The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-09-11
IMMORTALITY OR THE ARGUMENT
FROM LONGEVITY.
BY REV. A. A. THAYER.
Dosage, Iowa.)

Among the important questions to the
applicant for life insurance, are those
which relate to the longevity of his fam
lily: "How long did your father live :?
Or, how old is he now if still alive?"
"How long did your mother live :? Or,
how old is she now if still alive ?"
"What of your brothers and sisters-did
they die young? Or, are they still
living, and at what ages ?' Such are the
questions asked of those who would
secure life insurance. And if it can
be established that the applicant be-
longs to long-lived family, this is ac-
counted favorable evidence of the long
life of the individual. On the contrary,
if he belongs to a short-lived family,
this is collateral proof that the individ-
ual will not live long himself.
In the science of entomology, the nat
uralists tell us about many races of
little insects whose natural life is only
a few hours long. Others live few
days, others few weeks or months.
Grasshoppers and flies, and plenty of
beetles, may live year. The life of
one species of locust is three years j; of
another, seven years of another, four
teen years. Now, if an individual Of
each of all these different species was
put into your hand, and you were wise
enough to tell to which family of in
sects it belonged, you could then judge
very correctly as to the probable dura-
tion of the natural life of each. OF
this little creature you would say,-"It
cannot live but few hours at the
most, for all the fathers and mothers
in that species only live about so long"
OF another you would say,-"It can
only live few weeks or months, for all
the fathers and mothers in that species
only live about so long" And so you
would judge of the grasshopper, the
beetle, or the locust, and say,-"Such
and such will live so long, and so long,
because that has been the natural life
of all their generations since they were
known to man." Our domestic fowls
and animals are born to very unequal
length of days. You would call the
barnyard fowls old at five years of age,
the dogs and cows old at fifteen, and
the horse old at thirty. But an ele-
phant would hardly have arrived at
middle life at thirty, because they are
known to live hundred, and even two
hundred years. Now, in all of these
cases, one could wisely and logically
judge Of tie probable duration of the
life of the individuals by the duration
of life in the classes to which they be-
longed. "How long did their fathers and
mothers live?" "What was the length
of days among their kindred through
the long generations of the past ?" The
answers to these questions would solve
the problems before you.
Let us therefore apply the same con-
elusive reasoning to the probable dura-
tion of the life of man. Man is double.
He is fiesh-he is spirit. He has a
double parentage, an earthly and a
heavenly. We have fathers and moth
ers after the flesh. The probable life
of the body depends upon the bodily
life of our kindred-not much beyond
threescore and ten. But we are spirits
also. One is the Father of our spirits,
even God. Spiritually, therefore, we may
inquire,-"How old is our Father ?''
"How long has he lived?" "When will
! he die ?" "Can angels or archangels tell