THE IMMORTALITY DISCUSSION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6820, 26 September 1883, Page 6

THE IMMORTALITY DISCUSSION.

TO THE EBXTOE4 ■ Sir, —No fewer than six evening recently devoted, in the city ot Anctl,!? by Messrs, Brown and'.Hut3oD, to tb,e annihilation, or continuous existenea" 4 ?" what is termed the. soul; and yet, ' disputants profess to base their upon the only standard of truth—the Bi§ Is there, indeed, any basis to warrant ars*n' mentation, seeing that both theologians themselves down to the inspired volmS? Whatever materialists and sceptics general may avow, it must be perfectly patent thoughtful minds, that'no two Scripture ever neutralise each other, (V the question of man's immortality I j . unable to discover, in the Bible, iy biguity to provoke doubt. The diS? subject is lucidly disclosed by mf Divine Master, who, in his weadronT condescension, has opened to us a" gates of Hades, and allowed us ,to enter into the inner court of the spirit land aS to become the spectators of scenes, the'saV fulness and grandeur of which 110 lnaaa language can adequately pourtray. I r <X to St. Luke xvi., where Christ nainS the earthly; history of two persons, one* rich man who disregarded the interests m hia soul, and the other a poor mani who ok tained the peace of God which pseseth jIT

understanding. Well, we are told that both men died, and that after death the unseed rich man finds his home in Hades, ia jv,: full possession of all his faculties. HoEees. and Bpeaks; he argues, and prays • sympathises, and regrets ; he evinces' hoi keenly and torrifically is his consdeaje enthroned, whilst its action .on the nervous sjatem compels him to exclaim: "j am tormented in this flame"—the flame of his self-accußing heart. The power o£ recognition, too, ia most decided, for the list rich man not only recognises Lazarus bat alto the Father of the' Faithful, ages before our Lord's ministry, had been interred in tie cave of • Machpelah—a circu instance,..-ffhich. beautifully explains Christ's teaching to ti e Saducees when he said, " Have ye not real that which was spoken uuto you by (ici

saying 'I am the God oE Abraham, and God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' God is not the Godot the dead, but of the living," The position is strengthened, though unnecej. barily, by other passages, as for instance, "I, saw the souls of them that were beheaded "' " I saw the souls of them that were slain for the testimony which they held, and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How loag 0 Lord, holy and true," etc. As the immo*. tality of the soul is so plainly announced in. Scripture, can any amount of discussion and sophistry, and mere verbiage relative to "orthodoxy" and "heterodoxy," rob mankind of the deeply cheering fact that all are: immortal ? And when we know that the Judge of all the world will do rightj-we may ■ just console ourselves by resting on the pledge given, "What ye know not now ye shall know hereafter."—lam,&c., C. O.Dayjs, Auckland, September 20, 1883.