Page:Lesbia Newman - Dalton - 1889.djvu/140

 mar the rehabilitation of the spiritual hermaphrodite sundered by the Fall—such, it is clear, have forfeited for the time their birthright of redemption; their portion is the second death, the degradation below humanity, in order that they may have a chance to do better when eventually they reach it again through the varieties and degrees of animal transformation which may be necessary in each case. I need not go further into that: you have heard my uncle talk about it more than once; and, after all, it is an open question after a certain point, that point being that we have to account for the existence of the lower world somehow. Swedenborg, who went deeply into the great questions of the other world, does not seem to have taken up the transmigration theory; that is rather surprising, because one would have expected that a philosopher who brought such a powerful understanding to bear upon human destiny, would not be content to leave unsolved the problem of animal origin. No doubt it may be said in reply that minds which range high, need not necessarily be able to range wide; but that is unsatisfactory to modern thought, which prefers rather to deal with patent facts than to invent ingenious theories. But what is more to your and my purpose, Lettie, I believe that neither class of mind, nor any class, will be able to see far behind the veil which separates us from the other world, until the intelligence of the one half of mankind shall be as free as the other, until the complete emancipation of our sex from the bondage which is partly traditional, partly self-imposed, shall give the world an impetus such as it has never yet had toward the better recognition of its temporal and eternal interests alike.’