The record-union., 1893-07-05

have lighted a candle this day in England
which shall never be put out"-Latlmer, from
"Be Of good cheer, I have overcome the
world. .n-Jesus.
Some one, said Mr.. Horner, has said
that three things are necessary to us IN
this life to make it worth living; first,
some one to love; second, something 10
do; and third, something TO hope for.
Now, to-day, ! wish to unite the three
in one and speak of the value of the
thought of Immortality; its power 10
stimulate love; the need of soul cultlva-
ton to fit it for Immortality, ana the
hope of finding at last that all our dreams
of truth, justice and love a1e to be
realized.
Aside from the thought of immortal life
nothing makes life here so much worth
living as a great ideal. Anideal of some
thing that ought to be but is not. To
make such an ideal real commands all our
creative energies, nils us with noble pur-
pose, and makes the soul rise above pes
simism and selfishness into an atmos-
phire of blessedness and good cheer.
In view of such an ideal the Ills that be-
set the way become stlmulantS to eXertlOn.
Mountains become little hills, and the
tragedy OF existence becomes little more
than comedy.
But add to this the assurance of immor-
tality and the whole course of life is inn
mediately lifted up with such glow of
hope that trial and failure and sorrow
seem like trivial excuses for sadness and
gloom.
Now 1 wish to show you, if 1 can, a
basis in reality tor the immortal hope.
GU know there are many people in the
world to-day with defective eyeSight So
prevalent has shortsightednes become
that many gruesome prophecies have
been made concerning the future of the
race. Man, a bald-headed, blind, tooth
nto ig baf rol lprI- ff,ri Il,
the future, say the croakers. But grant
ing the facts, such an Interpretation
shows only that mental shortsightedneS
exists parallel with the physical at
times, nothing more.
Ia truth this seeming defect in eyesight
IS great blessing, for, as age advances
and normal vision grows dim, and for the
horizons OF those who are near-sighted
begin to grow wider and more distinct, so
that it becomes possible for them to throw
away their glasses, and see clearly in old
age when others with normal sight at birth
have become almost helpless tor the want
of nearer vision.
Now, evolution teaches US that our
physical organs have come to be what
they are by need, and exercise in certain
directions throughout the long struggle
for existence prompted by that need. The
perfection OF the present has come about
by the polishing OF the process. So, also,
the loss OF organs takes place when they
are no longer needed.
The whole process and method of evo-
luton can be seen in the transformations
that take place in the bodily structure of
the tadpole as it gradually changes into a
full-grown frog.
If our physical vision is growing short,
Is 1t not, then, the result of the studious
habits of the world? Is it not the need
of closer vision that has produced the
near-sighted eye?
Again, is 1t not the close inspection of
facts in our age that has in a great meas
ure accounted for the absence of ideals in
many minds? Reduced the field of men
tai vision and confined thought to the
narrow circle of the present?
There are great many people in the
world to-day whose spiritual vision is
short. Who cannot see beyond the mar
row radius of this life in this material
world, and hence must find their incen-
tive to life here, with little hope of any
thing beyond this.
Indeed, the most of us Unitarians. in
spite of our idealism, live as though the
good things of this material existence
We're the only real things worth working
for.
We have been passing through period
of thorough-golng realism during the
past quarter Of a century; a period of
wonderful progress in the handling of
realities, in the development of natures
material resources, in the building up of
colossal fortunes, in the exploration of
the continents, the oceans, and the
heavens. In fact the past quarter century
has been period in which men have
been bent on taking stock of the world,
and of life in the world with very little
thought OF what is beyond it. Hence as
to personal Immortality we hear of
agnosticsm, doubt, pessimism, spiritual
short-sightedness.
In a lecture before the Student Associa-
ton in Paris the other day NJ. Emile Zola
took occasion to warn his hearers against
the dangers OF faith and particularly of
faith in the unknown future, and in any
possibility of better, iuster sweeter life
IN the hereafter. lie told them that all
this was the fruit of cowardice and lassi-
tude, and that the only thing for true
man to do was TO labor-labor each day
up to the measure of his strength, and let
the dreams Of the mystics and the pietists
alone. This, he said, was all that had
saved his life from barrenness and de-
spalr. But / am happy to say that the
occasion of Lola's lecture was a reaction
which set in among the students in
France, about two years ago, against the
"naturalism" of the period, of which
Zola is perhaps the most noted represents
atlve. II one has TO work like slave to
keep from despair in hopeless exist
ence, and then can produce nothing to
make it brighter, sweeter and better than
the literature which Zola has given us,
it is high time for reaction.
But after all, to return to our illustra-
ton. The spiritual shortsightedness otthe
past period has been a great blessing to
mankind. During that period glasses of
faith were necessary to gain vision of
an ideal in the future, but the careful
Studious inspection of all the facts of the
world and of lite in the world has re-
suited in foundations in truth for the fu-
ture temple OF thought. that shall never be
shaken, and for the reality of future life
before which the ideal of the past be-
comes as painted image beside a living
God; and now as time rolls on we may
expect to be able to throw aside the
glasses Of faith and see with clear, spir-
ltual vision the possibilities that reach
out into the Infinite; possibilities the
thought of which should make the mean
est life tolerable and even glad as the
prospect stretches away through elysian
nelds 10 the mountains OF glory that
rise beyond. This work is being done
now, and before many years l believe it
will be demonstrated so clearly that doubt
and despair as 10 the future life Will be
looked upon as the product of a diseased
state OF the intellect. demonstrated not
to the physical vision, not to the physical
senses, but 10 the mental vision-to the
spiritual sense-demouStrated as neces-
sary to the laws OF thought, as necessary
10 complete the evolution of self-eon-
scious mind, to continue the develop
ment of life OF which this side of the
grave is but a promise, an indication OF
what Is folded up in man.
The continuation of life in a higher
realm will then be seen to be the neces-
sary outgrowth OF all the physical lie of
the past-of the world back of ana below
man-of which mind is the last flower,
with its crown of aspiration on the top