This question is as old as the race. Men cannot let it alone. It
exercises a strange fascination. One generation, immersed in pleasure
or in business, may think that _this_ world is quite enough and may
push the question aside: but the next generation will ask with
increased intensity: "If a man die, shall he live again?" At one
period of his life a man may care little for a question that carries
him beyond the horizon of the present; but by and by no question comes
to him with more poignant urgency.
The question will not rest, because death will not let us alone. As
long as death breaks into our family circles, the problem will recur.
Death came with his legions during the War and compelled a fresh answer
to his challenge. No one who can think or feel is able to look unmoved
on the face of death: he must ask "Shall he live again?"
It is passing strange that this should remain to any degree an open
question. Why have not men reached a decisive answer? As a matter of
fact, the history of nations and religions shows that man's tendency is
to answer "Yes, he will live again." The natural inclination of man
everywhere is to believe, not in his extinction, but in his survival.
The Christian doctrine of immortality implies vastly more than the mere
survival of personality after death. It involves a _quality_ rather
than a _quantity_ of life. Let us first, however, gather the manifold
rays of light from various quarters that illuminate a future life of
any kind. Some of them may be only candle lights; but their
combination will reveal a trend towards immortality. It will appear
that it is less difficult to believe that a man will live again than to
believe he will be extinguished by death.