The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-09-08

will never die" opens up a question
which has been discussed from time
immemorial.
The question OF the Immortality OF
the soul is one of vital Importance to
| all mankind. That it is immortal, we
know from revelation, but whether sat
isfactory proofs can be given from
reason to show that it is philosophic-
ally certain that the soul is immortal
is another question. Those who oeny
| its immortality must prove from rea-
son that it is so. This has never been
done.
The idea of Immortality is written in
the soul of mankind. It is one of the
few ideas that have the conservation
of Universal instinct and usage. Every
heart is alike on this point. We see
that belief professed by the most su-
perior minds of civilized and refined
nations, and we find it flourishing in
another form among the most barbar-
Gus brute creation.
But this idea must have come to us
| from the direct study or contempla-
be the immediate unaltered image of a
reality possessed by the soul. Tt could
not be suggested by the surrounding
world since everything in the world is
against it. Is not everything perish
able And does not everything really
perish? The species and classes of be-
ingts are perpetuated, but the individ-
uals themselves are. all taken away
and disappear forever. Consequently
mans surroundings suggests no othed
idea than one of mortality, because all
nature speaks to us a language of
death, even our own nature gives no
Indication that an exception to the
general law of mortality is made in
our favor. Man dies man is dead and
in the presence of the corpse there is
no symptom that reveals to us that
the destruction is not as entire and
complete as in the case of a brute or
plant. The natural phenomenon is the
same, so much so that we hear every
day the comparison made between our
fate and that of animals.
Viewing then the deadly destruction
caused by death and buried. as it were,
in an abyss of mortality, how is it that
idea of our own Immortality has exist
ed at all times, in all places and among
all classes of men? The whole world
apparently tells us that we are NOR
tai. We are warned by the Scriptures
that I'VE shall fade and vanish like the
flower of the field, and we die like the
blade of grass" Yet the idea of our
immortality is imperishable in us. How
did this belief, which is co-evil and CO.
existent with the history of man origi-
nate and persevere through all ages
that are past down to the present and
will continue to the end? The origin
and persistency of an idea so abnor-
NAL can not be otherwise than from an
immediate sentiment and an immediate
perception of its reality in US. Reason
is forced to admit with the universal
feeling of mankind, that this idea is
not and cannot be an illusion from
without, but that it must have been
placed in US by God Himself. That it
is entirely derived from its correspond
ing reality in the soul and that it is
offered to us with the same guarantee
as that of our existence. exist. There |
fore 1 am immortal.
Another reason why we must infer
that the soul is the immortal is this |
In our study of nature we invariably /
see that everything has principle of |
existence, similar to what constitutes |
its nourshment or development and /
perfection. To accomplish this it must |
something must be in harmony with its |
nature. The brute animal will feed |
on organic and inorganic nature which !
are similar to its own constituents, |
every being according to the law of |
assimilation viii support and develop |
itself by assimilating a similar sub
stance or an inferior one.
What substance constitutes the nour-
ishment of the soul and tends to it's
development? Only one substance for
which the soul yeaTns and Graves, one
substance that it could assimilate and
that is truth. truth in all its forms, in
all dts bearings, truth in the natural
sciences, in the moral sciences and
truth in the fine arts. Only for what
IS true, good, and beautiful has the soul
any affinity. Truth is its element, its
natural air. Wilfully man could not
i've on error and if he should do so,
he DISCUSSES his own folly by calling
his error truth, since truth is the
principle of the soul But
truth itself is eternal, Interchangeable
and co-existent with God. Could the
soul feeding on what is immortal be
tself mortal? The soul created for
truth feels itself living only when it
lssimilates to itself truth or what ap-
pears to be truth? The soul wears out
he body sometimes killing 1T in pur-
suit of truth and will lay down its life,
ike the martyrs of old in defence of
ruth. The soui contrary to all other
beings, feeding and nourishing itself
IN truth cannot be doomed ITO die. The
of death is the time of its de-
iverence from its present imprison-
nent and the assuming of another
,hase of existence. Today we are here,
citizens of this great republic, tomor-
'ow or a year or twenty years hence
he soul leaves the body and we become
.itizens of another world In that
world are two abodes of eternal dura- ;
ion where the soul shall live forever.
NO PRAYER For THE KING.
bn oil |