The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-02-25

It's inability TO solve II, the mind will not
be content. 30 long as we think--and we
must think--we must question. So long
as we question we must demand an an
swer,--an answer that meets the condj.
tions Of this life, accounts for It's being,
and gives reasonable promise Of its des-
tiny. From Him who gave us our being ;
In whom we live and move and have our
being, the answer must come. When He
says, with long life will satisfy
him, and show him my salvation" we re-
spond, mo salvation can satisfy which
saves for this life alone. shall be salts
fed when I awake with his likeness. My
desire TO live demands It. My soul shrinks
back upon itself and shudders al ::destruct-
Ion. My Intellectual nature demands II
thirst after more and more Of knowl-
edge, denied me here by the conditions OF
my own life, and the horizon Of my igno
rance which all about shuts me In from
the beyond. My moral nature demands
It. 1 am woefully imperfect; and when
would do good evil is present with me. am
growing In grace, but long to be deliv-
cred from the body of this death, and in
the new lie Of my better nature attain the
full stature of the ideal which is eyer
before my moral vision, but which the
brevlty of this life forbids my attaining by
such slow progress as must make. Ny
religious nature demands II. l am made
in Gods image, and want TO be changed
into likeness with Him, from glory TO
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Having this hope in me, l endeavor TO
purity myself even as He is pure 1t doth
not yet appear, aud am content not to
know what shall be; but this much l
know,-that He shall appear, and that
l shall be like Him, for l shall see Him
as He is"
He whose body lies before US, lived and
died in the assurance OF this truth. To
him 1t was no theory or conjecture, but
the most certain of all realities. A full
century he lived on earth; and his hope
and expectlon we're Of longer life ard a
better one. One of the last times he at
tended public meeting he was present
at the funeral Of relative. Bending over
the casket, and straining bis dim eyes to
discern the features he knew so we'll, he
muttered, ~ can hardly see you; but l
shall see you soon. l haventa doubt OF
L."
A hundred years! o how long It is!
What suggestion Of immortality there
Is in such life ITSELF What an eternity
Of change It hes outliYed, change in
mems thoughts, In their institutions, In
their spiritual discernment, in their
knowledge Of God, and their relations
man to manl This lie began when our
nation was In Its swaddling clothes, and
lived TO see II giant among the powers
OF the earth. 1t began:when thought trav-
eled afoot or crept at snail's pace on
wheels; IL lived 10 see intelligence blown
everywhere by the hot breath Of steam,
and carried over earth and under seas on
the swift wlngs Of the thunderbolt. IL be-
gan before mems comprehension Of Gods
purpose and submission 10 his will led
them TO overthrow human slavery, or rise
In mighty protest and deathless warfare
against the liquor traffic. II began
when the greatest Of our modern i'm.
proyements were still in the cradle or
even in the womb Of time. What life II
IS which with the foot upon the present,
and the consciousness of memory upon the
past stands astride the century like
Colossusl Like majestic arch
that bridges broad and deep
channel, 1, spanned the gull Of revolution
and change that separates the present
from the past, past recent, but which
these changes have caused to recede as
though II were ages gone.
And 1t has not ended. II in our
faith we question, II is only be
cause Of our ignorvnce. Once man saw
the fire consume the wood, and said
Combustion is the end Of matter" But
a wiser man came and said, ut Is not SO
every particle Is saved and put 10 further
use. Every particle, even Of the mist
that appears for a little time, and then
vanishes away, is still in existence, and
must do It's work again aud again, for
ages yet TO come" Then man saw the
lightning as Il shot through the air, and
left no trace; andihe said, "Force expends
itself and then dies" But another wise
man said, "There is no dealh Of force. All
that was In the lightning's fash sbides.
All forces abides. All that 10 in
The boreaiis race,
That fit ere you can point the place.
Or In the snow fall In the river.
moment white. then fades forever.
0rin the rainbow's lovely form.
Byanlshing amid the Storm
all OF force that there Is In these and all
else, sbides In undiminlshed power"
To-day we sec ourbrothsr fall and give
up the ghost; and as we place the dust
upon its kindred dust we say, HE Is
desd, and this is the end" But there
stands beside the grave One who speaks
to us, saying, "Do. force and matter live,
and are mind and character alone de.
structablei In life doth not the d,test
alone survive? And In death shall all