Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1891-01-10
Sunday Rta4tnB,
Three Voices from the Tomb.
United Brethren.


the tomb-the voice of inhlelity, the
voice of nature, and that of revela-
ton. The soul is hungering and
thirsting for a knowledge Of what is
beyond. The fingers of death are
reaching for the heart strings, and
the immortality within calls out for
light. The road is becoming dark.
What is there beyond? The dying
man calls on infdelity for an answer.
He hears a voice, but it is all dark.
There is nothing Of certainty. There
is no hope.
The materialist comes forward to
answer the question propounded to
infidelity. He says there is nothing
beyond the tomb.
Life is the result of organism, life
ceases. This is no satisfaction to the
longing soul. With this theory, man
is no better than a brute. The Pan
theist answers, saying, "God is every
thing. There is no personal God"
If the father has no personality, the
children can have none. All we can
be sure of is this present existence.
The agnostic replies, "There may
be, but l do not know" The not
knowing is that which distresses. A
state of doubt is the most painful.
The hungry soul must feed upon
itself.
The atheist says, "There is moth
ing beyond; there is no God {; there
is nothing but law" A world with
out a God is a dark picture-no GER
tainty, no hope.
The soul, burning with thirst, turns
away from infdelity, baffied and
sorrowful. A positive nature cannot
be satisfied with negative answer
The question is still asked, "What is
there beyond the tomb?" Nature
answers, "There is a God; man i:
mortal" The intuition of man says
there is a God. No man can discover
the existence of God, for he sees Hin
directly. The recognition of God il
universal and necessary. There is ;
universal longing for and belief il
some kind of immortality. Ever!
effect must have cause; all about u
are effects there must be first cause
which is God.
Men unprejudiced by theory vii
usually speak forth the truths of ma
ture. Even the sceptic may at time
reach above his theories and speal
the sentiments of human nature.
The general progress Of philosoph,
has been in favor of Christianity
The Greek philosophers, in the Ian
guage of Paul, "feIt after God" Au
gustine, who in his youth was stu
dent Of the philosophers, said, "Plat
made me know the true God, an
Jesus Christ showed me the way t
Him."
The reaction from experiment.
philosophy to the intuitive bring
man face to face with God. TIL
movement of thought is like tn
swinging of the pendulum of a cloc
which is ever moving onward
Thought is ever oscillating betwee
fanaticism and scepticism, but, frol
necessity, settles at last at trutl
Philosophy arises and answer
"There is something that endures b
yond. The shuttle is moving. The
is weaver behind the shuttle. Som
thing subsists beyond the tomb"
The poet is pre-eminently the ms
of nature. The voice of the true pc
is nature-the voice of God-fOr VIII
is nature but Gods thought materis
lied. The doctrine of immortal
with rewards and punishments in Il
future, has been taught by line
poets from Homer $3.50 B. CO. down
this present time. Scientists may d
ny the existence after death, but t
poet must hold to the truth. Shak
speare, the great poet of humanit
plays on the chords of human natul
when he makes Hamlet, about
commit suicide, soliloquize upon
The undiscovered country from VIII
bOurn
No traveller returns"
There is beautiful story of
wife of Little Wolf, an Iowa chi
She accompanied her husband or
mission to London, where she
her fourth and last child. Her 81
caused her to lose her hold on Il
Her husband tried to console a
bring her back to life, but her c.
slant reply was: mo, no, my fl
children recall me. l see them