"A DISCUSSION ON IMMORTALITY."
By Editor
THE following taken from the Christian Union goes to show that the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul, which the professed Christian church has received from its heathen authors, is not satisfactory to all minds in the church. We gladly note this among other signs of an awakening to a sense of the truth in this important matter:— "Considerable excitement has been caused in Neuchatel by the delivery there of a series of lectures on 'Conditional Immortality,' by Dr. Petavel-Olliffe, professor of theology, of Geneva. The course, which consisted of twelve lectures, was largely attended, the audience being composed of the professors and students of the two theological faculties, the ministers of the town, the heads of the numerous educational institutions, as well as of a large number of the general public. The learned doctor traversed the whole ground in an exhaustive manner, discussing the subject in its relation to biblical exegesis, to science, to philosophy, to the doctrines and usages of the primitive church, and to the patristic testimony. He argued that the traditional dogma rested on the platonic notion of the necessary immortality of the soul, which was entirely unscriptural, was unknown to the early Christians, and had been imported into the church by the Alexandrian school of Christian Fathers. He strongly urged that in placing the doctrine of a future life on a basis at once scientific and scriptural, there would be found the means of reconquering the ground lost to Christianity in France, and on the continent generally."