The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-04-11
"What Is Thy
Life?'' ext
ofM'elsSa8e

terrain church, this afternoon gave the
following message to the members of
the bereaved families, relatives and
friends of the late N. F.. Prentice, Jay
A. Vale, Harry Earwind and A. Won
Hagen, at the services held in the
city auditorium
GO to now, We that say, today or
tomorrow we will go into such a city,
and continue there year, and buy
and sell and get gain; whereas ye
know not what shall be on the NOR
row. For what is your life? 1t is
even a vap0r, that appearcth for a
little time, and then vanisheth away.
For that We ought to say, if the Lord
will. we shall live and do this or
that" What grave words and how
appropriately they fit this solemn oc-
casion, again proving the accuracy
of the divine library in all matters
pertaining to THIS life Of ours, and
Offering the supreme comfort, solacc
and hope. ~
Heart Kending.
When word of this heart rending
catastrophe was passed from heart to
heart on Easter day the community
was touched in it's very soul, and UNI
derstood little better than before
the meaning Of calvary. Four splen-
did men, in no case having passed be-
You'd the prime of life, vanished like
the vapor that rose above the flood.
and we have scome--pOOr, weak
preacher Of the cross and poor, weak
peOple-tO place wreath of affection
about their memory and to search to-
gether for the light that riffs through
the cloud of mystery. Oh, my fellow
travellers along the sometimes bright
and sometimes sombre way, | speak
not lightly when declare to you that
l believe this to be the most oppor-
tune and responsible hour of my min
istry. What then shall l say to bring
some need of comfort to those who
have been most directly bereaved,
what shall l say that shall make one
perfect way more luminous and at
tractive for us all?
The Apostle declares, To-day or to-
morrow we will go into such a city
and continue there a year, and buy
and sell and get gain How these
words portray the character of the
kind of life that large proportion of
this audience is compelled to live!
Travelling men-many Of whom con-
stitute an organization known as the
United Commercial Travellers. And,
it requires no stretch of the imagina-
! ton for me to go back across the
years until l can see again tall,
slim figure. loaded down with grips,
departing on a trip or coming from
the train, with heart as happy as a
school boys, to the open arms of
| home. My father was veteran of
the road until, having surrendered
his life in the service, as our COM
rades have done, God gave him new
routing through the Heavenly terri
| tory from whence no traveller returns.
Your life, as we'll as the words of the
text, tells us that life is thing of
changc-like the great Father of the
faithful. we are forever going out to
some land only seen by the eye Of
faith, but because it has been so seen,
it is more promising and beautiful
than any that has gone on before.
You are travelers-I like that word.
There are home memories within it..
There is the fragrance Of flowers and
the prophecy Of dcathless hope.
Many of you will pack your grips to-
morrow and scatter over the state to
face new problems, born over night,
and to seek fields perhaps as yet un-
explored, but you will come back
home again. And the great truth that
In IN Inn C,,v
nor yet a wanderer on the face of the
earth, but traveller who ever seeks
the city that hath the foundations
whose builder and maker is Cod
should inspire him to find his home
wherever the journey may end.
Life is also thing of mystery
eye know not what shall be on the
morrow It is mysterious in its orr
gin and mysterious in its manifesto
tiOns. This scene is only one in
Kaleidoscope bf mystery from the
cradle to the tomb. And some are
blinded by the mystery so that they
can see no further than the tomb. Re-
fusing to accept the intuitions of the
lluman heart, denying the limitations
Of Immortality that are everywhere,
turning deaf car to the Easter
prophecy, they rob this life of its
promise and sweetness by injecting
into It the poison of despair. If un-
beliefaever planted flower Of hope,
what man ever. found it? II doubt
ever, sowed a seed of comfort, in
whose heart did lit ever grow? Oh,
friends do not expect mathematical
demonstrations for the things Of