The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-02-20
Address Delivered at the Funeral of
VIM. D. Long by Rev. O. H. Duggins

press these days about revival OF
Spiritualism; especially in Europe
where the death toll of the great war
was heaviest. Sir Oliver Lodge, Co
nan Doyle, with other scientific and
literary lights, have given the weight
Of their names to the theory that it is
possible for us to communicate with
the spirits of the dead.
It's the age-long desire of the hu-
man heart for some word of assur-
ance concerning the future life and
for fellowship with our dear departed
ones.
The feet that the unaided mind of
man has made so little progress in
gratifying this universal craving,
shows how closely the hand of death
has drawn the veil between us and
them. However far-reaching the eff
feet of death may be over the COM
pleX nature of man, one thing is cer-
tain, he works sad havoc with the
physical side of US. Men and women
in every station and condition of life
are laid low by his touch, and the
body utterly fails as medium of ex-
preston. We look in vain upon the
marble features for the smile of rec
ogn;tion. The hands erstwhile busted
with kindly ministries, lie cold and
still, while we strain our ears in vain
for the slightest echo of Whisper.
The atheist tells US that death ends
all; that, naught remains but the dis
solution of the body. The agnostic
says he doesn't know, it's the un-
movable. The savage mournfully
shakes his head and makes no reply.
Is there no light upon this problem
when the heart so longs to know?
Various heathen religions have
their theories concerning a future
life, but the Christian religion alone
brings the message of comfort and
hope. To tie questions: Who art
thou? Whence comest thou? Whith-
er bound? the religion of the Lord
Jesus Christ gives us the only ans
wer.
If we withdraw the light which
shines from the pages of this Book
upon the mystery of death, we are
lost in the dark mazes of human spec
ulation. There is nothing to which
we may anchor our hopes. The
startling claims and promises of the
Bible, are to our mental and spiritual
vision, what the telescope is to our
natural vision-reveals the existence
of worlds beyond. We learn of a
great heavenly world, inhabited by va
rious orders of intelligent beings, ov-
er which God, the uncreated Spirit of
the universe, presides. We find, too,
that the Almighty Father is not un-
mindful of the trials and sorrows of
the sinful, erring children of men,
Like as Father pitieth his children
so the Lord pitieth them that fear
Him. For He knoweth our frame;
He remembereth that we are dust"
Nineteen centuries ago, He sent
His well beloved Son into the world to
be our friend and Savior. Tile Book
tells US how he came by way of Beth
lehem's manger, and grew to man
ood amid the humble surroundings of
the Oriental peasants home, working
at the occupation of a carpenter. How
at length He entered upon His mathc-
less ministry of three and a half
years; speaking words such as never
man spake-words of wisdom, author
ity and power. Words that could still
tie angry tempest of the sea-words .
that rebuked disease, healed the fl /
thy leper, restored hearing to the
deaf end sight to the blind; that
could even penetrate the realms of
death and call back the spirits of the
departed.
Men gathered about Him, and hailed
Him as the ng-promised Messiah of
Israel-the Christ of prophecy.
High hopes and aspirations centerei ,
in Him. But alas! In the prime of
young manhood, Jesus himself falls
victim to the hand of death. Upon
the cruel Roman Cross He hangs in
agony. The life-blood flows from
pierced hands and riven side. He
cries, at is finished" and His life
goes out. Sorrowing friends remove
the body from the cross, and consign
it to Joseph's rotk-hewn tomb. a
great stone bearing the Roman seal,
closes it in, and a Roman guard
stands Gentry without.
Perhaps the darkest hours this
world has ever seen were those in
which the Son of Mary and the Son of
God, lay in Joseph's tomb. 1t seemed
that tie powers of darkness had tri-
that death, the arch-enemy,
was to hold undisputed sway. The
disciples with heavy hearts return to
their daily avocations. We thought
He was the Messiah. We told the peo-
pie SO, but the bottom seems to have
fallen out of all our hopes. But this
triumph of the powers of
darkness was of short duration. Early
on that first Easter morning the An
gel Of Jehovah, swift as the morning
light, came down. The great stone
rolled away, The Roman guard fell
to the earth, while the
Christ, by virtue of His own inherent
divine power, came forth, the con-
lueror of death and the grave. Dur S
ng the next forty days, our Lord {
mingled freely with His disciples, rn-
moving from their minds every sha- S
low of doubt regarding His identity. c
Then as He walks with them one day I
IN the slope of Olivet, He gives them 9
lis worldwide commission, tells them /
He will be with them to the end of the c
lges, is parted from among them, and t
disappears in the blue dome of the G
leavens. AS they watch with awe, d
he receeding form of their Lord, e