Semi-weekly herald. [volume] (Durango, Colo.) 1907-1917, 1910-07-04
"ousT THOU ART AND INTO DUST
THOU SHALT RETURN"

| IunerAi.)
My dear friends. that terrible sen.
tence which was pronounced In the
morning of time against the progeni-
| tors of our race, has been to this
very hour executed everywhere. and at
every moment with unrelenting rigor.
| What do we see around us? What do
we hear? From every quarter there
| comes the news of persons dying or
dead Right and left. within our fam.
| lily, amongst our acquaintances, every.
thing falls under the hand of death
Day after day one hundred thousand
oil the children of Adam succumb to It's
| whitening touch. and year after year,
well nigh forty millions OF our race
pass into that country from whose
bourne no traveller ever returns las
is the generation of leaves" says me
old Greek poet, 80 also is that of
men" The leaves bloom for n sea.
son and then carried away by the au.
tumns blast SO also does genera.
ton after generation pass Its little
then Is seen no more.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and to.
morrow breaks In the petty pace from
day to day to the last syllable OF re-
corded time. and all our yesterdays
have lighted fools to certain death"
In every age houses. streets and cities
are filled with new people, while their
former occupants have returned to the
dust from which they sprung Days
snail be formed and no one in them"
for Mans days are as grass, as the
| flowers of the field so shall be flour.
ish.' o! how charming is the sight
of the verdant, waving grass, as IT
grows and flourishes in the bright
springume and joyous summer days!
But soon 1t will be scared and yellow.
wiihered and faded! So will It be with
us, my friendsl We will soon fade
ana decay. BE not proud of corporal
Deanty: do not glory In youth aud
strength. Mans days are as grass
foday lie flonrishes as the flowers of
the held. Tomorrow he dies, All
| flesh Is grass-indeed the people IS
grass; the grass is withered and the
| flower is fallen"
Bht non omnis mortar" says IIo.
| race, the pagan poet. The whole of
| my being does not die. And what he
mad learned from the light of reason.
we Christians know from reason and
| ieith alike. II believe In life ever.
lasbng-' we repeat 1t every day in
| the apostles creed. o! this. nv
| friends, is the truth that makes death
| at once so terrible and consoling To
us! 1t is not after all the separation
| IRON earthly ties that makes death so
| momentous an event-it is not the
parting from parents or wife or hus
0and or brothers or sisters or relatives
or friends; tits not the severance from
the goods or the pleasures or the hon.
oi5 OF life. 1t Is none of these things.
Neither :s ii the ashy hue of the coun.
tenHnce nor the hollow cheeks. nor
the snnken eyes, nor the dull, cold
body that makes us grow pale and
treinble al the sight OF death. No. 1t
is the awful thought that then and
there viii be decided our eternal dos.
tiny. and that that decision will be
supreme and irrevocable, II ia the
piercing scrutiny into every sinful
thought and word and deed of our
lives by God OF infinite Justice. who
searcheth the reins and the heart,
which will take place at that moment
Il scrutiny which made even the
biaineless Job cry out in fear and an
guijh. What shall do when the
LORD shall arise to judge, and when he
shall call, what shall / answer him"
IL If this above all that makes the
moment of death SO fearful-the eter.
nal. the irrevocable decree that will
De issued over the very bed in which
we have breathed our last.
1t VIII not do to say. as we hear
said so often nowadays, II am kind
and charitable to my fellow men, and
this is all the religion I need" It IL
'N't my iiieHuS, IL you can say so,
but remember that this is not enough.
Many OF the old pagan philosophers
were exceedingly kind and exceedingly
| charitable to their fellow men. but
| they were not Christians. "If," says
the apostle, II give all my goods to
feed the poor and have not charity 1t
proiiteth me nothing" That is to say
If give everything in my posses
lon to my neighbor. nay even II |
| deliver my body to be burned for his
sake and do not love and serve my
God. 1t profiteth me nothing. Master"
said the young man in the gospel,
what shall | do to gain eternal life ?"
And the Master answers, Thou shalt
love the Lord. thy God. with thy
whole heart, with thy whole soul, with
thy whole strength and thy whole
mind" This is the first and greatest
commandment, and the second is like
to this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as myself" Mans first duty is to
his Creator; his second to himself
and to his fellow man. Charity be