Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-04-22
IMMORTALITY.

holds life 10 be the dearest of all
treasures. When n philosopher like
Sehopenhauer argues against the good
OF life we set him down MS a pessi-
mist. only the morbid person. the
misanthrope. the unhealthy mind hght-
" values life. Wrote John Stuart
Mil: The soul yearns for life And
said DR.. Samuel Johnson; No wise
man will he eontented 70 die If ht
thinks he is 10 fall into annihilation-"
But with this passion for life how fear
full becomes this shadow Of death
which pals the race of men. Just
when the powers are ripest the
thinker. the genius, the empire builder
must drop his plans and retire from
the stage of life. shall we wonder.
then. that from of old wise men should
have asked Jobs great question. II
a man die, shall he live again:" And
that great pagan thinkers sought by
natural proofs to construct doctrine
of immortality? The strongest of
these. perhaps, was the historical one
that drawn from universal belief.
The Egyptians. in the tabled bird the
phoenix. rising from its own ashes;
the Hompric poems, with Acheron and
the realm of shades; the Hindu doc
trine of metempsychosis, the transmit
grafton of souls, and the hymns Of the
Rig-Veda. the next oldest book to the
Bible in the world. all teach an exist
ence beyond the grave. And are not
such universal beliefs reflections of
eternal truths? And do they not point
to objective realities. just as the eye
prophesies things 10 be seen and the
birds wing points to a medium fitted
for flight? Hence wrote Victor Hugo:
my thirst for the infinite proves that
my befngsis infinite. Winter is on my
sllyered head. but eternal spring is
in my heart"
The philosophical argument, based
upon the indestructibility of any sim
pie entity has also been resorted to.
On this ground Plato held that the
soul was imperishable and immortal"
And Kant, the intellectual giant of
modern times, deduced the same result
from the voice of conscience. which
he called the practical reason" The
ethical argument drawn from the in
completeness and inequality and in
Justice of this stage of being has ''een
adduced.
And even science is not without its
proof. For Prof TAFT, in his Treatise
on the Unseen Universe shows that
the modern discovery of the conserya-
ton of force-that no particle of force
amid all changes is ever lost-indicates
the indissoluble nature of the soul.
So the ndestructibility OF matter and
the mystery of sleep, twin sister of
DEATH" bring further corroboratiye
proofs.
Such are the reasonings by which
men in all ages have sought to frame
a theory of Immortality with which
to break the lance of the grim tyrant
death. Addison has thus strongly and
beautifully voiced this sentiment:
1T must he so. Plato, thou reason
list well, else whence this pleasing
hope, this ford desire this longing
W
secret dread and inward horror of fall
ing into naught? Why shlinks the
soul back on herself and tartles at
destruction? It's the divinity that
stirs within IS; it's heaven itself that
points out a hereafter and intlmates
eternity to man"
Yet what are theories. speculations.
and philosophers when confronted with
the remorseless logic OF facts? So.
with all their arguments, a tone of
inconoslahle lament and subdued de-
spair characterizes the writings of the
ancients. Happier never t. have
been born" sings Sophocles, than so
soon TO pass throuc the hapless gates
of hades" And Haeckel's "Sleep of
the Soul" Huxley's Endless Sleep"
and Hume's Leap Into the Dark"
show the same doubt and skepticism
among modern secular philosophers
And this, then, is the uniqueness and
the glory OF the Easter message. 1t
meets fact with fact. 1t proclaims
with trumpet that rends the univer-
sal air: Christ has risen, The Son
of God has burst the bars of the grave,
The king Of terrors is dlscrowned!
Jesus hath abolished death and
brought life and Immortality to light"
This all men feel TO be the most bless
ed and significant fact of history. It
IS the corner stone of Christianity
Well may Renan admit that this
Easter message has revolutioniZed The
world. Naturally and rightfully think
ing men everywhere rose mp and ques-
toned its credibility. But Christ would
have risen in vain had no. the resur-
rection been satisfactorily attested
And so the church formulated the evil
Deuce. and little by little the world
came to accept the Easter miracle as
an indisputable historical fact, And
then the nightmare Of ages lifted
The sun of immortality rose to the
zenith. great inspiration unlifted
humanity. The fioodgates Of history
We're reversed. Religion was trans
fused with hope and gladness. Liter
AZURE took on SUMMER moods. Art
bloomed with lovelier forms Gene
teries lost their horror and became
peaceful couches where the loved pill
grims slept the "sleep beautiful. to
be Weakened by the j;yful trump Of
endless life. The race had undergone
a new creation.
The resurrection of Jesus is thus a
dpuonsr n tio-a Of immortality. And