Future Life. 489 
Concluding, then, let me say, I claim not for the lower 
animals the slightest equality with man. What I claim for 
them is a higher s¢at¢ws in creation than is generally attributed 
to them. I claim for them a future life, where they will 
receive a just compensation for the sufferings which so 
many of them have to undergo in this world. Most of the 
cruelties which are perpetrated upon animals are due to the 
habit which man has, in his exalted opinion of self, of con- 
sidering them as mere automata, without susceptibilities, 
without reason and without the capacity of a future. That 
I have achieved the purpose, with which I set out, of proving 
that all life is immortal, or that soul exists in plants and 
animals, I think must be admitted. If this doctrine of 
immortality shall have the effect of bringing about a more 
humane treatment of the animals over which man has been 
given dominion, and thus contribute, be it ever so little, 
to their well-being and happiness, even in this life, then the 
object attained will be felt to be a just and worthy recom- 
pense for the thought and labor which have been expended 
in its support and defence. Not alone are we of the upper 
walks of being made the possessors of the inner life, but all 
nature shares it in common with us, and love is its expres- 
sion and the method of its action. 
THE END. 
