Col. Charles W. Gurney Biography


	This biography appears on page 517 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				Colonel Charles W. Gurney

			Born May 13, 1840. Died March 25 1913
			[Written by himself March 16, 1913.]  

	My religion: "I believe in God the Father, 'The Great First Cause,' but 
what it is or how created I am sorry I do not know, but glad to believe I know 
as much as any other about it. The student who spends years at a theological 
school to learn about God and immortality comes away with at least no better 
knowledge than he took there, but in many if not in most cases more radically 
and more firmly riveted to the wrong or to some one's guess-work than before.

	"A human being consists of two elements, physical and mental. The latter 
is frequently called the soul. The physical  body is not lost. This is 
impossible. It is only a change. 'Dust unto dust.' Neither is that mental or 
spiritual element lost. Nothing is lost. If the mind perishes with the body then 
the whole apparent aim and object of creation is abortive. In just what way this 
spiritual life is perpetuated no one can possibly know. It is enough for us to 
know that the bounds of knowledge are fixed and that we cannot pass them. Beyond 
that even speculation stands appalled. 

	"There is another book called the 'book of nature' which teaches that God 
has made nothing for man that he could do for himself. For instance, God made 
the apple not bigger than a pea, and man has done the rest. This is not 
profanity. While man appears to have done the most, it is still true that all 
the men and all the science the world has ever produced could not make the 
little apple. _

	"For ages, eons, man has been taught that the great success in life is 
getting rich. This is changed considerably now. We are beginning to get out of 
the ruts. No man may now claim to have made a success in life unless his 
activities have lain along the paths of usefulness, helpful to humanity. The 
greater the obstacles overcome, the greater sacrifices and unselfish devotion to 
an idea or principle, the greater the success. 

	"What I have said is merely around the edges of the subject, but I do not 
feel justified in protracting it. It is a subject, however, that I have devoted 
much time and thought to, and perhaps might be summed up something like this: 
God the Father brought me here without consulting me and I must believe He has 
kept me where He wanted me while here. I have the same faith that He will place 
me where He wants me in the great hereafter, and I shall be satisfied."