The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-10-08
FRANK FAY EDDY
on IMMORTALITY
He Does Not Believe in the Ply
steal Resurrection of
the Body.
DlsCARDs OLD THEORIES
UNITARIAN PREACHER DOES
NOT AGREE WITH ORTHODOX.

At the services OF the First Unitarian
,ociety yesterday in Unity hall, Miss Doro-
thy Fischer played a violin solo which was
followed by an anthem by Unity quar-
.ette. The sermon by the pastor Rev.
Frank Fay Eddy, was upon "The Reason
lble Immortality"
Mr. Eddy spoke from the text, Matt.
H. So. "a: But seek we first the kingdom
II God and his righteousness. and all
these things shall be added unto you.
fake therefore no thought for the NOR
low: for the morrow shall take thought
for the things of itself. Sufficient unto
he day Is the evil thereof"
Old Theory Unreasonable.
The first part of the sermon was de-
voted to showing that the long-cherished
conceptions OF Immortality offered by
the Christian church had become unrea-
sonabIe as they were made scientific
ally inconceivable. In this connection
the preacher said:
- eff the purpose of the earthly life of
Jesus Christ was the redemption OF
fortunate portion of sinful humanity for
an ideal existence in community or
saints. angels and Gods in a heavenly
world beyond the grave, he seems TO nave
lived his life in bllssful Inconsistencies
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
lis gospel lies not in prophecy. He him
self seems to have given little thought
as to what was to follow his ministry
and teachings until the closing days of
his career.
The burden of his thought is always
the way. the truth and the life of right
eOusneSS as found in the sweetness and
beauty of brotherly- love and in loving
communion with the heavenly Father
This new life was 10 begin at once: 1t
f.f la nd no 90 ~
urally he applied it to the millennium,
but that was an after-thought. 1T was
for men to apply Immediately in the life
in which they moved. His was the gen
JUS TO discern the important elements in
the eternal life. or of the genuinely great
life. and for that reason his gospel is
perennially important to us while his mil
leni2l dream becomes simply one OF the
misconceptions OF great man.
Views Are Changed.
"'rhe early church thought of a millen-
ium TO come soon upon the earth. But
as approach the formative period of
church Christianity, Of that Christianity
of dogma and institution which held un-
broken sway over Europe until the Rem
aissafce. the millennium is shifted TO the
future life and becomes post-moTtem af-
fair. That part of humanity which par
tiCipdteS in the merit of ChriSts death are
TO share heaven with him. The church
becomes the self-sutnorized conservor and
distributor Of this merit.
BY the law of antithesis a hell Is in
vented of which Jesus never dreamed
and here the unrepentant and unfortunate
sinners we're supposed to Suffer Purga-
tory was also invented as a bridge be-
tween heaven hell through the stages
Of which sll but the hopeless and ire
deemable sinners might pass In ascending
scale TO heaven itself. or the entrance
and the possibilities of this suppositious
other world the church was master.
True GOSPEL Obscurcd.
All this was colossal mistake Not
So much because IL was a baseess and
unreasonable dream. 1t was an unnat-
ural shape TO form in the minds OF the
men OF an ignorant and credulous age.
But the results TO posterity, were heavy
and SAG. The true gospel OF Jeusu. de-
signed 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 and despicable man
was taught TO consider himself a sinful
worm of the dust without merit of his
own. religion became u preparation for
death and the meditations of unbelievers
were toward crucified Goldman SUR
mounting the grave and the tomb These
ideas seem to US to belong TO the distant
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 intervening purgatory
still holds and that today in humble par
ish 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 de-
tends the doctrine of salvation from sins
through the vicarious atonement of
Christ
ut is this thought of immortality that
is fast fading from the thoughts of all
men with modern minds. We are grow
ing TO think that I'm this idea Of future ex-
istence we have been simply projecting
into the future q kind OF complicated
ana elaborated ghost-world Of the saw
age. It is too materialistic for our age.
If we think about IL with any logic what
over, we see that IL IL inseparabiy bound
up with the resurrection CT the physical
hnlAi- x-hich h.A L. !, -