OBJECTIONS REMOVED. 317 



that they are out of the social scheme, which is only for their 

 betters ; and although they build up a little hovel of content in the 

 midst of their sad inclemencies, yet they do not consider that the 

 body politic exists for their behoof. True, it ought to do so ; but 

 the fact that it does not, shows a power above theirs. So it is 

 with the animals. Those which bear our burdens either deem 

 nothing at all ; or supposing them to deem, that exonerates them 

 from the charge of stupidity which we make, when we say that the 

 cow knows nothing of the supremacy of the milkman ; the dog, of 

 the huntsman and lash • or the horse of the spurred and whip- 

 provided rider. It is however the want of deeming that makes the 

 want of the thing deemed ; and man is at the head because he 

 knows and feels it. Vice versa, the animals are subordinate partly 

 because they do not know their situation, and never can be taught it. 



The argument on this score has been pushed by animals' friends, 

 to invalidate the humanity of the Divine Nature. For while it is 

 admitted that all our conceptions of God are human, it is contended 

 that if man has a God-man, a cow, could it imagine, would frame a 

 cow-god ; a dog, a dog-god ; and so forth. But imprimis, none of 

 these creatures can imagine in this direction, which terminates the 

 argument. And secondly, if they worshipped what was visibly 

 above them, they would worship man, who is in such a sense their 

 providence, that Bacon has wittily cited, that man is the god of the 

 dog. The assertion then comes again to an end, and shows that in 

 all respects the living creatures look to humanity. For ourselves, 

 had we any experience of a being transcending the human form, 

 whose mastery over us was undoubted, this, we grant, must give 

 the form by which our God would reign. But no such being has 

 intervened in history, either in the solemn night, or in the daylight 

 of religions : on the contrary, the Highest has declared that man 

 is made in his image, and that his Son is also the Son of man. In 

 short, we find the human form, divinely augmented, burning with 

 uncontrolled intensity in the thought of man, in the records of 

 inspiration, and in the religions of nature ; and this with its attri- 

 butes, though often unseen, is a real .presence in every temple. 



There are indeed religions which do not accept the central sym- 

 bol ; there are animal, vegetable, and mineral religions ; for men 



27* 



