The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-09-05
WHOLE NO. 1877.

iully iOuSut tiiC OdtlAOONCA ei-esAAA ANA
US. But his memory also deserves
the fairest tribute we can pay, be-
cause he livied the life of Christian
patriot, sage and jurist. He lived a
Christian and, as he lived he died.
He passed from US to that beautl-
ful home beyond the river, in the
faith of the Christian, in the fullness
and ripeness of years and of honor,
having rounded life of the greatest
moral beauty and general usefulness
by a fitting end.
He fell before decay had impaired
his faculties, in the full enjoyment of
all the powers of his wonderous mind
breathing out his soul in prayer to
Him who gave him being, and
whom he always followed and loved,
IN death as inlife, protesting his faith.
His life and death stand out in
bold contrast with the life and death
of modern unbelieving statesmen
and politicians, and will go far in
correcting the growing evil influence
of infdelity upon the minds of the
rising and coming generations. 1t
disproves the sceptics charge that
the christians faith is unfounded,
and confined to the illiterate, the
weak, the nervous, and to tC0men,
and therefore beneath the concern
of educated men. The strong
faith boldly professed, in which
he lived and died, by such a mind,
is a stronger argument for christi
anity, than was his unanswerable
reply to the chiefribald skeptic
of the age. And sucha life is
more potent for good than all
the cant Of philosophers who,
actuated by the common principal
of self-glorihcation, are more con-
cerned Il es.Ablish their views, than
they are to 6nd ute truth
Very well was St. Paul's caution
needed by him" Beware lest any
man spoil you through philosophy
and vain deceit, after the tradition
of man, after the rudiments of the
world, and not after Christ"
These philosophers start out with
the premise, all truth may be dis
covered by the human mind unaid-
ed; and then meditating 10 their own
philosophic minds, they come TO Il
fixed notion of what truth ought to
be, and endeavor to maintain it by
such logic as they can apply, al
ways convincing themselves that
they have succeeded, but never
suggesting anything to subserve the
purpose of the beautiful faith they
seek to destroy. Not so, however,
with our departed friend. Following
in the footsteps of fthe honest seeker
for truth in all ages, and impelled
by an innate longing of the soul for
something better, purer and more
enduring than the fieeting pleasures
of temporal life, he starts out in
quiring, what and where is truth
and makes an honest effort to find
it. Before getting far an in life he
hears the sounds, as coming up from
hoary age, L am the way, the truth
and the life" Here is the chal-
lenge to the philosopher-who is
this truth? Truth must be eudur-
ing, the same at all times and all
places. What human mind fills
such an age and space as of itself to
comprehend all enduring truth.
Mans mind is limited, and is as va
ried as are the peoples OF any age or
country-it cannot possibly of itself
conceive of truth, as it may be COM
pretended by the individuals of the
various nations and tribes of men,
and as enduring forever to be able
to do so, would be to cease to be
finite. But, pursuing his investiga-
tions to discover truth. and not to
establish a pet theory, he learns of
one who said, Before Abraham was
| am" He hears of one as being
the same yesterday, to-day and
forever"
From Patmos he hears of one re
vealed as the alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending, the
first and the last" He hears of one
who prayed, 20 Father. glorify me
with thine own self, with the glory
which | had with thee before the
world was"
He hears the sweet singer of Israel
sing, " Thy righteousness is an ever
lasting righteousness, and thy law
"is truth" He hears an Apostle
pray, Sanctify them through the
truth tky word is TRUTH And as
if echoing from afar, come the words,
Il am the light of the world, the
true light which lighteth every man
that cometh into the world"
And then pursuing the inquiry in
the light of a conscience challenge
by these wonderful utterances SEEM
ingly embracing time and eternity,
with an eye single to the discovery
of the truth, he finds that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of the living God
the way, the truth and the light,
the same yesterday, to-day and for
ever, and that all who believe in him
shall be saved-thus he believed.
His religious faith was as firm as the
everlasting hills, never waning for
an instant in a long and eventful
life, and as pronounced at death as
in life.
His was not a spasmodic faith
embraced at the last hour to pave
the way to an uncertain end ; or as
a mere averter of danger, when hu-
man helplessness was made mani
fest by bodily infrmity, nor as a
last resort, when nothing was left, to
hang hope upon.
His last prayer was not the cry OF
distress Lord, help me, or | perish,
but thepouring out of the Christians
soul to his God. praying him to end
his suffering. and take him home,
with the full assurance that the
Father had in store for him such a
home beyond the river.
Such character should be vindi-
Gated, honored, revered and com
mended by all good men. And IT
should be spread as far as mis- fame
goes, that the most brilliant jewel IN
his crown, represents his Christian