486 Life and Immortality. 



man should expect. Such an injustice, as shown by the 

 lives which we have contrasted, would be too flagrant for 

 any human being to perpetrate, unless such a being was 

 wholly deficient in the ideas of right and wrong. But on 

 the supposition that these animals possess immortal souls, 

 and that there is for them a future life in which these souls 

 shall be developed to their fullest capacities, then these 

 apparent discrepancies can be reconciled with Absolute Jus- 

 tice and Perfect Love. In His dealings with the lower ani- 

 mals, as with ourselves, God looks to the spiritual rather 

 than the material world, and by the means of the one 

 instructs and prepares his pupils for the other. With Paul 

 I firmly believe that suffering in the present world has for its 

 object a preparation for and an introduction to a future life, and 

 therefore am thoroughly convinced that any creature capable 

 of suffering has in that capacity its passport to an eternal 

 world. 



Another step, that is, the possession of Individuality, 

 as connected with Immortality, now presses forward for 

 consideration. As for man, did he not possess Individu- 

 ality, no diverseness of management would be needed, for 

 all would be treated in a similar manner. No two faces in 

 man are precisely alike, for the very simple reason that no 

 two souls, of which the countenance is an indication, are 

 alike. The same rule, no matter what may be affirmed to 

 the contrary, holds good among the lower animals. To 

 the casual observer no apparent difference can be detected 

 between any two individuals of a flock of sheep, a portrait 

 of one equally resembling that of any other. But a shep- 

 herd, who understands his business, will readily distinguish 

 every sheep of his flock, as well as describe the mental 

 peculiarities of each individual. One ordinary yellow canary 

 looks just like another yellow canary to the ordinary vision, 

 while in reality the mental character of each bird is 

 impressed just as strongly upon its countenance as are 

 human qualities upon that of man. This quality it is, both 



