The Penn's Grove record., 1903-05-01

lance. Ii l do not know that / exist this
Is practical annibilation, and this does not
at ali meet or satisfy the longing of my ma
turc. This is a theistic substitute. Now
let me mention some atheistic substitutes,
substitutes that leave out God altogether.
One of these proposes the idea of abb
sorption into the universe. The particles
of matter of which we are composed will
mingle with earth and air and sea and sky,
and live eternally amid their ever vary
ing changes and combinations. All this
sounds well, but think of what it means.
Life is always dying out, and death alone
persists and conquers, according to this in
depreciation. Materialists attempt to daz-
zle US with an infinite panorama of whiri-
ing suns, evolving planets and astronomical
wonders, but without the self-conseioas
soul life is nothing, a series Of sepulchers,
earth, ashes, dust. There is nothing in
prospect to comfort the sorrowing heart.
Still another substitute is absorption
into the race Immortality OF fame. The
great man. it is said, viii survive in the
memory of his fellows. Beautiful books,
useful inventions aud instructive examples
these will insure the plaudits of poster
ity. Napoleon is said to have remarked:
My soul will pass into history and the
deathless memories OF mankind. ard thus
in glory I shall be immortal" The objec-
ton to this theory is that it makes immor-
tally the privilege of the few. The Alex
anders, the Caesars, the Augustines, the
Washingtons, the geniuses, are all happily
provided for, but what of the many who
have written no beautiful books, who have
performed no heroic deeds. who have left
no. inspiring examples Are they to be
blotted out, punished for not having what
was never given them. for not having what
they could not possibly get? Is immor-
tally thus a reward only for the distin-
guished, the gifted Jew? No, it is a false
theory. 1t is pathetic and surprising that
men of parts should have stopped to con-
sole and hatter themselves III this fashion.
Fame alone, be 1T as great as that of PERI
cles OF Luther, is not by itself a sufficient
and satisfying return for the labor its win
ming entails; it certainly is not pay enough
for mans extinction. Fame is something
left behind anyway and those of us who
have no fame are like the drop of water
that dries up after it has fallen. This sub
stitute is p~uerile, wanting in dignity.
Another one holds that we must con-
tent ourselves with immortality of the race.
The individual disappears, but the race
continues storing up within itself all that
Is worthiest of survival. We live In others.
They inherit all our qualities, they carry
on to succeeding generations the impress
of our personality. Is not that enough?
No, it is not enough. 1t is no consolation
to think that others will live after us if
they are to be ~annihilated, too. To claim
that the race lives forever, but the individ-
ual dies forever, is to be guilty of a con-
tradiction in terms. The whole of any
thing is made up of it's parts; If all the
parts die. the whole is thereby necessarily
extinguished. How can the race be i'm
mortal if all it's members are mortal?
The substitute proposed by the theist,
the materialist, the positivist, the atheist,
do not commend themselves to mans rea-
son or sympathy. They are wanting in
goodness, in kindness and justice. They
do not meet the conditions of mans desire
to live again. Only the Immortality taught
and exempliied by Jesus Christ finds a
glad and welcome response in the affec-
lions of mankind.
IL a man die, shall he live again? As a
Christian | answer yes. Do you ask Why
Because he has a right to do so. Because
God is just. Righteous art Thou in all
Thy way, the psalmist sings Some incline
to the view that as regards Gods dealings
with man, the latter can have no right,
that man is IN the position of a beggar,
glad to receive anything, but without any
legitimate claim. He must call upon God,
not because of any virtue in His character,
but because He is all powerful. He made
us, we are His creatures; therefore, He
may act toward us and do with us as He
pleases. We are duty bound to obey Him.
to be kindly disposed toward Him. but He
is under no sort of obligation to deal gen.
erously or Justly toward us. All such the
cries and interpretations are misrepresen-
t~ations of the divine character. actual
SANDERS upon Gods goodness. God is a
father. and no father is at liberty to neg
leet, Ill treat. degrade a child simply be-
cause he is his own. Indeed. this very
fact is the strongest sort of reason that
he win do just the reverse. We all recog-
nize and respect the obligations of parent
blood. To care for tie child's body. to
train its mind, to instill moral principle
into its nature is incumbent upon every
parent. Some deny Themselves the high
privilege for fear of an inheritance of
weakness or disease, and thereby making
the life of a loved one miserable. 1t Is the
veriest sophistry, it is cruel misrepresenta-
ton. to nv mind it is u~nthinkable, that
imperfect man is of kindlier nature toward
his child than the perfect God toward His,
that the finite is under compulsion to do
right, but the Infinite is not. On the con-
trarv, every rise in the scale OF being de-
mands a corresponding rise in the scale
of obligation. The wiser, the greater, the
better off the parent. the happier his child
is expected to be. The greater his ability
to do. the more /. ought to do. This Is
the lesson of the parable of the talents.
To one five, to another two. to another
one, to every man according to his several
abilities. In proportion to the gut so
ought the return to be. He who has little
Of him little is demanded. He who has
much of him much is required. This Is
an immutable law of universal application
And God is self limited at least to the ex-
tent of respecting His own laws. Can and
ought are reciprocalities Of goodness which
Cod exaets Of man because sacredly re-
garded by Himself. If man can do and
does do so much for his offspring. 1t IS
hardly possible for us to conceive OF what
God can do and does do for His.
We are not mere o-biects-stones, sticks,
shells-but animate, intelligent beings, into
whom God breathes and builds something
that Identifies us with Him and His nature
The difference between God and man IS
more in degree than in kind. The two are
of the same spiritual essence. There are
faculties the two have in common: Reason,
conscience, will, are specifications IN point.
Man is endowed with them and the constr
tuition and course OF nature reveal their ex-
istence in the workings of God. By resem-
blance of attribute and identity of life we
are proven Gods children. And will God
kill His own children? kill US before we
have fully realized what the life He has
given is? We long for happiness and vet
we get comparatively little of 1T here. We
cherish an ideal of perfection and yet we
never attain it on earth. We are but De,
ginning to understand what a grand and
noble thing life may be when we have to
lie down and die. We are just on the point
of reaching the rewards for which We have
waited and toiled when the end comes, and
if we are ever to enjoy them it must be IN
another world. Now is God in all this and
all the while deceiving US? When we de-
sire the bread Of everlasting life will he
rive us the stone of everlasting death? At
ter we have prayed to Him, trusted IN
Him, lifted up our hearts to Him, tried
His works to do. loved Him and longed to
be with Him during our residence on earth
will He welcome us when at last we come
to Him with humiliation? If so He IS
not good. If so He is not God. Ii so there
is no God. If so on the throne of the UNI
verse is seated not a loving father but a
ieeriug fend t~aunting us for our helpless
ness and delighting in our misery. Right
eousness, eternal Righteousness Is against
any such supposition. 1t is not possible
that the devil is supreme. 1t is not posi-
be that mar is more kind. more humane
and considerable and sympathetic than the
God who made him. 1t is not possible
that He who made conscience has no
conscience. If anything stands the test OF
reason this does-that He who implanted
the sense of justice within us must Himself
be Just. Amid all the darkness the sor-
rows. the riddles of existence. let us not de-
spond or despair. let US look confidently
for thn GREATEST eff the Gift God owes 1t