38 LITERAEY VALUES 



composition like our own, and governed by laws like 

 our own, have planets revolving around them which 

 are or may be the abode of beings like ourselves. 

 If this " moral nature like our own " pervades our 

 system, then the inference is just that it also per- 

 vades the other systems. But to argue from physi- 

 cal elements to moral causes is to throw upon ana- 

 logy more than it will bear. 



Analogy is a kind of rule of three : we must have 

 three terms to find the fourth. We argue from the 

 past to the present and from the present to the 

 future. Things that begin must end. If man's life 

 has been continuous in the past, then we may infer 

 that it will be continuous in the future. 



Our earth has a moon ; it is reasonable, there- 

 fore, to suppose that some of the other planets have 

 moons. It is reasonable to suppose that there are 

 other planets and suns and systems, myriads of them. 

 It may be reasonable to think with Sir Kobert Ball 

 that the extinct or dark and burnt-out bodies in 

 the sky exceed in numbers the luminous ones, as the 

 non-luminous bodies exceed the luminous ones upon 

 the earth. No man has seen live steam ; when it 

 can be seen it is dead ; yet we know that it exists. 



We may complete a circle from a small segment 

 of it. If we have two sides of a triangle, we may 

 add the third. To find the value of an unknown 

 quantity, we must have a complete equation and as 

 many equations as we have unknown quantities. 

 We can argue from this life to the future life only 

 after proof that there is a future life. 



