A Calm, Unshakable Faith

Many years ago these two statements on the immortality of man appeared in print. First: “If we neglect the divine… and give ourselves over wholly to the human…we may certainly count upon nothing but a triumph of pessimism. For …not matter how bravely the body fights, the years inevitably overcome it, bow it, break it, and at last, true optimism must rest upon a calm, unshakable faith in eternal life and in the unlimited goodness of God who gives it. Without such faith… when worldly sources fail one by one…there is no escaping hopeless pessimism…Blessed is he who walks in the light of divine faith.” And now the second: “We rest on no new reason for believing in the immortality of the soul. The old reasons…are quite sufficient…although we welcome the search. As yet the instinctive longing of the soul for its own immortality, and the testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, are our sufficient ground for belief…If we have reason to believe that there is divine Spirit, it is easy to believe that there are often subordinate spirits, human spirits, and that these spirits of ours may survive the body. So all religious faith and all hope of immortality begins with God, and rests on Him. We came from him, we go to him. He lives, we live…Why should not a Father reveal himself to his children. Why should he not send prophets and teachers, and why not a supreme teacher, the Son of God and a Son of Man?…Why should he not bring us a word from God, and why should he assure us of immortality by his own resurrection?…How can a man assert that nothing but matter exist, that there is no such thing as an immortal soul?…What right has he to claim that there is only one kind of existence,…? We rest on the fact of One who died and rose from the dead, whose name we give our father, and whose triumph over death is our triumph also.” An intelligent Creator would not give us the power to learn just to let that learning be lost; would not let life and loved ones become dear just to let that dearness disappear in death. When all of life and all the endless future lie before us, it is no time to let half-doubts keep us from living, from preparing, from enjoying the long journey of everlasting life.