The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-03-03
IMMORTALITY.

We have no doubt that John Stuart Mill
and Prof Clifford drew up Just here. We
instinctively, irresistibly, believe in
something over u.s. around us, beyond
aus, in which we are to share after
death Who can settle down on the con
clusion, when he sees some lovely spirit
clasp its hands, and terminate its career
here on earth, that that is the end of his
friend? We cannot do it, We do hold
tenaciously to the idea of Immortality.
Try to get rid of it, and see whether you
can do it. This shows that this aspira-
ton and this sentiment enter into the
very constitution of mans nature. That
Is the way he is made.
If we can conceive man to grow up
IN dark prison, something like Casper
Hauser, with eyes which had persisted
from the absence of light such man
would have no conception of light, and
the most meagre conceptions of an exter-
nal universe. II, now, the faculty of seeing
were suddenly communicated to this man,
and if in moment he should understand
ingly look out through window on the
sky and earth and the animate creation :;
and much more, if he should walk abroad
day after day, and enjoy the contempla-
ton of these objects, learning to realise
their objective significance, then, in such
case, that man would inevitably adopt
the belief that the light was formed for
the eye. He could not be persuaded that
the eye had no special connection with
the light; he would feel that light was
the element appropriate to the eye; and
ne would believe that race with eyes
could not exist according to the anaIo-
gles of nature, unless such an element as
light existed also. When we find away
down in the primordial rocks, long before
the existence of mammals and fishes, crea-
lures like the trilobites of the Silurian
strata with perfectly developed eyes, we
conclude at once that there was light at
that stage of the geological development
of the earth, either from the sun or from
some other source. We k,ao1O 1t; we can
not doubt on such point In fact, this is
Just what the geologist says Look, he
remarks, "at that perfectly-formed eye in
this fossil trilobite, and you perceive that
the earth must at that period have been
Illuminated"
We do not doubt that the human ear
has been adjusted and stands correlated
to the human voice What were human
Language without the hearing ear? Aye,
and what were all the world of Music, if
there were no organ to catch it's ravishing
symphonies? The very capabilities Of
the ear to enjoy intensely musical sounds,
implies realm of music, and gives assur-
ance that music is one of the realities
(and not mere phanton) of the universe.
When in the strata of the earth, com
ing up higher and higher, we encounter
the remains of star fishes and sea-urchins,
and the first distinct respiratory organs,
we know at once that the earth had an
atmosphere; and continuing to ascend
when we encounter the rudimentary
lungs in the fishes in the shape of the
air-badder, and find this associated with
gills, we reason further that these ancient
animals were related to the two elements
of water and air, both Of which, in the
shape Of the seas and the atmosphere.
must have then been in existence on the
earth. If we ascend to the remains of
the reptiles and birds in the Secondary
Age, and find the fully developed lungs.
we know that added to the air and wa
ter the land must also have existed; for
now we have the ojr-6reuthers as distin-
guished from Voter-breather8 (these con
suming the air dissolved in water. The
wing Of the bird would tell us, moreover,
Of the open armament Of heaven, and Of
some ponderable expanse in which the
creature could move upon its pinions.
And now see this animal with eyes.
and ears, and lungs, and wings, and you