The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-15
IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.
ABLE LETTERS ON BOTH SIDES OF
THE MOMEETOUS QUESTION.
Our Re.i substance tho Divine Essence.

Our Real substance the Divine Essence
To THE EDITOR or THE Sun Sir: In your
voluminous. interesting and instructive core
spondence about Immortality, the debnters seem
10 be led up to the crucial question OF the contin
uauce of an individual form. Recognizing the
fact, without the wherefore, that tho matter OF
the body and the mind OF the body are disparate
two separate entities and the fact that 30 far
as our sensible experience has gone with pho
nomena all forms dissolve in to fOrmless unindi.
vdunZcd stuff or elements, they cannot under
stand how the soul Is kept together after tho dis
solution OF tho body
Now, we will pass the MENUS OF the mind with
the body and tho nexus Of tho mind with the
spiritual electric ethereal body. called the SOUL
as an unsolvabe mystery; simply accept the fact
that they are Joined. and come To the question
OF continuity. Abundant psychic phenomena
show that the soul is primarily independent Of
the body. mastering and driving 1t on through
WEAKNESS and sickness, and subduing the appe.
tiles and passions that result from it. right up to
the moment of bodily death. Recognizing. ac-
eordine TO some ancients. that sentence is linked
with fine material vehicle which is its immcdia to
sensorium in this world and the seat of its recolec
tons In the next tEncy Brit), is there not q
perfect logical and safe analogy between the
yolitional continuation of the bodily form in this
life and the continuation Of the spiritual form in
the ncxH II tho body here was single and
ultimate element, not subject 10 attacks from
without. we could and would live forever in this
bodily condition; but II is a planetary composite,
and must dissolve with the planet
Now. assuming that the soul is Is an
individual and circumscribed mass or form.
OF ether then the moral elements Of Hope. Love,
Happiness and Ambition will keep IL together as
In the bodily life; and the reflex powers Of these
mental elements have the revivifying effect
through coma, sleep death. as we awaken our
selves at any moment OF the night by prcdeter-
mination. Thus infants and idiots are rcsur-
rected after laying of the muddy invcstiture"
by their hereditary stock of moral constitution.
There Is no Inherent germ of continuous vitality
I'm the soul form separate from mind will power
either direct reflex Souls may either live
after bodily DEATH by moral virility or drop still
horn into the next world from vice and despair
So, we come back to the good old Book: IN right.
eousncss there is eternal life" The mateiasts
putt in righteousness there is eternal death"
Now we show them by this that II they behave
themselves they can meet again their beloved
This is all perfectly analogous with this life
We arc simply detached bits OF God and there
fore we cannot perish. BY sin our individual
soul substance may become disspated.
bodies do; but by healthy moral hygiene can
continue our forms And God formed man OF
tho dust of the earth and breathed into him the
breath Of life" There were two separate acts in
mans creation. The body was made first and
then something else, real substance an
idca-Yas placed within IT, This real substance
was the essence Of Gods bodily existence, the All
pervading ether animated by Mind.
WILLIAM HEMsTREET
BROOKLYN, Oct Is
"Schoiasticus" Replies to Mr.. Higgins.
To THE EDITOR OF THE SUN-!Sir: Mr.
Higgins says: 'Scholasticus' still practically in
sists that 1t Ia sclfevident that the human per
sonaty or soul is immortal or indestructible.
! mover even thought OF making such an asser-
ton. But did say IF we set aside revelation
and try TO prove the soul immortality from reason
alone, fear we shall not succeed in convincing
many that they have immortal souls" Surely
this does not look as II believed that the souls
immortality is self-evident The fact is, said
exactly the opposite.
THE atomic theory to which 'Scholasticus' re-
fers" says Mr.. Higgins, els only theory a
good theory-sure enough" beg to assure him
thatit is simply an hypothesis, and nothing more
Richter Wurtz, Attfeld. Fownes, and the great
Dalton. who first revived il in modern times, and
all modern physicists and chemists consider II an
hypothesis II is not perfect in its present form
even an hypothesis Wurtz says: Does this
hypothesis gain our acceptance because il ex-
plains so many facts in chemistry and physics?
BY no means" (Atomic Theory. p 500.
Mr.. Higgins continues: Modern philosophy
and chemistry positively assert that all matter is
absolutely indestructbe. Modern science clearly
shows that clements or atoms are immortal or in
destructibe. Is matter not really the very sub
stance of the Infinite or God in which we live and
die and of which in some shape or other both our
souls and our bodies formed?' Hence argue:
Matter is indestructiblc or immortal. But mans
soul Is matter. Therefore. mans soul is indie
structible or immortal Quod, as Euclid says
erdt demon strdndum. Compounds are mortal and
destructibe." The forms OF matter are. but not
the matter itself. The same atom found in the
element is found in the compound and If you re.
duce a compound to its constituent elements you
have still the same atoms By analogy, then. II
you separate the soul from the body, both are
still somewhere. This does not prove, OF course
the immortality OF the soul, but creates a pre-
sumption in its favor
'Scholasticus denies matter is indestructible"
On Sept l6 said: THE indestructbity OF matter
Is an axiom with physicists and chemists" l
hope shall not be considered rude when find
fault with Mr.. Higgins for attributing to me opin
ions TO which did not give expression an
charging me with inconsistency in my reference
to Plato 'Scholasticus' is plainly mistaken"
Let us see will give his own words: II defy
any Christian to find from one end OF the New
Testament TO the other so full, clear and simple
a statement Of the popular Christian doctrines
OF soul, sin and purgatory as can be found in
Pato's Phedo. reciting the beautiful discourse
OF Socrates Let Christians read this and they
will find that few good things orgina ted outside
OF Nazareth In Socrates we find the true Chris
tan type OF Immortality" Note what follows
"Plato's teachings on Immortality, 10 which
'Scholastcus refers for support not OF the true
Christian type at all, but are more nearly like
those of Buddhism. II not identical with it,"
Let the reader Judge.
Mr., Higgins says that there Is not a particle
Of evidence that the personality continues after
the death of the body" l grant it, But what
has that TO do with the immortality OF the soul?
Taking Mr.. Higginss views on matter and
soul, argue thus: The soul is an entity or il
IL not II not II can neither bo mortal nor i'm
mortal II an entity, it must be matter according
to Mr. Higgins. But according to him matter
La immortal Therefore the soul II an entity
70 immortal The soul is matter, or it is not II
matter IL is immortal, according to Mr. Higgins.
II II is not matter there 10 no such thing as soul