Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-02-23

For a man to declare himself uninteres-
ted in this subject would be to proclaim
himself idiotic-thoughtless. If the ordl-
nary affairs OF this present life, food,
raiment, finance, politics. etc, which
concern us but for a few years, are
deemed worthy Af thought, study, how
much more concern should we have in
respect to the eternal future OF our
selves and neighbors and mankind In
general.
OF course, so important a question has
had the most profound study, ever since
the reign Of sin and death began six
thousand years ago. BY this time the
subject should be threadbare. The entire
world should be so thoroughly informed
respecting this question that there would
be nothing new to say and nobody GU
rious to hear. But the large audiences
of intelligent, thoughtful people which
come to hear, and which listen with
breathless interest TO what we have to
say. imply that after all the study the
subject has had, but few are thoroughly
satisfied with their conclusions.
The Agnostic Answers the Question
Before presenting what we claim is the
Scriptural and only satisfactory answer
to our query, we think 1t but proper
respect to the intelligence and thought or
our day and of past centuries TO make
general inquiries on the subject and have
before our minds the most profound
thoughts of the most astute thinkers of
our race. We cannot, however, go into
this matter deliberately and give lengthy
quotations We must content ourselves
with brief, synoptical answers, which Will
be stated kindly and truthfully, and with
a desire not to offend anybody, however
much we may disagree with his conclu-
sions. We recognize the right of every
man to do his own thinking and to reach
his own conclusions. whether these agree
with our conceptions or not.
We begin our examination by asking
our agnostIc friends, who boast Of their
untrammeled freedom of thought. What
YOU saw. free thinkers" In reply to our
query, Where are the dead? Their an
swer Is: 1--WE do not know. We would
like to believe in a future life, but we
have no proof of 1t. Lacking the evil
dences our conclusion is that man oles
as does the brute beast. If our con-
clusion disappoints your expectations In
respect to having Joy for the saints, II
certainly should be comforting 10 all as
respects the vast majority OF our race,
who certainly would be much better on
nerIshed like the brute beast than to be
preserved in torture, as the majority De-
lieve."
we thank our agnostic friends for the
courteous reply, but feel that the answer
Is not satisfactory, either to our heaos
or to our hearts; but cry out that there
must. or should be, future life; that
the Creator made man with powers Oh
mind and heart so superior to the brute
that his pre-eminence in the divine plan
should be expected. Furthermore Ine
brevitv of the present life, its tears, It's
sorrows. its experiences, its lessons, VIII
nearly all be valueless, useless, unless
there be a future life-an opportunity for
making use of these lessons. We must
loolx further for some more satisfactory
answer to our question.
The Heather Answer to Our Query
Since three-fourths OF the world are
heathens, O. weight Of numbers implies
that they next should be asked Tor then
solution TO the question: Where are the
dead? Heathenism gives two general
answers.
m Prominent are those which hold TO
transmigration. These reply 10 u.s. Our
view is that when a man dies he does not
dIe. hut merely changes his form. His
future estate will correspond TO MS
present living and give him either high
err or a lower position. We believe that
we lived on earth before, perhaps as
cats. dogs, mice, elephants, or what not
and that II the present life has beer
wisely used, we may reappear as men OF
nobler talents, as philosophers, etc.; pnt
e. as usual, life has ben misspent, at
death we will be remanded to some low
er form of being about us-an elephant,
a worm, or what not. 1t is because OF
this belief that we are so careful IN re-
spect to our treatment of the lower ami
mails and refuse to eat meat of any kind.
rrIthlGSQlV
worm, our punishment might be form
I'm which we ourselves would be treated
ruthlessly after the change which we call
DEATH"
C0 The other large elias of heather
believe In a spirit world with happy hunt
ing grounds for the good and hell of
different torments for the wicked. We are
told that when people seem to die they
really become more alive than ever and
that the very minute they cross the river
Styx they go TO the realms Of either the
blessed or of the doomed, and that there
are steps or degrees of punishment and
reward. We inquire, where did you re-
ceive these views? The answer Is: They
have been with us for a long, long time.
We know not where they came from. Our
learned men have handed them down to
us as truths, and we have accepted them
as such.
But heatheniSmS answer Is not sauS-
factory to our heads and hearts. We
must look farther. We must not trust 10
speculation We must look for Divine rev.
citation; the message from him with
whom we have to do-our Creator.
The Catholic Answer to Our Question
Turning from heathenism we address
our question to that intelligent one-fourth
of the worlds population known as
Christendom. We say, Christendom,
What is your answer to the question? The
reply is that we are divided in our opin-
ion, more than two-thirds of us holding
the Catholic and nearly one-third the
general Protestant view. Let us hear the
Catholic view Greek and Roman) first.
then, because age, as we'll as numbers
suggest such precedent.
Catholic friends, give US. please. the
results of your labors and studies, the
conclusions of your ablest thinkers and
theologians, in respect to the revelation
which you claim to have from God on this
subject. We will. hear you thoughtfully,
patiently, unbiased Y. Our Catholic
friends respond: "Our teachings are very
explicit along the lines of your ques.
ton. We have canvassed the subject from
every standpoint in the light of Divine
revelation. Our conclusion and teaching
are that when anyone dies, he goes to one
of three places: first the sanity. of whom