The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1900-07-19
SALTWATER, MINNESOTA, THURSDAY, JULY 49, 1900

day that Cheops erected his great
Egyptian pyramids, proudly boasting
that they would stand as long as the
pillars of the world? Nay, but it is
not yet six thousand years, and already
those great blocks are falling to pieces.
Where will they be when sixty centur-
les more have dropped as softly as the
autumn. leaves on the brow of beauti-
full dark-eyed Egypt?
When we view these things and see
that nothing is lasting, that all falls
into decay and passes away before the
tramp of remorseless doom, we are
prone to ponder on the riddle of ex-
istence. What is the meaning of this
constant coming and going of the
stream of life? If there is no future
world as many think, why is the
scheme of creation kept in motion :?
and why was it put in motion in the
beginning?
We come from the earth. We return
to earth. "Dust to dust, ashes to
ashes," from God to God. And yet
beneath it all we can see, as through a
darkened glass, that all things are
tending toward some definite goal. We
can see that all matter and substance
is governed by law. And inasmuch
as community of individuals or even a
single individual works in harmony
with the laws, just so much will bene-
fit accrue therefrom. "To him that
hath shall be given," that is, to him
that useth rightly shall be given more.
We see that though wrong and vio-
lence may seem to triumph for time,
yet a little while, yet period of time,
aud right does prevail.
Now, whenever some great question
OF Importance arises on any subject,
what is the last thing we do when it
cannot be solved? Submit it to an
expert, do we not? So, let us submit
this question to an expert-one called
Jesus of Nazareth. The question of
whether there is future life or not,
mean.
Here is man born in a stable, of
humble parents, who never went to
school, who never graduated from a
college, who worked as a carpenter up
to the time of his entry into public
life. He had no money. No friends.
No education. No ancestry. Yet his
doctrines have revolutionized the en-
tire world, and today his followers are
as countless as the sands on the sea
shore. Billions have died calling on
His name, and believing Him to be
what He claimed to be, the Son of God.
At the age of twelve, His parents
are astounded to find Him in the tenn
pie, puzzling the wisest men in Jerusa-
lem with his theories and questions;
men grown gray in wisdom. A boy
twelve years old! He gets up, in the
synagogues, not rude, but unlettered,
and delivers doctrines and arguments
which men who have made lifetime
study of such things, cannot refute or
answer. Statesmen and rulers of ma
tions, all alike are powerless before
His eloquence. His short simple para
bles have been the foundation of the
worlds greatest religion, and though
twenty centuries have passed away,
yet during all that time, when genius
after genius has risen and fallen, and
the most brilliant intellects of history
have dazzled the eyes of the world, not
one of them, not one has been able to
prove His teachings false, or to abate
one jot or title from them.
The worlds greatest general, prodi-
gy of intellectual power, before whom
all others paled "as the stars before
the sum-" says of Christ, briefly but
graphically: 81 know men. He was
no mortal man. He was the Son of
Cod" So we must admit that Jesus
Christ is the greatest character in
history, even overlooking the miracles
He performed that have not been and
l venture to say never will be dupli-
Gated by any one else.
Therefore He is an expert. His
opinion is conclusive. And what does
he say in regard to future life? Why,
His very object in life was to promul-