Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Discourse volume 1.djvu/122

Rh The doctrine that Man lives for ever seems almost as general as the belief in a God. Like that, it comes naturally from an eternal desire in the human heart; a longing after the Infinite. In the rudest nations and the most civilized, this doctrine appears. Perhaps there has never been but a single form of Religion among civilized men under which it was not taught plainly and distinctly, and here it was continually implied. It seems we have by nature a sentiment of immortality; an instinctive belief therein. Rude nations, in whom instinct seems to predominate, trust the spontaneous belief. They construct an ideal world, in which the shade of the departed pursues his calling and finds justice at the last; recompense for his toil; right for his earthly wrongs. The conception of the form of future life depends on the condition and character of the believer. Hence it is a state of war or peace; of sensual or spiritual delight; of reform or progress, with different nations. The notion formed of the next world is the index of man's state in this. Here the Idolater and the Pantheist, the Mahometan and the Christian, express their conflicting views of life. The Senti ti ment and Idea of immortality may be true, but the definite conception must be mainly subjective, and therefore false. In a low stage of civilization the doctrine, like the religious feelings themselves, seems to have but little moral influence on life. It presents no motive to virtue, and therefore does not receive the same place in their system as at a subsequent period.

In rude ages men reason but little. As they begin to be civilized they ask proofs of Immortality, not satisfied with the instinctive feeling; not convinced that infinite Goodness will do what is best for all and each of his creatures. Hence come doubts on this head; inquiries; attempts to prove the doctrine; a denial of it. There seems an antithesis between instinct and understanding. The reasoning