KEV. A. R. WHATELY, D.D., ON IMMORTALITY. 



25 



experience and intuition." It would therefore seem that m}' 

 question is already answered, and that the " we " in the succeeding 

 sentence refers exclusively to those who possess a living and 

 experimental faith in God. 



But from the title of the paper it would not appear that the 

 Author intended to treat of " Immortality " as the possession of 

 those only who have this faith in God, but rather of " Immortality " 

 in a far more general and extended sense and as that which concerns 

 mankind as a whole. 



If Dr. Whately merely intended by philosophical reasonings to 

 adduce external evidences for the hope, or consciousness, of 

 Immortality which, later in his paper, he rightly argues is insepar- 

 able from such faith in God as leads to a knowledge of personal 

 relation to God, we should all be very grateful to him; but we 

 should feel a certain sense of disappointment that in dealing with 

 so wide a subject as " Immortality " he had not attempted to 

 indicate whether " Immortality " was the birthright enjoyed by 

 every member of the human family or only by those who possessed 

 a living faith in God. 



On page 11, Dr. Whately says that "the moral and religious 

 conditions for realizing this higher self-consciousness need not detain 

 us now, but must never be forgotten. To live the eternal life is the 

 way to realize our deathlessness." This again seems to indicate 

 that the author of the paper is dealing only with Immortality in a 

 very restricted sense and as possessed only by those who fulfil " the 

 moral and religious conditions " to which he refers. But on the 

 other hand it may be that Dr. Whately is arguing that " Immor- 

 tality " is the possession of every man but enjoi/ed consciously only by 

 those who fulfil certain conditions. 



Those who by the Grace of God have received the gift of faith 

 will find in the closing words of the last paragraph on page 19 

 perhaps the grandest and most profound expression of their own 

 experience that has ever been penned. "As we realize His 

 individuality, we realize our own. As we know Him through His 

 personal approach, so in approaching Him we know ourselves. We 

 realize our personal relation to the Eternal, and therefore our 

 eternal personality. In that communion, death is already left 

 behind." But again the question demands an answer : Is the 

 " Immortality " discussed by the author a " conditional " Immortality 



