Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1895-08-01
ELLIOTT COUES.


In 1884 used the following words with
reference to an address which had deliv-
cred before the Philosophical Society Of
Washington:
"Iiving a. l have boon for many years
in scientific atmosphere in which atheism
and very Grass materaiism are rife, a
the fashionable foihlrs Of men otherwise
really great, who almost hide their foll'
with their crndition, their good sense,
their thousand manly and humane quail
ties am often told by scientists that they
have no souls and expect to die like dogs.
What can ] rcjoin to such declarations
from such sources: To such one l can
only answer evasiyely that he must know
his own nature and probable destiny BET
ter than he can expect me to, and that II
he thinks he has no soul and is TO die like
a dog | have no means of proving HIM
wrong; but that, speaking for myself
alone, | know that l have II soul, and
that | shall not die like a dog. because it
is the nature Of the soul God has given me
to know its immortal self with kind Of
knowledge in comparison with which the
knowledge Of material things acquired by
the bodily senses is no knowledge, but de-
fusion only; with kind of knowledge
whose servant, not whose master l. rcn-
son; with a kind OF consciousness which
+ sclf-cunscious. G. Biogcn, second cdl-
ton, page ll)
In 1895, being without any further in
formation in the premises, having no hope
of being able to prove my position and no
fear that it can be diSproved | repeat my
confession Of knowledge without qUalilica-
ton AS long rs l live in my present ma
terial environment can have no expert
entail knowledge OF any other mode of
existence The demonstration OF the prob
lem must be determined by the event Of
death. | must he content to await that
event, and have no doubt that all other
persons now living in this world are cir
cumstancrd precisely like myself in this
regard.
The question of spiritual life after phys
ical death is not unscinntiilc, but ii is
distinctivcly ultra -scicntihc-that Is to
say, it cannot he put to the test of expert
mcnt and observation by any living per-
son. That test is the very touchstone OF
science. Anything not amcuahc to that
test may be true hut cannot be II scientific
truth. People die every minute Each such
one solves the problem for himself in the
continuation of his consciousness or the
contrary, but that availeth nothing for
any one who has not yet died. because
dead men tell no tales am well inform
ed on the claims OF the SpiritualistS. | am
exceptionally we'll informed on the phys
ical phenomena by means of which they
would support those claims. Ny attitude
of mind toward them il one of respectful
attention, intellectual hospitality and cor
dial sympathy, but | fail to find that they
| prove their case. This raises ths question
/ Of the competency of scientific methods of
/ investigation to handle the problem and
] am well nigh convinced that we must re-
nuunCc all hope of its demonstration in that
way, at least in the present stage of cVolu-
ton of the human intellect. But | have
great faith in the possibilities of mental and
/ spiritual rs well rs physical development.
/ 1t is tolerably certain that our bodies have
/ been fashioned from such as the brutcs
possess by natural genesis with progress
/ i've improvement. 1t is probable that our
minds or souls have developed pari pasSu
from brute instincts, and as | see no nee
esSary limit to such "ascent of man from
the monkey TO the angel it is reasonable
to infer that the human race will in time
acquire the capacity of affirming absolute
ly or denying with equal certainty that a
soul survives intact tho dissolution of the
body. But as that is not likely To come in
our day, and certain not to be attained by
present processes of scientific intellection,
he is wisest who rcfrains from 0ngmatic
assertions as long as he lives.
Such statements may seem to expressly
contradict what | said before. But there
is no real contradiction. Truth is para
doSicsl sa its various aspectS do not