The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-07-03

Mr.. Milburn S tribute TO the deceased
a%bounded in beautiful and sympathetic
passages and evidently created a profound
impression upon all that heard it. He
spoke in part as follows:
ut is our practice to draw a sharp line
through the experiences of life and say
that all on one side OF this line are wholly
good and that the experiences that are on
the other side are inevitably evil, but this
sharp line of cleavage that we draw
through the immediate. experiences of life
is untenable when we consider these ex-
periences in the calm light of observation
and OF reason. This world in which we are
living and all the experiences that go TO
constitute ii. this world is composite. There
is no such thing as an absolute good so
far as we grasp and experience the good.
no such thing as an absolute evil in so far
as we grasp and comprehend that evil.
but life as we utter IT in and through our
personal experience Is a thing composed
and constituted of the mingled good and
evil. These things that we hold to be good
apparently contain in themselves a potency
of harm. We all long for material opu-
lence. and IL may be a good, but it also
may be an evil. 1t may make us super
cilious and arrogant and self-important.
long for literary grasp. hat is a
good thing-fo know, TO comprehend the
multitudino iacts and laws of this uni
verse 1t is a good and makes for the en-
largement. for the enrichment of life. and
yet We also know that literary power is
often associated with great personal in
trinity. as In the case of Shelley, as in the
case of Byron. as in the case of Coleridge.
On the other hand, we often see those
things that are apparently evil tending
towards good and having in themselves the
possibility of a larger and a nobler life.
Temptation is a thing from which we
naturally shrink. Ii Is. a thing that we
naturally strive to fight, and our prayer
is Lead US not into temptation, and yet
II has been the providence OF God that
since we have got to go into the moral
storm of evil II has a potency of good in
ii. for IL is only by moral resistance that
We become strong. noble, humane and soft
to the world. 1t is the proximity that we
sometimes come to the dust that gives US
such tenderness in the estimation of the
lives and characters of our fellow-men.
We M how nearly PROSTATE we have
been. and therefore we see how ii is quite
compatible with great personal infirmity
for q man at the same time TO be upright,
noble. stately and divine.
SUFFERING SWEETENS WORLD.
Suffering is a thing also that we shrink
from. and yet it is suffering that has
sweetened the world. The truth Of the
matter is that there has been no intel
lectual ~fecundity apart from suffering. All
the great thoughts that man has ever
thought. all the great works of literature
lave been born out of storm and suffering,
nave been born out of the pressure and
strain Of life. In every great literary out
burst we shall find a great substratum of
sorrow and OF travail and of pain on the
part OF the Nation. on the part of that in
tellect that has given light and luster to
the world.
OF good in evil. so. on the other hand, there
is a potency of evil In good. Now, Just as
life is composite, just so with death
Death Is not all an evil-at least. NOT
according 10 nv observation nor aaCorI-
ing TO my experience. l think IL is a par.
tial evil and a partial good. The partiaI
evil OF IL We all know, those or us thai
have been called by God to lose those We
have loved. III We have been called TO lay
away a father or q mother or any one thai
was dear TO US. We know what IL all means
We know what darkness comes 10 us. VIZ
know what oppression o: spirit comes &c
US. We know what awful desoIation o
heart comes 10 US. We may call it sleep
or we may call II change or we may cal
II rest or transition or liberation. blu
euphemism does not take away the stinl
and agony OF death. Death is still death
a terrible experience 10 be called TO lay
away one that is infinitely dear 10 US. for
according TO our observation, the beaut,
OF life is the love of life. not the power O.
life. but the glory and the beauty OF il al
Is the love Of life. and therefore death is ;,
agonizing because IL means the tearin.
| apart of body from body. and the body n
very beautiful; the BODY is one of God
supremest achievements, the body is on,
Of Gods very greatest and most glorious
creations. and no matter what attitudes /.
man may nave attained TO. no matter how
nigh he may have risen into the empyreal
world OF the spirit, you and / are so con
the spirit world is as the spirit worlC
comes 20 us through this wonderful organ
that we call the human body.
II know my mothers love through m,
mothers body, | know my fathers low,
through my fathers body. the lover know,
the beauty and the sweetness and the com
pulsion and the responsiveness OF love onl,
! through the human body. We may som
day know in a different way. but as we ar,
now constituted we need the flesh 10 reves
the wonderful sublimity and beauty o
that love in the m spirit, and aenc'