Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1909-05-13
THE PULPIT
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. JOHN WESLEY HILL
Theme: The Future Life.

New York City.-Sunday morning,
at the Metropolitan Temple, the pas
tor. DR.. John Wesley Hill, preached
a on 1.-THE Future Life" TAX
ing for his text: IF a man die, shall
he live again." Job 14:14. Among
other things, he said:
Whether Immortality car be
proved or not depends upon the char
acter of the proof demanded. 1t an
not be proven as you prove a problem
in geometry or demonstrate a law In
chemistry. This is true not only OF
our arguments for immortality, but OF
our reasoning touching all the facts
involving the deepest and highest
life. You cannot by triangulation
prove your mothers love, nor by
chemical analysis discover the secret
of a tear. You cannot extract music
from an organ with q corkscrew, or
sweep up sunshine with a broom;
neither Go you invoke mathematics
and logic to justify your sympathies.
1t is just as Impossible to apply these
processes to the problem Of i--Es-tal-
ity. Eye do always err" s.id Christ
to the Sadducees, mot knowing the
scriptures, uS1lAC1 INC pO VI
God" Yet our belief in Immortality
is moro than al emotion, and beyond
the assurances Of Gods Word there
are evidences all about US. in facts
and experiences which enable us to
exclaim, This mortal must put on
Immortality" The idea Of immortal
ity is an intuition, voicing itself in
universal human nature. Hunger
means food, not in relation to the
penniless tramp alone, VINO gaZes into
the window where the prosperous
man sits at his feast, but in relation
to the general order and adjustment
of the universe. But there Is some
thing in man related to immortality
even deeper and more potent than de-
sire-something working with a pre-
cision beyond the highest efforts of
the intellect. and which from the
standpoint of reason is simply mirac-
ulous. Look at it. The little SPUR
rel carries IN almanac in its brain,
by which it stores in its nest pro-
vision for the coming winter. The
bee is possessed Of such a. perfect
compass that fer miles it will fly
straight back to its hive; and these
birds ~ofNpassage which are once more
filling the treetops with song, at pre-
cisely the right time make their way
over river and forest, over lake and
plain, to find here in the North, in
the summer time, food, and yonder
N the South, for the winter time,
food. Instinct is thus as unerring
as a God inspired prophet, and I have
a right to say that If instinct in the
lower creation works with such I'M
erring accuracy, surely God will not
disappoint this inexplicable something
within my heart which cries out for
light and life, and longs for a better
home beyond the grave. This doc
trine of the future life being peculiar
to Christianity, it has been a favor
lite object of attack by every school
of infidelity since its announcement.
1t has been condemned as false be-
cause it involves a mystery. The OBJ
jector %confounds two things essen
TALLY different, mystery as to fact
and mystery as to mode. A fact may
be plain while the mode of it's exist
ence may be mysterious. Take a few
Illustrations. The fact of gravitation
is in%disputab1e. but who understands
its original philosophic and executive
power? How does it bind all worlds
into unity, maintaining the architect
ural branches Of the universe? Who
understands the law Of organic
ton? How is 1t communicated from
one body to another? W. may rea-
son, we may advance step by step, but
the end OF these processes are be-
yond our power of analysis: so that
u,o - 111iraI %0 ha1f11,n footc %hr
modes of which are beyond our I'M.
Outstanding. 1t is urged again, that
this doctrine is contrary to the i'm.
It not be we'll for the objector to es
tablish some ultimate system O
science from which there can be NJ
appeal? No science is perfect. 1
has been the business of one age t.
modify and improve the science of tn
preceding age. A future age will ex
pose the learned follies. of this
Science has been snail-like in it's pro
gress. With all it's boosted ability
it required nearly six thousand year
for science to discover so simple
thing as the circulation of the huma
blood. With the earth and the SIX
full of electricity, science vas fr
years III that III
measurable force to light. Tur
back a few pages of history and tie
egraphy was not scientific; scient
laughed at the possibility of the tel
phone; science joined with CONNER,
in deriding the validity and value
the Marconi system of wireless te
egraphy. The fact is, science is ST
an infant; it is scarcely out of i
swaddling clothes; it can barely star
alone. Is it entitled to more CT
: dence than the Bible? Must this o
volume, hoary with the age Of &c
turtles. written by the finger Of j
spiration, born at Sinai, complet
amid the splendors Of the Apocalyp:
whose footprints are seen in t
I, crumbled dust Of earth's wrecked a
ruined greatness, whose teachin
t are Godlike, whose precepts are thu
der-given. whose promises are t
D. hope of the worldly the track
fore the gorgeous diction and sac
ligious pretension Of a sceptical $
+. ence or ungodly philosophy? Blu
s ! fail to see any relevancy in the
l. lection. In what department of r
fe science are those principles fou
It that conflict with the doctrine of
mortality? I appeal to all the
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