The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-09-23
DISCUSSED THE CHRISTIAN
DOCTRINE OF IMMORTALITY.
Prof. James Main Dixon Preached
at ST. Johns NJ. l.. Church.

The pulpit of st. Johns NJ. Z. Church
was occupied on Sunday evening by Pro-
fessog James Main Dixon, who spoke on the
Christian doctrine of immortality. choosing
as his text the passage in Luke xNiii. ~,
which deals wiki the peniteni thief on the
cross.
intellectual attitude toward immortality
which is apt TO be so cold and dubious.
George Eliot desired earnestly TO diNofc.
duty from what she considered the itnpossi-
BILE doctrine of God and immortality; al
though. to a Christian, the three are indis-
soluble. Her 20 may i join the Choir In
VISIBLE originally written 10 serve as an
anthem In the Positivist church at London.
treats personal Immortality as a mad dream
of the imagination. Viewed as q noble
poem by many. it seemed to the speaker
a string OF platitndes. lacking the essen
tial motive of high poetry.
Immortal life" he said. "hesins and ENDS
the voyage of life by resting It's eyes upon
the fond mother, SO the DYING saint locks
heavenward to the divine face of the Mas
When our Lord promised an entrance
into paradise TO the p%enitent thief. he gave
him words OF comfort that must have been
to be identified here and in the ten other
places where IL occurs in the scriptures
with heaven. Rather is it the happy elysian
fields Of the Hebrews. where dwelt Abra,
ham. Isaac, Jacob and other oeparteu
saints. and which God sometimes visited,
as he used 40 visit Adam in the Garden
before the All.
THE Jews were remarkably negative on
tue side of heavenly aspirations respecting
the future. They came from the midst OF
n people whose hopes conferred not in Il
new world of gloriiied spirits. a heavenly
home, but in Il resusciIation of the earthly
tabernacle of this body. The Egyptians
strove earnestly TO keep Gods image from
perishing, and their mummie are enduring.
pathetic memorials of this passionate de-
sire of theirs to lose nothing of the earthly.
tabernacle. The hades or shadow land of
their honOred dead they located on earth,
and the huge pyramids on the banks OF the
Nile stand to-day in witness of their long
ing.
TT was not until Christs coming that the
heavenly heights were known TO have any
mansions even for the just made perfect
But Christ Jesus made known those man
sions. and showed his disciples the way
rfitber. With Christ's ascension. paradise
and heaven henceforth became one, and the
quality that existed was forever removeu.
ITO one interested in the life beyond,
Newman's Dream of Serontius' was an
exquisite study. The dying saint was borne
aIoft by his guardian angel. past the hosts
of demons eager to snatch him away right
to the presence of the Holy One. This en-
3oyment of the beatific vision. the goal of
sanity dreamers through long centuries.
was vouchsafed him but fer a moment. and
then he was carried away to be purified and
perfected before his fina! reception in the
courts of heaven.
.iThe glory of the Holy One shone upon
the face of the penitent thief. who expired
with the assurance in his heart that he
would again meet his dear companions. The
eternal compaDionship of Jesus Christ. this
fs immortality: and the beatific vision
waits all who love him and know him."