■270 ORGANIC EVOLUTION CONSIDERED 



has been most invigorating to mental and moral life. 

 And shall we hold that this belief is but a dream, 

 and that a dream, never to be fulfilled, has been nec- 

 essary as a means of lifting man higher in the scale 

 of being? Has the Creator of the Universe so 

 ordered things that we must believe a falsehood in 

 order that we may go forward on the road of prog- 

 ress? 



I think it safer to hold that man's belief in a future 

 state of existence is ennobling because it is a prophecy 

 of the life to come. Nature is not out of joint, nor 

 false to her most sacred promises. 



If we hold the universal belief in a future existence 

 to be but the result of an instinct inherited through 

 countless generations, yet must we account for the 

 instinct. The love of life is one of the strongest 

 instincts, and instincts are quite infallible. Instinct 

 comes by birth, and harmonizes with the facts of the 

 nniverse. 



Whatever be the origin of the universal belief in a 

 future state of existence — whether instinct, reason or 

 revelation — the fact that this faith exists shows the 

 profoundest yearnings of human nature, and, from 

 analogy, we may believe that the future holds in store 

 the means of satisfying the boundless aspirations of 

 the human soul. 



Life and death go hand in hand. The Power that 

 made life also ordained death. If life is good and 

 desirable, we may also trust that death is equally good 

 and not to be feared. Both are parts of the uni- 

 versal plan. We may trust that the Power that rules 

 will make no mistakes — that all things through the 

 endless ages will be wisely adjusted. 



Time flows eternally, and events succeed each 

 other without intermission; among these events are 

 life and death, and they must be in harmony with 



