34 LITEKAET VALUES 



which he built his famous work, will not any better 

 bear close examination. "What analogy is there be- 

 tween death and sleep or a swoon ? what agreement 

 of ratios ? The resemblance is entirely superficial. 

 Or how can we predict another sphere of existence 

 for man because another sphere awaits the unborn 

 infant ? But another sphere does not await the un- 

 born infant ; only new and different relations to the 

 same physical sphere. An embryo implies a future ; 

 but what is there embryonic about the mature man ? 



This breakdown of Butler's argument in regard to 

 a future life was pointed out by Matthew Arnold ; 

 the very point in dispute, namely, a future life, is 

 assumed. If there is a future life, if there is another 

 world, it doubtless bears some analogy to this. In 

 like manner, if there are fairies and nymphs and 

 demigods, it is not improbable to suppose that they 

 bear some resemblance to human beings, but shall 

 we assume their actual existence upon such a proba- 

 bility ? 



That the unborn child starting as a bit of proto- 

 plasmic jelly should become a man, a Napoleon, or 

 a Shakespeare, may be quite as startling a fact as 

 the assumption of a future existence ; yet the former 

 is a matter of experience, which lends no color to 

 the truth of the latter. It is not a matter of reason 

 that babes become men, but a matter of observation 

 and experience. Indeed, in Butler's famous argu- 

 ment, the analogy of nature is everywhere forced 

 and falsified. In every case he puts the words into 

 her mouth that he would have her speak. His faith 



