Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/494

 he says,  "has  life,  the  other  is  dead." But what  is life  but  the  action  of  the  soul  in  the  body,  just  as  the ringing of  an  electric  bell  is  the  action  of  the  electricity in  the  metal. There is  no  life  without  a  soul. The trees  in  my  garden  have  souls — my  horse  and my dog  have  souls — and  I?  Oh,  I  am  not  inferior  to them,  I,  too,  have  a  soul. Aye, and  a  soul  far  nobler than theirs — not  a  mere  vegetative  soul  like  the  tree, nor a  mere  animal  soul  like  the  dog,  but  a  rational, an immortal  soul. Their souls  are  imprisoned  in their  bodies,  and  so  tightly  locked  in  that  when  the prison-house of  their  body  falls,  prisoner  and  prison perish together;  but  my  soul,  though  a  prisoner  in my  body,  is  still  unfettered,  so  that  the  destruction of my  body  brings  to  my  soul,  not  death,  but  freedom. Hence it  is  that  we  hear  St.  Paul  exclaim:  "  O God,  I  long  for  death  that  I  may  begin  to  live  with Thee." The death  of  the  body  is  only  the  beginning of the  true  life  of  the  soul,  for  my  soul  is  immortal — it can  never  die. For why  do  I  fear  death? Is it  not because Nature  has  implanted  in  me  an  ardent  desire to live  forever? Most assuredly. Now Nature  does not do  things  in  vain. If there  was  no  such  thing  as sound,  she  would  not  have  given  me  ears  to  hear;  if there  was  no  light  or  color,  she  would  not  have  given me eyes  to  see;  if  there  was  no  such  thing  as  truth in the  world,  why  should  she  have  given  me  a  mind to know  the  truth;  and  if  there  was  no  everlasting life for  my  soul,  why  should  she  give  my  soul  a natural  longing  for  it? Yes; unless  my  soul  is  immortal, Nature  is  a  liar. Nay, in  that  case,  even