A Crumb for the " Modern Symposium." 59 



to exchange good hard blows in a fair English 

 fight. 



It is with some diffidence that I venture to add 

 my voice to a conversation carried on by such 

 accomplished speakers, but the present seems to 

 be a proper occasion for calling attention to some 

 of the misconceptions which' ordinarily cluster 

 around the treatment of questions relating to the 

 soul and a future life. In thus entering upon the 

 discussion, I do not feel called upon to defend any 

 particular solution of the main question at issue. 

 Going by the " light of Nature " alone to use 

 the old-fashioned phrase it will be generally 

 conceded that the problem of a future life is so 

 abstruse and complicated that one is quite excus- 

 able for refraining from a dogmatic treatment of 

 it. Nay, one is not only excusable, one is morally 

 bound not to dogmatize unless one has a firmer 

 basis to stand on than any of us are likely to 

 find for some time to come. We may entertain 

 hypotheses in private, but we are hardly entitled 

 to urge them upon our friends until we feel as- 

 sured, in the first place, that we have duly fath- 

 omed the conditions requisite for a rational treat- 

 ment of the problem. 



It would appear that some of the participators 

 in the " Modern Symposium " havs not sufficiently 



