Birmingham age-herald., 1895-07-19

hdn IS uudl III HIS nature.
 These three propositions constitute the argument Ior the immortality of the soul, although a fourth may be added. There is no such thing as annihilatlon inSthe material universe. There is no
 greater soleeism than to speak of an un-
 wise God.
 We know that matter exists, but only from its phenomena have we an inference of mind. Mind has been sought with the | miscroscope, crucible and retort, but It ever eludes physical discovery. Still, there is stronger proof of the existence of mind as a separate and distinct entity than of matter, for only by mind can matter be known. The eye can see no more than the telescope; it is only the instrument through which the soul looks. The ear cannot hear it is only the instru- ment through which the soul hears. The body is not the soul, but only box of tools to work for the soul Which is of greater dignity, of greater worth, mind or matter? That which loves, hopes, re-
 members is worth 10000 times as much as mere matter.
 In the material world-and the skeptic is jealous in maintaining this truth there is change everywhere, but annihi- lation nowhere. Then, will God blot out mind after 1t has existed only three score years or a little more? Guarding every single atom of matter from the creation of the universe, is He continually blot ting out mind, infinitely greater, at the rate of more than fifty minute? He
 them is as foolish as the man who pre-
 serves the casket and throws away it's priceless gems. Is this the God you wor- ship, O skeptic?
 Capability indicates destiny. Every power is intended not to lie dormant, but to be exercised.
 three great kingdoms of note. This won three great kingdoms of note. Shis won- derful advancement through the ages distinguishes man from all the brute ere ation. Except within narrow limits brute mind is non-progressive. Man lays his hand on natures hidden forces and
 makes them obedient to his will He
 catches the light and uses it as his ser
 want, the lightning it's back. Look ing about him he says, "There is a great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world God has hidden from me because of my dullness of eye" He invents the microscope and discovers @ vast realm of wondrous beauty. He invents the tel escope and not only discovers another universe which God has hidden, but ex- plores it; on reasons wing he scars above to weigh and measure these new worlds, and with the Spectroscope finds out the very stuff of which they are made. To him time is no barrier; the stones un- lock the store house of the mystic past and geology bids us take our stand upon l the crags of eternity.
 Yet I doubt not through the ages one 1ntIGdSIllS uIIDSG idHS,
 | And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns." How wonderful the mind that can gath CT such wisdom. Yet mind labors under limitations, which if removed, who can | say to what height knowledge might reach? One-third of life is spent in sleep, | another third in some kind of toll and gravity binds us to the earth. This leads to the question, Are other worlds inhab- ited? If not, for what purpose were they created? The idea that their reason | for existence is to give us light is as absurd as would be the scheme to light | the town of Talladega by kindling a great fire on the Alps. Matter exists | for the sake of mind. We should study nature that, like Kepler. we may think Gods thoughts after Him." and look through nature up to natures God" Is it not reasonable to suppose that | after a while our earthly limitations will l be removed? If man is to live only few | fleeting years and pass away, why IS ne given these powers? God built the Great Eastern, the human soul, and put it in | the little pond of time, but he also con structed a great ship railway, death over which He will lift the ship out into | the mighty ocean of eternity It IS ln- l dubitably prophetic of the higher hfe that mans powers are never adequately | developed or exercised in this life. Man | is as completely an embeyo as the un- | matched bird. Away with the heathenish | idea of death That 1t is an unmitigated evil; that it should be the most dreaded l of all human experiences; that it's com | ing to our friends should make us bow l our heads like the bulrushes and array | ourselves in the habiliments of woe. | Whatever it may be to others, death to | the Christian is not calamity, but only l the spacious vestibule that leads into the l splendid temple of heaven. The so-called | king of terrors. the grim-visaged mon | ster. the huge black-winged angel, though terror-Striking as to his visage, only | breaks the shell and allows the soul to unfold it's golden pinions and soar aloft l to that cline where the Omnipotent one l no longer veils his face as he does here | below. Dr. Black closed his soul-lifting | discourse with the impressive quoting of | Nancy Priest Wakefields beautiful, | lines, lover the River.'
 The round table this afternoon dis | cussed Rome and Venice" Miss Love | read a fine paper she had prepared, Miss | Goodall read "Viva Italia" and pr. Me | Neill made an address upon "The Rela- 1 ton Between Romeand Christianity
 This evening with his magnificent views'and beautiful language MT. Reese | carried us to Florence, called by Dante "Rome's most famous and most beau | teous daughter" On the way thither | from Milan we saw the double leaning | towers of Bologna, the lovely vale of | Vallombrose, and on the shores of the | golden Arno we gazed upon the most graceful of all earthly domes, Brunelles- schi's, of which the administration build ing of the White City is a copy as to pro | portions. Florence Is the city of Dante
 and Giotto and everywhere Is their pres | ence felt. The great cathedral Nike | stupendous jewel casket turned wrong | side out; Giotto's tower; the Campanile, | like a lily blossoming out of stone; the
 historic Baptistry, the city of dreams
 and shadows floating in the Arno; the l bridge houses of the Florentne mosaic
 makers; the Pitt Palace the galleries of
 Lorenzo, the magnificent, with the Venus | de Medici, Raphael, Pope Julian II, the | great painters own portrait, Leonards terrible Dying Medusa," Michael An | gelos "Moses;" the cathedral of Santa | Croce, the Westminster of Florence, and whose every stone Dickens says is elo- | quent with great mems deaths; the DOT | traits of MT. and Mrs. Browning; the Casa Guidi windows; the tulip tower, | the place where the brave Savonarola l perished amid the fiames all these sur l rounded us with the magic air of Italia, 1 the land of the sun