Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-06-25

which receive their simplest. surest. most
vivid and most enduring expression in
the Christian faith.
First, the spiritual nature Of man, his
indestructibility and his superiority. de-
spite appearances, to the disntegrating
processes Of nature.
In the process Of the discovery and the
revelation of this truth there must have
been slow development of a simple and
primary Idea and that idea is apparent
on the surface. The unwillingness to die
naturally enough led to the adoTiion of
such means as might be expected to pro-
mote longevity. Then. if man could live
seventy years why not seven hundred?
Why not forever? And if forever, could
he not somewhere find a world where
sorrow and want would be unknown and
where his surroundings and conditions
would insure his complete happiness? And
1t is in this old belief. the religion OF the
unbroken bone. that we find one of the
earliest thoughts of man about a second
life on earth, reincarnation, reanima
ton Of his own jealousy preserved body
and an immortality involving both con-
tinued spiritual existence and a ressur-
rection.
While such Christian writer's as John
and Paul made rhetorical use of this
primitive faith held by the Egyptians
Paul repudiates the idea that the re-
deemed spirit needs it's buried bones, or
that 1t has any necessary association
with them. He teaches that the buried
body is natural body, while the res
direction body is "a spiritual body; that
as in the sowing and reaping of grain.
we sow not the body that shall be, but
the body whose functions have forever
ceased: while the resurrection body.
whatever it may be, differs from the
buried body of flesh and bone ''as one
star differeth from another star in
glory,
Egyptian answered, "A body that must
ba,-a &c md 60 a pSo1
again; the Sadducee answered. mo
body at all: when his bones crumble into
dust that is the last of him; but the
Christian apostle answered his own ques-
ton thus: Flesh and blood cannot in
herit the kingdom of God. neither doth
corruption inherit interruption; while
Jesus said '"They are as the angels of
God" 1t was a long and wearisome jour
ney for the human mind from the re-
ligion Of the sacred bone to the religion
Of the immortal spirit and while the
Christian doctrine is the noblest proph-
ecy SO far given of the immortal hope,
the Egyptian bone is its earliest witness.
Second. The preservation of personal
identity.
The early belief in the survival and
continuance Of the soul furnished the
sentiment and the motive for the care
of the dead: the dead bones were pre-
served because their former tenant
would need them again. and the same
body would be restored to the same soul.
The same soul! Not lost In the crowd.
not absorbed In universal being. not
mutilated beyond recognition, not changed
in its essence. The same soul-the un-
changed identity Of the separate indi-
vidual.
When Thomas saw the risen Christ he
believed. though he touched neither
wound Of flesh nor unbroken bone of the
Lord. The spiritual Christ, triumphant
over the cross and death. victorious over
the grave, stood before him unchanged
in personal identity: the same patience
the same affection, the same tender con-
Germ for his friends-for weeping Mary,
for sorrowful Magdalene, for troubled
Peter. for beloved John. for doubling
Thomas" Death had wounded His
flesh. but had not broken His bones; His
imperishable spirit and Hts indestructible
love had survived all changes wrought