The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-04-08

| tCOnlluueu ITOu1 rage i.
Gospel, In my Fathers house are
many mansions: if it were not so l
would have told you; 1 go to prepare
! a place for you
/ There are certain great primeval
/ questions which underlie all thought,
all hope, all civilization. Among these
stand pre-eminently these: Is there a
| God? Is there beyond? From the
beginning of the ages these questions
have been asked, and they will con-
tinue to be asked until time is no more.
And he would be more than foolish
who, claiming to be teacher of 9TH
ers, either ignored these questions or
attempted to shelve them by evasions.
1t may be said that these questions
are rarely asked, and only by eXcep-
tional men and women In exceptional
circumstances. do not think so.
Sometimes in walking by the sea one
| becomes suddenly conscious of a SOL
emn momentary hush. The wind has
dropped, the tide is full the hoarse
rush of the withdrawing waves is no
longer heard, and for a moment or two
the world seems filled and flooded with
a great silence. So there are occasion
al moments in every life when the roar
of the world is stilled, and in the still
ness men begin to ask themselves the
profound questions for which life has
hitherto left them no leisure. If such
questions intrude themselves at no
other time, they must come when
when we are face to face with death
for the first time, and see that which
an hour ago was sentient and loving
now become thing that is inanimate
and corrupt.
We are often asked for a proof of
Immortality. But in very nature of
the case there cannot be. You cannot
prove today that certain thing will
happen tomorrow The utmost you can
do is TO furnish such reasons for be-
lieving that it will happen that the
probability becomes an assured con
viction. And so with Immortality. AL
though there is not, and in the nature
of the case, there cannot be proof. in
the scientific view of the word, of a flu
ture life. there are suggestions, intima-
tions. reasons which inspire in us con-
fident faith. And it is to these we
make our appeal on this Easter morn
ing. AT the very outset l wish to say
that in the light of modern thought
there is not a shred Of evidence that
death ends all. Science has not been
able to furnish atom of proof that
death is the end of life. We do not
know what life is and We do not know
what death is.
In his book "Controverted CUES
tons" Professor Huxley says, IF any
man can supply any proof that death
endS all ne is just the man l. want TO
see" Not the chemist, not the phySio-
logist, not the biologist, has furnished
one single fact which forbids belief in
the existence of a future life. But let
us leave negations, and let me call
your attention to some of the reasons
which go to establish mans lien on the
immortal life.
There is, first of all, the shortness
of his stay here. The words of David
find an echo in every heart: We are
strangers before thee, and sOJournerS
as We're all our fathers. Our days are
as shadow, and there Is none abid
ing" The average life is less than
thirty-five years. Multitudes die in in
fancy and childhood Those who have
lived the longest tell us that life seems
very short; that it seems but yeSter
day that they were romping boys; but
yesterday that they led the blushing
bride to the altar; and 10! their heads
are white with the SHOWS of life's WIN
ter, and their grandchildren play upon
their knees, No man can say that this
is his home. He knows not how long
he will remain. He is not sure that
he will be here tomorrow What is
man? If this life be all, must we not
answer with Victor Hugo? That in
trinity, that shadow, that atom, that
grain of sand, that drop Of water that
tear fallen from the eye OF destiny; SO
little, so weak, so uncertain, so tgno-
rant, and so restless who moves on in
trouble and doubt, trembling if he
looks before him, sad if he looks behind
him; who at certain hours bends down
with sort of sacred awe beneath the
forces of nature, under the sound of
the sea, under the shiverIng of the
trees, under the shadow OF the noun
tains, under the beaming of the stars;
who cannot raise his head by day
without being blinded by the light, or
by night without being crushed by the
infinite" Victor Hugo is right. Yes;
that is man, if death ends all.
Then, again, death makes havoc with
mans cherished plans, and stamps
his career with incompleteness if death
ends all. No one knows when he be-
gins a work whether he will live to fin
ish it. Unfulfilled expectations, blighted
hopes, broken hearts-the world is full
of them. Plan never so carefully, and
some unforeseen calamity tumbles your
house about your head, and you are
left amid the ruin and the deSolation.
The very incompleteness of lives begun
and not finished is an argument for
Immortality.
Then, again, there is that innate
craving. that, innate passion for JUS
tice, for some judge Of all the earth
who will assuredly do right, and who
will make haste to do it The thing
that is wrong is not always put right
here. The good suffer; the wicked are
triumphant. We cry out with Carlyle
for God who will do something.
Then, there is in us a boundless ca
pacity for love; a longing for a larger
and a fuller life than any we have
known. We crave an ampler scope for
the exercise of that mysterious force
for which we have no other name but
life.
But" it may be asked, are these
cravings of our nature to be urged as
reasons for believing that they will be
metz" Yes L answer, the cravings of
your natures are to be taken into ac-
count You are hungry-there is
reality called food capable of supply
ing the need. You are thirsty the wa
ter is as much a reality as the thirst.
Is it possible that every craving of our
lower nature is provided for and the
cravings of our higher nature left for
ever unsatisfied? AS Professor John
Ffske says in his book, Mans destiny
in the light of his origin"-"I believe
in Immortality as the supreme act of
faith in the reasonableness of Gods
work"
And then there is the argument from
evolution. We We're once afraid of