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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"
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