Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-01-24
IMMORTALITY.
Subject OF a Discourse BY Rev. H. B.
Washburn at All Saints.

Washburn at All Saints.
The Rev II, B. Washburn, formerly of
this city, but now the assistant rector
of st. Johns Church IN Providence,
preached powerful sermon Sunday, at
the morning service in All Saints
Church. His text was from Deut.,
xxxii:4O, For l lift UP my hand to
heaven and say, l live forever" Moses,
who made this impressive affirmation
of the eternity Of man. was con-
WINGED of his immortality because he
knew that the beneficent principle
which underlies nature is likewise eter-
nal Is 1t possible, however, at that
early stage in the development of
thought, that he realized this profound
truth With his ignorance Of the size
of the world and the extent Of space, did
he appreciate the continuity and i'm
measurability of time? Or, realizing
it, did it make him pessimist? Did
this grand concept of the greatness of
God, make him sensible OF the mean
ness and littleness of man? No. Moses
was an optinist and supremacy conf
dent In his trust in God.
From Christ we also receive the same
comforting truth. His confidence in
the eternity of life is of the same fibre
of Christ must seem narrow and small
10 us today. He taught practically only
three years, and in small. conserva-
tive country, but yet his philosophy, his
belief was as broad as the universe.
1t is really easier to think of the
world as eternal, without beginning or
end, than to think of it as originating
at definite time, and to be likewise
brought to a definite end. Christ said
ba4 on al + =
runs the great machine, is God. Yet,
even after this blessed assurance of
Christ, we find that believers in him de-
spain. His standard seems so unattain-
able, and he seems so far off and i'm
personal, that they say What is man
that thou art mindful of him?'
Eternity is the only satisfaction Of our
spiritual natures. Without eternity, a
moral universe is impossible. But it is
spiritual eternity that we crave-an
eternity OF opportunity, an eternity in
which we can do our work And our
confidence in the reality of this eternity
comes from the far east, dates from the
sayings of the Jewish Messiah-that
Messiah who was the answer to the
jews longings, to Israel's accumulation
of hopes and DESIRES but whom they ut
terly failed to understand
Jesus is the first man in history who
had the courage to declare himself, who
unqualifiedly anA3unced his own worth.
and yet no sound thinker has ever
called him conceited. Moses was in
sympathy with God, but Christ was such
a perfect man that he was God.
We should not divide Christ's person.
aiity. We should not think of him
simply as God, but as the godlilSe in
us, and we are justified in having the
same confidence in the Father that he
had. His power is our power and his
destiny is our destiny. We shall have
his Immortality, IL we believe In him.
and his immortality is not a mere sur
vival of influence, a Joining of the
"choir invisible but a spiritual immor-
tality, a union 81 our spirits with God.
This, then, Is orr eternity, this the great
ruth behind all the chances and
changes of life, and this destiny solves
all the problems of the world, as Brown
ing has said Death is but a stage in
eternal life, and should not be feared.
1t has been said that measureless fu-
ture is too big to be thought Of, that
human inertia is dead against it. But
let us NOT be lethargic let us have con-
fdence In our noblest aspirations, let us
lift up cur hands and say as did Moses,
u live forever