The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-04-13
RESURRECTION
THEEVIDENCE OF
IMMORTALITY
REV. e. r. RENpLEToN BREACHES
EASTER SERMON AT FIRST
BAPTIST CHURCH IN WHICH
FUNoAM ENTAILS OF CHRIS.
TIANITYs ARE ABLY DISCUSSED.

Rev. F. R. Pendleton. pastor of the
First Baptist church, yesterday
preached an Easter sermon on the
subject AN Honest Doubter ana the
esurrection Story. His text was
from John 2o39,
Jesus saith unto him. Thomas, be-
cause thou hast seen me, thou hast be-
lieved: Happy those who have not
seen and have believed"
Thomas was an honest doubter and
Jesus did not chide nor rebuke him
but simply offered his hands. and ex-
posed his side that Thomas might fe@l
the wound prints and be convinced.
NO one can help doubts coming into
most fundamental, but he can refuse
to welcome them or be proud of them.
No multiplication of evidence will
convince those stubbornly resolved not
more desirable state of mind to be able
to exercise faith, this sixth sense, this
gift of God.
The ''unbelieVing' are clazsed with
the "abominable' in the outer dark
ness. Unbelief is the parent of many
frightful enormities, misshapen morals
and hunchback souls.
Look at some of the consequences
of denying the resurrection story:
PdpIlSIl lot uSdu \uI1cL WOu1Q pU
foolish, as Paul concludesA A life spent
in sacrifical service for Christ and
his people would be a mistake, if
Christ rose not. Your faith would be
vain, all that now stands in the rame
of Chri st-morals, ethics, streams OF
their sources. You may say, Virtue
brings its own reward, and If there
be no risen Christ, still men would
find a life of service profitable. But
who would convince men of this? 1t
must be acknowledged that the mass
of men do sink into merely sensual
life if the hope of Immortality is re-
moved. Let us eat and drink, for to-
morrow We die! Recklessness at the
near approach of Death, when there
once to prove this.
At siege of Jerusalem during her
apostate days the people thinking
that tomorrow would bring death,
gave themselves up to all manner of
indulgence. Shipwrecks. pestiience
have Witnessed the same tendency.
Convince men that death is extinction.
and they will eagerly drain the cup of
pleasure to it's last dregs. In the Jew
ish Book of Wisdom are these words,
unbelieving:
"Our life is short and tedious, Meth
er was there any man known to have
returned from the grave-for the
breath in our nostrils is as smoke, and
a little spark in the moving of our
heart; which being extinguished, our
body shall he turned to ashes, and our
spirits shall vanish as the soft air
Come on therefore, let US enjoy the
good things that are present; and let
us speedily use the creatures like as
in youth. Let us fill ourselves with
costly wine and ointments: and let no
flower of the spring pass by US: Let
us crown ourselves with rosebuds, be-
fore they be withered: Let none Of US
go without his part of Voluptousness:
let us leave tokens of our joyfulness in
every place-Let us Cypress the poor
righteous man, let us not spare the
widow, nor reverence the ancient gray
hairs of the aged"
To the credit of Thomas be it said |
that he was not that kind of a skeptic. |
but was an honest doubter, anxious TO |
know the truth, and needed only to
be convinced. Some others doubted |
also, and SO in every age. Let us look |
next at the plausibleness of immor- |
reasonableness, its instinct !
veness and universally. |
Our. former state previous to birth, |
Of which We are unconscious, gives |
strong proha bility to an existence in |
1 future state. The egg gives birth to |
The feathered songster, and sets him
rec in a larger sphere. The worm |
gives place to the butterfly which |
spreads it's wings in the great azure /
world of air, and so the womb gives /
Up the child to q larger life, and why |
he grave will but give up it's dead to
/ larger and yet more glorious exis"
ence?
Also, our capacities to think. ina
CINE. enjoy. suffer. continue year after |
year proving to us that we are the |
same person that came pulling into
life, a helpless infant. Why should
hose capacities cease?
During sleep, or in swoon, these
capacities survive. There Is no reason |
o suppose they will not survive death
tself. It is just as easy to conceive
hat we may exist out of our bodies
rs in them. In dreams we travel the
globe and ascend the heavens. Our
bodies are shells, tents in which we
i've. Shall we not outlive our house?
heir bodies, and live on. Why not live
IN, If we lose all?
If it be said that this same reason
ng would prove the future life Of all
animals in answer let it be said that
10 one can prove animal life does not
continue. The universal plan of God
nay require the existence of brute
ife. Pictures given of heaven show
lorses.
we have also several times over
ost the whole are a great part Of our
bodies. This we do every seven years.
Shall we not survive the last transfer
nation? Il
From the foregoing. it may be rea-
onably conceived that death may i'm
put us in a higher and more i
enlarged state OF life, ust as does Il
birth. Death must be beneficial. be-
,ause it is 50 universal, remarks
Schiller. l.
There is no absurdity in surprising /
hat there are in the universe beings
o whom Christianity with its resur-
ection is as natural as Is birth to U.s.
Either would be abStractly unthink-
.ble, nevertheless We accept the one
IS OF daily occurrence. Il
Therefore, We conclude, first, that
,ur little. brief scene of human life
must be viewed as having a reference
4 some sort or other to a much larger
Ian OF things, just as our planet fits 1
nto a system almost uncomfortable in /: