Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-10-05
IntuItIons of immortality.


(From a sermon on immortal Life, =
preached in Boston, Sept 20, 1876, by
Theodore Parker.) To my mind this
is the great proof of Immortality; the
fact that it is written in human nature;
written there so plain that the rudest
nations have not failed to find 1t, to
know it; written just as much as form
Is written on the Circle, and extension
on Matter in general. 1t comes to our
consciousness as naturally as the no.
lions of Time and Space. We feel it as
desire; we feel 1t as fact. What is
thus in Man is writ there of God, who
writes no lies. To suppose that this
universal desire has no corresponding
qualification is to represent Him, not
as the Father of all, but as only a De-
ceiver. feel the longing after Immor-
tally. desire essential to my nature
deep as the foundation of my Being;
/ find the same desire in all men. l
feel conscious of Immortality; that
am not to die-no; never to die.
though often to change. | cannot be-
lieve this desire and consciousness are
felt only to mislead, to beguile, to de-
eeive me. l know God is my Father
and the Father of the nations. Can
the Almighty deceive His children?
For my own part, | can conceive of
nothing which shall make me more
certain of Immortality. | ask no argu-
ment from learned lips. No miracle
could make me more sure; no, not even
Ii the sheeted dead burst cerement and
shroud, and rising forth from their
honored tombs stood here before me,
the disenchanted dust once more en-
chanted with that fiery life; no. not
even if the souls of all my sires since
time began came thronging round, and
with miraculous speech told me they
lived and / should also live. | could
only say, I knew all this before, why
waste your heavenly speech?" | have
now indubitable certainty of eternal
life. Death removing me to the next
state can give me infallible GER
sainty.
There are a great many things true
which no man as yet can prove true;
some things so true that nothing can
make them palmer, or more plainly
true. l think it is so with this doc
trine, and therefore, for myself, ask no
argument. With my views of Man, of
God, of the relation between the two.
l want no proof, satisfied with my own
consciousness of Immortality.
hn "a Iv,o, Ro1i hn
idea of God, in certain sense, is born
in us. and fast as we come to con-
seriousness of ourselves we come to
consciousness of God, and of ourselves
as immortal. The higher we advance
in wisdom, goodness. piety, the larger
place do God and Immortality hold in
our experience and inward life. l
think this is the regular and natural
process of a mans development.
Doubt of either seems to me an excep-
ton, an irregularity.
What form our conscious, social and
increased activity shall take we know
not. We know of that no more than
before our birth we know of this
world, of sight, smell, hearing and
touch, and the things which they re-
veal. We are not born into that world.
have not its senses yet. This we know,
that the same God, all powerful, all
wise, all good, rules there and then.
as here and now. We cannot trust
Him to do right and best for all? For
my own part l feel no wish to know
how, or where, or what shall be here
after. know it will be right, for my
truest welfare, for the good of all. l
am satisfied with this trust.