The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-25
A Merry
Christmas
10 You and Your.
CRAWFORD ! ooNovrR.
CRAWFORD. CoNovER : flsKrN
IMMORTALITY AND DUTY.
WHAT RIGHT 10 THEME TO Bn-
LIEvE IN A HEREAFTER.
Rev. Alfred w. Martha Draws Les
sons From This Common Thought
and shows Relation Of the Re-
lief 20 the Life OF the Present.

Rev. Alfred W. Martin addressed large
congregation at the q. A. r. hall last eve
ming on the question. what Right Have
We to Believe in q Hereafter. ana what
Relation Has the Belief to Our Present
LITER
After speaking OF the universal longing
Tor immortality. the speaker considered
the ground on which man could base his
BELIEF In future life This was found to
consist In the nature Of man himself ana
the INFINITE possibilities of It. Continuing.
Mr., Martin said:
why should we hold 90 exalted Z con-
ception Of man? It IL because. unlike
all other creatures. he can both see and
pursue an ideal Of life; It IL because he
can both see what he u and what he
ought to be and 90 whittier that sacred
ought points. It's in the allegiance of
man to imperishable spiritual law that his
distinctive greatness lies; this It II that
differentiates him from all other creatures
in the animal kingdom. That he can raise
himself to such allegiance puts him In a
class apart from planets and crystals, fiow-
ers and trees. and all the tribes of ami
mails and suggests that he belongs to q
realm that knows neither dissolution or
decay. And OF all the arguments in
support Of personal immortality the most
convincing 10 that derived from this dis
tinctive characteristic in man, this capac-
ity to see and pursue an ideal
III he could attain his ideal hero on
earth, the final end and aim Of his ex-
istence would be realized; there would be
no reason for further existence. and MOTH
ing could remain for him but dissolution
as the proper sequel to completed evolu-
ton. Therefore, the only rational ground
for expecting continuance of being after
death lies in the present incompleteness
Of his being. In other words, loyal pur-
suits of the ideal here on earth consti-
tutes the right to opportunity for continue
Ing that pursuit when death closes the
long series of earthly endeavors.
"The man who on earth aims at realix-
ing the INFINITE possibilities Of his nature,
at securing fullnees of life. plentitude of
being, that man has right to Immortality:
he has earned the privilege Of opportunity
for completing the dimensions Of his being.
finishing the task of spiritual sculpture
which he had time only to begin. He has
a right to expect that when there rises
from his soul the cry, Give us the wages
of going on and not to die and the an
swering summons will come, Enter thou
into the Joy Of the Lord
HAS he not here a rational ground for
the belief? Is he not bound to conclude
that II Justice lies at the heart Of Nature.
coveted opportunity for completing the In
complete will be afforded him3
"Nor is there anything selfish about such
a faith in Immortality. On the contrary.
1t is most unselfish and noble. because to
wish to be forever growing, helping
soul is the purest, loftiest desire human
being can cherish"
Coming to the practical value OF the
faith in q future life the speaker Indicated
several respects in which 1t aided our pres
ent life. One of these. he said was that 1t
enabled man to face death fearlessly and
brought home the duty to make the menu
ory of the departed an inspiration In the
conduct of their own lives. Their duty
was not to brood over their loss, not to
nurse their grief and shut themselves out
from the world that needed them, but
rather to sanctify their grief, to hold 1t
sacredly and as it 'deepens down to feel
It adding new strength and purpose and
resolve to their life.
"You lose dear friend. Grieve, you
certainly will. You must grieve. Twould
be a shocking lack In your nature not
to grieve; but to let your grief take out
all the strength and sweetness from your
life is utterly wrong and unwarranted.
why? Because the sovereign aim OF an
immortal soul is fullnees OF life, develop
ment of all those powers that viii be
brought into play when the earthly term
of life has ended, and to nurse your grief
or to brood over your sorrow means the
depletion of life, or the undermining of
-
mental poise, paralysis of will power, the
drying up of the affections; and the ethics
of an immortal soul absolutely condemns
the nursing and brooding that inevitably
produce these disastrous results.
BE it ours then to hold reverently and
with pure and high moral purpose our
precious faith in a future life; be 1t ours
SO to cherish the memory of those whom
we have loved long since, but lost awhile
that 1t shall mean life more abundantly
for us, till we. too, join the choir invisi-
BILE of those whose lives were to us con-
slant inspiration.
"Out of the universal life we came.
back to the universal life we must go;
not however, by the extinction OF our
individual being but by the completion OF
1t. Out from the heart of nature we
must go with all our matured experience.
with all our developed spiritual life, htted
by the discipline of LIES eternity to God"
One Of Marchand's Discoveries.
Little information UP to the present