[38] "Now that 'Jesus Christ brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel,' and that in the most literal sense, which implies that the revelation of the doctrine is _peculiar_ to His Gospel, seems to be at least the most obvious meaning of the Scriptures of the New Testament."--Whately, _l.c._ p. 27. [39] Compare, _Of the Immateriality of the Soul_, Section V. of Part IV., Book I., of the _Treatise_, in which Hume concludes (I. p. 319) that, whether it be material or immaterial, "in both cases the metaphysical arguments for the immortality of the soul are equally inconclusive; and in both cases the moral arguments and those derived from the analogy of nature are equally strong and convincing." [40] "The question again respecting the materiality of the soul is one which I am at a loss to understand clearly, till it shall have been clearly determined _what matter is_. We know nothing of it, any more than of mind, except its attributes."--Whately, _l.c._ p. 66. [41] "None of those who contend for the natural immortality of the soul ... have been able to extricate themselves from one difficulty, viz. that all their arguments apply, with exactly the same force, to prove an immortality, not only of _brutes_, but even of _plants_; though in such a conclusion as this they are never willing to acquiesce."--Whately, _l.c._ p. 67. [42] "Nor are we therefore authorised to infer _a priori_, independent of Revelation, a future state of retribution, from the irregularities prevailing in the present life, since that future state does not account fully for these irregularities. It may explain, indeed, how present evil may be conducive to future good, but not why the good could not be attained without the evil; it may reconcile with our notions of the divine justice the present prosperity of the wicked, but it does not account for the existence of the wicked."--Whately, _l.c._ pp. 69, 70. [43] "So reason also shows, that for man to expect to earn for himself by the practice of virtue, and claim, as his just right, an immortality of exalted happiness, is a most extravagant and groundless pretension."--Whately, _l.c._ p. 101. On the other hand, however, the Archbishop sees no unreasonableness in a man's earning for himself an immortality of intense unhappiness by the practice of vice. So that life is, naturally, a venture in which you may lose all, but can earn nothing. It may be thought somewhat hard upon mankind if they are pushed into a speculation of this sort, willy-nilly. [44] _Kritik der reinen Vernunft_. Ed. Hartenstein, p. 547. CHAPTER X. VOLITION: LIBERTY AND NECESSITY. In the opening paragraphs of the third part of the second book of the _Treatise_, Hume gives a description of the will.