Semi=weekly graphic., 1898-06-11
Mans Destiny and 1mmortality

| hsA@0 A1SHeAJ -A@@ - NN--~
 tThe oration delivered bef5re onachita | College by .. II. Campbell, and which won l the gold n 5dal.
 Man was created by God an im- mortal being. and his final destiny fixed before the foundation of tue world. That destiny is known only to Divinity, but it is either supreme and everlasting happiness or eternal misery Ii we could pull back the curtain of time and glance into eter- nity, this could be definitely settled in our minds today; but as we can not, we are forced to read it from the sanctuary of the soul, as all men in all ages have read it there;' we are compelled to read it from that 'fiesh-bound volumn" called sell.
 But there is an earthly destiny to be met, and men should meet it as heroes. Before us Is life of combat and antagonism, for there is no value without struggle, and no ac- complishment without labor. fu whatever sphere of life our lots are cast, mo cross, no crown, is from the omnipotent God the fiat that IeonfrOnts each man and woman. He has so planned in our destiny that the difficulties and environ ments by which We are surrounded will urge us on a higher and nobler destiny in the life to come.
 We are but frail barks upon the bosom of lifes ocean tossed about by the winds of disappointment and waves of opposition, but there is q hand upon the rudder that we do not perceive, and unconsciously we are being impelled by an irresistible force nearer to God. Letus welcome this destiny, and with brave hearts, meet the great problems of life; let Us endeavor to make the N orld bet ter, brighter and happier by having lived in it. as a worker in the grea t supernal plan.
 Willed and planned by a higher power than our own, let us as we near tha end of life, exclafm with Victor Hugo age fs upon my head. but eternal spring k in my heart. The nearer l approach the end, the plainer l hear around me the im- mortal symphonies of the world that invites me. When 1 go down to the grave, I have finished my days work but not my life; my life will begin the next morning. The tomb is not blind alley, it is a thoroughfare, il closes on the twf; light to open with the dawn
 Proper consideration ought, there fore, be given to our living. for in the proportion as we perfect our lives here, just in that proportion will we be fitted for the enioyments and fullfillme7ts of a greater destiny. where we shall reap the rewards of a well spent life and live in ecstattc bliss m the presence of God. No life, | however humble, is lost to Jehovah, for .the doth mark even the spar rows fal9 and although some cham Der is destined to become August and solemn, because of the entering Of death, yet there is nothing about the thought that should produce melancholy. on th, contrary it should make our souls dilate with joy, and with shouts of victory we should welcome that "inevitabIe shadow" as a friend. for do not oar souls cry out within Us. saying, T shall never d,e?"
 Compare the life of man with that of Iawei. animals We see that other anintaI, soon reach the limits oi their growth; that taee live in the present, and have a0 conception ol virture nor the beauty by w6fenthe4 af- surrounded How different is man!
 We find that as spiritual being he looks back into the p#st, aad forward into the future; t88t his seal reaches out aft new truths. and by this method it is continually and perpetu8lly progressing Every effort put forth. iusteaIuf eXausting, strengthens and enlarges the soul and from day to day. from year to year, the soul of man continues to grow, and if it were not for the physical body. by which if is sur rounded, would never cease grow ing Think of lite in all of it's phases; ponder over it for centuries, and still we find a secret. a mystery, that man cannot solve Do away with time,-compress into one brief second all the three score years and ten allotted to man and the mystery would ba no greater than it now is. Our lives are like light ming that flashes athwart the sky at