The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-04-20

ing is the dispeller of all fear, the
solvent of all doubt concerning the
future life For, despite the argyll
ments of reason, despite the yearnings
of the grief-stricken heart, doubt, de-
NAL and belief are struggling today for
the mastery of the minds of men. To
some it is clear that there is no here
after Death ends all things: dust to
dust is the last word of this material
the thought. and the gray light of
despair settles down on a world which
we must needs make our home. for
there is no other. In one of the great
palaces of Europe there hangs a paint
ing, the supreme achievement of a
master artist. Its subject is the last
days of the Reign of Terror. In the
awful background of the scene one
may distinguish the figure of death
with the guillotine, his instrument.
The scene itself is the prison of the
condemned. In the center of the
gloomy chamber stands an officer, who
with face firm set, is reading the list
of those who are to die today. All
around him, llnecling. crowding, stand
ing, are the victims. whose names he
has just called, and those who still
await their doom. Some hide behind
e. II
den, others hold up to the dim light
| faces in which grief is written. or
dark despair, or proud contempt, or
helpless rage: in the faces of Il few one
reads tho last glimmcr of desperate
hope. Now, such would be human life
if all men believed that there is no
hereafter Then, indeed. would death
be terrible For we all live in the flu
turc: our happiness is never today's
but always tomorrow's gift. There are
lives, it is true. which decline bcauti-
fully into death; lives whose going
down is as the setting of a cloudless
sun on a summer sea. But the vast
complete; death is the MONDAY eclipse
Of all our earthly hopes. Death comes
to the young in the fullncss of their
strength, when lifc's sweetest draught
is about to touch the lips: death comes
to the ambitious man when the aim of
all his pndeavorS is just within his
grasp: death comes to the Wcalth-ScpE-
er when he is just about to reach for
his long sought treasure; death comes
to the father and mother while the
child. for whose welfare they have
planned and toilcd, still requires their
care. Your view of life must provide
| for all eases, and it is indeed cruel
creed that robs us of the hope of Il
| hereafter and makes death, whose
coming is so uncertain, the greatest Of
all evils.
| But, for the one who denies Il future
life, there are ten today who are con-
tent with doubling. Their last word is
| know not. Instead of the warm, life
giving love of personal God, the new
creed would give us doubt: instead of
the inspiring thought that there is Il
| life beyond the grave where evil is
redrcSsed and goodness is rewarded,
the modern world invites us to live and
act in uncertainty. From such point
of view. the world is like the inner
court of the palace of some Oriental
ruler The damp sombre walls of the
present shut off all view of the world
beyond. Here around us are the en-
blems of time and change; the foun-
tain drips, the shadow travels round
the dial, the sand in the hour-glass
falls. and ore by one our companions
pass into the presance-chamber of the
Great One. whose name is the I'm.
known. Here, by our side men wake
and sleep and dream their dreams of
conquest and strife and wealth and
power and love, and still the sands are
falling and still the water in the fOun
tain drips and still the shadow moves
and ever and anon the spectre appears
and summons one of us away, but
whittier he goes we know not Such q
creed is fatal to all enterprise: il
blasts the germ of hope; it stultitic>
Self-sacrlice; it chlls the heart that
would throb with the love Of God ant
fellowman. Yes, agnosticism, tn,
creed of our day, is barren of all goo(
works.
But. over against this matcrialist Gle
NAL and the agnostic doubt. is the firm
belief of Christian men and women il
the Immortality of the human soul
For them the world is no death haunt
cd chamber. no sombrc sleepy ante
l0Om to the presence of the unknown
it is wide as Gods own hands hay,
made it, free as the breath which III,
blows. bright as the sunshine whcl
He sheds upon it. In that sunshine TIL,
emyncss OF despair, tho shadow-cas
monotony Of waiting in doubt are dis
PEELED and men can see to do good
For suffering is sanctified, grief il
chhStencd. SGlf-sacriflce is cncoura &c,
at the thought that we arc not mad,
for this life alone, but also for lif
to come. Every career, incomplete a.
it may seem to MS, is completed be
yond the grave. There is no discor,
in the harmony of the universe. 70
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