414 APPENDIX 



Does not the consciousness of our weakness, of our imper- 

 fection, steal upon us when we see the bird of prey circling in 

 the air ? He is scarcely visible to our dim eyes ; yet sees the 

 smallest creature on the earth which he has chosen for his 



prey. 



Does he think more humbly of himself, this king in his 

 own realm, than the lord of creation beneath him ? 



Yet no less has every animal perfect right to feel himself 

 lord in his own kingdom ; for each is perfectly adapted in its 

 own way — if it were not, were it not lord in its own fashion, 

 it would not exist. 



When we look at the smallest Infusorian under the micro- 

 scope we see that it feels itself supreme in the drop of water 

 which is its universe — actively and confidently it feels about, 

 moves like an arrow hither and thither, unconscious in whose 

 hand it is, and that in a few minutes the drop of moisture on 

 which its life depends will have disappeared. 



And if any one replies that man, though not in every 

 detail, yet on the whole is lord of the earth, let him consider that 

 this lord, so full of pride one moment, in the next becomes 

 conscious of his weakness, and humbles himself before a 

 higher power. 



For this self-subjection, which resigns our fate into higher 

 hands and implores their aid in time of need, is first prompted 

 by our helplessness under the blows of life, under the resist- 

 less powers of the outer world, under the might of death. 



Thus man, the lord of creation, the contemptuous despiser 

 of the Nature surrounding him and its creatures, bows him- 

 self in humility before this Nature, degrading himself to idol- 

 worship, placing in the hand of a feeble fellow-creature the 

 sceptre of infallible wisdom and power. 



How can we find a way out of this state of contradiction, 

 how discover the limits of the claims which man can with 

 dignity make upon the external world, and thereby lay the 



