200 THE RIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE. 



theism; the majority of believers transfer their 

 materialistic idea of a "personal God" to their 

 " immortal soul." That is particularly true of the 

 dominant religion of modern civilised states, Chris- 

 tianity. 



As everybody knows, the dogma of the immortality 

 of the soul has long since assumed in the Christian 

 religion that rigid form which it has in the articles of 

 faith: "I believe in the resurrection of the body and 

 in an eternal life." Man will arise on " the last 

 day," as Christ is alleged to have done on Easter 

 morn, and receive a reward according to the tenour of 

 his earthly life. This typically Christian idea is 

 thoroughly materialistic and anthropomorphic ; it is 

 very little superior to the corresponding crude legends 

 of uncivilised peoples. The impossibility of " the 

 resurrection of the body" is clear to every man who 

 has some knowledge of anatomy and physiology. 

 The resurrection of Christ, which is celebrated every 

 Easter by millions of Christians, is as purely mythical 

 as "the awakening of the dead," which he is alleged 

 to have taught. These mystic articles of faith are 

 just as untenable in the light of pure reason as the 

 cognate hypothesis of " eternal life." 



The fantastic notions which the Christian Church 

 disseminates as to the eternal life of the immortal 

 soul after the dissolution of the body are just as 

 materialistic as the dogma of " the resurrection of 

 the body." In his interesting work on Religion in 

 the Light of the Darwinian Theory, Savage justly 

 remarks: " It is one of the standing charges of the 

 Church against science that it is materialistic. I 

 must say, in passing, that the whole ecclesiastical 

 doctrine of a future life has always been, and still is, 



