34 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



effect " upon men's hearts and consciences, and that noble lives may 

 be lived and exalted characters formed by those who are brave enough 

 to disregard it. Nay, what is worse, immortality may be a powerful 

 weapon for evil as for good, if it chime in with a perverted nature. 

 The Pharaoh before whom Moses stood believed it, and we know 

 with what results. Only that, once more will science retort, which 

 can be proved to be true upon sufficient evidence, can be positively 

 known to be useful. 



To sum up, then, what has been said, we have seen that, however 

 strong may be the wishes of man for immortality, however ennobling 

 to his nature and true to his instincts the belief in it may be, there is 

 nothing in natural religion to answer the demands of modern thought 

 for actual proof, and nothing therefore to impugn the wisdom or refute 

 the morality of that class of persons, representing, as they do, a 

 growing tendency in the human mind, who take refuge in a suspense 

 of thought and judgment upon matters which they declare are too 

 high for them. Occasionally we may suspect that the garb of human 

 weakness does but conceal the workings of human pride, never perhaps 

 so subtle and so sweet as when human nature meekly resolves to be 

 contented with its own imperfections, and to bow down before its own 

 frailty ; but denunciations of moral turpitude only harden the hearts 

 of men who ask for the bread of evidence and receive stones in the 

 shape of insults. 



We turn next to consider the effects of modern thought upon the 

 evidence for immortality derived from Revelation. And here the 

 difficulty of obtaining assent to what seem to me obvious truths will 

 be transferred from the advocates of religion to those of science. 

 Nevertheless, I maintain an invincible conviction that it is possible to 

 state the terms of debate in propositions which commend themselves 

 to candid minds, and which do not, as I have said, pretend to solve the 

 controversy, but merely to define its conditions. 



Now, the first proposition is : That the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, 

 if assumed to be true, does present actual scientific evidence for 

 immortality. An illustration will make my meaning clear. Whether 

 or not life can be evolved from non-living matter is a subject of 

 debate ; but it is admitted on all hands that, if a single living creature 

 can be produced under conditions that exclude the presence of living 

 germs, then the controversy is settled, and therefore Dr. Bastian sets 

 himself to work with the necessary apparatus to prove his case. So, 

 in the same way, if any man known to be dead and buried did rise 

 again (as for the moment is assumed to be the case), and did think and 

 act and speak in His own proper personality, then immortality (in the 

 scientific sense of the word) is thereby proved. Accordingly, those 

 who wish to prove their case, betake themselves to history for the 

 required evidence, which they may or may not find, but which, such as 

 It is, must be allowed to go to the jury. Science may refuse to listen 



