The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1894-11-28
The Agnostic and the Christian.

| ity.--i cor, W., 81.
There is one subject on which the
Christian and the agnostic are as far
apart as Arcturus and the earth--name-
ly, that of the day after death.
To the agnostic death is the devourer
of the race-rapacious, memorable, re-
lentless. For three years or more we
play the role of gods, and our lives are
grand and impressive as the music OF a
cathedral organ. Then we are dissolved
by the cruel chemistry of dis, ase, or dis
integrated by the wear and tear of time,
and that is the end. Thought, and inn
agination, and hope, and morality, and
religion are other names for phosphorus,
and what we rashly call the soul is moth
ing more than a curious concourse Of
particles whose accidental juxtaposition
makes this man philosopher, that man
poet and another man clown. When
the heart ceases to beat there is nothing
left OF clown or philosopher or poet ex-
cept a handful of ashes whose highest
service is to fructify patch of corn or
enrich bed of asparagus.
For little while this wondrous piece
of mechanism which we call king or a
peasant throbs with aspiration that soar
to the stars, with longings that can
neither be limited nor repressed, and
then death smites him with the apo
plexy Of Inconsistencies and he never
RECEIVERS from the blow.
Viewed from such standpoint man is
the product OF the most cruel creative
processes. He is rocked in the cradle Of
despair in his infancy and in his old age
is hurled into the abyss of humiliation.
If chance had happened to make him a
dog or vulture, without the ability to
dream glorious dream OF Immortality,
he might have been happy. But chance
was Indignantly intelligent enough to
endow him with an irresistible faith in a
future only to disappoint him when the
time comes to realize it.
In making our comparison OF this view
with that of the Christian it is not ourp ur-
pose to deal in argument as to the truth
or falsity of either theory. 1t might
be that the agnostic is correct and the
Christian incorrect in his statements
that is matter with which we have no.
| thing to do for the moment. We simply
declare that for all the practical pur-
poses of contented life, for the product
ion OF that calm endurance under afflict-
ion which ennobles its possessor and of
that serene resignation which enables
us to part with loved ones in the hope OF
a reunion somewhere in the realms OF
space and at last to face the conqueror OF
conquerors, not like the quarry slave, but
like one who wraps the drapery of his
couch about him and lies down to pleas
ant sleep, Christianity is as much better
than agnosticism, faith is as much better
than doubt, as healthy food is better than
deadly poison.
Let us illustrate. Two people love
! each other-husband aud wife, mother
and child, or it may be lovers who are
looking forward to a home. True it is
that love is sometimes capricous and
| evanescept, but true it also is that life is
sometimes irradiated by kind of love
which will last forever unless 0minipo-
tence extinguishes it. Souls united by
such bonds are as necessary to each other
as two halves are necessary to a whole.
Each gives everything to the other and
finds every thing in the other. They
journey side by side through summer
and winter weather, and so far from los
ing its lustre this love becomes brighter,
purer, tIurer and more ennobling as the
years wax and wane. 1t is not too much
to say that such love is frequently sen,
and that it is to the heart which is en-
riched by it what sunshine and dew and
intermitting darkness and day are to the
wheat field.
But in some fell hour the lightning
strikes, and the child, the father, the
lover is heavy eyed with the sleep Of
death. The silver cord is being loosened
the golden bowl will soon be broken
and neither signs nor prayers can stay the
dread event.
Call the agnostic; his tears almost
scald his checks as he resolutely telli
you OF his honest doubts. He cannot
bid you hope, for hope is Elusive. Al
other times he may serve you well; bu
now he can only add to your agony by
pointing to eternal separation.
Call the Master and listen to Hi
words;-"As to you, my dear one, whc
are falling asleep, you have begun the
journey to the home above. You will
meet there the loved who have gone be
fore, and you and they will patiently
wait until the good God calls upon thos'
who remain TO come up higher.
GAS to you who weep, your farewell
on earth will soon give way to greeting
in heaven. The mother will not ceas'
to love because she is there and you ar
here; the father will not forg, I his chill
q WOMEN IN SOCIETY