ON IMMORTALITY: COUNTERTHESIS. 191 



not always the outer and material one indeed, but the 

 inner and essential. In but few cases would the earthly 

 inequitable decisions and arrangements require revision 

 or redress ; if we could look sufficiently deep into men's 

 hearts to see their real pains and pleasures, the rewards 

 and punishments that are here distributed. Wrong and 

 injustice do exist, but the unjust are not therefore the 

 happier even here ; above all, the man of highest virtue 

 has no cause of complaint, for Nature has paid him in a 

 way that the others know not of paid him, moreover, 

 by the day and by the hour, paid him by the " piece- 

 work" richly and liberally, in proportion to his work 

 and in his work through the satisfied feelings flowing 

 therefrom. 



And is there nothing that we can do to better our 

 chances in this great hereafter of possible existences ? 

 Scarcely anything, so far as reason can determine ; the 

 management of the beyond being subject to laws which 

 transcend any pretence of reason to fathom. But though 

 nothing positive can be stated, the doing or not doing of 

 which would improve our future chances, yet there is a 

 kind of premonition in our hearts that it is better and 

 wiser to front the future, with its possible perils and 

 felicities, with the consciousness of duty done and life 

 well-spent ; and bearing in mind this instinct of future 

 desert or ill desert, be it rational or irrational, it is well 

 to state that to aim at the perfection of our own being, 

 as well as at the good of others so far as possible ; these 

 two things, as on the whole they best promote our 

 happiness here, so they may, though there is no certainty 

 whatever on the matter, be of further profit to us in the 

 future. They are at least more likely to profit than an 

 opposite and vicious course, especially if accompanied 

 with effort and sacrifice a consideration which may 



