46 ^nstinct, 



etic language and by that power of association that 

 makes a tree, a brook or the old farm-house dear to 

 us as a friend, that we can speak of the earth as other 

 than a clod. Through all this mechanism and the 

 forces by which man is formed of the dust of the 

 earth and his wants provided for, we may recognize 

 the power, wisdom and skill of a Personal Being. 

 We may do the same in the manifestations of ac- 

 knowledged Instinct in animals and the affections in 

 man ; since they all form parts of a system and of such 

 a system as the wisdom of man approves of — 

 such as he cannot refer to chance nor to this clod 

 of earth, with all its elements and forces. But all 

 such questions as to chance, design, personality and 

 its attributes manifested through the works of na- 

 ture, belong to Natural Theology, with which we 

 have nothing now to do. 



For our present discussion we inquire simply for 

 manifestations; and we do not propose to trace 

 those manifestations farther than to the agent or 

 being in which they appear. Our first question in 

 every case will be. What is f not, How came it so ? 

 How is the earth, the plant, the animal and man 

 constituted ? Not, How came they to be so con- 

 stituted? 



For the purposes of our present inquiry we may 

 believe that all things began to exist a century ago, 

 or that they have existed for an indefinite cycle of 

 ages. Questions of origin are proper subjects of 

 investigation, but they have only an incidental bear- 

 ing upon our present discussion. Such questions 

 may arise in the progress of our investigations, but 



