Danville intelligencer. [volume] (Danville, Pa.) 1859-1907, 1905-05-26

to tn urgent request and 'lieitatiOn
of many of our friends and as con-
sented to reproduce In sub tance the
addi ess delivered at~tIie fune raj of my
son Clarence. herewith transmits to
you the manuscripts. the publicat,2n of
which in the columns of the this paper
will..greatly obligs. Yours truly,
F. q. DERR
Anaxagoras, the Grecian philosopher.
was informed of the death of his only
son. He bowed his head and calmly
replied. 81 knew that had begotten
a mortall' That was the best product
of ancient paganism; a stole resiRna.
tion to death as a thing common to us
all and since it Is inevitable what
matters it whether it come today or
tomorrow.
Cicero. after the death Of his below
ed daughter Tullis, lamented: "If I
had known whittier to go for eonsola-
tion but to philosophy, should not
have gone to philosophy.
Alas. for us. il we could be sure of
nothing beyond what is revealed to Us
by our bodily senses or by cold. relent.
less logic; by rationalistio processes
of inference or deduction. We glory
in what has been accomplished by the
human intellect. Indeed is it marvel
lous But the oonquests Of the heart
are still more glorious. As between
the mind and the heart the better part
of us is the heart. Thus are we bound
by family ties and social relation
ships. In sense we are all agnostic.
We know relatively little. SO little that
we may as we'll call 1t nothing at all
II is not to the mind. the seat of intel
| ligence, that Jesus Christ appeals; but
to the heart. the very core and essence
of our being. the source of character
| and action, of sensibility emotion. en-
thusiasm. The things which concern
US most intimately we know by the
heart. Thus are we hidden to appre-
hend the doctrines Of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We are called upon to live by
faith, which is intellectual blindness.
and not by sight. Oh, my friends. this
fundamental truth of Christianity
how profound aud inexhau stible it il,
and how varied and vast are the ap-
plications of it! Jesus Christ has
brought Immortality to light. But
for that we should still grope in the
| dark and should be most gloomy aud
wretohed. But for that should stan
here today speochless. What said Jesus
to us.-and for the moment I am not
thinking of Jesus as divine. For the
nome mt I care not whether he was
divine or merely human; whether lie
was the Son of God or the sou of All
obscure Galilean peasant. 1t is conoed-
ed the world over, not by the village
pedant perhaps, nor the blatant infidel,
but by all men of moral esrnestness;
by experts in scholarship of every
shade OF opinion, by the most learned
and most thoughtful of unbelievers in
evangelical Christianity that Jesus OF
Nazareth was by far the most gifted
and noblest of all historical chaIactc rs
the pures.. the wisest. the profoundest.
the most nearly omn!scient of all
mankind. Would you not stake your
life upon the solemn assurance of such
a man as that? "Let not your heart
be troubled. In my Fathers House
are many mansions. II it we're not so
I would have told you'll" That seems
simple thing to say. "If it we're not
so would have told you" Simple
things are often profound. To my
thinking it is perhaps the most dra- |
matte and vivid passage in the whole
gospel.
For example father is seriously ad-
dressing his son wh) seems incredu.
lous. He turns upon the child: what
do you not believe me I" aud then as q
very last recourse of argument which
cannot be gainsaid, IF it were not
true would not have told you sol" :
That means to say that even if Jesus
believed in nothing else lie did at le .st
believe firmly in Immortality. That is !
enough. II many of the most intel
lectual men in the worlI believed in !
final snnihilation, that would weigh |
nothing in my mind against the pro-
found conviction of Immortality AMI !
emphatic assurance Of it given to US
by the lordly, mighty Nazarene. A |
mans creed and church relationship !,
are Of little moment. The great thing |
is to be sure of immortality and con-
form ones life accordingly.
Clarence DeIr's vision of the life |
beyond, according to those who were
closest to him. was more vivid the
nearer he came to it. In our human,
finite judgment-hnite indeed, for at
point like this it snaps like a too
distended thread-in our fallible judg-
ment, not understanding the divine
purpose, Clarence was needed here at
home, and needed in this community
as are sadly needed every where just
such clean, manly, well.equipped, prom
Using young men. He was needed
here. Yes, bot he was needed there
above! And when God calls il be-
hooves US to yield, at whatever earth
ly sacrifice.
A vast wave of desolation has swept
over the hearts of these dear. bereaved
parents, and over all OF Us who had
come to love this splendid fellow and
we should lie PROSTATE and inconsol-
able but for the assurance that this
binding affliction is in accordance
with out Heavenly Fathers will. II
we only knew it; oh, If we only knew