Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-07

am senguine enough to believe that the
time will yet come when respectabil'ty
will no longer be sold to great crimt-
mails by helping them 20 spend their I'LL
gotten gains A long step in advance
will have been taken when religious.
educational and charitable institutions
refuse to condone conscienceless meth
DDS in business and leave the possessoP
OF illegitimate accumulations 10 learn
how lonely life is when one prefers
money to morals
Some have sought peace in social dis
tinction. but whether they have been
within the charmed circle and fearful
lest they might fall out. or outxide and
hopeful that they might get in. they
have not found peace. Some have
thought. vain thought. to find peace In
political prominence; but whether once
comes by birth. as in monarchies. or by
election. as in republics. 1t does not
bring peace An office is not considered
a
when few in a generation can hope to
enjoy an honor do we call It a great
honor. 1 am glad that our Heavenly
Father did not make the peace Of the
human heart to depend upon our ability
to buy It with money. secure II in So
ciety. or win it at the polls. for In
aSk
1t. but when He made peace the reward
of a conscience void OF offense toward
God and man. He put 1t within the
reach Of ALL
The poor can secure 1t as easily al
the rich. the social outcasts as freely
as the leader OF society. and the hum
blest citizen equally with those who
WELD political power.
And Immortality! Who will estimate
the peace which belief In future life
has brought to the Borrowing hearts Of
the sons OF men? You may talk to the
young about death ending all. for life ID
full and hope Is strong. but preach not
this doctrine to the mother who stands
by the death bed of her babe or to ono
who IL within the shadow of a great at
wrote to Col. Ingersoll and asked MIN
for his views on God and immortal
ity. His secretary answered that the
great infidel was not at home. but in
closed a copy Of a speech Of Col Inger-
soils which covered my question.
scanned it with eagerness and found
that he had expressed himself about as
follows: "I do not say that there is no
God, simply say do not know. I do
not say that there is no life beyond the
grave. ! simply say l do not know"
And from that day to this have asked
myself the question and have been un-
able to answer 1t to my own satisfac-
ton. how could any one find pleasure
in taking from a human heart a living
faith and Substituting therefor the cold
i
Christ gave Us proof of immortality.
and 1t was a welcome assurance, al
though it would hardly seem necessary
that one should rise from the dead to
convince US that the grave is not the
end To every created thing God has
given a. tongue that proclaims a future
life
In Cairo / secured a few grains Of
wheat that has slumpered for more than
thirty centuries in an Egyptian tomb.
AS l look at them this thought comes
into my mind: II one OF those grams
Nile the year after it grew, and all its
lineal descendants had been planted
and replanted from that time until now.
its progeny would today be sufficiently
numerous to feed the teeming millions
of the world. An unbroken chain Of
life connects the earliest grains Of
wheat WITH the grains tHdI We SON anu
reap. There is in the grain of wheat
an invisible something which has power
to discard the body that we see. and
from earth and air fashion new body
so much like the old one that we cannot
tell The one from the other. If this
invisible germ of life in the grain Of
wheat can thus pass unimpaired
through three thousand resurrections, |
shall not doubt that my soul has power
to clothe itself with body suited to its
new existence when this early frame
has crumbled into dust.
belief in immortality not only con-
soles the individual. but it exerts .
powerful influence in bringing peace
between individuals. II one actually
thinks that man dies. he will yield
more easily to the temptation to do in
Justice to his neighbor when the cir
are such as to promise Sc
curity from detection. But IL one real
" expects to meet again. and live eter-
nally, with those whom he knows to-
day, he is restrained from evil deeds by
the fear Of endless remorse. We do not
know what rewards are in store for us