The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-06-08
THE SOUL OE MAN.

AS the hart panteth after the water
brooks, SO panteth my soul after thee.
Oh God.-Psalms kill.
AS to what the soul is. of what ele
ments it is composed, neither you nor /
dare make any dogmatic assertion.
Perhaps in some future age, when
science shall have penetrated into the
radiant center of this problem, and the
invisible becomes visible, men may be
able TO see each others souls as they
now see each others bodies. The genius
OF research has wrought so many mira
cles that such commat ton would
ado but little to the establishment we
nave already enjoyed. Psychology is a
new domain, as yet practically unex-
piored, with many a surprise in store
for u.s. 1t is easy, therefore, to imagine
that at some future time science will
be able to demonstrate the difference
between matter and spirit, and prove
beyond doubt that the latter does not
cease to exist when the former is re-
solved into dust
Whether the soul consists of some
sublimated material substance, like the
iether Which fills interplanetary spaces.
or is essentially different from anything
we call matter, is a question which at
present puzzles the thoughtful world.
Investigation is making long strides.
and it would be rash to limit its possi-
bilities
The Christ very evidently saw more
than we can see, and when He called
the spirit of Lazarus back to reinhabit
his body He must have known where
the spirit was, and must have been in
communication with 1t. The miracle
worker and the unseen Lazarus must
nave been within hearing of each
other. What He saw we may some
| time see, and certainly will see when
we are In the same relation to God and
the universe that He occupied.
l am satisfied at this moment with
the fact that the real man is behind the
| eye that looks, behind the lips that
speak, and that when the lips are
dumb and the eyes are closed this real
man will step out of the worn-out house
which has served his earthly purpose
and enter another house which shall
better fit his new environment. He will
be the same man in another home. but
with larger prospect and wider out
look. Whatever changes occur in his
icharacter and his motives will be the
natural result of his clearer vision. and
his better knowledge of the relative
value of the things to be desired, Just
as man who travels from his narrow
| life in the village to the broad life of a
great city drops his prejudice and his
small views. and gradually becomes
part of the grander projects which
tempt his energy and rouse his ambi-
ton.
The other world is simply another
and more favorable opportunity. If a
boy should be suddenly transferred
from his home on farm with its sIen-
der routine Of drudgery, to the compe-
tition of large business circle, he
would, by slow degrees see everything
In different light Many of his old
opinions would drop like dead leaves
IN autumn, and fresh and larger ideas
would take their places He would be
precisely the same creature, but he
would be enlarged, ripened, developed.
Just so with the soul after death. IT
VIII be the same soul that it was In the
ibody. but 1t will be larger; 1t will ex-