Editor's Chair.
10
We only know what state of tilings must
exist at death u comprehension of ti
cliiiin of dependent reliitions. Hut let us
grant I lint there Is an iminorlnl slain, (for
it is easier to believe that the soul is im
mortal lli.n to believe that there can be an
annihilation of the recognition of depen-
1 ili'iit re at ons.) and el us hoc how wc can
possibly modify it and further what are
our responsibilities concerning it.
In the llrst place, the only evidence of
our will is that wo have power to effect
the quality of impressions and perceptions.
This power is coextensive with the digni.
ty of our being, bene it is limited. This
constitutes our choice of relations. It is
plain however that our choice is not un
limited. There is always a choice, tint of
ten a forced choice; for often we come
front to front with the broad sea of cir
cumstaiicesiind the tide so hostile to our
own will In defiance lolls its rising waves
about our feet and we must change our
minds, hence the limit of our respousibili.
ty-
Again, all must concede that our immor
tality is modified by our life. The number
of such modifications can only extend to
death, yet at death the soul is thus
the result of every act and thought through
life, for no act or thought can be so small
but that it may have an influence. Hence
the soul, on its departure from the body,
looks back ami perceives every relation
it has ehosen, every perception or Impres
sion. No one is so minute but that it h-ts
had a being, and from this fact it must be
recognized, and also because such reoog
nitions are simply the conditions of self
knowledge. And as the soul thus points to every one
of its ir.ls, so, on the other hand.cverv act
must poittt to some qualification of the
soul. Each perception, each impression
each choice and evervicnown relation has
its prosnectivo purpose, n purpose for
moulding the soul that is proportionate to
its own inlluece. It is plain then that du
ring life we become the detectives of our
own future- existence. Step by step, mark
by mark, here by some sign or supposed
characteristic, there by some calculated
relation between the thing seen and the
thing unseen, on this side attending to
some word of advice, on that spun ing
any attempt to thwart 'us, through long
dark, gloomy alleys, through dismal dens
as well as through the temples of the
counterfeiter, we track through the world
our future self. Nor is it until death, that
reveals the real object of our search, which
has so long eluded us, do we come face to
face and front to front witli our real future
conditions. As one, who has long been
on the search for one whom he has never
fien, yet knows him by n few uuqucslion
able indications, is somewhat surprised
when he does sec him, bucausc he per
haps has a hundred other characteristics
which were not known, so will wc ho sur
prised when we come face to face with our
future self, because it will bo something of
which we have not enough characteristics
to form an adequate idea. Whatever it
um he, we know it must be the resultant
of all the acts of our lives. It is then the
common purpose of each and every
tboughtor deed. This is what we must
look forward to, and this we truce out by
the relations which we ourselves choose.
As we have said, as each relation points
to the final purpose, so the final purpose
will point back to each relation. And
since this is of our own selection, let us
now inquire, What should be its prime
conditions? In the first place, all will
willingly concede that it should be some
thing possessing absolute purity. If there
is not the slightest stain, the least possible
error, so much greater will be the happi
ness; so much greater will be the satisfac
tion. In order that this purity may be
one of the conditions of immortality,
there must he absolute purity in life. We
of course are prone to adopt such a con
elusion, through wc arc driven to iiby the
above premises, for wo know that, at our
present advancement, it is impossible for
us to live a perfect life. How the greatest
purity may be attained to, is a question
