290 RELICS OF PRIMEVAL LIFE 



the great chain of hfe before man, and along with 

 this the vast oceanic area inaccessible to us, yet 

 ever since the dawn of life teeming with living 

 things innumerable, we find that man is not even 

 in this little world the only object of Divine care, 

 and we learn a lesson of humility and of the obliga- 

 tions which rest on us not only in relation to our 

 fellow-men, but toward our humbler companions 

 who share with us the care of their Father and 

 ours. 



Finally, it is plain that scientific investigation can 

 never bring us within reach of the absolute origin 

 of life, otherwise than by the action of a creative 

 Will. Had we stood on the earliest shore, and had 

 we seen living things appear in the waters where 

 before had been merely inorganic sand or rock, 

 we should have known as little as we know to-day 

 of even the proximate causes of this new departure 

 in nature. If agnostics, we might have said, " this 

 is spontaneous generation " ; but such an expres- 

 sion would convey no distinct idea of the nature of 

 the change which had occurred. It would be 

 merely a cloak for our ignorance. If theists, we 

 might say, " this is creation " ; but we would have 

 hearc} no audible fiat, nor seen any process or 



