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[Illustration: coverpage]




THOUGHTS ON

LIFE AND RELIGION




  THOUGHTS ON
  LIFE AND RELIGION

  An Aftermath from the Writings of

  THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

  PROFESSOR MAX MUeLLER

  BY HIS WIFE

  THIRD IMPRESSION

  London

  ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND
  COMPANY LTD.

  1907

Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty




PREFACE


This book has been prepared in accordance with a wish expressed by
many known and unknown admirers of my husband's writings, who desire
to possess in a portable form the passages that have specially
appealed to them in his different works, and in the _Life and
Letters_.

I have taken this opportunity of adding extracts from private
letters, and from the writings he left unfinished, which would not
otherwise have become known to any but his own family or a few
intimate friends.

Those who have read the _Life and Letters_, do not need to be told
that Max Mueller lived from his earliest years in the firm conviction
that all is wisely ordered in this life, and 'all for our real good,
though we do not always see it, and though we cannot venture to
fathom the wisdom guiding our steps through life.'

To others his unswerving trust and faith as shown in these extracts
may be a revelation, for he seldom talked on such subjects. This
trust and faith gave him strength through the bitter struggles of
his early life, taught him resignation during the years when the
dearest wish of his heart seemed unattainable, supported him later
when those he tenderly loved were snatched from him by death, and
upheld him in his last long and depressing illness.

My earnest desire is that this little book may prove a help and
comfort to many exposed to like trials, and strengthen those whose
path now stretches before them as a sunny avenue, to meet the
sorrows that almost surely await them as life advances.

  GEORGINA MAX MUeLLER.

  _June 11, 1905_.




CONTENTS


                             PAGE

  The Art of Life,              1

  The Beautiful,                4

  The Bible,                    6

  Children,                    12

  Christ, the Logos,           13

  Christianity,                21

  Death,                       34

  The Deity,                   44

  The Divine,                  57

  Doubts,                      60

  Evolution of Religion,       66

  Faith,                       70

  The Fatherhood of God,       73

  Future Life,                 74

  The Infinite,                87

  Knowledge,                   96

  Language,                    99

  Life,                       103

  Love,                       121

  Mankind,                    129

  Mind or Thought,            132

  Miracles,                   135

  Music,                      138

  Nature,                     139

  Obscurity,                  142

  Old Age,                    143

  Religion and Religions,     145

  Revelation,                 184

  The Rig-Veda,               189

  Science,                    190

  The Self,                   192

  Sorrow and Suffering,       198

  The Soul,                   208

  Theosophy,                  215

  Truth,                      217

  The Will of God,            222

  Wonder,                     226

  Words,                      228

  Work,                       230

  The World,                  233




THE ART OF LIFE


To learn to understand one another is the great art of life, and to
'agree to differ' is the best lesson of the comparative science of
religion.

  _Silesian Horseherd._


There is a higher kind of music which we all have to learn, if our
life is to be harmonious, beautiful, and useful. There are certain
intervals between the young and the old which must be there, which
are meant to be there, without which life would be monotonous; but
out of these intervals and varieties the true art of life knows
how to build up perfect harmon