The Washington herald., 1907-09-30
Immortality of the Soul.
- The Washington HsraId

EDITOR Ihe washington Herald
The immortality of the human soul Is
nqUestionably one of the next importance
to human existence. Any one who can
shed the least ray Of light upon this puts
sant subject is a benefactor to the human
race.
Lord Bacon says that the soul is a com
pound. Sankhya philosophers say it is not
a compound, because everything that is
a compound we must either see or i'm
agine That which we cannct see or i'm
agine. that which cannot be bound to-
gether that is not force or matter, cause
or effect. or causation cannot be a com
pound. The power Of compound is as far
as our mental universe. our thought uni
verse takes US. Beyond this it does not
figure. 1t is as far as law will take it.
and If Il is anything beyond law it can
not be a compound. Take a mirror. il is
a compound because in It the causes have
combined and becor1e the effect Hence
these compound things can only be within
the circle of causation. so far as the rule
Of cause and effect go. SO far can we
have compounds and combinations.
Beyond this We cannot talk OF CON-
binations, because no law holds good
therein Law holds good only in the uni
verse which we see, feel, hear, imagine.
dream. Beyond that we cannot have law
That is our universe which we sense, OF
imagine, and We sense what Is in our di-
rect perception, and we imagine what
Is in our minds; therefore, that which Is
beyond the body is beyond the senses.
and what is beyond the mind is beyond
the Imagination, and therefore beyond
our universe; therefore beyond the law of
causation, is the free ruler, the self
Therefore the self rules everything that
is within the law. This self Of man
goes beyond the law, and therefore must
be free; cannot be a composition, or the
result OF any composition, or the effect
of any cause. II viii never die, because
that would be going back 70 the compo-
nent parts. and that which was never a
compound can never die.
The self" then. being beyond the little
universe of matter and force and thought,
is simple, and as a simple it has always
existed and will always exist
No force can die, no matter be ami
hilated We cannot add 10 the universe
force, nor can you take them away. II
Bacon can believe that as a compound.
the soul Is immortal. it can be equally
shown that as a simple It IS so.
II mind force can influence the ques-
tion, then Immortality of the soul is as
sured. Plato, Socrates. Aristotle, Bacon,
hant Shakespeare, Pope, Addison. New
ton, Flammarion, Won Humboldt, and mill
lions OF the greatest minds the world
has ever seen believe In the immortality
OF the soul. It's a great pity that this
earth has never been the abode Of
divinely inspired God who could make US
know, and fill our heads full Of things
which we know, and not full Of things
which We do not know One who would
tell us Of the universe, Of space. Of We
lOcity, tell US that God was IN the center
Of the universe. and that systems in
cOmputable In number, freighted by bill
Ions of people, passed faster than light
ming fash before Him, and tell us some
OF the mysteries OF creation, that the
human intellect stands aghast before.
The need OF such a God has caused an
effort 10 create one, but He knew nothing
more than we do, and left the little
stock Of knowledge the world possessed
just where it was before He looked up
atsthe stars and called them stars. lust
as though they were little glittering
lights for US to gaze at.
We are destined to know Gods crea-
ton. we are part Of it, and as such, like
all created things; but being the superior
Of all, we will, by progression, know
these works and be part Of them.
GEORGE c. TANNER