be reached, though
the human race dwell upon the globe for eternity. Up, then, and
labour: and let that labour be sound and holy. Not for immediate and
petty reward, not that the appetite or the vanity may be gratified,
but that the sum of human perfection may be advanced; labouring as
consecrated priests, for true science is religion. All is possible.
A grand future awaits the world. When man has only partially worked
out his own conceptions--when only a portion of what the mind
foresees and plans is realized--then already earth will be as a
paradise.

Full of love and sympathy for this feeble ant climbing over grass
and leaf, for yonder nightingale pouring forth its song, feeling
a community with the finches, with bird, with plant, with animal,
and reverently studying all these and more--how is it possible
for the heart while thus wrapped up to conceive the desire of
crime? For ever anxious and labouring for perfection, shall the
soul, convinced of the divinity of its work, halt and turn aside
to fall into imperfection? Lying thus upon the rug under the
shadow of the oak and horse-chestnut-tree, full of the joy of
life--full of the joy which all organisms feel in living
alone--lifting the eye far, far above the sphere even of the sun,
shall we ever conceive the idea of murder, of violence, of aught
that degrades ourselves? It is impossible while in this frame. So
thus reclining, and thus occupied, we require no judge, no
prison, no law, no punishment--and, further, no army, no monarch.
At this moment, did neither of these institutions exist our
conduct would be the same. Our whole existence at this moment is
permeated with a reverent love, an aspiration--a desire of a more
perfect life; if the very name of religion was extinct, our
hopes, our wish would be the same. It is but a simple transition
to conclude that with more extended knowledge, with wider
sympathies, with greater powers--powers more equal to the vague
longings of their minds, the human race would be as we are at
this moment in the shadow of the chestnut-tree. No need of priest
and lawyer; no need of armies or kings. It is probable that with
the progress of knowledge it will be possible to satisfy the
necessary wants of existence much more easily than now, and thus
to remove one great cause of discord. And all these thoughts
because the passing shadow of a rook caused the eye to gaze
upwards into the deep azure of the sky. There is no limit, no
number