nook
nor corner in which good cheer is not
| found. and as you mingle with the
throng You are impressed by the pre-
vailing exuberance. Everything as
| we'll as everybody seems to be thor
oughiy alive, and even pictures and
| furniture tremble and throb with the
general joyousness.
But cross that threshold after the
house has been deserted for 2 few
| weeks. You are met by an ominous
sort of gloom. The rooms are as they
were, the pictures and furniture are all
there, but something more than the
family has apparently departed. The
spirit of the house, SO to speak, has
gone, and the gathering dust and the
hollow echo of your voice remind you
that remarkable change has taken
place and that an inexpressible element
is wanting.
In like manner. what a difference be
tween a body with a soul in whole
hearted possession of all its functions
and body from which the tenant has
removed. 1t is the same body, and yet
it is not the same at all.
When the man who owned it was in
occupation, how warmly the hand was
| thrust out to give you welcome, what
generous words fell from the lips either
in congratulation or in coincidence, and
how flashed the eyes as though each
were hearthstone filled with blazing
logs. The body was subject to the will
of the tenant and obeyed his slightest
behest. 1t ran or walked, danced or
sang. knelt or climbed with kind of
| glad willingness.
But something has happened. There
lies that body, but it stirs not. 1t is
rHiiher hospitable nor kind. You rec
ognize every fea ture, but still your
friend is not there. You speak, but the
ear is dull for ths first time. You take
the hand, but there is no responsive
pressure. The eyes refuse even to
open, though they were never guilty
of such discourtesy before.
What has occurred? Only this, that
your comrade has moved out of his old
home and gone elsewhere to live You
did not see him go, and you cannot say
exactly where his new residence is, and
for that reason you are mystified and
perhaps greatly troubled. What we
do not understand is apt to disturb us.
But the only difference between the
first illustration, the empty house, and
the second, the empty body, is that
when the family moved they left word
as to their destination, and the sufferer
who moved did not
1t doesn't follow that because you d O
not know where your friend is he there
fore is not, and yet that is the illogical
assertion which doubt reiterates to our
constant dismay. We often drop a
tear on a grave, whereas if we could
see things as they are we should whis
per our congratulations to the air in
the hope that the dear one might hear
them.
The soul is too important to die, and
the body is too unimportant to exist
for more than few decades It is a
very curious fact that every man is in
love with his own soul or personality.
He prizes that something which he calls
his real self above all other possessions
He would not exchange himself, even
though conscious of many a weakness,
for any other human being on the
earth. He may find fault with fate and
deem himself harshly used; still he
would rather be himself with poverty
than any other with wealth.
Not SO with the body. That is quite
another matter. No one thinks of his
body as himself-only as minor part
OF himself. He would be glad to have
q nf tn hnd 7,f l., 81 =
to move out of wretched hovel into
well built mansion. We by no means
have the same pride in body that we
have in personality. We might be
happy to get rid of the one, but moth
ing could tempt us to part with the
other.
And what reason do you suppose God
could have for destroying soul? Moth.
ing else in the universe is destroyed,
and why should the greatest of His
creations suffer fate not meted out to
the meanest? The body exhausts it's
possibilities and then falls back to d ust.
1t reaches it's climax, and longer dura
tion would add nothing to the perfec-
tion of it's functions. But does mans
intelligence, does his spirit exhaust all
possibilities The mental and spiritual
appetite are merely whetted by our
earthly experience; we simply acquire
keen relish and then the house falls
into ruin and we must leave it.
Another body, another life,- another
environment! That is what the soul
has prophesied for itself as a conse-
qnence of Gods goodness and wisdom
And then comes ringing through the
ages the Voice which checks our tears
at separation and transmutes them in
to the hope of reunion, saying, II go]
to prepare place for you"
l know not where heaven is, and
scarcely care to inquire; but it is some
where, and the thought is to the heart
of man what the falling rain is to the
parched fields.
GEORGE II. HEPWOTRH,