PREFACE. ix 



susceptible. None will ask the now common ques- 

 tion, " Is life worth living ? " who will rise to the 

 realisation of such experience as this. With them 

 the impression will be rather that " Life is all too 

 short " to compass but a small portion of the 

 boundless realms of knowledge ever opening up to 

 them. 



The desire for Immortality is not only awakened 

 it is intensified by every fresh accession to the 

 store of this divine w r ealth ; and, growing in 

 intimacy, they become one in spirit with the beauty, 

 harmony, unity, order, joy, sorrow, and unspeak- 

 able beneficence of the universal Divinity, who, 

 permeating, pervading, animating, directing, and 

 controlling, is the great eternal " All in all." 



The great founders of the religions of mankind, 

 and the seers and the moralists, were in their 

 several ways, and according to the means at their 

 disposal, students of Nature. They were, before 

 all things, impressed and inspired by communion 

 with her, and drew thence their loftiest teachings 

 for the guidance of millions. Whatever there is 



