The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1909-05-14
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. JOHN WESLEY HILL.
Theme: The Future Life.

he live again." Job 14:l4. Among
other things, he said:
Whether immortality can be
proved or not depends upon the char
acter of the proof demanded. Ii can
not be proven as you prove problem
in geometry or demonstrate 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 tear. You cannot extract music
| from an organ with q corkscrew, or
sweep up sunshine with a broom;
neither do you invoke mathematics
and logic to justify your sympathies.
It Is just as impossible to apply these
processes to the problem OF immortal
| ity. "Ye do always err" said Christ
/ to the Sadducees, mot knowing the
| Scriptures, neither the power OF
God" Yet our belief in Immortality
! is more than an emotion. and beyond
/ the assurances of Gods Word there
are evidences all about US. in facts
| and experiences which enable us 20
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. who 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 10 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 squir-
! rel carries an almanac in its brain,
| by which IL stores in its nest pro-
vision for the coming winter. The
bee is possessed OF such a perfect
| compass that for miles IL will fly
! straight back to its hive; and these
| birds Of passage 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
/ in the South. for the winter time,
food. Instinct is thus as unerring
as a God inspired prophet. and have
a right to say that If instinct in the
! lower creation works with such un-
erring accuracy. surely God will not
disappoint this inexplicable something
within my heart which cries ont for
! light and life, and longs for better
home beyond the grave. This doc
trine of the future life Icing peculiar
to Christianity, ii has been a favor
ite object Of attack by every school
OF infidelity since its announcement.
It has been condemned as false be-
cause II involves a mystery. The OBJ
tector confounds two things essen
TALLY different, mystery as TO fact
and mystery as to mode. A fact may
be plain while the mode OF its exist
ence may be mysterious. Take few
illustrations. The fact OF gravitation
is indisputable. but who understands
its original philosophic and executive
power? How does IL bind all worlds
into unity, maintaining the architect
ural branches OF the universe? Who
understands the law OF organic
! growth and development? What is mo-
tion? How Is Il communicated from
one body to another? We may rea-
son, we may advance step by step. but
the end Of these processes are be-
/
we are obliged to believe facts, the
modes Of which are beyond our un-
derstanding. IL is urged again, that
this doctrine Is contrary TO the i'm
mutable principles of science. Would
II not be we'll for the objector to es-
tablish some ultimate system OF
science from which there can be no
appeal? No science Is perfect. II
has been the business OF one age TO
modify and improve the science OF the
preceding age. A future age will eX-
pose the learned follies OF this.
Science has been snail-like in its pro-
gress. With all its boasted ability,
II required nearly six thousand years
for science to discover so simple
thing as the circulation OF the human
blood. With the earth and the sky
full OF electricity, science was five
thousand years in bringing that i'm
! measurable force TO light. Turn
back a few pages OF history and tel
egraphy was not scientific; science
laughed at the possibility Of the tele-
phone: science Joined with commerce
in deriding the validity and value OF
the Marconi system OF wireless tel
egraphy. The fact Is, science is still
an infant; Il Is scarcely out or Its
swaddling clothes; IL can barely stand
alone. Is Il entitled TO more ere
dence than the Bible? Must this old
volume, hoary with the age OF CEN
turies, written by the finger OF in
spiration, born at Sinai, completed
amid the splendors OF the Apocalypse,
whose footprints are seen in the
crumbled dust OF earth's wrecked and
ruined greatness, whose teachings
are Godlike, whose precepts are thun-
der-given, whose promises are the
hope OF the worldly the track be-
fore the gorgeous diction and sacri-
ligious pretension OF sceptical sci
ence or ungodly philosophy? But /
fail TO see any relevancy in the OBJ
lection. In what department OF real
science are those principles found
that conflict with the doctrine OF I'm
mortality? appeal 10 all the dis
coveries In the wide range OF scien-