Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-03-25
This Longing for Immortality.

And while they looked steadfastly toward
heaven.-Acts, l., 10.
We did not come into the world of
our own accord. and are therefore not
responsible for being here.
It is evident, however, that we are
here for purpose, and it is perfectly
clear what that purpose is.
When we arrive it is with perfectly
helpless body. For time we must be
taken care of-our necessities supplied
by some person or persons who have
been appointed to that end. After a
few years we obtain possession of our
selves, and begin to think and act on
our own judgment.
The body goes through the mysteri
GUS processes Of growth, and continues
to develop until it reaches a certain
stature. Then the growth ceases, and
by slow degrees the body declines in
strength, until at last we enter the stage
of childhood a second time.
The law is that the body shall in
crease until it reaches it's maximum of
energy. 1t is safe, therefore, to gen
eralize, and say that everything has
purpose ahead of it. and ought to have
such an environment that this purpose
can be reached. provided the laws
which govern it are obeyed. That
statement proves itself. and is not sub.
ject to denial.
The mind and the soul, like the body,
are merely dormant possibilities at
birth. They know nothing and have
experienced nothing. knowledge and
experience come little by little. and in
that way mind and soul commence to
develop.
if ~ 1>af 4 J. i I.
by what it feeds on to it's full height
and strength, we ought to say without
fear OF contradiction that there is also
an ideal perfection for mind and soul
to reach, and that in some way and
somewhere the opportunity will be of
fered to attain that ideal. 1t would lie
strange to declare that one part of us
can come to its maturity, but the other
part never will, for it is plainly true
that no human soul has ever yet reach
ed that point where there was nothing
more or better that it could do or be
come.
We have, then, this curious anomaly
namely, that so far as this present
life is ncerned-counting a man as
consisting of body, soul and spirit
one-third of us is accorded fair play for
itself with a generous hand, while two
thirds of US, and altogether the best
part of us, are denied the chance to at
tain their legitimate end.
The idea of immortality, therefore.
originates in the very necessity of the
case, and we rightly argue that if God
is just He will give us hereafter the op
portunity which not even He can fur
nlsh us within the narrow limits of
earthly life. We may reverently assert
that no soul ever can, under any con.
celvable circumstances. achieve in
tnese seventy years moral perfection
which corresponds with the physical
perfection which the body easily at
talns. There is something wanting to
the soul, then. and that Something Is
an extended opportunity which can
only result from an extended existence,
The fact is everywhere patent that
the spiritual part of man has hardly
more than walked up when Death drops
the curtain. The first act has been put
on the stage. and is being played we'll
or badly as the case may be. We see
at glance that there is @ plot, and we
become interested in it. That first act |
suggests the second and the third, and |
so on to the end. The characters are
all there, the dramatic material for a |
tragedy or comedy is abundant, and |
when the curtain fails on that mere |
prologue we have a right to expect
why not the right to demand ?-that
the play shall continue until the plot
has been fully developed and the pur
pose which the author had in view has
been attained.
Now, we have large number of great
men in the world, who rise like pyra
mlds from level plain, but the great
est OF them all is conscious of mex
naustlble resources and feels capable
Oh doing grander things than any vet
acnleved. That is very startling fact.
NO man ever got to the end of himself,
I0r somehow great deed simply opens
me door to other deeds still greater.
But there is another fact which is
pathetic-nameIy that there
ire hosts of men in every rank of life
who are striving hard to make both
ends meet. and who have the unde
,eloped capacity for greatness. Give
hem the opportunities of education
M environment and they will attain
n emlnence now beyond the reach of
helr vision. The earth is full of I'm
greatness. greatness sup
ressed by circumstance
therefore, there will be second and
third act to this drama. Another life
I'LL furnish what has for time been
efused: The purpose wrought into
ne soul by its Creator will be attained
GREATER. Death is only the servant
no opens the door when Providence
ngs the bell, and ushers you into the
'rger building where you will havei
re chance to become a larger man.
Amid the drudgery and hardship of
re Keep that truth in mind and it will
ear the fogs away and leave you in
lnshine. We are on the road Home.
Id the way is sometimes dark and {
cary, but when we get there we shall {
e that every experience of earth was !
tended to fit us for the higher joys :
heaven.
GEORGE 81. HEPWoRTH.
Health and strength carry us through
myers and make us safe in the
essence of peril. A perfectly strongf I
In with rich, pure blood, has moth =