56 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS 



greater portion by the fall of man and the curse of 

 sin. It is then obvious that the original purpose of 

 the Creator has not been fulfilled in them and can- 

 not be until they are restored to the primeval 

 happiness they enjoyed before the fall. 



Theology teaches that heathen, idiots, and chil- 

 dren are saved by reason of the fact that in them 

 the purposes of God have never been fulfilled, and 

 the responsibility for action never reached. Now 

 is it not a reasonable conclusion that God has pro- 

 vided immortality for animals on the same ground 

 that He has provided it for the heathen, the idiot, 

 and the child ? Each possesses a corporal structure 

 and a vital and mental organism, and why the Crea- 

 tor of all should decree that one should live forever 

 and the other be doomed to annihilation is a sad 

 problem to solve. But as mind, or soul, is discerni- 

 ble in the lower animals as well as in man, they 

 probably have the same assurance of immortality. 



Sir Benjamin Brodie, of England, says : " The 

 mental principle in animals is of the same essence 

 as that of human beings ; so that even in the hum- 

 bler classes we may trace the rudiments of these 

 faculties to which, in their state of more complete 

 development, we are indebted for the grandest re- 



