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diff --git a/30876-8.txt b/30876-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fad541a --- /dev/null +++ b/30876-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1448 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Eternal Life, by Henry Drummond + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Eternal Life + +Author: Henry Drummond + +Release Date: January 6, 2010 [EBook #30876] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ETERNAL LIFE *** + + + + +Produced by Michael Gray + + + + +Eternal Life + + + By Professor + Henry + Drummond + + +Philadelphia +Henry Altemus + + + +Copyright 1896 by Henry Altemus. + + + +ETERNAL LIFE. + +"This is Life Eternal--that they might know Thee, the True God, and +Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent."--_Jesus Christ_. + +"Perfect correspondence would be perfect life. Were there no changes in +the environment but such as the organism had adapted changes to meet, +and were it never to fail in the efficiency with which it met them, +there would be eternal existence and eternal knowledge."--_Herbert +Spencer_. + +ONE of the most startling achievements of recent science is a definition +of Eternal Life. To the religious mind this is a contribution of immense +moment. For eighteen hundred years only one definition of Life Eternal +was before the world. Now there are two. + +Through all these centuries revealed religion had this doctrine to +itself. Ethics had a voice, as well as Christianity, on the question of +the _summum bonum_; Philosophy ventured to speculate on the Being of a +God. But no source outside Christianity contributed anything to the +doctrine of Eternal Life. Apart from Revelation, this great truth was +unguaranteed. It was the one thing in the Christian system that most +needed verification from without, yet none was forthcoming. And never +has any further light been thrown upon the question why in its very +nature the Christian Life should be Eternal. Christianity itself even +upon this point has been obscure. Its decision upon the bare fact is +authoritative and specific. But as to what there is in the Spiritual +Life necessarily endowing it with the element of Eternity, the maturest +theology is all but silent. + +It has been reserved for modern biology at once to defend and illuminate +this central truth of the Christian faith. And hence in the interests of +religion, practical and evidential, this second and scientific +definition of Eternal Life is to be hailed as an announcement of +commanding interest. Why it should not yet have received the recognition +of religious thinkers--for already it has lain some years unnoticed--is +not difficult to understand. The belief in Science as an aid to faith is +not yet ripe enough to warrant men in searching there for witnesses to +the highest Christian truths. The inspiration of Nature, it is thought, +extends to the humbler doctrines alone. And yet the reverent inquirer +who guides his steps in the right direction may find even now in the +still dim twilight of the scientific world much that will illuminate and +intensify his sublimest faith. Here, at least, comes, and comes +unbidden, the opportunity of testing the most vital point of the +Christian system. Hitherto the Christian philosopher has remained +content with the scientific evidence against Annihilation. Or, with +Butler, he has reasoned from the Metamorphoses of Insects to a future +life. Or again, with the authors of "The Unseen Universe," the apologist +has constructed elaborate, and certainly impressive, arguments upon the +Law of Continuity. But now we may draw nearer. For the first time +Science touches Christianity _positively_ on the doctrine of +Immortality. It confronts us with an actual definition of an Eternal +Life, based on a full and rigidly accurate examination of the necessary +conditions. Science does not pretend that it can fulfil these +conditions. Its votaries make no claim to possess the Eternal Life. It +simply postulates the requisite conditions without concerning itself +whether any organism should ever appear, or does now exist, which might +fulfil them. The claim of religion, on the other hand, is that there are +organisms which possess Eternal Life. And the problem for us to solve is +this: Do those who profess to possess Eternal Life fulfil the conditions +required by Science, or are they different conditions? In a word, Is the +Christian conception of Eternal Life scientific? + +It may be unnecessary to notice at the outset that the definition of +Eternal Life drawn up by Science was framed without reference to +religion. It must indeed have been the last thought with the thinker to +whom we chiefly owe it, that in unfolding the conception of a Life in +its very nature necessarily eternal, he was contributing to Theology. + +Mr. Herbert Spencer--for it is to him we owe it--would be the first to +admit the impartiality of his definition; and from the connection in +which it occurs in his writings, it is obvious that religion was not +even present to his mind. He is analyzing with minute care the relations +between Environment and Life. He unfolds the principle according to +which Life is high or low, long or short. He shows why organisms live +and why they die. And finally he defines a condition of things in which +an organism would never die--in which it would enjoy a perpetual and +perfect Life. This to him is, of course, but a speculation. Life Eternal +is a biological conceit. The conditions necessary to an Eternal Life do +not exist in the natural world. So that the definition is altogether +impartial and independent. A Perfect Life, to Science, is simply a thing +which is theoretically possible--like a Perfect Vacuum. + +Before giving, in so many words, the definition of Mr. Herbert Spencer, +it will render it fully intelligible if we gradually lead up to it by a +brief rehearsal of the few and simple biological facts on which it is +based. In considering the subject of Death, we have formerly seen that +there are degrees of Life. By this is meant that some lives have more +and fuller correspondence with Environment than others. The amount of +correspondence, again, is determined by the greater or less complexity +of the organism. Thus a simple organism like the Amoeba is possessed of +very few correspondences. It is a mere sac of transparent structureless +jelly for which organization has done almost nothing, and hence it can +only communicate with the smallest possible area of Environment. An +insect, in virtue of its more complex structure, corresponds with a +wider area. Nature has endowed it with special faculties for reaching +out to the Environment on many sides; it has more life than the Amoeba. +In other words, it is a higher animal. Man again, whose body is still +further differentiated, or broken up into different correspondences, +finds himself _en rapport_ with his surroundings to a further extent. +And therefore he is higher still, more living still. And this law, that +the degree of Life varies with the degree of correspondence, holds to +the minutest detail throughout the entire range of living things. Life +becomes fuller and fuller, richer and richer, more and more sensitive +and responsive to an ever-widening Environment as we rise in the chain +of being. + +Now it will speedily appear that a distinct relation exists, and must +exist, between complexity and longevity. Death being brought about by +the failure of an organism to adjust itself to some change in the +Environment, it follows that those organisms which are able to adjust +themselves most readily and successfully will live the longest. They +will continue time after time to effect the appropriate adjustment, and +their power of doing so will be exactly proportionate to their +complexity--that is, to the amount of Environment they can control with +their correspondences. There are, for example, in the Environment of +every animal certain things which are directly or indirectly dangerous +to Life. If its equipment of correspondences is not complete enough to +enable it to avoid these dangers in all possible circumstances, it must +sooner or later succumb. The organism then with the most perfect set of +correspondences, that is, the highest and most complex organism, has an +obvious advantage over less complex forms. It can adjust itself more +perfectly and frequently. But this is just the biological way of saying +that it can live the longest. And hence the relation between complexity +and longevity may be expressed thus--the most complex organisms are the +longest lived. + +To state and illustrate the proposition conversely may make the point +still further clear. The less highly organized an animal is, the less +will be its chance of remaining in lengthened correspondence with its +Environment. At some time or other in its career circumstances are sure +to occur to which the comparatively immobile organism finds itself +structurally unable to respond. Thus a _Medusa_ tossed ashore by a wave, +finds itself so out of correspondence with its new surroundings that its +life must pay the forfeit. Had it been able by internal change to adapt +itself to external change--to correspond sufficiently with the new +environment, as for example to crawl, as an eel would have done, back +into that environment with which it had completer correspondence--its +life might have been spared. But had this happened it would continue to +live henceforth only so long as it could continue in correspondence with +all the circumstances in which it might find itself. Even if, however, +it became complex enough to resist the ordinary and direct dangers of +its environment, it might still be out of correspondence with others. A +naturalist for instance, might take advantage of its want of +correspondence with particular sights and sounds to capture it for his +cabinet, or the sudden dropping of a yacht's anchor or the turn of a +screw might cause its untimely death. + +Again, in the case of a bird in virtue of its more complex organization, +there is command over a much larger area of environment. It can take +precautions such as the _Medusa_ could not; it has increased facilities +for securing food; its adjustments all round are more complex; and +therefore it ought to be able to maintain its Life for a longer period. +There is still a large area, however, over which it has no control. Its +power of internal change is not complete enough to afford it perfect +correspondence with all external changes, and its tenure of Life is to +that extent insecure. Its correspondence, moreover, is limited even with +regard to those external conditions with which it has been partially +established. Thus a bird in ordinary circumstances has no difficulty in +adapting itself to changes of temperature, but if these are varied +beyond the point at which its capacity of adjustment begins to fail--for +example, during an extreme winter--the organism being unable to meet the +condition must perish. The human organism, on the other hand, can +respond to this external condition, as well as to countless other +vicissitudes under which lower forms would inevitably succumb. Man's +adjustments are to the largest known area of Environment, and hence he +ought to be able furthest to prolong his Life. + +It becomes evident, then, that as we ascend in the scale of Life we rise +also in the scale of longevity. The lowest organisms are, as a rule, +shortlived, and the rate of mortality diminishes more or less regularly +as we ascend in the animal scale. So extraordinary indeed is the +mortality among lowly-organized forms that in most cases a compensation +is actually provided, nature endowing them with a marvellously increased +fertility in order to guard against absolute extinction. Almost all +lower forms are furnished not only with great reproductive powers, but +with different methods of propagation, by which, in various +circumstances, and in an incredibly short time, the species can be +indefinitely multiplied. Ehrenberg found that by the repeated +subdivisions of a single _Paramecium_, no fewer than 268,000,000 similar +organisms might be produced in one month. This power steadily decreases +as we rise higher in the scale, until forms are reached in which one, +two, or at most three, come into being at a birth. It decreases, however +because it is no longer needed. These forms have a much longer lease of +Life. And it may be taken as a rule, although it has exceptions, that +complexity in animal organisms is always associated with longevity. + +It may be objected that these illustrations are taken merely from morbid +conditions. But whether the Life be cut short by accident or by disease +the principle is the same. All dissolution is brought about practically +in the same way. A certain condition in the Environment fails to be met +by a corresponding condition in the organism, and this is death. And +conversely the more an organism in virtue of its complexity can adapt +itself to all the parts of its Environment, the longer it will live. "It +is manifest _a priori_," says Mr. Herbert Spencer, "that since changes +in the physical state of the environment, as also those mechanical +actions and those variations of available food which occur in it, are +liable to stop the processes going on in the organism; and since the +adaptive changes in the organism have the effects of directly or +indirectly counterbalancing these changes in the environment, it follows +that the life of the organism will be short or long, low or high, +according to the extent to which changes in the environment are met by +corresponding changes in the organism. Allowing a margin for +perturbations, the life will continue only while the correspondence +continues; the completeness of the life will be proportionate to the +completeness of the correspondence; and the life will be perfect only +when the correspondence is perfect." [1] + +[1] "Principles of Biology," p. 82. + +We are now all but in sight of our scientific definition of Eternal +Life. The desideratum is an organism with a correspondence of a very +exceptional kind. It must lie beyond the reach of those "mechanical +actions" and those "variations of available food," which are "liable to +stop the processes going on in the organism." Before we reach an Eternal +Life we must pass beyond that point at which all ordinary +correspondences inevitably cease. We must find an organism so high and +complex, that at some point in its development it shall have added a +correspondence which organic death is powerless to arrest. We must, in +short, pass beyond that finite region where the correspondences depend +on evanescent and material media, and enter a further region where the +Environment corresponded with is itself Eternal. Such an Environment +exists. The Environment of the Spiritual world is outside the influence +of these "mechanical actions," which sooner or later interrupt the +processes going on in all finite organisms. If then we can find an +organism which has established a correspondence with the spiritual +world, that correspondence will possess the elements of eternity-- +provided only one other condition be fulfilled. + +That condition is that the Environment be perfect. If it is not perfect, +if it is not the highest, if it is endowed with the finite quality of +change, there can be no guarantee that the Life of its correspondents +will be eternal. Some change might occur in it which the correspondents +had no adaptive changes to meet, and Life would cease. But grant a +spiritual organism in perfect correspondence with a perfect spiritual +Environment, and the conditions necessary to Eternal Life are satisfied. + +The exact terms of Mr. Herbert Spencer's definition of Eternal Life may +now be given. And it will be seen that they include essentially the +conditions here laid down. "Perfect correspondence would be perfect +life. Were there no changes in the environment but such as the organism +had adapted changes to meet, and were it never to fail in the efficiency +with which it met them, there would be eternal existence and eternal +knowledge." [1] Reserving the question as to the possible fulfilment of +these conditions, let us turn for a moment to the definition of Eternal +Life laid down by Christ. Let us place it alongside the definition of +Science, and mark the points of contact. Uninterrupted correspondence +with a perfect Environment is Eternal Life according to Science. "This +is Life Eternal," said Christ, "that they may know Thee, the only true +God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent." [2] Life Eternal is to know +God. To know God is to "correspond" with God. To correspond with God is +to correspond with a Perfect Environment. And the organism which attains +to this, in the nature of things must live for ever. Here is "eternal +existence and eternal knowledge." + +[1] "Principles of Biology," p. 88. +[2] John xvii. + +The main point of agreement between the scientific and the religious +definition is that Life consists in a peculiar and personal relation +defined as a "correspondence." This conception, that Life consists in +correspondences, has been so abundantly illustrated already that it is +now unnecessary to discuss it further. All Life indeed consists +essentially in correspondences with various Environments. The artist's +life is a correspondence with art; the musician's with music. To cut +them off from these Environments is in that relation to cut off their +Life. To be cut off from all Environment is death. To find a new +Environment again and cultivate relation with it is to find a new Life. +To live is to correspond, and to correspond is to live. So much is true +in Science. But it is also true in Religion. And it is of great +importance to observe that to Religion also the conception of Life is a +correspondence. No truth of Christianity has been more ignorantly or +wilfully travestied than the doctrine of Immortality. The popular idea, +in spite of a hundred protests, is that Eternal Life is to live forever. +A single glance at the _locus classicus_, might have made this error +impossible. There we are told that Life Eternal is not to live. This is +Life Eternal--_to know_. And yet--and it is a notorious instance of the +fact that men who are opposed to Religion will take their conceptions of +its profoundest truths from mere vuglar perversions--this view still +represents to many cultivated men the Scriptural doctrine of Eternal +Life. From time to time the taunt is thrown at Religion, not unseldom +from lips which Science ought to have taught more caution, that the +Future Life of Christianity is simply a prolonged existence, an eternal +monotony, a blind and indefinite continuance of being. The Bible never +could commit itself to any such empty platitude; nor could Christianity +ever offer to the world a hope so colorless. Not that Eternal Life has +nothing to do with everlastingness. That is part of the conception. And +it is this aspect of the question that first arrests us in the field of +Science. But even Science has more in its definition than longevity. It +has a correspondence and an Environment; and although it cannot fill up +these terms for Religion, it can indicate at least the nature of the +relation, the kind of thing that is meant by Life. Science speaks to us +indeed of much more than numbers of years. It defines degrees of Life. +It explains a widening Environment. It unfolds the relation between a +widening Environment and increasing complexity in organisms. And if it +has no absolute contribution to the content of Religion, its analogies +are not limited to a point. It yields to Immortality, and this is the +most that Science can do in any case, the broad framework for a +doctrine. + + +The further definition, moreover, of this correspondence as _knowing_ is +in the highest degree significant. Is not this the precise quality in an +Eternal correspondence which the analogies of Science would prepare us +to look for? Longevity is associated with complexity. And complexity in +organisms is manifested by the successive addition of correspondences, +each richer and larger than those which have gone before. The +differentiation, therefore, of the spiritual organism ought to be +signalized by the addition of the highest possible correspondence. It is +not essential to the idea that the correspondence should be altogether +novel; it is necessary rather that it should not. An altogether new +correspondence appearing suddenly without shadow or prophecy would be a +violation of continuity. What we should expect would be something new, +and yet something that we were already prepared for. We should look for +a further development in harmony with current developments; the +extension of the last and highest correspondence in a new and higher +direction. And this is exactly what we have. In the world with which +biology deals, Evolution culminates in Knowledge. + +At whatever point in the zoological scale this correspondence, or set of +correspondences, begins, it is certain there is nothing higher. In its +stunted infancy merely, when we meet with its rudest beginnings in +animal intelligence, it is a thing so wonderful, as to strike every +thoughtful and reverent observer with awe. Even among the invertebrates +so marvellously are these or kindred powers displayed, that naturalists +do not hesitate now, on the ground of intelligence at least, to classify +some of the humblest creatures next to man himself. [1] Nothing in +nature, indeed, is so unlike the rest of nature, so prophetic of what is +beyond it, so supernatural. And as manifested in Man who crowns creation +with his all-embracing consciousness, there is but one word to describe +his knowledge; it is Divine. If then from this point there is to be any +further Evolution, this surely must be the correspondence in which it +shall take place? This correspondence is great enough to demand +development; and yet it is little enough to need it. The magnificence of +what it has achieved relatively, is the pledge of the possibility of +more; the insignificance of its conquest absolutely involves the +probability of still richer triumphs. If anything, in short, in humanity +is to go on it must be this. Other correspondences may continue +likewise; others, again, we can well afford to leave behind. But this +cannot cease. This correspondence--or this set of correspondences, for +it is very complex--is it not that to which men with one consent would +attach Eternal Life? Is there anything else to which they would attach +it? Is anything better conceivable, anything worthier, fuller, nobler, +anything which would represent a higher form of Evolution or offer a +more perfect ideal for an Eternal Life? + +[1] _Vide_ Sir John Lubbock's "Ants, Bees, and Wasps," pp. 1, 181. + +But these are questions of quality; and the moment we pass from quantity +to quality we leave Science behind. In the vocabulary of Science, +Eternity is only the fraction of a word. It means mere everlastingness. +To Religion, on the other hand, Eternity has little to do with time. To +correspond with the God of Science, the Eternal Unknowable, would be +everlasting existence; to correspond with "the true God and Jesus +Christ," is Eternal Life. The quality of the Eternal Life alone makes +the heaven; mere everlastingness might be no boon. Even the brief span +of the temporal life is too long for those who spend its years in +sorrow. Time itself, let alone Eternity, is all but excruciating to +Doubt. And many besides Schopenhauer have secretly regarded +consciousness as the hideous mistake and malady of Nature. Therefore we +must not only have quantity of years, to speak in the language of the +present, but quality of correspondence. When we leave Science behind, +this correspondence also receives a higher name. It becomes communion. +Other names there are for it, religious and theological. It may be +included in a general expression, Faith; or we may call it by a personal +and specific term, Love. For the knowing of a Whole so great involves +the co-operation of many parts. + +Communion with God--can it be demonstrated in terms of Science that this +is a correspondence which will never break? We do not appeal to Science +for such a testimony. We have asked for its conception of an Eternal +Life; and we have received for answer that Eternal Life would consist in +a correspondence which should never cease, with an Environment which +should never pass away. And yet what would Science demand of a perfect +correspondence that is not met by this, _the knowing of God?_ There is +no other correspondence which could satisfy one at least of the +conditions. Not one could be named which would not bear on the face of +it the mark and pledge of its mortality. But this, to know God, stands +alone. To know God, to be linked with God, to be linked with Eternity-- +if this is not the "eternal existence" of biology, what can more nearly +approach it? And yet we are still a great way off--to establish a +communication with the Eternal is not to secure Eternal Life. It must be +assumed that the communication could be sustained. And to assume this +would be to beg the question. So that we have still to prove Eternal +Life. But let it be again repeated, we are not here seeking proofs. We +are seeking light. We are merely reconnoitering from the furthest +promontory of Science if so be that through the haze we may discern the +outline of a distant coast and come to some conclusion as to the +possibility of landing. + +But, it may be replied, it is not open to any one handling the question +of Immortality from the side of Science to remain neutral as to the +question of fact. It is not enough to announce that he has no addition +to make to the positive argument. This may be permitted with reference +to other points of contact between Science and Religion, but not with +this. We are told this question is settled--that there is no positive +side. Science meets the entire conception of Immortality with a direct +negative. In the face of a powerful consensus against even the +possibility of a Future Life, to content oneself with saying that +Science pretended to no argument in favor of it would be at once +impertinent and dishonest. We must therefore devote ourselves for a +moment to the question of possibility. + +The problem is, with a material body and a mental organization +inseparably connected with it, to bridge the grave. Emotion, volition, +thought itself, are functions of the brain. When the brain is impaired, +they are impaired. When the brain is not, they are not. Everything +ceases with the dissolution of the material fabric; muscular activity +and mental activity perish alike. With the pronounced positive +statements on this point from many departments of modern Science we are +all familiar. The fatal verdict is recorded by a hundred hands and with +scarcely a shadow of qualification. "Unprejudiced philosophy is +compelled to reject the idea of an individual immortality and of a +personal continuance after death. With the decay and dissolution of its +material substratum, through which alone it has acquired a conscious +existence and become a person, and upon which it was dependent, the +spirit must cease to exist." [l] To the same effect, Vogt: "Physiology +decides definitely and categorically against individual immortality, as +against any special existence of the soul. The soul does not enter the +foetus like the evil spirit into persons possessed, but is a product of +the development of the brain, just as muscular activity is a product of +muscular development, and secretion a product of glandular development." +After a careful review of the position of recent Science with regard to +the whole doctrine, Mr. Graham sums up thus: "Such is the argument of +Science, seemingly decisive against a future Life. As we listen to her +array of syllogisms, our hearts die within us. The hopes of men, placed +in one scale to be weighed, seem to fly up against the massive weight of +her evidence, placed in the other. It seems as if all our arguments were +vain and unsubstantial, as if our future expectations were the foolish +dreams of children, as if there could not be any other possible verdict +arrived at upon the evidence brought forward." [2] + +[1] Büchner: "Force and Matter," 3d ed., p. 232. +[2] "The Creed of Science," p. 169. + +Can we go on in the teeth of so real an obstruction? Has not our own +weapon turned against us, Science abolishing with authoritative hand the +very truth we are asking it to define? + +What the philosopher has to throw into the other scale can be easily +indicated. Generally speaking, he demurs to the dogmatism of the +conclusion. That mind and brain react, that the mental and the +physiological processes are related, and very intimately related, is +beyond controversy. But how they are related, he submits, is still +altogether unknown. The correlation of mind and brain do not involve +their identity. And not a few authorities accordingly have consistently +hesitated to draw any conclusion at all. Even Büchner's statement turns +out, on close examination, to be tentative in the extreme. In prefacing +his chapter on Personal Continuance, after a single sentence on the +dependence of the soul and its manifestations upon a material +substratum, he remarks, "Though we are unable to form a definite idea as +to the _how_ of this connection, we are still by these facts justified +in asserting, that the mode of this connection renders it _apparently_ +impossible that they should continue to exist separately." [1] There is, +therefore, a flaw at this point in the argument for materialism. It may +not help the spiritualist in the least degree positively. He may be as +far as ever from a theory of how consciousness could continue without +the material tissue. But his contention secures for him the right of +speculation. The path beyond may lie in hopeless gloom; but it is not +barred. He may bring forward his theory if he will. And this is +something. For a permission to go on is often the most that Science can +grant to Religion. + +[1] "Force and Matter," p. 231. + +Men have taken advantage of this loophole in various ways. And though it +cannot be said that these speculations offer us more than a probability, +this is still enough to combine with the deep-seated expectation in the +bosom of mankind and give fresh lustre to the hope of a future life. +Whether we find relief in the theory of a simple dualism; whether with +Ulrici we further define the soul as an invisible enswathement of the +body, material yet non-atomic; whether, with the "Unseen Universe," we +are helped by the spectacle of known forms of matter shading off into an +evergrowing subtilty, mobility, and immateriality; or whether, with +Wundt, we regard the soul as "the ordered unity of many elements," it is +certain that shapes can be given to the conception of a correspondence +which shall bridge the grave such as to satisfy minds too much +accustomed to weigh evidence to put themselves off with fancies. + +But whether the possibilities of physiology or the theories of +philosophy do or do not substantially assist us in realizing +Immortality, is to Religion, to Religion at least regarded from the +present point of view, of inferior moment. The fact of Immortality rests +for us on a different basis. Probably, indeed, after all the Christian +philosopher never engaged himself in a more superfluous task than in +seeking along physiological lines to find room for a soul. The theory of +Christianity has only to be fairly stated to make manifest its thorough +independence of all the usual speculations on immortality. The theory is +not that thought, volition, or emotion, as such are to survive the +grave. The difficulty of holding a doctrine is this form, in spite of +what has been advanced to the contrary, in spite of the hopes and wishes +of mankind, in spite of all the scientific and philosophical attempts to +make it tenable, is still profound. No secular theory of personal +continuance, as even Butler acknowledged, does not equally demand the +eternity of the brute. No secular theory defines the point in the chain +of Evolution at which organisms become endowed with Immortality. No +secular theory explains the condition of the endowment, nor indicates +its goal. And if we have nothing more to fan hope than the unexplored +mystery of the whole region, or the unknown remainders among the +potencies of Life, then, as those who have "hope only in this world," we +are "of all men the most miserable." + +When we turn, on the other hand, to the doctrine as it came from the +lips of Christ, we find ourselves in an entirely different region. He +makes no attempt to project the material into the immaterial. The old +elements, however refined and subtle as to their matter, are not in +themselves to inherit the Kingdom of God. That which is flesh is flesh. +Instead of attaching Immortality to the natural organism, He introduces +a new and original factor which none of the secular, and few even of the +theological theories, seem to take sufficiently into account. To +Christanity, "he that hath the Son of God hath Life, and he that hath +not the Son hath not Life." This, as we take it, defines the +correspondence which is to bridge the grave. This is the clue to the +nature of the Life that lies at the back of the spiritual organism. And +this is the true solution of the mystery of Eternal Life. + +There lies a something at the back of the correspondences of the +spiritual organism--just as there lies a something at the back of the +natural correspondence. To say that Life is a correspondence is only to +express the partial truth. There is something behind. Life manifests +itself in correspondences. But what determines them? The organism +exhibits a variety of correspondences. What organizes them? As in the +natural, so in the spiritual, there is a Principle of Life. We cannot +get rid of that term. However clumsy, however provisional, however much +a mere cloak for ignorance, Science as yet is unable to dispense with +the idea of a Principle of Life. We must work with the word till we get +a better. Now that which determines the correspondence of the spiritual +organism is a Principle of Spiritual Life. It is a new and Divine +Possession. He that hath the Son hath Life; conversely, he that hath +Life hath the Son. And this indicates at once the quality and the +quantity of the correspondence which is to bridge the grave. He that +hath Life hath _the Son_. He possesses the Spirit of the Son. That +Spirit is, so to speak, organized within him by the Son. It is the +manifestation of the new nature--of which more anon. The fact to note at +present is that this is not an organic correspondence, but a spiritual +correspondence. It comes not from generation, but from regeneration. The +relation between the spiritual man and his Environment is, in +theological language, a filial relation. With the new Spirit, the filial +correspondence, he knows the Father and this is Life Eternal. This is +not only the real relation, but the only possible relation: "Neither +knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son +will reveal Him." And this on purely natural grounds. It takes the +Divine to know the Divine--but in no more mysterious sense than it takes +the human to understand the human. The analogy, indeed, for the whole +field here has been finely expressed already by Paul: "What man," he +asks, "knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in +him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. +Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which +is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of +God." [1] + +[1] 1 Cor. ii. 11, 12. + +It were idle, such being the quality of the new relation, to add that +this also contains the guarantee of its eternity. Here at last is a +correspondence which will never cease. Its powers in bridging the grave +have been tried. The correspondence of the spiritual man possesses the +supernatural virtues of the Resurrection and the Life. It is known by +former experiment to have survived the "changes in the physical state of +the environment," and those "mechanical actions" and "variations of +available food," which Mr. Herbert Spencer tells us are "liable to stop +the processes going on in the organism." In short, this is a +correspondence which at once satisfies the demands of Science and +Religion. In mere quantity it is different from every other +correspondence known. Setting aside everything else in Religion, +everything adventitious, local, and provisional; dissecting into the +bone and marrow we find this--a correspondence which can never break +with an Environment which can never change. Here is a relation +established with Eternity. The passing years lay no limiting hand on it. +Corruption injures it not. It survives Death. It, and it only, will +stretch beyond the grave and be found inviolate-- + + "When the moon is old, + And the stars are cold, + And the books of the Judgment-day unfold." + +The misgiving which will creep sometimes over the brightest faith has +already received its expression and its rebuke: "Who shall separate us +from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, +or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Shall these "changes in +the physical state of the environment" which threaten death to the +natural man destroy the spiritual? Shall death, or life, or angels, or +principalities, or powers, arrest or tamper with his eternal +correspondences? "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors +through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor +life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, +nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall +be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus +our Lord." [1] + +[1] Rom. viii. 35-39. + +It may seem an objection to some that the "perfect correspondence" +should come to man in so extraordinary a way. The earlier stages in the +doctrine are promising enough ; they are entirely in line with Nature. +And if Nature had also furnished the "perfect correspondence" demanded +for an Eternal Life the position might be unassailable. But this sudden +reference to a something outside the natural Environment destroys the +continuity, and discovers a permanent weakness in the whole theory? + +To which there is a twofold reply. In the first place, to go outside +what we call Nature is not to go outside Environment. Nature, the +natural Environment, is only a part of Environment. There is another +large part which, though some profess to have no correspondence with it, +is not on that account unreal, or even unnatural. The mental and moral +world is unknown to the plant. But it is real. It cannot be affirmed +either that it is unnatural to the plant; although it might be said that +from the point of view of the Vegetable Kingdom it was _supernatural_. +Things are natural or supernatural simply according to where one stands. +Man is supernatural to the mineral; God is supernatural to the man. When +a mineral is seized upon by the living plant and elevated to the organic +kingdom, no tresspass against Nature is committed. It merely enters a +larger Environment, which before was supernatural to it, but which now +is entirely natural. When the heart of a man, again, is seized upon by +the quickening Spirit of God, no further violence is done to natural +law. It is another case of the inorganic, so to speak, passing into the +organic. + +But, in the second place, it is complained as if it were an enormity in +itself that the spiritual correspondence should be furnished from the +spiritual world. And to this the answer lies in the same direction. +Correspondence in any case is the gift of Environment. The natural +Environment gives men their natural faculties; the spiritual affords +them their spiritual faculties. It is natural for the spiritual +Environment to supply the spiritual faculties; it would be quite +unnatural for the natural Environment to do it. The natural law of +Biogenesis forbids it; the moral fact that the finite cannot comprehend +the Infinite is against it; the spiritual principle that flesh and blood +cannot inherit the kingdom of God renders it absurd. Not, however, that +the spiritual faculties are, as it were, manufactured in the spiritual +world and supplied ready-made to the spiritual organism--forced upon it +as an external equipment. This certainly is not involved in saying that +the spiritual faculties are furnished by the spiritual world. Organisms +are not added to by accretion, as in the case of minerals, but by +growth. And the spiritual faculties are organized in the spiritual +protoplasm of the soul, just as other faculties are organized in the +protoplasm of the body. The plant is made of materials which have once +been inorganic. An organizing principle not belonging to their kingdom +lays hold of them and elaborates them until they have correspondences +with the kingdom to which the organizing principle belonged. Their +original organizing principle, if it can be called by this name, was +Crystallization; so that we have now a distinctly foreign power +organizing in totally new and higher directions. In the spiritual world, +similarly, we find an organizing principle at work among the materials +of the organic kingdom, per forming a further miracle, but not a +different kind of miracle, producing organizations of a novel kind, but +not by a novel method. The second process, in fact, is simply what an +enlightened evolutionist would have expected from the first. It marks +the natural and legitimate progress of the development. And this in the +line of the true Evolution--not the _linear_ Evolution, which would look +for the development of the natural man through powers already inherent, +as if one were to look to Crystallization to accomplish the development +of the mineral into the plant,--but that larger form of Evolution which +includes among its factors the double Law of Biogenesis and the immense +further truth that this involves. + +What is further included in this complex correspondence we shall have +opportunity to illustrate afterwards. [1] Meantime let it be noted on +what the Christian argument for Immortality really rests. It stands upon +the pedestal on which the theologian rests the whole of historical +Christianity--the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. + +[1] _Vide_ "Conformity to Type," page 287. + +It ought to be placed in the forefront of all Christian teaching that +Christ's mission on earth was to give men Life. "I am come," He said, +"that ye might have Life, and that ye might have it more abundantly." +And that He meant literal Life, literal spiritual and Eternal Life, is +clear from the whole course of His teaching and acting. To impose a +metaphorical meaning on the commonest word of the New Testament is to +violate every canon of interpretation, and at the same time to charge +the greatest of teachers with persistently mystifying His hearers by an +unusual use of so exact a vehicle for expressing definite thought as the +Greek language, and that on the most momentous subject of which He ever +spoke to men. It is a canon of interpretation, according to Alford, that +"a figurative sense of words is never admissible except when required by +the context." The context, in most cases, is not only directly +unfavorable to a figurative meaning, but in innumerable instances in +Christ's teaching Life is broadly contrasted with Death. In the teaching +of the apostles, again, we find that, without exception, they accepted +the term in its simple literal sense. Reuss defines the apostolic belief +with his usual impartiality when--and the quotation is doubly pertinent +here--he discovers in the apostle's conception of Life, first, "the idea +of a real existence, an existence such as is proper to God and to the +Word; an imperishable existence--that is to say, not subject to the +vicissitudes and imperfections of the finite world. This primary idea is +repeatedly expressed, at least in a negative form; it leads to a +doctrine of immortality, or, to speak more correctly, of life, far +surpassing any that had been expressed in the formulas of the current +philosophy or theology, and resting upon premises and conceptions +altogether different. In fact, it can dispense both with the +philosophical thesis of the immateriality or indestructibility of the +human soul, and with the theologicial thesis of a miraculous corporeal +reconstruction of our person; theses, the first of which is altogether +foreign to the religion of the Bible, and the second absolutely opposed +to reason." Second, "the idea of life, as it is conceived in this +system, implies the idea of a power, an operation, a communication, +since this life no longer remains, so to speak, latent or passive in God +and in the Word, but through them reaches the believer. It is not a +mental somnolent thing; it is not a plant without fruit; it is a germ +which is to find fullest development." [1] + +[1] "History of Christian Theology in the Apostolic Age," vol. ii. p. +496. + +If we are asked to define more clearly what is meant by this mysterious +endowment of Life, we again hand over the difficulty to Science. When +Science can define the Natural Life and the Physical Force we may hope +for further clearness on the nature and action of the Spiritual Powers. +The effort to detect the living Spirit must be at least as idle as the +attempt to subject protoplasm to microscopic examination in the hope of +discovering Life. We are warned, also, not to expect too much. "Thou +canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth." This being its +quality, when the Spiritual Life is discovered in the laboratory it will +possibly be time to give it up altogether. It may say, as Socrates of +his soul, "You may bury me--if you can catch me." + +Science never corroborates a spiritual truth without illuminating it. +The threshold of Eternity is a place where many shadows meet. And the +light of Science here, where everything is so dark, is welcome a +thousand times. Many men would be religious if they knew where to begin; +many would be more religious if they were sure where it would end. It is +not indifference that keeps some men from God, but ignorance. "Good +Master, what must I do to inherit Eternal Life?" is still the deepest +question of the age. What is Religion? What am I to believe? What seek +with all my heart and soul and mind?--this is the imperious question +sent up to consciousness from the depths of being in all earnest hours; +sent down again, alas, with many of us, time after time, unanswered. +Into all our thought and work and reading this question pursues us. But +the theories are rejected one by one; the great books are returned sadly +to their shelves, the years pass, and the problem remains unsolved. The +confusion of tongues here is terrible. Every day a new authority +announces himself. Poets, philosophers, preachers, try their hand on us +in turn. New prophets arise, and beseech us for our soul's sake to give +ear to them--at last in an hour of inspiration they have discovered the +final truth. Yet the doctrine of yesterday is challenged by a fresh +philosophy to-day; and the creed of to-day will fall in turn before the +criticism of to-morrow. Increase of knowledge increaseth sorrow. And at +length the conflicting truths, like the beams of light in the laboratory +experiment, combine in the mind to make total darkness. + +But here are two outstanding authorities agreed--not men, not +philosophers, not creeds. Here is the voice of God and the voice of +Nature. I cannot be wrong if I listen to them. Sometimes when uncertain +of a voice from its very loudness, we catch the missing syllable in the +echo. In God and Nature we have Voice and Echo. When I hear both, I am +assured. My sense of hearing does not betray me twice. I recognize the +Voice in the Echo, the Echo makes me certain of the Voice; I listen and +I know. The question of a Future Life is a biological question. Nature +may be silent on other problems of Religion; but here she has a right to +speak. The whole confusion around the doctrine of Eternal Life has +arisen from making it a question of Philosophy. We shall do ill to +refuse a hearing to any speculation of Philosophy; the ethical relations +here especially are intimate and real. But in the first instance Eternal +Life, as a question of _Life_, is a problem for Biology. The soul is a +living organism. And for any question as to the soul's Life we must +appeal to Life-science. And what does the Life-science teach? That if I +am to inherit Eternal Life, I must cultivate a correspondence with the +Eternal. This is a simple proposition, for Nature is always simple. I +take this proposition, and, leaving Nature, proceed to fill it in. I +search everywhere for a clue to the Eternal. I ransack literature for a +definition of a correspondence between man and God. Obviously that can +only come from one source. And the analogies of Science permit us to +apply to it. All knowledge lies in Environment. When I want to know +about minerals I go to minerals. When I want to know about flowers I go +to flowers. And they tell me. In their own way they speak to me, each in +its own way, and each for itself--not the mineral for the flower, which +is impossible, nor the flower for the mineral, which is also impossible. +So if I want to know about Man, I go to his part of the Environment. And +he tells me about himself, not as the plant or the mineral, for he is +neither, but in his own way. And if I want to know about God, I go to +His part of the Environment. And he tells me about Himself, not as a +Man, for He is not Man, but in His own way. And just as naturally as the +flower and the mineral and the Man, each in their own way, tell me about +themselves, He tells me about Himself. He very strangely condescends +indeed in making things plain to me, actually assuming for a time the +Form of a Man that I at my poor level may better see Him. This is my +opportunity to know Him. This incarnation is God making Himself +accessible to human thought--God opening to man the possibility of +correspondence through Jesus Christ. And this correspondence and this +Environment are those I seek. He Himself assures me, "This is Life +Eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ +whom Thou has sent." Do I not now discern the deeper meaning in "_Jesus +Christ whom Thou has sent?_" Do I not better understand with what vision +and rapture the profoundest of the disciples exclaims, "The Son of God +is come, and hath given us an understanding that we might know Him that +is True?" [1] + +[1] 1 John v. 20. + +Having opened correspondence with the Eternal Environment, the +subsequent stages are in the line of all other normal development. We +have but to continue, to deepen, to extend, and to enrich the +correspondence that has been begun. And we shall soon find to our +surprise that this is accompanied by another and parallel process. The +action is not all upon our side. The Environment also will be found to +correspond. The influence of Environment is one of the greatest and most +substantial of modern biological doctrines. Of the power of Environment +to form or transform organisms, of its ability to develop or suppress +function, of its potency in determining growth, and generally of its +immense influence in Evolution, there is no need now to speak. But +Environment is now acknowledged to be one of the most potent factors in +the Evolution of Life. The influence of Environment, too, seems to +increase rather than diminish as we approach the higher forms of being. +The highest forms are the most mobile; their capacity of change is the +greatest; they are, in short, most easily acted on by Environment. And +not only are the highest organisms the most mobile, but the highest +parts of the highest organisms are more mobile than the lower. +Environment can do little, comparatively, in the direction of inducing +variation in the body of a child; but how plastic is its mind! How +infinitely sensitive is its soul! How infallibly can it be tuned to +music or to dissonance by the moral harmony or discord of its outward +lot! How decisively indeed are we not all formed and moulded, made or +unmade, by external circumstance! Might we not all confess with +Ulysses,-- + + "I am a part of all that I have met?" + +Much more, then, shall we look for the influence of Environment on the +spiritual nature of him who has opened correspondence with God. Reaching +out his eager and quickened faculties to the spiritual world around him, +shall he not become spiritual? In vital contact with Holiness, shall he +not become holy? Breathing now an atmosphere of ineffable Purity, shall +he miss becoming pure? Walking with God from day to day, shall he fail +to be taught of God? + +Growth in grace is sometimes described as a strange, mystical, and +unintelligible process. It is mystical, but neither strange nor +unintelligible. It proceeds according to Natural Law, and the leading +factor in sanctification is Influence of Environment. The possibility of +it depends upon the mobility of the organism; the result, on the extent +and frequency of certain correspondences. These facts insensibly lead on +to further suggestion. Is it not possible that these biological truths +may carry with them the clue to a still profounder philosophy--even that +of Regeneration? + +Evolutionists tell us that by the influence of environment certain +aquatic animals have become adapted to a terrestrial mode of life. +Breathing normally by gills, as the result and reward of a continued +effort carried on from generation to generation to inspire the air of +heaven direct, they have slowly acquired the lung-function. In the young +organism, true to the ancestral type, the gill still persists--as in the +tadpole of the common frog. But as maturity approaches, the true lung +appears; the gill gradually transfers its task to the higher organ. It +then becomes atrophied and disappears, and finally respiration in the +adult is conducted by lungs alone. [1] We may be far, in the meantime, +from saying that this is proved. It is for those who accept it to deny +the justice of the spiritual analogy. Is religion to them unscientific +in its doctrine of Regeneration? Will the evolutionist who admits the +regeneration of the frog under the modifying influence of a continued +correspondence with a new environment, care to question the possibility +of the soul acquiring such a faculty as that of Prayer, the marvellous +breathing-function of the new creature, when in contact with the +atmosphere of a besetting God? Is the change from the earthly to the +heavenly more mysterious than the change from the aquatic to the +terrestrial mode of life? Is Evolution to stop with the organic? If it +be objected that it has taken ages to perfect the function in the +batrachian, the reply is, that it will take ages to perfect the function +in the Christian. For every thousand years the natural evolution will +allow for the development of its organism, the Higher Biology will grant +its product millions. We have indeed spoken of the spiritual +correspondence as already perfect--but it is perfect only as the bud is +perfect. "It doth not yet appear what it shall be," any more than it +appeared a million years ago what the evolving batrachian would be. + +[1] _Vide_ also the remarkable experiments of Fräulein v. Chauvin on the +Transformation of the Mexican Axoloti into Amblystoma.--Weismann's +"Studies in the Theory of Descent," vol. ii. pt. iii. + +But to return. We have been dealing with the scientific aspects of +communion with God. Insensibly, from quantity we have been led to speak +of quality. And enough has now been advanced to indicate generally the +nature of that correspondence with which is necessarily associated +Eternal Life. There remain but one or two details to which we must +lastly, and very briefly, address ourselves. + +The quality of everlastingness belongs, as we have seen, to a single +correspondence, or rather to a single set of correspondences. But it is +apparent that before this correspondence can take full and final effect +a further process is necessary. By some means it must be separated from +all the other correspondences of the organism which do not share its +peculiar quality. In this life it is restrained by these other +correspondences. They may contribute to it, or hinder it; but they are +essentially of a different order. They belong not to Eternity but to +Time, and to this present world; and, unless some provision is made for +dealing with them, they will detain the aspiring organism in this +present world till Time is ended. Of course, in a sense, all that +belongs to Time belongs also to Eternity; but these lower +correspondences are in their nature unfitted for an Eternal Life. Even +if they were perfect in their relation to their Environment, they would +still not be Eternal. However opposed, apparently, to the scientific +definition of Eternal Life, it is yet true that perfect correspondence +with Environment is not Eternal Life. A very important word in the +complete definition is, in this sentence, omitted. On that word it has +not been necessary hitherto, and for obvious reasons, to place any +emphasis, but when we come to deal with false pretenders to Immortality +we must return to it. Were the definition complete as it stands, it +might, with the permission of the psycho-physiologist, guarantee the +Immortality of every living thing. In the dog, for instance, the +material framework giving way at death might leave the released canine +spirit still free to inhabit the old Environment. And so with every +creature which had ever established a conscious relation with +surrounding things. Now the difficulty in framing a theory of Eternal +Life has been to construct one which will exclude the brute creation, +drawing the line rigidly at man, or at least somewhere within the human +race. Not that we need object to the Immortality of the dog, or of the +whole inferior creation. Nor that we need refuse a place to any +intelligible speculation which would people the earth to-day with the +invisible forms of all things that have ever lived. Only we still insist +that this is not Eternal Life. And why? Because their Environment is not +Eternal. Their correspondence, however firmly established, is +established with that which shall pass away. An Eternal Life demands an +Eternal Environment. + +The demand for a perfect Environment as well as for a perfect +correspondence is less clear in Mr. Herbert Spencer's definition than it +might be. But it is an essential factor. An organism might remain true +to its Environment, but what if the Environment played it false? If the +organism possessed the power to change, it could adapt itself to +successive changes in the Environment. And if this were guaranteed we +should also have the conditions for Eternal Life fulfilled. But what if +the Environment passed away altogether? What if the earth swept suddenly +into the sun? This is a change of Environment against which there could +be no precaution and for which there could be as little provision. With +a changing Environment even, there must always remain the dread and +possibility of a falling out of correspondence. At the best, Life would +be uncertain. But with a changeless Environment--such as that possessed +by the spiritual organism--the perpetuity of the correspondence, so far +as the external relation is concerned, is guaranteed. This quality of +permanence in the Environment distinguishes the religious relation from +every other. Why should not the musician's life be an Eternal Life? +Because, for one thing, the musical world, the Environment with which he +corresponds, is not eternal. Even if his correspondence in itself could +last eternally, the environing material things with which he corresponds +must pass away. His soul might last forever--but not his violin. So the +man of the world might last forever--but not the world. His Environment +is not eternal; nor are even his correspondences--the world passeth away +_and the lust thereof_. + +We find, then, that man, or the spiritual man, is equipped with two sets +of correspondences. One set possesses the quality of everlastingness, +the other is temporal. But unless these are separated by some means the +temporal will continue to impair and hinder the eternal. The final +preparation, therefore, for the inheriting of Eternal Life must consist +in the abandonment of the non-eternal elements. These must be unloosed +and dissociated from the higher elements. And this is effected by a +closing catastrophe--Death. + +Death ensues because certain relations in the organism are not adjusted +to certain relations in the Environment. There will come a time in each +history when the imperfect correspondences of the organism will betray +themselves by a failure to compass some necessary adjustment. This is +why Death is associated with Imperfection. Death is the necessary result +of Imperfection, and the necessary end of it. Imperfect correspondence +gives imperfect and uncertain Life. "Perfect correspondence," on the +other hand, according to Mr. Herbert Spencer, would be "perfect Life." +To abolish Death, therefore, all that would be necessary would be to +abolish Imperfection. But it is the claim of Christianity that it can +abolish Death. And it is significant to notice that it does so by +meeting this very demand of Science--it abolishes Imperfection. + +The part of the organism which begins to get out of correspondence with +the Organic Environment is the only part which is in vital +correspondence with it. Though a fatal disadvantage to the natural man +to be thrown out of correspondence with this Environment, it is of +inestimable importance to the spiritual man. For so long as it is +maintained the way is barred for a further Evolution. And hence the +condition necessary for the further Evolution is that the spiritual be +released from the natural. That is to say, the condition of the further +Evolution is Death. _Mora janua Vitæ_, therefore, becomes a scientific +formula. Death, being the final sifting of all the correspondences, is +the indispensable factor of the higher Life. In the language of Science, +not less than of Scripture, "To die is gain." + +The sifting of the correspondences is done by Nature. This is its last +and greatest contribution to mankind. Over the mouth of the grave the +perfect and the imperfect submit to their final separation. Each goes to +its own--earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, Spirit to Spirit. +The dust shall return to the earth as it was; and the Spirit shall +return unto God who gave it" + + + +Altemus' Illustrated Holly-Tree Series +--- +ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED HOLLY-TREE SERIES +--- +A series of good, clean books for young people, by authors whose fame +for delightful stories is world-wide. They are well printed on fine +paper, handsomely illustrated, have colored frontispieces, and are bound +in cloth decorated in gold and colors. 50 cents. + +.. 1 THE HOLLY-TREE. _By Charles Dickens._ +.. 2 THEN MARCHED THE BRAVE. _By Harriet T. Comstock._ +.. 3 A MODERN CINDERELLA. _By Louisa M. Alcott._ +.. 4 THE LITTLE MISSIONARY. _By Amanda M. Douglas._ +.. 5 THE RULE OF THREE. _By Susan Coolidge._ +.. 6 CHUGGINS. _By H. Irving Hancock._ +.. 7 WHEN THE BRITISH CAME. _By Harriet T. Comstock._ +.. 8 LITTLE FOXES. _By Rose Terry Cooke._ +.. 9 AN UNRECORDED MIRACLE. _By Florence Morse Kingsley._ +.. 10 THE STORY WITHOUT AN END. _By Sarah Austin._ +.. 11 CLOVER'S PRINCESS. _By Amanda M. Douglas._ +.. 12 THE SWEET STORY OF OLD. _By L. Haskeli._ + + +Altemus' Illustrated One-Syllable Series +--- +ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED ONE-SYLLABLE SERIES FOR YOUNG READERS +--- +Embracing popular works arranged for the young folks in words of one +syllable. Printed from extra-large, clear type on fine paper, and fully +illustrated by the best artists. The handsomest line of books for young +children before the public. + +Handsomely bound in cloth and gold, with illuminated sides, 50 cents. + +.. 1 Æsop's FABLES. 62 illustrations. +.. 2 A CHILD'S LIFE OF CHRIST. 49 illustrations. +.. 4 THE ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 70 illustrations. +.. 5 BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. 46 illustrations. +.. 6 SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON. 50 illustrations. +.. 7 GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. 50 illustrations. +.. 9 A CHILD'S STORY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 33 illustrations. +.. 10 A CHILD'S STORY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 40 illustrations. +.. 11 BIBLE STORIES FOR LITTLE CHILDREN. 41 illustrations. +.. 12 THE STORY OF JESUS. 40 illustrations + + + + +[Transcriber's note: misspellings have been left as they are in the +source material.] + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Eternal Life, by Henry Drummond + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ETERNAL LIFE *** + +***** This file should be named 30876-8.txt or 30876-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/8/7/30876/ + +Produced by Michael Gray + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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