We are still in the land of the living, and are the possessors of that priceless treasure — life. One has said of it: “The wealth of mines cannot purchase it, the wisdom of the profoundest intellects cannot originate it, no power on earth can prolong it no language can define it.” And yet how few remember that it is through the goodness of God that we live and move and have our being.
As I looked upon the exterior of a magnificent mansion, in the charming health resort of M―, I was forcibly reminded, both of the brevity and uncertainty of life in this world. I was informed that many years ago that noble structure had been erected at an immense cost, and that, although a considerable time had elapsed it had not been inhabited. As I further noticed the neat, ivy-covered lodge, on which time and decay were doing their sure work, the moss-covered carriage drive, and what little I could see of the grounds, which at one time must have been splendidly laid out, I was curious to know the reason, and learned that a gentleman of considerable wealth had given orders for its erection, purposing to present it to his son on the occasion of his marriage, which was arranged should take place when he attained his majority. He was nearly of age, but he never reached it. He left home to take a short tour through Switzerland, and while in company with others, was climbing the Alps. He took a false step, he stumbled, and although he made a desperate effort to recover his balance, and attempted to clutch at something to which to hold, all was in vain; he fell and went headlong down those rugged rocks, to those terrible depths below. Shortly afterward his poor mangled body was found, but the precious life was gone. Time’s scenes, with their pleasures and opportunities, were past forever in his experience. But a few brief moments before he was doubtless enjoying from those lofty heights the invigorating breezes and the beauties of God’s fair creation; a few moments after that fatal step his spirit had winged its flight to the great beyond, either to be absent from the body, present with the Lord, or, solemn fact! in torment. Whether prepared for eternity or not, I was not able to ascertain.
May not this solemn incident stand before us as a beacon of warning? This life seems but a brief moment between the ages which are passed and the eternity which is to come. Alas! that we spend our time so triflingly, and our years as a tale that is told, regardless of the welfare of our immortal souls, forgetting that sooner or later we must enter eternity to know the joys of heaven or the woes of hell
A. G.