Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-02-28
Yus SugeIss Yerstd.
Oar Dsbt to Socrates = How He
Answersd Jeb.
fsunday Afternoon for Marxh.l

Oar Dsbt to Socrates = How He
Answersd Jeb.
rsunday Afternoon for Marsh.l
r1f man die shall he live again. Job xiv-lA
Y What could be more strange than
that Job, the friend of God, should
be answered by the pagan Socrates?
And yet what can be more appro-
priate BY way lof answer than this
fragment from Socrates's dying
testimony:
'sTben, Cebes, beyond question,
the soul Is immortal and imperish-
able, and our souls will truly exist
in another world.n-Plato: Phedo;
10e.
other expressions Of Socrates,
mainly from the same converse
ttons are not less emphatic and
significant.
When death attacks q man
the mortal portion Of him may be
supposed to die, but the immortal
goes out Of the way of death and Is
preserved safe and sound." Plato:
Ph@do; 106.
But then, o my friend, If
the soul is really immortal what
care should be taken of her, not on
~ IN respect of the portion Of time
which is called life, but of eterni-
tyW-Plato: Ph@do; 107.
"And can we suppose that the
soul, being invisible and on her
way to a place like herself invisi-
bio and pure, a world worthy in.
deed the name ofthe unseen, there
to dwellwith the good and wise
0od-whither God please my soul
must soon go =. Will then, re-
iensed from the body, be instantly
scattered to the winds and Destroy
ed, Is the mass of men assert"'-
Plato: Ph@jo; so.
ssIf upon her release the soul be
found pure and free from all that
appertains to the body she goes
to the world which is invisible like
herself; to the world divine and
immortal and full Of thought; there
set free from error, folly, fears and
the fierce passions and other evils
Of humanity, her let Is happy one
indeed but IL on her release
she be found unclean and polluted
by her Intercourse with the body
do you think that soul in
this condition will be found pure
nnd uncontam:nated when she is
set ree?"-Pbmdo; 81.
II there not here the substance of
the doctrine taught afterwards by
the apostle:
ITO them who by patient con-
tfnuance In well doing seek for
glory and honor and Immortality,
eternal life; but unto them that are
contentious and do not obey the
truth, but obey unrighteousness,
Indignation and wrath, tribulation
and anguish upon every soul of
man that doeth evil?"-Romans
III, 8, 9.
II any additional testimony is
needed to establish our debt to
Socrates. let US take these express.
ions which seem to indicate an ex-
pectation on his part of the coming
of some one, who should dispel In
mems minds the fear of death.
The passage is from the converse
tion of which We have already
quoted . part:
"Cebes answered with smile:
Then. Socrates, you must argue US
out of our fears, and yet, strictly
speaking, they are not fears, but
there is q child within US to whom
death is a sort ofNhobgoblin, him,
too, we must persuade not to be
afraid when he is alone with him
in the dark"
Socrates said: "Let the voice of
the charmer be applied daily until
you have charmed him away"
"And where shall we find a good
charmer of our fears, Socrates,
when you are gomez"
Hellas, he replied, is large
place, Cebes, and has many 60 cd
men, and there are barbarous races
not a few: seek for him among
them all far and wide, sparing
neither pains nor money; for there
Is no better way of using your
money. And you must not forget
to seek for him among yourselves,
too, for he is nowhere more likely
to be found.-PbRdo-77, IS.
Hardly any one will read this
without recalling its Scripture par
allel.
he also himself likewise
took of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that
hath the power of death, that is
the devil; and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage."-He.
brews 1l-l4, Is.
And one who thus holds up Soc
rates's ideal charmer side by side
with the apostles picture of him
who brought life and immortality
to light, however much the former
may be paled-by the opposition,
cannot fail:to emark the extraerdi-
nary likeness, or to acknowledge
the debt which we owe to the man
who first gave to the world, wher-
ever or however he learned it, a
tangible notion of the life 10 come
and . correct apprehension of the
way in which that life was to be
obtained.