Page:Right and Wrong Unveilings of the Spiritual World.djvu/15



A belief in a life after death is universal. It is found among tribes which have no written revelation, as well as among all others. It may in part be due to a tradition handed down from an ancient revelation, and partly perhaps to what are now known as supernormal experiences. But back of all this there must be something which, for lack of a better term, we may call the "instinct of immortality."

But this instinct is not enough. It often at- tends the grossest superstitions and immoralities. Divine revelation is needed for its guidance. While revelation cannot rise very far above the conditions of the people who receive it, still it has always contained ideal teachings in advance of their conditions, which have served to preserve their spiritual life until a new revelation, better adapted to those conditions, could be given.

Divine revelation always contains two distinct features. It involves, first of all, more or less of an opening of the unseen world before the senses of the Revelator. And, again, it involves