The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-07-21
BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY.

A belief in supreme power is the
beginning of all religion. A sense of
God and of mans obligation to live in
obedience to his law is in the very
groundwork Of the human mind. A
belief in God and in duty are the con-
stituent parts of all religions. They
are found linked with all the early su-
perstitions that sprang up in the child
hood of the race; with fetichism, poly
theism, image worship, naturewor-
ship, mythology and the grossest an
throphomorphism. The doctrine of
Immortality has no such foundation; it
does not stand related in any way to
these superstitions. To discover God
man always has, and must very largely,
as it would seem, look outside himself.
The sense that there is God he may
have within, but for any knowledge of
what God is, he must look for some
revelation to come to him outside him
self. He must observe nature in her
orderly goings forth and returnings;
| the succession of day and night, the
silent procession of the seasons, the
coming and going of storms and winds;
he must observe the evidences of law
everywhere. Besides this he will need
to acquaint himself with his own rela-
lions to nature and her laws. Further
more he will need to observe his own
experience as treasured up in memory,
as linked with conscience and sense
of duty; through these he will discern
something, more or less distinctly, of
that presence from which he feels that
he is never far separated and yet which
is always invisible. And these must
all be supplemented by direct revela-
ton from God himself.
But to believe we'll in Immortality he
must not look without but within. He
must know something of himself, some
thing of the wonderful power and scope
of the human mind. He must compre-
bend his dominion over nature and
natural law; something of HE inventive
powers, his ability to investigate truth,
to lay hold upon the secrets which
nature tries to hide from him so cum
ningly; something of his power to read
the stars in their courses and to trace
backward along the mighty cons of the
past the riddle of creation. The doc
trine of immortality does not, like the
belief in God, coexist with childish
superstitions. 1t came late into mans
religious consciousness; not, indeed,
until he had begun to recognize the
dignity of human nature, the ability to
investigate and appropriate truth. A
belief in Immortality is belief in
mans independent self-hood; it turns
upon mans knowledge Of himself as,
in certain sense, independent of and
superior to the laws that control the
things of external nature. Knowing
himself to be what he is, man naturally
refuses to believe in any destiny which
does not promise full development of
all his regal powers. He refuses to be
satisfied with this ''south land'' which,
so far as he can see stretches away at
death into the desert of non-existence.
"Thou hast given me this south land,
give me now springs of water"
Looking within he sees that this
''south land" would be dry as any des-
ert, if God did not pour through it the
rich streams of his eternal truth and
love. This life would be barren as any
Sahara unless it could be fertilized by
the perennial streams flowing out of the
life of God. When we look upon exter-
nal nature we see nothing stable, moth
ing steadfast. Light comes, darkness
goes. Winter passes into summer;
summer declines into winter. Life
drops away into death death rises up
into life. Youth grows up into man.
hood; manhood slowly falls away into
the childishness of age. Yet knowing
ourselves to be what we are, we refuse
to believe that this is all there is of
life. We acknowledge all this sandy
barrenness, but we persist this is not
all there is of living. God has given us
"the upper and the neither springs"
Down from the upper regions of spirit
ual realities come living waters of truth,
and faith, AMI worship. By our knowl-
edge Of what God is and what we are
by knowledge of our own needs and
his infinite supplies; by the everlasting
questionings which mount up as pray
ers to Fathers heart; by our longings
Gfter those who have fallen by the way
side; by sense Of duty never done, of
perfection never attained; by all these
we recognize the upper realms, and pray
for the gift of those fertilizlng streams
which shall cool the fever of this exist
ence and pour through it the living
waters of eternal life. Life is desert,
religion a puzzle, man worm of the
dust, duty CHASTITY sacrifice, if there
be no other life than this.