404 Snme SpfCulatio7}s on the u4iiahgy lehveen 



ground beneath is strewed with dried leaves, upon which they 

 lie*. Consider also the many tribes of huinati beings on 

 the coast of New Holland, whose hvc«, with htlle variation, 

 are spent, like those of brutes, in the pursuit of prey and in 

 gratifying their appetites r with these, and iiot with mem- 

 bers of learned societies, let us compare an eagle, a wolf, 

 an ourang-oulanc, "r a dot!; ; — observe their intellectual 

 powers displaved m tiieir daily actions, their pursuits, their 

 habits, their passions, their feelings ; — is it too degrading 

 t(j our nature, does it savour of impiety, to believe that these 

 beings are in many respects equally rational, equally free 

 agents? 



Between an Andaman and a Sir Isaac Newton there ap- 

 pears to me to exist as great a distance as between an An- 

 daman and an ourang-outang : yet would it be loo revolting 

 to the pride of a Sir Isaac, to acknowledge, that though the 

 savage was governed far more by instinct than by reason, 

 yet it was possible that he might possess a soul as well as 

 himself? If we reject with due abhorrence and contempt 

 the revolting, silly idea, that God created this world and 

 its inhabitants as a display of power, and merely for his 

 own glorv ; and that he keejis the most numerous part of 

 animated iieings under the control of instinct, to make 

 that power aud glory more conspicuous ; — if, instead of this, 

 Me believe that the Almighty undertook the work of crea- 

 tion for the dilfusion of haiipiness, — the f;ice of creation will 

 wear a verv difl'trent appearance. Instead of this fair earth 

 l)eing created for a display of omnipotence, and destined 

 for the u3e of an animal, certainly, not always the most 

 respectable of living crcatur-es; instead of viewing a iiml- 

 titude of automatons moved by clock-wcjrk, and made 

 solely for the use, of lordly man; we shall behold myriads 

 of beings called into existence for very different purposes 

 indeed, hut ail to serve as rneans to one great end, the dif- 

 fusion of happiness. We shall behold the lower animals 

 possessing a soul, or intelligent principle, analogous to that 

 which animates the human species; as far as it reaches, as 

 rational, "as free as independent; but more limited in its 

 powers, and confintd only to subjiels of observation _and 

 experience. Tliese annna^s-ihink, reason, will, and act ; but 

 they are spoken of in Scrij^ture, as of " beasts thai perish." 

 Annihilation, however, is to tiunn no evil. The brutes in 

 this world are in atneral much happier than man. Our 

 superior misery is as strong a proof of our immortality as 



* Asi;ilic Rc^eacches, iv. p. 590 and 391. 



our 



