Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-01-26

their work as these preachers of the
germ theory, and other equally remark
able Deities of purely human inven-
ton, the latter could not make the prog
ress which they now seem to be doing.
For their pretensions will not bear in
vestigation, and their coniectures are
far more irreconcilable with the natural
instincts and promptings of the mind
which the philosophers profess to rever-
ence so much-than the belief that there
is God who rules the world, and
that it is ruled with infinite wis
dom, although in a manner quite
comprehensive to us. We do not
know the true meaning of anything we
see around us, or of any of the ordinary
conditions of life. To our apprehen-
sions, Death is the greatest evil, and
yet it is by no means certain that it is
an evil at all. The general testimony
of physicians is that the vast majority
of people meet it with fortitude which
they never anticipated they could sum-
mo up. To the bereaved survivors,
d .th is indeed an evil an evil hard to
ne borne. But at such times the de.
parted should also be remembered.
What have they lost? They are gone,
and we must quickly follow. For either
grief or JOY, for either pleasure or pain,
our day is short. Is 1t the survivor or
the departed who would be pitied most
if we could see and know all9 DR..
johnson feared Death excessively all
his Efe-the thought of it rendered
him wretched beyond description for
over fifty years, and yet when
it came he bore it cheerfully,
and as one who stood over
him bears witness, call his fears and
anxieties seemed to be absorbed" Al
most everyone who has recovered from
a dangerous illness will attest that the
fear of death had no influence over his
mind, unless, indeed, as associated
with the thought of the great beyond.
And what is to come then must remain
matter of belief, not of knowledge.
No audible voice can reach us out of
the solemn darkness which lies before
us. The teaching of Christianity
can alone illumine it. It is the domain
of faith, and it is wiser on every ground
to hold to the faith taught by the
Christian Church, than to plunge into
the bottomless sea OF skepticism
toward which the philosophers are
ceaselessly endesvoring to push us.
For what, after all, does their knowl
edge tell usa Whence we came, or
whittier we go, are problems upon
which the boosted discoveries of science
have thrown no light, and never can
throw any. What we know and see is
that man is gifted with powers which
seem to be capable of indefinite expan-
sion, and that these powers are sud-
denly arrested, often just as they are
becoming most valuable. The few
years which are mans portion here on
eazth vanieh like a dream in the
night. Before he can say, ST
have ife," it is gone; in the forcible
imagry of Scripture, he is like the
grass" In the morning it fourisheth
and groweth up; in the the evening it
is cut down and withereth. So brief
is human existence. Something within
us says that this is not all; that beyond
the grave the mysterious thread OF life
will be carried on. Scripture declares
that this is not delusion, and reas on
confirms it, for however difficult it may
be to conceive of future world, it is
still more difficult to believe that man
came from nothing and goes forward to
humiliation. To devote great powers
and much learning to the destruc-
ton of the Christian belief,
fraught as it is with inexpressible
consolation the myriads, is work
which the men engaged in it must at
times find it hard to reconcile with con
science; Or If the existence of conscience
be denied, as a thing not, to be
ssproved," then to the common desire
not to infict unnecessary pain and suf-
fering upon our fellow men: Yet it is
between these two forms of belief that
our children will have to choose, even
as we have to do. It is useless to hide
the question from them-they must be
brought face to face with it.sooner or
later. The more thoroughly they are
made acquainted with what science
has done and attempted, the less will
they be liable to fall into the
abyss of atheism. The less will they
be disposed to set up human reason in
the place of God, and worship it.
We are, indeed, told by Mr.. Matthew
Arnold and his school that Christianity
is doomed; but past experience teaches
us that human predictions about the
fall of Christianity are not worthy of
implicit credence. Of nations and en-
pres it has itself foretold many things
which have come to pass. Some of its
prophecies have yet to be fulfilled; and
among them is that which declares
that though heaven and earth shall pass
away, the Word which has come from
their Creator shall not fail.
A Mighty Hunter.
Prince Starhemberg, one of the twigs
of the Austrian genealogical tree,
arrived in San Francisco few weeks
ago. The Prince is great hunter. He