PREFACE 13 



advocated throughout this book from a Biblical 

 and philosophical hypothesis. There is a law in 

 physics that nothing is lost, and so we reason. All 

 potential forces and substances in nature are inde- 

 structible and eternal. Matter and soul — or mind 

 — are the only constituent elements in the universe, 

 and they both exist alike in man and in the lower 

 animals. The body, which is matter, changes its 

 form at death ; but that mysterious life potency, 

 known as the soul or mind, is immaterial and im- 

 mortal, and returns to God who gave it. 



Man and the lower animals are not immortal from 

 choice, but because the Creator has decreed it, and 

 what God has created He alone can annihilate. 

 That there will be a general restoration of all ani- 

 mal life is the most liberal and reasonable conclu- 

 sion of modern theology. That God has made 

 ample provision and revealed sufficient evidence 

 for such restoration is offered in good faith. But 

 this is not offered as an incentive for man to be 

 kind to animals, as it makes no difference whether 

 they have souls or not, the obligation remains the 

 same. We do not stop to ask whether a helpless 

 woman or child has a soul when we see one in dis- 

 tress or cruelly treated, neither should we ask the 



