to know what is to become of all this rich and wonderful life of
which the physical universe is the theatre. Has it all been
developed, apparently at almost infinite waste of effort, only to
be abolished again before it has attained to completeness, or
does it contain or shelter some indestructible element which
having drawn sustenance for a while from the senseless turmoil of
physical phenomena shall still survive their final decay? This
question is closely connected with the time-honoured question of
the meaning, purpose, or tendency of the world. In the career of
the world is life an end, or a means toward an end, or only an
incidental phenomenon in which we can discover no meaning?
Contemporary theologians seem generally to believe that one
necessary result of modern scientific inquiry must be the
destruction of the belief in immortal life, since against every
thoroughgoing expounder of scientific knowledge they seek to hurl
the charge of "materialism." Their doubts, however, are not
shared by our authors, thorough men of science as they are,
though their mode of dealing with the question may not be such as
we can well adopt. While upholding the doctrine of evolution, and
all the so-called "materialistic" views of modern science, they
not only regard the hypothesis of a future life as admissible,
but they even go so far as to propound a physical theory as to
the nature of existence after death. Let us see what this
physical theory is.

As far as the visible universe is concerned, we do not find in it
any evidence of immortality or of permanence of any sort, unless
it be in the sum of potential and kinetic energies on the
persistency of which depends our principle of continuity. In
ordinary language "the stars in their courses" serve as symbols