UNIVERSITY COURIER.
7
IS THERE AN HEREAFTER?
When Longfellow wrote that "Life is real! Life is earnest! and the grave is not its goal," he expressed the feeling that animates every true human being. A true man is not one of those miserable creatures who live only for themselves with no God and no hope in the world, but he lives that the world may be the better for his being in it. He is happy in the consciousness that he is filling his allotted place, and rejoices in the certainty of an endless future. That there is a future, he never once doubts. Why should he doubt it, any more than that he has a soul? Perhaps he may not be able to demonstrate by a course of reasoning that he has a soul, or that it will continue to live in the future. But what of that? Is he any the less sure of its truth on that account? He knows many things through his consciousness which cannot be proven by all the words of human logic.
The veriest sceptic in the world accepts many things as true, which are no less true because he cannot understand them, or is not able to tell others how and why, only that they are thus and so. What a sad world this would be if man had to believe that his soul was to go out in eternal darkness! No, no, the soul cannot die.
The little rain drop is not lost when it falls so gently upon the bosom of mother earth; it does its part in refreshing tired nature; then finds its way to the sea, there to wait patiently until the sun calls it to mount upon the wings of the wind and go upon a new mission.
Which do you think does more for this world of ours, a man who tries to believe that this world is all there is, so goes in for a good time, or the one who forgets himself and works for the good of others? Which has done more in the centuries past? Does not the religion of Jesus Christ embody all that has been for the true advancement of mankind? Surely Nihilism would not accomplish anything in that direction. It would not deny itself for the good of others; for what were the use? This life is but short, why worry it away in the endeavor to search after good for future generations. We were put upon this earth without our consent, we have no incentive to raise ourselves to a higher plan than that on which we are, why should we try to raise others? They and we would soon be lost in oblivion. Let us eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die! You can easely see what the condition of the race would be if all believed this pernicious doctrine.
On the other hand no one can find one flaw in the example of our Savior, or in His words. If all men would only follow in His footsteps, instead of blindly going their own way, our earth would soon see the glad millenial day.
As for pleasure and happiness, can you not see that an earnest Christian has infinitely more joy and peace than you who dread to die, to leave this world, however miserable you may be here, and become a perfect blank. And yet, if you will not believe in a better way to live, it naturally follows that you will try to convince yourself that there is no future; for who would not recoil from the thought of spending a long eternity in remorse over a mis-spent life? "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"
We are but children of a larger growth, and the Heavenly Father has given us each a work to do for Him. Let us be obedient children and lovingly seek to do His will. We are on earth to prepare for eternity.
“Dust thou art, to dust returneth,” was not spoken of the soul. LULU.
ATLANTIS.
From time immemorial it has been asserted that either a continent or a vast archipelago of islands existed between Europe and America, in the central waters of the North Atlantic. To this shadowy realm has been given the name of Atlantis. The renown of Atlantis is not confined to a single page of history, or to the annals of a single people, but by geography, ethnography, and cognate sciences.
Plato reports that to the westward from the Straits of Gibraltar there existed a numerous and warlike race that carried the might of their arms to Greece, threatening to enslave Western Europe, and even menacing Egypt; but they were driven back and the island was whelmed by earthquakes and floods, leaving the sea so choked with its ruins as to be unnavigable, and the people disappeared with it. The island was supposed, for various reasons, to be mountainous in the north and low and level in the south and east.
Atlantis was situated near the Equator, with the Gulf Stream bordering on the north, so that it had a mild climate and a most fertile soil. It is thought that the lower portion was submerged first, the sea being very deep there. A line was let down six miles without finding bottom, while the northern portion was fathomable.
It is the opinion of all explorers that the desert of Sahara, not many thousand years ago, was beneath the waves of the sea; if that be the case, as Sahara arose it must have had a corresponding depression. Another proof is by the existence of the Saragossa Sea. This is a great body of comparatively stagnant water covered with putrefying sea weed, which has for its limits the Gulf Stream on the north and the Equatorial current on the south. The existence of this sea is a mystery which has not been explained, but which may be best explained by ascribing its origin to the submersion of Atlantis. The Saragossa Sea formerly in appearance, depth, and extent was very different from what it is now. Herodotus (fifth century B.C.), Plato (fourth century B.C.), and others, all bear unanimous testimony by saying that the ancient navigators adventuring near this latitude were frightened by the appearance of colored water and immense beds of marine plants and gigantic sea weeds which impeded navigation.
Aristotle (fourth century B. C.) speaks of ships of Cadiz driven from their course by irresistible tempests, arriving at a spot covered with grass and shrubs at the flux of tides, and left bare at the ebb, had the appearance of sunken shores, among which floundered myriads of fishes. They also say that ships hardly ever approached that place, on account of earthquakes, and even in the present century it is never approached without experiencing hundreds of volcanic shocks. The U. S. sloop Vandalia and Captain Ballard of the Rambler, say that near this vicinity they experienced shocks that vibrated through the ships for several minutes. This must be the after-throes of the great convulsion of nature in which Atlantis perished. On ancient charts and charts only a century ago are marked hundreds of rocks that stood high out of the sea, have entirely disappeared. So this region must be still sinking.
Adrian in the second century (A. D.) speaks of a vast country to the westward, whose warriors formerly over-