Pythagoras

gratifications, because it is rational. was so ravished by the solution of a mathematical problem that he offered to the gods a holocaust in thanksgiving. So deeply was Archimedes absorbed in working out another problem, that he forgot to eat and drink; and when he had made the wishedfor discovery, he ran through the streets of Syracuse, crying out: "Eureka! Eureka! I have found it! I have found it!" But the acquisition of knowledge, though attended with great labor, far from satisfying our desires, only sharpens our appetite for more information, and makes us more conscious of our ignorance. The higher we ascend the mount of knowledge, the broader becomes our view of the vast fields of science that still remain uncultivated by us.

Sir Isaac Newton when dying uttered these remarkable words: "I know not what the world will think of my labors; but, as for myself, I feel like a little child amusing itself on the sea-shore, finding here a smooth pebble, and there a brilliant shell, while the great ocean of truth lies unexplored before me." Oh, if Newton was himself made so happy and contributed so much to the delight of others by his discoveries, what must be the bliss of those that, for all eternity, will explore without toil the boundless ocean of Divine Truth!

But the greatest consolation attainable in this life is found in the pursuit and practice of virtue. And if there is any tranquillity of mind, any delight of soul, any joy of spirit, any pure consolation of heart,

any interior sunshine, it is shared by those that are zealous in the fulfilment of God's law, that have preserved their innocence from youth, or have regained it by sincere repentance. But this consolation arises from the well-founded hope of future bliss rather than from the actual fulfilment of our desires. The virtuous are happy because they have "a promise to pay," and not because they have received the actual payment of the debt of Divine Justice. They rejoice because, though in exile during this short night of time, they hope to dwell in their true country during the great eternity of to-morrow. They rejoice because they are heirs apparent of God's kingdom. Take from them this hope, and the sunshine in their heart will soon be changed to gloom. "If in this life only we be hoping in Christ, we are more miserable than all men."1 Why was St. Paul so cheerful in his dungeon in Rome on the eve of his execution? Because, as he tells us, "a crown of justice is laid up for me, which the Lord, the just Judge, will render to me on that day."

Thus we see that neither riches, nor honors, nor pleasures, nor knowledge, nor the endearments of social and family ties, nor the pursuit of virtue, can fully satisfy our aspirations after happiness. Combine all these pleasures as far as they are susceptible of combination. Let each of their sources be augmented a thousand-fold. Let all these inten

sified gratifications be concentrated on one man, let him have the undoubted assurance of enjoying them for a thousand years, yet will he be forced to exclaim: "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity!" The more delicious the cup, the more bitter the thought that death will dash it to pieces.

Now, if God has given us a desire for perfect felicity, which He intends to be one day fully gratified; and if this felicity, as we have seen, cannot be found in the present life, it must be reserved for the time to come. And as no intelligent being can be contented with any happiness that is finite in duration, we must conclude that it will be eternal and that, consequently, the soul is immortal. Life that is not to be crowned with immortality, is not worth living. "If a life of happiness," says Cicero, "is destined to end, it cannot be called a happy life. . . Take away eternity, and Jupiter is not better off than Epi

Without the hope of immortality, the condition of man is less desirable than that of the beast of the field.

"Or own the soul immortal, or invert

All order. Go, mock majesty! go, man!
And bow to thy superiors of the stall:
Through ev'ry scene of sense superior far:

They graze the turf untill'd; they drink the stream

Unbrew'd and ever full, and unembittered

With doubts, fears, fruitless hopes, regrets, despairs.”

1 De Finibus, Lib. II., XXVII.

"Young's Night Thoughts.

We may well exclaim with Augustin: “Thou hast made us, O Lord, for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee."

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul uneasy and confined from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.' "1

Addison clearly portrays the philosophical mind of Cato in the following lines, which are as commendable for sublimity of expression as for depth of reasoning :

"It must be so. Plato, thou reason'st well!

Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after immortality?

Or whence this secret dread and inward horror
Of falling into nought? Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself and startles at destruction?
'Tis the Divinity that stirs within us;
'Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.

Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!
Through what variety of untried being,

Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!
The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before me;
But shadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon it.
Here will I hold. If there's a power above us,
(And that there is, all nature cries aloud
Through all her works) he must delight in virtue;
And that which he delights in, must be happy.

The soul secure in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself

1Pope's Essay on Man.

Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years.

But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,

Unhurt amidst the war of elements,

The wreck of matter and the crush of worlds."1

But if our unaided reason assures us that our soul will live beyond the grave, how much more clearly and luminously is this great truth brought home to us by the light of Revelation; for the light of reason is but as the dim twilight compared with the noonday sun of Revelation. How consoling is the thought that the word of God comes to justify and sanction our fondest desires and aspirations for a future life!

"The souls of the just," says the Book of Wisdom, "are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die, and their departure was taken for misery. . . . But they are in peace, and their hope is full of immortality."2

Man may imprison and starve, may wound and kill the body; but the soul is beyond his reach, and is as impalpable to his touch as the sun's ray. The temple of the body may be reduced to ashes, but the spirit that animated the temple cannot be extinguished. The body, which is from man, man may take away; but the soul, which is from God, no man can destroy. "The dust shall return into its earth from whence it was, and the spirit to God who gave it." 3 "For we know that if our

1 Addison's Cato, Act V.. 2 Wisdom III., 1–4.

3 Eccles. XII., 7.