Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1903-03-12
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future. but tor Il far nobler reason. lie
dcsderItCs a mcasureless futurity be-
cause of his passion TO master the vast
world in which the Eternal has placed
him to work out his salvation with fear
and trembling. Another reason that
is the imperious reason born of love.
Love by virtue of the intensity of its
passion, by virtue of the selfishness of
its devotion, demands an eternity, in
sists upon an unbroken perpetuity of
being
Now, it is of this truth of the future
life, its nature and its character, that |
want to speak. Many of you, no doubt,
deem this truth remote from our pres
ent interests You say let us deal with
the near and the practical. Let us leave
these mysteries to the solution that time
and time alone can bring. You tell me
that the eternities are yelled, and there
fore impenetrable, and what you say
is undeniably true.
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor
hath the mind of man conceived the
glories that await us. And yet, think
we may know quite great deal about
the life that is to be. Nature has in-
struction for us touching this mystery;
her laws of continuity, of evolution, Of
affinity, all reveal the future. Our world
is a system and an integer, and the laws
that are at work to-day will no doubt
be at work tomorrow. Nature must
keep consistent with itself, and the vast
segment of the unknown must harmon
ize with the smallest segment Of the
known.
Reason also, l think, throws much
light, far more than we commonly
deem, upon the world that is to be;
upon the future life, Its nature, its
functions and its sphere. Reason is
prophetic There is such thing as an
illative faculty which argues from the
seen to the unseen, from the known to
the unknown, from the partial to the
complete, and from the imperfect to the
perfect. Reason, reviewing the known
past prophesies not a radiant optim-
ism, but a salubrious and progressive
development for the future. 1t tells us
that the world is to become steadily
more just, more habitable, more intelli-
gent, more social and more democratic.
And if we can argue from the past to
the future touching mundane things,
why not argue just as legitimately from
the data of this present life of ours to
hn Of f11lln
that we are to live in the worlds that
are yet to be.
Again, it is commonly said that
scripture is silent touching the eterni-
ties. 1t seems to me that this position,
in the light of Christs life and teach
ing, is altogether untenable. Both his
words and the incidents of his life are
illuminative in this high matter Of the
spirits immortality. He tells us that
the kingdom of heaven is like unto
grain of mustard seed, and thereby he
teaches the doctrine of the souls con-.
tinual development. He tells us again
that the kingdom of heaven is like unto
leaven which a woman puts in three
measures of wheat, and thereby he
teaches the ceaseless intensive eXpan-
sion of the human spirit. He tells us
that the kingdom of heaven is like the
sower who went forth to sOw-that is.
man is the builder of his own destiny
and He does not limit the kingdom Of
| heaven to this earth. AS l understand
Him, it is infinite in its sweep and
scope. Do we not also learn something
touching mans after life from the
scene of the TRANSPORTATION? | think
that this supernatural episode in the
gospel history of Christ's life intimates
to us that there is body just as real
as this body that now incases our
spirit, if more ethereal and more highly
! sublimated.
Now, when we take these three great
| instructors together-these instructors
nature, reason and revelation-I think
we find much light that makes our flu
ture life an intensely rational and hui
man thing.