The herald., 1893-08-27
The IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL
A Sketch Of the Progress Of a
Universal Belief.
Direct Evidence Open to ALI Who
Care to Seek 1t.
Sacred Writings Merely Hearsay Evi-
asnce-Every One Equally Entitled
to Have His Own Knowledge
of this Great Fact,

y The question of the Immortality OF the
"a soul is probably az old as the human
/, 81 race. The fact that the subject is dis
cussed shows that there are two sides OF
y the question and that the evidence 90
far produced has not been Of the char
=, 4 acter to completely silence every
:. doubter. And yet there is q phase that
i has probably been overlooked by many.
and that is the growth in the number OF
ovs believers and the rapidly decreasing
~ numbers OF unbelievers.
!, - a In the early period Of the human race
> 3a death must have been very great mys-
J osctery. Not that the first death OF nu-
q man being excited any SURPRISE ior'
- perhaps. reason was too feeble to notice
\ or be profoundly impressed Dy sns
" man grew. the great change was more
and more observed and men began to
ac To them, in those dim ages, 1t must
~ have seemed the end OF ALL Man sank
into .. dreamless. eternal sleep. The
se body was soon resolved to its primal
ses' elements. The animation was gone.
'sv All was soon forgotten.
go osr Then, for some reason, men began TO
haye been only dream. Perhaps 1t
:. .ss came to them by intuition, just ss Kep-
'sNs Ter discovered the planetary liie.
W so' Immortality is desirable and pleasant,
!. hence all kinds Of traditions grew up in
,ns efegsrd to it. Man had the promise, said
,olipb bhe, but for trivial offense was driven
N out OF garden wherein grew tree the
continued use OF whose fruit would give
him an endless life. Another claimed
4 = k..~~ c1s swse m
feqo o}pbyiceless boon, A third believed that
fountain OF eternal youth existed, and
u' that whoever should drink of Its waters
should live forever.
The etymology OF all languages have
no primary word to express the idea OF
person who 10 supposed to survive the
physical change called death. The
word "sour' simply means "life." and
OF itself implies or gives no idea OF inn.
which is merely "bresth." Later, how
81 ever, for lack OF better terms, doubtless,
they were given the idea of immortal
stae entities, embodied or disembodied, and
which ideas they universally convey.
s"Just as the word 'phonograph" means
''sound writing" and was first applied
w to phonetic shorthand, but later to the
y y wonderful automatic machine which re-
This hint from stymology seems to
y show that the earlier ancestors Of the
This last word itself appears to strength.
en- the argument, for It 10 negative,
. mot dying" They had no Affirmative
word to express the idea of an endless
life, just as among the aborigines OF the
American continents, there is no native
word for horse. A European word il
invariably used By them for this animal.
:. a fact that corroborates. the claims OF
kiStofians that the Europeans were the
first to introduce this. animal to the
Americas. .ts s,,sss..e
AZ the idea Of an immortal entity
grew it took definite shapss The heroes
and teachers of antiquity became gods.
In time they were invested with appa-
rently or so-cslled supernatural powers,
ridiculous idea, as II in nature there
could be anything above nature. Still
this was only Q misletoe OF superstition
upon the oak of truth. a.
1t is natural that men in different
!, climes and countries should reason out
different results from such feeble lights
as they had. One taught that the
~ human soul would be finally absorbed
: by the great soul Of nature of which
they thought 1t must be only Q spark.
Another thought that the soul must ex-
plate its sins by entering animals. An
other that it would again be reunited
with the body after stated period, and
hence arose the art of embalming.
Still others professed, 90 the oracles
of Delphos and the witch of Endor, to
communicate with the departed. Again
others provided q heaven for their
friends and hell for their foes. The
variations were as numerous as the
teachers from Gautama Buddhs TO
!. y Joseph Smith. They are numerously
- expressed In the sacred writings Of ali
~ nations.
q great measure the basis OF belief in 9
future existence. The best example in
- =; this country is the sacred books Of the
~. Jews and the Christians as bound to-
y NRether In one volume and commonly
y :. = e called the Bible by way OF distinction.
y y 's8s " It ID true that the interpretations of
y this book by all teachers are as various
and conflicting as there are teachers, for
hardly any two, even in the same sect,
j. agree as to the meaning Of the text.
But there are two points upon which.
q = probably, all are agreed.
q = First, that it is . divine revelation
and, secondly, that it teaches immor-
: : tality. To sum 1t up, the book reveals
81 or teaches, or, az some state IL still
stronger, proves immortality. Admit
- this, but look the subject squarely in
~, the face and honestly ask the question,
!. Ssss'" How does this book prove immor.
- (. tality?"
Why, it was q revelation to Moses.
- = Daniel, Ezekiel, John, Peter or Paul,
80 and they have thus recorded the truth
= - aB revesled to them.
ss7 Admitted, but at the most this was .
revelation to them personally, and at
the best we only have their words for it,
ef True. they may have all been good men
eeg and incapable OF deceit. II may have
is been actual knowledge with them, but
! with rs it can never be anything more
n than mere heRrsay. SIS
@ei 4. This kind of evidence may be good as
r. far % it goes but it does. not 20 far
= enough. The same objection lies against
every other book clHiming to be divine
revelation teaching Immortality. whether
II be the philosophiss Of Confucius, the
Vedas of India, the Shastas OF Persia,
the Koran of Arabia, the Bible Of Chris
tendon or score of lesser lights.
II the soul is immortal, then every
person born into the world has an i'm