Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-10-01
FUNERAL OF JOHN B. THOMAS.

FUNERAL OF JOHN B. THOMAS.
The funeral of the late John b.
Thomas took place from the home, at
the Marathon county asylum, on Thurs
day afternoon, Sept. Goth, 1907, and
was very largely attended by relatives
and sorrowing friends The Masonic
fraternity, of which deceased was a
member, attended in a body, going as
near the asylum as possible by trolley
cars. The officiating clergymen were
Rev. L. b. T. Fisher, pastor of the Uni
versalist church of this city, and Rev.
b. B. Gibbs, of Hoopeston, Ill.
Rev. 1. B. L. Fisher, pastor of the
Universalist church said: "In tine
presence of so great loss it might
seem almost mockery to speak of the
love of God, and affirm that he who is
the guiding intelligence in all the pro-
cesses of nature could in the very sweep
of His power, bring such consequences
to human conduct. How could love have
such part in so sad a thing And yet
know God is love. He is the Heavenly
Father to whom all His children are in
expressably dear, and at the same
time He is the Interchangeable power in
nature. May we not reconcile the two
in the true understanding of love.
Love is good nature and something
more. Love is ambition. Ambition for
the one loved. Love is inexorable for
the good, the growth, the Wilderness of
life for those beloved, to this end it will
even send and share in suffering. Such
is Gods love for all. And this high
purpose of His for man is, in part, that
man shall have masterful and creative
place in the processes of nature. Shall
come to understand all its forces and use
them in splendid progress. But that
man may do this, plainly he must find
the ways of nature Ineligible, always
the same, and this is why God holds
conditions. And so when even the
dearest child of His, gets out Of adjust
ment to some humanity resislsess force,
and God therein still moves right on,
bearing his child out of this life, 1t is
not done in blindness or Indifference,
weakness or cruelty. He knows all the
suffering it will cost and feels it all Him
self, and yet does not stop. because in
His love for all He can not, must not
change His ways in nature. But this
very certainty of His great love for the
living gives us our certainty of His love
for the dead, and we know He is well
able 10 provide for them some other
way of escape. AS through every acci-
dent he leads the living to wiser, safer,
larger life. So he leads on the dead to
the new home and rest and work and
growth and happiness, to be still more
complete when the loved ones come
from faithful living here, to take up the
old blessed companionships on higher
plains"
Rev. Gibbs, of Hoopeston, H., had
been an intimate friend of Mr.. Thomas;
had hunted and can,ped with him; had
baptized and received him into church
fellowship; had ofticiated as chaplain
when he was made Mason and came
now to serve in the same capacity at
his burial. He said: "Out of an ex-
perience as near neighbor and dear
friend l would add my testimony 10
what your pastor has so ably said. And
to those who lived beneath the same
home-roof as well as to these other dear
ones bound by ties OF blood and whom
the delicate, deep-rooting tendrils of
affection also bind to him. l would ex-
press the sympathy and tender solici
tude which this entire community feels.
John Thomas was man weighed well
his words, with whom the processes of
thought were silent but active, who
professed little but performed much,
whose code of honor and obligation was
to do by others as he would be done by;
who, though frail, was able to work
nightly with mind and hand and who
was ever to be found upon the side of
progress and of right He was loving
husband, brother and father The law
of kindness was in his heart. Trust
worthy, competent, sincere, patient,
unassuming, sweet-souled and mirth
full. he endeared himself to everyone.
1t islittle that we can do. We bring the
best that we have, that of which these
flowers are mute though beautiful ex
preston, and of which this throng of peo-
pie afford greater proof bring the
offering of love for him, of keenest grief
at his departure and of tender solici-
tude for the immediate family. This
calamity, which weighs so heavily upon
aching hearts, is not unmitigated evil.
1t might have been that sickness soon
had weakened and wasted John, that
disease had sapped the well-springs of
courage as well as strength and left
him, like the stranded wreck of some
sturdy ship, high up on the parched
sands CT life. sufferer and d suppliant-
And it may be that, in greatest mercy,
the Angel Of Release descended in AL
moment, in a twinkling, to greet the
brave soul of his manhood and bid it
welcome to the higher life. John Lad
thought this out and was not unpre-
pared.
i hold ii truth with him who sings
To one clear note in divers tones
That men may rise on stepping ng-stOnes
OF their dead selyes to higher levels
THAT death does not lessen oppor-
tunity but that, indeed, all souls must
be subjected to the wooing influences
of Paradisal climates and grow to q
perfection Incompatible with present
attainments. 1t is an incentive to study
an effort 10 feel that with the exercise
of temporal faculties as we journey
across the continent of life, we are keep