The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-07-06
IMMORTALITY.
Rev. Mary Livermore, ID. d. at Congress
Square Church.

A very large congregation that filled
almost every pew in Congress Square
church, assem- bled yesterday morning to
listen to Rev. Mary Livermore, D. D.,
who occupied the pulpit.
After the usual preliminary services,
DR.. Livermore took for her text Job,
xiy:l4. eff man die, shall be live
again?" This is a question that has
been asked through the ages, is asked
now. and will continue to be asked by
successive generations. Our estimate of
life varies according to our observation,
according to our position and our tenn
permanent. Some people declare that this
Is q vale of tears. Their natures are
so sensitive that they cannot catch the
major notes of JOY. They are in trouble
all the timo either on account of their
own or some other PERSONS SORROWS.
They are like river sponges, absorbing
all other griefs as we'll as their own.
Others take life as it comes. They say
it is great mystery. We cannot solve
the problem as to how life came about.
We cannot tell the mental processes by
which God accomplished his various
lines of work. But whenever men have
made great inventions they have solved
some of Gods processes.k In illustration
of the calamity that results when men
Of less knowledge fail to follow out the
plans of their superior, the doctor in
stanced the fearful bridge disaster at
Ashtabula where the contractors thought
certain features in the architects plans
unnecessary and that by dispensing with
them they could save $50, 600 apiece and
make the bridge just as strong. The
result and a terrible disaster is historical.
So with Gods laws. They must be fol-
lowed in every respect, whether under
stood or not If you would avoid destru c.
ton.
Life then is mystery; a puzzle you
cannot solve. Things are continually
happening that you are unprepared for.
No matter how much care and thought
you have bestowed on what you pro-
posed doing? You are continually thrown
from your. feet both morally and spir-
ituaIly. You are finally thrown out of
life. Wheres The speaker referred to
the case of little grand child whose
brother had been drowned. He saw the
body. he noticed the eyes were closed,
the limbs limp, and that the child made
no response to the agontzing cries of
his mother. The first question he asked
referred to a future life. Where has
johnnie gone? Will he come back? If
not, why not? Until finally he was par
TALLY satisfied with the answer that
Johnnie was SO happy whore he had
gone that we must all by and by go to
him, but that he could not come to us.
To
when our lives are taken from US. J.
said the preacher, am now rs years old
my whole life, from the time | went to
school ut years of age is before me, and
| can say | feel that I have only just
begun to live. We have, all of US, only
are called upon to die. If there is moth
ing more to life than the brief space we
exist here, and if we did not believe
that God took up the work and carried
1T on hereafter, we would feel that there
was nothing to life. lngursoll DOESN'T say
he doesn't believe that there is future
life. What he does say is that he has
no proof OF it. He says he would be glad
to know that thsre is q higher life be-
yond. The wanvers of tho beautiful
Goblein tapestries Of France sit at their
frames and as they copy some charm
ing picture, see nothing in their workout
lot Of knots and ends of threads and
misht become discouraged and say
What Is the use of all this; there il
nothing to our work but interviewer
threads and patches The superin-
tendent, however, passes in front of the
web and there sees the result of their
work in the picture of a beautiful
Madonna, or saint-like Jesus. We are
like theweavers at work. Few of us know
the value OF our own possessions. we
are the man who owns great estate,
but lives in the basement of the house.
Artists told him of the beauty of his
grounds; poets sung their praises He
didn't believe them until forced into the
upper part of his house, he could view |
the country around and End that artists
and poets hadn't told half the truth.
sometimes we do not get out of the |
basement Of our lives until God floods |
it with sorrow and drives US higher |
when we appreciate all that has been |
do lie for us.
DR.. Llvermore then proceeded TO give |
reasons why one must believe that life |
does not end with the grave. Thou
sands of years before Christ, the first |
written records Of mems thoughts about |
the hsreafter came to us from the Egyp- |
tians. They told us that they believed |
IN their heiroglyphios and In their pic
tural representations that have withstood |
the attacks of SO many centuries. They |
thought that by mummifying the body |
uuoJ oOuiu hoop bil6 sOul vi Uuo gar
ment next the body was marked cross
That cross signified defiance to death,
like the Resurgam on the tombstones of |
modern date. Their pictures showed the
soul passing into future state. From
them came the Catholic idea of purga-
tory, our idea of the Trinity and the con-
oeption of the Madonna. These ancient
peoples believed the dead were met by |
angles in the other world and the good
escorted one way, the bad another, and
the good passed from one hall, or con-
dition. to another, each progressing in
character, till perfection was attained.
Osiris, Isis and Horus OF the Egyptians
to the Father, Son and Holy
Ghost Of the Trinity, except that with
them Isis was mother, not son. From
the time of the Egg ptians you cannot
find a race, no matter how rude, that
does not believe in immortality. 1t was
thought Buddhism represented annihi-
ation, but that was found to be an error.
story was told of an Indian woman
and her babe, showing the woman's faith
In the hereafter. The belief in iDlmor-
5ality is as universal as the Instinct of
owe. How do we come by this feeling? |
We didn't put it there. God is called |