“The Marsites claim that they know nothing about supernaturalism, and that by the very nature of the knowing process nothing can be known about it. What we claim is, that there may be a personal God and there may not be one; but if there is such a personal God, the kind, cultured can conceive of Him only as being kind and just, having no revengeful feelings whatever. You see the Marsites never revengefully punish any one; how, then, can we think that God would; for, if we would think so, we would make our _God_ worse than we are ourselves. “Similarly we know nothing of a conscious personal existence after death. We believe that the facts of the universe, as far as we know them, point in the direction that there is no conscious personal existence after death; but for all that, there may be just such a God, soul, heaven and hell, as you folks teach there is. No one can either prove it nor disprove it. Hence we are not at all positive, like you are, about things that lie beyond the sphere of human knowledge. We are fully convinced that the possibilities of thought are not co-extensive and identical with the possibilities of things. But we also believe, if there is a conscious personal existence after death, that things, when we get there, will be suited to that life the same as we find them suited here to this life. We further believe that this life, in order to make it as good and complete as possible, requires all our efforts and talent to live up to the most wholesome relations that are stamped in the very nature of things. There is more about _this_ life than we can probably ever learn; hence we have no time to spare for gaining the favors of beings in a supposed world, of which we know nothing definitely. The _facts_ of the universe are the highest known authority, and he who lives most nearly in accord with them lives, in _our_ opinion, the ‘holiest’ life. “We believe that the universe is the grandest volume ever written by the Creator. It contains a complete history of all things. Every fossil, every plant, every bud, every flower and every organism is a letter. It does not even end with _our_ and _your_ little earths. “All the other planets of our solar system, all the moons, all the meteors, comets and nebulæ, all the multitudes of stars with their attending host scattered in the remotest space are found recorded on the pages of this infinite volume. Its words, phrases and sentences consist of phenomena. “This sacred volume is a continuous revelation; and with the rise of a higher intelligence and a keener sensibility, it commends itself to a rapidly increasing number of devotees. Every obedience of its commandments is rewarded by happiness, and every disobedience is punished by pain, right here in this life. “It teaches that every heart-beat is an accent, every budding springtime an emphasis, every sunbeam a smile, every pleasant, blooming face a prayer, and every harmonious act an adoration.