The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-08-31
IMMORTALITY.
CONTINUED from Page l.

Viewing then the daily destruction caused by
death, and buried as it were, in an abyss of NOR
tally, how is it that the idea of ones own immor
tally has existed at all times, and in all places,
and among all classes of men! The whole world
apparently tells that man is mortal, and in the
most current language man calls himself a mortal
being ave shall fade and vanish" say the Scrip
lures, like the flower of the field and we die like
the blade of grass" Yet the idea of Immortality
is imperishable 1t is coexstent and coeval with
the history of man. How did it originate and
persevere through all the ages of the past? The
only solution is that the origin and persstency of
an idea abnormal could not be otherwise than
from an immediate sentiment ard immediate
perception of its reality in man himself.
Reason is forced to admit with the universal
feeling of mankind, that this idea is not, and can
not be an illusion from without but that it must
have been placed in man by God himself that it
is entirely derived from its corresponding reality
in the soul, and that it is offered to with the
same guarantee that of his very existence.
Man exists Therefore he is immortal
Another reason why one must infer that the
soul is immortal is this: In the study of nature,
one invariably and learns that everything has
a principle of existence similar to what consti-
tutes It's nourishment or development AS this
is somewhat philosophical, it is well to have a
clear understanding. being by the force of its
existence must tend to its development and per-
lection. To accomplish this it must act and feed
on something which is in harmony with its nature.
The brute creation will feed on organic and inor-
ganic nature, which similar to its own con-
sttuents. Every being, according to the law of
assimilation, will support and develop itself, by
! assimilatng a similar substance or an inferior
one. What substance constitutes the nOurishment
of the soul and tends to its development? The
answer is familiar to every thnkins; man. There
is but one substance for which the soul yearns and
Graves, one substance alone which it can assimi-
L. Il -, r. o,,J III
its bearings-truth in the natural sciences in the
moral sciences and truth in the fine arts Only for
what is true, good and beautiful has the soul any
affinity Truth is its element, its natural air. Will
fully man could not live on error and if he should
do so he DISCUSSES his own folly by calling his
error truth. Truth is the nourishing principle of
the soul. But truth is immortal, Interchangeable
and coeternal with God. Could the SOUL feeding Oh
what is immortal, be itself mortal? The soul Gre
ated for truth feels itself living only when it as
Stimulates to itself truth or what appears to be
truth, the soul wears out the body, sometimes is
killing it in pursuit of truth and will lay down It's
life like the martyrs in defense of truth. Could
the SOUL contrary to all other beings feeding and
nourishng itself on truth, be doomed to die?
The universal voice of humanity both in time
and in space answers. Impossible. The moment
of death is the time of its delverance from It's
present imprisonment, and the assumption of an
other phase of exs tence. Today man is here busy
ing himself about what the future shall bring
forth Satisfied that sufficient provision is made
he says to himself: Soul thou hast much goods
laid up for MANY years, take thy rest. eat, drink
make good cheerH Tomorrow, year hence, or
twenty years hence, he becomes a citizen of an
other world "And whose shall those things be
which he has profdedl" Man naturally seeks hap
piness. and to mike that future existence one of
amending happiness should be the work and am
bition of his life since ut profits nothing to gain
the world and in the end lose tie soul"