The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-05-13
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT AND CONVINCING Dis.
COURSE ENTITLED "lMMoRTALlTY"
The Rev. st. Clair Hester Delivers Gem
fortine Message to Those Who Arc
Wavering in the Belief in Regard to
a Life Everlasting.

a Life Everlasting.
New YORK CITY.-In the Churc b Of the
Messiah, Brooklyn, Sunday morning the
rector, the Rev. St. Clair Hester, preached
on "Immortality-The Longing for it, Pro,
posed Substitutes. Mans Right to It."
The text was from Job xiv: a: IF man
die shall he live again." Mr.. Hester said:
The irrepressble, ubiquitous question:
repeated again and again, world without
end. Men like Job were asking i. centur-
les before Christ, and men like JOB are
asking it centuries after Christ 1t Is IN,
vested with perpetual youth and the world
never tires of hearing answers to It,.
A father afflicted by the loss Of bis only
writes a book entitled Life Beyond
Death" His dedication is letter to hIs
boy, beginning, my Dear Phil" and clos
inc with these words: "God bless you, my
bow. till the eyes which l closed ! see open
again and looking into mine. Lovingly,
father" This is the answer OF one IN
grief. Under similar circumstances could
you, would you. want to give any different
answer? A wife bewails the sudden de-
cease of her husband. She finds great com,
fort in reading through. his, sermons and
gathering fIom them and publishing every
sentence that bears on the subject OF
heart is constantly singing:
"Soul of my soul, We shall meet again,
And with God be the rest"
Hers is the answer of one in loneliness
buoyed up by confident anticipation. Who
in such position could or would want to
give any different answer?
The thoughts of men on the subject re-
peated, reiterated, reatfirmed throucoh thou
sands of years of human history, form an
accumulation of evidence from which 1t .ls
difficult to escape, evidence .aatt gains EN-,
phasis by its repetition, evidence that
ness OF its utterance. The answer of Jesus
Christ is the only answer that entirely
satisfies the human mind and heart. It
was proclaimed amid rejoicing, melody and
song on Sunday last in all the churches, =,
The echoes Of Easter have not yet died
out. Their soul has gone into all the wor Id
and their words unto the ends of the earth.
The echoes that come from the rock. .hewn
tomb within the Garden of Joseph of Arl-
mathea are not like those we shout among
cliffs and canyon walls that gradually SOFT
en- and die away. They are within the
realm of the spiritual world and I'd they IN.
from soul to soul, from the soul Of the risen
Christ to the souls that believe in Him,
and so they grow forever and forever.
If Christ alone of all who live or have
lived upon the earth is to live again after
death, the resurrection of the first Easter
day is nothing more than an amazing exh,
bition of Almighty power which while 1t
imprcsses us it correspondingy depresses
us because it emphasizes the difference be.
tween US and Him and makes US despair OF
ever attaining unto such exaltation. If
this Re your feeling. His rising was to no
purpose, our. preaching. is vain: Christian
are of all men most miserable. But the
truth is His rising was promise and
pledge to US of ours. He was the first fruit
of them that sleep.
First of all let me ask is it fact that
men desire to live again? Emerson tells
the story of two members Of the U. S. Sen
ate who were fond of discussing specula-
tive questions. Whenever possible they
would meet and find relaxation in convers-
ing on subjects other than shop. Their ia
vorite topic was the immortality Of the
soul, but they could never find any satis-
factory reason for believing it. They sep
After twenty-five years they, net at o
crowded reception in the White House.
They shook hands cordially, and standing
asked, Amy light, Albert?" "None," was
the reply After a pause the other asked,
"Any light, LewisF" The answer again
was None" They shook hands again,
looked one another in the eye in silence
and parted, never to see each other again.
Emerson's remark upon the INCIDENT Is
that the impulse that prompted these men
to try to find proofs Of Immortality was it.
self the strongest Of all proof. In my opin-
,Nya cnr,t tIyocr n
Yes, men do desire to live again. They
are not afraid to die, to have the body de-
stroyed, many of them, but thev. shudder
at the idea of annihilaticn, of becoming
nothing more than a breath Of air or o
pinch of dust. Even the barbarian and
the savage beliere in a future life, that
somehow the thinking soul may escape the
wreck of the unthinking body. In all prob
ability it is an idea that grew out OF the
phenomena of dreams. While man sleeps
his other self wanIers away at will, and
something like this MY happen, he rea-
soned, when death, the long sleep, comes
ture the conception of Immortality was at
first sad and depressing one. The Sheol
of the Jews, the Hades Of the Greeks, the
Orcus of the Roman, were abodes of
shades, shadows, ghosts-and such future
could only be regarded with fear and dis
like. But in time man began to surmise
that perhaps the next life might be an i'm
provement upon this one. The analogies in
nature around him gave strong suggestion
to this effect. The snake casts its skin and
glides forth in a new and better one. The
beetle breaks away from its filthy sepul-
cher and enters on a new career, and man
notices it and begins to hang golden scara-
baei in his temples as symbols OF his hope.
T.-lz
tion of flower, foliage and fruits. He sees
the silkworm weave its cocoon and die
within it, and after time come forth clad
in brighter colors and able to spurn the
earth on which it formerly crawled and fly
away and then he begins to carve butter
flies on tombstones and ventures to hope
that he may likewise be freed from the en-.
tanglements and defilements of earth and
flesh and range in freer and happier state
the universe at will All such similitudes,
and there are hundreds of them in nature.
help to strengthen mans conviction that
he will live again, make more, roseate the
hope that he will survive the wreck of the
universe.
The desire for Immortality is too appar.
ent to be open to dispute. The savage and
the civilized, the illiterate peasant and the
profoundest thinker alike want it to be so.
Even when some have lost hope they desire
it fondly as ever. Even when a man has
lost all hope of living again he cannot rid
himself of desire for it. That is ineradica-
ble Now here is the sound and legitimate
conclusion A desire 30 universal and per-
sistent is the planting of the creative power
responsible for our existence. It Is man.
ifcst prophecy Of what shall be. The ex-
istencc Of an organ implies the existence OF
a field for its operation-this is an axiom
of science. There would be no fins if there
were no water to swim in, no wings ii
there were no air to fly in, no feet if there
were no earth to walk on. Now here is
another sound and legitimate conclusion
what God promises He performs. His char.
actcr is perfect. 10 hold any other
idsn nf Him would he h,asnhemnus or nre-