The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-10-08
Mr., EDDY TALKS
OF IMMORTALITY
Latter-Day Intelligence, he
Says, Is Dispelling Delu-
siOns of Past.
MILLENNIUM BECOMING
P0ST.M0RTEM AFFAIR
Science, He Adds, Has Been an
Important Factor in
Matter.

the theme of Rev. Frank Fay Eddy at
the services of the First Unitarian So
ciety In Unity Hall. In the musical
programme Miss Dorothy Fischer
played q delightful violin solo in ad-
dition to the usual numbers from Unity
quartette.
Mr.. Eddy spoke from the text, Matt.
vi:33-34, 'EBut Seek Ye First the King.
dom of God and His Righteousness and
all These Things Shall be Added Unto
You. Take Therefore no Thought for
the Morrow, for the Morrow Shall Take
Thought for the Things of Itself, Suf-
fcient Unto the Day is the Evil There
OFF,
The first part Of the sermon was de-
voted to showing that the long cher,
ished conceptions of immortality offered
by the Christian church has become un-
reasonable as they were made scien-
tifcally inconceivable. In this connec-
tion the preacher said in part:
elf the purpose of the earthly life
of Jesus Christ was the redemption of
fortunate portion of sinful humanity
for an ideal existence in a community
of saints, angels and gods IN heavenly
have lived his life in blissful uncon-
sciousness of that fact. He seems to
have shared the thought of his Nation
and his time in an earthly millennium to
which he was to come back in power
and glory. In this he was mistaken
But this does not matter greatly to us;
the significance of his gospel hes not
in prophecy He, himself, seems to
have given little thought as to what
was to follow his ministery and teach
ings until; the closing days OF his career.
The burden of his thought is always
the way, the truth and the life of
righteousness as found in the sweetness
and beauty of brotherly love and in low
ing communion with the heavenly Faith
er. This new life was 10 begin at once.
It was of the earth and for the earth.
Naturally he applied it TO the millen-
ium, but that was an afterthought. It
was for men to apply Immediately in
the life in which they moved. His was
the genius to discern the important ele-
nents in the eternal life, or of the genu-
inely great life, and for that reason his
gospel is perennially important to us.
while his millennial dream becomes SIM
ply one of the misconceptions of great
man.
Church Cherished Jesus.
"The carly church-cherished Jesus
thought of a millennium to come soon
upon the earth. But as we approach
the formative period of church Chris
tianity, of that Christianity of dogma
and institution which held unbroken
sway over Europe until the Rennais-
ance, the millennium is shifted to the
future life and becomes post mortem
affair That part of humanity which
participates in the merit of Christ s
death are to Share heaven with him.
The. church becomes the self-authorlZed
conservor and distributor of this merit.
BY the law Of antithesis q hell is in.
vented, Of which Jesus never dreamed,
and here the unrepentant and unfor-
cAI 30 H,r
Purgatory was also invented as a
bridge between heaven and hell through
the stages Of which all but the hopeless
and irredeemable sinners might pass In
ascending scale to heaven itself. Of
the entrance and the possibilities of
this suppositious other world the church
was master.
"All this was a colossal mistake,
Not so much because it was a baseless
and unreasonable dream. 1t was a not
unnatural shape to form in the minds
Of the men of an ignorant and credu
-lous age. But the results to posteritv
were heavy and sad. The true gospel
of Jesus, designed for daily living, was
covered up in rubbish. The emphasis
was taken from life and placed on
death This life was held to be mean
consider himself sinful worm Of the
dust without merit of his own; religion
became preparation for death and the
meditations of believers was directed
toward crucifed God man surmount-
ing the grave and the tomb. These
ideas seem to us to belong to the dis
tant past and so they do in spirit. but
let US not, forget that in the Catholic
churches, both Greek and Roman, this
conception Of heaven, hell and inter
vening purgatory still holds and that
today in humble parish church or lofty
cathedral countless thousands of masses
are said by priests for the souls of the
departed and are duly paid for by the
faithful. Nor may we forget that all
of Protestant Christianity that IS called
orthodox strenuously defends the doc
trine of salvation from sins through the
yicarious atonement OF Christ.
Thought Fast Fading.
.sIt ia this thought OF Immortality
that Is fast fading from the thoughts
of all men with modern minds, We
are growing TO think that an idea OF
future existence VIC have been simpl
projecting into the future q kind OF
Complicated and elaborated ghost-world
Of fhe savage. 1t is too materialistiC
for our age If we think about il
with anv logic whatever we see that il
is inseparably bound up with the res
direction OF the physical body which
we have grown to think of as scientif
cally impossible. -
After thus expressing his opinion:
about an unreasonable and illogical con
ception of future existence, Mr., Eddy
briefly indicated how science played
the part of an axman, clearing thu
ground for a new crop. In reconstruct
ing our thought about a future life
we must make certain admissions il
the light of modern knowledge. First
we must recognize the fact that phvsi
cal man is part of the physical uni
verse. The substance of our bodies re
turns to dust and the very energies oi
our life force seek the chemical affini
ties Of their kind. Each atom of mat
ter and every throb of energy goes I,
its own, as it must. for all is held il
the Leash of laW Sncnndl,. .u..o