St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-20
1t Is Analogous in Part to
All Other Life but Stands
Alone.
A Thoughtful Address Given
~ by tie Pastor Of the Peo-
ou pies Church,
Which a Large Audience List
9dened to in the Grand Yes
a. a. terday Morning.

Ing. NOTWITHSTANDING the QlSagreeaDle
weather the house was we'll filled. The
text was John, viii, Sc: ''If the Son,
therefore, shall make you free, we shall
be free indeed"
II do not intend" said DIR. Smith, ssto
formally argue the doctrine of immor-
tality, but rather to so present it
by induction, as to reveal a pre-
sumption in its favor. l may
say, however, that to me the
best arguments for Immortality are not
found in Greek philosophy, either an
cient or modern, but in the historic facts
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. A
member of the legal profession, who is
well known as one of the most brilliant
and acute intellects of the Northwest,
said to me recently, II have no trouble
with miracles, for the early successes
of the Christian faith which are actually
known to history are greater than any
other miracle" And this is true. Let
any man have knowledge of the condi-
ton of the dozen petty states which oc-
cupied the central part of Western Eu-.
rope twenty-five years ago, suppose
him ignorant of the events which lie be-
tween that date and the present, then
let him understand the greatness of the
German empire, its settled constitution.
the eXactneSS of its internal economies,
the extent of
IT'S MILITARY ARMAMENT,
the vigor of its foreign policy, and if he
be at all accustomed to historical in
vestigation, he will say that this aston
ishing result demanded superb intel
lect and an iron will. The consOlida-
ton of Germany demands Bismarck,
and only Bismarck is its adequate ex-
PLANTATION. So the still mightIer achieve
mentS of the earlier preachers of the
gospel, which aStoniShed every capital
Of Roman and Greek civilization, which
SmOte popular forms of religion, al
though intrenched in culture, in art and
in society, can only find an adequate So
luton in the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead.
If he he risen he has become the first
fruits of them that slept. and the hope
of immortality is the heritage of men.
But there are certain analogieS which so
occupy our thoughts that we are scarcely
able to get a fair consideration of any
arguments upon this subject. Though
analOgies are by no means conclusive
forms of thOught,tO most minds they are
fascinating and to some they are over
powering. The fact that human life has
itSbeginning, its climax and its decay,
like lower forms of life, would seem to
The individual life, of whatever form,
seems but the spray thrown up by the
waves of the universal life, and its dis
solution is the ebbing of that universal
life retreating within itself. The man
seated alone, muSing upon himself, says:
''IWas an infant, have grown to matur-
ity, but, like other generations of men,
shall grow old and die. The forces of
MY mind seem to depend upon the
forces OF my body. . L have steadi-
ness of nerve and readiness of
thought in direct ratio to the
good blood driven by my beating
heart. There is such an interaction Of
thought and body, that the former seems
to proceed from the latter. The prom
ised dissolution of my body will bring
not only the end of my life, but also the
destruction of my powers" Let US
look into this and see If our friend
thinks wisely. 1t is true that nature
presents network of force and life.
Life is bound together in one bundle.
The more profoundly we think of this
the truer 1t seems to be.
EXISTENCE is LIKE A GREAT TREE.
Though the top of it may have a
diameter as wide as all the various
forms of the animal and vegetable
kingdom, yet at the roots life is one.
The sacred Ygdrasil, the life tree of
Morse mythology, which included all
beings. and at whose feet were seated
the goddesses of destiny. is only
an Imaginative putting of strictest
scientific fact. But let US con-
slider that though all there is
all ascent of life, and Nature is con-
stantiy pushing On toward freedom,
plant life is local. 1t is not alone rooted.
but breatheS certain air. demands a
certain sky. Its life is limited. Animal
life in the lowest orders is also rooted,
but it has wider adoption and it's essen
tial feature is motion. But when man
comes he belongs to no local fauna; he
ranges all zones, adaptS himself to all
cllmeS, and is undoubtedly the most
complex form of life on the planet.
Their stages of existence are subservi-
emit and preliminary. He is the fruit of
4gdrasil. 1t does not seem untrue to
say that other orders of life are simply
prophetic. Man is their fulfillment.
Now, if you pluck off leaf from a tree
and cast it on the earth it withers. If
you lop off a branch it dies. but if you
fling that down for which leaf and
branch exist, namely, the seed of the
plant, 10, it springs and bears, it may be,
will be with the fruit of the tree of life,
and let us find here hint of immOr-
tality.
Not as lawless pirate does man
seize upon the treasures of the earth,
but as the righttul heir he enters upon
the possession of his own. We may
confidently believe that the time will
come when the conquest of this world
will be completed. And what then?
Is this not also hint of immortality?
The great Teacher leads us, however,
toFa much higher point of view when
He promises, I'VE shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free.v
This realm of ideas is the paradise of
men. The feet of the soul may rest
upon physical conditions. but it's true
nonriShment is truth, and ideas belong
tothat spiritual realm whic oh knows no
decay or feebleneSS or dissolution. If
we leave the realm of the material and
the mechanical we enter into life.
Plato had certainly caught glimpses of
supreme beauty and truth when he
taught that the material of which any
thing was made was nothing, or of no
account, but that the form in which it
was fashioned was an abiding posses
sion of the eternal mind. This holds
in forms of even secondary creation.
A, watch may weaken in every joint
and wear out in every wheel, but the
true watch, the ideal in the mind of its
maker, knows nothing of the wear of
time or use.
By his constitution man seems to be-
long to this realm of truth, and is there
not here hint of immortality? A man
sits at work at machine, but he is him
self no machinist.s The wheels roll
round, but he does not understand their
combination. He has only been taught
to pull certain lever and to open Ger
tain valves. But to the man who knows
the forms and capacities of his machine
it becomes thing of life. 1t is intelli-
gent, comprehensive; it almost speaks.
So the man at work with the complex
forces which he calls himself
SITS SADLY IN THE DARK