OPINIONS OF GREAT AUTHORS 83 



sumption that the existence of animals does not 

 end at death. It is absolutely necessary to postu- 

 late a future life for the tortured dog or cat or 

 horse or monkey, if we would escape the un- 

 bearable conclusion that a sentient creature, un- 

 offending, nay, incapable of giving offense, has 

 been given by the Creator an existence which, on 

 the whole, has been a curse. That conclusion 

 would be blasphemy. Rejecting it with all the 

 energy of our souls, we find ourselves logically 

 driven to assume the future life of lower animals." 

 Rev. J. G. Wood, author of " Man and Beast," 

 says: "I feel sure that animals will have the op- 

 portunity of developing their latent faculties in the 

 next world, though their free scope has been denied 

 to them in the short time of their existence in the 

 present world. They surpass many human beings 

 in love, unselfishness, generosity, conscience, and 

 self-sacrifice. I claim for them a higher status in 

 creation than is generally attributed to them, and 

 claim they have a future life in which they can be 

 compensated for the suffering which so many of 

 them have to undergo in this world. I am quite sure 

 that most of the cruelties which are perpetrated on 

 animals are due to the habit of considering them as 



