FUTURE LIFE. The purpose of this ar ticle is not to discuss the varying conceptions of a future life which have been believed and taught through the many generations of human existence. It is not an attempt to trace the history or development of the doctrine of a future life. It is no part of the plan to prove or disprove the matter of continued existence after death or any particular theory thereof, nor to disclose the ground on which this belief has been built. All that is attempted is to present, as fully as space will allow, a summary of this belief as held and expressed by fairly representative minds in all generations. To record every shade of difference, or to quote from authorities in each of the different reli gious movements is impossible on account of the length to which this article would run. By a series of carefully selected quotations it is hoped to enable the reader to get a hint of what men in different nations and periods of human history have thought on this unceasingly important matter.
Prehistoric.— In the prehistoric period of human life there is in the nature of things no written record of man's belief concerning the future or anything else. The evidence dug up from the burial places of very ancient man is such as to convince any one that in the remote periods of human existence man believed that death of the body was not the end of life. It was believed that the spirit of man lived on; that it often returned to the place of its earthly existence; that it knew those who still lived on earth. It is not at all certain that all primitive races had this belief.
Pre-Christian.— The earliest records known in which man has tried to express his ideas of the future are not easy to understand. It is far from easy to select sentences that express the idea with any clearness.