IMMORTALITY, ante. I. Arguments for the fact. 1. As matter does not cease to• exist when it changes its form, so man's spiritual substance at least will not be annihi lated when it changes its state: this argument, though not proving personal immortality, prepares the way for its proof. 2. The spirit, as in its nature, distinct from matter, will— we must suppose in lack of proof to the contrary—continue its existence; there is no proof that man's spirit dies; 'all that is known to die is his body; we must therefore believe his spiritual life to continue. 3. The mental powers, being capable of a develop ment which cannot be reached in this life, must find in the future that unlimited sphere of exertion for which they have wisely been adapted. 4. The wisdom of God will com plete what it has begun; his goodness will satisfy the longings of man's spiritual his justice will bring to an end the present disorders of the moral world. 5. Our moral nature prompts the expectation that virtue and right will be rewarded, and vice and wrong punished or repressed in another world, as they are not fully in this. 6. In the history of mankind there has been a general belief in future rewards and punishments. In the Veda of the Hindus, Muller says: " The immortality of the soul, as well as per sonal responsibility after death, is clearly proclaimed." This statement prof. Roth con firms, saying: " We find in the Veda, not without astonishment, beautiful conceptions on immortality expressed in unadorned language with child-like conviction." The. Chinese show their belief in immortality by worshiping their ancestors. When a man dies, they say Ile has returned to his family. Confucius taught that the spirits of the good are allowed to revisit their earthly habitations to receive homage and to bestow blessing. The Egyptians believed in a dwelling-place of the dead and a future judg ment. " Osiris judges the dead, and having weighed their heart in the scales of justice,' sends the wicked into darkness and the just to the god of light." According to Persian belief, man passed to a future of reward or penalty. Some tribes of South American Indians believe that there are two great powers of good and evil and a number of inferior deities who have been the creators of different families; and that when an Indian dies his soul goes to live with the deity who controls his particular family. Another American tribe " expect, when they die, to return to the original seat of their forefathers; the good reaching it by means of the intervening lake, which the wicked, burdened with their sins, cannot cross." The Choctaws are said to " hold that
the spirit lives after death and must travel a great distance towards the west, and across a dreadful, deep, and rapid stream upon a long and ,The good pass it safely, but the wicked slip and fall." The native tribes of Australia believe that'all good mcn, who are properly buried, at their death enter heaven, which, they say, is "a delightful place, the abode of two good divinities with an abundance of food, a pleasant climate, freedom from evil spirits, and pleasures suited to their tastes. They believe also in an evil spirit ,who dwells in the nethermost regions." "The Greenlander believes that at death the soul travels to a land of perpetual summer, all sunshine and no night. But the journey is difficult and attended with many perils, iu some of which the soul, suffer ing another death may perish utterly, to exist no more." Several nations in Java and America have, it is said, the idea of a perilous bridge which has to be crossed at death; while in Polynesia some think the soul, instead of crossing a bridge, must pass over a great gulf in a canoe. Among the more cultivated ancient nations nobler ideas of immortality were sometimes cherished. Homer represents Achilles as convinced of the existence of souls after death by the appearance to him of the dead Patroclus in a dream. Plato describes Socrates as arguing and declaring the sure immortality of the siiirits of good men, and, it would seem, of all men—though only the pure could be happy. The Old Testament Scriptures undeniably refer to the fact of a future life, though they give only an incomplete revelation concerning it. Of Enoch they say, " He was not, for God took him." Abraham, they say, " di-A and was gathered to his fathers," referring, not to his burial, for he was not buried near their graves, but to his entrance into the future state. So Jacob was gathered to his people when he died, though his burial was delayed many days. So Aaron was gathered to his people, though he was buried on Mount Hor; and Moses also, though no man knew of his sepulcher. Abraham, with other Old Testament believers, desired a heavenly country and " looked for the city which bath the foundations." David said, " I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." 7. Christ and the New Testament bring life and immortality to light, certifying what had been doubtful and dim. Christ stands as the supreme and final witness to the fact.