Earth Not Our Abiding Place
EARTH NOT OUR ABIDING PLACE.—Prentice eloquently says: I cannot believe that earth is man's only abiding place. It can't be that our life is cast up by the ocean of eternity to float a moment upon its waves and then sink into nothingness! Else why is it that the glorious aspirations, which leap like angels from the temple of our heart, are forever wandering about unsatisfied? Why is it that the rainbow and clouds come ever with beauty that is not of earth, and then pass off and leave us to muse upon their favored loveliness? Why is it that the stars, who hold their festival around the midnight throne, are set above the grasp of our limited faculties, forever mocking us with their unapproachable glory? And, finally, why is it that bright forms of human beauty are presented to our view, and then taken from us, leaving the thousand streams of our affection to flow back in Alpine torrents upon our hearts? We are born for a higher destiny than that of earth; there is a realm where the rainbow never fades—where the stars will be spread before us like islands that slumber on the ocean—and where the beings that here pass before us like shadows will stay in our presence forever.