286 From Matter to Man. 



the lamps of an ever-intelligent existence, the spokes- 

 man of a potential universal mind which nature re- 

 veals in us and honours as her mouthpiece. 



Man, consequently, as a living being, is responsible 

 to no one. His own God and the model of all past 

 and present deities, his worship is due only to that 

 which is greatest in himself. Heaven is his own 

 illusion, and hell his own damnation. The shuttle- 

 cock of natural laws and environments, he is primarily 

 chance made, though secondarily self-makeable. Non- 

 existing before birth, he retains no individuality after 

 death. The soul which he inherits from the elements, 

 whatever it may be, he also returns to them : his 

 personal immortality consisting solely in great 

 thoughts, words, and deeds, and the depth of their 

 impression on the shifting sands of men's memories. 



Despite all sickly moralising to the contrary, our 

 life in its perfect form is long and complete, and 

 yields untold harvests of happiness to those willing to 

 reap, so that when old age beckons with withered 

 fingers, and the snow of life's winter wraps around us 

 its hoary vestment, we shall, without regret, glide 

 again into the bosom of that great Mother from whom 

 we sprung, conscious that as immortals we shall speak 

 again through other tongues, live again through other 

 lives, and die again through other deaths, eternally. 



