The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-04-18

i tality. 1t comes to remind us that
we are not wholly of earth. 1t waves
its scepter over the threatening bill
lows of strife and care, and says to
them: "Thus far and no farther"
1t silences the thunderous voices OF
the street, that man may catch
strains of music waited from the up
per spheres. This day is dedicated
to the Immortal Hope, and whatever
cherishes and fosters that hope is APP
propriate to the service.
This is not the time or the occa-
sion to discuss the origin of that
hope,-to recount the process by
which it became fixed in the human
mind. This is the task which | have
elsewhere attempted; butt is foreign
to the purposes of the hour. The
hope of Immortality, the belief in life
hereafter has often been perverted or
abused; often has it been found COW
cred with luxuriant poison vines of
superstition; but in one form or an
other it has existed for unnumbered
ages in the human mind. 1t has
withstood, in the historic period, the
shock of every argument that has
been urged against it; and it seems,
indeed, Independent of every argu-
ment urged in it's favor. Emerson
says: "We are much better believers
in Immortality than we can give
grounds for. The real evidence is
too subtle, or is higher than we can
write down in propositions" James
Martineau affirms: eve do not be-
lieve in immortality because we have
proved it, but we are forever trying
to prove it, because we believe it."
In the absence of demonstration,
or at least of demonstration that is
yet widely accepted as such,-dem-
onstration that we may all sometime
have,-let us cultivate the hope that
in our better moments whispers,
"Thou shalt live again" However it
may have originated, there are GER
tain considerations that tend to
strengthen it. These l do not offer
as direct and infallible proofs, for l
am not going into the realm of argu-
ment today. They are fountains
which nourish the roots of this tree
of life; forces which help to plant it
securely in the convictions of men.
/. The FIRST OF THESE is THE PRIOR
CONVICTION THAT, BACK OF US ALL, BACK
OF THE VISIBLE UNIVERSE, THERE is A
Power BOTH WISE AND GOOD WHICH, IN
SOME WAY HAS BROUGHT US INTO ExIs-
TENoE AND sUsTAINs US WHILE HERE.
If man is in any sense the work of
God,-whether, as some hold, by di-
rect creation, or as others with better
scientific authority hold, and as l
myself believe, by gradual process
of becoming, through lower forms of
life,-there, so far as we can see. the
work of God must be incomplete if
death ends it. The old lady whose
theory was that the earth rested on
rock, when asked what that rock
rested on, said "Anotherl" and when
questions came even faster than she
could supply rocks, she summed it
all up by exclaiming: "Why, bless
you, there are rocks all the way
down." The idea of endless life to
come for the creature, rests upon the
idea of another endless life that ex-
tends through all the past, and
through the future, too, ''from ever
lasting to everlasting" The support
ing rock is the thought of God, and
that rock reaches all the way down.
"Other foundation can no man lay"
"Shall mortal man be more wise
than his Maker?" was the question
asked of old. Yes; if his Maker
builds but to shatter, mortal man is
wiser. If man wants spectacle for
an hour, he may build palace of ice
or fashion statues of snow. He may
care nothing when the sun at last
melts them away, But does man
toll or plan for years upon cathe-
dral or palace,-look you, does he
hew him majestic blocks from the
quarry, fashion them with endless
pains and lift them to their places
with infinite labor, only to lay them
in ruins as soon as the pile is com
pletedi Is all this done for mo-
mentarY spectacle3
But consider: He who wrought
through the ages upon this planet,
laying the foundation for his greatest
work; who then went on with the prep
aration through time that no arith-
metic can compute, evolving one
form of animal life after another, all
pointing onward toward man; who
finally completed in mans reason and
conscience the superstructure, crown
ing the universe with this master
achievement,-He, you tell me, has
lo.o oil tb;o for nauo,hf hoe hn;I 1a6