Page:TheYoungMansGuide.djvu/40

 the window,  the  window  is  the  cause  of  it; hence no  other  cause  is  needed,  no  sun! Thus, my young  friend,  if  you  had  not  seen  the  sun for yourself,  you  might  believe  that  there  is  not a sun  at  all. In both  instances,  the  fallacy  of the  deduction  or  conclusion  is  obvious. Just as certainly  as  there  is  a  sun,  so  certainly,  does  man possess an  immortal  soul,  with  an  independent existence of  its  own.

3. The  conviction  of  all  nations  bears  witness to the  immortality  of  the  human  soul;  it  is  inscribed by  the  hand  of  nature  in  the  heart  of every  man  in  characters  which  can  never  be effaced. Nature can  never  deceive. False representations concerning  the  future  life  of  the soul by  no  means  prove  that  it  is  not  immortal.

This belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  may indeed be  dislodged  from  the  head,  but  never torn out  of  the  heart. "It is  difficult,"  a  simple person once  remarked  to  me,  "to  believe  that those  whom  we  love  do  not  merely  die,  but  are dissolved  into  nothingness." And, truly,  all  our feelings rise  in  revolt  and  the  voice  we  hear within us  protests  against  the  assumption  that death is  annihilation.

4. No,  no,  thus  it  can  not  be:  there  shall be a  " Wiedersehen"  of  our  kindred;  we  shall meet again  those  whom  we  have  loved  and lost. If, indeed,  there  were  no  such  future meeting, we  should  be  justified  in  raising  an accusing  voice  to  Heaven,  and  exclaiming: "Thou hast  deceived  us  by  implanting  affections within  our  breast  which  are  only  doomed to  be  disappointed!" Is, then,  everything  to  be ended  at  the  close  of  this  short  life,  so  replete often with  suffering,  and  is  only  nothingness  to remain! Are love  and  friendship  to  be  mere