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The Commoner.
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reality. To prove his right to th name of
Christian, one must be something; he must do
something. Love impels him to service through
example, and the golden rule points the war.
Twelfth Immortality, a reward and a re
straint. !fi
"If a man die shall he live again?"
What more important question can thrust It
self upon man's attention? Prom the days of
Job even from man's first day upon the earth
i down to the beginning of the Christian er,
this thought-compelling question has risen to
his lips. Christ has answered the question, and
answered it to the satisfaction of His follow
ers. By His word, and by His own resurrection.
He has testified to the reality of a future life.
Belief in the resurrection Is one of the found
ation stones upon which our religion rests. It
stands or falls with the sonshlp of tho Saviour:
"If Christ be not risen, then is our. preaching
vain, and your faith is also vain."
If Christ was not divine, He did not rise
from tho dead; if Christ did rise from the dead,
Ho was divine.
Wo need not worry about the details of tho
next life; it is enough to know that there is an
existence beyond the grave. The God who
fashioned this world and suited It to the needs
of man, can be trusted to frame a heaven for
those whom He has made in His own imago.
The transition which takes place when tho
mortal puts on immortality; when that which
is "sown a natural body is raised a spiritual
body" is not more mysterious than the new
life "which springs up from the seed which is
not quickened, except it die." If the germ of
life in the grain of wheat has power to build
for itself a new body, so much like tho old
one that we can not tell the one from the other
-if the germ of life in the grain of wheat can
Ifass unimpaired through many resurrections, I
Bhall not doubt that my spirit has power to
clothe itself In a body suited to its new existence
when this frame of mine shall become dust.
And who will measure the consolation which
this belief in Immortality has brought to the
sorrowing hearts of tho sons of men.
Comparo the Christian view of heaven with
that, presented by the teachers of the non
Ghristiati world. Confucius evaded the subject
of Immortality; Christ left no doubt as to the
future Btate The Koran paints a picture of
heaven which neither furnishes Inspiration nor
raises man's aspirations; the Bible portrays
heaven in such a way as to elevate our thoughts,
purify our motives, and ennoble our lives.
Buddhism regards life as a calamity, from
which one escapes through loss of individual
identity; Christianity teaches us that life is an
opportunity, to be improved to the utmost a
preparation for a still higher life, with conscious
existence hereafter where we shall know as
we are known as a reward.
Belief in immortality is more than a consola
tion; it is a restraint also. It tends to estab
lish justice and benevolence as a basis of
brotherhood. One who expects to live again
one who expects to see face to face is strength
ened to resist temptations that may come to
him to injure his brother for his own benefit.
He must be at heart an unbeliever who, to
reap an unfair advantage at the expense of his
fellow, is willing to risk ages of shame and
remorse when he stands uncovered In tho pres
ence of the one who he has wronged.
The fruits of the tree increase in number as
the years go by; they increase also as our vision
is clarified. When we look from afar we see the
more important fruits of the spirit the fruit
that grows on the larger branches. As wo ap
proach hearer, the tree grows upon us and we
see a multitude of branches and fruit in inex
haustible quantity.
As we come still nearer, we understand more
and more clearly how the tree can, in time,
fill the whole earth and how its leaves can in
reality be "for the healing of the nations."
Christ is the growing Figure in the world; the
story of His life touches the hearts of men and
women wherever It Is told, and it is being trans
lated into every tongue. Even the children
and who was more tenderly solicitious concern
ing them? catch a 'glimpse of the Christ life
as their Innocent hearts receive the .revelation
which the worldly-wise and tho so-called pru
dent sometimes reject.
Christianity is an Increasing force -It it ex
panding day by day and year by year, as the
missionaries of the Cross carry the message Into
distant lands.
The march of our religion quiet yet triumph
ant is strikingly pictured by an American min
ister, the Rev. Charles Edward Jefferson, of
New York, in a volume entitled "Things Funda
mental;" and with this picture I close:
"Christ in history! Thero is a fact face It.
According to the now testament, Josus walked
along the shores of a little sea known as the
sea of Galilee. And thero Ho called Fetor and
Andrew and James and John and soveral others
to be His followers, and they loft all and fol
lowed Him. After they had followod Him they
revered Him, and lator on adorod and wor
shipped Him. He left them on their faces, each
man saying, 'My Lord and my God!' All that
is in the New Testament.
"But put tho Now Testament away. Time
passes; history widens; an unBeen Presenco
walks up and down the shores of a larger sea
tho sea called tho Mediterranean and this un
seen Presenco calls men to follow him. Tortul
Uan, Augustino, Ansolm, Aquinas, Francis of
Assisi, Thomas a Kempis, Savonarola, John
Hubs, Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Ulrich
Zwingli, John Calvin another twelve and
these all followed Him and cast themselves at
His feet, saying, in tho words of the earlier
twelve, 'My Lord and my God!'
"Time passes; history advances; humanity
lives its life around the circle of a larger sea
the Atlantic ocean. An unseen Presenco walks
up and down tho Bhores calling men to follow
Him. He calls John Knox, John Wesley, George
Wh-ltefleld, Charles Spurgeon, Henry Parry
Liddon, Joseph Parker, Jonathan Edwards,
Horace Bushnell, Henry Ward Beecher, Richard
Saltus Storrs, Phillips Brooks, Dwight L.
Moody another twelve and theso leavo all
and follow Him. We find them on their faces,
each one saying, 'My Lord and My God!'
"Time passes; history is widening; humanity
Is building its civilizaton round a still wider sea
wo call It tho Pacific ocean. An unknown
Presence moves up and down tho shores calling
men to follow him, and they are doing It. An
other company of twelve is forming. And what
took place In Palestine nineteen centuries ago is
taking place again in our own day and under
our own eyes."
result WTu bo the samo if county onlton fs
enacted into a law. The prosperity of Omaha,
of any othor city or town or of any portion of
Nebraska Is not depondont upon tho opportunity
given to their people to partako of Intoxicating
liquors. We horo In Nebraska are much of the
same muscle and fiber as tho men of Kansas,
where prohibition which wo are told Is far
nioro torrlblo than county option has boon a
law for years. Yot Kansas Is ono of tho moat
prosperous and progressive of states, with few
county Jails and with sliraly inhabitod ponlton
tiarlos and insano asylums. In a word, the
Omaha Daily Nows takos quito a cheerful vlei
01 mis awrui, impending doom that is tlin
enmg us. or just look at tho latitude thi
normutcu 11 county ontlon bncomnn hw.Amzhv
county in Nebraska, if it so desires, has tho
chance of having saloons to tompt its children'
with. It can voto to put its monoy into circu
lation by moans of tho saloon bar and tho ba
loonkeopor's strong box instead of circulating
It through tho grocery and dry goods storos 1r.
purchases of bettor things and clothing for Its
families. If it chooses, it may send moro than'
its share of drink victims to the Insano and in
ebriate asylums, supported by tho whole of tho
state. Tho pooplo of any county, it they like,
may tax themsolvos for tho support of Jails to
tako care of tho harvest of tho fightings and
killings that are spewed up by tho saloon. Why,
a county may, if tho majority of its pooplo so
decide, stick a saloon alongsido of ovory homo
within Its confines. There is all sorts of per
sonal liberty to bo had under tho county option
law if tho majority of tho people of any county
desire It. Really, tho moro that wo consider
tho wide latitudo given by a county option law,
the moro enthusiastic wo wax over It."
GOOD FOR ALEXANDER COUNTY
The democrats of Alexander county, Illlno.Is,
met in convention and adopted the following
resolutions:
Whereas, While a tariff bill which had for Its
purpose tho robbing of the many for the en
richment of the few was pending In the senate
of the United States certain democratic mem
bers of the Illinois legislature, among whom
was Sidney B. Espy, a representative of this,
the Fiftieth, district, although instructed by tho
people in a primary election to voto for the
Hon. Lawrence B. Stringer for the position of
United States senator, combined with certain re
publican members and elected to the senate Wil
11am Lorimer, a friend of capitalism; an enemy
of tho common people, an exponent of the poli
cies of the republican party, and an unswerving
opponent of the Tighteous principles of democ
racy, and for whose election some democratic
members have confessed to being paid, therefore
be it
Resolved, That we, the members of the Alex
ander county democratic central committee, and
other democrats present, do by a unanimous vote
condemn the democratic legislators for their vote
for this servant of plutocracy, William Lorimer,
as unfit to be members of the great party of
Jefferson, Jackson, Douglas, Tilden, Cleveland
and Bryan, and we appeal to democrats through
out the state to prevent their renominatlon to
tho legislature or their nomination to any office
within the gift of the people. We commend
those democratic members who stood by the
Hon. Lawrence B. Stringer to the last as an
illustrious type of American citizenship.
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COUNTY OPTION
The Omaha Daily News, having perhaps the
largest circulation in Nebraska, prints the fol
lowing editorial':
"County option is an Issue In this fall s cam
paign. The state conventions have decided
that. And now we hear a loud and vigorous
cry go up from all parts of the state that if
county option passes, it means the ruin of Ne
braska. The same sort of an outburst followed
the enactment of the eight o'clock closing law.
Omaha was particularly rampant over this meas
ure Delegations protested to the governor that
if the people of Omaha were not given a chance
to drink beer and whisky after eight o'clock
the city was going straight to the demnition.
bow-wows. Today Omaha is more prosperous
than ever, and, as we have stated before, wo
believe that if tho eight o'clock law were put to a
vote, Omaha would conclude to retain it. The
"A COMIN' AN' A GOIN "
The old darkey's coon trap, which was set
to "cotch 'om a comin' an' a goln' " is a marker
to tho trap always sot by Wall Street to catch
the innocoiit lambs that seemingly dearly love
to gambol in that neighborhood. A few months
ago the country was awaiting, with interest,'
tho supreme court's decision in the oil audi
tobacco trust cases. When the court announced
that tho cases would bo re-argued, that mean't'
a year's delay, and immediately tobacco and
oil stocks took an upward turn. Tho Saturday
Evening Post recalls that this fact brought out
from a financial organ tho following explan
ation: "Tho court's announcement has had tho effect
of reviving hope and confidenco in tho financial
community to an unusual degree, and complete
ly reversed tho downward course of security
markets."
That seemed a reasonable explanation, but
on July 4 tho chief justice of the supreme court
died, and tho Immediate result was a sharp do-1
cllne in stocks. Then the same ably edited
financial review offered this explanation:
"The severe decline occurring Tuesday was
brought about partly by the death of Justice
Fuller, which foreshadowed further delay in the
oil and tobacco cases."
In other words, the delay that caused the
stock market to advance in April, caused it to
decline in July. If that does not make the
famous coon trap play second fiddle nothing
will. In the meanwhile the innocent lambs will
gulp down the explanations and continue to
offer their fleece.
SURELY BLIND
A dispatch to the Louisville (Ky.) Journal
says: "Conditions of life in the bituminous
coal fields of western Pennsylvania' are deplored
in a report of tho- immigration commission, of
which Senator Dillingham, of Vermont, is chair
man. The report declares 75 per cent of tho(
miners are foreign born and many of the mine'
accidents are due to their Ignorance."
This committee was surely blind. Otherwise
it might have discovered that most of thojiccl
dents were due to criminal economy on tho
part of the mine owners In the matter of pro
viding protection for their workingmen.
TO PARTY WORKERS
Democratic committeemen and active party'
workers will find a message of unusual Interest
on page 16 of this issue.
.
All new and renewal subscribers to The Com--nioner
during the month of August will receive
a year's subscription to tho national farm paper,
the American Homestead, without additional
charge. Give your friends an opportunity- tof
join you In accepting this offer.
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