everything that is needed to make him so. Everything?
yes--all except one thing, for which he will long when the shadow of
the end draws near.

And now what else remains? A brief farewell to those who have perused
this narrative, or a lingering parting word?

In these days of haste and scramble, when there is no time for faith,
is there time for sentiment? I think not. And therefore there shall be
none between my readers and me, save this--a friendly warning.
Belief--belief in God--belief in all things noble, unworldly, lofty,
and beautiful, is rapidly being crushed underfoot by--what? By mere
lust of gain! Be sure, good people, be very sure that you are RIGHT in
denying God for the sake of man--in abjuring the spiritual for the
material--before you rush recklessly onward. The end for all of you can
be but death; and are you quite positive after all that there is NO
Hereafter? Is it sense to imagine that the immense machinery of the
Universe has been set in motion for nothing? Is it even common reason
to consider that the Soul of man, with all its high musings, its dreams
of unseen glory, its longings after the Infinite, is a mere useless
vapour, or a set of shifting molecules in a perishable brain? The mere
fact of the EXISTENCE OF A DESIRE clearly indicates an EQUALLY EXISTING
CAPACITY for the GRATIFICATION of that desire; therefore, I ask, would
the WISH for a future state of being, which is secretly felt by every
one of us, have been permitted to find a place in our natures, IF THERE
WERE NO POSSIBLE MEANS OF GRANTING IT? Why all this discontent with the
present--why all this universal complaint and despair and
world-weariness, if there be NO HEREAFTER? For my own part, I have told
you frankly WHAT I HAVE SEEN and WHAT I KNOW; but I do not ask you to
believe me. I only say, IF--IF you admit to yourselves the possibility
of a future and eternal state of existence, would it not be well for
you to inquire seriously how you are preparing for it in these wild
days? Look at society around you, and ask yourselves: Whither is our
"PROGRESS" tending--Forward or Backward--Upward or Downward? Which way?
Fight the problem out. Do not glance at it casually, or put it away as
an unpleasant thought, or a consideration involving too much
trouble--struggle with it bravely till you resolve it, and whatever the
answer may be, ABIDE BY IT. If it leads you to deny God and the
immortal destinies of your own souls, and you find hereafte