IMMORTALITY 365 



life, that the opportunity will then be provided ? The 

 " germ " had no chance of growing here. It is said that 

 a// will rise again, but while so;ne rise to eternal life, 

 others do so to judgment ; and a "second death" is 

 alluded to. 



If the latter is to be the punishment for evil lives 

 spent on earth, we may ask why does it not coincide 

 with physical death ? 



On the other hand, may not this intermediate period 

 — the length of which is not stated — be just what is wanted 

 to give all m^n another chance of redeeming their char- 

 acters and accepting the Son ? 



If they do perish — be annihilated — such an end would 

 be due to their own fault. 



It would be unwise for me to lay any stress on the so- 

 called " proofs " of the continuous existence after death, 

 in the "spiritualistic" phenomena exhibited by mediums. 

 I would refer the reader to Dr. Savage's Life Beyond 

 Death for the opinions of one who has studied the 

 subject as scientiTxally as it seems possible.^ 



There is, however, one curious phenomenon with 

 which I am familiar, though I cannot do it myself — I 

 allude to automatic writing ; and the question arises : Is 

 it due to the automatic action of the "sub-conscious" 

 part of the brain ; or is it due to intelligences which are 

 independent of the " operator," as I will call the writer ? 



The first noticeable fact is, that the writers are In- 

 telligences of some sort. The operator is quite ignorant 

 as to what his or her fingers are going to write. More- 

 over, they will write of themselves, while the operator's 

 mind is occupied on other matters — as when holding a 

 conversation with any one present. 



1 Mr. William James in The Will to Believe, has also something to 

 say about it. 



