An item in a Chicago newspaper contained some particularly interesting thoughts. Although the account was published years ago, some of the observations provide useful reading for today. The writer noted, for instance, "History shows the curious fact that the closing years of every century are years of more intense life, manifested in unrest or in aspiration, and scholars of special research . . . assert that the end of a cycle, as is the latter part of the present century, is marked by peculiar intimations of man's immortal life."Daily Inter-Ocean (Chicago) December 31, 1894, quoted in Pulpit and Press, p. 23.
The news account was occasioned by the emergence of Christian Science during the latter part of the nineteenth century, specifically by the building of the Original Edifice of The Mother Church, which so thoroughly symbolized fresh spiritual aspirations. Whatever the validity of the historical theory referred to, one must observe that for many people today, life certainly does seem to be intensifying—there is a growing unrest, but there are also growing aspirations.
Some of these aspirations could be related to an inner feeling every individual has that man is immortal. Certain people cultivate this feeling; others ignore it; and some deny it. But no one is without it, because man's immortality is a divine fact that ultimately cannot be escaped. Yes, there are aspirations. And what of the unrest? It might be called the very opposite of a feeling of immortality: the human fear that man is mortal, that he comes to an end. This theory is clamoring for attention, inviting people to dwell, in one way or another, on mortality.
