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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1912)
s v rr. JUNE 7, 1912 The Commoner. 3 Those aro the things that bring us joy. "It is more blessed to give than to receive;" nobody disputes it who ever tried it. It is only those who have not tried who do not know it to bo true. And, besides, He brought the peace that comes with trust, the consolation that comes with a belief in immortality and the moral courage that comes with faith. Christ, I re peat, came to enlarge our lives, to give us more than we could have without Him, and the tilings that He brought were better than the things we had. But not only did He increase the quan tity of lifo and raise the quality of it, but He gave us' the permanent things the things that endure beyond the grave. As man grows older he yearns to attach him self to that which is eternal. Monuments aro reared to the dead that the living may know something of the life that has passed away, and generally these monuments vary in value and in beauty according to the size of the estate that the man left not in proportion to the good he did or the service he rendered to society, but in proportion to the money that ho col lected from society. Sometimes we And a monu ment reared by grateful hands to one whom the world called great; but how many of our ninety millions of people will be known an hun dred years after their death by any monument that marks their resting place? How quickly does the world forget us! The sea, closing over its victims, does not hide them much sooner than does the grave on the land. No, our physical presence on earth is not long remem bered after we die. Man can project himself a little farther into the future by the action of his brain. Ho may help people in an intellectual way, and they, conscious of the assistance they have received, may remember him for a while, for a generation. Or he may live in literature and leave upon the written page something that will inspire those who come after him. But, if you read the count less number of books that are to be found in our great and growing libraries, you will realize how much has been said that might, with out loss, have been left unsaid, and how little out of all of the books you would reproduco if you are making a collection of things that people must know. We exaggerate the influence of a mind over minds. We put too much of an estimate on the brain and not enough of an estimate upon the heart. We say that it is wonderful that man's mind has been able to discover a means by which one can stand by the side of a telegraph instrument and through an invisible current that runs along the wire speak to people ten thousand miles away. Is that wonderful? The achievements of the heart are more wonderful. The heart that is full of love for its fellows; the heart that burns to do some great good; the heart that puts into operation some move ment for the uplifting of the human race, will speak to hearts that will beat ten thousand years after all our hearts aro still. Man's greatest power is exerted when he touches the heart and through it reaches the endless gene rations of the future. "As a man UUl UJL tllU The heart is the great thing, thinketh in his heart, so is he." heart are the issues of life." Christ" came to make known to men the riches of the human heart, to show us how the heart, the centre of love, is also tho centre of life. He simply gave us love as the rule of life, and then left us to apply it. No other teacher was ever so free from the discussion of details as He. He did not give minute directions as to how we should act in each particular case. He gave us one great rule, the new commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." It was not necessary to give anything more. If we live up to that rule we raise our lives to the plane He pointed out. In that one commandment Christ presents a condensation of the ten. He sets forth both our duty to God and our duty to our fellowmen. In earlier years Christians did not always give sufficient consideration to the second part of the commandment; today there are many who give too little 'consideration to the first part of the commandment; Christ gave to each part its appropriate place. Love of God comes first without it man can not understand his relations to his brother. The love of his neighbor comes second, but it is indispensable, for it is only through love toward his fellowman that man's love of God can be made manifest. The permanence of these new riches, the abid- ing quality of thiB nowly discovered wealth forget this not. Our bodios will decay no mattor whether wo take prido In thorn or not; tho seed of death is in them. I have now lived more than half a contury. I used to think that a man was old at fifty; I have changed my views on that sub ject. I am satisfied that I was entiroly mis taken. I have moved old ago forward soveral years. It is still beyond mo, and yot I know that the time is coming when I will not bo as strong as I am now. I know that my bones will acho after while and my joints become stiff. And I know, too, that those about mo will recognize that I can not do what I used to do. Even now, my good wife is cautioning mo that pneumonia is more fatal as people got along in years. I know what is coming. I know that year after year with increasing emphasis she will say. "Do not do this, and do not do that; you can not stand it." I know that if I live long enough I will find my flesh wasting away. I will find my nerves less steady," and will realize more and more that I am not an excep tion to the rule that I must soon pass through the experience that lies at tho end of every life. It is pleasant for mo to believe in a resurrection. I have no more doubt that I shall live again than I have that I live today. I have no more doubt that I shall in another world meet those whom I have loved than I have that I have known them here. I do not know just what kind of a body I am going to have and I do not caro. I have had seven already, according to the scientists. Tho scientists say that the body changes every seven years if that is true, I now have my eighth. I had a baby's body, and then a boy's; then I had a young man's body, and then I changed again and again and again. I do not know what kind of a body God is going to give mo in tho next world, but I can trust Him, and I waste no time speculating. lie can give me any of tho bodios I have had if Ho wants to, and I will do tho best I can to use it; but I know that Ho will give mo tho kind of a .body I need. There is an invisible some thing in a grain of wheat that can discard tho body that wo see, and from earth and air build a new body, so much like tho old one that we can not tell the one from the other, and I know that, if that invisible something in that grain of wheat can pass unimpaired through thous ands of resurrections, my spirit can clothe it self with a body suited to its new existence when this frame of mine shall crumble into dust. But I find nowhere in the Bible that Christ speaks of the physical perfections of this world being carried into the next. Neither do I know how much of my mind I can take with mo or how much of the knowledge I have acquired. I worked pretty hard in school. My mother taught mo until I was ten, and then I went to the public schools until I was fifteen; then they sent me off to. an academy for two years, then to a college for four, and afterward to a law school for two, and then thoy said I was through; and so I commenced to study in tho school of life and I have been studying over since. I have learned something of' science, a . good deal of history, a little of poetry and lots of politics. T do not know what I can carry beyond. I do not know how much of the story of the stars I will need over there. I do not know how much that I have learned of tho growth of the rocks will bo useful to me there. I do not know whether the new songs will make me forget the oneB I have learned hero. I do not know much about tho future. I am quite sure that there is a great deal that I have spent much time on that I will not need there. I have a large accumulation of information on issues and men that I expect to leave; I am sure I shall not need it over there. I do not know how much of that which is intellectual In mo will survive the tomb. and I do not care. I have such faith In the wisdom and love of tho God, who made both the Heaven and the earth, and am so well satisfied that Ho made earth more wisely than we could, that I am willing to leave Him entire freedom in arranging Heaven for me. It is enough for me to know that in our "Father's house are many man sions' and that He has gone to prepare a place for us. That is all I care to know. Ho did not tell us that we were going to carry any of our intellectual assets into the next, world, but He does say that we aro going to carry our moral worth that we have on His authority. You remember where ho gave an illustration of the judgment day; and said, "And, then, shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of the'Ir Father." That is the only per manent thing that is promised. That is the only promise that I have read of anything that wo could acquire horo boing carried with ua. Ho does not say that thoao who havo brought their bodies to a high stato of perfection will glitter as tho stars ovor thore; Ho doos not Bay that thoao who havo ornamonted thomaelvea horo with tho richest apparel; that those who have expended tholr monoy in making them selves ploaslng to tho oyo IIo docs not say that theso will carry their attraction into tho next world. IIo dooH not say that thoao who havo devoted theniBelvofl to Intellectual pur suits, who havo studied doop Into tho mysteries of tho earth and tho sky, who havo dedicated tholr lives to tho Bearch for knowlcdgo IIo dooB not say that tho learned shall blazo forth as tho planets, but He says that tho righteous shall shine as the sun. If Christ-cornea to glvo and to tako nothing away; if ho comes to add and not to subtract; If He cornea to reveal; If IIo cornea to make ua know how much richer wo aro than wo thought; If Ho cornea to glvo ub, ayo, and to multiply In us, the value of all wo had before; If ho comes to teach us how our bodlea can bo raado stronger and better fitted for our work, and how our minds can be trained so as to enlargo our ca pacity for sorvico; and If ho comoa to show us that the glories of tho world Into which tho soul can lead us aro above and beyond tho riches of tho body and tho mind if Ho dooB all this, is there any oxcuao for not accepting Him? If ho can add to tho quantity of our Uvea and raise the quality of our lives and then glvo permanence to that which is best in ub, is thero any reason why anyone should reject him? This is the thought I came to preaent. Christ said,"I am tho Way" the only Way,"the Truth" tho higheat Truth "and tho Lifo" tho real Life. "Seek yo first tho Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all theso things will bo added unto you." That is His promlee, and if wo accept it; if wo conform our Hvob to It, Ho gives us tho blessed assurance that, when tho body has dropped back to tho dust, and when tho light in tho brain has gone out, our virtues will remain that "The righteous shall shine forth as the sun In thp Kingdom of their . Father." , i MRS. R ALSTON'S RESPONSE In tho last Isaue of Tho Commoner we pub lished Mrs. Bryan's response to tho toast "Dolly Madison," at tho harmony breakfast glvon by the democratic women of Washington, May 20. Wo have just resolved tho response doliverod by Mrs. Samuel M. Ralston to tho toast "Dolly Madison's Snuff Box." Mrs. Ralston is tho ac complished wlfp of Hon. Samuel M. Ralston, tho democratic candidate for governor of Indiana, and The Commoner takes pleasure In presenting the response to Its readers not only because of the merits of the address, but for the additional reason that it will enable them to become acquainted with tho wife of the next gove'rnor of Indiana: DOLLY MADISON'S SNUFF-BOX The following is the response of Mrs. Samuel M. Ralston: ' "You are aware that she snuffs, but in her hands tho snuff-box becomes only a gracious implement with which to charm." Individuality is that Indefinable something that makes one remembered. Dolly Madison was never forgotten by any one who camo within the circle of her personal magnetism. Her drawing room was renowned not alone for its distinguished guests the Clintons, Monroes, Whltneys, Clays, Marshalls, Talloyrands and Bonaparts but also for the mingling with these of the welcomed poor. Th'is represented hor idea of tho basis of our government democ racy in its noblest sense. It Is Interesting to trace the gracious quail' ties of Queen Dolly." As she grew In grace and beauty, Winning hearts both young and old From the time she lost her jewels. Onward 'till her life Is told. Trace It as she held hor snuff-box, Making time the judge of harm, For she used It as was custom "Gracious implement to charm." 1 ' Yes, it is true, she used snuff contrary to our conception of Jiabits permissible but let us' hot forgot that she' rendered great service to her country. Adaptation was a dominant characteristic of her nature. From behind her snuff-box sh answered Mr. Todd, "she never meant to marry" I i III M jllflfliiifcli"" '"VlillJ Lf-fcjfci. fci 7k'M-t-"VV-