Smyrna times., 1882-03-29
For the SmgrmG Times.
Tia Man Dies Shall be Live Again7"

Ii m@u OleS Oudll u6 Live again r.
The cold philosophy Of materialisla is
portrayed as the ultimate of scientific in
quiry on the subject of mans immortality.
The true spiritual philosopher must meet
the materialist Just where Mr. Miln, or other
Materlaiists raise their objections to i'm
mortality. They say: Science declares
that for every thought which stirs the
brain, there is IA corresponding molecular
change, showing the dependence of thought
on matter. And further on: If mind
depends for its activity on brain action,
how will thought 60 on? how will brain
activity continue, when the brain, weary
of its ceaseless toll, is laid AT last to rest -
Materialism takes it's stand on the AS
sumption that matter is all there is of
nature; that its activities are dependent
on the laws inherent in itself, there being
no necessity for spiritual force, since
everything is accounted for without it,
We take direct issue with it here, at the
outset. Materialists base their objections
to immortality, on the fact that brain
action in thought is founded on the pre-
else law which governs in all other natural
activities, that is the law of correlation
and conservation of force. Physical energy
is necessary for thoughts conserved in
thought. The brain is a machine which
works on the same principle as any other
machine, its mechanism being the condi-
tion of its availability for the purpose for
which it acts and natural elements sup
plying its stimulus to activity Molecular
changes occur by the action of thought,
the same as whom the energies of the sys-
tenn are consumed by physical labor, or as
| when the fuel is consumed that impels the
engine, its forces being conserved in the
motion Of the shuttle or steam car. This
is all plain showing: nothing is more in
accordance with facts as they exist in
nature. or the law OF life as it is reveal
ed everywhere where investigation has
reached. 1t is the conclusion to which the
| facts lead the materialist. with which we
take issue. We claim for the human
brain as an organization duration not by
any means limited to the brief stage of its
! physical life. We see in ii a likeness to
nature, both on its physical and spiritual
! side. Organization is natures arm OF
| power, and it is not subject to decay and
death. 1t is rather strengthened-
ted, by the changes men call death.
Physical nature abundantly illustrates
this proposition. The forms Of matter and
of life which were the earliest expressions
of organization ON the planet, making UP
the surface and peopling it, all transmitted
the idea of organization they embodied to
their SUCCESSORS, when they crumbled: this
idea being modified and perfected as con-
ditiOns improved. Stages of PLANETARY
development have succeeded each other
to the present, each successive one being
higher than the last, in the sense of en-
bodying better conditions of life and higher
modes of expressing the idea of organiza-
ton. Brain has not died in all the ages
since it had birth on the planet. Its idea
appearing first in the speck centering a bit
of prOtoplasm, it has advanced with q
world of advancing matter and forms
until it exhibits itself in the being whom
revelation has proclaimed to be in the
image of God. Why in this image, but
because it embodies the whole idea ofnature
or of deifc action in nature? Why, but
for the reason that as an organism. the
human put on immortality as Deity in the
perfection of his mode of being is inmor.
tai? Death is not destruction of force OIL
form, it is but change. Behold now 9
planet clOthedwith matter, animated with
life, the type of what it was at first, but
changed by the working over of its sub.
stance again and again, through the
potency of the laws which have conserved
form, propagat'd organization, to the cul
minating point in man. Here, by virtue
of the perfection of its mode it caDnOt dis
integrate for the addition of another pro
portion or attribute to complete the plan
laid out in nature its model but must live
on, an entity endowed with attributes in
kind like Deity. The planet has not los
its identity; it is the same planet still, thC
same matter clothes its surface, but chang
ed in its powers and its aspects. In this
sense, it is the prototype of the human
organism, which retains its identity aftel
the outer part falls off at death, as tn,
leaves fall in autumn, leaving the life o
the tree untouched by the withering frost
Life progresses by stages, as we understand
it. This truth is portrayed by the plane
tary stages above referred to, by the stages
marked by the changing seasons, by day
and night, by infancy, youth maturity anC
age. The tree renews its youth in th'
Spring time, the soil its vigOr, after deatl
has stamped dssolation thereon.
Carrying out the idea conveyed in thes'
unvarying lessons of nature, how can WI
escape the conclusion that man arises to
new life after the change which divest
him of the physical part? All! here il
the rub. After death? who is to tell wha
is after that? Those who have passed th,
bOurn, and returned to be sure. Blu
there is something else which tells of this
if men will heed it, Shall we say that a
death force is lost? Intelligence demon
strates itself the superior force in nature
and what becomes of it when the physica
brain, its receptacle, I" is laid at last II
rest? ?" The FIRE dies out in the engin,
which was the physical brain, but th'
force which impelled activity bv the us,