The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-08-14

Written for the Intermountain Catholic.
Immortality. 1t must be so. Plato thou reason
est we'll
Else whence this pleasing hope this fond desire,
This longing after Immortality?
Or whence this secret dread and inward horror
Of falling into naughtl Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction2
IT'S the divinity that stirs within us;
IT'S Heaven itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.
Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought
Through what variety of untried being,
Through what new scenes and changes must We
passi
The wide, the unbounded prospect, lies before me:
But shadows, Clouds and darkness rest upon it.
Here will [ hold. If there's power above us
(And that there is all nature cries aloud,
Through all her works., he must delight IN virtue;
And that which he delights in must be happy.
But when, or where@Ths world was made for
Caesar.
I'm weary of conjectures-this must end EN-
Like the actor, who at this point places his hand
on his sword, every profound student in his CON
templative moments will lay his hand on his heart
and saw that all which ends, in mans calculation.
is nothing. The inherent sentiments of immor-
tality which the human always and every
where possess and carry with them from the dawn
of reason to the grave are so natural, that every
thing is weighed and measured according to that
standard. What is said of hope and happiness APP
plies to fear and pain. The heart of man, In its
normal state is ever the same. 1t carries the in
finite temporary punishment would no more
constitute hell, than a temporary happiness would
constitute a Heaven. UnscOnclously by some
strange and inexplicable delusion man adorns the
most transient things of life with the idea OF the
infinite Hence man is rarely satisfied though In
possession of what his soul once most ardently de-
sired We are taught that everything visible and
invisible in this mundane sphere created by IN
finite wisdom for some special end or purpose. We
know that every creature Is satisfied when their
wishes are needed Man alone is an exception
When all his antcipations and hopes are realized.
there is still blank void which must be covered
or filled UP. Something more Is needed. This
something more supplied creates wish for some
thing new, and so on indemnity. From this nat
ural craving of the human heart the conclusion IS
inevitable, namely, that mans destiny could not
be ito live and be merry, for tomorrow ne dles,"
or that man was destined for this world alone.
There is another law of mans moral organiza-
ton which still more clearly demonstrates the I'M
mortality of the soul. 1t is conscience Conscience
is something that cannot be denied A denial OF
the immortality of the soul is a denial of con-
science Conscience, simply defined, IS that sentl-
ment which every person carries within himself
of good and evil of lust and Unjust 1t is the fact
upon which is seated that unrlvaled justice that
governs all socities. 1t is intultlve knowledge
of our relations with natural law to which
the use or abuse we have made of our liberty. a
mans own conscience wrote Lytton, is his sole
tribunal; and he should more for that phan-
tom opinion than he should fear meeting ghost
if he cross the churchyard at dark
All human Justice, all the laws of human equity
rest entirely upon this natural law, of which con-
science is the organ and from which they draw the
authority and sanction which they need in order
to be respected. But this original justice, this
typical rule of all justice and law, namely con-
science. must have its retribution and sanction
Conscience is law. 1t is the primary law of all
laws If it be the original justice after God. who
is the type guide and measure of justice here on
earth conscience itself must necessarily need
sanction The idea of law and justice can not
exist without the accompanying notion of defense
and command but there can be no defense or COM
mand where there is sanction or punishment:
A Justice that be violated indefinitely and
with impunity is no justice at all.
Now there is a fundamental justice, and 1t IS
necessary that justice have its court somewhere;
that somewhere and sometime the just and the
nniust the virtuous and the criminal be brought
before its tribunal to be rewarded or punished ac
cordine TO their acts. Where is to be found this
satisfaction which conscience demands? Not In
this life as human laws can reach, but very Inn
ted norton of mans actions. The greater portion
of mans dongs be they good or evil, escape human
authority Again human justice can only PUNISH.
Il does not pretend to reward. Besides human
Justice as all know is very elastic, controlled by
surrounding Influence, and not unfrequently by
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