Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-10-09

finching heroism, and to a sublime de-
votion through fortunes and death byl
an unseen yet present and mighty
Christ. And from their day to ours
this test has been on q triumphant
march, gathering ever larger multi
tudes under it's benign influence, and
causing men, naturally skeptical, to-
trust where they can no longer see.
With every swing of the pendulum
some soul enters the dark valley and;
shadow of death, finding it illuminedi
by a celestial light and robbed of it's ter
rors by the fact of a Saviour's re-
demptive presence and power, which,
have been already so wildly felt and
blessedly enjoyed as to Danish all doubt
and fill with a sense of victory. To be-
sure the opponent of Christ will retort
that such testimony is only subjective;
But suppose it is subjective. That does
weight. Is the united voice of thou;
the fact Of Christ's life in them and
their life in Christ to pass for nothing,
or to be contemptuously dismissed on
the ground Of its subiectivity? Scien-
lists insist always on having the facts.
A fact nth them is the end of all CON
%troversy. Very well, Christianity offers
them the fact Of a Lsving Christ inspir-
ing, cheering, sustaining, transforming
and blessing men and m as nothing
else on this earth can; and it claims
that this fact has not only become o
part of human nature, but that it is al
together the noblest and most precious
part OF human nature; that if it were or
could be eradicated from man, he would
be left a poor, f%orlorn, helpless outcast
at death from both this world and
Heaven, a creature without q creator, a
mortal endowed with religious impulses
yet in the temple of a universe without
an altar, a %worshipper without a God.
When, therefore, Charles Reade
writes his own epitaph to be engraved
on the stone over his tomb, as follows,
we accept it as another worthy testi-
mony to the ~all-gracious power of
Christ, and as valuable because it voices
in felicitous words exactly what vast
numbers feel who are yet without abil-
ity to express S o clearly and emphati-
cally their convictions. The epitaph'
runs thus:
Here lie, by the side Of his Beloved Friend,
atist, Novelist and Journalist. His last words
to mankind are on this stone. 1 hope for q
resurrection, not from any power in nature,
but from the will Of the Lord God Omnipo-
tent, who made nature and me. He created
man out of nothing, which nature could not;,
He can restore man from the dust, which
nature can not. And I hope for holiness and
happiness in a future life, not for anything I
have said or done in this body, but from the
merits aud mediation of Jesus Christ. He has
promised His intercessiOn to all who seek il,
and He will not break His word; that inter.
%cession, once granted, can not be rejected;
for He is God, and His merits are infinite; q
mans sins are but human and finite, Him
that cometh to Me 1 will in no wise cast out.
If any man sin, we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous; and
He is the Precipitation for our sins.'"
These admirable sentences reveal the
Christians hope as springing solely
"from the merits and mediation of
Jesus Christ" and his 'shope for a res
direction not from any power in n%aturep
but from the will of the Lord God ON,
nipotent, who made nature and me-"
They evince also the sources of sweet
est as well as loftiest consolation for
every s~in-burdened pilgrim on his way
to the unseen realms beyond.-Christian
at Work.