WHY WE DIE. 



93 



" Why we die ? " there is no answer, I find that the first object of 

 this Society is " To investigate in a reverent spirit, important 

 questions of Philosophy and Science, especially those bearing upon 

 Holy Scripture ; " and I suggest that no more suitable philosophical 

 and physiological question could be raised than " Why we die ? " 

 — and that the final reply, " Because of sin," is the only one as yet 

 given — a reply that is at any rate sufficient for all believers. 



In conclusion, the Chairman moved a cordial vote of thanks to 

 the lecturer ; and this having been duly seconded, was carried with 

 acclamation. 



Mr. J. 0. CoRRiE, B.A., F.R.A.S., parried the thrust which the 

 thought of the overcrowding of the earth with deathless human 

 beings might make on the credibility of the Bible. He quoted 

 Luke xxiv, 39 (K.V.) ; Acts i, 9 ; i Cor. xv, 44, 51, 59 ; i Thess. iv, 

 17 ; Gen. v, 24 ; and Heb. xi. 5, as bearing upon a life free from 

 material limitations, and proceeded : It is a modern scientific specu- 

 lative possibility (if I understand it correctly) that matter, as we know 

 it, is a ponderous condition only, of that which could exist as an 

 interaction of electricity and ether To quote Mr. Balfour's phrase 

 in his presidential address to the British Association, " Matter is 

 thus not merely explained ; it is explained away." This view 

 admits of the supposition that, if humanity had had neither fall 

 nor death, men's bodies, etherealized after the will of God had been 

 done through them upon earth, might have passed through space 

 to other planets, revolving round other suns. And no limit can be 

 assigned, either to space, or to its contents. We know that, for 

 Christ's true disciples, there are reserved " many mansions," or 

 abiding places (John xiv, 2). 



Modern physical science, then, seems to interpose no bar to the 

 thought of the " change " of the natural body into that which St. Paul 

 calls " a spiritual body," which has no need to occupy space upon 

 earth. Such, on the other hand, may, rather, be regarded as poten- 

 tial in humanity. But even elementary mathematics gives us 

 evidence of the existence of what, for distinction from the real, we 

 call the "imaginary" or the "impossible." The symbol ^-1 

 denotes something which, first operating upon unity, and then upon 

 the result of that operation, produces — 1 ; just as unity taken 

 three times, and the result three times, produces nine. But 



