similar to that which, by its excellence and superior endowments, places man so much above animals; yet the principle unquestionably exists, and whether it be called sense, reason, or instinct, it presents in the whole range of organized beings a series of phenomena closely linked together; and upon it are based not only the higher manifestations of the mind, but the very permanency of the specific differences which characterize every organism. Most of the arguments in favour of the immortality of man apply equally to the permanency of this living principle in other living beings. May I not add that a future life in which man would be deprived of that great source of enjoyment, and intellectual and moral improvement, which results from the contemplation of the harmonies of an organic world, would involve a lamentable loss? And may we not look to a spiritual concert in the combined worlds and all the inhabitants in the presence of their Creator as the highest conception of paradise ? "1 It is probably true; for we can hardly think of happy men in new worlds without animals and plants. Scripture, indeed, speaks of plants of paradise; and of all things that have breath, in the restored earth, giving praise to God. When, too, we think of the sufferings of the lower things in creation, it does not seem a sufficient reply to ourselves, or a real compensation to them, to say, "The law of the survival of the fittest, and our own needs, make suffering necessary." No doubt the patience and gentleness of the animals rebuke human anger and violence; even as the sinking of inhuman men to a lower than bestial condition is by a natural 1 Faraday, “Essay on Classification,” xvii. pp. 97-99. judgment. Many prefer to think, as we ourselves, that the promised redemption of the whole of nature includes all that the best informed and most loving of pious minds can imagine (Rom. viii. 19-22). About one or two worlds, in every visible thousand of stars, may be the abodes of a life somewhat like that existing here. We are not to consider that the others are empty, or purposeless. They, and space also, are occupied by forces and influences marvellous and manifold. It is certain that, as all worlds are at least in some degree influenced even by the atoms of every other world; there is a balancing, natural arranging and thrusting aside; so that it more accords with philosophical science to believe that not in vain, nor even for objects wholly beyond them, is that vast process of life maintained by which countless living creatures do certainly condition the future. We may use reasoning of this kind: "Were a capricious God at the circumference of every wheel, and at the end of every lever, the action of the machine would be incalculable by the methods of science. But the action of all its parts being rigidly determined by their connections and relations, and these being brought into play by a single self-acting drivingwheel, then, though this last prime mover may elude me, I am still able to comprehend the machinery which sets it in motion." 1 Every one may see that a power or principle which conditions things, which selects for survival, and condemns to non-survival, is a law of nature. "1 We may say that Religion reveals three stages: (1) 1 Professor Tyndall, F.R.S., "Address to the British Association, Belfast," 1874, pp. 23, 24. that of spiritual preparation, extending from the day of Christ's humiliation to His coming in glory; (2) the stage of judgment, or the time of gathering out all evil, natural, human, Satanic; (3) the stage of victory, the manifestation of all things in loyalty to the Eternal Glory. Physical and philosophical science finds three natural stages in co-ordination with the above: (1) the creative process; (2) the disciplinary process; (3) the glorifying process, when all things, internally and externally, shall be in such individual and universal co-ordination, that there shall be no decay, no sorrow, no death. O God! to come near Thee as the ruling Power, the all-knowing Wisdom, the all-embracing and penetrating Love; will turn all darkness into light, and fill and surround us with one calm, clear, heavenly blaze of the Excellent Glory! RESEARCH XXXV. SPIRIT-WORLDS. "There may be corporeally present, the human crowd, and the extrahuman crowd; and the latter as naturally and simply present as the former; the latter as vividly conscious of the material world as the former, and as energetically prompted by interests and passions, by desires and fears."-ISAAC TAYLOR, Physical Theory of Another Life, chap. xv. 66 'May not the truth be lodged alike in all, ROBERT BROWNING, Paracelsus. WE know little of the spiritual life of millions and millions of men outside the pale of the visible Church; little of their inner life who lived long, long ago; but of this we are sure, "In every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him" (Acts x. 35). In some way, somewhere, there is light for those who have sat in darkness, and in the valley of the shadow of death. We think of it in this way: There is no fixed proportion in those various combinations of chemical elements out of which the plants gather their nourishment; nor in the more complex food, required by animals; nor can we say how much or what little knowledge suffices to save a soul. The universal medium which binds worlds to worlds, and in which they move; the essential or primal substance of the universe; which interpenetrates every part, is that which in its motions diffuses warmth, light, chemic influence. As in a moment, there may be light for those in darkness; warmth, and chemic influence, even for the dead. The amelioration and restitution of all things may be by a very natural process, when the time has arrived (Acts iii. 21). We know but little of the ether that fills space, and surrounds every particle of substance; little of space in which that ether is; but we can say, the ether is possibly the simplest substance in which all substances are, and from which they come, therefore most wonderful; space is not a barren desert, but the highway of worlds, the theatre of innumerable forces, the habitation of the Infinite. It would display gross ignorance and presumption to say that matter, such as we know ; that life, such as we live; that worlds such as we see; that spaces, such as we measure; comprise all the dominions of God; and that nothing is done anywhere else for men. "Number every grain of sand, Wherever salt wave touches land; Number the leaves on every tree, Number earth's living creatures, all That run, that fly, that swim, that crawl; Of sands, drops, leaves, and lives, the count; Add up into one vast amount, And then for every separate one Of all these, let a flaming sun Whirl in the boundless skies, with each Its massy planets, to outreach |