Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1903-05-07
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT AND CONVINCING DIS.
COURSE ENTITLED "IMMO2-sL!TY."


COURSE ENTITLED "IMMO2-aL!TY."
The Rev. st. Clair Hester Delivers Conn
forting Message to Those Who Are
Life Everlasting.
New YORK CITY-In the Church OF he
Messiah. Brooklyn, Sunday morning. the
rector, the Rev. st. Clair Hester. preached
on Immor5ality-Th Longing for 1t, Pro
posed Substitutes. Mans Right to It
The text was from Job xiv: "a: IF a man
die shall he live again." Mr.. Hester said:
The irrepressible, ubiquitous question.
end. Men like job were asking j. centur-
les before Christ, and men like Job are
asking 1t centuries after Christ. It is in
vested with perpetual youth and the world
never tires OF hearing answers to it.
A father afflicted by the loss of his only
son in the morning of beautiful youth
writes a book entitled Life Beyond
Death His dedication is a letter TO his
boy, beginning, My Dear Phil" and clos
ing with these words: God bless you. my
boy, TIL the eyes which [ closed [ see open
ather., This is the answer Of one in
gnet. Under similar circumstances could
you, would you, want to give any different
answer 4 wife bewaiis the sudden de-
cease OF her husband. She finds great COM
fort IN reading through his sermons and
gathering from them and publishing every
sentence that bears on the subject of
meeting again IN the world to come Her
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
ouoyed up by confident anticipation. Who
IN such position could or would want TO
give any different answer?
Inc thoughts OF men On the subject re-
peated, reiterated. reafirlned throuon thou
sands OF years OF human history. form an
accumulation OF evidence from which it is
d1lncult to escape, evidence nat gains en-
pnaslS by It's repetition. evidence that
afouses deepest feeling by the very earneset-
ness n o. It's utterance. The answer OF Jesus
Christ is the only answer that entirely
a'lsneS the human mind and heart it
Was Proclaimed amid rejoicing. melody ard
s01S on Sunday last in all the churches
Inc echoes Of Easter have not yet died
out. lhelr soul has gone into all the word
Td Tad their words unto the ends Of the earth
lne eehoes that come from the r,ck- -hew,i
@ lump within the Garden OF Joseph OF Arr
IasAea aEs are not ike those We shout among
olAs and canyon walls that gradually soft
va,a1 Tn ana de away. They are within the
tam OF the spiritual world and they III
ssrease rather than diminish They grow
6In IIm sout to soul, from the soul Of the risen
t ~n5lst to the souls that believe in Him,
"lH u 80 tney grow forever and forever.
III 0hrlst alone OF all VINO live or have
dad dned upon the earth is to live agar, aItel.
d, dsr'a, the resurrection Of the first Easter
bt4,E IS nothing more than an amazing exhi-
;r,a 5r.oh OF Almighty power which while it
nS lwPbleSses baS Us 1t correspondingly depresses
ts because 1t emphasizes the difference be-
s, tween Us and Him and makes Us despair OF
H. ATTAINING unto such exaltation II
nurr r,n 'e Your feeling His rising was 10 10
x;tT.?oSe, ;tu our preaching IS vain, Christian
sTs sy IS IS cruel system OF deception aad we
+r,4l u all men most miserable. But the
nIotn Iotn IS His rising was promise and
nselse ~ TO us OF OURS. He was the first fruit
'" P5nem that sleep.
MO- aEs5 OF all let me ask is it fact that
tba Irl .oeslre to live again? Emerson tells
ate 4e se9ry OF two members Of the T. S. Sen
Wo',, Me Questions, Whenever possible tliey
inn "ru ~ meet me-, and lind relaxation in coavers-
yop;od s on SUBJECTS other than shop. Their IA
sonI toplc was the Immortality OF the
iacto i~-, out they could never find any salts
aratodf aVldf reason Tor believing it. They sep.
sftano sfvoo and one retired to a distant State
crov;,, vvL twenty-five years they net at
The 50 RECEPTION in the White House
to toy Gns sAooE hands cordially, and standing
askeJ -: slde Tor moment one OF them
fha fh>u, ~ ANY Light, Aoert:" None" was
~ IeR!E; After pause the other asked,
Wa ,HshC, Lewis:' The answer again
looIed None They shook hands again,
and ND one another IN the eye III silence
FE4o Parted, never to see each other again.
that tSs'sol sSd lemarl, upon the incident is
10 tr. .'.e impulse that prompted these men
self i w md proofs o. Immortality was it.
ion Fr.stf FFl1e strongest OF all proof. In my opin-
y1-Atarson was right. -
ara ~. men 90 desire TO live again. They
srro~oS ,o5 AFRAID to die, to have tae body de-
at tha' many OF them, but thew shadder
aotS;ss. loea OF annihilatic2, OF becoming
ninc5 more than q breath os air or a
the - VI aust: Even the barbarian and
Son,sbasaee heiie-e il future life. that
wrecL IAc thinking soul may escape the
aoilt,, y t1e ul.thlnking body In ali prob
pbercSz.lt ID IS an idea that grew out OF the
his GihlleLia OF dreams. While man sleeps
Somatb:I self wan lers away at will, and
sonad sondNHlF I. like ibis my happen, he rea-
10 HIN wen death, the long sleep, comes
ture fbo In alter and higher stages of cu,-
first % conception of Immortality was at
Of The iso T and depressing one. The Sheol
Orcps s''S. the Hades OF the Greeks. the
Shades - y lne Roman, were abodes of
Gould o,,i. aii'dqo"s, ghosts-and such a future
''A De regarded with fear and dis