§&xm\\ ^mvmii^ Jihat^g THE GIFT OF P^>Jdoboip9aUxx^ I^LAri^ kznssns : ^fxj^s 9724 olin Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924029320326 WORKS OF HENRY FRANK MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY 8vo: $1M net; hy mail $2.00 'THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET! A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY 12mo : illustrated: $1.50 net; by mail $1.65 THE DOOM OF DOGMA AND THE TRIUMPH OF TRUTH 12mo: $1.85 net; by mail $2.00 THE MASTERY OF MIND IN THE MAKING OF A MAN 12mo: $1.00 THE KINGDOM OF LOVE 12mo: $1.00 THE SHRINE OF SILENCE 12mo: $1.00 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY BEING AN ORIGINAL EXCURSION INTO HISTORICAL RE- SEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY POINTING TO A NEW SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM BY HENRY FRANK AUTHOR OF "THE TRIUMPH OF TRUTH," "THE MASTERY OF MIND," "THE KINGDOM OF LOVE," ETC. MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, FOUNDER AND FOR OVER TEN YEARS SPEAKER FOR THE METROPOLITAN INDEPENDENT CHURCH, NEW YORK CITY BOSTON SHERMAN, FRENCH tf COMPANY 1909 Copyright, 1909 Sherman, French &^ Company Mssn^ TO DR. PAUL CARUS WHOSE COSMIC MIND AND PROFOUND LEARNING HAVE BEEN A FREQUENT SOURCE OF INSPIRATION TO THE AUTHOR THESE PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION It is pleasing and encouraging to the author to leam that a second edition of a work of this charac- ter is called for so soon after the original publication. Because of the peculiar nature of the argument pre- sented, and the fact that it would appeal chiefly to a studious and thoughtful class of readers, the author was at first doubtful of its popular reception. But the fact that it has been widely read and discussed on this continent and in Europe, and that the argument has been seriously taken by the majority of the reviewers, gave the author the courage to expand it into a far more elaborate treatise, which is now presented to the public in his latest work, " Psychic Phenomena, Science and Immortality." Insomuch as the author has taken advantage of that publication to reply to some of the strictures of certain critics, he will not here, as he had originally intended, make any extended comments on the same. •Suffice to say that only two or three serious objec- tions were raised among the hundred or more reviews, and these were from sources sufficiently important to demand respectful attention. I will but briefly mention them. One objection was that the soul could not be a spiritual element coterminous with the body ; for if so, then when a limb of the body was amputated it would carry off with it a portion of the soul, and thus destroy its unity. This objector failed to observe the exposition attempted in the work of the actual seat of the soul. This was found to be centralised in the cranial areas, where all the PKEFACE spiritual affections were permanently registered, and where the essence , of the soul maintained its integrity and unity, despite what mutilations the physical organism might undergo. This fact is ex- panded into a long biological exposition in the supplementary work which the author hopes will prove convincing. The second objection, and the most serious, re- ferred to the author's specific reliance on the scientific declaration that the ultimate vital substance in the human organism was essentially indestructible or immortal under ideal conditions. It was contended by certain critics that the thoroughgoing investigar tions of E. Maupas and Professor G. N, Calkins had utterly disproved the supposed discoveries of Weismann and former biologists, who depended on insufficient knowledge in making their statements as to the essential immortality of living matter. But while E. Maupas positively opposes the Weis- mannian declaration, students will find by investi- gation that Professor Calkins is far more cautious and admits that his conclusions are still indecisive because of insufficient nutriment for the germ cell, which, if he had been able to supply, he asserts, might possibly have rescued it from death. This proposition I also elaborately review in my supple- mentary work, showing that the latest admission of biologists is that ultimate living matter, as in pro- tozoa, does never meet with natural death, that death, when it does occur in the germ cell, is acci- dental and unessential. Another objection, which is presented by that PREFACE able Rationalist periodical, "The Literary Guide," of London, consists of the impossibility of defining the boundaries lying between the " living " and "non-living" matter, "and to say which of the intermixed parts are dead and which living." I think the objector lost sight of the fact that the terms " dead " and " living " are merely accommo- dating terms, intended not to be construed in their absolute sense. That is, what is called "dead" matter is physically the same as the " living " matter, but in a different chemical or " formed " condition. It can no longer perform the office of living matter. Living matter, as compared with dead matter, refers only to the pure protoplasm which forms, as Dr. Wilson informs us, a "proto- plasmic continuity " throughout the organism. The living essence of this protoplasmic unity consists, according to many authorities, of " life units," which are hypothetical and invisible. It is contended by this critic that there is no room in an organism for the visible massive body of "non-living" matter, _" if this is itself animated by particles separated by only the thousandth part of an inch." But the units of living matter are invisible and ultra- microscopical. In a molecule of water there are so many atoms of oxygen and hydrogen. Now these atoms are invisible and ultra-microscopical, yet they enter into the composition of every molecule. Does the fact that the invisible atoms permeate the visible molecule of water interfere with the realisation of the existence of the water ? Does the fact of the existence of the inner, non-visible atomic units of PREFACE hydrogen and oxygen, in immediate contact, leave no room for the outer, visible body of water into which they have been formed? Then why should the fact that the living units enter into the com- position of every cell and tissue, and are no farther apart than the thousandth part of an inch, interfere with the realisation of the non-living matter? The invisible, living substance is so refined that while permeating every particle of the dead or non-living matter of the body, it does not crowd or supplant it. This, at least, is a logical deduction from the theory of the existence of ultimate life units, which is still disputed by some biologists. But as I have particularly discussed this theory and its application to the problem of immortality in the supplementary work already referred to I will not here pay further attention to it. While the argument advanced in this work is confessedly tentar tive and uncertain, I feel that it is emphatically rein- forced in my subsequent volume ; and, if the author may make so bold as to venture an opinion On his own efforts, it is there brought much closer to the point of conviction. If the two works are read in the order of their sequence, first the present volume and then the sup- plementary, the author hopes that the novel ground taken and the peculiar application of the scientific information each contains, may remove at least a bit of the fog that for all these ages has hovered around the problem of human immortaUty. New York City, HENRY FRANK. April, 1911. PKEFACE The author of this work does not profess to have advanced an argument which finally proves the im- mortality of the human soul. Neither does he pre- tend to have presented an argument in disproof of or prejudicial to such a demonstration. He set out with the one and only determination of finding what in Nature and human experience, in philoso- phy and the natural sciences might enahle him to reach a rational conclusion concerning so profound and world-consequential a prohlem. He had his mind thoroughly prepared to accept with resigna- tion whatever deduction from the facts he might discover would be logically necessary. He had wholly freed himself from whatever traditional and superstitious disposition toward the subject he might have inherited from ancestral and hereditary influences. He was led into an original investiga- tion of the subject by the following circumstances. He had been for many years a minister of the Gospel in two orthodox Christian denominations, but became from time to time impressed by the de- liverances of modem science and their exposition of inconsistencies in the orthodox interpretation of the- ology. At length he threw olSf the impediment of both theological and ecclesiastical restrictions, and freeing himself from all denominational relation- ship, undertook to found his own congregation in the Nation's metropolis and present whatever con- PEEFAOE scientious interpretation of tte truth Ms studies and investigation might foree upon him. He soon discovered that even so free and un- trammelled a congregation as he had assembled was willing to give him the utmost liberty of thought on all other subjects save that which related to the nature and future of the human soul. This seemed to them, as a rule, to be extremely sacred, or at least one that so profoundly concerned them they wished chiefly to be set right, if possible, regarding it even to the total neglect of all other religious concep- tions. By letter and personal word a continual in- fluence was brought to bear on the author till he was forced to express his conclusions. This he hes- itated to do, for, having cast aside all the estab- lished orthodox theories of religion, he felt satis- fied that he would be forced by science and rational philosophy also to cast aside this doctrine, which to them seemed to be so vastly important. He told them, however, that he would be willing to inform them of his conclusions if they would with him travel over the entire historical and scientific ground relating to the doctrine, and with an un- prejudiced mind accept as satisfactory whatever they actually discovered as the truth, — if such a discovery were possible. With that promise granted, the author began a careful and conscientious investigation, and from time to time offered the results of his work to them. The investigation he then made, which was several years ago, so deeply interested him and so whetted his appetite for additional knowledge that he con- PREFACE eluded to make it a specialty and some time aggre- gate and organize the result in book form. This volume is the consequence. The reader will pursue about the same path as did the author in traversing the problematical theme. The first half of the book carries with it a negative, or at least an indifferent result. After making a careful study of all the historical argu- ments in favor of the souFs existence and its fu- ture life, the author could see nothing of value in fortifying one's affirmative conception. Indeed, it seemed to him that in the light of the modem knowledge of Nature the old arguments were all puerile, weak and ineffective. He does not, there- fore, hesitate to say so, and should the reader close the work at the end of the first book, he would wander away with a feeling that perhaps all the bulwarks of the old faith and hope had been smitten. To the author the argument that has so long ap- pealed to many with an affirmative convi<;tion con- cerning the problem, namely, that because the con- ception of immortality has prevailed in the mind of man from the very beginning of history there must be something divine and incontrovertible in its intimations, seemed especially unsatisfactory and inconclusive. He devoted, therefore, many pages to a detailed investigation of the source of this apparent con- sciousness of survival after death, studying its ram- ifying stream of influence from the dawn of time to the most intellectual periods of human history. PEErACE He sought information among the relics of the stone age and the remains of prehistoric man, as far as attainable, some of which are most suggestive on this theme, and compared their intimations with the sources from which science now instructs us they must have been acquired. The records of all the nations of antiquity were called to witness as far as they are accessible in standard historical works. Egypt, India, Abys- sinia, Babylonia, Caldsea, Judaea, Greece, Rome, the mystic Druids, Scandinavia, are all called to the witness stand to give evidence of their conceptions and the source from which they were derived. The result of this investigation to the author seems to negative the conclusion so often deduced, namely, that because the belief in survival was so imiversal, therefore it demonstrated its own verity. The investigation then turned to the Bible, the idea of immortality which the Jews entertained previous to the advent of Jesus, and its bearing on their civilization. Erom that theme the path led to Jesus and the Christian church, to learn whether Jesus himself taught with absoluteness and cer- tainty any specific doctrine concerning the after life. But Jesus suggests Paul, the practical founder of the Christian church; and Paul sug- gests Peter, his potent and ever-obnoxious rival. And at that juncture the author was led into a long and devious by-path of history wherein he appar- ently discovered that Paul himself is responsible for the historical and standard conception of im- mortality, which has ever since attached to the- PiffirACE ological indoctrination, and that Peter merely de- sired to teach the pre-Jesuan doctrine as it was un- derstood in the Sanhedrim. That doctrine related to the conditions of this earth only, and to that very Kingdom of God, to he e&tahlished and consecrated here as the Paradise of heaven, which Jesus himself emphatically taught. Paul had apparently dipped deeply into the the- osophical mysteries of the Orient, especially as in- corporated in the Eleusinian rites, and, according to a carefully worked out investigation of his la- bors, seems to have foisted the teleology of that fas- cinating but mystical drama upon the practical in- culcations of the Christian religion. The fact that this was seemingly the source from which the doctrine of the after life was incorpo- rated into Christianity compels a careful study of the derivation of the tradition of the resurrection of Jesus and the force of Paul's argument con- cerning it as the foundation of the hope of immor- tality for the human race. With this investiga- tion we close the first part of the book, with the negative conclusion that during the first three cen- turies of the Christian church no serious or clear conception of the after life was entertained, nor was it inculcated as a necessary doctrine of the creed. All these studies led to n^ative results concern- ing the historical absoluteness and philosophical certainty of the life of mankind beyond the grave. We entered on the second half of the work with no preconceived apprehension that what would be PKEFAOE discovered would be convincing on either side of the subject It was the author's object to learn if he possibly could whether there was anything at all in the natural sciences that would lead to some accurate knowledge concerning the soul of man and the possible after life. He indeed anticipated that all the results would be negative; for he knew that almost all the physicists had so decided. But one thing, he had resolved upon : — that was, that he would abide strictly, without prevarication or self-deception, with the facts and laws in Nature which the physical sciences had discovered. There- fore his appeal was more earnestly to the strictly scientific records than to those of philosophy, psy- chology or metaphysics. Indeed he was aware that if any conclusion could be reached which would at all demand the respect of scientific men it must be derived from a source wholly divorced from any metaphysics or philosophy that was tinged with re- ligious prejudice. Consequently he avoided all the confusing trails and by-paths of speculative conjec- ture and kept close to the well-beaten track of ex- perimental science. More especially did he call for the helpful knowledge which the great German bi- ologists, histologists and chemists, such as Haeckel and his contemporaries, have furnished. The pioneer in the scientific study of vital phenomena, Dt. Beale of London, and a score of recent explor- ers in chemical, electrical and biological realms, such as Huxley, Darwin, Crookes, Lord Kelvin, and others, have been the authorities relied upon. The author was determined that he would not PREFACE halt at any, even the most emphatically material- istic fact or deduction, these investigators might present, but accept every declaration of the truth, as such, no matter what bearing it would have upon the doctrine under investigation. He confesses his own surprise at the result. What the opinion of others may b^, of course he cannot tell, but of this he is assured that he feels his deductions are strictly logical and grounded in ac- curate and indisputable scientific data. He be- lieves that the result as well as the method of this study is wholly original, as he knows of no author who has traversed the entire region he felt called upon to cover in order to assure himself that com- plete justice had been done to every phase of the problem. He leaves the conclusions, which the force of logic itself, devoid of any traditional bias, seemed to compel, to the patient consideration of those who may be interested. He hopes he has avoided any indication of dogmatism; for he has no dogma which he desires to propagate. His only wish is to seek and to find the truth. Has he foimd it ? H. F, CONTENTS PART I The Histoet and the Peoblem of the Ftj- TUEE Life 15 chaptee I. Specui*ative Theoeies ... 17 II. The ANTiatJiTY of the Concep- tion OF Immoetauty . 27 m. Evolution of the Conception OF Immoetality , ... 36 IV. The Natuealistic Oeigin of THE Conception of Immoe- tauty ....... 56 V. Peimitive Soueces of Belief IN Aftee Life .... 66 VI. Deuidic Souece of Belief in Aftee Life 75 vn. assyeian and egyptian SoiTECES OF Belief ... 86 Vin. Assyeio-Babylonian Soueces OF Belief 93 IX. Evolution of Geecian Belief in Aftee Life .... 104 X. Natuealistic Oeigin of the Jewish Conception . . .129 XI. Oeigin of Cheistian Concep- tion of Aftee Life . . . 146 CONTENTS CHAPTER PA0E Xn. Obigin of Christian Concep- tion OF After Life (con- tinued) 158 Xin. Christ's Conception of Im- mortal Life 174* XIV. Paul and the Doctrine of Eternal Life . . . .186 XV. Paul and the Doctrine of the Resurrection . . .199 XVI. Early Christian Conception op Eternal Life .... 210 PART II Recent Science and the Problem of the Future Life 221 XVII. The Physical Basis of the Soul ....... XVEII. Grecian Philosophies on the Nature of the Universe XIX. Speculative Scientific Views XX. Conflicting Views of the Na- ture OF Matter .... 248 XXI. Recent Scientific Analysis OF Matter 247 XXII. Sensation and Intelligence in Matter . . . . . 256 XXin. The Search for the Seat of the Soul 269 XXIV. The Intelligence of Lower Animals 279 CONTENTS CB4PTEII PAGE XXV. Moral Chabactek Among LowEK Animals .... 286 XXVI. The Nature and Generation OF Instinct 295 XXVII. Analysis of the Human Soul 304 XXVIIL The Fundamental Thesis op the New PsYCHOLOGT . . SIS XXIX. PSYCHOGENT OR SoUL GENERA- TION 324 XXX. The Problem of the Origin op Organic Life 332 XXXI. Link Between Living and not Living 344 XXXII. Creation and Potency of Per- sonal Soul ..... 365 XXXni, Physical Origin of Self-Con- sciousness 364 XXXIV. Proofs op the Soul's Exist- ence AND Supremacy . . 374 XXXV. Identity of Substance, En- ergy AND Spirit .... 384 XXXVI. Scientific Intimations op the Soul's Survival .... 39*7 XXXVIL Physical and Psychical Im- mortality ..... 410 XXXVni. Recapitulation and Conclu- sion OF the Argument . . 421 XXXIX. Concluding Eemares . . , 451 Index 45& PAKT I THE HISTORY AND THE PROBLEM OF THE FUTURE LIFE CHAPTEE I SPECULATIVE THEORIES From time immemorial men have pondered: Hath man a soul? If so, of what is it made, ■whence hath it come, and whither shall it go! Shall it live after the body, or shall it dissolve, at last, like this " muddy vesture of decay," and he no more ? The answer has always been the echo of man's wish. Has his life here been one of peace and pleasure, he has viewed elsewhere his soul's fruition and eternal joy. Has he been doomed to penury and want; has haggard woe trodden deep furrows in his waxen face; then looks he askance at other worlds where fate sits grim and gruesome and of- fers naught but tears and sweat of blood and rack- ing pain. He who sought in Nature's countenance to read the riddle, has departed silent and unsated. Behind the solemn clouds the sinking sun of life had set forever, No returning dawn, heralded his restoration. He had gone. Within the curtain of eternal night he lay forever folded. Therefore men ignorantly sought wisdom from those who dreamed and prophesied, who found their God in secret caves, and learned from Him the mys- tery of being. Prelate and poet, student and phi- losopher alike worshipped at the shrine of igno- rance, beseeching Truth for knowledge and conso- lation, i But we, who to-day traverse the course which 17 18 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY mankind have for ages pursued, behold them clam- bering the rugged mountain sides, whose jutting rocks pierce and lacerate their weary bodies, ever wistfully scanning the heights for Truth's reveal- ments, and fair Hope's return. For ages men have despaired to look beyond the grave. At last de- spair grew into indifference, and men cared not whether life continued or no. Speculation then assumed a pessimistic turn, and men began to ask: Why should we live? Is not this life sufficiently surfeited with woe to pull the veil of delusion from our eyes? Who is happy? No one. Who does not sense " the respect that makes calamity of so long life ? " Aye ! each of us. " For who would bear the whips and scorns of time^ The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely. To gnmt and sweat xmder a weary life," forever and forever ? Thus have men reasoned themselves against even the hope of immortality. To escape the con- fusion and perplexity of the problem, they argue why is not this hope and dream of an after life but a misplaced anticipation of that paradise which shall some time prevail here upon this planet ? Some have dreamed of a social and perennial paradise, as man's future earthly estate, and disap- pointed in its realization, they have cast the vision of its fulfilment beyond the skies. There the rid- dle will be read; there will they enjoy such de- lights as the heart conceives but this earth cannot engender. Others argued that this has been a fool- SPECULATIVE THEORIES 19 ish and weak surrender. What men have for all time been dreaming of, shall yet be attained on this planet, and that which in despair they cast be- yond the skies, shall some time become the visitant and ruler of this sphere. They insist, the immortality to be sought after is the immortality of individual character and the triumph of collective justice. Individual immor- tality, they say, is the outgrowth of egotism and selfishness. The highest sacrifice is the resigna- tion to oblivion after a career of goodness and in- tegrity has been achieved. But why, still others insist, must the hope of an earthly paradise, peopled with children of light and love, truthfulness and peace, neutralize the hope of an eternal paradise in which each of us may par- ticipate? If as a race we shall yet achieve such glorious ends, then why not encourage the hope that each of us individual factors, who in our time has " pushed on the car of progress," shall yet wear the crown in other worlds which they here shall some time wear whom we have helped to win. If the race as a whole in the future shall inherit the fruits of our efforts, why should not we, who have fought and died, live again to win and rejoice ? They admit it is man's egotism that prompts this desire for eternal life. But they contend that man's egotism and self-consciousness are the prod- uct of ^Nature's evolutionary process. Man is more egotistic than the animal because he is more self- conscious; and were he not thus self-conscious he would tiot be man, but still an animal. The bird 20 MODERN LIGHT ON" IMMOETALITY is more self-conscious than the bough on which it poises, and is, therefore, the bird and not the bough. Self-consciousness is the basis of egotism, and egot- ism is the substratum of individuality. Having found one's self, it is but natural to desire to pos- sess one's self forever. The bird is happier than the bough, and therefore loves itself better than the bough. Man loves himself better than aught else in the world, and he would not be man if he did not. The cultivation of such egotism is not vicious. It becomes so only when it is transformed into im- pure gratification and brutal selfishness. The de- sire to perpetuate that individuality which we have learned to love because of its aspirations, aims and capabilities, is no more to be condemned than the desire to live forever in the presence of beauty, or forever to be transported with the chords of melody. Nature has achieved in man her highest degree of intelligence, consciousness and capacity. Why should not he, in whom Nature has registered this highest achievement, desire to follow the unfold- ment within his own consciousness, throughout the whole compass of her possibilities ? Thus some are led to think that the desire to live forever is but the product of self-consciousness. The two are complementary. They cannot exist apart. The very fact that the self-consciousness exists proves the desire. The fact that the desire exists prophesies the continued self-consciousness. Again, some have sought the solution of the problem in the assumption that the soul, as a living entity, only temporarily inhabits this frame, but SPECULATIVE THEOKIES 21 lives apart from it, and so soon as this tenement dissolves immediately enters and inhabits another prepared for it. In this view the soul is a cosmic traveller, flying from pole to pole and realm to realm, seeking everywhere its fitting abode, and ill- contented until its affinity is found. !N"or shall it ever be found in the transitory realms of time. Its final peace but comes when it ceases to body forth in matter and sinks into the unindividuated source from which it originally came. " Our birth is but a sleeping and a forgetting : The soul that riseth with us, our life's star. Hath had elsewhere its setting, And Cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, Nor in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God who is our home." Again, it is contended by a pseudo-scientific school of thought that the primitive notion of sur- vival which has so thoroughly permeated religious thought in every passing phase of civilization is one of the strongest proofs of the actual post-exist- ence of the soul. Discerning that among the tra- ditions of the most savage tribes there are evident indications of belief that the soul will travel to other spheres, or at least in some form hover round the earth as an invisible phantom ; they deduce the con- clusion that mankind not having since been able to free themselves from this primitive conception, it must have an abiding place in the truth of the uni- 22 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY verse. Therefore, survival being a race-conception, must be a fact in Nature. While such a deduction may not be acceptable from a scientific point of view, it is nevertheless interesting to note that how- ever civilized and cultured men become, they seem to be unable to divest themselves of the notion ; that it is manifestly the most persistent of all the prim- itive conceptions of the race. We shall consequently find it necessary to study with much care the origin and nature of this per- sistent conception to learn whether it holds any logical claim on the deductions of science. Be- cause a thought has persisted in human conscious- ness from time immemorial is not sufficient proof that it is therefore essential and true; errors per- sist as well through ages as do truths ; for man is so subject to subjective and sub-conscious influences that he must be on his guard lest he think that to be objectively a fact in Nature which is but a resid- ual trace of antecedent racial experience. It is significant that the observation by students of the notion of survival in the human mind has in different periods led to diametrically opposite con- clusions, resulting from the resident bias with which they approach the subject. Or perhaps it would be more correct to state that although approached from opposite points of view, the diametrically dif- ferent deductions drawn have led them, curiously enough, to use such deductions as corroborative evi- dences of the soul's survival after death. Before the careful methods of recent science de- SPECULATIVE THEORIES 23 veloped it "was commonly insisted upon by theologi- ans that there could be found no trace of the con- ception of survival among the savage tribes; that the notion of immortality was wholly foreign to them and that it entered the human mind only through the voice of revelation. Dr. Watson, the eminent evangelical author of " Watson's Institutes," intimates this when he says : " There is in nature no indubitable declaration of man's immortality, nor any facts and principles so obvious as to enable us confidently to infer it. All observation lies directly against the doctrine of the immortality of man ;" etc. Hence, because nat- ural man could as he conceived never discern in Nature any intimations of immortality, the idea could not have occurred to him save as " furnished by revelations contained in the Holy Scriptures." In fact, it was a principle long sanctified by sa- cred usage that every notion relating to the soul, its origin and future possibilities, must need have en- tered the human mind only through the channel of revelation, and that had not God deigned to have vouchsafed such information and hope to hu- mankind, man would have lived hopelessly on this planet, so far as any possibility of future existence may have been concerned. The argument which he advances and which pre^ vailed through many Christian centuries is that be- cause man could not of himself and through the in- timation of Nature conceive the possibility of aftea*- death existence, the notion having seized the hu- 24 M0DEE:N' light ON" IMMOKTALITT man mind since the advent of Christ, it must nec- essarily be true because it was a deliverance of revelation. In short, the fact that since the dawn of Chris- tianity all true believers have placed their hope of immortality in the sacrifice of Jesus, and that no such hope had ever before entered the human heart, proves beyond a peradventure that the hope is not groundless and that immortality is an in- disputable truth in Nature. The wider observations of modern scientists, the marvellous revelations of recent archaeological re- search, of course, all emphatically disprove the as- sertions so confidently made for centuries by the theologians. We now learn that not only is it not true that the conception of immortality came first to humankind through the declarations of Holy Scripture, but that however far back toward the dawn of human history we may traverse we cannot find the period in which some intimation of im- mortality was not already resident in the human mind. We shall shortly review this topic more at length. But it is this later discovery which has been em- ployed by students who enjoy a bias toward the belief in the doctrine of immortality on which to rest their argument in favor of the doctrine. As the old theologians concluded the doctrine must be true because it came not by natural observation to the human mind but only through divine interven- tion and revelation; the newer theologians and pseudo-scientists insist on the contrary, that because SPECULATIVE THEOEIES 25 of the fact that the notion of survival has always existed however germinally in the human breast, therefore it is an indubitable fact in Nature and consequently indisputable. Accordingly we read in one of the very latest and apparently most scientific studies of " The Future Life," the title of a very able work by an author who employs the pseudonym of " Louis Elbe," that " Side by side with scientific observation, which carries with it the conviction belonging to ascer- tained facts, the traditions handed down to us by antiquity retain a species of moral authority which is also of high importance, and in studying the still vexed problem of a future life we can in no wise afford to neglect them. If we admit that it is pos- sible to disentangle from them a fairly definite con- ception such as might be considered, in principle at least, to epitomize the common faith of widely divergent raceSj and thus to formulate the perma- nent belief of mankind, we are bound to acknowl- edge that a general occurrence of this kind tends to endow the teachings of primitive philosophy with the authority of an original revelation, as if prime- val man had been favored with am, insight into the problem of the invisible world which we cannot now regain.'' He admits that such " primitive authority " can- not call for rational credence until it is supple- mented by the confirmatory evidence of more exact scientific investigation, and undertakes to show in an extensive and labored work that such confirma- tion is now at hand. 26 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY We shall find it, therefore, encumbent on our- selves to look more carefully into these primitive notions and to discern whether the fact of their convergence and apparently common basis is really of an authoritative and compulsory nature, or whether they did not all arise from the same com- mon experience of the race and consequently led to similar if not identical conclusions. We shall see that there is a vast field of ancient manners and customs which seem to have a com- mon origin and appertain to common religious and social usages, yet which sprung up, almost simul- taneously, among widely divergent and unrelated people. We shall therefore be forced to study the possibility of the doctrine we are considering hav- ing sprung up in a similar manner and from simi- lar sources among many peoples so widely sep- arated. Approaching this study without any bias favor- able or unfavorable to the common hope of the race in immortality, it shall be our only endeavor in this work to investigate its possibility and what corroboration or disproof of the same science may afford us. CHAPTEK II THE ANTIQUITY OF THE CONCEPTION OF IMMOKTAUTY As I have intimated, modem scholarship is not yet wholly freed from the traditional theory that the doctrine of immortality was a special revela- tion from God, and that not until the time of Jesus was it recognized as a genuine doctrine of religion* One reads with surprise, for instance, in a recent and most excellent work, " The Evolution of Im- mortality," written with an apparently sincere de- sire of being wholly consonant with the discoveries of modern science, this curious assertion : "Two things are usually taken for granted in all discussions concerning future life. One is the essen- tial immortality of the soul. The other is that the same kind and quality of soul is common to all men- Are these assumptions defensible? • , . The fact is that only in Christendom and Islam is the essential immortality of the individual spirit asstuned. To the contention that belief in eternal life has been held oZ- ways and everywhere, and by all men, the only reply is that the facts are not so," ^ Undoubtedly the primitive conception of the sotd was indefinite and confused. The aborigine knew but little of a distinctive personal soul, save as it resembled a shadowy reflection of the once living individual. Seeing again in his dreams him whom once he had seen in the living body amid the activ- 1 " Evolution of Immortality," by S. D. McCofinell, Chap. IV, pp. 37, 40. 27 28 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY ities of earth, he assumed that the departed still lived; hence with food and raiment he supplied him on the edges of the grave, imagining that he returned in the night and partook of the worship- per's generosity. It is not, of course, true that the primitive con- ception of the soul was distinct and individual- ized. It was shadowy, vague, ephemeral, indis- tinct. The notion grew with advancing civilization till in the times of the Christian religion it devel- oped into vividness and clarity enhaloed with a spiritual illumination and sweetened with a divine flavor that made it especially endearing. But that it was not in some manner entertained by the human mind, in all ages and at all times, is a careless and mistaken statement. Strange to say, the notion became far more de- fined and positive in certain of the so-called pagan nations who surrounded the ancient Jews than it did among them. Notwithstanding their claim to direct and particular revelation from the eternal God, such less developed nations as the Gauls and Caldseans, and even the Chinese, not to speak of the highly civilized Egyptians, entertained in the time of Moses, and even ages antedating his advent, very specific and clearly defined conceptions both of the soul and its immortality. In order that we may understand the treatment which modem science affords this disputed theme we should fully apprehend the fact that in some manner all ages and all civilizations have had some notion of immortality, more or less definite; and ANTIQUITY OF THE CONCEPTION 29 that the only mission of present day science con- cerning it is to penetrate the fog which so long sur- rounded it and expose the data of modem discovery that either substantiate or disprove it. What, then, are some of the notions entertained by some of the ancient pagan peoples ? To begin withj they are by no means identical, though it may be stated as a positive fact that an original germ or nucleus of belief obtained among all peo- ple "which "was identical in its nature. For instance, the most primitive savage entertains the idea that the shadowy remains of his neighbor lingered about the grave and after awhile com- pletely departed. Says Tyler in " Anthropology," p. 344: " The Zulu will say that at death a man's shadow departs from his body and becomes an ancestral ghost. . . . The Malays do not like to disturb a sleeper lest they hurt him by waking his body while his soul is out. . . . The Nicarauguans when questioned by the Spaniards said that when a man or woman died there comes out of their mouth something that resembles a person and does not die, but the body remains here. . . . Some Greenlanders reckoned man as having two souls, his shadow and his breath; and the Fijians said that the ^ dark spirit ' or shadow goes down to the world below, but the * light spirit ' or reflection seen in the water stays near where he dies." Here it is seen we have in germinal form the crude notions of hell and heaven, and even a faint hint of the absorption of the soul in the supreme 30 MODERN" LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY essence so exquisitely developed in the later Hindu religions. The idea advanced by Dr. McConnell, in his "Evolution of Immortality," that the conception of personal immortality is not universal in all be- liefs, however aboriginal, and was really only in- vented by Christendom and Islam, seems inconsist- ent with the facts. For instance, even the appar- ently modem religious institution of invoking the saints for personal relief, as so conspicuously culti- vated in the Eoman Catholic faith, is found to exist in an emphatic manner as an aboriginal institution among the negroid races. "The North American Indian, who prays to the spirits of his forefathers to give him good weather or luck in hunting, if he happens to fall into the fire will believe he has neglected to make some offering to the spirits, and they have therefore punished him. . . . In Guinea the Negroes who regularly bring food and drink to the images of their dead relatives look to them for help in the trials of life, and in times of peril or distress crowds of men and women may be seen on the hill tops or the skirts of forests calling in most piteous and touching tones on the spirits of their ancestors." ^ Here we have a clear anticipation of ancestor wor- ship, as afterwards forcibly developed among the Chinese and Hindus, the adoration and interces- sion of the saints, and the continued existence of the individual soul. We shall see how this primitive conception un- 1 Idler's " Anthropology/' p. 352. ANTIQUITY OF THE CONCEPTION 31 folded by examining, for example, the religious customs of the Chinese. Confucius was rather an ethical than a religious teacher; if we mean by religion the pursuit of such aspirations and possi- bilities as lie chiefly beyond the grave. For he utterly ignored all theories and teachings concern- ing Deity and the after life. Nevertheless, he in- culcated the adoration of the ancestors of the peo- ple and made this institution the burden of the na- tional religion. It would be futile, naturally, to search the writ- ings of Confucius for a clear and decisive knowl- edge, as imparted to him by the writings of his an- cestors, of the regions of the soul after death. But this much is certain: Confucius was an ardent ad- vocate of ancestor worship; he admitted that all the knowledge of the affairs of this world and a possible world hereafter which he could credit he had received from the writings of antiquity. In the most ancient writings known to the Chi- nese, the Canon of Shun, which were edited by Con- fucius, we find distinct reference to an injunc- tion to worship the " Six objects of Honor," among which are the " spirits of the sages and worthies of ancient times." ^ While there may be some dispute as to the clarity of the injunction, as to whether this reference to spirits implied a general belief in the spirits of all the departed as still existing, it is nevertheless evi- dent that a vague and germinal notion of the sur- 1 " The Religions of China," Legge, p. 26. 32 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY vival of the dead inhered in the worshipful usages of the most ancient Chinese. We are assured bj the most cautious students of the Chinese religions that in the most ancient forms and rituals of the faith there were employed such terms as clearly denoted that when a man died his body went back to the dust and his soul soared away into the heavens. Reference is even made to the occupations of some who were still in glory and attended by the spirits of those who once at- tended them on earth. ^ Although such incidental and sporadic refer- ences to the other world, because of their indecis- iveness and indefiniteness, were disappointing to the Chinese, and caused them finally to cast off the traditions of Confucianism and substitute for them the more mystical and teleogical superstitions of Taoism and Hindu Buddhism, nevertheless they sufficiently prove that even in the most primitive minds of human civilization the notion of the sur- vival of the dead was in some measure inculcated. By way of prejudicial comparison with the re- ligion of Christianity the indefiniteness and un- consoling vagueness of the Chinese teachings are descanted upon. We must not, however, overlook the fact that Taoism was really more ancient than Confucianism; that Lao Tse, its founder, was a very old man when Confucius began to teach, and that that religion is surcharged with all manner of spiritistic ritualism and soul distressing theology. 1 Legge, " Rel. of China," p. 267. ANTIQUITY OF THE CONCEPTION 33 In this religion you find antedating by many thou- sands of years all the shocking phases of medium- istic superstition and bewildering witchcraft which in comparatively modem times so benighted the mind of Christendom. Spirits are everywhere. Nothing that the eye sees, the ear hears or the body feels but is the incarnation of some spirit. These indeed are nature spirits; but no less is there the return of the disembodied spirit in some present- able form or in invisible adumbration to encour- age or affright the dismayed votary. " Spirits haunt houses and frequent thickets. Their sounds, weird and eerie, are heard in the darkness of the night, when the wind is howling about the roof, or the rats and mice are holding revel under the floor, or behind the wainscot in the crevices of the wall. The dread of spirits is the nightmare of the China- man's life and to this dread Taoism panders." ^ How like an anticipation of the experiences of Christendom for many centuries this description sounds! Almost the same language might have been used by Lecky in his " History of Rational- ism," and indeed is used to portray the supersti- tions relating to spirits and witchcraft that pre- vailed in Europe and America as late as the first quarter of the nineteenth century ! Step by step the evolution of the soul's condition beyond the grave from the most primitive times can easily be traced. Primarily the soul was a shadow of the body, was so called, and so believed 1 Legge, p. 197. 34 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY to be. It stayed with the body after death, and was primarily supposed to be attached to it in the grave. Then the notion came that the shadow might wander away from the body only to return again to abide with it ; and that in such wanderings the soul was provided with food and raiment by the wandering shadow. " Later, the mind of man rises to a conception less purely material, and the souls of the dead are imagined as being able to partially leave the tomb and congregate in a place of their own, where they pursue the occupations of the earthly life. Still later the idea arose that this new existence must be influenced by the deeds of the present life, for which it is either the reward or punishment. Two places are then distinguishable, Tartarus and Elysium, the one a place of torment for the souls of the transgressors, the other of happiness for the souls of the righteous." But often this more simplified form of the after life is developed into a complex condition which seems to destroy either the unity or the individuality of the soul and to classify it into several distinct per- sons. As in the ancient Chinese conception, the spirit was first again witnessed in what was called the spirit-tablet, a sort of fetich which commanded profound respect, or as afterwards in some mem- ber of the family who substituted the tablet and became the impersonation of the departed spirit, and was thus an object of reverence; or as still later in the more modem conceptions of Taoism, wherein the soul was supposed to consist of three ANTIQUITY OF THE CONCEPTION 35 parts, the shadow which could wander away, the spirit that hecame incorporate in the tablet or a member of the family, and the third, which re- mained with the body and was subject to all the tortures of purgatory. Then anon, after the in- vasion of the Buddhistic faith, howbeit many cen- turies before the advent of Christianity, yet in comparatively modem times, the theosophic con- ception of the sept-psychic or seven-phased soul came into vogue, with all the complex meander^ ings of the East Indian imagination. The point that I am attempting to emphasize is merely that the notion of the survival of the spirit after death in some form, whether clear or vague, has ever existed in the human mind from the most primitive of times to the present hour. CHAPTER III EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION OF IMMOETALITY Let us revert for a moment to the assertion that only in Christianity, and the religions that branched off from it, the notion of personal immortality was inculcated. As already quoted from McCon- nell : ^ " The fact is that only in Islam and Chris- tendom is the essential immortality of the indi- vidual spirit assumed." This sentence seems in a nutshell to present a long-lived misconception of historical fact. Had the author said not that for the first time was the essential personality of the spirit assumed in these religions, but for the first time emphasized and illuminated, he would have come nearer the fact, although still farther away from the traditional conception. It is so often declared that Jesus first brought immortality to life and gave hope of future ex- istence to the humblest individual, that for the sake of the truth it is but fair a further examinar tion of this declaration should be made. We shall see, I think, that the notion of per- sonal conscioiLS survival was a gradual evolution in human understanding and only in the time of Jesus reached a high altitude. Therefore at that 1" Evolution of Immortality." 36 EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION 37 time it became so conspicuous that to the casual student it would seem to be a revelation. But we shall witness the gradual development of the notion from the primary vagueness of an ab- stract conception to a distinct personal understand- ing, by reviewing hastily some of the literature re- lating to the soul after death. In this very ancient passage, for instance, from Ta-Hio ( The Perfecting of One's Self), which is called the chief of the Chinese " Kings," we read: "Death is not destruction properly so-called, but a decomposition which resolves each substance into its natural state. The intellectual substance again as- cends to heaven from which it came, the animal spirit, khi, unites with the aerial fluid, and the terrestrial and aqueous substances turn once more to earth and water." We are not only surprised to find in this pas- sage, which was written by Confucius at least five hundred years before Christ and probably ante- dates that epoch by many centuries, so clear an anticipation of the modern science of Chemistry, but a very clear forestatement of the abstruse phases of modem idealistic philosophy. Here it will be seen we have only a very vague assertion concerning the future state of the soul (" the in- tellectual principle"), yet sufficient to show that the notion of the after life was struggling for ex- pression in the mind of the thinker. Lao Tse, who, I have said, was a contemporary of, but much older than, Confucius, approaches in 38 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMORTAIITY his statements somewhat nearer to the idea of personal survival, yet states nothing distinct con- cerning after death consciousness. Nevertheless, in some passages he gives strong hint of the per- sonal hereafter. He declares " That which is sub- tile and spiritual in man is the portion of Heaven ; that which pertains to flesh and bones is the por- tion of earth." While in this passage we detect nothing distinct, in a statement of one of Lao Tse's immediate disciples, Chaung-Tse, known as Butterfly Chaung, who wrote at least as early as the Fourth century B. C, we read, " Death is the commencement of life ;" and again, " There is no absorption of the individuality in the tau, because individuality is not entirely perishable." Here at length, then, even in Chinese literature, we discover the several steps of evolution in the human conception of immortality, howbeit but in broad and vague outline. But when once the no- tion of personal immortality reaches a clear ex- pression in Chinese literature, it blossoms forth in telelogical luxuriance quite as effusive and imag- inative as that of Christianity or Mohammedan- ism, In the later literature, which from our stand- point is still quite ancient, we discover clear and quite vivid descriptions of the future state, often so vividly set forth as to give the chills to those who could faithfully believe. Not in all the lit- erature of the Roman Catholic Dogma has such a horrifying description of Hell and Purgatory been EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION 39 set forth as that we find in the books of Chaung- Tse and others. There are Ten Courts to Purga- tory and with unconscionable definiteness this col- orful writer depicts the increasing agony and suf- fering of each of the candidates who comes hither after death, and through which all living people must pass till they evolve through many re-incar- nations into the final absorption in Tao or eternal bliss. As a sample of what Purgatory meant to these ancient Chinese, and by way of comparison in vividness of presentation of misery with what was once set forth by Christian theologians, read what Yu li Ch'ao Chaun says : "In the Fifth Court the sinners are hurried away by a bull-headed, horse-faced demon to a famous ter- race where their physical punishments are aggra- vated by a view of their old homes. The Sixth Court is a vast noisy Gehenna, many leagues in extent and around it are sixteen wards. In the first the souls are made to kneel for a long time on iron shot. In the second they are placed up to their neck in filth. In the third they are pounded till the blood runs out. In the fourth their mouths are opened with iron pincers and filled full of needles. In the fifth they are bitten by rats. In the sixth they are enclosed in a net of thorns and nipped by locusts. In the seventh, they are crushed to a jelly. In the eighth, their skin is lacerated and they are bitten on the raw. In the ninth, their mouths are filled with fire. In the tenth, they are licked with flames. In the eleventh, they are subjected to noisome smells. In the twelfth, they are butted by oxen and trampled on by horses. In the 40 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT tiiirteenthj their hearts are scratched. In the four- teenth, their heads are rubbed till their skulls come off. In the fifteenth, they are chopped in two at the waist. In the sixteenth, their skin is taken off and rolled up into spills." However laughable this description may seem to us it proves that the Chinese mind at last came into a very positive and personal apprehension of the aftei^death condition of mortal inhabitants of this planet. But the picture is not all dark, for occasionally we come across really beautiful pas- sages indicating the state of the blissful and con- tented in the world beyond. In the Eighteenth century a Chinese wrote the following beautiful lines : " Man is indeed of heavenly birth ; Though seeming earthy of the earth ; " A very late poet writes with almost Christian inspiration these beautiful strains: " 'Tis common talk how partings sadden life ; There are no partings for us after death ; Lifers sweetest boon is after all to die ; Yet east and west the yellow fledglings fly. What will life bring to me and I should stay? What will death bring to me and I should go ? These thoughts surge through me in the light of day. And make me conscious that at last I know ! " ^ ■While among the Hindu Brahmans the doctrine 1 See Giles' Chinese Literature, passim. EYOLUTIOlf OF THE CONCEPTION 41 of personal survival of death may not have risen into the visible and illuminating consciousness which it has attained in the Christian conception, nevertheless it may be found expressly stated in their writings as a doctrine well understood, It is therefore especially surprising that any modem scholar shoidd assert that only in Chris- tendom and Islam has the notion of personal im- mortality been propounded. Referring to this problem, Prof, Roth many years ago, after quot- ing many passages from the Vedas in the Journal of the German Oriental Society} remarks, " We here find, not without astonishment, beautiful con- ceptions on immortality expressed in unadorned language with childlike conviction. If it were nec- essary, we might find here the most powerful weap- ons against the view, which has been lately re- vived and proclaimed as new, that Persia was the only birthplace of the idea of immortality, and that even the nations of Europe had derived it from that quarter. As if the religious spirit of every gifted race was not able to arrive at it by its own strength." It is a fact which was not known to the English speaking world until revealed by Max Miiller that the ancient Brahmans actually believed in the after-death personal existence of those who died in the faith and that many of their prayers were directed to the gods with reference to their future preservation. Indeed he insists that no trace of 1 Vol. IV, p. 427. 42 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT metempsychosis can be found in the early Vedas but that the conception of individual immortality is picturesquely and poetically set forth. If indeed -we find passages in those most ancient of Scriptures which incorporate the prayers of earnest souls, crying out, " O, Manits, may there be to us a strong son, who is a living ruler of men : through whom we may cross the waters on the way to the happy abode ; then may we come to your own house/' we can draw no other conclusion but that they believed there was an abode awaiting them beyond the mysterious passages of the grave, into which they believed they would some time be trans- ported. We find, however, in such passages as the one just quoted, an intimation of that divisive senti- ment which so long prevailed among the ancients, that the abode of heaven was for those who were favorably endowed in this life; that the rulers, the royalty, the patricians and the well-bom alone could inherit it. For, as the passage quoted indi- cates, the birth of a strong son who would be a ruler of the tribe seemed to be a sine qua non to the deliverance of the household from the dark- ness of condemnation. As a further proof of the clear conception of the future existence of the soul, we find that these ancient Scriptures intimated no less the pos- sible abode of the triumphant and the " good " than the place of darkness into which the unfor- tunate and the conquered should be cast. There EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION 43 is one passage ^ which declares that the dead is re- warded for his good deeds, that he leaves or casts off all evil, and glorified takes his body with him. But we also read, a few verses further on, that the " dogs of Yama," Yama, who is the Vedic Devil, lie in wait for the departed, and they pray to the king of heaven to protect them against the mon- sters when they leave the eartL There is even a " pit " into which the lawless are said to be cast, not unlike the Gehenna of the Jews, which was transported into the mythology of the Christian doctrine. Indeed if we desired to search in all literature for a clear and vivid declaration of implicit faith in the after life we could scarcely discover any- thing more convincing than the following beauti- ful verses from the ninth chapter of the Eigveda: "Where there is eternal light, in the world where the sun is placed, in immortal, imperishable world, place me Soma ! " "Where king Vaivasata reigns, where the secret place of heaven is, where these mighty waters are, there maJce me immortal f " Where life is free, in the third heaven of heavens, where the worlds are radiant, there make me immor- tal !^^ "Where wishes and desires are, where the bowl of 1 In Rigveda, X, 14, 3. 44 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY the bright Soma is, where there is food and rejoicing, there make me immortal ! " "Where there is happiness and delight, where Joy and pleasure reside, where the desires of our desire are attained, there make me immortal ! " Of course these passages do not contain the deep human note, the tender pathos or the profound earnestness of the Hebraic Psalmist, but it can- not be denied that, excepting only the coloration of the Hebraic poesy, its meaning is as clear and its conviction concerning the future life as em- phatic and undeniable. Max MiUler apparently does not exaggerate when he writes the following sentences in his " The- osophy or Psychological Eeligion " (p. 158) " There is the unhesitating belief (among the Brahmans) that the soul does not die when the body does; there is the firm conviction among them that there is a moral government of the world, and that the fate of the soul hereafter is de- termined by its life here on earth; to which was added as an inevitable corollary that the fate of the soul on earth must have been determined by its acts of a former life. All these thoughts, par- ticularly on their first spontaneous appearance, are full of meaning in the eyes of the student of re- ligion, and there are few countries where we can study their spontaneous growth so well as in India." Perhaps it has thus far been sufficiently shown, although in very brief and suggestive outline, that EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION 45 even, in the Chinese and other ante-Christian re- ligions alone we discover all the varying phases of human belief in the after life, from the crudest and most primitive to the refined and spiritualized phase of the Christian religion. All that can be said as to the especial presentation of the doctrine in the person of Jesus and his disciples is that in their handling and inculcation it was surrounded by an atmosphere of gentleness and the sweet per- fume of a purified life. It was " brought to life/^ not in that Jesus brought to humankind anything like a revelation, but that he seized on that which through these countless ages had been growing grad- ually more and more clear in the human mind, till it had become the fondest and deepest yearning of the human heart, and then brought it home as a solace and inspiration to each individual. Undoubtedly the more ancient conceptions of personal and conscious immortality referred alone to the high in state, the chiefs in church and the ex- alted in society. The glory of heaven was reserved originally for those who were already blessed with the best the earth could afford. The common peo- ple were the wandering herds of the plains and for them no provisions had been made in the after life, as none had been made for them here. They were inconsequential here, save aa they became useful and profitable slaves for those who needed their services. Slowly the mind began to grasp the idea that such as were serviceable to the high in state and church, who had already passed beyond, might also receive the favor of after-death 46 MODERN" LIGHT ON" IMMOETALITT existence, but only that they might continue to serve and attend those whom they had so faithfully obeyed here. Ever thus does the state of the after life reflect the state of the life that now is. And only when late in the far-reaching centuries, the individual, the unimportant and for so long neglected human being, rose as a personality above the mass and began to be recognized in his own rights and personal dignity, did the notion become popular that every human being, high or low, would pass beyond the grave and enjoy or suffer the continuity of existence according to his deeds while here on earth. The glory of the teaching of Jesus and early Christianity is not that it revealed or assumed, but that it emphasized and beautified the doctrine of the personal, conscious immortality, or at least, after life, of each and every human being who once inhabited the earth. But the darker coloring in the picture is found in the fact that though the age permitted sufficient consideration for the humblest of human beings, in so far as to grant him the privilege of future survival, the power of the few, privileged with the world's goods, was still so great that they durst not extend the immortality of sal- vation to all alike, but severed them into the sheep and goats, some to go their way into everlasting life and some to everlasting death. In all these varying phases of doctrinal teach- ing concerning the conjecture of future existence, we clearly discern the reflection of the ages' in- terpretation of the social status of man; and as EVOLUTION OE THE CONCEPTION 47 this state was regarded here it was discerned to be hereafter. When man was a serf, a slave, an helot, a social outcast, there might be after life for him, but it would be that of the debased and suffering. Only when freedom came sufficiently into human life to elevate the individual and make it seem possible that every human being might have his rights and privileges recognized in this life did the notion enter that for every one there was a chance of recognition and salvation in the life be- yond. ^ This latter fact I think we see emphasized in the state of the slaves of Eome at the time of Jesus. While in Eome slavery had reached its climac- teric period, and at no time in human history was more common or subject to inhuman abuse; yet alongside of its virulent growth there had sprung up an anti-sentiment which at the advent of Jesus had permeated all the thinking world and softened the sentiment of mankind. Never before were there gathered together under single households so many serfs and slaves of the lowest order, yet never before, likewise, were there multitudes of servile people who enjoyed so many immunities and privileges, who were looked upon as such do- mestic equals as during that period of the world^s history that just preceded and followed the advent of the Savior. It is commonly supposed that it was the newly introduced humane sentiments of Christianity which ultimately caused the overthrow of universal 48 MODEKIT LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY slavery; that had not this new religion come to play so important a part in the world's history the evil would have grown worse and ultimately over- thrown all civilization. This sentiment is so per- sistent and common that I believe it calls for more careful attention. I do not think history sustains it. One author writes : " Christianity found slav- ery permeating and corrupting every domain of human life, and in six centuries of conflict suc- ceeded in reducing it to nothing. . , . Christianity in the early ages never denounced slavery as a crime; never encouraged or permitted slaves to rise against their masters and throw eff the yoke; yet she permeated the minds of both masters and slaves with ideas utterly inconsistent with the spirit of slavery. Within the church mas- ter and servant stood on absolute equality." ^ Within a single paragraph perhaps it would be difficult to find anywhere else more misstatements of the truth. It can easily be shown first that the alleged new anti-slavery sentiment introduced by Christianity was not at all new, but merely an appropriation of the pagan anti-slavery sentiment already declared with such eloquence by her great orators and philosophers ; and second, that the ac- tual ecclesiastical sentiment given out and legalized by the church was not only not against the spirit of slavery, but in emphatic encouragement and en- forcement of it. When we recall that, instead of Christianity 1 W. R. Brownlow, " Slavery and Serfdom in Europe," Lecture 1-2. EVOLUTIOl^ OF THE CONCEPTION 49 having actually wiped out the existence of slavery in " six centuries " after its advent, it actually continued to exist, under the sanction and defense of the Church, as late as the latter half of the Nineteenth century, and then was not wiped out from the most enlightened nation in the world except by the shedding of blood through the anti- slavery agitation awakened, not in the Church, but by the infidels without; reonembering, I say, these facts, it is astonishing that one who purports to be an historian of recognized place should utter such wholly false statements as those just quoted. Students who fasten their attention upon the atrocious system of slavery which existed in the later Eepublic and the Empire of Rome, and pre- fer to lose sight of its humane features and it& growing decadence, grow urgent in their declaration that alone by the permeating sentiment of Chris- tianity was it abolished. But the lives of thou- sands of the slaves in ancient Rome were not so appalling as some incline to think. Indeed many of them enjoyed all the privileges of the noblest members of the household. The vernae^ that is, those who were bom under the roofs of their masters, and these numbered untold thousands, enjoyed a life so comparatively free that they preferred it to manumission. " It is to them that their masters often refer in the inscriptions (on the tombs) with greatest respect and tenderness. They were supposed to be at- tached to the family into which they were born. Besides that, they were not branded by the hu- 50 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY miliation of a public sale, and this meant a great deal. The bought slave had appeared in the market place, his feet marked with white and a label round his neck on which his merits or defects were enumerated; he had been set on a platform and had been made to jump, turn a somersault, walk, run, laugh and talk. The slave bom in the house had at least escaped this ignominious ordeal. It was as though his dignity as a man had not been entirely lost, and as though he must be more capa- ble of noble feeling. The man himself was so proud of this title that in some instances it was retained after liberation, and the freedman caused it to be inscribed on his tomb." ^ Side by side with the increasing humane treat- ment of the better class of slaves in the ancient Empire there had developed the parallel sentiment against slavery itself as an institution. Of course we can scarcely expect that among a people where the ownership of slaves was so common that even plebeians and lowly workmen possessed them ; that where one so poor as Horace that he could enjoy only a few leeks, chick weeds and cakes for his best meal, could nevertheless possess three slaves to serve it to him, as he himself declares ; we could not expect, I repeat, among such a people a senti- ment against slavery of a popular and aggressive type. While, as the same author says, " At that time nobody seems to have perceived the amount of the evil^ and as its extent was not realized, only 1" Historian's History," Vol. VI, p. 359. EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION 51 partial remedies were proposed," yet gradually the sentiments and the habits of the more cultured were massing against the institution. " Efforts often successful were made to render the slave's lot less hard. They were given some security against their masters ; the philosophers proclaimed, and all recognized with them, thai those were men; lawyers even inscribed in the codes that slavery was contrary to nature. It seems as if this princi- ple, had it been followed out in all its consequences, must have eventually led to the abolition of slav- ery." ' Thus we see the humane forces, the finer and more mellow sentiments of the human breast, were playing strongly in the breast of that ancient and corrupt civilization, which were rallying against the most evil of all civic institutions even long be- fore Christianity made its advent as a civic force. It will be answered, however, that the sentiment did not prevail; that just as it seemed to be grow- ing into prominence and authority; just as it had about become strong enough to cause laws and en- actments to be established in favor of its develop- ment, reactionary forces set in that ultimately over- threw it completely. " It is under Augustus, just when manners are becoming milder and humanity seems to triumph, that a senatus-consvltuTn ordains that when a master has been assassinated by a serv- ant, all those who slept under his roof that night, innocent or guilty, shall be put to death." 1 Jb., p. 366. 52 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY It is such reactionary upheavals as this, such a return in the ancient civilization to the impulse of primitive animalism, that causes the Christian apologist to insist that never, unless the religious authority of the church had intervened, had the institution been finally overthrown and the nobler sentiments finally prevailed. But unfortunately here again history seems to fail our apologist. For not only in the age of Augustus, while Christianity was as yet but a fee- ble infant, unorganized and unknown, do we read of the atavistic decline in sentiment, but in a later age when the Eoman arms had submitted to the subtle forces of the new religion, and under the authority of Empire had come to be recognized as the religion of the state, we find a similar sav- age outburst which is wholly discouraging. " It is no less a matter of surprise that under Constan- tino, in Christian times, the laws, which since the Anionines had become more humane^ all at once revert to the ancient severities against the slaves. These sudden relapses made them lose in a mo- ment all that they had gained during centuries, and all had to be begun again." Manifestly what we are witnessing is the grad- ual breaking down of a sentiment which had ex- isted for ages and had so deeply grown into the breast of the people that its eradication will require centuries. Naturally the relapses witnessed are but the sudden reversion to the ancient disposition, which will occur from time to time, as the flame flutters again and again into life ere it finally EVOLUTION OF THE COKCEPTION 53 releases the blackened wick. Nature's forces were at work, despite Christianity, and what she ac- complished was directly in line with Nature's work, yet only we regret to say to a limited extent. For just as there were inhuman reversions in senti- ments and acts among the old Romans, so again and again we see when the Church has grown into gigantic power in the later ages she hersdf com- mands the very reactionary forces which in the ancient times had led to such monstrous evils. Instead of being true, as our apologist above quoted contends, that in the church, slave and mas- ter were absolutely on the same footing, the church, on the contrary, undertook time and again to make the fate of the slave more miserable, and ultimately descended into the appalling inconsistency of de- claring slavery a divine institution, so that the fate of the slave might under the sanction of the Church be made stiU more miserable. Says von DoUinger: " The popes were wont to issue edicts of slavery against whole towns and provinces; thus, for instance, Boniface VIII against the retainers of Colonnas ; Clement V against the Venetians ; Sixtus IV against the Flor- entines; Jidius II against the Bolognese and the Venetians; and the meaning of it was that any one who could succeed in capturing any of the per- sons of the condemned was required to make slaves of them .... The privilege, which had sprung up in Eome and lasted for some years, by virtue of which a slave taking refuge on the Capi- tol became free, was abolished in 1548 by Paul III. 54 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY Kome, of all the great powers of Europe, was the last to retain slavery. Scholasticism having un- dertaken in the Thirteenth century to justify the existing state of things, a theological sanction was discovered for the existence of slavery . . . and declared that it was a Christian institution, since original sin had deprived man of any right to free- dom." 1 This is, of course, not the place to go into fur- ther detail on such a fascinating subject, but I have perhaps shown sufficiently that the theory which transfers to organized Christianity all the honor of the abolition of slavery is a myth pure and simple. The introduction of the sentiment of Jesus em- phasizing the importance of the individual, and giving promise of salvation to the poor and ricK, the slave and free alike, cannot therefore be re- garded as something new and unique in history. It was but the emphasis of a sentiment already rapidly growing in the pagan world. However, not even in the mind of Jesus, no less than in the actions of His successors, was the predisposi- tion against the downtrodden wholly eradicated. While He sought and encouraged the poor, it must not be forgotten that He taught them their pov- erty was essential and their duty was to learn to be contented and resigned to the will of God in their condition, " Hath not God chosen the poor of this world ? " " Blessed be ye poor, for yours is 1 Studies in European History, p. 76. EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION 55 the Kingdom of Heaven." " The poor ye have al- ways with you." " When thou maJsest a feast call the poor." " Sell all that thou hast and give to the poor." , In all these quotations we mark merely the rec- ognition of poverty as the stereotyped and neces- sary condition of a large portion of the human race, with no intimation that poverty in itself will ever be eradicated. The recognition of the poor and the rich, trans- formed into a spiritual sentiment, we observe again exceedingly prominent in the thought of Jesus when He divides the entire race into the goats and the sheep which shall be separated at the judg- ment, the sheep going into everlasting joy and the goats to everlasting woe. We are not, therefore, justified, it would appear, to attribute to Jesus directly, and certainly not to any of His disciples, either directly or indirectly, any opposition to slavery or poverty as such, but are compelled rather to admit that they encour- aged it by seeking to enforce the poor and the en- slaved into a state of mental resignation that would, bring peace to the world and to their souls. Hence we do not find either in the founder of Christianity or in its subsequent theological and ecclesiastical history any other sentiment concern- ing the possibilities of salvation in the after life than those that we have seen already prevailed, among the ancient Hindus and other pagan peoples,- CHAPTER IV THE NATUEALISTIO ORIGIN OF THE COJSrCEPTIOI^ OF IMMORTALITY Before we proceed further with our study of the problems involved in the theory of immortality we must remind the reader that no single view relating to the survival of the soul has permeated human thought^ but that almost as many varying interpretations of the future history of the soul have been entertained as there are human races. If all mankind from the earliest days recognized the vogue of but a single conception, on which all faiths and religions were based, then we might suppose there underlay the entire problem a fixed and fundamental principle on which a final truth might rest. But when we discover that there is indeed no apparent fundamental principle involved ; but that on the contrary the entire race seems to have been ever dumbfounded and confused with the mystery of future existence, it would appear that the problem relates rather to a psychological experience, variable with the changing conditions of the race, than to an actual fact which is indis- putable in nature. It would appear that what hu- manity has ever conceived of the soul and its post- mortem existence has evolved from temperamental and environmental circumstances; that every tribe and individual race has been nurtured under a 56 THE JSTATUKALISTIC OKIGIN 57 specific or tribal conception, which could have had no existence under other circumstances or among any other people; and that not until all these peo- ples met or mingled did there come to be anything like a common or similar belief relating to this per- plexing problem. If this be a fact, then, it would appear that we should seek the origin of this belief or these beliefs not in any supernatural authority ; nor yet in any form of religious worship which compelled its dec- laration; nor yet in any occult or arcane experi- ence of mankind out of which the dreamy notion arose ; but merely in the natural surroundings and historic experience of each of the peoples who have from age to age founded and developed the ever varying civilization of mankind. This thought has deeply impressed me as I have reviewed the progress of the idea from period to period of human history, and have observed how each distinctive notion has been so characterized that one sees in it the especial idiosyncracies of the race or nation to which it belongs. For in- stance, on reading the translations of the Egyp- tian monoliths on which were inscribed their con- ceptions of immortality one can instantly observe the national characteristics as differentiated from the characteristics of the East Indians and Ori- entals, whose ideas of immortality are written in their vedas and numerous scriptures. One could not for an instant confuse the realistic notion of metempsychosis as described in Egyptian literature with the more refined conception of reincarnation 58 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY •which was portrayed in the ever poetical scrip- tures of the Brahmans and Vedantists of India, In the one is discerned the practical, mathematical, precise and pragmatical characteristic of the Egyp- tian mind, in the other the fantastic, dreamy, vague and picturesque quality of the Hindu mind. To each people the notion was as fixed and cer- tain, as comforting and inspiring as to the other; yet the one contemplated the return of the liberated soul to the imprisonment of the beasts of the field or the birds of the air, while the other conceived of an ancestry whose glory was once the burden of historic regard. One discerned no shame in the association of the soul with the crocodile and the serpent, with the cow and the pigeon; while the other conceived of the soul as an age-eternal princi- ple which had previously figured in the happen- ings of the human race and but once more returned to engage again in life's activities. This fact is far better expressed by James F, Clarke, when he says : " The idea of the religion of India was Spirit: the One, the Infinite, the Eternal; a pure spiritual pantheism, from which the elements of time and space are quite excluded. The religion of Egypt stands at the opposite pole of thought as its- antagonist. Instead of Spirit it accepts Body; instead of Unity, Variety; instead of Sub- stance, Form." ^ In this description we discern the predominant mental qualities of the two nations ; the one inclin- 1 « Ten Great Religions." THE JiTATTIEALISTIC OEIGIN 59 ing to precision, analytical apprehension and math- ematical synthesis, the other to metaphysical fancy, poetical vagueness and abstract phantasies. Hence in the doctrine of the Egyptians we find merely the bald fact of the transmigration of the departed souls of men into the bodies of beasts, birds and reptiles, devoid of any teleological consequence. But the metaphysical mind of the Hindu will not suffer it to postulate the mere possibility of the soul's transmigration into inferior forms without assigning a logical reason for the transformation. Hence in the Hindu philosophy we meet first with the teleological notion of retribution; the meaner souls descending into the baser forms, the better and nobler spirits ascending into the rarer and more beautiful bodies. The Egyptian mind is, therefore, apparently, the more primitive, for we can trace the bald no- tion of transmigration into the forms of beasts, etc., in the legendary tales of the autochthones of almost all lands. Animadverting to the notion of transmigration we meet here the most primitive conception of the race relating to the future of the human soul. The origin of this belief, which has played so large a part in the philosophy and religion of humankind, is perhaps beyond apprehension, though many theo- ries have been advanced. But we shall detect that even this primal notion of the race is at once col- ored by the climate and conditions of each distinc- tive tribe, evidencing the fact that wherever the idea may have come from it is necessarily one 60 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY which the varying experiences of humanity have generated and transfigured. " One of the most usual heliefs of the lower races is that the souls of dead ancestors are re- bom in the children, having a likeness to the father's or the mother's family. ... It does not, how- ever, follow that the body in which the soul takes up its new abode should be human; it may enter into a bear or a jackal, or fly away in a bird, or, as the Zulus thini, it may pass into one of those harmless snakes which creep about in the huts, liking the warmth of the family hearth, as they did while they were old people, and still likely tak- ing the food offered by their grandchildren. In such simple forms there appears among the lower races the notion of transmigration which in Brah- manism and Buddhism becomes a great religious doctrine," says Tyler in " Anthropology." ^ But, as I have intimated, we shall detect the nat- ural origin of this belief in the experiences of the various tribes, when we consider how they seized upon this prevalent notion and altered it accord- ing to their various situations. Evidently the ob- jects into which the departed souls* were supposed to enter after death were those with which each particular race became most intimate or which for some reason especially attracted their attention or admiration. Eor instance, we are told that " The Sonthals believe the souls of the good to enter into fruit-bearing trees. The Powhatans believed the iP. 350. THE ISTATUEALISTIC OEIGIN 61 souls of their chiefs to pass into particular wood- birds, which they therefore spared. The Tlascalans of Mexico thought that the souls of their nobles mi- grated after death into beautiful singing birds, and the spirits of plebeians into beetles, weasels and other insignificant creatures. The Zulus of South Africa are said to believe in the passage of the dead into snakes, or into wasps or lizards. The Dayaks of Borneo imagine themselves to find the souls of the dead, damp and blood like, in the trunks of the trees.* Here we may discern an intimation of the origin of the conception of transmigration and its various modifications in the distinctive predilection of the tribes toward some especial object in nature. The particular birds, beasts, insects, trees, growths, etc., which the different tribes and people selected as the distinctive abodes of their dead must have been the result of some particular experiences with these objects which the various races enjoyed. Either because of the attractiveness of the objects, as the beautiful birds, or their utility, as certain species of trees, or because of their repulsiveness, as special insects, each in its turn was chosen by the different people to satisfy some particular disposition in their natures. Religion in all ages has been utilitarian, and an unconscious factor of evolution. Hence we discern in this most primitive of all religious doctrines the disposition to employ religious mystery for the bene- 1 Garbe, " The Philosophy of India," foUowing A. E. Oough, " The Philosophy of the Upanishads," etc. 62 MODEKN LIGHT ON" IMMOETALITY faction of the race. The beautiful birds, the most useful trees, the necessary insects, etc., -were all em- bodiments of departed souls and must therefore be protected and preserved. Indeed, we may even as early as this in human history discover the origin of the belief in heaven and hell as evolved in the more refined religions of history. Mark the belief of the Tlascalans of Mexico, who consigned the souls of their chiefs to beautiful singing birds, which they wished to preserve, but the spirits of the plebeians to beetles, weasels, etc., which they preferred to de- stroy. The natural origin of all beliefs in immortality among all people may thus be discerned by dis- covering the primitive source from which they were derived, and the natural generation of this primi- tive belief. Evidently there is nothing mysterious or supernatural about it; it is merely the conse- quence of commonplace experience. Among the attempts which have been made to discover the origin of the doctrine of metempsycho- sis in the refined phase which it assumed among the Brahmans some are not a little amusing. In- stead of seeking a primary origin in the experiences of aboriginal races, sometimes the investigators pick up a custom developed in later stages of civiliza- tion and rest a supposition on this fact from which they draw imaginary conclusions. For instance, the ever prolific Frenchman, Voltaire, observing that meat eating was regarded among the Brahmans as an evil custom and therefore eschewed by them, deduces the fanciful theory that the prohibition of THE ISTATURALISTIC ORIGIN" 63 meat eating, being primarily merely a hygienic restriction, resulted in the prohibition to kill ani- mals. That in order to enforce this restriction of the slaughter of the animals, the priest, always the ruling class, conceived the notion that the animals were the re-embodiments of the souls of their an- cestors, and thus overawed the multitude. " The consequence of the further extension of the animal cult was that the whole animal kingdom was felt as a sort of appurtenance to the human species and was gradually assimilated to man in the imagina- tion of the people ; from there it was simply a step to accept the continuance of human life in the bodies of animals," Yoltaire had evidently not looked deep enough; or rather in his day when the work of the ar- chseologists had not yet been accomplished, it was doubtless impossible for him to look deep enough to discern the probable natural origin of this pe- culiar doctrine. It undoubtedly lay in the grad- ual absorption, by the more advanced people who came in later periods to occupy the soil, of the prim- itive notions of the autochthones who derived their imaginative conceptions concerning the future of departed souls from their experience with the in- ferior animal kingdom and the visible objects of !N"ature. The entire emphasis of authoritarian religion has ever been on the importance of the religious doctrine itself as a deliverance of divine command. It is only since the spirit of the times has reverted to the scientific method that we have come to dis- 64 MODEE]Sr LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY cern the possibility of deciphering the naturalistic origin of all religious doctrines, and thus freeing ourselves from their overawing importance. We are coming gradually to understand that religious doctrine is but a late evolution of human experi- ence; that it is, so to speak, an after thought, which comes to emphasize some human experience whose value has been discovered and whose perma- nence it is thought wise to encourage. To study the later and more refined doctrine, unrelated to its primitive origin, gives us but little knowledge of its value or permanent quality. Studied in this fashion, it is clothed with an inviolable sanctity that utterly removes it from the desecrating hand of modem scientific investigation. It is then viewed not as a phenomenon of natural experience, but as an epiphany of divine intervention, which, to gaze at with the unshaded eye, will cause the mind to lose its balance and the soul to dissipate. If such fear seizes the student he would better cease from his labors, for he can accomplish noth- ing. Perhaps in regard to no other notion which has ever penetrated the human mind has there been so much trepidation felt by the race as it has experi- enced in its contemplation of the after-death possi- bilities of the human soul. Even to this day not merely the vast majority of the human race, but even its studious and cultured moiety, halt at a serious investigation of this doctrine, and rather than come face to face with the possibility of a demonstration of the final annihilation of the soul THE NATUKALISTIC OEIGIN 65 and demolition of the doctrine, which for so many ages has consoled the race in one form or another, they will utterly desist, preferring their ignorance to disconcerting knowledge. It is not in this spirit that this essay is under- taken ; but wholly in the spirit of sincere investiga- tion, unconcerned as to what the truth may reveal. Therefore, that we may the better apprehend the manner in which the doctrine of immortality came gradually to occupy so important a place in the human mind I think we should review the vari- ous forms it has assumed among many people, that we may discern its origin and gradual transforma- tion according to the surroundings and experiences through which they passed. This we shall undei^ take in the chapters immediately following. CHAPTER V PRIMITIVE SOURCES OF BELIEF IN AFTER LIFE To the student the one startling fact that con- fronts him when he investigates the notions of the soul and its possibilities entertained by mankind is the manifest survival of primitive beliefs disguised only by a transparent mantle of culture and finesse which persists even to the present moment. All those exquisite, poetic, solacing and unctious concep- tions of the soul and its after life, which occupy so large a part of the contemplations of the most cul- tured and intellectual of people, may be easily traced to their first beginnings in the phantastic imagin- ings of the most primitive of savage tribes. It would appear that the conception of the soul instead of being an inherent and ineradicable possession of the mind is, after all, a logical deduction of natural experience — a notion, at first vague and indefinite, and finally rising into positive and realistic pro- portions, which sprung from the primal observa- tions of natural conditions. It is safe to assert that no poetic fancy relating to the human soul which enters even to-day into the ritual and ceremony of the refined service of the modem Church, but can be traced directly to the primitive notions of the earth's first inhabitants, and which sprung naturally from their surround- ings, their experiences and their daily lives. PEIMITIVE SOURCES OF BELIEF 67 What can be more fascinating than the idea that when the rude mould of human clay has been con- signed to the elements it has not wholly vanished, but has left; trailing behind it the shadow of itself, which lingers to curse or bless according to the predilection of the observer. This idea has been woven into a thousand fancies in song and service, in poetry and patriotism, through all the ages. The Iliad is replete with variations of this pictur- esque fancy, as is even the Bible itself, howbeit somewhat more refined. In the Hiad the shadows rise to the proportions of animate beings surcharged with life and all its function, although the media through which they act are but simulacra — wax-like forms electrified into momentary activ- ities. In the Bible the reappearing forms retain all the likeness and verisimilitude of the originals scarcely so distinguishable that they can be separated from the living. Yet in either case the apparitions are regarded as so real that they must be supplied with the actual food and raiment of the human body. The angels that visited Lot were as real to him as human beings in the fiesh, even as the remains of the departed among the Greeks are supposed to be refreshed and rejuvenated, even as they lie in the grave, by the supply of the material elements of alimentation. " ' It is only/ says Thirlwall, ^ after their strength has been repaired by the blood of a slaughtered victim, that they (the ghosts of the de- parted) recover reason and memory for a time, can recognize their living friends and feel anxiety for 68 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY those they have left on earth/ That these dwellers in Hades have some substantiality, is implied by the fact both that they are trooping to drink the sac- rificial blood, and by the fact that Ulysses keeps them back vrith his sword." ^ While the apparitions of the Bible seem to be re^- habilitated with the actual flesh and blood, soul and mind, of the living forms of human clay, inj^he Iliad we behold as yet the more primitive or orig- inal form of belief, from which the Bible notion descended, in the still vaguer and more shadowy forms which the ghosts assume. This we note par- ticularly indicated in the lamentation of Achilles over the dead body of Patroclus, who had met such an unhappy end: "Ay me, there remaineth then in the house of Hades, a spirit and a phantom of the dead, albeit the life be not anywise there- in." In myriad phases of fanciful form this concep- tion of the shade of the departed has played its ef- fects upon history and literature. We are not yet free from the superstition that in some mysterious manner the shadowy forms of the departed may overtake us in the ways of life, and many of us still wait in anticipation of the moment when we shall encounter such an apparition. Many still in the dreamy gloaming of the twilight almost feel the touch of the invisible hands and hear the music of inaudible voices. We are still so persuaded they will yet return, 1 Spencer, Sociology, 1-1, p. 175. PRIMITIVE SOURCES OF BELIEF 69 " It may be in the evening. When the work of day is done, And we have time to sit in the twilight. And watch the setting sun," that in spite of the rude effects of modem science upon our primitive fancies we refuse to relinquish them without a protest. But stem science must look the facts in the face and ask whence have come to the mind these no- tions of the shadowy figure of the soul, and is it an innate idea or the result of ancestral experience. The latter we are forced to decide is the only log- ical deduction. When we recall that the words " shade " and '^breath" stood originally as the distinctive expres- sions of the soul, or apparition of the departed, then we cannot resist the conclusion. The whole of liter- ature is now full of illustrations of this fact. Among the natives the specific words employed meant shadow, ghost or apparition. The New Eng- land tribes call the soul, Chemung^ shadow. In fact, among all the native tribes, it is now known, the words employed meant either breath or shade, pre- cisely as in the Hebrew tongues two words were used to indicate the soul ; one being the spirit, neshamah, breath ; and the other, nephesTi, animal soul, or the psychic replica of the body. In fact, we may discern all the most refined in- terpretations of the soul primarily anticipated in the fancies of earth's autochthones. Among the philo- sophical Greeks, especially in the analytical mind of 70 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY Aristotle, the conception of the soul had attained its most refined and classified presentation. Out of his superb and complex system this simple classifi- cation may be outlined, as presented by Bain: First the soul of the plants, the vegetative soil ; then the animal soul, the soul of the inferior kingdoms ; then the human soul, the intellectual principle in de- pendence on the physical organism ; then the active intellect, pure reason and cognition of the highest principles. While such a classification seems to have its orig- ination only in the abstract possibilities of logical thought, it may not surprise us a little to learn that its origin lay in the utmost depths of primitive and unintellectualized human fancy. The notion not only that the plant life has inherent soul, but even that inanimate or rock life is also accompanied by a soul presence, is as old as the imagination of the mind. The notion is the direct result of the idea which so commonly prevailed among the primitive tribes that the breath and the shadow which em- anated from the living object were the soul itself, and that when the body physically disappeared these soul-forms still continued to exist. Each rock set against the sunlight casts its own shadow. Therefore, the shadow being the soul, the rock is mystically endowed. Every quadruped and feathered form of life breathes as does the human form, therefore each is possessed of a soul similar to that of men, Not knowing, as science to-day in- forms us, that the plants of the earth also breathe, the ancients observed that they did at least cast a PRIMITIVE SOURCES OF BELIEE 71 shadow, and therefore they nmst, as well as other ob- jects less animate^ be conceived as endowed with souls. Therefore the entire air and all the earth are replete with shadowy and invisible forms, which to the aboriginal mind, were souls or apparitions. Here we may discern the genesis of the polytheistic phases of antique religion which prevailed for so many ages through the world. The transition from the conception of an invisible soul, vaguely forefig- ured in the visible shadow or the invisible breath, to the presence of unseen deities of lesser and greater natures, is too apparent to call for consideration. Yet, in passing, it might be well to quote a passage from a writer who shows clearly the transition which took place : " The Laches worshipped every stone as a god, as they said that they had all been men, and that all men were converted into stones after death, and that a day was coming when all stones would be raised as men. They also worshipped their own shadow, so that they always had their god with them and saw him when it was daylight. And though they knew that the shadow was produced by the light and an intervening object, they replied that it was done by the Sun to give them gods. , . . And when the shadows of trees and stones were pointed out to them it made no difference, as they considered the shadows of the trees to be the gods of the trees, and the shadows of the stones the gods of the stones, and therefore the gods of their gods." ^ The strange notion that the shadow and the breath 1 Piedrahita, quoted by Spencer, Sociology, 1-1, p. 180. 72 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY were the soul-presence of the body speedily gave rise to the idea that they must have somewhere in the body a special place of residence. Therefore, cer- tain of the organs were so designated. Naturally, the heart, which ever has seemed the source of life and the seat of the emotions, soon suggested itself as the mystic abode of the soul ; and anon the blood itself, as the life element, and the eye, the window of the soul, as we ourselves still assert. This latter conception, among the New Zealand- ers, developed into most poetic and fascinating pro- portions. Not only was the eye the seat of the soul, but when it sank into the dark, in the descent of the body to original clay, it triumphed over the body by ascending to the skies and constituting one of the stars in the celestial galaxy. Especially was it be- lieved that the left eye of every chief who was slain in battle became a star, while the right descended to Eeinga, the abode of the shades, beneath the steep, precipitate seashore at the North Cape. So far did this beautiful fancy develop that the Pleiades were to these imaginative primitives but the selected eyes of seven great chiefs who had fallen valiantly in war, and were now immortalized in the glory of the seven lamps that shone in the lambent heavens. Perhaps never before was the notion of the soul's ascent more picturesquely unfolded, and yet can we doubt that this crude, howbeit beautiful notion, formed the basis of all the later ideas so prevalent in all religions, namely, that the abode of the soul was the place of perpetual light, and that the soul itself was a ray of light that sometimes re- PEIMITIVE SOURCES OF BELIEF 73 turned to earth ? To the ancient Brahmans the gods were resplendent rays of glory : div, light, being the root of our term divinity. On all the catacombs of the early Christians are to be found inscriptions relative to the ascent of the soul as a ray of light into the realm of eternal and unquenchable glory. Even to this day in our latest poetry and imagina- tive literature we reflect this same primary fancy; as thus, Casimir, the Polish poet : " It kindles all my soul. My country's loveliness! Those starry choirs That watch around the pole, And the moon's tender light, and heavenly fires Through golden halls that roll." "Me, for the celestial homes of glory horn. Why, here, 0, why so long, Do ye behold an exile from on high ? Here, 0, ye shining throng. With lilies spread the mound where I shall lie : Here let me drop my chain. And dust to dust returning, cast away The trammels that remain; The rest of me shall spring to endless dwy! " Manifestly the survival of ancestral thought in our conceptions of the soul is so pertinacious that we must needs refer constantly to this source when we wish intelligently to interpret any predilection which we entertain concerning it. It does not, of course, necessarily follow that because our present notions and beliefs are but palpable survivals of 74 MODEEIiJ" LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY ancient imaginings, that they are therefore false and can be traced to no actual counterpart in Nature, But the fact which we must never lose sight of is that if we desire to attain a scientific and satis- factory theory concerning the soul and its possible history, we shall find but little comfort in the sur- vivals from primitive belief that still remain in the racial mind. This survival by no means can be ac- cepted (as foi* so many ages it was accepted because supposed to be not a survival but an innate concep- tion), as a convincing proof of the existence of the soul or of its after life. If any proof of such a possibility is to be discovered it must be sought else- where ; for it is clear that the entire family of sur- vivals, relative to the soul's existence and history, is so manifestly but the psychological relic of primi- tive fancy and imagination, founded on observable experience, that it can have no weight whatever in determining the problem. This conclusion will be- come more apparent as we further review the vary- ing forms which this belief assumed among the tribes and nations of the earth. CHAPTER VI DRUIDIC SOUEOE OF BELIEF IN AFTEE LIFE In almost all the studies of national or tribal con- ceptions of immortality the authors seem to have approached the problem with a preconceived idea; and thus biased, seek apparently for every possible feature that will enforce their theories. A disposi- tion seems generally to prevail to seize upon every minute detail that apparently points to such corrob- oration, without adopting the scientific method of tracing the origin of the particular features which are emphasized. If, for instance, among the prim- itive peoples, or the people who immediately fol- lowed them, as among the Stone and early Iron Age communities, any custom is discovered which in a natural or mysterious manner makes apparent ref- erence to the idea of immortality, it is at once em- phasized as a proof that the conception is so primary in human thought it must be innate, and conse- quently an indisputable fact in Nature. Many au- thors have dwelt upon the peculiar customs which prevailed in the placing of the dead within the curi- ous graves known as cromlechs, or stone-mounds. All through Scandinavia, Norway and Denmark, remains of these strange sculptures may be seen, and they afford ample ground for speculation as to the religious beliefs which compelled their construction. " The cromlechs consist," according to DuChaillu, 75 76 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY " of from three to five large stones standing up- right, and so placed as to form a ring, with a large block or boulder on top." The top stone was fre- quently used as an altar on which to perform sac- rifices.^^ The walls of the interior chamber were very carefully prepared with gravel and smoothed stones. The individual cromlechs were used for single corpses, but those made of lengthened passage ways were so constructed that numerous bodies could be interred. Now, the remarkable feature of these dolmens or cromlechs is that the bodies were not interred in a supine position, but sitting with their legs bent toward their chins and their hands across their knees. However, this was not a uni- versal custom, for in many of the passage-graves we find that the bodies were lain outstretched, with their heads always to the north. The fact, nevertheless, that in many of the graves the bodies were so curiously bent has caused consid- erable speculation, and especially among those who think they ever discern something mysterious and extra-natural in the religious usages of mankind. Not the least curious interpretation of this kind I find commented on favorably in the book to which I have already referred, Louis Elbe's " Fu- ture Life." He seems to think that the Abbe Wor- sinsky of Apar in Hungary, a Catholic authority, made a genuine discovery when in his discourse before the International Catholic Congress, in 1901, he declared that this strange custom ^* can be prompted only by a belief in a resurrection." He seems to think that no other thought could impel DEUIDIC SOTJKCE OF BELIEF 77 a primitive people to force a human corpse into such an unnatural position, as cramping the knees up to the chin. " They wished, when intrusting a body to the earth, to show that they were replacing it in the womb of mankind's universal mother, there to await a new birth at the resurrection." Could we persuade ourselves, in the first place, that a savage and aboriginal race had so far antici- pated the discovery of future ages and become so well acquainted with the physiology of the human body and the science of obstetrics, as to have known the exact position which the foetus maintained in the generative womb, we might still hesitate to accept this interpretation because we nowhere else find so early in the history of mankind an intimation of the possible resurrection of the human body. It is even doubted by recent archaeologists that the Egyp- tians held the notion that the body itself would be resurrected, notwithstanding it has been so long supposed by scholars that that was the real pur- pose of embalming the dead. The notion of resur- rection was somehow read into the Egyptian rite of embalming by biased commentators and accepted by the uncritical public. Herodotus tells us " The Egyptians say the soul, on the dissolution of the body, always enters into some other ardmal then horn, and having passed in rotation through the various terrestrial, aquatic, and aerial beings, again enters the body of a man then bom." Here we see no intimation that the individual body of the de- ceased was preserved so that the same body could, once more become the tabernacle of the same soul 78 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY it once entertained. In fact, the process of em- balming made this impossible, for the body was by no means preserved intact. " It is absurd to at- tribute, without clear cause, to an enlightened peo- ple the belief that these stacks of brainless, eviscer- ated mummies, dried and shrunken in ovens, coated with pitch, bound up in a hundredfold bandages, would ever revive, and, inhabited by the same souls that fled them thirty centuries before, again walk the streets of Thebes ! " ^ The explosion of this once universal interpreta- tion of an Egyptian custom but shows how easy it is to attribute a foreign motive to a national usage when it is approached by a theological bias. If, then, the idea of the resurrection had not yet sug- gested itself to a people so advanced and so far along in the ages as the highly intellectual votaries of Isis and Osiris, it would call for a needless strain of logical assumption to insist that because the tribes of the Stone Age entombed their dead with their knees up to their chins they had even then somehow come to believe in the resurrection of the body. Is it not far more reasonable to assume that they maintained this suggestive custom because to their puerile and imaginative minds the deceased did not seem to have absolutely departed the realm of the real and actual life ? Their shadows followed them to the grave and hovered round to receive the sacri- fice and prayers of those who remained to honor them. They were not dead to them as the dead 1 See Dr. Alger's " History of the Doctrine of Immortality." DRUIDIC SOURCE OF BELIEF Y9 seem to us. They still participated in their wars and banquets, their domestic loves and quarrels, the same as though they had not become physically un- approachable. Hence they gave them food to eat, the implements of war with which to fight, animals on which to thrive, and even wives with whom to cohabit on the shadowy couch of love. All this is proved by the discoveries of imple- ments in the graves which have been opened, and even in the legends which still linger from olden times. Was it not necessary, to do just honor to Achilles, that Polyxena be slain and given to him to wive in his gloomy glory beyond the grave ? ■Why, then, with such a vivid belief as to their dead, should they plant their bodies supinely in the stately tombs they had prepared for them? Those noble warriors did not lie in lowly attitudes when alive and active, neither should they in their graves. Hence originally they put them in the po- sitions they might assume at the table in banquet halls amid the wild wassails of rude hilarity. If we must speculate at all concerning such a usage, certainly the latter interpretation would seem to be more natural and logical than that strange supposition that this crude community of savages had leaped across the ages and by centuries antici- pated the refined conceptions of later religions. I have dwelt upon what I call a biased misinter- pretation of an ancient custom to this length merely to point out how cautious we must be if we would trace the actual beginnings of religious usages and to hold our eyes firmly on the proposition that in 80 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY human development all ideas have come along nat- ural lines and can anticipate no experience till it has found its due place in history. We are told that the Druids, a very ancient and mysterious people, were inculcated with profound and vivid notions concerning the immortal life, and perhaps exceeded all later peoples in the sincerity and earnestness with which they embraced the doc- trine. We may well believe this when we learn that their faith was so absolute they were willing to loan money on promissory notes to be liquidated by their resurrected bodies. This item in their faith would seem to discount even the fanatic enthusiasm of modern Milleritism or the anticipated glory of the end of the world among the first disciples of Jesus. Numerous authorities present us with a view of Druidic religion so profound and philosophic in its character that we are at once compelled to believe it is not primitive, but derivative, in its essence. In fact, not an author but admits that the Druids were a wandering people originally, who, ere they planted themselves in Gaul, Scandinavia and Briton, had rubbed shoulders with the Orientals, and had in- deed thoroughly imbibed all the teachings of Py- thagoras and the Brahmans. They taught that each life begins in the lowliest natures, but slowly ascends through seonic evolutions ever to higher forms of expression and experience. That when the one life which pervades all reaches the human expression it is possessed of self-will and may of its own exertion ascend from the basest forms of the ethical life to the knowledge and aspiration of the saints. That DEUIDIC SOUECE OF BELIEF 81 even though a soul sink so low it is forced into the deeper darkness, it is never lost, but ever forges on its probationary path, even for millions of years, till it attains the culmination of divine conscious- ness and absolute union with the Eternal Principle. They taught not only the unity of life, but the unity of God. When the ultimate attainment of nirvanic peace is reached the ego which has traversed through its myriad lives comes into its perfect memory of all experiences and sees as in a glass the perfect re- flection of its seonic evolutions. Certainly one cannot think that so advanced a conception could have come spontaneously among a primitive people, and the fact that there is such ab- solute correspondence between this philosophy and that of the Pythagoreans and Orientals is sufficiently convincing as to its source. But this origin is not satisfactory. For it is apparent that, while the Druids entertained the re- fined philosophy which we have very briefly out- lined, there was parallel with it another system of worship and sacrifice which is suggestive of more primitive origin, and which calls for our consid- eration if we are to learn to what extent the primi- tive mind of man suggested to him the soul's exists ence and its possible future. We find they worshipped at the cromlechs or dol- mens, a relic of the Stone Age. That they held the oak trees in special favor as tutelary protectors and sources of inspiration; that the mistletoe was also held in especial veneration; that they worshipped the snake, or at least utilized it in some of their 82 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY ceremonies, and that they built large rings of stones so ingeniously arranged that they were perfectly balanced and would bow without falling. Such rites could hardly be said to be consonant with the lofty philosophy above referred to, and call for fur- ther investigation. It must be that the later Druida overlaid an aboriginal form of worship which they found among the natives, and ingeniously interwove them, creating a system of religious rites curiously inconsistent yet bewildering in majesty and grandeur. If, then, we wish to learn to what extent the prim- itive mind conceived of the principle of immortal- ity we must not study the more recent religion and philosophy which their priests of white inculcated, but we must examine the nature and origin of the aboriginal beliefs and rites, which this later cult apparently absorbed and merged in itself. The fact that they adored the tree and the snake places them in line with the whole order of primi- tive people whose religion was constructed along purely natural experiences. We find the tree, as the Igdrasyll tree of Scandinavia, the tree of Knowl- edge in the Garden of Eden, the tree of Ashtaroth worship, and an infinite variation of this early cult, scattered among all the primitive folk. With it, too, is always associated the worship of the snake and afterward the river and sea, as symbolical rep- resentations of serpentine sinuations. The element of the tree worship undoubtedly evinces the aboriginal origin of the Druidical wor- ship ; for it is easily traced through the entire Scan- DRUIDIC SOURCE OF BELIEF 83 dinavian mythology. It is Odhinn who with his two brothers goes forth throughout the world to find Ash and Embla^ the ash and the elm. Finding these stocks void of life, they breathed into them the living spirit and from their bosom sprung the human race. Naturally, from this conception sprung the notion that the trees were the custodians of human souls, and only as men prayed and sac- rificed beneath them would the gods be favorable. Thus in all ages the trees have come to be thought almost sacred by humanity. The village tree of the Germans was originally a tribal tree, with which the entire life of the community was vitally asso- ciated. Here, then, we are to look for the origin of the soul's conception among the Druids, who, worship- ping the tree, speedily conceived that not only was it the custodian of human souls, but possessed its own soul. Their poetical fancy soon led them to conceive that the mistletoe, which sprung not from the earth, but apparently from the bosom of the sacred oak, was especially reverential because thus sanctified. The mistletoe was the oak's offspring, child of its soul, spirit of its spirit. Thus was hu- manily symbolized, for as all mankind sprung from the trees, they possessed the spirit of the trees and "were thus themselves spiritualized by the grove's divinities. From this simple source came gradually all the poetic symbolism of runes and rites among these magic-serving mystics. The groves were man's primeval temples from which first he derived his inspirations. Nor need we wonder, 84 MOEEEN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY '^ For his simple heart Might not resist the sacred influences Which, from the stilly twilight of the place, And from the grey old trunks that high in heaven Mingled with their mossy boughs, and from the sound Of the invisible breath that swayed at once All their green tops, stole over him, and bowed His spirit with the thoughts ol boundless power And inaccessible majesty ! " All the origins of human belief are fascinating, but bewildering. We are too much, doubtless, inclined to read our own philosophy and reasoning into the rude mind of the savage, who pursues his own im- pulses, spurred with but slight reflection. We can- not discern in these early usages more than the natr ural wanderings of the imagination among the many experiences which the mind encounters in contact with nature. Certainly on such fancies science can postulate no conclusion or principle which is so far-reaching in its nature as the con- ception of the soul's existence and immortality. If these early racial experiences afford any in- timations of the reflned conception of the soul which in later ages enthralled the race with awe and adoration, it can be in nothing more than pro- phetic adumbrations which vaguely indicate what some time in the ages came to be a vivid and inspir- ing realization. Whatever there may be, then, of the philosophy of the survival of the dead among the Druidic and forest worshippers, it cannot be DRUIDIC SOUECE OF BELIEF 85 said to be other than a reflection of their associa- tion with nature's prolific growths and in no sense an innate inspiration springing spontaneous from the untutored mind. CHAPTER VII ASSTEIAN AND EGYPTIAN SOURCES OF BELIEE We shall be justified, I think, in reaching a simi- lar conclusion concerning both the Assyrian and Egyptian religions, both of which, howbeit they were already old when civilization began, are so replete with conceptions of the soul's existence and immortality as to make it appear that such notions must have come to them by way of supernatural in- spiration or from the deeper springs of the spirit. It might be truthfully said that the contempla- tion of the soul's career among those ancient people was more solemn and serious than among any of the people of the earth at any time since history began. It is no exaggeration to declare that the realization of the soul's existence was much more vivid among them than among the disciples of Christ during his career or at any time subsequent. It entered into every relation, custom and experience of the entire nation ; it constituted a material portion of the law of the land ; it was almost the constant substance of conversation and the very basis of the barter of commerce. Indeed, the other-world-life was more real to them than the world in which they actually existed. The gods were so common and numerous that, as Petronius says, " The country is so thickly peopled with divinities, it is easier to find a god than a man." 86 ASSYRIA:^' AND EGYPTIAN BELIEFS 87 Out of the bewildering confusion of ceremony and usage which the Egyptian pursued in his daily rounds we may briefly outline the conception of the souFs travellings and transmigrations. They represented the universe, according to Eusebius, by two circles, one within the other, over both of them resting the head of a hawk around which twined the coils of a serpent; intending by this repre- sentation to symbolize three spheres, earth, sky and spirit, or birth, life and eternity. At death the soul descended in the west to Amenthe, where it was duly tried. If condemned it was sent back to earth or confined below for pun- ishment. If justified it joined the company of the Blissful Sun God and went on its journey to sail " O^er the skyey sea In ark of crystal, manned by beamy gods. To drag the deeps of space and net the stars, Where, in their nebulous shoals, they shore the void And through old Night's Typhonian blindness shine. Then, solarized, he press'd towards the sun. And, in the heavenly Hades, hall of God, Had final welcome of the firmament." Undoubtedly presenting the most resplendent and colorful ceremony which any system of worship ever cultivated, the Egyptian religion is at once the con- summation of man's proudest philosophy and of his profoundest folly. Because they saw the soul in everything, more vivid to them than the flesh which they encountered, they could not refrain from wor- shipping almost every form of life which they be- 88 MODEEN" LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY held. No beast was ix)o base, no bird so beautiful, but what they associated with it the most vitalistic conceptions, apotheosizing it with the halo of a deity. Diodorus reminds us of their strange custom of worshipping even the cats in the household, and comically narrates a ridiculous riot that occurred at the time that the Roman arms had mastered the city, when a soldier had ruthlessly trampled on one of those domestic pets. Commonly it has been sup- posed that these curious people performed such won- drous rites over the living and dead bodies of the an- imals that lived in their clime, because they were convinced they had souls, and these were indeed im- mortal. " The adoration and worship of Beasts among the Egyptians," says Diodorus, " seems justly to many a most strange and unaccountable thing, and worthy inquiry; for they worship some creatures even above measure, when they are dead as well as when they are living; as Cats, Ichneu- mons, Dogs, Kites, the bird Ibis, Wolves, and Croc- odiles, and many other such like." He informs us of the extraordinary expense and care to which the priests put themselves when pro- viding for the living animal, and the even still more extravagant labor to which they went in observing the obsequies of the sacred animals. He says no similar worship was to be found among any of the ancient people. Judged by these obsequies, either the Egyptians were the most foolish and idiotic of all people, or ASSYEIAN AKD EGYPTIAN BELIEFS 89 they discerned some secret in nature of which hu- manity is not commonly possessed. Diodorus pre- sents several reasons for the worship of the beasts which he says were prevalent among the Egyptians, but makes the suggestive statement that the priests claimed to have a secret reason which they would not divulge to the laity. Evidently in some way all these ceremonies point to some occult relation, or conception of some com- mon derivation, between men and beasts, which is not apparent, but must be deduced from concom- itant circumstances. Diodorus hints of one alleged reason for the wor- ship of the beasts, which, he says, is the most com- monly current of any, yet to his mind the least plausible of all ; that was " that the first gods were so few, and men so many above their number, and so wicked and impious, that they were too weak for them, and therefore transformed themselves into beasts, and by that means avoided their assaults and cruelty. But afterwards they say that the kings and princes of the earth (in gratitude to them for the first authors of their well-being) directed how carefully those creatures whose shapes they had assumed should be fed while they were alive, and how they were to be buried when they were dead." Erom such reverential devotion to the beasts the people in time came to attribute to them the quality of divinity which originally inhered in their divine authors. 9a MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY In this fable we discern a faint hint of that prev- alent notion in all antiquity (hinted at in the Bible story of Adam naming all the beasts that God com- manded to walk before him), namely, that in some mysterious manner human beings descended from the loins of the animals and thus are spiritually akin. Just as the tree worshippers, as we have seen, adored them, because they believed mankind sprung from their bosoms, so the beast-worshippers honored and worshipped the birds, reptiles and quadrupeds of their climes, believing that they were their progenitors. What notion of the souls of men or animals, therefore, these ancients entertained, it is plain to see it came to them directly from their association and experience with animate nature. It may be said that they were one grade above the Druids be- cause they adored semi-intelligent animation, while the latter saw the glory of the world in the voiceless and brainless forms of the vegetal kingdom. But Egyptologists have now almost universally reached the conclusion that the worship of Apis (the sacred bull) was closely associated with the adora- tion of Osiris, which has such evident marks of the solar-myth that the entire origin of the religious rites of those people may be referred directly to their observation of the sun and the stellar con- stellations. Possibly the tenets of all religions but reflect man's observations of the heavenly bodies. This is not, of course, the place to enter into a detailed discussion of such an interesting theme, and ASSYRIAN AND EGYPTIAN BELIEFS 91 is merely mentioned to observe that again we dis- cern the naturalistic origin of man's belief in the character and history of the soul (whether animal or human) and the glory of its immortality. CHAPTEE VIII ASSTEIO-BAEYLONIAN SOURCES OF BELIEF We shall find that the origin of the Assyrio-Baby- lonian religion and its declaration of the doctrine of immortality is to be attributed to the same source. The dream of the after life in that religion was full of gloom and sombreness even when it related to heaven no less than hell. For they believed most vividly in both of these localities. We discern in the Babylonian religion the immediate source of much that is to be found among the Semitic peoples, especially the Hebrews, although, as we shall soon learn, the perception of the soul as a distinct entity and possessed of a life after death was but very vaguely conceived by these latter people. According to the most recent discoveries of the Assyriologists, it is very evident that the entire Bab- ylonian cult was a system of nature-worship, or more especially, as shown by Godfrey Higgins in his " Anacalyptus," many years ago, a solar cult, from which emanated all the varying forms of re- ligion that have since pervaded the earth. The sombreness of the Babylonian view of death was even more oppressive than that of the Egyp- tians, An appalling sense of fear overcame the novitiate who glanced at the possibilities of migra- tion beyond the grave, within whose deeps naught but gloom and terror prevailed. 92 ASSYEIO-BABYLONIAN BELIEFS 93 *^ Izdubar wept o'er Ea-bani^ his friend ; In sorrow he laid himself down in the field; ^ I will not die like Ea-bani, Grief has entered my soul. I am afraid of death. And lay me down in the field/ ^' Finding as we do in the Assyrio-Babylonian legends the entire tradition of the Genesis stories of the Bible, we may easily discover the origin of the Hebrew notions of death which were so prevalent in the early Mosaic period. Howbeit, through the many influences that overcame Jewish thought be- cause of the migrations of the people and their min- gling with many civilizations, they materially al- tered their primal notions of death, nevertheless it is very evident their first conceptions were gloomy and appalling. Job can discover nothing but profound- est darkness in the regions of the woe-crowned King of Terrors, and stands aghast at the contemplation of the unutterable darkness that surrounds him, " I go whence I shall not return, even the land of darkness, and the shadow of death ; a land of dark- ness, as of darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order and where the light is as darkness," How similar this seems in conception to that grim opening in the Babylonian account of Ishtar's descent into Hades: " To the land of no return, to the land . . . Ishtar the daughter of Sin inclined her ear. To the house of darkness, the dwelling of Irkalla, To the house which none who enter ever return 94 MODEEN" EIGHT ON IMMORTALITY To the road whose course does not turn back. To the house in which he who enters is deprived of light Where dust is their nature and mud their food. They see not light, they dwell in darkness." Recognizing in these songs the tendency of all the primitive people of earth to portray in po^ic im- agery their observation of the v^orkings of nature, it requires but slight investigation to discover the true origin of all these conceptions of death, and the dim foreglimpses of the after life which they en- tertained. Ishtar, the great goddess of Sin, representing hu- man life, descends in the depths of darkness from which she is able to return only through the guid- ance of the god of light. As Ishtar descends she protests at the treatment she receives. " Why, O porter, dost thou take the great crown from my head ? " she expostulates ; and the gallant porter responds, " Enter, O Lady, for these are the com- mands of the mistress of the world." She con- stantly remonstrates, by each gate they approach, at her being dismantled of all her ornaments and shorn of her glory. Then when the hapless ^^ Lady " comes before the affrighting goddess of the under-world, AUatu, she commands that Ishtar's now inglorious body shall be smitten through and through with vile disease and mortification. Yet, while she is detained, in the under-world, as if in revenge, the fruitful god of earth grows impotent, and life wholly stops on the surface of the globe. Beautiful as the poetry is, and doubtless quite ASSYRIO-BABTLOliriAN BELIEFS 95 illusivCj one can discern through the maze of im- agery the simple observation of the labors of the sun, and his pathetic descent into the Cimmerian dark- ness beyond the cloud-wrapped western sea. This conception beginning at the very dawn of human thought, wends its varying way through all the an- cient religions till we find it reaching its climax of beauty and symbolism in the story of Odysseus and his strange wanderings to the land of the Cim- merians. However, though these first conceptions of death are full of horror and reflect but the gloom of the nether darkness, they are soon lit up with a faint ray of hope that softens the oppressive tragedy. Dimly they perceive that they who depart into the land " from which there is no return " may in- deed come once more among the glories which per- vade the earth when again the King of Day reigns supreme. The meaning of the myth is clearly told in the following words of C. P. Tiele : " The story of Ish- tar's descent into Hades is unmistakably a nature myth which describes in picturesque fashion her de- scent into the under-world to seek the springs of the living water, probably the central force of light and heat in the world. When she is imprisoned there by Allatu, the goddess of death and the shadow world, and even visited with all sorts of diseases, all growth and generation stand still in the world, so that the gods take council and decide to demand her release. Each accordingly creates a wonderful be- ing, a kind of priest, called ' his light shineth,' who 96 MODEEliT LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY is to seek out the fountain of life, and -whom AUatu cannot "withstandj however much she may scold and curse. The goddess is set free, returns to the up- per world and brings her dead lover Tammuz back to life by sprinkling him with the water of immor- tality." If we are to insist, as many do, that the instinct of the after life is so strong and persistent in the human breast it can be accounted for only on the assumption that it is innate and therefore absolute in nature, we may be easily misled, because of our disregard of the naturalistic origin of the belief. Thus far it has been without much difficulty traced to the nature-myth, or the poetic apotheosis of the world, and especially the sun and the stellar globes. If it shall finally be discovered that all religions have more or less merged and nothing has come down to the later cults that did not primarily exist in the originals, then the force of this interpretation will be greatly weakened, and we shall be compelled to conclude that what is now called a belief in the after life is but a psychological survival of primitive notions which slowly developed in the human mind and sprung from uncivilized man's contemplation of natural phenomena. There is now no doubt that a path of communi- cation existed between the most ancient of religions, that the Babylonians and Egyptians were the spring from which flowed all the early beliefs and notions of man's first religions, and that, too, what attained such high and philosophic altitudes of thought in the later Jewish and Christian faiths was nonfe other ASSYRIO-EABYLONIAN BELIEFS 97 than what primarily found its origin in these eariy dreams of the human race. It is "well known, for instance, that the entire re- ligion of the Jews, so far as it relates to God and immortality, is the immediate offspring of the Per- sian or Zoroastrian religion. Wow, if we read the description of late and refined presentations of that faith, we shall find it full of ethical grandeur and poetic beauty. It is surcharged with a vital con- ception of immortality, as an essential of the ethical life, and accepted as an unquestionable article of belief. Accepting a very recent statement, and one which is undoubtedly authentic as to the modem ideas entertained by the Parsees, presented by Mr. Jinandii Modhi at the Chicago Religious Confer- ence, we shall perhaps little suspect that it can be traced in its every feature directly to the primal na- ture-myth, to which we have frequently referred. He says : " The Avesta, as well as earlier Pehlvi writings, attach first-rate importance to the ques- tion of the soul's immortality, because the dogma appears io ie morally requisite. Mazdaeisn incul- cates a belief in heaven and hell. Between heaven and the future world it places a bridge named Chine- vat According to our faith, the soul of man wan- ders for three days over the face of the earth under the guidance of the angel Serosch. ... At nightfall on the third day the souls of the dead come to the bridge of Chinevat, watched by Meher the judge, etc. After the soul is judged ^ The good which it has done hinders it from going to hell and the evil from going to heaven.' " 98 MODEEN" LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY The primary basis of the Parsee faith is the dual doctrine of Ormuzd and Ahriman; the opposing powers of light and darkness ; or of good and evil. However, as the religion developed beyond its earlier stages it reached a spiritual improvement which ma- terially modified the ancient dualistic doctrine and led to a belief in a monotheistic or supreme Deity. A general resurrection was contemplated at which all the dead would once again arise, nothing being lost from the great host of the living who had once inhabited the earth. The entire cult attains at last a lofty ethical and spiritual altitude that rivals, if indeed it does not overtop, any of the modem re- ligions of mankind. For on the one hand it avoids the crass materialism of early Jewish faith, which almost entirely lost sight of the glimpse of immor- tality it had imbibed from surrounding religions, and on the other the unethical and demoralizing dogmatism of the Christian faith relating to hell and the everlasting destruction of the larger part of the race whom God had created, apparently for the purpose of condemning. Can, then, even this refined and much glorified religion be traced to the primitive nature-myth and solar cult, or is it an exception among the religions of the world ? " In the deep background of the Magian theology," says Alger, " looms in mysteri- ous obscurity the belief in an infinite First Prin- ciple, Zeruana Akerana." This idea entering so vaguely into the original Parsee faith is undoubt- edly borrowed, as Spiegel insists, " From Babylon and added to the system at a later period than the ASSYEIO-BABYLONIAN BELIEFS 99 other doctrines." ..." The beginning of the vital theology, the source of actual ethics to the Zoroastrians, was in the idea of two antagonistic powers, Ormuzd and Ahriman, the first emanations of Zeruana^ who divide between them in unresting strife the empire of the universe." Now, running through the entire polemics relative to the much dis- puted nature of these two gods there prevails the suggestive interpretation that originally Ahriman was not essentially evil, but like Ormuzd, and became evil only after his fall or descent. " Eirst the per- fect Zeruana was once all in all ; Ahriman as well rs Ormuzd proceed from him ; and the inference that he was pure would seem to belong to the idea of his origin." This seems to be the final conclusion to which the historians have arrived, as we learn in the language of Roth, " Ahriman was originally good; his fall a determination of his will, not an inherent necessity of his nature," Very clearly, then, do we discern the source of this beautiful and poetic religion, and easily can we trace it to the far dawn of human history. First let us observe that it is founded on the no- tion of " emanations " — the abstraction of indi- vidual gods or powers from one primary central deity or essence. This conception of the emana- tions ran through the ancient religions and reached its climax of imagery and symbolism in the Kabala of the Semites and the theosophy of the Gentile faiths. Forbes, quoted in the " Anacalyptus," says: " The opinion of the soul being an emana- tion of the divinity (the universal soul), which is 100 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT believed by the Hindoos, and was professed by the Greeks, seems likewise to have been adopted by the early Christians. . . . Saint Justin says: * The soul is incorruptible because it emanates from God ; and his disciples, Tatianus, the Assyrian, ob- observes that man having received a portion of the divinity, is immortal as God. Such was the system of the ancient philosophers, Pythagoreans, Brach- mans, and some sects of the Christians.' " Now, nothing stands forth more prominently among all the ancient religions than the supremacy of life. Seeing the earth teeming with living crea- tures, and observing that notwithstanding death was universal, life was ultimately triumphant, the idea grew in the mind of man that life itself was an indestructible principle in nature, thus indeed by way of the imagination anticipating some of the most startling conclusions of modern science. Hence, the organ of generation, no less that of the female than of the male, became the vast and universal symbol of all the most ancient cults. The " bull " is loniversally symbolized in the primary re- ligions as a worshipful deity, being the strongest and most prolific source of life. " The bull, the de- monstrative and figurative sign following his (Apis) name is accompanied by the crux ansata, or emblem of life." Apis the sacred Bull in the Egyptian re- ligion is often identified with Osiris, and both stand as emblematic of life, the one of earthly and the other of universal life. " Of all the different attributes of the Creator, or faculties conferred on him by his creatures, there ASSYRIO-BABYLONIAN BELIEFS 101 is no one so striking or so interesting to a reflecting person as that of the generative power. This is the most incomparable and mysterious of the powers of nature. When all the adjuncts or accidents of every kind so interesting to the feelings and pas- sions of man are considered, it is not wonderful that this subject should be found in some way or other to have a place among the first of human supersti- tions," says Higgins, Once their minds were centred on the enigma of the abundant and prolific generative force of nature, it was but natural that they should divine in some way the origin from which it derived its boundless energy. Observing that nature herself seemed to pursue the very manner of the animal world in re- production, that no sooner did a body expire than speedily it seemed to be restored in a similar if not identical form, the idea occurred that there was not, indeed, any such thing as death, and that what seemed to die really persisted in some way to live. Hence the notion of iramortality suggested itself very early to the untutored mind of man. But they also perceived that the fullness of life was variable with the motions of the sun ; that when the summer solstice was present, life had reached its climax on earth, and in the vernal months when the sun was yet young and modest, life was big with promise. They also noticed that when the sun de- scended to his sleep for the night the force of life seemed partially to subside with him, and if for many days he withheld his glory from the earth and the waters of the heavens too freely flooded the 102 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY globe, life speedily faltered and decayed; while in the oppressive period of the winter months life indeed wholly vanished only to return again at the advent of the springtime, when the sim once more returned to the central heavens. Always full of imagination and poetry, as is the mind of a child, the juvenile mind of the primitive races followed the path of the imagination and at once read into the sun the story of the Creator's power and attributed to him the origin and sus- tenance of all life. I found a similar belief among the Indians of the Northwest relating to a great mountain which they have always worshipped as the source of life, because its melting waters in the spring feed the soils and restore the life that had decayed in the wintertime. I elsewhere framed the idea in a son- net and reproduce it here to illustrate the disposi- tion of the inhabitants of the primeval plains to wor- ship whatever seems to be the source of earthly and human life: " Hail, Mother Mount, mysterious, merciful. Whose white breast bulges from the swelling earth, Keviving rivulets from winter^s dearth. To feed the soils, whose cry most pitiful, ' We thirst/ thou hear'st ! Thy melting bosom, full Of sorrow for them, tugging at thy girth Of snowy udders like sucklings after birth. Doth freely flow and say ^ My lambkins drink ! ' " 0, thee. Great Nourisher, we worship all ; And as the envious sun, behind the brink ASSYEIO-BABTLONIAN BELIEFS 103 Of crystal brightness sinking, crowns thy tall. Imperious brow with gold, we sometimes think A god appears, whose glory doth forestall A vision of that world from which we shrink." ^ Thus we see how uniquely yet perfectly the young mind of the race, following merely the palpable in- timations of nature, had so well anticipated the actual discoveries and deductions of modem science. But having become so affectionately observant of the career and labors of the sun, it followed at once that legends and superstitions relating to him speed- ily found their place in the mythology of those periods. Hence when the sun reigned in heaven he was the god of goodness, he brought plenty and power to the earth, he was the source of life and productivity. But when he descended, that is, when he fell into the realm of darkness, he entered into the abode of death, from which at first it was doubted whether he could return. Then he is the evil god ; — for in the absence of the god of light, all the diseases which were said to have overtaken Ishtar are brought upon the earth, the fields and the cattle of the plains. Here we behold the first adumbration of the faith in Ormuzd and Ahriman, and the glimmering discernment of the after life and the resurrection. Here, too, we perceive the basis of the first vague and mysterious belief of man in a single God or Supreme Principle, from which all souls and spirits emanated. For was not the Sun primarily alone and supreme in the lOriginaUy printed in "Chips," N. Y., Nov.. 1895. 104 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY heavens, and so first contemplated as the highest among the Mighty and the Holy of the Holies ? !N'ot until he fell (descended into darkness) was he discrowned and beheld as the god of gloom and the king of terrors. Out of these simple beginnings have come all the splendors, ceremonies and theologies of the religions of the world. And therefore, once more, even in a religion as beautiful and ethically refined as that of the Zoroastrian Parsees, not to speak of Mosaism, we see the naturalistic origin of the belief in the immortality of the human soul along with all the other associated doctrines of religious faith. CHAPTER IX EVOLUTIOI^ OF GEECIAN BELIEF IN AFTEE LIFE When "we come to face the doctrine of immortal- ity as presented in Grecian philosophical thought we verge so closely on the Christian conception that the line of demarcation is very diflScult. We find first, in the scheme of Socrates and Plato, the Supreme One Mind, source and sustainer of all existence, from which emanates every distinctive individual soul whose history is forever related to it. Without a doubt the Oriental theme of reincar- nation or metempsychosis is deeply involved so that the higher philosophy of Athens does not make very clear to us the exact history of the soul beyond the grave, nevertheless the notion that the soul does con- tinue its existence is stated without prevarication. Jowett reminds us, however, that " Probably the be- lief in the individudliiy of the soul after death had but a feeble hold on the Greek mind. Like the per- sonality of God, the personality of man in a future state was not inseparately bound up with the reality of existence.'^ The poetic quality of the Grecian mind, especially the Hellenic, compelled it to dis- cern rather the symbol and figurement of some ar- cane principle of nature in every phenomenon and feature of the world than to detect a personified entity who as supreme author stood apart from it all. Their conception was comprehensive and log- 105 106 MODEKN LIGHT ON" IMMOKTALITY ical rather than impressionable and personal. Hence they insisted not so much on a specific per- sonality from whom, all things came and to whom they are directly responsible and shall return, as they did upon an all-involving principle which was at once the pleroma and womb, all-containing and self -generating : that in which all things live and- move and have their being, and to which they at length return; symbolized in ancient mythology by the encircling sea. In the latter days of Greek philosophy the doc- trine of human immortality was proved by a par- tially inductive method of reasoning, Plato having been perhaps the first mortal who anticipated Bacon in his great revolutionary system of dialectics. For many ages preceding the age of Socrates the doctrine of immortality was popularly accepted, but the no- tion which it conveyed to the mind was mythical, in- distinct and primitive. At this time the old Ho- meric notion of gibbering ghosts hanging round the tomb and overseeing their incineration, complain- ing if the ceremonies were not properly completed ; the aristocratic conception that only the chiefs and epochally illustrious would enjoy the isles of the blest; that on the one hand Elysium awaited the soul and on the other Tartarus, between which the uncertain spirit would flit through varying circum- stances ; that, as Hesiod taught, a few of the noblest and most righteous spirits of the earth had become guardian angels or tutelary gods ; all these notions in the Socratic age had effectually vanished and in their stead the cultured Greeks were inculcated with EVOLUTION OF GEECIAN BELIEF 107 a philosophy that verged much closer on more re- cent conceptions. In the system of Plato that philosophy had per- haps reached its completest and most logical expres- sion. Reading the possibilities and prophecy of Nature in the experience of the human soul, he de- duces from it the existence of a Supreme Being, and the consequent immortality of the soul which is in essence and nature its offspring and dependent. If the infinite and universal principle is eternal and indestructible, so is the soul that emanates from it. He discerns that every human action is preceded by a prompting thought; that each thought springs from an idea; that the sum total of human action and character is the effect of certain controlling archetypal " ideas " which he believes to be inde- structible, divine and eternal. Socrates, as interpreted by Plato, saw that un- derneath the changing mental phenomena of human experience there lay an unchanging, permanent and controlling principle, which he called the principle of the Identical, the rational element of the soul, which constituted the principle of its activity and self-determination (Crocker). This principle he calls the immortal part of the soid; it is the resi- dence of man's personal intelligence, very part and essence of the Divine Intelligence that pervades the world. As that is indestructible, unchanging and indivisible, so is the rational or intelligent principle of the soul. But the soul has also a lesser, lower, divisible and changeable part, which brings it into immediate re- 108 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY lation with the visible world and is the residence of the body's actions and deeds which culminate in human character. These two departments are not wholly separated as the heaven and the earth, or as a continent divided by a stream of water, or as Tar- tarus and Elysium. There exists still another di- vision or section of the soul which constitutes its intermediary principle, the plane of the conscious energy of the soul acting within the sphere of earthly existence. Here we discern a clear adumbration of Paul's triune composition of the human being, as spirit, soul and body. We thus see the soul attached on the one hand to the divine and eternal Principle, and on the other to the transitory and perishable world of objective phenomena. On one side it might be said to be an unconditioned, immediate and direct associate of the Supreme Being, and on the other a dependent, contingent and transitory phase of its expression. Its divine or rational element is indestructible and immortal; its human or earthly expression, the em- bodiment of bodily and objective experience, is mortal, personal, and corruptible. The pure, abstract soul stands apart from all in- vasion and corruption by the mortal elements. As shown in the tenth book of the Republic, there is in everything an element of good and an element of evil which constitutes the salvation and destruction of everything. " All things have their own cor- rupting element, and that which is undestroyed by this is indestructible. The soul has her own cor- rupting principles, which are injustice, intemper- EVOLUTION OF GKECIAN BELIEF 109 ance, cowardice, and the like. But none of these destroy the soul in the same sense that disease de- stroys the body. The soul may he full of all iniqui- ties, hut is not hy reason of them all hrought any nearer death. For nothing ever perished by an external affection of evil, which was not destroyed from within. The body, which is one thing, cannot be destroyed by food which is another thing ; neither can the soul, which is one thing, be corrupted by the body, which is another thing." The entire object of the trial of existence is the liberation of the pure soul from conscious contact with the corrupting body, or element of death. The Eternal Principle pervading the organs of the body affects the presence of the incorruptible soul that dwells within it. As this principle is divine and indestructible, so is the consequent soul. But the fact that this soul is imprisoned in the body and cannot therefore freely and unconquerably express itself makes it necessary for the spirit to pass through nameless experiences and embodiments that the elements of evil and corruption be fully ex- purgated and the free soul at length enjoy the exer- cise of its unhampered power. The liberation and exaltation of the eternal individual Ego is then the purpose and meaning of all life's experiences. In the emergence and triumph of this Ego consists the glory of life, the culmination of existence. At first in the Socratic conception the absolute purity of the soul and authority of the ruling " ideas " was the emphasis and fullness of its philosophy. That the primal soul was of the essence and incorruptibility 110 M0DEKI5" LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY of the divine nature and would ultimately evolve its divine and supernal consciousness was the burden and message of the nobler philosophy of later Greece. In the eyes of Socrates, voiced on the lips of Plato, the beautiful, the harmonious, the good and the true, are eternal verities, in whose embodiment the soul is encased. Are not the many beautiful things, whether horses or garments or any other things which may be called beautiful, are they not forever changing? May they not indeed be de- scribed as always changing, he asks of Cebes, and hardly ever the same either with themselves or with any other? The things, which are ever changing and dissolving are the things that can be seen (Paul's "temporal things"). But he insists that there is within all these changing forms, phases and attributes, a changeless somewhat on which they all depend and which can never be seen. The things that are not seen are eternal, as Paul afterwards also declared. The soul, then, when she employs the body as the instrument of perception and sensa- tion by which she permits herself to become ac- quainted with the world, is thus dragged down, flurried and confused. She does not maintain her rational bearing and her noble poise; the world spins round her and she is like a drunken man when under their influence. But when she returns to herself, like a drunken man after a restorative sleep, to continue the fig- ure, she comes to herself ; she reflects ; she rises then into her native realm of purity, eternity, divinity EVOLUTION OF GKECIAN BELIEF 111 and immortality; she discerns herself as imehaiige- able, immobile, incorruptible and kindred with the gods; she ceases from her erring ways and, again associating with the unchangeable, she herself is again imchanging. This is the startling figure which Plato uses in the Phaedo by which he intends to exemplify the innate purity and incorruptible excellence of the essential spirit, or soul of man. But the future state of that same soul is still vague and indefinite in the mind of Socrates, as reported by Plato, even on his dying bed. He cannot bring himself to believe that, as some thought, it could be blown away into its original elements instantly after death has liberated it, seeing that even the body itself does not instantly and at once dissolve after it has departed from life; even indeed remaining out- wardly intact for many centuries if it is properly embalmed as once by the ancient Egyptians. He insists that the soul itself, which is absolutely pure, draws with it after its release from the cor- rupt body none of its vitiating taints, for its asso- ciation with the body was voluntary, and she as voluntarily once more withdraws from the body and practices the philosophical art of dying easily. " The soul I say herself invisible departs to the in- visible world — to the divine and immortal and ra- tional: thither arriving she lives in bliss and is re- leased from the folly of men, their fears and wild passions and all other human ills, and forever dwells as they say of the initiated, in company with the gods." 112 MODEEI^ LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITT This conceptioii at first ruled the Socratic theory of being, and all beyond the grave was full of the delights of paradise, reflected in the gorgeous splen- dors of the ;^gean Sea. The fascinating grandeur and peaceful charms of the landscape which always confronted the dwellers, in Attica naturally inspired them with beautiful and prophetic visions of the invisible realms beyond. Some of the philosophers went no farther. Either they believed that the soul, like the body after death, was dissipated into the original elements from which it came, or that it ascended at once among the gods and forever abode in the realm of pure excellence. But Socrates thought that a portion of the soul could be dragged down again. That, in short, a conscious portion of the divine being became well aware of its contamination with the passions and failures of the faltering flesh and was borne down to earth again by the weight of the miserable body. " But the soul which has been polluted, and is im- pure at the time of its departure, and is the com- panion and servant of the body always, until she is led to believe that the truth is found only in the body alone, the soul which is accustomed to hate and to fear the intellectual principle, do you be- lieve that such a soul as this will depart pure and unsullied ? " At this juncture in the development of the Pla- tonic or Socratic philosophy we observe to what an extent the old superstitions of belief still survived and how even so great a philosopher cannot release himself from them. For here we behold a strange EVOLUTION OF GKECIAN BELIEF 113 and sudden survival. He thinks that such a soul is again dragged down and restrained to this world, and its -wraith is permitted to wander around tombs and sepulchres " in the neighborhood of which, as they tell us, are seen certain ghostly apparitions of the souls which have not departed pure, but are cloyed with sight and are therefore visible." This primitive notion is beautifully phrased by Milton in Comus, who sings : " But when lust By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk. But most by lewd and lavish act of sin, Lets in defilement to the inward parts. The soul grows clotted by contagion, Imbodied and imbrute, till she quite lose The divine property of her first being. Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp. Oft seen in charnel vaults and sepulchres. Lingering, and sitting by a new made grave. As loath to leave the body that it loved. And likened itself by carnal sensuality To a degenerate and degraded state." It is here that we discern the mingling of the primitive Homeric notions of the after-death estate of the departed with the later Oriental conceptions which migrated into Athens from the East. For while Socrates seems to believe that the spirits of the unworthy departed still linger around the tombs, he is more inclined to believe that they re- turn to earth again in the form of some lower beast, which forefigures the moral condition of the un- fortunate individual. 114 MODERN" LIGHT 01:^ IMMOETALITY " I mean to saj that men who have followed after gluttony, wantonness and drunkenness, and have had no thought of avoiding them, would pass into asses and animals of that sort," he despairingly and tentatively exclaims to Cebes in the Phaedo. By this hint I think we are able to detect the sources of the Socratic philosophy and how it presents but a noble and cultured evolution of the primitive and cruder conceptions of the rude Homeric civiliza- tion. The deliquescent soul degrades into the animal, thinks Socrates in a vague and uncertain manner. He is confused as to the real issue of the hampered and evil-bodied soul. He has appar- ently heard of a new doctrine or of one at least that is still held but tentatively and in a vague manner by his conjecturing mind. Pythagoras has already invaded the East and returned with curious no- tions concerning the dead, and Plato himself is said to have come in contact with Oriental philosophies in his travels. Hence the doctrine of metempsy- chosis, the prevalent notion of the far East, filters vaguely into his later philosophy. He himself admits that he holds the doctrine in a most uncer- tain and unsatisfactory manner, for while making a declaration of it he qualifies it by assuring his friends that he speaks but in a simile as it were. He gives them a most vivid description of the fate that shall befall various types of human beings be- yond the grave, then partially retracts it by a sort of an apology and declares that he does not mean to indicate that his descriptions are exactly in ac- cordance with the truth, for " A man of sense ought EVOLUTION OF GRECIAN BELIEF 115 hardly to say that," but that substantially what he said was true or approached the truth, or that " Something like this is true, if the souls of hu- man beings may be believed to be immortal." It is, therefore, clear that the degeneracy of unfor- tunate and degraded souls into inferior animals in future incarnations, as well as the ascent of purified souls to the regions of the gods, was a notion that had either been recently presented to him for his consideration or that it was an ancient tradition which he had almost outgrown. I am inclined to thint that the former conclusion is the truest when we recall that the doctrine of reincarnation, while a very ancient notion, came primarily from the East, and that both Pythagoras and Plato were in- oculated by it in their Oriental travels. However, there can be no denial of the fact that the cruder and more primitive idea that the souls of men were more like simulacra that hung around graveyards and carried with them into the world of the invisible all the necessities and characteris- tics which marked them while they still inhabited the body, clung tenaciously to the mind of Plato or Socrates, whom he represents. If we discover this to be a fact, then it will enable us to trace back the ideas of Socrates and Plato to their au- tochthonic origin and thus perhaps be able to dis- cover its naturalistic derivation. In Gorgias he narrates a curious fable as to the dead, which he says he believes is true, but his friend, Callicles, might think it but an old woman's tale. The gist of this story is that Pluto, the king 116 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY of the underworld, grew discontented because he thought the judgments passed on human souls after death were not fair. The cause of this was that the judges themselves and the souls on trial still wore their clothes, hence the judge could not see through to the inward and concealed soul. He therefore insisted on both the souls and the judges standing naked at the seat of judgment that the decisions might be more just. Undoubtedly there is an arcane or esoteric meaning to this curious fable, which at this juncture we shall be unable to inves- tigate. He then continues to declare that the souls that depart from this earth are not only precisely characterized as to personality and idiosyncrasy the same as when they were in the body, but when the bodies still wear the same clothes, are marked by the same features, as flowing hair and conspie- uous nose, if such they had before death, or in such manner as easily to distinguish them should they be observed at the sepulchres. " In a word, whatever was the habit of the body during life would be distinguishable after death, either per- fectly or in a great measure and for a time." How clearly this reminds us of the Homeric con- ception and of the close relation the living main- tained with the dead in that far off and forgotten time ! The dead still remained as a part of the living, invisible only in form, yet actual in person- ality and presence. The tombs and the sepulchres were henceforth their homes as formerly the shel- ters of thatch and stone were prepared for their visible frames. The living must needs provide for EVOLUTIOK" OF GKECIAN BELIEF 117 these invisible sepulchre-creatures as thoroughly as though they were still associated with them in the visible world. They were indeed not dead; they were simulacra of the living, only invisible, yet as actual and aa present as when they were seen in the body. Every rite must be observed. The prevalent and awe-inspiring superstition of antiquity was the existence and possible invasion of the ghost. The purpose of all primitive religion, a purpose which, by the way, lingered among latet civilizations till very recently, was deliverance from the curse of the disquieted soul that might be blown around the pendant globe, and at any time gain a disturbing access to the living because of its sense of neglect and injustice. It was with reference to this fear that food and garments, and money, even, were placed in the hands of the dead, that they might be able to make their wanderings successful and not return to disturb the living. Even until very recently at Irish wakes a piece of money was given to the dead that they might buy their way through the gates of death. There was a custom prevalent among the Jews of putting certain pieces of money on the eyelids of the deceased, as some supposed for the purpose of shutting out the linger- ing light of this world, but more than likely to as^ sist the ghost to go on its way without material em' barrassment. It was this same fact that Homer indicated when he speaks of Patroclus's ghost coming to the bed- side of Achilles and chiding him for not completing the funeral ceremonies, and of Odyssey finding his 118 MODEK]^ LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY old friend Elpenor wandering around in Hades and unable to cross the Styx because proper provision had not been made for his departure. We must not pass over this grave consideration of the Greeks regarding the proper burial of their dead and the meaning attached to it. The exact location, the proper accompaniments of food and garment, the proper incineration, are all most seri- ous considerations. When old Priam begged Achilles to return to him the remains of Hector, a most humiliating attitude for a conquered chief to assume, it was because the prevalent thought compelled him to believe that if the body was not buried in the proper place it would wander round the world in a hideous manner and be forever at unrest. Antigone's determination to sprinkle dust on the dead body of her brother, Polynices, and thus assure him burial in the sight of the gods, although it meant her own doom and ultimate sui- cide, is another illustration of the importance that attached to burials among the ancients. Now was all this a portion of their religion which came to them by revelation from the gods, or from innate consciousness of the meaning and the future of death, or was it but a residual disposition conse- quent on old superstitions which once the race enter- tained? It seems to me the latter statement is nearest the truth. The survival of the dead was to the Greek a keen fact in his religion, but it was a conception of survival which remained among the cultured Greeks of a later period as a relic of su- perstitions entertained by their forebears, which EVOLUTION OF GRECIAN BELIEF 119 were the same as prevailed among aU the autoch- thones of earth. Not unlike these Grecian superstitions are those of the Ojibways, who see the souls of their dead laden with life's utensils on their journey to the spirit-world — the men still carrying their shadowy pipes and guns, the women their baskets and pad- dles, and the boys their toy bows and arrows. We are informed that in Peru the widows of slain chieftains will kill themselves that they may con- tinue to be of service to their lord; not infre- quently his attendants would be buried with him, that his bodyguard might be intact in the ghostly world to which he had departed. This idea was carried so far that frequently the chieftain's horses were slain and buried with him, accoutered in all their martial apparel. Thus in Madagascar, we are informed, was King Eadam, only recently, buried mounted on his uniformed horse, which was interred with him.^ How do these savage conceptions differ from those of the Greeks as shown in the story of Pa- troclus being burned at his death with the Trojan captives and his horses and hounds, or of Melissa^ who had been slain by a jealous husband, returning as a ghost and shivering because her clothes had not been burnt with her at the burial ? The per- sistence of such superstitions long after the cause which originally gave rise to them is remarkable among all people. " In Europe," as Tyler re-^ I See Tyler's " Anthropology." 120 MODEKlSr LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY minds uSj " long after the wives and slaves ceased thus to follow their master, the warrior's horse was still solemnly killed at his grave and buried with him." He narrates a case in Treves as late as 1781. We know that the custom still prevails of leading the horse, all comparisoned, at the side of the coffin of the dead general in the final cortege. " Hell-shoon " are still worn in the German vil- lages, on the feet of the corpses, etc. Thus we see how these most ancient and barbarian customs still linger among us in some symbolic form centuries after the occasions that gave rise to them have vanished. It is, therefore, easy for us to grasp the idea that the notions of the survival of the dead which seemed to be instinct in the minds of the ancient Greeks, both in the rude Homeric age and the age of Plato and Pericles, were but psycholog- ical residua of long forgotten experiences. Plutarch informs us that Aristotle insists that the opinion of the dead surviving the grave and living in some form after death is as old as man and its origin is beyond discovery. But Plutarch lived in an age before the modem science of archseology was in- vented. In this discussion we must not lose sight of the fact that all notions, ceremonies and customs which prevailed at burials and with reference to the dead arose out of the fact that the fear of the return of the ghost to do evil to the living was universally prevalent. This fear still lingers in modem civ- ilization whenever a graveyard is passed, and even so advanced a scientist as Priestley could not forego EVOLUTION OF GEECIAlf BELIEF 121 the psychological instinct, but fainted when he thought he saw a ghost in passing through a cem- etery at night. As a witness of this prevalent fear we have the custom once extant and almost universal among savages of eating the dead bodies of their kindred. This was done not as a mere cannibalistic predilec- tion, but because of the fear which the savage man entertained of the spirits of the departed. This same conception of fear of the dead is still in vogue among the uncouth villagers of European nations. There is a popular objection to carrying the corpse to the graveyard over a private road way, for fear that the ghost will afterwards come trailing back over the same path. In Scotland they turn all the chairs upside down after the obsequies, so that the ghost will not return and occupy any of them. This reminds us of Banquo's return to the banquet and frightening Macbeth as his ghostly figure sat in its accustomed place. The dance in Scotland and the wake in Ireland are kept up all night to scare away any spirit that may be attracted by the corpse still awaiting burial.^ Such instances could be multiplied by the hun- dred, which go to prove that the burial customs among all people are originally the same and that they all depend on some conception about the de^ parted body which they entertain and which gives rise to frightening superstitions. But there must have been a still more ancient and primitive notion 1" Folklore and Ethnology," Gomme. 122 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY which underlay these later conceptions and from which the superstitions sprung. Why, in short, should there ever have arisen in the mind of the savage man any such idea that the ghost could re- turuj why, indeed, any notion of a ghost at all, and why was the location of the ghost always asso- ciated with the place where the body was buried, rather than where the body was slain ? Why were these wandering spirits supposed to be so anxious to get a proper burial and especially in a certain location which alone would be satisfactory to them ? At first thought there would seem to be something recondite and mysterious underlying these notions, and, in fact, because many have supposed this, on these very facts cults of mysticism and spiritistic vagaries have been founded. But when we seek a natural cause for all human experiences we soon learn that we shall not be dis- appointed. ^Nature labors along one line and in one realm only and that is the realm of law and logical sequence. We shall find then that the original conception of the ghost was quite as material as the ghost itself seemed to be ; but that originally it was some- thing wholly different from what it finally became in the aroused imagination of frightened savages. In a former chapter we observed how the breath and the shadow of the body give rise to primitive conceptions of the soul, which emanated directly from observation of these phenomena. The breath was the most subtle and illusive physical quality of the body, and when the latter disappeared, at EVOLUTION OF GKECIAN BELIEF 123 leaat this substance, the last to escape from the lips, the last to voice inarticulately the sufferings of the body, came gradually to be considered the presence of the spirit itself that escaped from the buried corpse. Again, the shadow, which lingered round every human and animal frame as well as every ob- ject of earth, when they intercepted the sim-rays, seemed to be another subtle, howbeit more opaque counterpart of the objective physical frame, and the last to leave the body when it was lowered into the grave. For we must remember that burial in the ground was the most primitive form of depositing the dead and incineration came afterwards in a later age of development. In this later age indeed all the ideas asso- ciated with the deceased body or the corpse were effectually altered. The same ideas or notions prevailed, but they were adapted to different in- terpretations of the soul. When the body was buried, as we have seen, the widows, horses, dogs, food and raiment were all buried with it. But when men came to bum their dead, then these same articles, instead of being buried, were burnt with them. Beautiful poetic imagery grew gradually out of this purifying custom. In some way the flame of the funeral pyre was associated with the flaming glory of the departing sim, and from such ingenuity emanated the story of the shirt of Nessus clinging to the body of Heracles, who ordered his funeral pile, knowing that his end was near. A palpably poetic interpretation of Mt. ^Etna encir- cled by the flaming splendor of the setting sun 124 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY across the ^gean Sea, and dying in the shadows of the night as the sun finally disappeared beneath the darkling waters. But as the keen imagination of the untutored savage built his poetic legends on the glory of the sunset, he also associated with them a gloomier as- pect in observing the encircling clouds of the dusk that settle upon it and at length remain alone in the darkening horizon. The cloud some way became to him a wraith of the sunken or de- parted sun. The cloud always accompanied the sun and never so suggestively, nay, so pathetically, as at sunset when his glory seemed to desert him. They came to feel that the cloud was the ghost of the king of day, the wraith that guarded and pro- tected him in his course. The cloud was universal and betimes invisible, yet ever present. To them it sang: " I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores, I change but I cannot die." It becomes, as Shelley continues, the voice that al- ways cried : " I silently laugh at my own epitaph, And out of the caverns and rain, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I rise and upbuild it again." But their observations and imaginings relative to the cloud were also accompanied by their timid discernment of a mysterious phenomenon which arose at the incineration of a human body. When EVOLUTION or GEECIAN BELIEF 125 the flame burst forth from the burning wood and thus symbolized the advent of the departing soul in the splendid fields of heavenly asphodels, they ob- served that it was enhaloed by a never failing cloud, which indeed lingered much longer with the con- suming corpse than the flame that spoke of the sun's triumph. What was this strange, mysterious,' personifying smoke? What else could the untu- tored mind believe but that as the cloud was the wraith or ghost of the departing sun, so the smoke was the visible presence of the spirit of the de- parted man who now lay smoldering within its em- brace. Here, then, was the very presence of the departed chief himself, come to watch over the body which the mourners were thus honoring. Homer seems to indicate this common belief in the age of his heroes by declaring that as soon as Patroclus left Achilles in his dream he saw him re-entering the ground in a form like smoke. ^ It is not for us here to enter deeper into this fascinating study. We can but point out that from the conception of the smoke being the very presence of the spirit of the departed, grew the idea of the souls of men being spirits of the air and no longer the grovelling goblins that chattered and shivered around the awaiting tomb. Erom this primitive imagery evolved the Aryan gods of the air that are the constant substratum of every conception of the after life which has descended as a heritage to these later ages, Erom this interpretation came 1 See K.eary's " Primitive Beliefs." 126 MODERN" LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY the idea of the spirits curling like smoke through the empyrean and passing from one phase of exist- ence to another, formalizing that stupendous idea of metempsychosis and reincarnation which at one time so universally prevailed among the most learned races of antiquity. A notion v/hich indeed up to the present hour clings tenaciously to many of the most thoughtful among men. Whatever force is therefore to be attached to the conception of the survival of the dead which pre- vailed among the Greeks, and was so gloriously and with unparallelled grandeur woven into their civ- ilization and literature, it cannot be other than to corroborate the results of the research which we are attempting in the origin of the beliefs of man- kind in the future of the human soul. Notwith- standing the fact that the idea arose in the age of Pericles, through the philosophical interpretation and glossing of so powerful a mind as that of Plato, into one of the most matchless systems of thought ever conceived by the human mind, yet by cau- tiously and sincerely tracing it to its primitive origin I think we are compelled to assert that it arose as all the ideas among men, not innately, but from experience, observation, imagination and fancy. Beautiful and ethical, as without a doubt the ceremonies and instructions administered in the Eleusinian and Dionysian mysteries were, and which, notwithstanding their final deterioration and degeneracy, were primarily a noble ritual of re- ligion, even these divulge their origin in the im- EVOLUTION OF GKECIAN BELIEF 127 agery of their ceremonies. Hesiod gives a vivid description of the future state of the soul, as if it were authentic and descended by revelation from the gods. He declares that, " The souls of the righteous wander over the earth wrapped in fluid- like envelopes, which make them visible, and wield- ing their regal powers. . . . The wicked are held in Tartarus, where they are punished by the memories of their evil deeds. . . ." Here we may discern the philosophic and spiritual re- mains of the primitive observation of the sun's set- ting and the " wrapping " clouds which encircle it like a fluid-frame and make it visible after it has disappeared from the heavens. Indeed a careful study will reveal the fact that all scriptural and religious similes in the Semitic and Christian re- ligions as well as the Aryan, are associated with "light," "clouds," "shadow," "darkness," and so on, which are the primitive derivatives of the no- tions of spirit, soul, heaven and hell. As one of the proofs, then, on which the phil- osophical mind has so long rested, of the survival of the dead, we cannot logically refer to the im- memorial conception of the after life, for we must now be quite well satisfied that it is not an innate instinct, and therefore presumably a revelation to the human soul, but rather a product of primitive imagination and the casual study of natural phe- nomena. As in the study we have abeady made of Egyp- tian, Parsee, Druidic, Asiatic and other notions concerning the future of the dead, so in our study 128 MODEEN LIGHT Olsr IMMOETALITY of similar notions among both the barbaric and the cultured Greeks we seem to be driven to the con- clusion that there is nothing suggested by such ideas other than that they gradually evolved through the ages from crude conceptions to philosophical glosses and stupendous intellectual systems. CHAPTEK X NATUEALISTIC OEIGIN OF THE JEWISH CONCEPTION In attempting a survey of Hebrew thought relat- ing to the future state of the departed we are some- what surprised to discover that almost the entire gamut of human conceptions, from the moat primi- tive to the most highly philosophical, was run by this thoughtful and plastic people. There can scarcely be said to be any distinctive Jewish conception of the after life, for the notion varied with the changing periods of Hebrew his- tory. Being a people whose development from its crudest phase to the loftiest civilization which they attained is so clearly set forth in their sacred writ- ings, we find here a concrete expression of the evo- lution of all human thought relative to the state of the dead beyond the grave. The Jews were pri- marily a most savage and barbarous people, whose ideas of the after life were not only rudimentary, but vague and uncertain. Their folklore relative to the subject is almost identical with that of the Ojibways, the Mycseneans, the Celts, Druids, or Scandinavians. In short, the first notions of all people concerning the dead, as we have already shown, are so almost identical that it is palpable they have been derived or deduced from their ob- servations of natural phenomena. We have seen how among the primitive Greeks 129 130 MODEEN LIGHT ON" IMMOKTALITY and Trojansj as well as among all other primitive tribes, the idea of the condition of the soul was derived from the observation of the breath, the shadow, the setting of the sun, etc. In accord- ance with the nature of the prevalent phenomena in every different tribe or nation the notion of the soul's condition after death correspondingly varied. If the physical surroundings consisted of happy climes and golden seas, their notion of the future was paradisaical and pleasing. If any rev- elled in the splendors of Cerulean skies littered with worlds of gold and silver they read the story of their departed in the wanderings of these worlds. " With what glorious characters, with what forms of deathless beauty, defiant of decay, the sky was written over ! " Beneath such skies the seers of Olympus and bards of the -^gean discerned " The great snake that binds in his bright coil half the mighty host." And from these observations grew all the myths and traditions not only concerning gods, but the souls of the great who had once glori- fied the earth and now tread the invisible fields of asphodel. Among a nation whose shores were overladen with heavy gloom, where the sun shone only betimes, and then was seen to sink deep into the gloom of the land of Cimmerians, the conception of the after life was full of ill-foreboding and depressing mis- ery. The habitations of the early Hebrews were among high mountains and rocky cliffs. The Jordati plunging and roaring at the feet of these lofty OKIGIN OF JEWISH CONCEPTIOJST 131 peaksj whose grim shadows fell gloomily athwart its breast, gave rise to many imaginings and fanci- ful glimpses of the future. Knowing so well the fondness of the human mind to seize on fancy's wing the flitting image of some natural scene and carry it to dazzling heights, we need not wonder that such surroundings first suggested to the sim- ple minds of these primitive Jews their first inti- mations of the after life. Imagination is primarily the most forceful faculty of the Semitic mind, which was perhaps generated in the primitive abodes of the people who conquered the Jebusites and reared their immortal city. Their plastic minds were affected, too, as we shall see, not only by their physical surroundings, but by each distinc- tive stratum of mental and moral influence through which they have passed in their centuries of wan- derings. Studying, then, the varying interpretations of the state of the dead which prevailed from time im- memorial among these people to the present time, we are presented with a complete panoramic view of the changing conceptions of the entire human race relative to the abode and occupation of the de- parted who once dwelt upon this planet. The vari- ous ideas that sprung spontaneously in the minds of the people fall easily into five distinctive classes. First, the dead, as merely hollow, mindless, floating forms, caught and imprisoned in iron or rocky cells. Second, the dead, as possible subjects of resurrec- tion, their very bodies again to return to earth or ascend to the skies. Third, the dead, as conceivably 132 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT glorified spirits to dwell forever with Grod in His power. Fourth, the dead, as victims of eternal judgment, who are to be drawn up before the final Judge and assigned to Gehenna or Paradise, accord- ing to His wisdom. Fifth, the utter annihilation of the dead, the body and the soul alike having re- turned to their primary elements and forever dis- solved in the primal essence of the universe. All these sentiments are so clearly and strongly set forth in the sacred and profane writings of these people that we are at once forced to conclude no authenticity can inhere in them, no claim be made for their divine origin or authority, no reliance placed on theip. as guides or inspiration of human thought. We can but conclude that the Hebrews attained their ideas of the after life from the same source as all other peoples, and that even such portions of their conception as are engrossed in sacred Scriptures are easily traced to naturalistic origin, which neither calls for nor intimates any supernatural revelation. The earliest notion of the dead as portrayed in their writings is very similar to that of the Greeks as set forth in the Homeric epics. The dead be- come a hollow, shadowy, mindless, unconscious thing, still maintaining the verisimilitude of form and figure, even the identity of raiment and physi- ognomy, yet a thing that can neither speak nor move, but is fixed fast in some forbidding prison, from which escape is impossible. This prison is gloomy, the blackness of darkness, the bottomless depth of an impenetrable pit. Deeply conscious OEIGIN OF JEWISH CONCEPTION 133 of the fuliginous woe of these deaths, Job cries piteously, " I go whence I shall not return ; the land of darknesSj the shadow of death; a land of darkness as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is darkness," Vividly here we discern the soul of the departed as a shadow sinking darkly into shadowy darkness. We see the picture of a deep cave, around whose mouth hover glimmering forms of light mingling with flittering shades, gliding furtively into the impenetrable depths whence nothing ever returns, where ever abides thick and undissolvable darkness. The gloom could not be painted more forbiddingly ; the anticipation of utter destruction, so far as con- scious and mental vitality might be concerned, could not be more positive or inconsolable. The picture here presented, which is oft repeated in the older Scriptures of the Hebrews, is very similar to that of the fate of the dead in the Homeric legends, as has already been shown. Just as Orcus or Pluto reigned in Hades, a vast hollow region beneath the surface of the earth, reached by the facile descent of Avemus, so in the dark and impenetrable pit of the grave reigned the " King of Terrors " who Job declared awaited the wicked, when this tabernacle of the flesh shall have been dissolved. As among the early Greeks no sense of punishment attached to the condemnation of the dead to the abode of the shades, but was merely regarded as a gloomy and inconsolable consequence of the plan of life, so among the early Hebrews 134 MODEEN LIGHT Olf IMMOKTALITY the shock of death was inconsolable, not because punishment "was meted out to the departed, but merely because they had gone whence no power could fetch them again to earth. There must, however, be some reason why among most of the early peoples of the world the idea of death was associated with gloom and darkness, other than what has thus far been indicated. We may suppose that because in our refined apprehen- sion of the glory of existence, and the woe which betides us at the hour of death, when we are so wrought with agony and all the future looks so sud- denly dark, that a gloomy conception of the after life would be natural and instinctive with all the race. We must not, however, imagine that the feel- ings with which we approach the sad hour lingered likewise in the breast of the primitive or savage man. Such fine and sympathetic emotions have been largely developed through ages of civilization and growth. The first men of the earth had no such deep emotions of the heart. Their dead were dropped without ceremony wherever they chanced to be in their nomadic wanderings. Even the old were consigned to premature graves because they became an encumbrance to the multitude in their roamings. The gloomy anticipation with which death was apprehended must therefore have arisen from some other cause than that merely of sympa- thetic regretfulness at the disappearance of an ac- customed companion. I think the solution of the matter may be found in the early methods of sepulture almost universal OEIGIIT OF JEWISH CONCEPTION ia5 among the primitive peoples. We have abeady seen how among the Scandinavians and other races sepultures consisted of cromlechs or arrangements of stones in circular and chambered architecture. Probably this method of burial preceded the grave dug beneath the surface of the soil which still lin- gers in present civilization. That of incineration followed that of burial in the ground, which was itself preceded by a still more ancient and curious custom springing from the topography of the land and from the necessities of existence. The first custom, apparently, of the burial of the dead con- sisted in their deposit in caves, which Nature her- self had hollowed, and which required but little or no assistance from the labors of man. The earliest dwellers of the earth abode with the wild beasts, with the bear and the mammoth, with the rein- deer and the lion, in the deep caves which had been carved in the bowels of the earth by the waters of the ocean or the cleavage of earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. In these deep, forbidding, cloud-envel- oped and shadowy-bosomed caves men found their first abodes, and buried their immediate dead. The early races out of which the Jews were formed, of which the Bible gives us any intima- tion, were troglodites, or cave-dwellers, in their cus- toms and habits akin to the Kelts, the Iberians, or the Horites, who preceded them in Idunisea. This fact is early revealed in Scripture where the names of many famous caves are recorded. There is the cave of Zoar, into which Lot and his daughters re- tired after the destruction of Sodom and Gomor- 136 MODEEIT LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY rah ; the cave of Macpelah, in the field of Ephron, for which Abraham contracted so insistently with the sons of Heth ; the cave of Makkedah, into which the carcasses of the five Amorite kings were cast by Joshua after his victory over them; the cave of AduUam, where David dwelt with all his recruits after his defiance of Saul and to avoid the King's heartless persecutions ; the cave of Engedi, to which also David retreated for defense ; the cave in which Obadiah concealed the prophets; the cave where Elijah dwelt on Mt. Carmel, and where Moses found his abode in the cleft of Mount Horeb; all of which are familiar in Hebrew tradition, but which have not been often regarded as illustrations of the custom of the early Hebrews to dwell in caves, before they had learned to rear structures by their own hands. It was but natural in a country as mountainous and volcanic as Palestine, where sepulture beneath the surface was a practical impossibility, that these caves, especially the deeper and darker ones, should be used as cemeteries. Naturally the dwellers would abide in the more open or accessible portions of the cave, and the sepulchres would be formed out of the more concealed or less accessible sections. While the accustomed dweller would therefore but little regard the inconvenience or gloominess of the ordinary cave in which he found his abode, he would be forced to contemplate the severer and blacker recesses into which he groped when he sought there to deposit his burden of the dead. It would become to him, indeed, the " blackness of OKIGIl^ OF JEWISH COITCEPTION 13? darksess," the " darkness the light of which is darkness." There he would dimly discern flitting, shadowy figures, fleeting shades of varying degrees of dun and grey, as his eye more and more became accustomed to the gloomier interior. Soon these would seem to him to be the shadowy relics of the corpse he had hastily and with a shudder dropped in the dark recess from which with nervous antici- pations he speedily retired. And betimes, doubt- less, these grim and grewsome shades would wan- der to the mouth of the pit and fearlessly prowl around the moonlit entrance. Then, in " the witch- ing time of night," all the ill-forebodings and im- aginary evils consequent on the return of the ghosi would haunt his timid mind. Soon the fields ic the neighborhood of the caves and mountains be- came populated with this ghostly and shadowy com- pany of the departed till the entire region, to the morbid imagination of the wanderer, was " the val- ley of the shadow of death." What else, then, could his first conception of the dead be but " a birth and a forgetfulness." They who had once lived and toiled amid the active were now but hollow, mindless, floating and intactile sim- ulacra, which they thus observed returning from the shadowy deep, but could not apprehend. They were indeed " forgotten as dead men out of mind " • cast away " like a vessel that perisheth." Sunk in the forbidding depths of the gloomy pit the dead are voiceless, without hope, and forever blotted oul of the memory of man. " For the living know that they shall die ; but the dead know not anythinff, 138 MODEBN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY neither have they any more a reward ; for the mem- ory of them is forgotten." Such ideas were palpably engendered by the pri- mal burial customs of the autochthonic tribes of Israel, who first populated the plains of Palestine. If we scan the burial customs of all people we shall, I think, find therein the reflection of their concep- tion of the future fate of the dead. When the bodies are swiftly deposited by nomadic tribes in the accompanying caves of their wanderings, as we see above, the fate of the dead resembles the fixed and immovable state of the mountain in whose sides the caves have been found. When the shadowy forms seem to escape from the gloom of the cave and wander in the immediate neighborhood in the moonlit night, the notion rises in the imaginative mind of the primitive man that the dead return, first as mindless ghosts to harry the living, then as the resurrected bodies of the departed, as in visit- ing spirits or in reincarnated forms. Then when the custom develops of depositing the dead' in well-formed graves, as cromlechs or cata- combs, or well-dug graves in yielding soil, the no- tion grows that the ghost itself has been buried with the body, and cannot therefore return to earth to inspire fear and dread in the heart of the living; special care being, as we have seen, exercised to find the proper location for the interment of the ghost that it may wander no more. Then as if to emphasize the certain dissolution of the ghost, so that it might indeed never return to earth, the cus- tom of incineration, (the funeral pyre or the bum- OEIGIN OF JEWISH CONCEPTION 139 ing ship becoming the coffin of the finally depart- ing), grew into temporary vogue. Anon when the supposition of the preservation of the soul in Hades or Purgatory, (that it might finally appear for judgment before the Great De- cider of human fates), developed in the mind of man, the body was kept from decay by the science of embalming. Not perhaps, as we have shown, that the soul might again inhabit this very body in the resurrection, but that the figure of it might be preserved in the household while its spirit would await the final day of judgment. The body would be thus preserved to symbolize the continued life of the soul; for as the spirit shall never perish out of the immortal realms of the invisible, neither shall the visible body in the realm of the living. Among the Hebrews, as among all peoples, we find their burial customs changing as they change their views of death, becoming what might appear to be but a reflection of these changing views. We have seen that the first mode of burial was depositing the dead in the rocky caves of the mountain side. The custom of incineration never developed among them ; but we observe their temporary adoption of this strange custom in the disposition of the bones of Saul and his sons, and which exceptional usage among them I think is a corroboration of my the- ory. There must have been some reason why a na- tion suddenly diverted from its sacred usage in the disposition of the bodies of its royal family, and certainly is not to be attributed to whim or 140 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY incidental passion. Saul had woefully disgraced himself and the people of Israel. He had con- sulted with a familiar spirit among a foreign and despised race; he had violated all the sacred and profane customs of the nation, and to cap the climax of his offenses he had been most outrageously be- headed by the Philistines after a scandalous defeat. The burning of his body seemed therefore to indi- cate that his memory was wholly to be blotted out and that his soul was likewise to be annihilated. His body is brought back at great risk and only after an all night's search by the timorous people that it might be consigned to the dead in the proper locality. Precisely so Antigone among the Greeks endured immolation that she might secure a proper burial for her brothers. The spirit of Saul might return to do mischief to the forlorn people of Israel if his body was left for the beasts and birds to de- vour in the fields of the Philistines. Therefore it must be rescued at great risk, and disgracefully bumtj that its power may be forever destroyed in visible and invisible realms. This seems to be at least the only rational inter- pretation that can be put on the sudden adoption of a custom which among the Gentile nations was honored, but among the Hebrews was regarded as a sign of dishonor and disgrace. The more rational idea of the soul's intelligent and conscious existence after death came gradually to be revealed in the Jewish custom of ancestor worship, first vaguely referred to in the gathering of the bones of the dead to their fathers. The ORIGIK" OF JEWISH CONCEPTION 141 worship of ancestry seems indeed to have been the primitive religion of the Hebrews before the intro- duction of Jahvism by Moses, It was based upon the idea of the soul then prevalent. Stade has shown that animism prevailed universally among these primitive people. The animating principle was either " breath " or " wind " — soul or spirit. They left the body at death but could go back again to the body, at least the " ruah " or spirit could do so. The ancestor, therefore, never really expired but was always present, as in the manes and lares of Greeks and Eomans, and in the " tablets " of the Chinese, to arouse the life of the household to good or evil deeds. Hence, the great anxiety ex- ercised of proper interment for their kings and household heads. Sheol, the Hebrew Hades, was the place of assemblage of all these departed spii^ its, and the often repeated expression in the Bible, "to be gathered to one's fathers," means to meet them in this shadowy realm. Hence, there were offerings to the dead ; oracles and incantations were observed; household gods were maintained; and even family worship precisely like that among the Greeks and Eomans was enjoined.^ Manifestly every notion concerning the after life entertained by the ancient Hebrews was im- bibed from either their contact with nature or from association with people more advanced in phi- losophy and metaphysics. It can easily be shown that not till post-captivity times did they accept the notion of personal immortality, which indeed 1 Jewish Ency. " Ancestor Worship." 142 MODEElSr LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY has never been strenuously insisted upon in Jewish teachings. The emphasis of all Hebrew teaching has ever been on practical righteousness, on the cul- tivation of correct character in this life regardless of what possibilities may lie beyond. The first conceptions, as we have already shown, were purely animistic, the residuum of the life of the individual still lingering like a wandering but mindless shadow flitting through the land of the living. ITot till much later times, not till they came in contact with Egyptian, Zoroastrian and Parsee ideas did they entertain a possibility of judgment on the departed, of their receiving pun- ishment or reward for their deeds in this life, or of the possibility of their dwelling immortally with Jehovah. At first when the notion of continuous after life came to their minds it referred only to Jahveh. Only after Abraham taught them of the One God, and Moses of I AM — Jahveh — did they vaguely conceive of immortality as we ap- prehend it; and then, indeed, they referred it ex- clusively to Him, the one only supreme and im- mortal Being. " Eternal life was ascribed ex- clusively to God and to celestial beings who ^ Eat of the tree of life and live forever ' ; whereas man by being driven out of the Garden of Eden was deprived of the opportunity of eating of the food of immortality." ^ The book of Job was apparently written at the time the Hebrews were passing from their idea of the after life as a place for the assemblage of 1 Jew. Ency. OKIGIN OF JEWISH COISTCEPTION 143 shadowy ghosts to the possibility of the resurrec- tion body standing in the welcoming presence of its redeemer on this planet. For without any pretension to consistency he makes two wholly contradictory and diverse state- ments relative to the after life of mankind. " For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again . . . But man dieth and wasteth away; yea man giveth up the ghost and where is he ? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and dryeth up, so man lieth down and riseth not; till the heavens are no more they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep ... If a man die shall he live again; all the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come." There seems to be here a confusion of thought. He insists that the dead shall not awake and that they are forever beyond reclaim, yet he intimates that a change awaits him, although he has just said that the dead and decayed man can never be changed to life, though the tree if cut down may again sprout. However, the " change " to which Job here refers need not necessarily mean the change from death to returning life as many sup- pose. It could scarcely be an intelligent writing that would be so inconsistent with itself. It is therefore a better interpretation to suppose that the change which he so expectantly awaits, is merely the change of death itself, when he shall be per- mitted to flee this world of mortal woe and enjoy the unbroken and eternal sleep of the grave. 144 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY Yet in another passage he cries out so exultantly that he shall live again, we are forced to conclude either that he was living in an age when the idea of the resurrection of the body was being slowly ac- cepted as a doctrine of faith, or that the passage I am about to quote is a later interpolation in his writings. The latter conclusion seems to me the more apparent. For he says : " I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy my body, yet in my flesh shall I see Grod ; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." But even in this passage Job's intimation of im- mortality is after all but the outcry of a feeble hope, a deepening desire and not an exultant faith. It was perhaps the first vague and yearning ex- pression of the growing faith in the possibility that when the body dies it may sometime be restored to the land of living. It is the progressive expres- sion of the idea that the shadowy spirit itself may return and wander through the earth if not fast- ened in the grave, but now transferred from the ephemeral soul or breath to the more substantial and permanent body in which the breath of life abides. When, however, the Jewish mind comes in con- tact with the later Grecian and Persian thought, the notion of immortality is proclaimed with more convincing certainty and exultancy. The Psalmist sings (xvi : 11) : " Thou wilt show me the path of life; in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy OKIGIW OF JEWISH CONCEPTION 145 right hand there are pleasures for evermore," The developraent from the mere resurrection conception of the soul to that of spiritual life beyond is so apparent in the sacred -writings that they can be easily classified. There are but few passages at best that refer to it. Even in the days of the ad- vent of Jesus we know that the Sadducees rejected the notion of the resurrection, but it is not clear that they wholly disbelieved in the immortality of the soul. It seems quite manifest that whatever idea of the survival of the dead may have been entertained by the Hebrews in ancient and modem times, they were the immediate consequence of their con- tact with nature or their association with people among whom they wandered. The ideas that arose in their minds concerning this subject were evi- dently natural growths, the same as among all the people of the world, and are not to be regarded as intimations of any innate spiritual inspiration, but merely as natural deductions from the common ob- servation of phenomena and experience. CHAPTER XI ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OE AFTER LIFE It is commonly supposed that the doctrine of personal immortality found its first forcible and specific declaration in the teachings of Jesus ; that indeed, the one distinctive and characteristic doc- trine of the Christian religion is that of the im- mortal life of the individual soul. It may be a surprise to some to learn that this doctrine developed in the Christian church pre- cisely as it did in all former religions; but that it assumed a clearer and more definite form be- cause when Christianity began the doctrine had already found a fuller expression in existing religions. In order that we may better appreciate this fact we must first satisfy ourselves as to the exact char- acter of the teaching of the Jewish church at the advent of Jesus. For at bottom the Christian is distinctly a Jewish religion, which in later times has been modified by pagan and rationalistic phi- losophy. In the previous chapter we traced the origin and natural development of the Jewish no- tion of the soul's immortality, and learned that at best it assumed but a vague and varying expres- sion throughout the entire history of that nation. The ancient Jewish mind was conscious chiefly of the solidarity of " Israel/' and in all its contempla- 146 CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION 147 tions of immortality it seemed to anticipate the restoration and perpetuity of the people as a whole. It contemplated Israel as a world power, a political and economic organism, a spiritual solidarity, whose destruction was inconceivable, for it was chosen of the Lord to rule the world. Hence it looked forward so ardently to the anticipated Mes- sianic kingdom when this truth would be manifest to all mankind, Eut we observe a gradual change in their inter- pretation concerning the final fate of Israel as well as of individuals who constitute it. At first the Day of the Lord, as it was called, was regarded as the judgment of Jehovah on Israel itself ; but only in the prophets and in the Book of Daniel did it assume the character of a judgment on individual Jews. Yet slowly in the writings of the prophets we discern a gleam of a still higher conception of the future of man, till in the later Isaiah it breaks forth in eloquent glow. It took the shape of a Messianic dream of the future to be instated by a glorified son of David — a golden age of para- disiacal blisSj of which all the traditions were re- plete with eloquent intimations. It foretold of a time of world-peace when He would bear the government upon his shoulders and " new heavens and a new earth " would be re- vealed. But this glimpse came to the prophet only when the Jews were in captivity in Babylon, and the dream of their redemption appealed to them as a possible realization. His wild, exultant spirit at length sees not only the restoration of Israel, of 148 MODEEN LIGHT OlST IMMORTALITY the City of Zion on the mountain height, before which all kingdoms and crowns shall be crushed and annihilated; but he even discerns a possible resurrection and salvation for the individual Israelite, who lives righteously before the Lord. "He will swallow up death in victory; he will wipe away tears from all faces . . . And it shall be said in that day, Lo this is our God; we have waited for Him and He will save us . . . we wiU be glad and rejoice in His salvation ! " (Isaiah), But this joyous, howbeit faint, glimpse of the salvation of the individual soul crossed the poet's vision, we must remember, when his people lay in exile and captivity in Babylon. This according to Stanley was about the year 560 B. C. ; the age that bordered closely on that of Plato and Pericles, Zoroaster and Socrates. It was the age of the re- naissance of the spiritual, intellectual and ethical regeneration, which pervaded air lands. The faint" idea of salvation and immortality thus tearfully voiced by Isaiah is made more vivid and formalistic in the cry of Daniel, in a still later age. Here we find the germinal form of that eschatological theology which in later Christian times was exaggerated and emphasized by the leaders of the faith. Instead of a faint hint of salvation, as portrayed in Isaiah, we read here not only of a resurrection for the just but also of the unjust. " Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting contempt." This suggestive OHEISTIAN CONCEPTION 149 passage from Daniel was written about four hun- dred years later than the prophecies of Isaiah. The philosophy of Plato which the Hellenizing Jews had imbibed under Antiochus Epiphanes has palpably entered vividly into the higher conscious- ness of the leaders of Israel and is voiced in the outburst of Daniel's vision. The doctrine of the final Judgment of which so much was afterwards made in Christian theology had then its germinal origin in Daniel's echo of Egyptian eschatology and Athenian philosophy. From these early hints the Talmudic writers among the Jews developed a most fantastic concep- tion of the future heaven to which the righteous would ascend; but there was little relating to a permanent condition of those who passed beyond the grave. " The whole eschatological system of retribution through paradise and hell never as- sumed in Judaism the character of dogmatic be- lief, and Talmudic Judaism boldly transferred the scene of the heavenly judgment from the hereafter to the annual Day of Judgment at the beginning of the year." ^ The question naturally presents itself. Why did the Jews so utterly avoid any positive foreglimpse of the after life, when as we know they were en' vironed by people, such as the Egyptians and Baby- lonians, who so enthusiastically and vividly per trayed it. Among these people it was the persist ent and most characterising feature of their reli- gious doctrines, as already shown, and yet, though 1 Jewish Ency., in loco. 150 MODEEl^ LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY the Je'ws had been from the earliest times over- shadowed bj Egyptian influences, and in a later age by Zoroastrian and Babylonian beliefs, there is an amazing omission among them of any direct and positive declaration concerning the doctrine. It is supposed by some, because Moses had in- culcated in the minds of his followers the dangers which attached to all phases of mythological and im- aginative religion, as so forcibly illustrated by the nations which surrounded them in the wilderness and even by the great Egyptian nation itself, that the disposition had developed in the Jewish mind for many centuries to ignore or denounce any tend- ency to a worship, whose authority depended on a conception of a future life. The God of the Jews was not so much a distant King in the skies as he was the head of their government, the ruler in their theocracy; he led and fought with them on the battle fields, upon him fell the responsibility of their defeats and redounded the glory of their tri- umphs. He was wholly different to the gods of the Egyptians in the time of Moses, or the gods of the Babylonians in the days of the Captivity; be- cause he was more immediate, more human, more accessible. And he assumed these features because he was not the product of mythological imagina- tion, but a super-human figure who had grown up among them from their earliest recollections. "The Hebrew prophets and the priests of the second temple are iconolcastic monotheists and haters of myth in any form. Thus, they have ra- tionalized the creation myth, the story of Mar- CHKISTIAN CONCEPTION 151 duk's fight with the dragonj the legends of Samas the sun-god, changing him into a hero and a judge called Sampson ; and in doing this they passed over in silence the belief in immortality, or, wherever it is alluded to, we can still recognise unmistakable hints condemning the pagan conception of life after death." ^ We see, then, that up to the very time of the coming of Jesus there was no specific or dogmatic conception of the after life which would present a sufficient matrix out of which that vast eschatolog- ical system could be created which in after ages overshadowed all Christendom. It must be our task to find if we can the real source of this theology. First then, did Jesus teach it; did he really present a vivid and absolute conception of the soul's immortality and resurrection? The King- dom of God or Heaven, which was so abruptly an- nounced at the advent of Jesus by John, was uni- versally understood among the Jews to refer to the promised restoration of the people of Israel from the thraldom of the Roman power to national estab- lishment. When Jesus re-interpreted that notion as referring not to a political or a physical king- dom but to a spiritual state, he did not indicate* that state was to come to pass beyond the grave, but. in the life of those whom he addressed. The fig- urative language which the Jews then employed,, when describing the state of the soul, has been/ made to appear in these later times as symbolical iMoniat, 12, p. 424. 152 MODERN LIGHT OIT IMMORTALITY of a future state of the individual soul; but all critical authorities agree that it referred to a spiritual state attainable in this life. The " eter- nal life" referred to was the continual and unin- terrupted spiritual life of the body of the re- deemed, a fact to which we shall refer again in a latter chapter. The great emphasis placed upon the doctrine of the immortality of the individual through faith is the distinguishing feature of Christianity. It had been fore-stated and suggested in many ways in preceding pagan religions, as we have seen, but curiously avoided in the Jewish religion which was the seed from which Christianity sprung. It is natural then that we should ask whence Chris- tianity acquired the knowledge of this doctrine and how it happened to find in it such genial soil as caused it to spring up and fructify as in no pre- ceding cult. Paul, we know, was the first follower of Christ who produced any record of His history or wrote out His distinctive doctrines. It is then to Paul that we instinctively look to find if possible how this doctrine of immortality was introduced. In Paul's writing we are met at once with a seemingly impossible inconsistency. He insists in one place ^ that the resurrection of Jesus is a fact having already transpired; and professes to be astonished that there are any who question the occurrence. ** Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no 1 II Cor. XT. CHKISTIAIf CONCEPTION 153 resurrection of the dead ? " Here Paul evidently proposes that the physical resurrection of Jesus prophesies the physical resurrection of all who be- lieve in Him. He establishes the entire faith of future Christendom on this one fact that Jesus rose from the grave in the body and ascended into heaven : on this fact he rests the only hope of salva- tion for the individual. " If Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain," . . . for, " if there be no resurrection of the dead then is Christ not risen ? " But elsewhere Paul disavows this very phys- ical resurrection on which he heretofore so earnestly insists, " Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." ^ If flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God then why does he refer to the physical resur- rection of Jesus as the proof of the coming resur- rection of the race? Here he suddenly makes a profession which to him is full of import for he prefaces it by declaring, " Behold, I show you now a mystery." The mystery to which he here refers is that of the immortal life. This was the secret doctrine of all the mythological mysteries of the pagan religions — Orphic, Mithraic, Eleusinian, Osirian. It was the one central fact in the religion of Orpheus and Dyonisus, which awakened the spiritual intoxication of the novitiate, and caused him to enter into such a state of mind as to make him susceptible to the reception of trances and hal- II Cor. ^: 50. 154: MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY lucinatioiis. Referring to this fact Eamsay ^ says, " It is obvious that the essential point on which the effect of the ceremony depended was that the mind of the initiated should be wrought up to a high pitch of eager, rapt expectancy and breath- less attention. Many means contributed to produce this state . . , The • nine days' fast, very strictly observed, and the long march from Athens to Eleusis and the frequent religious ceremonies with which it was marked, the wanderings by night around the shores and plain of Eleusis with torches in search of the lost Cora — all tended to produce a strained enthusiastic state." It is shown by all the writers on the ancient mys- teries that there was no didactic effort put forth by the mystagogues to instruct the novitiates and ini- tiates in the doctrine of immortality as a fact, but merely by pictures, panoramas and bewildering phantasmagoria to leave the suggestion in the mind of the possibilities of the after life. Therefore it still remained a profound and unsolved problem and mystery to them all. Is it not to this same age-long and ever unsolved mystery that Paul here refers? A mystery he says which the princes and rulers of the earth had never known, for if they had they would not have crucified the Christ. " We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery — which God ordained before the world unto our glory — which none of the princes of the world knew : for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory — lEncy. Brit. CHKISTIAN CONCEPTION 155 . . . But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit." ^ Paul refers to the fact that he is subject to hal- lucinations and tranceSj and that he saw Christ as one bom out of due time. When, then, he refers to the mystery "which he explains as that magical event when all mankind shall be caught up in a cloud and all be changed in the twinkling of an eye, the corruptible putting on incormption, and mortality, immortality, he apparently refers to the great mystery which had been the burden of all the pagan religions, but which for ages had been abrogated and almost forgotten, because it had be- come so corrupted and disgraced by licentious contamination. Tip to the very time of the coming of Christ this great alleged truth had been withheld from the multitude and concealed in the dazzling spectacle of a worship whose central fact was a divine, be- wildering and insolvable mystery. Through the pen and mouth of Paul, this mystery was now re- vealed to all who would consecrate their lives to the Christ, whom Paul proclaiined the Saviour of the world. This was to Paul the mighty awakening which caused him to exclaim, " And without con- troversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.'' * Every fact here enumerated was a feature of all II Cor. ii: 7. 2 1 Tim. iii: 16. 156 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY the preceding pagan religions and displayed in the spectacular ceremonies of the temple-mysteries of each cult. It would seem then that Paul must have had these in mind when he was discoursing on the mysteries, and that he had imbibed from them glimpses of the immortal life. For we must not overlook the fact that his con- ception of that life differed materially from the teachings of some of those who were associated with him in the college of the Apostles. He believed in an immediate liberation after death, whereas the others advocated merely a final resurrection. He determined to preach the gospel to the Gentiles so that they could apprehend its meaning in the light of their accustomed religious knowl- edge. From this point of view let us study the re- markable passage from the epistle to Timothy just quoted. Paul exclaims, " Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness." What does he mean ? If he referred to ordinary godliness, piety, worshipfulness, holiness, in the worship, he could scarcely have continued with the curious proposi- tions which follow. He is manifestly not re- ferring to the mystery of holiness or godliness in human beings, but in one whom he calls God. But this God to whom he refers is an incarnate deity who had come in the flesh from heaven and then returned from whence he came. Evidently he is struggling with a conception which had seized vividly upon his mind, and which was at the same time familiar to him and to those to whom he addressed his epistle, although he felt he must enu- CHKISTIAiq" CONCEPTION 157 merate in specific propositions just what he meant. Now these enumerations are the peculiar and suggestive feature of this passage which compel a further study. Do they refer necessarily to the Palestinian Jesus, or had they reference to a well known personage who had long since been recog- nized and apotheosized in the ancient and uni- versal mysteries of pagan religions? We must recall that these mysteries had spread throughout the known world; that they were re- garded as divine and containing the sublimest over- tures to the sincere soul which religion could afford. None was so great, be he general, states- man, philosopher, or common citizen but he felt himself additionally honored by becoming an in- itiate in these mysteries. Only those properly fitted were allowed to enter; the corrupt, the de- based, the vicious were rejected, no matter how conspicuous or distinguished they may have been. Alcibiades was rejected because of his licentious- ness and abandoned life; Nero, although an em- peror, was not permitted to witness the occult drama, because his hands were stained with the blood of his relatives, whom he had murdered. So holy, so sacred, so exclusive, so sublime and pure were these rites regarded, that nothing de- filed or corrupt could approach them. What was it, then, that these marvelous mysteries were so carefully guarding; what was this momentous and divine fact, which was more carefully concealed than the Garden of Eden by the flaming sword after the expulsion of its first denizens ? CHAPTEE XII OEIGIN OF CHEISTIAN CONCEPTION OF AETEE LIFE (continued) AH authorities now admit that the one pro- found and unutterable secret, concealed and guarded in the divine mysteries, was nothing other than the dream of the soul's release from the flesh at death, and the transformation of the conscious- ness of this earthly life into one that would be heavenly and divine. In short the apprehension of the souFs immortality and its continuous ex- istence after death, was the profound, the hallowed, the ineffable truth, which these hierophants so ef- fectually kept from the vulgar eyes of the carnal minded, and reserved only for the holy and spirit- ually inclined. But the . remarkable and suggestive feature of the mysteries is that the arcane doctrine of the immortality of the soul was originally associated with the apotheosis of an individual who always figured in each celebration, and who constituted the germ of that universal legend that culminated in the sublime mythos of the Palestinian hero. What was that myth? Paul insinuates it in this very passage : " God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, preached unto the Gentiles," etc. The fact that the central ceremony of the mysteries was the exaltation of a conspicuous and sacred individual, who was regarded as a god, and 158 CKRISTIAIsr CONCEPTION' 159 whose death and resurrection were the occasion of the exultant celebration, sufficiently suggests the origin of Paul's propositions. It is true that the myth is easily traced primarily to a nature wor- ship; to the mourning of the harvesters at the sinking of the sun into the winter solstice, and to their rejoicing when he returns again in his vernal glory; to the beautiful story of Persephone, who becomes the queen of the dead, and as such makes possible the return to life of all who descend into her realm, which is but the poetization of the solemn departure of autumn splendors and the in- spiring recrudescence of the vernal beauties; yet the primal origin of these celebrations had long been lost sight of and the imagined heroes who were adored in the ceremonies were believed to be as real as the Palestinian Jesus is to-day to the milions who adore Him. The initiate who aspired to the arcane knowledge of the mysteries must himself enact the entire drama of the hero's apotheosis, his death and resurrection, his ascension and glorification, so that he himself feels all the glow of the victory of the honored deity. Paul so perfectly reflects the marvels of this arcane drama in his mystical writings that it is impossibler to believe he did not have them in mind. " So forcible and close is the correspondence between the course of the aspirant in his initia- tion — dramatically dying, descending into Hades, rising again to life, and ascending into heaven, — 160 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITT with the apostolic presentation of the redemptive career of Christ — that some writers — Nork, for instance — have suggested that the latter was but the exotic publication to the world of what in the former was esoterically taught to the initiates alone." ^ The natural coalition between the old faiths and the new cult which was inaugurated by Paul is evidenced in the reproduction of the rites, cere- monies, names, vestments, and indeed every feature and ritual which appertained to them. Budge in his introduction to the Book of the Dead says: " When the Osiris cult disappeared before the re- ligion of the Man-Christ, the Egyptians who em- braced Christianity found that the moral system of the old cult and that of the new religion were so similiar, and the promises of resurrection and im- mortality in each so much alihe, that they trans- ferred their allegiance from Osiris to Jesus of Nazareth without difficulty." This religion of Osiris had prevailed for over five thousand years, and had penetrated the utter- most parts of the earth; all religions had yielded to its overmastering influence and no form of temple worship, of phrase, of philosophy, but what was affected by it. It is not therefore possible that Paul was ignorant of the mystery which it un- locked and especially of the apotheosis, death and resurrection, of the central figure which it conse- crated. Paul speaks especially of this God who had come in the fiesh being " preached to the 1 Alger, " History of the Doctrine of Immortality." CKRISTIAN CONCEPTION 161 Gentiles/' showing that he had heard of Him while he sojourned among them. But why should he insist that when the knowl- edge of the Christ^Man came to him he did not go up to Jerusalem to receive his instructions from the apostles or from any man; but he went first into Arabia and not till after three years did he see Peter for fifteen days, but saw none of the other apostles; receiving his knowledge or inspiration not " from flesh and blood ? " ^ He strongly intimates here that his knowledge came alone through his own spirit, for the spirit- ually minded alone can apprehend the things of the spirit, as he insists; and being subject to halluci- nations or the intoxicating rhapsodies which were inculcated in the Dionysian mysteries, he wit- nesses during some such an ecstasy the vision of the risen Christ, which he henceforth feels it his bounden privilege and duty to proclaim. Was it not in the experience of these ceremonies that Paul underwent that sensation which caused him to believe that in the twinkling of an eye we should all be changed immediately after death? We must not forget that this was not the common preaching of the apostles. They taught the old Judaic notion of the final resurrection which was vaguely first portrayed by the prophet Daniel, during the captivity. The questions which are continually thrust at Christ by the dissenting or the doubting, always have reference to the resurrec- tion which they apply to the after life. Such is the iGalatians i: 15-18. 162 MODEEN LIGHT OlST IMMOKTALITY remark of Martha/ and of the cunning lawyers who try to trip Jesus in Luke, xx: 33. Palpably, the Jewish conception of the after life had chiefly reference to the final resurrection. It connoted but little of that immediate restoration to glory and power of which Paul spoke so insistently. For his vision is wholly different ; it is more spectacular and resplendent. It reveals itself to him as the culmination of a "mystery."* All the faithful shall be suddenly aroused at the last trump from their sleep and in the twinkling of an eye, in mag- ical instantaneousness, shall be transformed from flesh into glorified spirits; where as they were corruptible and carnal now they shall be spiritual and incorruptible. Death is swallowed up in victory and they that were but mortal coils of flesh shall be transformed into immortal inhabitants of the skies. The picture that Paul here presents is most startlingly similar to a description of the fate of the dead as symbolised in the spiritual inculca- tion of the ancient mysteries, according to the most acceptable authorities. Alger quotes such a de- scription from Strobseus which I will here re- produce to show the resemblance of the anticipa- tions of the future inculcated by the Eleusinian ceremonies, and those prophesied by Paul. " The soul," he says, " is affected in death just as it is in the initiation into the great Mysteries ; thing answers to thing. At first it passes through dark- ness, horrors and toils. Then are disclosed a 1 John xi : 24, 2 1 Cor. xv: 51. CHKISTIAN CONCEPTIOIT 163 wondrous light, pure places, flowery meads replete with mystic sounds, dances and sacred doctrines, and holy visions. Then, perfectly enlightened, they are free: crowned, they walk about worship- ping the gods, and conversing with good men." To my mind it seems palpable that the concep- tion of immortal life which revealed itself to Paul, not through " flesh and blood " but alone through the spirit, came to him by association in some way with the ancient mysteries. Was not, indeed, Paul a hierophant of those mysteries, so long the secret possession of antiquity ; and because he came with a gospel which was acceptable and could be preached to the Gentiles, was he not therefore so bitterly opposed by the other apostles who wished to preach alone to the house of Israel? In other words, Peter and the rest knew no gospel except that which gave the hope of the resurrection and final judgment to Israelities alone, whereas Paul discerned the hope of personal salvation and immediate immortality for all — Greek, Jew, bar- barian, bond and free alike, who believed in the redeeming grace of the glorified lord of the mystery of godliness. It seems quite evident that Paul was saturated with the imagery and convincing symbology of the Eleusinian Mysteries; for he introduces them frequently in his epistles. While the allusion is veiled and must be discerned between the lines it becomes very palpable once its presence is recog- nized. There was a specific Greek word always used in the Mysteries for the " initiation." It ie4 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY is '' telety " — which means completion. This word itself is not to be found in the New Testa- ment, but derivatives from it are. St. Paul speaks frequently of the completion or realization of perfect man, using derivatives from the same root. He says : ^ Charity is the bond of our consecration (teleiotes) ; i. e., the state of being in- itiated into the mysteries of the Christian religion. Christ is said to have taken the highest degree of initiation — teleiotheis egeneto ^ — and it behooved Him to be initiated (teleioscd) through suffering; * the leader of initiation (teleiotes) ; and to the Corinthians, the Apostle proclaims that he teaches them, as the initiated (teleioi)^ the wisdom of God in a mystery.* The authorised version obliterates to a great extent the effect of the technical terms " initiated " and *^ mystery," but the sense is still there.' Paul shaped the entire thought of the early Church. His sect, which may justly be called the Pauline party, was originally opposed to and by the Nazarene sect of which Peter and James were the leaders. This latter was but an offshoot or schism in the Jewish Church accepting Jesus as the Messiah, and had but little influence, gradually go- ing into decline till it was overruled and denounced as an heretical body. When the Acts was written the Nazarene as an influential sect had fallen into 1 Col. iii : 14. 2 Heb. V : 9. sHeb. xii: 2. 4 1 Cor. ii: 6ff. sMonist, Vol. II, p. 90.' CHEISTIAIf CONCEPTION^ 165 disrepute and was regarded so heretical that it would not have been safe to identify James and Peter with it. Therefore the writer of Acts makes Peter break away from the narrowness of the Mosaic creed, insisting on circumcision, refusing the meat of idols, etc., and grants him an especial revelation from Heaven to assure him that he may invite the Gentiles into communion and partake with them of their food, while not insisting that they shall submit to the Mosaic rites. This as we learn from Paul's epistles, which were the original and first literature of the Church, was the programme which he had presented, contending that he had received his instruction direct from Jesus and was accountable to no man. Thus we see how he utterly overpowered all opposition and became the master mind of the pristine body of be- lievers. Now, Paul alone introduces all these allusions to the Mystery and initiation. We have shown this already in the above quotations from his epistles. We shall soon see, from the writings of Clemens Alexandrinus in the second century, that intense opposition grew up against Paul because of this boastful claim of clairvoyant visions and revelations from heaven ; and that Clemens makes it very clear that Paul, whom he calls Simon Magus, was trying to introduce these Mysteries into the new faith, for he insists that in the true religion which Peter and James advocate Jesus Himself is the real Hierophant; implying that Paul's claim to be such is nothing in comparison. Clemens, we 166 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY learn spoke with great bitterness against these mysteries and the revelations which they were said to present to the initiated. As we shall soon point out, the real cause of con- tention between the Petrine and Pauline parties was that Paul was introducing Gentile doctrines of initiations and apocalypses by which salvation was attained, whereas the Jewish party insisted that by circumcision and the Mosaic rites and the by works of the law came salvation. By the time that Matthew and the Book of Revelation were written evidently the Pauline idea had come to prevail and the Gospel was regarded as an arcane " mystery " which only the initiated could ap- prehend. For ^* the word * mystery ' is mentioned not only in the epistles but even in the Gospels ^ and in Revelation.^ In the days when the New Testament was written, the term had no other meaning than that of the knowledge of the ^ mys- tery' i. e., of a person initiated into the rites of some deity, Demeter, Dionysus, or Orpheus; the modem and moral general sense of ^ secret ' was developed after the Greek mysteries fell into dis- use, when the significance of the term was no longer understood." ^ Paul was evidently introducing a pagan doctrine which was perhaps first suggested to him through the teachings of Philo, the Alexandrian Jew, who incorporated Grecian mysticism into the Jewish iMatt. xiii: 11. 2 1, 20, xvii: 7. 3 Monist, Vol. XI, p. 90, CHKISTIAN CONCEPTION 167 religion. Philo taught the whole system of justifi- cation by faith, and not by works, for which Paul 80 insistently contended against the Jewish Chris- tians. Paul undoubtedly draws a clear distinction between the final resurrection and eternal judg- ment, which had become a Jewish doctrine well un- derstood by the priests of the synagogue ^ and the doctrine of the resurrection life in Jesus Christ, In the one conception the soul awaits the final day for judgment and the glory of redemption or the horror of reprobation. But in the other concep- tion he refers to the awakening of the redeemed soul to the consciousness of the life in Jesus, the life that ascends from the depths of bodily sin and fleshy degradation to the heights of spiritual illumination. This latter conception is the one which was determined and insisted upon by the hierophants of the Eleusinian and Dionysian temples. A deep and awe-inspiring silence settled on the initiates as they were receiving the rites, and a saving and healthy consciousness of their ab- sorption in a supernal life, beyond the gift of earthly powers. Plato declared that the initiates of the Eleusinian mysteries while contemplating the " phasmata " were becoming exalted in soul as he himself while contemplating the glory of the " Ideas," which were to him the embodiment of the eternal life. The redemption that follows initiation is precisely like Paul's promise of eternal life, through faith in Christ. " Is the salvation in 1 Acts xxiv: 15, and Hebrews vi: 1, 2. 168 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY the future life," says Dr. Eamsay/ "which is assured by initiation, attained by mere ritualistic observances, or does it depend upon the effect pro- duced by initiation on the life and character of the initiated person ? , . . . Plato . . - respects the Eleusinian Mysteries, which promise salvation as the reward of initiation, which can only be be- cause he believes that they promise it on grounds," other than mere ritualistic observance. . . . " According to Sopater initiation establishes a kinship between the soul and the divine nature; and Theon Smymseus says that the final stage of initiation is a state of bliss and divine favor which results from it." This, as well as language can which is not purely scriptural and Hebraic, states the very propositions of Paul that we find in his writings. Paul makes it very clear that his teachings concerning the eternal life are wholly different from those that were taught by the other apostles and in the synagogue. He says in Hebrews (vi:l, 2) that he desires to enjoin upon his followers that they must not be satisfied with the first principles of the teachings of the Christ, such as baptisms, laying on of hands, etc., namely mere observances of the ritual, but must pass on to perfection ; to the reali- zation of the divine favor and the eternal life. This, again, is precisely the injunction which the mystagogue, the teacher of the mysteries, enjoined upon the novitiate. Plutarch says : " Virtuous 1 Ency. Brit., art. " Mysteries." CHEISTIAIT CONCEPTIOJSr 169 souls, bj nature and the divine justice, rise from men to heroes, from heroes to genii; and if, as in the Mysteries, thej are purified, shaking off the remains of mortality and the power of the passions, they attain the highest happiness, and ascend from genii to gods." ^ This is very similar to Paul's " If ye mortify the deeds of the flesh ye shall live; for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us, who are the sons of God," etc.^ The ceremony of the mysteries all revolved around the death and return to life of some supreme hero. As we have already said the curious acts of worship, through which the initiate passed, were produced as a symbolic representation of the sufferings, death and restoration of the one who was adored. Now, one of the chief and efficient rites which was observed in the mysteries as indic- ative of the deep humility of the initiate, as well as of the suffering and death of the hero, was that of baptism. It is wholly wrong to suppose that this was a new and Christian custom. It prevailed in the esoteric phase of all the ancient religions, and in the Mysteries stood for something specific and effective. Keferring to the Mysteries of the Mithraic religion TertuUian contemptuously re- marks, " He (the priest of Mithra) baptizes his be- lievers and followers; he promises the remission of 1 Lives, Romulus, quoted by Alger, " Hist, of Immortality," p. 471. '^ 2 Romans viii. 170 MODEEIiT LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY sins at the sacred fountj and thus initiates them into the religion of Mithra." ^ Dr. Lundy in his " Monumental Christianity " admits that the rite of Baptism was " a universal custom " among all the ethnic religions. Yet we do not find in any of the writings of the ancients any explanation assigned for the efficacy of the rite, or a statement given of its profound meaning. We only know that it was administered always at the initiation of the candidate and that it was sup- posed to be effective in purification and illumina- tion of the soul. But in the writings of Paul we find an explana- tion which appears to be given with authority and understanding. It does not seem to the present writer that Paul's description can be construed as relating exclusively to the Christian rite of baptism, because its reference is so clearly to the universal MythoSj to the national apotheosis of some hero around whose mysterious death and resurrection gathered the sublime cultus of each age. But his description chimes so perfectly with all that we are permitted to know of these ancient Mysteries, that it would seem it must have grown out of them, and been perhaps the first free divulgence to humanity of the age-long secret which had been at once the aspiration and despair of the multitude. It is also to be noted that whenever Paul refers to this great fact he calls it "the mystery," to which I shall again shortly refer. Now his explanation and interpretation of the 1 " De Prsescrip./' XI, quoted in Doane's " Bible Myths." OHKISTIAIT COl^CEPTION 171 Mystery of Baptism we find in Romans vi as fol- lows : " Know ye not that so many of us as our baptized into Jesus Christ are baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we shall also walk in newness of life." Pindar says : " Happy those who, having seen this spectacle [the Eleusinian Mysteries] descend into the depths of earth ; they know the end of life and its divine origin." Each step of the ceremony of the ancient Mys- tery is clearly set forth in this statement of Paul and its occult meaning for the first time revealed. The divulgence of this secret was criminal in the old times and the offender would suffer capital punishment, -^schylus was set upon by a mob and almost lost his life because they thought he had intended to reveal this secret in one of his plays, and merely saved himself by proving that he had never been initiated. Paul, indeed seems to fully realize that he has made a great divulgence by the fervor of his words and the boldness of his spirit. This especially appears in his letter to the Ephesians, where he says (iii) " I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward, how that hy revelation He made Tcnown to me the mystery . . . which in other ages was not made known uato the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the 112 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise by Christ in the Gospels. . . . TJnto me, who am less than the least of the saints, is the grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the imsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery/' etc. The conclusion which I think may be drawn from this lengthy discussion is that the notion of the after life crept into the Christian religion first by way of the vague Jewish belief in the resurrection, and the interpretations of the same made by the gospel writers and attributed to Jesus Christ. They make him refer to both the resurrection and the eternal life, but in both references make it very apparent that the eternal life, as we shall soon show, refers only to the inner spiritual development and not necessarily to a life beyond the grave ; while the resurrection referred to is the final judgment to which all shall arise. But Paul seems to introduce a distinctive interpretation, namely that of the im- mediate deliverance and purification of the soul after death, which seems to have come to him by association with the mystagogues and hierophants of the ancient, pagan mysteries. Therefore what views may have been presented by the Christian religion relative to the after life were not original or unique, nor in aught different from what had already been taught through the ages. But be- cause they were emphasized with such human sen- timent and sincere enthusiasm they fastened them- selves on the heart of mankind and seemed to CHKISTIAN CONCEPTION 173 assume a new and unaccustonaed phase. The future life seemed to be brought nearer to the human race, to be looked forward to with sincerer anticipation by the followers of Christ, for the very- reason that Christ Himself, as portrayed in the Gospels, seemed to be nearer to the human heart and more reliable than the heroes of the ancient Mythos which all religions had honored. He, as pictured by the apostles, was a human being, natural, * fellowshiping with his human kindred, practical, immediate, approachable. But the myth-heroes around whom gathered the cults of antiquity were always pictured as distant, artificial, unhuman, planetary and unapproachable. Therefore Jesus has ever seeiped closer to us than any divinity of whom the race has yet con- ceived. Closer than Jove or Jehovah, than Buddha or Krishna. He is a brother, friend, saviour, re- deemer. He is ever present. They were judicial, extra-natural, majestic, overweening, fear-inspiring. Jesus symbolizes love and friendship. They sym- bolize terror and estrangement. Hence the words of Jesus and his apostles con- cerning the after life seem to us more real and as- suring, more actual and attainable than those of any religious teachers the world has yet known. But we shall see that even their promises and antic- ipations were vague and indefinite, and left such an impression on their followers for many centuries. For we may well ask what did Christ and his dis- ciples mean by the Eternal Life ? CHAPTER XIII CHEIST^S CONCEPTION OF IMMORTAL LIFE Are we to conclude that the conception of individual immortality, — a notion so prevalent in our age, — had no place in the precepts of Jesua ? Shocking as it seems to be at first, it must be ac- cepted as a fact that the outlook and forecast of the life of the soul presented to us by Jesus referred entirely to the present life and the possibilities of the soul's growth in its union with the divine prin- ciple, Jesus looked but little beyond the grave; His chief if not only concern was with this life, The first objection to this conclusion will arise in the mind when contemplating the version of the Judgment, as depicted in the dramatic parable in Matthew xxv. This passage has for many cen- turies been interpreted as though it referred to the great Day of the Lord, commonly known as the Final Judgment, when some shall pass to eternal life and some to eternal death. On its face the parable seems to sustain this view. But observe that it is the last of a series all of which refer to the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. We have already called attention to the fact that the Jewish idea involved in this expression was that of the earthly Kingdom when Righteousness through Israel or the Jewish Nation shall prevail over the earth ! He has been illustrating the King- 174 CHRIST'S CONCEPTION 175 dom by the five wise and foolish virgins; hj the servant who had five talents, and being thrifty earned five more, and the servant who had one talent and foolishly hid it in the ground ; and leaves the vivid impression on the reader that by devotion to duty and noble ideals the prize of the kingdom and power will be attained. No reference is here made to any after life whatsoever; the emphasis is palpably on the present burdensome and prob- lematic life which mankind are now enduring. Then suddenly He says : " When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon His throne in glory," dividing all the nations and people of the earth into sheep and goats, according to the nature of their moral lives, whether they have been prompted by selfishness or sympathy with those in need, and despatching those who have not done rightly " into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." It is a well-known fact that the Apostles and Jesus Himself anticipated the immediate advent of the Kingdom of Heaven. He was expected to return before the generation passed away which He was then addressing, and when He made His second advent He would be " the Son of God in all His glory." The manifest meaning as we shall see to be placed on this passage is not that it describes a post mortem condition of individual existence, but that it refers to the state of the world when Jesus shall return as King and rule with the power of 176 MODEKN LIGHT 01^ IMMOETALITY Righteousness. When Jesus makes reference to the EesurrectioUj as in his conversation with Martha, He does not intimate that He is casting a far look to some final and -world-pregnant event, but calmly says, I am the Resurrection and the Life. That is, I am now living the life of the resurrection, in the glorified state of My soul, and whosoever follows Me, pursues the same manner of life that I do, — " shall not see death." A careful examination of the significant conver- sation which takes place between Jesus and the Pharisees, and that which follows with the dis- ciples in Matthew xix will reveal the fact that Christ's idea of the eternal life referred absolutely to the state of righteousness in the soul and the glory that would prevail when His kingdom over- ruled the earth. They have been putting puzzling problems with reference to marriage in heaven and the intricacies of divorce, when suddenly one comes to Him and says, " Good Master, what must I do that I may have eternal life ? " He enjoins him that he must keep all the commandments and hav- ing done this if he be rich to give away his all to the poor. At this he despairs and the disciples are amazed, asking " Who then can be saved ? " As if to say, *' Can such an earthly ideal ever be at- tained 1 " In another place when the disciples exhibit an ambitious spirit and seek from Him knowledge as to what their reward in heaven shall be because of their personal sacrifice. He says again, " In the generation when the Son of Man shall sit on His CHEIST'S CONCEPTION 177 throne of glory, ye shall sit upon the twelve thrones," etc. Evidently He here referred to the Kingdom which He expected to establish after He had gone to the Father and fulfilled His present mission. The resurrection to which Jesus every- where seems to refer is His return to earth to establish the Kingdom of God. Paul likewise makes reference to the same anticipation in Thessalonians. There has been perplexity of spirit among the communicants of Thessalonica because some of their number have died before the return of Jesus to establish His Kingdom and it is feared that they will therefore have no part in its glory. Paul writes to assure them : " I would not have you ignorant concerning them that are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others that have no hope. . . . For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven . . . and this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and re- main unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [have any advantage over] them which are asleep, but shall be caught up together with them in the clouds," etc. The meaning of this is so palpable that it admits of no question. Paul expected to be still on earth when Jesus returned as well as most of his fol- lowers. The only meaning that can then attach to his promise " and so then shall ye be ever with the Lord " — is that they will continue as long as they breathe to enjoy the life of the Lord, the spirit of the Lord, the consciousness of the Lord's presence^ the resurrection-life. 178 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY Without a question every reference to the King- dom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven, which is made by Jesus in the Gospel writings, has reference to an approaching heavenly state on this planet or some earthly paradise. Only because, by the in- heritance of the ages, we have been accustomed to read into these expressions a conception of an after- death condition, a heaven attainable only beyond the grave, have we missed the manifest intention of the Teacher of Galilee in what He persistently expounds concerning an ideal human kingdom, which He believed He had inaugurated. If this be not so then why did John the Baptist so exult- antly exclaim " Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" 'Not some state to be awaited after we have shuffled off this mortal coil, but attainable now if we but obey the law of jus- tice, which in Biblical terminology was entitled "righteousness"? Moreover, as if to leave no question in the minds of His hearers as to the date of His approaching kingdom, Jesus Himself after His baptism by John insists also that everybody shall repent for the Kingdom is at hand. It is im- mediate, impending, imminent. In some of these passages the reference to an approaching earthly condition is so manifest that we marvel how they could ever have been misinter- preted. In Matthew xi : 12, Jesus is enjoining his disciples to prepare themselves for the King- dom by humility, gentleness and mercy to all, and, by contrast, reminds them that formerly the con- ception of force, vengeance, retaliation, had been CHKIST'S CONCEPTIO]Sr 179 inculcated by the law and the prophets, as the method by which the Kingdom of Heaven could be attained. Eut He tells them not by force but by sympathy shall the Kingdom be established. Certainly here He casts no far-away glance at a millennial heavenly period, but regards an im- mediate and approaching condition of the earthly social life. Again in the 20th verse of the eleventh chapter of Luke, where Jesus is recorded as arguing against the Pharisees who challenge the authority of His voice because He heals the sick through the power of Beelzebub, He retorts that " If with the finger of God He casts out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God is come" to them. Certainly this is a reference to an immediate or an already existing state and not to one beyond the grave. If the Kingdom of God be come already to them through the healing of the sick and the casting out of devils from among them, then they need wait for no distant period beyond death to realize its establishment. Without however reviewing the many more passages which carry with them the same import, there is one which should silence all objections to the interpretation of Christ's prophecy concerning the Kingdom which we are seeking to emphasize. I refer to the 28th and 29th verses of the sixteenth chapter of Matthew. He had been holding a lengthy and most profound session with his over- mastered disciples. They had come nearer his heart than before and with unusual confidence had ventured to ask him concerning the deeper secrets 180 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY of the " Mysteries of the Kingdom." They wished to learn why he always spake to the multitude in the image of parables, but in private revealed to them the deeper meaning which was concealed from the world without. Suddenly Jesus breaks to them His consciousness of the impassioned mission for which He believes He has come to earth, and in whispered solemnity reveals the painful secret of his soul. He feels that He is already under the shadow of death. He knows that He must suffer at the hands of those who will persecute and crucify Him for his delusion, and yet ere it come to pass He must tell His spiritual confidants, so that when it occurs, they shall know how to conduct themselves. He has just been telling Peter with an extraordinary outburst of exultant appreciation of his good offices, that He will give to him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and that what he binds on earth shall also be bound in heaven; plainly intending, as we must believe from what immediately follows, that he shall have such supreme power in the exercise of his spiritual energies that they will override all material and temporal forces ; and then a moment later says that He must go to Jerusalem and in- augurate the Kingdom by being persecuted by the Scribes and Pharisses and finally killed by them. Whereat, Peter, evidently discerning His meaning, that He must die in order that they may enter the Kingdom — doubtless thinking of the far-away resurrection, referred to by the Prophets and the Eabbis — cries out to prevent His attempting anything so rash and fantastic ; when Jesus at once CHRIST'S CONCEPTIOlSr 181 curses him, and then makes the astounding state- ment not only that the Son of Man shall come in His glory with all the angels to reward everyone according to the deeds done in the body, but that there were some then standing in His presence who would not taste death till they had witnessed the glorified scene and beheld the inauguration of the golden age of justice and truth, mercy and honor. Of course no such reference could be made to a Kingdom whose inauguration must be looked for- ward to, millions of years hence and in another realm of existence. Once more, we find an affirmation of Jesus in Matt, xxii : 30 which again seems to make His meaning clear, yet which for ages has been appar- ently misinterpreted because of our hereditary mis- conception of the eternal life. The doctors of the law are taunting Him with problems of the resur- rection life, and He rebukes them by saying that they themselves do not understand the Scriptures which they quote, for there is no marriage (about which they have been inquiring) in the resurrec- tion, where " They neither marry nor are given in marriage, but wre as the angels of Ood in heaven," He does not affirm that " They of the resurrection " are " angels of God in heaven,'' but in respect of marriage like them. That is, as we may assume, the pure spiritual forms, which the heavenly host constitute, have no physical func- tions, but intercommunicate by mere ethereal vi- brations ; so they who believe in Him and live the life He displays will likewise know each other in 182 MODEEIT LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY the spirit more effectually than they can in the body; that there are soul-marriageSj the blending of the mind with the divine principlej the merging of all in the consciousness of the divine essence — an experience long known or at least professed by mystics and occultists. An intimation of the arcane notion here presented by Jesus was still more emphasized in another pas- sage ^ where He is discoursing on the problem of marriage and divorce. He has just been saying that if a man leave his wife for any other reason than fornication he commits adultery. His disci- ples in despair falter at this declaration and say, if His words are true, then it were not good for man to marry ! At which he replies : " All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given." Now why? From what follows He plainly intimates that while a man who finds his wife disagreeable has no right by His authority to leave her, yet he must learn the art of still con- tinuing to live with her, but by freeing himself from such intimacy as demands bodily contact. In short, they must learn how to assume the attitude of the eunuch. ^^ There are some eunuchs which are so bom from their mother's womb; and some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men; and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake." Here it seems to us that the meaning is so clear there can be no dispute. Those who live in the Kingdom must first of all live the life of justice. iMatt. Xix: 12. CHRIST'S CONCEPTION 183 Therefore to put a wife away for any reason other than for fornication is equivalent to adultery. So He insists. This right is denied in the Kingdom. Hence for the Kingdom's sake, do not violate it by divorcing your wife because of any other than the one extreme reason, but make of yourself a eu- nuch — learn to live in spiritual communion and social peace with your wife, and disclaim the asual functions of the conjugal life. So, in ac- cord with His teaching elsewhere as pointed out above, He might have continued " Live together like the angels of God in heaven, by neither tak- ing nor giving each other in marriage (that is, avoiding the physical relation), and contemplate always the face of your Father which is in Heaven." That is, live so much in the spirit that ye will forget the flesh. What wonder he closes these recondite and vaguely suggestive logia with the in- different injunction, " He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." It seems all too clear that when Jesus refers to the Resurrection He implies the spiritual life, the life of the soul in God, the life that continually contemplates and emulates the life divine. Again, as if to reinforce the recondite reference to the occult life, He says, " As touching the resur- rection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God ? ^ I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ; God is not the God o£ the dead, but of the living.' " This is commonly so interpreted as to make Jesus imply that those persons must still have been living in His time. 184 MODEEI^ LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY and therefore that He believed in a continued life after death. But taken in connection with the en- tire discussion it seems perfectly apparent that He meant they were the chosen souls of Israel, the spirits who lived in especial and continual com- munion with the spirit of God, and therefore they had become the spiritual cynosure of the ages. Theirs was the life eternal; the only eternal life being in the consciousness of the presence of the spirit of the Father. In the same tenor he says: " I am the vine and ye are the branches ;" " Verily I say unto you that whosoever heareth My word and keepeth it hath [not shall have] everlast- ing life, and hath passed from death unto life; whoso findeth Me findeth life;" " Search the Scrip- tures, for in them ye think ye haA)e eternal life;" (that is, while drinking from the spiritual fount of the Word of Life ye feel the consciousness of the life eternal) ; and finally, as if to cap the climax of certainty and leave no space for doubt, he cries " Glorify Thy Son . . . that He should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given Him; and this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." Clearly then in all the teachings and sayings of Jesus, in all His reference to the Kingdom, the Resurrection, the Life Eternal ; He was not glanc- ing afar at some dreamy paradise, some fanciful and imaginary state of incomprehensible bliss or at a dismal Tartarus where souls would forever be consumed in unquenchable flames. His one and CHEIST'S CONCEPTION 185 only attempt is manifestly to prepare His disciples for the burden and strain of this life ; for the sor- rows and struggles which shall await them when they go forward to contemplate the invisible but ever accompanying Presence of whom He has so earnestly taught them ; for the power to prove that they who live in the freedom of the truth can never be enslaved, howsoever thick be the prison walls or the iron bars that confine them ; that living the life of conscious union with God they are now attaining all the bliss and joy and power which some had thought was the heritage of those only who had crossed the dark gulf of death. CHAPTER XIV PAUL AND THE DOCTEINE OF ETERl^AL LIFE The more fully we investigate this interesting subject the more thoroughly are we convinced that Paul was introducing into the teachings of Chris- tianity a doctrine foreign and offensive to the orig- inal apostles and to the early Jewish Christians. There is something very obscure and mystifying in the relation that exists between Paul and the rest of the apostles. From what little we can read be- tween the lines of the Gospel narratives by the in- timations presented, we are led to believe that Paul was a sort of persona non grata in the apostolic college; but whether because of jealousies arising from his superior qualifications, or because of fear that his teachings were perversive of those of Jesus, or because they perceived that he had learned from some source the secret of a strange and most recondite " mystery," it is difficult positively to determine. It is sufficient, however, to observe that there is no question whatever of the intensest sort of a personal altercation having taken place between him and some of the apostles, and that there is good ground for the belief that the opposition to him arose from all the above reasons mingled in due proportion. It would seem that the original and authentic testimony of Paul concerning his enter- ing into the faith in Christ is told by himself in 186 PAUL AKD THE ETEENAL LIFE 187 the epistle to the Galatians. By the best critics this epistle is admitted to be one of the first, if in- deed, as many of the best critics contend, not his very earliest. He breaks forth at once in defense of his apostolic authority, manifestly feeling grieved that his apostleship has been called in ques- tion, and determining to recall his former adher- ents, who had apparently deserted him because of the antagonism of the other apostles. As we have already noted, in this epistle he distinctly disclaims all dependence for his knowledge of Jesus and the Christ on any human source, disciples of Jesus or others. He claims absolutely that he was taught his gospel directly by revelation from Christ him- self. He elsewhere tells us the manner of receiv- ing this revelation, which was by visions and dreams. It is impossible for one to read intelligently the 12th chapter of II Cor., wherein Paul glories in one who saw things in Paradise when he was lifted up into the third heaven, whether in the body or out he could not say, " and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter," and not feel that this claim of his to possess superior spiritual authority, because of his mediumistic pow- ers, which enabled him to see and hear " gods," was the actual bone of contention between him and the other followers of Jesus, I shall try to show you, what I think has never yet been fully exploited by any commentator, that Paul proves in this chapter that this claim of his to see visions, to come in close contact with the invisible world through his clair- 188 MODEEN LIGHT ON" IMMOETALITY voyant discernment, was the real or at least the most strenuous cause of his conflict with the other apostles, and that the difference arising from the discussion relating to " circumcision " and the in- vitation to the Gentiles was but incidental and of minor consequence. Paul is here glorying with the most intense satisfaction in his admitted superior- ity, and the fact that his followers are willing to accept his protestations of superior spiritual pow- ers and therefore to believe him to be a true apostle of Jesus. But he suddenly halts, thinking per^ haps he has boasted too much, and some might think of him above what he really is or what rumor may declare. He is not afraid that he will be misjudged, however, for he confesses that " Lest he should be exalted above measure through the abundance of his revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh," etc. (v. Y). It is surprising that there has been so much mystification thrown around this expression of " a thorn in the flesh," when it is very apparent, if we read this passage in connection with history elsewhere narrated, its meaning is beyond question. Paul states in the words immediately following in this passage what the thorn in the flesh really was. He says it was " the Messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." Who was this " Mes- senger of Satan ? " The gospel narratives do not state save by bare insinuation, neither does Paul; but contemporary history does. I think it can plainly be shown that the " thorn in the flesh," the PAUL AND THE ETEENAL LIFE 189 *' Messenger of Satan," was none other than Simon Peter. It will be remembered that in this first of the Pauline epistles to the Galatians Paul says with much vehemence that when Peter came to Antioch to preach he accosted him with the charge that he was a dissembler, playing fast and loose with the Mosaic usages among the Jews and Gentiles that he might curry favor with both. He accuses Peter of having yielded to the influence of some of the disciples who were partisans of James, the brother of Jesus, and clearly shows that a great gulf had been dug between him and the other apostles. He also states that Barnabas yielded with the other dis- ciples to the false teachings of James and went astray. Now this whole quarrel is glossed over in the Acts of the Apostles, and not a hint of it is given in the Gospel writings. All we find relating to it is in Acts xv where it is merely stated that an altercation took place between Paul and Barnabas when the latter proposed to take Mark with them on their missionary journey through Asia Minor. Paul separated from them because of Mark. Now we know that Mark was the recorder and friend of Peter, and that his gospel is supposed to be Peter's interpretation of the career and teachings of Jesus: In fact in several places in the Acts it is made to appear that a perfect understanding existed be- tween Peter and Paul, and that Ihe entire college of Apostles approved of Paul and his friend Silas and gave them letters of credit for their far jour- 190 MODERIf LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY neys among the churches. It presents a scene where Peter leams by a vision from heaven that God is no respecter o^ persons and that the Gentiles have as much right to the privileges of the Gospel as the people of Israel, etc. (Acts x: 11, 15, 20) ; it even intimates that Peter had special revelations from heaven to prove that his apostleship was intended for the Gentiles. ("Men and brethren ye know how . . . the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospels. . . . Acts xv : 7. ) Whoever wrote the Acts manifestly undertook to patch up a peace between Paul and Peter so that their mighty names might not seem to bo the source of schisms in the historical church. There- fore the real quarrel that existed among them was buried by the power of the church for many centuries and has only recently come to light. When we leam, however, that the book known as the Acts of the Apostles had not gained general acceptance even as late as 407 A. D. when St. Chry- sostom referring to it in his homilies said that it " was unknown to many," that not only was it generally unknown but that none knew " who wrote it and put it^ together," we are able to read into the past the source from which the work emanated, and what its manifest mission in the Christian church has been. Such critics as Bauer, Schweg- ler, and Zeller " show it to be the work of a Pauline Christian, who, in order to conciliate the two hostile Christian parties, endeavored to make Paul re- PAUL AND THE ETEE-JSTAL LIFE 191 semble Peter and Peter resemble Paul as much as possible." * But notwithstanding this gloss in the Acts which for so many centuries has served its purpose in blotting from the historic memory the existence and the cause of the great quarrel between Paul and Peter, or Paul and the entire Apostolic Col- lege, the fact is ineradicably recorded by Paul him- self in his epistles to the Galatians, which was in- disputably written about 50 A.D, and in language so vehement and virulent that it cannot be mis- construed. ' Hence we rightly conclude that Paul denounced Peter as the thorn in the flesh, the Messenger of Satan whom he felt was ever persecuting and pur- suing him throughout his career. But that fact in itself is not so important to us in our study as is the cause itself which brought about this terrible altercation with its subsequent historical consequences. What was the cause? Was it the mere fact that Peter and Paul differed about the rite of circumcision and whether it should be imposed on the professing Gentiles ? I think manifestly it was not. That was merely the gloss that was put forth in the Acts that the world might be deluded and the strange suggestive reality be if possible expunged from the memory of man. All we need do to learn the actual cause is to return again to this tale-telling Galatians-epistle, where manifestly Paul himself reveals it. For does he not 1 Crit. Examination of Gospel Hist., p. 205, Longmans, Green & Co. 192 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY say that all the joy which he has is in his glorifica- tion of that man, not the ordinary Paul, but that Paul who saw visions, and procured revelations, while he was in paradise, in the third heaven, and heard things that were not to bo uttered in the hearing of man? This was what he gloried in. This was what made him superior to the other apostles. This was what made his gospel so ac- ceptable to the Gentiles; and clearly enough, this also was what caused him to be pursued and per- secuted by " The Messenger of Satan," which as we shall see is Simon Peter, the apostle. There is a passage in the Clementine Homilies, referring to this problem, written in the middle of the second century, which is only about half a century after the death of the apostle John, that corroborates the contention I am presenting. He says of Peter in this notable discussion, review- ing its entire history, that he cried out against Paul in this manner, " He who had sent us, our Lord and Prophet, declared' to us that the evil one . . . announced that he would send from amongst his followers apostles to deceive. There- fore, above all remember to avoid every apostle, teacher, or" prophet, who first does not actually compare his teachings with that of James who is called the brother of the Lord," etc.^ The entire homily makes it very apparent that Peter intends by this insinuation none other than Paul, whom he calls Simon (possibly to make him appear as one with or as bad as Simon Magus). 1 " Supernatural Religion," Vol. II, p. 35. PAUL AND THE ETERNAL LIFE 193 But in this homily we learn the reason why Peter flo vehemently denounces Paul and it is because " Paul maintains that he has a truer appreciation of the doctrines and teachings of Jesus because he has received his inspiration by supernatural vision^ and not by common experience of the senses." ^ " Can anyone in visions become wise in teach- ing ? " contemptuously cries Peter. . . . " How can we believe your story that He appeared to yoUj when you hold opinions contrary to His teaching? . . . For you now set yourself up against me who am a firm rock, the foundation of the church." ^ Elsewhere Peter exclaims : " Thou pretendest that one attains to a better understanding of things by means of visions than by direct communication, and that thou art better informed than I am of all that regards Jesus. . . . On the contrary he who puts faith in visions, does not know what he be- lieves in; in fact it might be a demon, or a de- ceiving spirit, who pretended to be that which he was not. , . . Besides, it is not possible dur- ing sleep to investigate the things we would wish to; the thoughts of the sleeper are not in his power." ^ The manifest cause of the conflict between Peter and Paul was his claim to having received the vi- sions on which he asserts his authority over the entire apostolic college. In short, Paul put him- 1 Ih., p. 36. 2 76., p. 36. 3 " Critical Examination of the Gospel Histories," 199 (Longmans, Green & Co.). 194 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY self forth as an hieraphant of the " mysteries," who had been permitted to see the ever wondrous reve- lations which none but the epoptse ever beheld in the Eleusinia. Paul insists that he is so positive of his Gospel that though an angel from heaven came to preach any other he would be anathema. He has seen not as the flesh reveals, but only as the spirit Now, this very vision which the epoptse of the mysteries alone were permitted to see was itself a source of much solicitation to the fathers of the chiu'ch and entered into the Gnostic philos- ophy and the early heresies very extensively. The vision which they claimed to behold was that of God; the truth; and especially the truth concern- ing God. The vision always came as a " light." ^ Momsen says Manes, the founder of the Gnostic sect of the Manichseans, conceived that " The God who governs the world of light is, as it were, an im- mense sun, and consists wholly of the purest light," etc.^ The Valentinians called initiation ^ light.' The enjoyment of this light was the revelation of the epoptse. Psellus (Ad. Orac. Zorast) says that epopty was attained when the initiated person was allowed to behold the Divine Light. One of the precepts given by Zoroaster was to obtain the mani- festations of the " Divine Glory." Porphyry says that the Gnostics boasted that they had revelations from Zoroaster.^ These facts naturally remind us of John's ref- 1 Crit. Ex. Gos. Hist., 202. 2 Hist, of Christianity, Vol. II, p. 287. 8 Crit. Ex. Gos. Hist., p. 202. PAUL AND THE ETEKNAL LIEE 195 erence to " The light that lighteth every man that Cometh into the world." Referring to John the Baptist, he says : " The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light. . . . He was not the Light, but was sent to bear witness of the Light." Jesus is frequently referred to as " The Light of the World " ; when he was transfigured he shone as a white light; and when Paul was con- verted, according to Acts ix, he saw Jesus as a great white light shining round about him. These epopties, then, or revelations of the light of God, were not only the secret vision of the ancient or Eleusinian mysteries, but were also occasional privileges enjoyed by those of the early Christian faith. It was Paul's claim to this great privilege and enjoyment, and the consequent power which he claimed it endued on him, that made him the bone of contention, the cause of the great schism in the apostolic college. Evidently, the claim which Paul first put forth and because of which Peter so boldly opposed him, was afterwards devoutly embraced by the future church as one of the great blessings to be bestowed on the faithful. While Paul was first abused for insisting that he had seen such a vision and through it great power had come to him, when the Acts was written, Peter, as we have above shown, had come to make a similar claim and in later times it was held forth as the sublime revelation that would come to those who are faithful. Clemens of Alexandria rests on this promise his strongest exhortation to a blind disbeliever, who is evidently an initiate in 196 MODEEN LIGHT ON" IMMORTALITY the " Mysteries " to come to Christ that he may enjoy a real and genuine epopty. He says : '' The Lord acts as hierophant in these mysteries. He marks with his seal the initiated person whom he has illumined with his light. . . . These are my mysteries and my orgies. Become initiated, and you will form with the angels the retinue of that God who has never been bom and who will never die — the only true God." Here the reference to the Eleusinian mysteries is so manifest it cannot be disputed. They were evi- dently well known to the leaders of the early church. Their true secret was not dishonored or held as degraded by them. Clemens calls them " a mys- tical drama." Paul's proof that he had seen the Light seemed sufficient to convince the fathers and to compel them to emulate him. In Paul's vision he caught the idea that eternal life meant living in the spirit of God (" If we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit ") ; that resurrection consisted in the ascent of the conscious- ness of the soul to the consciousness of God ; hence he knew no man after the flesh, and enjoins his disciples that though they may have known Christ after the flesh, no more will they thus know him ; ^ that the '^ resurrection " was to be planted in the likeness of Christ's death " in order that " we shall also be in likeness of his resurrection; knowing that being once dead to sin the power of death has no more dominion over one." All this Paul claimed that he had learned in the vision of the HI Cor. v: 16. PAUL AND THE ETEKNAL LIFE 197 transporting apocalypse which revolutionized his life and made him immortal among men. But this interpretation was exactly opposed to the old Judaic conception of the resurrection that the rest of the Apostles then held, namely, that all men were immortal and shall appear at the last day for final judgment and receive their due rewards and punishments.^ Paul, who more similarly than any other apostle, seems to echo the teaching of Jesus in the nature of the Kingdom of God and the Eesur- rection of Life, in his letter to the Philippians (iii: 12) apparently makes it very clear that they both meant to intimate by those terms noth- ing more than an exalted state of the soul while still residing in this tabernacle of the flesh. He is vn*iting to the Philippians an autobio- graphical epistle and setting forth the real reason that he had to glory in the obedience of his life, while a Pharisee, to the Mosaic law; but that he counts all this as nothing compared to the glory which he has in Jesus Christ. " For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, . . . that I may 1 " In the first three evangelists we find * eternal life ' repre- sented as the object and destiny of man. . . . The resur- rection of the dead precedes it. It therefore comprises the whole future of the disciple of Christ, his full reward. {Reward in heaven and eternal punishment) , . . , While, however, life everlasting thus belongs to the future, we must not forget that, according to Pa/uVs exposition^ it appears in its essence indissolubly connected with our present life. . . . In the early times (of Christianity) 'eternal life' was represented only as future happiness, to be fully accom- plished only after the resurrection and the judgment of the world." McClintock & Strong, Cyclo. of Rel. Literature, pp. 314, 315, passi/m. 198 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead," If this were the end of his address there would seem to be an implication that he was here referring to some after-death state to which he aspired. But the words that immediately follow would seem to leave such an implication not only irrelevant, but impossible. He continues : " Not as though I had already attained [the resurrection, of the dead], either were already perfect." There can be but one inference. He is not contemplating a distant and speculative future possibility beyond death, but a state of the soul at present, which is now attainable, but the passage to which is through such earthly suffering that one who seeks it virtually becomes as one dead before he can rise in its resurrected real- ization. Paul pictures himself as one now press- ing toward the mark of the high calling of Jesus Christ; not as one who has already apprehended the goal, but who sees it directly before him and is running with the enthusiasm and anticipation of the athlete who expects at any moment to hold it in his victorious hand. Paul and Christ plainly mean when referring to the Kesurrection the rising of the individual from the consciousness of the flesh to the consciousness of the soul, and to mys- tical union with the Divine Essence. CHAPTEE XV PAUL AJH) THE DOCTRINE OF THE RESUEEECTION That the Pauline doctrine of mystical union with Chri&t, as the true conception of eternal life and the resurrection, finally overmastered the entire body of the early believers, is made evident by tracing the conditions of the early church. In or- der fully to understand the real doctrine then rec- ognized we must first appreciate the notion which then prevailed concerning the resurrection of Jesus, whether it was an actual physical or a spiritual res- urrection ; the promise which this hope of the res- urrection of the disciples held forth to them; and finally what idea of the eternal life they entertained as proved by the earliest monuments of the church. This task we shall now undertake. We have already shown that PauPs conception of the resurrection of Jesus from the grave was a mystical conception which he had imbibed from the ancient pagan mysteries. To him the resurrection of Jesus was not a restoration to physical life of the body of flesh with which Jesus had been buried; but was the resurrection of an attenuated, diapha- nous, semi-material, or, as he called it, spiritual body, in the manner of which he believed that all who consecrated themselves to Christ would like- wise be resurrected. He makes this very clear in the famous 15th chapter of I Cor. Here he is 199 200 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY avouching the resurrection of Jesua and making that fact the historical foundation and ground-work of the Gospel which he is preaching. It must not, however, be forgotten that Paul al- ways insists that the Gospel which he is preaching is his; that it is a Gospel opposed to that of the rest of the apostles; that it is apparently revolu- tionary in the early annals of the Church, In the opening sentence of the chapter above referred to he says : " I declare unto you, brethren, the gospel which / preached unto you ; by which ye are saved if ye hold fast what I preached unto you, xmless ye have believed in vain." Remembering, as we learn from Clemens Alexandrinus and the other pristine fathers of the Church, that it was a well recognized fact that Paul is referring to Peter and his asso- ciated apostles whenever he insinuates that there are some who are trying to teach his disciples an- other gospel than what he preaches; that in Gala- tians he charges them that even though an angel from heaven should try to teach them any other gospel, let him be accursed ; we may clearly perceive that when Paul almost angrily exclaims, " I am de- termined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified," he is bent on in- troducing a new doctrine which is not acceptable to the other apostles. There is a strong intimation in all the epistles of Paul that both the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus were not readily accepted as facts by the early believers, so much so indeed that we are perhaps justified in assuming that Paul PAUL AlfD THE RESURRECTION 201 himself was the first to introduce these teachings.^ The earliest Christians, such as ApoUos, knew noth- ing but the baptism of John.^ Then followed a sect who saw in Christ merely the Scriptural Mes- siah, who was sent to deliver Israel ; then there was a third division or class who discerned in Jesus a far more mystical and arcane messenger of God than any heretofore set forth. This division was inaugurated and led by Paul, who made it the ulti- mate cult of historical Christianity. The funda- mental preaching and indoctrination of this cult was the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, ap- prehended in a purely mystical sense, as Paul so perspicaciously sets forth in the first chapter of I Corinthians. A careful reading of this chapter, it seems to us, will set forth the distinguishing fea- tures of Paul's preachment against the Judaic in- doctrination of the other apostles, with indisputable clearness. He refers to the cause of the divisions among them, namely, the contention that some of them are followers of ApoUos, some of Cephas, some of Paul. He denounces the utility and effective- ness of mere baptism, and thanks God that he bap- tized very few of them, for he was not called to baptize but to teach. Thus he attempts to weaken the influence of ApoUos. He makes a very sly and yet most forceful attack on Cephas or Peter when he says he came not to preach the gospel with the " wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ be made II Cor. xv: 3. 2 Acts xviii: 24. 202 MODERN LIGHT OJST IMMORTALITY of none effect ... for, where is the wise ; where is the disputer of this world ? " This de- scription, according to the prevalent legend among the fathers, is an exact portrayal of Peter, who pur- sued Paul around the world arguing against and disputing him wherever Paul preached. Peter undertook to argue from Scripture that Jesus was the Messiah, who came to deliver Israel only. Paul called this the work of the " scrihe " ;^ that is, an imitation of the rabbinical methods by which the people had so long been mentally be- fogged and benighted. Paul, however, insists that he is introducing a doctrine which to the Jews (not to the unconverted Jews, but to the Judaic Christians) is " foolish- ness." This passage seems to have been wholly misinterpreted by the traditional student, because it has always been pointed out that Paul was here referring to the supposed conception of the Messiah ^mong the ancient Pharisees; whereas from what follows in this chapter it is manifest that Paul is trying to overturn certain false conceptions about Christ that had grown up among the early believers and is attempting to introduce a doctrine among them which is wholly new. To the Jew it is a stumbling-block, and foolishness to the Greeks. That is, foolishness to the Grecian Christians, who regard the message and mission of Jesus merely as an exoterical doctrine, because, as he soon intimates, they do not understand their own "mysteries"; and a stumbling-block to the Jewish Christians, 1 II Cor. i : 20. PAUL AND THE RESUEilECTION 203 who know nothing of the inner doctrine, because, as he declares, they do not rightly interpret their own scriptures. This doctrine Paul calls the " Preaching of the Cross." Wow we begin to apprehend his earnest- ness and determination when he says he will preach only Christ and Him crucified. All this is made apparent in the following chap- ter (ii), where Paul declares that the "wisdom" which he preaches is meant only for those who are initiated in the secret or mystery, unto whom it is wisdom and not foolishness. The translated word in the book is here " perfect," but should read, as we have already shown, " initiated." Grod has re- vealed this truth to him, he says, "by his spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God." He insists that the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God; but he that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he is judged of no man. That is, the man who is so spiritually ndnded that he discerns visions and revelations, whose meaning he alone can interpret, but which to all the, world besides are foolishnesa or a stumbling-block, is alone the one who has superior and divine knowledge that comes from God. We have seen elsewhere how Paul insisted that because of these revelations he has superior knowledge which the other apostles disputed; and now we are able to discern what was that particular knowledge of which Paul boasted with such self- glorification. It was nothing other th ings and joint deliberations; they initiate trials of MORAL CHAEACTER IN ANIMALS 291 criminals and culprits; they consult on definite plans and projects by aid of a "well-developed language con- sisting of sounds, signs and gestures; . , . they are in a word as much and even more highly endowed beings than most men know or dream oV ^ It seems, then, conclusive that if vpe are to judge of the existence of a soul in a physical organism by its manifestations as intelligence, emotion and rational consciousness, we are forced to admit that all the kingdoms of inferior physical beings have souls as "well as the human kingdom. We are also forced to admit that just as ethical ideas evolved from lower phases to the highest among human be- ings by slow stages, so among the inferior animals moral habits also ascended from low mechanical or instinctive stages to those of rational apprehension and cultivation. It is a mistake to assert, as was often done before the days of exact scientific study, that there can be no ethical development among animals ; that they are bound and limited by instinc- tive and hereditary environment beyond which they cannot travel- But this is erroneous ; for we learn that the first nest of birds were incorrect and incon- venient, and that the cuckoo acquired such poor ability in this regard that it stole into iiie nests of other birds to lay its eggs. We find that by fei^ tilizations and crossings, by natural and sexual selection, plant and animal forms of life are not only morphologically altered, but that they undergo permanent changes in their physical and moral qual- ities. 1 " Mind in Animals," and " IJove Among Beasts," Buchner. 292 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY But with r^ard to the moral qualities the argument is sometimes advanced that it is im- possible to find the roots of human morals deeply grounded in those of the antecedent morals of ani- mals, and, therefore the world of ethics " may be regarded as composed of unlike halves, which unite centrally to form a whole." These two halves may be called the intuitive and the inductive. The for- mer is supposed to apply to the animal world, the latter to the human. But our knowledge of the subconscious life in human beings, which may be called the intuitive or instinctive life, is so mani- festly, as we shall see later on in this work, the outgrowth of the antecedent conscious life of intelli- gent action, the one merging palpably in the other, that to assume the great gulf between them above indicated is undoubtedly erroneous. It seems to be now admitted that all mental and moral capacities have come to the human race through an infinite series of organic modifications which have gradually ascended from the lower to the higher animal kingdoms. Herbert Spencer puts this thought tersely: ^ " I believe that the experiences of utility organized and consolidated through all past generations of the human race, have been producing corresponding modifications, which, by continued transmission and accumulation, have become in us certain faculties of moral intuition — certain emotions, correspond- ing to right and wrong conduct, which have no ap- 1 Letter to Mr. Mill, quoted in Darwin's " Descent of Man," p. 126. MORAL CHAEACTER IN ANIMALS 293 parent basis in the individual experiences af utility," That is, by slow stages mere physical irritability, caused by environmentj as in the amoebae, develops into physical instincts or reflex actions, as fleeing from danger, and these reflex activities in time come to be the basis of intuitive perceptions, the founda- tions of intelligence which themselves become the cognitions of the final conscious individual life. The instinctive or the vegetative life is the basis of the intuitive or the intellectual life ; the one passes into the other constituting respectively the conscious or the subconscious realm of being. As says Dar- win,^ " The instinctive actions may lose their fixed and untaught character, and be replaced by others performed by the aid of the free will. On the other hand, some intelligent actions, after being performed during several generations, become con- verted into instincts and are inherited, as when birds on oceanic islands learn to avoid man. These actions may then be said to have degraded in char- acter, for they are no longer performed through reason or from experience." These rudimentary instincts constitute that sub- realm of human beings known now as the sublim- inal or subjective self. In so much as all living forms have evolved from one primal unit of pro- toplasmic life, as now the biologists inform us, and have come to present intelligence and the ethical sense through the myriad modifications of the never 1 " Descent of Man/' p. 69. 294 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT dying plasm passing from one form of life to an- other through all timq ; no other conclusion can be dravm but that all the higher powers and qualities of the human soul which at present are extant came to man through the inheritance of the underkingdoms. Man's soul, whatever it may be, is, therefore, noth- ing different, save in degree of development, from the souls of birds and beasts, lizards and lions. CHAPTEE XXVI THE NATURE AND GEKEEATION OF INSTINCT But before Tve leave this subject we must exam- ine it a little more fundamentally. Doubtless many of my readers have been asking, " But what is Instinct? If the moral and intellectual func- tions have evolved from the vegetative or instinc- tive, which lie at the basis of all organic life, whence has come this basic faculty or primal impulse ? " This is the last question of both biology and psy- chology, and only recently have these sciences been able to deliver an intelligent answer. The remarkable fact which we shall now attempt to present is that the mental and moral qualities seem to be absolutely modified or controlled, if not generated, by mechanical environment and chemical affinities. Instinct, it would seem, is now made to appear as the muscular reflex of heat, light, chem- ical action, etc., and even life itself to be a product of such conditions. Life is but the expression of the aggregation of microscopic cells, whose chemical interactions and associations, which are the results of external stimuli, become the cause of the in- finite variety of moral and mental capacities mani- fested in organic beings. The cellular discovery in biology has revolutionized our entire apprehen- sion and understanding of life. In Haeckel's " Eiddle of the Universe" (Chap. 295 296 MODEEN LIGHT ON" IMMOETALITY VIL), he shows how all peculiar qualities of the human soul are directly associated with, and per- haps dependent upon, the cellular modifications of the body. " Even at the lowest stage," he says, " of organic life, we find in all the protists those elementary feelings of like and dislike ... in the striving after heat and light, darkness and cold, and in their different relations to positive and nega- tive electricity. . . . Yet, a connecting chain of all conceivable gradations unites the most primi- tive elements of feeling in the psycloplasm of the unicellular protist with the highest forms of passion that rule in the ganglionic cells of the cortex of the human brain." In short, the microscope has revealed to the hu- man mind the startling fact that all organic life, in its multifarious phases, has come from one single dot of life-substance, or protoplasm; and that all the wonders of civilization as well as the primitive playfulness of childhood or the fascinating instincts of animal life, are the outcome of the self-multipli- cation, or fission, of the first dot or cell of life, which constitutes the one identical unit of all forms of organic expression. Just as great social and civic organizations re- sult from the association of millions of human beings in certain territories, constituting govern- ments and nations, so " as soon as the egg-cell is fertilized, it multiplies by division and forms a community, or colony of many social cells . . ." As, then, all life forms and organizations come from a single egg-cell which by self-multiplication, THE NATUKE OF INSTINCT 297 differentiation and specialization, produces the vari- ous modifications that constitute the tissues and organs of a living being; naturally, the laws that pertain to life and activities of the single cell ap- ply to the collective life of the organized body. Are we then justified in assuming that there ex- ists in the primal cell any of the qualities that we are in the habit of attributing to the living soul of man ? Can we show that germinally those mar- vellous attributes of the emotions, the intellect and the will, which so long we have supposed to be the especial endowment of humankind are not only also resident in inferior forms of organic beings, but actually in the unicellular form that constitutes the lowest expression of protoplasmic existence? The first exhibition of life is growth. So soon as the first cell begins to divide by fission it shows that it is growing. Just as a crystal gathers to its nucleated centre the dissolved units of the solu- tion and adds to itself the substance of the fluid from without, that is by accretion; the cell also absorbs the external fluid and assimilates within, or by intussusception. Here we note that, what seems to be a psychic quality or at least a condition without which none of the psychic powers would develop in organic bodies, is germinally akin with the similar activity of inorganic bodies, differing only in method, but not in nature. " Each indi- vidual or trophic growth is only the simple or di- rect growth common to crystal and to simple or- ganic individuals of the first order." (Haeckel.) The second important evidence of life is that of 298 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITT multiplication by cellular unions. First the one cell divides into numerous cells, which by special- ization become male and female, vphich in turn unite and propagate from the parental or incubated cell. This marvellous union of the two sexual cells has ever constituted the supposed mystery of life and fills the world with wonder and awe. In this union of the parent cells and the consequent con- ception and propagation of the offspring cell-life culminating anon in the full formed organic and functioned body, is to be found the beginnings of all the mental and moral, or the psychic, life of the individual. If then in the completion of the multiple cell-body, known as an organic body, whether as a human or an animal being, there are especial psychic faculties and forces, these naturally are but the result of the union of the mentalities or psychic powers that inhered in the combining cells. The one mind of the ani- mal becomes but the unionized mind of the infinite cell-minds of the body. " The production of mi- nute aggregates of physiological units, being the first step; and the passage of such minute aggregates into consolidated and more complex forms, being the second step ; it must naturally happen that all higher organic types, subsequently arising by fur- ther integrations and differentiations, will, every- where bear the impress of this earliest phase of evolution." ^ Along this line of thought modem biology ex- 1 Spencer's Biology, Vol. 11, p. 12. THE NATURE OE INSTINCT 29^ perimented till Max Verwom produced his special work on " Psycho-psysiological Studies of Protists," wherein he showed according to Haeckel that " the psychic processes are unconscious in all protista, and that the phenomena of sensation and move- ment coincide with the molecular vital processes in their protoplasm, and that their ultimate causes are to be sought in the properties of the protoplasmic molecules." The psychic phenomena of the protists, therefore, he informs us, form a bridge that connects the chemical processes of the inorganic world with the psychic life of the highest animals. In short, all mental activities are identical, whether in the low- est germinal phase of exertion, either in the chem- ical, mineral or the protozoic forms of life; and even when exhibited in the magnificence and mag- nitude of the human soul, they are not in origin or quality different from what they were in the lowly forms from which they ascended. We need not then hesitate to speak of the soul of the mineral and the plant and animal, as well as the soul of man. Nor need we imagine that the term soul is to be used with reference to all other kingdoms save that of the human kingdom in an accommodating or gratuitous sense. Whatever be the soul of man, as exhibited in mental and moral powers, it is in nature and kind absolutely identi- cal with what we may term the souls of the inferior planetary kingdoms. So true does this seem to be that recent accomplishments of the chemical labora- 300 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY tory -witli reference to the origin of life and the cultivation of certain psychic qualities by chemical mutations have astounded the entire world. The primitive psychic quality of " instinct," to which we have already referred, according to these experiments are not at all mysterious, but merely chemical reactions, so to speak. Dr. Loeb has shown that there is no more and no less intelligence in the action of a bird drawn by a glare of light than of a plant turning towards the sun. We had supposed it was the evidence of intelligence in the bird and of chemical attraction in the plant. But Loeb proves that it is the latter in either case. We were wont to think that when a caterpillar climbs to the end of the branch where perchance he may pounce upon some insect as his prey; or when a fly refuses to lay its eggs on the fat of the beef but prefers the meat on which its larvae might feed; and a thousand other similar exhibitions of appar- ent animal intelligence; we were then witnessing the manifestation of a divine providence in the spe- cial preservation of the species. Yet Loeb most prosaically proves that there is nothing but such germinal intelligence as may exist in chemical af^ finity revealed in any of these psychic wonders. One of the most curious acts among the primitive life-forms, and which apparently exhibits much in- telligence, is the performance of the star-fish, which instantly rights itself if you turn it over in the water. Yet Loeb proved that this, too, was but a reflex action resulting from the necessity of the arms of the fish to cling to something solid; for THE ITATUEE OF INSTINCT 301 when he tied a string to it and suspended it in water, the agile star-fish performed a constant cir- cular act that would awaken envy in the most capa- ble trapeze twirler. But when Loeb audaciously ventured in the pro- hibited domain of the mystery of life, and dared to enter behind the shadow of the shekinah to read its story, he found that even this, too, was appar- ently the result of chemical action, and could be generated by a proper solution. By causing the unfertilized egg of the female to grow without con- junction with the male sperm, he suddenly turned upside down all the theories so long caressed by the mystical scientists of the past. Without trying the patience of the reader with more detail we wish merely to call his attention to a summary of what we have thus far attempted to show in this second division of the book. From time immemorial human thought has been confused by an opposing interpretation of Nature by two diverse schools of philosophers. The one school among the ancient Greeks was called Idealistic, and led by Socrates and Plato ; and the other, Sensation- alistic, predominated by Aristotle, Anaximenes, Democritus and Leucippus. Occasionally a glimpse of the modem unitary conception of Nature de- ducted from her phenomena by modem scientists came to ancient farsighted individuals, but it re- mained for the modern laboratory with its magical tubes and crucibles, and electrical apparatus, to dis- solve apparently inert matter into its final state, and reveal it as nothing more than the denser phases of 302 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY ethereal energy. From this startling discovery a new interpretation of mind, intelligence, conscious ness, soul — in short, a new psychology — was de- manded, which has now reached the stage of read- ing matter in terms of mind and mind in terms of matter. Potentially or latently all mind and soul and in- telligence which exist in the most exalted forms of organic life likewise exist in the crudest or most primary states of matter. Mind is material and body spiritual, according to the point of view from which we contemplate them. The soul not only has a material basis, but is essentially and necessarily substantial, as it is a form of evolution transpiring in the due process of Nature, All forms of organic life sprang directly from primary protoplasm, which itself is but another form of matter, with new chemical composition and new psychic capacities, resulting from an alteration of the arrangement of the molecules of matter from which the form of life was first derived. Matter actually feels, thinks and is conscious, of course in a very low degree. Therefore every mineral and plant, yea, each atom and cell, may be justly regarded as possessing in its nature what in the nature of man we have been wont to call a soul. Nowhere in the universe is there a space so minute as not to be occupied by material substance; and, likewise, nowhere in the infinite is there an infinitesimal point of space or an instant of time in which there does not inhere the principle of life. Both matter and life being infinite, and two infinities being incapable of exist- THE NATURE OE INSTINCT 303 ing at the same time and place in mutual contra- diction, matter must be a form of life and life a form of matter. The deduction of these philosophical certainties from scientific data enables us to reconstruct the thought of the ages on a rational and consistent basis and establish the unity of Nature and the uniformity of her lawa and methods. CHAPTEE XXVII ANALYSIS OF THE HUMAN SOUL If the conclusions thus briefly summarized are true and indisputable deductions from scientific data, then two results follow in the treatment of our subject: it calls first for a different definition of the " soul " to what has heretofore been given ; and second, a discussion of the problem of the pos- sibility of a soul so defined to live after the death of the body. To these two propositions we shall now address ourselves. It must now be evident that any definition of the " soul '' which disregards its physical basis, or attempts to analyze it as an entity separate or solv- able from the body, will be inadmissible as a sci- entific proposition. Just as visible, opaque matter is but the condensation of invisible, impalpable ether into lower frequencies of electrical energy, so what we call the visible body is but the manifesta- tion in opaque form of that permeating energy which operating through the functional organs and tissues of the body we may call the soul. In this sense it is not in essence or ultimate substance any- thing different to that of the material body; but may be regarded as, indeed, the same substance, only in a more rarefied and refined state of existence. And, too, just as there are in the material world infinite gradations of matter from the coarsest to the most refined — from visible adamant to invisi- 304 AiTALYSIS OF THE HUMAN SOTJL 305 ble atmosphere ^ from palpable color to ultra and invisible hues — from audible vibrations of a com- paratively low density to inaudible vibrations whose frequency is so high they cannot affect the unsus- ceptible organs of the body — so there are grada- tions of material substance which constitute the organism of living bodies from the coarse outer cuticle and hirsute coverings to the muscles, the tissues, the nerve-sheaths, the marrow, the grey nerve-matter, the individual cells, the nucleoli, and protoplasm, ultimating in the impalpable psychical energy that pervades and operates its chemical con- stituency. As in the entire universe matter and mind, or substance and spirit, merge in one another, passing back and forth from one state to the other, so in the living being, what we call the material form, and what we call the soul, are but varying manifestations of one and the same force, which itself is but the temporary, incorporated presence of the infinite force that pervades the universe. When we use the terms substance or matter, mind or spirit, in this work we define them as the universal mould of Nature, and the pervading force or energy which manifests itself in the material form, respectively. As we do not consider the soul somewhat sep- arate or removable from the body, but ever merged and involved in it; so to us ^^ spirit " does not con- note a distinctive natural soul, or spiritual energy, which moves above and is superior to the substan- tial universe. The world and the soul of it are but differentiated manifestations of the one principle 306 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY or energy, now visible, now invisible ; now substan- tial, now spiritual. If, indeed, we were still to adhere to the ancient conceptions of the embodied existence of the soul as a distinctive being, our imagination, led by re- cent revelations of biological science, would make plausible a theory that would reduce the conjec- tures of former scientists and theologians to pueril- ity. For while some, as we have said, imagined that the seat of the soul was to be found in various of the functional organs of the body, or in the grey matter of the brain, not until modern mi- croscopy revealed to us the marvellous mechanism of the biological cell was the human mind ac- quainted with a psycho-physical centre, which might with much reasonableness be regarded as the true habitation of the spiritual essence. Eor the cell has been divided and redivided and again divided under the microscope till the old idea that it was a primal protoplasmic unit of the physical organism, a simple dot of bioplasm, has been totally exploded. The protoplasmic unit is now found to be a com- plete piece of marvellous machinery, that reveals to the amazed eye of the student such workings as to paralyze the imagination. In the inmost centre of the infinitesimal cell of life there is a minute piece of machinery, called the centrosome, whose activity consists in splitting up the nucleal substance in such a way that a dual division takes place, representing the male and the female forces, which part on either side of the nucleus of the cell and radiate between each other ANALYSIS OF THE HUMAN SOUL 307 like tlie opposite poles of a magnet. This is known as the dynamic centre of the cell. It may be it is here that the psychic energy has its focal centre and from that infinitesimal piece of machinery sets in motion all the radiating energy of its nature. The entire chemical process of the cell activity is for the liberating of the enclosed dynamic energy. " The cell body is a machine for the carrying on of destructive chemical changes, and liberating from the compounds thus broken to pieces their enclosed energy, -which is at once converted into motion or heat or some other form of active energy. This chemical destruction is, however, only possible after the chemical compounds have become a part of the cell. The cell, therefore, possesses a nucleus which has the power of enabling it to assimilate food. . . • The nucleus further contains a marvellous material — chromatin — which in some way exer- cises a controlling influence in its life and is handed down from one generation to another by continu- ous descent. Lastly, the cell has the centrosome, which brings about cell division in such a manner that this chromatin material is divided equally among the subsequent descendants, and thus insures that the daughter cells shall all be equivalent to each other and to the mother cell." ^ Where such a marvellous activity exists as thus described, and that in so microscopical a dot of life- substance as that of the inmost centre of the in- finitesimal cell, one might indeed, were the old theological conceptions still in vogue, believe that 1 " The Story of the Living Machine," H. W. Conn, p. 126. 308 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY God had there found the mysterious place to regis- ter His secret presence and record the marvels of His power. But modem science will not allow for such a play of the imagination. While indeed this central place of the cellular mechanism, this mys- terious meeting place of substance and spirit, this nuptial union of mind and matter, affords ample room for the play of the imagination ; biology per- mits us to reach no other conclusion than that it proves that what we call organic life is but the product of the activities of the mechanical device known as the biologic cell. " Life, at least the life of the cell, is not the property of a chemical com- pound, protoplasm, but it is the result of the activi- ties of the machine." * Were we seriously to ask for the real centre of the soul, the actual physical residence of the illusive spirit, one would desire no more mysterious and secluded spot, which because of its minute or- ganism escaped the eye of the microscope for cen- turies, than the cell's centre of centres, where the energy is released that reveals itself in the specific and ever marvellous activities of a living organism. But the microscope with all its startling possibili- ties is not yet certain that it has reached the last analysis of the cell, and should we hastily conclude that we had found the soul's residence in its pres- ent elusive centre, we might be forced to pursue it further and find anon a yet more secret and se- cluded region, where through all the milleniums of history it has concealed itself. " The living or- i"Liv. Mach.,* Conn, p. 114. ANALYSIS OF THE HUMAN SOUL 309 ganism is a macliine, or, it is better to say, it is a series of machines one within another. As a whole it is a machine, and its parts are separate machines. Each part is still further made up of still smaller machines until we reach the realm of the micro- scope. Here again we find the same story. Even the parts formally called units prove to be machines, and when we recognize the complexity of these cells and their marvellous activities, we are ready to believe that we may find still further machines within. And thus vital activity is reduced to a complex of machines, all acting in harmony with each other to produce together the one result — life." 1 Hence it is apparent that if the celFs centre of centres were the real residence of the soul, the soul would reveal itself to us but as a vortex of ener- gies, or rather as a central vortex of energy, mani- festing itself in multifarious forms of expression as it utilized the complex mechanism of the human body. Therefore, to reach anything approaching a scientific definition of the soul we must utterly for- get all definitions heretofore advanced and attempt to see the soul, so to speak, through the eye of scien- tific discernment. As Haeckel says,^ " The pre- vailing conception of the psychic activity (the soul), which we contest, considers soul and body to be two distinct entities. These two entities can exist inde- pendently of each other; there is no intrinsic ne- cessity for their union. The organized body is 1 " Story of the Living Machine," Conn, p. 130. 2 " Riddle of the Universe," p. 89. 310 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY mortal, material nature, chemically composed of living protoplasm and its compounds. The soul, on the other hand, is an immortal, immaterial being, a spiritual agent, whose mysterious activity is en- tirely incomprehensible to us. This trivial con- ception is as such, spiritualistic, and its contradic- tory is, in a certain sense, materialistic. It is at the same time supernatural and transcendental, since it asserts the existence of forces •which can ex- ist and operate without a material basis^ it rests on the assumption that outside of and beyond Nature there is a ' spiritual ' and immaterial world, of which we have no experience, and of which we can learn nothing by natural means." Haeckel puts the case none too strongly, for he states the precise ground of conflict between the old, theologico-scientific conception of the soul and the natural and imcolored scientific interpretation of modem students. I purposely cite what are pop- ularly regarded as materialistic writers, because I wish to put that side of the case before the reader as forcibly and accurately as possible, in order that when I come to set forth the new definition and interpretation of the soul, which I believe is justi- fied by biological science, and the possibilities of its future life in the light of the most exacting in- terpretation of Nature, I shall have left no hiatus in the argument that may mar its force and conclusive- ness. To show that Haeckel has not exaggerated the pseudo-scientific contention of the traditional the- ological attitude, I quote from a once most popular ANALYSIS OF THE HUMA]Sr SOUL 311 book, and which for several decades was regarded as a divinely sent champion of orthodox views. " The passage from the natural to the spiritual world," says Drummond,^ " is hermetically sealed on the natural side. The door from the inorganic to the organic is shut ; no mineral can open it ; so the door from the natural to the spiritual is shut; and no man can open it. This world of the nat- ural man is staked off by barriers from the spiritual world which have never yet been crossed from within. No organic change, no modification of en- vironment, no mental energy, no moral effort, no evolution of character, no progress of civilization can endow any single human soul with the attribute of Spiritual Life" (p. 64). If this contention were true, then there would be no science of the universe and man must needs despair of ever solving the riddle of existence. If this impassable gulf, this unconquerable barrier be- tween the natural or physical and the spiritual is really a fact in Nature, then she invites us to the study of her inmost secrets merely to mock and tantalize, for she never means to permit us to grasp the secret from her breast. If there be a God why should He set such bounds to human knowledge, such torturing limi- tations to human aspiration ? Shall we not rather believe that Nature is an open book to those who^ find the key to her hieroglyphics ? Does not sci- ence, indeed, by its constant progress in invading her profoundest seclusions, and in coming fortL 1 " Natural Law in the Spiritual World." 312 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITT witli startling revelations of her long-withheld se- crets and unsolved mysteries, prove that Grod has set no bounds to human knowledge; and that Ifa- ture herself refuses to abdicate in favor of time honored Ignorance ? But believing as I do that there is no break in the processes of Nature, that she leaves no hiatus to be filled by the imagination of human interpre- ters, but sets clearly before us all the keys of her Mystery if we but choose to learn, I venture to at- tempt an interpretation of the soul and its present and possible future life, which I believe is wholly consonant with the data and deductions of a scien- tific understanding of the universe as far as yet attained. CHAPTER XXVIII THE FUNDAMENTAL THESIS OF THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY The problem which confronts us is this: Is the soul a prenatal entity which enters into some hu- man or inferior animal organism already perfectly organized and differentiated; or is what we call the soul but the organized expression, through cer- tain highly developed physiological avenues, of that universal energy which everywhere exists as imper- sonal and semi-intelligent, and which in man be- comes self-conscious and supremely intelligent? The former definition is that of the dualistic inter- preters of Nature, who hope to explain all her phe- nomena by the authority of certain preconceived metaphysical postulates. The latter is the descrip- tion of an analytic effort to understand Nature as a imity, throughout whose infinite processes but one law and one method prevail. The attitude we assume in this discussion of the soul's existence and character is the latter, and through that scien- tific attitude we shall set forth certain conclusions concerning its possible future which we believe will not contradict the fundamentals of the latest biolog- ical and physiological discoveries. Because the universal Substance or Energy (which must be hypothetically admitted by both monist and dualist, whether as Supreme Being or Infinite Force) reveals itself in human conscious- 313 314 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY ness and intelligence, in such a high degree of peiv fection, it has seemed conclusive for centuries to all thinking minds, that before it entered the human frame it must already have been a perfectly formed and self-conscious being. The problem that has ever confronted the thinker is, " Which preceded, the Mechanism or the Spirit ? " as the metaphysi- cian would put it ; or, " The Mechanism or the or- ganised Energy," as the physicist would word it. On the surface, the argument for a soul existing as a perfect and wholly distinct being within the human organism, when judged by merely apparent processes, seems quite convincing. But when that same argument is subjected to the data which the latest discoveries in the Science of Life and the evolution of the nervous system and the brain of living bodies have revealed, it falls aside flat and worthless. The first fact which we are to observe is that all the marvellously organized structure of the tissues of the living body, though at present so infinitely diversified and specialized, originated at one time in a unitary and undifferentiated form of matter known to biologists as " plasm." This germ-sub- stance, the real " physical basis of life," is abso- lutely homogeneous, structureless, viscous, trans- parent, yet slowly through millions of centuries has woven the mysterious threads of life that now re- veal its presence in cell, tissue, nerve, vital organs and the crowning brain. Whatever theory we may advocate, none but is amazed at the marvel, we had almost said miracle, THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 315 in Nature that weaves from this irritable, subtly- solid, and pseudo-fluid, unspecialized substance, the delicately veined leaf with its infinite forms, the vari-hued flower and its myriad species, the crawl- ing or gliding or flying first infinitesimal forms of life in earth or sea or air, culminating, only after aeons of labor in Nature's incomparable laboratory, in the majestic organism of the human being, which is in itself the composite resurrection and reunion of all the forms and phases of life that had been gradually woven in the loom of the endless cen- turies. What wonder men exclaimed, " Do you mean to say that inert matter can evolve such marvels; would you so stultify yourself as to advocate that where an intelligent soul is so manifest as in this unparalleled form of life we call a human being, it is nothing more than the expression of the cor- relations of cells of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, which exist in the viewless winds as well, and yet there have neither tongue nor eye, nor thought or mind!" Once Joseph Cook, a famous though somewhat bombastic orator, referring to this problem, and with much eloquence employing the fable of Ariadne and Theseus, exclaimed: "We stand before structureless bioplasm, and see it weaving organ- isms ; and we are to adhere, in spite of all theories, to the Ariadne clew, that every cause is to be in- terpreted by its effects, and that all changes must have an adequate cause!" Then reviewing with keen analytical ability all the then recent discov- 316 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY eries in biology he insisted that because of the mar- vellous co-ordinating structure of living organisms, which apparently manifested intelligent design in their correlation, the only eificient cause capable of producing such an effect was a differentiated spir- itual presence, which men have ever called the hu- man soul. In the same tenor the eminent pro- fessor, John W. Draper, author of several epochal books, was impelled to exclaim, when he was pre- senting in his work on physiology the startling ap- position of the automatic, or sympathetic, nerves and the " influential " or cortical nerves : " If the optical apparatus be inert, and without value save under the influence of light; if the auditory ap- paratus yields no result, save under the impression of sound — since there is between these structures and the elementary structure of the cerebrum a perfect analogy, we are entitled to come to the same conclusion in this instance as in those, and, assert- ing the absolute inertness of the cerebral structure itself, to impute the phenomena it displays to (m agent as perfectly external to the hody and as in- dependent of it, as are light and sound, and that agent is the soul." ^ Had it not been for the wider grasp of the sci- ence of evolution which has been attained in the last quarter century these assertions made with such positiveness would seem to be unanswerable. But all sincere students are forced to admit that the most recently discovered data in the biological sci- ences, the deeper knowledge of the nature and 1 Draper's " Physiology," p. 285. THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 317 origin of the cell and the primal protoplasm, from which all the forms of life have developed, force a conclusion diametrically opposed to the eloquent passages just quoted. That there is and must be an eflScient cause in Nature to produce any effect none can deny; that the cause must be equivalent to and satisfy all the requisites of the effect produced must also be ad- mitted. The question merely is, What is that Cause ? Have we yet discovered it? Does it satisfy the problem involved to assert that an external agent known as the indefinable, unknowable, incompre- hensible and illusive Soul is the one and only effi- cient Cause ? Can one unknown quantity, X, be discovered by another unknown quantity, X ? The one ultimate physical Cause in Nature is by all ad- mitted to be Motion. The Cause of Motion is un- known. It is the X of Nature, Can we then find the cause of the unknown cause. Motion or X, by assuming another unknown Cause, God or X ? All theologians admit that ultimately God is indefina- ble and unknowable. All metaphysicians admit that Soul, as an ultimate entity, is indefinable and unknowable, save in its effects or manifestations. What is the value, then, of assuming an unknown Cause to explain an unknown Cause. Why say the Soul is the original agent of the activities of the bodily functions of living beings, or is the formative cause of the organs that constitute it; wheal we are still forced to ask an explanation of the Soul, and compelled to account for its origin and nature ? The last is the despair of both meta- 318 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY physics and psychology, divorced from biology and physiology ; just as it is the despair of physics, mechanics, ontology and cosmology to account for the origin and nature of Motion or Energy. Therefore as no cause can be rationally assumed, other than what may be logically deduced from dis- coverable scientific data, why should we resort to aught else for a satisfactory solution of the universe and the soul of men than the knowledge of man's physical and psychic origin and development, which the researches of the human mind have revealed? Let us see, then, what these revelations are. We shall quote from an authority all must admit is supreme in the field of histology and biology, al- though many think dimmed by its dogmatic, so- called, materialistic attitude. Ernst Haeckel in his famous and most popular book ^ says : " The theory of descent, combined with anthropological research, has convinced us of the descent of our human organism from a long series of animal an- cestors by a slow and gradual transformation occu- pying many millions of years. Since then we can- not dissever man's psychic life from the rest of his vital functions — we are rather forced to the con- viction of the natural evolution of our whole body and mind — it becomes one of the main tasks of modem monistic psychology to trace the stages of the historical development of the soul of man from the soul of brute." Of course when using the term " soul," Haeckel is employing it in tKe scientific and not the theological sense. By soul he does not 1 " The Riddle of the Universe," p. 148. THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 319 mean an external spiritual personality or being, but an energy which through the avenue of the nerves and brain manifests itself in mental or logical forms of expression. What we call life begins organically in a senseless, unintelligent, unconscious and un- responsive state. If we had found, as was believed by ancients, that the soul is directly inserted into the human body at the moment of conception, or that it came into expression during some period of gestation, or, even, that it was found only par- tially expressed at the moment of birth, we would be forced to the conclusion that the soul seems to be a separable and distinct being, holding only a temporary residence in the body. But the first great discovery now universally admitted is that organic life reveals no such psychic capacity. Although for thousands of years students have been investigating the laws of embryology there was nothing scientifically known of the subject till 1884, when Kussmaul published his revolutionary work on "The Souls of Newborn Children" ('' Unter- suchungen uber das Seelenlehen des neugeborenen Menschen"), and just two years before W. Preyer brought out his " Mind of the Child," in which work it was shown "that the newborn infant not only has no reason or consciousness, but is also deaf and only gradually develops its sense and thought- centres. It is only by gradual contact with the outer world that these functions successively appear, such as speech, laughing, etc. ; later still comes the power of association, the forming concepts of words, etc." (Vide Haeckel's "Wonders of Life.") 320 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY Indeedj the most casual observation of the in- fant proves this to the intelligent student. The first apparent sense -which has awakened in the child is the sense of touch, which is purely re- flexive, inducing it to force its lips to the teat, just as the young dog or calf does, or as the chick instinctively uses its feet to scratch for its living. The child is blind when just bom, as can easily be proved by experimenting with objects ; and when it at length sees the light or some object it imagines it is " in its eye," for it clutches at it, whether it be as close as a neighboring chair or as distant as a star. If, then, it were true that the pre-existing co- ordinating power of the soul really caused the cor- relation of the cells and tissues, and from time im- memorial evolved the wonderful complexity of the nerves and the cortical brain, there should be some immediate evidence of it at the beginning of the human life. When, however, we observe that it re- quires external contact and stimulation to enable the interior organs to be developed that the awaken- ing intelligence may be released, just as chemical energy is released in the metabolism or destruction of the cells of the body and which is then called life, we are forced to conclude that the intelligence which is gradually made manifest is that of the func- tional relation of the cells and organs of the phys- ical frame slowly evolved through millions of years. So completely has the ancient conception of the soul been abrogated by modem psychologists that they ignore or at least avoid the term. Prof. THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 321 William James, after writing one hundred and eighty-seven pages of his great work on " Psychol- ogy," first mentions the term, with this explana- tory query : " Many readers have certainly been say- ing to themselves for the last few pages, ^ Why on earth doesn't the poor man say the Soul and have done with it ' ? " He then proceeds to say that to him the theory of the separate existence of the soul as a spiritual body is the most satisfactory, yet is compelled to admit that as a scientific proposition it has nothing to sustain it. He says tentatively : " I confess that to posit as soul influenced some myste- rious way by the brain states and responding to them by conscious efforts of its own, seems to me the line of least logical resistance, so far as we have yet at- tained." It is easy for any sensitive reader to discern between the lines that James is forcing himself into this concession, for which he is aware there ex- ists no corroborating scientific data. That conclu- sion is simply the automatic result of traditional thinking. Eor he immediately admits that " If this theory does not explain anything it is at any rate less positively objectionable than either mind stuff or ma- terial monad creed." He apparently does not wish, lest he may prejudice his popularity, to say in so many words that there is not the slightest scientific foundation for the time-worn theory of a personal soul, and thus makes the palliative concession that we have just quoted. But the entire intimation of his great work is that to search for a soul in the traditional sense is to seek an ignus fatuus, an im- 322 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT possible will-o'-th'-wisp, which will e^er allure but never be grasped. He finally relieves himself of all embarrassment by declaring that after all, true psychology, as distinguished from metaphysics and philosophy, has nothing whatever to do with any hypothetical body, such as the soul must he conceded to be, and can concern itself alone with palpable phenomena and analyzable processes. '' The hare phenomenon [the capitalized words are his], the imm;ei>iatei.y known thing which on the mental side is in apposition with the entire brain process is the state of consciousness and not the soul itself" Thus after much apology and senti- mental philandering, he finally comes out flat- footed with the admission that " psychology is positivistic and non-metaphysical," and that " term for term, the simplest psycho-physic formula is that the succession of states of consciousness co- incide with the succession of total brain-processes and that this must be the last word of psychology that contents itself with verifiable laws and seeks only to be clear and avoid unsafe hypoth- eses." Thus we see that the strongest and most popular defender of the old dualistic theory among modern philosophers frankly surrenders and evacuates the stronghold of orthodox spiritualism, turning his face toward the camp of the more cautious and sci- entifically positive seekers after truth. Biology, physics and synthetic chemistry have evidently so totally revolutionized all the old ideas about the soul and its possibilities that psychology, THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 323 no less than a true metaphysicSj must court their acquaintance as friends and co-laborers if it hopes to present an honest thesis of life and the soul, and not to suffer itself to be wholly annihilated. Be- fore then we look further into the nature of the soul, let us examine somewhat more in detail what these sciences have taught us concerning the nature of living matter and the origin of life. CHAPTER XXIX PSYCHOGENY OR SOUL GENERATION Huxley, in his famous article on " Biology " in the Encyclopaedia Britannicaj presents the follow- ing conclusions as to the science of life and the trend of the latest analysis of organic evolution ; (1) Every complex form of life is reducible to a morphological unit, from which it has been un- folded. (2) This morphological unit constitutes the pri- mary and fundamental form of life. It contains both the morphological and the psychic possibilities of the especial form of life which it prophesies. (3) That morphological unit is merely an indi- vidual mass of protoplasm, in which no further structure is discernible. This is the plasm, as Haeckel terms it, which is unsusceptible of analysis as to its " morphological organization," and as found in its undeveloped state is the basis of every form of life. (4) Independent living forms present but little advance on this structure. That is, the entire un- folding of the complex organic form consists of but the infinite multiplication of the original mor- phological unit, or dot of protoplasm, variously de- veloped by adaptation and heredity. (5) All the higher forms of life are aggregates of such morphological units, variously modified. (6) In the course of its development every cell 324 SOUL GEKEKATION 325 proceeds from a condition in which it very closely resembles every other cell, through a series of stages of gradually increasing divergence, until it reaches the condition in which it presents the characteristic features of the elements of a special tissue. (7) The development of the cell is therefore a gradual progress from the general to the special species. In short, the cell evolution follows the plan of universal progress, passing from the like, or homogeneous state to the unlike, or heterogeneous state, according to Spencer's famous definition. (8) If all living bodies have come into existence by the gradual modification, through a long series of generations, of primordial living matter, then the development of the embryo is but a recapitula- tion of the ancestral history of the species. I have here tersely tabulated from a master hand the entire formula of the origin and progress of physical life. I propose on this strictly scientific foundation to introduce what might be called a new definition of the soul, a definition strictly, I be- lieve, in accord with the fundamental data and de- ductions of biology, physiology and histology, and then to attempt to show that notwithstanding its absolutely physical origin, basis and nature, it pre- sents the promise of a logical life beyond the grave. It is true, I shall not pretend to be able to postu- late such a universal after-life for all humankind as is the general desire, resting on this physical foundation; but I have already shown there seems to be neither prophecy nor promise of such an after- life in the history or thought of the human race, 326 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY save in its mythology and primitive stage. What •we set out to attempt to show is not what we should prefer might be the condition of the departed ; not whether because we have dreamed it so, that there- fore all who have ever trodden the paths of earth shall assuredly tread the asphodel fields of paradise; but merely what Nature, by her immutable and in- disputable laws determines as the final or postr mortem state of man as the individual, and man- kind as the race. If we shall find that the prom- ise of the after-life, according to the intimation of natural discoveries, is not for all, but for some only who give the promise of spiritual survival of the fittest, as some only in the long warfare of civiliza- tion have maintained their physical survival; we shall not, mayhap, so well delight the traditional desire of the human heart, but we may at once sat- isfy a natural longing and emphasize a moral prin- ciple that will inspire to higher living and nobler aspiration. The first proposition, then, to which we must at- tend is the absolute and universal law of Nature that nothing enters into her composition and meth- ods which has not always existed ; that nothing can be added to or taken from the infinite substance or inexhaustible energy, which are the fundamental bases of all phenomena in the animate or inanimate, organic or inorganic world. Whatever force, then, apparently reveals itself, de novo, as a new and un- correlated phase of energy, is not in fact new, or different in its origin and nature, to all other forms of force which have ever prevailed in the SOUL GENEKATION 327 universe. And again, whatever complex or rarefied condition of matter may be discovered in the most developed forms of organic living bodies can neither contain material -which is in nature and origin different to the universal substance that is revealed in all the physical world, nor involve a form of energy that is not some differentiable phase of the infinite Energy that pervades all substance. If then we find a force or power manifested in organic bodies, call it life or intelligence or soul, which is not palpably manifest in inorganic forms of matter, we must, according to the two principles just enunciated, decide that it is not a new force or principle introduced in comparatively recent times in the operations of Nature; but that it is merely a variation or differentiation of the One Energy which had always existed, but at one period of history began to be transmuted into a different form of expression. If again we find material bodies so constituted that they present a higher phase of rarefaction and complexity, causing them to become susceptible to more refined expressions of energy than any theretofore existing, we are not to conclude that new matter, wholly different from what Nature always evolved, has suddenly ap- peared; but that merely a once coarser form of substance has come into a rarer and more refined form of expression. Hence material substances of the highest fre- quency of vibration are no less physical than the lowest ; and the most exalted manifestations of force in forms of sensation, perception, consciousness, 328 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY reason and reflection, are nothing more than ex- pression of the One Energy of the universe revealed through more complex and specialized avenues of physical unfoldment. If then we find what we call life in the highest forms of matter it must also exist latently in the lowest forms. If what we call " soul " is found in the most complex and exalted forms of organic life we must conclude that it already existed la- tently in the most primitive or unorganised expres- sions of dynamic activity. If there is composite and centralised life in the being of a living body then that same life must exist in each of the myriad cells that constitute it. Likewise if there be mind or soul as an embodiment of conscious expression, then that same soul exists germinally in each individual cell, and the per- sonal soul or mind is but the collective psychic energy of the associated cells that make up the en- tire organism. " Every living cell has psychic properties, and the psychic or life of the multicel- lular animals and plants is merely the sum-total of the psychic functions of the cells which build up the structure." ^ Whatever soul expression, then, exists in the complete structure, we must expect to find not only in the multitude of the associated and specialized cells, but even in the primal plasm, " the morpho- logical unit " of Huxley, from which all forms of life evolve. The soul, then, that is revealed in the activities 1 " HaeckePs Riddle of Universe," p. 152. SOUL GENERATIOIT 329 of living organisms, has its origin in the primor- dial, individual cell, or morphological unit, from ■which all modified forms of life develop. The soul cannot be said to have come instantly into existence, any more than the body was instantly developed. The soul began germinally in concep- tion as the body began: the micro-organism as it lies in the ovary, the conjugated offspring of two opposite cells, contains not only the germinal union of two cell forms, but of two cell-lives, two cell- minds, two cell-souls. As the cell multiplies into in- dividual and differentiated communities of cells, the soul multiplies, divides and increases : a million million of souls existing in the one body as a mil- lion million of micro-organic cell-bodies exist in parallel association. As all the cells finally, by means of a marvellously complicated and correlated series of instruments, combine to form a single and distinct physical body or material personality, so the souls unite, through the employment of the same complex mechanism, in the constituency of a self-conscious spiritual per- sonality, known as the individual soul. The soul, then, grows gradually with the body ani culminates with its completion. And con- versely, as the growth of the body is arrested or aborted (i. e. in proportion to the limitation of the quantity and quality of the cells that constitute the sum-total of the living organism), is the soul like- wise arrested and aborted. Hence, the search for the soul will never succeed if confined to the inves- tigation of any single organ of the body (as among 330 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY the older psychologists) or even if limited to the sum-total of single faculties that seem to be the especial instruments of psychic expression. In the light of this interpretation the soul may be regarded as an entity in like manner with the body; if, however, we distinctly understand when we use the term " entity " we have reference to a discernible form of substantial expression, and not to a mere idea of the mind, or concept of the reason. If the soul exists as an entity it can be no mere mental abstraction; it must be something discern- ible, of which we can take cognisance. Hence I venture the following definition of a soul, which I think will harmonise with the prop- ositions of science already stated : The soul of the living organism is the collective expression of the psychic energy of the individual cells that constitute its physical form, unfolding through infinite stages of development from a single cell-soul to a multiple soul thai constitutes the per- sonality of an individual. Hence the soul exists in and permeates every fibre and tissue, every nerve and cell of the entire physical body. It is indeed coterminous with the body, and becomes a personal soul so long as it retains this coterminous relation. Having established this much, we hope success- fully, regarding the nature and limitations of the personal souls of living individuals, we must now confront the question, whether the soul, as we have above defined it, after it has become organised into a stable and self-engendering source of energy, may become sufficiently strong to withstand the decay of SOUL GENEKATION 331 the coarser forms of matter, as embodied in the perishing cells, and persist in a still more refined and enduring substance "which may have the ca- pacity of defying the usual forms of death. On the solution of this problem depends the an- swer to the necessary corrollary to the definition of the soul above given, namely, that if the soul begins existence co-incidently with the body, and if its or- ganism and energy are coterminous with the phys- ical frame, it must of course pass away into its primal sources and become dissipated as does the body which it actuates. But in order to make our- self clear on the deductions that are to follow, we must first once more make sure that our position with regard to the nature and constituency of the physical world is scientifically accurate, and that we very clearly apprehend the scientific distinction between so-called living and not living matter. CHAPTEK XXX THE PROBLEM OF THE ORIGIN OF ORGANIC LIFE In the last chapter -we presented Huxley's tabu- lar presentation of the evolution of universal organic life from the primal protoplasmic cell. But the bit of protoplasm, from which presum- ably all life has descended is a living, howbeit un- nucleated, un-organized living substance. Wherever life is, there are germinal intelligence and consciousness ; that is, the germinal soul of the prophesied organism. But does life exist in Nature antecedent to the appearance of the jelly-like substance in which pri- marily it inheres ? Is the chasm between the living and the not living bridged in Nature ; or is there still here a hiatus in the unity and uniformity of the universe ? Is it true, that because as Huxley says, " The phenomena which living things present have no parallel in the mineral world," therefore the living world is a wholly different thing than the non-liv- ing world? Is it true that biology can go only so far as to show that all organic life necessarily and logically comes only from organic life, cell, only from cell, protoplasm only from protoplasm ? Is that the be- ginning? Is that as far as science can go? Are we then to conclude that the earth never engendered 332 ORIGIN OF ORGANIC LIFE 333 life in organic form as it engendered the modified forms of life by the law of the origin and develop- ment of the species ? Here is the crux; and until we have satisfied ourselves with an answer to these questions we can- not well proceed with our analysis of the nature and possibilities of the soul. Logically it must appeal to every mind that where throughout the infinite processes of the universe we everywhere find such absolute and unbroken evolu- tion, from the simplest to the most complex forms of matter, it could scarcely be possible that a sud- den hiatus should be found in the gigantic scheme, and a wholly new element and method be introduced at only one period of the universal drama. It is now admitted by all naturalists that given the first bit of life, all the logical steps of the evolution of organic life are discoverable in the geologic history of the earth. As says Huxley in his Britannica article on ** Biology," referring to this point : " Postulat- ing the existence of living matter endowed with the power of hereditary transmission, and with that tendency to vary which is found in all such matter . . . the interaction between living matter and surrounding conditions, which results in survival of the fittest, is sufficient to account for the gradual evolution of plants and animals from their simplest to their most complicated forms." Can it be, then, that the universe presents a cos- mological scheme, whose evolutional forms of de- velopment can be discerned by the philosophical in- 334 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY vestigator from its primal, imdifferentiated, so- called chaotic state to its infinitely varied trans- formations, until a distinctive epoch, namely the period of introduction of protoplasmic life; and again after the abrupt introduction of this basic living substance, presents ample proof of every stage of the development of all forms of animal and plant life ; and yet at only one moment in the vast scheme of absolute uniformity displays a method that is not only contrary to its general course, but contradic- tory and inconsistent? Manifestly a logical interpretation of Nature makes this scheme an absurdity. Where such ra- tional and uniform order prevails, it is impossible to believe that Nature becomes suddenly inconsist- ent "with herself and belies the logical continuity of her sublime drama with a disconcerting denoue- ment. We shall certainly not believe this until by absolute and incontrovertible proof we are com- pelled to. But thanks to recent science the riddle is being rapidly solved. Haeckel reminds us that Baruch Spinoza, that old persecuted philosopher of Amsterdam, foresaw the way to read this riddle hundreds of years be- fore modern discoveries proved his prophecy. Spinoza's " universal substance, the ' divine nature of the world,' shows two different aspects of its being, or two fundamental attributes — matter (infinitely extended substance), and spirit (the all-embracing energy of thought)." At this point I must digress a moment to call attention to HaeckeFs remarkable comment on the passage from ORIGIN OF ORGANIC LIFE 335 Spinoza's writings just quoted. He says ^ "All changes which have since come over the idea of substance are redueedj on logical analysis, to the supreme thought of Spinoza's 5 with Goethe I take it to be the loftiest, profoundest and truest thought of all ages." After that exclamation I fail to see how Haeckel can hereafter be regarded as a mere materialist. For, if Spinoza's interpretation is ac- cepted as a scientific deduction it analyses the world as a unitj essentially identical, but dual in its dy- namic manifestations. A manifestation, let us remember, is not self -ex- isting; it is a phenomenon, an appearance; it pos- tulates something else. The shadow is not a sub- stance ; it is but a reflection of the substance under certain conditions. Therefore to assume that because the universe manifests itself dually, in material phenomena and in spiritual energy or thought, it is consequently dual in nature, is equivalent to saying that the shadow and substance are two separable existences, each primary and independent of the other. The substance is alone, as related to the shadow, essen- tial and absolute. The shadow (or manifestation) is merely an incidental reflex of the ultimate sub- stance. Therefore according to both Spinoza and Haeckel " substance " is the ultimate reality of Nature. But, confessedly, substance is not to be interpreted only in its manifestation as shadow (material phenomena) or in its energy as thought (mind, spirit, soul). Substance, whatever it may 1 Riddle of Univ., p. 215. 336 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY be, the absolute reality, is the matrix, from which thought and phenomena spring. The substance, dual in manifestation, is single, monistic, identi- cal, undifferentiable, in its essential nature. There- fore, on the one hand, to define the universe as con- sisting only of phenomena, that is mechanical structure and molecular activity (which is ultra materialism), and on the other hand, to regard it as made up wholly and only of thought or mental activity devoid of a physical substratum (which is abstract idealism or pure spiritualism), is mani- festly erroneous and unscientific. This much, however, we may safely say we know from the evidencje of the Spinozean " divine sub- stance," that it is manifested to us both as matter and mind, that is, as phenomena and as thought. The dijBference depends wholly on our point of view. Hence, phenomena, that is matter as we know it, springing from the same source as thought, must in essence, or ultimate nature, be identical with thought. Substance could not manifest itself in two essential opposites, For if it did it would argue that substance is essentially self -contradictory, namely, consisting of two opposites which mutually annihilate each other. Whatever the universe may be it must necessarily be itself; it cannot be one- half itself, and one-half something else. If it is wholly inert matter, it cannot be thought, its op- posite. If it is wholly thought, it cannot also be the opposite of thought, inert matter. Tet the uni- verse reveals itself as both thought and matter, or phenomena and mental energy. If these are mani- ORIGIN OF ORGANIC LIFE 33Y festations of the iiltimate " divine substance," then they can manifest nothing else than the nature of that substance, or ultimate reality. Therefore, as the substance from which they spring must be one and itself, that which springs from it, namely, thought and phenomena, or mind and matter, can be nothing else, and must be one and the same as the substance, and therefore mutually identical, or one and the same themselves. " Things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other." The corollary of the above conclusion is that Nature having been demonstrated to be a unit and all its phenomena and energies one in essence, the hypothesis of two opposite phases of existence (namely, material and spiritual, body and soul, organism and mind) is wholly undemonstrable, un- scientific and untrue. Having, I trust, satisfactorily solved the prob- lem of the universe from the point of view of pure reason, metaphysics and logic, we shall now find it necessary to turn to experimental science and learn whether her discoveries and deductions accord with our abstract conclusions. The point which we are to ask practical science to decide for us is whether Nature presents a two-fold form of ex- istence, wholly contradistinguished and unrelated, the one discerned as living and the other non-living matter, or matter exercised by natural and material forces and matter exercised by supernatural and immaterial forces. We are now approaching an intellectual battle field where the smouldering em- bers of many engagements are still to be seen. In 338 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY the minds of many the battle is still on ; the result is uncertain, and the camps are still far apart. But I believe we shall be able to discover that the conflict is not so intense as it once was and that an armistice is about to be declared. In order to appreciate the situation we must review the modem history of the conflict. About 40 years ago a startling discovery was made in biological science. Up to that time the nature of the primordial cell of life was a profound mystery. It was nothing more than an hypothesis. Its physical discovery was an impossibility. But Dr. Lionel S. Beale, an eminent surgeon and chem- ist, of London, England, had been experimenting and as a result set forth this statement in his dis- tinguished and revolutionary work on " Proto- plasm " : " In my lectures in 1861,'^ he says, " I had drawn attention to the great distinction between ^ living ' and ' formed matter ' of the elementary part of the cell, and of all living organisms; and had shown that the ' living matter ' of a cell corresponded to the material of which the amceba, white corpuscle, etc., were composed. These last I represented as a naked mass of living matter and objected to apply to them the term protoplasm, because so many tex- tures which were not living were said to consist of that substance." This was the first biological shot from an English gun that went round the world. But whether known to Beale or not, Hugo Mohl, 1846, gave a distinguishing definition to "proto- ORIGIN" OF ORGANIC LIFE 339 plasm," which quite anticipated him; as Haeckel re- minds "US in "Wonders of life," Nevertheless Beale's discovery was not only important in itself, but because of the teleological use he made of it, set the warring camps of naturalists quite fiercely at their throats again. For Beale's final conclusion as to the distinction to be drawn between so-called living and not living matter was that an extra- natural or mysterious force entered into the for- mation of living matter, which did not already exist in what he called dead matter ; much as the old chemists thought that " phlogiston," an imaginary element, entered into inflammable substance to pro- duce a flame. He says : " Even in the smallest organisms which exhibit the simplest characters, as well as in every texture of the most complex beings, we can demonstrate two kinds of matter, differing in very- important particulars from one another ; or perhaps it would be more correct to say, matter in two dif- ferent states, manifesting different properties and exhibiting difference in appearance, chemical com- position, etc., and physical characters. . . . Nothing that lives is alive in every part. Of the matter which constitutes the bodies of man and an- imals in the fully formed condition probably more than four-fifths are in the formed or not living state." We must remember that when Beale speaks of living and not living matter he is employing arbi- trary words, and using them in a personal sense. 340 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY By this classification, as we soon leam, he means merely to distinguish between different states or active conditions of material substance. He continues, " Not even the smallest living par- ticle seen under the one-fifth of an inch objective consists of matter in the same state in every part; for it is composed of (1) living matter; (2) matter formed from this ; (3) pabulum, which it takes up." What Beale undertakes to show is that what we may really call living matter, according to a defini- tion which he soon presents, consists not at all of the visible and formed substances of the body, but wholly of an invisible, microscopic, self-acting and self-generating substance, distinguishable in chem- ical composition and capacity from the matured or " formed " parts of the organism. " The matter in the first state," he continues, " is alone concerned in development and the production of those mate- rials which ultimately take the form of tissue, secretion, deposit, as the case may be. It alone possesses the power of growth^ and of producing matter itself out of materials differing from it mor terially i/n composition^ properties and powers/' It is with this interior, invisible, self -generating substance that Beale especially concerns himself, as he thinks he has here found the secret beginning of life. Beale calls this invisible substance " bio- plasm " as distinguished from " protoplasm," which he regards as a later substance produced by the properties of the bioplasm. To him, this bioplasm, the living matter, is something totally different from protoplasm, the formed matter. According ORIGIN OF ORGANIC LIFE 341 to his construction the greatest portion of the hu- man organism is more dead than alive. That is, the formed or uaassimilating substance, constitut- ing the largest portion of the body, is constantly in a state of decay; whereas the unformed, or cease- lessly active and assimilating part, constitutes only a slight portion. To Beale, therefore, the property of life means the capacity of substance to reach out to not-living matter and transmute it into living matter. " Bioplasm," he says, " always tends to move towards the pabulum it is about to take up and to transform. This tendency to move is one of the essential attributes of living matter." Bio- plasm in Beale's interpretation is the substance that has this tendency to move and take up and absorb the pabulum (food)" or not-living matter. The pabulum, or not-living matter, is protoplasm. Beale's definition of this substance is as follows : " The particles of living matter consist of struc- tureless, colorless, transparent, semi-fluid matter. . . . There is a period in the development of every tissue, and every living thing known to us when there are actually no stmctural peculiarities whatever, when the whole organism consists of transparent, structureless, semi-fluid, living bio- plasm ; when it would not be possible to distinguish the growing, moving matter which was to evolve the oak from that which was the germ of the verte- brate animal. Nor can any difference be discerned between the bioplasm matter of the lowest, simplest, epithelial scale of man's organism, and that from which the nerve cells are to be evolved. Neither 342 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY by studying the bioplasm under the microscope, nor by any kind of physical or chemical investigation known, can we form any notion of the substance which is to be formed by the bioplasm, or what will be the ordinary result of its living." ^ 1 have quoted thus extensively to show that this revolutionary discovery placed the science of biology absolutely in line with that interpretation of Nature which conceives it as unitary in its essence, its methods, and its achievements. As we have just found that there is no actual distinction to be drawn between mind and matter, in the last analysis, so we learn that all forms of life are in their origin absolutely identical, and their source is simple and indistinguishable. There has been a reactionary movement among recent biologists to prove that the original substance to which Beale refers, and which Haeekel calls " plasm " is structural and differentiable. But Haeekel stands stoutly by MohFs and Beale's orig- inal discovery, and asserts that the structural units which are said to have been discovered in the pri- mary substance are not in the unaffected plasm, and are not " eflScient causes of the life process, but products of it. . . . The true protoplasm, or viscous and at first chemically homogeneous sub- stance, cannot in my opinion have any anatomic structure." * Huxley in his Britannica article on " Biology," and the article " Anatomy " in the same encyclo- 1 " Bioplasm," Beale, passim, 2 Wonders of Life, chap. VI. OEIGIN OF ORGANIC LIFE 343 pedia, as well as Darwin in his theory of " gem- mules " as set forth in his " Plants and Animals Under Domestication " and Haeckel, in his " Evo- lution of Man " ^ all sustain this original discovery of Beale as to the primary and structureless nature of the original material form of life. Having, how- ever, discovered the primary unit of all living mat- ter, how shall its variableness and differentiation be accounted for ? Does this call for the introduction of extraordinary and elsewhere undiscoverable forces, that so far differ from the correlated forces exhibited everywhere in Nature as to contradict them? Beale himself asked this question. While he admits that " Neither the most careful microscop- ical observation nor the most skillful chemical analysis would enable us to distinguish the living matter obtained from the body of an ape from that taken from a man, a dog, a fish, or human form of life," yet he exclaims, " Who would, therefore as- sert that all those different forms of living matter are one and the same ? Although there may be no chemical or physical differences, we know that the life history of these several forms is very different, while the results of their living are sufficient to prove that they must have been diverse from the very start." Here then is the problem which we must face. iVol. II, p. 45. OHAPTEE XXXI LINK BETWEEN LIVING AND NOT LIVING The fact referred to in the previous chapter, that notwithstanding the indisputably identical origin of all forms of living matter, yet that they could not have been identical because of the result- ant variations manifest in the final forms evolved, is the precise point in biological evolution where the uninformed might surmise the finger of supemat- uralism might be thrust into the problem. For surely, if the forms are chemically and mechan- ically alike in their inmost nature and character, unless there inheres in the individual substance something that becomes the basis of some distinc- tive and differentiated form of life — a property that is wholly imlike what exists in any other — how could the infinite diversities of the organic and living world have come to pass ? Something has taken place. What is it? Nat- urally the spiritualist will assert that the ever living soul, which has either existed from all eternity ac- cording to theosophic conception, or is new created by the fiat of the Almighty according to orthodox interpretation, has entered mystically into the germ- inal mould of matter which, externally indistin- guishable from all other primary forms of life, is nevertheless destined by this same presiding spirit to 344 THE LIVING AND NOT LIVING 345 become only itself and live its own life. On the contrary, the biological mechanist will declare that merely by the molecular reconstruction which takes place when the living dot of matter comes in con- tact with external physical environment, have such distinctive changes taken place in the structure and development of this specific form of life as to dis- tinguish it utterly from all others. These positions, however, are not quite so far apart as they seem to be. Whatever else science may have or have not proved with reference to the immortality of the imaginary spirit, this much she has done, she has proved the immortality of pri- mary living matter. For, strange to say, in the midst of an age-long conflict as to the existence and possible after-death continuance of a supposed hu- man and personal soul, there rises (shall we call it a prophetic vision ?) the discovery that matter it- self, whether or n^t the home of a heaven-descended spirit, in its primary vital form has never perished since first it was formed on this planetary sphere. " Knowing nothing of the immortality of the spirit, Science has put on an immortality of the flesh, and in a remarkable triumph of research has learned to recognize in every living being at once immortal age beside immortal youth. The patiently worked out story of the morphological continuity of the germ plasm is one of the fairy tales of science. . - . This marvellous embryonic substance is eternally young, eternally productive, eternally forming new individuals to grow up and to perish, 346 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT while it remains in the progeny always youthful, always increasing, always the same} If this is true, and science does not deny it to- day, then the question as to the apparently mirac- ulous diversity and variation of the primary form of life into its multiplicity of individualised forms is answered. For we have seen that along with the physical affections of this primary substance there went what we may call psychical influences: the affec- tions of mental and moral forces which have been registered in the immortal substance. The soul, we have argued is not an already formed and pre- meditated existence which enters full fledged into the mortal frame, but is itself organized, co-in- stantly with the incipiency of the physical organ- ism, and emerges gradually through the develop- ment of the individual life from the aggregating multitude of cells that flually associate to constitute what we call a living organism. Therefore the vital principle, the soul, the psychic energy, that permeates the organism, and constitutes the indi- viduality and character of the person, is made up of the convergence in one personality of all the ag- gregating psychic influences that have entered into its formation. These influences never perish or are annihilated. They exist as eternal and indestruct- ible forces. They must find some material element in which to register themselves. All mental and psychic influences are and can be registered only in living substance ; that is, in the primary, micro- 1 Dr. Osier's " Science and Immortality," p. 32. THE LIVING AND NOT LIVING, S47 scopical, vitalising, structureless, viscous and trans- parent element or substance, which as Beale has in- formed us, although forming so small a portion of the living frame, yet is the only thing alive about it, and is the ultimate and only sensitive plate upon which the racial and individual psychic influences make their impress. This therefore is the " mys- terious " cause of the infinite variations and differ- entiations manifest in the multifarious forms of living bodies. " I regard as the chief cause of this differentiation of the plasm the accumulation of hereditary matter — that is to say, of the inter- nal characteristics of the plastids acquired by an- cestors and transmitted to their descendants — with- in the plastids, while their outer portion continued to maintain intercourse with the outer world." ^ The term " plastids " Haeckel uses as equivalent to Beale's term of " Bioplasts." Thus constantly science succeeds in brushing away the alleged mysteries that seem to gather around the phenomena of life. Beale propounded a question which every teleologist has since declared intimated the existence of a supernatural and dif- ferentiable soul in a human being. But science an- swers by showing that while it can discover no such mysterious soul, it finds a really scientific soul, amenable to interpretation and rational apprehen- sion, and resident in the body as an animating and informing force, because of its gradual evolution through countless ages. It finds, indeed, a phys- ical seat for such a soul, a physical seat, which is 1 Haeckel, " Wonders of Life/' p. 138. 348 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY itself imperishable and indissoluble. " Thousands upon thousands of generations which have arisen in the course of ages were its products, but it lives on in the youngest generations with the power of giving origin to millions. The individual organism is transient, but its embryonic substance which pro- duces the mortal tissue, preserves itself, imperish- able, everlasting and constant." ^ Thus far then in the physical analysis, of vital phenomena we find no reason for an alteration of the interpretation of the universe which we have made and of the human soul which we are discussing. Let us hold in mind the picture which has thus far been presented of the actual biological form of life, not the visible, apparent, dying form ; but the invisible, primary, structureless and undying form, which is itself the generator of the visible form. It consists of a transparent substance, neither fluid nor solid, but viscous, thickish and sticky, spherically formed and floating throughout the entire region of the outer organic body, covering indeed the minutest sections of it. For Beale says ^' there is not one portion of a growing tissue, one five-hundredth of an inch in extent, in which living matter cannot be demonstrated ; and in every part of the body are these little masses of living matter, separated from one another by a distance a little more than the thousandth part of an inch" Again consider that each one of these spherical, structureless, transparent, viscous molecules of 1 Noll, quoted by Osier, " Science and Immortality." THE LIVING AND NOT LIVING 349 vital matter is the register of infinite psychic in- fluences which enter into it as its germinal mind and soul, to be developed anon by the aggregate union of the cell-bodies and cell-souls into one grand body, itself invisible, and one grand mind or soul, also invisible, all to be figured forth into visible presentation through the external, transitory physical frame. Nor must we forget that into this organization of the invisible vital atoms of a living organism there has entered an apparently new principle or force, whose activities and properties are utterly different to that of any other in Nature, For when we study the vital activities of an organism, whatever may be our theory of tKeir origin, we are ever forced to acknowledge their singular distinc- tiveness; namely — the fact that the force that actuates them is capable of revealing certain mar- vellous properties that are not elsewhere discover- able in the universe. Thirty years ago Huxley wrote : " The proper- ties of living matter distinguish it absolutely from all other kinds of things, and the present state of knowledge furnishes us with no link be- tween the living and the not-living." The first half of that paragraph is still indisputable; but thirty years are a long time for scientific research and since his day some scientists think that they have discovered the missing link between the vital and non-vital properties of matter. However, it is a fact that the startling manner in which so- called dead matter is suddenly transmuted into 350 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT living matter, when in contact with it, for long deceived the scientific mind, and caused many to believe that here at least was a hiatus in Ifature's methods and that the teleologist had found an apology for his philosophy. Beale himself so em- phasized this seeming miracle in Nature that he left the impression on the scientific world he him- self was overcome by the mystery and despaired of its explanation. " The difference between living or germinal matter," he says,^ " or bioplasm and the pabulum which nourishes it, I believe, is absolvie. The pabulum does not shade by im- perceptible degrees into living matter, but the pas- sage from one state into the other is abrupt and sudden, although there may be much living matter mixed up with lifeless matter, or vice versa. The ultimate particles of matter pass from lifeless into living state and from the latter into the dead state suddenly. Matter cannot be said to be half dead and half aliva It is either dead or living, animate or inanimate; and formed matter has ceased to live." This was the highest and most satisfactory ex- planation which one of the world's leading biolo- gists could conceive less than a half century ago. It looked to him like an inexplicable mystery. Physicists continued to assert that the marvellous results were all brought about by the alterations of the molecules that constituted the substance of the living matter, which they believed some day would become apparent. Indeed, as to the sudden- 1 " Protoplasm;" p. 185. TKE LIVING AND NOT LIVING 351 ness of the transmutation of non-living into living matter^ whose constituency and chemical properties are so utterly at variance ; have we not all, through the chemistry of nature observed physical demon- strations of the same marvel? When oxygen and hydrogen unite in proper proportions, the mere mechanical juxtaposition of the proportionate elements in itself does not satisfy to effect a startling change ; but when the electric spark is shot through the union then instantly, suddenly, " in the twinkling of an eye," the whole scene changes, and instead of mere separable elements we have a substance, water, wholly distinguishable from the elements that united to create it both as to its nature and its chemical properties. " When we rub to- gether sulphur and mercury, two totally different elements, the atoms of the finely divided matter combine and form a third and different chemical body, cinnabar." In fact synthetic chemistry, with its thousands of organic substances created in the experimental laboratory, where wholly divergent and distinguishable elements are united and electri- fied, resulting instantaneously in the formation of substances wholly different in chemical com- position and properties from the elements that engendered them, is proof sufficient that the old teleologists were in error when they imagined any- thing mysterious entered into the formation of vital substance out of non-vital substance. Haeckel declares, and none seems to have success- fully challenged his declaration, " Organic life — in its lowest form — is nothing but a form of 352 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY metabolism, and therefore purely a chemical process. The whole activity of the chromacea, the simplest cmd oldest organism that we TctwWj is con- fined to the process of metabolism. The homogene- ous and structureless globules of protoplasm . . . expend their whole vital power in the process of self-maintenance." * The close similarity of these chemical trans- formations, or metabolisms, with the activities of crystals in the process of formation iave already been referred to in a previous chapter, and are well-known among scientists. Speaking of these chemical crystallizations Haeckel says : " We find this elaborate chemical structure (i. e., the invisible molecular structure in the earliest life-substance), in many lifeless bodies; some of these in fact show a metabolism similar to that of the simplest organisms." He goes on to show that the catalysis (or chemical transformation) of inorganic bodies sometimes con- sists of a special form of metabolism occurring in " carbon assimilation " or the formation of the liv- ing substance from non-living.^ When the line of demarcation between the living and non-living is as indistinct as that, we may well believe that the supposed impassable gulf has been bridged and the formation of life, that is the in- troduction of the vital force in Nature, is effected by no break in her uniform and logical methods. The notion that "vitality" is a force different' to 1" Wonders of Life," p. 130. 2"Woiid. of Life," p. 34. THE LIVING AND NOT LIVING 353 others in the operations of Nature, so long assumed by idealists and teleologists, is not only inadmis- sible in science, but as I shall hope soon to show not necessary for the conception of a vital or psychic body existing in the physical body, and, as the psychic force of the body capable of possibly carrying it through the Stygian gloom of the grave. " It may be convenient to use the term ^ vitality ' and Wital force,^ to denote the causes of certain groups of natural operations, as we employ the terms ^ electricity ' and ' electrical force ' ; but it ceases to be so if we imply by such names the as- sumption that electricity and vitality are entities playing the part of efficient causes of electrical and vital phenomena." ^ In the contemplation, however, of the sudden advent of Life into a world of inanimate phenomena, whatever be its possible scientific ex- planation, we are witnessing what may well be de- clared the most amazing and bewildering of all Nature's manifestations. To think that on a planet where once but the inert material, the stolid, inorganic chemical element, the speechless rock, the voiceless soil, the mindless wind, held undis- puted sway, suddenly, in an instant of time, in- finitesimal amid the grand processions of the infinite, crept in a new and most strange body, whose future history should utterly revolutionize and transform the slowly evolving globe; to think that the moment when this occurred is tmdiscover- able by the sublimest and most inspired genius 1 Huxley, art. " Biology," Eney. Brit. 354 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY science has yet engendered ; that the great dramatic climax in the majestic story of existence should be so obscure, so modest, so hidden from discovery, and yet in its consequences so far-reaching, yea so immeasurable! To think these things, I say, is to marvel at the simplicity and yet the match- less grandeur of Nature's ways! For, but late in the advance of knowledge, out of the invisible world of microscopic beings, science now comes to reveal to mankind the very nature, history and possibilities of their perhaps immortal souls. CHAPTER XXXII CEEATIOIT AND POTENCY OF PEESONAL SOUL The next subject we must discuss is the capacity of the cell-souls, after they have been organized into one great soul, constituting the personal self-con- sciousness of the individual, to maintain the con- tinuity of existence in spite of the constantly dying process of the enclosing, visible framework. On the solution of this problem, in the light of accepted scientific data, will depend the legitimate conclu- sion we may draw concerning the possibility of the aggregate or individual soul of man to defy the apparent triumph of ultimate death. We must not forget that the soul of all animate and organized bodies is not primarily a unit, created out of hand at conception or copulation; but is a culmination of psychic forces which reside in millions of cells and only aggregate in one great psychic personality when the organism has been appropriately and efficiently developed. The germinal oell-souls constitute the units of the one final and complete soul of the individual. Therefore the final soul, being the component re- sult of the union of myriad germinal souls, must of course be endowed with all the characteristics and possibilities of the combined units, plus the additional and triumphant quality that follows complete organization. Just as in the physiological 355 356 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT body, the entire organism consists only of the com- ponent cells, tissues, nerves, organs, etcT., yet is itself much superior in capacity and possibilities to the various combined units that constitute it, because of the organization which holds them to- gether j so the ultimate personal soul is. capacitated with an individual energy which is far superior in self-maintenance to the sum of the myriad of cell-souls that constitute it. When the personal soul of a chick is finally evolved, it is something wholly different to the multitudinous souls that existed in the egg from which it sprung, and which indeed constitute the complete psychic composition of the chick's soul. Yet who will deny that the chick begins a life wholly different, on a different plane of existence, than that of the egg ? The same is true of the relation between the soul of the larvse (grub, caterpillar, etc.,) and that of the moth and butterfly. The soul of the butterfly consists merely of the aggregation of the cell-souls of the larvse from which it sprung, yet how vastly different is the soul of the butterfly in the capacity of self-preser- vation and conquest of environment ! It is at this point, it seems to me, biologists and physiological psychologists have escaped the deeper hint of Nature. It cannot be denied that the per- sonal soul is the culminating evolution of the ag- gregation of the myriad cell-souls. Yet, when once this aggregation culminates in the full-formed organization of the individual, does it not then acquire, by the very fact of such an ultimate organ- ization, a capacity far superior to what capacity THE PERSONAL SOUL 357 resides in all the souls of which it is composed? This cannot be denied. Here is where the soul of man, in a higher de- gree than the souls of inferior animal organizations, attains a new and superior plane of activity and possibility; where it becomes a force itself unique, wholly diverse to the physical forces that inhere in the material organism, and with a capacity to over- come environment that plays an especial part in the drama of its present and possibly future ex- istence. It is necessary to elaborate this idea, for upon it depends the conclusion we must reach re- garding the possible after-life of the soul. It is in my judgment the crux of the problem, 'No other student has so fully and convincingly demonstrated the proposition we are now consider- ing, from the physiological and histological point of view, as Germany's unequalled biologist, Ernst Haeckel. In his revolutionary publication ^ he has gone profoundly and with much detail into the sub- ject, and I would recommend that all interested readers study carefully his elaborate deductions. After casting aside every conception of the soul which has come to man through myth, metaphysics, religion and theology, he himself presents a scien- tific definition which in effect is identical with the one for which we are contending in this work ; but it seems to us that he limits the logical force of his ovTn definition by imagining that it ends where he says it does. Let us, then, carefully examine Haeckel's position. 1 " The Riddle of the Universe," chap. VII. 358 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY He presents the following five theses as the " em- bryology of the soul." (1) Each human individual, like every other higher animal, is a single simple cell at the com- mencement of its existence. (2) This "stem cell" is formed in the same manner in all cases — that is by the blending or copulation of two separate cells of diverse origin, the female ovum and the male spermatozoon. (3) Each of these sexual cells has its own " cell soul " — that is each is distinguished by a peculiar form of sensation and movement. (4) At the moment of impregnation, not only the protoplasm and the nuclei of the two sexual cells coalesce, but also their '' cell-souls "; in other words the potential energies which are latent in both, and inseparable from the matter of the pro- toplasm, unite for the formation of a new potential energy, the '' germ-soul " of the newly constructed stem-cell. (5) By these empirical facts of conception . . . the complete copulation of the two sexual cell-nuclei marks the precise moment when not only the body but also the " soul " of the new stem-cell makes its appearance. With all these five propositions we fully agree, and believe that they will become the final and authoritative dictum of science. But when it comes to certain conclusions which Haeckel and others draw from these facts we believe they have entered a debatable field and engaged in an arena where worthy and rational contestants will be THE PERSONAL SOUL 359 found. He concludes from this, that as " the precise moment " of the origin of the soul is dis- covered, therefore its immortality can in no sense be regarded by the scientists as a possibility in Nature. For what has been originated by natural forces can and will also be dissipated by natural forces. But will not this conclusion be dependent upon what capacity the later natural forces have actually generated to contend against natural forces previously existing ? As we have already said, the limitations that circumscribe the butterfly are not those of the larva from which it sprung. Why? Merely because the organism that sprung from the incubation of the larva is of a higher and finer order than that of the mother-larva ; it has powers to overcome certain obstacles which the larva had not; therefore it is more fitted to contend against its environment or to harmonize with it and thus survive the demands of dissolution. Now if it can be shown that when the personal soul is once organized, even though we admit that its constitu- oncy consists of nothing more than the germinal cell-souls of its primary imits, it has achieved by virtue of its organization certain forces which enable it to overcome environment of a physical character, to which the unspiritualized vital organ- isms themselves would yield, have we not found a scientific basis for the possible survival of the soul even after the supreme moment of physical death ? This is the issue: and this issue, confronted by nothing but the most ultra facts of the material world, we shall attempt to meet. 360 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETAXITY To begin withj Haeckel himself misses a scien- tific point when he says that the biologist can place his finger on " the precise moment " when in copu- lation the germ-soul makes its appearance in the stem-cell. He indeed finds the precise moment of the copulation of the cell-bodies and the occasion for the germ-soul to express itself ; but is all of the germ-soul in the stem-cell; has it come from no- where; has it had no existence before? Ah, now I hear the physicist exclaim, you are treading on forbidden ground ; you are becoming theosophic and entering the realm of the imagination. Not at all. I am simply prepared to emphasize certain facts and conclusions that the molecular biologists themselves draw. Listen to Haeckel : " A new individual comes into existence at the moment of conception; yet it is not an independent entity, either in respect of its mental or bodily features, but merely the product of the blending of two parental factors^ the maternal egg and the paternal sperm-cell." Granted; but is this all? No. Haeckel himself continues.^ " The cell-souls of these two sexual cells combine in the act of the formation of a new cell'Sovl just as truly as the two nuclei," etc In short when the cell-soul comes into manifestation it has had already a potential existence in the parental cells from which it sprang ; it is not indeed an independent entity, save to the extent in which the new organization endows it with the capacity of independence. This is the point at issue. A child is not limited absolutely to the i"Eiddle," p. 141. THE PEESONAL SOUL 361 capacities and characteristics of its parents; if it were there would be no variation, no individuality, no progress or evolution. While the child possesses by hereditary results certain of its parental tend- encies, it also conies into possession of certain individual and differentiated qualities and powers which give it its personality. Now it is this law, namely, the variation of capacity that is engendered in the organization of an animal or human soul, distinguishing it from the minor cell-souls from which it has been derived, that opens up a wholly new field in psychology and enters boldly on the debatable ground of the possible future existence of the human soul. I am inclined to the conviction that a true psychology will enable us to discern that the organ- ized psychic energies of what we call the human soul, are so capacitated as to enable it, by the very virtue of its organization^ to overcome temporary and physical environment, and thus prophesy its own survival after death. I contend that the psychic counterpart of the life of the individual is a replica or duplicate of the physical; and just as we observe in the progress of the evolution of the material organism the endowment, in each new form of organization, of higher and more enduring capacities than what existed in previous, inferior forms from which it sprang; so in the full and completely developed, or highly self-conscious organization of the human soul, we discover en- during and conquering powers which do not in- here in the lower forms of life. Again Haeckel, in 362 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY the same chapter affords us a very good illustration of the point I am making. He says : " In the case of these older and lower vertebrates that lived in the "water, the embryonic development had the palingenetic character in a still higher degree . . . the familiar tadpole and the larva of the salamander or the frog still preserve the structure of their fish ancestors in the first part of their life in the water; etc, . . . Then when the inter- esting metamorphosis of the swimming tadpole takes place, and when it adapts itself to a land life, the fish-like body changes into that of a four-footed, crawling amphibian ; instead of the gill breathing in the water comes an exclusive breathing of the at- mosphere by means of lungs, and with the changed habits of life, even the psychic apparatus^ the nerv- ous system, and the sense organs reach a higher de- gree of construction,^^ ^ Here then is the crux in the problem of physical evolution. Only as organisms become so unfolded that they adapt themselves to new environment by acquiring new organisations which are endowed with new and higher capacities than those which they possessed in lower stages, does life persist, does the individual maintain its exist- ence against opposing environment. If then it can be shown by the study of the biological evolution and the parallel psychic devel- opment of certain higher forms of life, such as the most developed human beings, that because of the finer oi^anization of the biological body and the aggregate cell-souls, they attain forces sufiicient to 1 " Riddle," p. 145. THE PERSONAL SOUL 363 resist the decay of so-called death ; we will, it seems to us, have found a strictly scientific ground on which to posit the possibility of the soul's after ex- istence. The task then which we are setting for ourselves is to discover in the evolution of the biological body,, which constitutes the actual living organism of the human individual, such a culmination as will in- dicate its endowment with psychic energies suf- ficiently dynamic to overcome death. We have seen that in the lower animals, such as salamanders and frogs, their psychic organism, that is their nervous system, is finer and more complex than that of the tadpole from which it was de- veloped. It is because of the fact that they possess this more refined and complex psychic apparatus that they are capable of overcoming the natural death that would follow should they attempt as tadpoles to live on the lamd. The advanced, com- plex nervous system, which we shall soon see is the organ for the expression of all psychic energies, enables it to overcome an environment which, with- out such an organism, it could not resist. So, we shall attempt to show that the biological body of which every human being consists, which is the material out of which the nervous system or psychio apparatus is constituted, reaches in certain highly developed human organisms such a complex and refined stage, that it permits the appearance of a higher and more exalted soul than what exists in ordinary physical forms. CHAPTER XXXIII PHYSICAL ORIGIN OF SELF-COIT- SCIOUSNESS , Haeckel in his intense and persistent opposition to the idea of the soul's immortality stumbles into one or two admissions that it were well for us to examine. He is demanding ^ that the soul must consist of " substance " for it " is actual " ; neverthe- less the " material organs are indispensable for its action ; it is but the sum-total of their physiolo^cal functions." Notwithstanding that he insists on the materiality of the soul, asserting that such a thing as its " immateriality " is inconceivable, yet he does not hesitate to " distinguish in the ^ substance of the soul ' the characteristic 'psychic eniergy^ which is all we perceive (sensation, presentation, volition, etc.), and the psychic matter ^ which is the insepa- rable basis of its activity — that is the living proto- plasm." Here he clearly draws a difference between a certain form of energy, which is discerned in what we call mental activities, and a sublimated form of matter, which he calls living protoplasm. Certain, he must admit that, while in essence the energy and the matter are one and the same, yet in their manifestation and capacity they are different; they operate on diverse planes; they are therefore the complements of each other. But he wars against 1 " Riddle," chap. XL 364 SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS 365 the supposed invisibility of the soul ; insisting that this is the cause of all the superstitious mythologies concerning it through history. Yet let us observe, that "while he insists on the actuality of the soul, he himself makes of it a wholly invisible substance. At first one may be inclined to dispute this. But an honest construction of his language, no less than the facts which he presents, will demand the con- clusion we have drawn. If the soul, as he says, consists of a " psychic substance," which in its nature is but an energy,^ he cannot deny that so much of the soul is certainly invisible, and in a certain sense, immaterial. Of course we mean " immaterial " only in degree ; for we have previously agreed that a contradistinction between the material and the immaterial in nature was both impossible and inconceivable. Tet when so-called material substance becomes so sublimated that it is refined into energy, as Crookes calls it " ethereal waves of energy," surely we need not be accused of ignorance if we call such a form of mat- ter, for convenience' sake, an immaterial form. But if not immaterial, certainly it is invisible. For no energy can ever be seen, save as it acts through matter. Ah, here says Haeckel is the point. So I insist. Therefore I say " soul " is always visible^ because it must be exercised in and through proto- plasm. True ; we say. But is protoplasm visible ? In the ordinary sense it is not. It is in very fact invisible matter ; and only lately has it been detected under the microscope through a certain coloring; iSeep. 184, "Riddle." 366 MODERN LIGHT OlST IMMORTALITY process that revealed it. Haeckel then himself makes the soul consist of invisible energy and abide in invisible substance. It is therefore even accord- ing to his definition an invisible presence, or force, or entity, if you please. He, therefore, becomes somewhat inconsistent when he argues against the soul being an entity from his own point of view. However, for we must be honest and not play with a chance use of words, Haeckel here undoubt- edly meant merely to assert that the soul must have substance and cannot be a thing that is beyond the grasp of scientific human knowledge. And this point we shall not disallow, but attempt to show that even granting all his data the soul is resident in discernible substance, which however is essen- tially invisible to the human eye. Once more let us call attention to the picture of the biological, interior organism, which exists within the outer, coarse physical body of a human being. We are told that the actual living substance of the body consists of myriads of spherically formed particles of living matter, known as bio- plasm, which are the sources of the cells, the tis- sues, the nerves, the organs, etc., but which is itself absolutely invisible even under the strongest, un- assisted microscope. There is, then, science assures us, in each of us an in-dwelling, perfectly outlined, transparent, colorless, invisible body, of which we are at no time conscious, yet which exists as the exact counterpart and sublimated duplicate of our consciously visible and crude exterior. We must remember that there is not a tissue, so SELF-CONSCIOUSISrESS 367 nmcli as the five-hundredtli part of an inch in extent, but what contains a living bioplast, or sphere of invisible living substance. We must again re- call, that throughout the combined and organized tissues of our bodies these infinitesimal living organisms prevail, separated from each other by not more than the thousandth part of an inch, Nevertheless, these minute, spherical substances (namely the bioplasm of Beale, or protoplasm of Haeckel) are colorless, transparent and invisible. They follow, however, the exact outline and config- uration of the coarser, visible frame. Hence, it is palpably indisputable, that there exists within each of us an invisible and transparent body, being the precise facsimile and counterpart of our opaque bodies, which constitutes the only living body we possess, and from which the outer and really non- living body proceeds. All this is made apparent by the discoveries of Dr. Beale to which we have al- ready referred. Darwin, also,^ speaking of this fact says : " It is universally admitted that the cells and units of the body increase by self-division or proliferation, retaining the same nature, and that they ultimately become converted into the various tissues and substances of the body. . . . These units in the primordial living substance, out of which the sexual and formative cells are con- stituted — exist in countless millions throughout the system." Haeckel, also, in the " Wonders of Life," describ- 1 " Plants and Animals Under Domestication," Vol. II, p. 369. 368 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT ing these same infinitesmal substances says : " They can neither be called solids or fluids in the physical sense . . . they have the appearance of viscous, colorless matter." These bioplasts (the protoplasmic cell-organiza- tion of the animal system), that is, the grey matter of the nervous system, made of these countless mil- lions of minute points of living substance, are the actual seat of the psychic energies, or the soul of the being. Here, then, it seems to me we have discovered the true and scientific home of the elu- sive soul of man. It may be truthfully said, then, while confessedly not an immaterial entity in the sense formerly conceived, yet it is an energy con- comitant and coterminous with the complex ap- paratus of the invisible, biological, duplex frame of all living beings; that it truly pervades the animal form as well as that of man; but that its development in man, as we shall soon show, gives rise to such superior and conquering faculties as to prophesy its continued existence. The soul, may we not then truthfully say, when thus scientifically defined, pervades every part of the animal organ- ism; it is in fact not only the expression of the physiological functions of a living body, nor yet only the vital force that permeates and is expressed by and through the physical activities; but an en- ergy of a higher order, calling for a more refined and complex organism through which to express itself. While on the one hand it may be said that the rarefied and invisible, yet substantial, body of the bioplasts presents the instrument through which SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS 369 the psychic energies may express themselvesj on the other hand, it can be said, and substantiated by scientific evidence, that once the bioplasts are organized in the highly complex apparatus of the human nervous and cranial systems, the soul trans- mutes into an energy v^hich itself becomes the potent force that controls and presides over the organism. This is the crucial point in the argu- ment, which must not be lost sight of. This fact becomes apparent if we study the evo- lution of the psychic apparatus of all animals from the lowest to the highest. We are taught that this energy, which even scientists are now calling a soul, is found in a germinal expression even in the lowest forms of life. Haeckel indeed goes so far as to speak of the cell-soul, the stem-soul, the germ- soul, the tissue-soul, the plant-soul, etc. He says that in the earliest forms of life what we call the soul, or the energy of mind, expressed in the faculty of movement and sensation " is equally distributed throughout the entire protoplasm, while in the higher forms certain ^ cell instruments,' or organ- ella^ appear as their physiologic organs." Thus we see that in no form of living matter, even in the unicellular unorganized bodies, is there an ab- sence of some sort of mind or soul. Moreover, we observe that as the mind-expression enlarges the system accommodates it by the development of cer- tain organs or physiological instruments through which to act. Haeckel even advocates the truth of the discovery that in the primordial protists there is a semblance to what is knowa in higher organ- 370 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT isms as the central nervous system, "which in man in its highest form becomes the seat of self-con- sciousness. Here let us pause a moment. We find that con- scious life develops commensurately with the com- plexity of the nervous system and the convolu- tions of the cortical brain. " Darwin who most accurately distinguishes the stages of consciousness, intelligence and emotion in the higher animals, and explains them by progressive evolution points out how difficult, or even impossible it is to de- termine the beginning of this supreme psychic faculty in the lower animals. . . . The most probable theory is that the centralization of the nervous system is the condition of consciousness." So says Haeckel.^ Then he makes an admission to which I wish to call attention. He says the centralization of the nervous system is warding in the lower class of animals. Hence what we call the soul, in the same sense as we think of man's soul, has no actual existence in the lower animals. They have a potential or germinal human soul; but as they want in self -consciousness because of an imperfectly developed nervous system, they to that degree want in the possession of those higher psychic faculties we denominate the soul. On the con- trary, parallel with the gradual development of the centralization of the nervous system, from the low- est to the highest forms of animal life, there is found the gradual higher expression of the psychic faculty, or the soul. Hence, as in man the central- 1 " Riddle," 175. SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS 371 ization of the system is most completed, naturally in him first has come self-consciousness. Hence, as I shall attempt soon to show, his planetary ex- istence persists proportionally "with his develop- ment of self-consciousness ; and when that power is so highly developed as to have evolved a highly complex nervous organization, it may become suf- ficiently tenacious of conscious life to hold together the bioplasts of the body and overcome the dissolu- tion of ordinary death. We shall not be able for want of space in this book to introduce the psychological facts in sub- stantiation of the biological theory we are here advancing; but in the near future we hope to in- corporate them in a sequel that will materially enforce the presentation of the argument in this volume. The fact however, as Paul Fleschig of Leipsig has shown that in the grey bed of the brain are found the four seats of the central sense-organs, culminating in ^ the great occipito-temporal centre the most important of all ' ; that these four sense centres are distinguished from intermediate centres by peculiar and elaborate nerve-structures, which are the true and sole organs of thought and con- sciousness ; and that in man very specific structures are found in one part of them which are warding in other mammals, thus affording an explanation of the superiority of man's mental powers,^ proves that the physiological development of the living organism, from the lowest forms to the highest, 1 " Riddle," p. 184. 372 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY generates certain superior functions in the psychic faculties which had not existed in the anterior forms. This as I have said is the fact in the study of evolution that seems to have been overlooked and whose existence must put an entirely different phase on the discussion of the souFs nature and possible future. As we have seen, all visible matter is but the un- foldnaent of rarefied, invisible substance, which by some is called ether; naturally, therefore, every manifestation of both physical and psychic powers is but a varied expression of this same universal ethereal substance. Hence we may safely say that the universe is pervaded with a psychic presence, not a soul in the sense of a distinctive entity, but an energy, pervading all things which from age to age expresses itself in higher and more intelligent and conscious modes of manifestation; and that when that supreme soul-force, or etherealized in- telligence, finally expresses itself in the self-con- sciousness and most exalted thought of man, it becomes the human soul, or the psychic substance of human intelligence. The highest and most marvelous physical expres- sion of this supreme substance in Nature is in the activity of living matter. As we have seen that one differentiation between living and non-living matter consists in its self -moving capacity; its capacity to move out toward the non-living ma- terial it desires to absorb as food or pabulum. But the highest, most marvellous and exalted psychic SELF-CONSOIOUSNESS 373 expression of this same dynamic substance or ethe- real energy is when thought, consciousness, and self- consciousness are witnessed among living activities. Yet we find there is just one portion of the or- ganic frame of all living bodies which becomes the seat of these two most culminating and supreme expressions of universal substance; in every mo- ment of our existence each infinitesimal bioplast (that infinitesimal spherical, transparent corpuscle of life), is achieving this matchless miracle. In no other portion of the body do we live or can we think. Only in this invisible, pulsing, magically capacitated, colorless substance do we find the high- est possibilities of the organic body. What, then, is the office and the prophecy of the evolution of this mysterious plasmic substance ? OHAPTEK XXXIV PEOOFS OF THE SOUL'S EXISTENCE AND SUPEEMACT Firsts we are to observe that all the powers which prevail in the unfoldment of a vital organism exist complete in the primary protoplasm from which it 'evolves. We have seen that although the spherical ultimate bits of protoplasm, or bioplasm, which constitute the undifferentiated and unorganized state of vital substance, were all indistinguishable, yet that each finally proved to be the basis of a distinct individual body which finally evolved from it. Although the primal substance or bioplasm of the animal and the plant is under the microscope absolutely indistinguishable, yet the dog will always come from the canine bioplasm and the oak from the bioplasm of the acorn. On this point Herbert Spencer says : " It is proved that no germ, animal or vegetable, contains the slightest rudiment, trace or indication of the future organization — since the microscope that the first process sets up in every fertilized germ is a process of repeated spontaneous fission, ending in the production of a mass of cells, not one of which exhibits any special character,'' Nevertheless, as we have said, there exists in the ultimate bioplastic cell an inherent and irresistible determining force which causes that cell to multiply into the millions of cells that will produce only 374 PEOOES OF SOUL'S EXISTENCE 375 one of all the possible billions of organic forms that exist in Nature. Now, we may argue as we please about this, but the fact cannot be denied. There is something^ or some power, that operates invisibly yet effectually in each ultimate cell of life to dif- ferentiate it absolutely from all others, although each cell chemically, under the microscope, is pre- cisely like every other cell in existence. Here then is the first problem we must try to an- swer, in discussing the presence and power of the soul. We certainly violate no scientific postulate when we declare that whatever it is that thus dif- ferentiates the individualised cell, we may justly call it a faculty of that sum of psychic energies we call the soul. We may justly assume that the sig- nificant forces which individualize and differentiate the ultimate protoplasm are hereditary, or the cul- mination of mental energies which have co-operated for countless ages, and descended finally into one individual from the first form of organised, primor- dial life. But if that be true, then these forces become something more than mere impersonal energies; — mere dynamic processes ; — such as the forces that operate in the production of metals and soils. We do not mean that they are different than these for we have argued earnestly for the unity of all the processes of Nature ; but we are compelled to con- clude that the forces or powers which finally cul- minate in the formation of a distinctive organic individual, out of the myriads of possible forms,, are something more complex and developed than the 376 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY coarser force which culminates in mineral and soil. We can conceive of such a force passing through the countless ages, ever rising to higher and higher stages of unfoldment and achieving more and more complex forms of expression, till at length the force not only becomes itself embodied in an outer form, but is the spiritual counterpart and dupli- cate of the very form which embodies it. For, Second^ we must remember that each bit of bio- plasm has an seonic history of its own. It has de- scended from time immemorial through myriad modes of expression, till it has attained its present form, and it will continue to express for endless ages yet, as its force is indestructible and its vital ma- terial, as we have seen, is itself eternal. Therefore given the bioplasm, or vital form of matter, it is not only possessed of the invisible material mould of the living substance, but it also embodies the invisible, impalpable and determining energy, which rules and controls the bioplast. That bit of bioplasm, after all, must and shall become what the forces inherent in it shall determine. It matters not that from its appearance and chemical constituency, as defined under the microscope, it might become any one of billions of forms of vitalised expression ; yet it can become one and only one form of expression, in spite of all the external elements of environment and stimuli that may play upon it. The force within, the hereditary and seonic energy which con- stitutes its invisible self, is then (howbeit we may grant that it is but the function or expression of the molecular constituency of the living cell), the PROOFS OF SOUL'S EXISTENCE Z17 controUerj the organiser, the determiner, the maker of the outer and visible form, no less than of the inner and spiritual individuality which character- ises it. This fact it would seem is indisputable. Then, Thirds as we have found that each primal bio- plasm or nucleated cell of living substance, contains its own determining and characterising force that never departs from it and which forever decides its fate; so, as the entire animal organism is composed of countless millions of these same ultimate bio- plasts or living cells, which in their union con- stitute the complete organism, it must follow that the united sum of the psychic energies of all the cells, which we have already agreed to call the soul of the full formed individual, must be the con- trolling, organising, determining and characterising principle. If then the soul, regarded in the light of being merely the sum of all the psychic energies of the multitudinous cells which compose the body, has by the very nature of its evolution come into possession of a power that makes it superior to the organism which is said to have produced it ; then it matters not, from any practical point of view, whether we believe that it had already existed in Ifature as an entity and has entered full formed as such into the embryo of the future animal or man, or that it has been generated in the very process of the physical formation of the potential organism^ already existing in the enbryonic form of life. Therefore, Fourth^ the fact that what we call the soul, even 378 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY though generated bj the functions of physical mat- ter in a highly complex state of organisation, mani- fests a power superior to that of the cells and tis- sues, the nerves and the brain of the organism, affords suggestive ground for the supposition that it may be able to override the cast-off limitations of the physical body in the state of dissolution. There is then nothing illogical, even from the strictest scientific point of view, in regarding the indestructible, determining, hereditary energies "which unite and organise for the generation of a physical form of life, as having actual existence, though invisible to the senses, the same as we re- gard the multitudinous cells which compose the physical body, and which are equally invisible to the unaided human eye, or the highly magnifying microscopic eye. For, Fifth, we cannot assume that an energy has no existence. We must admit that energy, or the correlation of motion into mutually transmutable forces, is as much a fact in Nature, as the correla- tion of physical substances in chemical association. The association of such substances or elements we know results in the expression of manifest bodily forms. Because these appeal to the eye we cannot deny their existence. But neither, in logic, can we deny the actual existence of what appeals as forcibly to the reason, even though we may not be able to see it. Therefore just as we acknowledge the existence of heat, light, chemical affinity, elec- tricity, etc., as correlated forces in the physical world, whose association results in the production of' PROOFS OF SOUL'S EXISTENCE 3Y9 visible and manifest forms; so we must also ac- knowledge the existence of psychic or mental, and indeed ethical, forces in the world of organic life, whose association results in the production of an actual psychic organisation, and none the less actual although invisible to the senses. In order to understand this latter point, we need merely remind the reader that all the forces, both psychic and physical, in !N"ature are essentially one ; each is but a differentiation of the same primary energy. We find nothing different in the force which expresses itself as electricity to the force that expresses itself as nervous energy; the proof lies in the fact that they are interchangeable or transmutable ; that an electric current will excite a flow of nervous energy, and nervous energy will generate electricity.-^ We also know that heat may be transmuted into thought by the stimulation of certain nerve centres which communicate with the frontal cells of the brain. And vice versa that certain cortical cells may be so exercised as to excite in the nerve channels a sensation that will be rec- ognised as heat. Thus we might run the entire gamut of so-called physical and psychical forces and find that they are correlated and transmutable. If that be true, then the so-called psychical forces are as actual in Nature, ab the physical. The physical forces we admit are the base and source of all psychical forms of expression. Then why shall we not equally be compelled to conclude that the psychical forces are the actual progenitors and 1 Conn, " Living Machine," p. 42. 380 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT generators of the physical and vital organisms which they actuate? There seems to be no escape from this logic. Therefore we are justified in conclud- ing that w© have found in the scientific discovery of the law of conservation of energy and the cor- relation of forces the actual demonstration of the existence of the human soul. But, Sixths we have seen that the higher we ascend in the scale of animal organisms the more complex becomes the nervous apparatus and the profounder the consciousness of the individual, till it ascends into self-consciousness, and still higher possible forms of self-realisation. It is true we found that there also developed in parallel lines a more complex system of nerves and cranial cells. We learn from the modem biologists that indeed the human brain has not only developed a much more harmonious and complex cellular organism than all inferior animals, but that there has developed a special frontal organ which Haeckel calls the phronema; that the presence of this cellular organ makes thought possible to a highly developed human being which is impossible to lower animal forms of life. Indeed even the child has not, when, newly bom, this cranial organ, save in a rudimentary form, nor does it appear till after the first year. As the child develops, this psychological organ grows commensurately with the unfoldment of its intelligence. But again we dis- cover that when the phronema is highly developed it becomes the instrument of the psychic energy which enfolds it and which possibly generated it; for the organised psychic force which operates PROOFS OF SOUL'S EXISTENCE 381 through and actuates it, becomes itself a power superior to its physical organ, and can develop it into still higher functions. As the power of thought and self-consciousness develops, the corti- cal organ of thought also develops, and the mind or indwelling psychic energy can cause the changes of the cells by destroying them and generating newer and higher embodiments of the psychical force or mentality. While it is now admitted ^ that the number of the cells does not increase in the cortical areas after the third month of the em- bryonic life; yet after birth, and some think by prenatal influence even before it, the cells may be constantly renewed and enlarged by the energy of the mind itself. Therefore it is evident that al- though the mind may be but the function of the brain, nevertheless, after it has been brought into expression through the organisation of a correct apparatus, it becomes itself the manager, operator, designer and transformer of the very organ which called it into existence. Hence, I contend we need not conclude, even from the so-called materialists' point of view, that because the soul is but the sum- total of the multiple cell-souls of the body, and the mind but the function of the cellular organs of the brain, therefore the mind and the soul necessarily cease to live and work at the decease of the body. For, Seventh^ according to the law of the Conservation of Energy no force can be destroyed ; it can only be transmuted ; but in the transmutation it does not 1 See " Growth of Brain," Donaldson, p. 160. 382 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT itself cease to exist, it merely transfers its impulse to some other form of expression. Therefore once admit that the psychic energies are the consistent expression of age-long, determining forces which decide the nature and character of every form of life, and that they themselves must be as rationally organised and associated in co-operation as the physical forms, which both give them expression and through which they operate; then we shall be compelled to conclude that those forces continue to live in invisible states as well as the forces which operate in the physical organism of the body. When the body dies, no one surmises that the forces of chemical aflBnity, heat, electricity, etc., which -held the components of it together, have also per- ished. We know that they have merely passed into other forms of expression, and have been dissipated only so far as the existing form was concerned in which they had formerly associated. But these physical forms of force were manifestly dependent on the material substance of the organic body. They could manifest as an animal or human body only so long as they could cohere in the form of that body. When their coherence or cohesion ceased the body fell apart. But we have seen that the psychic forces which have through endless centuries aggre- gated to organise the vital form of man or animal, or that found in such an organisation an instrument through which to express themselves, become supe- rior to the temporary form which they actuate, and in certain forms of expression rise independently above it. By this statement I mean that there is PROOFS OF SOUL'S EXISTENCE 383 a vast number of psychological phenomena which have been well attested by competent witaesses, but whose discussion we shall be compelled to postpone to another volume, which demonstrates the inde- pendent action of these psychic forces, whose sum total is what we call the human soul, and whose persistence, therefore, after the dissipation of the mortal mould, may be accepted as a logical possi- bility. But will this organisation of psychic forces, after the physical -body has dissolved, have an actual physical, howbeit invisible, framework in which to operate ? CHAPTER XXXV IDENTITY OF SUBSTANCE, ENERGY AND SPIRIT We should carefully hold in mind that we are now studying three distinctive phases of the activity of Universal Energy. We have first to remember, as we have heretofore shown, that what is conceived as infinite substance, whether it be ether or even a still more rarefied form of matter, is the essence of all phenomena and the substratum of the Energy that everywhere prevails. That is, no form of en- ergy manifested but is exercised in and through some form of substance. As a corollary it follows that the most refined forms of Energy operate through the most rarefied conditions of substance ; and, contrary, the coarsest or densest phases of ethereal vibration are revealed in the most opaque and crudest forms of matter. In the last analysis all forms of matter are reducible to a rarefied con- dition that resolves into pure energy, a spiritual force beyond the apprehension or appreciation of material organs ; and, vice versa. Energy descends from its most rarefied and exalted phase through infinite gradations into the crude and palpable forms of matter to which the vulgar senses are amenable. We may, therefore, without doing violence to scien- tific knowledge, speak of infinite Energy as the universal Spirit, and infinite Substance as the uni- versal Form or Body of the world. We are here 384 SUBSTANCE, ENEEGY, SPIRIT 385 approaching that phase of interpretation which has appealed to the mystics of all ages 5 conceiving of the Energy to "which we are referring as the Over-Soul of the world operating in and throughout its en- tirety, and the manifest universe as the garment with which the invisible presence clothes itself. That is, however, a poetic description, which in an actual sense we now see has a scientific foundation. Science, indeed, is rapidly dissipating the tradi- tional notion of the difference between matter and force or energy. In the light of most recent dis- coveries, as we have demonstrated in previous pages, the two are actually but one and the same thing. The atom, once supposed to be the minutest con- ceivable form of matter, being itself but an imagi- nary, hypothetical substance, is now shown by recent experiments to be a really large and crude affair. This most Ancient Atom, the heritage of Democ- ritus and Leucippus, of Grecian glory, is now reducible into something infinitely smaller, a so- called electrical unit, an ion or corpuscle. These electrons are at present the minutest conceivable points of infinite energy. " Compared with these," says a recent writer, " the atom must be something gigantic, a huge composite^ made up, perhaps, of the corpuscles themselves . . . The atom may be conceived as a great swarm of corpuscles, revolv- ing about a mutual centre, much as our planets revolve around the sun." Not only is there such an infinite swarm of elec- trical units, or points of energy, in each single atom, but there is absolutely no distinguishable difference 386 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY in the nature or capacity of each one of these in- finitesimal centres. There is, according to this an- alysis of matter, only one reason why things material appear different to us ; that reason is be- cause of the number of corpuscles in each atom and the rapidity of the rotation of these bits of primal substance. Being resolved into mere electrical units means, of course, that the last analysis of matter is a form of energy, and that we apprehend merely the sensation of varying forms of energy when we feel and see what we call material sub- stance. Hence, what appears to us as matter is nothing more than the resultant of the equilibrium of forces, mutually playing on one another. Says Sir Oliver Lodge (Harper's, Aug., 1904). "Matter appears to be composed of positive and negative electricity and nothing else," In other words, what we call matter is the condition of equilibrium in energy, resulting from the play of positive and negative electricity. The unit of electricity is then both a centre of force and a germ of matter. Yet elec- tricity itself is but a mode of motion, as heat, light, etc. Hence the electrical unit of matter, that is matter in its last analysis, is a mode of motion or a form of energy. " The formation of matter out of electricity," says Lodge, " is a new idea." But it is confessedly the last if not the chiefest triumph of modern science. Thus we see how Shakespeare anticipated the great modem discovery in the poetic imagery of Prosperous description : SUBSTANCE, ENEEGY, SPIKIT 387 " Like the baseless fabric of this vision. The cloud capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve; And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a wrack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made of." Infinite Energy reveals itself in all the varying forms of universal substance; therefore, whatever form of life in inorganic or organic phase exists it is but a manifestation of this same infinite energy. Two supreme forces are manifest in all forms of living matter ; one is the vital force, the force that animates the physical material into the capacity of self-sustenance; the other is the psychic force, the force that reveals the workings of the universal energy in forms of thought, emotion, volition and intelligence. We are not justified in declaring that vital force is different from all the other phases of infinite energy we call material forces, such as light, heat, electricity, etc. Eor nothing exists in Nature other than her own elements, and we cannot read any more energy into her activities than already exists and has existed from the beginning of the world. Therefore, whatever vital force or or- ganic life may be, it can be only such a force as is correlated with all the known forces of nature. The same must be said of the psychic force, the force that inheres in the activity of the mind and so-called soul. If it cannot be correlated with the 388 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY known forces of Nature then science can take no cognisance of it, and it becomes but the subject of metaphysical imagination. But as thought is an actual phenomenon in the activities of the world it is a subject of which science must take cognisance. Therefore science insists that it must be one of the correlative forces of Nature, although operating on a higher and more rarefied plane of action than vitalism or electricity or any of the cruder material forces. Only by way of contrast are we justified in speaking of the psychic and the vital forces as immaterial forces, while we refer to electricity, heat, etc., as material. Only by contrast because of the higher frequency of the vibrations of thought and vitalism may we conceive them as immaterial; only because they approach much nearer to the supposed ultimate ethereal nature of infinite substance. What we call the soul of a living organism, then, may justly be defined as those expressions of the infinite Energy which pertain to the vitalistic and psychic forces that sustain it ; the lower expression of the two, being the vitalistic, more immediately related and adjoined to the functions of the ma- terial organs, might therefore be called the Spirit of the body (in the sense of being the vital breath that pervades it) ; while the psychic force, being apparently less immediately associated with the material functions, ( where resides the supreme, and as yet mysterious, activity of the personal con- sciousness), might be distinctively known as the SouL SUBSTANCE, ENEKGY, SPIKIT 389 In this sense the spirit and the soul, being to- gether the personal expression of the Universal Energy that transmutes diffuse Ether, or sublimated substance, into visible form, are the controlling and divine agency of all life. They are the expressions of the universal Energy that evolve from the low- est stages of matter the most complex organisms ; they manifest in these living organisms their su- preme power of transforming so-called " dead " mat- ter into " living " matter ; yet ever are they together but the same One Energy operating in the same One Substance differentiated into vitalistic and psychic forces, or energies of organic activity and functional mentality. Energy cannot express itself except in some sub- stantial form however rarefied. Therefore both the phases of vitalistic and psychic energy must have some material expression; that is must operate through some material instrumentality. What then is this ? We have seen that Biology insists there is in proper classification but one living plane of material organism in a vital body. The larger part of the body is scientifically dead ; only a very minute portion is in this sense alive. That minute portion of the body, the region that is occupied alone by the grey substance of the nerves and the brain, the realm of the ultimate bioplasts, is alone alive, all the rest has been deprived of the vital function. Each one of these invisible bioplasts is constantly performing its miraculous function of changing visible, opaque, chemically defined and organised matter, in an instant, into transparent, in- 390 MODEKJSr LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY visible, structureless matter, whose ehemical nature is whollj unkaowii. Every moment each one of these vital atoms evidences the marvellous work- ings of this undefined activity in Nature; an ac- tivity which is so utterly differentiated from all other natural processes that for ages man thought it set at naught the well fixed laws of the universe and defied the mechanical structure of the world. We learn, then, that the residence of that active principle of infinite Energy, which we have agreed to know as the human soul, is, in its phase of vital activity^ discovered in these invisible bio- plasts; for within these microscopic bodies, which exist by the countless millions in every living body, the soul operates and sustains those functions that maintain the vital integrity of the organism. Again we must emphasize the fact that these in- finitesimal bits of vital substance, bioplasms, are spread over every minutest section of the tissues that compose the body of man or other living thing. Hence, what, perhaps, for the sake of distinction, we may call the Vital Soul, pervades the entire organism and through the two nerve systems, the central and the sympathetic, absolutely controls all its functions and its planetary destiny. Can we, however, also find the residence of that other phase of the human soul, which for the sake of contrast, we shall call the Psychic Soul ? That is, as we have found a material home in the human body for the Vital Soul, can we also find within this same body a physical home for the Psychic Soul? SUBSTANCE, ENERGY, SPIEIT 391 In order to do this we must first understand what we mean by psychic forces, by thought, volition, emotion, etc. Have we here to deal with an element in Nature that is so utterly differentiated from all other natural elements as to be incapable of cor- relative classification with the rest, and, therefore, utterly beyond the reach of empirical science? Many have so thought. The seat of consciousness has been the inmost secret of Nature and the im- passable gulf between psychical science and meta- physics, between soul and substance, mind and matter. A great scientist, Du Bois-Eeymond, says with much emphasis, " The minutest knowledge of the brain, the highest which we can obtain of it, reveals nothing in it hut matter and motion. By no imaginable device in the arrangement and motion of material particles, however, can a bridge be made into the domain of consciousness. Motion can pro- duce only motion or be transposed into potential energy. . . . The mental processes which are accompanied by certain material processes in the brain, fail, therefore, to have a sufficient cause for our understanding. They stand outside the causal nexus, and, therefore, incomprehensible as moiile perpetuum would be." ^ This is the traditional attitude of the old science and the old psychology. But the astounding dis- coveries of histologists in the realm of the brain, showing how no thought at all in the sense of con- scious thought exists until a certain cortical organ, 1 " Ueber die Grenzen dea Naturerkennens," quoted in Raue's " Psychology/' p. 195. 392 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY late in the development of human life, appears, which as we have already said is wholly wanting in the newborn babe, except in its germinal state, in- dicate that the supposed wide gulf between the mental and the material world has no actual ex- istence. The cause of disagreement between physi- ologists and psychologists, or spiritualists and materialists, is I believe that they do not agree on what they mean by thought and mental action. If we restrict our notion of thought to the human mind, we may be confused in our analysis. But if we recognise thought as a cosmic activity mani- fested in the logical relation and mutual functioning of the infinite phenomena of the universe, we will not be so much perplexed with apparent inconsist- encies. A thought in a human being is, apparently, the result of the play of certain forces upon the grey matter of the nervous system, which generates a registration in the brain that we call thinking or consciousness in the form of perception, sensation or reflection. Science is beginning to indicate that thought is an electro-magnetic process, affecting the biological cells of the cortical areas. ^ It is, then, manifest that we think and are con- 1 " The remarkable investigations during the last few dec- ades of the finer texture of the grey cortex . . . have shown that its structure . . . represents the most per- fect morphological product of plasm; and its physiological function — mind — is the most perfect action of a * dynamo machine ' ; the highest achievement that we know of any where in Nature. Millions of psychic cells, or neuroma^ , . . are associated as especial thought organs at certain parts of the cortex, and these again are built up into a large harmonious system of wonderful regularity and capacity." Haeckel, " Wonders of Life," p, 328. SUBSTANCE, ENERGY, SPIRIT 393 scious because the primal Substance or Infinite Energy of the universe, somehow, plays upon certain parts of our organism, and sets up specific chemical and electrical activities and relations that we call thought and consciousness. Just how this is done nobody yet knows, any more than they know just how gravitation is generated, or how waves of ether are differentiated into sound and light and electric vibrations. Yet as we may distinguish be- tween the phenomena of light, sound and electricity, and therefore recognise their visible differences, howbeit we cannot tell how their differences originated in Nature, so we may, likewise, distin- guish between a negative and positive force of electricity and the cortical area through which it plays, but cannot tell how it is that the activity of the latter converts the chemical resultants in the former into what we call thought as distinguished from motion. Du Bois-Reymond may be right; we are able to see nothing but motion in the most profound investi- gation of the brain ; hence we cannot see where mo- tion passes into mind. But is his conclusion right necessarily, that, therefore mind and matter, thought and motion are two utterly different modes of existence? Two chemical elements mixed and electrified result in a substance absolutely foreign to themselves; yet all we can detect by the utmost capacity of the keenest microscope is the motion that the electric spark sets in action ; we cannot see how the electric action converts the resulting motion between the elements into a wholly foreign sub- 394 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY stance. All we know is that in one case one form of inert motion is suddenly converted into another form of dynamic motion, and the final result is a complete transformation in the elements affected. The motion only can be detected; the how of the result cannot be. So is it in witnessing the result of cortical brain-action set up aipaong the thought centres by electrical motion. All the microscope can detect is the motion; how the motion is converted into thought is beyond present discovery. But it oc- casions no more mystery, nor ought to be regarded as anything more supernatural or utterly incapable of correlation with the other activities of Nature, than the conversion of electrical action into a new chem- ical substance through the bodies of originally dis- tinct elements. The primal substance and energy of the universe is of course everywhere the same ; but under certain conditions it is differentiated into infinite grada- tions of motion, some of which we call matter and others mind ; some, material activity and others thought; some cortical electrification, and others, reflection and consciousness. Thought, then, is a Cosmic Process; it exists everywhere in Nature. It is the result of the operation of Infinite Energy or Universal Spirit (whichever term you prefer) upon the infinite media of expression that Nature presents. It is, however, no less " thought " in the mineral, because it has not the organism of the plant through which to express itself in the higher form ; nor less is it " thought," save in degree, in the SUBSTANCE, ENERGY, SPIRIT 395 rudely developed animal of the inferior kingdoms, because it must needs express itself through smoother and less convoluted brain substance than man possesses. Nor in the lesser forms of human life, the baser, savage, and imdeveloped human primates, is the brain action other than the same " thought," save only in degree, than what is re- vealed in the cortical activity of a Shakespeare or a Michael Angelo. Nature in all her elements is reducible to one, identical Substance ; and all forms of psychic mani- festation, from the first suggestive irritability of the amoebse to the highest phenomena of thought and spiritual discernment, in earth's profoundest gen- iuses, are but varying degrees of the one, infinite and identical Energy, that actuates and sustains the universe. We have seen above how there is a distinctive material residence in the human body for that phase of the infinite energy which we have agreed to call the Vital Soul of man; that place of the residence is the realm of the countless bioplasts that pervade the entire organism. But we discover that that realm, being as has been shown, the only vitalised and active portion of the entire physical organism, must also be the plane of action on which the so- called Psychic Soul of man must operate. The invisible bioplastic body, then, which as we have already shown is in contour the exact counterpart of the exterior physical frame, is the seat of the human soul, in its two phases of manifestation, namely, as Vital Soul and as Psychic Soul. 396 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY To sum up the thought advanced in this chapter we find that the three phases of Infinite Energy with which we have to deal, namely. Universal Substance, Vital or Animal Soul and Psychic or Spiritual Soul, are all one in essence. We are, therefore, I believe, justified in presenting the fol- lowing conclusions as scientific and logical: The living substance me call bioplasm is the direct, natural product, in all living organisms, of the activity of Universal Substance when specifically energized and transformed by Infiniie Energy. This region of the vital activity, then, the realm • of the bioplasts, is not only the residence of the hu- man soul, but the mediate residence of the World- Soul; it is played upon, not only by the limited activities of animated organic bodies, but indirectly, that is primarily, by the infinite potentiality of the controlling Power of the universe. What conclusions, then, are we justified in draw- ing from these scientific facts, with reference to the soul and its possible future existence ? CHAPTER XXXVI SCIENTinC IliTTIMATIONS OE THE SOUL'S SURVIVAL We have seen that what we call the Soul is, after all, not an indefinable, undemonstrable, and im- possible Something, whose grasp is beyond the realm of rational science. It is the product of definitive forces. These forces are the correlates of the com- mon forces of the physical world. But all forces are indestructible. They can be transmuted into each other but they cannot be annihilated. There- fore the so-called soul-forces are as permanent and indestructible as the physical forces, so-called. But all forces express themselves through the media of material substances. As chemical force is mani- fested in mineral and organic phases of matter, so vital and psychic forces are manifested in the activities and formation of the ultimate or vital substance, known as plasm or bioplasm. Just as chemical force has produced from chaotic and un- differentiated, natural Substance, the various forms of inorganic and organic matter ; so out of the same substance the Vital and Psychic Forces have evolved the physical forms that embody them. We can scar<3ely say that the Substance existed anterior to the Force or that the Force antedated the Sub- stance ; as they are identical and coterminous, they must have always conjointly existed. Or better said, as they are but differentiable expressions of 397 398 MODEEE" LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY the same thing they must ever have coexisted. Therefore the effort of the Idealist to determine that refined energy or spirit pre-existed matter, or that of the Sensationalist, that matter pre-existed energy or spirit, is equally futile and undiscerning. Both have always existed. But this is also true : — As Energy has ever actuated Substance, or, if you please, as Substance has ever manifested Energy (either horn of the dilemma is agreeable to me) there resulted certain specified dynamic forms of expression, which them- selves, by the very reason of the organism through which they operate, became the actuating and con- trolling agent. Once universal Substance is differ- entiated into the force of Vitalism, then that force itself by reason of its own inertia establishes certain resistance to disintegration that insures its organism a certain degree of durability. In the same manner, once Infinite Energy, unpersonified Sub- stance, is differentiated into Psychic Energy, or con- scious thought, volition and reflection, it becomes a distinctive, self-sustaining force that defies the tendency of the lower organism to yield to destruc- tive environment. Hence, we may say without scientific violence, that the inherent or actuating soul, especially in its phase of Psychic Energy, having once established a physical residence for itself, tends to prolong if not perpetuate the material in which it resides. Adding to this the fact that the peculiar material which it has evolved for itself is endowed with the quality of indestructibleness or immortality, we SCIENTIFIC INTIMATIOJSrS 399 witness a combination that may well be supposed to produce marvellous results. There was a timCj perhaps millions of years ago, when infinite Energy first organized those specific forces which constitute the so-called soul of a living being. The generating force or Supreme Energy must have always existed ; hence once the vital and psychic forces (capable of becoming manifest in an organized body of indestructible material-sub- stance), make their appearance, they become per- manent factors in the world-evolution. Why should not such a wonderful power as thai which is capable of transforming lifeless and inert matter into vital^ thinhing, self-conscious sub- stance^ also possess sufficient persistency to extend the duration of the invisible^ yet material, the thinJc- ing, yet purely mechanical, organism, which it ac- tuates, into an indefinite period'? That is the question. This power, however we may define it, having from lifeless substance gener- ated the vital, invisible, howbeit physical, figure of man (which exists unseen within the outer frame, of which man alone is conscious), how can we prove it to be incapable, after the dissolution of the visible body, of moulding anew this invisible substance into finer and more sublimated forms? We must not forget that bioplasm is structureless, and there- fore incapable of chemical analysis^ That it is primarily indestructible, requiring but the proper environment to keep it alive forever. Does the power which the so-called soul possesses give any hint that it may be capable of establishing such an 4C0 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY environment for the organized bioplastic body that it may survive death ? This is the crux of the entire problem. If science cannot help us at this point then it is utterly unavailable in determining the problem of the after-death existence of the human soul. To this problem, then, let us address ourselves. We must recall first that Death is not an original principle of Nature. There is a vague hint at the truth in the Biblical story of the introduction of Death as a secondary event in Nature. " It is a well-known fact to which scientists and thinkers have more than once called our attention that there is no natural death among the lowly organized animals, that stand at the bottom of the ladder of evolution. Moners and amoebas grow and divide; and if they are not starved or crushed to death, they will live and multiply into eternity. The moner which we fish out of a pond of stagnant water for observation to-day, is the same individual or a part of the same individual, that lived aeons ago, long before man appeared upon the earth." ^ Death entered into the world of life after the original amoebic forms developed by fission or by self-division. These self-divided parts of the first forms of life never die a natural death. It is only after the original unorganized forms of life begin to assume sexual qualities, and reproduce by ferti- lization in mutual unions, that death enters on its grewsome course. Therefore the only way we now know for the higher animal forms to continue their 1 " The Soul of Man," P. Carus, p. 398. SCIENTiriC INTIMATIONS 401 existence is through the fecundation of the female organ. The sperm so gestated lives on forever by a repetition of the procreative capacity. Hence in all organized and sexualized forms of life nothing remains of it but the sexual cells, or units of life, that unite in the male and the female to perpetualize the common existence. From this fact we would be led to believe that the invisible, biological form of the body which dwells within its outer framework, which is its only actually living portion, would not survive the dissolution of the outer frame in death; but being unsupported it would with the outer body also starve and pass into nonexistence. It must be admitted that all we can show, in regard to this problem, from the present knowledge of science, is that there is a tendency to prolong the life of the bioplasts^ but whether it will ever be proved that that tendency is a sufficient force to carry the invisible, physical body into a form of life beyond the grave is now a debatable proposi- tion. Here we are forced to be contented merely with speculation, and patiently to await further scientific knowledge. However, there is so much that is suggestive in recent discoveries concerning these small bodies of life that constitute the vital portion of the human body, it may prove helpful to consider them. Darwin made some observations on this subject,^ to which I would call attention. He shows that the countless atoms of life which constitute a living body do not absolutely depend upon the external organism. 1 " Plants and Animals under Domestication." 402 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY for their life-functions and their vital persistence, Whereas we know that the original life-forms, the moners for instance, are absolutely free and live without external conjunction, depending for vitality only on the substance they absorb for food; the organised corpuscles or amo&bse, which associate to constitute a sexualized and highly complex vital body, depend upon their mutual relationship for their own continuance and the persistence of the organism. Darwin says that these myriad vital atoms are themselves sexualized and meet in mutual nuptials within the body, thus maintaining it.^ Whatever force, then, enters the system to vitalise and actuate the functions of these minute living particles (the bioplasts to which we have often referred), it tends, of course, to increase their unions and thus maintain a longer duration of the organised body. Have we reason as yet to assume that these minute atoms of life are not of them- selves so endued with dynamic powers that they may persist by their own nature in spite of a changed or possibly antagonistic environment? That is, can we show any scientific fact that would lead us to believe that these minute organisms may possess within themselves such dynamic persistency as to 1 " It is universally admitted that the cells or units of the body increase by self-division or proliferation, retaining the same nature, and they ultimately become converted into the various tissues and substances of the body. . . , These granules (or gemmules) are collected from all parts of the body to constitute the sexual elements, and their develop- ment in the next generation forms a new being. . . . The gemmules in their dormant state have a mutual affinity for each other, leading to their aggregation into buds or into the sexual elements." " An. and PL under Dom./' p. 370. SCIENTIFIC INTIMATIONS 403 insure their continuance under circumstances abso- lutely different from those in which they now exist ? Could they in short continue to live as organised bodies, to unite in sexual unions and generate en- vironing embodiments, if they were removed from the compact organism in which they were gener- ated? If we can show this, it may lead us to see how possibly the organised bioplasts of the human body, whose existence normally depends on the vital and psychic energies which enter them through the external physical body, might find a means of sub- sistence, when that body is removed. Certain biological facts seem to point in that direction. Darwin hints at the problem here involved by stating that in point of fact it is not the " reproduce tive organs " which generate the new organism, but the gemmules or bioplasts themselves which con- stitute the organic body.^ The persistency of the formative elements (called variously " morpholog- ical units," by Huxley, " bioplasms " by Beale, " plastids " by Haeckel, " gemmules " by Darwin, " biogens " by Max Verworm, or '' idioplasms " by Naegeli), is one of the marvels, if not indeed the great secret, of biological evolution. It stems that they may be removed from the immediate body in which they were generated, and transplanted on another of a wholly different species, and will never- theless develop their own individual characteristics and organs, as they would have done had they re- mained in their normal environment. Darwin " lAn. and PL under Dom., p. 370. 404 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY points out how these vital or formative elements are so strong that often in grafting, the transplanted limb or member will continue in its original form even on an incongruous organism.^ He insists that countless millions of these formative units of incon- ceivably minute size are continually being thrown off from the formed organisms of the body, and that their unions are the cause of the formation of the tissues and organs of the body.^ He assumes that these infinitesimal atoms of life have a peculiarly significant self-persistency, be- cause they are so inconceivably minute and have the capacity of self-multiplication. He argues that " the retention of the free and undeveloped gem- mules in the same body from early youth to old age will appear improbable, but we should remember how long seeds lie dormant in the earth and buds in the bark of a tree." ^ He also insists that these cells or units may continue to live for a long period and self multiply, " without being modified by their union with free gemmules of any kind " ; * and he !/(?., p. 377. 2 " Physiologists maintain tliat each unit of the body, though to a large extent dependent on others, is likewise to a certain extent independent or autonomous, and has the power of increasing by self-division. I go one step further and as- sume that each unit casts off free gemmules which are dis- persed throughout the system, and are capable under proper conditions of being developed into similar units. . . -^ The formative matter which is dispersed throughout the tissues of plants, and which is capable of being developed into each unit or part, must be generated there by some means, and my chief assumption is that this matter consists of minute particles or gemmules cast off from each other unit or cell." Id., p. 371. 8 P. 373. *P. 377. SCIENTIFIC INTIMATIONS 405 evidences this by many facts. He shows, in the first place, that these units may multiply and pro- duce complete organisms without sexual fertilizor tion; thus proving their individual persistency.^ He shows, next, that the formative persistency of these units is so strong, that often amputated mem- bers of the body will grow again, and perfect limbs be produced, where the former one had been.^ Again he shows " the functional independence of the Elements or Units of the body," by enumerating many cases, such as the spur of a cock being inserted into the ear of an ox and lived for eight years and acquiring a weight of fourteen ounces ; the tail of a pig being grafted into the middle of its back reac- quiring sensibility ; a dog's bit of a bone being in- serted under the skin of a rabbit, when true bone developed ; the mammse of a cow being transplanted to the ear of a pig, when they generated lactile fluid that could be extracted; etc., etc.^ He shows further that each independent unit, inconceivably infinitesimal as it is (billions of them probably existing in any one organic body), has its own specially endowed capacity of vital per- sistence, " Whichever view may be correct every one admits that the body consists of a multitude of organic units, all of which possess their own proper 1 " The well- ascertained cases of Parthenogenesis prove that the distinction between sexual and asexual generation is not nearly so great as was formerly thought; for ova, occa- sionally, and even in some cases, frequently, become developed into perfect beings, without the concourse of the male" P. 352ff. 2 P. 353. 3 Pp. 364, 5, 6. 406 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY attributes, and are to a certain extent independent of all others/^ Virchow insists that " every element has its own special action . . . and alone effects the actual performance of duties. . . . Every single bone corpuscle really possesses conditions of nutrition peculiar to itself." ^ These facts then, plainly indicate that the bio- plasts, or primary vital elements, exercise a per- sistency or continuity of their own, and do so even when opposed by disintegrating or permutating in- fluences. But all this being so, we must not overlook one more and very important fact. Even when we have gotten to these minute micro-organisms, which in themselves are endued with individuating and hereditary forces, we have not yet reached the ultimate of vital matter. These multitudinous, in- finitesimal units spring from one original, indivis- ble, undifferentiable source, namely the mother plasm, the primary, invisible, higher than micro- scopical source of all. Whatever is seen under the microscope is still differentiable and is not the last basis of analyzable substance. That is necessarily beyond discovery. It is self -germinating, and self- sustaining. It is structureless, uncomposed of sep- arable substances; but, as its vitalizing energy does not have its source in the decaying body, but within itself, is it an absolute dictum of science that it necessarily dissolves with the decaying external body? iP. 364. SCIENTIFIC INTIMATIONS 407 We must note the further fact that the self-per- sistence of the ultimate vital units is also indicated in the slow process of decay in a dead body. If we look at a tree we observe that it does not die at once ; it dies by slow degrees ; many parts of the roots are often decayed and the interior of the trunk is wholly pulverised with dry rot, yet high above the branches still leaf and fructify. Even after it is chopped down, how long a time it demands for dry- ing and final decease in all its elements. Only bit by bit, tissue by tissue, nerve by nerve, cell by cell, does it depart this life; as if still lingering on to partake of its pleasures which it is loth to relinquish. The same is true of the remains of a once living animal organism whether of man or the lower king- doms. Not only does the body not die at once^ but after the moribund condition has set in it requires sometimes months and years before it finally surren- ders the fortress of life ; but even after the visible manifestation of vitality has gone, the body still lives in many of its parts. So true is this fact that bodies may be revitalised and brought back to life by electrical and mechanical devices, when by the ex- amination of every physiological test known they were pronounced dead. For this reason many peo- ple are doubtless buried partially alive, and no doubt, as has often been proved, have awakened in the coflSn after burial. All this goes to show that something persists with vital energy, even after such energy has ceased to manifest itself in the visible body. What is it that persists and where does it manifest itself ? 408 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY As we have shown, in the analysis previously given, what persists is what we call the vital and the psychic souls. How far they may continue to per- sist in the deceased hody after death is at present of course merely conjectural ; but the fact that they can persist at all after the moment of actual physical decay is itself sufficiently suggestive to awaken se- rious speculation. Nearer and nearer modem science is approach- ing the solution of the problem. I find in a work of which Dr. Gibier, of the Pasteur Institute of New York and formerly associated with Pasteur per- sonally in Paris, is the author,^ he claims that in 1887, during the yellow fever scourge in Cuba, he drew some liquid through the walls of the bladder of a corpse {dead for two hours), into a tube of glass (Pasteur's pipette). With the broken and irregular end of the tube, which had been previously passed through the flame of an alcohol lamp, he lightly scraped the internal wall of the viscus and drew by aspiration a small quantity of the liquid contents. The tube was immediately sealed, and an hour and a half after its contents were placed in liquefied and neutral "gelose,'' which was placed in watch crystals and protected in china vessels. Dr. Gibier claims that after a few days, in the transparent medium of agar-agar, a number of whitish, irregularly shaped pellicles appeared, which were augmented day by day. In short, he claims that this experiment demonstrates the fact that the original living units will, under proper 1 « Psychism," p. 241. SOIENTiriC INTIMATIONS 409 conditions, propagate themselves without contact with other living matter. He was interrupted in the repetition of the experiment and therefore gave it to the scientifical world only tentatively. But it affords a goodly hint of the probable truth. Could this experiment be demonstrated beyond a doubt, and it seems more than probable that it soon will be, it would absolutely prove Darwin's theory of Parthenogenesis, but in a more striking and far-reaching manner than even Darwin himself seemed to foresee. What, then, are the conclusions to be logically drawn from these recent and most startling scientific facts vdth reference to the pos- sible future existence of the human soul ? CHAPTER XXXVII PHYSICAL AND PSYCHICAL IMMORTALITY This essay does Bot pretend to assert that science has yet demonstrated the actual future existence of the soul ; but it does not fear to assert, that if we are to apply our natural reasoning powers to the data which science is speedily furnishing us we are forced to conclude that these data point most effectually in that direction. We are in this work referring only to the physical sciences, such as physiology, histol- ogy, biology, etc., which we have employed in these pages ; as we have intimated we shall have to wait the opportunity of preparing a sequel in which the present argument from the physical sciences will be reinforced by psychological data of recent de- velopment that point almost conclusively to a final solution of the problem. Yet it is never safe to be dogmatic on any scientific solution till it is finally decided by the dictum of Nature. And for that all rational beings will certainly wait in the de- cision of a problem so almost inpenetrable as the existence of life after death. Nevertheless, we do not concede the attitude of certain writers, such as John Fiske, for instance,^ that there is neither room on the one hand for science to enter this field 1 " Miscellaneous Writings," Vol. VIII, p. 72, Houghton, Mifflin ed., 1902. 410 PHYSICAL IMMOETALITY 411 of discussion, for it can by no possibility solve the problem; nor that on the other hand any negative conclusions of science will not invalidate the ground of hope in the immortality of the human soul. I believe that Science will ultimately solve every problem that confronts the human mind and that to despair is to become absurd. So long as life is a phenomenon in Nature it must be amenable to human research' and its origin subject to the knowl- edge of man. If then it should prove to be true that life after death is also a phenomenon in Nature (for there is nothing outside of Nature), then that life, its character, evolution and history, must also be amenable to human research and apprehension. Attending, then, to certain facts already pre- sented and others to be presented let us study their trend and force relative to our discussion. Already we are learning that the conception of mystery as to the origin of human life is being ab- rogated by profound thinkers and investigators, and that it is being put in the category of apprehended natural phenomena. Recent experiments which Dr. Loeb and Prof. Matthews made at the Chicago University and published in the Century Magor zine,^ point effectually in this direction. Prof. Matthews says : " The physical explanation of the phenomena of life will . . . bring us a step nearer the understanding of other life-phenomena, the artificial synthesis of living matter, and the pro- longation of life. There is apparently no inherent 1 March, 1902, p. 792. 412 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY reason why a man should diCj except our ignorance of the conditions governing the reaction going on in his protoplasm." This may be so ; it may be that the proof will yet be forthcoming, as so strongly intimated by Loeb and MetchnikofF, and that we shall acquire such knowledge of the nature and possibilities of the life-giving microbes of the human system, that by intelligent use of our knowledge we may actually prolong the present physical life indefinitely. But should this prove to be true, it must be apparent that we shall then also develop a much more rare- fied and complex organism than the one we now possess, which is subject to constant fear of the ap- proach of death. That will, of course, mean that the inner, invisible organism of infinite vital-atoms will more and more gain on the coarser exterior form, and bit by bit itself become more and more the visible body we occupy. But why may we not also, and as legitimately, conclude that that refined and most extraordinarily complex, but invisible body, which even now constitutes the actual matrix of our outer physical frame, consisting as it does of its own self-sustaining psychic and vital energies, will itself persist beyond the external death, having, by that event, come into an environment more con- genial to its continued evolution ? It may be true, that the entire race will gradually evolve to the exalted physical condition of indefinite vital persistence on this planet, through millions of years or far-reaching seons. But long before the race, as such, will have evolved to this lofty phys- PHYSICAL TMMOETALITY 413 ical state, there will be evidences of individual and extraordinary cases of life-persistency. Gradually so mucli of the race will be permanently preserved as is capable of learning and applying the newly discovered principles of the Science of Life, while those who are ignorant or incapable of utilizing the knowledge that future discoveries may afford them, will perish forever, and permit the more for- tunate or aggressive to survive and become the means of developing the rest of the race. But, pari passu, may not this same argument be applied to the possible persistence of the invisible matrix of the physical framework of life, to which we have so often referred ? May it not be possible that there are certain forces by whose dynamic presence this invisible body is not only now main- tained, but may continue to be maintained to an indefinite period ; and that there may even now be, and for many centuries have been, those who either consciously or unconsciously employed the knowl- edge of those powers, and thus have continued their existence hereafter? Concerning such problems, no man at the present juncture of human knowledge would dare to dogmatise, but it is well to mark the trend of the discoveries that are being made in this direction. There are such forces, undoubtedly ; and to several of these we have referred in the previous pages. But it would be well to look a little more deeply into this subject. So minute are the in- finitesimal particles of which our physical frame is composed, so infinitely graded from the coarse 414 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY and palpable to the most refined and imdiscemible constituencyj that we may well believe we do not yet know all the powers which inhere in their com- position and sustenance. What we have already learned, however, inclines us to think that dis- coveries are being made that may soon prove the absolute self-sustenancy of these constituents, which would argue the almost assured possibility of their continued post-mortem organized existence. We have, the reader will recall, for the sake of convenience, divided the forces that sustain the inner and only vital organisms of ourselves into so- called psychic and vital. These are but two ex- pressions of the same ultimate energy. We shall therefore seek such knowledge of these two forces as present science affords and see what conclusion we may legitimately draw. Virchow, the most eminent histologist of the 19th century asserts that each distinctive original cell- body of the vital organism contains its own peculiar and self-sustaining vital energy. This is a most important initial fact. But now we may ask, what are the specific sources from which each one of these units secures its sustenance? We know that food and air, carbon and oxygen/ are the two supreme essentials of all life. But we find, also, that these minute organisms enjoy a peculiar individual aflSnity for specific organic or inorganic substances, which, when they enter the system, are instantly seized and absorbed by them. The cells of the kid- neys, for instance, attract urea from the blood ; the poisonous substance of various diseases, small pox. PHYSICAL IMMORTALITY 415 scarlet fever, etc., affect certain definite parts and cell-regions of the bodj.^ We witness a most emphatic and dramatic evidence of this unique cellular-affinity in the work of the white corpuscles of the living blood, whose specific business it is to seize and imprison, till it decay, all foreign poisonous substance that enters the system. We here discern a hint of Nature that when we shall find just that peculiar nutriment for all the cells of the body, which they individually require, we shall be able to maintain such equilibrium as shall result in indefinite existence. But at this juncture we must call attention to the fact that the more we investigate the laws of longevity as related to dietetics, we discover that the more refined the body grows, the more of deli- cate and the less of coarse food it requires. The nerves become so sensitive in some that meat be- comes a noxious element rather tlian a food. In others the nerves have threaded out into such in- finitely delicate consistency that a mere milk diet is all they require. Others soon learn to grow fat and wise on two and even one meal a day; till we find some going the length of surviving well on merely two or three meals a week, while we have the ex- traordinary and distinguished example of one (Louis Comaro), who lived to be one hundred and three years old, and who survived for many years on the yolk of a single egg every twenty-four hours. Again we must recall the remarkable, and most revolutionary experiments of Dr. Tanner and 1 " Animals and Plants under Domest./' p. 375. 416 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY George Francis Train, who absolutely refrained from all food for several months, and survived and waxed strong. The suggestion of these facts is that as our physical system grows more and more refined in na- ture, that is, as less and less it depends on the con- scious external body and adjusts itself to the in- terior, invisible centres of life, the longer will we live. But it also suggests that the actual vital por- tion of the body may depend for its sustenance not nearly so much on external nutriment, as Darwin himself, I believe, hints, as on certain and yet mys- terious sources of nutrition, to which we have not access. May we not justly infer that the inward, invisible, vital body depends more on the invisible atmosphere, on the decomposed and rarefied sub- stances, that exist in their elemental conditions all around us ; and that if it could but have unrestricted access to these niitrient sources it would defy the external body and live even after that has expired ? And is it stretching the imagination too far, or taxing the logical possibilities of scientific data, to assert that it seems more than probable, putting to- gether all the facts referred to in the previous chap- ter, that when the cellular organism of the invisible body is released from the visible external frame- work, it will somehow find a secret avenue to these impalpable nutriments of the atmosphere and thus persist in the unapproachable realm of unseen realities ? Thus far, however, we have been regarding merely the vital soul, so-called; the soul whose PHYSICAL IMMORTALITY 417 manifest relationship is physical, howbeit invisible. But we must not forget to pay attention to the other, the psychic soul, far more subtle, sublimate, and inacessible. Here the psychic forces are at play, the forces of thought, emotion, will, reflection, and reason. But above all, here abides the mysterious emperor of the spiritual system which we call the Consciousness. As each morphological unit, ac- cording to Virchow, has its own individual, self- sustaining vital force, independent of all other elements ; why may we not with equal reason assert that each psychological unit has its own self-sustain- ing psychic force, which insures in its own degree the continuance of the psychic unit? We must again recall the slow evolution of the psychic powers, from the primordial cell and tissue soul, of Haeckel, to the highly organized and complex soul of the complete individual. We must not forget that as each of these so-called souls evolved it carried with it its own peculiar psychic powers, grading from mere sensibility or sensitivity, to sensation, from sensation to perception, from perception to represen- tation or consciousness, from representation to re- flection and ratiocination or self-consciousness, it- self built up on the age-developed foundation of a sub-conscious nature that extends even to the begin- ning of planetary life. Now it may easily be seen that the durability of existence in each cell, psychically regarded, will be commensurable with the degree, the quantity and the quality, of the psychic force that actuates it. The psychic cells that evidence only sensitivity or 418 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY irritability will naturally be shorter lived than those that evidence perception and intellection; while those that possess memory, imagination, the formal power of logic, etc., will enjoy a larger degi'ee of persistency than those beneath. When we ascend to the state of self-consciousness we reach a state where the persistency is far more intense and durable than in any of the inferior psychic condi- tions. Therefore we may regard it as a law, that in such cells as are highly developed in the consistency of self-consciousness we may look for the longer and more intense persistency of organic activity. As the individual develops it argues a larger and a more persistent psychic vitality. But here we meet a difficulty. For if each mor- phological unit will continue its soul life in pro- portion to the development of its psychic conscious- ness, then we shall soon have a state of insubordination within the complex body of the cellular commonwealth, which will institute civil war and bombard and disintegrate the vital citadel. This would be true, if it were not for the fact, that as the individuality of the special cells is developed there also develops a commonwealth-consciousness, a central self -consciousness ; and in the highest state of the collective psychic development of the count- less millions of cells that constitute the body, they are held together by the highest attainment of the self-consciousness of the individual. Therefore we may regard it as a law that as the communal-consciousness of the individual cells de- PHYSICAL IMMOKTALITY 419 velops the probable continuity of the cell-organisa- tion is emphasized. " The clearer the self-con- scionsness, the stronger the self-determination in a healthy man, the more independent is his life against all physical influences; while, on the con- trary, a decrease in this oneness of his being, in consciousness, makes him more susceptible to these Cosmic influences." ^ As we have seen, then, the vital soul depends for its strength and functional capacity, as well as for its persistency, on the nutrient substances that sup- ply it. But the psychic soul depends for this state on the accumulating psychic energies that penetrate it, and when it has acquired the supreme potency of self-consciousness, its survival is commensurate with the degree of development of this state. There- fore, if there is a possibility of the survival of the bioplastic or invisible matrix of the physical frame after death, it may be sustained by certain invisible nutrients to us now unknown; and its psychic nature may be continued by the pertinacity of the soul-sustaining self-consciousness of the psychic units. This perhaps is so far as the present known data of science durst legimately go with regard to the stupendous problem of the possible after existence of the soul. I am aware that this is an original de- duction ; for I know of no author who has traversed this ground and from the scientific data accumu- lated drawn the conclusions which I have above 1 Dr. Jno. Mich. Leupoldt, quoted in Raue's " Psychology," p. 326. 420 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY attempted. But I believe any one with an unpreju- diced mind, carefully examining the facts and permitting them to lead him to the necessarily logical deductions which they intimate, will arrive at the same conclusions as are here set forth. The observant reader will already have drawn the deduction that if the argument developed in this volume be true, it ultimates not in the possible demonstration of the immortality of the entire human race; but only in a certain portion of it. And this is true. The continuous future existence of the entire human race cannot be postulated as even a far remote possibility on any scientific data known to the author. Only such of the race as shall have been sufficiently evolved above the lower states of consciousness of animal activity will be able to maintain a self-sustaining individuality. CHAPTER XXXVIII RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION OF THE ARGUMENT I am quite aware that until the argument in this volume is supplemented by that to be given subse- quently, which shall relate to the existence and psychical function of the subconsciousness or the subliminal self, it is incomplete and not wholly convincing. But as the ground is so vast it seemed advisable to divide the discussion into two sections, the one herein set forth, which discusses the nature and scientific interpretation of the Physical basis of the Soul, and one to follow in another volume, which shall traverse the discoveries of modern re- search pertaining to the existence and powers of the Psychic basis of the Soul, or what is now better known as the Unconscious Self. It will be seen from this hint that it is not my purpose to confuse either the physical substance of the soul with its psychical elements or vice versa, nor to substitute the functions of the Soul, as evidenced by its phys- ical foundation or its psychical activities, with what may be apprehended as the Soul per se. This we conceive to be rather the unity of impalpable forces in a super-physical and super-psychical personality, which, resulting from the marvellous machinery Nature has instituted and set in motion for its ex- pression, becomes itself the presiding genius and supreme controlling Force of the instrument. The 421 424 MODEEN" LIGHT 0:N" IMMOETALITY The individual parts are shaped in particular ways and these are at last fixed in their appropriate places. The machine is done but it has never generated an electric spark and one would discover no electricity about it. . . . If the proper kind of energy is spent upon it, however, it at once becomes electrified and electrical energy may now be got out of it in an indefinite quantity. . . . One might speak of the whole machine as an organism — its wood and brass and glass and its molecular composition, its function depending on each one of these being in its proper place, and nothing more. It can only exercise that function when the proper kind of energy is turned into it. If its molecular composition is disarranged in any of a dozen ways no one is surprised that it no longer responds to the turning of the crank. If the. com- plete and perfect machine be called living, then the one with its parts deranged, so that it can no longer perform its functions might be called a dead ma- chine." The eminent professor then concludes that " the solution of every ultimate question in biology is to be found only in physics." But has he not overlooked one factor in the illus- tration? That factor is the intelligent principle which entered into the original invention and con- struction of the electrical instrument. Given all the physical composition of the machine, " wood, and brass and tinsel and tinf oil,'' of what avail are these though lying together in close contact, unless they are arranged in such logical and organic ways as is prescribed by an intelligent apprehension of their respective qualities and potential func- tions ? KECAPITULATION" 425 After allj the supreme factor in the construc- tion of the machine is not that " it has the func- tion to transform mechanical energy into elec- tricity," but the dynamic intelligence which per- vades it and so adapts the component parts of the machine that when energy is applied to it from without the consequent transformation of mechan- ical energy into electricity shall ensue. This too-often overlooked fact constitutes the crux of the problem of life, thought and conscious- ness. It does not confuse the problem one whit, as I have often said, whether we postulate that intelligence is superimposed on the mechanism from without, or that it is a spontaneous energy which springs from the age-long developed machinery of the human or animal organism. The mere factor of intelligence itself, wherever it may come from, must be dealt with as a reality in Nature, and its due place accorded it when we undertake to solve the problem of existence and the human soul. The fact that the principle of intelligence, even though it be itself but a product of seonic evolution, operates throughout the universe, from the minut- est atom to the vastest globe, proves that Nature's methods and functions are orderly and logical ; that this intelligence constitutes the supreme factor in the various formations and transformations of manifest phenomena. Properties, we may admit, are not inherent en- tities; thought, will or even consciousness, may be but the release and reappearance of energy in different forms. All existence and life may, in- 426 MODERN" LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY deed, be but motion, and in strict accordance witb scientific facts these statements are correct. Never- theless, these facts do not warrant the deduction that mind and all its qualities, soul and its infinite potentialities, are but the results of molecular ac- tivities and nothing more. On the contrary they all prove that unless organic forms were so con- structed, unless there were such logical association of material elements, as to make their mutual co- operation a fit instrument for the expression of psychical activities, no such manifestations would follow. As already said, the mechanism reveals three dis- tinctive factors, namely, the physical formation and juxtaposition of its intricate parts ; the motor power, which gives functional value to the mechanism; and, the element of intelligence, that makes possible the creation of the machine and its correct utiliza- tion when formed. The soul of a living being, then, may be construed as the composite of its physical, vital and psychical forces, merged in a super-sensible energy or corv- scious personality, that constitutes the presiding power of the organism. This finds its highest ex- pression in the self -consciousness of the individual : the conscious indivisibility of the personal unit. To present a concrete picture of the argument and conclusions of this work we shall recapitulate, set- ting forth the principles in logical sequence. First: The universe is the expression of the principle of Unity, manifested in the dual prop- erties of Substance and Energy. The ever recur- KECAPITULATION 427 ring dual expression confuses the observer who often ill-advisedly concludes that Nature is there- fore essentially dual. Second: Substance and Energy are not two separate and distinguishable elements, and cannot be differentiated except in the phases of their phenomena. Substance is a mode of motion or energy; energy is the active principle of substance. Substance is static energy; energy is dynamic sub- stance. Matter is that condition of universal energy which reduces impalpable substance to the sensible ap- preciation of living organisms. The apprehension of matter is really but the discernment through the senses of various conditions of energy. These states of energy constitute the infinite vibrations of universal substance. Vibrations which are of such high frequency iJiat they pass beyond the ap- prehension of the human senses constitute the realm of invisible substance. Vibrations that come within the plane of human senses constitute what we call matter, or visible substance. In the last analysis all visible and opaque matter is reducible to invisr ible, transparent substance, or vibrations of energy in a state of high frequency. Third : Matter is apparently conditioned in two opposite states, known as inert and vital. The inert state of matter refers to such conditions as are established by the forces of heat, light, elec- tricity, etc. The vital state to such conditions as are established by what is called the vital force. The presumption that there are many different 428 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY forces is wrong; for they all emanate from but a single, identical, persistent Energy, of which the so-called forces are the various manifestations. The conception therefore that vital force is wholly dif- ferent to the forces of inert matter is also wrong; for by the law of the conservation of energy and the correlation of forces, there can neither be added to nor taken from the sum total of the energy of the universe anything whatever. Hence the form of energy known as vital force is but a correlate of the well known physical forces everywhere mani- fest in inert matter. Therefore in the last analysis there is no es- sential difference, save in the manner of expression, between inert and vital matter. In short, all mat- ter is alive, and potentially susceptible of organic relationship. Fourth: Living organisms are distinguishable from all others by the activity of that special form of the universal energy known as vital force. Vital force reveals itself in organic matter by the capacity of the latter to grow by the absorption of external substance or by assimilation of food. All living organisms consist of two apparently diverse con- ditions of matter, which have been termed " formed or dead " matter, and " unformed or living " matter ; or living and non-living matter. This is a chemical condition which is easily discovered. For, " living " matter is characterised by a tendency to move toward that non-living matter which it de- sires to absorb as food, and change into living matter. KECAPITULATIOlSr 429 The humaii organism consists of the physical, vital, psychical and spiritual forces, all but varia- tions of the One E-nergy that pervades eternal Substance, and transforms it from a diffuse, ethe- real condition into correlates that constitute an organic body. Fifth: Only a comparatively small portion of the organic system is vital, the larger part having been devitalised and constantly growing more so. The vitalising substance known as bioplasm, how- ever, occupies a place in every minutest portion of the tissues and cells of the body ; for there is not a space the thousandth part of an inch but what it contains bioplastic substance; and the bioplastic bodies are so small that they measure in diameter no more than the 500th of an inch.^ Sixth: This bioplasm or vital substance is in- visible, colorless, transparent and only detected under the microscope by the use of certain coloring matter. Yet its arrangement is so completely a duplicate of the opaque visible body, of which we are constantly conscious, that could this outer shell be removed, leaving only the inner, invisible body, we would have a rarefied duplication of ourselves, which if it were phosphorescent and should be over- taken in the dark would be a sublimate semblance of our bodies very much in appearance what people 1 " There is not one portion of a living growing tissue one five-hundredth of an inch in extent in which living mat- ter cannot be demonstrated. ... At every period of life, in every part of the body, separated from one another by a distance little more than the one- thousandth of an inch,, are little masses of living matter." Dr. Brysdale's " Theory >f Protoplasm," pp. 42, 304. 430 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY think a ghost to be. Incidentally, we may say here, that in the supplemental work we propose to pub- lish, it will be shown that this bioplastic substance is indeed phosphorescent; from which fact naturally many speculations may be inferred. Seventh: All the physical forces of the body, that is heat, electricity, chemical affinity, etc., are active in the so-called inert or " formed " matter ; which ceases to possess the quality of growth and is in constant decay, being unable to seize and assimilate nutrient substance. This is the portion of the body that is continually excreting waste matter, which has been utilized and consumed to ashes by the vital force or bioplastic substance. This so-called inert and wasted matter, said to be in a state of death, naturally is not annihilated but returns to its cosmic elements. In this way we are constantly sending back to the primal substance from which we came the elements which for a time abode in our organism; but we are doing so by releasing a portion of the dynamic energy which temporarily was confined to our organic systems. Thus the law of compensation is satisfied and Na- ture maintains her equilibrium. ^^ Yes ; thou shalt die ; but these almighty forces, That meet to form thee, live forevermore; They hold the suns in their eternal courses, And shape the tiny sand-grains on the shore/' Eighth: But the force that we call vital, and the activities that we call psychic, are exercised in KECAPITULATION 431 what is known as vital-substance or living-matter. It is, namely, the transparent, invisible replica of our exterior frames, which as we have seen occupies a thin layer of space throughout the continuity of our organism, just exactly like it in configuration, yet ever invisible on the plane of matter, and constitutes the field where our vital and mental faculties are exercised. Ninth: This invisible duplicate of our exterior frames consists of vital matter that has never known death; it is an immortal substance, having been transmitted to our personal organisms from the first bit of living substance that was formed upon this planet. It consists of deathless plasm, or germinal matter, constituted of millions and mil- lions of infinitesimal cells, each of which has its own independent and self-sustaining vital and mental organism, and has lived myriads of lives and assumed illimitable personalities. Each of us is therefore literally the physical embodiment of millions of individual lives, each of which lived out its own history, and has brought to us the heri- tage of its own ancestral and hereditary influence. Tenth: However, were each of these Uvea or autonomies, absolutely independent, we would not be possessed of an identity, a self-sustained person- ality. If we were therefore merely the result of the association of millions of individual cell-lives, animated by independent vital and psychic forces, we would not possess a personal consciousness. But these millions of cell-lives are so associated that 432 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITT they combine into one great, central head, whicb constitutes their representative nnitj, their vital and psychic solidarity. Eleventh : This spiritual unity is physically caused by the mutual association of the numerous groups of specialized and co-operative cells into a comprehensive commonwealth, through the agency of the great central nervous system of the organism, which holds together, like the presiding officer of a government, the numerous nerve threads and neural branches that spread throughout the entire body. This co-ordinating and centralised nervous system mahes possible the umty of the organic life of a living body and the final consummation of a per- sonal self -consciousness. Twelfth : We have seen that each of these cells as well as the entire combined central system of cells consists of 'its own independent, though cor- related, vital and psychic forces. Therefore the culminating vital and spiritual energies that exist in any living organism are but the sum total of all the millions of cell-lives, vital, psychic, which have come through countless ages into the final totality. Thirteenth: We are now perhaps prepared to attempt a definition of the Soul in its generic and specialized sense. We will recognise the fact that whatever the soul may be its nature actually consists of a union of certain distinctive energies that enter into the formation of all living organisms. These forces we may call material or physical, vital, psychic and spiritual. The physical relate to the correlation of heat, light, electricity, chem- EECAPITULATIOl^ 433 ical affinity^ etc. The vital, relate to those forces that are bent on assimilating non-living substance as food and converting it into vital substance, and again into non-living, devitalised and chemically dissolved waste substance. The psychic relate to the activities of sensation, thought, reflection, con- sciousness, etc. The sum total of all these con- stitute "what we may call the soul of any organism, which approaches more and more toward the con- summation of a spiritual self-consciousness as it rises higher and higher in the scale of evolution from moneron to man. The highest evolution of the soul, as we shall soon show, consists of thai lofty spiritual consciousness, which tends to free the individual from the limitations of the under-souls evolved from, the hereditary cell-life. Fourteenth: We may then justly speak of the amoebk-soul, the cell-soul, the tissue-soul, the group- soul, and all the other souls up to the culminating personal soul, that comes only in the highest species. But these so-called souls as they ascend in the scale of evolution assume proportionally with their higher evolution more and more development of the vital, psychic and spiritual qualities or attributes. From the meanest moneron to the noblest man there is only a variation of degrees in soul-life, but not a whit in essence or nature. The moneron has very little indeed of mentality, only so much as can be apprehended by its minute surface when in contact with external matter, ITevertheless germi- nally it already possesses the possibility of man- kind in its palpitating substance. However, as 4:34: MODEEN LIGHT ON" IMMOETALITT the scale is ascended the higher forms continually throw off more and more of the impedimenta of the lower conditions ; the nervous apparatus grows more and more delicate and refined as the sensibilities and psychic susceptibilities become more exalted. The higher form always comes into possession of something more than it has acquired through the heritage of its associated lower forms; else the child would be precisely like its parents, and there would be no differentiation and consequently no evolution and progress. It is this personal ele- ment^ plus the acquired or inherited qualities, that constitutes the individuality of a being and es- pecially connotes the spirituM soul, which is to be ranked above the psychic, or vital, or physical, or cellular or any other soul of the organic composite- Glimpses of this consummate self, this self that caps the component units with the larger soul en- compassing all, oft comes to man — " Sometimes at waking, always unforwamed, A grace of being finer than himself, That beckons and is gone, — the larger life." Fifteenth: This highly exalted Spiritual Soul, the personal plus above the inherited constituency, is especially evidenced by what we call the Self- consciousness of the individual. We must re- member that the gradual capacity of self-recogni- tion has crawled up through countless ages from the first protoplasmic cell ; from the state of surface irritability, through varying degrees of cellular expansion and nervous involutions ; that is, from in- EECAPITULATION 435 dependent cells to group-cells, from group-cells to twistedj intertwining ganglia, from medullary ganglia to cranial and cortical ganglia, culminat- ing finally in distinctive brain-formations of grey neural substance which are the especial instrumen- talities of the mind. As this marvellous evolution of the complex and intricate mechanism is evolved it is ever accompanied by higher forms of vital, mental and spiritual energies, which conversely are always evidenced in the unfoldment of the more ornate system. But what we are especially to notice is: — Sixteenth: That as the mental and spiritual, the vital and psychic forces wax strong and grow more important they either cause to be evolved^ or by the formation are themselves caused by, more and more refined and complex parts of the organ- ism. The last of these that have been organised late in the ages and only in the brain of man, not in any of the lower animals, is the frontal brain, or the phronema, the especial seat of the power of thought. Not until this organ was developed was self-consciousness distinctively possible to the in- dividual, although it ascended gradually from lower states of consciousness made physically possible by the formation of inferior ganglionic centres, from which the higher brain centre in man finally un- folded. Seventeenth : We have seen, then, that the soul of man is the composite of the physical, vital and psychic forces inherent in the organic solidarity of the infinite lives that constitute his being. We 436 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY have also seen that as he acquires more and more of these forces he evolves a higher and higher personal- ity, which constitutes the plus, or individual spirit- ual soul, of each man or woman. But now we are to recall that we have not only found the origin and nature of the soul, but even its physical seat. For ages, scientists, philosophers, poets and dreamers have conceived of a place in the human organism where the so-called soul might peacefully abide. All sorts of conjectures were ven- tured, till there is scarcely an organ where some ingenious thinker has not caused it to reside. But now in the light of exact and experimental science we are able with much convincing plausibility to state that the seat of the soul has actually been discovered. We must first recall that we have defined the soul as a composite of special forces latent or active in the human organism. The soul is not defined as a thing nor a tangible, distinctive entity; but as the organised unit of certain co-operative forces. But while it is as a whole a composite we may differen- tiate its various natures, as we do those of the in- finitely various cells of the body, by the emphasis it gradually places on certain forces in the higher stages of evolution. For instance, in the first or lowest stages of life-formation, we border on merely the chem- ical ; that point of mergence between catalysis (chemical action) and metabolism (vital-action) where it is impossible to draw the distinction. At that stage the nascent soul may be said to be phya- KECAPITULATION" 437 ical. This soul (namely the activities of the phys- ical forces) continues to exist in the highly organ- ised human system, although most, if not all, the activities have passed into mere mechanical processes of which the central soul has ceased to take cogni- sance. However once, way down in the lowest stages of the path of psychic progress, the soul was chiefly occupied with those f imctions as predominant and supreme. But each higher formation threw off the lower phases of activity in the immediately preceding state, till gradually the soul practically ceased to be a chemical or physical soul, and became a vital soul. Then as the ages came on and passed, the vital soul grew less and less important and sunk more and more out of the consciousness of the organism, till at length the psychic soul, namely the forces of thought and perception, predominated. These commanded attention for ages and ages till higher forces developed, the powers of reflection, reason, ascending from inferior consciousness to superior self-consciousness. And now man rests, the supreme cynosure of the planetary life, crowned with the glory of the lofty and self -controlling self- consciousness of all his attributes. " And it doth not yet appear," what powers may still unfold. It is but reasonable, however, and in perfect keeping with the principles of cosmic evolution to suppose that man has not yet reached the highest culmina- tion of psychic possibilities. This is shown in the fact, Eighteenth: That the specific physical region 438 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY in which all these marvellous activities prevail is precisely that fully as marvellous, if not myste- rious, realm, "we have described as the bioplasmic or essentially vital region. It must be manifest that such highly powerful forces as those that relate to the energies of the life and the mind, must demand some very plastic substance which shall be amen- able to instant impression and elastic responsive- ness. This is the exact nature of that invisible, volatile, unstable, ceaselessly flowing and confluent substance which constitutes the vital texture of the organic system. Here all the forces of the soul, such at least as relate to the vital and psychic energies, are completely exercised. The soul as it ascends with the development of the body from a diversified and scattered state of disunited or semi- united life-units into a central and controlling solidarity, constantly works over, if we may so describe it, this plastic vital-substance, which is viscous, spherical and of closely contiguous tex- ture, shaping it into new moulds and evolving from it ever more perfect and delicately adapted organs for its use. Again, we say, it matters not what interpretation may be put on this function ; whether we say that the psychic forces generate the organic texture, or the delicately developing substance generates the function; the practical fact is that the organ as far as we can detect is developed parallel with the unfoldment of the psychic capac- ity; but that when the capacity is once developed it continues to operate the organ and thus enhances its capacity. EEOAPITULATION 439 This strange fact in Nature may be easily dis- cerned by all closely observing students. We may admit that the function, whether mechanical, in- stinctive, or consciously intelligent, is the direct result of the delicate organism of the physical system, yet once the organised faculty is produced it carries with it a higher function than what was at first occasioned. We have seen in the previous pages of this "work that, by the laboratory experiments of Prof. Loeb and others,"^^vhat is called the instinctive capacities of the lower animals, instead of being, as at first it seems, an evidence of conscious intelligence, ia merely the result of chemical action. As when the larvae are laid on the meaty substance of a carcass rather than on the fat; for the larvae can feed on the meat and not on the fat. Let us grant that this is all so ; and that all the way up the scale of development we discover that the physical apparatus and the chemical reaction are the immediate causes of what seems to be innate in- stinct. Yet do we not see that, accompanying this physically caused function, there is always the ad- dition of a plus-faculty, which crowns the physically instituted capacity, and remains over to build up the distinctive personality and consciousness of the individual ? It is said, for instance, that when mammals give' their mammae to their young, instead of being, as we had so long supposed, the evidence of the lov- ing mother spirit far down the stage of evolution, it: is nothing more than the result of the physical 440 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY necessity of relief, the mother mammal feeling that it can no longer carry the weight of the milk. All this may be true, but it does not cover the ground. Eor, accompanying these basic acts, which may be said to be purely physical and chemical in their nature, there are others that cannot be so accounted for. What, for instance, is the physical or chemical nature of that other spirit of the protect- ing and providing impulse, that comes to the mother mammal, which the natural impulse of selfishness would not permit ? I can best illustrate this by some recent observa- tions I made on some young kittens with their mother cat. It was her first brood; she herself was not much over a year old and was so small we wondered how she could have kittens smaller than herself. She had been a ravenous feeder, and we thought we could never find enough to supply her wants, in addition to her own excellent ability as a mouser to catch whatever prey might be about. She was indeed a little unconscionable gourmand. But she was so gentle and ingratiating in her habits that she won our love at once. When however, the kittens arrived, a marvellous change came over her. Instead of being agile, ac- tive, frolicsome, and most unladylike in her de- portment, she settled down into a sedate and most dignified demeanor. She became so patient and tender toward her young that no demand they could make upon her but she would grant, how- ever burdensome and wearing. All her natural in- stincts seemed to have changed, except her eager- KEOAPITULATION Ml ness to seize prey wherever she could get it. But in the use she made of this natural instinct there was a suggestion that must be puzzling to the mechanical biologists. The use was this : Where- as formerly she was so ravenous she could not get enough to eat, and would fight to seize what she wanted ; now while the same desire to acquire food continued, its appropriation was wholly changed. Now, instead of eating what she got, whether mouse, or bird or mole, she would carry it from no matter how great a distance to her young, call them to her and wait till they had satisfied themselves with so much of it as they wished, before she sweetly and quietly settled down to devour the remainder. This altogether new and human-like quality was evidenced one day in a most emphatic manner. Several days had passed and she had had no raw meat of which she was especially fond. We got some and threw it to her. What followed ? Did she seize and devour it ravenously herself? 'Not at all. She wandered around to her kittens, got them all gnawing on the meat, while she sat by with quiet satisfaction absorbing their delight in making way with the new find. Only when they had gorged their little fat bodies to the full, and could eat no more, leaving indeed only a bone with a few slight snatches of meat on it, did she walk slowly toward it and then settle down to what she had so longed for, a good mouthful herself ! Will the mechanical biologists inform us where, that is from what physical or chemical origin, this loving little mother-cat obtained the noble quality 442 MODEKN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY of self-sacrifice and self-obliteration with its altru- istic effects? This is the fact to which I am referring when I insist that whatever may be the source of the psychic function which is manifested in the physical activities that constitute the basis of a soul, the soul itself is something more than all these; it is these plus a spiritual quality that becomes itself the guiding and controlling principle of the entire organism. Nineteenth: But this pliable and susceptible physical substance, which we have called the seat of the psychic and vital souls, is in itself an immortal substance. It has come from a source that never knew death and it will transmit to future genera- tions its own immortal quality. We have also ob- served that as the psychic forces wax stronger and stronger they manufacture this pliable immortal substance into more and more complex and delicate expressions of its nature; till when the highest present formation of vital organisms has been reached in man they have developed in him a certain organ, constituted exclusively of this immortal sub- stance, which is now known as the distinctive organ of thought or self-consciousness. But we have also observed that as the soul reaches, nearer and nearer to a spiritual solidarity, that is to a personal unity composed of countless individual units, it develops higher and higher states of self-consciousness. In those persons in whom the intensest individuality has been developed, who are less exposed to the dis- sipation of distracting influences than others, and RECAPITULATION 443 have leatned either instinctively or by education how to concentrate on their self-centering sources of reflection, the force of Self-Consciousness has pro- portionally developed. The physical organs which constitute the seat of thought and consciousness have therefore naturally likewise developed, that is grown larger by the enlargement of the constit- uent cells, which have become the registry of the ever-growing conception of individuality, and thus Consciousness has itself iecome a perpetiuiting capacity of the organic system. Twentieth: But the substance on which Self- Consciousness continues to exercise its ever conquer- ing influence is itself of an immortal nature. There- fore, should the capacity of Self-Consciousness de- velop to a sufficiently high potency it carries with it the probability that it might, through the instru- mentality of a higher organised immortal substance, defy the dissolution and final decay of death. As to the argument that this is inconceivable be- cause the vital substance must be constantly fed, and if it has actually passed into invisibility, even though it remain intact at the decay of the exterior frame, it would be impossible to sustain it with food ; we may reply that the demands of nutrient substance for the vital system are even in the present illy informed state of life very variable, some requir- ing but little and some scarcely any at all, as has been proved by numerous experiments. The sug- gestion is certainly not very far-fetched that a body, so refined and delicate as the invisible, uncontami- nated bioplastic framework of the soul, might obtain 444 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY all necessary sustenance out of the impalpable at- mospherOj Tvhen we recall that many who are yet imprisoned in this crude clayey exterior survive on exceedingly small rations, from a single slice of bread, or a handful of "wheat^ or a yellow yolk of a single egg, once in twenty-four hours. However, Twenty-first : There is still an additional physical fact in this connection to be observed. That is, the inherent capacity of self-sustenance in the bioplasmic substance. It has been shown by Darwin and Virchow and others that each cell-life is seK-sustaining and carries its own chemical con- stituency of self-resuscitating forces. Primary cell-life is not dependent on sexual fertilization for reproduction, nor indeed are the primary forms of sexual life. Eeproduction at first is through the instrumentality of the female ovum direct, without the co-operation of the male force. To what ex- tent, therefore, this primitive capacity may con- tinue in the primal substance, each cell of which is naturally deathless and will persist vitally if it is not starved or crushed, is not yet demonstrated and can only be conjectured. The possibility, how- ever, of the self-perpetuation of the bioplastic body, after the vital and immortal substance is freed from the barrier of the external shell of mortified stuff that constitutes the bodily frame, presents a large field for speculation, to say the least. This prob- ability is emphasized by certain recent discoveries. It has been shown that by extracting these vital units from a body dead for several hours, they may be made to develop or prolong their cellular RECAPITULATION 445 existence. As Darwin has shown that the entire living organism is made up of the sexualized co- operation of these infinitesimal units, through whose instinctive union the organism develops, why, then, if these vital units can live and propagate without connection with the external body, as ap- parently proven by Dr. Gibier's experiment, may we not safely surmise that the immortal substance is self-sustaining and perpetuating, and thus con- structs the framework for the soul-life that has been generated and developed in the earthly form ? The soul-life as we have seen is something more than the composite of all the vital and psychic forces that permeate the body. It contains a spiritual prin- ciple of its own, which is especially manifested in what is known as Self-Consciousness. Therefore: Twenty-second : May we not suppose that if the principle of Self-Consciousness (which is the sus- taining and self-centering energy of the soul, the crowning culmination of all the forces that co- operate in the construction and continuity of a human organism), has been in the individual life developed to a suflBciently high degree, it may be able to carry over and hold in organic aggregation such highly developed cells as shall continue to function in conscious activity, after the dead ex- terior has dissolved in thin air ? Who shall say that this supreme force of the Self-Consciousness has not been associated with a newly organised physical organ, existing perhaps but germinally in the now developed frontal brain, or phronema, and which constitutes the invisible, 446 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOKTALITY self-perpetuating residence of the spiritual func- tion ? This possibility is encouraged by receM chemical discoveries. Twenty-third: It is now beginning to be the dream of biologists and physical scientists that death of the human body, as we know it, may not be a natural necessity; and that mankind have died through all these ages merely because they were ignorant of our innate possibilities. If then the perpetual life of a perpetually dying body be re- garded by scientists as a possibility on this rude sphere of existence, why should it be supposed to be an absurdity to surmise that a confessedly death- less body, howbeit invisible and inwoven in a visible and naturally decaying body, may develop a consciousness of itself to such a degree as to be able to actually perpetuate its existence in the in- visible realms to which so-called Death has carried it? The chemical fact to which we refer as intimat- ing the above conclusion is that of fermentation as the actual force of life, and the resulting possibili- ties. The discoveries relating to the physical formation of life activities, or so-called biochemistry, are treading so fast upon each other's heels that almost every day some startling revelation is made. Once it was claimed, and apparently proved by Pasteur, that fermentation was the result of life. Now the exact opposite seems to be proved, Carl Snyder, in Harper's Magazine (November, 1902), KEOAPITULATION" 447 asserts that " tlie sum of activities we collectively call life is a series of fermentations." But what these fermentations (enzymes, zymoses or diasteses) are, science as yet cannot say, Mr. Snyder tells us that some German chemists have succeeded in imitating some of the ferment actions by means of solution of very finely divided metals, such as platinum or gold. This reminds us of a recent report of the dis- covery of an East Indian scientist, who seems to have demonstrated the sensitiveness of metals by tracing their feelings on a carbon paper the same as the feelings or sensations of the nerves in living organisms are traced. By this process he claims to have proved literally that all matter is alive. Another recent discovery of what is called the re- versibility of ferment action has led to some truly startling conclusions. It is foimd that the ferment which splits up starch into sugar and water will, if its action is continued beyond a certain point, join their components together again to form starch. This fact leads Mr. Snyder to the follow- ing conclusion, which is strongly corroborative of what I have just intimated : ^^ It seems to be clear that the condition of growth, whether of a grain of wheat or the germ of a man, is the production, or appearance, of distinctive en- zymes — ferments — at each stage. Cessation of growth must mean the disappearance of lapse in activ- ity of these special enzymes. What we call growing old seems merely a series of destructive fermentations. It 448 MODEElSr LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY is probable that these are present from the hegiiv- ning — that throughout all life there is a struggle, so to speak, between the two; that in some sense, as Pro- fessor Loeb once remarked, death is a physical agent, the material antithesis of life. " If the action of the malt enzymes upon starch is reversible, so is that of the ferments which convert the active tissue, the living protoplasm, into the relatively dead, fatty, or connective, or cartilage, or bone tis- sues — the characteristic, as the great Eussian biolo- gist, Metchnikoff, has shown, of advancing years. As the discovery of the constructive ferments gave at last a clue to a complete account of the whole life process, so to those who have closely and reflectively followed the development of biochemistry the discovery of re- versibility in fermentation may in time disclose the reversibility of the life process: in more concrete phrase, the arrest of death, the prevention of old age, the preservation of youth/' It seems to me that one of two logical conclusions foUovF as the necessary corollary of the theses thus enumerated ; or possibly both are legitimate deduc- tions. First : That "when mankind shall have dis- covered the secret laws that appertain to the art of living, to Nature's own marvellous principles of lif e-sustentation, we shall have overcome the mystery of death and shall continue to live and fructify in the no longer mortal bodies we occupy ; or Second : That there shall be developed in some organisms such a high degree of Self-Consciousness that the physical seat, in which this spiritual func- tion resides and operates, shall be so controlled and KEOAPITULATION 449 integrated that it will be endowed with sufficient strength to continue its organic activities after this mortal coil shall have been shuffled off. Why, indeed, if it seems scientifically possible that the existing mortal frame may, by the assist- ance of higher knowledge, be perpetuated on this planet where death and decay are everywhere evident, shall we declare it impossible and incon- ceivable, that the very organic seat of the vital principle, through whose triumphant persistence, in the struggle for survival, the existing mortal frame of man became a possibility, may itself survive and continue to evolve a more highly complex organic nature ? Why is it not more logically sup- posable that that which gives life to that which is now dying may itself persist after the dead is buried, than to suppose that the now dying shall be made immortal by the persistent indwelling of the naturally deathless body? For the vital, bioplas- mic body is itself innately deathless, and that only dies which it exfoliates. Why then do not all the data of biology, physiology, and the cognate natural sciences con- tribute to the necessary conclusion that Nature has not yet reached her final pause in the logical evolu- tion of her vital forms, and that, indeed, in some such manner as she already illustrates to us in the escape of the winged butterfly from the encasing chrysalis, the deathless, invisible, bioplasmie body within, the real seat of the Soul in all its phases, in like manner shall escape, and, if it shall have become conscious of the secret laws that maintain 450 MODERN LIGHT ON IMMORTALITY its existence, shall prolong its vital functions in invisible realms ? I confess that an argument which at first I suggested tentatively and with much timidity, has grown on me in its development, till as I draw to the close of these pages it appeals to me with convincing force as logical and conclusive. Whether it will appeal with equal conviction to other students and thinkers, of course time alone can tell. CHAPTER XXXIX COITCLTJDING EEMAEKS "We have travelled over a very long and tortuous road of research. Beginning almost with the in- auguration of human thought, at the dawn of civilization, we have attempted to set forth the actual state of the human mind with reference to the oft illusive dream of the immortality of the soul. We have tried to set down all the facts as they are known to history so far as the author had dis- covered them. We found that mere historic re- search helped us but little to reach a final conclu- sion as to the truth of a dream so many long to realize. We learned that what seemed to be an innate aspiration of the soul, untaught by !N"ature and inspired from above, was indeed but the sub- liminal tracing of racial experiences left lingering in the under consciousness of humankind. The aspiration for future existence sprung primarily from disappointment with the present life, and from the vague suggestions that the inexplicable drama of existence afforded the vulgar senses. All this dream fades rapidly in the rising splendor of an age of knowledge and research, when the very bowels of antiquity are upturned to reveal their contents to a curious and peering modernity. History, then, helps us but little to attain a foundation so sure and deep that it can support a 451 452 MODERN LIGHT 01^ IMMOETALITY truth as lofty as that for which humankind so long yearned and by which it so often deceived itself. History has only a disappointing voice when we listen to its dying echoes of man's aspirations in the past. And Philosophy, " sweet as in Apollo's lute," ever alluring, ever disappointing, leads us also but to a vanishing mirage, a phantom fascination, No voice of her sweet resonance reaches us to-day from the porch or academy or grove of ancient Greece, from Egypt's gloomy halls, Eome's stately colon- nades, or even Himalaya's sacred shades, that gives us calm and comforting assurance. Nor Socrates, nor Plato, nor Aristotle, Pythag- oras, Democritus, Cicero, Seneca, or Epictetus, thrills us with eloquence that does not at last die away in the disappointing reverberation of uncer- tainty and dissatisfaction. Nor do even Bacon, or Kant, or Comte, or Spencer, or any other modem light that bums deathlessly in the temple of philosophy, brighten the gloom or send a hopeful shaft of glory into the Stygian deeps of the Vast Beyond, Only in Science do we find a possible relief ; only in Science that so often an irrational and purblind Faith imagined its enemy and forsooth would neither harbor nor excuse. Science, as such, cares naught for faith of any character; yes, for one faith it has respect, that is the faith that inheres in an hypothesis which for the sake of experiment it may tentatively accept. But for that faith which is dogmatic, ignorant and abusive it has neither CONCLUDING EEMAEKS 453 regard nor concern. Yet out of the deep past of mystery, mysticism and delusion, secluded from the popularity of religion, or the charms of phi- losophy, alone and exclusively has it challenged the Sphinx of the ages, and apparently solved a prob- lem, after its own fashion, which had not else- where even a hope of respectable investigation. Not that Science, to-day, asserts that she has proven or disproven anything concerning the after life of man. With that problem she has had nothing to do; she has indeed tabooed it because it had been entertained in the house of such friends as were only her enemies and confiscators. Yet, unwittingly, without design. Science has furnished the thinking world with certain data which while doing no violence to logic may be util- ised in formulating a more rational and intelligent conception concerning the possibilities of the after life than man has ever been permitted to entertain in all the past. We said at the outset of our investigation we would fearlessly follow the truth wherever it might lead us; we have not attempted to shirk or close the eye to what seemed to be a fact that would op- pose the desired discovery of the race. We had looked only for truth; we believe the truth has led us into an interpretation of a possible future which adds more lustre to the hope of the Here- after than has ever before been rationally burnished upon it. But we are only too well aware that what is known as the authoritative scientific world will in all probability reject the " fine fabric '' of logic 454 MODEEN LIGHT ON IMMOETALITY which "with possibly too much conceit we may have attempted to weave. Yet we present it for what it is worth waiting only for the judgment of Truth herself. Written with a sense of conscious sincerity we feel as we look into the heart of Nature for a re- sponsive word of reassurance, something perhaps as Wordsworth when he wrote: '* The clouds that gather round the setting sun Do take a sober coloring from an eye That hath kept watch o^er man's mortality ; Another race hath been and other palms are won. Thanks to the human heart by which we live. Thanks to its tenderness, its joys and fears, To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." INDEX INDEX "Acts of Apostles," Chrysos- tom on, 190. Affinity in micro-organisms, 296. Alger, Dr. William R., quoted, 78, 98, 160. Allen, Grant, on intelligence in animals, 282, 283, 284. Amputated limbs, grown again, 405. " Anacalyptus," The, quoted, 92, 100. Anaximenes, on nature of matter, 230. Ancestor worship among Jews, 141, Ancestor worship among N. A. Indians, 30. "Animals and Plants under Domestication," quoted, 415. " Animal Intelligence," Ro- manes, quoted, 283. "Anthropology," Tylor, quot- ed, 29, 30, 60, 119, 120. Apis, worship of, 90. Aristotle, on human soul, 70; on substance, 235 j on seat of soul, 272. Arminius, referred to, 227. Atom, the, 230; and corpuscle compared, 385. " Avesta " and immortality, 97. Bain, Alex, quoted, 70. Beale, Dr. Lionel, quoted, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 348, 350. Becquerel, Prof., recent ex- periments, 260. Berkeley, Dr., quoted, 243. Bible and Iliad, contrasted, 67. " Bible Myths," Doane, cited, 170. " Biology," art. in Ency. Brit, quoted, 324; Spencer's, quoted, 298. Bioplasm, as product of min- eral energy, 396, defined by Beale, 340, 341, 342, 403. "Bioplasts," 347, 368 j per- sistency of, 406. Body, invisible, 366, ff, Boltzman, quoted, 264. Bo8i30vitch, referred to, 257. Bose, Jagandi CJhunder, quoted, 264. Brain and consciousness, 322, Breath and Soul, 69. Bridge, between chemical process and psychic life, 279. Brownlow, " Slavery and Serfdom in Europe," quot- ed, 48. Bruno, Giodarno, quoted, 242. Biiehner, quoted, 248, 262, 290, 291. 457 458 INDEX " Canon of Shun," quoted, 31, CaruB, Dr. Paul, quoted, 400. Gasimir, Polish poet, quoted, 73. Catacombs and future life, 217, 218-219; and story of Kesurrection, 212, by With- row, quoted, 213. Caves, as first sepulchres, 136; of primitive Jews, 135. Cell, a machine, 307 ; life of, independent of organ- ism, 401. Cells, possess independent source of life, 414. Centrosome, 306. Century Magazine, quoted, 411. Chaung Tse (Butterfly Chaung), quoted, 38. Chemical affinity and intelli- gence, 300. Chemistry, anticipated by Confucius, 37. Chinese, and future life, 32, and spiritism, 33 ; " Lit- erature," Giles, cited, 40; purgatory, 39. " Chips," cited, 103. " Christianity and Greek Philosophy," Crocker, quot- ed, 230. Christianity and Roman slavery, 47. Chrysostom, St., on the "Acts,^' 190. Clarke, " Ten Great Eeli- gions," quoted, 58. Clemens, Alexandrinus, cited, 165; on "Mysteries," 196. " Clementine Homilies,'"^ quot- ed, 192. Comme, cited, 121. Commonwealth-ConBciousnesSy 418. "Comus,'* quoted, 113. Conaro, Louis, referred to, 415. Conditional immortality, 420. Conception of immortality and national idiosyncrasies, 57. Confucius, ideas of soul, re- ligion, etc., 31, 37. Conn, W. H., quoted, 307, 308, 309, 379. Consciousness and brain proc- ess, 322; and motion, 391; and nervous system, 370; and psychic soul, 417. Cook, Joseph, quoted, 315. " Critical Examination of Gospel History," cited, 191, 193. Crocker, Dr. B. F., quoted, 226, 230. Cromlechs, described by Du Chaillu, 75. Crookes, Prof. William, quot- ed, 249, 252, 253, 365. Crucifixion and Paul, 205. Crystal formation compared with cell-growth, 297. " Cyclopedia of Theological Lit.," quoted, 273. Dalton, on matter, 251. Darwin, quoted, 281, 286, 293, 343, 367, 370, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405. Dastre, Prof., quoted, 269, 260. Davy, referred to, 253. Death, and Resurrection of Jesus forefigured in my- thology, 159 ; coincident with sex formation, 400 ; not INDEX 459 a natural necessity, 446, 447, 448; not an original principle in nature, 400; slow process of, 407. Democritus, on matter, 251. Descartes, on mind and body, 244; on seat of soul, 273. " Descent of Man," quoted, 90, 286, 287, 293. Determinant force in proto- plasm, 376. Diodorus, quoted, 88, 89. Diogenes, on essence of nature, 229. Dionysian mysteries and Paul, 161. Dictation and longevity, 415. Doane, "Bible Myths," quot- ed, 170. Dolbear, Prof., quoted, 243, 423. Donaldson's " Growth of Brain,'' quoted, 381, Draper, Dr. J. W., quoted, 316. Druidic religion, 80 ff. Drummond, on bridge between spiritual and natural, 311. Drysdale, Dr., quoted on pro- toplasm, 429. Du Chaillu, on cromlechs, 75. Du Bois-Reymond, quoted, 239; on consciousness, 391. Dynamic intelligence, 424. Eastee, Jewish, and Resur- rection Day, 216. Egg cell, 296, and soul, rela- tion, 297. Ego, definitions of, 272. Egotism and immortality, 20. Egyptian divinities, 86; idea of metempsychosis, 59. Elbe, Louis, on future life, 25, 76. Electricity and nervous ener- gy, 379, and thought, 392. Eleusinian mysteries and Plu- tarch, 169; and Pindar, 171; Dr. Ramsay on, 168; secret doctrine of, 153; and Paul, 163. " Emanations " in Parsee re- ligion, 98, 99; Saint Justin on, 100. Embryology of soul, 358. Encyclopedia Britannica, re- ferred to, 74, 154, 168, 324, 333. Energy and bioplasm, 396 ; and soul, 313, 388; and spirit, 384; and substance, interaction between, 398, 427. Essence of Nature, ancient conception, 229. " Evolution of Immortality," quoted, 27, 30. " Evolution of Man " (Haeck- el), quoted, 281, 343; Evolution of primitive belief in future life, 34. " Expressions of the Emotions in Man and Animals," quot- ed, 281. Eye, as the soul, 72. Eabee, experiments with the sphex, 285. Farraday, on elemental sub- stance, 253. Feeling in matter, 302. Fermentation and life, 447. Fertilization and procreation, 405. Fichte, I, H., on nature of 460 INDEX soul, 277; J. G.J on nature of soul, 277. Ei j ians, conception of after life, 29. Fiske, John, cited, 410. FlcBchig, Paul, quoted, 371. Flesh, immortality of, 345. " Folklore and Ethnology," Gomme, cited, 121. Forbes, James, on " emana- tions," 100; quoted, 280. " Force and Matter," Buch- ner, quoted, 248, 262. Fouile, M., cited, 259. Frohschammer, on Ego, 272. Future Life and Brahmans, 41, 44; Louis Elbe quoted on, 25, 76; evolution of primitive belief in, 34. Future state of soul, 133. Garbe, quoted, 61. " Gemmules," defined by Dar- win, 343, 403. Germ-plasm, immortality of, 345. "Germ-soul," Haeckel, 358. Ghosts, primitive fear of, 117. Gibier, Dr., quoted, 408. Giles' " Chinese Literature," quoted, 40. "Gorgias," quoted, 115. " Gospel According to Dar- win," quoted, 288. Gough, A. E., cited, 60. Grecian belief in individual soul after death, 105. Grecian conception of future state of soul, 127. "Growth of Brain" (Donald- son), quoted, 381. Guillamme, M. Charles Ed- ward, quoted, 264. Hades, Ishtar's descent, 93, 94. Haeckel, quoted, 258, 261, 275, 281, 297, 299, 309, 310, 318, 319, 328, 334, 335, 339, 343, 347, 351, 352, 357, 360, 362, 364, 367, 370, 371, 392, 403. Harper's Magazine, quoted, 386, 447. Hebart, on the Ego, 272. Heraclitus, of Ephesus, on es- sence of matter, 229. Herodotus, quoted, 77. Hesiod, on future state of soul, 127. Higgins, Godfrey, cited, 92, 101. Hindu conception of metemp- sychosis, 59. Hippocrates, on seat of soul, 272. " Historians' History of the World," quoted, 50, 51. " History of the Doctrine of Immortality," quoted, 78, 160. "History of Rationalism " (Lecky), quoted, 33, 213, 214. Horses, how they fight enemy, 287, 288. Human characteristics of ma- chines, 263. Hutchinson, Dr. Woods, cited, 288. Huxley, quoted, 243, 244, 245, 324, 333, 349, 353, 403. Idealism and Huxley, 245. Idealist, 229. Idioplasms, 403. Iliad, The, and Bible, con- trasted, 67. INDEX 461 Immanence of God, 227. Immortal substance, seat of soul, 442. Immortality and " Avesta," 97; and Jesus, 45, 46; and egotism, 20 ; and science, 453, 454. Immortality, conditional, 420; doctrine of by Paul, 152 ff ; of germ-plasm and flesh, 345 ; of Soul, by Moore, 241 ; physical probability of, 412; Plato's argument for, 236. Individual consciousness, in Chinese Faith, 38. Individuality of soul, 105. Inert matter, 427. Instinct and intelligence, 293. "Intellectual System" (Cud- worth), quoted, 240. Intelligence and chemical af- finity, 300 ; and instinct, 293; dynamic, 424. Intuition, product of utility, 299. Ionic school, on the atom, 230. Isaiah, on individual salva- tion, 148. Ishtar's descent to Hades, 93, 94. James, Prof. William, quoted on the soul, 321. Jesus, and kingdom of heaven, 175 ff ; and immortality, 45, 46 ; and Persephone, 159; on marriage and di- vorce, 182. Jewish Eneyclopsedia, quoted, 142, 149. Job, quoted, 133, 141, 143, 144. Journal of Oriental Society, quoted, 41. Jowett, Dr., quoted, 105. Judgment Day, origin of con- ception, 149, Justin, Saint, quoted, 100. Kant on the Ego, 272. Keary, " Primitive Beliefs," cited, 125. Kelvin, Lord, on matter, 257. Kennedy, Prof. Rob't Duncan, quoted, 254. Kingdom of Heaven, meaning of, 175 ff. Kropatkin, Prince, referred to, 288, 290. Kussmaul, cited, 319. Lamb of God, altered to figure of man, 216. Lao Tse, quoted, 38, Lecky, "History of Rational- ism," quoted, 33, 213, 214. Legge, on Chinese beliefs, quoted, 33. Leibnitz, quoted, 257. Leupoldt, Dr. John Mitchel, quoted, 419. " Light," meaning of in " Mysteries " and Gospels, 194. Life and fermentation, 447; not property of protoplasm, 308; in matter, 328; and mechanism, 308 ; persist- ency of in cell-conscious- ness, 443; "Life of Mat- ter," quoted, 259; physical basis of, 314. 462 INDEX Life-cell and consciousnesa, 418 flf; and psychic force, 417; transplanted to for- eign organisms, 403. " Life, Correspondence and Ethics of Spinoza," quoted, 274. Limbs, amputated, grown again, 403. " Living matter " defined by Beale, 33; and not living matter, bridged, 352. Living organisms, how distin- guished, 428. Lodge, Sir Oliver, quoted, on electrical nature of matter, 253, 257, 386. Loeb, Dr. Jacques, quoted, 265, 300, 411. Longevity and Dictation, 415. " Love Among Beasts " (Biichner), quoted, 291. Lucretius, quoted, 257- Lubbock, Sir John, quoted, 285. Lundy, Dr. (" Monumental Christianity ") , quoted, 170. Luther, Martin, referred to, 227. " McClintock and Strong's Encyclo. of Religious lit- erature,*' quoted, 273. McConnell, Dr. S. D., quoted, 27, 30. Machines, human characteris- tics of, 263. Malays, conception of after life, 29. Manes, on God as "light," 194. Marriage and divorce, Jesus on, 182. Matter, and mind essentially one, 337 ; mergence of in mind, 305; as ethereal vi- bration, 252 ; " Matter, Ether and Motion," quoted, 243, 423; electrical nature of, 386; feeling in, 302; inert, 427; nature of, an- cient conception, 230, 231, 239, examined by various authors, 257 ff; mind in, 267; living and not living bridged, 352; life in, 328; transmutation of, 254; vi- tal, 427. Matthews, Prof., referred to, 265, 411. Maxwell, Sir William, quoted, 282. Mechanism and life, 308. " Memoirs of the Months," quoted, 282. " Memorabilia " ( X e n o - phon's), quoted, 233. " Messenger of Satan," mean- ing of, 188. Metabolism, 436. Metehnikoff, referred to, 412. Metempsychosis, 59 ; sup- posed origin of, 61; Vol- taire's idea of, 63. Mill, J. S., letter to Herbert Spencer, 291. Mind and matter, mergence of, 305 ; essentially one, 337; mind of child, 319; in animals ( Bttchner ) , 291; in matter, 267. Mithraic "Mysteries," 170. Modhi, Jinandii, quoted, 97. Mohl, Hugo, referred to, 338. Momsen, quoted, 194. Moners, immortality of, 400. INDEX 463 Monism, schools of referred to, 268. "Monist, The/' quoted, 151. Monists and Plato, 235. " Monumental Christianity," cited, 170. Moral qualities in animals, 290, 291. More, Henry, quoted, 241, " Morphological units/* 403. Motion and thought process, 393, 394. Mother spirit, whence de- rived, 440. Mount Ranier, poem on, 102, 103. Miiller, Max, on Brahmanic faith in future life, 41 ; " Psychological Religion," quoted, 44. " Mummies," and return of soul, 78. "Mutual Aid/' Prince Kro- patkin, referred to, 288. " Mysteries," Strobseus on, 162. Mystical union with Christ, 199. Naegeli, Carl, 259; on mind in matter, 261, 403. National idiosyncrasies and conception of immortality, 57. "Natural Law in Spiritual World," quoted, 311. Nature, unity of, 269. Nazarene sect and Paul, 164. Nerves, mechanism of, 266. Nervous energy and electric- ity, 379. Nervous system and conscious- ness, 370. " Neuroma," or thought or- gans, 392. " New Conceptions in Sci- ence," quoted, 251, 261, 267. Newton, Sir Isaac, on nature of matter, 257. Nicarauguans, conception of After Life, 29. Noll, quoted, 348. Nutrition, mysterious sources of, 416. O B a A K I c and inorganic, bridged, 311. Organic life, unity of, 432. Organisms, living, how distin- guished, 428. Organization, medium of soul life, 355, 356; prophecy of survival, 361, 369. " Organs ; Sensation and Structure of Sensiferous " (Huxley), 245. "Oriental Memoirs" (James Forbes), quoted, 279. Osier, Dr., on science and im- mortality, quoted, 346, 348. Paesees, faith explained, 97. Parthenogenesis, 405. Paul and doctrine of immor- tality, 155 ff; and Eleusin- ian "mysteries," 163, 171; and Diogenes, 161; and Nazarene sect, 164 ; and Philo, 166; as a clairvoy- ant, 195; on mystical union with Christ, 199; on " Preaching of the Cross," 203 ; journey to Arabia, 161 ; responsible for doc- trine of Crucifixion and the Resurrection, 205 ff. 464 INDEX Persephone and Jesus, 154. Peter, and Paul, cause of quarrel between, 190 ; as " Messenger of Satan," 189. Petronius, quoted on Egyptian divinities, 86. Pflegler, on origination of life, 261. Philo and Jesus, 211 ; and Paul, 167. " Philosophy of India," Gabbe, quoted, 61; of Upanishads, cited, 61. Phronema, organ of thought, 380. " Physiology," Draper, quot- ed, 316. " Piedrahita," quoted, 71. Pindar, on Eleusinian Mys- teries, 171. " Plants and Animals Under Domestication " { Darwin ) , quoted, 343, 367, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405. " Plastids," 347. Plato, and modem Monists, 235; argument for immor- tality, 236; on soul, 107; " Republic," quoted, 109, 111, 112, 234; "Gorgias," quoted, 116. Plus quality of soul-organ- ization, 355. Plutarch, on Eleusinian Mys- teries, 169. Porter, Dr. Noah, " Intel- lectual System," quoted, 240. " Preaching of the Cross," doctrine of, 203. Preyer, cited, 319. Primitive belief in future life, 34. " Primitive Beliefs," Keary, cited, 125. Primitive conception of de- scent from animals, 90; of immortality, 28 ; of sur- vival of soul, 35, Procreation without fertiliza- tion, 405. Protoplasm, seonic history of, 376; determinant force in, 376; Dr. Beale on, 338, 350; homogeneous, 374. Psychic, energy, 364, 368 ; life and chemical process, 299; force and life-cell, 417; mat- ter, 364; origin in sex-cells, 298 ; soul and conscious- ness, 417, 390. •*Psychism" by Dr. Gibier, quoted, 408. " Psychology," by James, cited, 321; Kaue, 391, 419. " Psycho-physiological Studies of Protists," quoted, 299. Purgatory, Chinese, described, 39. Pythagoras, influence of in Grecian philosophy, 44. Eadiant matter, 249. Eae, Dr., quoted, referred to on animal intelligence, 283. Ramsay, Dr., quoted on Eleusinian Mysteries, 168, 257. Raue, " Psychology," cited, 391, 419. "Republic" of Plato quoted, 107, 234. " Resurrection," and Cata- combs, 212; and sepulchres, 76; and Paul, 205; -Day and Jewish Easter, 216; IISTDEX 465 silence of history concern- ing, 211. " Reveu des deux Mondes," quoted, 25^, Reward in Heaven and Paul's exposition, 197. " Riddle of the Universe/' Haeckel, quoted, 296, 309, 318, 328, 335, 357, 362, 364, 370, 371. Rig Veda, The, passages from, 43, 44. Roman slavery and CJhris- tianity, 47. Romanes lectures. Sir Oliver Lodge, quoted, 253. Romanes on " Animal Intelli- gence," 283. Roth, on Vedas in " Journal of the German Oriental So- ciety," quoted, 41, St. Augustine, on Imma- nence of God, 227. " Science and Immortality," Osier, quoted, 346, 348, 453, 454. Scientific basis of soul's sur- vival, 359. Scientific method and Soc- rates, 232. Seat of the soul, 271, 272, 395. Secret doctrine of Eleusinian Mysteries, 153. Self-consciousness and persist- ency of life, 418, 443; bond of eell-Iife, 418; men- tal achievement in evolu- tion, 435. " Sensation and Structure of Sensiferous Organs," quot- ed, 245. " Sensationalist," 229. Sexual function in cell life origin of death, 400. " Shade » a,iLd soul, 69. Shelley, quoted, 124. Shirt of Nessus, legend ex- plained, 123. Silence of history on the Resurrection, 211. Slavery as a Christian insti- tution, 54. Snyder, Carl, quoted, 251, 446, 447. " Sociology," by Spencer, quoted, 68, 71. Socrates and scientific meth- od, 233; founder school of Idealists, 234. Soul: and "breath," 69; and energy, 313, 384, 398; and human eye, 72; and organ- ization, 355, 356, 369; and spirit, 388; and primal cell, relation between, 297 ; Aristotle on, 70; definition of, 321, 322, 436; embryolo- gy of, 388 ; evolution of, 318 S; future state of, Grecian conception, 127 ; germ of in primal sub- stance, 270; idea of trans- migration, 77; independent of body, 316; interpreta- tions of, 309, 310; nature of, 240, 277 ; of mineral and plant, 299; original defini- tion of, 330; Plato on the, 107 ; primitive conception of survival, 35; physical seat of immortal, 442; plus quality of thorough organ- ization, 355; primitive con- ception of survival of, 35; 466 II^DEX relation to spirit, 305 ; seat of, 272; acientific seat of, 395 ; supremacy of, 421 ; survival, scientific basis of, 359; Zulu's idea of, 29. Souls, hereditary and spirit- ual, 434 ; gradations of, 433; of new-bom children, Kussmaul, 319. Spencer, Herbert, letter to Mill, 291; quoted, 298, 374. Sphex, the, experiments with, 285. Spinoza, quoted on seat of soul, 274 ; on universal sub- stance, 334, 335. Spirit, and energy, 384; and soul, 388; relation to soul, 305; tablet of, Chinese, 34. Spiritism among Chinese, 33. Spiritual soul, its place and evolution, 434. Spontaneous generation, 261. Stanley on Catacombs and fu- ture life, 217 ff, cited, 148. Stewart, quoted in Biichner's " Force and Matter," 249. " Story of Living Machine " (Conn), quoted, 307, 308, 309. Strobseus, quoted, on Egyptian divinities, 162. " Studies in European His- tory " ( DoUinger ) , quoted, 54. Substance, and energy, 427; essentially unitary, 336 ; universal, 334. " Supernatural R e 1 i g i o n," quoted, 192, 206. Survival, primitive conception as proof of immortality, 22. "Ta Hid," quoted, 37, TanneX; Dr., referred to, 415, Taoism, compared with Chris- tianity, 32. " Ten Great Religions " (Clarke), quoted, 58. TertuUian, on Mithraic Mys- teries, 170. Thales, of Miletus, on essence of Nature, 229. " Theistic Conception of the World" (Crocker), quoted, 226. " Theory of Protoplasm " (Drysdale), quoted, 429. Theology and Science, oppo- site conceptions of Nature, 222. "The Responses of Matter" (Bose), quoted, 264. " The Senses of Animals," quoted, 285. "The Soul of Man" (Carus), quoted, 400. Thirlwall, on Grecian ghosts, 67. Thought and Motion, 333; as cosmic process, 394; as elec- trical process, 392; organs, or neuroma, 392. Thiele, C. P., quoted, 94. Train, Geo. F., experiments in fasting, referred to, 416. Tree-worship cult, 82. " Triumph of Truth and Doom of Dogma," cited, 215. Tylor's " Anthropology," cited, 29, 30, 60, 119, 120. Unity, of organic life, basis of, 432; of Nature, 267. Utility and moral intuition, 292. INDEX 46Y VEDAznno philosophy, 252. Vedas, quoted, 42. Verworm, Max, quoted, 299, 403. Virchow, quoted, 261, 406, 414, 417. Vitalism, inertia of, 398. Vital matter, 427. Vital soul, 390. Voltaire, on metempsychosis, 62, 63. Watson's " Institutes," quot- ed, on immortality, 23. Willis, Thomas, quoted, 272; " Life, CoireBpondence and Ethics of Spinoza," quoted, 274. Withrow's " Catacombs," quot- ed, 213. "Wonders of life" (Haeck- el), quoted, 258, 259, 319, 339, 342, 343, 367, 392. Wordsworth, quoted, 21. Worsinsky, Abbe, on resur- rection, 76. Xxnofhon's " Memorabilia, quoted, 233. Yu Li Ch'ao Chaun, quoted on Chinese Purgatory, 39. >;».£* i-fr*. > t; I r li S-iKi; J-fi^