180 THE CREED OF SCIENCE, RELIGIOUS AND MORAL. 



low state of the primitive man has brought the human 

 species into the general circle of the animal kingdom, in 

 a sense far more deep and essential than was formerly 

 dreamed of; and she has thereby deepened the belief, 

 though without producing absolute conviction, that the 

 arguments proving a possible future life for man hold 

 likewise for the lower animals ; so that if man be judged 

 immortal they should be also, and if they be mortal so 

 also is man. Thirdly, Science has called attention to 

 the fact that there is something like a general law dis- 

 coverable in the history of species, that they all have 

 their term of years, though the term is usually a long 

 one, and that probably therefore the human species 

 itself, as well as all other existing species, will disappear, 

 giving place to wholly different though derivative types 

 of life. And all these things taken together, undoubtedly 

 tend strongly to produce the conviction that death closes 

 the career of the existing individual. 



Nevertheless, we still think that Science has not 

 shown, nor can any argument that she can possibly 

 advance show, that we may not have another existence, 

 or even a series of such existences, after the termination 

 of the present one ; and as this may appear an unex- 

 pected and illogical conclusion after the preceding admis- 

 sions, we are bound to explain the position more clearly, 

 as well as to try to defend it. 



Science has not proved, nor can she prove, that a 

 conscious being may not hereafter emerge somewhere, in 

 which or through which I may awaken again into being. 

 But it would not be really you, Science and common 

 sense together exclaim ; it could not be you without 

 memory to make the link of connection, the bond of 

 identity, between that other being and you, between 

 that supposed self and your present self. No matter, we 



