But the reverse is true. It is not necessary to measure the infinite depth of the skies in order to ascertain whether they extend far beyond the milky way: he who should fix that limit, would claim to know the depth of things. When the theologian thus dared to fix the limits of creation, he was obliged to support himself by divine revelation, just as the materialist of our day takes his stand behind certain so-called scientific revelations which do not exist. Science teaches us nothing of "life" and it has never been possible to imprison the spirit and the intelligence within the limits of a human body. No, astronomy does not need to know the secrets of God, to enlarge the Universe. We ourselves have no need to possess absolute knowledge in order to make clear the scientific way which has enabled us to enlarge the domain of life. The spiritualist is, then, well within his rights when he looks into the Beyond and attempts to sound its marvelous depths. In this contemplation he perceives revelations which extend well beyond the realm of physics and chemistry: he perceives the spheres of the mind, of consciousness, and of intelligence, whose domain is unlimited and whose evolution is effected outside the limits of time and space. Man misunderstands himself because his soul, a pure diamond, is surrounded by a matrix, a gangue; and because the world which he sees does not fulfill his aspirations, he despairs. A day comes, nevertheless, when fatigue, and the oppression of the material stimulate him to make an effort. His mind tries to break its fetters, and the poor pilgrim of the earth wanders toward the city of the dead: he leans his ear close to the stone walls of his funeral vault and to his infinite surprise finds faith and hope, and raising his head cries out, "We do not die." No, We do not die, because the creative force is anterior to the condensation of organic lives, and because the study of the Beyond has proved to us that the individual soul pre-exists and survives corporeal destruction.

With the eyes of our body we see, it is true, the passing materializations of consciousness and intelligence, whose activity continues in the invisible, around the cosmic current from which everything is nourished. We do not die, for nothing of all that exists can die: the body itself is a survival and a composition of the first organic souls which gave it birth. We have lived in the protozoa, in the zoophyte, the reptile, the bird, and the mammalia: and the little beings who have realized these forms have kept that memory in order to furnish us to-day the materials for present incarnations. The long work of the centuries has not allowed its instincts to be lost - its memories, nor the gropings of organic life: on these the human soul has been grafted.

If one of these forces which presided at the first formations, had for a moment ceased to exist, the chain of successive progress would have been broken, all would have fallen back into the inertia of the original atom. If evolution progresses it is due to this survival and to the inferior souls which lived on in us, and which are concerned with the lower functions of organic life: through their help we are able to ascend and lift ourselves towards the plane of mental life. Nature has no other goal than life: that is why we do not die. Life is all and matter is nothing: therefore matter passes and life remains. And those who have crossed the threshold of the mystery come to us and prove that a telepathic tie binds them to us in a certain fashion. The doors of the sepulcher let rays of the new light filter through; those who are but recently deceased hesitate no longer: pausing on the frontier of the two worlds, they are able to send us some material signs of their presence: from beyond the tomb they send out a last cry, of which we may catch the echo. Finally, when we ourselves arrive at the time of ordeal: when, after this sad life through which we have passed, we are awaiting obscurity and nothingness: our psychic vision pierces the veil of matter: those whom we have entombed with our hands reappear in a new day, coming to radiate about us the aurora of their smiles. Those whom we have believed dead cry out to us, "We do not die!" Listen to these voices which are heard in the history of all peoples, in the traditions of every age: they are not legends. The new revelation for us is that science now affirms that she has verified communication, is placing it on an absolutely scientific basis, and that she intends to occupy herself in studying its laws. That which gives us the right to declare this is the testimony of eminent men, who have devoted many long years of study to the examination of these facts. Listen to the latest one in our time, who has just made himself heard. Sir Oliver Lodge, who quite recently abandoned all qualifications and concluded in the following fashion:

"For my part, I have not the slightest doubt upon the subject, although for a number of years, even in the last century, I have had recourse to all sorts of different explanations, but little by little, one after the other, they have been eliminated, and have arrived at the proof that the beings who communicate with us are truly they whom they declare themselves to be. Not always, but in the end the conclusion is reached that 'survival' is scientifically proven by means of scientific investigation. I believe that man is surrounded by other intelligences. If you would go beyond humanity, there are limitations until you arrive at the Infinite Intelligence itself. Once you have passed beyond man, you advance and you must advance until you reach God, Himself."