io METAPHYSICS 



he is making a proper, if not the best, use of his life here 

 for continuing it with the best results hereafter. 



Any attempt at a solution of the transcendental problems 

 herein involved must feel almost an act of impiety on the 

 part of the attempter. We, therefore, disclaim all intention 

 of going beyond the limits imposed by the method and 

 manner of our approach to the subject and the light which 

 the conclusions we have been able to draw from the assort- 

 ment of our u Science siftings " have enabled us to shed on 

 them and to penetrate them. 



It ought to be mentioned here that, so far as we possess 

 the historical knowledge on the subject, we are warranted 

 in saying that every nationality, even every important 

 community, tribe, and so-called thinking individual, has 

 more or less displayed a belief, implied or expressed, in the 

 reality of the existence of an after state when that here 

 enjoyed has been spent to its close, and that around this 

 belief have clustered influences of the most potent order 

 in the formation of human character and the direction of 

 human motives influences which in many instances have 

 culminated in the evolution and development of cults and 

 the development of religious systems. That this is " a 

 natural outcome " of the operation of " natural cause and 

 effect" we would claim to be a great truth, and that 

 it should be encouraged and its growth maintained we 

 claim as equally imperatively demanded, in order that its 

 growth should be along the lines of the greatest good to 

 the greatest number, with the intent that its ultimate full 

 development should be perfected, so that the here and the 

 hereafter of man should form one indissoluble whole, 

 meeting the requirements of the Author and Governor of 

 all the universe. Therefore, respect for all such systems, 

 from the most rudimentary individual religious beliefs to 

 the most fully developed and perfect forms of worship 

 and codes of morals, must in strict justice be held, and 

 every liberty given for the growth of religious opinion, in 

 order that the best and noblest influences in moulding the 

 final destinies of humanity should have the results attain- 

 able by the "survival of the fittest." 



While thus the teachings of science and of religious 

 systems developed in the moral world, the universally 



