THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY. 393 



But how do you know this ? If it has had a beginning, as 

 geology and astronomy prove,* it will also have an end. This 

 end, however, will not be an annihilation ; it will simply be, 

 as we have already pointed out, a transformation of matter. 

 As for the problems, whether nature itself was created, and 

 whether it is eternal, let us leave them" to the discussion of 

 heated theoricians, who are too blind to perceive that some 

 questions it is wisest neither to affirm nor deny, but to know 

 how to ignore. 



The error, then, which we have been considering, destroys 

 itself through its consequences. Let us admit, in effect, that 

 our world such as it is, just as it is will last for ever. In 

 that case what becomes of the power and travail of humanity ? 

 All they have accomplished are some slight changes of the 

 terrestrial crust, barely sufficient, here and there, to modify the 

 influences of climate. A limited number of men labour, it is 

 true, for the progress and full development of transmissible 

 thought. But even supposing that, in the course of centuries, 

 humanity succeeds in comprehending, it can only grow through 

 the development of the faculties of all its members, and 

 the due balance of all the social forces by means of liberty. 

 Supposing that reason, united to science and conscience, should 

 finally combine in one family the various tribes and peoples 

 scattered over the earth's broad surface; do you indulge 

 yourself in the hope of crossing the limits of the human 



* Our author, it must be understood, is considering these questions apart 

 from the Scriptural standpoint. 



