Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1907-03-01


That in so doing l have two
fold purpose is apparent to you all.
| want now to speak briefly and
earnestly of that which is at all
times nearest my heart, and which
believe more profoundly in than all
else the personal relation of the soul
to Jesus Christ.
Man is a complex being; he is body
and spirit; he covers two worlds. In
proportion as eternity is to time, SO
is the spirit of man to the body and
temporal things.
The tragic mysterious miracle of
manhood is that men can place the
supremest value upon that which is
of secondary importance-that they
can run as if in maddened frenzy
after corruptible crowns and despise
the immortal crown. The man OF
business will work his mind in the
solving of the problems of profit
and loss until his head turns pre-
maturely grey. The student will
apply the cold compress to his ach-
ing brow that he may keep his tired
and sleepy eyes open way into the
night that he may excel in his stud
les. The wage Garner will pinch
and scrimp his living to a miserly
degree that his bank account may
grow a little with the years.
And all OF these will invest in in
surance policies for their own and
their families protection and yet de-
liberately sling mud into their own
eyes when warned to make proyis-
ions against moral and spiritual des-
titution. Will man be worldly
wise, and be fool in the things
that have to do with immortality!
Men run in maddened frenzy after
cerruptible crowns. They lay down
their lives prematurely for glittering
bubbles-the things that vanish in a
day and are utterly forgotten when
they lie gasping for the breath of
life, "Shall / be for moment a
feeble Elijah and taunt the idolaters
Of Ball?" Where is your boasted line
of practical reasoning?
When your body is sick you speed
lily send for a physician. Your body is
a thing of decay: it will be sick again
and die: the worms shall feast upon
it as it lies moulding in its dark cas-
ket-house. When your spirit is sick
within you and the heart questions
you as to the things of the soul, do
you call for a physician for the soul?
Your house is insured, but you let
your spirit go begging bread where
it will. Where is your market place
prudence? You say, am a good
provider: my life is insured: in the
event of my disease my family will
know no want. But your immor-
tality, what about that? You have
forgotten your real self-your soul.
Are you wise? Are you men of in
telligence, of business? Cry aloud
to your insurance policy, call upon
the Gods you daily worship, perhaps
these will save your soul and feed
your mind and heart and redeem
your life. Do you wonder that l
mock you and taunt you? You have
prostituted reason. You have said
the house is more than the tenant;
the body more than the spirit. When
Jesus saw how men laid violent
hands upon every principle of good
logic, how they lived specifically
and blindly passed by the goodness
and blessedness of life, he said,
"What shall it profit a man il he
gain the whole world and lose his
own soul? or what shall man give
in exchange for his soul?" You say,
when a husband and father has left
a dependent family without any in
surance or other source of income,
"too badn You say it with genuine
feeling. And it is misfortune. Every
village and city has its two large a
number of victims of some form of
distress and misery. They are
legion who have been caught in the
pitiless torrent of tragedy. Queen
Mary sat upon the throne of Henry
VIII. Morally weak, Henry was a
strong ruler. He had defied Rome
and won. The woman sits upon his
seat, when suddenly she is caught in
the draft of misfortune. She marries
Philip for love and discovers that he
has married her for purely political
reasons, and when he finds that the
English are not slaves he returns in
disgust to the continent and sees his
broken hearted wife no more. Then
France declares war and it goes bad
ly for England. Calais that had been
held for 500 years is lost. In trying
to please the pope she has alienated
half her subjects. Seething discon-
tent at home, failure abroad, domes-
tic infelicity Queen Mary caught in
the drift of disaster is glad to die.
Hers is we'll known name, but
their are millions whuse names we
have never heard; humble people
who have been ruthlessly caught
and whirled into the might OF
NJ isery. "Too bad,'' we say But
who cries "too bad" at the more aw-
full soul tragedies all about us. Men
die leaving behind stocks, bonds,
houses, lands, bank deposits and life
insurance policies, but not penny
of treasure in the eternity to which
they have gone. Who ever has
heard the lament too bad'' then!