Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1904-12-08
and tended,

But has one vacant chair"
Our departed dear ones. For tnem
the husl1 of earthly tenement has
been broken, and the soul has winged
its way 10 the exhaus:less source OF
lie whence it mad come. there, in the
clearer light and the nearer knowl-
edge, to pass the unrun ages in the
bliss of immortality.
Why do we so believe? There is no
palpable proof, there is no material
demonstration, there is no evidence
save by aEaiogy. 1t is hope, unveri-
fieu save by faith. Yet we cling to :
because the very incompleteness of
this life demands it. Job, .he man of
sorrows of old, asked the question,
IF a man die, Will he live again ?'
ard that question has been put IN
every generation, by every class and
condition of men, and the heart
speaks where the intellect is dumb
faith answers where knowledge is
ignorant
eff a man die will he live again ?'
asked the savage of yore. as he saw
his fellow fallen by the way, and the
tongue that was wisest in counsel, the
eye that was keeneSt to see, the foot
that was Swiftest in the race, the arm
that was strongest and surest in the
hunt, were silent and visionleSS and
still. 'If a man die, will he live again p
he asked, and he answered him, AYE,
he viii l." And SO he buried his fallen
fellow with his spear and his shield,
and gave him food for his journey,
and his horse and his wife, SO that he
might not miss the pleasures OF hunt
or of home in the realm To which he
had gone.
If man die, will he live again?'
a. Cl hn a
him, AYE, he will and he embalmed
the body with great care, with spices
and with drugs and fluids, and swath-
ed it in cloths and DandageS, that it
might be ready for its sOul-tenant
when he chose to come back again.
And thus asked and answered the
Greek and Roman, and they placed
the obol ON the eyes or the mouth of
the dead LAT he might have passage
money for CharOn to cross the Styx.
And thus we ask again to-day, as we
stand in the presence OF that ever un-
fathomed mystery when we see some
loved form borne to the tomb and
know that some dear voice is hushed
blinded eyes and grief numbed mind
strain to pierce the veil, thus do We
aslS,sssI a .Daan die, wi II he live 50 il.
And every heart string is vocal WITH
reply, every fibre of our being gives
answer to declare, aye, he will" And
reason cOrrObOrateS this hope. We
know that in all the world OF matter
not an atom is destroyed. Nothing is
doomed to annihilatiOn. A thing may
be crushed, burned, drowned, devouI-
ed or swallowed UP in the air, but it
is not absolutely eradicated. 1t as
sumes new shape, new being, new
and modes, but it is not
wiped out OF existence. Shall the jew
el be less than the caskeJ! the ker-
mel more Valueless than the shell? the
spirit weaker Lnan the clay?
We know that in the world about US
death is ever the stepping stone to
life. The flower fading and perishing,
the leaf -alling from the tree, the
body rotting in the ground, all give
impetus to new exloLence-birth feed
ing en- death, life evolving from de
struction. Shall this rule cease when
man is approached, and what IS true
Of lower forms of life be not true Of
the highest?
And we know that every want has
its satisfaction, that for every desire
there awaits its qualification. For
hunger there is food, for thirst there
is drink, for ali the senses .nere are
the avenues OF their satisfaction, for
their proper needs there are air and
sunlight, and water and earth. Sl,
there be no, fulfillment OF the highest
and holiest hope Of which man is
capable? Shall the wants of the
body be answered and the longing OF
the soul be denied? Shall man be
created with a nobler aspiration, be
endowed with higher faculties, have
the power to perceive the more glori-
n
infinite with the approaching finger
tips of his soul, to yearn and hunger
for that more perfect peace and .---~-
sublimer life, to have all this better
part to be but a tantilizing disappoint-
ment, to realize that the narrow bed
is after all the final end, and the
lengthening shadows close in an un-
lit night? Not so. II a man die ne
shall live again.
our dead are like the stars by day,
Withdrawn from mortal eye,
Yet holding unperceived their way
Through the unclouded sky.
By them, through noly hope and love,
we feel in hours serene,
Connected with the world above,
Immortal and unseen.
Though death his sacred seal hath set
On bright and bygone hours.
SLlll those we love are with us yet,
Are more than ever ours.
Ours by pledge of love and faith,
by hopes Of heaven on high,
BY truth triumphant over death,
In Immortality
The musical features of the pro-
gramme, sustained by Miss Smith,
Mrs. DIR. WINS. Spicer, Miss Privett
and Mr.. E. A. Mel, were indeed
most admirable, and therein they
won not only the hearts and abid-