Others are taught that there probably is some danger and some doubt as to the amount of risks, yet as no one knows much about the matter, on any alternative, it is very wise to be careful and prudent. Another class are taught that all these terrific dangers do exist; nay more, that it is certain that some are to be lost in pit‐falls, some torn with wild beasts, some poisoned to death with venomous reptiles, and some for ever lost in bleak and cold morasses. Meantime, who should be the lost and who the saved, and the _number_ of the lost, would be entirely dependent on the care, vigilance, labors and sacrifices endured by each, not only for self, but for others. It can easily be seen, that in these three classes there must be an entirely different standard for deciding all questions of right and wrong. What would be right and wise, in case there is little or no danger, would be folly and crime amid such terrific perils. In one case, each would have little concern or responsibility for any but self; in another case, all benevolent minds would be overwhelmed with anxiety for others as well as for themselves. This being so, it is claimed that the deductions of reason as to the future immortality of man, and his risks and dangers beyond the grave, are indispensable to deciding multitudes of moral questions of the highest moment, while every person’s standard of morality must be regulated by their decision of this question. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE DESTINY OF MAN IN THE FUTURE LIFE. It has been shown, that the teachings of reason as to the immortality of the soul, and our risks and dangers after death, are indispensable to a true standard of morality, and to the decision of innumerable moral questions of the highest moment. The next attempt, therefore, will be to set forth what can be learned by reason and experience, independently of revelation, in regard to the future destiny of man. The first question relates to the existence of the soul after death, and its immortality. Here we have to guide us that great principle of common sense, which regulates mankind in all the practical business of life, viz., _things are, and will continue according to past experience, until there is evidence of a change_. By the aid of this, we go forward in all practical affairs, believing that the beings and things around us are continued in existence till we have evidence that they are not. If any man were to talk and act as if every person was destroyed, and every town and village annihilated, as soon as the evidence of his senses failed, he would be deemed one who had “lost his reason.”