106 Mr. Henry Wilde on a 



Immortal Nature lifts her changeful form, 

 Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame, 

 And soars and shines, another and the same.* 



In following up to their ultimate issue cosmical theories 

 of the transformations of the universe, some minds may 

 naturally shrink from forming conclusions involving ap- 

 parently the absolute annihilation of man as a sentient 

 being. But there are abundant means of knowing that 

 such nirvanian conclusions are not a necessary consequence 

 of the dissolution of planetary systems. For just as the 

 conscious intelligence of man perceives the workings of 

 purposive intelligence animating the universe — cosmos and 

 microcosmos — through countless ages ; so the well-grounded 

 conviction is established in his mind that, whatever happens, 

 the principle of conscious intelligence within himself is of 

 the same nature as that manifested in the universe around 

 him, and is, therefore, immortal and eternal. 



Another of our own poets, whose noble hymnsj enter 

 deeply into the religious life of English-speaking peoples 

 throughout the world, has expressed man's ultimate relation 

 to the cosmos in the striking language with which I shall 

 now conclude this paper : — 



" The stars shall fade away, the sun himself 

 Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years ; 

 But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, 

 Unhurt amidst the war of elements, 

 The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds." 



Addison's Cato, Act V. — Scene i. 



* Darwin's Botanic Garden, Canto IV., 367 — 380. 

 t Spectator, Nos. 441, 453, 465. 



