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Show MAN. Man Is a creature composed of a body and soul, and made to the image and likeness of God. In thisdefinition given in the Catechism, we have the body composed of matter and the soul which is a spirit. The former has sensible sen-sible properties, the latter has not. The sensible qualities detected by one" or more of the five senses, do not constitute con-stitute tbe essence of the matter which compose the body, and they mark its difference from the spirit which Is impervious im-pervious to any sense. The soul, having hav-ing none of the sensible signs that the body has must be a different eubstance from the body. We call the body the material substance, sub-stance, the soul must be an immaterial immate-rial sufbstance that Is, not composed of matter by which one could hear, see, touch, smell or taste. Matter is a sensible sen-sible substance; it 5s the power of resistance: re-sistance: it can be removed, broken, comminuted or modified, but not destroyed. de-stroyed. The soul does not take in any of these qualities. Matter, from the fact that it exists, must be active, but Ms activity does not include the power of thought or reason. It is devoid of intelligence and without a soul. When separate from the soul that it when death comes its sensitiveness intelligence intelli-gence and reasoning faculties are gone. But we are told that -the cow, the horse, the dog, in fact all animals have intelligence and must, for the same reason that we ascribe a -soul to man, have an immaterial soul too. Do we not detect a force that cannot be seen which is not matter operating in them as we don in man? Then they have a soul. Yes, they have an immaterial soul, but not a rational, immortal soul. Even the vegetable kingdom has a soul, but not a sensitive. Intelligent soul like that of the animal. The basis ba-sis of life in the vegetable and animal kingdom as well as tlikt of man may be called soul; only iliose of the two former are not human souls. The distinctive dis-tinctive feature of the animal soul from that of the plant is it has an in- itelligent, .sensitive nature, and that of the human from the other two may be given in the words of the catechism, namely: "The soul is like God because be-cause It is a spirit that will never die Ad ha undersmndine ond froo -will." .''' ': ' "Will never die" opens up a question which has been discussed from time immemorial. The question of the immortality of the soul is one of vital importance to all mankind. That it is Immortal, we know from revelation, but whether satisfactory sat-isfactory proofs can be given from reason to show that it Is philosophically philosophic-ally certain that the soul is immortal is another question. Those who aeny its immortality mu-st prove from reason rea-son that it is so. This has never been done. The idea of Immortality is written in the soul of mankind. It is one of the few ideas that have the consecration of Universal Instinct and usage. Every heart is alike on this point. We 6ee that belief professed by the most superior su-perior minds of civilized and refined nations, and we find it flourishing in another form among the most barbarous barbar-ous brute -creation. But this idea must have come to us from the direct study or contemplation contempla-tion of our soul, and as such it must be the Immediate unaltered image of a reality possessed by the soul. It could not be suggested by the surrounding world since everything in the world is against it. Is not everything perishable perish-able And does not everything really perish? The species and classes of beings be-ings are perpetuated, but the individuals individ-uals themselves are. all taken away and disappear forever. Consequently man's surroundings suggests no othed Idea than one of mortality, because all nature speaks to us a language of death, even our own nature gives no indication that an exception to the general law of mortality is made in our favor. Man dies man is dead and in the presence of the corpse there is no symptom that reveals to us that the destruction is not as entire and complete as in the case of a brute or plant. The natural phenomenon is the same, so much so that we hear every day the comparison made between our fate and that of animals. Viewing then the deadly destruction caused by death and buried, as it were, in an abyss of mortality, how is it that idea of our own immortality has existed exist-ed at all times, In all places and among all classes of men? The whole world apparently tells us that we are mortal. mor-tal. We are warned by the Scriptures that "we shall fade and vanish like the flower of the field, and we die like the blade of grass." Yet the idea of our immortality is imperishable in us. How did this belief, which is co-evil and coexistent co-existent with the history of man originate origi-nate and persevere through all ages that are past down to the present and will continue to the end? The origin and persistency of an idea so abnormal abnor-mal can not be otherwise than from an immediate sentiment and an immediate perception of its reality in us. Reason is forced to admit with the universal feeling of mankind, that this idea 5s not and cannot be an illusion from without, 'but that it must have been placed in us by God Himself. That it is entirely derived from its corresponding correspond-ing reality in the soul and that it is offered to us with the same guarantee as that of our existence. I exjst. Therefore There-fore I am immortal. Another reason why we must infer that the soul is the immortal is this In our study of nature we invariably see that everything has a principle of existence, similar to what constitutes its nourishment or development and perfection. To accomplish this it must act and feed on something, and this something must be in harmony with its nature. The brute animal will feed on organic and inorganic nafture which are similar to its own constituents, every being according to the law of assimilation will support and develop itself by assimilating a similar substance sub-stance or an inferior one. What substance constitutes the nourishment nour-ishment of the soul and tends to its development? Only one substance for which the soul yearns and craves, one substance thalt it could assimilate and that Is truth, truth in all its forms, in all its bearings, truth in the natural sciences. In the moral sciences and truth in the fine arts. Only for what is true, good, and beautiful has the soul any affinity. Truth is its element, its natural air. Wilfully man could not live on error and if he should do so, he disguises his own folly by calling his error truth, since truth is the nourishing principle of the soul. But truth itself is eternal, unchangeable and co-existent with God. Could the soul feeding on what is immortal be itself mortal? The soul created for truth feels itself living only when it assimilates to itself truth or what appears ap-pears to be truth? The soul wears out the body sometimes killing it in pursuit pur-suit of truth and will lay down Its life, like the martyrs of old in defence of truth. The soni contrary to all other beings, feeding and nourishing itself on truth cannot be doomed to die. The moment of death is the time of its de-llverenee de-llverenee from its present imprisonment imprison-ment and the assuming of another phase of existence. Today we are here, citizens of this great republic, tomorrow tomor-row or a year or twenty years hence the soul leaves the body and we become citizens of another world. , In that world are two abodes of eternal duration dura-tion where the soul shall live forever. |