The Teton peak. [volume] (St. Anthony, Idaho) 1899-1904, 1903-01-15
A Funeral Address.

Church, Nov 81, 1902, over the re-
mains of George Louis, an elder of
that church, by the Rev. Will Stuart
Wilson, pastor
The Apostle Paul. speaking to the
Colossians, in the first chapter and
twenty-seventh verse, tells them that it
is Christ in Them who is their hope
of glory" This message is one which
we need, in this said hour of death and
bereavement as we walk along the dark
valley of the shadow of death.
There are days when the Heavens are
o'ercast with gloomy, lowering clouds
The horizon is one unbroken canopy of
gray. There seems no rift in the clondy
canopy. The day is dark and dreary, it
rains and the winds seem never weary.
Then rift is seen and the glorious ray
OF the oershining sun breaks through,
dispelling the gloom of the Exchanging
clouds and chasing the mists away. So
in our lives some rain must fall, and
the days be dark and dreary. In that
hour comes the cheering words of the
great apostle, Christ in you the hope
of glory" and the rift is seen with the
blessed sunlight of hope flooding the
sorrowful, troubled SOUL For we must
all, sooner or later, tread the silent
pathway which lies along the dark val
ley, mourning our loved ones Death
is no respector of persons. There is
not spot on its pilgrimage where his
presence is unknown. There is no fam
lily DER whom its dark blighting shadow
doth not fall. There is always sometime,
somewhere, some eye weeping, some
heart broken, some home whose light is
extinguished and whose Penates are
draped with the habiliments of sorrow
When he crosses the threshold of the
poor or lowly, unknown almost the busy
throng pass by and leave little circlet
of kindred hearts alone to pass through
their midst. Or again he strikes a
mighty one throned in the hearts Of mil
lions, and the millions bow down in the
| RACoCACC VI CuC 1dUCu IuC6ScAScl W JUL
in universal grief.
Alas we have no armor plate to fend
off the darts of death. No opiate, as
the tabled leaf from the tree of life, to
salve with its healing power this wound.
No pool of Bethesada, with its sanitor-
ial power to heal us of this fatal stroke
The world crucifes the Master and nc
Gallilean with divine touch restores to
physical life. our dead. "All that is
born must de-" runs the fatal mandate
and the universal wall of woe but regis
ters that inexorable decree.
But again, while "all that is born must
die" yet brooding over the centuries
deep in human breasts there rests thi
hope of glory, Christ in you. The grea
ries roll on, stands forth lncarnate sym
pathy and hope. Touched with feel
ing of our unfortunates, tempted as W
are" yet sinless we turn to him as one VIII
"knoweth our frame" can pity and ca
feel. I have seen men in the dark hou
of grief drawn to each other throug
the bond of common wound. l hav
seen mothers, as the grave closed owe
their offspring, weeping in each other
arms and comforted because each ha
known a common grief So in the hou
Of trial we turn to Him, who "tempte
as we are" has been there and alon
can minister to the broken in heart an
comfort them that mourn. God know
and God cares, and ah the inexpressibl
: relief in that knowing" and caring
What has upheld the men and wome
of the past save this? AS the gray
closes over a loved one, if that were al
: life were indeed mockery, and deaf
y precious boon. If, as kiss in agon
= the lips so cold and silent under the ic
y clasp of death, thought it ended all, lii
i. is not so pleasant in all its alluringnes
z but what should act ON the advise {
z. Jobs wife, to curse God>and die. OF
z reason, tie sense of the eternal fine
a of things" aside from revelation, tell
p in no uncertain tone that love is not b.
. slowed in mockery nor in satire, br
& that with life it shall ripen beyond tt
z grave into fairer harvest than cart
q could yield. 1t is this hope, increai
4 through revelation of "Christ in yor
u that has buoyed up the world.
Y This is that hope whichN hold out
n these mourning ones this day in the pre-
U ence of their dead. Geo. Louis was e
n der of our church and we mourn viii
4 them in their loss and ours. He pr
= scented the fairest, purest type of ma
= hood that l, his pastor, have personal
known His life and companionshi
4 were a constant incentive to purer livi1
4 and nobler endeavor. He was of thos
of whom this world was not worth
Never did knight of old in knightli
4 manner twin the holy grail. OF hi
in truth we may "sans peur ct sans I