The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-11-25
THOUGHTS ON DEATH.
Reflections on Its Meaning and 0ppor.
iunities.

and is 80 crowded with pleasures and
expectations, sorrows and disappoint-
ments, that there is left very little
time for serious meditation concerning
our souls salvation.
Too many of us think that we will
spend the days of our youth in idle
ness and friyolity, enjoying the pleas
ures of this life, until old age creeps
upon US, when ample time will be
allowed US, by our just God, in which
to prepare for eternity. But, like a
fresh budding flower just blossoming
ir the warm bright sunshine of a
spring morning and sending forth its
sweet perfume to gladden. our hearts,
is plucked and cast aside by the cruel
hand of thoughtless youth, so
hopeful and promising young life,
just budding into manhood, full Of
aspirations and desires, becomes with
cred and is cut down by the hand of
Him who presides over and shapes
the destinies of all men.
And so it is that just at the time
when we are looking forward with
much pleasure to period when we
shall reap some great earthly benefit
or blessing, and for the time being
forgetting everything else in our eager
desire to obtain it, then we find that
He who knows best has not intended
such for US, and we are cut down on
the wayside, leaving our coveted prize
to be reached by our neighbor, who
always devotes much more of his time
in earnest prayer.
To-day we are indulging in vain i'm
aginations and dreaming Of newborn
honors, but tomorrow the grim reaper
appears and destroys our airy visions.
We very often combine pleasure with
our everyday business, yet leave our
religion secretly hidden away until
Sunday morning.
The eager desire to obtain riches
will yet prove to be the overshadowing
evil of our great nation, and already,
as mans soul is being neglected and
forgotten to an alarming degree, in
the mad rush to hoard up few paltry
dollars worth of this worlds goods, it
is right and proper that man should
work and endeavor to lay up sufficient
for needs this life, but it is also right
and proper that he should contribute
cheerfully and generously to our
charitable institutions.
Exert yourself just one-half as much
to fill our churches and Sunday schools
as you do to fill your shops and fac
tories, and then note what a glorious
change will come over this country
in the short space Of one year.
How much sweeter and dearer to
fill the brains and hearts of your
children with the love of our blessed
Savior, than to heap their hands and
pockets with the gold of the universe,
for the grandeur Of this earthly abode
is but naught, when compared with
the glories of our heavenly home.
For in glanoing over the register of
our existence you will find that the
large majority Of us have left as our
only memorial nothing more than that
We were born and that we died.
Hosts of us vainly imagine that We
are too good to associate with some
more unfortunate of our fellow crea-
lures here on earth, but let us take a
peep just little way into the future
and have no doubt our vanity will
be dispelled as quickly as the mist Of
early morn.
For when these dropping eyelids
are just beginning to close for their
long, sweet sleep and some dear friend
is imprinting last farewell kiss upon
our cold brow, when this lifeless form
is being lowered into it's final resting
place and the cold, damp clay is being
thrown upon it, we all then are re-
duced to common level, where friend
and foe, strong and weak, saint and
sinner are crumbled in the same dust,
when beauty and youth are intermin-
gled with old age and deformity, and
we should rejoice if we could but feel
that the soul which wings its flight
from this cold mass of clay, could
merit the same reward as that of our
hated enemy. When we subtract
from this life all the time spent in idle
amusements, or absorbed in sleep, all
that is given to the cares and anxieties
Of every day existence or that which
we are robbed Of by disease, we find a
very small portion left indeed in which
to consider the hereafter. AS we
have just said, this life is but a heeting
dream, passing shadow, or a short
lapse of time allotted each one of us
by our Father in which to prepare for
something higher, nobler and grander,
that for which our whole existence
should yearn, but think how few Of us
seize the opportunity offered, but
rather do we devote the greater por-
tion of this short time in seeking
earthly pleasures to satisfy our own
reckless nature, little dreaming or
caring what our fate may be hereafter.
In your wild and frivolous career,
just for one brief moment, pause,
think and consider, are you aiding,
the least bit, in your daily walk and
conversation those dear friends who
are associated with you continually,
whom you love, and in whom you con-
fde your dearest secrets p?
Orare you merely idling your golden
moments in their company simply to
please and satisfy your earthly fancies,
and never stopping short while to
consider with them "that it is not all
of life to live, nor all of death to die ?"
Beyond the grave is a home, the
name of which is heaven, and the key
of which is truth, and if we possess
the sweet assurance that it shall be
our everlasting abiding place, we need
have no fear of death and the sorrows
of this momentary existence will no
longer burden us, and the joys of
these heeting days lose their attraction
when we think of the glories yet to be
revealed. If We live Alright, visions
of remorse can never disturb our
slumbers, and the oyershadowing cloud
of doubt and dependency will be
swiftly melted by the warm ray of
brighter days and we look forward
with JOY and delight rather than with
fear and trembling to the time when
our father shall open wide the gates,
and bid us shake off the shackles of