The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-16
PASTOR PREACHED ON |MMORTA TAL|TY The Rev. William R. Hendrix Spoke at St. Johns TEXT WAS FROM TIMOTHY Said That All the Nations, Hethens and Christians, Believe More Or
 Less in Hereafter of
 the Soul.
TEXT WAS FROM TIMOTHY

| hath brought life and immortality 10 nght through the gospel"
 He spoke in part as follows:
 And hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. III Tim. 1:1O. | A heathen orator who lived before the 1 Christian era is quoted as saying That the soul is immortal, is believed by all nations" In It's widest meaning the phrase is used to express the conviction l that there is a state of existence beyond the grave. And while 1t does not ade- quatey express the teachings of Christ | ianty concerning the future life it is the term so frequently used in referring to this life, that 1t Is difficult task to discuss this theme without using the phrase.
 It is not claimed in the text that the doctrine of mans immortality was first taught by Jesus, but that he removed the darkness and uncertainty surrounding 1t. That his teachings give such assurance of the future state, and reveal to such an | extent the nature and conditions of this state, that men need no longer 'faintly trust the larger hope" but in the full assurance of faith join Peter in saying, l Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; to an in heritance incorruptible and undefiled and
 that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
 for you"
 Origin of the Doctrine.
 Jobs question If a man die shall he live again?" seems to have been discussed at very early period among all nations, resulting in a unanimous decision in favor | of the affirmative side of the question. The ancient Egyptians believed in a life beyond the grave. They believed that Osiris would judge the dead, weighing them in scales of justice, and that he would send the wicked to regions of dark
 ness, and the just to dwell with the god of light In the religions of India and Persia and the nations of the far east however perverted and absurd their mo- tions of the nature of the future state, they all agree that there is something in
 man that survives the experience which
 we call death.
 How did this conviction that had no satisfactory argument and which contra dicted the senses, come to be universally accepted among all the peoples of the ancient world? If some philosopher with Pauline zeal, claiming the world as his parish, had succeeded in converting all nations to this strange faith. there would surely have been some record some where of this wonderful achievement. We know the history of those sects which have
 denied the doctrine. but nothing of those who first embraced it. When we see the untutored savage burying the weapons with his comrade for use in the happy hunting grounds, and hear the cultured Socrates, the flower of the Greek nation, talking calmly of the future life just be- fore drinking the fatal hemlock, we feel | that somehow this conviction of immor- | tality was wrought in them by the divine | Creator. Possibly no better explanation of the source of this conviction can be l found than in the words of the preacher. He hath set eternity in their hearts" The same thought Is expressed by Tenny- | son in '"rhe Two Voices"
 | Here sits he shaping wings to fly | His heart forebodes a mystery; l He names the name Eternity. l 'Who forged that other influence. 1 That heat of inward evidence, By which he doubts against the sense."
 A Bible Doctrine. l Comparatively speaking, the doctrine l of immortality occupies a small place in the Old Testament. There are many pas l sages that seem to teach It. while there are some that unquestionably assert 1t. l That Jesus preached the immortality of l the soul to the Sadducees from a text in
 the Pentateuch. justifes the assertion | that the Old Testament supports this doc l trine
 l But this doctrine shines like a star of l the first magnitude in the Armament of | Christian teaching. Jesus taught 1t in l many of His parables. These matchess l word pictures have vast perspective In l the foreground the everyday life of the l Gallllean peasant Is represented on the l canvas. A little further in the distance. | the Jordan of death bounds life's narrow l plain, while beyond the river the plains | of eternity stretch away through im- | measurable distance. on the one hand, l toward the blackness of despair, and on the other toward the city of light the place of many mansions. The parables of the tares, the fish net, the talents and the rich man and Lazarus, all affirm une- ouiyocaly the doctrine of immortality They assert the continuance of life beyond the grave, and that the character of the present world determines destiny in that which Is to come.
 We may eschew all speculation and with | in the bounds of sober truth declare that | the gospel affords demonstrative proof of | life beyond the grave. On the slopes of Mt Hermon Peter and James and John met Moses and Elijah, who appeared with | Jesus and spake with him concerning the | decease which he was to accomplish at | Jerusalem The experience of that day | for these three men closed forever the question of individual immortality. And the conclusion seems inevitable if we be. ieve that we have a trustworthy record in the evangelists writings, that death is only change of scene and conditions: an event in one single and continuous life. That
 "'Tis not the whole of life to live
 Nor all of death to die"
 That those who have lived lives of de- voton to Jesus Christ, enter at death upon a career of peace and joy that shall know no end; while those who have ~t~J L