The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-10-16

BISHOP FOSTERS GROUNDS FOR BELIEv-
ING THAT MAN Is SPIRIT AND
SURVIVES AFTER DEATH.

ING THAT MAN Is SPIRIT AMI
SURVIVES AFTER DEATH.
FAIRPoIST, n. Y.-Bishop f. S
Foster, of Boston, delivered lecture
to-day before the Chautauqua Assembly
on the topic Beyond the Grave" He
said the subject was one of great impor-
lance, but one of great intrinsic OBSCURE
ty. 1t will not do either to assume
everything and to discuss the theme from
personal beliefs. 1t must be discussed
from the standpoints of the Bible, truth
and human reason. The first question
of two to be considered, ''Is there a life
beyond the grave p was taken up. The
Bishop said: 81 do not know whether
there is or not Sensation. There
are grounds for belief that there is. 1t
is a matter of natural belief supported
/ by evidence, because there is no absolute
/ knowledge of life beyond the grave.
The question has become one for dispu-
tation, and there are great many honest
doubters, many of whom do not declare
/ their doubts" With David the Bishop
! classed pure materiaists as fools For
them there is no God and no life beyond.
/ Others believe that man has spirit
within his human organization but that
at death the spirit sleeps until the resur-
rection. Others believe the souls of the
wicked are annihilated at death. Then
there is the well known belief of the
/ Christian world. The belief of the
/ speaker was that man was a spirit and
survived after death, yet the matter was
involved in great difficulties. So far as
we can see, the man dies and perishes.
/ We cannot pursue personal investigation
| beyond the grave. Why do we believe
that man survives death? We are bound
! to answer this question. First was given
the evidence which is found outside of
the Bible. This is first in the nature of
man. What we see is not the man
/ The essential man is invisible. The
material man is only an organism for
the use of the real man. In proof of
/ this it was said that there were two kinds
of existence, one of spirit and one of
matter, factor of thought which thinks
and expresses thought. The mere mat
ter of living or unliving is not thought
factor and cannot become so. Behind
every organism, and necessary to it, is
the thought factor, which is antecedent
TO organism, and without it the organism
could never exist. q watch is an or
ganized machine Reason asks, whence
came it? and it fluids that at
one time it existed in morgan
lied material; that a thinker existed
who organized the idea of the watch and
gave it a material form. This was GER
tainty 1t is said that the brain is the
organizer, but what organizes the brain
| In the realm of nature? However, we
have a variety of organisms superior to
material structures, chief of which is
that of man himself. Then the universe
/ itself is an organized whole. A grain of
sand or a drop of water is an organism
as a result of natural law. Vegetable
organisms were also alluded to. Behind
all these the Bishop placed thinker.
No order or succession could be eternal.
The essence of numbers is unit. The
idea is finite. The order of the globe
cannot be eternal. Take the order of
corn; every grain grows OH a stalk, and
and every stalk grows from a grain.
You can't get one except as the result Of
another. Applause. The heavenly sys-
tenn was referred to by way of illustration.
Beyond il there must be thought. We
say granite and the mountains are solid
They are not. They must pass away.
There is only one thing that is solid and
eternal-that is spirit. Applause, The
question now was: els man a spirit?"
The speaker thought he was; yet, as he
was invisible, he of course could not be
seen. We can look in through the win
dow of he.sparkling eye, and know that
there is a man in there. The spirit of
man has machine-the human frame
to get about with. When he wants to go
to Europe he tells his body to get up and
60 Laughter. Is not the spirit differ
ent from the flesh and blood? We know
it. Applause. Every seven years there
man stays. Laughter and applause.
The picture gallery of the soul is larger
than all the picture galleries of the
world and it is not a material construc
ton. We may know this spirit is older
than matter. The soul is distinct from
the body. Man belongs to the spiritual
realm. All this we find as the result of
pure reasoning. When the body perishes,
what after? Does it have any effect on
the soul? When tho musical instrument
is destroyed, does it follow that the play
er is destroyed? Destroy the body of
the lover who whispers sweet words to
his mistress and you do not destroy him.
There are things man can do without
eyes or ears or hands. He can live in
two worlds. He cannot eat corn, but he
must raise it to feed to his machine
Laughter. The Bishop said: 81 I'M
dertake to say that [ can live without the
body after death and l expect to-"
[ Applause.
d LATE GARDEN