The times., 1899-07-30
He viii go safely enough!
4 Foolish Request.

A Connecticut man of the name of Sid
ney Hall has died and bequeathed the bulk
of considerable estate Ito fight the doc
trine of the immortality OF the SOUL" which
he declared to be ''unscriptural, unreason-
able and pernieious.'
Waving consideration of the strictly
controversial points of this remarkable tes-
lament, it is safe to assert that Hall was
very foolish man, even if he were never
so learned in the books. His mind leaped
TO conclusion that is opposed to the
primal Instincts of humanity, and, there
fore, he has imposed upon the executors of
his estate a task as impossible of accom-
plishment as was Mahomet's desire that
the mountain come to him. for, of course.
the converse OF his proposition is the NOR
tality of the soul.
The fighting of religious systems md
creeds is one thing The fighting of the
essential essence of those systems and
creeds is an entirely different thing. 1t
was the latter that the scriptural writer
had in mind when he declared The fool
saith in his heart there is no God"
Inidelity and its hardy onshoot, agnos-
ticism. do not go to the extreme of hope
lessness in which humanity would be left
if it were possible to achieve the result
for which this Connecticut atheist left a
horde Of gold. And the world has pro-
duced few rational minds which could be
contented with the acceptance of such a
doctrine Through all of the assaults
made upon religion, through all of the
wrecks of forms and systems of religion.
humanity has been left with the hope of
Immortality. It is the only crutch of love
and affection. 1t is the only consolation
of grief and woe. 1t is the one soothing
lotion to the cracked and bleeding heart
that looks into eyes that are lustreIess
and kisses lips that are cold. Without It
love could find no prop to sustain ii
through the long. dreary waste that inter
venes between the urn and the coffin.
Deep down in the mind of humanity
there IS sense of the divine which clings
tenaciously TO the belief that man is some
thing more than a mere engine of fluids
and gases-that his essential part is some
thing more than the result OF chemical
action on complex cellular system, 1t is
not important to know whence came OF
whittier goeth that thing which the TEEN
ing millions of human beings feel is the
main part Of their being. 1t is sufficiently
strong in every well-ordered mind to make
enquiry on this point unnecessary. If II
were otherwise we could not consent to
/ give up the bodies of our dead to the hun
! CRY worms or the roaring furnace that
mercifuily reduces them to precious ashes
Some day. perhaps, the future and the
| past, each OF which is equally impenetra-
| Bile. will be unfolded before the anxious
! peering eyes of humanity as a scroll
Some day, perhaps. the tie between the
/ finite and the infinite will draw the in.
ferior into closer touch with the superior
/ intelligence But until this does occur
or if it never occurs-humanity will clinl
! to the anchor of hope.
| Eternal Hope! When yOndcr spheres sublime.
Pealed their first notes to sound the march Of
time,
/ Thy joyous youth bcgani But not TO fade
I When wrapt in fire the realms Of ether glow,
! And heavens last thunder shakes the world be
low,
! Thou undismayed, shalt o'er the ruins smile.
| And light thy torch at Natures funeral pile