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105. What object? I ask; for an impersonal Cosmos can 
have none. Is man, then, the end of creation, its complement 
and crown ? Is the purpose of an impersonal Cosmos getting 
near its realization? Unless this philosophy utters absolute 
nonsense, it has arrived at the same conclusion as Theism, that 
a purpose exists somewhere in the universe. Common sense 
must draw the conclusion that a purpose can exist only in a 
personal intelligence, i.e. in God. 
106. But there is a future which this philosophy must face, 
and which the mind of man, despite of all philosophy, will 
inquire into with the profoundest interest. What, then, are 
the destinies of the Cosmos? What are the future prospects 
of man as an individual and a race ? Let us hear the answer 
which it returns. “ Nevertheless a time must come when the 
earth will be no longer inhabited; nay, when we shall have 
ceased to exist as a planet. Then all which in the course of her 
development was produced, and in a manner accomplished by 
her — all living and rational beings and all their productions, 
all political organizations, all works of art and science — will 
not only necessarily have vanished from existence without a 
trace, but even the memory of them will survive in no mind, 
as the history of the earth must necessarily perish with her.” 
107. Surely this is a dark prospect which this philosophy 
unfolds. Man, as an individual, and as a race, shall pass into 
eternal silence; and no trace of him or his works shall remain 
in any mind. Still, if this is the inevitable destiny of the 
future, let us face it boldly and honestly ; and not imitate the 
ancient philosopher, who wished, if the doctrine of man’s im- 
mortality were not true, that no one should undeceive him 
while he lived. No; if this philosophy is true, the most culti- 
vated intellects, the greatest moral elevation, and the lowest 
baseness of wickedness, shall alike rest in peaceful, but eternal 
silence. 
108. Again, “ Either the earth,” says the author, “has 
missed her aim here — no result has been produced by her 
protracted existence — or this aim did not consist in something 
which was intended to endure, but has been attained at every 
moment of her development.” Let us take courage then, for 
the gospel of despair can only express itself in the terms of the 
gospel of hope. Nature, then, has an aim and a purpose ! Aims 
and purposes are not attributes of an impersonal infinity, but of 
intelligence, personality, and will. If also announces that the 
infinite All perishes not, nor ceases from its perfection. “ The 
All in no succeeding moment is more perfect than in the 
preceding one, nor vice versa. There exists in it, in fact, no 
