The sun., 1901-07-28
! WV rHxozrses rnrosrALIrY.


the failed spear Of Achilles. cure tho wounds
which Il has made In our religious faith In
DR. 8. d McConnells remarkable essay on
This Evolution Of Immortality recently
pubitsN cd by the NJ cmillan Company and re-
Viewed in THE SUN.
The faith IN which most men now over
middle age grew up. and which Churches
still preach, is that man In distinguished
from all other animals by the possession OF
a soul separate from his body and generally
antagonistic to the body and its lusts; that
at death the souls Of all mon alike are parted
from their bodies. but will Be reunited to
them at the Day OF Judgment. when there
will be a final division Of the wicked from
the good. the good going 70 everlasting bliss.
the wicked to everlasting woe. To thisscep-
ticisin now objects at once on scientific and
on moral grounds. On sci ntiho grounds,
II denies that man IL essentially distinguished
from the higher races OF amin ais; and az
firms that the soul. instead OF being separate
from the body and introduced into IL by
special act Of the Creator. Ia the outcome
OF our general frame. On moral grounds.
IL objects to the utter disproportion OF in
finite rewards and penalties TO finite merits
or demerits. and TO the assum ption OF a uharp
distinction between the good and the wicked
whose characters pass by infinite srada-
tions into each other.
The result IL q growing tendency TO
disregard anything beyond the present hie'
or at least to agree with Horace Greeley In
thinking that -those who discharge promptly
and faithfully all their duties TO those who
still live in the flesh. can have but little time
left for prying into the life beyond the grave;
and that II Is better 10 deal with each In iu
proper order" on the other hand. though
in the whirl Of business or pleasure We may
he willing. like Macbeth. TO Jump the world
to come" In the hour Of reflection We cannot
help shrinking from annihllation. To the
Greek poet 1t was a sad thought that while
the 10 wliest herb might have a second spring.
man. the mighty and the wise. must sleep
forever in his cold. dark grave The strain
Nigh have been moro melancholy still II
the poet had thought not only Of the ex-
tinction OF the individual. but OF the sever
ance OF affection. The sight and the retro
spect OF human pain and misery. II there
IL to be no compensation, are heartrending.
They are q heavy set-oh against release
from the fear Of eternal fire. the beliof In
which has probably always been faint since.
had II been vivid. society would have been
dissolved with terror. Immortality. IN the
strict sense OF the term. as II connotea eter-
nifty. Ia. like eternity and infnity. inconceiv-
able But the social effect OF belief In
future state has most likely been greater
than IL by DR. Mcconnell. or generally, be-
lieved IL has In some degree balanced
the absorbing pursuit Of weslth- IL has In
| ronne degree taken the sting from social in.
Justice, and reconciled the masses to tho
UNEQUAL distribution Of this worlds goods
II 1t has not made men In general prefer
the next world TO the present. IL has helped
| 60 prevent them from seeking their advance
ment in the present world by cutting throa1
or purses. SO at least thought Voltaire
whose evidence on this point may be deemed
impartial In fact. the authority Of oon-
science depends on the belief that whatever
may happen to US In the present dspensation.
in the sum Of things II will certainly be we'll
for him who has done good. and III for him
who has done evil. Lay aside that belief
and conscience will apparently lose its author
ity: there will be no moral Influence but
that of enlarged expedlency, with its social
embodiments in custom or the law. or tho
social consequences of this change We have.
as has been already said. premonitory symp-
toms and something more.
Dr. Mcconnell takes the bull by the horns.
True it IL. he says. that the common view
OF immortality Is totally untenable: true II
Il that. as science tells US, the soul Is not an
entity separate from the body and enclosed
in II by q special fat Of the Almighty. but
simply the outcome Of our general frame.
true Il {. that man as a race Is not essen TALLY
dstin guIshed from other animals, which
show In a rudimentary form mental faculties
and moral sentiments identical with those
of man. But the doctors theory Ia that the
common herd Of men are not capable OF I'M
mortality. The common herd OF men have
no right or claim tn It, As animals they
have had their life. and this Is their whole
due. Those only are capable OF immortality
who by process OF evolution have risen to
hi CHER kind of life not racial. but individual
and spiritual. which qualities them for the
transition. In the Doctors newly invented
phrnseolo gy. man Is not immortal. but only
"immortable that's. capable OF immortality.
The distinguished few will mount from the
present state of being to another not
reunited TO their terrestrial bodies. but. a.
dwellings Of some kind souls must have.
invested with bodies OF that luminiferous
or interstellar ether. the existence OF which
Newton OWNED and recent science has es-
tabshed The common herd will mingle
with the eO0 as DeSeefns tnelr neaRro speech,
their shallow lives. their brutality and mis-
chievousness, their low desires and ideals
Of life and their blank insensibilty 10 any
moral appeal. Calvin could hardly exceed
the r,ithessness OF the demarcation. What
sets on foot the evolution OF the chosen
few Dr. Mcdonnell has not clearly explained
10 us. nor can his theory be said to be entirely
free from the arbitrariness OF the common
belief in regard to the distribution Of final
bliss and woe. though II has the advantage
Of not consi gning the rejected into everlast-
ing fire. lie admits that he Is puzzled by
the case OF those who are not adults. He
must here be equally puzzled by the case
Of those who die In an early and imperfect
stage OF their evolution.
pr Mcconnell has the satisfaction Of think
ing that his theory is In perfect harmony
with Christianity and even that the true
meaning of the teaching OF Christ and his
Apostles on the subject OF q future state is
now for the first time made TO appear. Mar
yellous, he says. il the agreement between
his views and the words Of Jesus. The words
OF Jesus and those Of St Paul and other apos-
tolc writer's on this subject especially are so
little precise. they are so much more hom-
iletic than theological, that almost any mean
ing may without much difficulty be read
into them But in this case. with regard
to the theory Of an evolutionary revelation