Furthermore, the universal conviction of mankind is in itself another cogent appeal to the Infinite Justice of our Creator. For in the heart of every man of every age and of every race we fud implanted by that Creator a universal and a passionate craving for perfect happiness which never has been and never can be satisfied in this life, since no happiness can ever be perfect unless its possessor can be sure that it will never end. The intellect that God has given man is capable of conceiving such happiness, and man's will with its God-given freedom yearns unceasingly for Unless, then, God has endowed mi soul with immortality, with eternal life in which to satiate that divinely implanted desire, the cruellest despot would by comparison be a merciful ruler.
In addition to these arguments, however, and confirming them beyond any possibility of reasonable doubt, we have the overwhelming testimony of Christ Himself. His entire teaching rests upon the theory that our souls are deathless, and He seemed to think it tremendously important for us to live forever. He continually refers to that future life for which the present one is but a preparation, and which is the complement and justification for our life here on earth. He speaks of His Kingdom that is eternal and is not of this world, of His going to prepare a place for His faithful followers in His Father's house. He refers to Himself as the future judge of the living and the dead: He consoled the poor and the afflicted in this life with the thought that their future reward would be exceedingly great, that if they suffered patiently they would enter into everlasting life; and He solemnly warned men to beware all who could bring eternal death to the soul, the death of everlasting punishment.
Our belief in immortality, then, a rational belief, one founded not on passion or prejudice, but on the history of world civilization, on logic, on a careful examination of the nature of the soul as revealed in its operations, and finally on the teaching of Christ Himself. Such is the reasonable faith professed by the three hundred million Catholics in the world today, as well as the millions of non-Catholic Christians, and by the billions of souls who have listened to Christ's teachings during the past nineteen hundred years. All of which [enables us to appreciate the purpose of our existence here on earth, enables us to understand not only the importance of living our present life well, but especially, and what is of supreme moment, the importance of living forever.
Lesson Sermon First Church of Christ, Scientist.
Everlasting Punishment, is the subject of the Lesson Sermon read in all Churches of Christ Scientist, Throughout the world on Sunday. Golden Text:—Micah 7:8. "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me."
Among the citations which comprise the Lesson Sermon is the following from the Bible:—"These words spoke Jesus, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gayest me out of the world; thine they were and thou gayest them me: and they have kept thy word. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." John 17:1,6,15.
The Lesson Sermon also includes the following passage from the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy:—"Human philosophy, ethics, and superstition afford no demonstrable divine Principle by which mortals can escape from sin; yet to escape from sin, is what the Bible demands. work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, says the apostle, and he straightway adds: for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure Dr. J. C. Cotton, famous U.S. alienist, reported to Federal Judge Harold Louderback of San Francisco that James Lucas, charged with attempted murder at Alcatraz, America's best guarded prison, is sane.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.