The Van Buren press., 1894-12-01

The second parallel passage was spoken by
et raul 70 the Church-the Greeks-at Corinth,
VIZ: What man knoweth the things of man
same spirit Of which Job spoke even so the
things Of God knoweth no man. but the Spirit
Oh ch God IL the apostle had stopped here the
spirit Of God would have been complete and
impossible. But he adds: THE Spirit searcheth
al things, yea the deep things Of God and the
iintercommunication between the two spirits is
INDICATED In the following f0rceful declaration:
NOW we have received the Spirit which is of
God, that we might KNOW the things which are
freely given to us Of God" These passages give
that the same spirit inspired both and IL any
man is ignorant of Divine truth he is willfully
From the first quotation (st john we learn
the origin of Life; from the second the source
OF knowledge. and that TO God we are indebted
for life aud the capacity for acquiring knowl.
edge 81 whatever character it may be
real, truthful, has God for Its author: that we
may know the things that are freely given US of
Having ascertained the "Origin of Life" 1t now
becomes us to enquire
"IF MAN pie SHALL HE LIVE AaAIsY
If man die" The unalterable decree has
gone forth: Dust thou art, and to dust shalt
soul) As yet no antidote has been found.
Each heart beat is a muffed drum by which we
march to the tomb. The swift-fying seconds
soon multiply into years, and the three score
and ten" allotted to man on earth, are soon
flown If by reason of strength they be four
score, yet they are spent In labor and sorrow"
the flower Of grass; the grass withereth, the
flower thereof falleth away and the grace of the
fashion of it perisheth forever" FOrtify as he
will, death will enter the citadel and claim his
own. Hide where he may. the searcher will hide
in the same covert Though he fee by ship to
uniphabted isles in the heart Of the sea, or is
lost amid the throngs that crowd the cities or
round himself with the sweetest Of sweet
scented flowers, revel in luxury or pine in
squalOr, though he mount to throne, adorn his
royal brow with diadems and sway the scepter
OF power, lead the steel-nerved host to victory
and gain the worlds applause; his implacable
enemy pursues him reentlessly, seeks him.
flies on the same wing with him, revels. hides
the royal monarch on his proud throne The
armies of the dead lie on the bed of every ocean,
literally rocked in the cradle of the deep" DER
which the living on white wings sail merrily on.
needless of the sleepers. Every river has its
story OF woe. on the sun-scorched sands of the
desert the earthly house of the dead bleach
while multitudes sleep in unmarked graves
The earth is one vast mausoleum TO which the
living are moving in unnumbered myriads.
"Ifhe die. Oh, If he die" Into what home
has he not already come? If his footprints are
soon; he is on the way. The home and the heart
will soon show signs, unmistakable tokens, of .
visit; the home will be covered with shadow;
the heart will break to be mendei no more
T will ne 'er be whole again.
"There is no flock, however watched and tended
But one dead lamb Is there;
There is no tireside. howsoe' 'er defended.
But has one vacant chair"
And
"It must be done, my SOUL but t is strange
dismal and mysterious change,
When thou shalt leave this tenement of clay,
And To an unknown somewhere wing away"
II BE-HE's ALREADY DYING-sHALL HE LIVE
AGAIN
Is he forever perished? Then t were well he
had not lived at ALL How frail the tenement in
life had its temporary htme. How easily
crushed. But is that mysterious something
known as Life ephemeral-the existence of a
day? Is it like some rOse-tinted cloud which
sports on some evening sky whose only glory is
the reflected rays of the setting sun? Or is 1t as
bird of beautiful plummage whose notes are as
thrilling and as charming as the song of a siren
Must the cloud lose its roseate hue, and the bird
It's beauty. and must its song die away in deep
silence forever, no more to awake the trilling
the reflector of his glory, the crOwDing work of
creation, the most beautiful. superb, sublime
work Of God-must Ee perish? Shall he live
again Will his lite be reproduced-rather pro-
In some form visible, pre-
scient, in some cline to love and be loved by
some heart? Aye, twas the lite OF man that
went suddenly out on yester night-a noble life
There can be no transmigration of souls That
were to degrade its origin and author. If he
lives not again, what! Pause on the brink of
the gulf of humiliation aud ask: why did we
to love is greater than that Of loving and losing
forever. why did we honor if this be the end 70
Why did we hope il hopes star lures us on to
those abysmal depths over which hangs the
pail of death, and there hides its beautiful face"
Then would it had blushed in beauty on the sky.
Ten thousand bewildering thoughts crowd upon
the mind here and Overwhelm 1t with confusion
worse confounded."
SHALL HE LIVE? Honorable lives long 10 be
eternal. Only the abandoned, the base the vile
would with foul breath forever extinguish the
glowing fires of life and forbid, man, angel or
God to rekindle them. 0uly the corrupt and
debauched in mind and spirit would snatch the
light of life from the heavens and dash it into
the inky waters of eternal death and forbid its
rescue. To live Is to love and be loved. Love
is eternal Who loves not lives not. Love is
life; love is eternal life Love is OfGod for God is
Love.
But who or what shall answer? The rocks
rivers and oceans are silent The stars and suns
declare the glory of God and day unto day
uttereth speech; the heavens shOweth His handi-
work, but touching this momentOus question
they are voiceless. Turning away from these TO
men high in honor, to poet and sage, we ask,
shall man. if he dies, live again., some say;
We cannot tell;' others say, I'VE hope sO;'
while others thunder the answer back on the
startled ear Never! Never!" Knocking at the
door of the tomb, in which loved forms softly
lie and sweetly sleep" We ask the question in
vain-every grave is dumb aud its sleeper deaf.
Bending over the prone form of our venerable
friend whom honor has crowned, whose years
stretch across the century. save brief periods at
its beginning and close: whose voice rang out
clear and lusty in defense of the right, rs God
gave him to see the right, and in fearless con-
demnation of the wrong as he saw the wrong;
who was a match for Ashley. Roam, Scott, Pike
on any field whose well filled library and well
used books attest knowledge varied and ex-
tended q man among men, peer OF peers,
standing in the front rank of the men OF his
profession in the State-meaning at the front OF
the nations lawyers who spoke out of the
abundance Of heart over which presided q
royal mind; as he sleeps here in slumber pro-
found bend over him and shout in his deaf ear
and say: IF q man die will he live again 2"
viii you honOred sir, live again? When
Where? There's no response Let the wife of
his mature and declining years, from whom he
concealed nothing-whOse manly arm was her
support-let her coax him with her love, her
tears her broken heart to speak, he knows now
If at ALL his faith said: Il will live again." tell
her. Is it true But harki Heard ye that voice
sounding down the ages. cheering the gloom Of
the death chamber soothing the broken heart,
kindling again the light of Hope and placing 1t
in mid heavens light which shines more and
more unto the perfect dsy-a light arising In the
darkness OF doubt and scepticisn 1t is the same
voice which triumphantly rose above the roar
of the tempest the cracking Of the eager,
devouring flames, the laundering tread Of