The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1901-09-05
OIL. XV.-No. Z.

It is fascinating study, this prob
ing into the unknown after the
truth. Every man to a certain
extent is interested in religion.
There has never been man since the
beginning of the world who, if he had
a sane reasoning mind, has not asked
himself, "whence come we and whittier
are we going?" AS to the existence of
future life, some believe; some do
not believe; it all depends on the
mental makeup of the individual.
But after all, with all the accumulated
wisdom and experience Of the ages,
there is no positive proof of future
life that would be accepted as irrefutable
evidence by the Royal Scientific Society
of London, the Smithsonian Institute
or any other distinguished scientific
body. 1t all depends on. faith or
credulity.
One way to arrive at fairly definite
opinion on this subject is to investigate
the religious opinions of all the great
Reject everything that has been dis
proven; reject everything doubtful.
Let US take glance at the religious
opinion Of few of the great men
whose names have become famous for
wisdom throughout the world.
First there is Alexander of Mace
donia, the greatest warrior of antiquity.
He seems to have favored the doctrine
Of Aristotle. He conquered the world,
but wherever he went he always
respected the religion of the conquered
people. He never violated a shrine,
temple or place of worship. This
was a shrewd political move, but it
renders it hard to ascertain his religious
opinions. julius Caesar was an ont
and out atheist. He did not believe in
gods, ghosts, devils or miracles. He
was simply materialist, taking things
as they came. Plato was an agnOstic,
just as Socrates was. Plato's views are
expressed in remark he once made.
He said: "Why fear death? If there
is future life, will you not be pleased
to meet and converse with all the sages
and heroes of the past? On the other
hand, suppose death does end all-whst
more can you desire than eternal peace
and rest, for eternity will be as night,
a dreamless sleep"
Confucius seems to have worried
10 oh oil
of his asked him one day, master,
what is death ?" Confucius said to
him, "Please tell me what is life? Why
should we care about death when we
do not know what life is 2" Clovis and
Charlemange both were religious to a
certain extent. Ghengis Khan and
Tamarlane were both what we moderns
call "pagans," which is, practically,
atheists.
Dante, one of the foremost men of
all the ages, was Christian, stern and
uncompromising. Read his description
of hell in the "Inferno" Bruno, Calico,
Copernicus, and many others were
punished by the Roman church for
their "heretlc doctrines" Those doc
trines are facts today. Coming down
to modern times we have large num-
Der of great men. We will select a
few:
Napoleon was an agnostic. See,
Napoleon, The Last Phase" by LORD
Rosebery, for proof of this assertion;
also O'Meara'S and Las Casas' works IN
Napoleon. Washington was Christian,
Jefferson an agnostic; Lafayette an
agnostic; Voltaire was an infidel. Of
Voltaire Goethe says, ellis genius en-
compassed the world.". Robespierre
was an agnostic; Blucher and Yelling
ton were both Christians.
Lincoln, Grant, Lee, and Bismarck