Page:The World Beyond.djvu/13



HE subject of immortality is one of surpassing interest. There are few topics which can more profitably engage our thoughts, for a time at least, than this. The vastness of the theme almost appals us. The wide field over which it spreads, the numerous questions which present themselves, the many problems seemingly so difficult which it involves, produce a state of mind which seeks relief, not always in skepticism, but frequently in absolute denial.

Yet a belief in the soul's immortality is the rule; doubt and denial, the exception. Skeptics say that there are no proofs. Believers assert that the evidences are manifold and overwhelming. Infidels affirm that the wish is father to the thought. Christians declare that it is an almost universal sentiment: true, because it is inborn; not to be doubted, because it is a need of human nature; certain, because it is a matter of Divine revelation.