The Continuity of Life
By Francis M. Wilcox
CONSIDERABLE discussion has gone the rounds of the press during the last few weeks over an address recently delivered before the British Association for the Advancement of Science by the president of the association, Sir Oliver Lodge. In this address he argues for the continuity of life, and claims that this continuity is entirely in harmony with the principles of true science. He has found experimental proof of the continuity of existence through his work in connection with the Society of Psychical Research, of which he was formerly the president. This address from a man of recognized scientific standing and research will have a strong influence in inclining many minds to the study of the experimental proofs that Sir Oliver claims to have found in connection with his investigation of spiritualistic manifestations. It shows the character of some of the believers in this occult science, and the manner in which this great delusion is enthralling the minds of men who occupy prominent positions in the world of science and letters. The Scriptures of Truth plainly teach a life beyond the tomb, but death is not the door to that continued existence. Death is not set forth as a period of transition from one state to another. It is represented as a state in which life ceases. Man’s physical and mental powers are at rest. He has no longer an existence among the living on earth or among the spiritual beings of any place or sphere. The only way in which he will ever again live on this earth is through the resurrection at the last great day. The patriarch Job, in common with other Bible writers, plainly teaches this truth. When sick and suffering, with the grave apparently as his resting-place,943he inquires, “If a man die, shall he live again?” He answers the question to which his fears give rise: “All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire for the work of thine hands.” Of the dead he plainly declares, “Man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.” And of the dead man’s knowledge of events transpiring on the earth, he declares, “His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.” By the power of him who conquered death the graves will be opened; the sleeping saints will rise to glorious immortality in life beyond the tomb. It is this hope on the part of the Christian that robs death of its terrors, and in the glad resurrection morn enables him to joyfully sing: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” It is better to take as the basis of our faith the word of divine revelation rather than the conclusions reached by the Society of Psychical Research.