River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-02-11

NMzANMI gested by nature.
zMzNMMI We plant a seed
in the springtime
Of seed The thing that continues in
the seed is the invisible vital force.
The particles may be different, but the
life is the same. The temperance of
this life in bed and leaf and flower at
least suggests that the life mental,
moral and spiritual in us may continue
after death.
The immortality of the soul is taught
by universal consciousness. The rude
savage believes in future state. The
Indian buries with his comrade the
blanket, the bow and arrow, believing
that he will need these things in the
happy hunting grounds of the future.
Even modern infidelity does not deny
it. When the champion blasphemer of
America stood over the corpse of his
brother he spoke of the star Of hope
which the soul sees in the night. The
heart is sometimes wiser than the
head.
Suggested by nature, taught by uni
versal consciousness, the immortality
OF the soul is confirmed by observa-
ton There are cases on record where
page after page of foreign languages,
long forgotten, have been repeated by
men on beds of sickness. A friend told
me that, when he was thrown from his
horse and almost killed, the panorama
of his past life came before him, i'm
pressions that had faded from memory
while he was physically strong revived
during the time of weakness.
A Reasonable Hope.
So Imagination is sometimes most
brilliant when the body is weakest, and
j have known at least two or three
men whose reason was as vigorous just
a moment before they died as it ever
was in their days of physical strength.
If you have been in Mammoth cave
and stood over the River Styx you will
remember that it disappears under the
cavern walls. Up to the very point of
disappearance the current is swift. Is
there a man on earth foolish enough
to suppose that there is no river after
the swift current has disappeared?
Does he not believe, with a conviction
that amounts to certainty, that the
river, though hidden, continues to flow
on? And when up to the point of dy-
ing we find memory imagination, rea-
son, love and conscience as strong, if
not stronger than ever before, is there
not a presumption which amounts to a
conviction of certainty that these fac
ulties of the soul will continue to live
after the body dies?
Established by Revelation.
The Immortality of the soul, sug-
gested by nature, taught by universal
consciousness and confirmed by obser-
walton, is finally established by revela-
ton. The words immortal and i'm
mortality" occur six times in the Bible.
They are two words in the Greek, one
of which means "incorruptible" and
the other "deathless. The word mean
ing "incorruptible" is applied to God
himself in 1 Timothy LII and is so
translated by the revisers. In Romans
2:7 are the words: ITO them who by
patient continuance in we'll doing seek
for glory and honor and immortality,
eternal life The revision correctly
renders it interruption" which we
are to seek diligently. In Timothy
ITO we are told that Christ hath
brought life and interruption to light
through the gospel" He is the one in
corruptible being. The word which
means deathlessness occurs in 1 Tim
othy GIG and refers to the Lord Jesus,
who only hath Immortality dwelling
in light which no man can approach
unto" Link this with Genesis 1925.
Let us make man in our image after
our likeness" and John III and 3, THE
Word was God" and "all things were
made by him. and it is plain that man
was created immortal God who only
hath Immortality created man in that
image and likeness. Sin did not de-
stroy the Immortality which God i'm
parted in creation.
A Distinction.
The difference between immortality
and eternal life should be kept clearly
in mind Immortality means everlast,
ing existence, but eternal life is not
everlasting existence. Dead things eX-
ist. l can imagine stone existing a
million years as dead then as now.
Corpses exist. Men dead in trespasses
and sins on this side the grave exist.
and they will exist after death. One
does not begin really to live until he
has accepted Christ, but he exists. Let
us accept the definition of eternal life
which the Lord Jesus himself gave.
and this will clear away all misunder-
standing. Turn to John 1913: This is
life eternal that they might know thee.
the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent" Eternal life is
knowing God through Jesus Christ. To
know God is to live; 10 refuse to know
God is TO continue to exist in a state
of death.