Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-03-03

never can you lodge principle Oh dl8t-
bra or geometry, or the idea of Su-
preme Being into the skull of a dog, a
cat or a monkey, not more than you
could force the thought of color or dl-
mensiOn within the fibres of tree or
the molecules of a stone. The range OF
animal activity is wider than that OF
vegetation, which itself exceeds that OF
the inert stone. But these are only dill
ferent degrees of evolution, in one and
the same material sphere. A jump
from that sphere 10 the intellectual or
der is radically impossible. Between
anjmality and nationality there IS a
break which commands a halt TO all
eyolutional theories and processes.
The animal soul of the beast, like
the vegetable soul of the tree ana the
cohesive force of the stone. is absolute
ly dependent, for its existence, upon the
material stuff of which it is but an ac-
cident, and perishes with the disinie-
grafton or disOrganiZatiOn Of its mother
substance. But the human soul does
not derive its origin from the body 1t
informs 1t is not mere accident Of
matter. II is a substance, which can
subsist by itself, independently of all
organism. United to the body, it acts
through the inStrumentality Of its or
gan. thinking through the brain, see
ing through the eyes. hearing through
the ears. Separated from the body, the
soul, like all other spirits sees, hears
and knows by one simple act of intui-
ton. That simple act cannot be pro-
duced but by a simple substance.
Therefore the soul is and must be a
simple substance. Being a simple sub
stance. it is not decOmpOsable. Ii is IN
des.rucible. 1t is immortal.
My friends. you have only to open
the ears of that very soul to hear the
chorus Of voices predicting its immor-
tally. The voice of human nature
proclaims the Immortality of the soul
The voice of human reason tesJities Of
the immortality of the soul. The voice
of human free will ahirms the immor-
tally of the soul The voice of the hui
man heart cries for the immortality Of
the soul. The voice OF God reveals 10
man that his soul is immortal, Listen,
first. to The
VOICE OF HUMAN NATURE.
You witness daily changes going on
all the time i'm the material nature by
which You are surrounded; YOU nave
before your eyes a continual succession
of Cisintegrati0n, decay and decompOsl-
ton i'm the mineral vegetable and ami
NAL world; you can hardly count the
hundreds OF figures which appear be-
fore your gaze. shine for a little while
and disappear into the gull OF oblivion;
and whilst YOU see the material world
falling into pieces on all sides of you,
and are conscious of the sinking OF
your own body into the common reser-
yoir of dust, yet, Notwithstanding all
this. YOU feel in the most
intimate of yourself a deep
seated reluctance TO the idea
of your own annihilation; you shrink,
in spite of yourself, before the yaWn-
ing abyss of nothingness; and YOU hear
from che depth OF your most secret and
involuntary ceilings voice whispering
10 you thai YOU are not destined TO van
ish as a transient vapOur. This Is the
solemn voice of nature, the voice OF the
soul coming from within the sanctuary
of it's Immortality and forcing its mys-
FERROUS sound through the sinking ma
terials of your body, to tell You that
death is not the end of your existence,
that there is beyond the grave another
land in which you will continue TO live,
to know and to love.
"That voice is not a delusiOn. 1t can
not be a delusion. because nature cam
not be false to itself. Your Intelligence
may be led asJray in many things, and
q
a false conclusion. But natural in
stinct does not syllogize; its voice I'M
poses itself and commands listening.
You stand by the bed of your dying
father; YOU watch the grey pallor OF
death creeping over that face which so
often smiled 10 You; YOU see the light
gradually fading in those eyes which
used to gaze at you with an ineffable
expression of love; You reverently
bend toward those lips which spoke TO
YOU so atfecJiCnajely, now parted TO
make way for the last BREATH What
DO YOU think? What do YOU feel?
What do you say? My poor father is
gonel
Gone? Yes YOU are right. To go,
means to travel; to travel means to be
alive Your father has gone over to
the land of the great hereafter. While
YOU accompany with tears in your eyes,
his mortal remains to the grave your
mind pierces the wall which encloses
our limited earthly existence, glances
over the endless horizon of the spirit
ual world and says: There, I will see
my father again, The mother gives
up her child into the hands OF death.
without dying herself with grief, be-
cause she knows she will see her little
darling again. The husband bids fare
well to the faithful companion Of his
life, saying: Have courage, my beloved,
We shall meet again.
How solemn is the separation be-
tween an immortal soul that remains
on earth and an immortal soul that de-
parts for the other world, All, the
great voice of nature, Who can remain
deaf to its immortal sound? The ma
terialst buried in his theories. is more
than once awakened from his torpOr
by its tingling. | remember having
read somewhere of the French infidel,
Rousseau, sayingin one of these solemn
moments of involuntary waking up:
All the subtleties of metaphysics viii
never make me doubt the immortality
of the soul. feel it, and l Will defend
it with my latest breath, And how
universal is the testimony of the voice
of natWe The hanging on a future
prolongaJiOn Of existence after this
life has been the truss that sustained
an men at an times. Adam condemned
10 DEATH foresaw the figure of his Re
deemer by whom he would be restored
to life Abraham sacrificing his son;
job abandoned by all; the Maccabees
giving their bodies to the eXecutiOners,
,,.ara all com foVfo cd nv tho boDr Of q f11