CHAPTER XL 



IMMORTALITY, 



\ I. At length we have come to the last of the 

 great questions of life, viz., that of our Future. And 

 in a way this is the most important of all questions. 

 For the Past is irrevocable, the Present more or less 

 calculable and provided for, but the whither of man 

 is a mystery which each one of us will have to solve 

 in his own proper person. Death 7nust be experi- 

 enced by all, and experienced alone, and may have 

 to be experienced at any moment. It requires, 

 therefore, unusual strength of soul or recklessness 

 to ignore this ever-present problem of our future. 

 Hence the question, of how to live in order to die 

 well, has always seemed a question of primary im- 

 portance to all who had any care of their future. 



And yet mankind has always displayed a curious 

 dread of really coming to close quarters with 

 this question. It has always been hedged round 

 with unreasoning awe and vague obscurities of 

 mystic language. Whether it was believed that 

 life continued or passed away, both parties have 

 always shrunk from saying so in plain words, and 

 treating their beliefs as facts. To this day the 

 question of our future life or annihilation has re- 

 mained a subject for violent prejudices and fierce 

 animosities, for insensate hopes and fears, for de- 

 clamations and denunciations, for confident asser- 



