The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-06-17
GREAT SOULS
By F. F. CORLISS


dates from the hour of our birth on
earth. The soul of man is finite, yet
inseperable part, of an infinite whole.
And, as the universal soul-the
whole-is imperishable, deathless, so
must all its finite parts be immortal.
Hence it follows that no man, or
organization of men, can add to it or
take from it; can not lose it or save
it, dam it or destroy it. Man, the
soul is endowed with all the God-like
attribute of his Creator. To him has
been given eternal life, individuality,
freedom of the will, and divine in
telligence that will, in the fullness of
time, enable him to achieve wisdom
and understanding of Gods laws and
His supreme purposes in the creation
of man.
Man is now a God in embryo when
we consider his potential possibilities
for learning the power of love and
the blessings that accrue from living
life of righteousness and the bliss
that is found only in health, happi-
ness and the perfection of nobility in
character. 1t is possible for man,
through false teaching and the wrong
thinking of his objective mind, to be-
come depraved, to sink in sin and
selfishness to the degradation of
brutes and beasts. While, by right
thinking, he can live life of love and
helpful service to others and reach
the heights of perfection in God-like
ness.
The planet earth is but one of the
smallest of Gods innumerable foot
stools. But it is indispensable to both
God and man as place for the evo-
luton of great souls. Where life can
gather wisdom through experience;
where life can contact life in all its
diverse and complex forms. Earth is
mans laboratory, Workshop play
ground and school ROOM Soul and
substance are inseparable. Neither
SoI CAISb anu live apart
Spirit unfolds, grows, develops and
improves only through matter as its
enveloping medium. And as the soul
unfolds itself through material forms
1t moulds and modifies the material
forms it inhabits, with its attributes. |
Great souls are not great by virtue of |
some special creative gift, and the
small souls are not small because of
some denial or design. Every soul
starts from the cosmic consciousness
equally endowed with its intelligent
life force. They all begin the race /
for life, learning and experience, on
the level and at the scratch line.
There are three kinds of conscious
ness-the cosmic or universal, the
of dumb animals, and
self-consciousness found only in man.
Having been raised to self-conscious-
ness man finds himself endowed with
the faculty of introspection and self
analysis through which he finds his
position in the universe and his divine
kinship.
Universal life appears under two
great aspects, namely: The unmani-
fest and the manifest. Nature in
the unmanifest is like raw material.
To mans present mental attainments
she is incomprehensible and as I'M
lnua h1o ,,btycioo1 fproo lilo !
gravitation or electricity. But in
natures manifest and materialized
forms she becomes Of sincere and
interest to man.
, The dividing line between matter
and mind, or between ether and
energy is found to be like that be-
tween daylight and darkness. Nature,
as unity, is one stupendous, intelli-
gent, living, ever growing, ever
changing organism. Nature is prog
ressive growth. Forever changing the
crude raw elemental substance of her
being into the refined, the sublimated.
She works from within, from the OBJ
scure and invisible, she brings forth
into the light things of great diversi-
ty having form, color, weight, motion
and intelligence. She works from the
monad to the molecule, to the man.
NAL from small life to mammoth.
From the man of low degree, coarse,
brutal, ignorant, to the man of high |
degree; kindly natured refined, edu-
Gated. From the physical man she
develops the superman-the physic-
the soul-man.
Think of the countless aeons of
time that nature has spent in labor
and travail to bring forth man. Man.
who is the elimination of all the
antecedent life below him.
Our planetary life is given us, as a
seed bed, soil in which to raise and
cultivate human souls through the
medium Of their materialized forms.
Gods greatest interest rests in the
souls of men. His purpose is to en-
Tighten the soul with wisdom and I'M
Outstanding of His laws, to gain eX
perience and character.
Only by a contact with physical
life in all its varied phases can man