Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/493

 a trace  behind."  What!  when  I  die  shall  I  cease  to exist?  Is  there  nothing  in  me  more  lasting  than  this clay  body  of  mine?  An  ungodly  science  answers, "  No;  there  is  nothing."  "  I  have  dissected  many  a man,"  says  a  learned  surgeon,  "  but  I  have  never found a  soul."  But  religion  answers:  "  It  is  false." True  science  crys  out,  "  I  will  not  wholly  die."  The great  human  family  assents  I  have  a  soul.  We  read in  Genesis  that  God  made  man  of  the  slime  of  the earth,  to  His  own  image  and  likeness  did  He  make him.  Now,  is  man's  body  an  image  of  the  living God?  A  clod  of  earth  the  image  of  a  pure  spirit — a  mass  of  bone  and  flesh  and  blood  the  image  of  an angel!  No;  if  man  is  like  unto  his  God  the  likeness must  be  in  that  breath  of  life,  which  Genesis  further tells  us  God  breathed  into  the  face  of  the  new-made Adam.  And  that  breath  to  be  like  God  must,  like Him,  be  a  spirit;  and  to  bear  the  stamp  of  the Blessed  Trinity,  it  must  have  the  three  faculties  of memory,  understanding,  and  free  will.  Now  that  is exactly  what  I  mean  by  a  human  soul;  a  pure  spirit endowed with  memory,  understanding,  and  free  will. My body,  therefore,  is  dust,  and  into  dust  it  shall  return, but  my  soul  is  a  spirit  that  came  from  God  and shall return  to  God. My body  was  born  of  mortal woman, and  like  her  shall  die,  but  my  soul  was  born of God,  who  liveth  forever  and  ever. My soul  is  a spirit  and  invisible,  and  so  cannot  be  seen  by  the doctor's eyes  nor  touched  by  his  knife. Let me  place a live  man  and  a  corpse  side  by  side,  and  let  me  ask that learned  physician  wherein  they  differ. " One,"