IN the course of recent public discussions which attracted wide attention, especially in America, and which involved questions concerning the state of human existence after death, it appeared, if not to participants, at least to many on-lookers, from near and far, that there was much uncertainty and vagueness in men's minds, we will not say as to their opinions, but as to each other's opinions.
This is as much as to say that there was wanting one of the primary conditions of intelligent and profitable discussion. No waste of words and arguments is more useless than discussion which imputes to an antagonist opinions which he does not hold, or makes him responsible for inferences which he repudiates.
Not only to furnish a basis for intelligent argument among theologians, but among all thoughtful and reasonable men to give whatever of definiteness and certainty can be attained on subjects which to all serious minds are invested with a grave interest and an awful fascination, there was need of a source of information for which the libraries of the world might be searched in vain. This is the need which the present volume proposes to supply.
What are the beliefs of the present day concerning the Life to Come? The answer must be sought from sincere and thoughtful men among our contemporaries, representing various schools and tendencies of theological opinion. And it is to these we have appealed. Among the names of the writers for this volume will be found some whose fame is co-extensive with the English language; and others who through wide regions and communions are honored as leaders or representatives of religious thought. And, unless we