The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-12-06

n 5, 1909.
ocean, black, unfluctuating and voice
less, stretches between these earthly
4 coats and those invisible shores, we
do not know.
Whether on that August morning
after the death, lae saw more glorious
sun rise with unimaginable splendor
above celestial horizon. or whether
his apathetic and unconscious ashes
4 will sleep in cold obstruction and
censeless oblivion, we do not know.
Whether his strong and subtle en-
lergies found instant exercise in
another forum, whether his dextrous
and disciplined faculties are now con-
tending in a higher senate than ours
for supremacy, or whether his powers
4 We're dissipated and dispersed with his
4 parting breath, we do not know.
4 Whether his passions, ambitions
and affections still sway, attract and
impel, whether he still remembers us
as we remember him,-we do not
know.
These are the unsolved, the in
soluble problems of mortal life and
human destiny which prompted the
troubled patriarch to ask that momen-
tous question for which the centuries
have no answer-'n a man die shall
he live again.
/ Every man is in the center of a
circle whose fatal circumference he
| cannot pass. Within its narrow con-
! fines ile is potential; beyond it he per-
| ishes,- and If Immortality is splen-
did but delusive dream; If the inconl-
/ pleteness of every career-if the long
est and most fortunate be not supple
| mented and perfected after it's ter
/ mination here,-then he who breads to
| die should fear to live, fer life is a
! tragedy more desolate and inexplica-
! Bile than DEATH
! With all his varied and wonderful
gifts of mind.-and this country proba-
bly, never produced more brilliant
intellect than his all John j. ingalls,
could say was: I'VE do not know"
! But while none of US may know abso-
lutely, all reason confirms the nope
I and expectation of future life. Faith,
! which is higher faculty than rea-
son, points unerringly to life beyond
the grave. SNlis subtle chain which
binds us to the Infinite is the voice
of deep life within which will not
be denied AS Addison expressed. it,
.Tis the divinity that stirs within
us; tbs heaven itself that points out
an hereafter and intimates eternity to
man. 1t is significant that the hope
of life after deadl is, and always has
been, well nigh universal. In every
cline and at every stage of human
history we find this hope An all
wise and benefcent Creator has sowed
it broadcast and implanted it deep In
the human heart, which He would not
have done if He had not intended II
to become a reality. Somewhere
somehow, sometime that pleasing
hope, that fond desire, that earnest
longing for Immortality will be real
lied. God will keep faith with US
We can trust Him implicitly, and sc
trusting Him we may look forward
with confidence to a future state II
which imperfection will give way tt
perfection and all uae wrongs and in
justices and suppressions suffered il
this life will entitle us to a correspond
: ingly larger reward. Nothing argues
more powerfully life beyond thi
than the failure to attain our ideals
here The failure of our ideas, also
is argument to the same effect. |
has been well said of these that the.
give US only fragments of humanity
T fragments of heart, of mind, Of char
ity, of love, of virtue. He who inspire
such thoughts and hopes will surel
!, give a sphere for their realization
) But it is not of ourselves alone tina
we should take thought regarding tn
= future life. George Eliot gave beau
tiful expression to a noble Idea
. worthy of adoption by all of us. whel
she prayed That she might be permit
!. ted to-
"Join the choir invisible
OF those immortal dead who live agal
n In minds made better by their pres
:. ence; live
6 In pulses stirred to generosity,
. In deeds OF daring rectitude, in scor
u For miserable aims that end with sci
1T In thoughts sublime that pierce t.
n night like stars,
e. And with their mild persistence urg
V mans search
N To vaster issues"
- In serving as spokesman on thi
occasion had not meant to preach
: and | can only ask your kind forbea
p ance for the miscarriage Of my il
): = tentions. Recurring to the orde
- under whose auspices we have com
- together today, let me take those {
~ you who are not members into m
su confidence In a general way all tn
VI orders with which we are acquainte
80 have for their object the bettermer
y of society and the world. Friendshi
le morality, brotherly love, justic
= charity, benevolence, truth an
80 all the cardinal virtues al
~ inculcated by their teaching
FL Would you know cnat Il
| which the Benevolent and Protect,
d, Order of Elks stands pre-eminentl